Library Rock's Backpages

Graeme Thomson

Graeme Thomson

Graeme Thomson has written for every major music publication in Britain. His work regularly appears in The Guardian, The Word, Uncut, The Herald and several other newspapers, magazines and websites. He is the author of Complicated Shadows: The Life & Music of Elvis Costello; Willie Nelson: The Outlaw; I Shot a Man in Reno, a study of twentieth century death music; The Resurrection of Johnny Cash and Under The Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush, published by Omnibus in May 2010 and recently updated in paperback, was described by the Irish Times as ‘the best music biography in perhaps the past decade.'

117 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Elvis Costello

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Herald, 23 August 2002

YOU DON'T REALLY interview Elvis Costello. It's more a matter of tossing a few loaded questions at him then taking cover as each enquiry explodes ...

Ryan Adams: Demolition Man: Ryan Adams

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Herald, September 2002

RYAN ADAMS IS not feeling well. "Summertime cold," he snuffles, and for a while, early on in our conversation, he seems intent on spreading the ...

Musica Della Mafia: Omerta Onuri E Sangu

Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Herald, October 2002

IT SAYS MUCH for the myth-making powers of Hollywood and beyond that the mere mention of the mafia tends to conjure up images of sharp-suited, ...

Paul McCartney

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, October 2005

JUST WHAT do you do if you are Paul McCartney? You could bathe in liquid gold and shine your shoes with royalty cheques, of course, ...

John Martyn: I've Had a Wonderful Time

Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Herald, November 2005

IT IS FAR from unusual to discover whole fathoms of deep blue sea between the artist and their art. Nothing, however, quite prepares you for ...

Mike Scott, The Waterboys: Mike Scott

Profile and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, 2006

OF ALL THE PLACES to establish a spiritual community, one mile from a RAF base seems a trifle ill-conceived: transcendence must require every ounce of ...

The Blue Nile: Paul Buchanan

Profile and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Herald, 2006

THE FEW THINGS you may conceivably already know about Paul Buchanan are by far the least interesting: that he had a two-year relationship with the ...

Bert Jansch: The Black Swan

Review by Graeme Thomson, The Word, October 2006

THE PROBLEM with so many virtuoso musicians is that their technical skill impedes the act of communication: it becomes the focus of all the attention, ...

Jeff Buckley, Elliott Smith: Elliott Smith et al: It's All Too Beautiful

Report by Graeme Thomson, The Word, June 2007

Pale eulogies on fan sites are giving even obscure dead musicians a career in the afterlife. But does the net build an idealised version of ...

Mick Jagger: Mick Rolls Alone

Interview by Graeme Thomson, Sunday Herald, 27 October 2007

The Rolling Stones frontman reveals why his solo career is the foundation of his artistic life ...

Shirley & Dolly Collins: Down In Albion — Shirley and Dolly Collins: The Harvest Years (Harvest)

Review by Graeme Thomson, The Word, September 2008

The collected classics of Shirley and Dolly Collins constitute a phantasmagoria of English folk. Warning: contains crumhorns. ...

Lucinda Williams: Little Honey (Lost Highway)

Review by Graeme Thomson, The Word, November 2008

WHENEVER A MUSICIAN announces that their new offering is the "most eclectic album they've ever made", it's sure to be a rough ride. ...

Jacques Brel: Jacques The Lad: Jacques Brel

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 6 February 2009

FIRST THINGS FIRST. Try to forget that Jacques Brel, the Belgian singer-songwriter, is indirectly responsible for Terry Jacks's 'Seasons in the Sun'. Forget also for ...

Graham Nash

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, March 2009

IT HAS NEVER occurred to me before Graham Nash points it out, but 'Marrakesh Express' isn't just a breezily literal account of the illicit delights ...

Fever Ray: Fever Ray

Review by Graeme Thomson, The Observer, 15 March 2009

IT'S 2009, AND everything has been stripped bare: assets, confidence, reputations, lives. ...

Ramblin' Jack Elliott

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, April 2009

Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan rewrote their pasts. The same goes for Ramblin' Jack Elliott. ...

Paolo Nutini: Sunny Side Up (Atlantic)

Review by Graeme Thomson, The Observer, 17 May 2009

PAOLO NUTINI tends to get lumped in with the James Morrisons and Blunts of this world, dismissed as a dispenser of tuneful semi-acoustic fare and ...

