Vivien Goldman
Vivien is a writer, broadcaster and musician who has devoted her work to Afro-Caribbean and global music links and perspectives. A pioneering journalist during the 1970s "Golden Age" of conscious reggae and militant punk, she drew on a lengthy association with Bob Marley to write his first biography, Soul Rebel, Natural Mystic, and worked closely with visionaries like the inventor of harmolodics, Ornette Coleman, and Afrobeat creator, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Described by Rolling Stone as "a small miracle", her book The Black Chord (a collaboration with photographer David Corio) traces connections between African and Diaspora music.
Publications in which she has appeared include Interview, the Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Spin, the Daily Telegraph and Harper’s Bazaar. After presenting for The Tube and The Late Show (with Charlie Gillett) she co-produced and conceived the groundbreaking 1980s TV show, Big World Café, combining world and Anglophone music. Her numerous TV credits include scripting VH1’s acclaimed first 100 Greatest of Rock and The 1970s series.
As a songwriter, she has released tracks with trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack, UK hiphop innovators, Cold Cut, and Japanese symphonist, Ryuichi Sakamoto. A founding member of the avant-garde pop combo, the Flying Lizards, her solo single, ‘Launderette’, composed with Aswad bassie, George Oban, and co-produced with Johnny Rotten, has recently been re-issued on the Anti NY CD. Its rave reviews include Le Monde's "a woman of artistic dimensions and significant politics who helped evolve the New Wave," and the Village Voice, who called it "a disarming li'l dub song about dating and washing." Goldman lives in Manhattan where she writes books, songs and screenplays.
Pic: David Corio
263 articles
List of articles in the library
Bees Make Honey: The Kensington, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
BACK AT THE Kensington, the pub they first opened up to rock music, Bees Make Honey gave a storming set as usual. ...
Bill Monroe: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 24 May 1975
BILL MONROE IS the main-man of bluegrass music, a veteran innovator whose recording career spans 40 years. ...
Paul Revere & the Raiders: An American Dream
Retrospective by Vivien Goldman, Let It Rock, June 1975
"WHILE STILL in his teens Paul Revere was running a drive-in theatre and two barbershops in Boise, Idaho. One night while listening to a combo ...
Max Merritt: It's Almost Like Art…
Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 23 August 1975
IT'S GOOD to be sitting in a pub courtyard with the pleasingly craggy Max Merritt. ...
Andy Pratt: Nobody Knows My Name
Profile by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
HAVE your albums been deleted? Do they even refuse to take them at second-hand shops? Are you even now living off the dole, wondering where ...
The Supremes at Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
NEXT TIME YOU have the opportunity, check out Motown's Anthology of Diana Ross and the Supremes' Greatest Hits. Unless you're an avid fan whose every ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 20 September 1975
"ANYONE WHO KNOWS my work" said Bob Calvert earnestly, "would realise that however bad they might think it is, it's all intentional." ...
Report by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 11 October 1975
Up T’NORTH, they don’t like London journalists snooping about. Still, this was a special occasion at the shrine of the " Northern Soul Scene". ...
Captain Beefheart: Don't Argue with the Captain: A Rap Wit’ de Cap
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 22 November 1975
Captain Beefheart is back in Britain, and despite those hassles over Bongo Fury he has lots of laughs... ...
Bob Marley & The Wailers: Live at the Lyceum (Island) 35 mins.*****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 November 1975
IN THESE troubled times of ours there's very few things you can be sure of. ...
Bruce Springsteen: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 November 1975
WHEN THEY were good they were very very good, and when they were bad they were so-so. ...
Can: Tales of the Supernatural
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 6 December 1975
I WAS SITTING in a standard hotel bedroom the other day, chewing the fat with a citizen by the name of Irmin Schmidt. ...
Al Jarreau: It's a bit early for New Year predictions, but here's one: Al Jarreau
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 December 1975
TO EVERYONE who's raved over Al Jarreau's Warner Bros album, We Got By, the identity of the man has remained an enigma that demanded solution. ...
Michael Nesmith: Mike Nesmith: The Thinking Man's Nesmith
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 December 1975
MIKE NESMITH has been through a fair amount of professional incarnations, his two most striking public images being most easily summed up as Monkee and ...
Weather Report: Wayne Shorter Cuts It
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 December 1975
WAYNE Shorter used to be introduced by Art Blakey in the 1950s like this: "This is Wayne Shorter, ladies and genulmen... ‘cos he’s shorter than ...
Burning Spear: Man In The Hills (Island)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 1976
Spear’s album is a staggering success. It's a big challenge to follow up Marcus Garvey (I don't count Garvey's Ghost), which from the instant of ...
Andy Fairweather Lowe: Andy Fairweather-Low: For He's A Jolly Good F-Low
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 10 January 1976
OL' RUBBER-FACE is back, No disrespect intended to one of this country's most affable musicians, but the fact of the matter is that he is ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 17 January 1976
Coney Island Baby finds Lou Reed in buoyant mood, the feeling that lilted through his first solo album, Lou Reed, and flashed intermittently in Sally ...
Bad Company: Run With The Pack (Island)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 January 1976
I WELL remember a poetry session when I was an English Major at university, conducted by Germaine Greer. 'How would you describe this poem?' the ...
Chaka Khan: The Low Down on Chaka
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 January 1976
I DONT know whether you've ever done a phone interview, but they can be bitches. This one was rather that way inclined, owing as to ...
Ray Barretto, The Fania All Stars: The Fania All-Stars: Salsa
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 14 February 1976
You don't have to come from Puerto Rico to dig Salsa. Vivien Goldman hails from Golders Green and she's sold on it. Anyway, wherever you ...
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 28 February 1976
"HEY, BRIAN, it's sold out – there's a line in front of the theatre!" That's one of the Midnight Band's glamorous female entourage calling out ...
O'Jays: The O'Jays: Family Reunion (Philadelphia International)***
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 28 February 1976
THERE'S A HIT on this record, in case you're interested – 'I Love Music'. I needn't elaborate on that one, as if you're reading this ...
Burning Spear: Jack Ruby: Mono Reggae For The Ghetto
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 6 March 1976
"WE’RE CALLING this Garvey’s Ghost," explained Jack Ruby, gesturing expansively towards the reel-to-reel, from whence issued sweet, sweet music. ...
Speedy Keen: Y’know Wot I Mean?
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 6 March 1976
"ONE BRIGHT spark at Track had a great idea for promoting ‘Previous Convictions’ – he sent out plastic turds, like you get in novelty shops, ...
