European Rock and Pop
94 articles
Aphrodite's Child: Greek Chartsters
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 23 November 1968
'RAIN AND TEARS' is one of those songs with a prickle at the nape of the neck moving to a shiver down the spine, and ...
Aphrodite's Child: 'Rain & Tears' 300 Yrs Old!
Profile and Interview by Derek Boltwood, Record Mirror, 30 November 1968
ONCE UPON a time, about three hundred years ago as the crow flies, a German organist with nothing better to do sat down at his ...
Overview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 13 June 1970
Richard Williams takes a Common Market-minded guess at a future trend in pop... ...
Overview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 30 January 1971
Richard Williams on the European bands who are rejecting the traditions of Anglo-American rock. ...
Focus, John Bryant, Iguana: Marquee Club, London
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 18 March 1972
LIKE MANY other European bands, Holland's top group Focus follow their own ideas rather than imitate those of English and American musicians. And, as they ...
Amon Düül, Tasavallan Presidentti: Amon Düül II, Tasavallan Presidentti: Imperial College, London
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 9 December 1972
A CULTURAL ANECDOTE: It's early 1967 and The Soft Machine are having a little trouble getting it together — particularly Mike Ratledge. Finally, Daevid Allen ...
Focus: "People think we're a rock band, but we laugh about it"
Interview by Val Mabbs, Record Mirror, 3 February 1973
VAL MABBS undertakes a concentrated interview with unlikely hit-makers, the classicly-orientated Focus. ...
Focus: Philharmonic Hall, New York NY
Live Review by Lillian Roxon, New York Sunday News, 1 April 1973
The Focus is on a Group Called Focus ...
Focus: Queen Juliana and the Boys Nextdoor
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 10 November 1973
TONY STEWART goes Dutch and finds FOCUS in the painful throes of an identity crisis. Get your paranoia here, folks. ...
Golden Earring: Earring is believing
Profile and Interview by Rosalind Russell, Disc, 2 February 1974
IN RATHER general terms. I'd say that Southern Comfort has made as much impact on bands as Eric Clapton has in recent years — for ...
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
HERE'S A NICE fresh pizza, straight from our favourite Italian baking firm, manufactured live and steaming at gigs in Toronto and New York, last August. ...
Golden Earring: Switch (Polydor 2344 040)
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 12 April 1975
Switch — on and off ...
Golden Earring — George Kooymans: "I Don't Want To Be The World's Greatest Guitarist"
Interview by Dan Nooger, Circus, July 1975
"We've always wanted to do a tour this way, but we never could before." ...
Demis Roussos: It's all Greek to Britain
Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 23 August 1975
COLIN IRWIN talks to Demis Roussos ...
Retrospective by Archie Patterson, Eurock, 1976
THE RECORDINGS OF Wigwam are perhaps among the world's unknown musical treasures. In their first incarnation, they produced five of the most imaginative rock albums ...
Vangelis: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by David Hancock, Record Mirror, 21 February 1976
WELL IF you've got to take it seriously you can't take it much better than Vangelis Odyssey Papathanassiou, the gent who has taken the gimmickry ...
Premiata Forneria Marconi: PFM: Civic Hall, Guildford
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976
PFM fan injures hand in blaze ...
Vangelis: Hairy Greek finds Cosmos
Interview by David Hancock, National RockStar, 23 October 1976
LIKE EVERYTHING else, it depends on how you look at it. Some people, for instance, see it all as a Chaos — everything rushing around ...
Aphrodite's Child, Vangelis: Vangelis: The Moans And The Stares, An Ouzo And Thee
Profile and Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 6 November 1976
I THOUGHT I was in for a real treat. ...
Golden Earring: Hot Licks from Amsterdam
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 19 March 1977
Our Man In Holland (GEOFF BARTON) pulls his finger out of the dyke and states the case for GOLDEN EARRING ...
Demis Roussos: Demis the menace
Interview by Mick Brown, Rolling Stone, 24 March 1977
His trembly voice has sold 25 million records ...
Golden Earring: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 2 April 1977
Searing Earring ...
Demis Roussos: A Shadow Darkens The Sun...
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 2 July 1977
TONY STEWART sights DEMIS ROUSSOS off Beachy Head. ...
Gong: UFOs Over The UK '77 — Gong: Gong Live, Etc. (Virgin)
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 27 August 1977
Old H*pp**s Never Die — They Just Release Live Albums ...
Demis Roussos: Life And Love (His Greatest Hits) (Phillips 9199873) !!!!!
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 2 December 1978
NO STARS for this at all. The Roussos experience transcends any structure as fragile as the star-rating system because he isn't involved in the making ...
