Ken Barnes
I began writing for Phonograph Record Magazine and Fusion in late 1971, thanks to the kindness and receptivity of (respectively) Marty Cerf and Gary Kenton. Shortly thereafter I got in contact with Greg Shaw, leading to my becoming co-editor of his pioneering fanzine Who Put the Bomp in 1973, around which time I also became an editor of Phonograph Record. I also wrote for Rolling Stone and CREEM and Alan Betrock's Rock Marketplace, and started a long-running singles column that ran successively (under different names) in New York Rocker, CREEM and Rock & Roll Confidential from approximately 1977 to 1991.
133 articles
List of articles in the library
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, December 1971
THE APPEARANCE on the display wall of my favorite local record merchant of Pentangle's fifth album, Reflections, triggered a lightning search of my wallet, pockets, ...
Humble Pie: Performance: Rockin' the Fillmore (A&M 3506)
Review by Ken Barnes, Fusion, March 1972
HUMBLE PIE, after innumerable fits, starts, and musical style shifts, have apparently, with the release of this double live LP, finally found their direction — ...
Colin Blunstone: One Year (Epic)
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, April 1972
COLIN BLUNSTONE sang all those unforgettable Zombies hits, made a couple fairly successful solo singles, and disappeared for about three years before finally re-emerging with ...
Fairport Convention: Babbacombe Lee
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, April 1972
FOR THEIR SEVENTH album, Fairport Convention has presented us with a "concept" or "unified theme" LP (avoiding the oppro-briously-connotated term "rock opera"). ...
The Faces: A Nod Is as Good as a Wink to a Blind Horse (Warner Brothers 2574)
Review by Ken Barnes, Fusion, April 1972
ROD STEWART or no Rod Stewart, this album just doesn't make it. The top-ranking male vocalist of our time manages along with his bosom buddies ...
The Beach Boys: Carl And The Passions – So Tough (Reprise)
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1972
It's become increasingly evident that the Beach Boys are dead serious about shedding their hedonistic California surf-cars-and-fun stand for a more "contemporary" image. Surf's Up ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, July 1972
ARGENT (THE BAND) is an emphatically annoying enigma. ...
Electric Light Orchestra: The Electric Light Orchestra (United Artists 5573)
Review by Ken Barnes, Fusion, July 1972
THE ELECTRIC Light Orchestra is prime Mover Roy Wood's long-cherished dream come true — a rock trio augmented by cello, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, recorders, keyboards, ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, July 1972
ONCE MICHAEL BROWN led a group called the Left Banke, who produced two of the most memorable singles of the mid-sixties, 'Walk Away Renee' and ...
Retrospective by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, 1 August 1972
The Hollies Are Back Again ...
Rod Stewart: Never A Dull Moment
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, September 1972
WELL, IT TOOK AWHILE, but Rod Stewart is back again with his fourth straight formula solo album. He's rounded up roughly the same crew of ...
The Wackers: Bodega Club, San Jose, California
Live Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, September 1972
ROCK 'N' ROLL returned to the Pit recently and scored a technical knockout, as the Wackers invaded the Boogie Capital of San Jose, the Bodega ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Creem, October 1972
FOLLOWING THE release of the New Riders Of The Purple Sage with Jerry Garcia, the Vintage Dead albums, the second double live Dead package, the ...
Earth Quake: The Long Branch, Berkeley, CA
Live Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, December 1972
IT WAS Halloween in Berkeley, and consequently time for the mildly legendary annual costume contest at the Long Branch, to the musical accompaniment of Earth ...
Tim Buckley: Greetings from L.A. (Straight)
Review by Ken Barnes, Creem, December 1972
IT'S BEEN ABOUT two years now since Tim Buckley has had an album out. ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, 1973
WITH THIS DEBUT ALBUM, 10cc are well on their way to becoming the true studio wizards of the seventies. It's a startling record, bursting with ...
