Chris Salewicz
Chris Salewicz, who lives in London, has documented world popular music and culture for over three decades, both in print and on television. His writing, on subjects from film to foreign affairs as well as music, has appeared in the Sunday Times, The Independent, The Face and in many other publications.
In 1978 he worked on DOA, the definitive US film about punk rock. As a contributing editor of Time Out, he wrote pieces on glue-sniffing gangs, filming in Nicaragua, and housing estate horrors, amongst many others. For the Sunday Times Magazine, he wrote on subjects as varied as Polish Solidarity, the restoration of Robert Owen's New Lanark model village, and a twenty page cover story on reggae music. After writing many of the early cover stories on The Face, he provided two of the cover stories in issue one of Q. For The Sunday Correspondent he wrote regularly, on such diverse topics as the civil war in El Salvador and healing through dolphins’ energy. He also wrote for and syndicated to countless publications worldwide.
Part of the team that set up MTV-Europe, Chris Salewicz presented "Kino", a weekly film programme, and edited and directed. He has written many books, including biographies of Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, George Lucas, Oliver Stone, Noel Coward, and Bob Marley - the last, which was authorised by Marley’s family, the result of his abiding love of Jamaica. In 1995 at the instigation of Chris Blackwell, he and director Don Letts went to the island to develop film ideas. Fired by the idea of a film that showed the moral redemption of a Kingston killer cop set in the style of a Hong Kong action movie, and drawing on extensive research, Salewicz embarked on the writing of Third World Cop – the most successful film ever in the Caribbean when it was released in 1999.
Following his time living in Jamaica, Chris Salewicz wrote Rude Boy: Once Upon a Time in Jamaica, a critically acclaimed book that was part-thriller, part-travelogue, part subjective history of the island. Reggae Explosion: the Story of Jamaican Music, and Mick and Keith, a joint biography of two Dartford schoolboys, followed.
Mick and Keith was "probably" the last book read by Joe Strummer, according to his widow. In October 2006 Salewicz published Redemption Song: the Definitive Biography of Joe Strummer (HarperCollins), an exhaustive, epic biography of the Clash frontman, a bestseller; it was published in the USA by FSG the following May. The paperback edition was published in October 2007.
Chris Salewicz edited Keep On Running: the Story of Island Records, published in June 2009, and his Bob Marley: The Untold Story was published in 2010.
230 articles
List of articles in the library
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1977
Beneath this middle class suburban casual wear lurk a bunch of REALLY NICE GUYS. So why are they banned from Top Of The Pops? ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Q, October 1986
IN JULY last year Big Audio Dynamite were at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, recording their first album with Mick Jones producing. Early in ...
Paul McCartney: An Innocent Man?
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Q, October 1986
Paul McCartney curls up on the couch and relives the Beatles’ story for the first time since the death of John Lennon. "He was one ...
Elton John: The Fall and Rise of Reginald Dwight
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Q, December 1986
Chris Salewicz meets the occupant of the Presidential Suite, Floor 30, Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles. "I’ve had my scrotum removed, and I'm having it ...
Van Morrison: "I’m not doing this because I want to be on Top Of The Pops."
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Q, January 1987
Van Morrison’s job is the pursuit of magic moments. All the rest – the touring, the recording, the interviews, the selling – is an irrelevance ...
Bryan Ferry: In Every Dream Home a Heartache
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Q, January 1988
Los Angeles. Paris. Nassau. Los Angeles again. Then London. And Paris again. And back to London. Recording is a nerve-wracking, schedule-shredding pastime for the itinerant ...
Profile by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, May 1975
ABOUT SIX MONTHS AGO THE BUZZ BEGAN TO SLIP IN AGAIN FROM THE SIDELINES. It had received appropriately casual nurturing since the summer of 1973 ...
The Police: Demolition Men In The Machine: Everything The Police Do Is Magic
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Creem, April 1982
I visit Police guitarist Andy Summers early one Monday evening at the mansion flat in Putney in Southwest London in which he has lived since ...
The Pretenders: The Benefits Of Hynde Sight
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 October 1980
Perched on the edge of a bleak Bronte-like heath overlooking Bradford is the hotel in which The Pretenders are staying. In the forecourt, next to ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Time Out, 5 July 1984
That Aswad are The Greatest Reggae Band In The World is the principal theme of Island Records' campaign to give the London-born trio the commercial ...
Led Zeppelin: The Gig Interview: Jimmy Page
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Gig, May 1977
"When you've discovered your true will, you should just forge ahead like a steam train. If you put all your energies into it there's no ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Record, July 1984
On a Friday evening in an undistinguished bar in Manhattan’s East Village, a drunk slides off his stool and onto the floor, where he curls ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Gig, May 1977
If Mick Jagger were to quit the Rolling Stones or Robert Plant were to leave Led Zeppelin, there doesn't seem to be the least possibility ...
Joe Jackson: Soul Searching: Joe Jackson
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Time Out, 5 April 1984
Joe Jackson used to be just another angry British rocker. Now he makes music that wouldn’t seem out of place in an up-market New York ...
Curtis Mayfield: Keep On Pushing: Curtis Mayfield
Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, August 1983
They were still calling it ‘race music’ when Curtis Mayfield started singing in the late ‘50s. An influential and innovative artist, Mayfield gave a stirring ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: The undisputed world ambassador of reggae
Retrospective by Chris Salewicz, The History of Rock, 1983
BOB MARLEY ALMOST SINGLE-HANDEDLY introduced reggae music to European and American audiences and, more than any other artist, was responsible for establishing it as a ...
Retrospective by Chris Salewicz, The History of Rock, 1983
A nation watched aghast as punk reared its spiky head ...
Procol Harum: The London Palladium, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 16 August 1975
One senses that Gary Brooker could well fancy his chances with Joan Bakewell. ...
Philip Rambow: Whatever Happened To Philip Rambow?
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
Whatever happened to Philip Rambow? A year ago it finally seemed that his time was imminent. ...
