Alan Betrock
The late Alan Betrock wrote for a number of rock magazines before launching the much-missed New York Rocker in 1976. He was also the author of Girl Groups: the Story of a Sound.
Andy Schwartz remembers Alan Betrock
Ann Powers' New York Times obit
44 articles
List of articles in the library
Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, 1973
IT's DEFINITELY worth having, that's for sure, but the main problem with Ringo is that it's uneven. The Beatles rarely, if ever, made an uneven ...
Profile and Interview by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, July 1973
...with Hedgehoppers Anonymous, Simon Turner, 10cc, Ricky Wilde and the UK Gang ...
Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, September 1973
IT'S BEEN A LONG time coming, but I think the pop revival is finally upon us. This "pop revival" has been somewhat hyped in the ...
New York Dolls: The Legendary Mercer Concerts
Live Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, October 1973
THE HEADLINER was Satan the Eternal-Fire-Eater, and the place was the Mercer Arts Center. The room was the Kitchen —approximately 13' x 60' in size. ...
Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, November 1973
KEVIN AYERS has never been known for his musical steadiness. This is Kevin's fourth solo album (second U.S. release), and it continues to present him ...
Sutherland Brothers and Quiver: Sutherland Bros & Quiver: They're Not An American Band
Interview by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, November 1973
THERE ARE numerous British groups who admire US units like the Byrds and the Band, but few, if any, have risen above the level of ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries: At Carnegie Hall, September 26, 1973
Live Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, November 1973
FOR THE RASPBERRIES, this night was something special. They had been waiting almost a decade to play in New York, and this was their debut ...
Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, January 1974
I DON'T CARE if your heart rests with country twang, surf harmonies, acid riffs, folk strums, commercial muzak, or Anglophile accents. There's one thing that ...
Todd Rundgren: Todd: Rundgren Reviews Himself
Interview by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, March 1974
TODD WAS RECORDED mostly during July; actually July and August, 1973, and it was my usual hodgepodge approach to performance in the album. ...
Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, March 1974
IT'S HAPPENED BEFORE — little known American rockers going over to England to be "discovered", and returning to their homeland as superstars. The most obvious ...
Elliott Murphy, New York Dolls: New York Dolls/Eliott Murphy: The Academy of Music, New York
Live Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, April 1974
VALENTINE GLITTER: DOLLS & ELLIOTT MURPHY, THE SWEETHEARTS OF NEW YAWK CITY ...
Ronnie Spector & The Ronettes at the Continental Baths
Live Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, May 1974
EVER SINCE Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes folded up shop in the late sixties, the music world has been awaiting their return. But despite one ...
New York Dolls, Television: The New York Club Scene
Report by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, May 1974
THE NEW York club scene had its heyday during the mid-sixties. On Long Island, the Action House ruled over the suburban scene featuring house bands ...
Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, 1 July 1974
ONE PROBLEM with 10cc's first album was that it hit you hard on first listening, but often failed to hold up to repeated playings. Perhaps ...
10cc: The Worst Band In The World?
Retrospective and Interview by Alan Betrock, ZigZag, August 1974
WHILE MANY of the veterans on the 1960s musical scene are still around, few are creating much in the way of new musical excitement. There ...
Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, August 1974
ON I'LL BE THERE, Matthew Fisher proves not only to be a gifted songwriter and vocalist, but a dazzling producer as well. ...
The Hudson Brothers: Hudson Brothers: Hollywood Situation (Casablanca)
Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, November 1974
I'VE ALWAYS BEEN a sucker for groups with brothers in them. I don't know why but all those brother groups seem to have a certain ...
Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, 1 December 1974
SPARKS IS ONE of those aggregations that people seem either to be attracted to or repulsed by. For the first few months of their 'comeback', ...
The Pretty Things: Pretty Things: Silk Torpedo
Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, January 1975
THE PRETTY THINGS are back, and this time, with a new label and expected tour, can realistically be expected to enter the American top-40 album ...
Guide by Alan Betrock, ZigZag, January 1975
KINK RAY DAVIES is a well respected man when it comes to composing, and dozens of his compositions are justly regarded as classics. There really ...
Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, February 1975
OUT OF THE ASHES of the New York rock scene came Kiss. They have clearly been elevated (symbolically echoing the ascent their drummer makes during ...
Marc Bolan, T. Rex: Marc Bolan: Past, Present, and Future
Interview by Alan Betrock, Rock Scene, March 1975
IT'S A WEEKDAY night in New Jersey and there's another school day to face tomorrow. Yet the Joint in the Woods is packed to the ...
Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, March 1975
SOME OF MY friends keep telling me that it's never coming back, but I'm an incurable optimist and despite the dismal last few years of ...
New York Dolls: Little Hippodrome, NYC
Live Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, April 1975
AFTER EXAGGERATED reports heralding their impending demise, the New York Dolls returned in early March to the Hippodrome in mid-Manhattan. They were supposedly to sport ...
Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, April 1975
LIVING IN NEW YORK has never been easy for the older generation, but it's even tougher for their offspring. ...
The Ramones: Know Your New York Bands: The Ramones
Interview by Alan Betrock, SoHo Weekly News, 1 May 1975
1-2-3-4! The Ramones stride on stage, plug in their guitars, and take off. The next 45 minutes are a total energy blast. ...
Pink Floyd: More Gritty, Less Giddy
Report and Interview by Alan Betrock, Circus, October 1975
IT HAS BEEN over two-and-a-half years since the release of Pink Floyd's last album, Dark Side Of The Moon, and yet the hit LP is ...
Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, December 1975
WHEN OLIVER Ulyses Adrian ('Roy') Wood joined the ranks of Birmingham's professional musicians back in 1964, few observers could have guessed that he would evolve ...
Interview by Alan Betrock, New York Rocker, February 1976
I WAS BORN in Morristown, New Jersey. Actually I was born in the hospital there but I spent the first few years in this lake ...
Essay by Alan Betrock, New York Rocker, February 1976
WHEN I THINK back a few years, I'm really amazed at how well certain records sold. I'm talking about basic rock 'n' roll records, or ...
Interview by Alan Betrock, New York Rocker, March 1976
NORMALCY FADES into obscurity as insurgents seek deliverance. Abruptly the backbeat returns. Then it all seems so clear. The Nerves are at one with the ...
New York Dolls: The New York Dolls Don't Look Back
Interview by Alan Betrock, Hit Parader, April 1976
IF THE NEW York Dolls were ever guilty of one serious miscalculation in their notorious career, it would be their distinct absence of pretension! They ...
Eric Carmen: Rock's Rejuvenated Raspberry
Interview by Alan Betrock, Hit Parader, June 1976
WHEN ERIC CARMEN, Wally Bryson, Jim Bonfanti, and Dave Smalley formed the Raspberries back in 1971, their goal was to stand for something especially fresh ...
Profile by Alan Betrock, New York Rocker, December 1976
AT FIRST glance, Abba appears on the horizon as A Bunch of Beautiful Aryans. Others, less generous, label their rise to prominence as Another Banal ...
Essay by Alan Betrock, ZigZag, July 1977
2:39 Richard Hell and the Voidoids glide into take one of 'The Plan', a quirky composition, supported by subtle mood changes. At 2:43 it's finished. ...
Boyfriends, The (US): The Boyfriends: CBGB's, New York NY
Live Review by Alan Betrock, New York Rocker, November 1977
THE BOYFRIENDS got it. Only they don't know it. ...
The Fleshtones: Max's Kansas City, New York NY
Live Review by Alan Betrock, New York Rocker, November 1977
THE FLESHTONES at The Village Gate were fun (not funny), like somewhat talented High Schoolers of the past apeing the newest sounds of the Shadows, ...
Blondie: Parallel Lines (Chrysalis)
Review by Alan Betrock, New York Rocker, September 1978
BLONDIE IS NOT a fun group and the age of innocence is over. True or False? I'm reviewing Side Two first because no side was ...
Obituary by Alan Betrock, New York Rocker, September 1978
SO TELEVISION has broken up and most people want to know why. ...
Regina Richards and Red Hot: Regina Richards
Profile and Interview by Alan Betrock, New York Rocker, November 1978
THERE'S SOMETHING about this Regina Richards that keeps you coming back for more. You get the feeling that no matter what surrounds her, she's heading ...
The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope (Epic)
Review by Alan Betrock, New York Rocker, January 1979
OKAY, SO I'M supposed to write this treatise on the new, long-delayed, Clash album — a task I'm quite looking forward to since I reckon ...
The Velvet Underground: After Punk, What? The Velvet Underground
Essay by Alan Betrock, New York Rocker, July 1980
THOSE MUSIC-business "pundits" have often repeated the claim that a music-industry phenomenon rears its head every ten years — you know, Elvis in '54, the ...
Book Excerpt by Alan Betrock, Omnibus Press, 1982
Extract from Girl Groups — The Story of A Sound ...
Phil Spector: He's a Rebel By Mark Ribowsky (E.R. Dutton, $18.95)
Book Review by Alan Betrock, Rolling Stone, 23 March 1989
Haunted Spector ...
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