Innehållsförteckning för Issue 533 från Record Collector

rc.editorial@metropolis.co.uk www.recordcollectormag.com Record Collector Magazine @RecCollmag RecordCollectormag @recordcollectormag DAF FUNK For me, RC is the best music mag, and every month it's a great joy to get, digitally or in paper form. I even prefer it to my former darlings, Classic Pop, Uncut and Mojo. This time, I'm so thankful because of the Thomas Leer story [RC 532]; he is one of my all-time favourite artists. But please, let me say something about [the reference to] DAF's Kebabträaume on page 29: the song is absolutely not only about dreams of kebab. It's about the dreams of the Turkish immigrants who came to Germany in the late 70s and early 80s and the way they were left alone by the government, resulting in the kind of ghettoization we see now in…

David Corio began his career as a freelance photographer with NME in 1978, His work has featured in many publications (including p68 of this issue) and been widely exhibited. His book, The Black Chord, featuring photos of black musicians, will be published in the UK in Spring 2023. Since (x)Propaganda (p64) made their debut album A Secret Wish, David Stubbs has enjoyed a 37-year career as a music journalist awaiting their follow-up. He is currently completing his epic book on the history of British comedy. Alongside his passion for prog, partiality for pop and fervency for The Fall, Britfunk have always delighted Daryl Easlea. In 1981, Intuition by Linx (p68) was his album of the year, a fact he shares with David Grant. John Otway (p72) recently celebrated his 5,000th…

AUCTIONS SPECIAL A White Label Auction In Aid Of The BRIT Trust sees some 175 lots of white label test-pressings offered for sale, benefiting charities such as the BRIT School and Nordoff-Robbins music therapy. Some of them comprise multiple sets of white label test-pressings, notably The Moody Blues (10 records), Status Quo (11) and The Police (six), offering a number of treasure troves from a number of very collectable bands. It's the third such auction, the first having taken place in 2019, and it's also the biggest such single sale of white label test-pressings to have ever hit the auction block. In this instance, Omega Auctions of Newton-Le-Willows presided over the white label test-pressing event on 7 June, and it was set to raise even more than previous auctions of…

How come you're back with a new album now? We were asked to play our bassist Richard's wife's birthday in 2018, and I reluctantly agreed. It'd been a long time. To my amazement, I loved it. We started thinking, “Could we play a gig? Would anyone turn up?” We booked Belfast Voodoo club in June 2019, and fans from Scotland and England travelled. We sold out. That got the creative juices going, and I started writing. Lost Boy went down really well at our next Voodoo gig, and we thought, “Could we make an album?” The songs started flowing, and most are on the album. In October 2019, we returned to Novatech studio, and it felt very nostalgic, as it's where we demoed in the 80s. Wearing masks while recording…

HIP HOP LP GOLD Dudley Jaynes selects eight rare albums which, despite their scarcity, are essential listening Hip hop started as a singles genre with the majority of early records released on 12”. As the genre's popularity grew, and with the surge in major-label interest during the late 80s, more hip hop artists began to craft long-players. Back in RC 398 and RC 432 we traced the development of the rap album from its early beginnings with short expositions, such as those released by the likes of Treacherous Three and Run DMC in the early 80s, to major-label involvement, the rise of the skit and, of course, the move to double-vinyl packages from Mobb Deep and others in the early to mid-90s. With the resurgence of vinyl, the hip hop…

James Brown began to produce other musicians in 1959. As a singer who toured with a “revue”, he could control his support acts, make his shows an event, and most importantly, handle a promoter's money and distribute it as he saw fit. It also provided a flow of artists he could produce. Few saw much chart action from their releases — most were issued on labels focused on Mr Brown but that didn't indicate a shortage of talent. Some found fame beyond Brown's gravitational pull, including Tammy Montgomery, who transformed into Tammy Terrell, and the fearsome Yvonne Fair, both at Motown. Others had star status which Brown attempted to restore, such as The Five Royal(e)s. Sometimes the act was Brown's band in disguise (AABB, The Devils). There are too many…

