Record Collector|Issue 556What's Happening?!?!At RC Towers, we sense new music emerging from Blind Guardian, Lily Allen, Europe, Ringo Starr, HammerFall, Lady Gaga, All That Remains, Luciferian Light Orchestra, Rihanna, Amorphis, Solange, Volbeat, Biohazard, Gorillaz, Nile, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Lamb Of God, Post Malone, Killington Pit, The 1975, Lykke Li, Steven Wilson, Delta Goodrem, Ministry, Kid Cudi, Lisa Stansfield, Annihilator's Jeff Waters (three), UFO's Phil Mogg, Therion's Christofer Johnsson, Faithless’ Sister Bliss, HIM's Ville Valo, Years & Years’ Olly Alexander, Metronomy's Anna Prior (on House Anxiety), ex-One Direction's Liam Payne (Republic), Dream Theater's Jordan Rudess (InsideOut), Elles Bailey (Cooking Vinyl), Kate Nash (Kill Rock Stars), Kittie (Sumerian), Helloween (Reigning Phoenix), Sleep Token (RCA). CELLULOID HEROES Projects due include Paul Thomas Anderson's next film, with HAIM's Alana Haim, in 2025; Sam TaylorJohnson's Amy Winehouse biopic, Back…3 min
Record Collector|Issue 556The VinylistUPCOMING VINYL RELEASES MARCH (22) The Gordian Knot coloured LP, Sundazed; Sonic YouthAnagrama LP, Sonic Youth; Laura BraniganBranigan red 180g LP, Shocking BlueSingle Collection Pt 1, Golden EarringNaked III white 180g LPs, Eddie HarrisPeople Get Funny pink 180g LP, Stanley TurrentineSugar orange 180g LP, Tony Joe WhiteThe Train I'm On yellow 180g LP, Paul WilliamsPhantom Of The Paradise 180g LP, Music On Vinyl; Del AmitriTwisted 180g LP, UMR; The CureParis 2LP, CD, two unissued, Rhino; Wham!Make It Big, Fantastic LPs, Legacy; The Lords Of The New ChurchRockers splatter 2LP, Easy Action; WaxahatcheeTigers Blood LP, blue LP, CD, Deluxe 2LP with bonus, Anti-; HIMTears On Tape green LP, CD, BMG; ShakiraLas Mujeres Ya No Lloran four variant sleeve LPs, CDs, Diamond Edition 2LP, nine bonuses, Sony; Liars Mess coloured 2LP, Mute;…10 min
Record Collector|Issue 556The CollectorSteven Allain is a PhD student and herpetologist at the University of Kent, where he studies the population dynamics of grass snakes in the UK, and the impact of an emerging infectious disease, which may be of conservation concern. Despite his current academic endeavour, he has a strong passion for music and the high-fidelity sound associated with vinyl records. Steven has always been fond of wildlife, and this is evidenced by his record collection. His passion for rock music is also reflected in his collection, which ranges from AC/DC to ZZ Top. What do you collect, and why? Aside from the records I collect in line with my musical tastes – heavy metal and punk rock – I also have a soft spot for vinyl that falls into the category…8 min
Record Collector|Issue 556Vintage VinylNo 12: Robinson's, Manchester Robinson's, on the Manchester/Salford border, was owned by Edna and Arthur Robinson. The shop bulged with vinyl records. They also ran a wholesale business (they were the UK agents for the US Starday rockabilly/country label), a singles bar with lots of US soul imports and a café on the premises. The Robinsons started record retailing in 1960. The business grew (in partnership with one Hector Gedhall) to include record shops with names like the Disc Centre and Music Box throughout the north of England. When the partnership with Gedhall ended in the late 70s, Edna and Arthur focused on three Robinson's Record shops including their Blackfriars Street emporium. They imported albums and records, making regular visits to warehouses in New Jersey/Long Island where deletions, cut-outs and…2 min
Record Collector|Issue 556Not ForgottenDamo Suzuki, died 9 February, age 74. The Japanese singer's freewheeling creative spirit helped provide the catalyst for legendary experimental band Can's creative peak. Leaving Japan as a teenager for an itinerant life spent wandering Europe, he was spotted by the German group's bassist, Holger Czukay, and drummer, Jaki Liebezeit, busking outside a Munich café. Replacing departing vocalist Malcolm Mooney in 1970 he made his first appearance on that year's Soundtracks, a compilation of songs composed for films. But it was on the following three albums -- Tago Mago (1971), Ege Bamyasi (1972) and Future Days (1973) -- that he made his biggest impact, providing profoundly singular vocals to some of the most innovative and influential rock music of the decade. An outsider even within his own band, he eschewed…9 min
