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Today's Top 10 Articles

  1. The First Lady: Aretha Franklin, 1942-2018
    Obituary by Mark Kemp, Rock's Backpages, 2018
  2. Aretha Franklin: The Queen's Greatest Tracks
    Review by Martin Colyer, Barney Hoskyns, Mark Pringle, Rock's Backpages, 2002
  3. Aretha Franklin at Fillmore West
    Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Creem, 1971
  4. Reggae: The Rape of Smaug
    Overview by Penny Reel, International Times, 1973
  5. The 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time: #1 Aretha Franklin
    Retrospective and Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, 1998
  6. Aretha Franklin: Once More With Feeling
    Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, Guardian, The, 1980
  7. Whole Lotta Zeppelin!
    Report by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 1975
  8. In A Mellotone
    Essay by Michael Lydon, Yale Daily News, 1964
  9. Jerry Wexler (1993)
    Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages Audio, 1993
  10. Jimmy Jones: Timin' Is The Thing
    Retrospective by Penny Reel, Let It Rock, 1975

Free this week

As she prepares for her first European tour, the Maker meets the late Aretha Franklin (Melody Maker, 1968)

Jonh Ingham is floored by Aretha's legendary show at San Francisco's Fillmore West (Creem, 1971)

The late Penny Reel gives his hippie readers a history lesson in ska, bluebeat, Rastafarianism and Reggae (International Times, 1973)

Penny Reel's sublime reminiscences on the subject of Jimmy Jones' 1960 classic 'Handy Man' (Let It Rock, 1975)

On her first UK visit since 1968, Mick Brown is granted an audience with Aretha Franklin (Guardian, The, 1980)

FREE AUDIO for a week: Barney Hoskyns discusses Aretha, Ahmet Ertegun and more with legendary Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler (Rock's Backpages Audio, 1993)

Ben Edmonds speaks to Aretha Franklin, voted MOJO's Greatest Singer Of All Time (MOJO, 1998)

An excerpt from Penny Reel's wonderful biography of reggae icon Dennis Brown (Deep Down With Dennis Brown, 2002)

RBP presents Aretha's 20 greatest-ever tracks (Rock's Backpages, 2002)

Mark Kemp pays tribute to the indisputable Queen Of Soul, Lady Aretha Franklin (Rock's Backpages, 2018)

See all free articles!

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Features and interviews:

The Mirror hears from 'Hundred Pounds of Clay' man Gene McDaniels (Record Mirror, 1962)

Michael Lydon belatedly bemoans America's surrender to the Beatles (Yale Daily News, 1964)

Dawn James figures out why everyone loves the Lovin' Spoonful (Rave, 1966)

Tony Barrow explains why bands quit touring (KRLA Beat, 1967)

The Times reports on the disastrous Altamont Festival (Los Angeles Times, 1969)

Mike Jahn refutes the arguments that rock songs encourage drug use (New York Times Special Features Syndication, 1971)

Andrew Bailey hears about the burgeoning sideline solo career of Who singer Roger Daltrey (Rolling Stone, 1973)

Broken fingers and riots: Chris Charlesworth reports from the ill-fated start of Led Zeppelin's 1975 US tour (Melody Maker, 1975)

Vernon Gibbs meets newly "saved" Miami soulstress Betty Wright (Crawdaddy!, 1977)

A sceptical Deanne Pearson meets all-girl trio the Dolly Mixtures [sic] (New Musical Express, 1979)

David Hepworth talks to head Talking Head David Byrne (Smash Hits, 1981)

Richard Cook passes a New York afternoon in the engaging company of jazz legend Gil Evans (New Musical Express, 1983)

J.D. Considine talks divorce and drum machines with Phil Collins (Musician, 1985)

Sexist? John McCready calls out rapper Schoolly D (New Musical Express, 1987)

Keith Cameron tags along with Sonic Youth in Moscow and Kiev (Sounds, 1989)

Michael Azerrad discusses Girlfriend with Matthew Sweet (Rolling Stone, 1991)

Steven Wells and Stephen Dalton lambast the pretensions of U2's Zoo TV (New Musical Express, 1993)

Tom Doyle asks producer Sam Williams about the making of Supergrass' I Should Coco (Melody Maker, 1995)

Jon Savage befriends Warhol/Factory acolyte Billy Name (Guardian, The, 1997)

Marc Weingarten converses with Christian rockers dc Talk (Los Angeles Times, 1999)

James Medd meets Leonard Cohen, fresh outta Mount Baldy and peddling Ten New Songs (Esquire, 2001)

Greg Wilson remembers the dance-culture "missing link" that was '80s Electro-Funk (electrofunkroots.co.uk, 2003)

Phil Sutcliffe attempts to ascertain whether Nick Cave is "finally happy" (MOJO, 2005)

