Book review – music history
Football vs opera, and the terror of being considered highbrow
Opera was hugely popular in Victorian Britain, but subsidies have doomed it to charges of ‘foreign elitism’ – as opposed to a ‘national passion, like football’
A countercultural upheaval
‘New York stories in a way are always real estate stories,’ says the journalist Alan Light in Lizzy Goodman’s bustling…
When pop gave way to rock
According to David Hepworth, the year he turned 21 was also the year when ‘a huge proportion of the most…
Tainted love
In 1963, when the bloom was still on the rose, Bob Dylan described Woodstock as a place where ‘we stop…
Everything you always wanted to know about Sixties pop —and more
It might seem an odd choice, but after reading Jon Savage’s new book, I think if I had a time…
The polyphonous Babel of global music
‘Following custom, when the Siamese conquered the Khmer they carried off much of the population, including most of their musicians,…
It happened one summer
Five songs, only three of which were amplified. Thirty-five minutes, including interruptions. That’s how long Bob Dylan played for at…
One helluva racket
For a music fan, the quiz question, ‘Who wrote “This Land is Your Land”?’ might seem laughably easy. Yet if…
A watershed moment in music history
In 1994 I was working in marketing at London Records, a frothy pop label part-owned by the Polygram Group —…
Behind the beat
Tony Barrell can’t play the drums, but he’s in awe of those who can. ‘A band without a drummer is…
Lights flash — rockets go off — a star is born
The crucial thing to remember about the music business is that it’s a business. If you happen to be creating…
The leader of the band
Chris Barber, still going strong with his big band, was born in 1930. He heard jazz as a schoolboy on…
Mystery and magic
For better or worse, we live in the age of the talking composer. Some talk well, some badly, a few…
