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If you\u2019re a fan of the music press – and chances are, considering you\u2019re reading this, you have read the odd \u201cinkie\u201d or rock magazine \u2013 you\u2019ll enjoy this month\u2019s cover story. In it, Simon Goddard shows how influential the music press of the 70s was, tracing the giddy ascent of punk as it happened: you get the sense that the NME<\/em>, Melody Maker<\/em>, Sounds<\/em> et al didn\u2019t just chart punk\u2019s development, they helped make it happen <\/em>(with an extra bit of assistance from the tabloids and broadsheets). <\/em>Punk was one of those music movements that partly happened not just on records, in venues and on the proverbial streets, but also partly on the pages of the music press itself; in the singles reviews, news reports and gobby interviews with the bands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the things that would have been verboten around the time of punk, I\u2019m guessing, would have been the article, The Collector, in which, this month, Leo Sayer reveals the contents of his vinyl collection. That hardline Year Zero attitude was all the rage 50 years ago; these days, we are rather more broadminded, especially at Record Collector<\/em>, where we operate a strict Anything Goes policy. Hence, Leo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It possibly explains why our feature on the best singles ever to come out of Los Angeles includes everything from CSN\u2019s Marrakesh Express and Carpenters\u2019 Goodbye To Love to The Go-Go\u2019s and Slayer. It might also explain the presence in our pages this month of songstress, siren and WW2 spy, Josephine Baker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It would certain explain why we have devoted no fewer than five pages to the soft-rock and disco lite likes of Peter Frampton, Gallagher & Lyle and Tina Charles in our none-more-honest account of what music we were really<\/em> listening to in 1976, as punk stood menacingly at the nation\u2019s gates and we pretended to like the Pistols\u2019 Anarchy In The UK more than we did Chicago\u2019s If You Leave Me Now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Across the top of the cover \u2013 what music industry insiders call \u201ca drop-in\u201d \u2013 is \u201cThis Year\u2019s Genre: Shoegaze\u201d. Basically, shoegaze is the sound of mid-to-late-80s noise-pop with a fetish for FX pedals, aka, in a sense, What Punk Did Next. A couple of years ago, goth had A Moment; it is our contention that shoegaze, after being something of a music press in-joke, is about to have a moment, too. In our 10-page special, Wesley Doyle tells you everything you need to know about this newly credible genre: the bands, the progenitors, the records, the current purveyors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s more. In News, there\u2019s a report on the return of a charity auction of white label test pressings while Vinylist gives you all you need to know about your favourite format. RC<\/em> Investigates investigates in-car turntables (and no, it\u2019s not a late April Fools\u2019 joke). Leo Sayer is, as we said above, this month\u2019s featured Collector and he is photographed with many of his choices. Value Added Facts focuses on Nurse With Wound while Diggin\u2019 for Gold looks at a video game soundtrack label. Catherine AD aka The Anchoress talks syncs. In Talking Heads Roger Sanchez, Angelique Kidjo and more lie on the RC<\/em> couch. We spend 33 1\/3 minutes with Johnny Echols, Arthur Lee\u2019s right-hand-man in Love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In our comprehensive, none-more-authoritative Reviews pages, we review reissues and box sets from Thin Lizzy, Yoko Ono, Kraftwerk and Cream (in From The Vaults), and new releases from Paul McCartney, Radiohead\u2019s Ed O\u2019Brien and Aldous Harding. There are books reviewed on The The, Nick Cave, Prince and more, singles by Lydia Lunch and Steve Gunn, and gigs by Pet Shop Boys, Geese, Paul McCartney, Gorillaz and many more. There are also goth diva and punk\/dub goodies to win in Crossword & Competitions as well as a The Beatles In Canada<\/em> hardback book. We go into The Engine Room with Ray Russell and Under The Radar with The Dancing Did. We welcome back Black Box Recorder. Sebastian Tellier reveals his favourite ever records. This month\u2019s 10 Of The Best are Sheffield Albums. Finally, we bid a sad farewell to Alan Osmond, Dave Mason, Afrika Bambaataa, Tony Rivers, Asha Bhosle and others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Scarcely believably, we\u2019re already hard at work on the next issue, July out June\/RC<\/em> 585. On the cover is Rough Trade, a 12-page celebration of the shop, 50 this year, and label. To help tell RT\u2019s story, we speak to Mike Joyce of The Smiths, Pete Doherty of The Libertines\/Babyshambles, as well as various Raincoats and Sleaford Mods. Elsewhere, we interview at length everyone from Joan Jett and Lenny Kaye to Ian Gillan and Soft Machine. We also say nice things about musical cowboy Marty Robbins, football songs on the eve of the World Cup, and Melbourne\u2019s finest 45s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Listen out for RC<\/em>\u2019s new podcast, Needlepoint, <\/em>that I do each month with the inestimable Daryl Easlea, editor of the Rare Record Price Guide,<\/em> and look out for bookazine specials on Stevie Wonder and Blondie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul Lester<\/p>\n\n\n\n Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n