Prefab Sprout: Erase And Rewind: Paddy McAloon

Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, September 2009

Paddy McAloon’s lost folly has just been released after 17 years. Many and complex were the obstacles in its path, as he tells GRAEME THOMSON. ...

Badly Drawn Boy, Goldfrapp, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Rock Stars Storm the Movie Soundtrack World

Overview by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 19 November 2009

From Goldfrapp to Badly Drawn Boy, from Karen O to Nick Cave, more and more big names are lining up to write music for films. ...

Kris Kristofferson: A Nashville Rebel Reminisces

Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 6 May 2010

THERE'S SOME wonderful YouTube footage of Kris Kristofferson receiving a gong at the 1970 Country Music Association awards. He lopes on stage with his hair ...

The Hold Steady: Heaven Is Whenever

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, June 2010

More righteous, redemptive, endlessly literate rock'n'roll. But this time, things are rather more personal. ...

The Acorn: No Ghost

Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, July 2010

Quietly excellent indie-folk alchemy, inspired by the Quebec wilderness. ...

Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan: Hawk

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, September 2010

Rock's enduring odd couple hit their stride. ...

Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon: Mark Kozelek: Album By Album

Guide by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, September 2010

NEARLY 20 YEARS into a career spanning Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon and several solo records, singer; songwriter, producer and label boss Mark Kozelek ...

Paul Simon: "He is a foreign man. He is surrounded by the sound"

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, October 2010

25 years ago, PAUL SIMON was going nowhere, until a bootleg cassette from Soweto inspired him to set off on a fantastic South African adventure. ...

Ray Lamontagne & the Pariah Dogs: God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, October 2010

Impassioned, old-fashioned soul-blues, and all the better for it, says Graeme Thomson. ...

Talking Heads: And The Heat Goes On

Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, November 2010

A long hot summer in New York 30 years ago, and Talking Heads are heading into dangerous new territory. It will involve intense relationships with ...

Duffy: Endlessly (A&M Records) ****

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, January 2011

Welsh songstress excels — with the help of Albert Hammond and The Roots, says Graeme Thomson ...

Anaïs Mitchell: Going Underworld

Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, February 2011

Anaïs Mitchell reworked the Opheus myth into the micro-folk stage show Hadestown in '06. My, how its grown... ...

Joan As Police Woman: The Deep Field

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, February 2011

Goodbye heartache, hello fun — and the rich, warm vibes of '70s soul. Beauty comes in many guises. On 2006's Real Life, Joan Wasser's first ...

Thin Lizzy: Phil Lynott — Vagabond Of The Western World

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, February 2011

The story of Phil Lynott reads like one of the Irish fables he loved. A buccaneering tale of wine, women and rock'n'roll that mixes poetry ...

Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields: Strange Powers

Film/DVD/TV Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, March 2011

The quixotic songwriter, profiled in relentless close-up. ...

The Low Anthem: Smart Flesh

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, March 2011

THERE'S AN OLD BUDDHIST PROVERB that goes something like this: "Before you speak, ask yourself, 'Will it improve upon the silence?"' It's not a question ...

The Unthanks: Last

Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, April 2011

The Northumbrian five-piece shatter folk's borders, as this expansive yet austere fourth proves. THE UNTHANKS SEEM to regard folk music the same way Miles Davis regarded ...

Thousands: The Sound Of Everything

Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, April 2011

Acoustic gem from Seattle duo makes Fleet Foxes sound brash. THOUSANDS ARE Kristian Garrard and Luke Bergman, two veterans of Seattle's ad hoc, off-radar music scene ...

Bill Callahan: Apocalypse

Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, May 2011

LAST YEAR Bill Callahan described his two most recent albums to Uncut as "sturdy" and "direct". After almost two decades working as Smog, moving from ...

Johnny Thunders: The Heartbreak Kid

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, May 2011

"Everything JOHNNY THUNDERS touched broke," says one of his old bandmates. On the 20th anniversary of Thunders' death, Uncut pieces together the story of a ...

Kate Bush: The Vanishing Siren

Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Daily Telegraph, 12 May 2011

As one of pop's finest and most reclusive talents releases her first album in six years, Graeme Thomson explains her enduring appeal. ...

