Table of contents for Issue 549 in Record Collector

SEND YOUR PRAISE, MISSIVES AND CALLS FOR THE DEIFICATION OF JOEL MCIVER TO: rc.editorial@metropolis.co.uk, or to Record Collector, 2nd Floor, Saunders House, 52-53 The Mall, London W5 3TA, or via social media rc.editorial@metropolis.co.uk www.recordcollectormag.com Record Collector Magazine @RecCollmag RecordCollectormag @recordcollectormag GOOD REVIEWS/BAD NEWS Re: RC 548. Writer Joel McIver's quality Q&A with Alice Cooper in your six-page-turner proved an excellent piece. By far (IMO) the best feature, though, was 1973's ‘Live Debut Albums’ summary, which covered two of my most played, all-time favourite Clapton entries, sadly both flawed by his vocals. His Rainbow sounded more like an average bootleg of those historic January shows, while the pitch-perfect Dominos Fillmore chugs along nicely. Both are thankfully saved by the fluidity of his Strat, oddly aggressive and lyrical at the same time…

Mark McStea supported many of the stars of 1978 (p62) with his band, Private Sector. He has his first novel, The Bulletproof Truth, out in the US in two months, and recently released Six Gun Rock'n'Roll as Star Studded Sham via Bandcamp. In 1978, Chris Roberts lost his heart to a starship trooper while dancing in the city, so he was just the man with the child in his eyes to salute 1978's most significant records (p58), while giving attention to That Year In Pop (p62). A writer and reissue compiler from London, Charles Donovan's formative years were characterised by a feverish idolatry of 70s singer/songwriters, so he was inexorably drawn to the bittersweet but inspiring story of US rocker Cidny Bullens (p88). David Stubbs, who writes about post-punk in…

How come you're back with your new project now? I was in Ghana for a long time, enjoying my children and grandchildren, and recording there until Covid came. I learned kologo, an instrument they play in Bolgatanga district. I recorded drumming, chanting and other instruments, having planned the album for a long time. I learned from different tribes in Africa different types of drumming, getting drummers to cooperate with me. Were there any amusing episodes during its creation? I've fond memories with [kologo musician] King Ayisoba, and a girl from Bolgatanga called Angela. She'd never recorded before, but she plays all the percussion. The cowbells are fun. How long did it take? Three years. What were you up to during the interregnum? Sometimes in Ghana, others at London festivals. Where…

Steve Jones was a teenager when punk started and he connected with it straight away. He got to see some of the biggest names including The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, and Siouxsie And The Banshees. He even managed to play in a few punk bands in the late 70s though they never managed to get any further than Youth Clubs. He went on to an equally creative career as a decorator but his passion for music remains as strong as ever, as does his interest in collecting records – particularly anything Paul Weller-related. Steve has collected records since the early 70s, though these days he plays it more than collects it. Getting to know other Paul Weller collectors through the Weller community, he has managed to maintain great relationships with…

Nineteen seventy-eight was a transitional year for you, going from the Pistols to PiL – one of the greatest transformations in rock history. Or is that too overblown? I never thought about it like that at the time. It was no great intellectual statement that I was making. I was bored with what I'd already done, and I wanted to do something else. I didn't like to be pigeonholed. Formats are all well and interesting, but when you've done that, move on. Categories are criminal. Before categories record stores used to be just piles and piles of interesting covers and many a time, I would buy a record just because I loved the artwork. It was an art collection before it was a record collection. You must have been aware…

How was 1978 for you? It was amazing. I mean, only a year had passed since our first record deal, and I was coming up with all that stuff with Bernard. It started with a wonderful encounter with the doorman at Studio 54 and we came up with Le Freak, and then I Want Your Love and all the other great songs that we were writing, and all the great people we were meeting. The culture was just so rich, you could walk down the street and think of songs that were relevant, not just to your emotional status, but to your ideas of politics and love. Was it true Jerry Greenberg [President of Atlantic Records] gave you carte blanche to work with anyone in the catalogue? That's exactly the…

1978 (SO) SPECIAL How was 1978 for you? Busy. I was making Leo Sayer – the album – with Richard Perry. I Can't Stop Loving You was a hit, Raining In My Heart did pretty well and Dancing The Night Away also did goodl. I did three albums with Richard and that was the third and last. After that one he pointedly said, “Right, that's me done, I'm finished.” He was always very testy because he was such a ‘big deal’: it was Mr Perry. At the start of every album, he'd phone me and say, “I can't do this.” But then again, it was the cocaine years, they were doing so much, and they went through so much paranoia – you saw six moods a day. But as we…

Where were you in 1978? Well, we weren't Saxon for a start, we were still Son Of A Bitch, and were probably on the verge of breaking through. We signed with Trident – Queen's management – in 1978, and we were basically writing the first album which came out the following year. I think that's the year we got signed too, by Carrere, and changed our name to Saxon. What were you listening to? A lot of AC/DC, ZZ Top, Judas Priest, and we were highly influenced by a lot of those bands. Stained Class is a brilliant album. One of my favourite albums, actually. And Rush's Hemispheres: we were a bit proggy back then so we would have been into that. And Sabbath's Never Say Die; the last one…

