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Pink Floyd, Move, The, Tomorrow, Soft Machine, Mick Farren, Arthur Brown: We Have Lift Off!

Retrospective by Johnny Black, MOJO, February 2004

In less than one year, London's UFO (pronounced "you-foe") club became the nocturnal haunt of the '60s counterculture, gathering place for the Beatles, Stones and ...

Randy California, Spirit: Randy California

Retrospective by Johnny Black, MOJO, February 2004

Just turned 22, Spirit guitarist and figurehead Randy California stands on Chelsea Bridge, staring down into the grey waters of the River Thames. It's April 1973, ...

Joni Mitchell: How 'Free Man In Paris' came along

Interview by Johnny Black, Blender, September 2004

WHEN Joni Mitchell played the finished tapes of her 1974 album Court and Spark for her Asylum Records labelmate Bob Dylan, the venerated spokesman of ...

T. Rex: The Making of T. Rex's 'Bang A Gong (Get It On)'

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blender, October 2005

T. Rex: 'Bang A Gong (Get It On)' 
 ...

T. Rex, Cure, The, Oasis, Pulp: Top 5 Unforgettable Glastonbury Moments

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Music Week, May 2007

1. 19-20 September 1970: The very first Glastonbury It was a triumph of faith over common sense. Having snuck in for free to the Bath Festival ...

Bill Haley and His Comets: 'Rock Around The Clock'

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, backonthetracks.com, July 2007

12 April 1954: At Decca Records' Pythian Temple Studio, New York City, Bill Haley and His Comets record 'Rock Around The Clock' and 'Thirteen Women'. ...

Cliff Richard: Cliffstory

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Music Week, September 2008

CLIFF RICHARD has been the most constant companion of British pop fans since 1958, but he remains one of the most enigmatic and controversial figures ...

Bruce Springsteen's 'Dream'

Report and Interview by Johnny Black, Music Week, January 2009

THE FIRST PUBLIC airing of 'Working On A Dream', the title track from The Boss’s upcoming 24th album took place during Barack Obama’s massive rally ...

Wembley Arenaversary: A Legendary Venue Turns 50

Report and Interview by Johnny Black, Audience, March 2009

FIFTY YEARS AGO, in March, 1959, Petula Clark, Lonnie Donegan and rising young songstrel Shirley Bassey appeared in the Record Star Show, the first live ...

Neil Sedaka Looks Back

Profile and Interview by Johnny Black, Music Week, June 2009

IT'S OBVIOUS to anyone with even a smattering of pop music suss that without Neil Sedaka there would be no 'Breaking Up Is Hard To ...

a-ha: Even Better than Spinal Tap

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Music Week, September 2009

FOR 25 YEARS, Norway's pop gods have harboured a deep, dark secret that even the most dedicated News Of The World smut-sleuth would never have ...

Jack Nitzsche, James Brown, The Rolling Stones: The Greatest (Pop TV) Show on Earth: The T.A.M.I. Show, October 1964

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Rock's Backpages, March 2010

ON 28 OCTOBER, 1964, the T.A.M.I. Show was recorded at the Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. T.A.M.I. stood for Television Audience Measurement Index, though ...

Supertramp: Vinyl Icon: Supertramp's Breakfast In America

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, June 2010

WHEN SUPERTRAMP released their sixth album, Breakfast In America, on March 29, 1979, the two core members of the band, Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies, ...

Steely Dan: Vinyl Icon: Gaucho

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, July 2010

GAUCHO, THE FINAL ALBUM Steely Dan recorded before they broke up in 1981, is still regarded as a masterpiece by aficionados, but making it put ...

Pink Floyd: Vinyl Icon: Pink Floyd's The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, September 2010

IT'S WRIT large in pop history that The Beatles spent the spring of 1967 recording their classic Sgt Pepper album in EMI's Abbey Road Studio ...

Gerry Rafferty: City To City

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, March 2011

THE RECENT, TRAGIC, DEATH of Gerry Rafferty reminded thousands of fans just how vital his contribution to the '70s was, first as a member of ...

Gerry Rafferty: City To City Vinyl Icon

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, March 2011

THE RECENT, tragic, death of Gerry Rafferty reminded thousands of fans just how vital his contribution to the 70s was, first as a member of ...

The Clash: Vinyl Icon: The Clash

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, May 2011

UNUSUALLY, FOR AN ALBUM awarded Vinyl Icon status, the "fi" of The Clash's eponymous debut is not of the highest. It is, however, an album ...

Spade Cooley: Eye Witness: Spade Cooley Murders His Wife

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Country, January 2014

IN THE EARLY 1960s, ageing country music star Spade Cooley and his significantly younger wife Ella Mae were living on his remote ranch, Rosamund, in ...

Peter Green, Fleetwood Mac: Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blues, January 2014

PETER GREEN IS, arguably, the most underrated lead guitarist of the British mid-'60s blues boom, consistently relegated to a position somewhere below the holy triumverate ...