FIFE STAR

Twenty-five years in showbusiness? Hardly believable for such a perennially innovative artist as Steve Mason. But that milestone, along with the release of his fifth solo album, Brothers & Sisters, seems a good occasion for Mason to look back, album by album - in reverse order - over his recorded output under various guises since The Beta Band made their debut in 1998. Soul brother: Daryl Easlea

The Who – "Smoke! Violence! We Showed Them What War Was All About”

The new The Who With Orchestra Live At Wembley is a stirring document of The Who's 2019 headline show at Wembley Stadium, backed by a 50-piece orchestra. It marks several decades as one of the world's premier live rock acts, and certainly one of the most unpredictable and explosive. Here, Roger Daltrey recalls 10 key Who gigs. Then, on page 86, Pete Townshend further explores the notion of The Who as an incendiary live entity while on p93, Joe Geesin presents a live Who discography.

Pauline Black – "We Protested and Were Heard"

Pauline Black and The Selecter may have had their 'moment' at the height of 2 Tone in the late 70s/early 80s alongside The Specials, Madness and The Beat, but that doesn't mean they have been inactive since. In fact, their latest album, Human Algebra, is merely the latest - their 16th in a line of long-players calling out injustice to a rocksteady beat. Not for nothing was Black awarded an OBE for services to entertainment - she's full of surprises, though that doesn't quite explain the telegram from Marlene Dietrich or marriage proposal from Fela Kuti. "I do like the double-take when people hear me open my mouth," she tells Lois Wilson

Obsession?

Record collectors can cop flak for their passion. But if more people understood the psychology of record collecting, might they cut we collectors more slack?, asks Tim Jones

David Crosby: 1941-2023

"When I started writing things like Guinnevere, I began to hit my stride"

Everything Under The Sun: The Dark Side Of The Moon at 50

Pink Floyd's eighth studio album, The Dark Side Of The Moon, is one of the cornerstones of modern music., capturing a band at their peak, honing and refining the experimentation of their recent past into linear progressive pop songs. Haunted by the spectre of their absent leader Syd Barrett, and bewildered by the rituals of adulthood, Roger Waters wrote of ageing, war, religion, avarice and lunacy in a manner so recognisable that it has resonated down the ages. As for its artwork, nestling just behind Sgt Pepper's bass drum, the prism on the album's cover is one of the most iconic in rock. The icing on the VCS 3, Waters' vision would be nothing without the textures provided by David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the album, issued originally on 1 March 1973, Mike Barnes and Jo Kendall explore this classic from new angles, from the live shows that shaped the record to the music press reaction. They meet the young woman behind the lens on tour, and assess the album's impact on the next generation. And Stefano Tarquini and Joe Geesin provide expert discographical detail...

Jeff Beck: 1944-2023

Just how good he sounded in his seventies was made clear by his last album, 18

Seminal Works

The records that helped the art-pop trailblazers crack the big time - and broke their original line-up.

Method In The Sadness

The 21st-century Karen Carpenter fashions a marathon of meta-melancholy, with a few new tricks.

Revival Stories

Startling modern soul from sexagenarian comeback kid.

Single File

Make room on the crowded Beatle shelf for this magnificent tome.

DEMIGODDESS

Scottish rocker delivers glimmering display in symphonic setting

Dark Magic

Three-decade high from Basildon's finest on blackest celebration yet.

THE ENGINE ROOM

The unsung heroes who helped forge modern music

UNDER THE RADAR

Artists, bands, and labels meriting more attention

A Fitting Farewell

When two songwriting greats combined.

Daisy Cutter

Double-LP reissue becomes an unintended tribute to a hip-hop great.

33 1/2 minutes with...Paul Jones

Since his rise to mid-60s stardom with Manfred Mann, Paul Jones has been one of Britain's premier blues/R&B singers.

JAVID QUANTICK LIKES

To write a column for Record Collector. Yay Best Known Album Syndrome

MUSIC TO VISIT

Bob Stanley carries pop's baggage everywhere Shhh... library music

Not Forgotten

He demanded 48 vocal takes from Cilla, before choosing the second

Diggin' For GOLD

Our regular look at the more arcane corners of record collecting. Includes Vintage Venue

PAN PEOPLE

Delphina James, whose homage to Kraftwerk is a new entry in the RRPG, tells lan Shirley about arranging electronic music for steel bands and her new project, playing the music of modern composer Ludovico Einaudi

The Collector

Sonic Youth RC reader Al Harwood

NUMB ANGEL

Lewis Taylor was a contender, hailed by the critics and name-dropped by everyone from Paul Weller to Elton John. Following attempts to sell him as a soul boy when he was more a UK Tame Impala - less Acid Jazz than acid and jazz he made a few dazzling records, then disappeared. Rumours circulated that he'd absented himself from social media and the music industry in general and was living as a recluse. But, after nearly two decades away, he's released a new album, NUMB, which shows him in as rude vocal and compositional health as ever, and finally ready to explain where he's been. It's madness: Matt Phillips

"YOU GET UNDER MY SKIN...”

The Only Ones were the new wave-era band with one foot in the pre-punk, rock classicist past. They recorded three albums of erratic flaming beauty, but it was a single of theirs, three minutes of ragged insinuating perfection, that really helped them make a mark. Here, adapted from Simon Wright's new book on the band's debut LP, is the story of Another Girl, Another Planet.

LET'S SHOP

There's nothing more that Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys and The Arcs likes more than a good few hours spent digging through the crates at his favourite UK record store. Which is why we join him by the racks at London's Stranger Than Paradise. Chris Catchpole witnesses the vinyl love.

CHAIRMAN OF THE KEYBOARD

With a new illustrated account of his life, Keith Emerson, out now, the partner of ELP's keyboard virtuoso, Mari Kawaguchi, and his son, Aaron Emerson, tell us his story via 12 key images from the book, all the way from 1966 right up to his death in 2016.

Full Moon

As much of their classic as you buy, beg, borrow or steal.

33½ minutes with...Francis Rossi

"Quo's last record got 3.5m streams... which is apparently fuck-all"