Mick Farren
Mick Farren was born on a wet night at the end of World War II and has been complaining prolifically about it ever since. For the duration of his professional career, he has divided his time between music and literature, although with certain digressions into psychedelic agitprop, like editing the underground newspaper IT, and defending both his liberty and the comic book Nasty Tales at a protracted obscenity trail at the Old Bailey.
His tabloid heyday as a commentator on popular culture was in the 1970s, when he was part of what is now called (by some) the NME golden age, during which time he helped explain punk to people who still thought Rick Wakeman had merit. The next decade found him in New York City where, among other adventures, he drank more than was good for him, wrote TV columns for the Village Voice, a monthly rant for Trouser Press, a number of books about Elvis Presley, eight science fiction novels, the cult hit The Black Leather Jacket, and the off-Broadway musical The Last Words Of Dutch Schultz.
Since here in the twenty-first century, Farren, for the most part, writes only about performers who are either dead or born well before 1960, you won't find him in too many of the current rock magazines. His major output now comes in book form, either as works of non-fiction, as the endless stream of decidedly odd neo-gothic novels that flows from his computer, or as the occasional - and even more odd - CD of his music and poetry, usually with his floating rock & roll crap-game, The Deviants.
As a lyricist, Mick's words have been sung by Metallica, Motorhead, Hawkwind, Brother Wayne Kramer, the Royal Crown Revue, and the Pink Fairies. His most recent non-fiction is the autobiographic Give The Anarchist A Cigarette (Jonathan Cape, UK), his most recent novel is Underland (Tor Books US), and his current CDs are People Call You Crazy: The Mick Farren Story (Sanctuary UK) and The Deviants Dr Crow (Track Records UK).
Mick Farren was TV critic for LA City Beat and recently returned from L.A. to his homeland to reside in Brighton. Elvis Died for Somebody's Sins But Not Mine, a collection of his writings, was published by HeadPress in 2013.
Mick died of a heart attack in London in July 2013.
177 articles
List of articles in the library
The Rolling Stones: Pop In The Police State
Comment by Mick Farren, International Times, 2 June 1967
"People try to put us down just because we get around."The Who – 'My Generation' ...
Yusef Lateef: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, International Times, 28 July 1967
YUSEF LATEEF is at present playing a season at Ronnie Scotts backed by the Stan Tracey Trio. I have always thought of Lateef as one ...
Arthur Brown: It's Time To Use Records As Weapons
Interview by Mick Farren, International Times, 27 October 1967
ARTHUR BROWN: I refuse to talk without the presence of my cat near the microphone. Come here... ...
Comment by Mick Farren, International Times, 14 June 1968
POP MUSIC is one of the last free mediums, but is quickly becoming entangled in its own and society's games. ...
MC5: Kick Out The Jams (Elektra EKS-74042)
Review by Mick Farren, International Times, 28 March 1969
MC5 Muddle ...
The Edgar Broughton Band: Magic Triangle: The Edgar Broughton Band
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, International Times, 11 April 1969
THE EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND came to London from Warwick in November of last year and have, in relatively short time, gained a solid reputation as ...
Bob Dylan: Nashville Skyline (CBS)
Review by Mick Farren, Oz, May 1969
SOMEBODY ONCE said that when Bob Dylan first started his career he wanted to be Elvis Presley much more than he wanted to be Woody ...
The Pink Fairies Motorcycle Club And All Star Rock And Roll Big Band: A Fairy-tale
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, International Times, 9 May 1969
A NUMBER of musicians from various well known bands in London have, it was revealed to IT in an exclusive interview this week, formed an ...
Report by Mick Farren, uncredited writer, International Times, 10 September 1970
2011 note: this report on the 1970 IoW festival is led off by Mick Farren but includes contributions by other, unnamed IT writers. The title ...
Comment by Mick Farren, Melody Maker, 3 October 1970
WHEN I first brought home Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry albums my parents didn't much like it. They made the mistake of thinking rock was ...
The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers
Review by Mick Farren, Ink, 1 May 1971
IF THERE'S such a position as world's top rock & roll band, the Stones now occupy it, though it's happened more by default of the ...
The Mothers Of Invention: Mothers Of Invention: Fillmore East — June 1971 (Kinney)
Review by Mick Farren, International Times, 26 August 1971
FOR THE most part this could be a live recording of the concert I saw at the Colosseum in January of this year. The band ...