You always had a great following in the UK and spent quite a lot of time here around 1978, didn't you? Yes, I'd been to the UK many times since the end of the 60s and when I was there in 1973 with Neil Young, a promoter asked me to come over on my own to tour and that started my love affair with the UK. You did The Old Grey Whistle Test several times. Yeah. Bob Harris was a great guy. What fascinated me was that it wasn't lip-synching, it was live, hip, and cool. You got a soundcheck and everyone wanted everything to sound great. You were one of a handful of pre-punk artists who managed to be credible during punk. I guess I was so wrapped up…

Bob Marley had brought the punky-reggae party to the UK capital the previous year and 1978 saw the release of Kaya, which, recorded in London's Island studios, hit the UK Top 5. Supporting the Wailers on their European tour that June and July were Birmingham's Steel Pulse, who were illustrating the black British experience with their debut single, Ku Klux Klan, and album, Handsworth Revolution. Producer Dennis Bovell was making additional waves with Linton Kwesi Johnson on the polemical dub poetry of Dread Beat An Blood and under the pseudonym Black Beard with the heavyweight Strictly Dub Wize. Bovell was also on the verge of taking lovers rock into the mainstream, having written Silly Games for Janet Kay, which would dominate in 1979. Virgin's reggae subsidiary, Frontline, was launched, making…

Did it feel like a big deal when the hits came in 1978? I think it felt like I was on another planet. Our feet didn't touch the ground – it was one minute you're on tour, then you're in the studio then it's TV. We spent so much time touring that I can't even imagine how many bags of fish and chips I must have eaten, sat in the van. Did it feel strange to be a pop star, spotted on the street? I remember being recognised in the baker's shop in the village, but it was never like being George Michael or something. Of course, your mates at the time would be interested to see if you were changing, but in fact it was them who were changing…

“In 78,” Stiff Records suggested in their latest slogan, “those born in 45 will be 33.” Stiff led the maverick charge that shook up the UK record industry. The majors, with their cages rattled (by them, and many other independents), counteracted by releasing records in lots of bright and shiny formats, either in order to maintain the supremacy of old wavers, or launch new acts with groovy gimmicks. For example, in the oldies corner, the Rolling Stones returned with Miss You, a sure-fire smash by any means, but propelled into the Top 3 by its big pink 12” disco version. ELO continued their bid for pop domination with three further singles being taken from 1977's Out Of The Blue – Mr Blue Sky (blue vinyl). Wild West Hero (yellow) and…

Doo wop revivalists Darts were one of the biggest-selling acts of 1978, scoring three hits and considered one of the foremost live bands of their day. Frontman Hegarty left Darts that same year, going on to explore a TV career before moving into teaching. He is now back in the Darts’ fold again. You'd experienced some success with Rocky Sharpe And The Razors, prior to Darts taking off. How did that band morph into Darts? We'd been together from 1972 for about four years. The man who became Rocky Sharpe was an actor and after every gig he'd lose his voice, so it was messing up his career, so he had to quit, which was why we folded. We had a bass player stand in for the last few gigs…

Desire Wire (United Artists UAG 30217, LP, UK, 1978, £8) Includes the radio hit Survivor. Critic Robert Christgau commented: “Songs about the joys of rock and roll and the perils of romance that are tougher, sprightlier, and more propulsive than Eddie Money's”. Steal The Night (Casablanca NBLP 7185, LP, US, 1979, £7) “Not my best work,” says Bullens – nevertheless, this self-produced LP's best tracks, including Full Tilt Rocker, are a convincing mix of new wave and Stones-like rock. Somewhere Between Heaven And Earth (Artemis ART 1012, CD, US, 1999, £3) A rootsy singer/songwriter album whose songs, including In Better Hands, are unsparing, but also comforting, reflections on grief. The Refugees/Unbound (Wabuho WR 9703, CD, US, 2008, £12) Bullens’ acoustic trio with Wendy Waldman and Deborah Holland – lustrous three-part…

GEORGE & GWEN MCCRAE were the first couple of Miami soul and Together (**** Wagram) was originally released in 1975 on Cat in the US. Produced by Clarence Reid and Steve Alaimo, it captures the pair backed by guitarists Joey Murcia and Snoopy Dean, keyboardists Timmy Thomas and Latimore and bassist George ‘Chocolate’ Perry on nine ace tracks including I'll Do The Rockin’, a simple but powerful rewrite of George's 1974 hit, Rock Your Baby, and the stompin’ Sam & Dave-like I'm Comin’ At You. Better still though is GWEN MCCRAE‘s Gwen McCrae (**** Wagram), her debut album from the previous year which includes For Your Love, It's Worth The Hurt and 90% Of Me Is You, all captivating raw gospel meets southern soul. The latter track also features on…

American Stars ‘N Bars (Reprise K 54088, LP, 1977) £20 Though Young ditched Chrome Dreams in favour of this largely country-rock excursion, four of its songs, Star Of Bethlehem, Will To Love, Like A Hurricane and Homegrown, took up the entirety of American Stars ‘N Bars’ Side Two in unaltered form. A fifth, Hold Back The Tears, was re-recorded with violin and pedal steel, its slicker arrangement losing the pained intimacy of the original's duet between Young's guitar and Frank “Poncho” Sampedro's tentative mandolin. Comes A Time (Reprise K 54099, LP, 1978) £20 Proving that Crazy Horse could tread lightly when required, Chrome Dreams’ closing song, Look Out For My Love, slotted in perfectly with the wounded Harvest vibes of Comes A Time. No changes required. Rust Never Sleeps (Reprise K 54105,…

