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Daryl Easlea

Daryl Easlea

Born between Rubber Soul and Revolver, Daryl Easlea was in music retail between 1979 and 1997, and left to belatedly take his degree in American History and International History at Keele, where he also ran the student radio station.

He began writing professionally in 1999. After graduating in 2000, he became the deputy editor at Record Collector. His work has also appeared in Mojo, Mojo Collections, various Q and Mojo specials, Prog Magazine, The Guardian, Uncut, Dazed & Confused, The Independent, Socialism, The Glasgow Herald, The Encyclopaedia of Popular Music, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and bbc.co.uk.

He also compiles and annotates LPs and CDs (his favourite being 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong: 39 Fall Greats and the 40th Anniversary Celebration of Pelican West by Haircut 100), DJs, broadcasts and was born to dance. He curated Decca's 90th Anniversary celebrations and edited the book Decca: The Supreme Record Company with Darren Henley. His talks on popular music, Fast Forward, have been performed at festivals, the British Library and the V&A.

His books explore his favourite loves; great pop eccentrics, populist African-American music and prog rock. His first, Everybody Dance: Chic & The Politics Of Disco was published by Helter Skelter in December 2004 and was voted NME's third best book of 2005. An updated, revised edition was published in 2020. His second, an extended essay to accompany the Supremes exhibition at the V&A was published by V&A Publishing in May 2008. Talent Is an Asset: The Story of Sparks was published by Omnibus Press in April 2010, while Without Frontiers: The Life And Music Of Peter Gabriel was published in October 2013, with a revised, updated edition in March 2018. His Whatever Happened To Slade? was published in October 2023.

He broadcasts a monthly show Easlea Like A Sunday Morning on Ship Full Of Bombs/Thames Delta Radio. In 2022, he returned to Record Collector as editor of The Rare Record Price Guide and edited both the Genesis and Fall stand-alone magazines. He lives with his darling wife and daughter by the seaside rather near where he was born.

Daryl on the RBP podcast

72 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Rick Astley: Lock, Stock and Waterman

Retrospective by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, December 2000

WARNING: this article contains extremely positive comments about "disposable" pop. ...

Elvis Presley: Elvis in Hollywood

Retrospective by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, August 2001

"I've had intellectuals tell me that I've got to progress as an actor, explore new horizons, take on new challenges, all that routine. I'd like ...

Chic: These Are The Good Times

Retrospective and Interview by Daryl Easlea, Mojo Collections, Fall 2001

THINK CHIC, think chic – a passport back to Studio 54, 70s hedonism; good times, guaranteed to bring gravity to the flapping flares and mirrorball-twirling ...

Dexys Midnight Runners: Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood: Dexys Midnight Runners and Don’t Stand Me Down

Retrospective and Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, 2002

In 1985 an album was released that sold little and contributed to the demise of one of the most venerated groups of the 80s. With ...

Quincy Jones: Q – The Musical Biography Of Quincy Jones (Rhino)

Review by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, January 2002

QUINCY JONES HAS enjoyed a truly remarkable career, moving between the fields of jazz, blues, soundtracks, pop, soul, funk and rap. This celebratory collection encompasses ...

David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust And the Spiders From Mars: 30th Anniversary Edition

Review and Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, July 2002

"I'm really just a Photostat machine. I pour out what has already been fed in. I merely reflect what is going on around me" – ...

John Peel: Peelin' In The Years

Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, January 2003

Radio 1's venerated platter spinner John Peel has just released his first dance mix CD. Daryl Easlea polishes up the wheels of steel ...

Ian Dury: Buried Treasure: Ian Dury and the Blockheads' Do It Yourself

Retrospective and Interview by Daryl Easlea, unpublished, March 2003

HOW CAN A platinum-selling album that reached No. 2 in the UK charts be classed as "buried treasure"? Easily. Do It Yourself remains a well-kept ...

David Gilmour, Pink Floyd: David Gilmour: The Record Collector Interview

Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, May 2003

ROCK HISTORIANS have a problem with David Gilmour because he is, well, so very balanced. Displaying little of the madness or angst of Pink Floyd's ...

Duran Duran: The Singles 81-85

Review by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, May 2003

DURAN DURAN were, of course, the original band who wanted to combine the Sex Pistols with Chic. Taking their name from a character in the ...

Barry White 1944-2003

Obituary by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, August 2003

FEW ARTISTS CAPTURED the aspirational glamour of the 70s better than Barry White. ...

