Chris Roberts
Chris Roberts (left, with Martin Fry) lives in West London. He has written about music, films and books for many publications and websites including Classic Rock, The Guardian, Prog, Uncut, Melody Maker, NME, Sounds, Elle, Ikon, The Daily Telegraph, Empire, London Lite, Emusic, Electronic and The Quietus site.
He was also the editor of Idle Worship (Harper Collins), a collection of writings on music by well-known individuals (Bono, Nick Hornby, Thurston Moore, Kristin Hersh etc) that was hailed in the New York Times as "the most original book about rock ‘n’ roll ever". In 2011 he edited Blondie’s Panic Of Girls magazine at the band’s request.
Often appearing on TV and radio, he’s also published books on Lou Reed, Michael Jackson, Tom Jones, Abba, Scarlett Johansson and Heath Ledger. His book on Talk Talk (in collaboration with the band’s sleeve artist James Marsh) was published in September 2012.
He has released well-received albums under the names Alphabet Saints, Catwalk (featuring guest musicians Kim Deal and Tanya Donelly) and Scalaland. His poems accompanied Ellen-Ane Eggen’s photography exhibitions in Oslo and Brussels, and short stories "Crashing" and "The Cake" appeared in L.A. publication Black Clock (edited by Steve Erickson) alongside Don DeLillo, Rick Moody and Jonathan Lethem.
272 articles
List of articles in the library
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 14 April 1984
CHRIS ROBERTS raps to Morgan Khan about the Streetwave sensation. ...
Keith LeBlanc: X Marks the Spot
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 14 April 1984
"You only get action as a black man if you are regarded by the white man as irresponsible." (from The Autobiography of Malcolm X) ...
Rockwell: Watching You, Watching Me
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 14 April 1984
ROCKWELL IS hiding behind the door when we finally gain access to his plush hotel suite. You've heard the song, now dig the reality — ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 14 April 1984
SHANNON AND I share a common love. Diana Ross. "He tried pretending a dance is just a dance but..." ...
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Whodini: Whodini: Escape from New York
Report and Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 14 April 1984
CHRIS ROBERTS UNRAVELS THE MAGIC OF WHODINI ...
The Last Poets, Lightnin' Rod, Jalal Mansur Nuriddin: Jalal Nuridden:The Verse Is Yet To Come
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 29 September 1984
LAST POET Jalal Nuridden recites to Chris Roberts ...
Culture Club: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 5 January 1985
HE KNOWS it's going. ...
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 12 January 1985
OH WOW! Brilliant are at least that. Allow me to squeal and gurgle delightedly for a moment... ...
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: Kid Creole: Paradise Lost
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 19 January 1985
"I'm Kid Creole, the half-breed hero. Add me up, I come to zero" ...
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 ...
Mtume: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 9 February 1985
MTUME LOVE us all. I know 'cos they said so. They also give their audience pairs of knickers, simulate sex while their hands are covered ...
Al Green: Trust In God (Demon/Hi)****
Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 16 February 1985
F*** GOD (Brando's first two words in Last Tango, actually), we're talking AL GREEN here. Quite simply, the best voice ever to co-exist with anything ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 23 February 1985
KILLING JOKE go for the funny bone. Chris Roberts gets the gag ...
10,000 Maniacs: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 20 April 1985
IT IS NOT generally known that the Sea Witch behind the last whirlpool in the north, who died for love, had a younger sister, 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 ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 18 May 1985
"I DON'T KNOW exactly what a pop theorist is," says Green. "I think everybody has their own ideas on what pop music's about and what ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 25 May 1985
STEVE ARRINGTON: a man who doesn't know who Tony Blackburn is, who counts Yes among his influences, and who's got God on his side... ...
Ashford & Simpson: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 1 June 1985
REVELATION ONE. Ashford (Mr) gets down on his knees, and tells us the meaning: "Grrr nga nga nga huh witness!" Revelation Two. Ashford: "When I ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 1 June 1985
The Monochrome Set put Chris Roberts in the picture ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 29 June 1985
Chris Roberts gets sandwiched by the Fat Boys, and discovers fat is a faminist issue ...
Mai Tai: History (Virgin V2359) ***
Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 6 July 1985
FOR YOUR inflammation, a Mai-Tai is a complex cocktail involving rum, tequila and various other terribly sinful fluids, but Dutch girls Caroline, Mildred and Jetty ...
Mai Tai: Le Beat Route, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 3 August 1985
FLINGING ON my best white suit and ballet shoes, I dived through the catflap and tricycled along to what could've been The Symbolic Death Of ...
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 3 August 1985
Rave from the Cave ...
Robert Cray: The Robert Cray Band: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 3 August 1985
Cray of Sunshine ...
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 24 August 1985
KINGS AND RATTS OF THE CASTLE Yes, it's that time of year when the Metal Mob gather at the shrine of Donington to pay homage to ...
Einstürzende Neubauten: Heaven, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 14 September 1985
"LET ME through. I'm a pregnant fireman!" It worked wonders. Jumping the queue we alighted beyond the pearly gates and entered a Christopher Isherwood novel ...
Diana Ross: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 28 September 1985
DI-NAMITE! ...
Dexys Midnight Runners: Dexy's Midnight Runners: The Midnight's Hour
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 12 October 1985
Kevin Rowland and co change their image and sharpen up their act. CHRIS ROBERTS puts on a tie to discover whether DEXY'S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS have ...
Tom Waits: Subterranean Low-Life Blues
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 19 October 1985
"THE COOLEST PERSON I ever met was definitely Shaw. It was a bleak autumn afternoon when Shaw thumped me in the 12-years-old ribcage and said, ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 2 November 1985
Chris Roberts asks Felt, are you lonesome tonight? ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Sweet Chain
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 2 November 1985
The brothers Reid unveil the long-anticipated JESUS AND MARY CHAIN album Psychocandy and explain their philosophy of life and leather to CHRIS ROBERTS. ...
Cocteau Twins: Cocteau Cabinet
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 4 January 1986
A new year and a new starter for THE COCTEAU TWINS who team up with CHRIS ROBERTS for talk, turkey and all the trimmings. ...
Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Sin, 'bourne to be wild
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 11 January 1986
OZZY OSBOURNE is a particular man. He wouldn't walk out in the street with shit on his trousers, he is not colour prejudiced and he'd ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 25 January 1986
They've been called yahoos, bastards and anarchists. They're not Goths, a twee pop group or R&B revivalists. So who are AGE OF CHANCE anyway? CHRIS ...
Propaganda: The Pop Machinery Cranks On
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 22 February 1986
In the frozen musical wastes of '86, Claudia Brucken-Morley thinks of PROPAGANDA as "being a life long thing". CHRIS ROBERTS is thinking more along the ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 12 April 1986
"You don't have to watch Dynasty to have an attitude" – Prince "I have no attitude without a cigarette" – Lou Reed "I wouldn't mind ...
Marilyn: The Hippodrome, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 26 April 1986
CARRY ON CAMPING ...
The Style Council: Home And Abroad (Polydor TSCLP3)
Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 3 May 1986
WISHING WELLER ...
Bronski Beat: Truthdare Doubledare (London BITLP3) *
Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 10 May 1986
THE POOR, confused homosexual teenager shaves his head and packs his rucksack. On the train south he stares through the window and impersonates melancholy, just ...
We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It: A Box Of Tricks
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 7 June 1986
The girls can't help it. WE'VE GOT A FUZZBOX AND WE'RE GONNA USE IT! blend a fun filled concoction of silliness and sexiness and spill ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 26 July 1986
I AM TRYING to think of a group other than The Housemartins who look more boring than James. I am having big trouble in this ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 30 August 1986
Listen up! Ambition may be the result of having a possessive, overbearing mother, but just eat a big avocado salad and you'll be solid. And ...
David Sylvian: The Man Who Fell To Earth
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 27 September 1986
As DAVID SYLVIAN settles into the quiet life of solo status, CHRIS ROBERTS appraises the significant stature of his post-Japan harmonics and post-mascara beauty. ...
Iggy Pop: Iggy Stardust – His Lust For Life
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 18 October 1986
"I think I am a little different upstairs, yeah. But so are a lot of people," admits the former King Stooge to one of his ...
Whitney Houston: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 25 October 1986
I WAS there. ...
The SOS Band: SOS Band: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 13 December 1986
WE WEAVE a path through the wellie-wearers, unable to grasp how speechlessly bad this is. The beauty is beaten into beastliness and enjoys the experience; ...
Big Audio Dynamite: V For Victory
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 7 February 1987
Another tour, another single, another video and still BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE are special. Chris Roberts had dinner with MICK JONES and discovered sense and sensitivity ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 14 March 1987
TOM VERLAINE SWERVES THIS WAY AND THAT TO AVOID THE LOGICAL, BOTH ON AND OFF RECORD. CHRIS ROBERTS USES HIS NEW ALBUM, FLASH LIGHT, TO ...
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam: Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam: Spanish Fly (CBS)
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 16 May 1987
NO ORCHIDS here. Already sounding like the year before last's thing. Full Force's puppets can't manage any swirls or blooms to match their one Shannonesque ...
Danielle Dax: Return Of The Wolf Girl
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 30 May 1987
DANIELLE DAX, A FREE SPIRIT AND A PRETTY STRANGE LADY, EXPLAINS THE MEANING OF 'INKY BLOATERS' TO A MIGHTILY IMPRESSED CHRIS ROBERTS. ...
Diana Ross: Red Hot Rhythm And Blues (EMI)
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 30 May 1987
SO YES, alright, I did have a teenage crush on Diana Ross. No two ways about it. But now that I'm 20 I can be ...
The Cure: Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me (Fiction)
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 30 May 1987
THE PERFECT KISS ...
Def Leppard: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 19 September 1987
WHAT A sorry charade this is. Stuck for jokes I am, as the Lepers churn out their wall of John Bull nothingness to the adoring ...
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 19 December 1987
MOMENTS in love when love is not a three-ring circus but a fork-tongued serpent, when bliss rhymes with lice and diandry is a girl's best ...
Simple Minds: Barrowland, Glasgow
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 2 January 1988
IMAGINE Rangers and Celtic combined, against Leyton Orient, for charity, in a hall the size of the Electric Ballroom. That's the sort of boiling partisan ...
Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Nick Cave: Lizard of Oz
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 23 January 1988
AFTER A YEAR AWAY, NICK CAVE RETURNS FROM THE WILDERNESS WITH ANOTHER LADELFUL OF PEARLS AND PESSIMISM. CHRIS ROBERTS MEETS THE MAN WHO SEES EVERYTHING ...
All About Eve: The Garden Of Eden
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 20 February 1988
WITH A DEBUT ALBUM AND A NATIONAL TOUR ABOUT TO EXPLODE, DREAM LOVERS ALL ABOUT EVE TEACH CHRIS ROBERTS ABOUT JEAN COCTEAU, CILLA BLACK, OPTICIANS, ...
LeVert, O'Jays: The O'Jays, LeVert: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 20 February 1988
TWO GENERATIONS of soul — neither of which, on this showing, could work on a building of love or tear your playhouse down, or any ...
The Wedding Present: Best Defence
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 27 February 1988
THE WEDDING Present were born in 1985, achieved the level of quite exciting, and now have had greatness thrust upon them with worrying prematurity. Recent ...
Sinead O'Connor: Olympic Ballroom, Dublin
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 12 March 1988
THE IDEA of pretending it was Hazel without her wig or Tom without the gags struck me as an astronomical corker for about a minute, ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 12 March 1988
"WHERE IS my mind?" smirks huggable Black Francis, and you can't help but rattle your jewellery. If "bloody your hands on a cactus tree/wipe it ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 19 March 1988
"I SEE too deep and too much." (Henri Barbusse: "L'Enfer".) "Blood becomes a foreign substance." (Kristin Hersh.) ...
The Darling Buds: Move Over Darlings
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 23 April 1988
SOWING SEEDSSO WE WON'T compare them to a summer's day, then. Summer days are the longest, the most languorous. The Darling Buds are flecked with ...
David Bowie: Lets Dance!: David Bowie With La La La Human Steps: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 9 July 1988
BEAUTY will be compulsive or not at all. ...
The Sundays: The Falcon, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 3 September 1988
AND ON THE SEVENTH DAY He got creative. . . The Sundays are the most beautiful thing I've heard since I was one year old. Something ...