Slowdive Everything Is Alive Dead Oceans DOC 232 (CD, LP, Cassette) When Slowdive released their eponymous comeback album in 2017, the result was a reset record, an evolved chance for people – band included – to acquaint or reacquaint themselves with a group who had become more appreciated in their absence than ever before. Time, it seemed, had caught up with Slowdive. Six years on, Slowdive catch up with time on Everything Is Alive, pushing themselves to re-attune their founding virtues to who they are now. Even though Neil Halstead's lyrics don't resolve their enigmas readily, the album is palpably haunted by time's passage and the suggestion of aging. A dedication to lost parents, Rachel Goswell's mother and drummer Simon Spence's father, hints at the humanity at the core of…

So It Started There: From Punk To Pulp Nick Ranks Omnibus Press, £20 ISBN 9781915841100, 432 pages He remembers the first time, and much more In his 2020 book Good Pop, Bad Pop, Jarvis Cocker sifted both literally and figuratively through an attic of ephemera that included chewing gum packets, paperback books and polyester shirts, for a fanciful inventory-taking that intermittently revealed the building blocks of Pulp. In So It Started There, the band's drummer is more orderly with his reminiscences, but writes in a similarly warm and witty manner to the frontman. This, then, is a more complete telling of Pulp's story, told from the point of view of a member who, presumably, was rarely asked his opinions by a media that descended on Cocker as they rose to…

READER SERVICES Call on 020 8752 8172 or email stockists@metropolis.co.uk for more information or to sign up today! SOUTH EAST Across the Tracks – ‘On busiest corner of hippest city, open seven days. Thousands of rarities in the shop that aren't on the net. All genres, including classical and new CD promos, nothing mundane. Collections bought.’ 110 Gloucester Road, Brighton BN1 4AF. Tel: 01273 677906. edfrombrighton@tiscali.co.uk www.acrossthetracksrecords.com Alan's Record & CD Shop – ‘Diggers paradise! Over 18,000 quality used 7” /12” LPs/CDs. Specialising in Reggae, Soul, Jazz, Rock, Hip Hop, Dance. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 11:30am, Wednesdays by appointment only. Independent and stubbornly individual.’ 218 High Road, East Finchley, London N2 9AY. Tel: 0208 883 0234. alanrecordman@tiscali.co.uk Ben's Collectors Records – Long standing record shop in the heart of Guildford…

This month Lynn Gunn of PVRIS How have you been preparing for the tour? Sometimes, we have to arrange and learn new songs while rehearsing old ones and, for this tour, we'll most likely have a few days’ rehearsal, then jump right into it. Do you have any pre-/post-show routines? Pre-show I warm up for 40 minutes, then, right before we head onstage, we do a small toast with mezcal or tequila, have a small huddle, and then we yell out a fun phrase in the theme of the city we're at that night, or about something that happened during the day. Post-show, it depends if we have visitors, or other plans. I like to change into comfortable clothes, wind down my voice with some vocal exercises, then have dinner…

This month: Racey For Rubettes lookalikes Racey, proponents of boisterous, chant-y, handclappy, jolly, jejune school disco pop – notably the provocatively engaging and frankly fantastic Lay Your Love On Me – 1978 was a huge year, scoring two massive hit singles, becoming instant pop stars and reaping the rewards of years in various gigging bands. Singer Richard Gower (pictured above right, second from left) remembers that his future was laid out before him from an early age. “I was playing in pubs in London by the time I was 16,” he tells RC. “I was working in a printing factory, and I was on about £6.50 per week for a five-and-a-half-day week, and when I was playing pubs, I was getting a fiver a night. I'd be doing three nights…

This month: 1978 Rock Albums 1978 (SO) SPECIAL Van Halen Van Halen (Warner Bros. K 56470, LP, UK) £15 Among the most influential metal guitar albums ever. Not bad for 11 mainly live-inthestudio cuts in 35 minutes. Gestating five years, it was all the material they had, but Eddie Van Halen's ‘Brown Sound’ double-tapping announced their Eruption on the scene, while Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony fuelled David Lee Roth's combustible vocal/visual flamboyance. It went Diamond thanks to raucous singalongs like Runnin’ With The Devil and the Grease-inflected Jamie's Cryin’. Toto Toto (CBS CBS 83148, LP, printed inner, UK) £8 The eponymous self-produced launch of rock's greatest session supergroup. Toto includes pulsing Top 5 AOR anthem, Hold The Line, the keening I'll Supply The Love and disco-edged Georgy Porgy.…

There have been magazine celebrations of various years in music before – 1956, the birth of rock'n'roll, 1966's landmark album frenzy, 1967 the year of psych, 1969's Altamont And All That, 1976/punk, 1977/the dawn of electronica, 1981's synthpop/white funk cornucopia, 1988's second summer of love, and so on. But I'm not sure if any have devoted serious print real estate to 1978, perhaps because it's harder to pin down. It's not about One Thing, no single revolutionary moment of impact, offering instead a plethora – or do I mean smorgasbord? – of amazing things across a whole variety of styles from disco to power pop, reggae to AOR. It's a 12-month period of transition, which we try to capture via the bigger interviews and articles this month. In our Pretenders…