Kate Bush: Double Exposure: Kate Bush: Director's Cut (EMI/Fish People)

Review by Graeme Thomson, The Word, June 2011

Kate Bush re-examines a handful of her own songs. The result? Restoration, radical reinvention and unfettered weirdness… ...

John Martyn: Heaven And Earth

Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, June 2011

IN LATE 2006 I interviewed John Martyn in the beer garden of his local in Thomastown, Kilkenny. In between bombing pints of cider laced with ...

Mowest, Mo' Problems: The Glorious Failure Of Motown's Californian Outpost

Profile by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 30 June 2011

In 1971 Motown set up a Californian arm, Mowest. As a new compilation shows, it put out some terrific music, but it was a commercial ...

My Morning Jacket: Circuital

Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, July 2011

Kentuckians' collective sense of identity reinvigorated on sixth LP, says Graeme Thomson ...

Johnny Cash: When Johnny Came Marching Home

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, The Word, August 2011

In 1993 Johnny Cash sat on Rick Rubin's sofa and began playing songs — just as a "getting to know you" exercise. It turned out ...

Crowded House

Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, October 2011

Crowded House's recording career was becalmed in 1990 until an unplanned injection of sibling rivalry sparked off the masterpiece that was Woodface. It couldn't last ...

Laura Marling: A Creature I Don't Know

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, October 2011

A prodigious talent finds new intensity on her third album, says Graeme Thomson ...

Mara Carlyle: Torched Songs

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, October 2011

Mara Carlyle's album was jinxed — delayed for years in legal wrangles, then all the stock was burnt in a riot-related warehouse fire. But in ...

Thea Gilmore: The Long Goodbye

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, November 2011

THEA GILMORE has written music for ten lost Sandy Denny lyrics. Creative time-travel or over-milking a legacy? ...

The Last Poets: Waiting For The Revolution

Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, December 2011

From the volatile streets of Harlem in the late '60s, THE LAST POETS were among the earliest voices of radical black youth in America. With ...

Kate Bush: Album by album: Kate Bush

Guide by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, January 2012

It would be inadvisable to get carried away, but two album releases in 2011 suggests Kate Bush is returning to a more agreeable rate of ...

Florence and the Machine: Q&A: Florence Welch

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, January 2012

Pop sorceress, Oscars attendee ...

The Black Keys: El Camino

Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, January 2012

TEN YEARS into the game, Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach add funk and soul to their potent blues-rock brew, with triumphant results. ...

Craig Finn: Clear Heart Full Eyes

Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, February 2012

Hold Steady man's impressive solo flight. ...

Jackie Leven, 1950–2011: "I'm too connected to the pain of other people. It really breaks me up."

Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, February 2012

In his life as in his music, the Scottish singer-songwriter who died last November found inspiration in the raw extremes of human behaviour, which he ...

Simple Minds: Jim Kerr: The Things I Like

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, February 2012

Simple Mind, Celtic FC supporter, fan of prog and proto-punk. Buys much of his new music via TV ads ...

Bon Iver, Kathleen Edwards: Kathleen Edwards and Bon Iver: Love Triangle

Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, February 2012

There's three in this relationship — Kathleen Edwards, Bon Iver and the big, sad, shimmering record they've made together. ...

Simple Minds: "Maybe we shouldn't have cashed in…"

Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 23 February 2012

A COUPLE OF YEARS ago a young, anonymous musician approached Jim Kerr in a Glasgow rehearsal studio and began humorously haranguing him. "He was like, ...

The Black Keys: How The Black Keys Rose Without Trace

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, March 2012

"There's a lot that goes into being a band aside from the music," say the quiet pair from Ohio. "We pay attention to that stuff." ...

ABBA, The Beatles, John Cale, Elvis Costello, Fleetwood Mac, George Harrison, The Libertines, Megadeth, Oasis, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Simon & Garfunkel, Bruce Springsteen: Writing To Reach You

Overview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, March 2012

Because sometimes the only way musicians can actually talk to each other is by writing songs ...

Dion: The Bard Of Bronx County

Profile and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, April 2012

HOW DID THEY miss Dion DiMucci when they were casting for The Sopranos? Even at 72 and now resident in Florida, doo-wop's Bronx apostle still ...