King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King
Profile by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, September 1973
KING CRIMSON’S launch in 1969 was a classic case of subliminal hype. From every musical corner that summer, with Teutonic fanfares, new super-groups appeared almost ...
P.F.M.: PFM: What we did on our holidays
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, September 1973
PFM: L’Altro Mondo, Rimini ...
Vinegar Joe: Rock'n'Roll Gypsies
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, May 1973
"COME ON. Get up off the fucking floor. Shake yer arses and clap yer ‘ands." It’s not Michael Philip Jagger enticing them to rip that ...
Rory Gallagher: Gallagher's Travel
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, February 1973
"They have the push of the line on you!" says Rory Gallagher — who else could be expected to phrase it like that — when ...
Marvin Gaye: Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye by David Ritz
Review by Chris Salewicz, Time Out, 8 July 1985
The anguished life of Marvin Gaye ended on April 1, 1984, at the home in Los Angeles he had bought for his parents, when a ...
Lee "Scratch" Perry: Into the Heart of the Ark: An Audience with Lee
Book Excerpt by Chris Salewicz, Rock's Backpages, November 2000
In an excerpt from his book Rude Boy: Once Upon a Time in Jamaica, Chris Salewicz recounts his February 1978 meeting with legendary reggae producer ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: The Chapel of Love: Bob Marley’s Last resting Place
Report by Chris Salewicz, The Face, June 1983
ON A HILLSIDE in a peaceful corner of Jamaica’s lush rural hinterland – Natural Mystic Country – perches the simple white-washed chapel erected on the ...
Alison Moyet: Too Much, Too Soon
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, Q, February 1987
The LP Alf went quadruple platinum but now she's beginning to count the cost — a failed marriage, crippling lawsuits, doubts about her music and ...
Nick Kent, The Subterraneans: The Almost Legendary Nick Kent Story
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 10 January 1981
The modest (if a mite incestuous) tale of the celebrated NME writer who is now on the threshold of becoming a bona fide rock star ...
Marvin Gaye: The New Age Metaphysics Of Marvin Gaye
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981
Music, Love, Divinity, & The Shape Of Things To Come...The Motown Marvel feels The Force. ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, May 1973
IT'S JUST an office-type office. No Habitat or Heals lunar module seats. Just a desk and a couple of chairs. Plus one of those huge ...
The Faces: Kilburn State, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
"YES, MY PEOPLE, you make me strong," sighed the Golden Catarrh with a de rigeur flexing of the neck muscles as The Faces knocked into ...
Third World: Now That We've Found A Hit
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 November 1978
BY JAMAICAN STANDARDS, Third World are pretty unique. Going against the run of the studio-dominated JA music scene, founder members guitarist Stephen "Cat" Coore and ...
Fleetwood Mac: Can't Go Home Again
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, Trouser Press, April 1980
OF COURSE, Fleetwood Mac is the American Dream. The band's success story is the stuff of which the mythology of modern day America is made: ...
Review and Interview by Chris Salewicz, MOJO, July 1994
WOOSTOCK BEGAN ON A GOLF course. Three years before they were to be responsible for Governor John Rockefeller declaring the Woodstock Festival area "a state ...
Pure Hell: Just Another Bunch Of Middle Class Kids With Silly Names And Spiky Haircuts: Pure Hell
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
"H-E-E-EYY..." Pure Hell drummer Spider Blaze tousles his Rita Hayworth red crop and slaps his right palm down on mine, giving me one of those ...
The Clash: Problems with The Roxy
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 October 1978
I'D CALLED Mick Jones last Friday night The parsimonious Bernie Rhodes – who, though a replacement manager has yet to be found (and it is ...
The Clash, The Sex Pistols: Punk: 1977 - Two Sevens Clash
Essay by Chris Salewicz, The History of Rock, 1983
AS A REBEL MUSIC, punk rock had close affinities with reggae. When the punk movement found a focal point and place of worship in the ...
Jimmy Page: Anger Rising: Jimmy Page and Kenneth's Lucifer
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1977
LED ZEPPELIN guitarist and leader Jimmy Page has been fired as composer for the soundtrack of the film Lucifer Rising by its director, Kenneth Anger. ...
Duran Duran: Just Fine And Dandy
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 31 January 1981
THE NAME of Birmingham group Duran Duran has no connection with Japanese covers of Chiffons songs. ...
Thin Lizzy: Who Needs Springsteen When You've Got Johnny Cool?
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, Creem, November 1976
IT'S JUST AFTER SEVEN in the evening. Phil Lynott and Scott Gorham are stretched on the floor of room 1012 in the Continental Hyatt House ...
John Entwistle: John Entwhistle and The Bloody English
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, March 1973
JOHN ENTWHISTLE has always been an enigma. On the other members of the Who we can pin an identity. Townshend – creator and, at the ...
Gypsy: Brenda and the Rattlesnake
Review by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, February 1973
I've waited for one like this ever since the first Crazy Horse album in 1971. Gypsy's second album starts off with the sound of a ...
The Jam, Paul Weller: The Paul Weller Interview
Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, May 1982
AS PAUL WELLER says, in the mid-1960s the original spirit of Mod implanted itself into the soul of young Britain with a self-nurturing, almost religious ...
John Martyn: Johnny Done Badly
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, October 1981
DRINKING CHAMPAGNE and orange juice, a belated present for his 33rd birthday two days previously, the bright-faced John Martyn flails every way about his end ...
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, March 1973
PITY, I THOUGHT, when I heard Long John Baldry was in panto. It used to happen to faded rock'n'rollers – not very good rock'n'rollers, mind ...
Badger, Flash: Flash: Flash; Badger: One Live Badger
Review by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, April 1973
"DIFFERENCES in musical policy" is the standard euphemism whenever a member quits a band, or, as is more often the case, gets the boot. Yes ...
Motorhead: Oy Lemmy, Is It True?
