Greg Shaw
Co-founder of the legendary MOJO NAVIGATOR R&R NEWS, one of the earliest rock zines, based in San Francisco in 1966-67, and then of the ageless (WHO PUT THE) BOMP in L.A. during the '70s. Greg was one of the godfathers of rock writing and chronicling. His other writings included books, liner notes (recently the Rhino Nuggets boxes) and the sprawling, ongoing Bomp website. His Bomp Records label issued (and reissued) countless classics of psych, garage and power pop, and launched many musical careers. His most recent endeavor was "Bompbooks.com", which aimed at being the definitive online rock bibliography. Tragically, Greg died from a diabetes-related heart attack in November 2004. He was 55.
Gary Sperrazza!'s 1979 audio interview with Greg
128 articles
List of articles in the library
Comment by Greg Shaw, Mojo Navigator, 30 August 1966
FROM OUR RATHER strongly-worded editorial in the last issue, many have drawn the conclusion that we are totally against Bill Graham. Nothing, of course, could ...
Big Brother & The Holding Company, Janis Joplin: Big Brother & the Holding Company
Interview by Greg Shaw, Mojo Navigator, 5 October 1966
GS: Can you tell us about your recent visit to Chicago? ...
Country Joe & The Fish: Country Joe and the Fish
Interview by Greg Shaw, Mojo Navigator, 22 November 1966
Present at this interview were Country Joe and the Fish, who consist of Joe McDonald (vocals), Barry Melton (lead guitar), David Cohen (guitar and organ), ...
The Doors: Interview with the Doors
Interview by Greg Shaw, Mojo Navigator, August 1967
MOJO NAVIGATOR: You just played in New York and Los Angeles and San Francisco. What are the differences you've found in the audiences in the ...
The Mothers of Invention: Absolutely Free (Verve V6-5013)
Review by Greg Shaw, Mojo Navigator, August 1967
THIS ALBUM is a "first" in the rock genre, being basically an opera more than anything else. The record is divided into 13 tracks, each ...
Book Review by Greg Shaw, Who Put The Bomp!, October 1970
WITH THIS book, the study of rock & roll reaches a level of sophistication matching that of blues and jazz research. The day is gone ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Cosmo's Factory
Review by Greg Shaw, Who Put The Bomp!, October 1970
WELL, THEY'VE finally done it. Creedence Clearwater has produced an entire album without a single poor song. And what's more, they don't all sound alike. ...
Profile by Greg Shaw, Fusion, 19 February 1971
THE ORIGIN of The Kinks is nearly shrouded in antiquity – 1964, to be exact. There weren't many 'rock' groups around yet; just the Stones ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 15 April 1971
THESE TWO ALBUMS have quite a bit in common; both consist of early material released now to cash in on the popularity of the groups ...
The Flamin' Groovies: The Flamin’ Groovies: Teenage Head (Kama Sutra)
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 27 May 1971
I’VE BEEN betting on the Flamin’ Groovies a long time. When they used to come on stage at Golden Gate Park love-ins and all the ...
Music Magazines: The Real Rock ‘n’ Roll Underground
Overview by Greg Shaw, Creem, June 1971
DO YOU EVER get so sick of the latest Leon Russell or Ten Years After album that you switch off the FM radio in disgust ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, August 1971
CROWBAR IS THE most interesting group to come out of Canada in a long time. Their first LP with King Biscuit Boy was a blessed ...
Shiva’s Headband: Take Me To The Mountains
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, September 1971
EVERY SO OFTEN a company will try the "shotgun" strategy – releasing large numbers of albums by new groups in hopes that a few will ...
Sonny Til & the Orioles: Sonny Til and the Orioles: Sonny Til and the Orioles (RCA)
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, September 1971
BACK IN THE FIFTIES there was something called The New York Sound. It was classed as R&B, but unlike the tough, electrified R&B of Ike ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, September 1971
WHENEVER I USED to say I liked the MC5, I would always preface the statement with some remark like "sure, I know they're a bunch ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: A Simple But Compelling Sound: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Overview by Greg Shaw, Fusion, 15 October 1971
WHO'D HAVE THOUGHT it would be an old-fashioned rock 'n' roll band to pull us out of the doldrums of 1968's acid comedown/methedrine blues nightmare? ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, November 1971
CLYDE MCPHATTER is one of the best singers to come out of the early 50s vocal group tradition. After a stint with Billy Ward and ...
