Paul Rambali
Paul Rambali (pictured in the NME office in the late '70s) was a key feature writer for that publication in the punk era and later edited The Face. Based in Paris, where he continued to work in the media, he was the author of French Blues, Barefoot Runner and It’s All True: In the Cities and Jungles of Brazil. Paul died on 10th January, 2024.
144 articles
List of articles in the library
The Boys, John Cale, Generation X: John Cale, Generation X, The Boys: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 23 April 1977
WILD WELSH ROCK: Lush valleys and terrifying peaks ...
The Chi-Lites: Theatre Royal, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 7 May 1977
THE HOUSE LIGHTS dimmed and the musicians took their places. There was a buzz of activity on the darkened stage for a minute or so ...
Chuck Berry: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 May 1977
THERE'S NO BETTER indication of the pervasive and thorough influence of Chuck Berry than the fact that he could go almost anywhere and the chances ...
Delbert McClinton: Love Rustler
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 May 1977
IN THE grand tradition of Elvis and Tony Joe White this is white, southern r'n'b. ...
Tom Waits: Sound Circus, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 May 1977
APTLY ENOUGH, since he lives in hotels for ten months of every year, Tom Waits was born in the back of a taxi. His description ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 28 May 1977
WHEN THIS was recorded in June 1976 as part of the Newport jazz festival, it came from an evening grandly titled a 'retrospective of the ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 4 June 1977
AFTER MORE than six years and eight albums with Frank Zappa (which must be something of a record), after five solo albums for the small ...
Report by Paul Morley, Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 June 1977
This band has fans. Lots of them. They sold out the Free Trade Hall and surprised even the promoter. PAUL MORLEY asks why, PAUL RAMBALI ...
Al Jarreau: Look To The Rainbow — Live
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 June 1977
OF THE twelve songs here, four are from his first two albums, two are throwaway versions of show-tunes and the remaining six are new material. ...
Greg Kihn, The Rubinoos: Greg Kihn: Again; The Rubinoos: The Rubinoos (Beserkley)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 June 1977
JOHNNY RAMONE recently pointed out that, if they had come out now instead of the mid-60’s, 'You Really Got Me' and 'Doo Wah Diddy' wouldn’t ...
Aretha Franklin: Sweet Passion
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 June 1977
WHAT to do with Aretha Franklin? The question must echo around Atlantic's New York offices whenever it's time for her to make another record. ...
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas: Anthology
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 June 1977
IF MARTHA and the Vandellas had never made another record 'Dancing In The Street' would still have assured them of a hallowed place in pop ...
The Police: The Table, The Police: Music Machine, Camden, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 June 1977
A BAND THAT calls itself The Table must, at the very least, lack sound commercial principles — and will hopefully have something novel to offer. ...
999, The Saints: The Saints, 999: The Nashville, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 2 July 1977
THERE IS A TEMPTATION to regard The Saints as comic. This stems from a number of idiosyncratic things about them, not least of which is ...
Laura Nyro: Season Of Lights (Live)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 9 July 1977
THERE'S something about Laura Nyro that inspires devotion in her followers. ...
Alternative TV: Life after punk?
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 9 July 1977
Alternative TV: The Roxy, London FROM A MOVEMENT to a fashion. Johnny Rotten said in a recent interview that "the whole idea of our band ...
X-Ray Spex: Plastic table cloths in the UK '77
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 9 July 1977
X-Ray Spex: Man In The Moon, Chelsea ...
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 6 August 1977
THE ALBANY is one of those places – and there aren't many – that can get packed to the rafters, sweaty and messy, and still ...
The Vibrators: Marquee, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 6 August 1977
THE TWO-FINGER salute put in a surprise appearance at The Vibrators' gig on Sunday. Whether the dozen pairs of arms frantically waving V signs were ...
Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers: Rock 'n' roll with The Modern Lovers (Beserkley)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 13 August 1977
A FRIEND of mine who has seen The Modern Lovers reckons they're the best band he's seen in about ten years, since The Who in ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 13 August 1977
THE THING about Ultravox is that they're ultra-confident — and cynical observers haven't failed to point out that confidence comes easy when it's backed by ...