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 August 1979
AH, the sheer classicism of the three-piece rock band. ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 12 September 1981
NOTWITHSTANDING a certain amount of nervous chuckling, Tom Verlaine seems a nice enough fellow as he sits with his feet up on the desk in ...
The Stray Cats: Hot Cats & Lying Dogs!
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 14 March 1981
The Pressures And Pretence Of Popabilly Success ...
Retrospective by Chris Salewicz, MOJO, August 1994
IF THERE WAS ONE PIVOTAL EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE Clash's assault on the USA it was the season of 17 shows they played ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, MOJO, August 1994
Joe Strummer talks to Chris Salewicz ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Can't Fight The Youth: Bob Marley's Early Years
Retrospective by Chris Salewicz, MOJO, March 1995
1945. THE PREGNANCY WAS PROBLEM-FREE. On the first Sunday of February, 1945, Cedella Marley went to church as usual. The next day she hoped to ...
Ginger Baker: “People Thought We Were Only Good For One Album. But We Made Another. So There”
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1 November 1975
Yes, success is getting a little nearer ever year for the BAKER GURVITZ ARMY! Report by CHRIS SALEWIZ ...
Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan: Skunk Hunting In W1
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975
THERE'S A delicately detailed brass rubbing of Burlington House above the bed-head in room 420 at the Inn On The Park. Some rock musicians would've ...
King Crimson: A Small Mobile Intelligent Independent Double Album???
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 20 March 1976
King Crimson: A Young Person's Guide To King Crimson (Island) ...
The Byrds, Roger McGuinn: Roger McGuinn: A Man's Gotta Do...What A Man's Gotta Do
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 September 1974
NIK COHN seemed to have it pretty well summed up in his Byrds caption for Rock Dreams: "The Byrds weren't so much a band as ...
Girlschool: A Girlschool For Headbangers!
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Creem, July 1982
IN A REHEARSAL room on the southwest London suburb of Putney, Girlschool lead guitar players Kelly Johnson and rhythm guitarist Kim McAuliffe are swigging from ...
Brian Eno: ANNOUNCEMENT: Texans like steak, oil-wells, large hats and Eno…
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974
WELL, I SUPPOSE we should start as we intend to continue. So come along, Eno, how does it feel to be just regarded as Good ...
Adam & The Ants: Adam Ant: The Song Of Injun Adam
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Creem, June 1981
Or: What's A Picnic Without Ants? ...
Duran Duran: Am What They Yam: And That's The Snakes…
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Creem, April 1984
THE BELLIGERENT, black North Sea crashes with a grim rhythm in the opposite side of the main road to Brighton's Grand Hotel. Its force, however, ...
Blondie: Do Greenheads Have More Fun?
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Creem, December 1981
DEBBIE & CHRIS GO KOO KOO CHIC! ...
The Pretenders: Pretenders: The Dreaded Second Album Syndrome
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Creem, November 1981
LATE ONE CLOUDLESS summer afternoon, Chrissie Hynde can be found in the historic English West Country town of Bath. ...
The Teardrop Explodes, But Can Julian Cope?
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Creem, May 1981
WHEN I MEET Exploding Teardrop Julian Cope he isn't up in his adopted Liverpool. Instead, my rendezvous with the man behind the melancholy, melodic and ...
Led Zeppelin: Smiling Men With Bad Reputations
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 4 August 1979
OF ALL THE old superfart bands it is certainly Led Zeppelin who have been and still are the most reviled by the New Wave. ...
Prince: Strutting With The New Soul Monarch
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 June 1981
THIS FELLOW sitting across the table from me in an uptown Manhattan Holiday Inn room may be a Prince but he ain't no Charlie. ...
The Jam, Or, How To Not Break In America (Because You Don't Want To)
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Creem, March 1981
ON A DAMP, dank Sunday lunchtime the three pasty-faced, unhealthy-looking members of the Jam sit in an uncomfortably functional room in a nondescript London hotel ...
Genesis, Phil Collins: Phil Collins: Genesis Of A Solo Career
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Creem, January 1982
SET IN THE STOCKBROKER belt 30 miles to the southwest of London, the Genesis studio complex is exactly what you might expect: several thatched, suitably ...
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, February 1973
"OO WAS THIS cult then that dug us and never bought our records?" grunts Mike Harrison, singer and keyboards man with a much-loved and under-estimated ...
Review by Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, April 1973
MY PAST EXPERIENCES of Rory Gallagher have not all been pleasant – a damp day at Crystal Palace; seemingly countless Grey Whistle Tests (I may ...
Pete Townshend, The Who: Pete Townshend Stops Hurting People; Stops Hurting Himself
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Creem, November 1982
"PERSONALLY I LIKE the idea of embodying evil in the devil – it doesn't really matter whether you externalize the evil or recognize it as ...
Grace Jones: Confessions Of An Art Groupie
Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, October 1980
IN THE LOUNGE bar of the Kensington Hilton, Grace Jones sprawls supinely in a wicker armchair and digs her fingers under the leaves of lettuce ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, March 1982
FLEXING her feet in a pair of black Dr Martens, Kim Wilde sits in an orderly, wholesome manner at one end of a carefully battered, ...
Desmond Dekker, Laurel Aitken: Desmond Dekker and Laurel Aitken: Old Rude Boys Never Die
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, September 1980
DESMOND DEKKER and Laurel Aitken are two Jamaican vocalists who, in earlier musical incarnations, helped lay the ground for the eventual acceptance of reggae music ...
Hatfield And The North: Hatfield & The North
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 16 November 1974
IN A LAND and a business where quickfire hype and quickfire playing are adjudged almost twin brothers, Hatfield And The North are very much on ...
Pink Floyd, Roger Waters: Over The Wall: An interview with Roger Waters
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Q, August 1987
ROGER WATERS assumed leadership of the Pink Floyd in '68, turning them from a fringe festival attraction into the most popular touring group of the ...
The Teardrop Explodes: Julian Cope: Julian Weirds Out!
Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, November 1981
I'D BEEN worried about Julian Cope. This nagging concern had started some four months ago, during one hot and humid night in New York City, ...
Gong: You See A Lot Of Frenchmen With Berets... But Not Too Many With Fried Eggs On Their Heads
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 21 December 1974
GONG'S HOTEL in the Avenue de Wagram in Paris is directly opposite the Salle Wagram where they are due to gig tonight. It should take ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 8 June 1974
"IT GETS ON my tit when people start talking when I'm listening to music, so when I'm at 'ome I always turn the sound right ...
Mr. Big: Mr Big: A Yob In A Support Band Is Something To Be
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 27 December 1975
BIRMINGHAM – DICKEN IS your archetypal hardcase punk. Shortish. Face slightly disrupted from the original mould. Oxford accent. ...
John Lydon, Public Image Ltd: The Fugitive: John Lydon at Large
Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, December 1980
IT SEEMS POETICALLY APPROPRIATE that John Lydon has chosen Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange as the film to insert into the video-cassette deck at Virgin's Townhouse ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Wally: Lynyrd Skynyrd/Wally: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 21 December 1974
CLOSE ONE, you know. I mean, after Lynyrd Skynyrd had played their first few numbers it was decided that this might have to be a ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, January 1981
IN NEW YORK CITY it is the coldest day of the winter. Later that night the temperature drops to zero degrees Fahrenheit. The woollen-enshrouded Sting ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
A CURIOUS ONE indeed is Wally's first album. You know, I listened to it the appropriate five or six times and each play only highlighted ...
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
IT'S JUST ANOTHER of the great Woodstock fallacies. Let's face it, aside from the Who, Havens, and lovable John B. Sebastian it was those nice ...
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
NOW THE FACTS are these: 7-Tease is a concept album; 7-Tease is a massive made-in-Nashville production; 7-Tease is also The Album Of The Stage Show. ...
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
THE ONLY THING wrong with Sun Secrets is that Eric Burdon should have made it six years ago. ...
Mike Heron, Nico: Nico/Mike Heron: Imperial College, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 8 February 1975
NICO DOES RATHER have an ability to polarize her audiences, you know. ...
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 22 March 1975
PETE SAGE'S FUR-TRIMMED cap and hunched stance give him something of the aura of a demented Moroccan camel trader as he relaxes into the flow ...
Tangerine Dream: Rubycon and Alpha Centauri
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 5 April 1975
IF I'VE ASSESSED the vibe correctly, it would seem that the appropriate critical response to Tangerine Dream is to dismiss Edgar Froose, Chris Franke and ...
The Winkies: Winkies - Winkies
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
AND SO, AS if to pinpoint that they'd stuck a ring through the collective nose of every other pub rocker when it came to osmosing ...
Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson: Hunter Ronson at Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
SHUCKS. TO THINK it's well over a year now since I last saw Ian Hunter and the whole Hoople caboodle in this very same theatre ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Nuthin' Fancy
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
WELL, IT LOOKS as though they're here to stay. ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 June 1975
I'M HUNTING THROUGH the cartridges in the glove compartment of Chris Squire's '63 Rolls Royce as we head out of Liverpool towards the M62 and ...
Georgie Fame: The Nashville, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 14 June 1975
WHILE APPRECIATING THAT what George Fame and his occasional Blue Flames are delivering is white rhythm'n'blues and not soul, it's perhaps unfortunate that he chose ...
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
IN WHICH CHARLIE Rich, understandably exhausted after a twenty year struggle to Make It, manages to record one side of an album and then runs ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975
CAPTAIN BEEFHEART (AKA Don Van Vliet) moves in sufficiently mysterious ways for me to believe that Zoot Horn Rollo (aka Bill Harkleroad) may just possibly ...
Baker-Gurvitz Army: Watford Town Hall, Watford
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 October 1975
THE HONEYMOON MAY have ended for the Baker-Gurvitz Army at the end of their first British tour in the early Spring. ...
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 October 1975
IT BEGINS LATE, of course. ...
Ike & Tina Turner: Ike and Tina Turner: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1 November 1975
WELL, TO BE quite frank I thought they were fairly dreadful. ...
Cliff Richard: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 8 November 1975
A GIANT TUPPERWARE party. ...
John Cale: Paradiso, Amsterdam
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975
EUROPE'S MOST DECADENT capital: inflatable paramours dangling like trussed chickens in the windows of the sex shops, hookers in their shop windows, the smack centre ...
Frank Sinatra: Palladium, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 29 November 1975
ENFORCED AUDIENCE IDENTIFICATION – that's what this "black tie" demand on the ticket is. Imagine reading "gauche gaucho" on Roxy tickets or "sequined jockstrap" on ...
Hawkwind: Dorkwind in Dutchland
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 July 1974
JUST OVER a year ago I went up to the Cambridge Corn Exchange to get my first ever taste of Hawkwind live. ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Time Out, 1982
A DECADE AFTER The Police pioneered pop punk, Sting's latest solo album explores Jung's theories of sexuality and is dedicated to the memory of his ...
Mick Farren: Is There Life After Dingwalls?
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 30 September 1978
DESPITE THE SILK shawl wrapped about its neck to prevent its head falling off, there is a dignity, a pride, even a sense of all ...
Queen: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 17 January 1976
IT'S DIFFICULT, YOU know, keeping up with all the fickle shifts in credibility and acceptability. ...
10cc: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 28 February 1976
THE MUSIC IS exactly as you'd expect it really. More or less. ...
John Denver: Palladium, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 17 April 1976
WILL JOHN SWOOP down to the stage on the back of a pantomime Golden Eagle? Will his teeth be clean in time for the new ...
Nils Lofgren: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 May 1976
I SAW LOFGREN'S gig at the same theatre at the end of last year. It was duff. His band didn't gell and the sound was ...
The Specials: Stop The Tour, I Want To Get Off
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980
IN ST AUSTELL, Cornwall, it is only a few minutes since the pubs have opened for Sunday lunchtime. The red-faced moustachioed police sergeant and the ...