You've been a web designer for 20 years plus and your latest platform offers collectors a more immersive experience. Tell us about it. I built a fan site for my favourite band, aged 15. Their record label invited me to manage it. That ignited a curiosity for how digital tools can enhance musical enjoyment. My life became screens and digital media, and I started collecting vinyl as a way of unplugging. I began working on waxlog.com in 2020, and it's grown into something much bigger. Our invite-only Beta version has just launched and is receiving positive feedback from the vinyl community. What's its USP? Online tools efficiently catalogue records, but they lack the magic of owning and flipping through a physical collection. Waxlog fills that void. It replicates the joy…

THE TEXTONES I've got an interesting looking and sounding record in my collection, by a band called The Textones. It was released on the Chiswick label in 1980. It's an EP with a cover version of a Tom Petty song on the A-side and two self-penned originals on the flip. I did a bit of research online and found out that they were an American band. From what I can see this was their debut single and it seems a bit strange that it was issued in the UK rather than the US. Was there a reason? Brain Mullan via email The Textones formed in Los Angeles in the summer of 1979. Carla Olson (guitar/vocals) and Kathy Valentine (guitar/vocals) hailed from Texas where they were formerly in a punk band…

1978 (SO)SPECIAL The first Tubeway Army single, That's Too Bad, came out early in 1978, but it was quite a different sound from the likes of Cats, wasn't it? Yes. That record came out on 10 February, and I stayed in my job right up to the date that it came out. I was working for WH Smiths, driving a lorry and a forklift truck. At that point all I'd done was just write songs and put a band together to try to get a contract, and it was a bit punky because that was what was happening and what I thought I needed to be doing to get signed. The first album wasn't what the record company expected, was it? They thought I'd be delivering a punk album. When I…

As 1977 came to a close, Saturday Night Fever began to take hold and come the new year, the UK was under the influence of disco with the film's soundtrack dominating 1978's album charts. From 6 May to 2 September, some 18 weeks, it remained at No 1. The Bee Gees were suddenly hip, Stayin’ Alive and Night Fever taken from it hitting No 4 and 1 respectively in the singles chart; Yvonne Elliman's If I Can't Have You, also featured, made No 4 (The Trammps’ Disco Inferno had already made the UK Top 20 when lifted from the soundtrack the previous year). At the end of the year, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack had become the biggest-selling album of 1978 and the biggest-selling of all time (up until 1983).…

The Peak Pop Moment of ‘78, even if The Cool Police have now sidelined it, was Bob Geldof on Top Of The Pops tearing up a picture of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as his band The Boomtown Rats’ Rat Trap took the No 1 spot. It was the first single by any punk or new wave act to do so. So, as Bob and his candelabra broke 1978's songs-from-Grease monopoly – Travolta and Newton-John had hogged the top slot for 16 of the previous 22 weeks – was this the year that “new music”, powered by punk, stormed the pop charts? Not really, no. Both new wave and disco had big years but the wonderfully absurd randomness of 70s pop sustained. From The Smurfs to Brian & Michael's Matchstalk…

Tell us about your technological “first” of 1978, the interactive TV concert. It wasn't incredibly sophisticated; the cable station in Columbus, Ohio, wanted to try something new to see how immediate responses from viewers could work. The control boxes they sent out had just three buttons, and we gave the audience a choice of three songs to determine what we'd play next at various points in the show. I guess you could call it an early version of on-demand streaming, and I tried to do something more elaborate in the late 80s, but the obstacle was always major labels not allowing us to put music on servers. They had no economic model to make it worth their while. Would you agree Hermit Of Mink Hollow saw a return to the…

1978(SO) SPECIAL XTC began 1978 with a new single, Statue Of Liberty, and a daytime radio ban. It was so bloody pathetic! They wouldn't play it because of the line, “I sail beneath your skirt”, which offended two or three people at the BBC of the Mary Whitehouse persuasion who thought we were flinging utter filth at the pop kids. John Peel played it, though, as he did all our stuff. It was mainly down to him we got a record deal in the first place. You put out your first two albums, White Music and Go 2, but didn't Brian Eno turn you down for the second? Yeah, he was turning up at our gigs and telling people we were the only band he'd fancied joining after Roxy Music,…

What were you doing in 1978? I had the album Octave out [with The Moody Blues] – which was great, but a bit of a car crash by the end, personnel-wise – but also Jeff Wayne's The War Of The Worlds was released and I had a wonderful hit single with Forever Autumn. What happened with Octave? Mike [Pinder] had to stay in America and the other three guys were having tax-years out, so we recorded in California. I was going backwards and forwards between LA, Cornwall – where I was living – and London. When I talk about these albums there's an emotional feeling, an “ooh, ouch”. I remember being very close to Ray [Thomas] while recording Octave because he let me stay in his house in Pacific Palisades…

