This month, a specially extended Track Record looks at the making of two very different albums with one thing in common. The Stones' Dirty Work and Joe Jacksons' Big World were both recorded live

grotesque gossip and more

The whole music industry sliced into Twiglets

How to cunningly arrange those three chord tricks we taught you.

Go straight to this page if you like a good gossip.

Pop Videos? Pap Videos!

Let fury have the hour

The sort of thing you'll turn to first: lies, gossip, tittle-tattle, rumours, humous...

Goes Chrimbo Crazy

A special seasonal waft of your favourite news and gossip column, this time drifting through the whole magazine and including mini-interviews with the likes of China Crisis and jokes from the likes of us. The fun starts here.

Really Big Men

The band tipped to make it BIG in '88. Tim Goodyer talks to a DJ/keyboard player with a unique place in rock 'n' roll and a singer/guitarist who's going to make Madonna and Lita Ford look like Dot Cotton and Hilda Ogden.

Peter Cunnah of D:REAM fills out our questionnaire

Greater reliance on hi-tech instruments in the studio means there's more demand for people able to programme them. Paul Gilby spoke first to Karin Clayton about her recently formed agency that supplies programmers for studio sessions, and then to Fairlight programmer Simon Lloyd about his work.

Dave Ward enthuses over this very useful aid to multitrack control.

Jay Chapman delves deep into the murky waters of MIDI's often ignored Mono Mode in pursuit of multi-timbral expression!

sample city

You can always get more out of your equipment if you know more about it. David Mellor begins a new series that explores the innermost workings of various studio devices. This month: the Tape Recorder.

who does it where to whom and with what

Bass Sounds

Details of a new German computer musical instrument, MIDI software for the Apple Macintosh, and Passport's latest Commodore 64 music packages.

Chipping Norton Recording Studios

Chipping Norton Studios.

By way of introduction to better coverage of recording studios and the technology within them, we look at the current state of the recording art and report from London's recent APRS studio show.

The Nightcatchers

First of an occasional series on the twilight zone between recording first demos and collecting that first gold disc. Birmingham's Nightcatchers talk to Tim Goodyer about tight budgets and big-name producers.

Computer synth rental

The Big Dream

Tony Reed takes the high road to Kilburn