RICKY ROSS Deacon Blue frontman on his latest solo set Tell us about the project. It's the second part of an indefinite sequence and a companion piece to my memoir, including a few re-interpretations of earlier Deacon Blue songs. If you could re-visit any of your albums, what'd you change? I wish I'd been braver with When The World Knows Your Name. [Producer] Paul Russell suggested taking off the title track, and it would've been better with one less song, as would This Is The Life. Is there anything still unissued? Loads, but it's fairly awful! With whom would you like to make a split 7”? The Beatles. When did you first hear one of your songs on vinyl? A Tom Morton album in the early 80s. What was your…

Hard to believe now, but in the early days of 1981, Intuition, the debut LP by Linx, was as cool as anything by Chic, Talking Heads or Gang Of Four. The north London band, fronted by singer David Grant and bassist Peter ‘Sketch’ Martin, were adored by both jazz-funkateers and the NME / The Face rock criterati. With their mixed-race line-up and songs that owed as much to UK pop as American soul, Linx created a pared-down but dynamic sound that bequeathed at least five classic singles: You're Lying, Rise And Shine, Intuition, Throw Away The Key and So This Is Romance. And they cut quite the dash: Grant, easygoing, bespectacled in his tuxedo, throwing a few post-Off The Wall Michael Jackson shapes; Sketch, a man of few words, otherworldly…

This should have been your big year. You were leading the American power pop revolution and the critically acclaimed Twilley Don't Mind was released. What happened? I was always proud of that record, but the music business wasn't ready for it… I'm not sure whether the people were ready, but it wasn't presented to them. Our label, Shelter, was part of Arista which wasn't exactly a rock'n'roll label. It was more like Barry Manilow. The Dwight Twilley Band had earlier had a Top 10 US single with I'm On Fire. It's inexplicable that there wasn't another. Yes, we had Looking For The Magic, a really strong single, with Tom Petty playing the wakka-wakka guitar, but nothing happened. It did, however, make its way onto an unusually long list of motion picture…

How was 1977 for you? It was great. I had served a long apprenticeship. I'd been in the industry since I was 15 back in 1960. I'd supported The Beatles, introduced the Small Faces, sat in with Georgie Fame, been in Dada and Vinegar Joe and then recorded my solo album, [1975's] Rich Man's Woman, and then suddenly here I was in the '77 chart with a hit album and hit singles. The hit album was Two Days Away, produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Which was a huge thing to get to work with them. Mike Stoller was a marvellous musician and Jerry Leiber wrote incredible lyrics. I think they thought I was just making the tea, but I was taking in everything, the way they worked, I…

You've talked about emerging from your Consequences studio odyssey blinking into the new, cold light of punk. Was that album's refusal to adhere to convention actually very punk indeed? We simply wanted to find out what the Gizmo [instrument] could do and where it might take us. We were open to anything but once it started to take shape and begin to feel ‘grandiose’, for want of a better word, the main elements coalesced as orchestra and sound design. Punk was angry and back to basics, so its audio / emotional template was a distance from ours, or felt like it. What did you make of 1977 punk? I loved the vibe of it all. Everything needs a kick in the balls now and then – including us. I was into…

How was 1977 for you? It started off brilliantly for us because we released Spiral Scratch. We were all working on getting it into the shops, because we'd released it ourselves. After a few months, Geoff Travis at Rough Trade took over the distribution. We got brilliant reviews for it; people really got it. It was like the whole world came alive in 1977. It was a whole change in lyrical ideas, singing about boredom and all that. What really turned the year around for you as a band? The interest generated by Spiral Scratch. We also recorded the songs for the Live At The Roxy album in April and we were courting a lot of record companies by then. We had six of the majors sniffing around, offering us…

How was 1977 for you? It was an amazing year and really the start of everything for Penetration. Punk was taking off and that was incredibly liberating, there was a feeling that the younger generation were taking control, doing things their way. I'd seen the Sex Pistols and The Clash in '76 and there was a sense anyone could do it, and all these bands were starting up that had never picked up an instrument, could barely play, had never written songs. This brand-new thing was forming out of nothing. Tell me about Don't Dictate. That was our punk statement. It was about saying be yourself, don't feel you have to change to fit in. It was an empowering time, and it captured those sentiments. What are your memories supporting…

