1975 (1-r) Phil Kohn, Mick Jacques, Sonja Kristina, Darryl Way, me (wish I still had those boots). Curved Air had split up by the time I met their violin player Darryl Way, and we were just about to bust out a new band together - with me actually in the band - called Stark Naked & the Car Thieves. But Curved Air was hit with an unexpected tax bill and decided to reform for one last tour to pay off debts. Dang! So, I put away my drums, grabbed my slick briefcase that I got from my spydaddy father [Miles Copeland Jr] and hit the road with them as their tour manager. They had been missed! The crowds roared! A live album was recorded, and the taxman was paid. It had all gone better than expected and some of the band wanted to keep on trucking, but original drummer Florian Pilkington-Miksa and keyboardist Francis Monkman decided to bail. This left my chum Darryl Way and singer Sonja Kristina in need of a drummer...
Public Enemy Number Ones by 4 December, the Sex Pistols were banned everywhere following their expletive-filled appearance on live TV three days earlier. This gig didn't happen, and that night two of the Pistols and two of their pals tumed up at our Mayfair pad... After a Curved Air show in Leicester and a two-hour drive, when we get back to slumbering Mayfair in the dead of night, we can hear the revelry from blocks away; Sonja and I run up the stairs to the penthouse apartment and find bedlam swinging from the chandeliers. I'm not sure that anyone was pogoing yet but with all the gilded furniture pushed to the side, the grand drawing room was heaving under the stomping feet of a tribe of what came to be known as punks.
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Esta historia es de la edición October 2023 de Record Collector.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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WINDOWS ON THE WORLD
At the peak of their powers in the early 70s, by 1975 there were signs that Led Zeppelin were burning out, and their legendary appetite for excess, not to mention stadium-straddling, mythically charged, epically inclined hard rock, might be waning.
HI-FIDELITY?
Running a record shop is a dream for many music aficionados. Steve Burniston investigates how to run a successful one
THE ENGINE ROOM
The unsung heroes who helped forge modern music
UNDER THE RADAR
Artists, bands, and labels meriting more attention
45 SHEFFIELD 45s
Continuing our celebrations of RC's 45th birthday and following on from our look at the best 45s to come out of Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol and Glasgow, we focus on the urbanisation formerly known as Steel City: Sheffield. Close to the (Nether) Edge: Jeremy Allen
Finished Symphonies
In the late 80s, Shelleyan Orphan made rarefied, ravishing, precious (both meanings) baroque pop, all chamber quartet accompaniment and literary reference points, like an 18th century Cocteau Twins.
"BLACK BRITISH PEOPLE HAD SOMETHING TO SHOUT ABOUT"
Breaking new ground for black music in Britain from his teenage years in Matumbi in the early 70s, Dennis Bovell went on to become one of reggae's most highly regarded producers, helping popularise lovers rock. He also played a pivotal role in post-punk's experimental incorporation of dub influences on records like The Slits' Cut and The Pop Group's Y. As new compilation, Sufferer Sounds, reaches back to his early days to compile some of his best early dub plates, Lois Wilson gets the full backstory from one of British music's most enduring forces.
FRENZY REUNITED
Swindon's finest musical export, XTC were also one of the most quietly influential British bands, setting a template for Britpop while pioneering a brand of left-field guitar pop – from herky-jerky invention to consummate craftsmanship – that has spawned many imitators.
Paperback Blighters - The books every record collector should read.
The books every record collector should read. Vinyl, you may have heard, has made a big comeback. In 2022, sales of vinyl albums surpassed compact discs (CDs) for the first time in more than three decades in terms of global revenue, racking up more than $1.2bn.
"Beware the Savage Lure/of 1984..." - David Bowie is one of the most venerated musicians ever. But even he had his bad periods.
David Bowie is one of the most venerated musicians ever. But even he had his bad periods. For many, 1984 remains the nadir of his Phil Collins” phase; an artistic/sartonial/tonsorial disaster area. But was it really that awful? Forty years on, Matt Phillips explores Bowie's so-called annus horribilis.