Ted Nugent: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 27 August 1977
WHY AMERICA is anxious to develop the Proton Beam Weapon, when they already have Megadecibel in the shape of Ted Nugent, is a question perhaps ...
John Cale: Fan Fare for the Uncommon Man
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 10 September 1977
AARON COPELAND DIDN'T know what he was letting the world in for when he sent John Cale a letter authorising the young Welshman's scholarship at ...
Dire Straits: Hope & Anchor, Islington
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 8 October 1977
NOT AN obvious little band, this. ...
Weather Report: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 15 October 1977
JOE ZAWINUL's mob are the one band I would never expect to let me down – and although Weather Report didn't quite do that, they ...
801: Phil Manzanera / 801: Victoria Palace, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 29 October 1977
THERE IS something to be said for the notion that Phil Manzanera's music, as such, doesn't exist. Listening to it is like watching a chameleon ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 29 October 1977
YOU HAVE to hand it to him. Carlos Santana may only know a handful of licks, but at least they're attractive — like the moment ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 5 November 1977
SINCE 1971 this band has been one of the few HM perpetrators worth listening to. Since 1974's Secret Treaties it has been only one. If ...
Tyla Gang: Sean Tyla: Beserkley Badass Braggadoccio
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 12 November 1977
ISN'T THIS A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS? ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 19 November 1977
DOWNSTAIRS AT Newcastle's City Hall, Josef Zawinul has just made a very astute point. "All the originators are always great," he repeats, looking inquisitively close ...
Levon Helm: Levon Helm and the RCO All Stars (ABC)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 19 November 1977
LEVON HELM was the kid who went north in the late 50s with a rockabilly singer called Ronnie Hawkins, whose talents were dime-a dozen in ...
The Tubes: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 19 November 1977
THE TUBES recorded their two debut London gigs for a live album. This was indicative of either supreme confidence or supreme folly – ...
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 26 November 1977
THERE IS something about the Music Machine in Camden Town that severely dulls one's capacity for enjoyment of an evening of live rock. ...
The Dictators: Dictators Debunk New York Chic
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 17 December 1977
SO WHY IS DICK Manitoba nicknamed Handsome? ...
Greg Kihn: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 17 December 1977
BY WAY of introduction, says Greg Kihn, short, smiling, bopping, "We're from Berkeley; that means we don't give a shit about nothing". ...
Rick Danko: Rick Danko (Arista)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 17 December 1977
IT'S ODD that the least prodigious songwriters in The Band should be the quickest to deliver solo goods. First Levon Helm and now, hot on ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 7 January 1978
DID THEY really get what they wanted? They being black Americans. Gil Scott-Heron doesn't think so. He thinks that what they got came only on ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 7 January 1978
THEY SAY ENVIRONMENT determines character, and when it comes to American music, they're probably right. ...
Parliament: Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 January 1978
Clinton's Clones Hit Ass & Funny Bone ...
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 January 1978
(AND YES, THEY DO WANT TO BE TEEN IDOLS...) ...
The Last Poets, Merger: The Last Poets/Merger: Acklam Hall, Notting Hill, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 January 1978
CHANCES OF seeing The Last Poets I would have thought were only marginally better than those of seeing The Beatles. ...
Slaughter and the Dogs: Marquee Club, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 21 January 1978
NINTEEN seventy-seven happened pretty fast. ...
Frank Zappa: Stern Words in Knightsbridge
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 28 January 1978
…when cynical ol’ Uncle Frank knocks punk, record companies and U.S. presidents, and reveals the CIA plot to spike San Francisco… ...
Brian Eno: Before and after Science (Polydor 2302 071)
Review by Paul Rambali, Trouser Press, February 1978
IT APPEARS the grandiosely titled Before and After Science did not come easy to the erudite Mr. Eno. It was first scheduled some 10 months ...
Tom Robinson Band: Tom Robinson: Happy The Way He Is
Profile by Paul Rambali, Trouser Press, February 1978
SOME PEOPLE are worried that the next few years in Britain will see the rise of extreme right wing sentiments turning the country into an ...