Obituary by Mick Farren, International Times, 21 October 1971
GENE VINCENT, after years of illhealth and injury, died this week of a perforated ulcer. ...
Sandy Denny: The North Star Grassman & the Ravens (Island)
Review by Mick Farren, International Times, 21 October 1971
THERE SEEMS to be a line that lady singers have to cross before they begin to exhibit real soul. The transition also seems, to many, ...
Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead: Empire Pool, Wembley
Live Review by Mick Farren, International Times, 20 April 1972
"The trouble with a lot of kids who come to our concerts is that they can't see beyond the drugs. They get so ripped that ...
The Rolling Stones: The Long Road to Room Ten-O-Nine
Comment by Mick Farren, International Times, 19 June 1972
The Rolling Stones: Exile on Main Street ...
Retrospective by Mick Farren, International Times, 18 September 1972
A LOOK AT A JET AGE RED HOT MAMA ON THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF HER DEATH ...
The Rolling Stones: ...We Also Sing The Blues
Essay by Mick Farren, International Times, 6 September 1973
THE ROLLING STONES are apt to get tied in with so many images, drugs, decadence, libertine aristos of the jive renaissance, that it gets all ...
Bob Dylan: Remember Those Fabulous Sixties? An NME Consumer's Guide to Bob Dylan
Guide by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 9 February 1974
Enigma, prophet, fink or sell-out? MICK FARREN looks back over Dylan’s recorded career at a time when argument over the artistic worth — or lack ...
Bob Dylan: An NME Consumer's Guide to Bob Dylan, Part 2
Guide by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 16 February 1974
CONTINUED FROM PART 1 ...
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 13 April 1974
The Hawkwind 1999 party rolls across the plains of America, dealing in cosmic vibes and - more important in the eyes of the Chicago denim ...
Eddie Cochran: He Shouldn't have Used The Car 'Cos He'd Been Workin' Late
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 20 April 1974
But he did – and, fourteen years ago this Easter, EDDIE COCHRAN died of multiple injuries when a tyre blew out. MICK FARREN traces the ...
MC5: Kramer Climbs Back From MC5 Wreckage
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 27 April 1974
NEW BAND AND A NEW IMAGE: Mick Farren in Detroit ...
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 1 June 1974
Death has always been big business as a perverse form of entertainment. In the 18th Century, public hangings had similar pulling power to Emerson Lake ...
San Francisco: Who needs music when we've got the Zebra?
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 15 June 1974
IT WAS A bad times for San Francisco. It was spring, but whereas in most places this is greeted with some joy – with snows ...
The Heavy Metal Kids: Heavy Metal Kids: Heavy Metal Kids
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 22 June 1974
THERE WAS a time, way back in the middle of the sixties, when the British mod-Motown bands were all growing their hair and going psychedelic, ...
Rock on TV: Old Grey Whistle Test
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 22 June 1974
Meanwhile, in a small, cramped studio, dedicated men wrestle desperately with obsolete equipment in a noble attempt to produce meaningful rock TV for 800 quid ...
Dr. Feelgood: Doctor Feelgood: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 29 June 1974
IT'S NOT often that the jaded, booze-soaked crowd that throng Dingwalls dancehall bring an almost unknown band back for three encores. ...
Grateful Dead: The Exhumation of The Dead
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 3 August 1974
They've been slagged, slated, abused, and misused – most often in these very pages. But Hell hath no Fury like a Dead fan scorned, and ...
The Fugs: Lookin' Back at The Fugs
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 August 1974
... a word of thanks to the guys who made all this decadence, vulgarity and debauchery possible. ...
The Small Faces: Small Faces: Ogden's Nut Gone Flake
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 21 September 1974
UP IN EAST HAM, Stratford and, in fact, all the way out to the end of the Liverpool Street suburban line, they liked their acid ...
Elvis Presley: There Is No Truth In the Rumour that Elvis Is Losing His Marbles
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 October 1974
ELVIS AARON PRESLEY, one time truck driver and supreme rock-and-roll superstar, has been taking some pains of late to allay a host of false rumours ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 October 1974
IF YOU WANTED to be crass you could say that the main features that made Buddy Holly a legend were that, first, he was the ...
David Bowie: Mr. Bowie Has Left The Theatre
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 16 November 1974
NEW YORK'S Radio City Music Hall, with its elaborate art deco Thirties interior, must be the ideal place to present a David Bowie show. Unfortunately ...
