I first heard about Arthur Russell in 1997, just after I started to research Love Saves the Day. I was interviewing Steve D'Acquisto at the time and Steve started to rave about Arthur, Arthur, Arthur and even suggested that I should write a biography about him. That's what I started to do right after Love Saves the Day went into production during 2003. I loved Arthur's mutant dance tracks yet ended up being just as beguiled by other recordings, from the shimmering voice-cello sound of World of Echo to the electronic-funk-pop posthumously released by Audika on Calling Out of Context in 2004. Steve Knutson, head of Audika, and Tom Lee, Arthur's surviving partner, made Arthur's archives available to me during my research and became hugely important facilitators; I remain indebted. Arthur's spirit lives on through his music, released and re-eleased by Audika, Soul Jazz and other labels, through Matt Wolf's lovely documentary film Wild Combination and, I sometimes like to think, through the publication of Hold On to Your Dreams. I have a significant amount of material I would like to upload to this page. It will take a while...
INTERVIEWS
I never got to interview Arthur, who passed away in 1992, 12 years before I started to research and write Hold On to Your Dreams. What a regret. I will post the small number of interviews conducted with Arthur in Articles, below, at some point in the future.
DISCOGRAPHY
Full discography from Hold On to Your Dreams. here.
ARTICLES
Bishop, Stacey. "Arthur Russell: Tower of Meaning". Sound Choice. February 1985
Fricke, David. "On the Edge". Rolling Stone, 1994.
Lawrence, Tim. “Icons: Arthur Russell”. Attitude, October 2009.
Lawrence, Tim. “Review: Wild Combination”. Journal of the Society of American Music, 2010.
Lawrence, Tim. "24 --> 24 Music". Sleeping Bag Records/Traffic Entertainment Group, 2011.
Lucas, Gary. "An Appreciation". Alternative Press, November 1994.
Sandow, Gregory. "Music for a Rainy Day". Village Voice.
LINKS
Byrne, Glass, Ginsberg on Arthur Russell, Recorded in 1994.
Frere-Jones, Sasha. "Let's Go Swimming: Arthur Russell's Gentle Revolutions". New Yorker. 8 March 2004.
Ratlif, Ben. "The Many Faces, and Grooves, of Arthur Russell". New York Times, 29 February 2004.