2007 Magazine of the Week #7

Better late than never, here's what should have been last week's Magazine of the Week.










Its the February/March 1977 issue of TROUSER PRESS, "America's Only British Rock Magazine". According to the writing at the top of the cover, it arrived in-store exactly 30 years ago today.

The cover story is on DAVID BOWIE, "The Man Who Fell From Grace", by JOHN WALKER.

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There's an excellent interview with JOHN ENTWISTLE. Here are some excerpts:

TP: You are working on a cartoon book. How is it progressing?

JE: Well, according to the Inland Revenue, I am supposed to be drawing it on this tour, you see, so its going very well. I'm drawing [looks up, rolls eyes] an awful lot.

TP: Will it be released in this country as well as England?

JE: Oh yeah, I should imagine roughly the same time as the next WHO album. We will try to get it out then.

TP: What are the contents?

JE: It starts off with some imaginary ancestors of the band's members. Each ancestor has a little bit of the character of one of the group. I have about four ancestors for each one of us. Completely imaginary, of course. They have nothing to do with our real ancestors. The names have been changed to protect the guilty. Then it goes into the history of The Who, written from my point of view; from when I first started playing going all the way through to when I met the rest of the band.

They also discuss John's solo albums, and John had this to say about his 1975 solo tour:

"Well, it cost me quite a bit; I lost about $70,000. But it was worthwhile to me. It gave me a sense of self-confidence. I had to make the announcements, play the lead, and sing. I learned a lot about my voice and its capabilities. So if I had to do it over, I probably would. There were problems in the way of a slight conflict between myself and my lead gutarist [Robert Johnson]. I hate the guy; I'll never play with him again. But all in all I learned a lot. To head off your next question, there are no immediate plans for another tour, but it's on my mind."

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There's an article on "The British New Wave", plus "America Underground", and a bunch of record reviews, including STEVE HILLAGE, DENNY LAINE, and BLONDIE.

Click images to enlarge.