The Who: Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, December 1971
WHO FANS have been saying it for years: "Those bastards at Decca! Why don't they put out an album of early singles?" For the Who ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 9 December 1971
IT'S A WELL-KEPT SECRET, but this album tossed off with ten others in a recent release by the Shelby Singleton Corp., is one of the ...
Elvis Presley: Jerry Hopkins: Elvis – The Biography
Book Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, January 1972
THERE HAS never been an entertainer quite like Elvis Presley. His life and his contribution to rock 'n' roll have assumed such legendary proportions, which ...
Grand Funk Railroad: E Pluribus Funk (Capitol)
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, 1 January 1972
It's time to admit we were wrong about Grand Funk. Oh, we were right too, but wrong just the same. Those three or four (I ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, 1 January 1972
DO YOU HAVE trouble thinking of Paul Anka as anything but a greasy Italian dork from Brooklyn who whined his way adeniodally through a series ...
Overview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, March 1972
The dog days of rock are upon us. ...
Badfinger, The Kinks: Badfinger/The Kinks: Berkeley Community Theatre
Live Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, April 1972
IT WASN'T YOUR usual Berkeley concert, the type you'd hear, say, Joy of Cooking at. I can't imagine where they came from, but sprinkled liberally ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, May 1972
THIS IS one of those albums you have to have spent at least a year waiting breathlessly for to appreciate the full import of. This ...
Long John Baldry: John Baldry: Everything Stops For Tea
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 25 May 1972
WHEN IS someone going to come out and say that, despite all the hype and hoopla, John Baldry is a non-talent poseur that would never ...
The Wackers: Wackers: Hot Wacks
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 25 May 1972
IN THE EARLY part of 1966, a group called the Family Tree used to play at the old Fillmore a lot. They did Beatles songs ...
Janis Joplin: Joplin In Concert (Columbia C2X31160)
Review by Greg Shaw, Los Angeles Free Press, 26 May 1972
I'LL NEVER forget Big Brother & the Holding Company. Christ, I must've seen them a hundred times between early '66 and the time Janis left. ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Creem, June 1972
Have you ever felt the urge to visit the distant reaches of the galaxy? I don't mean in some freaked-out 2001 Pink Floyd acid trip, ...
The Rolling Stones: Exile on Main St.
Review by Greg Shaw, Los Angeles Free Press, 16 June 1972
Cruisin' through rock country ...
Grand Funk Railroad: Track On! The Best of Mark Farner, Terry Knight & Donnie Brewer
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 22 June 1972
WOW, TALK ABOUT obscure rock history! Do you care that Mark Farner was once in a group called the Bossmen? Do you think the average ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries: Fresh (Capitol)
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, July 1972
I ALWAYS HELD that the next revitalization of pop music would be heralded by a resurgence of interest in the mid-'60's, but I couldn't have ...
The Velvet Underground: Live At Max's Kansas City (Cotillion 9500)
Review by Greg Shaw, The Berkeley Barb, 7 July 1972
Rumpled Velvet ...
Tower of Power: Bump City (Warner Bros.)
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, 1 August 1972
I CAN JUST see the perverse gleam in the editor's eye as he sent me this album to review. He sure knows how to bug ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 31 August 1972
PEOPLE ALWAYS ask why Ike Turner is content to stand in the background, playing those fine guitar riffs to an audience totally oblivious to him ...
Buddy Holly: A Rock & Roll Collection
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, September 1972
I DON'T LIKE to be made a fool of. Last January the folks at Decca told me of their plans for an elaborate Buddy Holly ...
Profile by Greg Shaw, Fusion, September 1972
IT'S HARD to remember a time when the role of the producer wasn't considered just as important as that of the musicians in the making ...
Doobie Brothers: Toulouse Street
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, October 1972
I DON'T KNOW about you, but it happens to me all the time. I get some album in the mail, listen to the whole thing ...
Travis Wammack: Scratching in the Shoals: Travis Wammack
Interview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, October 1972
THERE ARE SOME names you never forget. Names like Narvel Felts, Felton Jarvis, Elvis Presley...Good Southern names for self-styled Southern boys that made some of ...
