Rob Hughes
117 articles
List of articles in the library by artist
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, July 2007
Boy Wonder Eases Up: Only His 9th LP In Seven Years ...
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, January 2015
1978. Hippies and punks come together at an idyllic free festival near Rochdale: "It was a really transformative moment!" ...
Beck: The Apollo Theatre, Manchester
Live Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, July 2003
Solitary refinement: Stunning one-man set as the eclectic troubadour of cool goes back to his folk-blues roots ...
Björk: Manchester International Festival
Live Review by Rob Hughes, Word, The, September 2011
Björk's new live show: sci-fi, gothic soundtrack and head-scrambling visuals. Each song comes with an interactive app. ...
The Black Keys: O2 Apollo, Manchester ****
Live Review by Rob Hughes, Daily Telegraph, 7 February 2012
ONE OF THE great things about pop music is its happy habit of making heroes from the unlikeliest base material. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, December 2007
How three Summer Of Love acid-heads became the heaviest band on the planet. ...
Bright Eyes: Letting Off The Happiness (Wichita) ***
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, June 2001
Prequel to last year's impressive Fevers And Mirrors from Omaha wunderkind ...
Bright Eyes: Lifted, Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground (Wichita)
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, October 2002
Nebraskan boy wonder bunkers down for apocalypse. ...
Retrospective by Rob Hughes, Uncut, February 2001
ROB HUGHES SALUTES THE BYRDS' GEM THE NOTORIOUS BYRD BROTHERS ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, June 2000
Fourth outing from prolific Giant Sand rhythm kings and assorted playmates ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, Word, The, January 2012
Siren of art-house blues-rock, raised on Beefheart and modelled on Edith Piaf. Ashamed of her attraction to Glee. ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2009
Freewheeling sixth from the loud Virginian. ...
The Cash Brothers: Matt & Phred's Jazz Club, Manchester
Live Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, February 2002
A SPARKLING jewel of one of Uncut's Unconditionally Guaranteed CD covermounts – along with star billing on the Loose 2 compendium – was The Cash ...
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2004
BY THE TIME he got to Woodstock in 1971, Robert Charles Guidry was a wanted man. ...
Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, November 2001
VOCALLY GYMNASTIC British tunesmith overcomes that difficult-second-album syndrome... ...
Gaz Coombes: The Things I Like
Interview by Rob Hughes, Word, The, June 2012
Mutton-chopped Britpop anthem-penner, absurdist and Muppeteer. Sucker for slow, intense camera work. ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, November 2001
THE FORMER BYRD RECENTLY TOURED EUROPE WITH CROSBY, PEVAR, RAYMOND – RAYMOND BEING HIS SON JAMES, WITH WHOM HE WAS REUNITED IN 1995 – TO ...
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, March 2002
LONDON: DECEMBER, 1968. Moscow Road, Bayswater, just off the rowdy casbah din of Queensway with its hippie boutiques, bars, restaurants, buzzing crowds. There are three ...
David Bowie: Changing Man: David Bowie: MEN Arena, Manchester
Live Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, February 2004
So much to answer for… the Bard Of Bromley's back in fine forward-looking fettle with a scintillating combination of the old and the new ...
Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2002
'PASTORAL' ENGLISHMEN become the toast of Tennessee. ...
The Dream Syndicate: Unsung Heroes: The Dream Syndicate
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, September 2010
Bad medicine! The dark lords of the Paisley Underground revisited. ...
The Duke & The King: Long Live The Duke & The King (Loose/Silva Oak) ****
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, October 2010
Dashing country-soul from Felice Brother's lively ensemble ...
Duane Eddy: "All Pilots Are Musicians"
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Word, The, July 2011
Downhome philosopher, barrier-busting King Of Twang noise-bringer — Duane Eddy strums the semi-acoustic soundbox of sagacity. ...
Brian Eno: "When he sang, David Bowie became a different person"
Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Daily Telegraph, 23 July 2016
BRIAN ENO is Britain's favourite cultural polymath. He contributed a chime for a clock that will ring once every 10,000 years. He wrote a soundtrack ...
