Record Collector Issue 551 (December 2023) Madness

Record Collector Issue 551 (December 2023) Madness

COVER STORY - MADNESS - As one of British pop’s most cherished institutions, Suggs, Barso and co continue to defy their own reductive Nutty Boy image with this year’s acclaimed pop opera Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie. But amid all kinds of internal turbulence, it nearly turned out to be the record that tore them apart, they tell RC
PAUL RODGERS - The erstwhile Free and Bad Company frontman has lived many musical lives since the late 60s, from collaborations with Jimmy Page to stepping into Freddie Mercury's shoes with Queen – after inadvertently turning down The Doors. But now he suggests his latest solo album could be his last. Yeah, they all say that...
FRANKIE LAINE - It is 1953, and one man dominates the UK singles charts. Not Sinatra, not Perry Como, not Elvis (yet) but a barrel-chested Chicagoan, whose emotive singing style in many ways presaged the passionate approach of rock’n’roll. Seventy years on, he deserves fresh appreciation
ANDREW GOLD - You may be acquainted with his deathless MOR hits of the 70s, or even his studio work with the likes of Dylan, Ringo and 10cc. But his 1997 psychedelic epic? Possibly not. Let us enlighten you...
FRIENDS AGAIN - While the clean-cut, jangling sound of young Scotland was charming pop-pickers and indie kids alike in the early 80s, these Glaswegians were ones that got away. As their past glories are reissued, we hear how they could have been contenders
FROM THE VAULTS - Perusing repackaged treasures from The Kinks, Prince & The New Power Generation and Billy Bragg, among many others
NEW ALBUMS - Fresh offerings from The Rolling Stones, no less, Duran Duran and King Creosote top the bill of new releases studied, absorbed and assessed
BOOKS & DVDs - by and about Jeff Tweedy, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis and the KLF
SINGLES - including new and reissued 7s and 12s by ACR, Keith Relf and Bis
LIVES - Intrepid gig-goers offer breathless dispatches from shows by Blue Oyster Cult, Jon Anderson, Graham Nash and HAIM