Whatever You Want – Bob Crewe's 60s Soul Sounds (★★★★ Kent) spotlights the New Jersey writer, producer and arranger's canon. An indelible talent, he was able to move with the times penning doo wop, girl group pop, R&B for the dancefloor and also for the brokenhearted. He also found huge success, of course, writing and producing for Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. Bookended by Hal Miller and the Rays' sublime An Angel Cried from 1961 and the Time Keepers' 1970 buzzy intro 3 Minutes Heavy, Whatever You Want is a joy from beginning to end with further standouts including Jerry Butler's title track, a dramatic ballad from 1963, Shirley Matthews & The Big Town Girls' snappy (You Can) Count On That from the same year and James Carr's punchy…

Paper Cuts: How I Destroyed The British Music Press And Other Misadventures Ted Kessler ★★★★ White Rabbit, £18.99 ISBN 9781474625531, 320 pages The decision by publisher Bauer to close down Q magazine in early 2020 signalled the end of an era in music. At its peak, Q was selling quarter-of-amillion copies a month and, once the weeklies disappeared from newsagents' shelves, was the only major magazine focused on contemporary rock and pop. With Q gone, where would today's talent be given a soapbox to shout from? Who would be there to shape tomorrow's stars with praise, criticism, and irreverence? Who would have the budget and expertise to photograph them, to make tomorrow's icons? Ted Kessler – the editor of Q for its final four years and NME writer during its…

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…

In the annals of Beatleology, Dick Rowe is forever remembered as the man who snubbed Brian Epstein and supposedly turned down the opportunity to sign the Fab Four for Decca. According to Epstein in his autobiography, A Cellarful of Noise (1964), Rowe informed him: “Not to mince words, Mr Epstein, we don't like your boys' sound.” And while he always vigorously denied the attribution, Rowe had to live with the stigma for the remainder of his professional career. It was the era of jukeboxes and jitterbugs, of big bands and bobbysox singers, when Rowe joined the A&R department at Decca in 1948. In those days, multiskilling was part of the job description, and he soon turned his hand to producing some of the label's more promising signings. Rowe quickly earned…

It's a matter of record that The Clash declared, on the B-side to White Riot, “No Elvis, Beatles or The Rolling Stones in 1977”. On a similarly iconoclastic tip – and I'm relying on my increasingly failing memory here so apologies if I've got this wrong – I seem to recall reading in the NME that same year a diatribe penned by those most terribles of enfants, Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons, next to a big collage of images of Presley and Dylan, Lennon and Jagger, entitled “Take this God and stuff him”. The article essentially argued that those 50s/60s titans had outstayed their welcome and were, furthermore, overrated and just… over. It would have been a tough old time to have launched a magazine like Record Collector, because there…

Record Collector has a vacancy for editor of the biennial Rare Record Price Guide. Soon to publish its 18th edition, with a subscriberbased website, the RRPG is the ultimate, authoritative voice on valuations, the result of months – years – of forensic research. The job will involve assembling the Guide, sourcing data, pictures, and sleeves, and also working on the magazine, checking prices, and the online version of the RRPG, updating it daily. It will be a wide-ranging but flexible hybrid home/office role, part-time/freelance, for someone steeped in vinyl and the changing nature of collecting in the 21st century. Email paul.lester@metropolis.co.uk with a covering letter explaining why you're right for the role and include: a 150-word review of the last album you bought, styled as per RC's album reviews; a…

Vangelis died 17 May, age 79. Though the Greek musician and composer Vangelis successfully traversed a range of styles as a solo artist and band member – his music encompassing pop, rock, electronic, jazz, classical music and beyond – he remains best remembered for his film soundtracks. Grounded in his trailblazing use of synthesisers, his best scores transcended their allotted roles. The towering, Oscarwinning theme he created for Hugh Hudson's Chariots Of Fire (1981), a film about the 1924 Paris Olympics, came to epitomise sporting success and was later used in medal ceremonies at the London 2012 Olympics; in Ridley Scott's dystopian sci fi masterwork Blade Runner (1982) Vangelis' dark, emotionally-rich synth themes are as crucial to the film's enduring greatness as Harrison Ford or Rutger Hauer's performances – effectively…

I'll tell you what I hate, what I really really hate. Those unhilarious dissections of song words, the kind that always begin, “Dear The Jam” and commence a list of wearying, pedantic dismantling of how the wine can't be flat and the curry gone cold and what are too many right wing meetings and so on. It makes me want to pinch the bridge of someone else's nose, never mind my own. Popular song, as the kids call it, isn't meant to stand up to such rigorous mirthquenching. The idea that, when Frank Sinatra sang, “Fly me to the Moon,” some tosser was seconds away from going, “Actually, Frank, space travel isn't real and even if there is a manned lunar mission I very much doubt AMUSED CHORTLE that NASA…

