James Brown
James was on the staff of NME in the late '80s and later launched Loaded and Jack magazines and the website Sabotage Times.
36 articles
List of articles in the library
The Three Johns: The World By Storm (Abstract ABT 012)
Review by James Brown, Sounds, 10 May 1986
'ULLO JOHN... ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus And Mary Chain: National Ballroom, Kilburn, London
Live Review by James Brown, Sounds, 3 January 1987
HEEEEEEY! MONDAY, The Jesus And Mary Chain take the stage, grey skeletons of their former selves. Five nervous under-rehearsed men with an expectant audience ahead ...
A Certain Ratio, The Fall: The Fall, A Certain Ratio: Free Trade Hall, Manchester
Live Review by James Brown, Sounds, 10 January 1987
A BRILLIANT CAREER ...
Cookie Crew, Schoolly D, The Three Wise Men: Rhythm King Records: Hit Me With Your Rhythm Kings
Profile and Interview by James Brown, Sounds, 24 January 1987
Somehow, somewhere James Brown became a fast-chat, no-flab funker. And he did it with the help of Rhythm King, Britain's leading dance indie label. Since ...
Tony Wilson: One Man and a Music Factory
Interview by James Brown, Sounds, 28 February 1987
In the first of a special series on the men and women behind the scenes of the music business JAMES BROWN talks to TONY WILSON, ...
My Bloody Valentine: The Bleedin' Heart Club Band
Interview by James Brown, Sounds, 28 March 1987
MY BLOODY VALENTINE are bloody brilliant. But are they bloody incestuous or true champions of pure bloody pop? Bloody JAMES BROWN gets so high on ...
Public Enemy: Yo! Bum Rush The Show (Def Jam DEF 450482)*****
Review by James Brown, Sounds, 4 April 1987
SHARPSHOOTERS ...
Schoolly D: Saturday Night (Rhythm King MELT LP2)***
Review by James Brown, Sounds, 9 May 1987
BOTH DEF AND DUMB ...
Live Review by James Brown, Sounds, 16 May 1987
MACK ATTACK ...
The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu: Feeling The Pinch
Interview by James Brown, Sounds, 16 May 1987
Who the hell has ever illegally sampled and mixed James Brown with AC/DC, Dave Brubeck with Led Zeppelin, Abba with The Fall, Samantha Fox with ...
The Beastie Boys: Keep Taking The Tabloids
Report and Interview by Jack Barron, James Brown, Sounds, 23 May 1987
Must they keep flinging this filth at our pop kids? No, not the brilliant BEASTIE BOYS but the British national press attempting to stir up ...
Madonna: Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by James Brown, New Musical Express, 29 August 1987
THE HORDES of topless Brooooce and Bono-philes who have come here before us have received nothing but the flabby hopes of two ugly old men ...
Derek B: Rapping for the Yankee Dollar?
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 7 May 1988
DEREK B is Britain's first serious contender for the crown of international rap. JAMES BROWN bows to the boy from Bow but wonders whether the ...
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 14 May 1988
Already a star in her native Israel, OFRA HAZA has broken out of the 'world music' ghetto thanks to a sample of her remarkable voice ...
Public Enemy: Too Black Too Strong
Interview by Jack Barron, James Brown, New Musical Express, 21 May 1988
PUBLIC ENEMY — simply the most creative rappers around? Or a dangerous game with the politics of race? JAMES BROWN and JACK BARRON lay it ...
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 3 December 1988
After spells in the hyper-trendy but hit-starved Rip Rig And Panic and Float Up CP, NENEH CHERRY is about to burst into the charts with ...
Interview by James Brown, Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 25 February 1989
For its second pop summit of the year, NME lent SEAN O'HAGAN and JAMES BROWN £10 each to buy SHANE MACGOWAN, MARK E SMITH and ...