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 17 September 1988
DEAD ON THEIR FEAT ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Rock's Backpages audio, 20 September 1988
Moles at Stonehenge? Umbrellas? Showbiz Shirts? Yes, it's another leap into the surrealistic world of Tom Waits
File format: mp3; file size: 52.3meg, interview length: 54' 29" sound quality: ***
The Darling Buds: Beyond The Valley Of The Blondes
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 24 September 1988
BudismTHERE ARE SOME people, believe it or not, who don't like The Darling Buds. They don't recognise this music as the very Taj Mahal of ...
The Sugarcubes: Sugarcubes: Yule Never Björk Alone
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 24 December 1988
THE SUGARCUBES' BID FOR WORLD DOMINATION IS ALMOST COMPLETE. FOR CHRISTMAS THEY'LL BE RETURNING HOME TO ICELAND TO START RECORDING THE FOLLOW-UP TO THE LIFE'S ...
Jane's Addiction: Embassy Theatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 14 January 1989
IN THE LARGER-than-life (and therefore, strictly speaking, lifesize) city of Zen yuppie angels and drive-by crucifixions, it is New Year's Eve. At nine Perry Farrell ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 14 January 1989
Late last year, Chris Roberts stumbled upon the Sundays playing a support gig in one of London's many watering holes. Stunned by their brilliance, he ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 21 January 1989
WITH A TOP 10 SINGLE IN HER NATIVE AMERICA, EDIE BRICKELL AND HER NEW BOHEMIANS LOOK SET TO MAKE A HUGE IMPACT IN 1989. CHRIS ...
Profile and Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 21 January 1989
THEIR HARD ROCK LP, NOTHING'S SHOCKING, CONVERTED MANY TO THEIR CAUSE. THEIR OUTLANDISH APPEARANCE IS ATTRACTING COMMENT WHEREVER THEY GO. THEY'RE DUE HERE FOR A ...
New Order: Technique (Factory)
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 28 January 1989
IT BEGINS. IT THUMPS with glee, it swirls with lackadaisical intensity. "You're much too young to be a part of me, you're much too young ...
My Bloody Valentine: University of London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 25 February 1989
TRANPOSED. There we are then. There's a new one for you. A new one for me, anyway. You will have to be forgiving but I ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 25 February 1989
REVOLUTION, purity, love, suicide, accuracy. These are the key words according to Spacemen 3.1 consider them eternally interesting words, don't you? Let's just leave them ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 18 March 1989
A RUSH OF BLOOD? Lush are nearly as good as their name, which is high praise indeed. ...
Review by Chris Roberts, New Musical Express, 6 May 1989
ROBERT SMITH reckons Disintegration isn't a miserable record at all. "At all," he says. Right. Meanwhile Van Gogh says Starry Night was a cartoon, Francis ...
Wendy And Lisa: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 6 May 1989
WOMEN IN unison. A glaring gaggle. A terrifying prospect. Wasn't it in fact Dorothy Parker, theoretically one of their own, who wrote, "I hate women. ...
Throwing Muses: Southampton University
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 1 July 1989
MID-AFTERNOON on a Saturday the snap decision is taken to leg it down to Southampton (wherever that might be) and find the first night of ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 8 July 1989
TC: "Poor innocent me. And all this time I thought you were a bona fide blonde."Marilyn: " I am. But nobody's that natural. And incidentally, ...
New Order: The Reading Festival
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 9 September 1989
NEW ORDER have to be blinding, have to be gorgeous and maverick and wise, if we're to leave with any sense of napalm in our ...
Kate Bush: The Sensual World (EMI)
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 14 October 1989
"WHEN LAUREN WAS a small girl, she would stand in the field and call the cats. One by one they would come to her through ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, Fall 1989
FOLLOWING THE DEMISE OF "THE SOUND", ADRIAN BORLAND HAS FOUND A NEW LEASE OF LIFE WITH HIS CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED SOLO ALBUM ALEXANDRIA. CHRIS ROBERTS MEETS ...
Cowboy Junkies: Horse Latitudes
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 24 February 1990
"MOST OF THE SONGS, there's a grain of hope in there. The characters are always striving for something else. They're in a situation which is ...
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 31 March 1990
"I thought I'd play a couple of numbers from the Tin Machine album... wait, wait, where are you going...come back!" ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 31 March 1990
Three months ago, no one had heard of Ride, yet now they're fast becoming the most sought-after band in Britain, providing positive proof that music ...
My Bloody Valentine: Glide on Time
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 28 April 1990
MY BLOODY VALENTINE are sitting in the basement rehearsal studio they've just rented. I am wandering around upstairs walking into lots of offices and insisting ...
The Blue Aeroplanes: Preparing for Take Off
Report by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 19 May 1990
AFTER THEIR LONG SPELL AS UNDERNOURISHED LEADERS OF THE AVANT-GARDE, THE BLUE AEROPLANES FINALLY LOOK SET TO ENTER THE MAINSTREAM WITH THE RELEASE THIS WEEK ...
Alan Vega: Deuce Avenue (Musidisc)
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 9 June 1990
I PLAYED this when I was feeling flippant and swinging and it sounded boring. Then I played it while undergoing one of my Chiswick's-answer-to-Greta-Garbo phases ...
Sigue Sigue Sputnik: The First Generation (Jungle)
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 30 June 1990
EVEN THE press release, once a glittering example of how to flaunt what you only very disputably have, have bashfully clammed down to a tail-between-the-legs ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 6 October 1990
BEFORE WE start, one thing: 'Dreams Burn Down', eh? What a stormer! Breathtaking, sickening, walls collapsing all around you and oh look the gazelles are ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 16 February 1991
AT LAST, one of those rare records that revolve along once in a blooming moon and have something new to struggle to say. You have ...
Throwing Muses: The Real Ramona
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 16 February 1991
THIS IS pretty much exemplary. The best band on 4AD/ SnubTV Records by several million miles have finally come up with an album that kicks ...
Scritti Politti: Intellectual Hooliganism
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 2 March 1991
"SO YOU USE the language of dreams and you toy around for the micropolitical effect of the goosebump. I like that – the goosebump as ...
