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Geoffrey Cannon

Geoffrey Cannon

Geoffrey Cannon (pictured in July 1971) was the first ever regular rock critic for a UK daily national newspaper, The Guardian, for whom he wrote a weekly column between September 1969 and the summer of 1972 totalling over 150 pieces, many available here, as originally commissioned by Peter Preston, then features editor, later The Guardian editor. He wrote for other UK periodicals such as Melody Maker when edited by Richard Williams, New Society, Time Out, Zig Zag and — above — Harpers Bazaar (an assessment of Nic Cohn, right in the picture)

He wrote long pieces regularly for the Los Angeles Times thanks to Charles Champlin, and for the Chicago Sun-Times thanks to Bob Zonka and Al Rudis, the Village Voice, the Toronto Globe and Mail,and also for Fusion, Creem and Coast, and regularly for Kleine Zeitung (Austria) thanks to Gerfried Sperl and Rock & Folk (France) thanks to Philippe Paringaux. In the summer of 1972 thanks to Jo Bergman and Derek Taylor he was an official journalist covering the Rolling Stones 1972 US tour.

He interviewed and featured bands and singers, moguls and labels, reviewed concerts and albums, and wrote many think-pieces. Favourites available here include the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Band, the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, and Nico, Van Morrison, The Kinks, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and many Californian bands.

When he wrote for The Guardian he was also editor of the BBCtv and Radio journal Radio Times, which then had the highest magazine circulation in all Europe.

He began to write about 'pop music' (as it was then called) in New Society in 1963, in the context of 'pop culture', encouraged by Colin MacInnes and editor Tim Raison. In 1967 he began the first column on rock music for The Listener, commissioned by editor Karl Miller. In 1968 he co-produced films on Jimi Hendrix and the Incredible String Band for Cosmologies, and worked for Granada Television with Jo Durden-Smith, Mike Darlow, Jon Cott and David Dalton dreaming up rock spectaculars, in particular The Doors are Open and Johnny Cash at San Quentin, shown nationally and now classics. In 1970 he directed the Palermo Pop Festival for Italian television (RAI) and the Rolling Stones for Austrian television (ORF). In 1970 he wrote and appeared in London Rock produced by Revel Guest for Metromedia Television (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfDHvpqzmas). As from 1970 he was a regular contributor to BBC Radio London's Breakthrough produced by Steve Bradshaw. More details in his Wikipedia entry.

Bands and singers who were hot in his time as a writer who he often plays now, as well as the Stones, Bob Dylan, and The Velvet Underground, Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell, include the MC5, the J Geils Band and Buffalo Springfield. He has lived in Brazil since 2000, and recommends the Tropicalia period Caetano Veloso, and Belchior.


Geoffrey Cannon looks back on his career as a music writer

114 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

The arts in society: You're Sick, Daddy

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, New Society, 25 April 1963

2018 author's note: My very first published piece, written for New Society, of which I was a founder-member of staff as the sub-editor and production ...

The Beatles, Cliff Richard, The Rolling Stones: Pop Music Democratised

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, New Society, 3 December 1964

Author's note, 2018: Here is my late 1964 insight on the transformation of British pop into rock which can be dated to 21 February 1963 ...

Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Billie Holiday, The Rolling Stones: From Pop Singers To Rock Bands

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, 1965

Update, March 2019: I KNOW exactly when I wrote the piece below, where I was, and why I withdrew it from publication. It was January ...

The Kinks, The Mugwumps: The Mugwumps: The Mugwumps; The Kinks: Something Else by the Kinks

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Listener, 14 September 1967

(2019 note) Here is the first of the three pieces I wrote for The Listener, which started me as a rock writer. The second and ...

The Mothers Of Invention: Mother's Rites: Freak Out/Absolutely Free

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Listener, 19 October 1967

2012 NOTE: Here below is the second column I wrote for The Listener in late 1967. It was the first of a number I ...

The Beach Boys: California!