The Fatback Band: Ain't No Such Thing As We Don't Sounds BAAAD
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 6 March 1976
"WHEN WE get a groove we hate to quit!" shouted out Bill Curtis. His voice carried over inexorable waves of sound, cookin', stampin', and gettin' ...
Alan White, Yes: Alan White: Can A White Man Sing.....?
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 March 1976
"NOW TELL ME honestly, what did you really expect when you came to meet me?" The disarming question is posed as yet another Yes album ...
Bobby Womack: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 March 1976
THIS MUST RANK as the most Perplexing gig I've ever seen. All I was left with at the end was a burning desire to rush ...
Evelyn Thomas: Ian Levine: Soul agent for the North
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 March 1976
ABOUT A year ago I was sitting sipping a cup of microwave-defrosted Nescafe in the lavish kitchen of Mr. and Mrs. Levine, in Blackpool, waiting ...
Diana Ross: Breakfast With Lady Diana
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 March 1976
THIS IS the story: it's a champagne breakfast for Diana Ross, being held at a Top London Hotel. Which means that everybody drags in bleary-eyed ...
Bobby Womack: That's All Y'All
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 27 March 1976
2010 note: this is the copy as printed. There is a section of text missing (possibly due to subediting error). This is marked by *** ...
Boz Scaggs: Silk Degrees (CBS)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 April 1976
BOZ SCAGGS is a musician I've always had a great affection for, from way back in the old Steve Miller days when I was still ...
The Heptones: Double Trouble: The Story of Leroy Sibbles and the Heptones
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 April 1976
LEROY SIBBLES is the nearest thing I've ever encountered to a Jamaican reggae man acid casualty. That is to say, while obviously intelligent, he twitches ...
Toots & The Maytals: Toots And The Maytals: Reggae Got Soul (Island)***
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 April 1976
SAD TO say, there's no track on this album that measures up to the quality of the classic tracks on Toots' last two 'rock-oriented' albums, ...
Al Jarreau: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 17 April 1976
RIGHT NOW I'm reaching for the ol' Thesaurus, trying to find an original way of saying "unique new talent explodes like a comet on the ...
Jorge Ben: Samba Nova (Island HELP 23) ****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 17 April 1976
A HIGHLY palatable and agreeable waxing we have here. Now Jorge Ben means about as much to me as I mean to Jorge Ben (i.e. ...
The Heptones: Night Food (Island ILPS 9381) ****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 17 April 1976
YUP; THERE is a four-star album, despite the fact that there is an aching feeling throughout that screams the Heptones should be achieving more than ...
Smokey Robinson: Smokey's Family Robinson (Tamla Motown) *****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 April 1976
"A VOICE on the stereo singing softly, Describing what I feel about you, The singer seems to know all about it, Seems like the writer ...
Al Jarreau: A Man And His Laundry
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 1 May 1976
"IT DON'T make no moth a fugging difference what happens to me, Going to be there in my own time, in my own way..."– Al ...
Bob Marley & The Wailers: Rastaman Vibration (Island)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 1 May 1976
"Chase them crazy bald heads out of town" ...
Marvin Gaye: I Want You (Tamla Motown) ****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 1 May 1976
MARVIN GAYE is in the fortunate or unfortunate position of being regarded as a prophet-cum-saviour. ...
Elton John: Ol' Four Eyes Is Back
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 May 1976
Elton John: Grand Theatre, Leeds ...
Gladys Knight and the Pips: Gladys Knight & the Pips: It's a Family Affair
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 May 1976
And a very friendly one at that. Even though Gladys Knight and the Pips have been through real hard times, they don't tear at each ...
Gladys Knight and the Pips: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 May 1976
HAVING BEEN privileged to see two out-of-London sets of G. K. and the P's, I was rather more picky than most of the London audience. ...
David Bowie: Soul Train Comes To Wembley
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 15 May 1976
David Bowie: Wembley, London ...
The Temptations: Wings Of Love (Tamla Motown)****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 15 May 1976
VERY NEAT structure to the new Temps release. Side one has all the funk, all the dancers, and Side two has what you could call ...
The Beach Boys: Bruce Johnston : This is it, Brucie baby - you and the Beach Boys suck...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 22 May 1976
Bruce Johnston is a most unusual interviewee. Never before have I met a musician who’s immediately aware and co-operative in terms of the journalist’s side ...
Daryl Hall & John Oates: Hall & Oates: White Hopes On Funk
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 May 1976
Hall & Oates: Fairfield Hall, Croydon ...
Ashford & Simpson: Come As You Are (Warner Bros. K56159) *****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 5 June 1976
CELESTIAL STUFF from Nick and Val, illustrious songwriters from the old Motown stable, who're now hitting the solo trail for the third time with Warner ...
The Meters: The World’s First Metric Funk Band
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 5 June 1976
CISSY STRUT! What a great evocation of the Meters in that title, their second Island album, a kind of Greatest Hits, that’s blasting through the ...
Report by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 June 1976
...The Southside? Why, yes. From New Jersey, Vivien Goldman gives y'all the hot poop on a new Springsteen spin-off band, Southside Johnny And The Asbury ...
Sweet: Sounds Girl In Sweet Nude Bathing Horror
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 June 1976
THE ERSATZ raunch, bump and grind of 'The Stripper' blares out over the Sportshalle in Cologne. Thousands of minute German teenyboppers are creaming in excitement ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 26 June 1976
IF YOU'VE ever been a rock journalist, you'll know what a royal pain it is to be forever doing those conveyor belt, hotel room interviews. ...
Millie Jackson: Free And In Love (Spring/Polydor) ****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 10 July 1976
MILLIE JACKSON has purchased a slinky new catsuit for the sleeve of this album, suitable for a liberated courtesan. And she can afford it too, ...
Jeff Beck: Exclusive! Jeff Sez Nothin'!
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 17 July 1976
Our story opens in the flashing chrome and glass edifice that constitutes Columbia Records in New York. Their International Department have invited Sounds to attend ...
The Crusaders: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 17 July 1976
THE CRUSADERS simply blew London away with their third gig at the New Victoria. Later conversations with the band proved that they also regarded ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Johnny Guitar Watson albums
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 July 1976
Vivien Goldman explains why she's been drooling over Johnny 'Guitar' Watson for the past month. ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Johnny Guitar Watson: Ain't That A Bitch
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 July 1976
JOHNNY GUITAR WATSON is one of the classiest musicians around, though you might not believe it from the packaging of his latest album. On which ...
Blue Oyster Cult: True Confessions: Weird Tales From The Early Days Of the Blue Oyster Cult
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 31 July 1976
O.K. The B.O.C.’s have just come offstage at the San Francisco Day on the Green, and they’re tired. ...