Felice Brothers: The Felice Brothers: Loose
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, May 2008
Killer second from rural New York siblings ...
Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Frankie Says Pop Revolution
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Record Collector, January 2014
It's easy to forget how big an explosion Frankie Goes To Hollywood caused in the '80s. Rob Hughes peers through the cracked windows of the ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Word, The, September 2011
Three of the planet's most diffident, messy and murky indie bands throw open the doors and let the pop stream in. ...
Howe Gelb: Confluence (Loose)***
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, June 2001
TWENTY YEARS in, the Giant Sand guru's songwriting torrent courses stronger than ever. ...
Giant Sand: Blurry Blue Mountain
Review and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, December 2010
25 years on, Howe Gelb's band are still a vital force. ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, October 2008
Deconstructionist country-blues from Arizona hero ...
Grandaddy: Manchester University
Live Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2001
STRANGE TALES of exploding androids, lost loves, graveyards for household gadgets, crashed spaceships, sunken dreams and cock-and-bull tourist authorities. Welcome to the bevelled woodchuckery of ...
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, October 2002
ROB HUGHES ON THE DARK AMERICAN GEM THAT WAS GREEN ON RED'S THIRD LP ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, May 2010
The return of the Hag... in imperious form ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, unpublished, 1999
OCTOBER 1999. On the release of early-years compilation Down In The Valley - and four months prior to fourth studio album, In The Air - ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, October 2001
CALL IT WHAT you will – proto-country, Southern Gothic, backwoods noir, Americana, cow-punk, insurgent twang, murderous balladry, Appalachian folk. Whichever way you slice it, The ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, Word, The, September 2011
"Unwanted Alien" — the stamp on Roy Harper's passport in 1962. It's been the story of his life: troubled outsider tries to break in. ...
Roy Harper: Songs Of Love And Loss: Volumes 1 & 2
Review by Rob Hughes, Word, The, July 2011
Like Marmite and modern jazz, Roy Harper tends to polarise opinion. The man allergic to authority gets a digital reboot. ...
Richard Hawley: Richard Hawley
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, July 2001
Former Pulp guitarist makes dynamic debut with mini-album of spectral ballads ...
Lee Hazlewood: The Lee Hazlewood Interview
Interview by Rob Hughes, Get Rhythm, July 2002
IT'S BEEN A hellish few days for Lee Hazlewood. Three days into a four-day promo frenzy of our nation's fair capital, and everyone after a ...
Judy Henske, Jerry Yester: Judy Henske & Jerry Yester: Farewell Aldebaran (Radioactive)
Review and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, January 2006
AMONG THE ODDITIES released on Frank Zappa's Straight label at the end of the '60s, none was more exotic than the one conceived by a ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2010
Nashville-based veteran rips through the gears. ...
Wanda Jackson: Hard-Headed Woman
Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Record Collector, February 2007
WANDA JACKSON was the original Riot Grrrl. In the late '50s, she shook, rattled and roared next to Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and boyfriend ...
Wanda Jackson: You Know I'm So Good!
Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2010
Elvis Presley, Jack White, Amy Winehouse... and the return of Wanda Jackson, first lady of rock'n'roll. ...
The Jayhawks: Music From The North Country – The Jayhawks Anthology
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, September 2009
Roots-rockers' double-disc retrospective, with excellent extras ...
Daniel Johnston: Use Your Delusion: Daniel Johnston: Fear Yourself (Sketchbook) ****
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2003
Twenty-first album from America's startlingly original lord of lo-fi ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Sermon On Exposition Boulevard
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, March 2007
Startling Return Of L.A.'s Duchess Of Coolsville. ...
Kim Fowley: Welcome To The Weird World of Kim Fowley
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, March 2005
"I can kill people, cheat, seduce, amuse and abuse. When they drop a bomb, I'll get a hard-on, go out into the street and I'll ...
Kings of Leon: Kings Of Leon: Because Of The Times (Columbia) ****
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, May 2007
SWAMPY RETURN OF THE "SOUTHERN STROKES" ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, May 2006
KRIS KRISTOFFERSON is tough to nail. Uncut first catches him, fleetingly, en route to the airport at his home in Maui. ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, November 2008
Best in nearly a decade from newly-trimmed Nashville collective. ...