Hawkwind: The Regular 'Wind Miracle
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 November 1974
NEW YORK just doesn't seem to be the place for Hawkwind. ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974
BACK IN JUNE I made one of my regular midnight creeps to Dingwalls in Camden Town with the main purpose of getting drunk. ...
MC5, The Stooges: MC5/Stooges: Panic in Detroit
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 14 December 1974
THOSE FUN lovers from the motor city, the Stooges and the MC5, are winding up for another rampage. Of course, we've heard tales like this ...
Dr. Feelgood, Hawkwind: Hawkwind and Dr Feelgood On Tour
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 28 December 1974
THE START OF a tour is never really any great cause for rejoicing. It's the end of a tour that is usually all fun and ...
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
That’s SOUL TRAIN, a TV showcase not only for the cream of US soul acts, but for the stuff-struttingest most fashion conscious kids on the ...
Jan & Dean: Jan and Dean: You Don't Come Back from Dead Man's Curve
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
Mick Farren talks to Dean Torrence ...
Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
The very serious business of trying to be funny: An assessment of ALBERTO Y LOST TRIOS PARANOIAS by MICK FARREN ...
Gene Vincent: Po' White Punk from the Pool Hall
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
MICK FARREN traces the career of GENE VINCENT, the Rock 'n' Roll star who didn't sell out his audience or his origins. ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 22 February 1975
UP UNTIL Max Bell gave us his reasoned defence of Kiss a couple of weeks ago, I had assumed they were simply an also ran ...
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 1 March 1975
THE NAUGHTIES OF THOSE NAUGHTY RHYTHMS ...
Chuck Berry: Rancid and Smutty (Apologists Only)
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 1 March 1975
Chuck Berry: Lewisham Odeon, London ...
The Kids Are Not Necessarily Alright
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 1 March 1975
Or how the '70s has seen a limp-wristed sell-out of the ideals of the 60s. MICK FARREN discusses the way the Uncle Toms of Teendom ...
God is Alive and Well and Living Off Rock'n'Roll...
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 22 March 1975
Unfurling his roadmaps for the soul, MICK FARREN, Bachelor of Divinity of this parish, slumps grimly over his flea-ridden Olivetti to bang out the sandwich-luncher's ...
Rock and Western Films: My baby useta love western movies...
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
OVER CHRISTMAS THE BBC showed The Magnificent Seven – and gave us a very forcible reminder of how great an effect western movies have had ...
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
Mothers albums nestle amongst the legal papers. A stereo system has been set up in front of The judge. The scene is Law Court Seven. ...
The Pink Fairies: Looking Back
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
A thrilling tale of Ladbroke Grove, loose aggregations, hanging out, and falling about – recounted in loving detail by an actual participant in those glorious ...
Eddie Cochran: The Very Best of Eddie Cochran (15th Anniversary Album)
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 14 June 1975
I SUPPOSE WITH Showaddywaddy up in the singles chart with 'Three Steps to Heaven', and the 17-year-old version of 'C'mon Everybody' once again bubbling under ...
Cher, Tammy Wynette: Cher: Stars/Cher's Greatest Hits; Tammy Wynette: The Best Of Tammy Wynette
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 21 June 1975
IN MANY WAYS Cher and Tammy Wynette make up the two facets of the Cosmopolitan philosophy, that candy coated version of feminism that seems to ...
Pete Seeger: Together In Concert
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975
PETE SEEGER HAS just about every credential it's possible for a folk singer to have without actually being dead. ...
Little Richard: Lewisham Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 12 July 1975
THE DEBUT DATE of Little Richard's UK tour at the half empty Lewisham Odeon was little short of a disaster. Possibly the person least to ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975
MENTION THE name Keith West to anyone and odds on they'll say "Teenage Opera" and not much else. ...
The Righteous Brothers - Sons of Mrs. Righteous
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975
IT REALLY DOES seem that the greater part of the Righteous Brothers was their uncle Phil Spector. ...
Lenny Bruce: The Law, Language And Lenny Bruce (Phil Spector International)
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 July 1975
ABOUT EIGHTEEN MONTHS or so before Lenny Bruce died, he formed a loosely defined business relationship and a close friendship with Phil Sector. On the ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: Tour Of The Americas 1975
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 July 1975
The Usherettes at the Los Angeles Forum all wear short Roman tunics, and calf-length, white mid-sixties style boots. The outfit gives them the looks of ...
