Was (Not Was)
42 articles
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Was Not Was: Born To Laugh At Tornadoes (Geffen)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 6 November 1983
AMERICA HAS been dressed by improper minds. Corralling the year's important American records – Swordfishtrombones, Girl At Her Volcano, Burlap And Satin and Born To ...
Audio interviews
Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, 1987
Don and David talk about American culture, the Kennedy conspiracies, musical juxtapositions and growing up on Detroit rock 'n' roll.
File format: mp3; file size: 86.6mb, interview length: 1h 30' 12" sound quality: ***
Interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages audio, Spring 1990
Don (left channel) and David (right) Was talk about their early Detroit influences; seeing John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk; going from Island to Geffen, and Born to Laugh at Tornadoes; studio techniques and proto-sampling; their new album Are You Okay?; current American culture; singers Sweet Pea Atkinson and Sir Harry Bowens; keeping a big band on the road; comparisons with Steely Dan; becoming more cheerful than back in '81; producing Dylan's Under the Red Sky, and Don winning a Grammy for Bonnie Raitt's Nick of Time.
File format: mp3; file size: 61.5mb, interview length: 1h 04' 05" sound quality: *** (background noise in second half)
List of articles in the library
Was (Not Was): A Subtle Fabrication Not of the Norm
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 20 June 1981
Imagine Vivien Goldman’s surprise to discover that the brains behind Ze’s hottest American soul act are not black but two nice middle class Jewish boys. ...
Was (Not Was): Was (Not Was) (ZE ILPS 7015)
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 27 June 1981
Funk up (no funk up) ...
Was (Not Was): Was (Not Was) (ZE/Island ILPS 7015)
Review by Paolo Hewitt, Melody Maker, 27 June 1981
Was is not the Was that was ...
Profile and Interview by Peter Silverton, New Sounds New Styles, July 1981
New York record label ZE is the product of a remarkable partnership between August Darnell and Michael Zilkha. Peter Silverton profiles the Z of ZE... ...
Michael Zilkha: The King of Mutant Disco
Profile and Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 4 July 1981
Mary Harron meets the rich kid behind ZE Records' success. ...
Was (Not Was): Was (Not Was) (Ze ILPS 7015)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 4 July 1981
WAS (NOT WAS) are as good an example of post-Vietnam paranoia as you're going to get. While all around them are losing theirs, Was (Not ...
Was (Not Was): Mudd Club, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 24 October 1981
WAS CRAWL OUT THE WOODWORK ...
Was (Not Was): Back Come the Freaks
Interview by David A. Keeps, New Musical Express, 22 October 1983
Was (Not Was)'s major problem was that they could never sing. Their voices would always come out sounding freaky. To overcome this they've brought in ...
Was (Not Was): Born To Laugh At Tornadoes (Ze/Geffen)
Review by J.D. Considine, Musician, November 1983
FOR AN ALBUM that boasts such a pointedly diverse array of vocalists — would you believe Mitch Ryder, Mel Tormé, Doug Feiger and Ozzy Osbourne, ...
Was (Not Was) Just Can't Play it Straight
Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 8 December 1983
LOS ANGELES — They would meet on the highest bleacher seat at the high-school field. Shivering in the cold Michigan night, they would talk about ...
Was Not Was: Born To Laugh At Tornadoes
Review by Roy Trakin, Creem, January 1984
THE WOODWORK SQUEAKS...and out comes Ozzy Osbourne, rapping? Ex-Knackster Doug Fieger making fun of himself? Mitch Ryder barking like a dog with Good Golly Miss ...
Was Not Was: All Over The Road With Two Motor City Outcasts In A Studio Tornado
Interview by David Gans, Musician, February 1984
"WHEN BLACK people hear our music," proclaims Don Fagenson, "they know we're white. Even our funkiest stuff. I think it happens to be a plus. ...
Was (Not Was): Caught in an Elevator
Interview by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, April 1984
The assortment of artists on a Was (Not Was) album appears accidental. But it's not. Really. ...
Was (Not Was): (The Woodwork) Squeaks (Ze Records IMA 10)
Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 7 April 1984
ALIAS A mini-LP commemorating the finest moments of the (St) Was Bros, the saboteurs of funk. My advice would be to wheel it out, soon. ...
Was Not Was: That Was The Freak That Was
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 19 May 1984
O Dialectic, says the philosopher, when he notices that perhaps the true philosophy laughs at philosophy. ...
Was (Not Was): I Love This Band, I Hate This Band
Interview by J. Kordosh, Creem, July 1984
THIRTY MONTHS ago, John Neilson did a story on Was (Not Was) for CREEM. (It's the issue with Pat Benatar on the blue cover — I ...