Ray LaMontagne: Til The Sun Turns Black (14th Floor) ***
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, February 2007
New Hampshire star's long-awaited second sneaks into UK shops ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, December 2008
Reissued early stuff from Kentucky-born folkstress. ...
Mark Lanegan, Screaming Trees: Mark Lanegan: Shadow Play
Interview by Rob Hughes, Record Collector, February 2014
Over a series of solo albums, work with Screaming Trees and Queens Of The Stone Age, among others, Mark Lanegan has proved his worth as ...
Arthur Lee, Love: Arthur Lee: We Have Ways Of Making You Talk
Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, August 2001
ONCE DESCRIBED by fellow band-member Brian MacLean as 'the baddest guy on the West Side of LA, the Cassius Clay of the streets' – Arthur ...
Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, January 2002
BIZARRE BUT brilliant New York "anti-folk" singer. ...
The Lilac Time: Compendium — The Fontana Trinity (Universal/Fontana)*****
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, September 2001
FORTY-FOUR-TRACK twofer cherry-picked from first three albums – includes B-sides and rarities. ...
Charlie Louvin: The Battles Rage On
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, January 2011
Old stager returns to his post for military-decorated album ...
Loretta Lynn, Jack White: Loretta Lynn: Van Lear Rose
Review and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, June 2004
Awesome rebirth of original Country Queen, produced and arranged by the White Stripes' Jack White. ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Sultans Of Swamp
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, May 2006
LORD KNOWS, Lynyrd Skynyrd had seen it coming. On the flight from Florida to South Carolina, the band's Convair 240 tour plane had begun spewing ...
Johnny Marr on Boomslang and the Smiths
Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2003
Hughes: The new album's been a long time in the making. Why the wait? ...
The Mekons: Mekon…And On…And On…
Report and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, September 2007
They wanted to be punk's slowest band. They ended up accidentally inventing alt.country and sticking around for 30 years. Raise your glasses, please, to the ...
Buddy and Julie Miller: Buddy & Julie Miller
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, June 2002
TEARS-IN-your-beer stuff from Nashville Mr and Mrs. ...
Miracle Legion: Promised You A Miracle
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, January 2016
At last! Mark Mulcahy and Ray Neal plot the second coming of Miracle Legion. ...
Moby Grape: Great albums that fell off the critical radar: Moby Grape
Retrospective by Rob Hughes, Uncut, December 2003
THERE'S UNLUCKY and then there's unlucky. In the case of '60s Bay Area five-piece Moby Grape, they were hounded by the hex from Hell. They ...
Morrissey: A Quiff of Nostalgia: Morrissey: M.E.N. Arena, Manchester
Live Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, August 2004
The toast(ed teacake) of Tinseltown comes home. DVD to follow. ...
New Order: Move Festival, Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester
Live Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, September 2002
SINCE SETTING aside old bones of contention four years ago, New Order's Indian summer has seemed one long, breathless, last-skitter-of-the-dice party. ...
New Order: Olympia Theatre, Liverpool
Live Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, October 2001
BY RIGHTS, they shouldn't be here at all. The acrimonious fallout from 1993's tempestuous Republic gouged a rift within New Order that seemed way beyond ...
Laura Nyro: Angel In The Dark (Rounder)****
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, July 2001
THE LAST recordings from the 'Bronx Bronte', covered by everyone from Sinatra to Streisand. A live album's imminent, too. ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, May 2004
Whether recording as Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Palace Brothers or just plain Palace, Will Oldham is one of the most enigmatic, brilliant songwriters in America ...
Jim O'Rourke: The Art Of Noise
Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, March 2002
HEAR AN EXPERIMENTAL, ELECTRONIC RECORD THESE DAYS AND CHANCES ARE IT WILL HAVE CHICAGOAN JIM O'ROURKE'S NAME ON IT. ROB HUGHES MEETS THE 21ST CENTURY ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, December 2001
CLASSIC WEST coast sounds direct from Vancouver. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2008
BY THE TIME of his 1968 debut, Van Dyke Parks already had pedigree. Mississippi-born and Louisiana-raised, as a child actor he starred in 1956's The ...