Record Collector|Issue 55633⅓ minutes with… John FiddlerOPINION John Fiddler was the singing, guitar-playing, bass drum-pounding half of Medicine Head, the duo who slipped blues into the Top 20 with 70s hits such as (And The) Pictures In The Sky and Slip And Slide. Long since moved on to bands – British Lions with Mott The Hoople chums and Box Of Frogs with The Yardbirds – and solo projects, his resurrection of Medicine Head as a (largely) one-man-band continues with new album, Heartwork. The last Medicine Head album was 2021's Warriors Of Love. How does Heartwork relate to that? I think it's quite different. In an earlier song, Only The Roses, I say, “The only constant thing in life is change.” My life and relationships have changed substantially, and this album is the beginning of a new…5 min
Record Collector|Issue 556LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!when Guy Garvey had a breakthrough for the emotional vocal melody in Her To The Earth, the lithe and sinuous centrepiece of Elbow's new album Audio Vertigo, he closed his eyes in the vocal booth, letting out a series of intimate onomatopoeic sounds to begin framing his ideas. On opening his eyes, the singer was terrified to see the band's keyboardist Craig Potter had snuck into the booth and was stood grinning right in front of him. “I just wanted to put you off,” admits a smiling Potter, turning to face his bandmate on a sofa at the Stockport studio they've borrowed from Johnny Marr to start tour rehearsals for Audio Vertigo. “You did it really well,” responds a mock-offended Garvey. “You scared the sh*t out of me.” He turns…11 min
Record Collector|Issue 556TALKIN’ LOUDSister Sledge We Are Family (Atlantic K 50587, LP, UK, 1979) £15 From their rhapsodic disco anthems with Sister Sledge to their post-pop productions with Diana Ross, Chic's influence is writ large on Say She She – even their name is a nod to them: it phonetically sounds out C'est chi chi. Tom Tom Club Tom Tom Club (Island ILPS 9686, LP, UK, 1981) £25 This Talking Heads side project featuring husband-and-wife team Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth plus guitarist Adrian Belew bridged hip-hop, post-punk and art rock to create something both futuristic and classic. Rotary Connection Hey, Love (Chess 6310 105, LP, UK, 1971) £100 The Cadet Concept imprint's flagship group put together by Leonard Chess’ son Marshall Chess, Rotary Connection featuring Minnie Riperton and Charles Stepney melded psychedelia…1 min
Record Collector|Issue 556GIVE ‘EM ENOUGH HOPENew Orleans (by way of San Francisco) foursome Red Rockers scored a hit in in 1983 with China, a single from the band's second LP Good As Gold. Reflecting the zeitgeist of the time, China earned regular play on MTV and reached No 19 on the US Mainstream Rock singles chart. And while the tune was representative of the chiming new wave character of the music on Good As Gold and its follow-up, 1984's Schizophrenic Circus, it was a far cry from the sound of Red Rockers’ early days. Instead, the band's debut album, Condition Red, is a fiery slice of left-wing informed punk, and the music within led critics and fans to refer to the group as the “American Clash.” Released in 1981, Condition Red has long been out…10 min
Record Collector|Issue 556STARS OF BEARDSTomorrow Tomorrow (Parlophone PMC 7042 (Mono) PCS 7042 (Stereo), UK, 1968) £500/450 Tomorrow initially suffered from the year's delay between recording and release – seemingly missing the psychedelic boat. But while the life of the band may have been curtailed, Tomorrow can lay claim to a seminal psychedelic album that blends Steve Howe's embryonic guitar chops with British garden-fete psych plus an excellent proto-metal version of Strawberry Fields Forever. The Deviants Ptooff! (Underground Impresarios IMP1, private pressing via IT magazine, UK, 1968) £400 One of the earliest albums to emerge from the UK underground and one of the most political. With its proto-punk aesthetic, Ptooff! sees an enraged Mick Farren stoking the revolutionary fire with his lyrical offensive. The Deviants’ ride may have been bumpy, but their debut remains a…3 min
Record Collector|Issue 556Q&ANicky Wire on wild gestures, Richard Nixon and ghosts How has your relationship with Lifeblood changed? I think we've realised that it's one of our best records. My problem was just that it was so unsuccessful. I couldn't deal with it on that level. It seemed to sum a certain period ending for the band. But it sounds as timeless as any of our records; it just doesn't age, really. Sean has always loved it anyway. It was just me and James who always found it a bit more problematic, but I think we're pretty enraptured with it now to be honest with you. The B-sides sound like a band figuring out what they want to be… After Know Your Enemy, we realised that we'd kind of suffered a defeat.…3 min
