Still obsessed by the music of yesteryear? So were John Lennon and Paul McCartney when they formed The Beatles. They went on to legends themselves, of course, but in this edition of Vintage Rock, we revisit the days when they themselves revisited their own youth – and the making of John Lennon’s Rock’n’Roll and Paul McCartney’s Run Devil Run LPs. The seeming inevitability and inspiration of these two albums may have been shared, though the results – and methods! – certainly differed. Read how Lennon and McCartney got on, in two of the strangest records of their careers.
It’s great to see just one of those early Lennon and McCartney inspirations, Charlie Gracie, still out there playing his rock’n’roll to a huge fanbase and we’re also delighted to meet with him once again. Gracie is himself baffled as to why the once-teen Paul McCartney still cares about his early records, but that’s all part of the charming story.
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Elsewhere in a packed issue, we mark the 80th anniversary of the original rock’n’roll biker hangout, The Ace Cafe, we look back at the quick-changing world of 1950s record shops – “We’ll never sell Elvis Presley records!”; we salute the gig where Harry Webb suddenly became Cliff Richard; plus, we celebrate the remarkable year the Everly Brothers had in 1958… one of their biggest years, but also one of their strangest.
On top of that, we praise “godmother of rock’n’roll” Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Rusti Steel picks his favourite records, we rundown Lieber and Stollers’ 20 Best Songs and find out how Link Wray is still a go-to hero for a new generation of maverick guitar slingers. Vintage Rock 35 is on sale NOW!
