The Independent
The Independent, launched in 1986, is a British national morning newspaper.
601 articles
Jello Biafra, Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins: Spoken Word: Jello Biafria, Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins
Report and Interview by Martin Aston, The Independent, Winter 1989
ONCE UPON a time, people took to the stage without the blast of music behind them, and people would take them seriously. Poetry and the ...
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, The Independent, February 1990
IT WAS the poster claiming The KLF were to play live at a DJ convention in Amsterdam rather than – as they thought – just ...
By the Time I Got Back to Woodstock
Essay by Steve Turner, The Independent, 4 August 1990
TO SALLY GROSSMAN, the living room of her Bearsville home near Woodstock in New York State is nothing extraordinary. It has an old fireplace, some ...
Fairport Convention: Conventional behaviour
Report and Interview by Martin Aston, The Independent, 17 August 1990
Martin Aston spoke to the members of Fairport Convention ahead of their anual reunion show at this week's Copredy Folk Festival ...
John Lennon: Some Time in New York City: John Lennon’s Manhattan
Essay by Steve Turner, The Independent, 18 August 1990
"I SHOULD HAVE been born in New York," John Lennon once said. "I should have been born in the Village. That’s where I belong. Everybody ...
The Doors: Take out a Subscription to the Resurrection: Jim Morrison
Retrospective by Steve Turner, The Independent, 23 March 1991
PÈRE-LACHAISE CEMETERY is bizarre enough in itself – 100,000 sepulchres crowded into a busy Paris suburb and rolling down hillsides like an invading army from ...
Van Morrison: Down Van's streets of dreams
Essay by Steve Turner, The Independent, 30 March 1991
Van Morrison's Belfast was full of religion, jazz and child-like visions. Steve Turner visits his haunts, where neighbours remember 'the shy boy' ...
Led Zeppelin: Stairway to Heaven, Paved with Gold
Essay by Steve Turner, The Independent, 6 April 1991
Steve Turner follows the maze of mysticism and Celtic mythology to a small cottage in Snowdonia where the legend of Led Zeppelin was forged ...
Elvis Presley: Rock first rolled here
Guide by Steve Turner, The Independent, 13 April 1991
Thousands of worshippers still flock to Memphis, birthplace of Elvis. They should bypass Graceland. Rock first rolled here. ...
U2: The Irishness on the Inside of Bono and U2
Essay by Steve Turner, The Independent, 20 April 1991
Steve Turner tours Dublin who, despite huge success, can still drink quietlt at home ...
David Bowie: The Great Escape of the Thin White Duke
Essay by Steve Turner, The Independent, 4 May 1991
When the pressure of fame became too much to handle, David Bowie retreated to Berlin to renew his ceative energies. Steve Turner followed in his ...
Donald Fagen: Reeling In The Years
Interview by Rob Steen, The Independent, 21 November 1991
NOT BEFORE time, the man who did it again is doing it again. But, after nine years of soundtrack credits and precious little else, muffled ...
The Bhundu Boys Take Up Whistle-Blowing
Interview by Len Brown, The Independent, 27 November 1991
David Mankaba, of Africa's best-known band, decided to tell the whole continent he was dying of AIDS. It was his challenge to ignorance and apathy, ...
The Eagles, Glenn Frey: Glenn Frey: Life After The Eagles
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, The Independent, 2 July 1992
GLENN FREY's just-released Strange Weather has all the guitar interplay, sheer whimsy and wry lyrical content you'd expect from the man who helped to write ...
Buju Banton, Shabba Ranks: "Using Guns. That's Nothing To Do With Any Sort Of Music."
Report and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, The Independent, 17 April 1993
A man was hurt in a shooting at a ragga concert. Is violence taking over? Lloyd Bradley looks for some answers ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 13 May 1993
Leonard Cohen: Royal Albert Hall, London ...
Elvis Presley, Sex Pistols: Greil Marcus: A Surfer on the Zeitgeist
Profile and Interview by Andy Beckett, The Independent, 23 May 1993
This isn't exactly life on the edge: Greil Marcus is married, nearly 50, and lives in a nice big house in northern California. But he ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 27 May 1993
ELEVEN years between albums is excessive, even by living-legend standards. For some pop performers, that's time enough to get discovered, be the next big thing, ...
Profile and Interview by Rob Steen, The Independent, 2 December 1993
MY WIFE KEPT REMINDING ME: "Whatever you do, don't mention you named our daughter after her." Too creepy. What about the dispassionate dignity of the ...
Sonic Youth: Forever Young: Sonic Youth
Interview by Martin Aston, The Independent, 1994
IN 1991, WHEN Geffen Records signed the New York quartet Sonic Youth, the label couldn't have envisaged the band delivering two accessible albums by its ...
Live Review by David Cavanagh, The Independent, 27 February 1994
THE COOL ALBUM of 1993 was Björk Gudmundsdottir's prosaically titled Debut. Despite this, her entrance at the Royalty Theatre displayed uncoolness of equatorial proportions. With ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 17 March 1994
BLACK FEMALE artists are assailed by an obligation to serve as role models that doesn't operate on their male colleagues with anything like the same ...
Review by David Cavanagh, The Independent, 30 April 1994
BLURRY SHADES OF SGT PEPPER AT ABOUT seven o'clock this evening, if the midweek sales pointers are correct, Blur's third album Parklife will enter the chart ...
Richard Thompson: Palladium, London — Two hours before a master
Live Review by David Cavanagh, The Independent, 14 May 1994
THE POSTCARD handed to each arriving punter at the Palladium said wistfully of Richard Thompson: "When will the world wise up to this remarkable man?" ...
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 21 August 1994
DON VAN VLIET lives in the small and beautifully named town of Trinidad in Northern California, up by the Oregon border, 135 ft from the ...
Massive Attack: Protection (Virgin)
Review by Ben Thompson, The Independent, September 1994
THEIR FIRST ALBUM, 1991's sumptuous Blue Lines, opened up a whole new imaginative world for British dance music, in the same way that De La ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, 1995
IT'S RARE enough these days that you find two decent bands on the same bill, let alone four. So hats off to the New Musical ...
The Black Crowes: Not Shaven But Raven: The Black Crowes at Newport Centre
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, 15 January 1995
WHEN THEY emerged in 1990, it was difficult not to hate the Black Crowes: they were too retro for their own damn good. Led by ...
Tanita Tikaram: Eleven Kinds of Loveliness
Interview by Nick Hornby, The Independent, 3 February 1995
TANITA TIKARAM IS 25 years old, and she already knows who she wants to perform on her tribute album. ...
Obituary by Chris Welch, The Independent, 16 June 1995
RORY GALLAGHER was the People's Guitarist. Unassuming, but tenacious, the Irish blues man devoted his life to touring and playing his beloved Fender Strat to ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: 'Brian Wilson is a Genius': The Birth of a Cult
Essay by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, 1 September 1995
ONE OF THE key moments in I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times, record producer Don Was’s black-and-white film about Brian Wilson of the Beach ...
Black Grape: Shaun Ryder, Pop Star
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 1 October 1995
Once the high priest of proletarian hedonism, Shaun Ryder has traded in the low-life for a leafy London suburb. It's been a good move. The ...
Grateful Dead, John Oswald: John Oswald/The Grateful Dead: GrayFolded (Swell/Artifact S/A1969-1996)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 12 October 1995
SOME DEADHEADS are already calling this the best Grateful Dead record ever; it's certainly the most monumental tombstone imaginable for Jerry Garcia, an utterly convincing ...
The Stylistics: In Praise of the Falsetto
Essay by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, 3 November 1995
The castrato may be dead, if temporarily exhumed in the film Farinelli, but men continue to sing like women. Barney Hoskyns reaches for the high ...
The Ramones: Gabba Gabba Sniffle: The Ramones at Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, 9 February 1996
PUNK MAY not be dead, but the Ramones, it would seem, have finally bitten the dust – like the spaghetti western mercenaries to whom they ...
J.J. Cale: 25 Years From Tulsa: J.J. Cale
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, April 1996
FIFTEEN MINUTES before J.J. Cale is due to take the famous stage of Manhattan’s Carnegie Hall, a wiry, hobo-ish figure can be seen wandering across ...
Pet Shop Boys: An Attitude Thing
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 20 April 1996
THERE IS NO MORE embarrassing chapter in the big book of Pop Interview Ritual than the one in which you're forced to listen to music ...
The Blue Nile: Peace with Honour: The Blue Nile
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, 7 June 1996
WHEN PAUL Buchanan opens the new Blue Nile album with the question "Now that I’ve found peace at last/Tell me, Jesus, will it last?", his ...
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 8 June 1996
GEORGE CLINTON has learnt some things in five decades of music-making, and one of them is how to make an entrance. As the Clinton party ...
The Gospel according to Anthony Heilbut
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, 24 June 1996
From Mahalia Jackson to Death in Venice might seem a long journey. But for Anthony Heilbut, the renowned gospel expert and author of a new ...
Report by Sheryl Garratt, The Independent, July 1996
WE'RE IN THE atrium of a sleek, modern, five-star hotel that is actually in Moscow but could be almost anywhere in the world. In the ...
The Animals, Jimi Hendrix, Slade: Chas Chandler 1938-1996
Obituary by Chris Welch, The Independent, 17 July 1996
WHEN JIMI Hendrix set fire to his guitar, Chas Chandler was ready with the lighter fuel. When Slade were desperate for a new image, Chandler ...
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 3 August 1996
Older, wiser and even smoother, Eighties teen sensations New Edition are back together. But this isn't just a nostalgia trip ...
Evan Dando, The Lemonheads: Evan Dando and the Pop Walkabout
Essay by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, September 1996
IN DON DeLillo’s 1973 novel Great Jones Street, a rock star named Bucky Wunderlick decides to quit his band and disappear from the music industry. ...
Horace Andy, Massive Attack: Horace Andy: Put It All Down To His Quaver
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 26 September 1996
Horace Andy has fathered 16 children. He's also had a long career in reggae. ...
Profile by Ben Thompson, The Independent, October 1996
THERE HAS ALWAYS been a place in pop for the driven outsider: the writer or performer spurred on by their own personal bob-a-job scout pack ...
Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons: How We Met: Emmylou Harris and Phil Kaufman
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Independent, 5 October 1996
THE SINGER Emmylou Harris, 47, was born in Birmingham, Alabama. She started her career singing with country rock pioneer Gram Parsons, then after his death ...
Baby Bird: The Fledgling Has Landed
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 12 October 1996
A one-man bedroom band is suddenly topping the charts. Ben Thompson meets Baby Bird ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 12 November 1996
THE TINDERSTICKS' image is set in stone. Their debut double-album three years ago was full of songs of desperate love, back-alley violence and occasional masturbation. ...
David Bowie: Earthling (RCA 7432144944 2)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 21 January 1997
What comes through most strongly is the way Bowie retains an obsessional interest in the sheer variety and extremity of sound ...
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Independent, 1 February 1997
"I can't listen to Days of Open Hand without feeling like I'm getting hives. It was such a difficult album to make, I was doing ...
Blur: Blur (Reprise 9362-46236-2)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 7 February 1997
LOUDLY HERALDED as the pyre upon which their former Britpop selves have been ritually dispatched, Blur certainly takes some getting used to, though it's questionable ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 18 February 1997
THE RELATIONSHIP of Denim's Lawrence to the music industry was sado-masochistic from the start. In the Eighties, he put out an album a year with ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 7 March 1997
THE WORLD outside this venue thought De La Soul was dead. Ever since their follow-up to the 1989's landmark 3 Feet High and Rising announced ...
Wilco: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, April 1997
WILCO'S SINGER-SONGWRITER Jeff Tweedy was maimed by rock 'n' roll, tamed by rock 'n' roll, named by rock 'n' roll, according to the most wistful ...
Tricky: Hackney Empire/Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 25 April 1997
TRICKY'S MIND can't freeze long enough to be recorded. Since Maxinquaye's trip-hop trigger, he's been too edgy, too impatient, to stay in the studio honing ...
Prefab Sprout: Paddy McAloon: Sprout on his own
Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 9 May 1997
Prefab Sprout's Paddy McAloon talks to Nick Coleman about his new album, epic songs of the heart and why he flies in the face of ...
Echo & The Bunnymen: Echo and the Bunnymen - live in Liverpool
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 23 May 1997
IT'S HARD to remember now how much Echo and the Bunnymen meant. Fourteen years ago, they were crowned Kings of Rock, each album was greeted ...
Profile by John McCready, The Independent, 23 May 1997
IT IS inevitable and happens to everyone. James Brown's new bag is now full of holes. David Bowie, a former ideas factory, is reduced to ...
Gillian Welch: As Real And As Raw As It Gets
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Independent, 7 June 1997
Mark Cooper samples Gillian Welch's alternative bluegrass ...
Radiohead: First Impression: OK Computer
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 13 June 1997
EXPERTLY SURFING THE WAVE of pre-millennial tension, OK Computer offers a dozen snapshots of contemporary unease that combine to form a larger picture of The ...
Arab Strap: The Garage, Islington, London
Live Review by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 19 June 1997
"Best band to be named after an instrument of sado-masochistic gratification" ...
John Lennon, Yoko Ono: Yoko Ono: Starting Over
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 24 June 1997
YOKO ONO was a lightning rod for the Sixties' most vicious currents. John Lennon was a man she'd barely heard of, a man she fell ...
John Cale: Remembrance Of Things Past
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 28 June 1997
WHEN THE VELVET Underground split, John Cale flew the coop most effectively. While his partner Lou Reed (who evicted Cale from the band in 1968) ...
Fun Lovin' Criminals: Gangstas of Cheese
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 11 July 1997
10CC'S 'I'M NOT in Love' seems unlikely material for three New York rappers. But the Fun Lovin' Criminals' cartoon pastiches – mixing Scorsese with Scooby ...
Profile and Interview by Andrew Mueller, The Independent, 11 July 1997
THE LAND AROUND here looks like nothing much at all, which is why it can be made to look like almost anything you like. ...
The Beatles: Derek Taylor, 1932-1997
Obituary by Chris Welch, The Independent, 9 September 1997
DEREK TAYLOR, the Beatles' press officer, brought calm, authority and a sense of dignity to the chaos of the '60s. As spokesman for the band ...
Comment by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 3 October 1997
WHEN BOB DYLAN hovered briefly between life and death last summer, his heart seemingly about to give in, his condition reported in headlines round the ...
Bob Dylan: Enter Good-Time Bob
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 3 October 1997
Bob Dylan: Bournemouth ...
Chess Records: The Original Blues Brothers
Interview by James Maycock, The Independent, November 1997
"WOW, YOU guys are really getting it on!" exclaimed Chuck Berry, observing the Rolling Stones cut 'Down The Road Apiece', a track he'd recorded himself ...
Charlie Mingus: Charles Mingus: A Musical Misfit In Black And White
Retrospective by James Maycock, The Independent, 28 November 1997
A traumatic childhood and a dramatic life characterised the career of the bassist Charles Mingus. James Maycock looks at a documentary on a 'phenomenal musician ...
