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The Latest Breaking News from Michael Putland

“They said, ‘You mean we’ve paid $12,500 for a piano player?’ My publisher said, ‘Yes, but he’s a good piano player’”: The label called it “unsellable”, the critics hated it, but this prog icon’s solo album went on to sell nearly 15 million copies

How Rick Wakeman defied the critics and his own label to make The Six Wives Of Henry VIII

Louder

“I thought no one’s gonna buy this because it’s too long. I thought our label would say, ‘Sorry boys, you’ll be hearing from our lawyers’”: How Genesis wrote one of prog’s wildest epics –with help from a rumoured exorcism

Genesis’ mad 1972 epic is up there with Stairway To Heaven and Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Louder

“Ritchie Blackmore was playing licks to sound check. Andy started answering him. Their conversation with guitars was enough to impress Ritchie”: Ted Turner on eating biscuits with John Lennon and how Deep Purple gave Wishbone Ash their big break

The Les Paul slinger shares the secret behind his twin-guitar sound with Andy Powell, why he quit the band not once but twice, and working as a session player on John Lennon’s Imagine

Guitar World

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read the most diverse news in one place.

“Flying model planes and covering the phone with a pillow was all I was capable of at the time”: The unexpected triumph of Mike Oldfield’s Hergest Ridge, an album he didn’t want to make

Overwhelmed by the success of Tubular Bells, he found peace in a solitary house on a hill and in playing ancient music in an old mansion. Even when his peace was shattered, he managed to create an uplifting and chart-topping record

Louder

“The minute you put a microphone right up against the skin of a drum you've got a problem because it doesn't sound like it's supposed to”: How the rules of drum recording were shaped over decades of trial and error

A history of those who figured out the best ways of capturing a live drum kit in the studio

MusicRadar

“Mick told Freddie Mercury who he was. As Mick walked away, Freddie shouted: ‘We’ll be bigger than you one day’”: The epic story of Sweet, the 70s glam icons who burned bright and refused to fade away

Sweet were one of the original 70s glam bands – and more than 50 years later, guitarist Andy Scott is keeping the flag flying

Louder

"The only way I could approach this was making it up as I went along": Eric Bell on the controversial recording of Thin Lizzy's "new" album The Acoustic Sessions

Guitarist Eric Bell and producer Richard Whittaker tell us about Thin Lizzy's acoustic album, grass-addled sessions and why this project definitely isn’t AI

Louder

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“The Boys Are Back in Town is at least as memorable for its guitar breaks as for its chorus”: Thin Lizzy inspired Metallica, Iron Maiden, and the Cure, practically invented twin lead guitar, and have had 15 guitarists. Here’s your guide to all of them

Thin Lizzy are tough enough for punks, heavy enough for metalheads, poetic enough for romantics – and their catchy riffs and licks have been played by some of the finest guitarists on earth

Guitar World

“It’s like Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. We can’t live with each other and we can’t live without each other”: the tangled history of Rick Wakeman and Yes

Keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman’s history with Yes goes back to the early 70s – but there have been plenty of bumps along the way

Louder

“There was a crunching noise, as the plane hit the tarmac, and the propellers and engines flew off, along with the odd bit of wing”: the epic life and mad musical journey of Rick Wakeman, keyboard wizard and Knight Templar

The epic life and mad musical journey of Rick Wakeman, keyboard wizard and Knight Templar

Louder

10 legendary blues guitars, from Lucille to Lucy and the ‘Loch Ness Monster of Les Pauls’ – a priceless Gibson that has been missing for more than 50 years

Named and famed! Behind every great blues player is a great guitar, and they don’t come more iconic than this...

Guitar World

"If you absolutely hated Stairway to Heaven, nobody can blame you for that because it was so… pompous": The glory and burden of Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven, over half a century on

In early 1970 Jimmy Page had a concept for an epic song that “would unravel in layers as it progressed”. More than five decades on, Stairway To Heaven still has a hold on its writers and the world

MusicRadar

“I’ve had all of the great guitarists in the world say to me, ‘Pete, you’re not in the top 10 for virtuosity, but you’re certainly No. 1 as an acoustic rhythm player’”: Pete Townshend on Who’s Next, Lifehouse, and fun times with Superstrats

In this brand-new interview, the Who mastermind looks back on Who's Next, the grand designs of Lifehouse, and why he is still having fun on the guitar thanks in no small part to Charvel and Jackson

Guitar World

“Eric Clapton played with a stately authority. It’s missing in guitar today. It seems every great player has to play very fast. It can be distasteful, honestly”: Scott Holiday says Slowhand’s slow hand is still the gold standard for expressive playing

Clapton remains an ever-present force in the Rival Sons star’s own sound – here’s why Holiday views his hero as one of the most influential guitarists of all time

Guitar World

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Louder

"We'd sit surrounded by amps. The magic just flowed. It gave you goose-pimples": How Status Quo made Hello! and turned into Britain's hottest band of 1973

Sometimes, a band works on an album and everything clicks. For Status Quo, their 1973 No.1 Hello! was just such an album. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t problems

MusicRadar

“To play music, you have to understand it. I didn’t understand Topographic Oceans. That’s why I hardly played on it": Rick Wakeman and Yes - firings, hirings, curry, catastrophe and chaos

Best of 2023: When Vangelis nearly joined Yes and other tales from topographic oceans…

MusicRadar

“To play music, you have to understand it. I didn’t understand Topographic Oceans. That’s why I hardly played on it": Rick Wakeman and Yes - firings, hirings, curry, catastrophe and chaos

When Vangelis nearly joined Yes and other tales from topographic oceans…

Guitar World

Jeff Beck’s 10 most iconic guitars

From the Oxblood Les Paul and the Strat we all know and love to Beck's lesser-spotted favorites, here are the greatest hits from one of guitar's finest collections

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The Guardian - UK

Contort yourself! The mutant disco mayhem of New York’s Ze Records

Disgusted with Britain’s ‘cruel’ aristocracy, Michael Zilkha left to champion a generation of party-starting punk-funk bands. As he returns as a book publisher, he remembers that wild scene

Louder

"He was selling guitars to raise ready cash to buy dope": The real story of the show that brought Eric Clapton back from the brink

By mid-1971 Eric Clapton was a recluse with a heroin habit, until friends including Pete Townshend and George Harrison intervened to save his life

Evening Standard

Best last minute Christmas gifts

With last delivery on December 22 or 23

The Guardian - UK

Depeche Mode’s Andrew Fletcher dies aged 60

Pioneering British electronic band confirm his death on social media, saying ‘Fletch had a true heart of gold’

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