CATEGORIES

Label of Love

Q & A | AV8 RECORDS – Eastbourne/London

Lost and Found

In the 80s, the UK had The Smiths – America had The Smithereens: an emblematic fourpiece 60s-referencing college radio/alt-indie band combining elements of girl group pop and beat-era rock; melodic with hints of mayhem. And, as Bill Kopp reports, New Jersey’s forgotten heroes are still out there, doing it…

Present Tense

Songs for old-timers: veteran singer-songwriter mixes anguish and tenderness.

Higher Power

Folk icon continues to bridge the past and the present.

Homeward Bound

Belief and beauty explored with rare grace.

Above And Beyond!

Big brother triumphs by reminding everyone he knows how to write giant tunes.

Wish List

A half-speed master holds off time as it waits in the wings.

Kick Out The Jams

Brilliant compilation celebrating Liverpool’s cultural heritage.

Movers And Shakers

A new box set chronicles the “saxophone Colossus”’s late 50s California sojourn.

Weeping Beauty

Anniversary edition of an angst classic, in an atmospheric new mix.

DREAD ALERT

The dub poet and activist Linton Kwesi Johnson is publishing his first book of prose, a fine addition to his impressive CV that includes music journalist, label owner and punk and post-punk reggae avatar. Man free-lance: Rich Davenport

SHAKIN ALL OVER AGAIN

Even a heart attack in 2010 couldn’t deter Welsh rock’n’roll institution Shakin’ Stevens from returning to fight the good fight. Now, at 75, he has made another highly personal record that might confound those expecting him to fall back on the vintage covers and 50s stylings that made him such a ubiquitous presence on the 80s pop scene. “A lot of people are going to be shocked,” he warns Jack Watkins.

RELATABLE CONTENT

Evolving from blues-rock through prog and several different points in-between, East Midlanders Family perhaps don’t get the recognition they deserve these days, possibly because of such wilful refusal to stay in one musical lane. With a clutch of reissues ready to prompt a revision of that reputation, Roger Chapman tells his side of a tortuous tale to Michael Heatley.

EUROPEAN UNION

One is the daughter of a psychedelic rock hero, the other played bass in The Clash. As Galen Ayers and Paul Simonon unite for a duets album, Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day?, Kevin Harley hears about how they wore their pasts lightly while drawing inspiration from continental adventures and great male-female duos of the past…

maconblack

Ian McCann Stadium gigs? Forget it. And as for live albums...

Musician Paul Mayer

Paul Mayer, a creative director and musician, has been collecting “Exotica” music on vinyl since he was just 12 years old. In the 70s, his parents took him to Hawaii where, at a young age, he saw the great Martin Denny perform at the Surf Room in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel at Waikiki.

Battling the bootleggers

West Country millionaire’s counterfeit records racket shut down

"YOU HAVE TO BE RUTHLESS"

Simply Red’s soulful pop was one of the most familiar sounds of the 90s and made Mick Hucknall a household name. Despite their commercial domination, they were critical pariahs, dismissed for their smoothness and Hucknall’s reputation as a lothario. Truth is, they were steeped in dub, gritty R&B and post-punk, proud working-class peers of ‘soulcialists’ Style Council and Redskins. Three decades on, they continue to sell more albums than there are ginger hairs on his famous head: the work ethic is strong with this one. “We played to a million people last year,” he points out, and with a new album and tour to promote, he’s only going to be stepping up the professional pace. “You can’t take anything for granted,” he tells Lois Wilson.

MAEL PATENT BOLDNESS

Ron and Russell Mael – combined age: 151 – should be in the autumn of their career, a heritage act recycling the hits. Instead, more than a half-century since their debut LP, Sparks are enjoying an Indian summer of acclaim and popularity. As they prepare to release their 26th idiosyncratic pop album (including FFS), back with their original label Island after a 45-year break, they take a reverse journey through their body of work while considering their imminent landmark concerts at the Hollywood Bowl and Royal Albert Hall. What kind of shows can we expect? “Sexy and cerebral,” they promise Jeremy Allen.