OPINION Fierce Bliss, Ann Wilson's third solo album, will bring a sense of joy and familiarity to fans of Heart. With a similar stylistic range and the usual high quality of songwriting, it sits comfortably alongside the best of Heart's back catalogue. Wilson is in fine voice, and unfazed by recent developments: her sister, Nancy, has recently announced plans to tour as Nancy Wilson's Heart, stemming from disagreements with Ann about her choice of band members for Heart. Does this signify a split in the band? I think it's an interim thing, and I'm really glad that she's got the confidence to go out and do it. I think for her to be calling it Heart is really going to confuse the fans. The important thing is that she gets…

It's an old desire – we didn't want the first album to be the only one out there,” says Claudia Brücken, formerly of Propaganda, now xPropaganda. “We tried many times to make a follow-up album to A Secret Wish, but it just didn't happen. So, Susanne and I, we just kept going. We always felt, we want to do this.” Brücken and Susanne Freytag are sitting together on a sofa, sharing a Zoom connection. Despite the Nico-like deadpan severity and lipstick hauteur they sometimes project on record, in person, they are pleasant, good-humoured, wreathed in smiling excitement and gratitude at the belated chance they've been afforded to follow up their 1985 debut (1990's 1234 was largely the work of a different line-up). The Heart Is Strange does not disappoint. In…

JOHN OTWAY Over a career stretching back more than 50 years, Aylesbury's favourite one twohit wonder, John Otway, has played memorable (and a few less so) shows everywhere from pubs to market squares to festivals to the Royal Albert Hall. But a few stay long in the memory. He tells RC: “I wrote this shortly before my 5,000th Gig at the Shepherds Bush Empire on 2 April. I think it's very likely that one of the shows mentioned here will fall out of the Top 10 and be overtaken by this new milestone gig. But for now, these are the ones that stand out…” 1 AYLESBURY MARKET SQUARE 13 August 1978 (Gig 388) I had been doing annual free concerts in Aylesbury for the previous few years. It was a way…

How was 1977 for you? It was a joy, because it was the year music significantly changed for the better. The bin liner containing all the shit of the mid-70s finally burst, and everywhere you looked there were people being interesting again. There was still a lot of rubbish around, but even that had a bit of energy to it; bands were finding artistic ways to use the noise they were creating. The Ramones really did it for me, with their hybrid of metal and bubblegum – metalgum! Would you say XTC rode the punk wave but had more to offer than most? A lot of punk just sounded like pub rock on speed to me, but we were smart enough not to play down our ability and get lost…

How was 1977 for you? It was a pretty productive year. We brought out our first full recording [Suicide's eponymous debut album]. You'd been going for quite some time before that record, right? We started around '71, so six years. By then things had opened up a lot and we were regularly playing Max's Kansas City and CBGBs thanks to [impresario] Peter Crowley, who was spearheading a whole movement in New York. We had a track on the jukebox in Max's a little before that, but '77 was the first full album on Red Star. Now electronic music is everywhere, but nobody was using just a rhythm box and a Farfisa organ at that time… Well, it's what people have said, but it was only as important as the fact…

How was 1977 for you? It was a great year for Generation X, with the first two singles getting released. That was something that we'd all dreamed of doing. We were playing gigs at The Roxy at the start of the year, and then we got signed quite quickly to Chrysalis. We did a residency at The Marquee as well, which was when it really feit like there was something in the air, that the tide was turning, and we were a part of an important movement. What were the highlights? Doing Top Of The Pops was a really special moment. We'd watched that for years and always wanted to be on it, so to finally get there was something that you never forget. We never thought about anything further…

How was 1977 for you? Man, it was a great year for us. We put our first record out in the States in late '76 and it wasn't really doing much, but then we went over to England, opening for Nils Lofgren, and things really began to take off. The reaction to us from audiences and the British music press filtered back home and kick-started the band to the next level. What were your impressions of the UK? It was the year of punk, which, of course, we'd heard about, but I don't think any of us were prepared for the energy of the whole scene, especially behind The Clash and the Pistols – I'd never seen anything like it. It was the first time either Tom or I had…