Kevin Coyne: Coyne, The Unfrozen Currency
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 27 March 1976
KEVIN COYNE kicks and stamps his feet outside the Atlantic Hotel in Aarhus, Western Denmark, as we waits for a taxi to take us to ...
Echo & The Bunnymen: Welcome To The Bunnyhouse
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 22 November 1980
WHEN ECHO And The Bunnymen end their British tour with a date at Liverpool University, the Mad Hatter photographer (Joe Stevens) and I travel up ...
Stomu Yamashta: Stomu Yamash'ta: He Say "Not Really"
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 June 1974
A VERY CURIOUS thing happened to me about 15 months ago. There I was, coming on home about two o'clock one Saturday morning feeling a ...
Public Image Ltd: Johnny's Immaculate Conception
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978
Putting The Nation On The PiL ...
The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: An Evening with Sid and Nancy – The Odd Couple Behind Closed Doors.
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 4 February 1978
SWAYING CRAZILY, Sid Vicious clambers up off the bed. He manages the three or four steps to where, obeying live-in-lover Nancy's instructions, he removes the ...
Delta 5, Echo & The Bunnymen, U2: Echo & Bunnymen, U2, Delta 5: The Lyceum, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980
ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN dwell in the magical land between life and art that is the territory of great rock'n'roll. Making music alone isn't enough ...
The Runaways: And I Wonder…I Wah Wah Wah Wah Wonder…
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 24 July 1976
THE CORRAL lies maybe midway down Topanga Canyon, between Ventura Freeway and Malibu Beach. Maybe it's just the Romantic in me but visually – and ...
Junior Murvin, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Tapper Zukie: Jamaica: The Young Lion Roars, part 1
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 27 May 1978
"WELCOME TO REMA," reads the spray-can graffiti down by 7th Street in Trenchtown. "Peace, Love And Unity". Over on the other side of the Calamite ...
Culture, Peter Tosh: Jamaica: The Young Lion Roars – The JA Connexion Part 2
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 3 June 1978
SURROUNDED on three sides by a raw, harshly primal terrain that combines austere Bronte-evoking moorland with a dense near-Northern Californian verdancy, the Jamaican Tourist Board ...
Sweet: The Sweet: Top of the Pops
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 31 January 1976
OH, YOU know, it gets so very confusing. What with the fickleness of all these rock writers and the constant need to come across with ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976
THE YELLOW CAB has taken me just over half the distance down to 6565 Sunset Boulevard before I notice the driver look in his rearview ...
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 July 1978
IT'S AS IF THE Clash's 'Police And Thieves' stage backdrop has suddenly transmogrified into moving 3-D. ...
The Stranglers: Really Nice Guys
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 9 September 1978
So why are they banned from Top of the Pops? ...
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 17 July 1976
CURIOUS BUSINESS, this intercontinental jet travel. High altitude transportation appears to have a spectacularly adverse effect on Britrockers' vocal chords. Old Jagger, now: there are ...
Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons: Return of the Maltese Falcon
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 September 1980
THE OTHER WEEK top Oz band Jo Jo Zep And The Falcons broke the house record at Hammersmith's Clarendon Hotel when they played their first ...
Aerosmith: Gonna Have Me A Real Wild Time…I'm Going To Harrods
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 23 October 1976
BRAD WHITFORD wears a grey roll-neck sweater and faded jeans. He looks slightly insecure up there on the stage of the Liverpool Empire. Tom Hamilton ...
Be-Bop Deluxe: Arty Smarty Or Just The Guitar Hero Next Door?
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 February 1976
THE SAME sign as Hendrix: Sagittarius. Into Hank Marvin, Duane Eddy, Wes Montgomery, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry and BB King. And Jimi Hendrix. ...
The Selling Of Reading Festival
Report by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
THE SUN was westering in a haze of towering cumulus, fire-orange against midnight black, filling the still air with speckled light, as we came over ...
Mr. Big: Mr Big: Oh No…Not Another Geezer With Hooter Problems!
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 3 July 1976
THERE'S A bleedin' ennui OD here in the audience tonight. Not that they're into being-super-blase or super-arrogant. It's just that this is the hottest day ...
Thin Lizzy: How the Laid-Back Californian met the Drunken Scot and the Heavy Black Irishman…
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 December 1976
IF LEW GRADE ever gets round to planning a rock 'n' roll soap opera he could fill the first fifty-two weeks (at least) with The ...
Generation X: Generation Rock & Roll Soul
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 8 April 1978
MIDNIGHT IN THE basement console room at Advision Studios, London W1. As Generation X bassist Tony James avidly demands of producer Martin Rushent that he ...
Burning Spear: Winston Rodney is Burning Spear
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 10 December 1977
Is The Man In The Hills, is The Sound Of The Present Age ...
Roy Wood, Wizzard: Roy Wood: Yeah Roy, But What Do You Sound Like?
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 January 1975
THERE WAS the time that Roy Wood shoved his jeans in the washing machine and ended up with one very wet, very tattered and very ...
John Martyn: This Man Is A Walking, Playing Bag of His Own
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 24 December 1977
"ACTUALLY," ADMITS John Martyn, as he gives in to one of the great groundswells of spluttering, infectious laughter that carry along his speech, "I see ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 26 August 1978
TWENTY-EIGHT year-old Gene Simmons of New York City, New York, is sitting in his hotel-room near Marble Arch. It's four o'clock on a humid Friday ...
Ace: It's An Ace Life In The Low-Key Whacky World Of Los Angeles
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 January 1977
SEVEN OF US leave the Ace ranch in Hidden Valley and go late night cruisin' in drummer Fran Byrne's '69 Pontiac. Fran heads for ex-Chilli ...
Thin Lizzy: A Peep Into The Soul Of Phil Lynott
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 10 September 1977
A black Irishman – the son of a Brazilian seaman; a Roman Catholic of uncatholic lifestyle; a bass playing poet in a rock 'n' roll ...