Peter Tosh, The Wailers: Peter Tosh: The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 28 August 1976
'Legalise it' says roots rock reggae hero Pete Tosh 'Yeah!' says Sounds gal VIVIEN GOLDMAN 'Evenin' all' says the man from the drugs squad ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 11 September 1976
Last seen: breaking into the charts with 'I Need It'. Previous convictions: playing with Frank Zappa. Former occupation: legendary R and B man; unknown composer ...
Marvin Gaye: Cool Soul Genius Wows Albert
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 9 October 1976
Marvin Gaye: Royal Albert Hall, LondonTHERE HAS to be a reason for hiring the Albert Hall. It's true that information sometimes gets lost over the ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 9 October 1976
MARVIN GAYE's chosen an interesting stage of his career to re-visit these shores after a 12-year absence. ...
Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield: Aretha Franklin: Sparkle (Atlantic)****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 16 October 1976
SUBTITLED 'Music From The Motion Picture', Sparkle is a soundtrack album, that plays like a record. It doesn't, unlike most of the genre, hang limply ...
Bunny Wailer: Reincarnated Soul Makes Year's Best Album
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 16 October 1976
"WHY DO THEY regard me with awe? I didn't know that people think of me as superhuman. I've never flown or anything of that type. ...
Burning Spear, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer: Reggae: Black Punks On 'Erb
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 16 October 1976
"Youth is the first thing that hits you about the musicians...reggae is still a young music, further progress is made every day." * ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 23 October 1976
"IRMIN Schmidt was transporting a washing machine down the stairs, and it fell on top of him." ...
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 23 October 1976
We've got wars and rumours of war...('Armagedon' by Bunny Wailer) ...
Fleetwood Mac: John and Christine and Stevie and Lindsay and Mick…
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 30 October 1976
"DON'T TAKE your love away from me, don't you leave my heart in misery, if you go then I'll be blue, 'cos breaking up is ...
801: Phil Manzanera/801: 801 Live (Island)****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 30 October 1976
THURSDAY September 2, 1976. British Left-Fielders' night out at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. It was 801's second and last gig (the other was ...
The Doors: The Best Of (Elektra)**
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 30 October 1976
DOES THE WORLD honestly need another Doors compilation? The policy makers at Elektra appear to think so. And they could be right. But The Best ...
Patti Smith: The Field Marshall on Portobello Road
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 6 November 1976
"THIS ALBUM is I think much more feminine than the first album...the rhythm, it's more like ocean. The cuts that I love the best are ...
Robert Palmer: Some People Like What I Do
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 6 November 1976
BRIGHT LIGHTS, big city...it's a reception in honour of the Staple Singers and the Meters at a club down in Greenwich Village, prior to their ...
Andy Fairweather Lowe: Scream And Scream Again
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 November 1976
"EVERYTHING'S fine here except for a little problem with the drinks," says Andy good-humouredly, leaping to the phone to exhort room service to further efforts. ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Johnny Guitar Watson: Newcastle Polytechnic
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 November 1976
THE GIG at Newcastle Poly was Johnny Guitar Watson's first British date for a decade. ...
LaBelle: Chameleon (Epic) ****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 November 1976
WE ALL know the story of Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles metamorphosing under the direction of Vicki Wickham into the space-age erotic bundle of fun ...
Junior Murvin: Steal Away With Success
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 22 November 1976
JUNIOR MURVIN’S ‘Police And Thieves’, currently bubbling under the chart and selling up to 1,000 copies a day some five months after its release, a ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 4 December 1976
"I think it’s only now people really see it — we suffer here as well." ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 11 December 1976
Palmolive, drums; Kate Korus, rhythm guitar; Suzi Gutsy, bass; Arianna Forster, lead vocals ...
Bobby Womack: Home Is Where The Heart Is (Columbia)****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 18 December 1976
WHEN BOBBY's excursion into country'n'western finally made it into the racks this summer, his long-cherished project met with mixed reviews. ...
Gladys Knight: In A Changing World, There's Always Gladys Knight
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 15 January 1977
Gladys Knight and The Pips: New Victoria, London ...
Mike Heron: A Bird Of A Different Feather
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 15 January 1977
MIKE HERON is talking. Compact, sturdy crofter stock (I haven't actually studied a family tree, but that's the way he looks), elegantly bony face, shock ...
Gladys Knight And The Pips: The Family That Eats Together Hits Together
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 January 1977
Since their last visit eight months ago, nothing much has changed for Gladys Knight and the Pips. ...
Report by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 January 1977
GEOFF TRAVIS must feel like Dr. Frankenstein sometimes. Geoff is tall and lanky, with a fuzzy afro of light brown hair and a grin guaranteed ...
Brian Eno: Eno: Extra Natty Orations
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 5 February 1977
"I was trying to think of some inventions, so I tried to think of what I needed. But I don't need anything. That's the difficulty, ...
Patti Smith: Patti Cracks Noggin, Raps On Regardless
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 5 February 1977
Patti sounds plaintive, fragile, over the transatlantic wire. If you can imagine a voice sounding wan, you're near the mark. Reason being — "A swan ...
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 5 February 1977
IT WAS like seeing three movies on one screen. On your right, you have this three-man gospel-style streetcorner vocal section – Bobby and Eldridge King, ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 12 February 1977
GUTS. GOOD.And there's ol' John, looking aristocratically manic on the sleeve, in a white jumpsuit, leaning perilously back, twanging at a white flying-V guitar. Ensemble ...
Bad Company: Never Give A Critic An Even Break
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 26 February 1977
BAD COMPANY, as their name might or might not suggest, are fun to be with. But I'd be lying (and you wouldn't want me to ...
Bootsy Collins: Bootsy's Rubber Band: Ahh…The Name Is Bootsy, Baby! (Warner Bros.)*****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 5 March 1977
FAR BELOW them they could still see the billowing blankets of smoke covering the scorched air that had been their cities. ...
John Martyn: Blood, Sweat And Cheers
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 5 March 1977
JOHN MARTYN rivets attention performing. You'd be wrong in assuming that just because he's one-man-with-a-guitar he doesn't make every crevice of the stage swing. ...
Television: Marquee Moon (Elektra K52046) *****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 12 March 1977
Do Not Adjust Your Set ...
Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Pistols: for Queen and country
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 March 1977
VIVIEN GOLDMAN trades insults at a strange press conference ...
Buzzcocks, The Clash, The Slits, The Subway Sect: The Clash etc: Harlesden's Burning
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 March 1977
The Clash/The Buzzcocks/The Subway Sect/The Slits: Harlesden Colosseum, London ...