Bob Dylan: The Basement Tapes (CBS)
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 16 August 1975
Leonardo's sketch-book? Something eventually got delivered. ...
Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins: Johnny Cash: Riding the Rails and Marty Robbins: Gunfighter Ballads
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
OKAY, SO HERE are two special double album packages from CBS that feature two of the world's greatest exponents of country and western melodrama. ...
Roger McGuinn - Roger McGuinn and Band
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
IT'S BEEN A fair old while since anyone pointed the finger at Roger McGuinn and accused him of pumping out high energy rock and roll. ...
Roger McGuinn: Urban Spaceman Metamorphoses Into Plumber
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
ROGER McGUINN’S return to the Los Angeles Troubadour could be described as something of a minor triumph. With Steve Love, Richard Bowden, Greg Attaway and ...
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
MICK FARREN visits the Notting Hill Carnival ...
Buddy Holly: The Rocker Next Door with the Mail-Order Axe
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
IN A frame of reference where you might think of Elvis Presley as an idol and Little Richard as a hero, Buddy Holly has to ...
The Rolling Stones: Robert Greenfield: A Journey through America with the Rolling Stones
Book Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 20 September 1975
I FEAR THIS book may be the one that could finally O.D. the reader on rock writing, particularly that flat, conscientious, detailed, post-Truman Capote style ...
The Doors (part 1): The Hunting of the Lizard King
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975
Visionary? Poet? Revolutionary? Or was he simply a narcissist with a drink problem? Either way he created a considerable legend. In the first of a ...
Johnny Cash: The Gospel According to J.C.
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975
IF I'D never heard of Johnny Cash and someone came up and described him to me, I can't think of any other entertainer, short of ...
The Doors (part 2): Incident in Miami
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975
...and JIM MORRISON'S FINAL DECAY. Fame may have made him crazier but the money hardly affected him – all it meant was he could buy ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 11 October 1975
I THINK IT was Lester Bangs who put forward the proposition that people who went to Black Sabbath concerts derived their pleasure from ingesting massive ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 11 October 1975
BUDDY HOLLY SO overshadowed The Crickets that one tends to forget that they went on to produce some very creditable work on their own after ...
Dr. Feelgood: The Slaughterhouse 4: Dr Feelgood and Mr Freud (Cert X)
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 25 October 1975
MICK FARREN in the Abattoir with The Greatest Local Band In The World ...
Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa: Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart: Bongo Fury
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 8 November 1975
THE STORY SO far. ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975
THERE WAS a time, I guess it must have been a couple of years ago now, when the J. Geils band were being hailed as ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolled Gold
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975
DECCA RECORDS, even though their past form on the subject of Rolling Stones albums is not immaculate, have now produced what is undoubtedly the definitive ...
Johnny Cash: Look At Them Beans
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 29 November 1975
I FEAR JOHNNY Cash has turned his back on progress once again. ...
Elvis Presley: Pictures Of Elvis
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 6 December 1975
THERE CAN BE little doubt that the Elvis Presley Sun collection was a compilation of some of his finest work. ...
The Pretty Things: Greatest Hits 1964-1967
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 6 December 1975
FOR A SHORT time, around the London clubs and art school dances, back in 1964, it seemed as though the Pretty Things might just unseat ...
Bob Dylan, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Bruce Springsteen: Is Rock 'N' Roll Ready For 1976?
Comment by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 3 January 1976
What has all this to do with all this? Does anyone care? MICK FARREN'S IS THE VOICE FROM THE GALLERY ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 10 January 1976
THE RECORD came into the office round about lunchtime. At approximately three forty-five, I went into the review room, turned on the stereo and put ...
Country Joe & The Fish: Country Joe McDonald: Paradise With An Ocean View
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976
Gimme a W, gimme an H, gimme an A, gimme an L... ...
Elvis Presley: Okay, Kids... Which Twin is the Real Elvis?
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976
"I'm gonna go infiltrate the International ELVIS PRESLEY Fan Club Convention", said MICK FARREN. ...
Commander Cody and The Lost Planet Airmen: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 7 February 1976
Commander Cody: Good timin' in the Ozone zone ...
The Everly Brothers: Songs Our Daddy Taught Us
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 6 March 1976
IN A QUIET sort of way, 1975 saw an Everly Brothers revival of sorts. Warner Brothers released their magnificent Walk Right Back With The Everlys, ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 20 March 1976
WELL, HERE HE comes again. Bill Wyman, on face value the least likely Stone to strike out on his own account and yet, apparently, the ...