Charles Mingus Mingus Three: Deluxe Edition ★★★★ Rhino/Parlophone 603497841059/1035 (2CD, 2LP) “My life flashed before my eyes. I was sure I would die.” These are the words of the pianist and arranger Sy Johnson in his enlightening liner notes to Mingus Three, recalling a fraught first rehearsal with the badass bassist/composer who could scare musicians shitless with just one hard stare. Mingus wasn't averse to using his fists to hammer his point home but on this occasion, sometime in 1960 – three years after Mingus Three was recorded – the bassist preferred to punch the piano keys rather than Johnson's face “while glaring into my eyes with a manic intensity”. Happily, things didn't take a turn for the worse, as Johnson reveals: “Just as suddenly, he picked up his bass,…

This Much I Know To Be True ★★★★★ Trafalgar Releasing (Cinemas, DVD, 105 mins) When Nick Cave cancelled his proposed Ghosteen tour during lockdown, he made the brilliant solo performance film Idiot Prayer and turned to darker arts to compensate. Taking government advice about retraining, Cave embraced ceramics and became good at it, going by his latest documentary with director Andrew Dominik. But it's Cave's return to his true calling that dominates here, as he and wildhearted wingman Warren Ellis rehearse songs from the Ghoststeen and Carnage records for a forthcoming tour. Previously, Dominik documented a profound trauma in Cave's life with One More Time With Feeling, a film about the tragic death of Cave's 15-year-old son Arthur. If that piece was wrenching, This Much I Know To Be True…

John Cale July (15) Liverpool Philharmonic Hall (18) Whitley Bay Playhouse (19) York Barbican (21) Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion (23) Cambridge Corn Exchange (24) London Palladium (25) Birmingham Town Hall The Prodigy July (8-9) Sheffield O2 Academy (14) Liverpool Montford Hall (15) Leeds O2 Academy (16) Birmingham O2 Academy (18) Newcastle O2 City Hall (19) Manchester O2 Victoria Warehouse (21-23) London Brixton O2 Academy Tears For Fears, Alison Moyet July (1) Telford QEII Arena (2) Warminster Longleat House (5) Aylesbury Waddesdon Manor (7) Newcastle Utilita Arena (8) Kelso Floors Castle (9) Lytham St Anne's Lytham Festival (12) Derby Incora County Ground (14) Leeds Millennium Square (15) Warwick Castle (16) Scarborough Open Air Theatre (19) New Milton Chewton Glen (20) Canterbury Spitfire Ground (22) Hove 1st Central County Ground (23)…

CODA Hank Williams Moanin’ The Blues (MGM X168, 2 x 7” EP, US, 1952) £10 Hearing Honky Tonk Blues from this album was what started me off, even though I was 11 and living in an Italian neighbourhood in the Bronx. I wanted to communicate like Hank, I was learning how to live through his records. Verbally, emotionally, spiritually, he was committed to every word. I was enthralled and soon knew 40 songs. When I went on tour with Buddy Holly – and Waylon Jennings, who was his bass player – they were amazed. Waylon said in his book he taught me Hank songs. No! Jimmy Reed Take Out Some Insurance (Vee Jay VJ 314, 7”, US, 1959) £20 I heard Jimmy sing, “You better take some insurance out on…

AUCTIONS SPECIAL NEWS HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE News & views from the collecting world On 14 June, a carefully-selected array of items from John Peel's personal collection was offered for sale in London. During his broadcasting years from 1967 to 2004, the longest-serving original BBC Radio 1 DJ acquired 120,000-plus records and memorabilia items. In 2012, some 106,000 records were placed online, including 26,000-plus LPs and 40,000-plus 7” singles. Peel (originally John Ravenscroft) left his archive for the use of musicologists, researchers, musicians and fans, but his family have decided that now is the time for the first Live In Session: Property From The John Peel Archive auction, via Bonham's of London. Its Director of Popular Culture, Katherine Schofield, noted that the lots “offered directly by the family, comprise some of…

This month: God Save The Queen Although the Queen's Diamond Jubilee is now in the rear-view mirror, it only seems fitting this month to examine the longevity of the Sex Pistols God Save The Queen single issued by Virgin Records at the end of May 1977. Most readers will be aware that, after being booted off EMI in January, the band signed to A&M in a deal which was intended to last for two years, for which the Pistols were intended to receive an annual advance of £75,000. Bad behaviour and a change of heart at the senior level at A&M saw the Pistols shown the door on 16 March 1977 – with a full £75,000 to show for it. Yet Malcolm McLaren had a problem. One reason why A&M…

