Library Rock's Backpages

Let It Rock

Let It Rock

Let It Rock was a monthly British music magazine, published for 35 issues between October 1972 and December 1975, which featured lengthy critical articles, record reviews, and features covering a wide spectrum of popular music.

244 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Atomic Rooster: The Rooster Crows

Comment by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, June 1972

ATOMIC ROOSTER is Vincent Crane. Or, if you prefer it like the cinema ads, Vincent Crane is Atomic Rooster, which should sound surprising when you ...

Lou Reed: Lou Reed

Review by Charlie Gillett, Let It Rock, July 1972

IF I WERE thirteen, or Lou was, or better still if we both were, this would be great, everything I wanted to think about life, ...

Curtis Mayfield: Where He's Been And Where He's Going

Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, Let It Rock, October 1972

AFTER SUCH COMMITTED, socially conscious compositions as 'This Is My Country', 'Mighty Mighty, Spade and Whitey' and 'Choice Of Colours' Curtis Mayfield believes the time ...

Flying Burrito Brothers: After The Burritos

Retrospective and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Let It Rock, October 1972

BY THE TIME rhythm guitarist Gram Parsons left the Byrds shortly after the release of their monumental Sweetheart Of The Rodeo album, country-rock had become ...

Joe Tex

Profile by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, October 1972

I’VE NEVER met Joe Tex, never met anybody who has; never seen or heard an interview with him, never read a feature on him — ...

Lindisfarne: You Can't Carry On Being a Geordie Band Forever

Profile and Interview by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, October 1972

FINCHLEY CENTRAL, you'll recall, was a hit record for the New Vaudeville Band (I think it was the follow-up to the equally appalling 'Winchester Cathedral').It's ...

Phil Spector

Profile by Richard Williams, Let It Rock, October 1972

ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED MOMENTS IN late-Sixties rock comes at the beginning of 'To Be Alone With You' on Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline album. ...

Rod Stewart: Never A Dull Moment (Mercury 6499-154)

Review by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, October 1972

RIGHT NOW, a new album by Rod Stewart can't fail to be a success: at the time of writing the album is already No.1 on ...

The Doors Come Full Circle

Review by John Tobler, Let It Rock, October 1972

ROCK JOURNALISTS ARE not born. Probably they’re not made either – it doesn’t work to tell someone that they’re a rock writer, although people do. ...

Allen Toussaint: Toussaint: Life, Love And Faith

Review by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, October 1972

TO PUT THIS album in its proper perspective, I’d need to rhapsodize at length over New Orleans R&B and the neglected talents of Allen Toussaint, ...

Tower Of Power: Bump City

Review by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, October 1972

ANYBODY OUT THERE listen to rock on A.F.N. at all? – well, if you do, you'll know Tower of Power: Tony Pigg, an FM D-J ...

Van Morrison: Saint Dominic's Preview (Warner Bros.)

Review by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, October 1972

LIKE ANYONE else, a record reviewer has certain expectations and anticipations of an album before he hears it, and tends to judge it on whether ...

Jimmy Cliff: Various Artists: The Harder They Come

Review by Charlie Gillett, Let It Rock, October 1972

HOW TO GET into reggae in two easy stages. First you go to see the film The Harder They Come, which will engross you with ...

Brinsley Schwarz: Happy Doing What We're Doing

Profile and Interview by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, November 1972

IT ALL STARTED in Woodbridge, Suffolk, in 1963-4 when Brinsley and Nick Lowe started a school group. Sounds 4 plus 1, playing rather suprisingly for ...

Budgie: Squawk

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, November 1972

RULE 47 OF THE record reviewers' charter reads: it's not nice to go bonkers for Budgie. My conversations with editors are always the same. They ...

Jimmy Cliff: It’s A Hard Road to Travel, Yes It’s a Rough, Rough Road to Ride

Interview by Charlie Gillett, Let It Rock, November 1972

Why is there no Jamican International superstar? Despite providing the world’s pop music with the only genuinely new dance rhythm since rock ‘n’ roll, and ...

Billy Stewart: Billy Stewart's Golden Decade (Chess)

Review by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, December 1972

'BRRRRRRRR-RP.. CHUP. CHUP.. CHUP-CHUP.... HEH!' With the soul scatting that became his trademark, 'Summertime' begins a belated tribute to the original contribution of Billy 'Fat ...

Black Sabbath: Volume 4

Review by Max Bell, Let It Rock, December 1972

DESPITE BLACK SABBATH'S protestations that they have spent both a great deal of time and money on their latest album (earthshatteringly entitled Volume 4) the ...

Graham Bond, Pete Brown and His Battered Ornaments: Graham Bond & Pete Brown: Premium Bond

Profile and Interview by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, December 1972

TEN YEARS ago, Graham Bond was playing alto sax at the Marquee on Tuesday nights with Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, and then with his equally ...

Heinz, Joe Meek, The Tornados: Heinz: Just Like Eddie

Retrospective and Interview by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, December 1972

EVEN IF HE was born in Germany as the music papers said, we always suspected that Heinz's hair wasn't really that colour. It was his ...

The Everly Brothers: Looking Back with the Everlys

Retrospective and Interview by John Tobler, Let It Rock, December 1972

SOME OF THE earliest rock’n’roll to capture my imagination was purveyed by the Everly Brothers. "Whatcha mean?" mutters a Brylcreem-encrusted voice, emerging from a Neanderthal ...

Man, Manfred Mann: Manfred Mann's Earth Band: Glorified Magnified/Man: Live At The Padget Rooms, Penarth

Review by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, December 1972

GLORIFIED MAGNIFIED is a new album from a famous star and his relatively new much-publicised band, and comes in a glossy, snazzy package – fold-out ...

Savoy Brown: Band Of A Thousand Changes

Interview by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, December 1972

SAVOY BROWN CAME up on John Mayall's coat tails playing supporting gigs with him at the start of the blues boom. The boom, which occurred ...

Gamble-Huff, Thom Bell and the Philly Groove

Overview by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, January 1973

On a balmy night in the late summer of ’67, while the world was wearing flowers in its hair, I was sinking into my seat, ...

John Prine: Sweet Revenge

Review by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, January 1973

A NEW ALBUM by John Prine is an event. Let it be said at once that Prine is immeasurably the best singer-songwriter to come out ...

RockFile: Where The Writing Ends, The Memory Game Begins

Review by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, February 1973

ROCK FILE is one of the current crop of books on music which has moved away from the more historical analysis, and deals with the ...

Colin Blunstone: One Year After

Interview by John Tobler, Let It Rock, February 1973

Nowadays, degrees and A levels are almost as common rock musicians as they are among aspiring rock critics. But it was headline news back in ...

Dave Berry

Profile and Interview by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, February 1973

IT'S VERY EMBARRASSING to be caught out when you haven't done your homework. We hadn't planned much before we met Dave Berry because we automatically ...