Michael Nesmith: From A Radio Engine To The Photon Wing (Pacific Arts)****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 26 March 1977
"ONE OF THE great advantages of being an artist is that I am able to utilise my craft periodically to write messages to myself," (liner ...
Steve Miller: The Best of Steve Miller 1968-1973
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 26 March 1977
AS BEST OF ALBUMS-released-after-the-artist-leaves-the-company-and-scores-a-big-hit-elsewhere go, The Best Of Steve Miller' stands up moderately well. ...
Comment by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 2 April 1977
'STAY TUNED for further developments,' John Ingham said at the end of his 'Rock Special' in SOUNDS October 9, 1976. As he forward-thinkingly observed even ...
Generation X: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 16 April 1977
THE QUEUE outside looked promising. Over two months since Gen-X had played a London date (barring the infamous Noreik fiasco). As soon as you forced ...
The Clash: Palais des Glaces, Paris
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 7 May 1977
THE AUDIENCE at the Palais des Glaces, a sleazy 30's flea-pit with odd nooks where Parisians indulged in the bourgeois old-wave habit of getting high ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley And The Wailers: Exodus
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 21 May 1977
From a purely marketing point of view, this is the one. With Rastaman Vibration’s appearance, there weren’t many music fans on the planet unaware of ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley And The Wailers: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 21 May 1977
And I went in there feeling conscientious, like I really wanted to take notes. But believe me when I tell you, nothing seemed less important ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Movement Of Jah People
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 28 May 1977
"ISN'T IT A NICE feeling... isn't it a nice day...isn't it a nice feeling..." Bob Marley croons, strumming on an acoustic guitar. He's glowing, planted ...
Bob Marley & The Wailers: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 11 June 1977
THE TENSION in the Rainbow was almost painful, the only relief the appearance of the Wallers. ...
George Benson: It's A Man's Man's Man's Man's World
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 11 June 1977
"YOU'RE SAYING that women are equal to men and all that crazy stuff!" George Benson laughed in astonishment. ...
Funkadelic, Parliament: Parliament: Live: The P-Funk Earth Tour
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 11 June 1977
"THEY SAY the bigger the headache the bigger the pill!" Dr. Funkenstein shouts. ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 25 June 1977
ALRIGHT, I'm impressed. Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz are one of the hottest rhythm sections I've seen. I expected a lot of the Talking Heads ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 25 June 1977
EVERYONE calls him Van the Man. For reasons of symmetry, mainly; Van Morrison the Man as opposed to the Musician is pretty elusive. Vague slogans ...
Steve Winwood: Steve Winwood (Island)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 2 July 1977
‘I ONCE WAS A-CRYING BUT NOW MY LUCK’S TURNED’ ['Luck’s In']. ...
The Abyssinians: The Abysinnians: Forward On To Zion (Klik)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 2 July 1977
IN THE SOUNDS Top Ten of ’76 I voted this album (then known as Satta A Massagana) number two. ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 9 July 1977
THE RUBINOOS sing a song all about how rock & roll is dead. It shouldn't really worry them either way, because in Rubinoo-land everyone's a ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 23 July 1977
FIRST OF all, the obvious. Why review two albums with the same name? ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 6 August 1977
IT ALL DEPENDS whether you're a sucker for the Burning Spear Sound. It hasn't changed too much through all their Island albums, and certain key ...
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 August 1977
LAURA NYRO'S a recluse. Season Of Light proves, in case you ever wondered, that it's her own decision. ...
Television: The artist who came in from the cold
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 August 1977
Television's Tom Verlaine talks to Vivien Goldman, who discovers that the so-called ice man has quite a sense of humour ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson: The Beach Boys: I Wanna Be Where The Boys Are
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 August 1977
"SOME KAHLUA, we need a coupla pitchers of milk..." "Send up a bottle of milk. O.K., cartons. Four cartons. And some honey. And a coffee. ...
Aswad: The Other Cinema, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 August 1977
ASWAD PLAYED on an Other Cinema music night, a reggae special, following a showing of Horace Ore's Reggae and Step Forward Youth and a documentary ...
The Clash, The Damned: Clash In Euro-Rock Horror
Report by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 August 1977
'Bilzen? more like Belsen' Clash, Damned: Bilzen Festival, Belgium ...
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 August 1977
LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE GIRLS Snatch it while you can ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 August 1977
WHO IS this, anyway?" Giovanni Dadomo demanded. "The Caligari Brothers?" Funny you should say that, my pasta-eating pal. ...
Alice Cooper: Love It To Death
Retrospective by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 27 August 1977
"I'M CAUGHT in a dream –so what?" ...
Dennis Wilson: Pacific Ocean Blue
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 September 1977
THERE'S TWO moods on this record, one I like. That's the slow surge, tidal ebb/flow style, with the/additional tug of solemn female or male voices. ...
Jah Punk: New Wave Digs Reggae
Report by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 September 1977
'We're gonna have a punky reggae party...the Wailers will be there, the Slits, the Feelgoods, and the Clash...' – BOB MARLEY SONGS LYRIC ...
Aswad, Black Slate, The Cimarons, Matumbi, Rico Rodriguez, Steel Pulse: Jah Punk: The Black New Wave
Overview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 10 September 1977
ASWAD: Drummie, drums, vocals: George Oban, bass: Chaka Forde, rhythm guitar, vocals: Donald Guiti, lead guitar, vocals. Courtney Hennings, keyboards, vocals. ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 1 October 1977
Chris Spedding says he's been hurt by love on this album. Don't know what else he's been hurt by, but I'm haunted by the feeling ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 1 October 1977
I'd like to offer up a small prayer at this point. Here it is. Thank heavens for the Talking Heads. ...
Ian Dury: New Boots And Panties!!
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 October 1977
LET'S PLAY CLUEDO on this sleeve. What we deduce from this one – Ian standing in front of a shop window full of ladies' bras ...
Rose Royce Find Success The Norman Whitfield Way
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 October 1977
"IT'S KJLH, the station of Kindness, Joy, Love and Happiness," the deejay smoulders on the car radio, and goshdarn if you couldn't almost believe all ...
Richard Hell: To Hell and Back: Richard Hell
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 October 1977
"I'M GLAD my name's Hell, because at least those people at the radio stations are gonna have some idea what to expect. I intend to ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 15 October 1977
"I WONDER WHAT would happen if I drank this? Might do me some good," Ian Dury says grimly. ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 22 October 1977
IF IT was Clive Davis, head of Arista, who's responsible for the release of Shirley Brown, I'd like to invite him to hold his next ...
Talking Heads: Psycho-Killer, Qu'est-ce Que C'est?
