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KATIE MELUA’S NEW WORLD RECORD

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KATIE MELUA’S NEW WORLD RECORD

Katie Melua, Britain’s biggest-selling female singer, yesterday set the Guinness World Record for the deepest underwater concert when she performed at the bottom of a 303ft-deep oil rig. The concert was held at the bottom of a shaft at the Statoil Troll A Platform gas rig, Europe’s largest. They invited Melua to play as part of the gas platform’s 10th anniversary celebrations. In addition to the gas rig staff, the audience included an adjudicator for Guinness World Records to make sure the record criteria was met. She performed her hit singles "Closest Thing To Crazy" and "Nine Million Bicycles" with a full live band. Guinness World Records confirmed that the record has been set. Melua is one of Britain’s most successful exports, having sold more than six million albums worldwide. The concert was filmed for Norwegian television. Melua has a new single, "It’s Only Pain", out later this year. www.katiemelua.com

Katie Melua, Britain’s biggest-selling female singer, yesterday set the Guinness World Record for the deepest underwater concert when she performed at the bottom of a 303ft-deep oil rig.

The concert was held at the bottom of a shaft at the Statoil Troll A Platform gas rig, Europe’s largest. They invited Melua to play as part of the gas platform’s 10th anniversary celebrations.

In addition to the gas rig staff, the audience included an adjudicator for Guinness World Records to make sure the record criteria was met.

She performed her hit singles “Closest Thing To Crazy” and “Nine Million Bicycles” with a full live band. Guinness World Records confirmed that the record has been set.

Melua is one of Britain’s most successful exports, having sold more than six million albums worldwide.

The concert was filmed for Norwegian television.

Melua has a new single, “It’s Only Pain”, out later this year.

www.katiemelua.com

The La’s – BBC In Session

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Somewhere in Liverpool, The La’s sit on a stack of songs that may one day comprise the follow-up to their 1990 debut album. Lee Mavers, now 44, remains their silent spokesman, their inconspicuous focal point, their inactive driving force. Mavers, a Merseybeat aficionado with vinegar for charisma, was always a contradiction in terms. Most paradoxically, his effortless songwriting talent co-existed with a crippling perfectionism, meaning his two-minute tunes took three years – and five producers – to record onto tape. Endlessly dissatisfied, Mavers shocked his fans by disowning the resulting album. (Some of us liked it.) If Steve Lillywhite’s production of that album toned down their rainbow, the 17 tracks on BBC In Session present The La’s in unflinchingly vivid light. The lads who recorded these Radio 1 sessions (1987-90) did not prevaricate or second-guess themselves in the BBC’s Maida Vale complex. They rolled up for a day’s work, lit a cigarette and plugged in. And how ideally those prosaic Beeb schedules suited Mavers’s pared-down, cock-a-hoop songs and his bandmates’ gutsy playing. BBC In Session, give or take a few overdubs, sounds as ‘live’ as if The La’s were performing on a small platform ten feet in front of us. It’s oncoming. It’s revelatory. Broadcast across four Radio 1 evening shows, the sessions document four different La’s line-ups, each with distinct characteristics. For Bob Harris in 1990, they were super-abrasive (“Callin’ All”), squealing with feedback (“Feelin’”), almost Who-like (“I Can’t Sleep”). For Nicky Campbell in 1989, they were raggedy-arsed and bronchial (Mavers straining for his high notes), yet rhythmically subtle thanks to connoisseur drummer Chris Sharrock. What’s really striking is how good the first session is. Recorded for Janice Long in August 1987, shortly before Go! Discs released their debut 45 “Way Out”, these are the muscle-flexings of a group with the confidence to ignore every trend the ‘80s have to offer, preferring to endorse 1950s primitivism (skiffle-esque acoustic guitars), 1960s songcraft (nods to Beatles and Kinks) and pride in their origins (Scouse accents that could strip wallpaper). You would go and see this band live. You might even run. It’s hard, admittedly, to discern any staggering musical development over the four years. Nevertheless, The La’s did tinker with their methodology from time to time. Recording for Liz Kershaw as a trio in 1988, they frustratingly botch “I Can’t Sleep”, a shadow of the locomotive Mod riot they’ll nail for Harris 28 months later. Another Kershaw disappointment is Mavers’ heavy-handed intro to “There She Goes”, an affront to the glittering carillons we know and love from the 1990 hit single. Generally, however, the songs on BBC In Session far exceed the Lillywhite-produced models (not least “Timeless Melody”, “Doledrum” and “Son Of A Gun”), and inevitably, when the 1990 album is played for comparison, it sounds muffled, distant and annoyingly slow. BBC In Session should therefore become your household’s La’s album of choice. DAVID CAVANAGH

Somewhere in Liverpool, The La’s sit on a stack of songs that may one day comprise the follow-up to their 1990 debut album. Lee Mavers, now 44, remains their silent spokesman, their inconspicuous focal point, their inactive driving force. Mavers, a Merseybeat aficionado with vinegar for charisma, was always a contradiction in terms. Most paradoxically, his effortless songwriting talent co-existed with a crippling perfectionism, meaning his two-minute tunes took three years – and five producers – to record onto tape. Endlessly dissatisfied, Mavers shocked his fans by disowning the resulting album. (Some of us liked it.)

If Steve Lillywhite’s production of that album toned down their rainbow, the 17 tracks on BBC In Session present The La’s in unflinchingly vivid light. The lads who recorded these Radio 1 sessions (1987-90) did not prevaricate or second-guess themselves in the BBC’s Maida Vale complex. They rolled up for a day’s work, lit a cigarette and plugged in. And how ideally those prosaic Beeb schedules suited Mavers’s pared-down, cock-a-hoop songs and his bandmates’ gutsy playing. BBC In Session, give or take a few overdubs, sounds as ‘live’ as if The La’s were performing on a small platform ten feet in front of us. It’s oncoming. It’s revelatory.

