Rebel Musix, Scribe on a Vibe: Frontline Adventures Linking Punk, Reggae, Afrobeat and Jazz

Rebel Musix, Scribe on a Vibe is a vital and illuminating collection that gathers the extraordinary output of Vivien Goldman from 1975 onwards, a period when punk's incendiary flame scorched the musical landscape, clearing the way for the fertile ground of post-punk and hip-hop. As one of a select few women writing amidst the Golden Age of music journalism, Goldman emerges as a pioneering voice, the first, and arguably most elegant and passionate, chronicler of reggae, funk, free jazz, and Afrobeat.

This collection showcases Goldman's fearless exploration of a musical wild west, a lawless and exhilarating frontier where new epiphanies arose as the counterculture evolved. The sheer breadth of her work presented here is genuinely impressive, ranging from early encounters with luminaries like Brian Eno, Robert Wyatt, and Can, to celebrating the fierce independence of Britain's first she-punks, The Raincoats and The Slits. She offers insightful perspectives on pivotal British groups such as the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and Aswad, alongside her coverage of American revolutionaries like Public Enemy, Curtis Mayfield, and George Clinton, and Jamaican icons Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Dennis Brown.

These pieces sit alongside contemporary profiles of New York's downtown royalty – Patti Smith, Talking Heads, Richard Hell – and legendary, deeply personal interviews with Goldman's friends Fela Kuti, Ornette Coleman, and Bob Marley, who fittingly presides over this collection like a benevolent and timeless figurehead.

Vivien Goldman single-handedly shifted the landscape of music writing, and this collection masterfully reshapes some of her most significant pieces into a compelling new narrative of the principal radical artists of the late twentieth century. In doing so, it unequivocally reaffirms her enduring reputation as 'The Punk Professor,' a title that will undoubtedly live on, testament to her insightful, passionate, and groundbreaking contribution to music journalism. Rebel Musix, Scribe on a Vibe is an essential read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the revolutionary sounds and voices that shaped modern music, seen through the sharp, perceptive, and uniquely informed lens of Vivien Goldman.