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 22 October 1977
QUESTION: When is a door not a door? ...
Millie Jackson: Feelin' Bitchy
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 October 1977
HEY, MILLIE? This is Vivien.I'm writing to you 'cos I dig the way you move onstage. I saw you foolin' round with that guy onstage ...
Randy Newman: Little Criminals
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 October 1977
ON THE SLEEVE, Randy Newman looks as dour as one of the rednecks he dissected with such fiendish accuracy in his last studio album, Good ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 November 1977
TALK ABOUT being stood up. The first time I met Winston Rodney/Burning Spear he was eight hours late. And this was, mind you, after having ...
Daryl Hall & John Oates: Hall & Oates: Outre in Dayton, Ohio
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 November 1977
I'M SICK! I'm twisted! I'm bent! I'm writing a story about Daryl Hall & John Oates!There's one good thing about devoting your energy to writing ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 November 1977
I WAS listening seriously to music before Neil Young, but I can't remember what it was. ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 26 November 1977
Secret Weapon. JOHN MARTYN: not taken as seriously as he should be! ...
Dennis Bovell, Matumbi: Dennis Matumbi in dub: a step by step guide.
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 December 1977
1. I'M PATCHING in the 16-track machine, the echo machine and the reverb into the plugboard. That brings the tape off the 16-track machine behind ...
Overview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 December 1977
Dub = Surprise Dub = Strobe (it flash your eyes/hypnotise) Dub = Pulse Dub = Frontier When you listen to dub:- ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie and the Banshees
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 December 1977
PREMISE: Record company executives have been skipping the brandy on their expense account lunches in their eagerness to sign up any band that can loosely ...
Brian Eno: Before and After Science
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 10 December 1977
REACTIONS: 1) Am I happy or sad that other rock music has finally caught up with Eno? He has won his battle to make ...
Adam & The Ants: Whip In My Valise: Adam and the Ants
Comment by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 10 December 1977
The angel Gabriel sent me to give you a little bit of sympathy...('Plastic Surgery') ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 13 December 1977
LISTEN, going to the movies is cheaper than going to Jamaica. Am I right or am I wrong? As Dillinger used to say before he ...
Jackson Browne: Running On Empty (Asylum)**
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 December 1977
EVER BEEN trapped with no hope of escape by the most unmitigated bore you've ever met? You recite the lyrics to 'Sweet Jane' backwards, you ...
Althia & Donna: Nah Pop No Style, A Strictly Roots…
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 28 January 1978
IF YOU don't like talking to strangers, don't walk through Kingston with Donna or Althia. ...
Millie Jackson: Mille Jackson: The Primal Scream Therapist Of Soul
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 4 February 1978
MILLIE JACKSON yanked me over to her side of the fence the first moment I heard her belting out some juicy slice of angst on ...
John Lydon, The Sex Pistols: John Lydon: Man A Warrior – The Interview part 1
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 4 March 1978
There's only one place to be late at night in Jamaica – tuned in to radio JBC, the man Michael Campbell, the man they call ...
John Lydon, The Sex Pistols: John Lydon: Man A Warrior, part 2
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 11 March 1978
CYNICS AMONG the SOUNDS readership may have been wondering why/how our Johnny Rotten underwent such a speedy transformation into this new-fangled character called Johnny Cool, ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Kaya (Island)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 18 March 1978
Marley runs on the spot ...
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 18 March 1978
"THIS IS cactus. You can wash your hair with it. You pick it," running his finger nail down the cactus bud till a creamy sap ...
The Congos: Heart Of The Congos
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 1 April 1978
HEARING THE Congos is like recognising your favourite nursery rhyme, the one you'd forgotten. Or had knocked out of you. Like the purest folk songs, ...
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 April 1978
REVELATION TIME. Aswad hadn't played any dates to speak of, and the audience were Aswad-starved, raring to rave. ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 April 1978
PLENTY PEOPLE don't know the other half of Tapper Zukie. "If they knew the other half of me, they'd see me different. Right now me ...
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 15 April 1978
SOMETIMES it works and sometimes it doesn't. I mean check it out, brothers and sisters, you're paid to follow up hunches, which is why I ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: One Love Peace Festival
Report by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 April 1978
SUNDAY AFTERNOON Bob Marley relaxed on his front stoop. Everybody is still discussing the One Love peace show the previous day, on the night of ...
The Gladiators: Soul Originators
Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 April 1978
ALBERT GRIFFITHS has interesting hands. The fingers are stubby, square but deft, workman's hands. His manner is straightforward, workmanlike, direct, too. And if you do ...
15, 16, 17, Fred Locks: 15, 16 and 17: Balham Dance Studio; Fred Locks: Liberty Cinema, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 May 1978
15, 16 AND 17 appeared at the Balham Dance Studio, a large, pretty empty room. (It was virtually an unadvertised gig). 15, 16 and 17 ...
Pere Ubu: Datapanik In The Year 1978: Pere Ubu
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 May 1978
Vivien Goldman and Geoff Travis in conversation ...
Tom Robinson Band: Power In The Darkness
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 May 1978
TOM ROBINSON IS dangerously mythic. His aggressive homosexual stance gets up people's noses so much that they continually try to prove he's secretly straight, and ...
Tom Robinson Band: Tom Robinson: Up Against The Wall
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 June 1978
TOM ROBINSON had just had his teeth capped at the dentist and was about to embark on a diet when we met. So? ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 10 June 1978
IF THE word hadn't grown flabby through over-use, I'd say that Culture were strictly roots. ...
Mighty Diamonds: The Mighty Diamonds: There's No Ganja In Nassau
Report by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 10 June 1978
DAWN FLUSHED the sky like tomato juice infiltrating a shot of vodka, as a precarious caravan of dreadlocks weaves between stately lines of towering palm ...
Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 17 June 1978
JUDY MOWATT of Wailers' I Three fame is wearing a blue denim button-through skirt, and her hair is hidden under an elaborately rimmed scarf tied ...
Bob Dylan: Earl's Court, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 June 1978
MY THEORY was that this Bobby the Zee concert was strictly for nostalgia-lovers, music fans keep clear. ...
Bootsy Collins: 'Don't Leave Home Without Your F.U.N.K!'
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 June 1978
"I WANNA PLAY with the kids", Bootsy Collins said, yearning. Walking down the gravel path winding past the white neoclassical pillars of Kenwood House, Highgate, ...
Malcolm McLaren, The Sex Pistols: The Great Pistols Movies Fiasco
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 July 1978
VIVIEN GOLDMAN ON THE 'OFFICIAL' MOVIE WHICH STILL ISN'T FINISHED — AND THE BRILLIANT ONE MALCOLM WONT LET YOU SEE ...