Transvision Vamp: Wendy's Boat Comes In
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 30 March 1991
Shy, unassuming Wendy James and her pop terrorists TRANSVISION VAMP are back from a year's sabbatical with a new single and a big box of ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 4 May 1991
It's all happened very quickly for Curve. Six months ago, they were languishing in obscurity. Then their Blindfold EP turned them into Buzz Of The ...
Ride: We Can Be Zeroes: Ride: Going Blank Again (Creation)
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 29 February 1992
AND YOU THOUGHT Nowhere was one of the worst album titles of all time! You almost have to hand it to them for having the ...
Guns N' Roses: Guns N'Roses: Knockin' On Britain's Door
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 30 May 1992
As GUNS N'ROSES' gigantic European tour kicks in and their single, 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door' storms the Number One slot, the most talked-about band in ...
Janet Jackson: Luscious: Janet Jackson: Janet (Virgin)
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 5 June 1993
IT can be done. Pop music in 1993 can be big, beautiful, frisky, proud, mellow, brash, subtle, motivating, sassy, plush and irresistible. Janet Jackson is ...
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 7 August 1993
"THAT'S IT THEN," bellows the portly juggler, with some relief, on the train back to civilisation. "Done The Mode. Tick that one off." ...
Cocteau Twins: Dreams of Consciousness
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 11 September 1993
ROBIN IS NOT HERE today. He is housebound with chicken pox, "covered in spots from head to foot, it's fucking terrible. I got it from ...
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 11 September 1993
SO F***ING SPECIAL ...
Mazzy Star: Don't Talk Just Bliss
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 23 October 1993
Mazzy Star may make beautiful records, but they also make terrible interviewees. Chris Roberts extracts some sense from their silence and decides that the US ...
Cowboy Junkies: Pale Sun, Crescent Moon
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 11 December 1993
COWBOY JUNKIES have long been masters of understatement, their holier-than-wow, whispering glass elegies sliding slowly down the walls of heartache, all good taste and honey. ...
Snoop Doggy Dogg: The Equinox, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 19 February 1994
SNOOP IS in the house, and so are we, finally. The pre-match build-up is a work of art, a triumph of modern mythology and marketing. ...
Elvis Costello: Brutal Youth (Warner Bros.)
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 26 February 1994
PRAY TO GOD that Elvis Costello never writes a song about you and relationships. Rather Mike Leigh or Ken Loach documents you, rather a fly ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 21 May 1994
THE AUTEURS make witty, literate, even barbed and bitchy pop. None of which explains why mainman LUKE HAINES is dressed like an extra from some ...
Pulp: Non Stop Erotique Cabaret
Report and Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 4 June 1994
"I WAS WONDERING", says Jarvis Cocker. "There was a baboon in the top floor of a flat behind where we played in Paris last night." ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Ikon, October 1995
David Bowie is enjoying another renaissance – hyperactive, philosophical, and buoyant. The century may be expiring, he figures, but his cup runneth over. Chris Roberts ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, June 1997
A DUSTY, OCHRE ATLAS FROM THE THIRTIES. An old dictionary in two huge volumes complete with illustrations. A history of the Civil War in three ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, June 1997
ANTHONY Reynolds, a Welshman, singer in Jack, has teamed up with Nick Currie, a Scotsman, also known as Momus, to make an album, in 10 ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, July 1997
GENEVA ARE not puddings. I approve of this. So many chap-bands today (Tuesday) are puddings. Big, soggy, lumpy puddings just sitting there, wobbling every now ...
Mansun: Kilburn National, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, July 1997
THE FOUR million music journalists present at Mansun's big "triumphant" London show, tongues loosened by EMI's beer, tell me repeatedly that it's not OK for ...
Mark Eitzel, R.E.M.: Mark Eitzel and Peter Buck
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, July 1997
'People liked it when I was drunk and fell over onstage all the time. That was very popular in Europe for a while' ...
Michael Jackson: Blood On The Dance Floor
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, July 1997
HISTORY IS written by the victors. Or, in our times, is remixed by the fashionable. ...
Michael Jackson: Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 26 July 1997
All You Need Is Glove ...
Bruce Springsteen: Le Palais des Congres, Paris
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, August 1997
BRUCE IS telling a story (and I am scribbling furiously). "This is a song about men and women. I didn't write about men and women ...
David Bowie: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, August 1997
HE LOOKS spectacular; anyone who's told you different is jealous, insecure, myopic. Yet he wants us to love his new music, and it's hard to ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, August 1997
OH, AND ONCE AGAIN TINDERSTICKS have made the grandest, greatest record on earth. You hear it and the love pours out of you. It's really ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, September 1997
NOTHING COULD be more wrong than to align the wanton, inspired Bush with boring English rock "aristocrats" such as Sting, Collins and Clapton. There's a ...
The Blue Nile: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, September 1997
THE NEAREST thing music has to Venice is the embodiment of melancholy in this aptly baroque setting. The melancholy, in all its lush romantic self-indulgence, ...
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 6 September 1997
Mart For Art's Sake ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 25 October 1997
MISSY "Misdemeanour" Elliott has been an invisible but insistent pivot of the pop world. ...
Bjork: Homogenic (One Little Indian)
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, November 1997
HUMAN BEHAVIOUR being what it is, I've already heard half a dozen journalists declaring this, Bjork's third solo album, to be no great shakes. I'm ...
Janet Jackson: The Velvet Rope
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, November 1997
THIS TIME, it's raining the spectrum of starfish and streaming with tiger snakes. The last Jacksoness album, 93's janet, was a slink-fest of extraordinary ambition ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, December 1997
Dynamic duo revamp their quirky oevre with wit and irony ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, January 1998
IS THIS the best job you've ever had?"Oh yeah, definitely. It's still a pain in the ass sometimes, but by and large it's the most ...
Retrospective by Chris Roberts, Uncut, February 1998
AN INSURANCE salesman, David Porter, visited a Memphis meat-packing factory in 1965. He tried to sell a policy to one of the meat-packers, a big ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 1998
Bowie: the good, the bad and the ugly ...
Kula Shaker: Cool, karma & collected
Interview by Chris Roberts, Vox, May 1998
Those mystical'n'magical types, KULA SHAKER are back, and this time they're watching what they say. Which is no surprise after their last round of foot-in-mouth ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, August 1998
THOUGH THEY'RE often lumped in with other early Eighties techno-tarts as shiny and superficial, Soft Cell had a soot-black heart, a vicious edge, and an ...