The Buzzcocks had a great 1978. Can you remember much about it? We had a great run of hits and also recorded two albums. The songs were just flowing. How was it to be on TOTP after years watching it? I know The Clash didn't ever want to do it, and I felt like it wasn't for us as well, but all the others wanted to do it. I'm glad they did because I'd have really regretted not going on. Who was the most unlikely person that you met? I was watching Dean Friedman and the guy from Boney M was there. He told me he was a big Buzzcocks fan [laughs]. Did you start getting recognised on the street? I remember on the way back home after recording it,…

It's January 1978. “Punk's over,” screeched Paul Fletcher, bursting into the classroom and brandishing this week's NME. “It's all about power pop now.” The same Paul Fletcher would patiently explain to me a year or two later that Whitesnake were not heavy metal at all, but actually a blues band. Like the NME itself, I couldn't usually follow what he said but assumed he was right because he knew a lot more about music than me. So, what was this “power pop”? Well, said Paul, Blondie are power pop. And that was about all he had to offer. But pop was changing so fast, trampling stragglers under foot, that naturally I believed power pop would sweep the chart in 1978. There would be some other visible ‘power pop’ moments other…

Reviews From The Vaults Reissues, remasters and compilations The Breeders Last Splash 4AD 4 AD 0611 LPX (CD, 3LP) In 1993, the temptation to view The Breeders’ second album as a terrifically unruly riposte to Frank Black's solo beginnings seemed irresistible. Thirty years on, Last Splash abides as one of the defining albums of its decade for more intrinsic reasons. If you hadn't already spotted it, the 20th anniversary reunion tour rammed the point home in beer-sloshing bundles of big-time fun. This was an album defined not by opposition, nor by revenge, but by an internal fusion of unlikely elements that – as the last 30 years of reduced Breeders output might suggest – would be practically impossible to bottle and repeat. The backstory has been well told, of course, but…

Before the term “heavy metal” became routinely used to lump together everyone from Judas Priest to Anthrax or Mötley Crüe, there were some critics who referred to Black Sabbath as “downer rock”. I like this term and hope to bring it back into common parlance. Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, Vanilla Fudge, Iron Butterfly, Budgie… These are your downer rock sorts. Acts like Iron Maiden and Quiet Riot are a completely different and tighter trousered prospect altogether. Let us begin, then, with four items of vintage, post-flower-power, downer rock from the vaults. Recorded in 1971, FRACTION‘s Moon Blood (**** RidingEasy) channels the bad vibes of its era with its creeping tempos and unrelentingly sinister atmosphere. Jim Beach howls lyrics like Jim Morrison only wished he could. Guitarist Don Swanson wahs and…

R.E.M. Reveal Craft 7242625 (LP) Accelerate Craft 7242629 (LP) “If you have a problem with the third act,” filmmaker Billy Wilder said famously, “the real problem is in the first act.” When it comes to R.E.M., he had a point. The albums they made after drummer Bill Berry left the band, starting with 1998's underrated Up, couldn't help but suffer by comparison with the enigmatic brilliance of what came before, yet rank among their most intriguing records, each of them searching for what R.E.M. should be and blessed with moments of greatness. Reveal (2001) and Accelerate (2008) are the latest of those albums to be reissued on vinyl, welcome news for those waiting rather optimistically for prices of original pressings to fall. First up, Reveal took the cold, claustrophobic electronic…

The Coral Sea Of Mirrors Holy Joe's Coral Island Medicine Show Run On Records M 9482 UKLP (CD, LP) It was always going to be interesting to see how Wirral wanderers The Coral approached the follow-up to their 10th album, 2021's Coral Island. It was a project that locked into their very essence, a double album inspired by pre-Beatles rock'n'roll that came with not just a theme – the seasonal rise and fall of an imagined faded seaside town, with narration from frontman James Skelly's granddad – but its own universe: a book, a mini-film, and a new creative hub where The Coral's singularly imaginative ideas could collate. After 25 years of adventures in sound – psych, folk, Merseybeat, janglepop and sea shanties – here was that same invention forged…

Duran Duran A Hollywood High Cherry Red LMMDD001BD (Blu-ray/DVD) A view with the thrills First seen in cinemas for one night only late last year, the focus of this live show and documentary is very much on Duran Duran as an ongoing entity. The 12-song set, filmed on the roof of the Aster Hotel against a glittering backdrop of Los Angeles landmarks like the Capitol Building, includes five from the group's most recent album, 2021's Future Past. A handful of bygone big hits make the cut (Hungry Like The Wolf, A View To A Kill, Ordinary World), but for the most part the additional archive footage and newly filmed interview inserts are slanted towards the band's relationship with La La Land. Simon Le Bon waxes lyrical about the city representing…

Ted Carroll is back, bringing Rock On Records to Lincolnshire. Between 1971 and 1996, his Rock On shops in London were a vital source of great records. Once Thin Lizzy's co-manager, Ted's work also included co-helming the much-loved Chiswick Records and other labels. One of the Stamford shop's features is its profits policy. “All profits are being donated to various charities including Medicins Sans Frontiers, Centre Point, East Midlands Air Ambulances, Hillside Animal Shelter and Unicef,” he explains. Steve Burniston spent many fruitful hours at Rock On's Camden shop and recently heard from Ted about Rock On's welcome return. And look out for the Dylan reference… Tell us about the reappearance of Rock On and the kind of music the shop sells. Rock On has re-opened to sell off large…