Patto: Roll 'Em Smoke 'Em Put Another Line Out
Review by Ken Barnes, Fusion, February 1973
PATTO'S THIRD ALBUM is something different. Not different than their last release, Hold Your Fire, which is fairly similar stylistically, but very distinctive indeed in ...
Mott The Hoople: The Complete History of Mott The Hoople
Profile by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, February 1973
IN THE WAKE of their first hit single, Mott The Hoople have begun to generate a publicity splash of sorts. It hasn't hurt that rock ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, March 1973
GRIN HAS DONE it again. Following up 1+1, one of the most exciting album of '72, the new opus from Nils Lofgren & Co., ALL ...
Retrospective by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, March 1973
IF THERE ARE still any doubts in your mind about the deterioration of AM radio (pop music's most immediate barometer) since, say, 1966, a glance ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, March 1973
THE HOLLIES ARE nothing if not resilient. When Graham Nash (long regarded as the key member of the group) left, Allan Clarke and Tony Hicks ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Music World, April 1973
THE SINGER/SONGWRITER boom is still rolling merrily along, but some of the most brilliant artists in the genre have failed to break through thus far. ...
Ian Whitcomb: The Ian Whitcomb Story
Profile by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, April 1973
IAN WHITCOMB WAS certainly one of the more obscure figures of that gloriously mythologized pop explosion known as the British Invasion. ...
Robin Trower: Twice Removed From Yesterday
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1973
ROBIN TROWER left Procol Harum well over a year ago, after their BROKEN BARRICADES LP, and has now surfaced with an album and a group ...
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 ...
The Left Banke, Stories: The Left Banke and Stories : The Michael Brown Story
Profile by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1973
THE ALBUM DEBUT of Stories was one of the most exciting musical events of 1972. A number of excellent LP's in a new American lightweight ...
Slade: Santa Monica Civic, Santa Monica CA
Live Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, June 1973
SLADE'S PREMIER headlining appearance, coming on the crest of the most explosive streak of singles since the 1965-7 Who, and the equally earthshaking SLAYED album, was as ...
Argent, Colin Blunstone, The Zombies: The Zombies
Retrospective by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, June 1973
AS ONE of Britain's most undervalued and undeservedly unsuccessful groups, the Zombies have a lot of historical recompense coming. Furthermore, with two offshoots (Argent and ...
Flo & Eddie: Flo and Eddie: Flo and Eddie
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 7 June 1973
Flo & Eddie's second album is a much more complex undertaking than their first and for the most part it succeeds admirably. Where Kaylan and ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 21 June 1973
IT'S BEEN three-and-a-half years since Terry Reid released his last album. At the time he looked like an emerging talent, with extraordinary voice, wild and ...
Albert Hammond: The Free Electric Band
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, July 1973
ALBERT HAMMOND, despite his recent ascension to the pop limelight, is no overnight phenom. ...
Johnny Rivers: Blue Suede Shoes
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, July 1973
SIDE ONE OF Johnny Rivers' BLUE SUEDE SHOES album is the best work he's recorded in a long and often illustrious career. ...
Ellie Greenwich: Let It Be Written Let It Be Sung
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 5 July 1973
A NEW ELLIE GREENWICH album won't provoke Pavlovian ecstasy among the masses, but the news will intrigue a certain hard corps of faithful girl-group fanatics. ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 19 July 1973
SINCE 1968 and the ascension of Cream and Hendrix to godhead status, rock has been ruled by tedious variations on their initial improvisatory explorations. ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, September 1973
DESPITE THEIR apparent failure to storm the States, Slade's influence has been felt here – chiefly at, of all places, MGM Records. ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, September 1973
WHILE AMERICA continues to wallow in endless overblown funk, monotonous middle-of-the-rodomontade, and the unceasing soporifics of multitudinous mellow fellows and laid-back lasses, they've really been ...
Electric Light Orchestra: The Electric Light Orchestra at St Louis
Live Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, September 1973
The mere fact of their actual appearance was probably sufficient for most diehard Move-ELO fans, but the Electric Light Orchestra turned in an adventurous, hard-rocking ...