Anthony Braxton: Living In The Dynamic Operating Arena
Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 26 August 1978
IT HAS TO be said that playing an Anthony Braxton album is the quickest way I can think of to clear a rock fan's room. ...
Linton Kwesi Johnson: Poet And The Roots: Dread Beat An' Blood
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 26 August 1978
'All oppressionCan do is bringPassion to de heights of eruptionAn' songs of fire we will sing'– 'All Wi Doin' Is Defendin' ...
Linton Kwesi Johnson: Poet Of The Roots
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 2 September 1978
"The one crowded space in Father Perry's house was his bookshelves. I gradually came to understand that the marks on the pages were trapped words. ...
The Beach Boys: Summer Days (And Summer Nights)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 2 September 1978
LATER SHE realised she'd really been attracted to him because he looked sad. All the other boys on the beach were so cheerful, and the ...
Bryan Ferry: The Bride Stripped Bare
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 16 September 1978
I MUST confess myself horrified to recall, just as I was about to start this review, that my first ever album review was of Bryan ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 23 September 1978
How can grown men sing stuff like this and mean it? ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 30 September 1978
THE INSTANT reaction is to scoff at someone as blatantly marketable as Grace Jones. An astonishingly beautiful model, she prompts writers to haul their most ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 14 October 1978
I LEARNT to love the Abyssinians at the kitchen sink, age 7 or so. As I sang Beatles tunes in three-part harmony doing the washing ...
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 11 November 1978
The attention nowgiven to British reggae bandsis largely due to the pioneering work of Aswad, who invented live dub and played alongside the early punk bands. But, ...
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 25 November 1978
Pretty soon, the whole Parliafunkadelicment troupe arrives in Britain — led by their founder, the black surrealist George Clinton. VIVIEN GOLDMAN witnessed Clinton's Clones on ...
Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 2 December 1978
"A Colchester farmer on his own accounts for 10,000 of the 400,000 advance orders of Boney M's 'Mary's Boy Child'. George Story heard the single ...
Peter Tosh: The Bush Doctor's Dilemma
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 9 December 1978
GAME-RULES for life: tall people have a natural advantage. Or look at it this way: tall people stand out. They're obvious targets. If you're very ...
Peter Tosh: Rainbow Theatre/Venue, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 16 December 1978
Tosh in monotone ...
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 23 December 1978
AND LO, when the silver spaceship settled on the Odeon stage, the faces of the assembled glowed like kids when the fairy lights twinkle for ...
Sly & Robbie: The Reggae Heartbeat – Freedom Into Form
Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 23 December 1978
"Mr. Bassie, please sing your song to me." – Horace Andy, Rasta Rabbi in his own words ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 6 January 1979
I SUPPOSE I should be grateful to the new Marvin Gaye album for something – I did a very surreal drawing in pencil while wading ...
Marvin Gaye: The Meek Shall Inherit... The Bankruptcy Court
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 6 January 1979
RING out the trumpets! Roll out the carpets! Marvin Gaye’s released his first studio album for two years! I’m tempted to add, Bring On The ...
15, 16, 17: Living For The Weekend
Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 20 January 1979
15, 16, 17 are the best-known of British reggae's new crop of female vocal trios. ...
Jimmy Cliff: A Pioneer Returns
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 3 February 1979
Jimmy Cliff, wholesome and handsome as a ripening ear of corn, radiates on the couch. The night before, he had made a triumphant return to ...
The Heptones: Home of the Hits
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 17 February 1979
THE BIGGEST surprise of the week was the fact that the Black Echoes Reggae Awards started on time. Last year's was a typical reggaematic shambles: ...
Inner Circle: reggae's final breakthrough?
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 24 February 1979
Bobby the Em aside, JA roots music has achieved no significant market penetration outside its own country. VIVIEN GOLDMAN suggests that, by 'going disco', the ...
The Gladiators: Naturality (Virgin/Front Line), Presenting The Gladiators (Studio One)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 3 March 1979
NOT A great week for the Gladiators, all round. First of all, the lead singer, Albert Griffiths, is shattered to learn over the phone that ...
Earth Wind and Fire: Earth, Wind & Fire: Maurice White's Band of Hope
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 10 March 1979
There's more to America's biggest soul band than bread and circuses. VIVIEN GOLDMAN followed them to Staffordshire to talk about the Bible, spinal fluid, reincarnation, ...
Culture: The International Dub
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 24 March 1979
Like Bob Marley before him, Culture's Joe Hill is spreading Jah-message, international-style. But how long can he keep his roots pristine in the hotels and ...
Linton Kwesi Johnson: Roots Inna Inglan?
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 7 April 1979
Linton Kwesi Johnson, black poet and activist, sees the Rasta dream of Ethiopian exodus as irrelevant ganja-talk. His life and his art deal with reality: ...
Sly Dunbar: Sly, Wicked And Slick (Virgin Front Line)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 5 May 1979
REGGAE'S ONE of the youngest contemporary musical forms, but it's growing up fast, and in all sorts of directions. ...
Misty In Roots: The Price Of Hate
Report by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 5 May 1979
Among the casualties of last week's confrontation between the police and anti-racist demonstrators in Southall was the Peoples Unite Centre, a haven for local musicians, ...
Dennis Brown: Enter A Good Man
Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 26 May 1979
Dennis Brown comes of the race of Joseph; and he means that seriously, 'I am Joseph, here to do the things Joseph has done in ...
Eddy Grant: Living On The Ice Block
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 7 July 1979
How far can a black musician control his own destiny in white society? Surprise, surprise, not all the way, says the man in the front ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley In His Own Backyard
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 11 August 1979
AS YOU DRIVE through the white-pillared gates into the grounds of 56 Hope Road, the first thing you notice is that the road doesn't have ...
Al Green: Tired Of Being Alone
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 25 August 1979
Al Green's London concerts last week were a puzzling mixture of the brilliant and the banal – and VIVIEN GOLDMAN discovered that his verbals are ...
This Heat: This Heat (Piano Records)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 1 September 1979
THIS Heat takes you to ten movies in the space of a one-year-old album. ...
Don Cherry: Black Gypsy, Folk Dreams
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 22 September 1979
Probably the only person who isn't surprised to find Don Cherry playing on the Slits' tour is Cherry himself. Since his apprenticeship with free-jazz guru ...
The Raincoats: New Raincoats Don't Let You Down
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 1 December 1979
Following the sun, Palmolive washed her hands of the Raincoats. But they're back on the road, singing and playing. VIVIEN GOLDMAN took a long time ...
