Category Britpop
OLD GODS HIDING IN LONG GRASS: The Clientele’s Music for the Age of Miracles
Oh, hi there! Don’t mind the bobbing balloons and confetti streaming about, kids. We’re just having a little party. You see, here in the comfy, wood-paneled confines of RPM HQ, we’ve been celebrating the fact that one of our most beloved bands of the past fifteen-plus years, the Clientele, are back — at least for […]
FROM STARMAN TO STARDUST: The Singular Sound, Voice & Vision Of David Bowie (1947-2016)
Originally posted on RPM: Jonathan Perry's Life in Analog:
Reblogged on WordPress.com Source: FROM STARMAN TO STARDUST: The Singular Sound, Voice & Vision Of David Bowie (1947-2016)
BOWIE ON RECORD: VINYL FROM THE VAULTS
Much in the same way Miles, Elvis, Aretha, Dylan, Jagger, Jimi, Lennon, Bruce, and Madonna telepathically triggers an instant association, so does that particular arrangement of vowel-heavy letters in “Bowie” conjure an identity, a personae, an attitude, a style (or many of them) — even a perspective and way of looking at the world.
FROM GRAVEDIGGER TO TROUBADOUR: Life Above Ground With Ike Reilly’s Schemers, Dreamers & Junkie Faithful
Reilly’s songs teem with lowlifes, hustlers, and have-nots, dazed by despair, embittered by regret, and hardened by circumstance. Ever the sly, sardonic observer, Ike takes it all in from his perch in the shadows. His personae, like his music, shifts, bobs and weaves: sage, fool, jester, street-corner prophet, Reilly’s all of these things – sometimes within the same song.
BOBBY KEYS & IAN McLAGAN: Sounds Of Stones Sidemen (and Rock ‘n’ Roll) Silenced
Official portraits and lineup cards of the band notwithstanding, both in the studio and on stage the Rolling Stones have always wisely employed, and relied upon, a small nucleus of collaborators, co-conspirators, and simpatico sidemen to help them flesh out  and embroider “that Stones sound” we all grew up on. And despite the Stones’ best efforts for much of the […]
BEFORE TOMMY WAS BORN: The Who’s Sell Out From A Band That Never Did
Right up front, I would concede, in point of fact, that my headline for this post may be debatable given “The Who”‘s activities of the past decade or so. Following the substance-and-alcohol-related deaths of drummer Keith Moon in 1978, and more recently, bassist John Entwistle in 2002, the surviving twosome of guitarist and principal songwriter […]
NOT TO BE TAKEN AWAY: Moon The Loon, Gone Too Soon
Happy Birthday to The Who’s late Keith Moon, rock’s greatest gonzo drummer, horse tranquilizer taker, practical joker (usually involving explosives, toilets, television sets, and brandy), and one man Wall of Sound. Moon was only 18 when he auditioned for The Who by striding onto the stage wearing dyed ginger hair to match his ginger-colored clothes, […]
Paul Weller’s Ever-Changing Moods: The Modfather Talks
Paul Weller’s music has always been as stylish and sharply tailored as his suits. Whether as the singer-songwriter for The Jam, a seminal outfit that helped define the British Punk movement of the mid-1970s, or his subsequent group, neo-soul romantics The Style Council, or his substantial solo career, Weller has always followed his own muse and blazed […]
RPM: Jonathan Perry's Life in Analog 