The Turtles, featuring Flo & Eddie
Profile and Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, September 1973
FLO & EDDIE are well-known (if rather rotund) figures; their supporting role in the colossal Alice Cooper psychodrama alone assured them a massive national audience. ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, October 1973
IN ANY NORMAL TIME, Cat Stevens would be nothing more than an occasionally annoying inconsequentiality; but in an appalling era of innumerable idiot-savant singer/songwriters elevated ...
Stories: The Warehouse, New Orleans
Live Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, October 1973
STORIES MADE their first New Orleans concert appearance recently in the incongruous company of yet another Southern Allmanesque boogie band, the Marshall Tucker aggregation, and ...
Tanya Tucker: Delta Dawn, What's Your Mama's Name (Columbia)
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, November 1973
TANYA TUCKER just turned fifteen years old and, as they say, she's taken the country music world by storm. Her first hit, 'Delta Dawn', went ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 14 February 1974
THE KINKS traditionally stand as preservers of the eternal verities of their Village Green, fighting off the depredations of predatory capitalists in their dapper demolition ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 28 February 1974
NILS LOFGREN, a superb songwriter, possesses an appealing vocal style and is a fine guitarist. On the strength first three albums it’s unbelievable that he ...
Black Sabbath: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (Warner Bros.)
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, March 1974
SABBATH BLOODY Sabbath was an album I was eagerly anticipating. I'd become convinced that Master Of Reality was deserving of the heavy medal for highest ...
Slade: Stomp Your Hands And Clap Your Feet
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, April 1974
I've been behind Slade's records 100% since I first heard them, but with this album the backing percentage has doubled. It's a terrific album, with ...
Roxy Music: Stranded (Atlantic)
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, 1 April 1974
THOUGH I LIKED the first two Roxy Music albums reasonably well, Stranded is the first one that's immediately impressed me. ...
Big Star: Radio City (Ardent ADS-1501)
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 11 April 1974
BIG STAR proved themselves one of the leading new American bands working in the mid-Sixties pop and rock vein with the release of their debut ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 25 April 1974
DEEP PURPLE'S first album since last year's departure of vocalist Ian Gillan and bassist/composer Roger Glover is a passable but disappointing effort. ...
Tanya Tucker: Would You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone) (Columbia KC 32744)
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 25 April 1974
TANYA TUCKER'S third album, like the first two, contains many covers of recent country chart-busters, competent but rarely inspired backing, and an almost smothering use ...
Fairport Convention, The Strawbs: The Strawbs: Hero and Heroine; Fairport Convention: Nine
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 25 April 1974
The Strawbs and Fairport Convention are conveniently linked by their past importance in modernizing the British folk scene (and their use, at different times, of ...
Velvet Underground: 1969 — The Velvet Underground Live
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1974
THE LAST YEAR has seen sufficient scholarly exegeses on the subject of Lou Reed to see us through the decade; and the release of 1969, ...
The Zombies: Time Of The Zombies
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1974
THANKS TO THE SUCCESS of Argent, Colin Blunstone, and the 'Monster Mash', the long-neglected Zombies are again coming to light. London's fluke smash with the ...
Peter Frampton: Something's Happening
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 23 May 1974
PETER FRAMPTON has become a highly stylized performer. The songs on his new album sound much the same as the material on two earlier solo ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 20 June 1974
DISMISSED by snobbish critics as a clockwork singles machine, the Guess Who have continued selling albums and filling concert halls even after the hits stopped ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, July 1974
GOOD NEW rock & roll bands, without frills, excesses, or hyphenated stylistic cross-pollenizations are getting scarcer all the time. That's why discovering the Outlaws is ...
Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids: Flash Cadillac: There's No Face like Chrome
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 4 July 1974
FLASH CADILLAC & the Continental Kids have been identified with a stale spate of revivalist Fifties bands – even though their live performances prove they ...
Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, August 1974
WHEN WE LAST left our heroes Flo and Eddie (PRM September '73), they were poised on the brink of substantial obscurity. ...
Jackie DeShannon: Your Baby Is A Lady (Atlantic SD 7303)
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, August 1974
JACKIE DeSHANNON is one of the greats. Writing memorable hits for Brenda Lee and the Fleetwoods ('Dum Dum', 'Heart in Hand', 'The Great Impostor'), then ...
Jimmy Cliff: Struggling Man (Island)/ Music Maker (Reprise)
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, August 1974
LAST YEAR, 'the word' was that reggae was all set to become the next big thing. Once radio program directors and listeners heard that irresistibly ...
Brownsville Station: School Punks
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 1 August 1974
THIS IS AN IMPORTANT album. It's a good album, too, but even if it were terrible, it would still be important. ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 29 August 1974
Abba's emergence is one of the most cheering musical events in recent months. Just when the Top 40 was plumbing hitherto-unfathomable, moribund depths, along came ...
Olivia Newton-John: If You Love Me, Let Me Know (MCA-411)
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 29 August 1974
FORMULA FOR success: Take a pleasantly colorless female singer, and give her a catchy ditty bland enough for the easy-listening stations, slightly countrified for C&W ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, September 1974
ALTHOUGH SUZI QUATRO exploded in Britain and to an extent in the States with all the sociomusical force of a full-fledged phenomenon, album No. 2 ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries: Starting Over
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 24 October 1974
THE RASPBERRIES have at last realized their potential. They've clearly become the premier synthesizers of Sixties pop influences, extant. Even more importantly, the end results ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, November 1974
BADFINGER HAVE finally made the album I always hoped they would – an album whose tracks all match the standards of their brilliant Apple singles. ...
Them, The Who: The Who: Odds & Sods/Them: Backtrackin'
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, November 1974
1974 HAS CERTAINLY been a good year for reissues, even if UA's Jan & Dean set didn't quite make it to the starting gate. Four ...
The Hudson Brothers: Totally Out of Control (Rocket)
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, December 1974
NOW THAT ‘So You Are a Star’ is making stars out of the Hudson Brothers, their earlier recordings are coming out of the woodwork like ...
Various Artists: Mersey Beat ’62-‘64
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, December 1974
IN THE LITANY of wondrous 1974 reissues which led off my review of Odds & Sods/Backtrackin' last issue, I neglected to shower proper praises on ...
The Hudson Brothers: A Real Life Drama Starring The Hudson Brothers
Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, January 1975
KEEP YOUR EYE on the Hudson Brothers. They're probably the most exciting new act of the year. Out of thin air, they've presented us with ...
Mott the Hoople: Mott The Hoople Live (Columbia)
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, January 1975
IF YOU HAVEN'T heard already, this album's a scorcher. Offhand I can't think of a live album that tops Mott's 50-minute opus here, but I'm ...
Electric Light Orchestra: The Electric Light Orchestra: Eldorado
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 2 January 1975
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT Orchestra has sometimes swamped itself in grandiose conceptions, and Eldorado (A Symphony) sounds like a prime opportunity to do it again. But ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 30 January 1975
ARTHUR LEE and Love have an albatross around their necks: their nearly perfect 1968 album, Forever Changes, a never equaled distillation of smooth pop and ...
Nils Lofgren: Nils Lofgren (A&M)
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, February 1975
WELL, THIS IS more like it. Nils Lofgren, in his first solo attempt, has come up with a smashing album that restores him to the ...
Sutherland Brothers and Quiver: Sutherland Bros: Beat Of The Street
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, February 1975
THEY OPEN WITH a knockout and close like gangbusters. ‘World in Action’ is an energy-overload rocker with a great bridge over doubled wattage, an electrifying ...
John Entwistle: John Entwhistle: Mad Dog
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, March 1975
Mad Dog is everything you'd expect from a John Entwhistle album – and more. It catches Entwhistle in rabid transit, combining his obsession with 50's/early ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, March 1975
THE PAST THREE years have seen comebacks by Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Rick Nelson, Neil Sedaka, Paul Anka and more. ...