The Philadelphia Story, Early Sixties Style: What It Was, Was Pud
Retrospective by Greg Shaw, Fusion, October 1972
It all started in 1959, perhaps rock 'n' roll's bleakest year. Buddy Holly had gone down in flames over N. Dakota, Little Richard had gone ...
Various Artists: Nuggets (Elektra)
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, October 1972
1965 Revisited: Lenny Kaye meets the Seeds ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, 1 October 1972
THIS IS ONE of the best live albums I’ve ever heard. Mike Saunders is out of his mind. ...
Report and Interview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, November 1972
WHEN A GROUP PUTS out five or more singles in their first year, hits the upper regions of the Top Ten with each of them, ...
Elvis Presley: The Cobo Hall, Detroit, Michigan
Live Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, December 1972
I'M GETTING pretty sick of all this talk about what a gross Tom Jones imitation Elvis has become. Baby fat and other people’s songs, indeed. ...
Michel Pagliaro: M’Lady/Pagliaro/Pag/Pagliaro Live
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, 1973
ABOUT A year ago we reviewed a single called 'Some Sing, Some Dance' by one Pagliaro. Genuine pop-rock being so much scarcer in those days ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 4 January 1973
Punk Rock: the arrogant underbelly of '60s pop ...
Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids, Fumble: Fumble and Flash Cadillac & The Continental Kids
Review by Greg Shaw, Music World, February 1973
THE ROCK & roll revival is sure getting to be a pain in the ass. That's a tough admission for me to make, as I ...
Little Jimmy Osmond: Killer Joe (MGM SE 4855)
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 1 February 1973
WHO SAYS rock & roll is dead? Certainly not Mike Curb. Not only is he recycling his own career, signing up everybody he can find ...
Amon Düül (I & II), Hawkwind, Pink Floyd: The Future Will Happen This Year: Space Rock
Overview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, March 1973
RIGHT NOW we're gonna go back, way back, back before there was FM radio, quadrasonic sound, mellotrons, or any of the other futuristic trappings that ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 29 March 1973
DION WAS the original punk. Stand him up next to his contemporary male teen idols – Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Bobby Vee, Brian Hyland, Bobby Rydell, ...
Jimmy Cliff and Various Artists: The Harder They Come
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, April 1973
IT'S REGGAE, MON, sweet as cola wine and m'bopo supremo. No lectures, no history lessons, if ya don't know about that sound from Jamaica by ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Creem, April 1973
PEOPLE SOMETIMES ask why a serious, well-educated, intellectual fellow such as me wastes his time and enthusiasm on the most insignificant passing trends and the ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 26 April 1973
OF THE FEW groups who have survived since 1963, the Hollies sound fresher and more up-to-date than anyone, with the possible exception of the Beach ...
The Beach Boys: A California Saga
Essay by Gene Sculatti, Greg Shaw, Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1973
The Revival of Coastal Consciousness featuring The Beach Boys, Dean Torrance, California, American Spring ...
Will Reggae Make It? Jamaica Says It Will!
Overview by Greg Shaw, Crawdaddy!, June 1973
THE STONES, Aretha, Traffic, Paul Simon and Roberta Flack have all made celebrated pilgrimages to the island and bandwagon trend-watches are beginning to mutter about ...
Charlie Feathers: The Minit-Stop
Report by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, July 1973
SO THERE WE were in Memphis, at the rock writers' convention. First morning there I was awakened by a phone call, "Hey, Charlie Feathers is ...
Dr. John: Dr John aka Mac Rebennack
Overview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, 1 July 1973
THE STORY OF NEW ORLEANS ROCK 'N' ROLL ...
Black Oak Arkansas: When Rock & Roll Came to Arkansas
Essay by Greg Shaw, Creem, September 1973
A passel o' scraggly critters came outa the woodwork ...
Retrospective by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, September 1973
JOHN FOGERTY is many things, none of them ordinary. Besides his obvious musical ability, he is unique even among musicians. A loner, self-reliant and firmly ...