Norah Jones: 10 Questions for Norah Jones

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Arts Desk, 26 April 2012

NORAH JONES is back. New haircut, new sound, new producer. The first of these, while very nice, needn't concern us too much. The second, meanwhile, ...

Simone Felice: Simone Felice

Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, May 2012

Felice Brother's hushed and haunting solo debut. AFTER UNDERGOING EMERGENCY open-heart surgery in 2010, Simone Felice appears to have taken solace in first principles. Having stepped ...

The Blue Nile: Love In A Cold Climate

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, June 2012

Every band falls out in the end — even glacially paced chill-ambient sound-weavers the Blue Nile. ...

New Order: Usher Hall, Edinburgh, May 6, 2012

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, July 2012

The bassist might be playing Hooky, but the technique remains impeccable... "WHERE'S HOOKY?" It takes only two songs for the Edinburgh crowd to raise the spectre ...

Dawes: An Interview

Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, August 2012

"SOMEONE TOLD ME that Bruce Springsteen is aware of our band." At the end of a telephone wire some 5,000 miles away, 25-year-old Taylor Goldsmith ...

World Party: Karl Wallinger: The Song that Saved My Bacon

Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Daily Telegraph, 15 August 2012

IN 1997 WORLD PARTY released a song called 'She's the One'. A simple, affecting piano ballad written by Karl Wallinger "in ten minutes and recorded ...

The Lumineers: The Lumineers

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, September 2012

A RAMBUNCTIOUS BAND based, rather incongruously, in Colorado, The Lumineers create primal, pounding folk music which lead singer Wesley Schulz has likened to the sound ...

The Blue Nile: River Of No Return

Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, January 2013

Over 20 long years, the Blue Nile made four albums of uncanny beauty and emotional heft. Behind the pristine veneer, however, lay another story: of ...

Tim Hardin: Remembering the lost genius of his music

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, Daily Telegraph, 18 January 2013

BOB DYLAN once called him "the greatest songwriter alive" and Joe Strummer regarded him as a "lost genius of music". Yet when Tim Hardin died ...

Frightened Rabbit: "We've gone back to brutal honesty"

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 24 January 2013

Scottish band Frightened Rabbit are a hit in the US, but little known in Britain. Can their new album, Pedestrian Verse, change that? ...

The Black Crowes, The Chris Robinson Brotherhood: The Black Crowes: Rook Back In Anger!

Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, March 2013

IT'S A BEAR! It's a leviathan! It's The Black Crowes, back together. ...

Low: The Invisible Way

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, April 2013

MORE RAW BEAUTY from the Duluth veterans, heightened by lashings of piano and Jeff Tweedy... ...

Primal Scream: More Light

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, June 2013

BOBBY & CO run the gamut from cool to cringe on 10th LP. ...

Harry Nilsson: I Sang My Balls Off For You, Baby!

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, September 2013

"I'D JUST CALL Harry Nilsson a genius," says Van Dyke Parks. "And by the way, I haven't met any others. He redefined what a song ...

Civil Wars, the: The Civil Wars: The Civil Wars

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Jaan Uhelszki, Uncut, September 2013

THE FINAL CONFLICT? Roots revivalists find harmony in discord on self-titled second album. ...

Lightnin' Rod's Hustlers Convention: Rap's Great Lost Album

Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 30 January 2014

A FULL DECADE before Public Enemy revolutionised the world of rap, Chuck D first encountered the album he describes today as "a verbal roadmap for people trying to ...

Snowbird: Moon (Bella Union)

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, February 2014

Simon Raymonde and Stephanie Dosen's mysterious, Cocteaus-y nightscapes. ...

Lavender Country, Chely Wright: Country music's gay stars: "We're still kicking down the closet door"

Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 10 April 2014

Country music is known for tears, beers and big hats – not gay anthems. One singer set out 40 years ago to change that, but ...

Beverley Martyn: "I'm still here and I know who I am now"

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 17 April 2014

"I thought I was over the hill," says Beverley Martyn, sipping water in a west London café and poring over a life filled with dark ...

