STATE OF SOUND

Your Backstage Pass to Music History

Founded & Edited by David Rea

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Photo: Bob Dylan; credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy

MAKING A MASTERPIECE

‘I pictured the Soft Boys as bloodless, spectral entities’: how the Soft Boys made Underwater Moonlight

Made in scuzzy studios in a broken Britain, the Soft Boys’ Underwater Moonlight refracted sparkling 1960s power pop, creating a foundational text for 1980s neo-psychedelia and alt-rock.

by David Rea

3 July 2026

INTERVIEW

‘There are many Bob Dylans but there's only one Lou Reed’: Emma Swift on her album of Lou Reed covers

In 2020, Emma Swift’s album of Bob Dylan covers, Blonde on the Tracks, brought her widespread acclaim and a new audience. Currently in the midst of making an album of Lou Reed covers, she talks to State of Sound about searching for the real Lou Reed, and what it was like trying on his leather pants.

21 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

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.

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.