Steve Sutherland

The Rolling Stones: It's Only Rock 'N' Roll

Steve Sutherland | Sep 15, 2020 | 0 comments

Their 1974 riposte to criticism, which Steve Sutherland finds a mixture of downright goodies with a sprinkling of duds is remastered on 180g vinyl from pure analogue

The Rolling Stones have just released their first original track for eight years. 'Living In A Ghost Town', started some time ago when the band could convene together in a swanky recording studio and hastily rounded off with isolated overdubs. It's getting a bit of a pasting from the online community who are having a lot of fun mocking Mick Jagger and Co for moaning about being stuck at home when they live in mansions with acres of land, hot tubs and snooker rooms, etc.

Meet the Producers

Phil Ramone

Steve Sutherland | Sep 03, 2020 | 0 comments

From Monroe to McCartney, and the soundtracks to more than a few iconic movies, this US-born producer was never afraid to use the latest cutting-edge studio technology while also never forgetting his people skills. Steve Sutherland on the 'Pope Of Pop'...

Afew months ago I claimed in these very pages that Jeff Lynne of ELO assembling his new best buddies Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr to tart up the deceased John Lennon's 'Free As A Bird' home demo and release it as a Beatles single was the worst musical idea ever. Well today, dear reader, I humbly recant that claim for what follows is surely far more dreadful.

Meet the Producers

Frank Zappa

Steve Sutherland | Aug 20, 2020 | 0 comments

'Anything, anytime, anyplace and for no reason at all...' was how Frank Zappa described his musical style, but how did he set about achieving his production goals when working the studio faders? Steve Sutherland reveals the method behind Frank's fruitcake facade

Since lockdown you will doubtless have failed to escape the endless, and really rather tedious, Facebook/Instagram invitations to make lists. First Gig Attended. Ten LPs That Changed Your Life. Best Guitar Solo Of All Time. Yadda yadda zzzzz. Anyway, if you can't beat 'em... I'm joining the party fashionably late. Try this one on for size. List the Ten Weirdest LPs Ever Made and why they are so weird. I'll get you going if you like.

Vinyl Release

Edgar Winter Group: They Only Come Out At Night

Steve Sutherland | Aug 05, 2020 | 0 comments

Take one pale Texan and a band of top talent and you have an LP ready to rock the charts. Steve Sutherland assesses a 1972 album destined for reissue on 180g vinyl

Say what you like about Quentin Tarantino, but one thing's for sure: the man's got great taste in movies. Listed among his favourites are the obvious (Apocalypse Now, Fight Club), the not so well known but fantastic (Takashi Miike's Audition, Bong Joon-ho's The Host) and one that especially concerns us here, Richard Linklater's Dazed And Confused.

Vinyl Release

The Bar-Kays: Soul Finger

Steve Sutherland | Jul 20, 2020 | 0 comments

Steve Sutherland relives the fateful night when four of The Bar-Kays flew with Otis Redding in 1967, the plane diving into icy Lake Monona. The album is on 180g vinyl

The next thing he knew he was floating. Freezing cold and floating. His head hurt. There was blood. He heard a noise. Then another. Cries in the distance. Cries for help. He began to go under and he splashed around, found a seat cushion and desperately clutched it to his chest to help stay afloat – he'd never learned to swim.

Meet the Producers

Mike Vernon

Steve Sutherland | Jul 08, 2020 | 0 comments

From Fleetwood Mac to Focus, Bowie to the British blues greats, this UK-born producer helped create many of the greatest performances committed to tape, while founding his own label along the way. Steve Sutherland celebrates the work of Mike Vernon...

It may not have been the dumbest thing he ever did, but it was certainly up there. David Bowie announced that the set-list for every performance of his 1990 Sound+Vision world tour would be partially decided by the most popular songs from his back catalogue, as voted for by his fans.

Meet the Producers

Dennis Bovell

Steve Sutherland | Jun 18, 2020 | 0 comments

In the 1970s reggae joined forces with punk to create a sound that would reverberate throughout the British music scene. Steve Sutherland celebrates the Barbados-born producer Dennis Bovell, the man behind many of the period's finest dub and disco hits

It's the 13th of October 1974, a date remembered in some circles as Black Friday. The facts are somewhat sketchy but it seems a couple of police officers decide that some black dude is driving suspiciously through Cricklewood in London. They pull him over and are about to arrest him when he legs it into The Carib Club. Six officers give chase and grab him in the toilets. They're bringing him out with a bit of a struggle when some club-goers, mates of the pursued, tackle the cops, stabbing one and setting the fugitive free.

Vinyl Release

Gong: Camembert Electrique

Steve Sutherland | Jun 08, 2020 | 0 comments

Steve Sutherland savours the thrillingly nutty flavours of this ripe 11-track offering from the multimonikered Aussie musician, as the album is reissued on 180g vinyl

Back in the 1950s, that perpetual scamp and eminent philosopher Bertrand Russell (then well into his 80s) created an analogy to deal with the concept of faith in the existence of God. He said that if he were to assert, without offering any evidence whatsoever, that a teapot – too small to be seen by telescopes – orbits the Sun somewhere in space between the Earth and Mars, he could not expect anyone to believe him solely because it could not be proven wrong. 'I think,' he concluded, 'the Christian God just as unlikely'.

Meet the Producers

Bill Szymczyk

Steve Sutherland | May 29, 2020 | 0 comments

The next time you hear the opening chords of 'Hotel California' spare a thought for the man who caught it all on tape... Steve Sutherland celebrates the work of a US-born producer who has shaped the sound of such greats as BB King, Joe Walsh and The Who

Here's a cool pub quiz question for you: who links 1960s Russian leader Nikita Kruschev to The Eagles' Hotel California? The answer? Bill Szymczyk. And while we're at it, here's another. How the heck do you pronounce that surname? Answer: Sim-Zik.

Vinyl Release

Nina Simone: Black Gold

Steve Sutherland | May 22, 2020 | 0 comments

Digging into the darker, tragic side of America's history, Steve Sutherland sets the context for this live recording, now reissued as a 50-year celebratory LP on 180g vinyl

Once upon a time there was a country which called itself the United States Of America – a gross misnomer because it couldn't have been more disunited if it tried. It was first largely populated by white people who had landed in ships and stolen the land from its original inhabitants. They then kidnapped and imported boatloads of people from Africa and the like to do all their heavy lifting. These slaves had no wages and no rights.

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