Starry-Eyed and Laughing: Starry-Eyed and Laughing
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, March 1975
THIS ALBUM was preceded by a year-long barrage of hype, emanating from England, revolving around the band's stylistic similarities to the early Byrds. ...
Grand Funk Railroad: All The Girls In The World Beware
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 27 March 1975
IT'S A MEASURE OF Grand Funk's less than overwhelming critical acceptance that the chief topic of interest for most reviewers has been the band's current ...
P.F.M.: Cook (Manticore MA6-502S1)
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 27 March 1975
P.F.M. IS ITALY'S number one entry in the progressive rock sweepstakes. Except for a pretty ballad sung in their native tongue ("Dove... Quando..."), however, and ...
Del Shannon: Rock's Runaway Returns
Profile and Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, April 1975
THEY'RE ALL COMING back. Sedaka, Anka and Vinton hit the top of the charts again, but you all know that story backwards and forwards. Almost ...
Roxy Music: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Ca.
Live Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, April 1975
ROXY MUSIC'S sellout Santa Monica appearance was a carefully executed triumph. They seemed minded to consolidate their newly-won American audience, and played it conservative all ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 24 April 1975
ON THEIR NOW obscure Warner Bros.' albums Sparks's intriguing lyrics and immaculate conceptions were undermined by inadequate musical constructions. ...
Eric Clapton: There's One In Every Crowd
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1975
IT NEVER CEASES to amaze me – the sycophantic lengths so many "critics" go to in hyping the fashionable superstars' records. ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1975
THIS MONTH'S import special features a group with a dumb name that sounds like a cross between a marine crustacean and a Hostess snack cake ...
Hunter-Ronson, Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson: Hunter-Ronson: The Ashes Of Mott Comes The Phoenix Rise
Report and Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, June 1975
"SINCE YOU'VE BEEN such a quiet, well-behaved audience tonight, we'd like to send you off a nice, soothing lullaby..." ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 5 June 1975
BOB SEGER is a superb songwriter and Midwestern rocker who's been ignored for far too long. He had a hit, 'Ramblin' Gamblin' Man' in 1968, ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 19 June 1975
10cc's Original Soundtrack is a fascinating record. Musically there's more going on than in ten Yes albums, yet it's generally as accessible as a straight ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 19 June 1975
WITH THEIR LAST five albums (including Relayer) reaching Top Five status, Yes are central to the new British Invasion. ...
Alice Cooper: The Forum, Los Angeles
Live Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, July 1975
WHEN ALICE CAME back to the Forum, it was an owning-up of sorts. This time there were no pretenses of Rock Band Identity (the backing ...
The Bee Gees: Bee Gees: Main Course
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, July 1975
FOR THE BEE GEES, "change is now," as the Byrds expressed it on the backside of their 1967 mid-charter 'Goin' Back' (Columbia 44362). ...
Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, July 1975
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? Third year in a row Phonograph's run a surf revival story, as if it were a current event. Looks pretty suspicious ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, July 1975
IT'S CERTAINLY LESS than revolutionary to admit you like the Carpenters these days (in ‘rock’ circles, if you recall, it formerly bordered on heresy). Everybody ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, July 1975
INITIATION IS A RECORD in two senses of the word. That is to say, it's a world record, as Todd Rundgren has been at pains ...
The Beau Brummels: The Beau Brummels (Warner Bros.)
Review by Ken Barnes, Creem, August 1975
THE BEAU BRUMMELS weren't the most eagerly anticipated reunion band, but they're the first to equal their earlier standards, an accomplishment the Byrds, Love, Spirit, ...
The Band, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan & The Band: The Basement Tapes
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, September 1975
WHAT WE HAVE here is the most enjoyable Dylan album yet released. ...
Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids: Flash Cadillac: Sons Of The Beaches
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, September 1975
THEY'VE DONE IT again, and it's starting to get annoying. OK, Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids are great – leagues ahead of any other ...