Judy Mowatt: Black Woman (Ashandan pre-release).
Review by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 5 January 1980
JUDY MOWATT, apart from being an I-Three (the women who sing behind Marley), is a respected songstress and label-owner down in Jamaica. Her solo album ...
Misty In Roots: Misty: Survival in Jah glory
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 5 January 1980
Survival's the operative-word in Misty's case. Harassed for their prominent role in the Southall immigrant community, in and out of the magistrates' courts, you'd think ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 26 January 1980
"I'LL NEVER be a man in a man's world". As the Pretenders' album and single rise in the charts, Chrissie Hynde discusses with old friend ...
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 9 February 1980
EDDY EARNED his slot in my Militant Section by delivering this rap onstage: "As a black artist here in England I've seen it rough, and ...
The Selecter: The Selector: Too Much Pressure (2-Tone CDLTT5002)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 9 February 1980
A GENT FROM a reggae shop asked me what I thought of 2-Tone. He informed me that since the advent of the checkerboard whirlwind, the ...
Lee "Scratch" Perry: Bed Jamming Is A Must!
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 16 February 1980
While the great "Is Lee Perry Nuts?" debate rages on in JA, ol' Scratch is jiving away in Amsterdam, houseguest of Black Star Liner Records, busy with plans to recreate the universe and hijack the Earth with ...
Dennis Brown: Joseph's Coat Of Many Colours (DEB pre).
Review by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 22 February 1980
Dennis got soul ...
The Selecter: Survival Inna Suburbia
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 23 February 1980
IT TOOK HIM ages to get the lapel of his jacket off. The scissors kept on cutting the cloth instead of the bits of stitching, ...
Robert Wyatt: Up from rock bottom
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 15 March 1980
Writing letters to political prisoners, listening to Radio Havana, thinking about music... Robert Wyatt hasn't been inactive during his five-year absence from the studios. VIVIEN ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley and the Wailers: Uprising (Island)
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 5 July 1980
"But even without the forceful pressures of the slaves, the slave system was collapsing surreptitiously from within..."(The Caribbean: Franklin W Knight: Oxford University Press) ...
Misty In Roots: Live At The Counter-Eurovision ‘79
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 26 July 1980
IT SEEMS POINTLESS to divorce Misty's music from their well-known context as Southall youth organisers whose People Unite self-help organisation was badly damaged by the ...
Vic Godard: So, What is the Matter, Boy?
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 26 July 1980
After all, two singles in three years isn't exactly prolific... and when you do get an album out you don't even like it. Vivien ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: The I Three: The 3 Wise Is
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 9 August 1980
VIVIEN GOLDMAN checks out the Rastafarian way of feminism with the I Three ...
The B-52s: The Guide to Cult Status with those Wild! Wacky! B-52’s!
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980
The B-52’s are a "clever" jokey dance combo. Before they achieved their current commercial success, they were a gang of pals hanging around in Athens, ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980
YOU REMEMBER the scene from Hollywood: overnight the lovable brat grows up into the most compelling person in the room. Suddenly – you're beautiful! ...
Black Uhuru: Last Exit to Brooklyn
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 4 October 1980
Brooklyn is definitely a dread neighbourhood. A neighbourhood of brownstone buildings and trees, Selassie’s Herbal Groceries store and the Cool Runnings Candy Store. ...
Fela Kuti: The Rascal Republic Takes On The World
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 18 October 1980
FELA ANIKULAPO-KOUTI PLANS TO BECOME PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA IN 1983. HE'S ALREADY AFRICA'S MOST POPULAR MUSICIAN, WITH OVER 100 LPs TO HIS CREDIT. HE ALSO HAS ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 25 October 1980
"Being poor is not because money doesn’t exist and being rich doesn’t mean you know everything. But in America, art has more to do with ...
Public Image Ltd: Image Publique S.A.: Paris Au Printemps (Virgin)
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 15 November 1980
Lydon says he hates live albums. Paris Au Printemps – PAP – the best of two nights recorded in Paris this spring, is a consumer ...
The Slits: And Lo, "Three Wise Slits Take Their Temple To The West"
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 20 December 1980
GAMES ON TRAINS ...
Burning Spear: The Venue, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 10 January 1981
I CAN REMEMBER literally crying with feeling at only one concert, and that was Burning Spear at the Rainbow in '78. That kind of high ...
Bunny Wailer: Original Bunnyman Echoes His Roots: Bunny Sings The Wailers
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 17 January 1981
AS TO WHY Bunny Wailer has chosen this moment to come down from the hills and ransack the files of old Wailers material – well, ...
Dennis Bovell's Dub Band: Commonwealth Institute, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 24 January 1981
"DUB," SAID Dennis Bovell, dubmaster, "you just — do it. Spontaneous. That's the effect I wanted to create onstage." ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 14 February 1981
SPACE INVADERS STYLEEEE! In every arcade throughout the land, the youth just shake that mechanical hand, they like to see the meteors shatter, they just ...
Jah Shaka: Hail Brethren And Sistren: A Big Big Sound System Splashdown
Special Feature by Paul Bradshaw, Vivien Goldman, Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 21 February 1981
WHERE REGGAE really begins — in tune to the sound system. Here is the heart of the music: groups of youth, each with their different philosophies, ...
Burning Spear: The Spear Guide to Higher Stepping
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981
Burning Spear on tour. In the dressing room at the Birmingham Odeon, certain thick-set members of Spear's Burning Band mutter that they want to kill ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 2 May 1981
Vivien Goldman meets Daniel Miller, the man who brought you The Silicon Teens, The Normal and Depeche Mode. Though only one of these exists – ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: A Personal Remembrance
Memoir by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981
"I don't believe in death – neither in flesh nor in spirit..." ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley's Final Return Home
Report by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 30 May 1981
King of Reggae laid to rest in Jamaica ...
The Raincoats: Odyshape (Rough Trade)
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 6 June 1981
Revelations chapter II ...
Was (Not Was): A Subtle Fabrication Not of the Norm
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 20 June 1981
Imagine Vivien Goldman’s surprise to discover that the brains behind Ze’s hottest American soul act are not black but two nice middle class Jewish boys. ...
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: Kid Creole: He No Popi
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 4 July 1981
And she no Olive Oyl – but Vivien Goldman still meets August Darnell in New York City to learn about the Coconuts' brand new cha ...
Black Uhuru: Black Sounds Of Freedom The Wailing Souls: Firehouse Rock Toyan: How the West Was Won
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 29 August 1981
THE Greensleeves label, tucked under the concrete arm of the motorway at Hammersmith Roundabout, seems to still be carrying the swing – chart-wise too, now ...
