The Wire, Issue 88, June 1991. A pivotal issue in some ways as under the editorship of Richard Cook the magazine broadened its coverage from largely jazz-based to, as Cook put it:
"The spread of musics contained in this issue - Mozart to Costello - should give you a fair idea of what we're attempting to do. What we're not trying to be is an 'adult rock magazine': there's enough of that going on already. Nor is this the facile and cursed eclecticism which is making so much of the world's music into a flavourless soup. Instead, we aim to be ever more discriminating as well as more diverse in our coverage. None of us have the time for nonsense or the merely second-rate. You can read about that stuff elsewhere, if you want to. But if you also think that Michael Jackson is some addled freak making music for ten-year-olds, and not one of the creative masters of today's black music, we'd like to suggest a different perspective".
Contents include (see photos):
- Abdullah Ibrahim - Back to Africa, via Brian Priestley
- Michael Jackson - He's bad, but is he great? Richard Cook thinks so.
- John Coltrane - Steve Lake takes the last blow of our CD survey
- Mozart on CD - Graham Lock presents the Wire guide to budget genius
- David Byrne - From 'The Forest' to buildings on fire, with Mark Sinker
- Elvis Costello - Barney Hoskyns meets The Beloved Entertainer
This magazine is in excellent conditions but has only merited a "very good" since the pages are no longer as white as they once were (over forty years ago!). Once again, have a look at the photos.
This item will be withdrawn from sale in August 2024.