Rock's Backpages: Search Results

Profile by Richard Gehr, Village Voice, 17 February 1988

If I may be so crass as to adjudge a rock icon by his fans, I'd say Frank Zappa might have a demographics problem. Admittedly, ...

Andy Fraser, Free: Andy Fraser: Out Of It

Report and Interview by Mat Snow, Q, April 1991

A rainy night in Shrewsbury was to alter the course of Andy Fraser's life. For it was there in 1970 that he first hummed the ...

The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones: Rockumentaries on the Biography Channel

Film/DVD Review by Mark Pringle, Mat Snow, Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, 3 March 2001

Not long ago, any glimpse on the box of a great musician was like catching sight of the lesser spotted grebe – all the lovelier ...

Tim Buckley: Live At The Troubadour 1969

Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, April 1994

HE WAS, ABOVE all, a beautiful boy. Sure, the album sleeves show those impossible good looks steadily thickening into manhood and by 1974's Look At ...

The Barracudas, New Race, The Saints: The Saints: Out In The Jungle (Flicknife)/The Barracudas: Mean Time (Closer)/New Race: The First And The Last

Review by Barney Hoskyns, NME, 16 April 1983

I MUST applaud the mysterious Tony D for his live review of The Barracudas (12/2/83) – the gig excited me in exactly the same way. ...

Aging Musicians’ Dilemma: Is There Rock After 30?

Comment by John Mendelsohn, Los Angeles Times, 25 March 1979

AT THE APOGEE of Beatlemania, Paul McCartney was asked at a press conference how long the Beatles would last: "Dunno," he replied, "but I can’t ...

Yoko Ono: Approximately Infinite Universe

Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Phonograph Record, April 1973

YEAH, WELL, believe it or not: this is a totally rock 'n' roll album. It's also so far and away the best Beatles-related effort to ...

Bruce Springsteen: Tougher Than Most: Bruce Springsteen's Tunnel of Love tour

Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 24 March 1988

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN'S 'Tougher Than the Rest' is a sombre, unforgiving song typical of his recent Tunnel of Love album. It describes love not as an ...

Gang of Four: The Gang's All Here – Again

Retrospective and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 13 January 2005

LIKE THE VELVET Underground a decade before them, Gang of Four were one of those bands who never had a proper hit but who created ...

Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Paul Simon: Now They All Want Paul Simon Songs!

Interview by Keith Altham, NME, 22 April 1966

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT influence in popular music today, since the emergence of that well-known Lennon-McCartney firm, seems to be the mini-sized music-maker Paul Simon, who ...

Rain Parade: Unsung Heroes: The Rain Parade

Retrospective by Terry Staunton, Uncut, February 2010

Pioneers of LA's '80s "Paisley Underground" — it's warring psych revivalists the Roback brothers! ...

Tom Waits: With Morbidity On His Mind, Tom Waits Makes A Double Play

Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, May 2002

Tom Waits — the raspy-voiced singer-songwriter and occasional actor and playwright — has released 14 albums in nearly 30 years. But he has a habit ...

Chicago: Chicago Is…

Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc, 13 May 1972

"IT'S RIDICULOUS really," said Chicago's composer and keyboard man, Bob Lamm, "Here I am in Hollywood, living in grand style and my parents are still ...

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 ...

Beastie Boys, The: The Beastie Boys: The Most Horrible Group In The Universe?

Interview by uncredited writer, Smash Hits, 25 February 1987

They play ear-splitting heavy metal rap music, they throw food on the carpet, they throw eggs at Sigue Sigue Sputnik, they hate the Human League ...

Alabama Shakes' Unlikely Triumph

Interview by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 14 March 2013

BRITTANY HOWARD, the powerhouse 24-year-old frontwoman for Alabama Shakes, isn't much for red carpets. ...

Top 10 Hits from the '60s: Who Played on 'Em

Retrospective by Harold Bronson, Rock's Backpages, 14 January 2014

THE WRECKING CREW, a much-needed documentary about the behind-the-scenes elite crop of studio musicians who provided the instrumentation for many of the hits of the ...

Snoop (Doggy) Dogg: Snoop Doggy Dogg: What's Your Problem? Absent fathers

Interview by Lisa Verrico, Vox, April 1994

SNOOP DOGGY Dogg, born Calvin Broadus, was brought up by his mother in the working-class suburb of Long Beach, Los Angeles. From early adolescence, when ...

Ian Dury & the Blockheads: Do It Yourself (Stiff SEEZ14)

Review by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 19 May 1979

Dury: the tra-la days are over ...

Aaliyah's Age Ain't Nothing but a Number Ages 20 Years

Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 27 May 2014

THE LATE SONGSTRESS'S DEBUT ALBUM DROPPED IN MAY 1994, LAUNCHING A TOO-BRIEF CAREER THAT'LL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN ...