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by Ian Ravendale       Bob Smeaton is probably the UK's (and maybe the world's) most successful director of music documentaries.     He started in 1995 as Series Director and writer on The Beatles Anthology, still music's most-watched documentary series and has gone on to work with many major acts including The Who, Queen, The Doors, Elton John, Pink Floyd and The Spice Girls.   A comprehensive list of Smeaton's documentaries can be found at bobsmeaton.co.uk         Bob Smeaton       Prior to this Bob was lead singer for White Heat, Newcastle's biggest band of the late 70's and early...

      If any music journalist can be described as legendary it's John Tobler. He was a major force behind Zig Zag, the UK's first rock music magazine that he became involved with in 1969 at the invitation of Zig Zag founder Pete Frame.     Writing in the January 2012 issue of the late, lamented Word magazine Frame describes John's role in the Zig Zag story:      "Without his momentum and mad-arsed enthusiasm the magazine would have been toast; no one was ever more crucial to its survival."        Moving on from Zig Zag after a spell as...

          Jimmy McKenna admits that he is old enough to know better and has been absorbed by music since 1955.           For 15 minutes in 1977 he was ‘Big in Hartlepool’ with his then group DisGuise and still writes and records songs for a limited but discerning audience.           His interest in other North East music has latterly led him to become involved in the VainGloriousUK youtube channel.   _________________________________________________________________________   Do You Remember The First Time? (First vinyl bought or earliest memory of vinyl) Cliff Richard and The Shadows - The Young Ones             1961 - This...

Vinyl fetishist, singer by trade.   @paulsmithmusic paulsmithmusic.eu maximopark.com   For a chance to win Maxïmo Park's "Random Regrets / On the Sly" on red 7" vinyl (a Record Store Day 2014 exclusive, limited to 500 copies) and signed by Paul Smith post a comment with your answer to Paul's question at the end of the article.   ____________________________________________________________________________________________________   Do You Remember The First Time? (First vinyl bought or earliest memory of vinyl) The Point - Nilsson Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads             Parent's collection = early days. Lived “The Point” by Nilsson. Bought “Stop Making Sense”...

Bob Sargeant is a Tyneside-based musician (keyboards/guitars/vocals) who played with The Junco Partners, Mick Abrahams and Al Stewart and then moved on to produce live sessions for John Peel’ s Radio 1 show Top Gear. He then became an independent record producer, scoring dozens of world-wide hits including a US no.1 with the band Breathe and a Norwegian no. 1 with The Monroes alongside Top Three UK albums for The Beat and Haircut 100.   Do you remember the first time? (first record): King Creole - Elvis Presley   First 45 rpm record I bought. Played it on me mum’s...