Steve Gibbons Band, The Who: Who, Gibbons Face the Hog Butcher Vibe
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 20 March 1976
The Who/Steve Gibbons Band: Pavillion de Paris ...
Fats Domino: New Victoria Theatre, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 10 April 1976
WHAT CAN I do? What can I say? How exactly can I prostrate myself? I guess there's no excuse for a rock critic who goes ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 10 April 1976
"WHEN YOU'RE NUMBER two, you try harder." ...
Profile and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976
What’s squeaky-clean, exquisitely produced, Scandinavian and goes OOMPAH? The answer to the riddle is ABBA ...and here’s MICK FARREN to ask it. ...
Tammy Wynette: Boots, Brandy, Boots, Bouffants + Buffy
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976
THERE WERE more Stetson hats than you could shake a stick at in Wembley last weekend. ...
Willie Nelson, Billy Swan: Billy Swan, Willie Nelson: New Victoria Theatre, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976
The majesty of Nelson's column ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis: Well, Bless-uh Muh Soul, What's-uh Wrong With Me?
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 22 May 1976
WHEN AN artist hasn't produced anything of note for something like 14 years, the world begins to judge him on just about anything but his ...
Chuck Berry, 49, Denies Knowledge of the Previous 48
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 29 May 1976
Chuck (Crazy Legs) Berry, top ten contender for the title "King of rock and roll", has been referred to as the greatest black folk poet ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 5 June 1976
I GUESS that one of the main functions of any greatest hits album is to explain to anyone who isn't a hard core fan exactly ...
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 June 1976
AS YOU CAN all quite well-imagine, the letters that get themselves printed in Gasbag (or Dogbag or Ratbag or Scumbag or whatever jiveass name we've ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
THERE WERE EXACTLY four things wrong with the final show by the Wailers at Hammersmith last Friday. ...
Dr. Feelgood: It's Only Rock 'n' Roll... But it's Crowded
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
MICK FARREN bares armpits and gets sweaty (and drunk) with DR. FEELGOOD ...
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 10 July 1976
WHEN ALL AROUND YOU is brown, burnt, pink or peeling and you're tired of squinting in the glare it's time to consider... ...
Tony Wilson: So It Goes: A TV breakthrough or tubular balls?
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 July 1976
IT'S A LITTLE weird when you see something that is obviously well intentioned, is very close to what you and your own personal colleagues and ...
Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band: Live Bullet
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 July 1976
I GUESS YOU could say that Bob Seger and Ted Nugent are the last of the Michigan cowboys. ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 July 1976
IT WAS FUNNY, though, wasn't it? ...
Marianne Faithfull: Kenneth Anger: My Boyfriend Left Me For Charlie Manson!
Profile and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976
Hi! I'm KENNETH ANGER. Marianne Faithfull plays a demon in my new movie. This is a picture of me when I was three and a ...
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976
ALTHOUGH I IMAGINE it could be a disaster area if it rained, Cardiff Castle on a fine day is an ideal spot for a one ...
Jefferson Starship: Skate Board Grounds the Starship
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 18 September 1976
I WAS WOKEN up by the phone. I had some trouble working out where I was. It took a few seconds to realise that I ...
The Band: ...Mounties, Maple Syrup: The Band at the Greek Theatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 25 September 1976
RUMOURS HAD BEEN circulating (the way rumours always do) for some months. They claimed that there was some kind of rift between The Band and ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 25 September 1976
AS SOME OF you regulars out there have probably long suspected, I have a certain difficulty in being strictly objective about the work of Bob ...
Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen: Hot Licks, Cold Steel And Truckers' Favourites
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
We've Got A Live One Here ...
The Runaways: From Jailbait to Jes' Plain Bait
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
Q: How do you persuade five young LA Teen Queens to clean up their act?A: Put 'em in a group and make 'em famous ...
Waylon Jennings: Are You Ready For The Country
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 9 October 1976
Waylon breaks thru' Nashville's blanket defense ...
The Flamin' Groovies: Teenage Head
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 16 October 1976
I MUST confess that when I was first confronted with the Flamin' Groovies, I was not impressed. ...
Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band: Night Moves (Capitol)
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 6 November 1976
WHEN YOU'VE just made one of the year's classic live albums, following it can be a bit of a problem. ...
