Uncut

The once-troubled singer returns. Has she finally got her shit together?

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said that he thinks the three imprisoned members of the punk collective Pussy Riot should be freed. Though he admits that he was "sickened" by their 'punk prayer' protest, the Wall Street Journal reports that during a meeting of the United Russia party, Medvedev said: "Prolonging their time in prison in connection to this case seems unproductive."

Foo Fighters played a special unplugged gig at Apple's iPhone 5 launch yesterday (September 12) in California. After an all new iTunes system and brand new 'ultra-thin' iPod touch and iPod nanos were revealed, Dave Grohl and the rest of the band took to the stage. "One of the incredible things about being here is that you're meeting people who are shaping our future," said Dave Grohl, according to the Guardian.

Bob Dylan has responded to claims which state he has plagiarised other artists and authors' material. Rolling Stone asked Dylan about accusations that he previously 'quoted' Junichi Saga's 1991 book Confessions of a Yakuza and the 19th century poetry of Henry Timrod, but didn't 'cite his sources clearly'. Dylan said: "Wussies and pussies complain about that stuff."

Plan B and Richard Hawley have emerged as the favourites to win this year's Barclaycard Mercury Prize wth odds of 4-1 each. The shortlist of the 12 'Albums Of The Year' chosen by an independent judging panel were announced yesterday afternoon (September 12) at London's Hospital Club. The final award for the £20,000 prize will be announced on November 1. Alt-J were previously named as the odds-on favourite for the 2012 prize by bookmakers, but their odds have now slipped to 5-1.

Anyway, with the release of Bob Dylan’s Tempest looming, I was thinking the other morning about a time when albums just, you know, came out. What seemed to happen was pretty straightforward. There’d be a story in Melody Maker announcing a new album by one of your favourite bands that usually gave the record a title, track listing and release date. The week the album came out, there’d be a review, maybe an interview and perhaps a full-page ad somewhere in MM, often with tour dates attached. On the day the album came out, you went to your local record shop – in my case, Derek’s in Water Street in Port Talbot – and you bought it. How simple it all seemed. Of course, when I actually started working for Melody Maker in 1974, I found there was a bit more to it, although not much more usually than a launch party. This was basically an excuse for the band, their mates and assorted journalists to have a bit of a piss-up and could hardly be described as an integral part of a carefully-plotted promotional campaign, unless you were Led Zeppelin and the party was a debauched affair in Chislehurst Caves involving naked nuns and the like, in which case the event would get a bit of a write-up in the red tops.

Alan McGee says he is "seriously considering" bringing back his iconic Creation Records. The pioneering label, whose rosta included Oasis, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Teenage Fanclub, Felt and Super Furry Animals, was disbanded in 1999.

The Horrors frontman Faris Badwan and his Cat's Eyes collaborator Rachel Zeffira have announced that they are setting up their own record label. RAF Recordings' first release will be Zeffira's solo debut LP The Deserters, which will be released on December 10. The Deserters was written and produced entirely by the Canadian multi-instrumentalist and features an all-star east London cast including krautrockers Toy and SCUM’s drummer Mel Rigby. You can listen to the first track to be taken from the album, 'Break the Spell', below.

Suede frontman Brett Anderson has said that the album he and the band are currently recording sounds like "a cross between bits of Dog Man Star and bits of Coming Up." Speaking to The Quietus, Anderson explained that their sixth album, "doesn't sound anything like" their last LP, 2002's A New Morning, but has more in common with their second album, released in 1994, and their third, which came out in 1996.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse have revealed the track listing and release date for Psychedelic Pill, their second album of 2012 following Americana. According to Rolling Stone, the album will be released on October 30 in double-CD and triple-LP formats.