Nina Hagen: Nina Hagen Band (CBS)
Review by Ian Birch, Melody Maker, 26 May 1979
SAY HELLO to the next Euro cult sensation. ...
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 26 May 1979
SANDY ROBERTSON meets some young boys, interviews THE SCORPIONS and unearths a conspiracy of silence. ...
Herman Brood, Nina Hagen: Herman Brood: The Further Adventures of Herman and Nina
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 7 July 1979
'It's a magic, fantastic, plastic fireball/makes you strong for life/makes you stumble and fall/they're gonna call you names you never heard before/they got you comin' ...
Herman Brood: Herman Brood And His Wild Romance (Ariola) ****½
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 21 July 1979
THE ONLY thing against Herman Brood is his nationality. The world may simply not believe that a Dutchman can sing filthy English-language rock like this ...
Krokus and the Chocolate Dilemma
Interview by J. Kordosh, Creem, September 1981
SWISS CONSPIRACY CONTINUES UNABATED! ...
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 15 January 1983
THE PAUL MORLEY PROFILES — NUMBER FOUR IN A SERIES OF FOUR... Dieter Meier is an international traveller and eccentric, a performance artist and ...
Yello: Swiss Miss Vs. Yello Snow!
Interview by Richard Grabel, Creem, February 1983
NEW YORK — The disco boom of the mid-'70s was the first place to prove that club play was a viable alternative route for "breaking" ...
Xmal Deutschland: Fetisch (4 AD)
Review by Richard North, New Musical Express, 21 May 1983
GERMAN GOTHIC ...
Yello: That's Another Fine Excess You Gotten Me Into
Interview by Helen Fitzgerald, Melody Maker, 4 June 1983
Helen FitzGerald surveys the lunatic world of YELLO, three Swiss men at the forefront of a new movement. ...
Einstürzende Neubauten, Prefab Sprout: ICA, London
Live Review by Max Bell, The Times, 9 January 1984
THIS YEAR the I.C.A.'s excellent and well-established Rock Week event went under the banner "Big Brother Is Watching You". He certainly got value for his ...
Holger Hiller: The Hillers Alive
Interview by Mick Sinclair, ZigZag, March 1984
... and Mick Sinclair found him for you ...
Interview by Graham K. Smith, Record Mirror, 31 March 1984
Remember those glorious early days of Stiff, 2-Tone, Postcard, and the like? — heady times when copping the latest labels' latest carried more clout than ...
Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 5 May 1984
Suddenly it really is Deutschland, Deutschland Über Alles. As the whole world turns Teuton, BIBA KOPF meets NENA, the queen of German high street pop. ...
Review by Richard Riegel, Creem, June 1984
IF YOU DON'T already have a crush on Nena Kerner for the sweetly tumbling gutturals of her vocals, and the sexiness of her hands-in-pockets stride, ...
Report by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984
Earlier this year, BARNEY HOSKYNS visited Prague to find out if Czechoslovakia's heavily repressed rock scene could have any effect on loosening the European blocs. ...
X-Mal Deutschland: Mal Function
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 19 January 1985
X-Mal Deutschland: the new wave of Germanic white gospel blues pop rock, or just a "really funny band" from Hamburg? Chris Roberts cuts through the ...
Review by Betty Page, Record Mirror, 6 April 1985
GOTTA SAY Yes To Another Excess was quite categorically one of my favourite elpees of the recent past. A definite eargasm. This picks up where ...
Propaganda: A Song From Europe
Interview by William Shaw, Smash Hits, 8 May 1985
The German pop group Propaganda released their last single, 'Dr Mabuse', over a year ago. Then they had to wait while their record company devoted time to Frankie Goes To Hollywood. And ...
Propaganda: There Is No Information, Only Disinformation And Propaganda
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 18 May 1985
Chris Roberts goes in search of the truth ...
Propaganda: Doctrine In The House
Interview by Mick Sinclair, ZigZag, June 1985
MICK SINCLAIR MEETS THE QUIET TYPES WITH THE ABILITY TO EXPLODE ...
Mathilde Santing: Water Under The Bridge (WEA)
Review by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 27 July 1985
Waltzing Mathilde ...
The Associates, Mathilde Santing: St. James' Church, London
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 3 August 1985
ALTAR EGOS ...
Einstürzende Neubauten: Einstürzende Neubaten: Heaven, London
Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 4 September 1985
THE FIRST visitors to the garish Heaven club on Monday night were GLC safety inspectors, alerted perhaps by reports of Einstürzende Neubaten's previous London performance ...
