(Vocals, b. 1947) After 1964’s ‘As Tears Go By’ – written by Rolling Stones Mick Jagger (her then-boyfriend) and Keith Richards – climbed high in the UK and US charts, a winning streak was protracted with songs of like lightweight persuasion until Faithfull’s innocent schoolgirl image was tarnished for ever by frank and public opinions on free love and ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1967–79, 1985–present) Not so much a premier folk rock ensemble as one of the most English of veteran rock bands, Fairport formed in London in 1967 in a vague image of Jefferson Airplane, but traditional folk pervaded a second LP, What We Did On Our Holidays (1969), on which singer Sandy Denny debuted, ...
One of the defining albums of the 1970s, Dark Side Of The Moon (1973) established Pink Floyd as the biggest progressive rock band of the decade. They have remained massively popular and their influence continues to be felt in rock and ambient music. The band were formed in London in 1965 by singer/guitarist Syd Barrett (born Roger Keith Barrett, ...
In its classic line-up, featuring singer-songwriter Mick Jagger (born 26 July 1943), guitarist/songwriter Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones (1942–69), bass player Bill Wyman (born William Perks, 24 October 1936) and drummer Charlie Watts (born 2 July 1941), what came to be acclaimed and self-proclaimed as ‘The World’s Greatest Rock’n’Roll Band’ first achieved success and notoriety ...
The supergroup to end all supergroups, Led Zeppelin were often unfairly viewed by the press as a corporate entity that had not paid its dues. You only have to look at the history, however, to see how wrong that is. It must have been fate. At the same time as Robert Plant (b. 1948) and John Bonham (1948–80) ...
1960 Jimmy Page: First-Ever Serious ‘Gig’ Aged just 16, Jimmy Page – whose first guitar was a steel-stringed Spanish guitar on which he learnt to play skiffle, before quickly moving on to rock’n’roll and the electric guitar – played his first ever serious ‘gig’. Though he had been in local bands before, playing for British poet Royston Ellis ...
May ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ Built upon a nonsensical alliterative chorus – the conclusion of which is that everything’s just ‘a gas’ – ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ heralded the Stones’ masterful middle period, and took them back to the UK No. 1 spot for the first time in two years (it also went to No. 3 in the US). Demonic, voodooistic ...
February ‘Penny Lane’/‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ The first record to emerge from the studio-bound Beatles was another pair of contrasting McCartney and Lennon songs, a recurring feature of recent singles but, with time to perfect and polish, the songs had moved up another level. Both made a nostalgic return to Liverpool for their inspiration but while Paul McCartney strode ...
June Brian Jones And Mick Taylor On a hot summer’s night, Mick, Keith and Charlie drove to Brian’s recently purchased Cotchford Farm home and sacked him from the band. For years he’d been letting his paranoia, ego and drug addictions get the better of him, to the point where he barely played in the studio and wasn’t ...
January First Major Tour By the end of 1963 Mick and Keith had been introducing more soulful influences to the group, and on 6 January they began their first UK tour of major importance, supporting the Phil Spector-helmed girl group, The Ronettes, on the Group Scene ’64 package tour. Spector himself joined in February to monitor the ...
April Tax Exile In France Spiralling finances had been threatening to catch up with the group for years, and with band members owing a six-figure tax debt each, they were advised to become exiles. So, bit-by-bit, they moved their families to France. Keith set himself up in the Nellcote villa – allegedly stealing electricity from the nearby ...
January ‘As Tears Go By’ The Stones’ own version of ‘As Tears Go By’ – the song they wrote as ‘As Time Goes By’ when Andrew Oldham locked them in the kitchen back in 1964 – must have been a shock for an American audience that hadn’t heard Marianne Faithfull’s UK No. 4 release in 1964. Showing a completely different side ...
January Between The Buttons Much overlooked today, Between The Buttons saw the Stones start the new year with an album that had the ambition to match other period classics like The Beatles’ Revolver, or Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde. Building upon the eclecticism of Brian’s additions to Aftermath, it is perhaps one of their most varied albums, though ...
Perhaps with medieval Persian origins, the glass armonica entered into the Western musical mainstream only in the eighteenth century. A series of glass vessels could be tuned by having the appropriate quantity of water poured into them; they were then struck like bells to produce a ringing sound, or the rims were dampened and then rubbed. Gluck played a ...
‘Julius Cesar in Egypt’ Handel’s operas usually revolve around the voices and particular gifts of the singers that were available to him. Giulio Cesare in Egitto was created in 1724 as a vehicle for Senesino and Cuzzoni, although the characteristic trademark of Handel’s best operas is that the emotions and experience of the characters are not sacrificed to the virtuosity ...
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David Bowie
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