Bud Scoppa

A page by Joan May

Prominent rock critic Bud Scoppa wrote reviews for Rolling Stone of Grand Hotel (quite critical of the production and the words); of Procol's Ninth (surprisingly positive) and Matthew Fisher's first solo album, Journey's End (an unmitigated rave!). His praise for Trower's Walpurgis makes fine reading, and he also interviewed Gary Brooker (at interesting length) in Crawdaddy: see here. He also wrote a very respectful review of Robin Trower's latest CD, Someday Blues, for the 'Bridge of Sighs' website: click here to read it.

In addition to his work as a music critic, Scoppa was an A&R Vice-President with Zoo Records at the time The Prodigal Stranger was recorded, and served as Label Spokesperson for the band with the Press. It's possible he was a guiding force behind Procol's being signed by Zoo (Zoo's Prodigal promo here).

Procol was dropped from the Zoo Records roster around 1993, and Bud Scoppa was unexpectedly fired by Zoo in 1995. See here for his comments about that. He now works for Sire Records and ASCAP: in 1997 he moderated an online discussion about A&R for ASCAP.

Bud Scoppa also writes for the online music magazine Addicted to Noise. Here's their biographical sketch about him.

Congratulations to Bud Scoppa on his 2001 'Best Album Notes' Grammy Nomination for the Little Feat Box Set Hotcakes and Outtakes released in September of 2000.