Music
Record Collector
"When I walk onstage, I'm like a plumber"
Pete Townshend talks in-depth about The Who live and his attitude towards the band’s history of performance. Along with news about an impending Who’s Next reissue and the latest extrapolation of his notorious Lifehouse project, he expands on the idea of The Who as the quintessential purveyors of high-energy rock’n’roll, only to simultaneously debunk it. “I don’t have fun performing,” he tells Rob Hughes
10+ min |
April 2023
Record Collector
THE ENGINE ROOM
The unsung heroes who helped forge modern music | This month: Vicki Wickham
4 min |
May 2023
Record Collector
33 1/3 minutes with... Harvey Lisberg
Music entrepreneur Harvey Lisberg managed Manchester’s most commercially successful bands of the 60s and 70s (Herman’s Hermits and 10cc, respectively). He was also a partner in Strawberry Studios which provided a springboard for the region’s next generation of musicians, including Joy Division. He guided the careers of numerous prominent musical figures, then in the 70s and 80s, he managed snooker’s glimmer twins – Alex Higgins and Jimmy White – while also looking after the likes of Sad Café and Barclay James Harvest. These days, he looks after his publishing interests from his Palm Springs home.
4 min |
May 2023
Record Collector
IT HAPPENED WHEN?
Peter Baker, of cult synth project Electronic Ensemble, tells Ian Shirley about the track that became an airplay hit in Europe
6 min |
May 2023
Record Collector
TAPE HUNTERS
Former RRPG Editor Ian Shirley put out dozens of LPs for RC’s Rare Record Club. Here he spills the beans on the mastertapes behind some archive releases
7 min |
May 2023
Record Collector
The cost of collecting crisis
Do the rising prices of records, CDs and memorabilia threaten cutbacks by collectors? Joe Geesin reads the runes
7 min |
May 2023
Record Collector
MOD ALMIGHTY
Eddie Piller – DJ, radio show host, founder of Acid Jazz Records and all-round mod acolyte – has a new book out, Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances – A Life In Mod. “The publisher asked me to write about my early life,” he explains. “He was shocked when he saw the manuscript. People don’t realise how violent it was back in 1979.
3 min |
May 2023
Record Collector
WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY?
As melodic and lyrically masterful as ever, Ron Sexsmith mines the past on a potent new album, The Vivian Line, inspired by leaving the big city for more humble surroundings. But is he, as longtime cheerleader Elvis Costello once suggested, still “cursed” by being born out of time? Terry Staunton takes a road trip to find out.
9 min |
May 2023
Record Collector
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
10+ min |
May 2023
Record Collector
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.
10+ min |
April 2023
Record Collector
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
10+ min |
April 2023
Record Collector
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
9 min |
March 2023
Record Collector
David Crosby: 1941-2023
"When I started writing things like Guinnevere, I began to hit my stride"
5 min |
March 2023
Record Collector
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...
10 min |
March 2023
Record Collector
Jeff Beck: 1944-2023
Just how good he sounded in his seventies was made clear by his last album, 18
5 min |
March 2023
Record Collector
Seminal Works
The records that helped the art-pop trailblazers crack the big time - and broke their original line-up.
4 min |
April 2023
Record Collector
Method In The Sadness
The 21st-century Karen Carpenter fashions a marathon of meta-melancholy, with a few new tricks.
2 min |
April 2023
Record Collector
Revival Stories
Startling modern soul from sexagenarian comeback kid.
4 min |
April 2023
Record Collector
Single File
Make room on the crowded Beatle shelf for this magnificent tome.
2 min |
April 2023
Record Collector
DEMIGODDESS
Scottish rocker delivers glimmering display in symphonic setting
3 min |
April 2023
Record Collector
Dark Magic
Three-decade high from Basildon's finest on blackest celebration yet.
4 min |
April 2023
Record Collector
THE ENGINE ROOM
The unsung heroes who helped forge modern music
4 min |
April 2023
Record Collector
UNDER THE RADAR
Artists, bands, and labels meriting more attention
4 min |
April 2023
Record Collector
A Fitting Farewell
When two songwriting greats combined.
3 min |
April 2023
Record Collector
Daisy Cutter
Double-LP reissue becomes an unintended tribute to a hip-hop great.
5 min |
April 2023
Record Collector
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.
4 min |
April 2023
Record Collector
JAVID QUANTICK LIKES
To write a column for Record Collector. Yay Best Known Album Syndrome
3 min |
April 2023
Record Collector
MUSIC TO VISIT
Bob Stanley carries pop's baggage everywhere Shhh... library music
4 min |
April 2023
Record Collector
Not Forgotten
He demanded 48 vocal takes from Cilla, before choosing the second
10+ min |
April 2023
Record Collector
Diggin' For GOLD
Our regular look at the more arcane corners of record collecting. Includes Vintage Venue
10+ min |