Sparklehorse: Good Morning Spider
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, August 1998
Second LP from highly rated alt country act with edge and attitude. ...
Adam Cohen, Rufus Wainwright: Rufus Wainwright: Rufus Wainwright; Adam Cohen: Adam Cohen
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, September 1998
Impressive, capricious debuts from two sons of Sixties troubadours ...
Sparklehorse: The Spider's Strategy
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, September 1998
VIRGINIAN MARK Linkous' recent second album, Good Morning Spider, confirmed the promise of his acclaimed '96 debut, Vivadixiesubmarlnetransmisslonplot, while bringing a new psychedelic spin to ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, October 1998
THE LAUGH is marginally less startling than his debut album, a cabaret of flamboyant songs about April fools, matinee idols and imaginary loves, as big-time ...
David Bowie, Roxy Music, T. Rex: Glam Rock: Scary Monsters, Super Freaks #2
Special Feature by Chris Roberts, Uncut, November 1998
TWENTIETH CENTURY BOY ...
Alanis Morissette: Alanis Morrisette: Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, December 1998
Follow-up to Jagged Little Pill is big, bold and belligerent ...
Semisonic: Finding Joy through Pain and Difficulty
Report and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, December 1998
DAN WILSON is greeted at the New York offices of Semisonic's record company like a conquering hero. My brief audience with him is constantly interrupted ...
Profile and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, December 1998
"THIS NOTION that we make miserable records just seems a bit shallow. They're more complete than that. On a cursory listen, they might be depressing, ...
Mercury Rev: Corn Exchange, Cambridge
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, March 1999
THAT MERCURY Rev have not only survived a turbulent decade but emerged from it as the alterno-rock world's darlings and champions is heroic, funny and ...
David Sylvian: We Have Ways of Making You Talk: David Sylvian
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, May 1999
DAVID SYLVIAN'S first solo album for 12 years, Dead Bees On A Cake, is his most personal and accessible work to date, and features Talvin ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Rock's Backpages audio, 29 July 1999
The Dame, surrounded by some splendid NYC ambience, talks about where he's at today; his workaholism; being part of Tin Machine; some of the personae he has adopted; on being liberated by Hunky Dory; becoming Ziggy; years lost to drugs, and on his relationship with his fans via the internet.
File format: mp3 File size: 54.3mb; interview length: 56' 33" seconds Sound quality: ***
Interview by Chris Roberts, Rock's Backpages audio, 5 August 1999
Iggy ruminates on growing old, marriage and divorce, and the various aspects of his life that informed his album Avenue B
File format: mp3; file size: 55.5mb, interview length: 57' 47" sound quality: ***
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, January 2000
MOCK AT your peril: word oozing from the bat-infested, lightning-flecked towers of the grown-up music press suggests that the year 2000 will spawn a goth ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, January 2000
Honey-throated singer begs comparisons with Scott Walker ...
The Isley Brothers: It's Your Thing – The Story Of The Isley Brothers
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, January 2000
A COLOSSAL, combustible funk-fest; enough for a throbbing theme-night in your very own living room. Furry kaftans and diamante-encrusted bomber jackets optional. Emerging from Lincoln ...
Bryan Ferry: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, February 2000
This man swings fundamentally ...
David Bowie: The Astoria, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, February 2000
The live shows you really shouldn't have missed ...
The Auteurs, Luke Haines: The Auteurs: Live in Paris
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, February 2000
AS LUKE Haines builds up an ever-expanding oeuvre, replete with cross-references and self-mythologising manifestos, one wonders what the French might make of this superficially haughty ...
Bellatrix: Live in Reykjavik, Iceland
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, March 2000
THINGS DO tend to get adequately surreal the second you step off the plane into the snowy lunar landscape of Iceland, so by the time ...
Jimmy Webb: Tunesmith: Inside The Art Of Songwriting
Book Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, March 2000
GENIUS BEHIND 'MacArthur Park' and 'Wichita Lineman' examines his craft, peruses his muse, and almost makes sense of it all ...
Profile and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, March 2000
RAISSA, WHOSE seductive single, 'How Long Do I Get', is currently raising a rumpus, spent Christmas swimming in the Red Sea. She's travelled before. She ...
Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, The Who: The Who: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, March 2000
WELL, YOU can't accuse them of being pompous, of inflating their legend. The Who shuffle distractedly onstage as if they're playing a mate's house party, ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 2000
Captivating Macy-worrying debut remarries hip hop and soul ...
Kelis: The Harlem Hurricane Blows Up A Storm
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 2000
IT'S SCARILY early on a Monday morning and she says she's as out of it as I am ("I love the night, it just seems ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, May 2000
NINE YEARS AGO, Pete Wylie, who is The Mighty WAH!, was considered hot. Again. He leaned on a railing in Liverpool. It gave way and ...
Air: "If We Don't Surprise People Any More, Then We Will Die"
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, June 2000
"THE FIRST time I was in LA," says Nicolas Godin, "I was in a very cool hotel. And in front of that hotel was a ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, August 2000
Cusack and crew Americanise Nick Hornby's novel with suss and style ...
Profile and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, August 2000
BRILLIANTLY ECLECTIC musical mix from new US trio. ...
Radiohead: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, September 2000
CONFUSED, SCHIZOPHRENIC, sneering and intense yet sometimes transported by innocent joy – Radiohead's audience sure are a strange crowd. The crossover-cult idols' first English gig ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, October 2000
MAXIMUM JOYPROPAGANDAA SECRET WISHTHE ART OF NOISEWHO'S AFRAID OF THE ART OF NOISE ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, October 2000
Her Madgesty's eighth studio album is a clinical future-dance monster ...
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, October 2000
MY GOD, they plod. The paucity of ideas would be staggering, were it not so dull. ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, October 2000
FIRST ALL-NEW flurry since 1994's Gratuitous Sax And Senseless Violins ...
Cocteau Twins: Stars And Topsoil
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, November 2000
AFTER THE singles box set, a single-CD retrospective from the unique trio. ...
David Bowie: Bowie At The Beeb
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, November 2000
TRIPLE-CD gathers The Dame's sessions for 'Auntie', both contemporary and historical. ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, November 2000
EIGHTH LONG-player from Glasgow's finest, produced by Norman Blake & Co ...