The Beat: Heartbeat & Strangelove
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 7 November 1981
Vivien Goldman witnesses the subversive pop of The Beat at work in New York against the nuclear age. ...
Ornette Coleman: On Human Feeling
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 10 July 1982
Ornette Coleman's harmolodics brought about the musical change of the century. After his New York comeback last year, the legendary tenor man talked to Vivien ...
Report by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 24 July 1982
VIVIEN GOLDMAN takes a trip around the WORLD OF MUSIC AND DANCE and discovers that even the beauty of ethnic cultures can be a victim ...
James Blood Ulmer: Brixton Ace, London
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 16 July 1983
Sound and loving fury from Blood, ambling aimlessly about the stage, like a giant teddy bear who’s somehow laid his paws on a guitar. Big, ...
Aswad, Neneh Cherry, Rip Rig and Panic: Notting Hill Carnival '83
Report by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 3 September 1983
CARNIVALS ARE crucial — all the best cultures have 'em. But the world has a way of perverting the simplest pleasures, and since 76, Carnival ...
Memoir by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 24 September 1983
The story so far... We are about to meet SUSANDRA MINSKY, who could be described as August Darnell's first wife, although they never did get ...
Fela Kuti: Resurrection Shuffle
Report by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 14 January 1984
ABOUT 200 PEOPLE turned out last weekend at the Country Club in North London, for a benefit to prevent its closure. Entertainment was provided by ...
Bernard Fowler, Grand Mixer D.ST, Herbie Hancock: Herbie Hancock: The Venue, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 21 January 1984
HOLLERIN' SOME HEAVY URBAN SHIT! ...
Luther Vandross: Busy Body (Epic)
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 21 January 1984
MY DADDY warned me about fellers like Luther Vandross. He gave me, rest his soul, two sage sayings: "Never run after a bus or a ...
Millie Jackson: E.S.P. (Extra Sexual Persuasion) (Spring)
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 4 February 1984
I RESPECT Millie Jackson the way I respect a hooker who succeeds in booting out her pimp and buys a computer to do the accounts ...
Tune In If You Rankin': Night Of The Living Dread
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 24 March 1984
A ROOFTOP RENDEZVOUS WITH THE DREAD BROADCASTING CORPORATION ...
Thomas Mapfumo: The Lion of Zimbabwe
Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 5 January 1985
Inspiration to freedom fighters and creator of the Zimbabwean sound, THOMAS MAPFUMO is ready to conquer the world. VIVIEN GOLDMAN talks to Africa's Bob Marley. ...
David Byrne: "It Didn't Feel Like Acting"
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Q, December 1986
True Stories: first the book, then the Talking Heads LP, now the film. David Byrne writes, directs, acts and supports the cause ordinary people everywhere. ...
Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Paul Simon: Ladysmith Black Mambazo: "God sent Paul Simon to do this"
Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Q, June 1987
With glorious results. Times have changed for Ladysmith Black Mambazo. ...
Throwing Muses: Vivien Goldman catches up with the Throwing Muses
Interview by Vivien Goldman, The Observer, 8 May 1988
WITH MUCH TALK about the late-1980s being the day of the post-feminist woman, it is natural to ask: if feminist battles are won, why are ...
Sheryl Crow: Success is the sweetest revenge
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Daily Telegraph, 21 September 1996
When her first album came out, they said she was angry. But Sheryl Crow was laughing. Now, discovers Vivien Goldman, she's flying with the angels. ...
Tupac Shakur: Sprayers for a lost soul
Report by Vivien Goldman, Daily Telegraph, 14 December 1996
The murder of rap star Tupac Shakur in September has brought the simmering rivalry between two New York graffiti artists to a head. Vivien Goldman ...
Curtis Mayfield: Resurrection of Mayfield's soul
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Daily Telegraph, 25 January 1997
Vivien Goldman meets a legend of black music — back at last after his tragic accident ...
Fela Kuti: Fela Anikulapo-Kuti 1938-1997
Obituary by Vivien Goldman, Rolling Stone, 18 September 1997
KING OF AFRO BEAT DEAD AT 58 ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Rolling Stone, 13 November 1997
UNITING GENERATIONS with her twin allegiances to R&B and rap, Mary J. Blige delivers emotional intimacy packaged in a luxurious voice. ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Rolling Stone, 13 November 1997
AT AGE 30, Sinead O'Connor seems to be experiencing a rebirth with her critically acclaimed new EP, Gospel Oak, and the ecstatic reception to her ...
Obituary by Vivien Goldman, Rolling Stone, 8 July 1999
REGGAE LOST one of its most distinctive sounds with the death of producer and instrumentalist Augustus Pablo in Kingston, Jamaica, on May 18th. The cause ...
D'Angelo: Groove is in the heart
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Daily Telegraph, 22 January 2000
Five years since revolutionising soul music with his debut album, Brown Sugar, D'Angelo is back. Vivien Goldman meets the preacher's son with a taste for ...
The Clash, Joe Strummer: Joe Strummer: Tougher Than Tough
Obituary by Vivien Goldman, Spin, April 2003
Joe Strummer was the soul-rebel idealist who gave punk a cause ...
Lee "Scratch" Perry: Caribbean Shaman: Lee "Scratch" Perry
Retrospective by Vivien Goldman, New Statesman, 12 June 2006
ON THE NIGHT Lee "Scratch" Perry performed at the New York venue B B King's last month, the news came through that the 1960s ska ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Keep On Moving
Retrospective by Vivien Goldman, New Statesman, 28 May 2007
Hailed as the best album of the 20th century, Bob Marley's Exodus is 30 years old next month. Vivien Goldman recalls the sessions that produced ...
Chrissie Hynde, The Slits, X-Ray Spex: Lasses of the Mohicans
Retrospective by Vivien Goldman, New Statesman, 31 October 2011
Vivien Goldman charts the history of Britain’s rebellious female punks. ...
Pussy Riot: The Riot Girls' Style
Comment by Vivien Goldman, New York Times magazine blogs, 8 August 2012
IT HAS BEEN a shock to see the bravely smiling faces of three girls from the Russian punk collective Pussy Riot locked in a glass ...
Retrospective by Vivien Goldman, The Guardian, 27 February 2014
Punk Svengalis Malcolm McLaren and Bernie Rhodes were Jewish, and the faith had an influence on UK labels and journalists. For Jewish kids, meanwhile, the ...
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: My Kid Creole musical was a hard nut to crack
Retrospective by Vivien Goldman, The Guardian, 20 May 2016
Three decades after I met Kid Creole and the Coconuts while profiling them for NME, their musical Cherchez la Femme has finally reached the New ...
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