What was the last show that you saw at KK's Steel Mill? The Dead Daisies. So fantastic to see Glenn Hughes after several years. Amazing. Our drummer, Dave Holland, formed Trapeze with Glenn and Mel Galley. The sound was wonderful, and I even enquired who the sound guy was – an engineer from Australia, so I couldn't get him for this gig! How are the new band? KK's Priest will take on new material and take this brand of rock and metal into the future. How did you get ex-Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di'Anno on the bill? It's great to have my old adversary from way back. Lots of water has gone under the bridge and all is good now. The fans love him, as they do Burning Witches. They're…

This month: Jeff Wayne 1978 (SO) SPECIAL As we continue our celebration of 1978, we look to the stars and wonder: who would have believed that a Victorian disco space opera could have conquered all in the wake of punk…? … But first, another question: music, tennis or journalism? Well, it's nice to have options when you're a young person with aptitude. For Jeff Wayne, a main pathway emerged growing up around musical theatre, with his father Jerry being a successful singer and actor, and later a theatre producer. In 1953, when Wayne was nine, his father took the family from New York to London when he starred as “romantic gambler” Sky Masterson in the West End production of Broadway hit Guys And Dolls. “I was always around musicians, actors,…

A reader's recollection of a key music event This month: Led Zeppelin – Sydney Showground (“Fairground”), 27 Feb 1972 Being some time ago, this event is a little hazy, but somewhere imprinted on my brain is a vague memory of this fantastic gig. It was also my mate's 18th birthday and, being huge LZ fans, this was the must-see event of a lifetime – the only Zep tour of Australia. The weather was kind – rain clouds threatened but didn't eventuate, leaving a hot and humid Sydney summer day. The company was grand: old school mates and various girlfriends [see above pic], all set off to the most highly anticipated concert in our lives. And we weren't let down. Securing our unallocated $4 seats midway up and slightly off-centre in…

At RC Towers, we sense new music emerging from System Of A Down's Shavo Odadjian, Pixie Lott, Tank, Kylie Minogue, Nightwish, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Mudvayne, Dream Theater, Iggy Azalea, Within Temptation, Dua Lipa, Imperia, The Offspring, Anthrax, Kanye West, POD, Foals, Leaves’ Eyes, Katy Perry, ACCEPT, Justin Timberlake, Mandoki Soulmates, Miley Cyrus, Big Big Train (on InsideOut), Usher (on Mega), Gordon Giltrap/Paul Ward (on Wrecking Ball), Stryper (two, 2024) and side-projects, Iconic, Soledriver; Killington Pit (Alice Cooper's Chuck Garric, Evanescence's Troy Mclawhorn, Will Hunt); and Dan Fogelberg reissues. CELLULOID HEROES Projects due include a Metallica documentary on their fans; Matt Finlin's The Movie Man documentary, soundtracked by Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew; Heart's Ann Wilson on US PBS TV's Great Performances; the Lady Gaga/Tony Bennett The Lady &…

The free From Her To Eternity: The Women Who Photograph Music external exhibition is at South Warbash Avenue/East Eighth Street, Chicago, to 18 September, including The Rolling Stones, Billie Eilish, Pussy Riot, The Cure, Courtney Love. ■ The Taylor Swift / Can See You (Taylor's Version) exhibition of clothing, instruments, videos is at Los Angeles Grammy Museum to 18 September. ■ Radiohead artist Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke have an art exhibition at Tin Man Art, Crowell Place, London, to 10 September. ■ The Randy Bachman Every Guitar Tells A Story exhibition of his guitar collection is at Canadian National Music Centre Studio Bell, 4th Street Southeast, Calgary, to 1 October, while a Nickelback exhibition, with instruments, clothing, films, is at Studio Bell's Canadian Music Hall Of Fame to February 2024. ■…

BEATLES FOR SALE American music and motorsports industry promoter Chris Agajanian is putting his collection, valued at over $2 million, on the market. He tells Charles Donovan about 40 years of acquiring all things Fab Four Why do you collect and what do you get out of it? My father, JC Agajanian, was well-known in the motor racing industry while I was growing up. I would see him on TV or in newspapers. So, growing up in that environment might have influenced me to hold on to items that meant a lot to our family. You began building your Beatles collection in the early 80s. What was the spark that got you started? Some 40 years ago, when my cousin gave me a Beatles album I had never seen before,…

He may have first come to many music fans’ attention as a guitar-slinging sideman for Bob Dylan onstage and in the studio (Blonde On Blonde, Self Portrait), but Robertson emerged as an evocative chronicler of Americana in his own right as part of The Band. The group put down a marker with 1967's Music From Big Pink and its bubbling cauldron of rock, country, folk, blues and soul, distinguished especially by the Robertson-penned The Weight. Further acclaimed albums established The Band as a major force, with Robertson as the main writer of original material (Rag Mama Rag, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, The Shape I'm In), until their star-studded 1976 farewell show, captured in Martin Scorsese's film The Last Waltz. Robertson went on to collaborate with Scorsese on…

