Record Collector
KINGS OF THE WORLD
Fifty years ago, imams of immaculacy and avatars of the acerbic, Steely Dan, were jazz pop's cool rulers. They had under their belts a debut album, Can't Buy A Thrill, that wasn't so much hesitantly promising as fully-realised, supremely accomplished. Clearly, on a roll, the follow-up, issued in July 1973, was, if anything, even better: their second - and, some would say, finest - album of cutting perfection (ism), Countdown To Ecstasy. Max Bell evaluates its razor buoyancy.
10+ min |
July 2023
Record Collector
POP ART
Numerous rock'n'pop artistes have proven dab hands with other artforms over the decades. RC artist Paul Bowler paints a picture of some of those who work on other canvases
6 min |
July 2023
Record Collector
WIND OF CHANGE
It is 1974 and the Bee Gees haven't had a hit for a while. Nor are they enjoying the critical respect of the heavenly-harmony \"B\" boys: Beatles, Beach Boys, Byrds. Into this commercial and critical lull enters producer Arif Mardin. In this extract from his book on the brothers Gibb, Bee Gees: Children Of The World, author, RC writer and pop musician Bob Stanley finds them midway through Phase 2 of their transition from late 60s orch-popsters to late 70s disco behemoths.
10+ min |
July 2023
Record Collector
The days of his life
Freddie Mercury's unseen personal collection set to be exhibited and auctioned, darlings!
2 min |
July 2023
Record Collector
NO LESS THAN HERO
To mark the release of Seven Psalms, an astonishing meditation on spirituality and mortality and his first album of new material in seven years, Paul Simon a giant of postwar American popular song matched only by Dylan - takes to Zoom for an RC exclusive to talk about (his) music with fan, friend and fellow master songwriter, Elvis Costello. Listening in: Terry Staunton.
10+ min |
July 2023
Record Collector
Oh, Sit Down!
We will if you stop playing those infectious big-venue anthems to alienation and belonging. But James can't help themselves, and they never could, whether in their early indie phase, during Madchester, with Eno, or any time since. Still on their singular path and in pursuit of the new, they're releasing an orchestral retrospective album, Be Opened By The Wonderful. Tim Booth, Saul Davies and Jim Glennie tell Kevin Harley about their choppy journey as perennial outsiders and the value of an open mind.
10+ min |
July 2023
BBC Music Magazine
San Diego United States
Jeremy Pound enjoys the great outdoors as the sun sets to Debussy and Mahler at the southern Californian city's eye-catching new venue
3 min |
July 2023
BBC Music Magazine
Gustav Mahler
Forthright and bold as Mahler's symphonies may appear, they are also works of remarkable subtlety and ambiguity
6 min |
July 2023
Guitar World
Full Spedding Ahead
BRITISH SESSION ACE CHRIS SPEDDING ON BEING ASKED TO AUDITION FOR THE ROLLING STONES, PRODUCING THE SEX PISTOLS' EARLY DEMOS AND RECORDING HIS FINAL ALBUM WITH ROBERT GORDON
5 min |
August 2023
Guitar World
FIVE QUESTIONS: MCKINLEY JAMES
THE SOUL / BLUES / ROCK ’N’ ROLL AFICIONADO ON HOW HE FILLS OUT A DUO — AND WHY YOU’LL PROBABLY NEVER SEE HIM FEATURED IN OUR “MY PEDALBOARD” SECTION
2 min |
August 2023
Guitar World
RIK EMMETT
The former Triumph guitarist discusses everything from those pesky Rush comparisons, the advantages of jumpsuits and the uphill battle of cracking the U.S. market
9 min |
August 2023
Guitar World
TRANSFORMER
Sure, he made a massive imprint on David Bowie's classic early Seventies albums. But Mick Ronson also worked with Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Elton John, Roger McGuinn, Morrissey, Ian Hunter and many others. GW profiles the post-Bowie career of rock 'n' roll's most quietly spoken guitar hero. Starring Def Leppard's Joe Elliott, Slaughter and the Dogs' Mick Rossi and the Cult's Billy Duffy
10+ min |
August 2023
Guitar World
NINE-TIME M.V.P.
NINE TIMES NUNO BETTENCOURT PROVED TO BE GUITAR'S M.V.P.