Eddie "Guitar" Burns, Dr. Ross, Johnny Mars: Eddie "Guitar" Burns: Bottle Up & Go; Johnny Mars: Blues from Mars; Dr. Ross: Live at Montreux

Review by Bob Fisher, Let It Rock, February 1973

ALL THESE ALBUMS were recorded (apart from Dr. Ross) in England at the Chalk Farm studios and produced by Jim Simpson. They represent probably the ...

Eric Clapton Comes Back

Live Review by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, February 1973

THE NEWS THAT Pete Townshend had "formed an instant supergroup to back Eric Clapton when the guitarist makes his come-back at London's Rainbow Theatre on ...

Rory Gallagher: Gallagher's Travel

Interview by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, February 1973

"They have the push of the line on you!" says Rory Gallagher — who else could be expected to phrase it like that — when ...

Gypsy: Brenda and the Rattlesnake

Review by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, February 1973

I've waited for one like this ever since the first Crazy Horse album in 1971. Gypsy's second album starts off with the sound of a ...

Chris Barber, Blues Incorporated, Cyril Davies, Lonnie Donegan, Alexis Korner, The Rolling Stones: Rock Routes: The London R&B Scene

Retrospective by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, February 1973

AT A TIME when most receptive organs — eyes, ears, pockets — were turned to Liverpool and its Merseybeat, another (and as it turned out ...

Spooky Tooth Together Again

Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, February 1973

"OO WAS THIS cult then that dug us and never bought our records?" grunts Mike Harrison, singer and keyboards man with a much-loved and under-estimated ...

Status Quo: Piledriver

Review by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, February 1973

THE FACT THAT someone bothered to print the lyrics of Piledriver – there's a title safe from prosecution under the Trades Description Act – on ...

Stealers Wheel: Stealers Wheel

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, February 1973

Gerry Rafferty is a lunk. He put together a fine group, cut a lovely album and then split. It's the most lunatic thing since Dave ...

The Band: Rock of Ages (Capitol E-STSP 11)

Review by Karl Dallas, Let It Rock, February 1973

IT IS WHAT The Band leave out as much as what they include that makes them impressive. Among all the welter of ego-tripping pyrotechnicians which ...

Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead: Europe '72

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, February 1973

THE DEAD have never ceased to feed off their origins as a performing band in order to avoid the danger of becoming marooned in a ...

The Penguins: ‘Earth Angel’ and the Heavenly Host

Retrospective by Bill Millar, Let It Rock, February 1973

THERE WERE a lot of a angels in the Rockin’ Fifties: ‘Teen Angel’, ‘Angel Baby’, ‘Angel Face’, ‘Angel of Romance’, ‘Angel of Mine’; Angels in ...

Tim Buckley

Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, February 1973

TIM BUCKLEY had moved from the East Coast to Southern California and became involved, playing and touring, with various country bands like Princess Ramona and ...

Bob Dylan: Left Hand of God?

Essay by Greil Marcus, Let It Rock, March 1973

IN THE NOVEMBER issue of Let It Rock, Tony White offered some rather hysterical opinions in his Dylan bootleg discography, and Tony Scaduto, author of ...

Don McLean: Don McLean

Review by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, March 1973

THERE ARE TIMES when rock music seems about as relevant as O-level Geography, and listening to Don McLean's new album is one of them. ...

Allman Brothers Band, Duane Allman: Duane Allman: An Anthology (Warner/Capricorn)

Review by Charlie Gillett, Let It Rock, March 1973

PEOPLE WHO get this record in order to have a testament to one of the generation’s finest musicians will find that they have taken home ...

Elephant's Memory: Elephant's Memory (Apple Sapcor 22)

Review by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, March 1973

IT WOULD BE very easy to put down Elephant's Memory. Of course, first you'd say nice things about their playing in general, pick out a ...

John Entwistle: John Entwhistle and The Bloody English

Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, March 1973

JOHN ENTWHISTLE has always been an enigma. On the other members of the Who we can pin an identity. Townshend – creator and, at the ...

Joni Mitchell: For The Roses

Review by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, March 1973

THIS IS ONE of those albums which makes me feel I should apologise to the artist concerned for previously undervaluing her work. Even as late ...

Long John Baldry: S'long John

Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, March 1973

PITY, I THOUGHT, when I heard Long John Baldry was in panto. It used to happen to faded rock'n'rollers – not very good rock'n'rollers, mind ...

The Moody Blues: Moody Blues: Seventh Sojourn

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, March 1973

IT'S THE BIG, BALD MOODY who scares me. There's a picture of his disembodied head floating across the inside of the sleeve, a look of ...

Neil Sedaka: Solitaire (RCA)

Review by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, March 1973

WAY BACK IN 1959, Sedaka was a teenage songwriting prodigy. He wrote a love song to an equally precocious girl who worked in the same ...

Slade: Slayed

Review by Charlie Gillett, Let It Rock, March 1973

Rock and roll at its very best, today. Which is not the same thing as rock 'n' roll at its very best in 1956, as ...

The Four Seasons: Ten Years And Still Hanging On

Retrospective by Bob Fisher, Let It Rock, March 1973

IN AUGUST LAST YEAR Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons celebrated ten years as one of the most successful recording groups America has ever produced. ...

Kim Fowley, The Rockin' Berries: The Rockin' Berries v. Kim Fowley. Or, The Vulture Scoops the Pool

Essay by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, March 1973

The only time the Rockin' Berries met Kim Fowley was in Los Angeles in 1964. Phil Hardy has met them both recently and found that ...

Traffic: Shoot Out At The Fantasy (Island)

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, March 1973

FOR A BRIEF but heady period Traffic were my favourite rock band. I still get a spark from the thought of a new Traffic album ...

Valerie Simpson

Report by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, March 1973

THE NAMES Ashford and Simpson should ring a bell with anybody that reads the small print on Motown records: Nicholas and Valerie have chalked up ...

West, Bruce & Laing: West Bruce & Laing: Why Dontcha

Review by John Tobler, Let It Rock, March 1973

I DON'T WANT to be boring, but there's a whole heap of over obvious things to say about a band like this, just a couple ...

Bloodstone: Natural High

Review by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, April 1973

May I shout in your ear? The word is Bloodstone: no, not Bloodrock, Terry Knight's horror, nor my kind employer, the British Mr. Blunstone, but ...

The Platters: Buck Ram and The Platters

Profile and Interview by Bill Millar, Let It Rock, April 1973

BUCK RAM is remembered for The Platters and a number of hit records: 'Only You' and 'The Great Pretender' (1955); 'The Magic Touch', 'My Prayer' ...

Chuck Berry and those who influenced him

Essay by Charlie Gillett, Let It Rock, April 1973

ONE THING everybody agrees about: the 'forties was a bad time for music. The big bands of the thirties got sweeter and sweeter before falling ...

Chuck Berry's Influence on the UK R & B Scene

Essay by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, April 1973

'DING-A-LING' gave Chuck Berry his only British No 1 seventeen years after his first record release, 'Maybellene'. He had five Top Ten hits in the ...