CTI Records: Coffee Table Jazz For The 1970's
Retrospective by James Maycock, The Independent, December 1997
CREED TAYLOR was extremely shrewd at marketing jazz to those who were nervous of the genre, particularly after the discordant shreaks & squeaks made by ...
Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: Docklands Arena, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 9 December 1997
Tellin' stories... over again ...
Lullaby for the Working Class: Lullabies From Wide Open Skies
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 19 December 1997
Nebraska's Lullaby for the Working Class's unusual country-influenced music comes complete with religious imagery, Tolstoy, and the loneliness of their home state. Nick Hasted met ...
The High Llamas: Cecil Sharp House, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 22 December 1997
WITHIN EARSHOT of London Zoo's lions, inside the splendour of the English Folk Song Society's walls, Sean O'Hagan is trying to raise a ghost. A ...
Jaco Pastorius, Weather Report: Jaco Pastorius
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 1998
AS JOHN LENNON proclaimed in the 1970 Rolling Stone interview which effectively announced his final break with the Beatles, "Genius is pain". What he neglected ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 16 January 1998
IF, AS SOME believe, 1998 is to be the year that France finally produces pop music of international appeal, then synth duo Air are the ...
Georgie Fame: Fame at the Flamingo: Golden years in Soho
Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, The Independent, 16 January 1998
Georgie Fame and his band were regular performers at a nightclub that was a catalyst for British music in the early '60s. He looks back ...
Richard Thompson: Waterfront Hall, Belfast
Live Review by Colin Harper, The Independent, 21 January 1998
BELFAST'S WATERFRONT Hall embodies all the characteristics of a provincial Barbican – a kind of clinical, beige Gormenghast of a place where corridors lead to ...
Ian Brown, The Stone Roses: You're Ian Brown... Do Something!
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 26 January 1998
The singer of the Stone Roses did not die with the group: his single is in the Top 5, and an album is on the ...
George Clinton and his P-Funk All-Stars: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 28 January 1998
Groove doesn't go deep enough ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Celebrating Bob Marley at Studio One
Retrospective by James Maycock, The Independent, February 1998
On the 35th anniversary of Studio One ...
Terry Callier: Look At Me Now: The Return Of Terry Callier
Profile and Interview by James Maycock, The Independent, February 1998
DEFINING THE "soul" part of soul music is a tricky issue – it's one of the bigger questions. The music's intangible qualities are often the ...
Yes: Live At Manchester Apollo
Live Review by John McCready, The Independent, February 1998
LIKE ALICE Cooper, who I saw late last year playing the same game, it's interesting to note that former forces of the 1970s are bowing ...
Wishbone Ash: Empire Music Hall, Belfast
Live Review by Colin Harper, The Independent, 10 February 1998
THERE WAS A TIME, as schoolboys of certain vintage will doubtless recall, when knowing the line-up details of the more venerable British rock bands really ...
Madonna: Ray of Light (Maverick 9362-46847-2)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 27 February 1998
Ray of Light opens like an Eno album from the mid-Seventies, with an amorphous, watery blur of sound. It even has an Eno-soundalike title, or ...
Miles Davis: The Miles Davis Quintet 1965-1968: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings
Retrospective by James Maycock, The Independent, March 1998
"YOU GET THE RIGHT GUYS to play the right things at the right time and you got a motherfucker!" recalled Miles Davis in his inimitable ...
Suicide: Garage, Highbury, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 9 March 1998
LEAVING THE house shrieking with manic glee at the sound of a band being booed off stage 20 years ago for 23 minutes straight, walking ...
CCS: The Tune that Hooked a Generation
Retrospective by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 30 April 1998
Nick Coleman explains why Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love' will always be Top of the Pops ...
Chet Baker: 10th Anniversary Of Chet Baker’s Death
Retrospective by James Maycock, The Independent, May 1998
"WHAT’S YOUR favourite type of high?" inquires Bruce Weber towards the end of his film Let’s Get Lost. Chet Baker’s answer is unsettling. ...
Princes And Peasants Of Medieval Pop
Overview by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 22 May 1998
Musicians have long been fascinated by the Middle Ages. Perhaps it's down to the tight trousers and catamites. ...
Smashing Pumpkins: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 26 May 1998
WHEN THE last great American rock-'n'-roll band left alive hit the stage, it's like Britpop never happened. ...
Kenickie: These Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 28 May 1998
KENICKIE ARE SLUMPED in the shadow of a hundred teen idols. From the wall of their rehearsal room cafe, signed photos of former sensations, from ...
David Bowie: A Rock 'n' Roll Suicide: A live art event by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard: ICA London
Report by Nick Coleman, The Independent, July 1998
"OF ALL THE SHOWS on this tour, this particular show will remain with us the longest. Not only is it the last show of the ...
The Skatalites: This Dance Music Is Dangerous To Your Heath: The Skatalites & The Birth Of Ska
Retrospective by James Maycock, The Independent, July 1998
WITH THE passing of time, a tragic event sometimes reveals a comic nuance. One night in 1964, the Skatalites were performing at Club Calypso in ...
Young Turk Who Got The Blues: Ahmet Ertegun & The 50th Anniversary Of Atlantic
Profile and Interview by James Maycock, The Independent, July 1998
IN HUNDREDS of photographs, Ahmet Ertegun appears anonymously beside the famous. The celebrity might be a gaunt Phil Spector, Mick Jagger grinning widely or a ...
Metro & The Birth Of The British Sound System
Profile and Interview by James Maycock, The Independent, August 1998
"AMPLIFICATION AND records – if you have those 2 items, then you can go somewhere," states the man called Metro. Born with the slightly less ...
Profile by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, August 1998
I’LL CONFESS I’m shocked that Michael Jackson has reached the ripe old age of 40. More shocked, indeed, than by the fact that Keith Richards ...
B.B. King: The Day B.B. King Went to Jail
Retrospective by James Maycock, The Independent, 11 September 1998
ON A SUBLIME autumn day in 1970, B.B. King performed for 2,117 prisoners in Cook County Jail. Against the sound of B.B. King's musicians ...
David Bowie, T. Rex: Glad to be Glam!
Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, 12 September 1998
What do the original devotees think of Ziggy, Bolan, platform boots and glitter 25 years on? Will the latest revival of '70s androgyny take off? ...
Cypress Hill: The Astoria, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 16 September 1998
Beat generation ...
Marilyn Manson: Mechanical Animals (Nothing/Universal/Interscope)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 17 September 1998
IN CASE you've been off-planet the past few years, Marilyn Manson is the latest American androgyne perv bogeyman, sent to terrify liberals just as much ...
The Beta Band: Things can only get Beta
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 18 September 1998
Where the four-piece pop group goes to die, there lurks the Beta Band. ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 25 September 1998
NAMED AFTER Greil Marcus's evocative description of The Band's early albums, this latest offering from Mercury Rev is, by some distance, the best pop record ...
Jonathan Richman: There's Something about Jonathan
Retrospective and Interview by Max Bell, The Independent, 25 September 1998
Jonathan Richman introduced us to the abominable snowman in the supermarket. Now, like wow, he's a film star. ...
Bob Dylan: Live 1966: "The Royal Albert Hall Concert" (Columbia)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 8 October 1998
1966 WAS POP music's annus mirabilis: Revolver, Pet Sounds, Freak Out! and Blonde On Blonde were all released then, and Bob Dylan spent much of ...
Lisa Germano: Happy to be Centre Stage, at Long Last
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 15 October 1998
Big stars? Glum rockers? Don't let the buggers grind you down. Lisa Germano didn't. ...
Badly Drawn Boy: Portrait of an Artist in the Making
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 22 October 1998
Badly Drawn Boy is challenging pop's establishment. He's that hard, is Damon. ...
The Pop Group, Mark Stewart: The Pop Group: The Politics of Dancing
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 29 October 1998
THE POP GROUP'S life was brief and fierce. Begun in 1978, collapsing in 1980, the Bristol teenagers' insertion of black funk, free jazz, dub and ...
Interview by Colin Harper, The Independent, 30 October 1998
CIRCA 1984, and during one of those latterday sojourns in the course of the once Old and Grey Whistle Test's sleepy history when it found ...
Atari Teenage Riot: The Garage, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 6 November 1998
The revolution has been postponed ...
Whitney Houston: My Love Is Your Love (Arista)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 13 November 1998
HER FIRST non-soundtrack work in eight years, My Love Is Your Love, finds Whitney Houston trying to re-position herself in a more youthful context. The ...
Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Godspeed You Black Emperor!: The Garage, London
Live Review by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 27 November 1998
The sound of Hank Marvin, plunging into deep space ...
Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Godspeed You Black Emperor!
Report by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 1999
A SHARP, PISTOL-LIKE report from an overloading monitor causes the already pained-looking sound engineer to wince into his levels meter. Godspeed You Black Emperor! have ...
Sly & Robbie: Sly ‘n’ Robbie on Drum ‘n’ Bass
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 1999
Drum ‘n’ bass: it’s the foundation of popular music, the engine which drives rock, pop, soul, funk, jazz, reggae and anything else you care to ...
Profile by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, February 1999
“Observe how a queen do...” ('Final Hour') ...
Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Will Oldham, Smog: Bonnie "Prince" Billy & Smog: The Country Frontlash
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 12 February 1999
Bill Callahan and Will Oldham are acclaimed pioneers of alternative country, yet the former is inspired by the Wu-Tang Clan and the latter does heavy ...
Steve Earle, The Del McCoury Band: Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band: The Mountain
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 19 February 1999
THE LATE '90s have been something of a golden period for Steve Earle: this is his fourth album in as many years, and they've all ...
Johnny Clarke: Busy Doing Nothing: Johnny Clarke, the Reggae Idler
Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, The Independent, March 1999
THE COMPETITIVE MUSICAL CLIMATE was so intense in mid-'70s Kingston, that Jamaica's capital city was given the soubriquet "Third World Nashville". Hundreds of aspiring ...
Mogwai: Come On, Feel The Noise
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 19 March 1999
Mogwai play loud. (And very quiet.) And they have a few sordid myths they'd like to dispel. ...
Wilco: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 1 April 1999
SUMMERTEETH, THE THIRD instalment in Wilco's quest to distil the early 1970s moment when American rock's explosive prime was replaced by pretty pop melodies is ...
Eminem: The Slim Shady LP (Interscope)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 8 April 1999
This Week's big noise — Eminem ...
Tom Waits: Mule Variations (Epitaph)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 15 April 1999
The Big Noise ...
Echo & The Bunnymen: Echo and The Bunnymen at Mayfair, Newcastle
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 16 April 1999
THE NEW Echo & The Bunnymen album is a brave move forward, a disavowal of the band's grand past for simple statements of ageing and ...
Elvis Costello at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 19 April 1999
THERE'S BEEN loose talk lately that Elvis Costello is becoming an irrelevance. The only one of his Nineties albums to gain pop acceptance was an ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 29 April 1999
BROADER IN musical conception than their previous albums, Head Music reflects two basic changes in Suede's working methods since Coming Up. The most obvious is ...
Tom Waits: Variations on Tom Waits
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, May 1999
FEW OF the patrons of the China Light diner in Santa Rosa look up when Tom Waits shuffles through the door. Attired in coarse indigo ...
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, May 1999
WILCO MAINSTAYS Jeff Tweedy (twinkly, weatherbeaten) and Jay Bennett (burly, dreadlocked) are savouring a momentary pause between engagements. A beleagured two-man colony of battered denim ...
Pavement: Blimey! It's Pavement
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 13 May 1999
They're the masters of American underground rock. Blur kneel at their lo-fi altar. So why is Pavement's new album a homage to cricket and darts? ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, June 1999
"Thirty years upon the stage/ I hear the people say, ‘Why won’t he go away?’" ...
The Rolling Stones: White Men Sing The Blues: The Rolling Stones and Black Culture
Essay by James Maycock, The Independent, June 1999
IN JULY 1972, at the end of another chaotic, decadent but also highly profitable Rolling Stones tour, a sumptuous party was thrown on the roof ...
Willard Grant Conspiracy: Songs of Suffocation and Hard-Won Hope
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, June 1999
IT'S AN embarrassment of riches, a shotgun marriage of two underselling headliners that works an instant alchemy. On a bill that began at an ungodly ...
Retrospective by James Maycock, The Independent, July 1999
IN PARIS, A COUPLE of weeks before his death on 15th March, 1959, Lester Young spoke about his friend, Billie Holiday. "She’s still my ...
Van Dyke Parks: The Greatest Collaborator
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, July 1999
VAN DYKE PARKS knows people who know. He always has. He has the CV of Woody Allen's Zelig, is in the corner of the picture ...
Profile by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, August 1999
"WHY DO people always have a go at Belgium?" These are the first words uttered by John Peel on the night of Tuesday 24th August, ...
Live Review by Colin Harper, The Independent, 5 August 1999
God plays a mean guitar ...
Grateful Dead: Kesey Rides Again
Report by Gavin Martin, The Independent, 9 August 1999
THE MAGIC BUS pulls up at the Peace Monument late on Friday afternoon, bringing a blaze of colour and a blast of noise to the ...
The Walkabouts: The Band That Came Back From The Edge Of The World
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 24 September 1999
THE WALKABOUTS MET and got the hell out of Seattle before the music industry had even heard of the place. Fifteen years on, having survived ...
Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham: Penn & Oldham: Good Ol' Boys In The Hood
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, November 1999
DAN PENN'S writing credits read like a soul jukebox. Often working with his friend Spooner Oldham, Penn was behind many of the defining songs from ...
Death In Vegas: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 9 November 1999
Return to primal instincts ...
Nina Simone: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
Retrospective by James Maycock, The Independent, 10 November 1999
In the Sixties, Nina Simone's music radically espoused black civil rights. But by the turn of the decade she had rejected politics. Why? ...
Bill Drummond, The KLF: Bill Drummond: 45
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 2000
"POP MUSIC," writes Bill Drummond, "has become like a cancer that has spread through my whole body and is now affecting my brain." Having been ...
Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music: Glam’s Great Melancholic: Bryan Ferry
Profile by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, 2000
BY HIS OWN slightly shamefaced admission, the first thought that raced through Bryan Ferry’s mind as he came within a hair’s breadth of plunging to ...
Jimmy Smith’s Hammond Organ Revolution
Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, The Independent, January 2000
BEFORE JIMMY SMITH revolutionized the archaic Hammond organ, the lethargic sound this bulky, brown instrument emitted was frequently described, like an ailing patient, as "wheezing." ...
Last Night A DJ Saved My Life: Tale Of Turntable Wizards Misses Several Beats
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 5 January 2000
Last Night A DJ Saved My Life: the history of the disc jockey by Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton (Headline) ...
Santana: Jack of All Trades: Carlos Santana
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 14 January 2000
AROUND THIS TIME every year, the American music industry holds its collective breath as the Grammy awards nominations are announced, eager to see which of ...
Smog, Will Oldham: Heading For The Ditch: Smog and Will Oldham
Report and Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, February 2000
IT'S ONLY THE first week in February and already spring's sonic daffodils are poking through the boy-band mulch. Those who feared they would live their ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 4 February 2000
ONE OF the problems of being a critically-lauded cult success with scant resources is that fans' well-meaning allowances can lead to low expectations, particularly regarding ...