Max Romeo & the Upsetters: War In A Babylon
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 6 November 1976
I WAS a soft-porn-skankin' rude boy in a mohair suit until I discovered RASTAFARI!!!! ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley and the Wailers: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
THERE WERE EXACTLY FOUR things wrong with the final show by the Wailers at the Hammersmith last Friday. ...
Dr. Feelgood: It's only Rock 'n' Roll ...But it's crowded
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
MICK FARREN bares armpits and gets sweaty (and drunk) with DOCTOR FEELGOOD ...
Lynn Anderson, Ronnie Prophet, Steve Young: Nashville
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
An Englishman's adventures in the city of the rhinestone kings. Mick Farren was that Englishman. ...
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 20 November 1976
In which Mick Farren doesn't talk to Chet Atkins, visits Opryland, views the tourist spots from the OAP's bus and, (quiver, quiver....), converses with Dolly ...
The Alpha Band: The Alpha Band
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 4 December 1976
THERE MUST be something about playing with Bob Dylan that turns musicians a bit...well, shall we call it strange. ...
Bob Dylan: Journey To The Centre Of The Psyche: Blonde On Blonde
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 25 December 1976
IT'S AN almost impossible opening sentence. ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 29 January 1977
THE MAIN thing that's wrong with this album can be summed up in two words. They are Kim Fowley. Yes that's right. Fowley appears to ...
Chet Atkins, Les Paul: Chet Atkins and Les Paul: Chester And Lester (RCA)
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 5 February 1977
WELL NOW, this isn't exactly the kind of record that you hear every day of the week. ...
Elvis Presley: In Search of the Real Elvis
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 5 February 1977
Otherwise known as an interview with FELTON JARVIS (Felton who???) ...
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 February 1977
Hank B. Marvin, Bruce Welch and Mick Farren chew the cud... ...
Johnny Cash: The Last Gunfighter Ballad
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 5 March 1977
THE PICTURE on the cover shows Cash, head and shoulders, in a beat-up cowboy hat that looks like the one he wore in the movie ...
Ted Nugent: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 12 March 1977
WE'VE HEARD a great deal lately about how Ted Nugent abjures drugs and alcohol. Perhaps that's his mistake. The occasional soul searching high might have ...
Grateful Dead: Wake Of The Flood/From the Mars Hotel
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 March 1977
THE GRATEFUL DEAD have always been a band whose work formed into waves and troughs. Wake Of The Flood is unfortunately one of the low ...
The Damned: The page you are looking at takes no responsibility for your sanity or well-being
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 March 1977
THE KID IN THE PUB doesn't believe I'm me. "You a roadie?" "I'm a writer." "Yeah?" He's already dubious. "Who do you write for then?" ...
Pink Floyd: Eyeless In The Galaxy
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 March 1977
Depressed? Anxious? Hung-up, man? Don't just sit there, bozo – get out and make money out of it! FREEWHEELIN' FARREN winds up out on the ...
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 9 April 1977
CAN AN ELEVEN-PIECE WESTERN SWING BAND EVER FIND WEALTH AND PROSPERITY IN THE WORLD OF ROCK'N'ROLL? ...
Dave Edmunds: Get It (Swan Song)
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 9 April 1977
FOR SOME TIME NOW, Dave Edmunds has been nearly legendary. He started as the minor league guitar king of Love Sculpture's 'Sabre Dance' fame, then ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: The Truth Behind The Break-up…
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 9 April 1977
AS REPORTED in the news pages Dr. Feelgood have come apart at the seams, with Wilko Johnson going one way and the rest of the ...
Fats Domino: Diamonds and Mr Domino
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 April 1977
"I went on a two-week trial to Las Vegas... and stayed there for seventeen years" ...
Denny Laine, Wings: Denny Laine: Holly Days
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977
THERE ARE some people who can do it, and there are others who can't. It's as simple as that. ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977
THE WORD from over there was that Mink De Ville were probably the tightest and best musically organised outfit in the whole of the C.B.G.B.'s ...
The Ramones: Notes on Minimalism (or Learning To Live With The Ramones)
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977
THERE'S BEEN A LOT of loose talk, and it has got to stop. Ever since The Ramones blundered into the blinding spotlight of international rock ...
Grateful Dead: My Night With The Dead
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 28 May 1977
IT'S LIKE GOING back home."Acid!""Acid, black beauties!""Acid!""You got any pot to sell?""No, man, all I got is acid and black beauties."What else could it be ...
