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"
Goebbels knew he had to engage the public, at home and abroad. "It was an effort that led directly to the creation of that oxymoron in four-bar form: A Nazi-approved, state-sponsored hot jazz band known as Charlie and His Orchestra"
Remembering Intervision, Soviet Union's version of Eurovision song contest. Concept came from Wladyslaw Szpilman, hero of Polanski's film The Pianist. Aim was "to prove to the West that 'anything you can sing, we can sing better'"
"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”
Guitarist reminisces about childhood in Essex, joining Dr Feelgood, working with Ian Dury's Blockheads. "In the early days I thought after five years I'd have lots of money, and I'd go back to university and study Mandarin"
When Korean hip hop act Epik High was at the top of its game, online agitators turned against frontman Dan Lee, claiming, among other things, that he lied about his Stanford degree. Davis unravels a bizarre tale
At Miami's Ultra Music Festival, key destination in burgeoning electronic dance music (EDM) scene. "Everyone's wasted, or rolling, or whatever, and fixated on the stage, fist-pumping steadily. They aren't dancing with each other"
Forty years ago, their music was regarded as a curiosity, or worse. Now they cause online ticket systems to crash within minutes. So how did German electronica group Kraftwerk end up at New York's Museum of Modern Art?
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
Rick Moody, on rock band reunions
"Knowing when to stop a second time is as important as knowing when to stop the first time"