Warren Zevon: Pictures From Life's Other Side
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 4 February 2000
'Death doesn't scare me. I have the impression that life is the lobby and death is the apartment – maybe it's OK' ...
Steely Dan: Countdown To Ecstasy
Review and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 18 February 2000
When Steely Dan vocalist Donald Fagen released his second solo album, Kamakiriad, in 1993, fans marvelled at the inordinate length of time it had taken ...
Susumu Yokota: Ambient Confessions of a Japanese Technohead
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 1 March 2000
THE IDEA OF an ambient recording that stops you in your tracks might seem to be a contradiction in terms, but Susumu Yokota's Image 1983-1998 ...
Unlikely Fruits of Apartheid: South African Sounds in the Post-War Era
Report by Andy Farquarson, The Independent, 5 March 2000
THE SEGREGATION OF music played a significant role in supporting South Africa's post-war National Party policy of "separate development". This little-known facet of apartheid has ...
Brothers In Sound: The (Much) Beta Band
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 3 April 2000
You could put it down to the fact that they're in the throes of an identity crisis, but, Hanson haircuts aside, Brothers in Sound are ...
David Byrne: The King of Afropea: David Byrne
Interview by Andy Farquarson, The Independent, 11 June 2000
"Isn't this where the Profumo thing started?" someone asks. We're soaking up the seedy mock-opulence of The Eve Club on Regent Street and, for the ...
Cypress Hill: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 23 June 2000
CYPRESS HILL'S 1993 breakthrough Black Sunday straddled every hip-hop fault line. Racially, Italian-American rapper B-Real joined Latinos DJ Muggs and Sen-Dog in a traditionally black-American ...
Bert Jansch: The Dazzling Bert Jansch
Report and Interview by Colin Harper, The Independent, 23 June 2000
"MY INTEREST IN ALBUMS usually wanes around this point," says Bert Jansch, 57 this year and, for all the outward appearance of a man who ...
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 1 July 2000
I'm a Man: Sex, Gods And Rock'n'roll by Ruth Padel (Faber & Faber, £12.99, 409pp) ...
Mark Eitzel: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 14 August 2000
It's not all doom and gloom ...
Underworld: And Then There Were Two: Underworld
Report and Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 25 August 2000
I SAW KARL HYDE get on a train with his baby daughter once, at Liverpool Street station. On the face of it, this was not ...
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, September 2000
"WHEN YOU'RE YOUNG", explains 29-year old North London electro-soul auteur Leila Arab, "you get into these strange emotional states - either of over the top ...
Robbie Williams: The Unlikely Lad: Robbie Williams
Profile by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, September 2000
THE FIRST TIME I saw Robbie Williams in the flesh was backstage at an Oasis show at Earl’s Court in 1995. At that point the ...
Jackie Leven, Andy White and Michael Weston King: Purcell Room, South Bank Centre, London
Live Review by Gavin Martin, The Independent, 26 September 2000
THE THREE performers sit together on stage, taking the lead in strict rotation; it isn't long before their individual strengths and weaknesses become apparent. ...
Faust: Nosferatu Soundtrack, Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, October 2000
Interludes With A Vampire ...
Robert Wyatt and Annie Whitehead: Songs In The Key Of Louth
Report and Interview by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 25 October 2000
The trombonist Annie Whitehead has arranged a suite of Robert Wyatt's tunes, spanning 25 years of his off-beat career. Nick Coleman talks to them in ...
U2: All That You Can't Leave Behind
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 27 October 2000
HAVING SPENT the majority of the past decade searching for ways to rejuvenate the jaded stadium-rock formula — as much for their own benefit as ...
British Sea Power: Naval Gazing For Beginners: British Sea Power
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, November 2000
DESPITE ITS GRANDIOSE name, North London indie refuge The Monarch is the sort of venue which often struggles for mythological significance. Yet when British Sea ...
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, November 2000
"AND THE LIGHT it burns your skin," Low's Alan Sparhawk intones tenderly, his voice flickering like a candle by a sash window, "In a language ...
Elvis Presley: Presley/Clinton: Bill Has Left The Building
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 4 November 2000
Double Trouble: Bill Clinton and Elvis Presley in the land of no alternatives by Greil Marcus (Faber & Faber, £9.99, 248pp) ...
Roy Harper: Errigle Inn, Belfast
Live Review by Colin Harper, The Independent, 6 November 2000
RELEASING HIS THIRTY-SIXTH ALBUM, and still best-known to the world at large as a bloke who once sang on a Pink Floyd record ('Have A ...
Eminem: Hip Hop’s Trailer-Trash Wunderkind
Profile by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, 16 December 2000
FIRST CAME Elvis – America’s worst nightmare, the white-trash negro. Then came Mick Jagger and Marilyn Manson, Johnny Rotten and Kurt Cobain, Tupac Shakur and ...
The Magnetic Fields: Lyric Theatre, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 18 January 2001
Pop avalanche from a New York bar ...
Kevin Coyne: Exile on Hauptstrasse
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 19 January 2001
IN 1985, KEVIN COYNE walked out of his Clapham flat, saying goodbye to his wife and two children, on his way to a short tour ...
Marilyn Manson: NEC, Birmingham
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 23 January 2001
THE FEARFUL naivety of the American mainstream that hates him has made Marilyn Manson the multi-million selling man he is today. ...
Jack Costanzo: And The Beat Goes On… Mr Bongo: Jack Costanzo
Profile and Interview by James Maycock, The Independent, 2 February 2001
The Man Who Started The '50's Bongo Craze ...
Eminem: Love, Hate And The Only Important Pop Star Left
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 9 February 2001
Eminem: Evening News Arena, Manchester ...
Purple Prose From The Many Voices Of The Blues
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 12 February 2001
David Dalton: Been Here And Gone: A Memoir Of The Blues (Methuen, 386pp; £10.99) ...
Elvis Presley: The Once And Future King
Film/DVD/TV Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, March 2001
WE ALL KNOW the way it was in the Seventies, Elvis Presley's last eight years on earth. He spent them as a bloated, drug-glazed fraud, ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, April 2001
KEVIN COYNE has been balancing on the border of sanity for more than 30 years now. Adolescent jobs as a psychiatric nurse, arts therapist and ...
Music: The Key To Getting Rich, High And Laid
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 5 April 2001
Black Vinyl White Powder by Simon Napier-Bell (Ebury Press, £16.99) ...
Sparklehorse: Borderline, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 10 April 2001
FIVE YEARS ago, just before the release of his band Sparklehorse's first album, Mark Linkous collapsed in his hotel room from an excess of Valium ...
Autechre: Mathematics is the new rock'n'roll
Interview by Mike Barnes, The Independent, 29 April 2001
Being formulaic is what techno duo Autechre do. Good, says Mike Barnes ...
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, May 2001
A DISEMBODIED VOICE with a slight hint of helium in it intoning the words "I taught myself to survive a four storey fall wearing a ...
Essay by Ben Thompson, The Independent, May 2001
IN HENRY JAMES' 1873 short story ‘The Madonna of the Future’, the American protagonist visits the city of Florence, where he encounters a strange and ...
Elbow: Asleep in the Back (V2)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 4 May 2001
WHAT'S IN a name? The Bury-based indie combo Elbow found out a year or two ago when, after Universal's swallowing of their label, Island, they ...
Tales From The Funky Side Of Town: “Soul” and “Funk”, Then and Now
Essay by James Maycock, The Independent, June 2001
"YOU'D BE SURPRISED how time can change the meaning of a word," rasped black comedian, Redd Foxx, during a performance at Harlem's Apollo Theatre in ...
Turin Brakes and the New Acoustica
Essay by Ben Thompson, The Independent, June 2001
IN 1971, LESTER BANGS wrote an article for the American magazine Who Put The Bomp (reprinted in the Serpent's Tail anthology Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor ...
Björk: The Last Great Pop Star
Interview by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 9 August 2001
She thumps reporters, wears funny clothes and thinks she was born in the wrong century. Now she's made an album about her kitchen. Nick Coleman ...
Bill Callahan, Smog: Bill Callahan: I want to be alone
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 21 September 2001
Alt-country's reluctant star, Bill Callahan, aka Smog, is not a man to stand still. Or get too close to people. Or talk much. Andy Gill ...
Pulp: Jarvis Cocker: Sorted For Trees and Weeds
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, October 2001
AMID THE RUMPLED grandeur of West London's Cobden Club, the familiar angular figure of Jarvis Cocker stands out like a sore index finger. His ...
Bonnie "Prince" Billy: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 6 November 2001
THE MAN ON stage with the bulging barfly beard and ruffled scraps of remaining hair may not look much like royalty. But Bonnie "Prince" Billy, ...
Phil Ochs: Bringing It All Back Home
Comment by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 9 November 2001
"WHILE THE Movement died a natural death, the music died by hanging," Esquire's headline said when the protest singer Phil Ochs committed suicide in 1976. ...
Paul McCartney: Normally, He's A Pacifist
Interview by Gavin Martin, The Independent, 15 November 2001
SIR PAUL had been up in the city to promote his Driving Rain album and 'Freedom' single, a song which has prompted some to suggest ...
Jonathan King: Is Jonathan King A Monster, Or Is He Being Monstered?
Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 23 November 2001
PUBLIC MONSTER NUMBER ONE: the space in the media landscape currently occupied by Jonathan King effectively renders him the missing link between Osama bin Laden ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, December 2001
SMOG'S BILL CALLAHAN remains an enigma not, it seems, because he won't say anything, but because he can't. ...
Mick Farren: Devout Deviant Takes A Trip Down Memory Lane
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 7 December 2001
Mick Farren: Give the Anarchist a Cigarette ...
The Pogues: Academy, Manchester
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 17 December 2001
NO ONE THOUGHT this would happen again. When Shane MacGowan split from the Pogues in 1991, because of growing drunken unreliability, the idea that he'd ...
Jim O'Rourke: Catching Jim O'Rourke's Drift
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Independent, January 2002
THE CARDIGAN-clad figure of Jim O' Rourke looks up from his Holiday Inn coffee. "I'm a nightmare," he warns, pointing with a smile to a ...
Flying High With The General Patton Of Pot: Smokescreen By Robert Sabbag (Canongate Books)
Book Review by James Maycock, The Independent, January 2002
ROBERT SABBAG'S Smokescreen, subtitled "A True Adventure," reads like a Boy's Own escapade. Its swashbuckling protagonist, Allen Long, blessed with a princely face and an ...
Kelly Joe Phelps: Blackheath Halls, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, January 2002
THIS PLUSH municipal concert hall in the well-heeled south London neighbourhood of Blackheath may seem a strange destination for the blues. But it's not as ...
The Streets: UK Rap: The word on The Streets
Interview by Gavin Martin, The Independent, 15 March 2002
WHEN MIKE SKINNER, aka The Streets, the 22-year-old lyrical king of British rap, discovers I live within the sound of Bow Bells, he's immediately curious. ...
Obituary by Chris Welch, The Independent, 22 March 2002
Roy Hollingworth, journalist, singer, guitarist and composer: born Derby 12 April 1949; married 1999 Anthea Yeomans; died Kingston upon Thames, Surrey 9 March 2002. ...
Rock Bottom: The Music Industry In Trouble
Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 9 April 2002
WHEN ROLLING STONES manager Andrew Loog Oldham founded his own company, Immediate Records, in the 1960s, the paper sleeve of each and every single bore ...
Mary J. Blige: Mary J Blige: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Gavin Martin, The Independent, 26 April 2002
IT WAS FOOLISH to think that the first lady of hip hop soul would abide by the title of her latest, and greatest-selling, album, No ...
Live Review by Simon Price, The Independent, 2 June 2002
"DO YOU BELIEVE in the power of rock'n'roll?" Goldblade's John Robb does, and by the time he's asked us for the twentieth time, we do ...
Le Tigre: King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow
Live Review by Simon Price, The Independent, 2 June 2002
LONG AGO, IN ANOTHER LIFE, I got into a spot of bother after beginning a review of Bikini Kill/Huggy Bear's shared album with the semi-humourously ...
The Breeders: Academy, Birmingham
Live Review by Simon Price, The Independent, 2 June 2002
TWINS, THEY SAY, ARE TELEPATHIC. When my mother gave birth to me in Cardiff, her same-age sister felt the pain halfway around the world in ...
David Bowie: Ziggy Played Guitar (But Never Took His Eyes Off The Business)
Profile by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 9 June 2002
"TIME," AS DAVID BOWIE once sang. "is waiting in the wings." As far as Bowie himself, who turned 55 last January, is concerned, time seems ...
David Bowie: Ziggy Stardust, now a man of wealth and taste
Essay by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, 15 June 2002
IT IS NO COINCIDENCE that June 2002 is turning out to be David Bowie month. This time 30 years ago, trading under the plastic-fantastic moniker ...
Hank Dogs: The Ivy House, Nunhead
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, July 2002
TEN YEARS THEY'VE done this, and few are any the wiser. Even when Nick Drake's legendary producer Joe Boyd declared Hank Dogs the first British ...
B.B. King: A Monarch on Merseyside: BB King
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, 12 July 2002
"MY BAND tells me I’ve earned the right to siddown if I wanna," says the vast man with the twinkly eyes. "I wanna." ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 1 August 2002
IT'S A SWELTERING Sunday night in London's West End, and inside this venue, a West Indian community meeting is in progress. ...
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 22 August 2002
IN 1971, WHEN he was 18, Tom Ovans dropped into an underground America, and never came back. Born into a working-class community just outside of ...
Jeff Beck: Who wants to be a guitar hero?
Profile and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 8 September 2002
WHEN FRANK ZAPPA'S son Dweezil showed up in London recently toting – or touting – the Fender Stratocaster torched by Jimi Hendrix at the 1968 ...
Steve Earle: The Dissent Of Man
Report and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 20 September 2002
Forget Springsteen's posturing and the redneck mentality of Toby Keith; it's Steve Earle's response to September 11 that has been causing a stir in the ...
Solomon Burke: Barbican, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 11 October 2002
IT'S BEEN 28 YEARS since the self-styled king of rock'n'soul last graced a British stage, at which rate this could be a farewell performance, too. ...
Richard Buckner: Impasse (Fargo)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 6 December 2002
RICHARD BUCKNER'S four previous albums somehow slipped under my radar, an indication, perhaps, of the difficulties that fringe talents experience in securing adequate promotion and ...
Country Joe & The Fish: Country Joe McDonald: No Ordinary Joe
Interview by Robert Sandall, The Independent, 13 December 2002
THERE'S LITTLE ABOUT the small, stocky frame of the 60-year-old Country Joe McDonald that would lead one to pinpoint him as a firebrand political activist ...
Live Review by Simon Price, The Independent, 15 December 2002
I KNOW IT'S only rock'n'roll, but it's better than a game of squash. ...
Solomon Burke: Solomon In All His Glory
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 20 December 2002
The greatest male soul singers are Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye and Solomon Burke. But, unlike the others, Burke is very much alive, as ...
Adam Faith: The Singer and Showman
Obituary by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 9 March 2003
LIKE MOST OF his 1950s contemporaries, Terry Nelhams from Acton, West London, received his first taste of the joys of music-making as a member of ...