Hirth Martinez: Big Bright Street
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 4 February 1978
APART FROM its notoriety for encouraging idle hedonism, California also seems to breed an unusually high percentage of oddballs. ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 4 February 1978
EXCESS AND incongruity seem to be the key factors at work here. An abundance of diverse stylistic elements piledriven and packed high into what must ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 4 February 1978
An investigation of the theory behind TALKING HEAD music. ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 February 1978
FAITH, HOPE AND HIP ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 February 1978
"Anybody wants to get mellow better turn around and get the fuck outa here." ...
Little Feat: Waiting for Columbus
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 February 1978
IF IT'S DEAD, IT'S SIX FEAT UNDER ...
The Clash: Cult Figure Cuts Clash To Suit American Dream Machine
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978
SANDY PEARLMAN IS A BRISK and lively talker. He can probably offer an animated dissertation of any number of irregular topics, ranging from advancements in ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978
They came out of the mists of Hibernia... They were wild, weird, and whacky...They were the first Rock-A-Hula Beat Combo to hit Scotland since 1961...They ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 4 March 1978
The 1978 edition BRYAN FERRY ‘These Four Wall of my Prison I Have Come to Love.'Byron said that. ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 4 March 1978
I'M AN AMERICAN ARTIST , I HAVE NO GUILT, I TRUST MY GUITAR ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978
WRECKLESS UBU: Waiting For The End ...
Devo: Hi! We're DEVO and We've come to get your toilet ready for the 1980's
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 March 1978
THE TRUTH ABOUT DE-EVOLUTION AND OTHER PLANETARY MODES. ...
The Soft Boys/The Brakes: The Nashville, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 March 1978
Why it's safer to lack discipline than imagination ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 1 April 1978
ON PAPER Generation X have their credentials for being The Now Sensation all present and correct. They've had them for a long time too. ...
Overview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 1 April 1978
Exploring alternative hives of industry in Akron, City of Rubber, and Cleveland, City of Steel. ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 8 April 1978
Not Funny But Frankly ...
The Bush Fire That Ate Bogville, Arizona
Overview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 8 April 1978
Oh-no-not-another-fanzine-survey (goes West) ...
David Bowie: Madison Square Garden, NYC
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 20 May 1978
IT WOULD make a great parlour game were some enterprising company to formalize rules. A game this writer has been known to play over the ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 27 May 1978
Heaven On The Cheap ...
Plastic Bertrand: "My Bird Has Thrown Up..."
Report and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 27 May 1978
The French produce Punk's Greatest Hit (eat your heart out, Pistols!) ...
Bruce Springsteen: Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 10 June 1978
So where you been, Bruce? ...
The Cramps: Psychobilly and Other Musical Diseases
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 10 June 1978
I SEARCHED HIGH and I searched low. I scuffled around garbage cans, looked under cars and peered in doorways. ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 17 June 1978
Form a band instead and drive others to it. PAUL RAMBALI Checks Out The Odd Couple From The Big Apple ...
Bootsy Collins: Bootsy: Developments in the Popcorn Industry
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 24 June 1978
...a.k.a. A Visit To The funk Factory a.k.a. A Meeting With A Black Man In Daft Glasses a.k.a. PAUL RAMBALI talks to superfunkster BOOTSY COLLINS ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 8 July 1978
THERE IS a particular type of songstress who feels the need, once a year, to commit her emotional diaries to vinyl. The purpose and merits ...
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 22 July 1978
MORE FOOD FOR THOUGHT ...
Report by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
Last September, in our extraordinarily collectable NME Collectors Issue, we looked at the seemingly unstoppable explosion of independent record labels. Times change, though. Rebels become ...
The Band: The Last Waltz: Time Gentlemen Please
Film/DVD/TV Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
The Last Waltz (United Artists)Directed by Martin ScorseseStarring The Band, Bob Dylan etc. etc. ...
The Residents, Snakefinger: Snakefinger: Meet the Latest New Wave Cult Figure
Profile by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 19 August 1978
YOU’VE SEEN the ads. You've been enticed, or not by the quirky graphics. Perhaps you've even bought the record, itself as quirky and improbable as ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 2 September 1978
EVERYBODY'S FAVOURITE cult – and an even bigger cult than Nick Lowe, his erstwhile companion in the reversible Rockpile – is the little Welsh rock'n'roller, ...