Doug Sahm: Doug Sahm And Band (Atlantic K40466)

Review by Greil Marcus, Let It Rock, April 1973

HI, WELCOME to 1973! (You’re probably used to it by now, but this was written in January) It’s gonna be a banner year for rock’n’roll ...

Elton John: Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player

Review by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, April 1973

THE ONLY SUPERFICIAL sign of the album's French origin is its title, a contrary translation of Truffaut's film Tirez Sur Le Pianiste. Truffaut's pianist was ...

Fairport Convention: Rosie

Review by Mark Leviton, Let It Rock, April 1973

THE NEW Fairport Convention LP is going to alienate some fans – a radical change in musical approach by a popular band will always do ...

Badger, Flash: Flash: Flash; Badger: One Live Badger

Review by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, April 1973

"DIFFERENCES in musical policy" is the standard euphemism whenever a member quits a band, or, as is more often the case, gets the boot. Yes ...

Poco: A Good Feeling To Know

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, April 1973

IT ALL DEPENDS what you expect an LP to do. If you'd like 40 minutes of rhythmic pap to plug a hole in your air ...

Rory Gallagher: Blueprint

Review by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, April 1973

MY PAST EXPERIENCES of Rory Gallagher have not all been pleasant – a damp day at Crystal Palace; seemingly countless Grey Whistle Tests (I may ...

The Strawbs: Bursting At The Seams

Review by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, April 1973

THOSE WHOSE acquaintance with the Strawbs is older than a few months must have been surprised by the band's recent form: neither 'Lay Down' nor ...

Alice Cooper: Billion Dollar Babies

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, May 1973

Alice Cooper is uglyAlice Cooper's a starWhen he shows his tummy on tellyAll the girls go aaaaaahghh. ...

Curtis Mayfield, Diana Ross: Black Music

Comment by Dave Marsh, Let It Rock, May 1973

SOMETIME LAST fall, John Percy Boyd, Mark Bethune and Michael Brown, a trio of black college students in Detroit, decided to put an end to ...

Timmy Thomas: Breaking the rules: Timmy Thomas

Report and Interview by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, May 1973

IN THE American record business, like any other, it’s the biggies with the bread that rule the roost. But every so often, an obscure record ...

Dallas Taylor

Interview by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, May 1973

IT'S JUST an office-type office. No Habitat or Heals lunar module seats. Just a desk and a couple of chairs. Plus one of those huge ...

Derek & The Dominos: In Concert (RSO)

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, May 1973

FOR A CULTURE that was geared to acknowledging the importance of flux and individual freedom, rock is ludicrously prone to attacks of nostalgia. ...

Diana Ross: Lady Sings The Blues

Review by Charlie Gillett, Let It Rock, May 1973

YOU'LL HAVE READ by now that Elvis had to cancel his 1973 tour of the UK in order to do location shooting in Las Vegas ...

Heads Hands and Feet: Old Soldiers Never Die

Review by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, May 1973

THEY SHOULD HAVE named the album after the opener on Side One. Old Soldiers Never Die suits well enough – they've all been doing battle ...

Humble Pie: Eat It

Review by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, May 1973

HUMBLE PIE ARE your archetypal underachieves. Every album they lay down a couple of tracks that show what they can really do when they set ...

J.J. Cale: J.J.Cale: Really (A&M)

Review by Charlie Gillett, Let It Rock, May 1973

If J.J. Cale were told to climb a mountain, he’d probably ask to be blindfolded and then start walking up backwards. He likes to make ...

Heads Hands and Feet, Jerry Lee Lewis: Jerry Lee Lewis: The Session Men

Report and Interview by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, May 1973

"WHAT HAPPENS when some of today's great pop stars put a session together in London with a rock 'n' roll legend?" asks the ad for ...

Jon Landau: It’s Too Late To Stop Now

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, May 1973

I FEEL UNEASY, confronting Landau. If a rock critic is a parasite, what is the critic of a rock critic? Landau is a rock critic ...

David Cassidy: Limpalong Cassidy

Live Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, May 1973

HE CAME OUT sheathed in white, like a tape worm. For someone whose primary appeal is physical, he’s surprisingly clumsy, graceless. Constipated bumps and grinds. ...

The Beatles: Peter McCabe and Robert D. Schonfeld: Apple To The Core (Martin, Brian and O'Keeffe)

Book Review by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, May 1973

A short sighted look beyond the stars ...

Wishbone Ash: Top of the Polls with Twin Guitars

Interview by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, May 1973

ROCK WRITERS have a thing about genealogy. I don’t know who’s fault it is but I’m always reading about second generation bands and third generation ...

Vinegar Joe: Rock'n'Roll Gypsies

Interview by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, May 1973

"COME ON. Get up off the fucking floor. Shake yer arses and clap yer ‘ands." It’s not Michael Philip Jagger enticing them to rip that ...

Argent: In Deep (Epic)

Review by John Tobler, Let It Rock, June 1973

WHEN I INTERVIEWED Colin Blunstone for Let It Rock one of the points that he made several times was that Argent were just about the ...

David Bowie: Bowie Zowie

Comment by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, June 1973

WHAT YOU THINK of Bowie depends on your idea of rock-and-roll. It's no good criticising him for falling short in what he's trying to do, ...

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Profile by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, June 1973

FOR A 'SINGLES' band Creedence Clearwater Revival made a lot of albums: six in two years (1969 – 70), then one as a trio in ...

David Bowie: Zowie Bowie

Essay by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, June 1973

ARGUING ABOUT pop stars is mostly a loony thing to do. So many of the judgements involved are subjective that the inarticulacy of a Juke ...

Dr. John: In The Right Place

Review by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, June 1973

MAC REBENNACK'S situation is Jekyll and Hyde reversed. Mac took something and turned into the Doctor, split from his identity as a New Orleans songwriter/session ...

Led Zeppelin: Houses Of The Holy

Review by Jonh Ingham, Let It Rock, June 1973

THE WAY I SEE IT, if you've been a Led Zep fan since day one, and think that 'Whole Lotta Love' is the cat's pyjamas, ...

Procol Harum, Robin Trower: Procol Harum: Grand Hotel and Robin Trower: Twice Removed From Yesterday

Review by Mark Leviton, Let It Rock, June 1973

TIME WAS when I'd say that my favourite group and guitarist were Procol Harum and Robin Trower. It seemed all so simple, the steady intelligence ...

Dr. John: The Dr. John Story

Retrospective and Interview by Charlie Gillett, Let It Rock, June 1973

BY THE TIME you read this, Dr. John's 'Right Time, Wrong Place' will probably be in the American Top Ten. Which will be mighty gratifying ...

Flying Burrito Brothers: The Flying Burrito Brothers: Live In Amsterdam

Review by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, June 1973

THE FIRST double album in rock that I remember was Blonde On Blonde, and to this day it is one of the few which really ...

The James Gang, Steppenwolf: The James Gang: The Best of the James Gang (Probe)/Steppenwolf: The Best of Steppenwolf (Probe)

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, June 1973

A DIFFICULT ONE to start with: who created the Mid-West Sound? Bet you don’t know. Bet you didn’t know there was a Mid-West Sound. Well, ...