Gene Santoro confers with Cult frontman Ian Astbury (New York Daily News, 2007)

David Hepworth laments the passing of legendary Cramps frontman Lux Interior (Word, The, 2009)

Tony Russell remembers country siren Billie Jo Spears (Guardian, The, 2011)

Geoffrey Himes reports on the musical reunion of Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris (Paste, 2013)

Tim Cooper discusses the orchestral Quadrophenia with Pete Townshend (Guardian, The, 2015)

David Burke looks back on the life and work of "musical chameleon" Bobby Darin (Vintage Rock, 2017)

Kirk Silsbee's fine sleevenotes for Ella Fitzgerald's Live at Zardi's (Verve Records, 2018)

Album & Live Reviews:

Chris Welch is more than receptive to the "milestone" that is Brian Auger & Julie Driscoll's Open (Melody Maker, 1967)

Keith Altham is profoundly unimpressed by Godard's Stones film One Plus One (a.k.a. Sympathy for the Devil) (New Musical Express, 1968)

A typically dyspeptic John Mendelsohn review of the Steve Miller Band and James Gang, live in L.A. (Los Angeles Times, 1970)

Danny Holloway checks out Volume 6 of Trojan's Tighten Up series (New Musical Express, 1972)

Martin Hayman swims with Sharks, live at London's Hard Rock Café (Sounds, 1974)

Tony Cummings savages the Stylistics' You Are Beautiful (Black Music, 1976)

David Hancock head-bangs to "punk kings" the Ramones, live at Hammersmith Odeon (Evening News, 1978)

Richard C. Walls struggles to say anything positive about Magazine's Secondhand Daylight (Creem, 1980)

Funkin' for London W6: Richard Cook is "smoked out" by Tom Browne, live at Hammersmith Odeon (New Musical Express, 1982)

Laura Fissinger buys a ticket for the Go-Go's' Talk Show (Musician, 1984)

David Stubbs listens to fearless improvisers Fred Frith and Lol Coxhill, live at the London Musician's Collective (Melody Maker, 1986)

Jon Savage reviews the Lester Bangs anthology Psychotic Reactions And Carburetor Dung (Observer, The, 1988)

Don Waller sweats to the Smithereens, live at L.A.'s Hollywood Palladium (Los Angeles Times, 1990)

Ian Gittins passes on Neneh Cherry's Homebrew (Melody Maker, 1992)

Caroline Sullivan witnesses living country legend Johnny Cash, live at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire (Guardian, The, 1994)

Jon Young endures Me'Shell Ndegéocello's "joyless" Peace Beyond Passion (Musician, 1996)

Edward Helmore sees the deeply inoffensive Hootie and the Blowfish, live at NYC's Roseland Ballroom (MOJO, 1998)

Marc Weingarten considers some "Kinks killers" from the BBC vaults (Rolling Stone, 2001)

Joe Nick Patoski enjoys James Luther Dickinson's Free Beer Tomorrow (Austin Chronicle, 2002)

Johnny Black looks back on the "not-so-sunshine pop" of Spanky & Our Gang's Anything You Choose/Without Rhyme Or Reason (MOJO, 2004)

Mat Snow muses on the "romantic masterpiece" that is Madeleine Peyroux's Half The Perfect World (MOJO, 2006)

Andrew Mueller evaluates two Eels compilations (Uncut, 2008)

Andy Gill sifts through the '60s productions of Sly Stone (Word, The, 2010)

Wyndham Wallace rummages through World Party's 5-CD box Arkeology (bbc.co.uk, 2012)

Graeme Thomson delights in a Glasgow set by Prince and all-girl backing band 3RDEYEGIRL (Uncut, 2014)

Mike Barnes raves about Kiwi singer-songwriter Nadia Reid's debut album (MOJO, 2016)

Today's Top 10 Articles

  1. The First Lady: Aretha Franklin, 1942-2018
    Obituary by Mark Kemp, Rock's Backpages, 2018
  2. Aretha Franklin: The Queen's Greatest Tracks
    Review by Martin Colyer, Barney Hoskyns, Mark Pringle, Rock's Backpages, 2002
  3. Aretha Franklin at Fillmore West
    Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Creem, 1971
  4. Reggae: The Rape of Smaug
    Overview by Penny Reel, International Times, 1973
  5. The 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time: #1 Aretha Franklin
    Retrospective and Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, 1998
  6. Aretha Franklin: Once More With Feeling
    Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, Guardian, The, 1980
  7. Whole Lotta Zeppelin!
    Report by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 1975
  8. In A Mellotone
    Essay by Michael Lydon, Yale Daily News, 1964
  9. Jerry Wexler (1993)
    Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages Audio, 1993
  10. Jimmy Jones: Timin' Is The Thing
    Retrospective by Penny Reel, Let It Rock, 1975

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