Steven X Rea
Born in London, England, and raised in New York City, Steven Rea moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s. His work as a music journalist - mostly under the byline Steven X. Rea - included contributions (from 1976 to 1982) to Crawdaddy, Music World, Phonograph Record Magazine, High Fidelity, Folk Scene, Los Angeles, New West, Trouser Press, Oui, Chic, Record World, Wax Paper (the innovative Warner Bros. Records in-house publication) and, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, where he also wrote a weekly column called "Simple Pleasures."
In addition to filing heaps of record and concert reviews, Steven interviewed many artists during this time, including Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Townes Van Zandt, Marshall Crenshaw, Nicolette Larson, Aaron Neville, Jesse Colin Young, Tom Petty, EmmyLou Harris, Tom Waits, Mark Knopfler, Bonnie Raitt, Nick Lowe, Talking Heads, Leonard Cohen, Joan Jett and the Incredible String Band.
In the latter part of the 1970s, Steven worked at Island Records, writing artist bios and press materials for a roster that included Bob Marley, Toots and the Maytals, Steve Winwood, Brian Eno, Bruce Cockburn, Robert Palmer, Michael Nesmith and Richard Thompson. In the early 1980s he was an associate editor at Oui magazine, then a part of Hugh Hefner's Playboy publishing empire. Steven edited the arts section at Oui.
Since 1982, Steven has been on the staff of the Philadelphia Inquirer, first as a general assignment writer covering popular music, movies, books and whatnot, and, since the mid-1990s as one of the Inquirer's film critics.
15 articles
List of articles in the library by date
The Incredible String Band: Liquid Acrobat As Regards The Air (Elektra)
Review by Steven X Rea, Phonograph Record, April 1972
THIS IS THE Incredible String Band's ninth album (tenth, if you include the soundtrack to their film BE GLAD...), and their first in over a ...
The Incredible String Band Ascending To The Stars
Profile by Steven X Rea, Music World, April 1973
God made a song when the world was new, waters' laughter sings it true, O, wizard of changes, teachme the lesson of flowing — Robin Williamson ...
Jesse Colin Young: Trying To Be A Good Highway
Interview by Steven X Rea, Music World, November 1973
WE DROVE our '54 Chevrolet along the road to Inverness on the Point Reyes peninsula quickly, somehow feeling threatened by the grey, heavy clouds that ...
Steely Dan: Countdown To Ecstasy
Review by Steven X Rea, Music World, November 1973
THIS IS BASICALLY just a review of one song on Countdown To Ecstasy. I mean, the rest of the record is fine, the lyrics are ...
Joni Mitchell: Ellis Auditorium, Memphis, Tennessee
Live Review by Steven X Rea, Phonograph Record, May 1974
JONI MITCHELL has finally accepted stardom and all the craziness that goes with it. During her Memphis appearance she still revealed her female submissiveness on ...
John Martyn: One World (Island)
Review by Steven X Rea, Crawdaddy!, April 1978
JOHN MARTYN'S music is a blur of blues and jazz and rock: Bessie Smith's emotiveness, Hoagy Carmichael's mellowness, Skip James' growl and bellow, and Martyn's ...
Plastic Bertrand: Ça Plane Pour Moi
Review by Steven X Rea, Waxpaper, 11 August 1978
The Intricate, Tongue-Twisting Babble That Is Plastic Bertrand ...
Wild Man Fischer: Look Out, Las Vegas
Profile and Interview by Steven X Rea, Chic, December 1978
"I'LL BET YOU that if I played Las Vegas, Don Rickles, Frank Sinatra, Buddy Hackett, everybody in that place would look up to me and ...
Report by Steven X Rea, Oui, 1980
The City of Angels has become a Dada delight ...
Profile and Interview by Steven X Rea, Trouser Press, March 1980
LAST SUMMER, holed up in Sound City Studios in the industrial pits of the San Fernando Valley, four musicians known collectively as 20/20 were deep ...
The Motels: Growing Up In Motels
Interview by Steven X Rea, Trouser Press, July 1980
"THERE'S SOMEONE on the Ameche for you, Mom," chimes in Maria Davis, 13-year-old daughter of Motels lead singer/songwriter/sometime rhythm guitarist Martha Davis, 29. Ameche? "The ...
Ramblin' Jack Elliott: Elliott is Still Rambling
Profile and Interview by Steven X Rea, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, 31 July 1981
30 years of storytelling and Elliott is still ramblin' ...
Rodney Crowell: Crowell's Got Cash But He Has His Own Career
Interview by Steven X Rea, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, 18 September 1981
A favorite of Willie and Emmylou, he's a family man with wife Rosanne ...
Nick Lowe: Life Among "Witless Clods"
Interview by Steven X Rea, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, 12 March 1982
IT'S 1:30 IN the afternoon when Nick Lowe pries open the sliding door of his West Hollywood hotel room and peers up at the sky ...
Split Enz: This May Be The Beginning Of The Enz
Interview by Steven X Rea, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, 7 May 1982
BACK IN the '70s, the members of Split Enz sported sky-high pyramids of multicolored hair, decked themselves out in Fellini-esque clown suits, plastered their faces ...
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