Bruce Springsteen Darkness On The Edge Of Town (CBS 86061, LP, printed inner, UK, 6/78, No 14, £18) Stripping down his Wall Of Sound, Bruce's fourth brooded over bruised American dreams, honing his mythology. Elvis Costello This Year's Model (Radar RAD 3, LP, initial copies with free 7”, UK, 3/78, No 4, £25) A couplet-spitting, melodically sharp second, which confirmed Costello would be pumping it up for years to come. The Jam All Mod Cons (Polydor POLD 5008, LP, printed inner, UK, 11/78, No 6, £25) Weller had to be persuaded that Down In The Tube Station At Midnight wasn't a dud: The Jam's third tackled class issues with vigour. Talking Heads More Songs About Buildings And Food (Sire K 56531, stickered sleeve, printed inner, LP, UK, 7/78, No 21,…

1978 (SO) SPECIAL When you filmed Jubilee with director Derek Jarman, was there a sense you were making something edgy? Oh, certainly, especially when you consider the working title was Death To The Queen! Derek faced a lot of opposition from the film industry, but he was a man without compromise, a true artist. One element of opposition he didn't expect was the number of well-known punk figures who pulled out during pre-production, because they felt it went against punk sensibilities. I think it holds up very well and is incredibly evocative of the times. It's astonishing, as everything Derek did was, and it fills my heart with joy that so many film students study his work today. You also filmed Quadrophenia in 1978, and again a punk figure is…

Nineteen seventy-eight was an embryonic year for synthpop, as it began its slow emergence from the cultural periphery towards ubiquity in pop. Jon Savage and Jane Suck had published an essay in Sounds a year earlier called The New Musick, in which they heralded a post-krautrock/Bowie aesthetic yet fully to form. Suicide, who released their debut album in 1977 and would spend 1978 facing the wrath of punks across Europe as they supported The Clash and Elvis Costello, stripped down to vocals and synths, ultra-minimalist, confrontational. Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle were relatively veteran, the latter issuing D.o.A: TheThird And Final Report Of Throbbing Gristle, featuring such nightmare synth scenarios as Hamburger Lady, while the Cabs, after six years, released their first EP, Extended Play. Yellow Magic Orchestra's self-titled, mock-orientalist…

1978 REVISITED 1978 (SO) SPECIAL QUEEN Bohemian Rhapsody/I'm In Love With My Car (EMI EMI 2375, 7”, promo, p/s, ‘Queen's. Award For Export’ in-house edition, blue vinyl, Queen crest label, hand-numbered, purple p/s, with invites, matches, pen, ticket, menu, outer card sleeve, scarf & EMI goblets in card box)…………………………………………………………………. £5,000 (NB reissue of their 1975 classic, numbered 200 copies, only a handful with the box and extras. In the purple sleeve, it's worth £3,500 and with the card outer, £4,000) JOY DIVISION AN IDEAL FOR LIVING (Enigma PSS 139, 7” EP, foldout p/s, beware of counterfeits (Many variants. Common: no serated edge around label)……. £2,000 (NB This is the band's debut; they signed to Factory soon after. Reissued the same year on Anonymous ANON 1, 1,200-only, is £700) THE CLASH…

Hard rock boomed, new waves of heavy metal loomed and power pop zoomed. In January, The Sweet had their last Top 10 hit with Love Is Like Oxygen, and the next month, Judas Priest released their fourth LP, Stained Class, featuring the proto-thrash metal song Exciter as well as a future headline-making Spooky Tooth cover, Better By You, Better Than Me. Their punchier fifth album – Killing Machine, out that October – cemented Priest's now-familiar leather and studs look. Over in Sheffield, 15-year-old drummer Rick Allen joins Def Leppard and, at the Red Lion in Leytonstone, Iron Maiden meet future vocalist Paul Di'Anno. Budgie's Impeckable takes pun of the year, although a toothless seventh release. David Coverdale's Whitesnake strike out strongly with the Snakebite EP and Trouble LP – perhaps…

Although power pop continued to gain momentum in 1978, one of its key texts only saw the light of day after years gathering dust on a studio shelf. Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers was recorded in late ‘74, at which time the band comprised just singer/guitarist Alex Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens. Less focused than the group's previous releases, it nonetheless found favour with fans of the subgenre and a number of its exponents. Meanwhile, former Big Star member Chris Bell returned in ‘78 with the single I Am The Cosmos but would die in a traffic accident before the end of the year and his former Big Star oppo, Alex Chilton, would issue the bizarre Bangkok. Power pop flourished on both sides of the Atlantic; in the US, Shoes debuted…

As its golden, mid70s era receded, prog would now be shaped by pop, AOR and – dare we say it – punk, via a move towards concision, away from songsuites. Out of the Big Six, Yes released the disappointing Tormato, their last record with Anderson and Wakeman. Tull rode on with the excellent Heavy Horses, Genesis lost Steve Hackett – who roared into action with Please Don't Touch! – and wobbled a little on six legs on …And Then There Were Three. Between Animals and The Wall, David Gilmour and Richard Wright released debut solo LPs with Gilmour stating he “needed to step out of the shadow of Floyd”. EL-Bee Gees-P tanned up with moose-knuckle poses for the patchy Love Beach, and with King Crimson on hiatus, Robert Fripp sat…