Roddy Frame: Candid Camera: Roddy Frame opens up on new album Seven Dials

Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Herald, 9 May 2014

THERE IS A LINE in 'White Pony', the opening track on Roddy Frame's fine new album, which says a mouthful. It goes like this: "Sometimes ...

Roddy Frame: Seven Dials

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, June 2014

IT'S BEEN EIGHT years since Roddy Frame's last album, Western Skies, and over 30 since his arrival as a precocious prodigy from East Kilbride, the ...

First Aid Kit: Stay Gold

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, July 2014

Singing sisters' major-label debut is a glittering folk-pop tapestry of Scandi-angst. ...

Prince & 3RDEYEGIRL: SSE Hydro, Glasgow

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, August 2014

"Animals strike curious poses!" The inexhaustible beautiful one celebrates 30 years of Purple Rain. ...

Kate Bush: "They thought she was the stripper"

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, Daily Telegraph, 9 August 2014

A year before 'Wuthering Heights' made her a star, Kate Bush cut her teeth performing in London's pubs. ...

Vashti Bunyan: Heartleap (Fat Cat)

Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, November 2014

One more diamond day: an elusive singer-songwriter's beautiful, last (probably) album. ...

Father John Misty: I Love You, Honeybear

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, March 2015

UNTIL RECENTLY, Josh Tillman was best known for drumming in Fleet Foxes between 2008 and 2012. Before and during that time, Tillman made several slow, ...

Thin White Rope: Cult heroes: Thin White Rope were scorched, alien, hostile

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 24 March 2015

THIN WHITE ROPE were named after William Burroughs's description of ejaculating semen in Naked Lunch – and that's not even the best thing about them. ...

Natalie Prass: The Future And The Past

Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, July 2015

IN TUMULTUOUS times, artists face big choices. To confront, deflect or ignore; to drill down into the darkness; or find alternative sources of light. Some ...

Janis Joplin: Janis: The Way She Was (dir. Howard Alk)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, 3 September 2015

Howard Alk's intimate 1974 portrait of Janis Joplin reissued ...

Tim Hardin: Black Sheep Boy

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, March 2016

50 years on from his debut, Uncut considers the extraordinary music and harrowing life story of Tim Hardin. A tale of blood, arson, rooftop chases, ...

Violent Femmes: We Can Do Anything

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, April 2016

NOT SO MUCH a boast as an expression of amused incredulity, the title of Violent Femmes' ninth studio album is an acknowledgement that few comebacks ...

Jess Glynne: Eden Project, Cornwall

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Daily Mail, 23 July 2016

IF THERE IS a more magical place to see music performed on a summer evening than the Eden Project, with its natural amphitheatre and unearthly ...

KT Tunstall: KIN

Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 4 September 2016

THE LAST TIME we heard from KT Tunstall, she was struggling with the double whammy of a broken marriage and the death of her father. ...

Ronan Keating: SECC Clyde Auditorium

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 24 September 2016

IT'S LADIES' NIGHT down by the River Clyde. There's a run on prosecco at the bar; tumbleweed is blowing through the deserted Gents. ...

Christine and the Queens: O2 Academy, Glasgow

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Daily Mail, 12 November 2016

HÉLOÏSE LETISSIER, the French artist who performs as Christine and the Queens, is demob-happy. "This is a free zone," she tells us in charming accented ...

Emeli Sandé: Long Live The Angels

Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 12 November 2016

"I FELL IN LOVE with fear, Oh God forgive me," sings Emeli Sandé halfway through her second album. She doesn't sound fearful, though. Terrifically glum, ...

Marti Pellow: Just call me mellow Pellow

Profile and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Event Magazine, 25 February 2017

He can smile about it now, but the singer with the megawatt grin knows how close drink, drugs and 'Love Is All Around' came to ...

Blondie: Pollinator

Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 30 April 2017

WHAT DO YOU do when you can no longer write the kind of songs that made you beloved in the first place? If you're Blondie, almost ...

Elton John, Neil Sedaka: Neil Sedaka on Elton John and more

Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 10 June 2017

Elton John loved his songs so much that he rescued him from the recording wilderness. So why did Neil Sedaka, creator of 'Oh! Carol' and ...

PJ Harvey: Playhouse, Edinburgh

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 13 August 2017

THERE'S NO NEED to ask how PJ Harvey takes her coffee. From the all-black dress code and shadowy stage lighting to the dense, dusky music, ...