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Listener, 22 November 1967

2012 NOTE: In the third (and last) column below written for The Listener in late 1967, I tried to begin to grope towards construction ...

Nico, The Velvet Underground: Andy Warhol: A Mirror Of American Death

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, New Society, 13 June 1968

2012 note: Cometh the hour... Paul Barker, the second and last editor of the UK weekly journal New Society, was once asked to speak on ...

Bring Back the Single

Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 22 October 1968

A STORY of virtue rewarded: Polydor, tiny in Britain compared with EMI or Decca, sold more LPs in the third quarter of 1968 than any ...

The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Chuck Berry, The Byrds, Country Joe & The Fish, The Doors, Bob Dylan, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, The Kinks, Little Richard, The Mamas and The Papas, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground: 20 Revolutionary Singles, as requested

Letter by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, 28 October 1968

25 FLORENCE TERRACE, FALMOUTH, CORNWALL TELEPHONE: FALMOUTH 1840 23rd October 1968 ...

Jimi Hendrix: Electric Ladyland (Polydor)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 5 November 1968

THERE ARE 19 naked ladies on the cover 
of Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland (Polydor 613 008/9). Pictured 
inside, Jimi has a flicker of the lip-licking ...

Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (CBS 63308)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 12 November 1968

2018 note: The quality and impact of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison is not because of the songs. It is because of the behaviour and ...

The Beatles: Back with the real Beatles: The Beatles (White Album) (Apple)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 19 November 1968

The Beatles' new album is about to be released. This is the first of two articles on what is likely to be the biggest event ...

The Beatles: Back to Spring: The Beatles: The Beatles (White Album) (Apple)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 26 November 1968

"EARTH, WATER, fire, and air met together in a garden fair," chants Robin Williamson, of the Incredible String Band, in 'Koeeoaadi There'. And if the ...

Why Isn't London Jumping?

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, Oz, December 1968

Update, 2019. My Oz episodes — 1. IN DECEMBER 1968, age 28, I was interviewed for the post of editor of Radio Times, the BBC's ...

True Sound of Rock

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 3 December 1968

2019: Thoughts after half a century. The piece below written as rock as a genre and a concept was emerging stands up quite well. As ...

The Rolling Stones: Beggars' Banquet (Decca SKL 4955)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 10 December 1968

The Stones' carrier wave ...

The Band, Buffalo Springfield, Country Joe & The Fish, The Doors, Aretha Franklin, MC5, Moby Grape, Nico, Otis Redding, Steppenwolf, Velvet Underground, Frank Zappa: 1968: The Shaken City Walls

Overview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 24 December 1968

"AN ELECTRIC caterwauling of power... burning it, flashing it, whirling it down some arc of consciousness, the sound screaming up to a climax of vibrations ...

Harpers Bizarre: Anything Goes (Pye, WS 1716)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 31 December 1968

HOWARD JOHNSON ice-cream parlours, Harvey's hamburgers, Busby Berkeley movies: artificial, sentimental, surface childlike fantasies. Small-town radio stations, high school proms, Frank Capra, George Gershwin, Mickey ...

Love: Four Patterns of Love

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 7 January 1969

Update, 2019. Forty years ago leading BBC tv Radio DJ Paul Gambaccini organised Critic's Choice: Top 200 Albums, in which 47 rock music writers including ...

The Everly Brothers: Roots (Warner WS 1752)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 21 January 1969

Pulled up by the roots ...

Nico, The Velvet Underground: Letter to a Mystified Man

Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 28 January 1969

DEAR Mr Davey — You write a neat letter, and I smiled, too. Last week you wrote to the editor of the Guardian (January 20). "If you ...

MC5: The MC5 Kick Out The Jams!

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, Oz, 1 February 1969

2019 note: My Oz episodes — 2. My first piece for Oz, "Why isn't London jumping?", a tirade against the BBC's programming of pop music, ...