Adam & The Ants: Adam And The Ants: Stand And Deliver
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, December 2000
TRIPLE-CD box set honours Prince Charming man. ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, December 2000
Best of the late, legendary indie label ...
Bad Company, Free: Almost Famous
Film/DVD/TV Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, February 2001
Shrewdly sweet eulogy to rock'n'roll fandom ...
Madonna: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, February 2001
The live shows you really shouldn't have missed - a transcendent pop moment ...
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, February 2001
IT'S A CASE of premature elevation. Of shock promotion to the Premiership with a make-shift squad. Moby shouldn't be playing this soulless aircraft hangar. ...
Stephen Malkmus: Stephen Malkmus
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, February 2001
Pavement ex-frontman goes solo ...
Eminem: The London Arena, Docklands
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 2001
FOR A FEW days there, between Internet babies and new genetic codes, Eminem's UK tour made him the leading media talking-point. ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 2001
THE FRIENDLY, LAUGHING, jet-lagged, pale, charismatic Kristin Hersh says that odd combinations of words are the only way to get her attention. ...
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 2001
THE LAST rock star, dripping with dark poetry, mystery and unforced glamour, stands alone onstage in spectacular red dress and electric guitar, crying, "Lick my ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 2001
THE ARCH COMBO RETURN WITH A NEW ALBUM, REGENERATION, PRODUCED BY NIGEL (KID A) GODRICH. HERE, FRONTMAN NEIL HANNON AND MUSICAL LYNCHPIN JOBY TALBOT TELL ...
The Divine Comedy: Regeneration
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 2001
NEW SOUND but same ideals for polished popsmiths. ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Rock's Backpages audio, 4 April 2001
Bryan Ferry and Phil Manzanera talk about their 2001 reunion, and look back to the days of zany outfits and VCS3s.
File format: mp3; file sizes: 86.1mb, total interview length: 1h 29' 39" sound quality: **
Aerosmith: We Have Ways Of Making You Talk
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, May 2001
AEROSMITH HAVE JUST BEEN INDUCTED INTO THE ROCK'N'ROLL HALL OF FAME. WE ASKED MAIN MAN STEVEN TYLER ABOUT 25 YEARS ON THE EDGE, NEW ALBUM ...
Stereophonics: Just Enough Education To Perform
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, May 2001
ON THE extraordinarily long-winded new single 'Mr Writer', which plods like few records not made by Oasis have plodded, Kelly Jones exhorts music journalists to ...
Tindersticks: Subterania, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, May 2001
"WE HAVEN'T found our feet yet, have we?" mutters Stuart Staples mid-set. A voice from the crowd is shy but clearly audible: "Yes, you have!" ...
ABC, Tears For Fears: ABC & Tears For Fears: Compilations
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, June 2001
Tears For Fears: between two stools. ABC: cool disco sheen. That was then. Early Eighties pop revisited Hello! — An Introduction To ABC The Working Hour — ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, July 2001
"PEOPLE ALWAYS apply this word 'cool' to me, and I'm far from it, really," says Bryan Ferry. "I'm very hot-blooded. It's strange. But then there's ...
Roxy Music: Live at Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, September 2001
BRYAN FERRY, surrounded by a dozen boa-trembling dancing girls on day release from Moulin Rouge, has sweaty armpits. This just doesn't happen! Or, at least, ...
T. Rex: Electric Warrior (Universal)*****
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, October 2001
SEMINAL BOLAN breakthrough boogies again – remastered by Tony Visconti himself ...
ABC: Martin Fry: When Martin Sings…
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, November 2001
"IT WAS GREAT doing interviews when I first started, cos I'd just tell everyone what a brilliant, worldwide phenomenon ABC were going to be as ...
Starsailor: Love Is Here (EMI Chrysalis)****
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, November 2001
MUCH-TOUTED debut from new kings of pain. ...
The Bangles: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, November 2001
THE FACT that these four LA women played their own instruments was much remarked upon in the Eighties, as was Susanna Hoffs' beauty. But as ...
Soft Cell: The Twelve Inch Singles (Mercury)****
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, December 2001
TRIPLE CD pack of seminal sleazefests. ...
Tindersticks: Live at Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, December 2001
THE ALBERT Hall was surely built for Tindersticks. Actually, no, I've just done some in-depth historical research and it was built for other reasons, but ...
Cowboy Junkies: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, January 2002
ARGUABLY, TORONTO'S Cowboy Junkies were the Neil Armstrong of alt.country. Their Trinity Session album of '88, recorded live in a church, dragged the forlorn mannerisms ...
Michael Jackson: Invincible (Epic)**
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, January 2002
Distressingly dull comeback from disputed King Of Pop ...
Goldfrapp: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, February 2002
GOLDFRAPP, WHO like The Dandy Warhols have reason to be grateful to mobile phone ads, remain an enigma, despite burgeoning popularity. ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, March 2002
"TELL YOU WHAT we watched the other night," mumbles Guy Garvey into the mic, while tuning up onstage between two intensely moving songs. "The Last ...
Tanya Donnelly: Beautysleep (4AD) ****
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, March 2002
LONG-AWAITED second album from former Throwing Muses/Belly star. ...
Profile and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, March 2002
STROKES? STRIPES? Fougeddabouddit! The swedes rock loudest. ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 2002
Second phase of Bonus-packed reissue programme for Costello catalogue ...
The Sound: Destiny Stops Screaming
Retrospective by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 2002
IT'S THE STUFF OF ROCK MYTH. GREAT MUSIC, CRITICAL ACCLAIM, A BLIGHTED CAREER THAT ENDS IN SUICIDE. CHRIS ROBERTS LOOKS BACK ON THE TRAGIC STORY ...
Badly Drawn Boy: About A Boy (XL) ***
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, May 2002
LIGHTWEIGHT BRITFLICK score finds Mercury winner treading water. ...
Bryan Ferry: Frantic (Virgin) *****
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, May 2002
LIVELY RETURN to form on Roxy roue's 11th solo opus. ...
Dexys Midnight Runners: Dexy's Midnight Runners: Grand Stand
Retrospective and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, May 2002
SPRING 2002, and in a swanky London hotel bar men in suits still do a double take when Kevin Rowland walks past. They do that ...