Overview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, October 1973
The N.Y. Dolls & Blue Oyster Cult Revive Manhattan ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, October 1973
YOU KNOW WHAT? People got me all wrong. They think I'm a fanatic for reissues, getting up on my soapbox each time a new one ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries: Side Three (Capitol)
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, October 1973
THEY SAY the third album is the crucial one for any group, and it’s particularly true for the Raspberries. Their first was good, but not ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, November 1973
IT'S NO SURPRISE that Chuck Berry has managed to slip gracefully into middle age without changing his music or his image to any great extent. ...
Sonny & Cher: Growing Up With Sonny & Cher
Retrospective by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, November 1973
RECENTLY, THE SONNY & Cher Comedy Hour devoted a special show to what they called "The Sonny & Cher Years". ...
The Rolling Stones: Goat's Head Soup
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, November 1973
THERE IS NOTHING GOOD about the new Rolling Stones album. No redeeming qualities whatsoever. Not even anything that can be turned around and stretched and ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 22 November 1973
A NEW STRAIN of music has been developing of late, unheralded except by those who delight in new studio techniques applied in loving parody to ...
The Who’s Mod Generation: Quadrophenia Through The Years
Overview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, December 1973
If I could somehow live my teenage years over again, I think I would choose to live them as a Mod. What it must have ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 20 December 1973
WITH EVERYONE from the Band to Don McLean doing oldies albums, the Who revisiting the Mod era, and David Bowie's guitarist Mick Ronson's obvious brilliance ...
Badfinger: Ass (Apple) and Badfinger (Warner Bros)
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, January 1974
TWO BADFINGER albums in one month! What more could a fan ask for after a two year drought? If only it were so... actually, the ...
Hawkwind: Ford Theatre, Detroit
Live Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, January 1974
OF THE MERE six dates Hawkwind had chosen for their American debut tour, it seemed most appropriate to be seeing them in Detroit, the ancestral ...
Ozark Mountain Daredevils: Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, January 1974
KANSAS CITY HAS never been what you'd call a major center for rock music. It's a fairly large city, with a sizeable and extremely devoted ...
Del Shannon: The Return of the 'Runaway' Man: Del Shannon
Report by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, January 1974
COMEBACKS ARE becoming as common as oldies these days. When you think about it, rock & roll has been around some twenty years now, with ...
Electric Light Orchestra: On the Third Day
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 31 January 1974
IF YOU LIKED ELO II for its weavings of familiar classical motifs through lengthy songs, On the Third Day will both please and disappoint you. ...
The Amboy Dukes, Ted Nugent: Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes: Call Of The Wild
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, March 1974
LONG BEFORE the Midwest was overrun with groups who survived for years without hit records by playing interminable guitar solos to vacant-eyed kids at an ...
Texas Rock & Roll Spectacular!
Overview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, March 1974
WHILE THE AUSTIN scene is the current focus of national attention on Texas, we mustn't forget how truly vast that state is, both in size ...
The Animals, Eric Burdon: Eric Discovers America
Profile and Interview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, 1 March 1974
Eric Burdon Returns To The Musical Arena ...
Olivia Newton-John: Let Me Be There
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, 1 March 1974
THERE ARE A LOT of interesting things about this album. First, it features 'Let Me Be There', one of the most pleasant surprises of early ...
Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen: Live from Deep in the Heart of Texas
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 28 March 1974
COMMANDER Cody’s fourth and most successful album proves the group can incite any audience to dance, drink and have fun. ...
Blue Oyster Cult: Secret Treaties (Columbia)
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, April 1974
BLUE OYSTER CULT was formed with a very definite idea in mind, and they haven't deviated from or enlarged that idea much in two years. ...
Bryan Ferry: These Foolish Things (Atco)
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, 1 April 1974
FOR WEEKS I'd been hearing how bad this album was from people whose judgment is usually reliable. How pleasant then to discover an album so ...
Grand Funk Railroad: 'I Know You'll Get To Like It If You Give It A Chance Now'
Profile and Interview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, 1 April 1974
A BRISK, ICY WIND was blowing through the overcast skies of Flint, Michigan as the members of Grand Funk Railroad arrived at Whiting Auditorium for ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 25 April 1974
THE BIGGEST FACTOR preventing the spread of glitter rock in America is the persistent popularity of blues, particularly in the form of its degenerate offspring, ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, May 1974
THIS ALBUM has a subtitle, Contrasts, and it's a good word for Bob Seger. At times one of the most no-nonsense rockers the country has ...
Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids: Flash Cadillac: There's No Face Like Chrome (Epic)
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, May 1974
OF ALL THE GROUPS to come out of the Fifties, Flash Cadillac has always shown the greatest promise, and that promise is fulfilled in this, ...
The Move: The Best Of The Move
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, May 1974
IF THER IS one band whose legendary attributes and entangled history need no longer be catalogued, that band is the Move. True, of all the ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 9 May 1974
ON THEIR SECOND A&M album, this Scottish group with folk roots continue on their heavy electric course, guided by producer Roger Glover (of Deep Purple ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 6 June 1974
WHILE AMERICAN AUDIENCES continue to boogie as though it were still 1968, London has been overrun by pop maniacs, raising the ghost of Carnaby Street ...
Brownsville Station: School Punks
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, 1 July 1974
THERE'S NEVER been a band that wanted to be teenage as desperately as Brownsville Station. They've tried everything, from '50s rock ('Rockin' Robin', 'Hello Mary ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 18 July 1974
A FEW YEARS AGO, some English pubs began presenting live bands as a free service to their patrons. Since there have never been enough outlets ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, August 1974
Sometimes it takes so long for greatness to be recognized that when it finally happens, most people wonder how such a highly-developed ability sprang into ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, August 1974
There's something intriguing about a new group that manages to make a powerful impression without falling into any easily defined category. That's how I feel ...
Profile by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, August 1974
I was sitting in my den, as I often do, playing records and making notes for an article, when something clicked unexpectedly in my mind. ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, September 1974
BRITAIN'S FACELESS HEROES UNMASKED ...
The Beach Boys: Endless Summer (Capitol)
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, 1 September 1974
NO SUMMER WOULD BE complete without a Beach Boys reissue. These last couple of years, with Warner Bros. working on the post-Pet Sounds material and ...
Paul Anka: The Rebirth Of Paul Anka
Profile and Interview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, 1 September 1974
'People need songs about real, human things...' ...
The Heavy Metal Kids: Heavy Metal Kids: Heavy Metal Kids
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, November 1974
CONCEPT GROUPS hardly ever come off. Unless they have exceptional inspiration and musical ability, like the Raspberries, they find themselves weighed under by the pretension ...
Roy Wood, Wizzard: Wizzard: Eddie & the Falcons
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, November 1974
FOR A MUSICIAN of his acknowledged brilliance, Roy Wood has shown an inordinate interest in paying tribute to the past works of others. ...
Neil Sedaka: The Tra-La Days Are Back
Profile by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, December 1974
I DON'T NEED to refer to any books or charts to tell you that Neil Sedaka's ‘Breaking Up is Hard to Do’ was one of ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, December 1974
MY FAVORITE ALBUMS are the ones that have eight or more tracks, each sounding as though it was intended to be a single, if only ...
The Rolling Stones: It’s Only Rock ’N Roll
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, December 1974
"The Best Party Album In Years" ...
Live Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, December 1974
THAT'S WHAT THEY called it, and if one were to believe the advance publicity, which spread by word of mouth through the Hollywood environs like ...
Grand Funk Railroad: All The Girls In The World Beware!!
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, January 1975
MEET THE 1975 Grand Funk. If you liked the 1974 model, you're gonna love this one. The all-new features include an elaborate new cover motif ...
Gladys Knight: In The Beginning
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, February 1975
GLADYS KNIGHT'S rather sudden acceptance as America's reigning songstress not only caught many by surprise, it also created for her an audience that in all ...
Iron Butterfly: Scorching Beauty
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, February 1975
IT'S A WELL known axiom that one hit record is good for ten years of work. Just ask Fabian. ...
John Lennon: Rock 'N' Roll (Apple)
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, March 1975
IN OCTOBER 1973 John Lennon was reported cutting an album of oldies with Phil Spector. After only four sides had been cut, Spector was seriously ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, April 1975
FUMBLE'S FIRST album presented them as a typically stylized (if above average) Fifties revival group on the order of Flash Cadillac – and with a ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, May 1975
When it comes to making solo albums, it seems that some folks have it and others don't know the difference. ...