Richard Thompson: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 17 March 2003
WHITE, MIDDLE-AGED English men dominate a crowd who have packed this venue to bursting for a man barely known outside their tribe. ...
MC5 members and friends: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 21 March 2003
FORGED IN DETROIT in 1965, the MC5 played rock'n'roll in an America where motorbike police charged their fans, and ferment and trouble trailed the band ...
Vic Chesnutt: Dark Side of The Tune
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 4 April 2003
IN 1983, VIC CHESNUTT, an obscure country misfit, was 18, drunk again, and crashing his car in America's southern state of Georgia. When he woke ...
The White Stripes: Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 11 April 2003
THE WHITE STRIPES find out the day before this first show of their tour that Elephant, the startling beast of a record that they made ...
The White Stripes: The Special Relationship
Profile by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 11 April 2003
THE PERFECT BLUEPRINT for a band devised by Jack and Meg White in Detroit obscurity six years ago has put them at rock's pinnacle today. ...
Solomon Burke, Van Morrison: Van Morrison/Solomon Burke: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Gavin Martin, The Independent, 21 April 2003
THE POTENTIAL that the double bill offered for a soulman super summit was certainly enticing – Solomon Burke, the veteran preacherman from Philadelphia, and George ...
Beck: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 1 May 2003
BECK HAS thrown Bob Dylan's career into reverse. He has arrived at a venue famous for being scandalised by Bob going electric to unplug his ...
Lucinda Williams: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Gavin Martin, The Independent, 6 May 2003
Southern Rebel returns to London Stage with the confidence her songs deserve ...
Blur: This Is A High For A Refreshed Blur
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 12 May 2003
Blur: The Astoria, London ...
Macy Gray: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 26 May 2003
MACY GRAY'S RECORDS rarely seem to match up to her image: the flaky, funky, erratic, but traditional soul sister. This was the kind of entertainer ...
Radiohead: Hail To The Thief (Parlophone)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 6 June 2003
THOSE RADIOHEAD fans hankering after the band's more mainstream indie-rock style will be heartened by the first sound they hear on Hail To The Thief, ...
Comment by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 6 June 2003
IN 2000, RADIOHEAD'S Kid A was delivered to journalists like Holy Writ, handed out individually to the chosen few in a candle-lit chamber. It's 2003, ...
Steely Dan: A Droll Double Act
Interview by Gavin Martin, The Independent, 6 June 2003
IT IS LATE AFTERNOON before Walter Becker and Don Fagen greet their first interviewer of the day. The two men, who first fronted a band ...
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Forum, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 12 June 2003
THE HEADY MIX of hype and talent bubbling around the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, from New York, on this one-off return to London should have made ...
Kelly Joe Phelps at the Jazz Café, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 13 June 2003
KELLY JOE PHELPS has been punching through the boundaries of who he is supposed to be with every album. I first knew him as the ...
Willard Grant Conspiracy: Come Together
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 13 June 2003
The Willard Grant Conspiracy has gone underground. The only way you can hear the new album by one of America's best bands in their home ...
Profile by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 20 June 2003
In the hood: Eminem is pulling out all the stops for his European tour ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 20 June 2003
HIS FIRST ALBUM in six years finds Steve Winwood striking out in the direction of Latin America, using a core unit of jazz guitarist Jose ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 23 June 2003
HE'S THE LEADING pop icon of his generation, the undisputed Elvis of his era, and for many of the 65,000 fans who attend his concert, ...
Queens of the Stone Age: Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 23 June 2003
I CAN HEAR THE screech of two low jets from the bar. Nick Oliveri and Josh Homme, of Queens of the Stone Age, learnt to ...
R.E.M. at Brixton Academy, London
Report by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 26 June 2003
SEEING A BAND OF REM's stature at a medium-sized venue such as Brixton Academy is undeniably some sort of occasion. The suspicion nags, though, that ...
Essay by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 12 July 2003
IT USED to be said of performers like country legend Jimmie Rodgers and Delta bluesman Skip James that they had "that high lonesome sound". No ...
Dizzee Rascal: Bringing It All Back Home
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 1 August 2003
THE FIRST TIME you hear Boy in da Corner, it's a jolt. The debut album of 18-year-old Dizzee Rascal has just been nominated for the ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 15 August 2003
NEIL YOUNG is probably the most overindulged talent in rock: overindulged by his record company, who let him put out whatever old rubbish he has ...
The Rolling Stones: Ol' Rubber Lips Isn't Telling...
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 15 August 2003
According to The Rolling Stones (Weidenfeld and Nicholson)The Rolling Stones' history is wild and controversial, full of sex, drugs, bust-ups, scandal and death. Disappointing, then, ...
Iggy Pop, The Stooges: The Stooges Deliver A Real Cool Time
Live Review by Edward Helmore, The Independent, 15 August 2003
The Stooges, Jones Beach Theatre, New York ...
Jimmy Cliff: Hail Reggae's Lost King
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 5 September 2003
MANY PEOPLE THINK Bob Marley stole his crown. But it was Jimmy Cliff who gave reggae to the world, when he starred in and wrote ...
David Bowie: Reality (ISO/Columbia)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 12 September 2003
LIKE BOB DYLAN, David Bowie seems to have been re-invigorated by a lengthy period with a stable band: Reality appears with almost indecent haste a ...
Robert Wyatt: Cuckoo In The Nest
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 12 September 2003
Idiosyncratic and eccentric, Robert Wyatt's unique musical style is consistently lauded by both critics and musicians. Andy Gill talks to him ahead of the release ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 12 September 2003
Warren Zevon's final, valedictory album provides ultimate proof that those of us who believed him to be one of the greatest songwriters of his generation ...
The Dixie Chicks: Dixie Chicks: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 17 September 2003
DISSENT STILL finds its focus in pop, more than any other art form. But there can have been few less likely standard-bearers for this radical ...
Blondie: Debbie Harry: In A Lonely Place
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 19 September 2003
IN THEIR POMP, Blondie were a one-band production line of beautiful, brash singles, each subtly hand-finished to find another angle on their signature, streamlined sound. ...
Lester Bangs: Joy And Rage Of A Dishevelled Rock Critic
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 23 September 2003
Mainlines, Blood Feasts And Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader Lester Bangs; ed. John Morthland (Serpent's Tail; £9.99) ...
Starsailor: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 29 September 2003
THE MUSIC PRESS has bitterly dismissed Starsailor's second album, Silence Is Easy. Once the band were seen as saviours, but it's now as if they ...
David Sylvian: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 30 September 2003
JAPAN DISSOLVED with barely a murmur, just as 'Ghosts' brought the band overdue success in 1982. The strain of their avant-garde glam-pop suddenly being in ...
Dexys Midnight Runners, Kevin Rowland: Kevin Rowland: Return of the Soul Rebel
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 17 October 2003
IN A REHEARSAL room in south London, Kevin Rowland steps from behind a pillar and stalks to the front of Dexys Midnight Runners. He is ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 17 October 2003
LAST YEAR'S EPONYMOUS DEBUT from Kinky represented a huge step forward for Mexican pop, confounding the usual ethnic clichés with an unclassifiable stew of poetic ...
Jonny Greenwood, Radiohead: So Long to Jonny Guitar: Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 31 October 2003
THOM YORKE may be the driving force and most recognisable face of Radiohead, but for many fans it's the guitarist Jonny Greenwood, the thin, twitchy ...
The Darkness: The Astoria, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 13 November 2003
I HAD WATCHED THE DARKNESS phenomenon from a distance, in dismay. Despite the sheer unexpectedness of their vault from clubs to stadiums, every glance at ...
David Bowie: MEN Arena, Manchester
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 19 November 2003
DAVID BOWIE spent much of the '90s in a state of shivering insecurity. The creative brinkmanship that let him shed identities and styles with matchless ...
Frank Zappa: The Mother Of All Reinventions
Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 21 November 2003
IF CIGARETTES AND COFFEE are available in the afterlife, the shade of Frank Zappa is probably allowing himself a wry smile from beneath his formidable ...
Ryan Adams at the Forum, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 28 November 2003
"I'M GONNA PLAY all night," Ryan Adams promises the crowd. "You think I'm joking? I've got a 5am plane, man..." ...
The Strokes: Braehall Arena, Glasgow
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 3 December 2003
ALL THE DISAPPOINTED assaults on the Strokes have been based on the thought that they should be about more than music. The tired shrug of ...
Echo & The Bunnymen: Royal Court, Liverpool
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 4 December 2003
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS on, and every Liverpudlian hipster of a certain age is here to pay their respects. With their debut album, Crocodiles, Echo & The ...
The Cult, The Doors: Ian Astbury and the Doors: One door shuts... another door opens
Report and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 10 December 2003
When Jim Morrison died, in 1971, that was the end of the Doors. Or was it? Thirty years later, the remaining members have hired a ...
Michael Jackson: Thrills Before The Spills
Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 12 December 2003
IT'S THAT PHOTO, the official police mugshot taken when Michael Jackson finally turned himself in to answer charges of child molestation, which looks so scary. ...
Richie Havens: Jazz Café, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 15 January 2004
RICHIE HAVENS'S LIFE hinged on Woodstock. His three-hour opening set at the festival, climaxing with 'Freedom', his anthemic improvisation on the spiritual 'Motherless Child', linked ...
Rickie Lee Jones: The Devil in Miss Jones
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 16 January 2004
Rickie Lee Jones has always had her demons - and now she's living in the America of George Bush and Jeffrey Dahmer. ...
Interview by Dan Gennoe, The Independent, February 2004
In 2000, Sia was hailed as the best thing to come out of Australia since Kylie. It proved a lot to live up to, she ...
Norah Jones: And Now For My Next Trick: Norah Jones and the Difficult Second Album Syndrome
Comment by Andy Gill, The Independent, 6 February 2004
BY THIS TIME next week, Norah Jones will probably be nestling atop the album charts with Feels like Home, the follow-up to her multi-platinum, Grammy-grabbing ...
Lambchop: Kurt Wagner: The quiet American
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 6 February 2004
LAMBCHOP are America's leading underground band, secret kings of a scene too modest to be named. They have turned their backs on the bombastic MTV ...
Jamelia: Some Kind Of Superstar
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 20 February 2004
WHEN JAMELIA disappeared four years ago, it seemed her coronation as Britain's R&B queen might be postponed for ever. Four hit singles, including the Top ...
Randy Newman: Overdue Renaissance Of A Whimsical Prophet
Live Review by Andrew Mueller, The Independent, 20 February 2004
Randy Newman: Barbican, London ...
Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks: A Critic's Obsession
Essay by Andy Gill, The Independent, 3 March 2004
TODAY, IN MINNEAPOLIS, a group of musicians will assemble at the Pantages Theater to perform Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks in its entirety. ...
Kraftwerk: Triumph Of The Machines
Comment by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 12 March 2004
KRAFTWERK'S MOST recent record, the long-waited Tour de France Soundtracks – their first album of new material since 1986's Electric Café, and a variation on ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 19 March 2004
THE SECOND ACT OF Patti Smith's great career has been catalysed by death. The loss of her mother inspired the forthcoming Trampin', her fourth album ...
Will Oldham: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Prince of Perversity
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 19 March 2004
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, the artist formerly known as Will Oldham, is perhaps the most uniquely gifted songwriter of his generation. And, as Andy Gill discovers, ...
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 9 April 2004
As you might expect, there isn't a big rock scene in the farthest reaches of rural Norway. But Madrugada are more than making up for ...
Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: Academy, Islington, London ***
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 7 May 2004
FEW BRITISH BANDS can tear the roof off a venue as ruthlessly as The Charlatans. It's one of the reasons for the enduring affection in ...
The Streets: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 18 May 2004
THE DEBUT ALBUM by Mike Skinner, a.k.a. The Streets, (Original Pirate Material) was a touching, thoughtful ode to all the aspects of modern Britain its ...
American Music Club: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London ***
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 28 May 2004
AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB was always a select establishment. Appealing to connoisseurs of the darkest underground rock, the San Francisco group's principal attraction was always Mark ...
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 28 May 2004
Winners of a Radio 3 award, Senegal's top hip-hop trio Daara J are back on the road. Tim Cooper meets them in Paris. ...
Eric Dolphy: Squeaks and scronks: Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch
Retrospective by Mal Peachey, The Independent, June 2004
Song for the man who went out to lunch ...
The Pixies: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 3 June 2004
EXACTLY HOW much this, the first UK night of the Pixies' reunion tour, means to the crowd is shown when they walk on stage to ...
The Hives: The Return Of Your Old Favourites
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 8 June 2004
The Hives: Electric Ballroom London ...
Taj Mahal: A Living Edifice To The Blues
Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 10 June 2004
Taj Mahal/Tinariwen, Barbican, London **** ...
Ray Charles: 'As Frank Sinatra Said, He Was The Only True Genius In Our Business'
Obituary by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 11 June 2004
FOR ALL PRACTICAL purposes, Ray Charles invented modern soul music. By fusing the sensual and secular preoccupations of the blues and the galvanic fervour of ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers: American Spice
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, The Independent, 16 June 2004
Anthony Kiedis's house, an expanse of glass and whiteness, is right on top of the Hollywood Hills. Walk down the steps into the vast, white, ...
Peter Hammill, Van Der Graaf Generator: Peter Hammill: Heart Attack Music
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 27 June 2004
WHEN PETER HAMMILL collapsed in the street with a sudden heart attack last year, it didn't make the papers. The one-time singer of the group ...
Phil Manzanera: Dance Away The Heartache
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 2 July 2004
SEVERAL FLOORS UP a converted warehouse block in a tiny mews in north-west London, Phil Manzanera lounges in the pristine calm of his home studio. ...
Elvis Presley: What if Elvis had never been born?
Retrospective by Max Bell, The Independent, 4 July 2004
Rock'n'roll exploded into new life 50 years ago tomorrow, says Max Bell, when some hick recorded 'That's All Right' in Memphis, thereby detonating the Big ...
The Long Ryders: Lock 17, London
Live Review by Andrew Mueller, The Independent, 5 July 2004
THE LONG RYDERS enter to a tape of the theme tune from The Magnificent Seven, and begin their set with a cover of the Byrds' ...
Massive Attack: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 12 July 2004
MASSIVE ATTACK have been shaken almost to pieces in recent times. First, one of their central trio – Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles – left for good, ...
Simon & Garfunkel: Simon and Garfunkel: MEN Arena, Manchester
Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 19 July 2004
AS YOU'D EXPECT, the greying audience for Simon and Garfunkel's first UK show in 30 years is similar to that which regularly turns out for ...
Crosby Stills and Nash: Crosby, Stills & Nash, Fleet Pavilion, Boston, USA
Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 20 July 2004
THE FLEET PAVILION is a sleek, tented outdoor auditorium overlooking Boston harbour. Like the Millennium Dome, but useful. And actually functioning as a venue. And ...
Todd Rundgren, Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 22 July 2004
SINCE his mid-Seventies heyday, Todd Rundgren has always been preaching to the converted, so his religious-themed show is at least appropriate, though unlikely to extend ...
The 5.6.7.8's: 5.6.7.8: Who do we appreciate?