The Crystals, The Righteous Brothers, The Ronettes, Phil Spector, Ike & Tina Turner, Muddy Waters: Muddy Waters: Electric Mud (Chess); Various Artists: Demand Performance (Decca)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 4 February 1969

Muddy Muddy Waters ...

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Steve Miller: Creedence Clearwater Revival: Bayou Country (Fantasy 8387); Steve Miller Band: Sailor (EMI ST 2984)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 11 February 1969

Transcending the Blues ...

The Beatles: Too Big For The Band?

Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 25 February 1969

MARY HOPKIN, the film music for Yellow Submarine and Wonderwall, and the Two Virgins album, were all made by Beatles. But they have no other ...

Blood Sweat & Tears: Blood, Sweat and Tears: Blood, Sweat and Tears (CBS)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 4 March 1969

BOUND WITH BLOOD AND SWEAT ...

Family: The Original Family Way

Profile by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 18 March 1969

FAMILY IS the most original and ambitious of the British bands that have not fully emerged from' the club circuit. I first heard them a ...

The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stone Magazine: Ripples from the Stone

Report by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 25 March 1969

FEW REVIEWS can make a first-rank artist doubt his ability at the height of his success. At this level, critics can rarely do more than ...

Bob Dylan: Nashville Skyline (CBS)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 22 April 1969

Nashville Skyline man to tell the time by ...

Janis Joplin: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 29 April 1969

CRYING FOR US ...

The Who: Sensation

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Village Voice, 22 May 1969

Update, 2019: WHO PLAYS concept albums now? With a couple of exceptions, not me. I don't mean albums whose separate numbers have a common approach, ...

Country Joe & The Fish, Dr. John, Flying Burrito Brothers, The Fugs: Rocking into religion

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 27 May 1969

Gods, bishops, priests and worshippers ...

The Mothers Of Invention, Frank Zappa: Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 12 June 1969

Update, 2019. FRANK ZAPPA was always friendly when he and I met, between 1968 and 1970. This may have been because I took him seriously, ...

Steve Miller Band: Brave New World (Capitol)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 17 June 1969

Update, 2019. THE ARE three omissions and one serious mistake in the piece below on the Steve Miller Band's Sailor (October 1968) and Brave New ...

Blind Faith, Donovan, Richie Havens: Blind Faith: A Fine Day

Report by Geoffrey Cannon, The Village Voice, 19 June 1969

LONDON — take a sheet of thin cardboard. Sprinkle iron filings on top. Place a magnet underneath. All the filings will start and shift, and ...

Giorgio Gomelsky: The Pop Paragon

Report by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 22 June 1969

Author's note, 2018. Georgio died in New York in January 2014, aged 81. Everybody with even a passing interest knows that Georgio, whose dark bearded ...

Joni Mitchell: Clouds

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 24 June 1969

JONI MITCHELL has written songs for Tom Rush, and the Fairport Convention have used her songs on both their albums. ...

Family, The Rolling Stones: The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park: Out of the Way

Report by Geoffrey Cannon, New Society, 10 July 1969

A world turned upside down ...

Family, King Crimson, The Rolling Stones: The Rolling Stones, King Crimson, Family: Hyde Park, London

Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, New Society, 10 July 1969

2018 author's introduction:  This was the third rock concert filmed by Granada Television for the UK national network in 1968 and 1969, the first two ...

Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band: Joe Boyd: Freaky Galahad

Profile by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 29 July 1969

"WELL, YOU'D put your arm round its neck, y'know, like this" (demonstrating) "and hold it on the seat next to you, like another person." ...

The Kinks, Barbara Lewis, The Who: Styles of the City

Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 19 August 1969

GEOFFREY CANNON ON POP MUSIC ...

Close-Up: Nik Cohn

Profile by Geoffrey Cannon, Harper's Bazaar, September 1969

Author's note, 2019. The first thing to know about Nic Cohn is that his 1969 book AWopBopaLooBopLopBamBoom: Pop from the Beginning was chosen in 2016 ...

The Band, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan, The Band: Isle of Wight Festival

Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 2 September 1969

The gospel according to Dylan ...