Sutherland Brothers and Quiver: The Sutherland Brothers

Profile by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, June 1973

IT'S HARD to figure out why the Sutherland Brothers have managed to remain so little known. Perhaps it's simply a lack of publicity, because as ...

Electric Light Orchestra, Wizzard: Wizzard: Wizzard Brew/Electric Light Orchestra: ELO 2 (Harvest)

Review by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, June 1973

COMMERCIALLY the death of the Move has been very successful: both Wizzard and the ELO have had top ten hits. ...

Alan Hull: Pipedream (Charisma)

Review by Jerry Gilbert, Let It Rock, July 1973

THERE WAS NO justification for prolonging the life of Lindisfarne Mark One while it suppressed the primal scream of Alan Hull. ...

Roy Buchanan: An Oldie but Goodie: Roy Buchanan

Retrospective and Interview by Bill Millar, Let It Rock, July 1973

FREAKS MAY BE trading in their Rory Gallagher albums for those by the new, laid-back, spaced out, country Clapton, but 'Echoes' readers know better – ...

The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons: Gram Parsons: Take Your Partners and Away You Go (One Step back Two Steps Forward)

Essay by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, July 1973

Rock, Country & Gram Parsons ...

Jerry Lee Lewis - The Session

Review by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, July 1973

WHEN YOU HEAR of an album a fortnight or so before getting hold of it, and pepper the intermediate couple of weeks with anticipation, you ...

David Bowie, Roxy Music, T. Rex: T. Rex/David Bowie/Roxy Music Albums

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, July 1973

T. Rex: TanxDavid Bowie: Aladdin SaneRoxy Music: For Your Pleasure ...

Dr. John: The Dr. John Story part II: Los Angeles, The World

Retrospective and Interview by Charlie Gillett, Let It Rock, July 1973

"It's O.K. Mac, you can come out now" ...

J. Geils Band: The J. Geils Band: Bloodshot

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, July 1973

EVER SINCE the first Butterfield Blues Band album I’ve been waiting and hoping for a group that could combine gut mangling excitement with instrumental virtuosity ...

Wings: Red Rose Speedway

Review by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, July 1973

PAUL McCARTNEY, it seems, has never been his own man. First he was John's, now he's Linda's, and the difference shows. With John he sparked ...

Cat Stevens: Foreigner

Review by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, August 1973

WHAT'S THIS? No Dado? No Samwell-Smith? No Cat Stevens artwork on the cover? ...

Kevin Ayers: Bananamour

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, August 1973

IN ART THE avant-garde is the outrageous. It’s what breaks traditional rules, both artistic and social; John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, or whoever, outraged their audiences. ...

Mike Oldfield, The Stooges: Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells; Iggy And The Stooges: Raw Power

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, August 1973

SOME RECORDS GET so much critical attention that I can’t listen to them blind, can’t ignore other opinions. So, according to John Peel Tubular Bells ...

Paul Simon: There Goes Rhymin’ Simon

Review by Charlie Gillett, Let It Rock, August 1973

Paul: middle class rock, O.K.? ...

The Beach Boys, Jan & Dean: Surfin' USA

Retrospective by Gene Sculatti, Let It Rock, August 1973

THOUGH it’s hard to believe, there actually was a time when youth simply signified non-adult status. Adults and youth each held to their own preferences, ...

10cc: 10cc (UK)

Review by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, September 1973

10cc ARE SO damn good, it makes you wonder where they've been all this time. Geographically the answer is simple if drab: Stockport, Cheshire. Musically ...

Asleep at the Wheel, Charlatans, The (US), Commander Cody, Country Gazette, Dillard and Clark, The Dillards, Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, New Riders of the Purple Sage: A Guide To Contemporary Country Groups

Report by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, September 1973

THIS AUTUMN, England is due for an invasion by some of America's top contemporary country groups. The new wave will be well represented by Commander ...

Billie Davis: Woman In Pop

Profile and Interview by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, September 1973

WHEN I WAS a teenager I even had problems in my sexual fantasies. I veered from Brigitte Bardot (too dirty) to Hayley Mills (too clean) ...

Blue Ridge Rangers, Grin: Blue Ridge Rangers: Blue Ridge Rangers; Grin: Gone Crazy

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, September 1973

JOHN FOGERTY became a hero by living in the Bay Area for 20 years and never becoming a hippie. He didn’t desert his rock ‘n’ ...

King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King

Profile by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, September 1973

KING CRIMSON’S launch in 1969 was a classic case of subliminal hype. From every musical corner that summer, with Teutonic fanfares, new super-groups appeared almost ...

Little Feat: Dixie Chicken (Warner Bros.)

Review by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, September 1973

CATEGORIZING ROCK is of pretty limited usefulness. Unlike terms in other music that refer to specific and exactly defined forms, rock labels merely indicate broad, ...

Neil Sedaka: A Night With Neil

Report by Bob Fisher, Let It Rock, September 1973

IS NEIL SEDAKA for real? It really is hard to comprehend how such a nice guy could ever get involved in world of rock 'n' ...

P.F.M.: PFM: What we did on our holidays

Live Review by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, September 1973

PFM: L’Altro Mondo, Rimini ...

Terry Reid: River

Review and Interview by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, September 1973

AFTER A YEAR of voluntary exile from England, Terry Reid was back over here this June for a short tour to promote his first album ...

Terry Reid: Terry’s Travels

Report and Interview by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, September 1973

AFTER A YEAR of voluntary exile from England, Terry Reid was back over here this June for a short tour to promote his first album ...

Van Morrison: Hard Nose The Highway

Review by Charlie Gillett, Let It Rock, September 1973

WHAT'S HE BEEN DOING, listening to Brahms? If that title is a riddle that holds the answer, I give in, and the cover doesn't help ...

B.J. Thomas: Songs

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, October 1973

REMEMBER ALL THE excitement when people discovered that the Beatles wrote their own songs? There have been a lot of bridges over a lot of ...

Ian Matthews: Countryside Comfort

Profile and Interview by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, October 1973

IT SEEMED almost inevitable that Ian Matthews would find himself living and recording on the West coast of America, and he admitted that before he ...

John Cale: Paris 1919

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, October 1973

IN THE PAST John Cale has appeared to be engaged in investing themes of madness and chaos with a deranged from of classical dignity. I ...

Mott The Hoople: Mott

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, October 1973

MOTT IS THE ALBUM All The Young Dudes should have been; arrogant, defensive. The Hoople are the first people to go on the Bowie ego-trip ...

Neil Sedaka: The Tra-La Days Are Over

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, October 1973

NEIL SEDAKA'S album is a more explicit farewell to his past – the tra-la days are over. Except on this album, where Sedaka's sharp voice ...

Slade: Cum On Feel The Boyz

Report and Interview by Lester Bangs, Let It Rock, October 1973

I'VE NEVER SEEN anything like it, though you may have. The kids come jostling in and pack the halls every time. Two or three thousand ...