Dwight Twilley: The Dwight Twilley Band
Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, September 1975
ONCE IN A WHILE a single hits the radio and hooks you immediately. They come out of nowhere, seemingly – happens to me every so ...
Sweet: Glitter Relics In America
Overview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, October 1975
"THAT WAS 'Ballroom Blitz' by the Sweet! Hard to believe that's the same group that did 'Little Willy' a couple years ago!" – Southern California ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, October 1975
THE WHO'S sovereign elixir is only available about once every two years, and is held most effective when composed of simple, basic ingredients. The 1969 ...
Gary Wright, Procol Harum: Procol Harum: Procol's Ninth; Gary Wright: Dream Weaver
Review by Ken Barnes, Creem, November 1975
AFTER EIGHT albums with only minor format variations, Procol Harum seemed to be a predictable institution that may have outlived its usefulness. ...
Artful Dodger (1970s): Artful Dodger: Artful Dodger
Comment by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, December 1975
PLAYING straight uncomplicated hard rock, without a unified theme or specific image, without fantastic flights of lyrical invention or instrumental improvisation, and without pandering to ...
The Archies, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Tommy James & the Shondells: Bubblegum: A Beginners' Guide
Guide by Ken Barnes, Let It Rock, December 1975
ARCHIES: As the Monkees started to slip in late '68, Don Kirshner unveiled his new media blitz – a cartoon show (based on a popular ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, December 1975
Now I remember why I used to rave about Neil Young... ...
The Kinks: Schoolboys In Disgrace
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, December 1975
RAY DAVIES' NEWEST philosophical treatise directs itself to the topic of education and schooldays nostalgia. While a plot of sorts is undraped at the beginning ...
Kiss: Destroyer (Casablanca NBLP 7025)
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, 1976
KISS CAME into prominence, to put it simplistically, by combining Alice Cooper's horrific visuals and theatrics with Grand Funk's heavy-rock simplicity and lyrical solidarity with ...
The Monkees: Monkee-Mania... In The '70s?
Retrospective by Ken Barnes, Who Put The Bomp!, 1976
I WROTE A prototype version of this piece in 1973, at a time when admitting you liked the Monkees was about as cool as driving ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, January 1976
LYNSEY DE PAUL'S new Aimed-at-America image seems to be Sex & Sleaze – with class. Visually, as any potential consumer can see by directing an ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Gimme Back My Bullets
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, March 1976
LYNYRD SKYNYRD are fast becoming one of my favorite American bands, in part because they're starting to sound so British. ...
Nazareth: Close Enough For Rock & Roll
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, March 1976
Close Enough For Rock & Roll, due for release in the near future, is more of the same for Nazareth. That is to say, out ...
Nils Lofgren: Can He Beat The Press
Profile and Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, March 1976
NILS LOFGREN, AS SHAMEFULLY under-appreciated a top-flight rock & roller as America has ever spawned, now finds himself suffering, ironically, from overappreciation from certain sectors ...
Nazareth: Pulling Into Nazareth
Retrospective by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, March 1976
IT'S ALMOST schizophrenic. On the one side there's Nazareth the loud, flashy, hard-rocking boogie band. That's more or less their reputation in England, where they've ...
Sutherland Brothers and Quiver: Sutherland Brothers: Reach For The Sky
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, March 1976
POSITIVE NOTES FIRST. Of the four Sutherland Bros. & Quiver albums, Reach For the Sky is definitely the most consistent, the strongest yet. ...
Nils Lofgren: Cry Tough (A&M SP 4573)
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, April 1976
DEFINITELY A star cover. Great guitar hero pose of Lofgren coolly firing away, shrouded in a purple haze — by far his most sympathetic cover ...
Retrospective by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, April 1976
THE BEE Gees endure. Through changing musical fashions and their own self-induced periods of inspiration and stagnation, they've muddled through. They were an original "next-Beatles" ...