The Band, Bob Dylan: Dylan at Wight: A New Voice and a New Style

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, Los Angeles Times, 14 September 1969

THE TRAIN carrying us from Waterloo station in London to Portsmouth and the ferry across to the Isle of Wight Festival was full of newly ...

Blind Faith, Johnny Cash, Country Joe & The Fish, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Crosby Stills and Nash, The Doors: New albums from the Doors, Country Joe, Johnny Cash, Creedence, CS&N and Blind Faith

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 16 September 1969

Finding a new faith: GEOFFREY CANNON reviews pop music ...

The Kinks: Arthur

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 3 October 1969

Arthur and the Empire ...

The Beatles: Abbey Road (Apple)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 8 October 1969

Abbey Road backtrack ...

The Rolling Stones: Jumping Jack Jagger

Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 14 October 1969

THE WIDENING gap between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones has been labelled as the contrast between aesthetics and politics. The difference between the two ...

Cream, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall: Union Jack Blues

Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 21 October 1969

MEETING JANIS Joplin a few months ago, before her Albert Hall concert, I was staggered to feel how nervous she was. Then she explained. She ...

Davey Graham, Quintessence: Island in Basing Street

Report by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 26 November 1969

Update, 2019. In the piece below I mention that Basing Street, where Island Records was established in 1969 in what had been an abandoned chapel, ...

Eric Clapton, Delaney & Bonnie: Delaney & Bonnie: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 3 December 1969

Update, 2019. IN THEIR short time between 1969 and 1972, Delaney and Bonnie were glorious, for their quality, knowledge, and expressed love and joy of ...

The Beatles, The Rolling Stones: The Age Of Aquarius

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Partisan Review, Spring 1969

Update, 2020: Here is how I came to write the essay below on the Beatles and the Stones for the US intellectual quarterly Partisan Review ...

The Kinks: Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)

Sleeve notes by Geoffrey Cannon, Pye Records, Fall 1969

Update 2019. Arthur (the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), the Kinks's second song-cycle, was released half a century ago, in October 1969. It ...

Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Are We in Tune? No

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 10 January 1970

Author's note, 2018: The review below was cut by the Guardian. What's here is uncut. Who plays Crosby Stills Nash (and Young) albums now or, ...

Led Zeppelin: Lead Balloon

Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 13 January 1970

Update, 2019. SOME FACTS from Wikipedia, practically half century after my negative review below."Led Zeppelin are one of the best-selling music artists in the history of audio ...

Nico: I Always Become The Songs That I Sing

Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, 7 March 1970

Author's note, 2018: I took Nico to Julie's in Portland Road in 1970. Its style was inspired by Biba. Magnetic people sat around on sofas ...

Brinsley Schwarz, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Van Morrison: Van Morrison, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Brinsley Schwartz: Fillmore East, New York NY

Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 10 April 1970

I WAS ON that New York trip last weekend, too. My brief was to listen to the music. I have to report that as soon ...

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Quintessence: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 17 April 1970

2019 Update: I was crazy for Creedence. For The Guardian I reviewed Bayou Country in February 1969, saying "I rate John Fogarty as high for ...

The Flock, It's a Beautiful Day, Quintessence, Johnny Winter: Sounds of the '70s at Montreux

Report by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 1 May 1970

UP THE ROAD from where I'm sitting now, senior television executives from ail over Europe, and from America and Japan, have been descending into a ...

The Who: Live at Leeds (Track)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, 15 May 1970

Update, 2019. Below is the complete piece on The Who Live at Leeds written for The Guardian that published a slashed version, and also for ...

Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead: Hollywood Festival, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire

Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 29 May 1970

Disgracing The Grateful Dead ...

Joan Baez, Canned Heat, Country Joe & The Fish, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Arlo Guthrie, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, John Sebastian, Sha Na Na, Sly & the Family Stone, Ten Years After: Various artists: Woodstock (Atlantic: 2663 001)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 17 July 1970

Update, 2020. Woodstock. The name has many meanings. There's Woodstock the town where Bob Dylan and the Band lived once. But the main resonance is ...