David Sylvian: Brilliant Trees/Alchemy/Gone To Earth/Secret Of The Beehive (Virgin)

Review by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, October 2003

IN 1989, VIRGIN released Weatherbox, one of the most coveted box sets ever. It underlined the first phase of David Sylvian's solo career; indeed, it ...

Dexys Midnight Runners: Dexy's Midnight Runners: Let's Make This Precious – The Very Best Of

Review and Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, October 2003

KEVIN ROWLAND'S vision remains one of the most unique and soul-bearing of any pop star, ever. Building on the templates of the extended raps of ...

The Beatles: Let It Be...Naked

Review by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, November 2003

IN THE permanently recycled world of Fabs folklore, Let It Be is always viewed as a missed opportunity. Planned to be a back-to-basics album and ...

Chic, Tony Thompson: Tony Thompson

Obituary by Daryl Easlea, The Guardian, 15 November 2003

TONY THOMPSON, WHO has died of cancer aged 48, was among the finest of all pop/rock drummers. Although his name is frequently absent from the ...

Talking Heads: Once In A Lifetime

Review by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, December 2003

TWENTY YEARS ago this month, the popular image of Talking Heads was crystallised. Filming at the Pantages Theatre, L.A., for what was to become Stop ...

Sparks: What A Difference The Days Made: Sparks Look Back

Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, Summer 2003

FOR OVER 30 YEARS, Sparks have always been a glorious musical anachronism. To think that their genesis is on the American West Coast at the ...

Lee "Scratch" Perry: The RC INTERVIEW: Lee "Scratch" Perry

Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, 2004

LET NO ONE tell you otherwise. An hour with reggae maverick Lee "Scratch" Perry is a wondrous thing. His "madness", however stage-managed, is there, almost ...

ABC: "It Was Like Disco, But In A Bob Dylan Way": The Lexicon Of Love

Sleeve notes by Daryl Easlea, Neutron/Mercury Records, November 2004

FEW ALBUMS DEFINE the resonance and the beauty of a particular era as does The Lexicon Of Love by ABC. It could be said that ...

The Fall: 50,000 Fall Fans Can’t Be Wrong: The Very Best of The Fall 1978-2003

Sleeve notes by Daryl Easlea, Sanctuary Records, Spring 2004

IN THE EARLY months of 2004, The Fall’s first album, Live At The Witch Trials, celebrated its 25th anniversary. When The Fall started, rock wasn’t ...

John Martyn: The Gentlest Circus: One World

Sleeve notes by Daryl Easlea, Universal/Island Records, Fall 2004

YOU WOULD THINK one of the last characters to survive the supposed punk rock cull of 1976/77 would be John Martyn. To outsiders, he was ...

Average White Band: The Average White Band: Benny & Us/Warmer Communications

Sleeve notes by Daryl Easlea, (Columbia Records), 2005

Comprising the considerable talents of guitarists, bassists and vocalists Alan Gorrie, Hamish Stuart and Onnie McIntyre; the Dundee Horns themselves, Malcolm "Molly" Duncan and Roger ...

Thievery Corporation: Gentlemen Robbers: Thievery Corporation

Retrospective and Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, July 2005

FOUNDED IN 1995, Washington-based dance duo Thievery Corporation is in that select band of acts, that even though they remain elusive to the great majority, ...

Luther Vandross

Obituary by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, September 2005

THERE WAS SOMETHING special about Luther Vandross (who died 1st July). Free of the brashness of the other male soul performers of the 80s; here ...

Franz Ferdinand: Whatever You Want Us To Be

Report and Interview by Daryl Easlea, Dazed & Confused, 31 November 2005

With their second album, Franz Ferdinand, the post-millennial fab four, look certain to become one of the biggest bands on the planet. Where better to ...

Jake Thackray: Jake In A Box/Live Performance

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2006

AFTER HIS LATE '60s and early '70s heyday, when he could be found on national telly and Royal Variety Shows with his hilarious vignettes of ...

Ian Dury: Lord Upminster/4000 Weeks Holiday

Sleeve notes by Daryl Easlea, unpublished, 2007

CONGRATULATIONS! You are now holding the least-loved work by one of the UK's best-loved artists. ...

The Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2007

THE ALBUM THAT set the template for The Rolling Stones as we know them today, Beggars Banquet was an exercise in getting back to basics ...