Review by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 10 April 1986
IF FALCO had disappeared after his 1981 hit 'Der Kommissar', future archivists could have memorialized the Austrian singer on some Eurotrosh Volume II compilation, and ...
Falco: "I am a little bit weird"
Interview by Chris Heath, Smash Hits, 2 July 1986
More like stark, staring bonkers, if you ask moi, says Chris Heath ...
Interview by Paul Mathur, Blitz, September 1986
There is more to Dieter Meier, the conceptual half of Yello,than meets the eye. Former professional gambler, member of the Swiss National Golf Team, expert ...
Interview by William Shaw, Smash Hits, 8 October 1986
"THE SOUND OF Musik". Fair brings it all back, doesn't it? Julie Andrews swanning over the Alps singing her little heart out. 'Climb Every Mountain'. ...
The Sugarcubes: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, 2 January 1988
LIKE EVERYONE else. I expressly came to worship, to be defeated, to drench their names in a prolix of hopelessly imprecise euphoria. Unhappily, though, it ...
Falco: Wiener Blut (WEA LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 8 October 1988
THE RELEASE of a new album from Austria's best-loved pop eccentric always sees me bid my beating heart be still, particularly when it's this unexpected. ...
Report by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 25 November 1989
In search of Die Neue Deutsche Tanz (New German Dance) JACK BARRON travelled to Berlin to meet the artists behind the Teutonic Beats label — ...
Die Kreuzen: Islington Powerhaus, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 27 January 1990
PERHAPS IF more people knew about Die Kreuzen they wouldn't undergo such sweeping stylistic changes. From hardcore freaks to metal maniacs, from purveyors of soft ...
Book Review by Tim Riley, The Boston Phoenix, February 1990
WHEN PAUL MCCARTNEY announced his $8.5 million promotion deal with Visa at a recent press conference, he was challenged to explain how his new sideline ...
The Young Gods: Mean Fiddler, London
Live Review by Simon Price, Melody Maker, 8 September 1990
ARMAGEDDON HAS arrived. Eco-disaster and chemical apocalypse are upon us. The sky will fall on our heads. We're all going to die. And it's going ...
Review by Chuck Eddy, Rolling Stone, 16 May 1991
IT'S NOT every day that a hit single comes along that combines the accidental da da appeal of Focus's 'Hocus Pocus' or Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' ...
The Sugarcubes: Sugarcubes: Shout To Lunch
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 4 January 1992
"It is too cold in this country," sighs Einar Orn. "Cold and damp." He sips at his warming Guinness. Bjork Gudmundsdottir giggles to herself over ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 23 April 1992
DISCO DIVAS now come in all nationalities and flavours. The Yemenite Jewish disco queen Ofra Haza, best known for the minor hit 'Im Nin Alu', ...
Front 242: Live Target (Guzzi)
Review by David Bennun, Melody Maker, 30 January 1993
LET ME hear you say thud. Now let me hear you say it for 74 minutes. Hold it there. That'll do. How much do you ...
Report by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 26 May 1993
It's a cowshed in Ireland. It's packed with foreigners sporting Pat Sharp haircuts. It's Our Sonia's big stab at Eurovision Song Contest fame. And its ...
Snap!: In tune with pop's crackle and Snap
Interview by Paul Sexton, The Times, 2 September 1994
Record sales of more than 15 million and a growing reputation for trend-setting have made two German former DJs a global sensation. Paul Sexton met ...
Paul Thorn, Zucchero: Zucchero, Paul Thorn: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Paul Sexton, The Times, 28 May 1997
Italy wins again ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, June 1997
YELLO HAVE been into electronica since their inception in 1980, when only the most wilfully avant-garde dabbled in synthesisers for any purpose other than the ...
Review by Chuck Eddy, Rolling Stone, 5 February 1998
A SEXTET OF East German sexual-torture fanatics that has been accused of luring the youth of Europe toward communist bliss (and who also appeared on ...
I Feel Like I Win When I Lose: The Eurovision Song Contest
Retrospective by Rob Chapman, MOJO, May 1998
WHAT HAVE FRANCOISE HARDY, Esther Ofarim, and Ofra Haza got in common? Answer, they are all fine singers. But before they got such deserved reputations ...
Diamanda Galás: Malediction And Prayer (Mute) **½
Review by Ben Myers, Melody Maker, 2 May 1998
WITH A voice akin to Ella Fitzgerald, Edith Piaf and Shirley Bassey, yet with a distinctly goth-baroque slant, Galás is something of a unique entity. ...