Record Collector|Issue 556After The PartyNico The Marble Index Domino REWIG 145 (CD, LP) Desertshore Domino REWIG 146 (CD, LP) “The album's cover will tell you more about The Marble Index than any words I could possibly use,” declared Fusionmagazine's Ben Edmonds in 1970, striking a common nerve in an era when a sleeve could dictate an album's fate. Her trademark blonde tresses tinted midnight black, Nico glaring in stark defiant monochrome from my local record shop's paisley-hued bins in early 1969 commanded this writer buy her second solo album. Not a tough call for a Velvet Underground obsessive who'd loved 1967's Chelsea Girl debut but not even John Cale's arranger credit could hint at the foreboding fruit that lurked within. The voice was unmistakably Nico but the music swirling around her sonorous reveries like…5 min
Record Collector|Issue 556Amazing JourneyRide Interplay Wichita WEBB 630 (CD, LP) Much has happened to Ride in the five years since comeback album number two, This Is Not A Safe Place. Like all bands, they found their activities blindsided by the Covid pandemic, reunion momentum stymied. Legal trouble involving a former manager, says co-frontman Mark Gardener, “threatened” their “very existence”; the press release for comeback record three also alludes to “break-ups”. On a brighter note, Gardener got his OX4 Studio in Oxford up and running, ready for the resumption of activities. Once lockdown began lifting, Ride reconvened at OX4, welcomed Flood/Alan Moulder protégé Richie Kennedy as producer and began leaning into what they knew. Broadly, if Weather Diaries was a reassertion of purpose and Safe Place a fitfully successful bid to diversify, Interplay is…5 min
Record Collector|Issue 556Forward FacingCaptivating celebration of the music that pushes us ever onward. By David Stubbs Futuromania: Electronic Dreams, Desiring Machines And Tomorrow's Music Today Simon Reynolds White Rabbit, £25 ISBN 9781399618335, 416 pages Described by Reynolds as the “twisted sister” to his Retromania, published in 2011 and which concerned pop's addiction to its past, Futuromania… is not a recantation of that volume but a corollary. It's a collection of pieces dating back to the 90s, written for, among others, Melody Maker, The Observer, The New York Times, The Wire and Pitchfork but with a particular emphasis on that complex and diffuse century we currently occupy, the 21st. Subjects covered range from Kraftwerk to grime, synthpop to Auto-Tune, A Guy Called Gerald to Boards Of Canada. As a critic, Reynolds was always among…12 min
Record Collector|Issue 556LivesExtreme London Kentish Town O2 Forum 19/12/23 Extreme ended their Euro tour with a chunky, funky gig, supported by Living Colour's succinct set harking back to their first three albums. Corey Glover was commanding, and guitarist Vernon Reid and bassist Doug Wimbish bedazzled. The musicianship went up a notch with Extreme, who offered new tracks and serious riffa*ge from Six. Nuno Bettencourt was gloriously gritty on Rebel and the wailing Banshee, while the acoustic Other Side Of The Rainbow and Hurricane breezed by, before the flair of More Than Words and stomping Hole Hearted. Gymnastic Gary Cherone was in fine voice, and the Bostonians got their funk out on a decadent night. Mark Taylor Jason Isbell London Cadogan Hall 26/1/24 The ex-Drive-By Truckers star offered an endearing, selfeffacing run through…11 min
Record Collector|Issue 556THE ENGINE ROOMThis month: Paul Samwell-Smith Determined to learn the business of making music from the bottom to the top, Paul Samwell-Smith – bassist with The Yardbirds, musician and record producer – sought to study his contemporaries at close quarters. In Stone Alone, Bill Wyman recollects, “Young players just starting to learn their instruments would come up to us between sets, asking us questions about amps, chords, bass, strings, arrangements, songs and repertoire. At the Ricky Tick one boy introduced himself to me as Paul Samwell-Smith. He came to all our gigs there and sat watching my every move.” Having started his musical career playing lead with US bluegrass outfit The Country Gentlemen in 1959, by the time he left school in ‘62 Samwell-Smith had switched to bass guitar with The Metropolitan…5 min
