Pink
FloydSince their humble
beginnings as an R&B covers band in the 1960s, Pink Floyd have grown to
become one of the biggest, most popular and most influential rock & roll
bands in the world. Amazon.co.uk contributor Johnny Black charts the history of
this seminal band in a special,
exclusive feature.
But by trying to imitate this strange music he had
never heard, Barrett inadvertently created the first uniquely Floydian classic,
a sprawling spacey instrumental with a mesmeric descending chord
structure
Polyphonic
SpreeThe Polyphonic Spree use
a 10-piece choir and 13-piece band to create a sound that is pure, delightful
and as big as the world on their debut album,
The Beginning Stages
of... As an Amazon.co.uk guest editor, their frontman Tim
Delaughter
chooses some of his
favourite albums.
I believe Brother Daniel has the most unique voice
in music today. This is, without question, a very inspiring
band
Prefab
SproutFormed in 1982 by
songwriter Paddy McAloon, Prefab Sprout have enjoyed widespread critical
acclaim. Their latest album,
The Gunman and Other
Stories, once again demonstrates McAloon's strength as a
songwriter, as well as his fascination with American culture. Amazon.co.uk
contributor Andrew Mueller
speaks with Paddy McAloon
about his cowboy dreams.
I loved what Jimmy Nail did, with "Cowboy Dreams" in
particular, and I loved Cher's "The Gunman", but their versions are different.
They weren't what I'd written originally
Primal
ScreamThe band who brought
dance music into the indie clubs, Primal Scream have consistently pushed the
limits of creativity. On the epic
Exterminator, the Madchester stalwarts have again shaken up the
scene they helped create with an album of punked-up funk and danceable rage.
Amazon.co.uk's Helen Marquis
speaks exclusively with
their bass player (and former Stone Rose) Mani
"Have you done any work this week?" "Er, no, and
don't watch BBC1 tonight at 7.30"
Public
EnemyPublic Enemy killed the 1980s. It was their trio of
albums--1987's
Yo! Bum Rush the
Show, 1988's
It Takes a Nation of
Millions to Hold Us Back, and 1991's
Fear of a Black
Planet--that energised and empowered hip-hop to dominate the
1990s; with that decade drawing to a close, PE charged back into the fray with
There's a Poison Goin'
On, and Chuck D
talks with Amazon about the
state of rap, race and reality.
I have a cut called "LSD", which could stand for
"Lawyers Should Die"--you figure that one out
Queen
AdreenaQueen Adreena exploded
onto the UK rock scene with their theatrical take on gothic metal. Their second
album,
Drink
Me, looks set to follow in
Taxidermy's footsteps--as hard rocking and
over the top as its predecessor. As Amazon.co.uk
guest editors, the band
pick some of their favourite albums.
I love it when he sings, in "Dum Dum Boys", "I was
most impressed / no-one else was impressed / not at all". For some reason I
find that very amusing
Queen
Latifah Queen Latifah's name is still bandied about plenty; as an
actress, she's appeared in movies as varied as Set It Off
and
Living Out Loud
. But all her work in front of the camera has
kept her from behind the mic; Amazon.co.uk
has an audience with the
regal one to see if she can still rule in hip-hop's new world order--or if she
even wants to.
I don't care about people showing their bodies as
long as they're not being exploited. If it's them doing it themselves, I really
can't say too much about that
RadioheadPicking up where their
previous album left off,
Amnesiac continues down the same path of
experimentation and sonic exploration that Radiohead began on last year's
acclaimed
Kid A.
Amazon.co.uk
speaks exclusively to
guitarist Jonny Greenwood about the recording sessions and critical
misunderstanding.
Everything we do sounds half like what we've just
done. But we are playing loads of Neil Young in rehearsal now--"Cinnamon Girl",
and all that--with loud, loud guitars. It's great fun
RamonesThe Ramones were the most
perfectly formed group in rock history: four scruffy New Yorkers in ripped
jeans and leather jackets. Pop, distilled through three chords, the teen angst
of the Ronettes, the street-fighting attitude of 1960s punk bands and something
else: minimalism. Amazon.co.uk traces their
history in an exclusive
feature.
"Of course it all sounds the same," Dave Marsh wrote
in the New York Post. "It's supposed to."
Virginia
Rodrigues The Brazilian soul diva,
Virginia Rodrigues' extraordinary second album
Nos
takes the legacy of samba and refracts it through the looking mirror of choral
music to startling effect. Amazon.co.uk
speaks to the Bahian
songstress about her deep devotion to the Candomble religion and her feelings
about the segregation of the Bahia Carnival and Brazil.
When my mother lived in Sao Paulo, she said that
only vagabonds and domestic workers danced with the samba
schools
Roni SizeAs one of the forerunners
of the UK drum & bass scene, Roni Size & Reprazent crossed over to the
mainstream with their Mercury Prize-winning album
New
Forms. Three years on they return with
In the
Mode. Amazon.co.uk
speaks exclusively with
Roni about the return of the Bristol crew.
The mainstream don't mean anything to me, but then
nor does the underground--to me that just means the tube
Roots
ManuvaWith one of the most original sounds in UK hip-hop,
the maverick dubbed-up cuts of Roots Manuva return with
Run Come Save
Me, the follow up to the highly acclaimed
Brand New Second
Hand. Amazon.co.uk
speaks to Roots Manuva, the
UK's most idiosyncratic hip-hop star.
I listen to a lot of that dub stuff and I love the
way it tries to capture the traditional slave breakaway vibe in the music. Even
the bass and the drum are sending messages, like smoke signals