Soul Foundations: Twenty Essential Soul Records

Guide by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, October 1973

OH LORD – I'M GONNA GET SHOT down for this. I mean, who am I, P.W., a mere mortal of 25, irrevocably bound to one ...

Tony Joe White: Homemade Ice Cream

Review by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, October 1973

TONY JOE WHITE just loves to play the ingenu. The sleeve of Homemade Ice Cream has photographs of him "up at Turkey Creek" and titles ...

The Carpenters: Carpenters: Now And Then

Review by Lester Bangs, Let It Rock, November 1973

WHAT ARE WE gonna do with these two? Look, ain't saying I don't love 'em – they've always been one of my favourite swoontracks, especially ...

Lou Reed: A Deaf Mute In A Telephone Booth

Interview by Lester Bangs, Let It Rock, November 1973

YOU WALK into the dining room of the Holiday Inn filled with expectation at finally getting to meet one of the musical and psychological frontiersmen ...

The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: Goats Head Soup (RS Records)

Review by Charlie Gillett, Let It Rock, November 1973

THE CONTEST for the title of ‘The Worlds' Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band’ is like those dance marathons that were held in the States during ...

I Roy, Toots & The Maytals: The Maytals: From The Roots (Trojan)/I ROY: Presenting... (Trojan)

Review by Charlie Gillett, Let It Rock, November 1973

THIS STUFF IS even harder to understand than Jethro Tull's Passion Play, but nobody's going to stop singing because some dumb reviewer can't work it ...

Faust, Frank Zappa, The Mothers Of Invention: Ugly, vulgar, insulting — Zappa scores!

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, November 1973

The Mothers: Overnite Sensation (Discreet)Faust: Faust IV (Virgin) ...

Dan Hicks And His Hot Licks: Where’s The Money?; Last Train to Hicksville

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, December 1973

LIFE USED TO be tough but simple in Tin Punk Alley: you made it or you didn’t. Groups would ride in their pink Cadillacs or ...

John Fahey: After The Ball (Reprise K 44246)

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, December 1973

JOHN FAHEY goes glitter! Well, the package is a neat parody of a fifties style music-to-smooch-to album cover, complete with purple spotlight and lacquered blonde. ...

Slade: Sladest

Review by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, December 1973

SLADE REMINDS ME of 1963 – not because their music is that regressive, but because the pattern is the same: Lennon-McCartney/Jagger-Richard (or Nanker-Phlenge, as they ...

Steely Dan: Countdown To Ecstasy (MCA)

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, December 1973

STEELY DAN IS a vehicle for the songwriting talents of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, who entered the music world via a two-year gig with ...

John Martyn: Fire and Water: The Elemental, Avant-Garde John Martyn

Comment by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, 1 December 1973

1967: "SO THERE I WAS on this barge on the river wearing nothing but denims and a smile…" so runs the sleeve note on London ...

Bob Dylan: Bringing The Garbage Back Home: A.J. Weberman

Report by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, January 1974

A.J. WEBERMAN sprang into the limelight some five years ago, around the time that students and banana-smoking intellectuals everywhere loved to argue about Bob Dylan. ...

Otis Redding

Essay by Dave Marsh, Let It Rock, January 1974

LET'S GET one thing straight. Otis Redding's posthumous rise to the Kingship of soul is highly suspect. He earned the accolade a little too easily ...

Wolfman Jack: What’s Happenin’, Jack?!

Interview by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, January 1974

WAS HE BLACK? Was he white? Was he young? Was he old? Was he human? Until the seventies he was just a disembodied croak, howling ...

Jimi Hendrix: How Rock Society Blew Another Mind

Essay by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, February 1974

WHEN JIMI HENDRIX flew into England for the first time, with Chas Chandler, they went straight from the airport to Zoot Money's house for an ...

Kevin Ayers, Soft Machine: Kevin Ayers: Keeping the ’67 faith

Profile by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, February 1974

It begins with a blessing (but ends with a curse)Making life easy (but making it worse)... ...

Yes

Essay by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, February 1974

IF IT HADN'T been for Sgt Pepper, Paramhansa Yogananda would never have become part of the rock tradition. ...

Yes: Tales From Topographic Oceans (Atlantic K80001)

Review by Karl Dallas, Let It Rock, February 1974

IF YOU TEND to wonder if the critics (with the noble exception of Bob Shelton) were right and this double album is the bummer they ...

Bob Dylan: Planet Waves

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, March 1974

HE'S NOT ONLY trying to sing like he used to, he's even surfaced with some more stoned sleeve notes and two or three lines actually ...

Bob Dylan: Planet Waves

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, March 1974

WHEN IT COMES to the critical crunch it ain't necessarily the Dylanologists who as the right questions. Sure they knew about Dylan when they were ...

Art Neville: Meter Man

Profile and Interview by Bill Millar, Let It Rock, April 1974

THE RAINBOW, July 2nd last. Art Neville saved the show. Didn't he? Dr. John made a gas of an entrance but, from then on – ...

Bob Dylan: Dylan

Review by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, April 1974

ME, I LIKE IT. I don't accept the much-aired view that if it had been up to Dylan, he would never have issued an album ...

Creedence Clearwater Revival: Live In Europe (Fantasy)

Review by Lester Bangs, Let It Rock, April 1974

I MEAN REALLY, who cares about Creedence anyway? They're dead now, I'd already forgot about 'em till this thing came out. ...

Gallagher & Lyle: Gallagher and Lyle: Music For The People

Profile and Interview by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, April 1974

BENNY GALLAGHER and Graham Lyle aren't singer-songwriters, they're songwriters who sing. They are not really interested in the idea of baring their souls before the ...

Maggie Bell: Queen Of The Night

Review by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, April 1974

THIS REVIEW WAS planned as a joint one, intended to incorporate new albums from Carole King, Buffy St. Marie and other notable women artists. However, ...

The Band: A Tree With Roots

Profile by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, April 1974

THE LEGEND runs that in the summer of 1965 the Hawks (also known as the Crackers) were playing a night club in the seashore resort ...

Mahavishnu Orchestra: The Mahavishnu Orchestra: Live — Between Nothingness & Eternity (CBS 69046)

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, April 1974

SRI CHIMNOY must be laughing all the way to the Void. John McLaughlin cleaned up in 1973 as the guru guitarist leading his band up ...

Gram Parsons, Chip Taylor: Gram Parsons: Grievous Angel (Reprise MS 2171); Chip Taylor: Last Chance (Warner Bros, BS 2718)

Review by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, May 1974

WITH THIS album, Gram Parsons ends what was probably one of rock's most uneven and exciting careers on a high note. Always a writer of ...

How the other half lives: The Best of Girl Group Rock

Guide by Greil Marcus, Let It Rock, May 1974

GIRL GROUP ROCK flourished between 1958 and 1965, and though, with the passing of the Brill Building and the coming of the sophistication of the ...