Elliott Murphy: Bottom Line, NY
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 4 June 1977
I WAS HALFWAY through my cheeseburger when Elliott Murphy hit stage. He was greeted by the kind of applause that is reserved for unknowns who ...
New York: Suddenly It's A Hell Of A Town Again…
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 4 June 1977
And why? Because folks have got nothing to lose. Because it's happening, it's exciting, life is fun again and people aren't ashamed to have a ...
Dickey Betts: Movin' On Out Of The Macon Mess
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 11 June 1977
I GUESS it's fair to say that Dickey Betts was the one member of The Allman Brothers to come out of the convoluted saga of ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 16 July 1977
WHEN MICHAEL Des Barres was sojourning in London, going through the motions of Silverhead and other assorted, third division glitzkid antics, I always got the ...
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 16 July 1977
From human beings to cardboard cut-outs. Kiss defy orthopaedic surgery... ...
Woody Guthrie: Growin’ Fat on the Grapes of Wrath
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 23 July 1977
LAST YEAR they tried it with Leadbelly, the year before it was Lenny Bruce, this year they're doing it with Woody Guthrie. It seems like, ...
The Mamas and the Papas: The Best Of The Mamas and The Papas
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 23 July 1977
REMEMBER THOSE fabulous '60s? The protest marches? The draft card burnings? All those wandering boot heels? You had to swat the little bastards before they ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 July 1977
"Hey, Gene.""What, Peter?""What are we doing in one of Farren's record reviews?" ...
Eric Clapton: The Bullring, Ibiza
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 20 August 1977
IBIZA IS A VERY LONG way from the high pressure world of first division rock and roll. From the ancient Spanish women shrouded in all-concealing ...
Obituary by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 27 August 1977
IT WAS ONE OF THE worst storms to hit London since God knows when. The thunder rolled, lightning flashed and the rain hammered into the ...
Diana Ross, The Supremes: Diana Ross and the Supremes: 20 Golden Greats
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 10 September 1977
IF THEY weren't the highest form, they sure as hell were the most refined. The three-piece girl vocal group is almost a dying art. Only ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: Be Seeing You
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 September 1977
MAYBE IT'S FREUDIAN. The Feelgoods have picked up on a motif from The Prisoner for the title of this album and, in some ways, they're ...
Dr. Feelgood, Wilko Johnson: Wilko Johnson: Wilko Not Buried Yet
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 8 October 1977
WITH DOCTOR Feelgood moving into the charts and just embarked on a headlining nationwide tour, one question still hangs around the street corner waiting to ...
Elvis Presley: Junk, junk food junk prose (pulpitations for all)
Book Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 15 October 1977
Red West, Sonny West, Dave Hebler, as told to Steve Dunleavy: Elvis – What Happened? ...
Overview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 29 October 1977
THE MUTANTS, the dwarfs and the all night girls (that's right, the ones who still brag about escapades out on the D train, despite the ...
The Tubes: What is Our Role in the Universe?
Profile and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 29 October 1977
These young people are pondering the question that has perturbed all the great philosophers since time immemorial and beyond: WHAT'S the barbed wire doing over ...
The Jam: This Is The Modern World
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 5 November 1977
SO THIS is the modern world. I'm glad they told me. For an instant I'd thought I'd been transported back to 1965. Flashback on flashback ...
The Hollywood Binliner: L.A. Punk
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 November 1977
THERE ARE 70 PUNKS IN L.A. – HERE'S MOST OF 'EM... ...
Lonnie Donegan: The Lonnie Donegan File (Pye)
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 December 1977
TAKES YOU back a bit, doesn't it? I'd almost thought the world had forgotten about Lonnie Donegan. Which was really a crying shame since Donegan, ...
The Last Poets: Wake Up Limeys, The Last Poets Are Among You
Profile and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 14 January 1978
"Wheat's characteristics and nature make it wheat. It differs from barley because of its nature. Wheat perpetuates its own characteristics just as the white race ...
The Osmonds: The Osmonds' Greatest Hits
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 28 January 1978
I HAVE this theory that they're a totally separate (and probably hostile) species. They breed and multiply in hidden canyons of the American South West. ...
Lonnie Donegan: Will The Circle Really Be Unbroken?
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 4 February 1978
LONNIE DONEGAN'S life seemed to have completed such a perfect full circle that it could almost prove even the dumbest hippy's half-assed theories of a ...