Patti Smith: Breaking The Shackles Of Original Sin
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 16 September 1978
The White Niggah, Biblical Obsession, and The Mutant Army witnessed at Cardiff – where discussions encompass the sexiness of Prince Charles and the pressures of ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 23 September 1978
THAT AKRON ALBUM took its listeners by surprise. Simultaneously old, new and current, it was fashioned – like any good adventure playground – from whatever ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 30 September 1978
PARDON ME if I've misunderstood, but amongst all those pretty speeches and petty let-downs didn't somebody once ask for 'new music night and day'? And ...
Buzzcocks: The Lust Train Stops Here
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978
LOVE… Ain't that something to be proud of? Isn't it a bitch? Don't the waves crash, the trumpets roar and the planet split? Doesn't the ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978
NELLIE YOUNG COMES A CROPPER ...
Red Krayola: Red Crayola: Hope & Anchor, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
AN EARLY psychedelic legend came to roost unexpectedly last weekend in the none-too-appropriate environs of the Hope and Anchor. ...
The Residents: Residents Leave Home
Report and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
Those of you who follow the regular propaganda turns of those San Mateo obscurantists, The Residents, will have noticed of late certain odd developments in ...
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
AN EVENING of Fast Product at which Saturday night anticipation could be discerned in the expectant chattering of the throng outside — no slowcoaches amongst ...
Pere Ubu: Unique Ideas Lead To Prison
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 November 1978
WE'S home, Huck!" The large, bulky frame squashed into the seat next to me delivers his quote from Mark Twain's fables of a more naive ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
Waits and measures ...
Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead: Shakedown Street
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 2 December 1978
Sorry to interrupt your reverie, Jerome. But then, this far along, not much could. ...
Singles in 1978: The Ones That Got Away
Overview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978
1978 was a classic year for singles. But most of the best were released on small labels with little chance of airplay, erratic distribution, and ...
Elvis Costello And The Attractions: with Richard Hell and the Voidoids
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 6 January 1979
WELCOME TO to the working week, seven nights of Elvis Costello at London's Dominion Theatre, virtually opposite the location of the Elvis musical.Will the real ...
Richard Hell: Who Says It's Good To Be Alive?
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 6 January 1979
To Hell and back (it's located on a houseboat near Cheyne Walk)... in which the head Voidoid expounds on life in manner both humorous and ...
The Mekons: The Group Who Fell To Earth
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979
THE MEKONS step down from the space ship of idealism and come face to face with Rock Reality. Can they and the cult of British ...
The Tubes: Remote Control (A&M)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 10 March 1979
YOU DIDN'T know Todd Rundgren had a new album out, did you? He has. ...
Lowell George: Thanks I'll Eat It Here (Warner Brothers)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 7 April 1979
THE REAL name of this album is 'Thank You! I'll Eat It Here!' which was the original name of Little Feat's Sailin' Shoes and applied, ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 28 April 1979
THE POP GROUP. An enigmatic name. Not so much ironic as is often claimed, more plain cheeky. ...
The B-52s: Hot Pants Cold Sweat And A Brand New Beehive Hair Do
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 9 June 1979
"Y'AHL WANT gumbo?" Kate Pierson peers around the kitchen door, tea-cloth slung across a sunburnt shoulder. Her deep southern accent tells us ahl that her ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 16 June 1979
COME ON, let's talk about girls. Let's talk about Lofgren, the bruised heart. ...
James Chance, James White and The Blacks: James White and The Blacks: Off White (ZE)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 23 June 1979
JAMES CHANCE, alias James White, leader of The Contortions aka The Blacks, has been making something of a name for himself this past year or ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 30 June 1979
ANYONE WITH even half an ear cocked to the dialogue that surrounds the music must have heard by now that they're living in some sort ...
Wire: Reluctant Rock Stars: A Nation In Crisis
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 7 July 1979
PAUL RAMBALI looks at the young people the Social Services have failed. The kids who must face the ever-present threat of Fame, the horror of ...
Joy Division: Take No Prisoners, Leave No Clues
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 August 1979
LET ME DRAW BACK the curtains on a probably wet and no doubt freezing night last winter. A mid-week night of no special significance, save ...
Ry Cooder: Ry And Related Stuff
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 August 1979
"Me and my wife, Went all over town, And everywhere we went, The people turned us down, Lord, in a bourgeois town, In a bourgeois ...
