Barry Took, eat your heart out

Hubbub from the hub of the biz

Boots No 7 or Fairlight Series 3? Tony Reed trades fashion tips with the Duran and Arcadia ivory-tinkler

Ricky Gordon gets to grips with Mind men Burchill and McNeil. Strings and keys - simplicity!

Billy Punter puts out feelers in the Fulham Road — and finds Busker Music.

Our first lady of song sorts out your traumas

The Pogues, Paul Henderson, and probably a lot of Guinness

Phil 'D.I.Y.. YI. Like you verry much' Walsh with another handful of handy hints

Tony Mills on the latest software for two 'pro' micros — the IBM PC, and the increasingly wonderful Atari ST

Getting a deal is one thing — bringing out your own disc, from demo to finished product — is something else. Tony Mills lays it on the line...

Shake, rattle and howl: The Cramps are back with a bang. Facing them, with nary a whimper: Tony Reed

Tony Horkins confesses a closet liking for the king of Canadian A.O.R. Let the kids rock...

Premier take the plunge with their first electronic kit. Bob Henrit goes in at the deep end

Richard Walmsley on the State of the Joanna

As featured on Tomorrows World — a rubber bass! No, no really — well, a rubber-stringed bass, anyway. Dave Burrluck finds out it isn't such a daft idea after all.

Bob Henrit takes on the World; Pearl's new mid-range five-piece acoustic kit

The Armoury Show's Russell Webb lends an ear to Celestion's new computer-aided Sidewinders, cheap speakers with a high-class sound

Trace Elliot surprise everyone by bringing out an amp-cab set up smallerthan the average semidetached. Martin Brassel moves in fora closer look

The widest variety of sampled voices for the least money vet — Tony Reed tries out Roland's latest MIDI drum box

Is it a vocoder? Is it a harmoniser? It's both — and a bit more, besides, as Jim Betteridge finds out.

More dispatches from the music wars