The Band: Ten Years of Stage Fright: The Life And Times Of Robbie Robertson & The Band
Retrospective and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 June 1978
ALTHOUGH AT the time individuals may tell you different, it's no big deal for a band to break up. It happens almost every week and, ...
Rock Mortality: They Gave Their Souls For Rock 'n Roll
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 27 January 1979
THE WRITER can eventually put down his pen, close the book and turn on the TV. The actor can take off his makeup and go ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Cocktails for Kerouac and an appointment with the Hype Machine
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 9 June 1979
ABOUT THE crassest tag anyone has tried to hang on Rickie Lee Jones is that she’s "the female Tom Waits". It is also the kind ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis Still Dead Shock
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
Drugs Probe — Doc Probe ...
Mink DeVille, Willy DeVille: Willy DeVille: Sacked!
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 November 1979
Wille Deville in "services no longer required" shock! ...
Tom Waits: The Skid Row Drunk Goes Legit: Tom Waits live in New York
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 1 December 1979
BECAUSE of circumstances too dumb to relate here and now, I had never seen Tom Waits doing a live show, unless, of course you count ...
Phil Spector, Ronnie Spector: 'I Wasn't Even a Housewife': Ronnie Spector's true confessions
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980
SHE WAS supposed to be promoting her album, but Ronnie Spector’s first solo album isn’t the kind of thing that’s about to stop the world ...
John Lennon: The Snuff Of Dreams: The Death of John Lennon
Comment by Mick Farren, SoHo Weekly News, 10 December 1980
IT'S EASY IN more normal times to talk about the price of fame. By very definition the artist, the rock 'n' roll star is up ...
Black Flag, Circle Jerks, The Germs, X: LA Punk
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 11 April 1981
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA is always preceded by its own legend. There is no way you can avoid that legend if you grew up with the price ...
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 6 June 1981
Mick Farren and Motorhead Lemmy, long time partners in slime and former Ladbroke rogues, meet up in a bar in Passaic, New Jersey, to discuss ...
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 20 June 1981
The winner of NME's Flatter The Clash competition checks out the ramifications when an English band's world is at Bonds. ...
Report by Mick Farren, Trouser Press, May 1982
AS I WRITE THIS, the tabloids tell me we're having a cocaine war in New York City. Not that there's anything novel about a cocaine ...
Robert Plant: Pictures at Eleven
Review by Mick Farren, Trouser Press, October 1982
IT'S ALWAYS HARD to know what to do when the drummer drops dead. The Who and the New York Dolls recruited new ones and pressed ...
Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground: VU (Verve/Polygram)
Review by Mick Farren, Spin, May 1985
ONE OF THE great strengths and also the fatal weakness of the Velvet Underground was that they made their greatest statements as a band at ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis: Father, Son & Hillbilly Cat
Essay by Mick Farren, MOJO, February 1995
Boy-King/Fertility God brings wonder and prosperity to the land, is cut down but manages to transcend death... The ballooning Cult of Elvis is turning into ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones, The: Rolling Stones in Hyde Park # 4
Memoir by Mick Farren, MOJO, July 1995
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, my date for the Stones concert in Hyde Park was Germaine Greer, although I remember, once we arrived there, I spent ...
Steve Peregrin Took, Tyrannosaurus Rex: Steve Peregrin Took: Staring At The Stars
Memoir by Mick Farren, MOJO, August 1995
Mick Farren remembers his friend Steve Peregrin Took, sidekick to Marc Bolan in Tyrannosaurus Rex and pursuer of an elusive fame... ...
Retrospective by Mick Farren, MOJO, October 1999
They couldn’t sing. They couldn’t play. They were winding up the hippy establishment a decade before punk. And 30 years ago they enjoyed their finest ...
Gene Vincent: Hell's Angel: Gene Vincent
Retrospective by Mick Farren, MOJO, February 2000
He looked for all the world like a man in the grip of some dark, wrenching religious experience. The contorted figure in the black leather ...
Retrospective by Mick Farren, MOJO, July 2000
ON JANUARY 7, 1980, THE BODY OF LARRY WILLIAMS WAS FOUND lying in a pool of blood on the garage floor of his Laurel Canyon ...
Now Ain't The Time For Your Tears
Comment by Mick Farren, Rock's Backpages, April 2003
Where are the dissident voices in Bush's gung-ho Amerika? MICK FARREN writes in fury not sorrow. ...
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