Talking Heads: Taking Heads: Fear Of Music (Sire)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 August 1979
TOM WOLFE ONCE wrote a book called The Painted Word, a thin volume of accomplished iconoclasm. In it he traces the rise and rise of ...
The Mo-dettes: Fast, Loud, Pretty
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 August 1979
MET THEM ON A Monday, the Coca Cola spilt over the tape machine, and my MRX2 Oxide 45 mins each side @ 1 7/8 i.p.s. ...
Van Morrison: Into The Music (Mercury)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 August 1979
CAN THIS BE coincidence? Three of rock's most vaunted troubadors choose the very same week to unveil their newest fare, their last of the spiritually ...
The Selecter: They Still Bear The Skas
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 8 September 1979
BLACK SHOES, bright socks, black shades, white shirt, black trilby, irridescent trousers a tad too short and chest-hugger jackets...Stepping down from the inter-city train to ...
Blondie: Eat To The Beat (Chrysalis)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
BLONDES have more fun. They also sometimes sell more records. This puts our subject in a rather invidious position. ...
Cheap Trick: Dream Police (Epic)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
BRIEFLY, THIS is the fifth time in four years that Cheap Trick have vented their prodigious energies. Dream Police was made before Live At The Budokan made Cheap Trick ...
Gang of Four: Entertainment! (EMI)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 6 October 1979
ENVELOPED AS we seem to be by such backward times, Gang Of Four could hardly have picked a more awkward moment to foist their collectivist ...
Lene Lovich: A HIt Ms That Refuses To Fit
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 13 October 1979
LENE LOVICH, five foot nothing of old lace, obscure ancestry and pigtails, is what in old showbiz parlance they call a trouper. She can take ...
Boomtown Rats: The Fine Art Of Surfacing (Ensign)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979
The Rat Who Would Walk On Water ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 3 November 1979
FILED SIDE by side, those titles read like the bookends of a wasted decade. In their predictably loud, plain language they seem to say that ...
Randy Newman: Standing Up For The Small Man
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 8 December 1979
THERE ARE hotels and there are hotels. And then there are hotels like Claridge's, an elegant art deco reminder of the pre-war age of luxury ...
The Selecter, The Specials: The Specials, The Selecter: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 15 December 1979
TWO TOP FIVE two-tone bands in one night. The message comes through loud and clear: rude bwoy can't fail. ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 22 December 1979
LIVERPOOL'S Lime Street station opens onto a typically drab cityscape. ...
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 5 January 1980
It could only be cold comfort to them, but this isn’t the first time rock ‘n’ roll has played a distant part in the lives ...
John Cale: Sabotage/Live (Spy Import)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980
THE COVER of this, his first album in almost five years, shows John Cale wearing the only sensible accessories for the true cold war ...
Utopia: Adventures In Utopia (Bearsville)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 26 January 1980
The no longer implacable but apparently un-stoppable Todd Rundgren releases his first blow to the forward aspirations of the new decade, a concept album. But ...
Bobby Rush: Rush Hour (Philly International Import)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 2 February 1980
WITH A FEW honourable exceptions, the satin sounds of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's branded Philadelphia International label usually leave this writer's mojo idling. But ...
Elvis Costello & The Attractions: Get Happy!! (F-Beat)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 16 February 1980
ON AN otherwise typical day late last October, Elvis Costello strolled through the door of London’s Rock On record shop in Camden Town, the oldies ...
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 15 March 1980
Suddenly everything's gone only rock'n'roll again. Punk, mod, ska, HM – it's the same old escape route in a different make of limo. Down in ...
U2, The Virgin Prunes: U2, Berlin, Virgin Prunes: Acklam Hall, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 29 March 1980
ITS ENERGY spent, its citizens content to lapse into style, to consume and give tacit consent, its insatiable media meanwhile ever needing fresh supplies, London ...
Fleetwood Mac: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 28 June 1980
SAT IN THE Grand Tier South of Wembley Arena it's hard not to feel both a hardening and softening of the old cultural corpus. One's ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 13 September 1980
XTC'S FOURTH outing, called, for no apparent reason, Black Sea, greets the reviewer like nothing so much as a bowl of Frosties on a wet ...