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 11 August 2004
The 5.6.7.8's are coming to Britain and are drawing sell-out crowds. Tim Cooper meets the idiosyncratic Japanese all-girl rock trio with the Kill Bill connection. ...
Primal Scream: Eden Project, St Austell, Cornwall
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 13 August 2004
THERE'S AN immutable law of rock'n'roll dictating that the longer a rock band stays together, the more its creative energy will dissipate under the parallel ...
Finn Brothers: The Finn Brothers: Fellowship of the Finns
Interview by Gavin Martin, The Independent, 20 August 2004
THE FINN BROTHERS are back for a short visit to London, the city where their fitful professional career began in earnest, 27 years ago. At ...
Jimmy Page: The Godfather of Rock
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 27 August 2004
As Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page is honoured in London's Rock'n'Roll Walk of Fame, Tim Cooper meets the legend who inspired an entire generation of air ...
The Futureheads: The Garage, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 31 August 2004
IN THE SHADOWY darkness of London's indie mecca The Garage, four young men from the North in tightly rolled shirt-sleeves are playing clipped guitar music ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 16 September 2004
JAH WOBBLE THUDDED into the public consciousness in a flurry of violence. He reportedly pulled a knife on NME's Nick Kent while Sid Vicious chain-whipped ...
Duran Duran: The Old Romantics
Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, The Independent, 17 September 2004
IN A POP WORLD full of ageing Peter Pans with expensive habits to service, ex-wives to maintain and children to educate, attempted comebacks are common, ...
R.E.M.: St James's Church, Piccadilly, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 17 September 2004
R.E.M. ARE NO strangers to the "secret" show, having pioneered them back in the ‘80s, when they would appear at places such as the tiny ...
Brinsley Schwarz: Andrew Lauder: Paradise Recalled
Retrospective and Interview by Max Bell, The Independent, 19 September 2004
Once, rock inhabited Eden. Man, Can and Beefheart were its fruit. Then the snakes in suits took over and music biz creatives like Andrew Lauder ...
Ray Davies at Bloomsbury Theatre, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 1 October 2004
"It's been a very difficult year for everybody," Ray Davies admits, the nearest he gets to acknowledging his being shot in the leg by muggers ...
Willy Mason: A Breath Of Fresh Air
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 12 November 2004
IF YOU'RE FEELING bad about America after last week's election, Willy Mason is one reason to change your mind. The 19-year-old New Englander has already ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 19 November 2004
WHAT A HUGE disappointment this is. About a decade and a half ago, Gail Ann Dorsey released a brilliant debut album called The Corporate World, ...
Pete Wylie: Islington Academy, London
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 31 December 2004
FOR SIX WEEKS back in 1977, Pete Wylie was at the epicentre of the music world as one of the semi-legendary Liverpool trio the Crucial ...
Dr. John: Dr John: Barbican, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 14 January 2005
DR JOHN'S LONG journey to this concert hall has been faltering and nearly fatal. Born Mac Rebennack in New Orleans, he is as steeped in ...
The Datsuns, Velvet Revolver: Velvet Revolver/The Datsuns at Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Simon Price, The Independent, 16 January 2005
Look carefully... this man used to be a punk poodle ...
The Quarrymen: The Beatles? No, thanks
Retrospective and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 20 January 2005
The Quarrymen managed to let Lennon, McCartney and Harrison slip through their fingers. Nearly five decades after that mistake, they are releasing their first album. ...
Noel Harrison: Keep on Grooving
Retrospective and Interview by Max Bell, The Independent, 20 February 2005
By 1968, Noel Harrison – son of Rex – had done it all: landed the glitzy film roles, lived in Hollywood pads and cut 'Windmills ...
Dorris Henderson: US Folk Singer Who Settled In London
Obituary by Colin Irwin, The Independent, 9 March 2005
DORRIS HENDERSON cut an unforgettable figure on the emergent British folk-music scene of the mid-1960s. ...
Avril Lavigne: O Sister, What Art Thou?
Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 11 March 2005
Teenage girls can't resist Avril Lavigne's sulky-teen pose. So Tim Cooper decides to let his daughter interrogate the pop princess. ...
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 31 March 2005
IN RECENT WEEKS it has become de rigueur for big names to launch their new album with small dates in London. Last night, after club-sized ...
Goldie Lookin' Chain: Goldie Lookin Chain
Interview by Simon Price, The Independent, 3 April 2005
One minute they were an unknown posse from Gwent, the next they were music industry darlings. Are Goldie Lookin Chain — the "Welsh Wu-Tang Clan" ...
Willie Nelson: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Andrew Mueller, The Independent, 5 April 2005
AT THIS LATE stage, attending a Willie Nelson concert is more a gesture of pilgrimage than anything else. Nelson, now 71, with a ponytail that ...
Racine: Islington Academy, London
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 11 April 2005
IT WAS ALWAYS hard to take Wendy James seriously, but even so her reinvention after a decade in the pop wilderness is hilarious. ...
Tara Angell: "I'm not just a chick singer-songwriter"
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 15 April 2005
A debut dripping in smoky-voiced pain... and "the darkest record since Black Sabbath". ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 20 April 2005
IT REALLY SHOULDN'T come as a surprise that the most vital new sound from the UK dance underground should come from a transplanted Sri Lankan ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 22 April 2005
THOUGH RAISED in Sweden, José González's Latin American roots shine through on this debut album, which has hoisted him to unlikely stardom in Scandinavia, as ...
James Blunt: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 5 May 2005
IN THE FRENZY to find a new Damien Rice or David Gray, it suddenly seems as if there's a sensitive singer-songwriter on every street corner. ...
Van Der Graaf Generator: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 10 May 2005
WHEN THE FOUR core members of this almost-forgotten prog-rock band start a gig for the first time in 29 years, a joyous roar bounces round ...
Dizzee Rascal: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 26 May 2005
DIZZEE RASCAL saunters on stage sporting the infectious grin of a boy who feels that every day is Christmas. Though he starts with 'Sittin' Here', ...
Destiny's Child: Earl's Court, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 3 June 2005
FOR THE "INDEPENDENT WOMEN" of one of their biggest hits, Destiny's Child have a tendency to do what they are told. The middleclass work ethic ...
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 10 June 2005
How did ex-soldier James Blunt go from serving in Kosovo to playing gigs? Tim Cooper finds out. ...
Franz Ferdinand: Access All Areas
Report by Gavin Martin, The Independent, 17 June 2005
DURING THE RECORDING sessions for Franz Ferdinand's new album, the band have not just been making music. Between work on the eagerly anticipated follow-up to ...
The White Stripes: The New Generation
Comment by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 24 June 2005
JACK WHITE WILL never have the blues badly enough. Though The White Stripes' new album, Get Behind Me Satan, suggests the legendary bluesman Robert Johnson's ...
Patti Smith's Horses at Meltdown: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 27 June 2005
PATTI SMITH IS standing alone on the stage reciting the poem that describes her teenage dream to escape a blue-collar production line ("Inspecting pipe, 40 ...
Matchbox 20, Rob Thomas: Rob Thomas: Anonymity in the UK
Report and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 6 July 2005
Rob Thomas can claim 75 million album sales. So who is he? ...
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 8 July 2005
FORMED IN Los Angeles around the former child actors Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett in 1998, Rilo Kiley are hard to pigeonhole. Their first two, ...
Richard Hell: Punk's Founding Father, Richard Hell
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 19 August 2005
RICHARD HELL was punk's John the Baptist. In one year, 1974, he found the movement its home (CBGB's), created its style (ripped and spiked), indicated ...
Fun Lovin' Criminals: Huey Morgan: King of New York
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 26 August 2005
A walking, talking advertisement for the city, Huey Morgan of Fun Lovin' Criminals takes Tim Cooper downtown. ...
Iggy Pop, The Stooges: Iggy Pop And The Stooges: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 1 September 2005
SEEING THE STOOGES' name on the one-time Hammersmith Odeon's marquee, 30 years after they split, feels like an eerie warp in time. When the band ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 9 September 2005
ELBOW HAVE BEEN brushed by fame almost accidentally; first, when their debut album, 2000's Asleep at the Back, was Mercury nominated, then when the singer, ...
Interview by Edward Helmore, The Independent, 22 September 2005
"WELCOME TO Fortress Blair," says Neil Young, offering his hand. ...
Gang Of Four play Entertainment!: Barbican, London
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 27 September 2005
FORMED AT LEEDS University in 1977, they dragged punk's three-chord trick into a radical and subversive new direction by marrying its guitar-driven rage to funk's ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 14 October 2005
AS THE LAST MILLENNIUM drew to its close, Conrad Lambert, aka Merz, seemed poised for The Big Time. Signed for a six-figure advance to a ...
Keith Urban: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 19 October 2005
URBAN BY NAME but country rock by nature, raised in Australia but resident in Nashville, Urban has sold millions of records in America and fills ...
Kate Bush: Finally, Something For The Grown-Ups
Essay by Andy Gill, The Independent, 21 October 2005
EARLY NEXT MONTH, Kate Bush releases Aerial, her first new album since The Red Shoes back in November 1993. Even by the relaxed schedules adopted ...
Obituary by Colin Irwin, The Independent, 29 November 2005
HE WAS ALTERNATIVELY described as a rock'n'roll troubadour, a "nu blues" artist, an alt country pioneer, a slide guitar master and a trailblazing singer-songwriter who ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 1 December 2005
THE STROKES WERE always an unlikely bet for rock'n'roll's great hope. They have never stood for anything in particular, or said anything worthwhile. Their sound ...
Nik Cohn: Triksta – Life and Death and New Orleans Rap
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 9 December 2005
JUST AFTER THE first printing of this iconic writer's account of his cultural and musical misadventures in an iconic city, the situation changed almost beyond ...
James Yorkston: Luminaire, London
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 28 December 2005
"HERE'S THE NEXT number," announces James Yorkston, studying a piece of paper: "Three hundred and fifty-eight." Few singers would draw the raffle mid-set, but it's ...
Dave Matthews Band: Dave Matthews: Gospel according to Matthews
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 20 January 2006
He's the biggest music star in the USA, but probably couldn't get arrested here. Tim Cooper meets a man for whom success means having the ...
Jenny Lewis: Poor little rich girl
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 20 January 2006
Jenny Lewis has gone from child star to singing with Rilo Kiley to solo act. It's been a bittersweet experience, hears Tim Cooper. ...
Donald Fagen: Former Steely Dan Member On His New Album
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 19 March 2006
IN THE BRUTAL world of American football, teams often employ what they call a "hurry-up offense", a series of plays they can run quickly when ...
Dusty Springfield: The Invention of Dusty Springfield
Retrospective and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Independent, 26 March 2006
Mary O'Brien was born with the voice that would make her our greatest female pop singer, but everything else that went to make the icon ...
Placebo: Empress Ballroom, Blackpool
Live Review by Simon Price, The Independent, 9 April 2006
"I WAS CONFUSED by the birds and the bees", the Lilliputian, Luxembourgeois leader of Placebo sings, beneath the gilded plaster of Paris of the 110-year-old ...
The Good The Bad and The Queen, Gorillaz: Gorillaz
Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Independent, 12 April 2006
THERE ARE GHOSTS at the Apollo. Bobby Byrd holds his master's cape, the amateur night regulars bawl, shimmy and shake, and Fats Gonder asks "are ...
Daniel Johnston: The Devil and Daniel Johnston: Barbican, London
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 18 April 2006
IT HAS TAKEN 25 years, almost as many albums and a lifetime of loneliness and pain, but Daniel Johnston is finally emerging from underground cult ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 21 April 2006
EVER SINCE HE emerged from the shadow of his chums in Outkast and Goodie Mob to establish himself as a solo artist, Cee-Lo Green has ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: The Hottest Band in the World: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Profile by Andy Gill, The Independent, 3 May 2006
IN RECENT YEARS, mountain-man lookalike record producer Rick Rubin has been justly fêted for his career-revival work with Johnny Cash, which effectively recontextualised the Man ...
Fat Freddy's Drop: Playing to the expats
Report and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, June 2006
They're massive in their home countries, and their London gigs sell out thanks to the multicultural populace. ...
Martha Wainwright: Bloomsbury Theatre, London
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 1 June 2006
THIS WAS AN evening that lent fresh meaning to the term "intimate" – and, for that matter, "spontaneous". It made you feel like you'd been ...
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 12 June 2006
IF EVER A FALLEN idol was in need of reinvention, it's surely Boy George, whose last public appearance was in a New York courtroom. His ...
Interview by David Sinclair, The Independent, 13 July 2006
WHEN BLONDIE were admitted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, earlier this year, it seemed about time. After thirty million ...
The Dears: A gloom of their own
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 18 August 2006
The leader of the Dears could brood for Canada. Tim Cooper meets a man for whom success has not in itself brought any visible happiness, ...
Kasabian: Empire (Columbia) ***
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 25 August 2006
LIKE THEIR similarly immodest contemporaries Razorlight, Kasabian talk a good fight — or enough of a good fight, anyway, to make you overlook the shortfall ...
Bat For Lashes: The Spitz, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 14 September 2006
NATASHA KHAN discovered her own musical world when a black horse appeared to her in a dream two years ago and led her away into ...
Scissor Sisters: The Scissor Sisters: Trafalgar Square, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 18 September 2006
THE FACT THAT New York's Scissor Sisters can fill Trafalgar Square and still, relatively speaking, not get arrested back home should be a matter of ...
Retrospective by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 22 September 2006
Thirty years after drugs killed Free's guitarist, the band are back in vogue. They just won't talk to each other. ...
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 28 September 2006
Since leaving the safety of Belle & Sebastian, Isobel Campbell has found her creative voice and produced her finest work. ...
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 5 October 2006
MORE THAN three decades after their child-scaring Top of the Pops debut with 'This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us', Sparks remain one ...
Make my day: the best (and worst) lines in the history of film
Essay by Paul Wellings, The Independent, 20 October 2006
As in life, first impressions count in cinema. In Citizen Kane (1941), the opening word, Charles Foster Kane's dying utterance "Rosebud", holds the key (perhaps) ...
Joan As Policewoman: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 23 October 2006
JOAN WASSER places a mug of steaming tea on the piano as she wanders onstage — a casual kick-off to this South Bank foyer space's ...
The Good The Bad and The Queen: The Good, The Bad and The Queen: London Calling
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 26 October 2006
If you thought the age of the supergroup was past, think again. Andy Gill meets The Good, The Bad and The Queen ...
Amy Winehouse: Back to Black (Island)*****
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 27 October 2006
SHE'S A BRAVE lass, Amy Winehouse. It's rare to find any artist changing their approach between albums, and virtually unknown if their debut was a ...
How An NME Cassette Launched Indie Music
Retrospective by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 27 October 2006
C86, the unassuming mail-order cassette compiled by NME, through which the indie sound and scene first coalesced, will have its 20th anniversary celebrated tonight with ...
Mercury Rev: Hello Blackbird (V2)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 3 November 2006
FOR MUCH of their career – certainly since they began exerting a modicum of discipline over their experimental leanings – Mercury Rev have seemed to ...