Dana International: Eurovision: Hanging Out at the Euro Shenanigans
Report by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 23 May 1998
WE WUZ robbed. Christ, not the UK, I mean Belgium. Did you hear the gorgeous Melanie Cohl's gasping sigh of Saint Etienne-style cine-pop, 'Dis Oui' ...
Atari Teenage Riot: 60 Second Wipeout (DHR)
Review by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 19 May 1999
YOU'D BE well advised to fasten any seat belts before listening to this one. There is a quiet bit... but then the record starts. And ...
Interview by Pat Blashill, Rolling Stone, 10 June 1999
THE VENGABOYS' 'We Like To Party!' is a Big Gulp of bubblegum techno and the goofiest, most ubiquitous beach-party anthem since 'Rock Lobster'. But the ...
Chicks on Speed: International punky art rockers: Chicks On Speed
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 8 January 2000
Three Chicks On Speed stand statue-still onstage dressed in leather rags while a giant robo-voice intones "CHICKS ON SPEED" over a demented dustbin techno loop. ...
Review by Devon Powers, PopMatters, 11 September 2000
I'M CONVINCED that there's something about Veni Vidi Vicious, that elicits borderline personality. One minute I'm singing its praises to everyone I know (including an ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
Joey Tempest; Kee Marcello; John Leven; Mic Michaeli; Ian Haughland ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Jean-Philippe Smets, 15 June 1943, Paris, France ...
Guide by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 19 January 2001
IF YOU want to know what most people think of Italian music, look no further than the Internet. One English language site dedicated to Italian ...
Aphrodite's Child: The Fabulous Furry Greek Brothers
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, Mojo Collections, Fall 2001
The apocalyptic rock of Aphrodite's Child spawned Demis Roussos and Vangelis. ...
Interview by Archie Patterson, Eurock, 2002
ONE OF MY EARLIEST Euro-rock discoveries was the Danish band Savage Rose. Their first album to be released in the USA was In The Plain, ...
The Hives: The Junction, Cambridge
Live Review by Tom Cox, The Observer, 10 February 2002
The Hives put on a fine imitation of garage rock. And the garage is where it would be best appreciated ...
Review by Emma Warren, Observer Music Monthly, October 2003
Up on their uppers: Art-school project? Situationist prank? Fashion statement? Emma Warren celebrates the star-studded, ultra-hip and über-exuberant electropunk of Berlin's all-girl wonders. ...
Report and Interview by Paul Elliott, Q, November 2004
The natty uniforms and arch humour are still a novelty in Japan. But have The Hives anything more to offer? ...
Gogol Bordello: Careful with that act, Eugene
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 10 March 2006
The name of Eugene Hütz's band is only part of his Ukrainian whimsy, Pete Paphides discovers ...
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. ...
The Plastic People Of The Universe: Egon Bondy, 1930-2007
Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 20 April 2007
Dissident Czech writer and lyricist for Plastic People of the Universe ...
Essay by John Harris, The Guardian, 20 July 2007
With lyrics like "Hotch-potch, hugger-mugger, bow-wow, hari-kiri, hoo-poo", how could anyone forget late '70s punk outfit LiLiPUT? ...
Interview by Scott McLennan, Attitude (Australia), Summer 2007
IN 1987, ROBYN Carlsson made her stage debut with the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, October 2009
HE MIGHT have spent most of the past two decades cocooned in the Kubrickian perfectionism of his secret Kling Klang studio in Düsseldorf, but Kraftwerk's ...
Review by Stevie Chick, bbc.co.uk, 4 May 2010
Former Faith No More frontman interprets Italian pop hits from the '50s and '60s. ...
Gong: The Gong Remains The Same
Retrospective and Interview by Jack Barron, Record Collector, October 2010
Jack Barron celebrates the 40-year celestial trip of "Europe's Grateful Dead". ...
The Plastic People of the Universe
Retrospective and Interview by Archie Patterson, Eurock, 10 June 2011
"When modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the state always change with them." (Plato) ...
Retrospective by Archie Patterson, Rock's Backpages, 12 August 2012
ROCK BEGAN in opposition to mainstream culture. The metamorphosis from (black) race music into white rock 'n' roll shook the very foundations of society. It ...
Johnny Hallyday: Bye Bye Johnny: 1943–2017
Obituary by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, March 2018
Much more than the Gallic Elvis, French rock'n'roll icon Johnny Hallyday died on December 6. ...
The Scorpions: Can a power ballad change the world?
Retrospective and Interview by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 20 May 2020
A hit podcast investigates the theory that the German rockers' global smash was written by the CIA. But the truth is even more incredible. ...
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