My Saturday job at the turn of the 80s was working on Croydon's Surrey Street market, and the stall I worked at just happened to be a couple of doors along from the fabled Beanos, Britain's biggest second-hand record shop. I could not only pick up brandnew albums like More Specials cheaply, thanks to the number of music journalists in the Greater Croydon area, but also investigate the entire history of pop. At that point it spanned all of 25 years. One day in 1980 I picked up six albums called The Golden Years Of Rock'n'Roll, a set which went as far back as 1948 for Amos Milburn's Chicken Shack Boogie and as late as 1964 for the Crickets' English language version of La Bamba. The meat of it, though,…

I am suffering from post-tour restlessness. That is, I am missing the adrenaline jolt that one gets from playing one and a half hours of improbably loud rock'n'roll onstage with a smokin' hot band. The other tour stuff - falling asleep in a tour bus in bizarre positions, discussing the merits of crisps, Tabasco, and Colman's English mustard, and whether The Strawbs recorded a glam/prog masterpiece (they did: Hero And Heroine) – I can take or leave. So, on a long, mardy English bank holiday weekend I decided to cure my malady, by creating the greatest song ever recorded. Relax. This isn't the usual selfaggrandisement. This song/track won't feature any of my work, words, or strumming. This tune will be constructed entirely of other artists' work. The best “bits”, if…

In November 1978, five teenage pretenders to rock's throne walked into a Hull fish-and-chip shop with £1.50 in their pockets, in the mood to celebrate before heading home to Sheffield. It didn't buy them a feast, but it was all they had left from the 150 quid singer Joe Elliott borrowed from his dad to pay for the nearby studio where they'd just recorded the three songs that would comprise the debut EP by their band, Def Leppard. From such humble beginnings, a mighty – and enduring – juggernaut was born. Elliott has been at the tiller of Def Leppard for close to 45 years now, selling in excess of 100 million albums worldwide. Although a key band in the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal in the early 80s,…

Topolinos Formed by Sabine Wolde of Croox and featuring Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag, Topolinos were an all-female new wave group from Düsseldorf – Brücken and Freytag's first musical venture. A track like Rote Fahnen, released on the 1986 compilation Lebensmittelsex, is raw, scratchy, and bristling with serrated guitar reverb. Yet there is a certain rigidity of intent which hints at what was to come, as well as a punkish sensibility which they retain to this day. Die Krupps Formed in 1980 and named after a German steel dynasty, Die Krupps were co-founded by vocalist Jürgen Engler and, until 1982, featured Propaganda's Ralf Dörper on keyboards. On the metal-bashing 1981 single Wahre Arbeit, Wahre Löhn (“A Fair Day's Work For A Fair Day's Pay”), it's Dörper who provides the authentic…

RC Loves 1977 1977 SPECIAL ABBA The Album (Epic EPC 86052, LP, UK, 1977) £15 Released in Scandinavia in December '77, The Album (oh the vindicated hubris of that name) wasn't released in the UK until January '78 because the pressing plants couldn't cope with demand. No pressure, then: of course, the ice-cool Swedes delivered Take A Chance On Me and The Name Of The Game. Consummate pop. RRPG editor note: Debut UK single, Ring Ring/Rock'N'Roll Band, Epic EPC 1793, 1973, is worth £70 AC/DC Let There Be Rock (Atlantic K 50366, LP, UK, 1977) £30 Recorded live in one room, barely in tune at times (but don't call them punks), the Aussie rockers' fourth outing was an electrifying shot of rock'n'roll adrenaline. The title track would become an epic showstopper, and in…

After rejoining Yes this was the year you not only had a No 1 album with Going For The One but also a Top 10 single with Wondrous Stories. Had 1977 started with you huddling together for warmth in a difficult time? Good god, no! I knew being near the top of the tree was coming to an end, but that was no reason not to continue making music. It's the great love of my life. As long as I could make a living making the music I loved, then I would continue – although it wasn't easy to begin with. Income dwindled to almost nothing overnight. Were you shocked by the changes? The music scene is always changing. New generations were coming of age and with that came a desire…