Pavement, Preston School of Industry: Preston School of Industry: All This Sounds Gas (Domino)****
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, September 2001
PAVEMENT FOUNDER member emerges from dark side of the Malkmus to release solo project, whose name derives from San Francisco-area reform school ...
Pernice Brothers: The World Won't End
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, July 2001
DESPITE THE previous year's flawless neo-country masterpiece Massachusetts, Joe Pernice quit the Scud Mountain Boys in 1997 in pursuit of new horizons and a craving ...
Pernice Brothers: The World Won't End
Review and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, August 2001
SUN-BAKED melancholy from Boston ...
Larry Wallis, The Pink Fairies: Larry Wallis: I Thought You Were Dead
Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, June 2002
ONCE LABELLED "Hank Marvin on acid", Wallis was vocalist/guitarist in seminal UK space-rockers the Pink Fairies, penning 1973's classic Kings Of Oblivion. ...
The Pixies: Looking back on Doolittle and the making of a classic
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Classic Rock, May 2014
30 years after the Doolittle album took The Pixies from obscurity to alt.rock's top table, the band Kurt Cobain wanted to be in look back ...
Lisa Marie Presley: To Whom It May Concern (Capitol) **
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, September 2003
The most famous scion in rock history aims for a spot in the sun ...
Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Daily Telegraph, 6 June 2013
SOMETIMES, JUST sometimes, the good ones win out. Ask Bonnie Raitt. In a career now into its fifth decade, and which once appeared to be ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, October 2002
IT'S EARLY 1987. Amid a fug of coke-induced paranoia, unruly punk misanthropists the Replacements have snuck back into the Minneapolis studio of Twin/Tone Records. Convinced ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, May 2010
Thwarted! He could have been L.A.'s McCartney. Instead, he ended up "ashamed of being human". ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, January 2007
Delicate Mini-Album From Idaho Minstrel ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, unpublished, Fall 2009
"DID I HAVE DREAMS of being a big star? Yeah, I had hopes of making it. We all do, but in music there are no ...
Guide by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2004
Power pop? Another bunch of Beatles nerds with '60s gear and no tunes, then? ...
Frank Sidebottom: Chris Sievey 1955-2010
Obituary by Rob Hughes, Guardian, The, 22 June 2010
Musician, entertainer and alter ego of the cult comedy creation Frank Sidebottom. ...
P. F. Sloan: The Stars That Fame Forgot: P. F. Sloan
Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, August 2006
"P.F. Sloan gave us arguably the first real 'protest rock'. It wasn't folk music anymore, it was ROCK AND ROLL protest music. 'Eve of Destruction' ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, May 2000
Ninth dry—lipped album from the Buster Keaton of sadcore ...
Sparklehorse: Mark Linkous, 1962-2010
Obituary by Rob Hughes, Guardian, The, 9 March 2010
THE AMERICAN singer-songwriter Mark Linkous, who has killed himself aged 47, worked with the Flaming Lips, Daniel Johnston and Danger Mouse, but is best known ...
Sparklehorse: Mark Linkous: Singer-songwriter, Sparklehorse leader (1962-2010)
Obituary by Rob Hughes, Uncut, May 2010
OF ALL THE tributes that followed the tragic death of Mark Linkous, who shot himself through the heart in Knoxville, Tennessee, none was more concise ...
Skip Spence: Dark Star: The Tragic Genius Of Skip Spence
Retrospective by Rob Hughes, Classic Rock, 23 January 2015
Moby Grape co-founder Skip Spence wrote his album Oar in a psychiatric ward after threatening his bandmates with an axe. Fifteen years after his death, artists ...
Stephen Stills: Just Roll Tape – April 26th 1968
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, September 2007
Post-Springfield, Pre-CSN Stills in Magisterial Solo Mood ...
Richard Swift: Dressed Up For The Letdown
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, March 2007
CONNOISSEURS OF grand American pop will love Richard Swift. Like the young Van Dyke Parks or Harry Nilsson, his baleful, piano-led cabaret sounds like an ...