Leiber And Stoller Part One: The Blues (1950-1953)

Retrospective by Bill Millar, Let It Rock, May 1974

JERRY LEIBER AND MIKE STOLLER. They rank alongside Berry as rock ‘n’ roll’s wittiest composers and their influence as record producers has been immeasurable. ...

Lou Reed: Rock N Roll Animal

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, May 1974

AND IT CAME TO PASS in the 1970's that rock culture began to doubt whether it existed at all, and every time that two or ...

Richard and Linda Thompson: British Hokey Pokey

Profile and Interview by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, May 1974

ALTHOUGH the mid sixties was a golden era for British rock, very few of the best artists from that time have survived as significant parts ...

Deke Leonard, Michael Nesmith, Ross: Ross: Ross (RSO); Deke Leonard: Kamikaze (UA); Michael Nesmith: Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash (RCA)

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, May 1974

LET IT ROCK recently got hold of a bundle of old publicity photos that Decca was throwing out and the fascinating thing (apart from the ...

Roxy Music’s Picture Palace

Profile and Interview by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, May 1974

ROXY MUSIC ARE Paul Thompson, Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay, Bryan Ferry and Eddie Jobson, but the first thing you’ve got to understand is that Roxy ...

Buffy Sainte-Marie: Buffy St Marie: The Best Of Buffy Sainte-Marie Volume 2 (Vanguard)/Buffy (MCA)

Review by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, June 1974

WHEN BUFFY ST. MARIE is good she is very, very good, and when she is bad she is horrid. It is her misfortune that her ...

Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers: Red Hot

Profile and Interview by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, June 1974

A month or two ago, a jovial group of rock critics in search of a drink and some music stumbled across Chilli Willi and the ...

Joni Mitchell: New Victoria, London

Live Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, June 1974

WHEN JONI MITCHELL sang in a cinema next to Victoria Station, her entire audience fell in love with her three nights running. For weeks afterwards ...

Curtis Knight, Jimi Hendrix: Knight Life: Curtis Knight

Report by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, June 1974

JIMI HENDRIX FANS will be familiar with Curtis Knight’s name: he’s the man who found Hendrix down and out in New York in 1965, gave ...

Leiber And Stoller Part Two: The rock 'n' roll years

Retrospective by Bill Millar, Let It Rock, June 1974

THE SWITCH from blues to rock ‘n’ roll was gradual and, as far as Leiber and Stoller were concerned, never total. ...

Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Paul Simon: Not So Simple Simon

Essay by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, June 1974

Dave Laing surveys Paul Simon's ten years in music ...

Van Morrison: TB Sheets

Review by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, June 1974

I FOUND VAN MORRISON by a most tortuous, circumlocutory route: first (after the mediocrity of 'Here Comes The Night') there was, of course, 'Gloria', which ...

Lou Reed

Overview by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, July 1974

YOU COULD hardly miss him on the first album: his rubber-stamped signature was the only wording on the front cover, while on the back his ...

Stevie Wonder: Motown the Uptight

Essay by Richard Williams, Let It Rock, July 1974

We’ve got love a’ go-go nowLet’s not wonder whyLove-a, love a’ go-go nowTomorrow that love may die– Stevie Wonder, 1966 Sing it loud for your ...

Joe Cocker: I Can Stand A Little Rain

Review by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, November 1974

ONE APPROACHES a new Joe Cocker album in the same way one peers back at a road accident – to see if what's there is ...

John Cale: Fear

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, November 1974

BILL HENDERSON of Sounds has written with seductive simplicity that Paris 1919 (Cale's last release) was an album created in America 'about' Europe, whereas Fear ...

Sly & the Family Stone: Sly Stone: Small Talk

Review by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, November 1974

BY SLY'S SLUGGISH standards, it's not that long since the last album, Fresh; maybe married life has given him a creative surge. ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Lively Up Yourself

Overview by Idris Walters, Let It Rock, December 1974

Idris Walters on the music, the history and the Rasta background of Bob Marley and The Wailers. ...

Bruce Springsteen: Shouldn't He Be Famous?

Comment by Dave Marsh, Let It Rock, December 1974

IT WAS DIFFICULT to tell just when the stage caved in. It seemed to happen during 'Rosalita', the last song before the encore. But maybe ...

Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers: Bongos Over Balham (Mooncrest Crest 21)

Review by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, December 1974

MULLING OVER just how to explain why Bongos Over Balham is an important album and yet one that promises more than it delivers, I turned ...

Country Joe & The Fish: Country Joe: Gimme an F!

Interview by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, December 1974

Mick Gold interrogates Country Joe and indulges in some Fishy nostalgia ...

Doug Sahm: Groovers Paradise

Review by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, December 1974

DOUG SAHM'S LAST album, Doug Sahm And Band on Atlantic Records, was one of the very finest bits of squashed vinyl of 1973. Sahm's band ...

The Faces, Ian McLagan: Ian McLagan's Top Ten

Interview by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, December 1974

I'VE GOT sixty records on my juke box and I had a hell of a job whittling my singles collection down to them. But ten!?!... ...

Mike Oldfield: Balm for the Walking Wounded

Profile and Interview by Karl Dallas, Let It Rock, December 1974

Mike Oldfield, the man and his music, by Karl Dallas. ...

The Shangri-Las: Shangri Las: A Teenage Melodrama

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Let It Rock, December 1974

SHALL WE DANCE? ...

Elton John, Pete Atkin, Randy Newman: Elton John: Greatest Hits; Randy Newman: Good Old Boys; Pete Atkin: Secret Drinker

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, January 1975

Randy Newman’s album starts:‘Last night I saw Lester Maddox on a TV showwith some smartass New York Jewand the Jew laughed at Lester MaddoxAnd the ...

Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (Charisma COS 101)

Review by Karl Dallas, Let It Rock, January 1975

JUST WHAT the world needs now, as Frank Zappa might well have been heard to exclaim, another concept album! ...

Neil Sedaka: Packing Up Is Hard To Do

Profile and Interview by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, January 1975

1. A Stairway To HeavenAs a Brooklyn-born Jewish boy of Spanish descent, Neil Sedaka may have been a typical New Yorker, but he wasn't a ...

The Byrds, Roger McGuinn: Roger McGuinn and Country Rock: Older Than Yesterday

Retrospective and Interview by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, January 1975

IT'S FRIDAY 30TH AUGUST, in Birmingham England, and it's afternoon. Roger McGuinn is listening to a track off his second solo album, Peace On You. ...

Sutherland Brothers and Quiver: The Sutherland Brothers: The Beat Of The Street

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, January 1975

I HAVE ALWAYS thought that the Sutherland Bros and Quiver were a worthy group. Making the right noises, going to gigs regularly, kindly, but no ...

Carl Perkins

Retrospective by Martin Hawkins, Let It Rock, February 1975

And when I hear that double-eagle guitar Makes me think of Carl Perkins when he was a star,Makes me think I spent some of my ...

Lynyrd Skynyrd: My Top Ten: Lynyrd Skynyrd

Interview by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, February 1975

Compiled on coach-trips and in hotel bars by Michael Gray ...