Courtney Love: Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love
Book Review by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 12 November 2006
Make tea, get nose fixed ASAP ...
Lucinda Williams: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 15 November 2006
EVEN BY THE tardy timekeeping standards of rock'n'roll, 16 months is a little long to keep your audience waiting. Originally scheduled to play here in ...
Iron & Wine: Sam Beam: Love, God, death and a tree of bees
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 17 November 2006
The famously uncommunicative singer-songwriter Sam Beam — also known as Iron & Wine — discusses his hauntingly poetic musical world with Andy Gill. ...
Obituary by James Maycock, The Independent, 26 December 2006
JAMES BROWN was one of the most extraordinary Afro-Americans of the 2nd half of the 20th century. A raw, emotional singer, electric performer and tough ...
Profile and Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Independent, 12 January 2007
TWO YEARS AGO, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah proved that popular music's rules have changed. The old logic of rise and fall still applies though, ...
Overview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 25 January 2007
Dreamgirls is the latest in a long line of pop movies that fails to do its subject justice. So will Hollywood ever make a decent ...
Future Pilot AKA: Secrets from the Clockhouse
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 2 February 2007
INDO-SCOTS COMPOSER (and one-time Soup Dragon) Sushil K Dade has been carving his own niche on the more benign fringes of indie-rock for some years ...
Rufus Wainwright: A Year Of Living Judy Garland
Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Independent, 14 February 2007
THERE IS AN anecdote that Rufus Wainwright enjoys telling about his childhood fascination with Judy Garland. "I wanted to be Dorothy – on good days," ...
The Special AKA, The Specials: Jerry Dammers: A Ghost From The Past
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 20 April 2007
THE MAN WHO created 2-Tone, Coventry's own Motown, and wrote Britain's most perfect fusing of politics and pop, the single 'Ghost Town' by his great ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 17 August 2007
THERE'S A SORT OF junkyard, trash-culture exuberance about M.I.A.'s beats that infuses the Anglo-Tamil rapper's work with freshness and immediacy. ...
Kula Shaker: Crispian Mills: Big Mouth Strikes Again
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 24 September 2007
Ten years ago, Kula Shaker's Crispian Mills revealed an admiration for the swastika, and the band imploded. Now they're back, and the lead singer is ...
Radiohead: OK Computer: Why The Record Industry Is Terrified Of Radiohead's New Album
Comment by Andy Gill, The Independent, 5 October 2007
Radiohead are the latest — and greatest — band to shun the conventional CD release. Their new album is available online — and you don't ...
Cowboy Junkies: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 17 October 2007
IT WOULD BE myth-making mischief to suggest that, upon its release 20 years ago, The Trinity Session was acclaimed as a landmark album. The best ...
Report and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 18 October 2007
MOST PEOPLE'S MINDS, as they enter their sixties, probably turn to thoughts of retirement and a sedate glide along the gentle lower slopes of life's ...
David Arnold, Kaiser Chiefs: Kaiser Chiefs: This is the Modern Way
Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 26 October 2007
What happens when indie-rockers get together with a Grammy-winning composer? Kaiser Chiefs and David Arnold chat before their Electric Prom tonight. ...
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 12 November 2007
His parents are neuroscientists who read him Huxley at bedtime. No wonder Josh Ritter has a way with words, says Tim Cooper. ...
Led Zeppelin: The First, The Biggest, And Still The Best...
Retrospective by Andy Gill, The Independent, 7 December 2007
The greatest reunion in rock is on Monday, when Led Zeppelin play the O² Arena. Andy Gill is dazed, but not confused ...
Book Review by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 16 December 2007
HOW BETTER to salve the pangs of remorse induced by a season of over-indulgence than by voraciously consuming the reminiscences of those whose lifestyles make ...
Brandi Carlile: Borderline, London
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 18 December 2007
"DO YOU MIND if we get a little bit country on ya?" inquires Brandi Carlile cheerfully, as her entourage of publicists, watching anxiously in the ...
The Kills: Soho Revue Bar, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 17 January 2008
ALISON MOSSHART is leaning over the lip of this small sometime-strip club's stage, like a comic-book character forcing her way out of the frame. Her ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 25 January 2008
THE ITUNES/MYSPACE revolution has speeded up the pop process to such an extent that a new act barely has time to draw breath before being ...
Adele: "Her Success is Depressingly Inevitable"
Comment by Andy Gill, The Independent, 5 February 2008
AS ADELE'S album sweeps to the top of the charts, it becomes increasingly clear that in the future, all our pop-cultural decisions will be made ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 22 February 2008
NORTH WALES siren Duffy is the latest of a formidable crop of female singer-songwriters to be overloaded with the desperate expectations of an industry in ...
The Band, The Rolling Stones: The Sounds of Scorsese
Overview by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 26 March 2008
AS THE VETERAN FILM-MAKER RELEASES HIS CONCERT MOVIE ON THE ROLLING STONES, NICK COLEMAN APPLAUDS A DIRECTOR WHO'S ALWAYS PUT MUSIC AT THE HEART OF ...
Damon Albarn, Blur, Gorillaz: Damon Albarn: The Great Escape
Report and Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Independent, 12 April 2008
THERE ARE GHOSTS at the Apollo. Bobby Byrd holds his master's cape, the amateur night regulars bawl and shimmy, and Fats Gonder asks: "Are you ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 25 April 2008
BACK AT THE turn of the millennium, Jamie Lidell was a cutting-edge electronic musician, crooning over abstract, fractured beats and jittery synth blips as one-half ...
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan; When a twee pop beauty met a rock'n'roll beast
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 2 May 2008
Belle and Sebastian's Isobel Campbell is on to her second album with rocker Mark Lanegan. She tells Tim Cooper about an odd coupling. ...
Nada Surf: The Sunshine Boys: Brooklyn's Nada Surf have bounced back with an album of upbeat pop
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 5 May 2008
THEIR LATEST ALBUM might be called Lucky but Nada Surf's 15-year career has been anything but. Even their name causes misconceptions: it's so redolent of ...
Minnie Driver: Minnie adventure: Miss Driver turns her attention to country music and motherhood
Report and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 8 May 2008
She's conquered Hollywood, stars in a hit TV series, and is one of Britain's most successful acting exports. ...
The Ting Tings: We Started Nothing (Columbia)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 16 May 2008
IF THERE'S A more immediately catchy single than 'That's Not My Name' released this year, it will have to be recorded with Velcro instruments on ...
Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes (Bella Union)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 30 May 2008
THOUGH NOT having quite the sun-kissed enchantment of their debut Sun Giant EP, Seattle alt.folk combo Fleet Foxes' full debut suggests they can follow the ...
Bo Diddley and the Beat Surrender
Retrospective by Andy Gill, The Independent, 6 June 2008
Bo Diddley has shuffled off, but his trademark rhythm, and his part in the creation of rock'n'roll, will remain. ...
Coldplay: Viva La Vida, or Death and All His Friends (Parlophone)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 6 June 2008
COLDPLAY'S X&Y, they've since explained, was the final part of a trilogy — a claim some might consider a cunning defence against accusations that they're ...
Essay by Andy Gill, The Independent, 11 June 2008
Pompous, mawkish, and unbearably smug, Coldplay have conquered the charts with the sonic equivalent of wilted spinach, argues Andy Gill. And in the process, they've ...
N.E.R.D.: N*E*R*D: Seeing Sounds (Star Trak)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 13 June 2008
PHARRELL WILLIAMS is one of modern pop's more quixotic talents – purveyor of beats brisk and bouncy in his Neptunes guise, but an attempt at ...
Grace Jones: Still a Slave to the Rhythm
Profile by Andy Gill, The Independent, 18 June 2008
She's belted Russell Harty, beaten James Bond and brought the house down with her fashion sense. Now the inimitable Grace Jones is back at Meltdown. ...
Dirty Pretty Things: Romance at Short Notice (Vertigo)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 27 June 2008
IT CAN'T be easy being Carl Barât, eternally condemned to playing the former sidekick in some tacky B-movie of tragic dissipation, with every break-up song ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 18 July 2008
FOR MY money, Nas remains New York's most potent rapper, operating with an insight and intelligence few exponents can equal. ...
Allen Toussaint: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 7 August 2008
ALLEN TOUSSAINT talks of his sporadic, unbought solo work and the royalties from the hits he's created for others with equal affection. ...
Stereolab: Chemical Chords (Duophonic/4AD)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 15 August 2008
STEREOLAB HAVE made no fewer than 11 albums, many more than indie titans like Blur, Oasis, the Smiths and New Order, and far outstripping the ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 15 August 2008
RARELY CAN RAMPANT self-regard and billowing emptiness have combined to such vacuous effect as they do in the Verve, and particularly in Richard Ashcroft, a ...
David Gahr: Folk, jazz and rock photographer
Obituary by Colin Irwin, The Independent, 5 September 2008
WHEN BOB DYLAN shocked the audience at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival by going on stage with members of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band to ...
Femi Kuti: Born Into The Struggle
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 10 October 2008
Femi Kuti has both Nigeria's music and its deadly political conflicts in his blood, he explains to Nick Hasted ...
Comment by Andy Gill, The Independent, 31 October 2008
After 14 years of rumours and false starts, Guns N' Roses are promising to release their new album. There's even a ticking clock on their ...
The Cure: Robert Smith: What becomes of the brokenhearted?
Profile by Andy Gill, The Independent, 7 November 2008
From Smashing Pumpkins to Edward Scissorhands, the Cure's Robert Smith has been influencing pop culture for decades. It's just a shame that the band's new ...
Al Green: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 10 November 2008
EVEN IF YOU didn't know that Al Green was an ordained minister, his concert performances would leave no room for doubt, in all senses of ...
Poly Styrene, X-Ray Spex: The Return of Punk's First Lady: Poly Styrene
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 21 November 2008
Thirty years after singing of bondage and toothpaste, via a stay at a psychiatric hospital and motherhood, Poly Styrene is back on stage, without X-Ray ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 24 November 2008
IN THE LATE SIXTIES, Mike Hart was a member of The Liverpool Scene, the poetry and music collective that had guitarist Andy Roberts and poet ...
White Denim: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 24 November 2008
"I THINK maybe we should move to London," muses White Denim guitarist James Petralli as a packed Dingwalls roars its approval of the band's opening ...
Retrospective by Andy Gill, The Independent, 28 November 2008
WHEN MANIC Street Preachers' lyricist Richey Edwards disappeared from his room at the Embassy Hotel in London's Bayswater district on the night of 1 February ...
Common: Universal Mind Control (Island)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 5 December 2008
APART FROM HIS recent shift into movies, Common seems to be approaching his hip-hop career in a perversely roundabout manner. ...
Bon Iver: Victoria Apollo, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 9 December 2008
"THIS IS AN extremely big deal for us," says Justin Vernon, standing beneath a giant pterodactyl. Vernon is the songwriter, lead singer and creative mainspring ...
The View: Grown-Up and Mystical: The View
Report and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 30 January 2009
THE HOUSE-TO-HOUSE search of his old haunts in Dundee has been completed, and here comes The View's singer Kyle Falconer. ...
Sigur Rós: Why We're Mesmerised By The Hypnotic Icelandic Band
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 30 January 2009
EACH WEEK, along with the basic album and singles sales charts, there are myriad other charts published that track the diverse fortunes of the music ...
Magazine: "These gigs are a cherry on a cake"
Report and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 20 February 2009
THE ONE-TIME "most important man in pop" made a quietly triumphant comeback last week. Howard Devoto's Magazine, missing since 1981, were the most uncategorisable band ...
U2: Will U2 be the saviours of the music industry?
Report by Andy Gill, The Independent, 20 February 2009
Five years on from their last record, U2 have hauled Bono away from his saving-the-world duties long enough to finish their twelth studio album. But ...
Baaba Maal: 'Say What You Believe is True'
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 27 February 2009
BAABA MAAL IS BACK in Britain next week. If he isn't yet as familiar a name here as his fellow Senegalese Youssou N'Dour, this is ...
Sugarland, Taylor Swift: Taylor Swift, Sugarland et al: Far From The Old Country Music
Report and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 13 March 2009
Nashville is making yet another attempt to conquer the UK charts with artists who have crossed over so far they are virtually mainstream. Nick Hasted ...
PJ Harvey: Inside the Hidden Heart of PJ Harvey (and John Parish)
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 27 March 2009
POLLY JEAN HARVEY and John Parish are sitting across from each other in a quiet hotel with the comfort of 20 years' acquaintance. Harvey, of ...
Antony & the Johnsons: Antony and the Johnsons: Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 2 April 2009
WHEN ANTONY and the Johnsons' I Am a Bird Now won this year's Mercury Prize, he brought a world of outsiders into the light. His ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 2 April 2009
THEIR EIGHTH ALBUM finds the abstract-electronica duo of Sean Booth and Rob Brown in much the same brittle, airless space that housed 2003's Draft 7.30, ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 6 April 2009
MARK E. SMITH is hunched at the back of the stage in black leather jacket and wheelchair, looking like Salford's Davros. ...
Jackson Browne: Royal Albert Hall, London **
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 15 April 2009
THE GREY beard of experience Jackson Browne wore on the sleeve of his last album, Time the Conqueror, is gone. He looks the same lean, ...
Super Furry Animals: Still Light Years Ahead: Super Furry Animals
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 15 May 2009
"WYCHWOOD IS OUR first festival this year," Super Furry Animals' singer Gruff Rhys informs me. "We're committing to only playing outside from now on. Especially ...
Kasabian: West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (Columbia) ****
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 5 June 2009
AFTER THE PATCHY RESPONSE duly bestowed upon the patchy Empire, Kasabian have wisely made a few changes for this much-improved follow-up. ...
The Horrors: How To Survive On The Outside
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 5 June 2009
Author's note: This is the full, unedited version of the piece that appeared in The Independent ...
Review by Simon Price, The Independent, 7 June 2009
SMALL, BUT PERFECTLY FORMED. That's the cliché which flashes into mind, neon-bright, when you listen to Hands, with its blank, mystery-starved one-word titles and the ...
Black Eyed Peas: The Black Eyed Peas: The E.N.D. (Polydor) **
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 12 June 2009
THE TITLE apparently stands for "The Energy Never Dies", will.i.am's response to what he perceives as the end of a music industry "paradigm", but which ...
Obituary by Andy Gill, The Independent, 26 June 2009
ROUSED FROM sleep with the shocking, if not entirely surprising, news that Michael Jackson was gone, I was halfway through my bowl of cereal when ...
The Cardigans, The Concretes, Fever Ray: Sweden: State-sponsored Rock Valhalla
Overview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 24 July 2009
IN POP MUSIC at least, Britain still imagines it rules the world. The Beatles, Kinks, Bowie and Blur are looked on as an unassailable heritage ...
The Low Anthem: Evolutionary Twists
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 24 July 2009
The Low Anthem aren't like other US folk-rock bands. Tim Cooper discusses influence and innovation with the trio. ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 28 July 2009
AT LONDON'S Wireless Festival last year, Morrissey was a hilarious showman in easy command of his powers, playing rollicking unreleased songs and Smiths favourites. That ...