Joni Mitchell: Isle of Wight Festival, Afton Down

Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, 5 September 1970

Update, 2019. LIKE SO many who were there, my sense of life's possibilities was changed forever by the Isle of Wight five-day open-air festivals created ...

The Isle of Wight Festival: Three Shades Of Wight

Overview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 5 September 1970

APART FROM the music, what went on at the Isle of Wight last weekend? Here are the most popular theories. ...

Stoneground: The Electric Rum-And-Butter Ice-Cream And Melon Slices Test

Report by Geoffrey Cannon, New Society, 10 September 1970

Update, 2020. Wavy Gravy (born 1936 as Hugh Romney) featured in my piece below, does not just dream dreams and see visions. He lives them. ...

Jimi Hendrix: Electric Rebel – An Appreciation

Obituary by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 19 September 1970

"THANKS FOR being so patient. Next time we will really try and get it together." Spoken two hours before a cold Sunday dawn, three weeks ...

The Rolling Stones: Stones and the Street Fighting Men

Report by Geoffrey Cannon, Melody Maker, 3 October 1970

Update, 2019. The Rolling Stones were never just entertainers. They are the world's leading creators and performers of Dionysian rock theatre. They are flamboyant, perverse, ...

Janis Joplin: An Appreciation by Geoffrey Cannon

Memoir by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 6 October 1970

AN EVENING at the Royal Garden Hotel in April, 18 months ago. I was meeting Janis Joplin. I fished around for a while, trying to ...

The Band: Listening to The Band

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 10 October 1970

A NUMBER OF rock music bands have been celebrated, in the past three years, not just as "supergroups," but as bands composed of superlative musicians, ...

The Band: Supergroups: A Matter of Context

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 10 October 1970

A NUMBER OF ROCK music bands have been celebrated, in the past three years, not just as "supergroups" but as bands composed of superlative musicians. ...

Janis Joplin: The Agony of Janis

Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, Melody Maker, 10 October 1970

Update, 2020. Yes, the deaths of Brian Jones in July 1969, then of Jimi Hendrix in September 1970, then of Janis Joplin a couple of ...

Bob Dylan: New Morning (CBS KC 30290)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 23 October 1970

Update, 2019. EMERGING FROM Hibbing to New York's Village. His pilgrimage to Woody Guthrie. The protest songs sung like a crow that are now a national ...

Johnny Cash, Eddie Cochran, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich: Sun Records: The Ooby Dooby

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 30 October 1970

"'SINFUL MUSIC,' the townsfolk in Memphis said it was. Which never bothered me, I guess." Elvis Presley, interviewed in 1957. In the early 1950s, the ...

Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Graham Nash: Graham Nash: Song of a Simple Man

Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, Melody Maker, 9 November 1970

Update, 2020. I paid no attention to Graham Nash or to his band the Hollies, the close-harmony Manchester band formed in 1962 inspired by the ...

The Byrds: Untitled (CBS 66253); Preflyte (Together Records ST-T-1001)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 13 November 1970

FEW MUSICIANS have mastered the 16-track recording machine. The abstract discipline it imposes on anyone faced with reducing all its available tracks to two, too ...

The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones and a Rocky Night in Paris

Report by Geoffrey Cannon, Los Angeles Times, 15 November 1970

PARIS — "Funny," said Philippe Paringaux (chief writer for Rock 'n' Folk), "how English freaks refer to pop festivals in Britain as psychedelic concentration camps." ...

George Melly: Revolt into Style (Allen Lane/Penguin Press)

Book Review by Geoffrey Cannon, Punch, 25 November 1970

"HERE LIES not only its origins, but its glory. It came, after all, out of a yearning for the marvellous, out of a need on ...

Buffalo Springfield, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Stephen Stills: Stills Life

Report and Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, Melody Maker, 28 November 1970

A portrait of a rock giant... at work on his solo LP and at home in his English country house ...