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980
AWWWRIGHT LONDON!! ARE YA STARTING TO SWEAT?! ...
Captain Beefheart: Tales Of Transmutation From The Mojave Magic Man
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 1 November 1980
"GOD-DAMN THAT BEAT!" Don Van Vliet slams out a foursquare tattoo on the dashboard of his blue Volvo estate. "That mama heartbeat. That bom...bom...bom! Why ...
Talking Heads: Free Your Ass And Your Head Will Follow
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 8 November 1980
Doctor Byrne discovers Africa and funk but makes the natives restless ...
Spandau Ballet: Talking Threads: Spandau Ballet
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 29 November 1980
Five young men from Islington make a short story shorter about the ballet-hoo surrounding the group most likely to – Spandau Ballet. ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 7 February 1981
SATURDAY NIGHT ended at seven o'clock on Sunday morning with one last bottle of Veuve Cliquot and Sunday began at four in the afternoon with ...
John Cale: Rock's Honourable Psychotic
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 April 1981
Welsh-American wizard John Cale and Stratham scribe Paul Rambali look over their shoulders at each other and talk history and paranoia. ...
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: Coconut Kid as Cruise Caruso: Kid Creole
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 23 May 1981
KID CREOLE And The Coconuts release their second long player, title Fresh Fruit In Foreign Places, in a couple of weeks' time. A 12-song 'concept ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, June 1981
A CHECKER CAB pulls up at the corner of MacDougal and 7th; out of it steps Mr. Michael Zilkha. The cab is yellow with a ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, July 1981
Biographies of Grace Jnes used to describe her as the icy six-foot goddess of all that is perverse, decadent and nocturnal. Grace Jones was a ...
The Cramps Guide to Teenage Monster Movies
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 July 1981
Movies nowadays are all high technology and no brains, no imagination. What do you call it when you do something real good and you didn't ...
The Clash: Clash Credibility Rule!
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 10 October 1981
YES, IT'S TIME ONCE AGAIN TO REACH INSIDE THE NME CLOSET, BLOW THE DUST OFF THE OLD CLASH RULER, AND SEE HOW THE LADS ARE ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 November 1981
LES STRAY CHATS RENDEZVOUS WITH LES HELLS ANGELS. PAUL RAMBALI PUTS ON A TRANSFER TATTOO FOR A ROCKABILLY EXCURSION TO PARIS. ...
Why is This Man Hip But a Complete Failure?: Michael Zilkha and ZE Records
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 5 December 1981
Paul Rambali meets Mr. ZE, Michael Zilkha and learns how the music on his label has made him fashionable but broke. ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, July 1982
Ry Cooder is tall, like a Texan, and dry, very dry, like a Margarita; tall in both physical height and musical standing, dry in both ...
Malcolm McLaren: How The West Was Won
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, June 1983
An epic trek across the myth of Malcolm McLaren ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, July 1983
SOMEWHERE ON the southern outskirts of Manchester there is a graveyard. Next to the graveyard is a rehearsal room where the four members of New ...
Elvis Costello: The Face Interview: Elvis Costello
Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, August 1983
ALMOST seven years ago now, the son of dance band singer Ross McManus invented somebody called Elvis Costello. It was possible to do that in ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, June 1984
NOTES SCRAWLED habitually on the back of Richard Branson’s hand attest to a hectic day. He had been invited to lunch by the financial editor ...
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, July 1984
How can one so rich, talented and beautiful be so weary of life? ...
Chic: Nile Rodgers: Brother, Can You Spare a Riff?
Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, September 1984
THE CHIC SOUND – unique, polished, assertive – was the Motown of the '70s, synonymous with the rising aspirations of black America. It was to ...
Remembering Rock Dreams: Guy Peellaert and Nik Cohn
Retrospective and Interview by Paul Rambali, MOJO, March 1995
DO YOU STILL have a copy of Rock Dreams? If you were a rock fan in the early ‘70s, when it was first published, you ...
Report by Paul Rambali, Rock's Backpages, 19 November 2015
THE DICTATORS played in central Paris on Wednesday night and Handsome Dick Manitoba was in exhilarating Noo Yoik form. ...
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