Talking Heads – 'We thought "down with Arena Rock"'

With the Remain in Love Tour about to happen and a reissue of stop making sense imminent, people are talking about talking heads again. Not that they ever really stopped. With their adventures in psychedelicised funk and dub-spacious art disco, they essayed a new form of anti-'rockist' music, all polyrhythmic colourmotion helmed by Brian Eno, effecting a clean break with tradition. A once in a lifetime proposition, in terms of songwriting and Studio Sonics, they made leaps between - especially albums the first four - matched only by The Beatles. Come into the blue again as David interviews the stubbs greatest rhythm section of the post-punk period, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, about the band, their out-of-this-world music and their eventual, inevitable split, while Terry Staunton tracks their lightspeed evolution on LP and Daryl Easlea gets discographical. Take a look!

Hey Jude

Courteeners seemed to rise without trace – stadium fillers, particularly in the north, yet barely visible press-wise. They have just scored their first-ever UK No 1 album with their 2008 debut, the recently reissued St Jude, breaking Official Chart records for the LP with the longest time between release and charting at pole position, a feat matched only by The Beatles and the Stones with their recent reissues. And yet mainman Liam Fray remains modest to a fault, despite his “gobshite” reputation. Mapping the rendezvous: John Earls.

"I didn't know how to deal with being a frontman"

In 1981, Haircut 100 came bursting out of Beckenham, all Argyle sweaters and sou’westers, purveying a new kind of jangly, poppy Britfunk, equal parts Monkees and Earth, Wind & Fire. Face and NME darlings, they soon matched critical respect with the screams of teenage fans, but already by summer ’82 the wheels had come off, singer and songwriter Nick Heyward was suffering a nervous breakdown and he left the band in acrimonious circumstances. In the 90s he enjoyed a period of solo success, with hits in the States and a period of late affirmation when he signed to the Creation label. Now, though, all hatchets have been buried and the Haircuts have reunited, with live dates and talk of a new album. “Till death us do part,” Heyward tells Adrian Thrills

"When I walk onstage, I'm like a plumber"

Pete Townshend talks in-depth about The Who live and his attitude towards the band’s history of performance. Along with news about an impending Who’s Next reissue and the latest extrapolation of his notorious Lifehouse project, he expands on the idea of The Who as the quintessential purveyors of high-energy rock’n’roll, only to simultaneously debunk it. “I don’t have fun performing,” he tells Rob Hughes

THE ENGINE ROOM

The unsung heroes who helped forge modern music | This month: Vicki Wickham

33 1/3 minutes with... Harvey Lisberg

Music entrepreneur Harvey Lisberg managed Manchester’s most commercially successful bands of the 60s and 70s (Herman’s Hermits and 10cc, respectively). He was also a partner in  Strawberry Studios which provided a springboard for the region’s next generation of musicians, including Joy Division. He guided the careers of numerous prominent musical figures, then in the 70s and 80s, he managed snooker’s glimmer twins – Alex Higgins and Jimmy White – while also looking after the likes of Sad Café and Barclay James Harvest. These days, he looks after his publishing interests from his Palm Springs home.

IT HAPPENED WHEN?

Peter Baker, of cult synth project Electronic Ensemble, tells Ian Shirley about the track that became an airplay hit in Europe

TAPE HUNTERS

Former RRPG Editor Ian Shirley put out dozens of LPs for RC’s Rare Record Club. Here he spills the beans on the mastertapes behind some archive releases

The cost of collecting crisis

Do the rising prices of records, CDs and memorabilia threaten cutbacks by collectors? Joe Geesin reads the runes

MOD ALMIGHTY

Eddie Piller – DJ, radio show host, founder of Acid Jazz Records and all-round mod acolyte – has a new book out, Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances – A Life In Mod. “The publisher asked me to write about my early life,” he explains. “He was shocked when he saw the manuscript. People don’t realise how violent it was back in 1979.

WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY?

As melodic and lyrically masterful as ever, Ron Sexsmith mines the past on a potent new album, The Vivian Line, inspired by leaving the big city for more humble surroundings. But is he, as longtime cheerleader Elvis Costello once suggested, still “cursed” by being born out of time? Terry Staunton takes a road trip to find out.