The Beatles, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr: Ringo Stars: Geoffrey Cannon on the Beatles' Solo Albums

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 19 December 1970

Ringo Starr: Beaucoups of Blues; Paul McCartney: McCartney; John Lennon: John Lennon Plastic Ono Band; George Harrison: All Things Must Pass ...

Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Charles Manson: The Maggot in the Rose

Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, 1971

Author's note, 2018: Nobody talked about flower power or summers of love or fun, fun, fun after the Manson and the Altamont murders, followed by ...

The Velvet Underground

Overview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 8 January 1971

Update, 2020: Judging by what I play most as I work at home, the Velvet Underground and also Lou Reed are tops, together with Them ...

Little Richard: Electric Circus, New York NY

Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 21 January 1971

ST MARK'S PLACE, the high street of New York's East Village, hums with memories these days. Among them, at the new year, was little Richard, ...

Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground: That Shock Of Recognition Tells You Where He's Been

Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Chicago Sun-Times, 7 February 1971

Author's note, 2018: I met and interviewed Lou Reed twice, in early 1971 and mid-1972, in New York. He gained a reputation for being horrible ...

Tom Donahue: Clean Up Your Face And Mess Up Your Mind

Report and Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, 17 March 1971

Author's note, 2018. This piece on Tom Donahue was one of a number I wrote for The Guardian that was not published. Bah! Nor ...

Van Morrison: What's So Special About Van Morrison?

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, Melody Maker, 20 March 1971

Update, 2019. BELOW THIS update is the first of two pieces on Van's early albums. They were commissioned by Richard Williams as my Melody Maker editor, ...

Van Morrison, Them: Van — Them and now

Discography by Geoffrey Cannon, Melody Maker, 27 March 1971

Update, 2019: This piece continues that on "What's so special about Van Morrison", also here in the RBP archive, commissioned by Richard Williams as my ...

John Cale, The Velvet Underground: John Cale: Welsh Underground

Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 12 April 1971

Author's note, 2018. The Velvet Underground and Nico and to a lesser extent White Light/White Heat are the albums that above all others up to ...

The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers (COC 5910O)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 23 April 1971

Sticky fingers gather no moss ...

The Rolling Stones: The Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 1971

Getting Lots of Satisfaction From Mick, Stones ...

The Rolling Stones: No Dead Flowers

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, Fusion, 14 May 1971

For all their irrelevance to politics, ecology and third-world revolution, they continue to be a special kind of fun. ...

Carole King, Little Richard, Paul McCartney: Albums from Paul McCartney, Little Richard and Carole King

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 21 May 1971

THERE IS NO way to make great rock music from retirement. Paul McCartney may have been seduced — by reading that he's equalled Schubert — ...

Ike & Tina Turner: Ike and Tina Turner: Olympia, Paris

Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, Los Angeles Times, 30 May 1971

Author's note, 2018. The piece below describes the Ike and Tina Turner concert at the Olympia, Paris, in May 1971. I prefer Ike and Tina ...

The Band: A Report from Paris

Report and Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, Melody Maker, 5 June 1971

NO DIFFICULTY KNOWING when you've just finished hearing a great rock concert. Because you'll be in the middle of a great crowd of people standing ...

Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash: Joni Mitchell: Blue/Graham Nash: Songs for Beginners

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 29 June 1971

JONI MITCHELL'S new album, Blue, is about to be released here by Warner Brothers (K 44128). A large proportion of Joni's most notable songs, to date, ...

Carole King, James Taylor: Carole King — Secret Star on the James Taylor Tour

Report and Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, Los Angeles Times, 15 August 1971

Author's note, 2018: A transcendent moment in Carole King's life was during the evening of 7 December 2015 in Washington. She is sitting next to ...

Nesuhi Ertegun: The World Is His Manor

Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 19 October 1971

GEOFFREY CANNON talks to "the most powerful man in the record business outside America" ...

