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Paul McCartney: The Biography by Philip Norman – Book Review

Stuart Penney

Paul McCartney: The Biography by Philip Norman

Paul McCartney: The Life (US) by Philip Norman / Little, Brown and Company / 2016 / 978-0316327961 Paul McCartney: The Biography (UK) / Weidenfeld & Nicolson / 2016 / 978-0297870760 Soufflé-speak. I don’t know if Philip Norman coined that expression … [Read more...]

Man of the World: Meeting Peter Green Before and After Fleetwood Mac

Stuart Penney

The British blues boom. There’s a tendency to dismiss it as little more than a bunch of lank-haired white boys from the home counties misappropriating the music of black America. And not in a good way. There may be some truth in that, but it’s not the … [Read more...]

“Tiny Purple Fishes Run Laughing Through Your Fingers” — Cream’s Disraeli Gears turns 50

Stuart Penney

Cream - Disraeli Gears review

Nineteen-sixty-seven was an exciting time to be a record buyer. It was a year when LP sales began to overtake singles for the first time as the rock album established itself as a legitimate art form within a youth-driven cultural revolution. Psychedelia … [Read more...]

(Music Review) Bob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings – The Sheffield Discs

Stuart Penney

Bob Dylan Live Recordings 1966 - Sheffield - Robert Penney

Bob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings Disc 17 – Sheffield, May 16, 1966 (CBS Records recording) Disc 18 – Sheffield, May 16, 1966 (Soundboard recording) How do you review a thirty-six-CD box set containing every known recording of Dylan’s pivotal 1966 … [Read more...]

She Said She’d Always Been a Dancer: London’s Soho in the 1960s

Stuart Penney

London's SOHO in the 1960s

In late 1966, I arrived in London with little more than a guitar and a change of clothes. The summer of love was just around the corner and, to paraphrase Dylan, there was music in the cafés at night and cultural revolution in the air. Almost … [Read more...]

Ringo Starr: The Father of Modern Rock Drumming

David Campbell Jr.

By Eva Rinaldi from Sydney, Australia (Ringo Starr and all his band Uploaded by tm) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Things are looking good for Ringo Starr at the moment. In the last 18 months he's released the album Postcards From Paradise, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist, completed a 21-date American tour, is about to begin another … [Read more...]

Floor Singers Welcome! Memories of Les Cousins and the Soho Folk Music Scene

Stuart Penney

In the recent Elvis Costello autobiography Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink (pub. Viking) there’s a fascinating chapter dedicated to the young Declan’s first faltering steps as a live performer. In touching detail, Elvis describes the clubs and pubs … [Read more...]

The night a new band called Led Zeppelin played Sheffield University in 1968

Stuart Penney

Led Zeppelin 1968

It must have been around May of 1968 that I heard the Yardbirds in session on John Peel’s BBC radio show. This late version of the band played a loud and heavy set which sounded nothing like the most blueswailing R&B outfit of yore and I made a mental … [Read more...]

Confessions of a Donovan Fan

Stuart Penney

Donovan CDs - Stuart Penney

Imagine a world where recorded music is both expensive and hard to find. No easily accessible CDs or tapes and certainly none of your new-fangled streaming or downloadable MP3s. That was the world we record buyers inhabited back in the 60s. No megastores, … [Read more...]

For Independence Day: Jimi plays the Star-Spangled Banner!

Empty Mirror

Backyard American Flag / photo credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/rog2bark/367622243 / CC BY

Here's Jimi Hendrix playing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Woodstock, 1969. And if that's not enough for you, check him performing it on the 4th of July in Atlanta! Jimi Hendrix - Star-Spangled Banner, Woodstock Festival, August 17, 1969 Jimi … [Read more...]

Book Review — Ticket to Ride: Inside the Beatles’ 1964 Tour That Changed the World

Craig Enck

Ticket to Ride - Larry Kane

Ticket to Ride: Inside the Beatles 1964 Tour That Changed the World by Larry Kane Backbeat Books / October 28, 2014 / 978-1480393042 / 272 pages In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' 1964 tour of America, Backbeat Books has … [Read more...]

(Music Review) IR 29.1: New Generation Dub

Richard Marcus

IR 29 - New Generation Dub

One of the biggest crimes committed by the music industry has been their ability to co-opt, dilute and turn even the most radical of genres into something safe for mass consumption. Disco, punk and rap have all been taken and watered down so they would … [Read more...]

(Music Review) Music of the Sahara: Tinariwen’s new album Emmaar

Richard Marcus

Tinariwen - Emmaar music review

In the early 1960s the creation of artificial borders in the trackless wastes of the Sahara desert might have been cause for celebration among the inhabitants of the newly created countries. However, the throwing off of colonial masters in Niger, Mali, … [Read more...]