The Beach Boys: Spirit Of America
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, May 1975
ANOTHER SUMMER, another Beach Boys anthology. It never ends, does it? All you kids who bought Endless Summer last year can now buy Spirit of ...
Elton John: Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, June 1975
THE TIME HAS come to acknowledge just how big Elton John has become. His preeminence has come to pass so gradually that the present magnitude ...
Koko Taylor: I Got What It Takes
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, June 1975
ANYONE WHO maintains that blues is a dead or dying form must not be aware of Alligator Records. This tiny, dedicated company has been operating ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, June 1975
FOR ALL THAT we thought we knew the Beatles, I don't think there's one of us that hasn't been surprised at the course their individual ...
Barry Mann: Rock & Roll Survivor
Profile and Interview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, July 1975
Who put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp?Who put the ram in the rama-lama-ding-dong?Who put the bop in the bop-shoobop-shoobop?Who put the dit in the dit-didit-didit?Who ...
Dave Edmunds: Subtle as a Flying Mallet
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, December 1975
Perhaps you’re thinking it’s either premature or entirely unwarranted that a relative unknown whose sole claim to fame is a 1970 updating of Smiley Lewis’ ...
John Fogerty Looks At Rock In ‘76
Interview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, April 1976
''Let's face it," John Fogerty was saying, "could I wear eye shadow and get away with it?" He was speaking of the sense of alienation ...
The Sex Pistols: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, June 1976
LONDON, THE TREND centre of last decade’s mod rebellion, has been running a poor second, if not third, this time around. ...
Comment by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, 1977
"ABBA IS the most exciting pop phenomenon of the ‘70s," claims their bio, and for once it’s no hype. My admiration for this group knows ...
Blondie: Blondie (Private Stock)
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, February 1977
THE FIRST TIME I saw Blondie she was incredible. ...
New Wave Goodbye? Some Thoughts On The Economic State Of The New Wave Industry In America
Overview by Greg Shaw, New York Rocker, September 1978
LET ME BEGIN by saying that I’ve written many articles on New Wave, most of which have dealt with the exciting possibilities of making permanent ...
Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil: Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil
Retrospective by Greg Shaw, The History of Rock, 1982
MANN AND WEIL were the hipsters of the Brill building set. While Carole King and her friends were basically square, middle-class types who wrote things ...
The Archies, Barry Mann, Carole King, Neil Sedaka: Don Kirshner: The Pop Factory
Profile by Greg Shaw, The History of Rock, 1982
POP FROM THE production line; that seemed to be the story of the late Fifties and early Sixties. But the production line does not inevitably ...
Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry: Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich: Weavers Of Dreams
Retrospective by Greg Shaw, The History of Rock, 1982
THE THIRD GREAT husband and wife team of the Brill Building era, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich hit the scene late. ...
Leaders Of The Pack: Teen Dreams And Tragedy In Girl Group Rock
Retrospective by Greg Shaw, The History of Rock, 1982
OF ALL THE musical fads that came and went in the early Sixties, the girl-group phenomenon has succeeded best in retaining its appeal. ...
Majors and Indies: Fight For Survival
Overview by Greg Shaw, The History of Rock, 1982
During the forties and fifties, at a time when giant conglomerates were starting to squeeze small companies out of the market in most industries, a ...
Phil Spector: To Know Him Is To Love Him
Retrospective by Greg Shaw, The History of Rock, 1982
So much has been written about Phil Spector, yet he still remains an enigma. ...
Rock Instrumentals: Without A Voice
Retrospective by Greg Shaw, The History of Rock, 1982
Rock is essentially a vocal musical form: the singer is the pivot and he or she is supported by the group. ...
Retrospective by Greg Shaw, The History of Rock, 1982
BEFORE 1960, rock ‘n’ roll had inevitably been seen as a rough-edged, spontaneous invention of teenagers. By that year, however, the teenage performers — and ...
The US Music Moguls and the Rock Revolution
Retrospective by Greg Shaw, The History of Rock, 1983
Business as Usual Following the arrival of the Beatles, the American record industry no longer found it so easy to manufacture rock 'n' roll stars ...
Essay by Greg Shaw, Nuggets II (Rhino Records), 2001
GROWING UP in America in the '60s, I was surrounded by garage bands, and although I never realized how many more there were across the ...
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