Grant Lee Buffalo, Grant-Lee Phillips: Grant-Lee Phillips
Profile and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, May 2002
MICHAEL STIPE'S favourite band, Grant Lee Buffalo released four critically acclaimed albums through the mid-to late-Nineties, plus last year's "Best Of", Storm Hymnal. ...
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, May 2002
THE BEAUTY of it, and also the pain, is that you never know quite what to expect from Jack's live shows. Loose-cannon bohemians, within 10 ...
Bryan Ferry: We Have Ways Of Making You Talk: Bryan Ferry
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, May 2002
AFTER LAST YEAR'S TRIUMPHANT REUNION TOUR WITH ROXY MUSIC, THE KING OF COOL RETURNS WITH A NEW SOLO ALBUM, FRANTIC, FEATURING SONGS INSPIRED BY MARILYN, ...
David Bowie: Move Festival, Old Trafford, Manchester
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, September 2002
WE'RE ALL primed for the set of Low and Heathen (in full) which he'd played in London the previous week. That'd do, of course: no ...
Ed Harcourt: From Every Sphere
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, March 2003
Further helpings of articulate and soulful intensity from highly-acclaimed British singer-songwriter on the follow-up to his Mercury Prize-nominated debut from 2001, Here Be Monsters ...
The Bee Gees: Maurice Gibb: Bee Gees Vocalist/Musician (1949-2003)
Obituary by Chris Roberts, Uncut, March 2003
Key works: Main Course, Saturday Night Fever, Greatest, ESP ...
Kristin Hersh, Throwing Muses: Throwing Muses: Throwing Muses and Kristin Hersh: The Grotto
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 2003
FOR DEVOTEES OFTHE RESTLESS Hersh muse (Dido/Lavigne fans can stop reading now), a double treat. Guns N'Roses, Springsteen and Waits did it; now Kristin, who ...
Depeche Mode's David Gahan (2003)
Interview by Chris Roberts, Rock's Backpages audio, 8 April 2003
David Gahan talks about doing his solo album; songwriting; being Martin Gore's mouthpiece; the Car Crash Years; on the road with Depeche Mode; the desire to be a rock'n'roll star; the influence of Grunge, and Dog Days in Santa Monica.
File format: mp3 File size: 56.1mb, interview length: 56' 27", sound quality: ***
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, May 2003
His new album's won critical raves on every front, so why is Ed Harcourt so spooked? ...
Arab Strap: Monday At The Hug & Pint (Chemikal Underground)
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, June 2003
More misery from Scots satirists ...
Lil' Kim: La Bella Mafia (Atlantic)
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, June 2003
Rapper-turned-actress hams her way through third album ...
Throwing Muses: The Astoria, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, June 2003
The reuinted US college rockers get startlingly heavy at what may be their final UK appearance. March 20, 2003 ...
Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders: Chrissie Hynde: Back In The Ring
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, July 2003
After burying half the original Pretenders, CHRISSIE HYNDE bowed out of the rock'n'roll limelight to bring up her kids. Now she's made her best album ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, July 2003
AFTER 20-ODD years of Depeche Mode, how strange was it to record your new solo album, Paper Monsters? ...
Blondie, Debbie Harry: Blondie's Debbie Harry (2003)
Interview by Chris Roberts, Rock's Backpages audio, 7 July 2003
Elle ne regrette rien: La Harry on Blondie then and now, NYC then and now, on art and movies, on Chris Stein, and on the latest Blondie album The Curse of Blondie
File format: mp3; file size: 67.8meg, interview length: 1h 10' 40" sound quality: **
Obituary by Chris Roberts, Uncut, September 2003
THOSE OF US who thought Barry White was God will now look on the bright side and consider it official. So often rendered a figure ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Bang, September 2003
IN FRONT OF US, a giant woman, a sort of Earth Goddess, made out of grass. We're told it's a woman; looks like King Kong. ...
Elbow: Rock This Joint: Elbow: Cast of Thousands (V2) ****
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, September 2003
Manchester five-piece follow Mercury Prize-nominated debut with more evocative, cliché-free guitar rock ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, October 2003
BOWIE REMAINS the greatest living rock artist, even if what he does isn't rock so much as swing, think a bit, then swing again. ...
Japan, David Sylvian: David Sylvian: Whatever Happened to the World's Most Beautiful Man?
Profile and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, October 2003
So, David Sylvian, you live halfway up a mountain in New England? "That's the way it is", laughs the singer (and yes, he does laugh. Asked ...
Blondie, Debbie Harry: Deborah Harry: Art Of Class
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, November 2003
Twenty-five years after Deborah — nee Debbie — Harry became the Warholian pop art fantasy made flesh, Blondie, progenitors of New York cool, are back ...
Elbow, PJ Harvey: Good golly Miss Polly: PJ Harvey/Elbow: Eden Project, Cornwall/Tate Modern, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, November 2003
West country girl's long-awaited return sees renewed quest for left-field status ...
Hawksley Workman: Lover/Fighter
Review and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, December 2003
Cult Canadian dandy grapples with his dual personality on third LP. ...
Rickie Lee Jones: The Evening Of My Best Day
Review and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, December 2003
Cherished US singer-songwriter back on form ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, January 2004
AND HE CAN'T (STOP). The Reverend Al Green (some of his Memphis flock have to be told he was once a pop singer before he ...
Bruce Springsteen: The Essential Bruce Springsteen
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, January 2004
HIS HUGE, mournful, wounded bear of a voice is so effective and emotive when placed against fresh backdrops that it remains a pity Springsteen doesn't ...
Dexys Midnight Runners: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, January 2004
HEARTS IN MOUTHS as the lights dim, shouts of, "C'mon Kev! Testify!" relieve the tangible tension. Dexys supporters are passionately loyal: we are rooting for ...
Flaming Lips: The Flaming Lips: Carling Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, January 2004
OLD FAN OR NEW, it's a live show that blows your mind. Gaily-coloured balloons the size of space-hoppers assault and caress you from every direction. ...
Grant-Lee Phillips: Virginia Creeper
Review and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, March 2004
Country-rock class from Rolling Stone's one-time "best male vocalist" ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Bloomsbury Theatre, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, March 2004
YOU KNOW WHEN someone announces they're off their face on drugs, and after that, whether they're joking or not, you notice something a little askew ...
