With everyone having been stuck indoors for a year and a half, might WH Lung just be the band we need right now as we emerge, blinking, into civilisation once again…? Naming your band after a Chinese supermarket; Featuring a… Read More ›
In 2008 New York photographer Eilon Paz was shown a photo of a man, Frank Goessner, a German, who lived around the corner from Paz in Brooklyn. Goessner was wearing combat gear, holding an AK-47, surrounded by a mass of… Read More ›
The Grande Ballroom in Detroit. The home of the MC5. In front of a rabid sell-out crowd lead singer Rob Tyner is bringing the show to a close when from the wings a man leaps onstage and shoots Tyner at… Read More ›
The challenge: The Beach Boys have a legion of fans, but I had precisely two of their albums. What had I overlooked? And was it still possible to build up a concise collection from The Beach Boys twenty-nine studio albums… Read More ›
The challenge: After a chat with a friend revealed neither of us had any Beach Boys albums outside of Pet Sounds and Surf’s Up, could I convince myself and my friend there were other gems in The Beach Boys’ back… Read More ›
The challenge: To find lesser known moments from The Beach Boys catalogue and build up a concise collection of Beach Boys records that a) don’t cost the Earth and b) that are good enough to get regular plays on the… Read More ›
The challenge: The Beach Boys are best known for their Californian surfing-and-cars image. But fans who have dug a little deeper have found many gems in the back catalogue. When a band has produced 29 studio albums and nearly double… Read More ›
Can you still unearth great vinyl records without breaking the bank? Finding cheap vinyl records has become harder since Covid turned the world into online shoppers. But maybe it isn’t impossible… In this series we examine the vinyl legacy of… Read More ›
In its latest issue, Record Collector has sought to identify a hundred records that show “investment potential”. The cover boasts “The 100 Best Music Investments” and “How Your Vinyl Can Make You Money In 2021”. This is no bad thing…. Read More ›
Plus: The ERTAS 2020 Albums of the Year In case you hadn’t noticed, 2020 was a terrible, terrible year for pretty much everyone and everything. Even Coronavirus, which had a better 2020 than most, received bad news in the shape… Read More ›
The Kinks’ “Lola versus Powermen and The Moneygoround, Part One” was their eighth and least-snappily-titled album, released fifty years ago, in 1970. It is best known for the hit single “Lola”, a now much-loved song Ray Davies famously had to… Read More ›
He released an album in 1970 that the critics compared favourably to Paul McCartney. But by 1973, he was burnt out and didn’t release another album for over forty years. Here’s the story of singer songwriter Emitt Rhodes.
Of all the many lead singers that the Britpop era gave us, perhaps Liam Gallagher was the most gifted at swearing. And coat-wearing. Opinion may remain split as to Liam’s many other achievements, with critics pointing out for every “Rock… Read More ›
Just how did a boy from hillbilly country meet Elvis, Brian Wilson and George Harrison before even releasing a record? The story of Tom Petty is one that defies all the odds… It’s 1978. Bruce Springsteen, seeing a kindred spirit,… Read More ›
Mark Ellen and David Hepworth defined the UK’s music papers from the eighties onwards, with the wonderful Smash Hits, Q, Mojo and The Word. They presented The Old Grey Whistle Test and Live Aid – apparently because they and their… Read More ›
Every record tells a story 