Richard Swift: Dressed Up For The Letdown
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, March 2007
CONNOISSEURS OF grand American pop will love Richard Swift. Like the young Van Dyke Parks or Harry Nilsson, his baleful, piano-led cabaret sounds like an ...
Guide by Rob Hughes, Word, The, February 2012
Folk luminary, former librarian, Anne Briggs acolyte and breadmaker. Well-versed in the history of war. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2003
How TEENAGE FANCLUB became Kurt Cobain's favourite band, looked set to conquer the world, then decided they had better things to do… ...
Retrospective by Rob Hughes, Uncut, November 2001
Lightning strikes with Marquee Moon, Television opened the door to post-punk ...
Them Crooked Vultures: High Flyers
Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Classic Rock, March 2010
Most 40th birthday parties end with a sore head, regrettable dancing and uneaten cake. Dave Grohl's bash finished up with him, John Paul Jones and ...
13th Floor Elevators: The Psychedelic World Of The 13th Floor Elevators (Charly)****
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, May 2002
BOXED COMPENDIUM of acid-fried Texan mindbenders. Includes lives, outtakes and alternate cuts on three remastered CDs. ...
Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, June 2002
TRAGEDY AND comedy from homecoming queen of heartbreak. ...
Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, July 2001
AS FIRST gigs go, it was an almost surreal baptism. Happily for them, the Queen was impressed. "She came over and said hello. I just ...
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Record Collector, September 2007
FUNNY HOW things change. A little over a decade ago, Ike Turner was rock'n'roll's terminal pariah. Damned by 1993's What's Love Got To Do With ...
Uncle Tupelo: Are you ready for the alt. country?
Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, August 2004
UNCLE TUPELO only recorded three albums, but their legacy is extraordinary. Here we talk to original members Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy and Mike Heidorn about ...
Cherry Vanilla: Nymphomaniacs Anonymous
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, March 2011
Whatever happened to the celebrity groupie? Legendary '70s party animal Cherry Vanilla has a few theories. ...
Review and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, January 2010
Peachy "comeback" from Portland nature-lover. ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, Word, The, May 2012
Songwriting, film-scoring opera-pop dandy with formative Thomas Hardy habit. Puccini apologist and Family Guy fanatic. ...
Frank Zappa, Tom Waits: Herb Cohen: Combative label boss and manager of Frank Zappa and Tom Waits
Obituary by Rob Hughes, Guardian, The, 1 April 2010
HERB COHEN, who has died aged 77 of complications from cancer, did not elicit much affection from the artists he managed, but he played a ...
Review and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, October 2017
CORY HANSON didn't hang about when he formed Wand with fellow art school chums Lee Landey and Evan Burrows in 2013. ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, October 2000
CHIPS OFF the old block deliver first album 'proper', produced by Smiths/Blur helmsman Stephen Street. ...
Gillian Welch: A Kind Of Bluegrass
Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, September 2003
Don't be fooled by her old-time country music and rural folk imagery. Gillian Welch is no mountain girl… ...
Jim White: Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus ****
Film/DVD/TV Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, July 2004
SHOWING FOR A limited time at London's National Film Theatre prior to an airing on television this is film-maker Andrew Douglas' road trip through America's ...
Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2001
ON HIS EXTRAORDINARY NEW ALBUM, NO SUCH PLACE, HE HAS CONTRIVED AN ASTONISHING MIX OF SPOOKILY DEMENTED COUNTRY, SKEWED ROCK AND HIP HOP THAT CHARTS ...
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, October 2001
AUGUST, 1969: Upstate New York. All along America's Eastern seaboard upright citizens of this great nation are starting to slowly stir from deep and uneventful ...
Willard Grant Conspiracy: Pilgrim Road
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, June 2008
Opulent seventh from Robert Fisher's ever-evolving collective. ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, Word, The, January 2012
Anyone else apart from Roy Wood ever been sued by a prime minister? ...
X: Los Angeles *****; Wild Gift ****; Under The Big Black Sun **** (Rhino/Warners)
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, December 2001
REMASTERED, EXPANDED reissues from the dark heart of California. ...
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