FEATURES

Essays, opinions & rankings

RANKING

Paul Simon's 10 greatest solo albums, reviewed and ranked!

In the 14 studio albums Paul Simon has released since the end of Simon & Garfunkel, the singer-songwriter has been on an extraordinary creative journey.

by David Rea

3 April 2026

ESSAY

‘Outside is America’: Was U2’s biggest failure one of music’s great Icarus moments, or the sound of a band blazing their own trail?

U2’s Rattle and Hum was one of the most savagely mauled albums of the 1980s. But for David Rea, aged fifteen in the year of its release, it was an exhilarating widescreen road movie through America.

7 March 2026

ESSAY

‘Please Please Me’: How the Beatles sang about sex and got away with it

The Beatles could only break America by conforming to its prudish sexual attitudes. But did Lennon and McCartney have the last laugh?

By David Rea

28 February 2026

RANKING

Bob Dylan's greatest love songs, ranked!

Bob Dylan's name is rarely mentioned in the pantheon of the greatest writers of love songs. But our list of his best makes the case he should be.

By David Rea

28 February 2026

A STATE OF SOUND EXCLUSIVE

‘An outpouring of love’: The micro record labels fighting back against AI

As streaming and major labels threaten to push out human creativity, a small band of micro record labels are fighting back, channelling the DIY ethos of punk

by David Rea

24 January 2026

1980s

Live Aid at 40: The story of a punk, a prime minister and a Britain now vanished (Part 2)

The extraordinary story of Live Aid recalls a very different Britain, which came together to help a faraway African nation. It is difficult to imagine the same thing happening today.

by David Rea

27 December 2025

A young man with long hair, wearing a denim shirt and black pants, holding his head and looking down, standing near a white grand piano in a black-and-white photo. Several people are seen sitting and standing in the background, some smiling and engaging with the young man.

FEATURE

Live Aid at 40: The story of a punk, a prime minister and a Britain now vanished (Part 1)

The extraordinary story of Live Aid recalls a very different Britain, which came together to help a faraway African nation. It is difficult to imagine the same thing happening today.

by David Rea

20 December 2025

View from behind a drummer during a concert, with a large crowd in the background.

RANKING

Best albums of 2025

Including the genres Americana, Britpop, singer-songwriter and R&B, and circling the globe from Australia to the Isle of Wight, here is State of Sound’s top 10 albums of 2025.

by David Rea

13 December 2025

Album cover for Jason Isbell's 'Foxes in the Snow' featuring a wooden house with a shingled roof and multiple windows, lit to show shadows.

BOB DYLAN

DYLAN AT THE CROSSROADS: How Bob Dylan's first single almost changed everything

Dylan's latest Bootleg Series instalment, Through the Open Window, traces his arc from teenage rock 'n' roller to folk star. But had his first single ‘Mixed-Up Confusion’ been a hit, things could have been very different. David Rea tells the story of what might have been.

by David Rea

22 November 2025

Black and white close-up portrait of a young man with short, slightly messy hair, looking slightly upward with a serious expression.

ESSAY

‘The Sixties are our heritage’: How the Jam invented Britpop’s ethos

Critics couldn't take the Jam seriously at first, claiming they were just a bunch of gimmicks. But their ‘hail your heroes’ ethos was entirely authentic, setting the blueprint for Britpop two decades later.

by David Rea

20 September 2025

Three men sitting at a yellow table in a retro-style diner, drinking coffee, with a potted plant on the window behind them.

NICK DRAKE

THE REMAKING OF NICK DRAKE: Is the complex artist finally stepping out from behind the ‘doomed genius’?

The new box set The Making of Five Leaves Left illuminates a focused and forthright artist at his genesis, and further undermines the idea he was an isolated, haunted romantic.

by David Rea

25 October 2025

Black and white photo of a young man with curly hair leaning against a brick wall, wearing a dark blazer and a light shirt, with hands in his pockets, looking to the side.

MAKING A MASTERPIECE

‘It took a unique kind of courage’: how Son House beat the odds to make a masterpiece

On the 60th anniversary of its original release, we look at how Son House made Father of Folk Blues for white America.

By David Rea

18 October 2025

Album cover of Son House, an African American man in a white shirt with a black bow tie, holding a guitar, with text indicating it's a record of folk blues music.

THE BIG IDEA

How Taylor Swift can save the music industry

With the imminent release of her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor Swift is poised to become bigger than ever. Meanwhile the music industry is in existential crisis. Can all-conquering Miss Americana do something about it?

by David Rea

13 September 2025

A young female singer performing on stage, holding a microphone in her left hand, wearing a black glittery crop top and high-waisted shorts, with her right arm extended.