Record Collector Issue 546 (July 2023) Paul Simon

Record Collector Issue 546 (July 2023) Paul Simon

PAUL SIMON MEETS ELVIS COSTELLO - With the New Yorker’s new album Seven Psalms showing yet another inventive new side to his universally feted songwriting skills, another great tunesmith – and another lifelong fan of Mr Simon – takes up our invitation for a rare public meeting of minds
THE FLAMING LIPS - Some 40 years since first making cassettes of warped musical ideas and off-kilter indie-rock tunes, these Oklahoma oddballs have reached the status of alt-rock royalty. Where’d it all go right?
BEE GEES - Arguably a songwriting force in British popular music rivalled only by The Beatles, the brothers Gibb still haven’t had their due, as Bob Stanley argues in his new book on the trio, an excerpt published here
STEELY DAN - In 1973, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen had established themselves as maestros of snarky jazz-pop, but they were in search of perfection, and almost achieved it with Countdown To Ecstasy
NORTH SEA JAZZ FESTIVAL - This Dutch event has been a staple of the European jazz scene for nearly half a century, attracting some of the biggest global names, as our pictorial history shows
JAMES - Starting out as Morrissey-endorsed indie peaceniks then co-opted into the Madchester scene, Tim Booth and co have regrouped and evolved once more with a new album out now
FROM THE VAULTS - Reissues, repackagings, box sets and compilations featuring artists such as Pet Shop Boys, Teardrop Explodes and AR Kane
NEW ALBUMS - Fresh produce from Yusuf Islam, Bob Dylan and Baxter Dury are just a few of the long-players we’ve bent a critical ear towards this month
BOOKS/FILMS - Bob Stanley’s Bee Gees book and a Bond theme documentary
SINGLES - Stars on 45 include Billy Childish (as per usual) and Augustus Pablo
LIVES - Boards trodden before our eye witnesses by the likes of Shonen Knife, Paramore, The Damned and Duran Duran