Music
Record Collector
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Back in the mid-70s, when all sorts of imaginative music could be heard emanating from the city of Canterbury, Hatfield And The North ranked as one of the most interesting groups on the scene. Little wonder, when you consider they featured ex-members of Caravan, Gong, Matching Mole and Egg. It was a short, fascinating trip, with a lengthy genesis, as Hatfield's bassist and singer Richard Sinclair and keyboardist Dave Stewart tell Chris Wheatley
9 min |
August 2025
Record Collector
33½ minutes with...Skin
Skunk Anansie singer Deborah 'Skin' Dyer OBE, born in Brixton, London in 1967, was the first black British artist to headline Glastonbury in 1999. Skin once described her band's dynamic music as 'clit-rock', but she can't be confined to a single sound, as her two solo albums demonstrated in 2003 and again in 2006.
4 min |
August 2025
Record Collector
SUGAR COPPER BLUE
I bought Sugar's Copper Blue in 1992 on the back of a great review in the NME and I also got to see the band live when they toured the UK.
6 min |
August 2025
Record Collector
ROBERT FORSTER & THE GO-BETWEENS
As co-founder of The Go-Betweens, Robert Forster was one half of the greatest songwriting partnership in Australian pop, alongside the late Grant McLennan. His solo career hasn't been too shabby, either, and the latest fruit of his labours is new album Strawberries, in which he responds to more challenges in his personal life with some of his most luminous songwriting to date. He takes Johnnie Johnstone through his back catalogue.
10+ min |
August 2025
Record Collector
Special Relationship
Special Relationship Ex-R.E.M. guitarist and British indie maverick's surprise pairing showcases a heady psych-rock haul...
2 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
Acid Test
Recently reunited Scotland art-rockers reissue the tripped-out debut which made their name and took them briefly to Hollywood.
3 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
SOUL COLLECTOR
Based in Loveland, Ohio, Tery Cole founded the Colemine label in 2007 and, with his brother Bob, he started his own record shop Plaid Room Records in 2015.
4 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
THE ENGINE ROOM
The unsung heroes who helped forge modern music
4 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
Run Ragged
The Chrome Hearts bypass quality control as their leader approaches his ninth decade on Earth. By Jason Draper
3 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
From The Vaults Reissues, remasters and compilations
Back to the beginnings, and proof that behind the scandals and celebrity affairs lay genuine talent.
3 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
A TANGLED WEB
Pentangle were among the vanguard of British folk-rock, drawing on progressive and psychedelic influences as well as the traditional acoustic sounds that first fired up the scene. Their initial lifespan would be barely five years, but during that time they would prove hugely influential to a wide range of artists. Now 81, Jacqui McShee, one of the defining voices of the era, speaks to Rob Fitzpatrick
10+ min |
July 2025
Record Collector
The Joys Of Spring
Mick Head's luckless, luminescent first band collated.
3 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
Down To The Roots
Newly discovered outtake reels give wonderfully intriguing insight into the making of singer-songwriter's classic debut.
3 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
Heard Ya Missed M WELL I'M BACK!
This month: I Monster
4 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
THE FOREST HILLS ARE ALIVE..
When the Ramones came to the UK in 1976, they were a major inspirational force for the burgeoning British punk movement. But back home in New York, the artists soon to be known as Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy had been moulding their oft-mocked brand of back-to-basics rock'n'roll to barely credulous but slowly growing crowds since 1974-5. Kris Needs, who was there at that UK debut, speaks to Joey Ramone's brother Mickey Leigh, Craig Leon, Lenny Kaye, Chris Frantz, Jayne County and others, also drawing on his own historical encounters with the band, to trace the backstory of four like-minded suburban outcasts and the ‘chemical imbalance’ that helped catalyse a revolution.
10+ min |
July 2025
Record Collector
Shot In The Dark
xPropaganda singer unveils a late-career gem. By Charles Waring
2 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
33½ minutes with...Ezra Furman
Born in Chicago in 1986, Ezra Furman studied English at Tufts University in Somerville, MA. She also helmed Ezra Furman & The Harpoons, with whom she recorded four albums between 2006 and 2011.
4 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER
Slim Whitman's peak success - when he set a UK chart record that stood for 36 years - came just before the 50s rock'n'roll explosion, which may be why this American country star isn't as acclaimed as he might be. Jack Watkins yodels his praises...
10 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
THE ROAD TO ELLIOTT
A quarter-century on from Figure 8, Elliott Smith's final studio record before his untimely passing, we shine a spotlight on one of America’s most enigmatic artists. The songwriter was taken too soon but left behind a compelling body of work. Felix Rowe joins two of his closest collaborators, Rob Schnapf and Larry Crane, to explore his output.
10 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
UNDER THE RADAR
Artists, bands, and labels meriting more attention
4 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
BLOODY HAIRY!!
The Midlands in the late 60s could claim to be the birthplace of heavy rock. But while Zep and Sabbath went on to global success, what became of their heftty, and hirsute, peers? With the release of a new compilation – a Nuggets for proto-stoner rock and doom fans – Stevie Chick mans the excavator.
10+ min |
July 2025
Record Collector
FEEL THE FORCE
Joe Henderson never enjoyed the super heavyweight status of John Coltrane or Sonny Rollins but Forces Of Nature: Live At Slugs', a previously unheard live recording with pianist McCoy Tyner from 1966, reveals he was a serious contender. Speaking to some of Henderson's closest collaborators and most avid cheerleaders, Charles Waring shines a light on the often-overlooked jazz genius dubbed “The Phantom”.
10 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
The Collector
This month: Graham Sharpe
7 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
LABEL OF LOVE ALBERT'S FAVOURITES
Where are you based, what do you do, and why?
3 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
NASHVILLE HEMLINE
Matthew Quinlan explores Nudie Cohn's Nashville legacy
3 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
anchoressaway
Catherine Anne Davies, who records as The Anchoress, wonders whether it's good to look back
4 min |
July 2025
Record Collector
Revolutionary folk
Dick Gaughan gets an eight-disc box set with unissued cuts
1 min |
June 2025
Record Collector
THE RASTA'S HISTORY
The militant Malcolm X to Bob Marley's Martin Luther King Jr, Peter Tosh would take to the stage brandishing an M16-shaped guitar, clad in a karate uniform indicative of his black-belt skills. Nicknamed The Stepping Razor, the six-foot-four-inch former Wailer cut an imposing dash. But was that the whole story? Rich Davenport gets tough
10 min |
June 2025
Record Collector
More of the Worlds
Jeff Wayne's 1978 magnum opus gets an 18-disc box set
1 min |
June 2025
Record Collector
The Common Touch
Nearly 24 years on, Jarvis & co. return in life-affirming fashion.
7 min |