Hello, one and all. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker always were a couple of wiseacres. Too cool for school. "We don't cater for critics," as Fagen once said. Fair enough. They didn't suffer fools gladly and weren't interested in sycophantic praise, either, maintaining, "There is a substantial body of opinion which holds that Countdown... was the best Steely Dan album, bar none. Generally speaking, the type of person who holds this position is not the sort of individual you want sitting across the table from you at a dinner party, especially one where alcoholic beverages are being served. You get, we trust, the general idea."
We did. It was Jay Black, lead singer of the pop group Jay And The Americans, who dubbed the odd couple "the Manson and Starkweather of rock'n'roll". Hardly a compliment so they probably approved of that reference to Charles Manson and the other Charlie, a sadistic mass murderer who'd gone on a killing spree in 1958 with his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate. Terrence Malick immortalised them in his movie, Badlands, starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek in 1973. That was the same year Countdown To Ecstasy was released.
Black knew the sharp-tongued duo when they'd quit Bard College in Annandale-onHudson and hawked their songs on the fourth floor of the Brill Building, 1619 Broadway, 49th Street, for Kenny Vance, JATA's mentor. The Americans supported The Beatles once on their first US tour, standing in for Tommy Roe when a snow blizzard hit DC like a bomb. at the Washington Coliseum. Black, a savvy New Yorker from Queens, became acquainted with Lennon and McCartney's painful wit and recognised that trait in Walt and Don.
"Those two are cocksuckers who I may kick in the ass next time I see them," he declared. Yes, but other than that? "There are no finer songwriters in the country. If they don't blow it by being assholes, they'll be around for a long time."
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"Things can go very badly wrong"
But not too often. The Iron Maiden singer, aviator, business mogul and awardwinning everyman, Bruce Dickinson, returns with a new solo album, The Mandrake Project â Top 10 across the planet at the time of writing â and a ton of anecdotes about his extraordinarily successful career. Just donât try and put him in a box. âIâm not a number, Iâm a free man!â he warns Joel McIver.
Out Of The Darkness
Long-anticipated solo debut from Portishead singer is worth the wait
Clearing The Way
The end of an era for Bolan's glam-rock trailblazers.
SOCK IT TO ME DISC-ITS! WHEN TWO TRIBES VINYL AND CD (AND CASSETTE) WENT TO WAR
Dream, if you can, a courtyard. An ocean of violets in bloom. Alternatively, a 1984 record shop and all its pristine treasures. Close your eyes, letâs go there together. What do you see? From chest-level down â vinyl.
Steve Harley 1951-2024
As frontman for Cockney Rebel, the singer-songwriter crafted one of the glam rock era's greatest singles in Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me).
The Collector
Swiss-based Icelander Sunna Margrét is a rising force in experimental pop. Having begun her career as a teenager touring with electro-pop ensemble Bloodgroup, she is about to release her debut full-length solo LP, Finger on Tongue.
She'd only Just gun
With their rapturous harmonies, the Carpenters dominated the 70sâ airwaves, selling over 100 million records with hits like Close To You and Yesterday Once More. But by 1979, lead singer Karen was seeking a new direction⊠Biographer Lucy OâBrien recounts her attempts to move out of the restrictive environment of the family band that had made her a star
PNEUMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE
Forming in West Berlin in 1980 and achieving their greatest notoriety circa 1984, industrial noise-punks EinstÃŒrzende Neubauten have far e xceeded t he i r p ro jec ted l i fe expectancy. Founding frontman Blixa Bargeld traces the evolution of the metalbashing pioneers. Jeremy Allen is all (suitably protected) ears
FRUITS OF THEIR LABOUTES
Bananarama had their first Top 3 hit in 1984, Robert De Niro's Waiting. Rob Hughes meets lifelong friends and bandmates Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward as they look back on their career, album by album
Being Soaring.
In April 1984, the original, faster Bobby Oproduced version of West End Girls was released.