David Bowie: Blue-and-green-eyed soul

Essay by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, January 2007

Young Americans is David Bowie's most underrated album, but its bold cross-cultural concept deserves reappraisal, says Daryl Easlea  ...

Prefab Sprout: Absolutely Prefabulous: Steve McQueen Reissued

Retrospective and Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, May 2007

PREFAB SPROUT'S shimmering masterpiece, Steve McQueen, began life in 1984 with the working title of June Parade. Led by writer, vocalist and guitarist Paddy McAloon, ...

Paul McCartney: Memory Almost Full

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 5 June 2007

STARTED BEFORE AND completed after the downbeat-yet-still-satisfying Chaos And Creation In The Backyard, Memory Almost Full is a perfect capture of Paul McCartney, the pop ...

Lulu: The Atco Sessions

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, November 2007

The Atco Sessions will hopefully do its bit to restore Lulu's credibility. ...

Ryan Bingham: Mescalito

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 4 January 2008

ALREADY MAKING waves since its US release last autumn, here's a very pleasant surprise to get 2008 underway. ...

Dexys Midnight Runners: Searching For The Young Soul Rebels

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 11 January 2008

Fierce, raging and passionate – one of the greatest debut albums of all time. ...

John Martyn: Ain't No Saint: 40 Years Of John Martyn

Sleeve notes by Daryl Easlea, Island Records, September 2008

"Love finds a way, just let it stay From day to day, just let it flow, just let it grow It will get you together ...

Underworld: Celebrating the Underbelly: Underworld

Retrospective and Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, September 2008

UNDERWORLD HAVE been at the forefront of electronic music for the past 15 years. The partnership at the group's core, Karl Hyde and Rick Smith, ...

Marvin Gaye: Let's Get It On

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2009

The very essence of Marvin Gaye as the sensualist ...

Prince: Sign 'O' the Times

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2009

You realise why Prince was routinely labelled a genius in the late '80s. ...

Quincy Jones: The Dude

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2009

RELEASED IN 1981, The Dude was the right album at the right time. ...

ABC, Heaven 17, The Human League: The Steel City Tour: Human League, ABC and Heaven 17 at the Hammersmith Apollo

Live Review by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, February 2009

THE STEEL CITY TOUR is a thrilling glimpse of the once- future through the lens of the past. What these groups attempted in Sheffield at ...

Michael Jackson: Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough: Bruce Swedien Remembers the Times with Michael Jackson

Retrospective and Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, September 2009

HERE'S IRONY for you: there were several things timed for the release of Michael Jackson's London shows that were to provide testimony to the man's ...

David Sylvian: Manafon

Review by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, December 2009

DESCRIBED BY Sylvian as "a completely modern kind of chamber music; intimate, dynamic, emotive, democratic, economical", Manafon picks up where 2003's Blemish concluded. Working with ...

Mica Paris: Whisper a Prayer

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2010

BEFORE STRICTLY COME DANCING and celebrity status, Mica Paris was one of the UK's greatest soul divas. Whisper a Prayer was her third album and ...

Steve Mason: Metal Thinking

Profile and Interview by Daryl Easlea, unpublished, 2010

NOTE: This piece was commissioned by http://www.metalculture.com after the Village Green Festival in Southend in 2010 but never published. ...

Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: Oil Youyouyouou Be Seeing

Film/DVD/TV Review by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, 10 January 2010

A New Film, Oil City Confidential, Tells The Dr Feelgood Story. Daryl Easlea Relives His Youth ...

The Beta Band, Steve Mason: An Interview with Steve Mason

Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, November 2010

DE: Tell us about your latest projects. ...

Steely Dan: Aja

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2011

IF EVER A record knew its worth, it was Aja, the sixth album by Steely Dan. Released in late 1977 when half the world seemed ...

Gil Scott-Heron: Poet, Writer, Singer, Rapper, Pianist, Visionary

Obituary by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, July 2011

(born April 1, 1949 in Chicago; Died New York City 27th May 2011) ...

Chic, Norma Jean Wright: Norma Jean Wright: Norma Jean

Sleeve notes by Daryl Easlea, Demon Records, July 2011

NORMA JEAN WRIGHT'S sole album on Bearsville, released in 1978, is something of a curio, and is notable for the fact it was the first ...

Chic: Raymond Jones, 1958-2011

Obituary by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, August 2011

ALTHOUGH A NAME that doesn't readily trip off the tongue, most of RC's readers have danced at some point or another to the understated beauty ...

Deniece Williams: My Melody

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2012

Williams shapes up for the '80s with this timeless album. ...