Book Review – IR 30: Indigenous Visions In Dub

Richard Marcus

Book Review: IR 30 Indigenous Visions In Dub

I guess it's appropriate that blockades have gone up again on the Tyndengia Mohawk reservation in South Eastern Ontario Canada as I begin to write this review. Here in Canada the First Nations people are usually out of sight and out of mind unless they … [Read more...]

Review: The Doors Examined by Jim Cherry

Denise Enck

The Doors Examined

The Doors Examined by Jim Cherry / Bennion Kearny Limited / paperback / 978-1909125124 / 240 pages Journalist and author Jim Cherry has a long history with rock 'n' roll journalism, and currently writes the column, "The Doors Examiner." The Doors … [Read more...]

(Music Review) Soutak by Aziza Brahim

Richard Marcus

Soutak by Aziza Brahim

At first glance the Sahara Desert of North West Africa seems like one of the most inhospitable places on the face of the earth. Movies, and other Western media, usually show us images of trackless wastes, endless miles of sand dunes dotted with the … [Read more...]

(Music Review) Adrian Raso and Fanfare Ciocarlia – Devil’s Tale

Richard Marcus

Adrian Raso and Fanfare Ciocarlia - Devil's Tale

When the Ottoman Empire invaded Eastern Europe they brought more than just their armies with them. Even today evidence of their occupation can still be found. Muslim communities in Serbia are only the most obvious reminder of their one time rule as traces … [Read more...]

(Music Review) Acá: Viggo and Friends

Richard Marcus

Aca - Viggo Mortensen and Friends

Some people say, "Politics make strange bedfellows" (Don't say it to Putin - he might take it the wrong way and have you thrown in jail) but the first time I heard Viggo Mortensen had collaborated on an album with the notorious, infamous, riotous, speed … [Read more...]

Review – How Music Works by David Byrne

Richard Marcus

David Byrne

We all listen to music. Maybe we only have it playing in the background, use it to help us sleep or meditate, or perhaps you sit and listen to it carefully. However, no matter how or why you listen, it can't help but have an effect on you. The majority of … [Read more...]

Music Review – David Broza: East Jerusalem West Jerusalem

Richard Marcus

David Broza - East Jerusalem West Jerusalem

There are some subjects I know not to talk to most people about, because they probably won't like what I have to say on the matter. Always having been slightly left of most anarchists I'm supposed to hold to certain opinions in order to not let the side … [Read more...]

Merry Christmas! Here’s the Jerry Garcia Band performing Jingle Bells

Empty Mirror

Merry Christma

Merry Christmas! Here's the Jerry Garcia Band performing "Jingle Bells" at San Francisco's Winterland on December 20, 1975. Never heard it quite like this before! Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals John Kahn - bass Nicky Hopkins - keyboards, vocals Ron … [Read more...]

Bob Dylan – It Must Be Santa

Empty Mirror

Bob Dylan - It Must be Santa

Today's Christmas tune is "It Must Be Santa" by Bob Dylan. It's from his Christmas album, Christmas in the Heart (which is a whole lot of fun). … [Read more...]

The Beatles – Christmas Time (Is Here Again)

Empty Mirror

Beatles 1967 Christmas

Christmas Time (Is Here Again) was written and recorded by The Beatles for their 1967 fan club Christmas record. Ringo also recorded it for his Christmas album, I Wanna Be Santa Claus. Be sure to listen to the end...there's more than just the … [Read more...]

Ringo Starr – Come on Christmas, Christmas Come On!

Empty Mirror

Ringo Starr Christmas Album

Ringo gets the holidays rockin' with "Come on Christmas," a song from his very fun Christmas album, I Wanna Be Santa Claus which includes both original and traditional songs. … [Read more...]

Review – The Clash Special Edition Releases

Richard Marcus

The Clash Reissued CDs

I remember a conversation I had with my brother when I was a teenager. He asked me if I thought I would still be listening to any of the music I liked then when I was 50. At the time it seemed like it was an eternity in the future, our parents weren't … [Read more...]

“Run, Run Rudolph” performed by the Grateful Dead

Empty Mirror

Run, Run Rudolph

Today's Christmas tune is "Run, Run Rudolph," performed by the Grateful Dead at Madison Garden, on December 7, 1971. That's Pigpen singing. … [Read more...]

Music Review – An Evening With Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer

Richard Marcus

Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman

There have been many great artistic couples down through the ages. Now a days there seems to be more celebrity couplings than any real co-joining of artistic talents. So when I first began to hear rumours writer Neil Gaiman and musician Amanda Palmer … [Read more...]