Frank Zappa: O.K. Frank, Let It Roll…
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 5 March 1977
IS THE CONCEPTUAL CONTINUITY of your output macrostructure still operative? "Yes," nods Frank Zappa solemnly. ...
John Lydon, The Sex Pistols: The Poolside Pronouncements Of Johnny 'No-Tan' Rotten
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 March 1978
JOHN ROTTEN likes dressing up. Seeing him stuck away under a parasol by the side of the Olympic-sized pool of the Kingston Sheraton at eleven ...
Neil Diamond: Gold Diamond Vol. 2
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 28 September 1974
ALTHOUGH IT'LL never get to the situation where the ramifications of his use of Room 109 are being discussed, the time is probably just about ...
Ronnie Lane: Can Rock Survive The Holocaust?
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 17 January 1976
RONNIE LANE'S up in town today. Been up from the farm in Monmouthshire for about a week now. ...
Tangerine Dream: 1983 — A Synthesiser I Will Be
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
Do TANGERINE DREAM, wizzkids of organic electronic rock, play their instruments?Or do the instruments play them? ...
Donovan: Portrait Of The Artist As A Desert Rat
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
– a small, furry, herbivorous animal, which possesses the happy knack of elusiveness. Just like DONOVAN, in fact, who's so elusive that even CHRIS SALEWICZ ...
Wigwam: In Finland They Get Drunk
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 September 1975
When the sun won't set and you can't get to sleep, what do you do?In Norway they play the violin.In Sweden they kill themselves. ...
Doobie Brothers: In Defence Of The Doobie Brothers…
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1 February 1975
IT IS, PRIMARILY, totally incorrect and irrelevant to give the Doobies an out-of-hand dismissal simply because their role as bill-toppers over Little Feat at the ...
Report by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 May 1978
AS HE STOOD at the top of Whitehall at 10.35 last Sunday morning gazing impassively towards Nelson's Column, the optimism of Commander Walker of Scotland ...
King Crimson, Uriah Heep: Uriah Heep: Ex-Crimson Bass Man Seduced
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 22 March 1975
JOHN WETTON JOINS HUMBLE WEALTHY HEEP ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 29 November 1975
There is no truth in the rumour...that there is any truth in the rumour. So, alright you guys, what's to look so glum about? ...
Gong, Steve Hillage: Gong: Demise Of Teapot Heralds New Obscure Era
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 21 February 1976
We proudly present GONG Now, in which assorted Gauls and other Foreigners explain (sort of) certain radical changes and new concepts which may extend the ...
David Bowie: Spiders from Mars
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 28 February 1976
"We've still got the Bowie costumes. We can wear those.""Yeah, Dave was really into duffle coats for a hour and a half in them days." ...
Generation X, The Lurkers: Generation X/The Lurkers: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 30 July 1977
YOU KNOW THAT immense sense of relief that hits you when you get through the one album in every twenty or so that you might ...
The Kursaal Flyers: Sarfend, Sarfend, It's A Hell Of A Town…
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 4 December 1976
The smell of coins and oil and penny arcades; of fish 'n' chips; of salt and wave against pebble and promenade; of wide boys and ...
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 June 1975
There is no mention of brown rice on this page. Persian rugs and health food in general? Well, OK...yeah, but not in any harmful quantity. ...
The Clash Play Revolution Rock
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, Trouser Press, March 1980
IT'S FOUR days before Christmas. A dark, early evening damp with snow and rain. Immediately south of the Thames, in the inappropriately genteel Victorian suburb ...
Steve Hillage: On The Banks Of A Fish Dinner
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 2 August 1975
"The fish really get off on it man...it's their whole trip"... New angle on Gong's STEVE HILLAGE – the world's leading exponent of Fish Rock. ...
Adam & The Ants: Sound and Vision: The Making of Adam Ant
Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, April 1981
"Malcolm McLaren just said to me, "What do you want, Adam?" I said, "I'd like to be a household name, and have everyone know and ...
Spandau Ballet: A Revolt Into Style
Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, August 1981
"IF PEOPLE want to find out what is the working class attitude to life," Gary Kemp declares forcefully, leaning towards me over a corner table ...
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, February 1981
PAUL SIMONON lives in a modest two-room Notting Hill basement flat just north of Ladbroke Grove tube station. ...
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, November 1983
IN THE HITCHHIKERS Guide To The Galaxy the number 42 is revealed as the clue to The I Meaning Of Life. This is the origin ...
Report by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1 October 1977
AFTER A WEEK of cloud-sealed gloom the sun shone down on London on Friday pushing the lunchtime temperature to 63 degrees. The vibes seemed auspicious ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 March 1976
Big in the States. Still trying to breakthrough on the home turf. CHRIS SALEWICZ chews on a 'cheese and tomato' ...
The Clash: The Return of Native Paranoia
Report by Chris Salewicz, The Face, August 1981
IN HOT humid New York City, the eight Clash dates at Bonds discotheque had their number doubled following a first night raid by the Fire ...
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, January 1981
ON A MONDAY morning so dark from thundery rainclouds it seems as though the sky has fallen in, Graham 'Suggs' McPherson, shoe-less and wearing only ...
The Rolling Stones: The Crowning of King Mick
Retrospective by Chris Salewicz, The Sunday Times, 27 October 2002
It is hard to believe that Mick Jagger was once just another Rolling Stone. How did he become an idol? Chris Salewicz, his biographer, tells ...
The Jimmy Castor Bunch: Jimmy Castor: The Everything Man
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 21 September 1974
SUBTLE ONE, that title. See, in the centre of the sleeve there's a picture of the dude who is presumably Jimmy Castor wearing a standard ...
Budgie: Rapping with a Burke from Budgie
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 29 June 1974
...is extremely difficult, seeing as he's not the slightest bit interested that The Album has made the charts. In fact, he couldn't care less. What's ...
