Rock's Backpages

For this episode we're joined by veteran music scribe and A&R man Mitchell Cohen to discuss his long career and his brand-new book.

We start in the Bronx of Mitchell's youth and hear about the impact on him of local hero Dion DiMucci. From there we take the D train down to mid-'60s Greenwich Village and relive our guest's discovery of the scene he chronicles in Wake Me, Shake: New York City, the '60s & the Pop-Rock Youthquake.

After celebrating the beloved Lovin' Spoonful we turn our attention to their fellow Village denizens the Blues Project, listening to clips from Sam Williams' 2022 phone interview with Project/Blood, Sweat & Tears alumnus Steve Katz.

En passant we also touch on Laura Nyro, Shadow Morton and other New Yorkers who opted not to join the '60s exodus to California. Mitchell then talks about the years he spent at Arista Records – the subject of his first book and the label to which, in 1989, he signed Dion.

The heartbreaking death of Dolly Parton demanded we pay tribute to the life and art of that extraordinary woman. Having written a beautiful piece about "America's sweetheart" back in 2019, our guest is perfectly placed to explain her unique appeal.

Finally, Jasper and William talk us out with their thoughts on newly-added library pieces about Betty Davis, Kelis, Trent Reznor and Sleep Token.

Many thanks to special guest Mitchell Cohen. Wake Me, Shake Me: New York City, the '60S and the Pop-Rock Youthquake is published by Trouser Press and available now.

Pieces discussed: Shall We Dance? Shadow and the Shangs: a teenage melodrama, David Johansen: Position Of A Vagabond Missionary, Steve Katz audio (2022), How Dolly Parton Became America's Sweetheart, Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton: Confessions of a Power Crazed Wig-Model, Dolly Parton: American Idol, New York Report: Betty Davis, Kelis: AfroPunk, Trent Reznor: The Great Dictator and Sleep Token.

In this episode, we invite the marvellous Brian Cullman to join us onscreen from a French farmhouse in the Dordogne.

The author of How to Prepare for the Past talks us through his fascinating "travels in music and time" from New York City to North Africa via his writing for Crawdaddy, Musician and The Paris Review.

Beginning with his boyhood in midtown Manhattan, Brian recalls his ecstatic discovery of pop radio and WBAI's Bob Fass; his befriending of the late Lillian Roxon; and his teenage immersion in the Max's Kansas City scene.

The core of our conversation concerns the period our guest spent in early '70s London, where he fell in with rising folk-rock luminaries Sandy Denny and John & Beverley Martyn and hung out with an all-but-unknown Nick Drake. We hear clips from a 1982 audio interview with Martyn by Brian's Musician colleague John Hutchinson.

We jump to the end of the decade as our guest recalls his friendship with R&B legend Big Joe Turner and discusses his dual experience of being a music writer and a performing singer-songwriter.

After William quotes from newly-added library pieces by Derek Taylor (1968) and about Amy Winehouse (2004), Barney harks back to a Village Voice report on "Papa John" Phillips on Broadway (1975) and a Madonna profile by recent RBP recruit Barry Walters (2017).How to Prepare For The Past: Travels In Music and Time is published by ZE Books and available now.

Pieces discussed: Derek & the Dominos: Marquee Club, London, The Amazing James Booker, Emerald Sapphire and Gold, John Martyn audio, Top Tunes: Martha and the Vandellas, Martha Reeves Goes Solo, Martha Reeves: Martha's Happier Than Ever Before, L.A.: Where It's At, Amy Winehouse: Hip Hop's Jane Austen?, John Phillips on the Great White Way and Madonna's Erotica, Sex: Why Musical Masterpiece, Defiant Book Still Matter.

In this episode we're joined by special guest Tim Page to trace the arc of his career from reviewing James Chance & the Contortions to winning the Pulitzer Prize.

In a conversation that's as entertaining as it is erudite, Tim recalls his teenage discovery of Rolling Stone and the subsequent influence of rock criticism on his singular brand of classical music reviewing. After touching on the 1967 documentary A Day with Timmy Page, we hear about his journey as a critic from New York Rocker to the Washington Post via the New York Times.