Review – Nashville 2.0: The Rise of Americana

Richard Marcus

The Carolina Chocolate Drops. Photo credit: Deborah Feingold

Once upon a time there was pop music. You either liked what you heard or you didn't, and you didn't particularly care about anything else. There were other types of music other people listened to, but that wasn't pop music. There was country and western … [Read more...]

Sly as a Vox

Benjamin Barrett

Ultravox Ha Ha Ha!

They’re back! The often-awful eighties with the pre-school neon colors and the radio infested with neo-synth-pop bubblegum bands. Although a few groups like Phoenix, the Killers and the recent stellar release from Empire of the Sun have picked up where … [Read more...]

Music Review – Tartit With Imharhan – Live from the Sahara

Richard Marcus

Tartit With Imharhan - Live from the Sahara

When the annual Festival Au Desert in Northern Mali was cancelled in 2013 due to the territory's occupation by terrorist organizations intent on imposing a very narrow definition of Islamic rule, organizers of the Festival were determined, if the world … [Read more...]

Jim Morrison and Jack Kerouac

Jim Cherry

Jack Kerouac and Jim Morrison

“If he (Jack Kerouac) hadn’t written On The Road, The Doors never would have existed.” — Ray Manzarek Manzarek might have added that if Jack Kerouac hadn’t written On The Road, none of the late 60’s might have happened the way they did, … [Read more...]

The Naked Beat

Todd Clouser

The Love Electric

The Love Electric's new video was filmed in New York City, Lisbon, Berlin, and Woodstock. You can get "The Naked Beat" here. About A Love Electric The Love Electric is a band that does things differently. An art rock trio of three … [Read more...]

Book Review – Roger Waters: The Man Behind The Wall

Craig Enck

Roger Waters: The Man Behind the Wall

Roger Waters: The Man Behind The Wall by Dave Thompson / Backbeat Books / 978-1-61713-564-4 271 pages Music journalist Dave Thompson's new book Roger Waters: The Man Behind The Wall is an entertaining intro to the music of the former Pink Floyd front … [Read more...]

Review – Les Paul: The Lost Interviews by Jim O’Donnell

Denise Enck

Les Paul: The Lost Interviews by Jim O'Donnell

Les Paul: The Lost Interviews: Five Never-Before-Published Talks With a Guitar Genius by Jim O'Donnell / 978-1492218913 / 152 pages What comes to mind when you hear the name "Les Paul"? Maybe the iconic guitar, launched at the dawn of rock and roll and … [Read more...]

Review – I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp by Richard Hell

Richard Marcus

I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp by Richard Hell

I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp: An Autobiography by Richard Hell / Ecco / 978-0062190833 / 304 pages Where do ideas come from? How does an individual up with an idea that starts a whole movement? Does he or she think it up in a momentary flash … [Read more...]

On The Road Again With John Renbourn

Stuart Penney

John Renbourn

Back when the M1 motorway was first built, journeying to London from anywhere north of the Midlands was a tiresome, all-day exercise, especially if you were hitch-hiking. This story takes place in 1968 and although by then the motorway had pushed a little … [Read more...]

Book Review – Love Him Madly: An Intimate Memoir of Jim Morrison, by Judy Huddleston

Denise Enck

Review: Love Him Madly by Judy Huddleston

Love Him Madly: An Intimate Memoir of Jim Morrison, by Judy Huddleston / Chicago Review Press / June 1, 2013 / 978-1613747506 / 240 pages The story begins just like many young girls' rock star fantasies do. Judy, a high-school senior, and soon-to-be … [Read more...]

Bob Dylan, John Tams and the Commissionaire

Stuart Penney

Bob Dylan at the Gaumont, Sheffield, 1966

Whenever Bob Dylan’s 1966 UK Tour is discussed, all we ever hear about is the infamous “Judas” incident from the Free Trade Hall, Manchester. But there were several other dates on the tour and on May 16 (just one day before the Manchester show) Dylan … [Read more...]

Music Review – Amelita by Court Yard Hounds

Denise Enck

Court Yard Hounds - Amelita - Review

Probably Emily Robison and Martie Maguire have been best known as two-thirds of The Dixie Chicks. But as Court Yard Hounds, the duo has created a very different sound, one which has something for their longtime country music fans, and also for … [Read more...]

Ray Manzarek

Bruce Hodder

Ray Manzarek

I turned my laptop on just after dawn this morning, as I usually do, and sat down with a cup of strong black coffee to see what was happening in the world. Two stories caught me like punches to the stomach and I woke up without any need for caffeine: a … [Read more...]

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