Blimey, Grifters! If I remember right, Lime Lizard had an amazingly glossy cover. What were the other monthlies of that era? I got Underground for a while (and I remember Peel being a bit sniffy about the name).
Mojo started then and actually seemed innovative - no one else was doing the deep trawl through the past (except for some of the record collector mags like Goldmine). and it had a really unusual and cool design in is early days. There was also Vox, which was IPC's attempt to rival both Mojo and Select. Then you had the dance monthlies - Mixmag and Muzik, with its garish photoshopped hyper-real looking covers.
Lime Lizard evolved into the Lizard - well, really the best writers and the editor Nick Terry left to do their own thing (or was it that Lime Lizard closed down?) and felt they wanted to keep the daft name in some way - hence the Lizard. it wasn't a monthly but it ran for six issues and it was really great - thinkpieces, really deep interviews, acerbic reviews. Woebot actual did some early writing for it I believe, and you had some Maker types contributing (Kulkarni, myself) and other people who would later work for the Wire and become known one way or another also debuted in its pages. But then there was an ideological-personal schism between the four editors (two couples, also - fatal!) and the whole thing went up the shitter. Great shame.
oh and taking the cover-mounted cassette idea to the next dimension there was Volume (i think that's the name) which was essentially a CD compilation with a glossy mini-book of features about the acts compiled. That branched off with Trance-based editions (Trance Europe Express was one i think) and then at least one called Breakbeat Science that was you guessed it devoted to drum and bass. One of the dudes behind Volume - Rob Deacon, RIP - had in the late Eighties done the magazine Abstract: similar concept, a vinyl compilation plus a glossy magazine.
I do remember Volume - I had one of the vinyl issues that they put out, had a great track by Laika ('Lower Than the Stars'). Gone in one of the great purges :(
I'm hoping and praying that I've got at lest one copy of Lime Lizard up in the loft, and maybe a copy of Underground which is impossible to find pics of online.
select of course. i still have a few copies.
ReplyDeleteMojo started then and actually seemed innovative - no one else was doing the deep trawl through the past (except for some of the record collector mags like Goldmine). and it had a really unusual and cool design in is early days. There was also Vox, which was IPC's attempt to rival both Mojo and Select. Then you had the dance monthlies - Mixmag and Muzik, with its garish photoshopped hyper-real looking covers.
ReplyDeleteLime Lizard evolved into the Lizard - well, really the best writers and the editor Nick Terry left to do their own thing (or was it that Lime Lizard closed down?) and felt they wanted to keep the daft name in some way - hence the Lizard. it wasn't a monthly but it ran for six issues and it was really great - thinkpieces, really deep interviews, acerbic reviews. Woebot actual did some early writing for it I believe, and you had some Maker types contributing (Kulkarni, myself) and other people who would later work for the Wire and become known one way or another also debuted in its pages. But then there was an ideological-personal schism between the four editors (two couples, also - fatal!) and the whole thing went up the shitter. Great shame.
ReplyDeleteoh and taking the cover-mounted cassette idea to the next dimension there was Volume (i think that's the name) which was essentially a CD compilation with a glossy mini-book of features about the acts compiled. That branched off with Trance-based editions (Trance Europe Express was one i think) and then at least one called Breakbeat Science that was you guessed it devoted to drum and bass. One of the dudes behind Volume - Rob Deacon, RIP - had in the late Eighties done the magazine Abstract: similar concept, a vinyl compilation plus a glossy magazine.
ReplyDeleteExcellent, thanks Steve and Simon.
ReplyDeleteI do remember Volume - I had one of the vinyl issues that they put out, had a great track by Laika ('Lower Than the Stars'). Gone in one of the great purges :(
I'm hoping and praying that I've got at lest one copy of Lime Lizard up in the loft, and maybe a copy of Underground which is impossible to find pics of online.