Russell Leadbetter

Glasgow

Nostalgia Writer at The Herald (Scotland)

Writing about nostalgia and music for @heraldscotland

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Articles

Jim Prime, widely admired keyboard lynchpin of Deacon Blue

1 week ago | heraldscotland.com | Russell Leadbetter

Died: June 19, 2025. WHEN Ricky Ross was putting his band Deacon Blue together in 1986, he heard of a talented keyboard player named Jim Prime. He rang Prime’s number but a woman who answered told him that he had picked a bad time. At length, a breathless Prime picked up the receiver and told Ross that he had gone into the street to “stop a guy beating up his wife” in a domestic argument. As Ross wrote in 2022, “the strangeness of the conversation set the scene for the next thirty-five years”.
'Paul Buchanan’s singing actually reminds me of Miles Davis’s trumpet playing'

1 week ago | heraldscotland.com | Russell Leadbetter

Colin Steele Quartet - The Blue Nile: Jazz Interpretations of the Blue Nile Songbook is released this week The bewitching songs of the Blue Nile have been covered, over the years, by a wide spectrum of artists.
Filth and fury: Memories of the '76 Sex Pistols Glasgow gig that never was

1 week ago | heraldscotland.com | Russell Leadbetter

NEARLY half a century on, it’s difficult to recall the sense of moral outrage and tabloid anger that surrounded the Sex Pistols in 1976 and 1977. It was real enough at the time, however. The punk rock group fronted by Johnny Rotten had been playing gigs since November of 1975, stirring interest among fans and critics alike.
Tribute: The genius of Brian Wilson and a lifetime of Good Vibrations

2 weeks ago | heraldscotland.com | Russell Leadbetter

Brian Wilson told the story of how Don Henley once came backstage after a concert. The Eagles co-founder arrived clutching his copy of Pet Sounds, the Beach Boys’ classic 1966 album, and told Wilson how much their music had inspired him when he was younger.
‘It completely blew my mind’: imperishable memories of first live-music gigs

2 weeks ago | heraldscotland.com | Russell Leadbetter

It’s an interesting thread, one sparked by Rebus author Ian Rankin recollecting that the first concert he ever saw was by Barclay James Harvest, the progressive rock group. Writing the foreword to Edinburgh’s Greatest Hits: A Celebration of the Capital’s Music History (2022), Rankin says: “They say you always remember your first time. For me, that means Barclay James Harvest at the Usher Hall. “I was sixteen and didn’t even own one of their albums.
'Thrilling and exhilarating': Scottish debut album from 1990 sparkles

3 weeks ago | heraldscotland.com | Russell Leadbetter

It disclosed that a new remaster of The Same Sky, the much-lauded 1990 debut album by the band to which she gave her name, was in the hands of Seabass Vinyl, a vinyl pressing plant in East Lothian. Horse hopes to have copies by June 21, ahead of the launch that night of The Same Sky 35 tour, which kicks off at Paisley Arts Centre.
Review: Springsteen entranced us all with songs of beauty and unfeigned compassion

3 weeks ago | heraldscotland.com | Russell Leadbetter

Bruce Springsteen (Image: DD_PHOTOS) Bruce Springsteen Anfield, Liverpool Five or six songs into the set, a friend’s Apple Watch alerted him that the sound levels had reached 100db. To which the only meaningful response was: yes, it’s loud, but it’s not often we get the chance to see Bruce Springsteen live on stage, so the risk of hearing damage somehow seems worth it. This was an extraordinary show at Anfield stadium, home of Liverpool FC.
Farewell tour? As Bruce Springsteen says, he 'ain't going anywhere'

3 weeks ago | heraldscotland.com | Russell Leadbetter

IT'S a question that has been asked by anyone who's ever seen Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band power their way through a high-energy, three-hour-long set: how do they do it, night after night? It's not, after all, as if they're still in the first flush of youth. Springsteen himself is 75; guitarist Steven Van Zandt is 74, as is the powerhouse drummer Max Weinberg. Keyboard player Roy Bittan is the same age as Springsteen. Guitarist Nils Lofgren is 73.
The brilliant Scot who blew the door of the psychedelic revolution wide open

4 weeks ago | heraldscotland.com | Russell Leadbetter

Over the decades, Scottish musicians have made many classic, cult or under-appreciated albums that have stood the test of time. Today, we look back at Sunshine Superman, the third album by Donovan. TO read Donovan’s colourful autobiography, The Hurdy Gurdy Man, is to be reminded of his remarkable ubiquity in the latter half of the Sixties.
Adulation, flowers and spittle: remembering the Smiths' Eighties gigs in Scotland

1 month ago | heraldscotland.com | Russell Leadbetter

The band played 18 Scottish gigs between 1983 and 1986 – five in Glasgow (three of them at the Barrowland Ballroom) and the rest in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness, Dundee, Irvine and Lerwick. Their first Scottish concert was at Night Moves, in Sauchiehall Street, in June 1983, just as Margaret Thatcher was celebrating her second general election triumph.