4 min |
August 2023
Guitar World
THE RISING SON
BACK IN MARCH, EXTREME RELEASED A NEW SONG AND MUSIC VIDEO CALLED \"RISE\" (COMPLETE WITH A FREAKIN' PHENOMENAL NUNO BETTENCOURT GUITAR SOLO). THE GUITAR-PLAYING COMMUNITY HASN'T QUITE BEEN THE SAME SINCE
10+ min |
August 2023
Guitar World
BETTENCOURT OF PUBLIC ΟΡΙΝΙΟΝ
BRIAN MAY, ZAKK WYLDE, STEVE VAI, TOM MORELLO AND MORE EXPLAIN WHY NUNO AIN'T YOUR TYPICAL GUITAR HERO
6 min |
August 2023
Guitar World
RISE AND SHINE
NUNO BETTENCOURT ON THE FINER POINTS OF HIS \"RISE\" GUITAR SOLO - AND THE FIRESTORM IT HAS SPARKED IN GUITAR LAND
10 min |
August 2023
Guitar World
Covet
YVETTE YOUNG MIGHT CALL IT A NEW BEGINNING, BUT HER PLAYING ON CATHARSIS IS AS BLINDING AS EVER
2 min |
August 2023
Guitar World
Two Dog Knights
CATCHING UP WITH WINERY DOGS RICHIE KOTZEN AND BILLY SHEEHAN
4 min |
August 2023
Guitar World
DevilDriver
LIKE ITS PREDECESSOR, DEALING WITH DEMONS VOL. II IS AN ALL-OUT WAR OF GUN-TURRET TREMOLO PICKING AND DARKLY ANTHEMIC CHORUSES
2 min |
August 2023
BBC Music Magazine
Once a Prom a time...
From Horrible Histories to Doctor Who, Clare Stevens takes a whistlestop tour of children's Proms through the last 30 years
5 min |
July 2023
BBC Music Magazine
Eric Whitacre
It's not really the done thing to go into fan mode during an interview
6 min |
July 2023
BBC Music Magazine
A titan without ego
For many, conductor Otto Klemperer will be remembered as the steady and reliable champion of classic repertoire, but in his youth the German was a dashing advocate of the new
7 min |
July 2023
BBC Music Magazine
The fight to be heard
Exiled from their homeland by the Taliban, Afghan musicians are striving to promote a rich musical heritage
6 min |
July 2023
BBC Music Magazine
Hidden treasures
After spending two decades searching the archives for neglected operas, conductor Charles Peebles recalls the risks and challenges of bringing them to the stage
6 min |
July 2023
BBC Music Magazine
Making Tracks
Composer, and Radio 3 presenter, Hannah Peel is forging a multi-faceted career while also giving crucial breaks to fellow musicians, as she tells Tom Stewart
5 min |
July 2023
Record Collector
The Flaming Lips – "We like Sex Pistols and Pink Floyd"
Across four decades and countless madcap ideas, The Flaming Lips have evolved from indie noiseniks to purveyors of Disneyesque symphonia to multi-media art ensemble, each new album expanding the group's sonic world and conceptual ambitions. Accidental hits (She Don't Use Jelly; Do You Realize??) have pulled them into the mainstream on occasion, and yet the Lips have consistently refused to court commercial success and often seemed to actively shun it, with a string of extra-curricular projects, including a homemade sci-fi movie and a line in deconstructive covers albums, defying even the most hardened Lips fan to make sense of it all. Frontman Wayne Coyne tells Jason Draper why the extreme-embracing unit will always remain a "weirdo studio band".
10+ min |
July 2023
Guitar Techniques
JARED JAMES NICHOLS
A minute's all it takes to discover what makes a great guitarist tick. Before he jumped into his limo for the airport, we grabbed a quick chat with amodern American blues-rock tour-de-force.
7 min |
July 2023
Guitar Techniques
JARED JAMES NICHOLS Six Rock Licks
This young but very old-school rock master took time out of his busy schedule to record six, red-hot blues-rock licks for you, all in the key of A. Jon Bishop is your guide.
1 min |
July 2023
Guitar Techniques
IMPROVE YOUR ARPEGGIOS PT 2
Following on from last month where he looked at rhythm guitar arpeggios, here Simon Barnard shows how they can improve your solos, too.
2 min |
July 2023
Guitar Techniques
TASTY SOLOING
This month Andy G Jones from London’s LCCM investigates the style of one of the great blues, rock and jazz session greats, Larry Carlton.
2 min |