CATEGORIES

LANDS OF HOPE AND GLORY

Rising Canadian hopefuls Crown Lands are modern proggers taking threads from the genre's illustrious past and weaving them into the present

BRAVE NEW WORLD

With a new album that's their heaviest, rockiest yet, Rodrigo y Gabriela are boldly taking metal and rock to where no one has so successfully taken it before

AMERICAN BANDSTAND

They sold out Shea Stadium faster than The Beatles. In the early 70s, no American hard rock band was bigger than Grand Funk Railroad. Singer/guitarist Mark Farner looks back

'MAEL SUPREMACY

Since their dramatic arrival in the UK via TV screens in the early 70s, Sparks have continued to make extraordinary music on their own terms. Now they're enjoying a late-career renaissance

ANDY SUMMERS

The unfeasibly young-looking 80-year-old talks about conquering the world alongside two total arseholes” in The Police, his apprenticeship’ with Zoot Money and others, life after The Police, the reunion, his long-time passion for photography, and much more

Alice Cooper

The godfather of shock-rock on the Hollywood Vampires, having a stress-free life, and never expecting to live past 30

bloody hell

Write some songs, get into studio, come out with an album. It worked before. But when it came to making the follow-up to Vol. 4, Black Sabbath couldn't even get started. \"We'd spend all day farting about and end up with nothing usable.\" This is the story of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

George Harrison My Sweet Lord

Written after the former Beatle had been inspired by an old gospel song, it’s remembered as much for the plagiarism legal battle it led to as it is for just being a lovely song.

RODRIGO Y GABRIELA

The duo that proved it's possible to rock out on nylonstring guitars returns with a new concept album, inspired by immersing themselves in the spiritual discipline of non-dualism

Roll Out The Barrels

Let Paoletti transport you to the rolling hills, history and culture of Tuscany with a direct link to a classic wine or two. Oh, and the company makes rather fine guitars! Time for a taste…

Passion Project

With small ’shop boutique makers popping up on a seemingly daily basis, what’s different about Paoletti Guitars? We ask the company’s MD, Filippo Martini

Grand Designs

Taylor has revamped its 'workhorse' rosewood and spruce 400 Series for this year to feature sunburst tops and new inlays. Then we have the innovative V-Class bracing, not to mention the ES2 electronics. A match made in heaven?

SAMANTHA FISH

Death Wish Blues is a brand-new collaborative album from Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton and will see the pair touring the UK later this year. We invited Samantha to our studios to hear the story behind the release

True Colours

Three Grand Auditorium models from the Czech Republic manufacturer's catalogue, with price points varying from entry level to top end. What's the difference? Let's find out...

STRETCHING TIME

Some might say a new guitar needs a few weeks to settle in and that there’s no point in thinking about mods or the like until it has. Dave Burrluck doesn’t quite agree…

GRAHAM NASH

As the CSNY legend releases the \"most personal record\" of his half-century career, he tells us about speaking truth to power, selling his Woodstock D-45, and making up with David Crosby in his final days

Arielle 6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT...

The guitarist and singer-songwriter on choirs, clowning and heartto-hearts with Brian May, ahead of her game-raising new album

SPIRITS PAST SPIRITS PRESENT

Re-made and remodelled, and with a critically acclaimed new album that echoes moments from their post-punk past, The Damned head into the future still with plenty to offer and to thrill

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…

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

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!

"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

'I'm fine playing men on stage - and my private life is my private life'

The BBC Music Magazine Interview

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

THE ENGINE ROOM

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

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.

The cost of collecting crisis

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

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