The Outlaws: Lady In Waiting (Arista AL 4070)
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, April 1976
LADY IN Waiting improves on the Outlaws' fine debut set in many ways. The vocals are airtight, the equal of any L.A. country-rock outfit going. ...
The Outlaws: The Hottest New Guitar Band In The Country
Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, April 1976
IT'S A STRANGE-looking crowd at the Hollywood Palladium. Not since surfer days have there been so many wool shirts in one place, and not your ...
John Sebastian: Welcome Back Hits
Profile and Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1976
"I DID DOZE OFF for a long while." John Sebastian speaking, summing up his last few years. Up until a few weeks ago, that's ...
Sutherland Brothers and Quiver: Sutherland Bros: Starting Over Again
Profile and Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1976
A LITTLE HISTORY first. Not too much, don't worry; this isn't one of my retrospective tomes. The group is called the Sutherland Bros. & Quiver ...
The Tremeloes: Tremeloes: Even the Bad Times are Good
Report by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1976
THE TREMELOES have a problem – they've been too successful. 15 years together (the first five, backing Brian Poole) and upwards of a dozen pop ...
Blue Oyster Cult: Agents Of Fortune
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, June 1976
NO MATTER HOW predictable rock seems to become, it can still surprise you, and I've got to admit to being surprised as hell by the ...
The Beach Boys: America Celebrates
Report by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, June 1976
"This is gonna be the most outrageous summer story of all"– Mike Love ...
Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, August 1976
MIAMI, FLA. – "Frankie Valii turned my head around. I was in Westbury (Conn.), where he was playing, and he said, 'Watch, this.' He introduced ...
Tommy James & the Shondells: Tommy James: The Troubadour, Los Angeles
Live Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, August 1976
IT WAS INCREDIBLY good and it was incredibly frustrating. Tommy James was stunning. As a terminally addicted Top 40 fetishist I've come to expect the ...
Fleetwood Mac: Universal Amphitheatre, L.A./Sunday Break II, Austin, Texas
Live Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, October 1976
FOR FLEETWOOD MAC success is in the bag, and the bag is soft-rock. Progressive MOR, MOR/progressive, whatever your preference, it's the new formula for wide-acceptance ...
Heart: Seattle's Hard Rock Girls
Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, October 1976
WITNESSING A ROCK band, Heart, genuinely excited about things – they mention how much they love to hear their records on the radio – is ...
Abba: Mamas & Papas of the '70's
Profile and Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, November 1976
LOS ANGELES – The hottest group in the world recently flew into town, but only a scattered few knew they were even here. ...
Burton Cummings, The Guess Who: Burton Cummings, Legitimate
Profile and Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, December 1976
VANCOUVER – For perhaps the fifth time in 20 minutes, the phone in Burton Cummings' Vancouver hotel suite rings, cutting the artist off in mid-answer. ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1977
A monthly blindfold test by those masters of Slander Rock, Mark Volman & Howard Kaylan ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1977
THE RUBINOOS, Beserkley Records' hot new quartet of Bay Area teenagers, lead off their debut album with a new version of Tommy James' 1967 classic ...
Burton Cummings: My Own Way To Rock
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, June 1977
BURTON CUMMINGS is destined to be a solo star, if he isn't classifiable as one already. His first single apart from the Guess Who, 'Stand ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, June 1977
IF ANY DOUBT still existed about Heart's big-league credentials, the first notes of ‘Barracuda’ should dispel them forever. Roger Fisher slams into a bonecrunching guitar ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, August 1977
BY THE TIME the first two cuts on Piper's second album had finished, I thought they'd really done it. 'Can't Wait' and especially 'Drop By ...
Gary Glitter, Slade, Suzi Quatro, Sweet, T. Rex: The Glitter Era: Teenage Rampage
Overview by Ken Barnes, Bomp!, March 1978
JUST THREE YEARS gone and it already seems so quaint. The time was c. 1971-1974, the place England, the sound "glitter," or "Glitter Rock." ...
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