Report and Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 24 June 1989
Wild Thing! You make my bank account sing. In the last six months West Coast rapper TONE LOC has sold over six million records. His ...
The Beastie Boys, Rick Rubin, Wolfsbane: Rick Rubin: Fang of Def
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 8 July 1989
Five years ago RICK RUBIN was the 21-year-old student behind Def Jam — the label that brought you the twin rock-rap assault of Licensed To Ill and ...
Interview by James Brown, Spin, May 1990
The Stone Roses have taken Britain's pop world by storm, but they've done it on their own terms. ...
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 6 October 1990
Get your hands on your handbags HAPPY MONDAYS are back. After a long hard summer recording in Los Angeles, the ugliest band in Britain have ...
Public Enemy: Black Appeal in the Hour of Power
Report and Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 3 November 1990
JAMES BROWN catches PUBLIC ENEMY'S spectacular show in San Diego and speaks to CHUCK D. ...
Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: First Charlatango In Paris
Interview by James Brown, Vox, January 1991
The story so far… Completely unknown nine months ago and still reeling from a Number One hit album. The Charlatans have just made their first ...
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 9 February 1991
Pop music isn't all lying around the pool with GUNS N'ROSES, frugging with PRINCE and getting pissed (on) with the MONDAYS. Except, that is, in ...
The KLF: It's All White: The KLF: The White Room (KLF)
Review by James Brown, New Musical Express, 9 March 1991
IS IT A strength or weakness to be versatile to the point where consistency becomes an alien concept? There's a hell of a lot of ...
Brand Nubian: One For All (WEA/All formats)
Review by James Brown, New Musical Express, 4 May 1991
"BRAND N... Brand Nu... Brand Nubian" Get your pyjamas out, this one's a sleeper. No, it's neither dopey nor dozy, it's as wide awake as ...
Primal Scream: Chicks With Everything
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 28 September 1991
Bacchanalia in the USA! Well, Kentish Town actually, but then the true spirit of rock 'n' roll has always been in the mind, reckons PRIMAL ...
Public Enemy: The Boy-Ees are Black in Town
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 12 October 1991
1991, and PUBLIC ENEMY — purveyors of The Noise — are busy flexing their new, improved mainstream muscle. Fresh from 'that' Anthrax collaboration, Chuck 'n' ...
Happy Mondays: Renting and raving
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 26 October 1991
SHAUN RYDER Is suing News Of The World after they alleged he was a rent boy before he was a singer. JAMES BROWN hears the ...
Teenage Fanclub: Bandwagonesque (Creation! All formats)
Review by James Brown, New Musical Express, 2 November 1991
O STUPOR-MEN! ...
The Beastie Boys: Beastie Boys: I-Beam Club, San Francisco
Live Review by James Brown, New Musical Express, 7 March 1992
TEASED BY the DJ's dose of Sugarhill, the audience at the I-Beam aren't so much eyeing up the imminent performance as gagging for it. ...
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 21 March 1992
Destined to rock the bones of the hard rock circuit, THE NYMPHS have already made a name for themselves in America by pissing on desks ...
Oasis: "The plan was always to become the biggest band in the world"
Interview by James Brown, Uncut, November 2006
Next month, Oasis unleash their first greatest hits compilation. In this exclusive interview, Noel and Liam tell the true stories of the songs that shaped ...
The Cult: Love Remembered: The Cult
Retrospective and Interview by James Brown, Sabotage Times, 19 February 2010
TOM VAGUE, writer/historian, Ladbroke Grove: ...
Primal Scream: Bobby Gillespie and Primal Scream
Retrospective and Interview by James Brown, Sabotage Times, 23 February 2010
Primal Scream are the last great band of the original Creation Records roster, still rocking on, un-interrupted by break-ups or break-downs. James Brown gets down ...
Comment by James Brown, Daily Telegraph, 8 July 2015
As the New Musical Express announces it is to go free, here former features editor James Brown writes how the lights went out at the ...
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