With reference to the 2002 collection Tim Page on Music, our guest reflects on his affection for Sean O'Hagan's High Llamas and Stephin Merritt's Magnetic Fields. Merritt and his electro-pop offshoot Future Bible Heroes are then heard in clips from an audio interview by the late Andy Gill. From there we turn to another of Tim's great passions – the tragic and long-neglected Judee Sill – and pay collective tribute to what he calls her "extraordinary gifts".

After William quotes from newly-added library interviews with Janis Joplin (1970) and Ozzy Osbourne (2001), Jasper talks us out with his thoughts on pieces about country singer Tom T. Hall (1973) and Dallas Austin's Highland Place Mobsters (2014).

Many thanks to special guest Tim Page.

Pieces discussed: The Contortions + James White & the Blacks, Minimalism: Hey, DJ, The Everlasting Forever Of Arthur Lee, Future Bible Heroes audio (2002), Judee Sill: Lunch And Judee, Judee Sill: Heart Food, Judee Sill: A Brief Life, an Enduring Musical Impression, Miss Janis — Texas White Queen Of Rock, Ozzy Osbourne, Tom T. Hall and Make It Funky: The Rise & Fall of the Highland Place Mobsters.

In this episode we invite the pioneering Geoffrey Cannon to reminisce about his stint as The Guardian's rock critic between 1968 and 1972.

Commencing with the pop baptism of his first hearing Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers in a Horsham record booth in 1956, our guest talks us through his early work for New Society and The Listener — including his prescient reviews of albums by the Velvet Underground and the Mothers of Invention. He also explains how the 1969 Granada film Johnny Cash at San Quentin came about.

Geoffrey then recounts how he pitched a weekly rock column to Guardian editor Peter Preston, and how he sustained it from late 1968 until 1972 while simultaneously editing the Radio Times.

Clips from the late Pete Makowski's 2008 audio interview with Jack Bruce give us a chance to discuss the origins of Cream, and how the relative innocence of the '60s collapsed into the druggy decadence of the '70s.

The conversation with Geoffrey concludes with our guest's post-rock adventures in writing about health and nutrition, plus his 2000 uprooting to Brazil and subsequent love of singers such as Belchior and Caetano Veloso.

Finally, William and Jasper talk us out with their thoughts on articles about Ornette Coleman (1969), Plastic Bertrand (1978), Jools Holland (2004) and James Blake (2025).

Many thanks to special guest Geoffrey Cannon.

Pieces discussed: Pop Music Democratised, Mother's Rites: Freak Out/Absolutely Free, Aesthetics of Outrage, Johnny Cash at San Quentin was my idea, Jack Bruce audio, Plastic Bertrand, Jools Holland, Second opinion: Ornette Coleman and James Blake is taking on TikTok, Live Nation and 'Free Music'.

Acclaimed author Simon Reynolds joins us in Hammersmith to discuss his latest book. A journey through the many bands and scenes he wrote about between 1984 and 1994, Still in a Dream gives us a chance to ask our guest about shoegaze, C86 and the book's autobiographical threads.

Clips from an early 2000 Jay-Z audio interview by Dorian Lynskey prompt a general discussion of the hip hop superstar whose debut album Reasonable Doubt turns 30 this week.

Jasper and William then wrap up the episode with their highlights among new additions to the RBP library, including pieces about LL Cool J (1986), Rick Rubin (2009) and Randy Newman's priceless song about Vladimir Putin (2017).

Many thanks to special guest Simon Reynolds. Still In a Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers and the Reinvention of Rock, 1984–1994 is published by Hachette and available now.

Pieces discussed: Younger Than Yesterday, The Butthole Surfers: Deeper & Down, "Dream-Pop" Bands Define the Times in Britain, Jay-Z audio, Jay-Z: The Blueprint (Roc-A-Fella), Oscar Peterson Trio: Assembly Hall, Worthing, LL Cool J: He Has Seen Rap 'n' Roll Future, Rick Rubin and Randy Newman: And You Thought 'Short People' Was Controversial?.