Guitar Techniques
THE KINKS' RAY DAVIES
This month Stuart Ryan takes a virtual trip into to North London to get to grips with the acoustic style of the original Muswell Hillbilly.
2 min |
September 2024
Guitar Techniques
STEVE LUKATHER
This month Andy G Jones looks at the fluent soloing style of the LA guitarist who co-founded Toto in 1977 then ruled the 80s session scene.
2 min |
September 2024
Total Guitar
"It Gives Me Physical Satisfaction To Play Funk Riffs!" - Into the groove with Giacomo Turra, the Italian guitarist who made his name covering classics by Stevie Wonder, Bruno Mars and more...
Into the groove with Giacomo Turra, the Italian guitarist who made his name covering classics by Stevie Wonder, Bruno Mars and more... Born in Milan, his funk guitar sensibility can be traced back to the dance studio where his mother taught, and the tunes he heard blasting out of her boombox. "I like to experiment with a lot of genres, but the really interesting thing for me is I really grew up on funk, and a little bit of jazz and fusion music," he says.
6 min |
August 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Sweet Sixteen
As The Sixteen celebrates its 45th birthday, founder Harry Christophers speaks to Andrew Stewart about directing a choral powerhouse
8 min |
August 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Federico Colli
\"At this moment in time we don't need more virtuosi. We need musicians to engage with the philosophy of music
6 min |
August 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Harmonic Progression
What happens when classical music-style levels of ambition, invention and sheer length are brought to pop? The answer, as Meurig Bowen explains, is Prog Rock
6 min |
August 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Golden years
Young musicians may be physically fit, but with age come the advantages of wisdom and experience
6 min |
August 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Västra Karup Sweden
The spirit of soprano Birgit Nilsson is alive and well in the town of her birth, home to a festival dedicated to her memory
3 min |
August 2024
Record Collector
I was seen as an outsider– Marc Almond's new album I'm Not Anyone is out on 12 July on BMG
It's 43 years since Soft Cell's cover of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love turned singer Marc Almond and his synth-playing partner Dave Ball into overnight stars, and 42 years since Almond kicked off a solo career that continues to this day. The nervous kid that we first saw on Top Of The Pops on 13 August 1981 is now one of the longest-performing artists of his generation, with his 27th solo album, I'm Not Anyone, about to land. Addiction and a near-fatal road accident couldn't stop him, he tells Joel McIver, although a nice fruit garden just might...
10+ min |
July 2024
Record Collector
HOOD VIBRATIONS
There's a shimmering, otherwordly quality to The O'Jays' music, a gossamer lightness to their gospel fervour. It's there on their hits -Love Train, Put Your Hands Together and especially on their 1972-3 albums, Back Stabbers and Ship Ahoy, which, argues Philly soul expert Tony Cummings, merit contention alongside What's Going On and There's A Riot Goin' On in the annals of conscious R&B
10+ min |
July 2024
Record Collector
DON'T STREAM IT'S OVER
While many bands of a certain age struggle to balance the desire to keep moving with their audience's demand to hear the hits, Neil Finn and Crowded House remain as passionate about their back catalogue as they are their latest recorded work. Besides, streaming exposes their songs to new generations and they're happy to go with the flow. As Finn tells Pete Paphides: \"You can't be angry with an algorithm.\"
10+ min |
July 2024
Record Collector
CAUGHT BY THE BUZZ!
Every generation gets the music epoch it deserves whether that's psychedelia, glam, punk, new pop, Madchester... In the 90s it was the turn of Britpop. For a period, there was a range of activity under that banner, most notably from the colossally popular likes of Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Supergrass and Elastica, but also from the lesser-known likes of Marion, Menswe@r and My Life Story... Over the next 12 pages we reacquaint ourselves with some of Britpop's stars, Joel Mclver looks at Britrock and Joe Muggs at Brit-dance to affirm the era's rampant eclecticism, Wesley Doyle recalls life in a band on the scene and meets the next generation of Britpoppers, we reassess the era's best albums and the \"runners-up\", consider the notable singles, remember the Blur-Oasis rivalry, David Stubbs offers an Alternate View Of Britpop, and John Coleman compiles a hefty Oasis discography.