How was 1977 for you? It was an amazing time. We signed our contract with Sire in late '76, after playing together for a couple of years but not feeling we were ready to make a record, and then things moved really fast. We were still working on the first album [Talking Heads: 77] when the Ramones invited us to join them on their European tour, and I still think it's one of the best rock'n'roll tours of all time. The Saints were on the bill, too. Did touring the UK open your eyes to different musical climates? We'd read a lot about the UK punk scene in the British music press, but I remember being struck by how much attention bands paid to style and their image, something we…

How was 1977 for you? We went from going to watch bands at the Roxy to playing live at the Roxy. We also went on tour with Iggy Pop. Iggy was my hero. I discovered him through The Stooges' Raw Power which I heard off my flatmate Dave at art college in Torquay. Supporting him was amazing. We got to play then see Iggy perform and then hang out a bit. At one point he asked whether I wanted to travel in their coach as it was bigger than our mini bus and I said, I better not [laughs]. There were so many great bands that year, all just starting out, all really enthusiastic, all like us. It felt like something was really starting to happen and that anything might…

How was 1977 for you? It was an amazing year. We were so busy, it was unbelievable. We released two albums and four singles, toured America, went on tour with T.Rex and split up. [Laughs]. We'd been doing next to nothing until we signed with Stiff the previous year, but everything went into overdrive in 1977. What were the most significant moments for you? The release of the first album was probably the most special memory. I remember how well it was received, unlike our second album at the end of the year. I understood why the reviews weren't as good, but that was because we didn't just want to remake the first album, but people didn't want us to change. I think it has stood up really well. What…

Frank Black And The Catholics The Complete Studio Albums ★★★★ Demon DEMRECBOX 68 (7LP) Since Pixies reformed in 2004, the prolific workrate of Charles Thompson IV, switching from his original band's alias Black Francis to Frank Black, has been overlooked. There were three entertaining solo Frank Black albums from 1993-96, and then he got seriously busy. From 1998-2003, Black's band Frank Black And The Catholics specialised in recording to two-track, dashing off an average of an album a year (to compensate for Black scrapping 2000's Sunday Sunny Mill Valley Groove Day on the eve of its release, 2002 saw two Catholics albums). In 2015, their albums were compiled in a CD box set with assorted extras. Seven years on, they're out on vinyl, minus the extras. It means three albums…

The Smile A Light For Attracting Attention ★★★★ XL XL 1196 (CD, 2LP) What's in a name? The Smile is a new band comprising Radiohead's creative engine room – Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood – and Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, produced by the sixth Radiohead member, Nigel Godrich. By today's standards, it wouldn't have been beyond the pale for The Smile to trade under the Radiohead name. Pink Floyd are releasing new music with one founder member and the guitarist who joined after their glory years. Let's not get started on the line-up of wacky-shirted uncles who pass as most of The Beach Boys. And the current East 17 line-up features backing singer/ bad boy Terry, along with a couple of Johnny Come Latelys presumably recruited from a…

Foals Life Is Yours ★★★★ Warner 0190296274435 (CD, LP/2LP) Arriving at the tail-end of the era when indie bands could infiltrate the Top 40 singles chart, Foals were initially unlikely contenders for the mainstream. Emerging from the highbrow math-rock scene, the Oxford quintet at least played wild and celebratory gigs to enhance the more tuneful aspects of 2008's fidgety debut album Antidotes, which is reissued on recycled vinyl on the same day as Life Is Yours. Ever since, Foals have kept the intricate musicianship, but utilised it in search of the ultimate smart funk workout. That hasn't always worked: despite the title track's phenomenal groove, much of 2015's self-conscious What Went Down was like George Michael with a 2:2 in sports science. Having explored all their styles on 2019's enjoyably…

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Spotlighting an upcoming road trip This month: GARY POWELL OF THE LIBERTINES Do you have any pre-/post-show routines? My pre-show consists of finding space to warm up and stretch, Jane Fonda-style, listening to calming music, and not speaking to anyone prior to the show. It's my ‘getting in the zone' thing, and I know it annoys some folks when they ask me something and I don't answer them, but I literally don't say a word before I go onstage Will you be playing any songs that you rarely perform? Yeah, all the tracks from the first album that we never play anymore. Will the set-list change over the course of the tour? I can't tell you now. It'd be great to play the whole of the first album, to give…