Jess Glynne: Falkirk Stadium, Scotland

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Daily Mail, 19 August 2017

Jess Glynne offers a sprinkling of magic to unsunny Stirlingshire, but inevitably for an artist still touring her first record, the handful of killer comes ...

The War On Drugs: A Deeper Understanding (Atlantic)

Review by Graeme Thomson, Daily Mail, Summer 2017

ADAM GRANDUCIEL, strategist-in- chief behind Philadelphia's the War On Drugs, works in a field we might call ambient Americana. Imagine the music of Bruce Springsteen, ...

Camila Cabello: Camila

Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 13 January 2018

A 20-YEAR-OLD Cuban-American with Mexican roots, Camila Cabello's lineage may not be to the taste of Donald Trump, but she at least grabbed the ear ...

Joan Baez, Bob Dylan: Joan Baez

Interview by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 24 March 2018

She's the queen of the '60s protest song, who helped make her lover Bob Dylan famous. Now, as she prepares for her farewell tour, Joan ...

Jeff Tweedy: Queen's Hall, Edinburgh

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, April 2018

One man and his mic'd up acoustic guitar, "singing songs to humans..." ...

Dua Lipa: SSE Hydro, Glasgow

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 22 April 2018

Dua's great Lipa forward: the charismatic pop star du jour proves herself to the hangar born on the opening night of her first arena tour. ...

Plan B: Heaven Before All Hell Breaks Loose (Atlantic) 

Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 6 May 2018

LAST TIME we heard from Ben Drew, six years ago, he was the Poet Laureate of Broken Britain, listing the London riots, crack addiction and ...

Camila Cabello: O2 Academy, Glasgow

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 9 June 2018

Cabello launches the opening night of her tour like a woman hell-bent on cramming every idea she's ever had into 80 frantic minutes. ...

Run-DMC: Run DMC: Won't stop rockin'

Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, August 2018

They've survived splits, breakdowns and the unsolved murder of DJ Jam Master Jay, but Run-DMC are still causing hard times for sucker MCs ...

Fleet Foxes: Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 11 August 2018

As their 15-month global tour comes to an end, Fleet Foxes seem reluctant to say farewell and delight Glasgow with their strikingly beautiful noise ...

The The: Barrowland, Glasgow

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, September 2018

THERE IS no better time for Matt Johnson to revivify The The after 20 years. The themes of his Eighties and early Nineties material feel ...

Prince: Piano And A Microphone 1983

Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 8 September 2018

We already knew Prince was a genius, but worth-the-wait posthumous release Piano And A Microphone 1983 deepens our understanding of why. ...

Shania Twain: SSE Hydro, Glasgow

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 29 September 2018

Shania Twain's empowering Friday night anthems have accrued a certain gravitas in the age of #MeToo, as her surprisingly meaty tour proves. ...

Mumford & Sons: SSE Hydro, Glasgow

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 24 November 2018

Mumford & Sons are 21st-century boys these days, with new album Delta continuing their self-conscious plunge into progress... but are they playing against their strengths? ...

Mark Hollis, Talk Talk: A sacred voice: Mark Hollis sang the English gospel

Comment by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 26 February 2019

Talk Talk began as '80s synth-pop stalwarts, but Hollis developed not only what became known as post-rock, but his own transcendent music. ...

The Beatles: Mark Lewisohn: Why I can't just ...Let It Be!

Interview by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 13 July 2019

The world's foremost authority on the Beatles, Mark Lewisohn, reveals why he'll stop at nothing to complete his definitive history of the band. ...

George Michael, Andrew Ridgeley, Wham!: Andrew Ridgeley: Wham! George & Me (Michael Joseph)

Book Review by Graeme Thomson, Event Magazine, 26 October 2019

Despite being crushed' at his bandmate's death, Andrew Ridgeley's memoir, Wham! George & Me, is merely a bland look at the duo's career. ...

Jackie Leven: "Strong on the outside, brittle on the inside": the life, death and genius of Jackie Leven

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, Daily Telegraph, 15 September 2021

The troubled, genre-defying Scot told stories that no one else dared to. Who cares if they weren't all true? ...

back to LIBRARY

COPYRIGHT NOTICE