6 min |
July 2024
Record Collector
anchoress away
Catherine Anne Davies on the ethics of vinyl production
4 min |
July 2024
Record Collector
33½ minutes with...Dana Gillespie
Dana Gillespie was the 60s It Girl who hung out with a pre-Bowie David Jones at Soho cafe La Gioconda and sang at the Marquee alongside Julie Driscoll. Jimmy Page produced her 1965 single, D Thank You Boy, and played on her 1968 debut album, Foolish Seasons. Its follow-up, 1969's Box Of Surprises, paired her with producer Mike Vernon and Savoy Brown while 1973's Weren't Born A Man saw her working with Bowie and Mick Ronson. First Love, her covers album out now, is produced by Marc Almond and Tris Penna. \"Marc said to me, 'I'm fed up with you being the biggest undiscovered secret on the planet,\"\" she says on the motivation behind what will be her 74th album. \"He said we've got to change that. I've never even been asked to perform on Jools Holland's Later. I'm too old to be pissed off but I have been overlooked.\"
4 min |
July 2024
Record Collector
JERSEY ROYAL
Overcoming critical derision to sell 130 million albums, Bon Jovi have celebrated their 40th anniversary with a career-spanning documentary series and a return to their trademark feelgood rock after a decade of troubles. Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan and Tico Torres tell John Earls why they refuse to play live again until they're fully fit, why they're the people's choice, their hopes to be reunited with Richie Sambora... and of secret road trips with Bruce Springsteen.
10+ min |
July 2024
Record Collector
OVERCOME BY SADNESS
\"Look at me! I've lived!\" declares Joe Pernice. Few contemporary American songwriters can do weathered ennui like him, albeit with a nod and a wink. The Pernice Brother talks Rob Hughes through nearly three decades of studio output, album by gorgeously sorrowful album.
10+ min |
July 2024
Classic Rock
BAD BLOOD AND BURIED HATCHES
After a slow start, by the end of the 70s Canadian trio Triumph were living up to their name. Then came the falling-out, the split, and 20 years of toxicity before they shared a stage again.
8 min |
July 2024
Classic Rock
AHEAD OF THE GAME
Too punk for punk in the late 70s, Oi! elder statesmen in the early 80s, living-legend role models in the early 90s, Cock Sparrer never got credit for what they started. Today, after all these years, they're as strong as they've ever been.
6 min |
July 2024
Classic Rock
Mike Pinder December 27, 1941 - April 24, 2024
Mike Pinder, the last surviving founding member of The Moody Blues, has died at the age of 82.
2 min |
July 2024
Classic Rock
David Bowie-Absolute Beginners
Taken from an idea through to a finished song in time left over after David Bowie recorded a clandestine demo, it led to a \"functional\" guitarist working with Bowie for the next 10 years.
4 min |
July 2024
Classic Rock
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats
After six years without a new record, they return with one inspired by 70s Italian murder-mystery cinema.
2 min |
July 2024
Classic Rock
JON BON JOVI
\"There was no Plan B in my life, ever,\" he says. Luckily he didn't need one. He started in covers bands, got the breaks, went on to mastermind one of the biggest and biggest-selling bands of his era, and became one of its biggest rock stars. And there's more - much more...
10+ min |
July 2024
Classic Rock
DICKEY BETTS December 12, 1943 - April 18, 2024
Dave Ling looks back at the life and music of one of the co-founders of the Allman Brothers Band, one of the pioneers in bringing southern rock to the masses.
5 min |
July 2024
Classic Rock
Shane Smith & The Saints
When the going got tough, the Texans kept going, and are now reaping some rewards.
2 min |
July 2024
Classic Rock
The Karma Effect
Meet the young classic rock revivalists with a stadium-style approach to shows and songs.
2 min |
July 2024
Classic Rock
Collective Soul
They recorded their new album in Elvis's old house, and got spooky signs that his late daughter disapproved.
2 min |
July 2024
Classic Rock
Chris Spedding
The legendary sideman and session guitarist on a \"naughty\" 70s, discovering the Sex Pistols and being an honorary Beatle.
4 min |
July 2024
Classic Rock
P.O.D.
They were way ahead of the nu-metal curve, but reckon they still don't get the respect they deserve.
2 min |
July 2024
Classic Rock
THE RESURRECTION SHUFFLE
Dio was out, Gillan was gone, Geezer had given up. And Ozzy? Ozzy had declared war... Into the blackness surrounding Black Sabbath came light in the shape of singer Tony Martin, and the next chapter in the band's ever eventful story began.
10+ min |
July 2024
Classic Rock
CREATURES OF HABITS
In the late 80s, FM seemed poised for huge success. By the mid-90s the dream, and the band, was effectively over. Then almost 20 years later a one-off gig offer changed everything...
8 min |