The Band, The Beach Boys, Van Morrison: Van Morrison: Tupelo Honey; The Band: Cahoots; The Beach Boys: Surf's Up

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 29 October 1971

Out of the city ...

Loudon Wainwright III: Ambassador's Son to Recording Biz Mogul

Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, Los Angeles Times, 14 November 1971

...

Arthur Brown, Alice Cooper, The Fugs, MC5, The Mothers Of Invention, The Stooges, Screaming Lord Sutch, Frank Zappa: Aesthetics of Outrage

Overview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 26 November 1971

Update, 2020. "Perverted, outrageous, violent, repulsive, ugly, tasteless. A travesty. That's what's good about them". This was a quote about the Rolling Stones, recorded around ...

Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Leon Russell, Ravi Shankar: George Harrison & Friends: The Concert for Bangladesh (Apple)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 4 January 1972

Update, 2019: The first time I met George Harrison was in the late 1960s, when he was still a Beatle. I quite often went to ...

Alan Lomax: Making a Science of Man's Music

Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, Los Angeles Times, 23 January 1972

Alan Lomax, the man who went into the fields of the southern states in the 1930s and brought the glory of the blues to the attention ...

Neil Young: Harvest

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, Melody Maker, 29 January 1972

Harvest is surely come: Geoffrey Cannon previews NEIL YOUNG's new album Harvest, released next month ...

The Doors: "Out here on the perimeter there are no stars"

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 20 March 1972

Update, 2019. Yes, folks are still listening to the Doors. An extract from their album LA Woman, mentioned in the review of Jim Morrison's lyrics ...

The Beatles, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, The Supremes: Motown Making Millions

Profile by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 1 May 1972

Author's update, 2019. "The Manchester Guardian? That's the best fuckin' newspaper in the world!" So David Crosby told me in early 1969. He had answered ...

The Rolling Stones: Exile On Main Street (Rolling Stones Records, COC 2-900)

Review and Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 20 May 1972

MICK JAGGER on record ...

The Rolling Stones' 1972 US Tour: Winterland, San Francisco

Report by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, June 1972

The Rolling Stones. The last boogie 2019 Update: IN MY sixth year of regular rock writing, I was given a great boost by Jo Bergman ...

Elvis Presley: Madison Square Garden, New York NY

Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 17 June 1972

Author's note, 2018: Yes, it started for me with Elvis, when in 1956 I heard a demo of his first RCA record 'Don't be cruel'/ ...

The Rolling Stones: Our Name is Called Disturbance — The Rolling Stones: Winterland, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 28 June 1972

THE ROLLING STONES are on their first US tour since, the wild acclaim of their 1969 trip. In America, GEOFFREY CANNON describes the impact of ...

Lou Reed Talking About His First Solo Album

Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, July 1972

Author's note, 2018. This was my scoop. New York, June 1972. Lou discusses all the tracks, one by one, in detail and with diversions, on ...

David Bowie: Starman

Profile by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 7 July 1972

Author's note, 2018. WHEN I interviewed Lou Reed in New York in June 1972  he implored me to listen to David Bowie, and especially to ...

Johnny Cash at San Quentin was my idea

Memoir by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, 2004

2018 note: Steve Turner emailed me in 2004 and said he was working on the official biography of Johnny Cash, and had been told that ...

The Doors: Out there in Golden Square, there were plenty of stars

Memoir by Geoffrey Cannon, Rock's Backpages, March 2014

ALL COUPS have a context. Here is the story of The Doors are Open, and how this Granada Television hour-long show came to be made ...

The Whirligig of Time

Memoir by Geoffrey Cannon, Rock's Backpages, February 2019

"THE PAST is never dead. It is not even past" rightly said William Faulkner. My time as a regular writer on rock music was half ...

The Kinks' Arthur: Its genius and its fate

Retrospective by Geoffrey Cannon, Rock's Backpages, October 2019

Arthur (the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), the Kinks's second song-cycle, was released half a century ago, in October 1969. It is now ...

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