Tiësto: DJ Tiësto: Victoria Park, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 6 August 2009
DJ TIËSTO'S brand name and face are plastered either side of the stage. You may also see him modelling underwear on giant Times Square billboards, ...
Brendan Benson, The Raconteurs: Brendan Benson: Your Old, Unfamiliar Friend – Or So He Wishes
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 14 August 2009
Since the success of his acclaimed band The Raconteurs, Brendan Benson has earned plenty of public recognition – but he'd rather have his anonymity back, ...
Aphex Twin, Boards Of Canada, Grizzly Bear: 20 years of the Warp factor
Retrospective by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 28 August 2009
Sheffield's Warp Records celebrates its 20th anniversary in September. Nick Hasted looks back on the cutting-edge electronica/indie label that has produced acts as diverse as ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 31 August 2009
Radiohead's modern jazz wrong-foots the crowd ...
Oasis: Don't Look Back In Anger
Comment by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 4 September 2009
Noel Gallagher's decision to quit Oasis is years overdue, says Nick Hasted. The band were no longer relevant. And yet there is much to celebrate ...
Gang of Four: Andy Gill meets Andy Gill
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 17 September 2009
After 30 years of being mistaken for him, The Independent's music critic Andy Gill meets the Gang of Four's Andy Gill to discuss a shared ...
Jamie T: 'I Love Living Out Of A Bag'
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 24 September 2009
The hip-hop poet is ready to take to the road after relishing some home comforts ...
Monsters of Folk: Monsters of Folk
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 22 October 2009
OBVIOUS DIFFERENCES OF SCALE prevent this alliance of American indie luminaries — Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes, Jim James from My Morning ...
Grizzly Bear: Out of the Woods, Into the Light
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 6 November 2009
ED DROSTE is settling into the bar of his east London hotel with his Grizzly Bear bandmate Daniel Rossen, to attempt to explain their sky-rocket ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 10 November 2009
"WHERE YOU BEEN?" responds an amused Jeff Tweedy to a punter's call to "play the hits", midway through Wednesday's show at the Forum. "These are ...
Arctic Monkeys: Wembley Arena, London ***
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 19 November 2009
Northern soul with a heavy heart ...
Rihanna: Rated R (Mercury) ***
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 27 November 2009
IN NO OTHER field of music does the autobiographical imperative wield as much power as it does in R&B. ...
Public Image Ltd, O2 Academy, Birmingham****
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 16 December 2009
Difficult, honest and angry, Lydon pushes at the limits ...
Review by Simon Price, The Independent, 3 January 2010
Believe the hype: it's the New Order for the new decade ...
Beach House: Shore thing for easy listening
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 15 January 2010
Baltimore's dream-pop duo Beach House are confounding classification to gain plaudits from Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear and the Strokes. Tim Cooper gets to grips with ...
Midlake: In Tune with the Times of Others
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 5 February 2010
IN THE RUSSIAN visionary film-maker Andrei Tarkovsky's long, prismatic biopic of the great 15th-century icon painter Andrei Rublev, the monk Rublev strives to sustain the ...
Ellie Goulding: Lights (Polydor) ***
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 26 February 2010
AS THE LATEST WINNER of both the Brits Critics Choice Award and the BBC Sound Of 2010 poll, singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding is following in the ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 5 March 2010
WITH THE DEPARTURE last year of final founder member Keisha Buchanan, Sugababes finally slipped from being a band to a brand. ...
Pink Floyd: Prog rockers strike a blow for all musical artists
Comment by David Stubbs, The Independent, 12 March 2010
PINK FLOYD'S legal victory over EMI may be welcomed by some as a victory for artistic integrity. ...
Laura Marling: I Speak Because I Can (Virgin) ****
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 19 March 2010
ON I Speak Because I Can, Laura Marling continues to demonstrate why she's such an exciting singer-songwriter. ...
Kim Fowley, The Runaways: Sex sells: The Girl Band That Changed Pop Forever
Retrospective by Chris Salewicz, The Independent, 19 March 2010
IN EARLY OCTOBER 1976, the Runaways, an all-girl five-piece from Los Angeles, played a sell-out show at London's Roundhouse, their debut date in the UK. ...
Danger Mouse, The Shins: Danger Mouse Rings In The New
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 26 March 2010
The superstar producer/remixer of Blur, Beck, the Black Keys and many more has teamed up with the frontman of The Shins. Andy Gill meets the ...
Keane: Tim Rice-Oxley: The chart-topping songwriter from somewhere only he knows
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 7 May 2010
In his first solo interview, the man behind Keane, the band once written off as "Coldplay-lite", tells Nick Hasted about being a small-town boy, his ...
Broken Social Scene: An Ever-Changing Canadian Collective of Rock'n'Roll Royalty
Retrospective and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Independent, 14 May 2010
IT'S CLOSE TO MIDNIGHT and Kevin Drew, co-founder of Broken Social Scene, is sleeping on the floor of a New York recording studio, headphones clamped ...
Christina Aguilera: Bionic (RCA) ***
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 4 June 2010
ON THE FACE OF IT, Christina Aguilera's fourth studio album offers plenty of intriguing potential new directions, featuring as it does collaborations with the likes ...
Eminem: Recovery (Aftermath/Interscope) ***
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 18 June 2010
PERHAPS Eminem's single most impressive achievement has been to shift hip-hop's focus from being primarily concerned with sociological issues, into the murkier realm of psychology. ...
MGMT: Inheritors of the Head-expanding Hippie Ethos
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 25 June 2010
FEW OF THE BANDS playing Glastonbury's 40th anniversary this weekend fit the consciousness-expanding ethic of the festival at its best as well as MGMT. They ...
Mystery Jets: From Songs of Innocence to Grown-up Experience
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 16 July 2010
THE MYTH OF MYSTERY JETS is easily told. Out on Eel Pie Island, off the coast of Twickenham in west London, bands from the Rolling ...
Arcade Fire: Spontaneous Combustion - The Return Of Arcade Fire
Profile by Andy Gill, The Independent, 23 July 2010
Arcade Fire's first album catapulted the unconventional Canadian outfit into the rock stratosphere, drawing eulogies from Springsteen, Bowie, Byrne and more. Six years later, their ...
Guns N' Roses: Reading Festival, Berkshire
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 28 August 2010
Axl flounders as Reading made to wait for its rock fix ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 26 October 2010
Still tripping on the ghosts of the past ...
Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Def Jam) *****
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 19 November 2010
RECORDED IN HAWAII at a rumoured cost of some $3 million, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is one of pop's gaudiest, most grandiose efforts of ...
Nicki Minaj: Pink Friday (Island) ***
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 19 November 2010
THERE'S NOTHING on Pink Friday with quite the incendiary impact of her cameo on Kanye West's 'Monster', but there's enough to confirm the buzz about ...
The New Pornographers: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 13 December 2010
THE SEVEN-PIECE VANCOUVER COLLECTIVE The New Pornographers somehow remain Canada's most underrated band. ...
John Grant: Success At Last For A Rock'n'roll Survivor
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 7 January 2011
Dangerous sex, addiction and self-loathing – John Grant's turbulent life inspired one of the best albums of last year. Andy Gill meets him ...
Chase and Status: No More Idols (Vertigo)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 28 January 2011
I'VE NO idea who's responsible for the African rap on 'No Problem', which opens Chase and Status's album, but he deserves the kind of star ...
Band of Horses: Tales of Terror from the Blasted Backwoods
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 4 February 2011
IT WAS THE first day by the lake when Band of Horses' singer Ben Bridwell saw the curtain twitch. He was staying at the isolated, ...
Adrian Sherwood: The Man Who Built Jamaica In The Midlands
Interview by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 27 February 2011
The founder of On-U Sound tells Nick Coleman that there is more to reggae than 'ooom-chicky...' ...
Elbow: Build a Rocket Boys! (Fiction) ****
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 4 March 2011
IN THE THREE years since The Seldom Seen Kid hoisted the band into the first rank of arena-rock dependables, Elbow have had plenty of time ...
Eminem: Slim Shady's Rap-Sheet Of Relapse And Recovery
Profile by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 1 April 2011
Eminem soared from drug-filled poverty to adulation and notoriety, and then collapsed into gilded, narcotic, seclusion. But, after his latest comeback, his biographer Nick Hasted ...
Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues (Bella Union) *****
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 22 April 2011
WITH HELPLESSNESS Blues, Fleet Foxes triumphantly deliver on the promise of their popular debut, the album that helped establish folk-rock once again as a formidable ...
Obituary by James Maycock, The Independent, May 2011
GIL SCOTT-HERON lived a life of two distinct, very different halves – as dissimilar as night and day. Up to his mid-30s, Scott-Heron was a ...
Lady Gaga: Born This Way (Polydor) ***
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 20 May 2011
FIRST THINGS FIRST: that cover is simply awful, its adolescent heavy-metal imagery — "ride me, wild one!" — effectively destroying in a single stroke Lady ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 24 June 2011
THERE COMES a certain point in mass pop culture when it ceases being primarily about the music and simply becomes a matter of numbers, whether ...
Coldplay, U2: Glastonbury: Coldplay and U2 almost spoil the party
Report by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 28 June 2011
The headliners split the crowds, but this year's Glastonbury showed that the '70s dream lives on at Worthy Farm. ...
Charlotte Gainsbourg: Eternal Ingénue: Charlotte Gainsbourg on Her Latest Stylish Role
Interview by Bethan Cole, The Independent, 9 July 2011
The daughter of Anglo-French musical royalty, Charlotte Gainsbourg was destined to be a performer — and now she's in the hottest arthouse film of the ...
Music And Drugs — It's A Hard Habit To Break
Overview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 29 July 2011
Amy Winehouse's popularity came in part, says Andy Gill, from the honesty with which she sang of her addictions. But pop hasn't always faced up ...
The Kingsbury Manx: Aztec Discipline
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 17 September 2011
IF ONLY THE KINGSBURY MANX'S THIRD ALBUM matched its title more accurately; but Aztec Discipline is a bloodless affair, lacking the bite implied. ...
Ida Maria: Notting Hill Arts Club, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 18 September 2011
IDA MARIA IS A 23-YEAR-OLD from the north of Norway who is known even in that ex-Viking country for wild behaviour. A cracked rib and ...
The New Pornographers: Koko, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 18 September 2011
ARCADE FIRE ANNOUNCED Canada's pop renaissance to the world this year, but Vancouver's New Pornographers helped begin it a full decade back. One of the ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 22 September 2011
INARA GEORGE is the latest beneficiary/victim of rock's dynastic urge, though at least she sought out other options — notably acting — before following in ...
Pete Doherty: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 4 October 2011
THIS LONDON gig was rescheduled after Pete Doherty's latest drug-related jail spell. He's on his best behaviour, looking puffy or perhaps just well-fed, starting on ...
The Dap-Kings, Sharon Jones: Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings: Naturally
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 6 October 2011
Those seeking more from their soul music than the deracinated clichés, witless hip-hop collaborators and endless credit-lists afforded by "urban" albums are hereby directed to ...
Bjork: Biophilia (One Little Indian) **
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 7 October 2011
BJÖRK IS undoubtedly one of the more questing spirits working in music today; but with Biophilia, that quest seems to have led her too far ...
Sandy Denny, Thea Gilmore: Thea Gilmore breathes new life into the words of a tragic lost star
Report and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 14 October 2011
Folk-rock pioneer Sandy Denny left a wealth of lyrics that have inspired the artist's new album. ...
The High Dials: War of the Wakening Phantoms
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 23 October 2011
IN ANOTHER ERA, The High Dials might have been one of the bands on Nuggets. Their name, album title and sleeve design reek of 1960s ...
Live Review by Simon Price, The Independent, 23 October 2011
"OK, JUST IMAGINE you're in a dark, sweaty nightclub and you're all on E". It's wishful thinking from Luke Jenner, lead singer with The Rapture, ...
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 23 October 2011
The hit of SXSW and Glastonbury, White Denim are building up an unstoppable momentum. Andy Gill meets the band who gave one of the most ...
White Denim: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 23 October 2011
THE LAST TIME I saw White Denim they were a formidable psychedelic power trio who delivered one of the most blistering aural assaults I'd heard ...
Laura Marling: Westminster Methodist Central Hall, London ***
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 31 October 2011
A Dylanesque troubadour who's knocking on heaven's door ...
Tinie Tempah, O2 Arena, London ***
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 9 November 2011
I HEARD PEOPLE close to Tinie Tempah talk passionately about how his appeal and personal qualities were part of a Britain that went beyond race, ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 12 December 2011
THE KRAFTWERK allusions, the Brian Eno productions, the "experimental" new directions: the propaganda which comes with each new Coldplay album would make you think they ...
Whitney Houston: The diva who had — and lost — it all
Retrospective by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 13 February 2012
From her rise as a fresh-faced teen to her sudden death in an LA hotel room at 48, Nick Hasted charts the highs and lows ...
Whitney Houston: The Greatest Voice Of Her Generation
Comment by Andy Gill, The Independent, 17 February 2012
Wannabes are rife, yet she was a singular talent, says Andy Gill ...
The Ting Tings: "We don't keep songs for a rainy day"
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 2 March 2012
The Ting Tings threw away a whole album before their new release, they tell Andy Gill ...
Alabama Shakes: Boys & Girls (Rough Trade)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 11 April 2012
THIS STORMING debut album from the hot-ticket Alabama soul-rock quartet fully delivers on the groundswell of anticipation built up by already legendary live performances and ...
Report and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 19 May 2012
SIGUR ROS vanished four years ago. In their absence the band who are, after Bjork, Iceland's biggest musical export, saw their atmospheric music, with singer ...
Peter Hammill: And The Next Number Will Be... My Sixties
Comment by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 2 July 2012
Forget sex and drugs and youthful rebellion, rock's newest subject matter is the ageing process, says Nick Hasted ...
The Roots, Betty Wright: Betty Wright & The Roots: Betty Wright – The Movie (S-Curve)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 7 July 2012
All the Wright moves as a soul star revisits her roots. ...
Report and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 21 July 2012
From Brooklyn to Glasgow, a new wave of musicians are choosing laptops over guitars as their instruments of choice, says Andy Gill. ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 28 July 2012
Blur are marking 21 years, and possibly their final days, by re-releasing almost everything they have ever recorded. Andy Gill discovers a host of unheard ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 28 July 2012
Snow Patrol, Simon Le Bon and Ricky Gervais's beard strike a chord ...
Bill Fay: Album: Bill Fay: Life Is People
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 11 August 2012
SUCCESS IN songwriting is as much a lottery as a measure of true quality. Some writers instantly catch the zeitgeist, and become household names; others, ...
Paul Weller: The Rapacity of the Record Revival
Report and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 11 August 2012
Music labels are trying to cash in on a resurgence in the popularity of vinyl, putting often-inflated price-tags on albums, says Nick Hasted. ...
Public Image Ltd: PiL: Forum, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 13 August 2012
NOW THAT JOHN Lydon, né Rotten, is no longer being targeted, feared and beaten in the street as a folk devil, it's possible to see ...
Jimmy Savile: Young girls were just another victim of the rock'n'roll years
Comment by David Hepworth, The Independent, 2 October 2012
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY has always been awash with salacious rumours about the sexual tastes of its more prominent figures, particularly when they look as though ...
