Thanks to James Brown for asking me to write about the great Zizou for Four Four Two‘s 100 Greatest Players of the Last 25 Years feature. I’ll leave you to guess who came in at No. 2 and No. 1 – or you can buy the magazine!
Month: May 2019
Danny Fields in the RBP podcast
In this week’s RBP Podcast, Mark Pringle and Barney Hoskyns are joined by the legendary Danny Fields to hear tales of his Elektra days with the Stooges and the MC5 – and the five years he spent managing the Ramones. He also recounts the tale of the night Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin wound up rolling around on the floor of Steve Paul’s The Scene in a ball of cartoon smoke and fists.
The week’s free feature focuses on Primal Scream: Mark, Barney and Danny compare notes on the band’s frontman Bobby Gillespie and weigh up the influence of 1991’s Screamadelica. The trio then listen to excerpts from a 1978 audio interview with George Clinton, in which the P-Funk chief talks about the meaning of “funkadelic” and how the classic ‘One Nation Under a Groove’ was born.
To round out the episode, Mark presents highlights from the articles added to the archive, including a 1966 interview with Kim Fowley, a review of Shirley Bassey live at the Royal Albert Hall and a 1983 report on MTV.
This week’s RBP podcast
In this week’s particularly magnificent edition of the Rock’s Backpages Podcast, Mark, Barney & Jasper start with featured artist Mavis Staples and discuss her legacy as a member of the Staple Singers – as well as her solo work with Prince and other producers.
Three pieces by featured writer Bob Stanley spark discussion of Johnny Cash and self-proclaimed “best group on the planet” the Stone Roses. A 1992 interview with Saint Etienne cements Bob’s “poacher turned gamekeeper” status as one third of that “meta-pop” trio.
The week’s audio interview is with B-52s Keith Strickland and Katie Pierson, wherein they skirt around the subject of bandmate Ricky Wilson’s AIDS-related death in 1985. Mark and Barney consider the group’s status as darlings of late ‘70s New York and hail them as one of “the best things to come out of New Wave”.
Launching into the highlights of the rest of the week’s additions, Mark selects a diverse selection of pieces including a 1972 live review of the Rolling Stones, plus interviews with jazzman Horace Silver and with Bobby Brown of the rebooted New Edition. Barney mentions the irascible Mark E. Smith and a review of the late Ellen Willis’ book Out of the Vinyl Deeps. Jasper introduces his considerably older colleagues to the music of young guns Crystal Fighters.
barneyhoskyns.com 