The Butts Band, The Kinks: The Kinks; The Butts Band: The Palladium, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 22 June 1974
GIVE THE Kinks album a review and you bear the responsibility for Ray Davies' crying for the next three days, I'm told. ...
Gong: Look! There's A Pothead Pixie Arriving
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 26 October 1974
THERE'S A lot of musicians around that are going to be kissing Mike Oldfield's dirty underpants. The success of Tubular Bells has almost certainly uncovered ...
Roxy Music: Discovery Of Amazing Corporate Hippie
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 14 September 1974
EDDIE JOBSON is quite a cute little cookie. ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: After The Sand Box
Report by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 December 1976
The zany, madcap world of Brian Wilson, episode 98 ...
Bill Bruford, Genesis: Bill Bruford
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976
ARE YOU quite sure that you're definitely not joining Genesis full-time? ...
Cat Stevens: Bingley Hall, Stafford
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 20 December 1975
THE HEROIC singer-songwriter begins solo: a white-shirted, dark-trousered speck of religious experience at the end of the cattle barn. The Laura Ashley winsome-ness of 'Moon ...
Boxer: The Nude, The Boxing Glove And The Wooden Box
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 10 April 1976
...a slightly misleading headline heralding an informative article on BOXER which does in fact refer to nudes, boxing gloves and wooden boxes. ...
Bryan Ferry, Uriah Heep: John Wetton: I Have Nothing To Hide Shock
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976
John Wetton reflects on past problems with Uriah Heep – and on his future plans which, among other things, involve working with Ferry. ...
Rick Wakeman: Beers of the World
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 21 December 1974
"ON OUR rider for the tour of America – for the seven of us – we had twelve six-packs of Budweiser, two bottles of tequila, ...
The Heavy Metal Kids: 'I Useta Strong It…'
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 9 August 1975
'But we're much tighter now.' ...
Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon: New Victoria Theatre, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 December 1976
WARREN ZEVON hits the stage an hour and five minutes late. This is not without significance. ...
Split Enz: College Of Art, Maidstone
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 21 January 1978
'THE DAMBUSTERS March' (at double speed, natch) fades away as Split Enz vocalist Neil Finn ("Actually, we're New Zealanders not Australians") plunges through the murky ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: A Day Out At The Gun Court
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 17 March 1979
SET IN maybe half an acre of ground, 56 Hope Road, Kingston 6 is a sprawling, wood-fronted, two-storey detached house, its flaking cream paint seeming ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Alex Harvey
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 17 August 1974
Pain-wracked Glasgow octogenarian fights tooth decay, endorses anarchy ...
Graham Parker: Believe Everything You Hear
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
IT'S LUCKY for Graham Parker that he's come along at a time when the Jack Nicholson Academy of professional Beautiful Losers is providing the most ...
The Clash: Music Machine, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 January 1979
LIKE THE few other rock bands that occasionally verge on genius – such at The Rolling Stones and the original Roxy Music – The Clash ...
John Sebastian: Speak Up Ya Creep!
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 30 November 1974
THERE ARE certainly more than one or two among us who suspect that John B. Sebastian has long since gone right over the top; that ...
Johnny Walker: The Rock Assassination Takes Place On Tuesday Between 11 .30 And Four
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 8 May 1976
JOHNNY WALKER has seen a lot of bloodshed, and a poor disc jockey can only take so much... To cut a long story out, he's ...
Kim Fowley, The Runaways: Sex sells: The Girl Band That Changed Pop Forever
Retrospective by Chris Salewicz, The Independent, 19 March 2010
IN EARLY OCTOBER 1976, the Runaways, an all-girl five-piece from Los Angeles, played a sell-out show at London's Roundhouse, their debut date in the UK. ...
The Congos: Heart Of The Congos (Go-Feet)
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 14 February 1981
ONE OF THE seminal reggae albums of the late 70s, Heart Of The Congos has been available in this country on pre-release since early 1978, ...
Mikey Dread: The Dread Man Tells His Tale
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 17 January 1981
From radio star to toaster to production and recording star, Mikey Dread Campbell is still well in control ...
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 22 July 1978
DO NOT BE fooled by New York New Wave. New York Punk is mainly the product of the small, highly incestuous Soho arts scene. Jimmy ...
Burning Spear: Dry and Heavy in the Ozone: Burning Spear at the Rainbow
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 12 November 1977
IN THAT it (a) got me truly into reggae, and (b) has continued to stand as a symbol of the truth and beauty that all ...
Sly & Robbie: The Reggaedelic Experience
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 July 1981
A.K.A. SLY 'N' ROBBIE, THE ALMOST LEGENDARY DREADLY RHYTHM TEAM BEHIND THE SOUND OF BLACK UHURU, GRACE JONES AND THEIR OWN TAXI LABEL. WORDS CHRIS ...
Grace Jones: In Between The Bumpers
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 July 1981
Chris Salewicz goes behind the public face of Grace to discover that in the tall, exotic frame of a former model there's a little girl ...
Rick Wakeman: Art with a Capital F***
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976
RICK WAKEMAN on the aesthetic of bodily functions, as applied to rock concerts. "We'll have none of that thank you, we're English." ...
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 26 October 1974
DON'T WORRY. This is not as that first peek at the multi-stellar sleeve credits may have suggested, the Greg Lake contribution to the Arts for ...
Camel, Michael Chapman: Fairfield Hall, Croydon
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 9 August 1975
KUH-RAAAACKKK!!!! ...
The Heavy Metal Kids, Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 June 1977
Rainbow rub out ...
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974
THE PREVIOUS two albums by this final King Crimson lineup have never been as hysterically self-conscious in their obvious adventurousness as the first four studio ...
Roxy Music: Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 12 October 1974
Fairbanks triumph at ersatz Nuremburg rallies ...
Gary Wright, Peter Frampton: Peter Frampton: Empire Pool, Wembley, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 30 October 1976
Rock genius...or just another biodegradable pretty boy? C. SALEWICZ sinks his nashers in P. FRAMPTON's persona and finds it... ALL SMILE AND NO TEETH! ...