Martha Wainwright: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 3 December 2012
AMONG THE prodigal polymath musicians of the Wainwright-McGarrigle clan, Martha seems destined to come second to her brother Rufus. Among the prodigal polymath musicians of ...
Green Day's American Idiot: Hammersmith Apollo, London ***
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 5 December 2012
THE ROCK OPERA first grappled with by Pete Townshend and Ray Davies at the end of the 1960s, as rock's growing thematic seriousness and their ...
Bettye LaVette: Jazz Café, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 12 December 2012
"WE HAVE just finished the 8-year Who the Hell Is She? Tour," Bettye LaVette jokes, with a smile which could be the definition of rueful. ...
Kraftwerk: Ladies und Gentlemen, the future has arrived
Retrospective by David Stubbs, The Independent, 27 January 2013
To the unenlightened (i.e. most of us), they were just naff. Now, with good reason, they are hailed as prophets. David Stubbs hails synthpop pioneers ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 8 February 2013
MY BLOODY VALENTINE'S reputation for tardiness is well earned. I dimly remember rushing off to interview them around the release of their second album, Loveless, ...
British Sea Power: The Old Market, Hove
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 26 March 2013
IF ANY CURRENT band could soundtrack Spirit of '45, Ken Loach's new documentary on Britain's post-war spirit of utopian belonging, it's British Sea Power. ...
Valerie June: Pushin’ Against a Stone
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 9 May 2013
Bluegrass, blues and plenty of soul from a sultry singer ...
Robin Thicke: Blurred Lines (Polydor/Interscope) **
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 20 July 2013
IT'S AMAZING what one hit can do for an act's profile: Robin Thicke had laboured long and hard with little recognition outside the core US ...
Live Review by Simon Price, The Independent, 31 August 2013
The Nine Inch Nails frontman is still furious after all these years. But, at 78, Leonard Cohen knows it's better to be a lover than ...
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 6 September 2013
After 15 years of glam-pop, the duo's new album sees them channelling the spirit of film noir. They tell Nick Hasted where the sequins went. ...
Vincent Gallo: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 11 September 2013
VINCENT GALLO is a born provocateur, naturally at war with the world. The writer/ director/star of Buffalo 66 is also a photographer, painter, model and ...
Elton John: Rocket Man on a New Mission
Report and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 13 September 2013
After serious illness, the star is back with his best album in years. He tells Andy Gill how he found a new lease of life. ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 15 September 2013
KIERAN HEBDEN, aka Four Tet, is currently making some of the most accessibly innovative, strikingly beautiful electronic pop music in the world, from the comfort ...
Mark Lanegan: The Art of Darkness
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 27 September 2013
Mark Lanegan's unmistakably melancholy voice has featured on a multitude of collaborations. But, he tells Andy Gill, his latest album is his own. Well, kind ...
Arcade Fire: Reflektor (Sonovox)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 18 October 2013
THE ALBUM COVER image of Rodin's Orpheus & Eurydice signals the theme of Arcade Fire's longest and most involved album yet: this is a work ...
U2: "Fifth member" of U2 Paul McGuinness to Walk On after 35 years
Report by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 15 November 2013
"WE'RE NOT GOING to let people rip us off, we want the money," Bono, the singer for the penniless and unknown band U2 proclaimed in ...
One Direction: Midnight Memories ***
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 27 November 2013
The boy band's third album is a fumbling transition from pop to rock ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 6 December 2013
Let's talk about sex, baby — and nothing but sex ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 13 December 2013
UNUSUALLY FOR an industry fuelled by hype, it was the most well-kept secret since David Bowie's comeback album earlier this year, and all the more ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 1 January 2014
MUCH OF CHICAGO post-rock label Thrill Jockey's output is spoilt for me by the pervasive air of smug worthiness, which recalls the "classically-trained" condescension of ...
The Dap-Kings, Sharon Jones: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings: Give the People What They Want
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 11 January 2014
A stalwart soul sister comes back fighting ...
The Moldy Peaches: Moldy Peaches at Roadhouse, Manchester
Live Review by Simon Price, The Independent, 29 January 2014
Get Yer Rocks Off, Kiddywinks ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 25 February 2014
THEY MAY HAIL from San Francisco, but trance-rockers Wooden Shjips have clearly left their hearts elsewhere — in the mid-70s Germany of Krautrockers Neu! and ...
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 26 February 2014
WHEN GUY GARVEY split from his long-time partner Emma Unsworth, he had to get away. Far away. The genial, bear-like singer knew he needed a ...
Sex & Drugs & Herring rolls: Punk's Jewish Roots Revealed
Retrospective by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 26 February 2014
PUNK ROCK'S transatlantic fuse was lit when Malcolm McLaren saw Richard Hell in New York in 1975. McLaren, whose Jewish family background was in the ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 1 March 2014
IN 2006, Pharrell Williams' debut solo album, In My Mind, following years as a hugely successful production partner in the Neptunes, landed with an almighty ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 16 April 2014
THE MULTI-RACIAL trio Company Flow were one of rap's great underground hopes back in the '90s, their Funcrusher Plus album suggesting alternatives to the gangsta ...
These New Puritans: Barbican, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 18 April 2014
WHEN A HAWK has to be trained to land with a thundering whoosh during your album, you are not as other bands. ...
The Stranglers: Why musicians play into their old age
Comment by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 23 April 2014
Nick Hasted looks at how they are driven by a burning desire to keep on entertaining fans despite risking ridicule. ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 27 April 2014
LILY'S BACK, and this time it's personal. But then, it always has been: few modern pop stars have engaged with the sweet 'n' sour of ...
The Ramones: "Tommy Ramone's rock'n'roll legacy should not be underestimated"
Comment by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 14 July 2014
TOMMY RAMONE'S contribution to rock'n'roll was as brief and as fundamentally potent as his band's songs. Three albums, released over 17 months, were the sum ...
Blue Note Records, "jazz's Motown, on celebrating 75 years in the limelight
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 15 August 2014
Blue Note remains more than the shell of a name that other formerly legendary labels – Virgin, Island, Motown and EMI – have been reduced ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 29 August 2014
YOU HAVE TO HAND IT to Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard: he may come across like Johnny Borrell's understudy at times, but he's never shied away ...
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 10 October 2014
THE SIGHT OF Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett lined up in a studio, albeit only to reminisce for a ...
Obituary by Chris Salewicz, The Independent, 14 October 2014
AT THE 1979 Christmas party thrown by Rolling Stone magazine, Charles M. Young, one of the publication's star writers, who in a long 1977 article ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 24 October 2014
Pop star shows "promising signs of maturity". But whether it's adolescent exaggeration or an attempt to bring more intriguing strategies into pop lyricism is debatable. ...
Report and Interview by Paul Lester, The Independent, 5 December 2014
They're not "super-girly", nor are they rabidly feminist. They just want to be in a band, the way men can just be musicians without having ...
Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan: Hanging on in "this dirty pop business"
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 5 December 2014
BILLY CORGAN is still big: all shaven-headed, 6ft 3in of him. It's rock music, he has decided, which got small, and he had better find ...
Whiplash has put drummers in their rightful place as music's irreplaceable root
Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 16 January 2015
Drummers are finally beginning to shake their tag as 'clueless thumpers' ...
Marc Almond: Let's Talk About Death
Interview by Simon Price, The Independent, 17 February 2015
Simon Price talks to the enigmatic singer about Soho, Soft Cell and mortality. ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 27 February 2015
THE LAST RECORDED testament of Roebuck "Pops" Staples, Don't Lose This remained a private family secret until his daughter Mavis remembered her father's instruction, one ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 6 May 2015
Even in jazz, sometimes the simplest pleasures are best ...
Kate Tempest: The Great Escape festival, Brighton
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 18 May 2015
Kate Tempest stands out proudly in midst of hustling between scattered venues ...
The Cribs: Wakefield brothers talk depression, rebirth and America
Report and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 29 May 2015
"I FOUND A GUY who was a fan of the band who ran a hotel in Ipswich," the Cribs' Ryan Jarman remembers of his living ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 26 July 2015
There's a ska light that never goes out: Cliff’s high-voltage charisma is undimmed at 67 ...
Report and Interview by Paul Sexton, The Independent, 16 October 2015
Daptone Records has put authentic soul into R&B for 15 years, from Back to Black to 'Uptown Funk'. ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 19 October 2015
ACCORDING TO Dan Bejar, the title to Destroyer's 12th, and possibly best, album came to him upon learning that it was the original name for ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 23 October 2015
"WHY IS THE PAIN of birth lighter borne than the pain of death?" asks Joanna Newsom on the title-track of her first release in five ...
Report by Peter Silverton, The Independent, 1 December 2015
The mythology surrounding the White Album takes in warring Beatles, Charles Manson and installation art. What's even weirder is that Starr ended up with the ...
Peace and harmonies: Christmas songs still have the power to bring us together
Retrospective by Peter Silverton, The Independent, 16 December 2015
Even in the age of the digital download, compilations of festive music still have an impact, and this is why. ...
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, The Independent, 25 January 2016
JUST WHEN WE thought we didn't have any more space in our life for 21st century Denmarkia, along comes another slice of Danish. This time, ...
The 1975: I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 26 February 2016
WHILE THIS follow-up shares some of the annoying mannerisms that curdled one's enjoyment of The 1975's 2013 debut, it's ultimately a much more enjoyable and ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 29 February 2016
Grateful music industry's remaining Force is with British singer ...
Billy Bragg: English national anthem: Is 'Jerusalem' the hymn we've been looking for?
Comment by Peter Silverton, The Independent, 10 March 2016
In its 100 years, the hymn 'Jerusalem' has been sung with feeling by those of all political colours, says Peter Silverton. ...
Morris Day, The Time: Morris Day: Purple Rain rival who almost stole Prince's thunder
Profile by Simon Price, The Independent, 26 April 2016
On screen, the lead singer of The Time played a scene-stealing version of himself as the Purple One's nemesis. But off screen, their love-hate relationship ...
Sniffin' Glue: A fanzine that epitomized punk
Retrospective and Interview by Peter Silverton, The Independent, 10 May 2016
It's UK punk's 40th anniversary year – sort of – and among the work being celebrated is Sniffin' Glue, the photocopied publication that embodied the ...
James Blake: The Colour In Anything
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 11 May 2016
"IN MY HEART, there's a radio silence going on," sings James Blake on the opening track of The Colour In Anything. It's an odd claim ...
Beyoncé: Stadium of Light, Sunderland
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 28 June 2016
A disjointed barrage maybe, but she is still the master show-woman ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 7 July 2016
Burt Bacharach, GoGo Penguin and Esperanza Spalding are other highlights ...
The Chris Robinson Brotherhood: Chris Robinson Brotherhood: Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 27 July 2016
THE CHRIS ROBINSON Brotherhood may look like a bunch of bleary stoners, and confirm that impression by their colossal intake of weed, but that bohemian ...
Emeli Sandé: Long Live The Angels
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 9 November 2016
EMELI SANDÉ's long-awaited follow-up to the hugely successful Our Version Of Events is, at least in part, a break-up album – although her separation from ...
Kate Bush: "I'm not sure you're ever really happy with what you create"
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 24 November 2016
In a rare interview, the reclusive 'Wuthering Heights' singer opens up about her nerves performing live and working with her son on the spectacular visuals for her 2014 shows, ...
Jeb Loy Nichols: Country Hustle
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, March 2017
ON COUNTRY HUSTLE, Jeb Loy Nichols' characteristic strain of expat-Americana leans away from folk and country, towards soul and funk of various forms, from his ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 5 July 2017
UNDERSTANDABLY BEGUILED BY Olivia Chaney's enchanting 2015 debut album The Longest River, The Decemberists' frontman Colin Meloy tweeted his request that she cover the traditional ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 26 October 2017
DESPITE A personal output of 14 solo albums, Joe Henry remains more celebrated as a producer than a performer in his own right, thanks to ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 16 November 2017
I RATHER LIKED the single 'Spent The Day In Bed', with its mischievous advice to ignore news broadcasts designed "to make you feel small and ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 15 December 2017
THE MAIN THING that sets Eminem apart from virtually all other rappers is the conflicted nature of his character. Where most wallow in wearyingly cliched ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 4 January 2018
ARTIST, POET, illustrator, philosopher, cartoonist – so broad are Peter Blegvad's other interests, and so protean his muse, that one sometimes has to wait for ...
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Wrong Creatures
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 11 January 2018
LIKE MANY rock classicists, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club seemed hidebound by their influences, prevented from realising a truly authentic rock'n'roll experience by their mannered appropriation ...
Calexico: The Thread That Keeps Us
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 17 January 2018
NOW EXPANDED to a full-time septet, Calexico display a new resourcefulness and determination on The Thread That Keeps Us, which may be the album that ...
Mary Gauthier: Rifles & Rosary Beads
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 25 January 2018
MARY GAUTHIER'S reputation as one of today's greatest songwriters, admired by peers such as Tom Waits and Bob Dylan, is rooted in her relentless commitment ...
Graham Coxon: The End Of The F***ing World
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 1 February 2018
GRAHAM COXON has always seemed the least comfortable of star guitarists, less concerned with image, bravado and pose than with matters of pure sound and ...
Franz Ferdinand: Always Ascending
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 8 February 2018
FIVE YEARS is a long time in pop, but Franz Ferdinand's artful, oblique take on the medium has allowed the band to negotiate the hiatus ...
The Low Anthem: The Salt Doll Went to Measure the Depth of the Sea
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 22 February 2018
OVER THE COURSE of a decade, the Low Anthem metamorphosed from the alt-folk harmonies of Oh My God, Charlie Darwin to the fantastical psychedelia of ...
The NME is dead. But its soul left its body long ago
Essay by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 9 March 2018
The former bastion of counterculture captured the spirit of punk and in its heyday was uncompromising. Nick Hasted remembers the good times, and charts how the magazine ...
Jack White: Boarding House Reach
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 18 March 2018
WHO DOES Jack White think he is? Well, judging by the cover to Boarding House Reach, a smoothly airbrushed simulacrum of Keanu Reeves, which rather ...
Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 5 April 2018
THE SECOND EELS album, Electro-Shock Blues, defined Mark Everett's mode of beautiful, redemptive reactions to a growing list of personal tragedies, spinning him off the ...
Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 5 April 2018
Download this: 'Golden', 'Shelby '68', 'L.O.V.E.', 'Music's Too Sad Without You' ...
Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 19 April 2018
THIS LOST Burgess solo album was recorded in the dog days between Christmas and New Year in 2008, with an ad hoc indie supergroup including ...
Kamasi Washington: Heaven and Earth
Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 20 June 2018
THE CHAIN REACTION from Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly was explosive enough to blow a hole in America's musical ghettos. Hip hop's newly anointed ...
Obituary by James Maycock, The Independent, 16 August 2018
"I JUST LOST my song!" howled Otis Redding in 1967. "That girl took it away from me!" ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 7 October 2019
KANO'S LYRICS often sound like a wake, mixing mournfulness and anger as they raise a toast to fallen friends on abandoned estates, victims of crushing ...
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