Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Fan of 40 years reflects on music of Van Morrison: "If the music of Astral Weeks had mined a deep vein of human pain then Moondance provided an acute contrast, being in equal measure romantic, life-affirming and celebratory"
"He’s so attuned to the fervent emotions of German lyric poetry that you almost feel he might have written the poem in a previous life. He seems to be inside each song, speaking with the voice of both the composer and the poet"
"Rap has lost touch with a lot of its roots," says Public Enemy's Chuck D. Compare Kanye West with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five to see what he means. Rap began as hard-hitting, social commentary. Now it's like rock music
Huge feature revisits Whitney Houston's life, and death. How one of the greatest female vocalists in history fell foul of hard drugs, and toxic relationships. “She became a huge star but, like so many creations, they fall apart”
Tribute to singer, drummer of The Band. Sang of "America of the tall tale, the underground history, the renegade, buccaneer country that belongs to all of us. He gave that history a voice we could all hear over the din of the times"
"In Mr Helm's drumming, muscle, swing, economy and finesse were inseparably merged. His voice held the bluesy, weathered and resilient essence of his Arkansas upbringing in the Mississippi Delta"
Kanye West. Five platinum albums, 18 Grammy awards. "The first true genius of the iPhone era, the Mozart of contemporary American music". Also "a petulant, adolescent, blanked-out, pained emotional mess". And a jackass
In April 1962, 18-year-old Richards wrote this letter to his aunt, Patty, describing an encounter that would ultimately change his life — the moment he met Mick Jagger for the first time since being childhood friends
Conversation with Britpop legend Damon Albarn. On Blur, heroin, writing music, even travelling to Iceland: "I got on a plane, and booked into the Saga hotel. I didn't know it meant Saga holidays, for older people"
There's more to Augusta, Georgia than the Masters golf tournament. It's also the hometown of the Godfather of Soul. Thompson goes to investigate Brown's side of town, and the legacy left by the singer
"'It's just this sense that you got something to say.' What he felt was the itch of an imminent insight, the tickle of lyrics that needed to be written down. 'I found myself writing this song, this story, this long piece of vomit'"
Singer talks about his art and his thalidomide disability. "I remember getting a call from Grünenthal [which sold thalidomide in Germany]. They asked me to sing at their Christmas party. I said: You must be out of your minds!"
Image by Bruce Tuten on Flickr
Rick Moody, on rock band reunions
"Knowing when to stop a second time is as important as knowing when to stop the first time"