Interview by Tom Hibbert, Smash Hits, 21 October 1987
■ Who on earth are Was (Not Was)? How did they split Wham! up? Why do they think Madonna can't sing for toffee? And will ...
Interview by John Aizlewood, No. 1, 27 February 1988
Was (Not Was), as we all knew, are spies in the house of love, but did you know Don Was is a CIA spy? Or ...
Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 26 March 1988
"BOBBY Maggot was a big attorney/Through the courtroom down to hell he'd journey/Baldheaded piece of garbage that he was/He'll defend you if your money's honest/Do ...
Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 30 April 1988
WHIPPED CREAM ON A BARBED WIRE PIE ...
Was (Not Was): Brothers of Invention
Interview by Mat Snow, Sounds, 16 July 1988
WAS (NOT WAS) still people their songs freaks, but compassion now nestles satire. MAT SNOW helps The Was Brothers find the heartbeat of their absurd ...
Was (Not Was): Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, Melody Maker, 16 July 1988
TWO JEWISH comedians backed by the JBs. There — that's as close as anyone will ever come to describing the Wases in seven words. Unless ...
Was (Not Was): What Up, Dog? (Chrysalis)
Review by James Hunter, Musician, November 1988
DURING THE early '80s, Detroit-based songwriters and producers Don Ferguson and David Weiss competed with New York City art-funksters under the name Was (Not Was). ...
Was (Not Was): Spies In The House Of Funk
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, 2 December 1988
MASTERS OF funkified musical left turns, that was one way to describe Was (Not Was) after listening to their 1983 LP, Born to Laugh At ...
Was (Not Was): What Up, Dog? (Chrysalis)
Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 18 December 1988
AS CONCEPTUALISM goes, this mutant brainchild of Dee-troit unbrothers David and Don Was is semibrilliant, taking something from everybody who ever contributed anything to the ...
Interview by Andy Gill, Q, June 1990
THERE ARE SEVEN of us round the microphone, and I, for one, am a little nervous. I should be, too: three of the voices present ...
Was (Not Was): Motown Brothers
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 2 June 1990
WAS (NOT WAS) make perfect pop (not poop). They also know the names of several philosophers! STUART MACONIE wants to lick the barbequed goat pizza ...
Interview by Siân Pattenden, Smash Hits, 13 June 1990
★ They're two blokes from Detroit who say they're brothers but aren't really! ★ They're all for killing dolphins for the sake of a tuna ...
Erasure, Was (Not Was), Adamski, Electribe 101: Milton Keynes Bowl
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, Smash Hits, 19 September 1990
THE FINAL date of Erasure's world tour, "The Wild Party", takes place on a windswept grassy slope so the atmosphere's not especially "partylike", but everyone ...
Was (Not Was): Are You Okay? (Chrysalis)
Review by Amy Linden, Spin, November 1990
WHILE THE last Was LP was a tribute, if you will, to '70s soul, this time the beats are more current. Purists will cry sellout, ...
Was (Not Was): Was it Good for You?
Interview by Gavin Martin, Vox, January 1991
Far-out funksters Don and David was have worked with all the greats: The Stones, Dylan, Madonna — and Jonathan Ross. Gavin Martin caught them relaxing ...
Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 3 January 1991
Middle-class Jewish boys from Motor City, Was (Not Was) have set out to show that white men can make soul music. Bruce Dessau reports ...
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, May 1992
Until 'Walk The Dinosaur', the funky, cosmic pop of Was (Not Was) remained a cult. Now they've reached the giddy heights of supporting Dire Straits, ...
Interview by Andy Gill, Q, August 1992
David Was of Was (Not Was) invites us into his lovely garage. Much of his collection stems from an earlier career as a jazz writer: ...
Don Was & Glyn Johns: Speaking for the Record
Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, August 1994
From Get Back to Backbeat Glyn Johns and Don Was Have Produced a Rock 'n'Roll Hall of Fame. ...
Don Was: What Was Was and What Was Is
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 23 March 1997
After years as a top producer and bandleader, Don Was lost his creative vision. Then Francis Ford Coppola and Hank Williams gave him an idea. ...
Was (Not Was): Islington Academy, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 1 May 2008
IT'S CLOSE ON 20 years since Was (Not Was) last played in the UK, and Don Was is feeling nostalgic. "Is anybody here old enough ...
Review by Bill Holdship, San Antonio Current, 28 May 2008
IT'S BEEN 18 years since this Detroit-born funk-jazz-pop-art collective released its last album — and the world's grown a whole lot crazier during that time, ...
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