John Lennon, Yoko Ono: Plastic Ono Band: The End Of Another Dream

Essay by Idris Walters, Let It Rock, February 1975

Idris Walters describes the strange marriage of rock'n'roll and conceptual art which produced some of the most arresting sounds of the last few years and ...

Slade: Slade In Flame (Polydor)

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, February 1975

Some things I'm sure of: Noddy Holder is a great rock singer, up there with the best of British, with John Lennon, even. And Slade ...

The Marcels: Bom Baba Bom

Retrospective by Penny Reel, Let It Rock, February 1975

1961. Rock'n'roll was dead and buried. The Beatles weren't even a twinkle in Epstein's eye. Pop was Kenny Ball and Anne Shelton, Acker Bilk and ...

Bad Company: The Way They Choose

Essay by Idris Walters, Let It Rock, March 1975

IT LOOKS AS though Bad Company is a popular band: everybody's into Bad Company. ...

Don Covay

Profile by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, March 1975

BEHIND THE front line of acknowledged soul stars, the Stevies, Arethas, Al Greens of the day, has always lurked a second league of creative talent; ...

Little Feat Albums

Overview by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, March 1975

Sailin' Shoes (Warner Bros K46156)Dixie Chicken (Warner Bros K46200)Feats Don't Fail Me Now (Warner Bros K56030) ...

Chaka Khan, Rufus: Rufus, featuring Chaka Khan: Rufusized (ABC Dunhill)

Review by Idris Walters, Let It Rock, March 1975

RUFUS DATE back to 1968. They were called the American Breed. They had 'Bend Me Shape Me' for a hit record. The American Breed became ...

Big Brother & The Holding Company, Janis Joplin: Big Brother And The Holding Company: Cheap Thrills (CBS KCS 9700)

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, April 1975

JANIS JOPLIN was an awkward Texan girl with a rough voice who became one of the major idols of the sixties 'counter culture'. Why? ...

Bob Dylan: Blood On The Tracks

Review by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, April 1975

I DON'T KNOW HOW, but some adjustment in our consciousness must now follow from the fact that it is Bob Dylan who has produced, in ...

Bill Justis, Roscoe Shelton, Joe Simon, Ella Washington: Echoes: John Richbourg — Southern Soul Man

Retrospective and Interview by Bill Millar, Let It Rock, April 1975

Producer and DJ John Richbourg has been involved with the careers of Bobby Hebb, Joe Simon and many more. ...

LaBelle: Nightbirds (Epic EPC 80566)

Review by Idris Walters, Let It Rock, April 1975

PATTI LABELLE, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash. The Ordettes and Del Capris came together in the early sixties to form Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells ...

Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt: Linda Ronstadt: Heart Like A Wheel (Asylum EST 11358); Emmylou Harris: Pieces Of The Sky (Reprise K 54037)

Review by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, April 1975

OVER RECENT months those familiar figures, the singer/songwriter and the solo artist have made their reappearance on the scene. But if you cast your eyes ...

Arthur Lee, Love: Love With Arthur Lee: Reel To Real (RSO SO4804)

Review by Idris Walters, Let It Rock, April 1975

LOVE'S LAST British tour left a confusion of critical comment in its wake. It seemed to me he was better than ever. But then there ...

The Chi-Lites: (For God's Sake) Give More Power To The People/Greatest Hits/A Lonely Man/A Letter To Myself/Toby

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, April 1975

I'D BETTER DECLARE myself: I like Philly Sound, the Stylistics, Barry White even (or, rather, sometimes); I don't think Norman Whitfield mangled Motown: I do ...

Raspberries: The Raspberries: Starting Over

Review by Dave Marsh, Let It Rock, April 1975

A YEAR AGO, the Raspberries seemed like nothing so much as a prefabricated rock band in the tradition of the Monkees. ...

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen: Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen

Review by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, May 1975

When you step up to a Juke box and you slip a nickel in,You can bet your bottom dollar when the record starts to spin,You'll ...

Doo-wop: Still White & Alright

Retrospective by Bill Millar, Let It Rock, May 1975

FIRST, A BOOK. Despite the comparatively recent growth industry in rock'n'roll literature, we still don't have a half-way decent encyclopaedia worthy of the name. The ...

Eric Clapton: There's One In Every Crowd (RSO)

Review by Idris Walters, Let It Rock, May 1975

Acupuncture is healing by means of the manipulation of energy centres on the surface of the body. Patti Boyd used to hang out with George ...

Jimmy Jones: Timin' Is The Thing

Retrospective by Penny Reel, Let It Rock, May 1975

What would have happened if you and IHadn't just happened to meet?We might have spent the rest of our livesWalking down misery street. ...

Led Zeppelin

Profile by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, May 1975

ABOUT SIX MONTHS AGO THE BUZZ BEGAN TO SLIP IN AGAIN FROM THE SIDELINES. It had received appropriately casual nurturing since the summer of 1973 ...

Stealers Wheel

Comment by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, May 1975

THEY STARTED a bit more than three years ago as a sort of supergroup of Scottish songwriters, and for the next couple of years changed ...

Ronnie Lane: The Bass Player At The Gates Of Dawn: How come Ronnie Lane left The Faces?

Report and Interview by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, May 1975

THERE MUST BE something frustrating about playing bass in a group. Else why would so many want to swap instruments like Ron Wood, go solo ...

Allen Toussaint: Southern Nights (Reprise)

Review by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, June 1975

ALLEN TOUSSAINT certainly has an impressive track record: Smiley Lewis, 'Ooh Pa Pah Doo', Lee Dorsey, Ernie K-Doe, Benny Spellman, Irma Thomas, Frankie Miller, the ...

Dr. Feelgood: Maximum R&B

Profile and Interview by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, June 1975

"We didn't set out to look like deranged bank clerks..." ...

Frank Zappa: What Did You Do In The Revolution, Dada?

Essay by Karl Dallas, Let It Rock, June 1975

Karl Dallas asks the pertinent questions... ...

Martin Hawkins and Colin Escott: Catalyst (Aquarius)

Book Review by Bill Millar, Let It Rock, June 1975

A new book on Sun Records by experts Cohn Escott and Martin Hawkins that is exhaustive, informative and available now! ...

Mud, Suzi Quatro, Sweet: Nicky Chinn: From Riches to Riches

Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Let It Rock, June 1975

LiR EXCLUSIVE: Journey to the centre of pop. Nicky Chinn interviewed ...

Paul Revere & the Raiders: An American Dream

Retrospective by Vivien Goldman, Let It Rock, June 1975

"WHILE STILL in his teens Paul Revere was running a drive-in theatre and two barbershops in Boise, Idaho. One night while listening to a combo ...

Sadistic Mika Band: Sadist Faction

Interview by Jonh Ingham, Let It Rock, June 1975

TWO YEARS AGO I attended an out of town Roxy gig. Along for the ride was Kazuhiko and Mika Katoh, husband and wife leaders of ...

