Latest articles by Paul Lester
Deep Purple - InFinite album review
Follow-up to 2013’s Now What?! from the last original hard rock behemoths standing.
Timothy B Schmit: “I knew what my place was in the Eagles. I had to fit in.”
Even with helping keep the peace in the Eagles and working for hard taskmasters, he’s lived “a charmed life”
Frogs, wizards and lots of drugs: Welcome to the weird world of the Flaming Lips
Inspired by everything from Clockwork Orange to drug-fuelled psycho parties, welcome to the wild and wonderful world of The Flaming Lips. Wayne Coyne takes us down into the rabbit hole
A question of balance: Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen's Blackfield is back
The collaboration between Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen looked like it was over in 2014 when Wilson announced he was leaving it behind. But now, Blackfield are back with album number five...
Spratleys Japs live review - The Lexington, London
Not yet ratedTim Smith's Spratleys Japs and Guapo team up for a Cardiacs friendly
Julie's Haircut - Invocation And Ritual Dance Of My Demon Twin album review
Not yet ratedSeventh album from Italian kraut-proggers in operation since the 90s.
Mike Oldfield - Return To Ommadawn album review
Not yet ratedReturning to the place that’s a “state of mind” as much as a musical concept, this work of quiet intensity mirrors the creator’s personal tumult
Rick Wakeman: "If I'd started on the drug thing, I would've killed myself"
Rick Wakeman on Thatcher, Castro, never taking drugs, being Grandpa Grumpy and still doing what he loves
The Answer / Dead Daisies live review - Electric Ballroom, London
Not yet ratedTwo sides of the rock’n’roll coin tossed together: the adventurous and experimental versus the traditional and unreconstructed
Mike Oldfield talks Tubular Bells, the dark side and getting his mojo back
“I’ve seen life’s dark side,” says the polymath as he returns to ’75 album Ommadawn to channel his emotional fallout
Panic Room, live in London review
Not yet ratedTwo sets for the price of one from Panic Room in London
Introducing Firefly Burning: Experimental folk rock with an edge
Introducing the avant-garde North London quintet
Phil Collins - The Singles Collection album review
Three CDs and 45 tracks – all hits, somewhere on earth
Queen - On Air album review
The Complete BBC Radio Sessions, in two-CD, three-LP and six-CD formats
Faith No More's Billy Gould: "Pissing people off is fun"
Faith No More’s bassist talks Satanic sexual practices, coming out, bad-mouthing GN’R and being freaked out by Bowie
The Enid live in Tring - review
The Enid head to Tring to soldier on without creative mastermind Robert John Godfrey
Outer Limits: How Prog are North Sea Radio Orchestra?
They’re the collective specialising in alternative chamber music with plenty of twists and have been compared to the late great Frank Zappa. But how prog are North Sea Radio Orchestra?
Sand's Sam Healy: "There are no facts when you’re listening to music"
Sam Healy has not one but two outlets for his proggy musical ideas: North Atlantic Oscillation, and solo venture Sand. And they both have albums out now...
Emerson Lake & Palmer - Reissues album review
Not yet ratedFourth, fifth and sixth albums in the ELP reissue program
Wayne Hussey: "I spent all my money on birds, booze, drugs and guitars"
The Mission frontman Wayne Hussey answers our heavy questions for heavy rockers
Steve Hillage - Searching For The Spark album review
A box set of 22 CDs, plus extras, from the 70s prog rocker turned 90s dance alchemist
The Story Behind The Song: New Rose by The Damned
Birthed in London’s pubs, rehearsal dives and dole queues, this timeless track captured the turbulent spirit of the 70s and was Britain’s first punk single