Franz Ferdinand: Smart Bomb: Franz Ferdinand: Franz Ferdinand (Domino) *****
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, March 2004
Delightful, dashing debut from Scottish punk-funksters ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 2004
Yet another live album from that model of maturity, Library Lou ...
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, May 2004
ROUSE CLOSES the first of two nights here with a version of Neil Young's 'For The Turnstiles' so intense and intimate that when he sings ...
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, June 2004
THE GREATEST living rock performer? It's hard to think of any of her peers who've managed to keep their live shows both physically thrilling and ...
Profile and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, August 2004
HIGH IS THE BLUE NILE'S fourth album in twenty one years. It is – and shame on you if you doubted – worth the wait. ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, September 2004
AT NO POINT during this interview do any of us snort intoxicants off the spines of tawny hookers or clamber naked to the top of ...
The Sound: From The Lion's Mouth
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, January 2005
Great albums that have fallen off the critical radar ...
Review and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, March 2005
Fifth album from soft-rock maestro: a bittersweet farewell to his hometown. EIGHTEEN MONTHS AGO Josh Rouse, born in 1972, released a sunbaked album named after that ...
Hal: Irish Nostalgists Crossing The Harmonic Pop Divide
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 2005
Who are they and what do they sound like? Hal were formed by brothers Dave (vocals/guitar) and Paul Allen (bass/vocals), whose parents were a double act ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, May 2005
TWENTYSOMETHING BROTHERS Dave and Paul Allen, offspring of folk musician parents and raiders of their record collection, aren't shy about revealing their love of Sixties/Seventies ...
The National: Heaven Knows They're Miserablist Now
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, January 2006
Brooklyn-based five-piece THE NATIONAL talk to Uncut about their fourth album, Alligator, a mesmerising blend of melancholy and mischief ...
Patti Smith Group: Radio Ethiopia
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, January 2007
SURE, HORSES was one tough act to follow. Smith's 1975 debut — one of the great, breathtaking, burn-it-down debuts — tore such a hole in ...
Report and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, February 2007
The Only One wants to cut one more LP "before death comes". ...
Flaming Lips: The Flaming Lips: The Soft Bulletin
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 2007
"WITH THIS ALBUM," Wayne Coyne revealed to Uncut last year, "I wanted to tell people that I know life is beautiful because I've seen how ...
Spiritualized: Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, October 2007
Messed-Up, blissed-out '90s Psychedelia. Still Haunting, Still Huge. ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, January 2008
The Dame's sonic sketchpad — restless, inventive and thrillingly experimental. ...
Joy Division: The Joy Division Industry
Comment by Chris Roberts, The Quietus, 10 April 2008
More offcuts from the Factory ...
Review by Chris Roberts, The Quietus, 23 June 2008
DONNA SUMMER'S FIRST ALBUM of new material for seventeen years doesn't so much announce that she's still got it as knock the door down, stride ...
The Walker Brothers: Nite Flights (1978)
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, September 2008
Chilling, Bowie-beloved experiments in ambient pop. ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, J Mag, November 2008
BRANDON FLOWERS – sweet, sometimes pensive and sometimes giggly, not much for eye contact and perhaps bearing the strain of slight shyness that can be ...
Beyoncé: I Am… Sasha Fierce (Music World/Columbia)
Review by Chris Roberts, The Quietus, 20 November 2008
BEYONCÉ'S third album doesn't start well. Or end well. Or do much well in between. ...
The Psychedelic Furs: Talk Talk Talk
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, February 2009
IT'S PERHAPS FITTING that a curious, intriguing band whose career was jinxed by ifs and buts should have their second, arguably defining album later hijacked ...
Elbow, U2: U2: Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, The Quietus, 17 August 2009
U2 Live Under A Slate Grey Claw. Chris Roberts reports from Wembley ...
Tindersticks: Falling Down A Mountain
Review and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, February 2010
The return of a cherishable British band. ...
Report by Chris Roberts, The Quietus, 20 August 2010
IF YOU GO for a cigarette on the fourth floor balcony of the hotel, you see cruise-ships and boats flanking a floating stage, upon which ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, The Quietus, 18 November 2010
The legendary Bryan Ferry has just released Olympia, his best album in two decades, and continues the Roxy Music revival tour in the new year. ...
Jack, Anthony Reynolds: Anthony Reynolds
Retrospective by Chris Roberts, The Quietus, 23 February 2012
THE SONG 'Cinematic' name-checks Cocteau, Picasso and Warhol in the first lines before confessing that "I was never there, I only read the book, I ...
Dexys: One Day I'm Going to Soar
Review by Chris Roberts, bbc.co.uk, 4 June 2012
Dexys are back with wisdom and wings. Some of us never doubted. ...
The Blue Nile: A Walk Across the Rooftops – Collector's Edition
Review by Chris Roberts, bbc.co.uk, 19 November 2012
Both everymen and angels, the Blue Nile didn't sound or function like any normal band. ...
The Blue Nile: A Walk Across the Rooftops (Collector's Edition)
Review by Chris Roberts, bbc.co.uk, 21 November 2012
1984'S A WALK Across the Rooftops remains unique in its fusion of chilly technology and a pitch of confessional, romantic soul that "alternative" types would ...
Review by Chris Roberts, The Quietus, 26 February 2013
Chris Roberts is inspired out of his clothes and on to the dancefloor by David Bowie's glorious return. ...
My Bloody Valentine: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, The Quietus, 14 March 2013
Chris Roberts heads to MBV's final night of their UK tour and finds himself pondering linguistics and culture while stood in their volume wind-tunnel ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Prog, 15 July 2016
Live debut from Tony Kaye's first post-Yes band, let loose ...
Colourbox: Music Of The Band (1982–1987)
Review by Chris Roberts, loudersound.com, 23 June 2017
Eighties innovators Colourbox celebrated by 2000 Turner Prize winner ...
Tim Bowness: Flowers At The Scene
Review by Chris Roberts, Prog, February 2019
Bunches of guest stars adorn accomplished album ...
Mark Hollis, Talk Talk: Mark Hollis: A life in music
Retrospective by Chris Roberts, Prog, 4 January 2020
A look at the career of the late Talk Talk frontman who died in 2019... ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Prog, March 2021
Experimentalist goes pop but can't help bringing the sinister. ...
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