D-Train: You're the One for Me

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2012

Groundbreaking, gospel-influenced debut from 1982 ...

Gentle Giant: I Lost My Head – Chrysalis Years (1975-1980)

Sleeve notes by Daryl Easlea, (Chryalis Records), 2012

I'M STILL NOT sure what the word "contrapuntal" means. But that and "pretentious" were two words I learned as a teenage Gentle Giant fan in ...

Lewis Taylor: Lewis Taylor

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2012

The strange and beguiling debut from one of UK soul's most fascinating artists. ...

Patrice Rushen: Now

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2012

An accomplished album rising far above its '80s production values. ...

William DeVaughn: Figures Can't Calculate

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2012

The second, and best, of DeVaughn's three albums. ...

Whitney Houston

Obituary by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, April 2012

WHITNEY HOUSTON, singer, actor, diva extraordinaire, died Los Angeles 12 February, aged 48. ...

Donna Summer, 1948-2012

Obituary by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, June 2012

WHEN DONNA SUMMER relocated from the US to Germany to star in the Munich production of Hair, she unwittingly set a course that would result ...

Eddie & The Hot Rods: Eddie and the Hot Rods: Do Anything You Wanna Do – The Best Of

Sleeve notes by Daryl Easlea, Spectrum Records, Fall 2012

A personal recollection by Barrie Masters of Rochford, England, talking on 10th September, 2012,to Daryl Easlea… also of Rochford, England.   ...

Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2013

So high you can't still get over it. ...

Glenn Lewis: World Outside My Window

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2013

RECORDED WITH PRODUCTION TEAM of Dre and Vidal (A Touch of Jazz alumni Andre Lewis and Vidal Davis), World Outside My Window was Glenn Lewis' ...

Gwen Guthrie: Portrait (1983)

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2013

A superior selection of dub-infused disco from one of soul's most underrated talents. ...

Genesis, Mike + the Mechanics: Mike Rutherford: The Trick Of The Tale

Retrospective and Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, February 2014

Genesis and Mike + The Mechanics' founder Mike Rutherford has written an autobiography with a difference. Daryl Easlea met him to discuss The Living Years. ...

The Isley Brothers: The RCA-Victor And T-Neck Album Masters (1959-1983)

Review and Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, September 2015

MORPHING FROM their roots in gospel and doo-wop through funk, rock and then, finally, into slow-jam R&B, the Isley Brothers remain one of the most ...

Khruangbin: The Universe Smiles Upon You

Review by Daryl Easlea, MOJO, January 2016

Intriguing Thai-influenced funk from rural Texas, naturally. ...

Pink Floyd: The Final Cut – A Requiem For The Post War Dream/ A Momentary Lapse Of Reason

Review by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, March 2017

THOUGH THEY represent the opposing extremes of Pink Floyd's often tortured psyche, there, in fact, are many similarities between 1983's The Final Cut and 1987's A Momentary Lapse ...

Roger Waters: Is This The Life We Really Want?

Review by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, 21 June 2017

UNTIL RECENTLY, it seemed that Roger Waters would be content to play out his career taking his incredible Pink Floydian spectacles around the world's enormodomes. But ...

Cerrone: The DNA Of Dance

Retrospective and Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, January 2020

With his new album imminent, Record Collector takes the opportunity to get supernatural with Cerrone. Daryl Easlea stares into the crystal ball. ...

Mura Masa: RYC (Raw Youth Collage) (Polydor)

Review by Daryl Easlea, MOJO, February 2020

Whip-smart second album by Guernsey's foremost electronic dance pioneer. ...

Pink Floyd, Throbbing Gristle: Gotta Stem The Evil Tide: Pink Floyd and Throbbing Gristle

Retrospective and Interview by Daryl Easlea, unpublished, 2021

THROBBING GRISTLE became a cause celebre in October 1976, with their Prostitution Exhibition at the ICA. Tory MP Nicholas Fairbairn called the noise terrorists "Wreckers ...

Pink Floyd: Raving and drooling: How Pink Floyd made Animals

Retrospective by Daryl Easlea, Prog, January 2021

Pink Floyd's Animals was released in 1977, but its themes continue to strike a chord in the modern day. ...

Steve Lukather, Toto: Steve Lukather: 33/3rd

Interview by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, 25 March 2021

STEVE LUKATHER has played on countless records owned and streamed worldwide. For most musicians, just being a founder member and only constant of Toto would ...

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