Robert Fripp: Something Is Stirring Down At Wimbourne
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974
IT'S NOTHING to do with egos, you know, this final dissolving of King Crimson. No, there's something of a much grander design — somewhat rather ...
The Faces: Kilburn State, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
"YES, MY PEOPLE, you make me strong," sighed the Golden Catarrh with a de rigeur flexing of the neck muscles as the Faces knocked into ...
Lee "Scratch" Perry: Reggae's Mad Scientist
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, Spin, May 1985
WHEN PEOPLE said to Bob Marley that his friend Lee "Scratch" Perry was mad, Marley would reply, "Him not mad, him just Scratch." ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, January 1981
WARNING: This article might offend sensitive tastes! ...
Public Image Ltd, Jah Wobble: Jab Wobble At Your Service
Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, September 1981
The Entertainer as Servant of the People. Chris Salewicz talked to the former Public Image bass player. ...
The Police: Tooting Bec, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 3 January 1981
JUST BECAUSE The Police have played in India is no reason to turn their Tooting Bec tent concert into a simulacrum of the Black Hole ...
The Special AKA, The Specials: Jerry Dammers: Booted Out of the Band I Founded
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, Daily Telegraph, 3 March 2010
Jerry Dammers talks about his exotic new project – and why he wasn't part of the Specials' reunion. ...
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 ...
Obituary by Chris Salewicz, The Independent, 14 October 2014
AT THE 1979 Christmas party thrown by Rolling Stone magazine, Charles M. Young, one of the publication's star writers, who in a long 1977 article ...
The Clash: God, What A Bummer! Stuck Here With Joe Strummer!
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 3 September 1977
THE CLASH AT BELSEN... 'ALL JOURNALISTS ARE SWINE' BY CHRIS SALEWICZ, WHO DUCKS AND RUNS. ...
Brian Eno, Robert Fripp: Fripp & Eno: Palladium, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 14 June 1975
"IT'S NOT just an ordinary loop system. In fact, it's very complex. I invented it. Why don't you come and see me tomorrow and I'll ...
Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green: Peter Green Committed
Report by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 5 February 1977
CHRIS SALEWICZ details the sad story of PETER GREEN, which last week culminated in a court-order committing him to mental hospital... ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, December 1981
If Britain is ever to become self-sufficient in funk then it's groups like Linx who will lead the way... ...
Report by Richard Grabel, Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981
CHRIS SALEWICZ in London and RICHARD GRABEL in New York chronicle the events leading up to Monday's tragedy ...
Dennis Bovell: Brain Damaged Goods
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 August 1981
THE FINAL, apocalyptic scenes of Franco Rosso's excellent Babylon are based on a 1976 police raid on Cricklewood's Carib Club during a sound system session ...
Junior Giscombe: "Britfunk Saved Me from a Life of Crime!"
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 26 September 1981
TRUE CONFESSIONS TALK-IN WITH MAMA'S BOY JUNIOR GISCOMBE ...
Bow Wow Wow, Malcolm McLaren, The Sex Pistols: Malcolm McLaren... the True Poison!
Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, May 1981
You're dealing with a very low level of creativity in the music business. The man who sits in his office marketing records is not a ...
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 September 1974
Peace and paranoia: The Metropolitan Police Force's Gala Weekend Outing at Hyde Park ...
The Slits, The Subway Sect: Subway Sect, Slits: Music Machine, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 8 October 1977
Some-of-us-take-this-seriously Productions present: THE CAVORTINGS OF CREATIVE PEOPLE ...
Can: Imagine 20 bulls and cows going up a hill...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 30 November 1974
...or learn guitar the avant garde way! MICHAEL KAROLI of Can, talking to CHRIS SALEWICZ ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Daily Telegraph, 14 July 2007
When the Police split up 23 years ago, they were the world's biggest band... and possibly its most competitive. As they embark on a £100 ...
Dennis Brown: Joe Gibbs, 1943-2008
Obituary by Chris Salewicz, The Independent, 3 March 2008
Producer of a string of reggae hits ...
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, Daily Telegraph, 3 November 2007
NOW IN THEIR FIFTIES, Mick Jones and Tony James have joined forces and formed the band Carbon/Silicon. Chris Salewicz meets the punk-rock legends. ...
Paul Kossoff, John Martyn: John Martyn: Imperial College, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 March 1975
YES, THAT'S right, "Koss" turned up for the final couple of numbers. ...
Rico Rodriguez, The Specials, Eddie "Tan-Tan" Thornton: Rico Rocks Tout Soul
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 4 October 1980
Big day for JA precludes Specials occasion ...
Black Uhuru: Sinsemilla (Island)
Review by Chris Salewicz, The Face, September 1980
THE THREE-piece vocal group has always been one of the strongest archetypes of reggae. Commencing some two years ago, and operating for a short period ...
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 13 December 1975
JIGS AND reels and the Albion Country Band at the LSE? What??? Danny Cohn-Bendit, I feel for you, man. ...
The Clash: Clash member will be the last white man in Hammersmith Palais
Retrospective by Chris Salewicz, The Evening Standard, 30 March 2007
A look back at the history of a London landmark, as a bandmate of Joe Strummer prepares for the final concert there before the bulldozers ...
Obituary by Chris Salewicz, The Independent, 18 October 2010
Hustler and jazz promoter who played a key role in the Profumo scandal ...
Poly Styrene, X-Ray Spex: Poly Styrene
Obituary by Chris Salewicz, The Independent, 27 April 2011
Singer who blazed a trail for punk's feminist revolutionaries ...
Obituary by Chris Salewicz, The Independent, 10 June 2014
DJ and club owner who came to Britain in 1954 and helped establish Jamaican music as a force in London ...
A little sax with the snorkelling: Spice Jazz festival, Grenada
Report by Chris Salewicz, Daily Telegraph, 3 March 2001
Grenada is trying to extend its season with a jazz festival. For Chris Salewitz, the listening was all too easy. ...
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