1978(SO) SPECIAL Teenage Kicks made 1978 a triumphant year. It was also the year we nearly split up! We'd been playing in Derry since ‘75, but by ‘78 there was the start of the tension between Feargal [Sharkey, singer] and the rest of us. I was determined to put a record out before we called it a day. Presumably, sending a demo to John Peel was a turning point. Definitely! We did it in a basic studio in a university that was set up for voice recording rather than music, so it wasn't really broadcast quality. John didn't put it on his show, but he got in touch saying he loved the song and would play it if it was recorded better. To be honest, when I first heard the…

The Rezillos scored their first hit in 1978, so it must have special memories for you. Oh yes, although all the memories from that time have all kind of mushed together. I Can't Stand My Baby was a big success even though it didn't make the mainstream charts, so it already felt like things were going well even before [the song] Top Of The Pops and getting into the charts. Did it seem like it was going to become a timeless classic when you'd recorded it? It didn't seem particularly special to us at the time. I used to spend a lot of time as an adolescent shouting at TOTP, because I thought everyone was rubbish on it, so it was ironic to have our first hit about the show.…

1978(SO) SPECIAL “If you were me, what would you do/You look in the mirror and it's not really you.” It's a couplet from a new song, The Gender Line, which captures a big part of the story of rock singer/songwriter/guitarist, Cidny Bullens. Bullens, a vocalist in Elton John's mid-70s touring band (he's also on Don't Go Breaking My Heart and Blue Moves), almost blazed a trail of glory as a rock star, twice Grammynominated in his twenties. He endured record label shenanigans, addiction, and profound loss before a revival in the late 90s. Now he's published the memoir TransElectric: My Life As A Cosmic Rock Star and is issuing an album which is his seventh and his first. That'll make sense later; for now, we introduce ourselves on a humid…

Sometimes, disaster can be a prelude to a triumph, as CHARLES MINGUS discovered in late 1962 after his poorly received shambles of a big band concert at New York's Town Hall was the catalyst that resulted in arguably his greatest recording. Though roundly panned by the critics and the public alike, the Town Hall debacle was attended by Impulse! producer Bob Thiele, who saw potential in what Mingus was doing and signed him to the label. Mingus repaid his faith with 1963's The Black Saint And Sinner Lady (***** Impulse!/Elemental), a four-part suite for an eleven-piece band, which now returns on vinyl. Mingus, who despised the word “jazz”, preferred to describe his masterwork as “ethnic folk dance music” and intended it as a ballet. What resulted was an extraordinarily bold…

A Song For Leon: A Tribute To Leon Russell Primary Wave PWR 001 LP-C 1 (LP) Reverential and frequently inventive salute to a master craftsman Russell's bubbling Americana cauldron with flavours of country, folk, jazz and rock proves a tasty treat on this star-studded celebration of his back pages. Some play it straight, remaining faithful to the soul and spirit of the originals, while others can't help but add healthy helpings of themselves to the recipe. Pixies straddle both camps on Crystal Closet Queen, aping Russell's own southern rock but with the cranked-up guitars of college campus indie sensibilities, while Orville Peck brings a deepvoiced gothic grandeur to This Masquerade (previously covered by The Carpenters). The plaintive yearning of Margo Price on Stranger In A Strange Land is another of…

Steven Wilson The Harmony Codex Virgin SW 7 CD (CD, 2LP) Three minutes into Inclination, the seven-minute opening track on The Harmony Codex, the instrumental dissolves into silence, remaining that way for at least five seconds, feeling like an eternity, before our host, Steven Wilson, one of the most fascinating, singular figures in modern music, sings, a capella, “Come see the fool.” The soundscape recommences, driven by Pat Mastelotto's drums, Meat Beat Manifesto's Jack Dangers’ propulsive drum machines and David Kosten's programming. This portentous, obliquely self-deprecating opening suggests an important album by a confident performer, and although full of guests, it is unequivocally all about Wilson. After the stratospherically high concept of 2021's The Future Bites, The Harmony Codex is a human, personal record, dealing with memories, regrets, and recollections.…

Duran Duran Featuring Tove Lo Give It All Up Erol Alkan's Extended Rework/Erol Alkan's Stripped Vox Rework Phantasy Sound PH 127 RT Sizzling dancefloor remixes of Duran Duran's cosmic love pledge from 2021's Future Past. Even international jet-set rock stars from Birmingham have souls, yunno. Erol Alkan awards it a fierce four-tothefloor thump, spotting the hot holiday aspects of the lyrics and bringing them out for a Balearic vibe. You are in Ibiza, waving your arms, off your tits, feeling real heat – yet all you forked out for was this delightfully extended 12”. Helen Love Steve Lamacq Session 16.09.98 Precious PRE 029 The expression “phoning it in” is an insult, but not when the called is Joey, singer from Helen Love's musical idols, who introduces this four-track BBC session.…

Sell Vinyl/CDs direct to RC readers, call us on 0208 752 8172 or Email listings@recordcollectormag.com NEXT ISSUE: NOVEMBER 2023 (on sale 5 OCTOBER) Deadline for submitting adverts (Listings & Classified): Monday 11 SEPTEMBER Please email your advert (word doc/excel file/plain text) to: listings@recordcollectormag.com NEW Postal address: Record Collector Listings, Diamond Publishing Ltd, 2nd Floor, Saunders House, 52-53 The Mall, Ealing, London W5 3TA Following issue: DECEMBER 2023 (on sale 2 NOVEMBER) Deadline: Monday 9 OCTOBER…

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