Steely Dan: Katy Lied

Review by Jonh Ingham, Let It Rock, June 1975

WHEN I FIRST RECEIVED this album it engendered dispassionate dislike, but the more I play it the more I become merely ambivalent. Certainly there are ...

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Tomorrow Belongs To Me (Vertigo)

Review by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, June 1975

IT'S IMPOSSIBLE to listen to Alex Harvey without feeling distinctly unsettled. On stage he's an obsessive – a malevolent dictator figure – in full control ...

LaBelle

Report and Interview by Robin Katz, Let It Rock, July 1975

1. 'What Can I Do For You?' PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania. November 1974. Breakfast time (10:30). Patti LaBelle, Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx are sitting in one corner of ...

Lesley Gore: They Don't Own Her

Report by Dave Marsh, Let It Rock, July 1975

IN 1964, A seventeen-year-old freshman named Lesley Gore put out her first record, 'It's My Party (And I'll Cry If I Want To)'. It was ...

Shirley and Lee, Shirley Goodman: Shirley Goodman: Good Times Roll Again

Profile and Interview by Bill Millar, Let It Rock, July 1975

JET-BLACK RINGLETS and bra-busting cuddliness; nothing about Shirley Goodman tells you that she used to resemble the waif-like teenager on the front of those old ...

Bonnie Raitt: Bonnie's Blues

Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Let It Rock, August 1975

WHEN SHE SINGS 15 year old girls run out of the audience, down the auditorium, arms raised in a two fisted salute. What they are ...

Arthur Lee, Love: Love: A Good Day at Black Rock

Essay by Idris Walters, Let It Rock, August 1975

Starring: Arthur Lee; Script by: Idris Walters ...

James Brown: The Classic Soul of James Brown

Guide by Cliff White, Let It Rock, August 1975

It's White on Black. Cliff White examines the output of the sex machine inch by inch. ...

Various Artists: The Stax Story — Volumes 1&2 (Stax)

Review by Cliff White, Let It Rock, August 1975

COMPILATION ALBUMS are like Chinese meals. A wise choice of carefully balanced ingredients can be delicious: sometimes you just get heartburn. ...

The Band, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan and the Band: The Basement Tapes

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, September 1975

On Blonde on Blonde, Dylan gave us his metaphysical, amphetamine dreams from some smoke-filled apartment in midtown Manhattan. On John Wesley Harding, he synthesized a ...

Ritchie Valens, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs: Chicano Rock: Down Mexico Way

Overview by Bill Millar, Let It Rock, September 1975

Chicano Rock: Ritchie Valens, Sam The Sham, Sunny and the Sunglows and more. ...

Henry Cow, Slapp Happy: Henry Cow/Slapp Happy: In Praise of Learning (Virgin V2027)

Review by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, September 1975

IN THE PAST, Henry Cow have tended to be slotted into a critical compartment reserved for 'English Avant-Garde, jazzy/ eccentric', alongside Hatfield and the North, ...

Manhattan Transfer, Paul Anka: Paul Anka: Feelings/Manhattan Transfer: Manhattan Transfer

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, September 1975

FIRST OF ALL there was that punky Canadian kid with the big voice and the tremor that even got to me ("Put your head on ...

Pink Floyd: Walters, Gilmour, Wright and Mason RIBA

Essay by Idris Walters, Let It Rock, September 1975

99. THERE ARE only three interesting things about Stevenage New Town. One is that there is a Museum there. (!) A Museum? Another is that ...

Smokey Robinson: A Quiet Storm

Review by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, September 1975

COULD THIS BE Smokey's What's Going On – the album to elevate him, like Marvin Gaye, from a singles-orientated soul veteran to an across-the-board contemporary ...

The Eagles: One Of These NIghts

Review by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, September 1975

I CAN'T THINK of anything good to say about One Of These Nights. What's so distressing is that it's not a bad album by any ...

Tim Buckley: A Fleeting House: The Music of Tim Buckley

Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, October 1975

...

Tim Buckley: A Fleeting House: The Music of Tim Buckley

Retrospective by Idris Walters, Let It Rock, October 1975

LIFE AND DEATH are becoming indistinguishable. New biologies are beginning to prove that Death is just a change of state in the cycle of life. ...

Betty Davis, Miles Davis: Betty Davis: Putting the Miles behind her

Interview by Robin Katz, Let It Rock, October 1975

BETTY DAVIS is the amazon-sized, raucous, screeching ex-wife of Miles Davis who has copped (unofficially) this year's award for best B-side of a flop single. ...

Freddy Fender: Back In San Antone

Profile by Bill Millar, Let It Rock, October 1975

DURING THE SEVENTEEN years he's been making records Freddy Fender has drawn standing room only crowds to club appearances, done time in Angola and scored ...

Willie Nelson: Red Headed Stranger

Review by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, October 1975

WILLIE NELSON has never written easy songs or recorded easy albums. He has penned his share of country standards over the past fifteen years, all ...

Emmylou Harris: The Prairie and the Sky

Interview by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, November 1975

EMMYLOU HARRIS is a country singer. Not simply because she has a single high in the country charts – it's her voice and the feeling ...

Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, November 1975

TODAY’S LESSON is taken from the Book of Bowie, chapter 1984, side 2, track 4: ...

The Archies, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Tommy James & the Shondells: Bubblegum: A Beginners' Guide

Guide by Ken Barnes, Let It Rock, December 1975

ARCHIES: As the Monkees started to slip in late '68, Don Kirshner unveiled his new media blitz – a cartoon show (based on a popular ...

Jimmy Cliff, Keith Hudson: Jimmy Cliff: Brave Warrior (EMI EMC 3078); Keith Hudson: Torch Of Freedom (Mamba 002)

Review by Idris Walters, Let It Rock, December 1975

DEAR MAILBAG, I would have expected these two titles to sail away, hand in hand, into a black sunset. But they don't. Yours SR Gibbs, ...

Joan Baez: Slack Time For The Revolution

Interview by Penny Valentine, Let It Rock, December 1975

JOAN BAEZ PUTS it bluntly: "If I'd done another political album at this point, I'd have been bankrupt. I had no money left. So I ...

The Who: The Who By Numbers

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, December 1975

THE SUNDAY TIMES' recent 'Rock Report' has been useful just for gathering together in one place all the clichés of the supercilious school of rock ...

Toots & The Maytals: Toots and Maytals: Caribbean Vikings

Retrospective by Penny Reel, Let It Rock, December 1975

IT IS TWO YEARS since those behind the Maytals previously attempted to promote the group to a rock audience. ...

White Punks on Coke

Overview by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, December 1975

THE TERM PUNK is bandied about an awful lot these days. It seems to describe almost any rock performer who camps it up to any ...

Kool and the Gang, The Ohio Players: Kool and the Gang: Spirit Of The Boogie; Ohio Players: Honey

Review by Richard Williams, Let It Rock, 1 December 1975

OCCUPYING ROUGHLY the same area in the impressively wide spectrum of contemporary Black music, these two orchestras both play for dancers but nevertheless perform entirely ...

back to LIBRARY

COPYRIGHT NOTICE