Broadcast across four Radio 1 evening shows, the sessions document four different La’s line-ups, each with distinct characteristics. For Bob Harris in 1990, they were super-abrasive (“Callin’ All”), squealing with feedback (“Feelin’”), almost Who-like (“I Can’t Sleep”). For Nicky Campbell in 1989, they were raggedy-arsed and bronchial (Mavers straining for his high notes), yet rhythmically subtle thanks to connoisseur drummer Chris Sharrock. What’s really striking is how good the first session is. Recorded for Janice Long in August 1987, shortly before Go! Discs released their debut 45 “Way Out”, these are the muscle-flexings of a group with the confidence to ignore every trend the ‘80s have to offer, preferring to endorse 1950s primitivism (skiffle-esque acoustic guitars), 1960s songcraft (nods to Beatles and Kinks) and pride in their origins (Scouse accents that could strip wallpaper). You would go and see this band live. You might even run.

It’s hard, admittedly, to discern any staggering musical development over the four years. Nevertheless, The La’s did tinker with their methodology from time to time. Recording for Liz Kershaw as a trio in 1988, they frustratingly botch “I Can’t Sleep”, a shadow of the locomotive Mod riot they’ll nail for Harris 28 months later. Another Kershaw disappointment is Mavers’ heavy-handed intro to “There She Goes”, an affront to the glittering carillons we know and love from the 1990 hit single.

Generally, however, the songs on BBC In Session far exceed the Lillywhite-produced models (not least “Timeless Melody”, “Doledrum” and “Son Of A Gun”), and inevitably, when the 1990 album is played for comparison, it sounds muffled, distant and annoyingly slow. BBC In Session should therefore become your household’s La’s album of choice.

DAVID CAVANAGH

The Clash – Singles Box Set

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The Clash – Singles Box Set

There’s a lot to celebrate here. To be precise, in one edition, there’s every Clash UK single and its B-side, available on vinyl on separate discs in facsimiles of their original sleeves. The CD box set, on sale simultaneously, has all the singles plus additional bonus tracks – US and Argentinean promos, Canadian, Dutch and Spanish B-sides – again presented individually in replica sleeves. Both editions, by the way, include the “Capital Radio EP”, originally given away with NME, and now available for the first time commercially. Over the two formats, there are over 60 tracks and the packages are completed by a 44-page booklet, with rare and unseen pictures and entries on their favourite Clash tracks by, among others, Pete Townshend, Nick Hornby, The Edge, Tony Parsons, Bobby Gillespie, Irvine Welsh, Bernard Sumner, Ian Brown and, er, Sharleen Spiteri. You come away from both versions inevitably elated – this is terrific music, after all – but also regret at the foolhardiness of Joe Strummer’s disastrous sacking of Mick Jones, an act of reckless folly that not only sent The Clash into premature decline but precipitated Joe’s own wilderness years. Whenever I met Strummer in the aftermath of the band’s pitiful demise, there would inevitably be much sad acknowledgement that he had so utterly fucked up. When Mick was given the boot, they were even then barely into their prime, much great music still to come - the muggily hallucinatory “Straight To Hell” as notable a step towards something previously uncharted as “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais” had been from the screechy excitement of the early singles. It’s not merely that by some benign alchemy time has been unusually kind to this music. That so much of it even now is so electrifying is rugged testimony to the sturdy basics of the Strummer-Jones songwriting partnership and the incremental wallop of the band’s musical clout. Beyond their sometimes pantomimic rebel posturing, Joe’s ill-conceived admiration for a variety of squinty-eyed killers passing themselves off as revolutionary freedom fighters, and an apparent thrall at one point to the epaulette as a sartorial signature of their uncompromisingly radical intent, The Clash have a by-now pretty incontestible claim to make for themselves as rock immortals. Strummer’s unbridled passion was an indelible component of what made them unforgettable, and since his death he has been virtually canonised. It would be critically negligent, however, not to similarly hosanna Mick Jones, whose ear for a great tune, fantastic riff and gift for arrangement on all fronts gloriously enhanced Joe’s raucous rebel yell. ALLAN JONES

There’s a lot to celebrate here. To be precise, in one edition, there’s every Clash UK single and its B-side, available on vinyl on separate discs in facsimiles of their original sleeves. The CD box set, on sale simultaneously, has all the singles plus additional bonus tracks – US and Argentinean promos, Canadian, Dutch and Spanish B-sides – again presented individually in replica sleeves. Both editions, by the way, include the “Capital Radio EP”, originally given away with NME, and now available for the first time commercially. Over the two formats, there are over 60 tracks and the packages are completed by a 44-page booklet, with rare and unseen pictures and entries on their favourite Clash tracks by, among others, Pete Townshend, Nick Hornby, The Edge, Tony Parsons, Bobby Gillespie, Irvine Welsh, Bernard Sumner, Ian Brown and, er, Sharleen Spiteri.

You come away from both versions inevitably elated – this is terrific music, after all – but also regret at the foolhardiness of Joe Strummer’s disastrous sacking of Mick Jones, an act of reckless folly that not only sent The Clash into premature decline but precipitated Joe’s own wilderness years. Whenever I met Strummer in the aftermath of the band’s pitiful demise, there would inevitably be much sad acknowledgement that he had so utterly fucked up. When Mick was given the boot, they were even then barely into their prime, much great music still to come – the muggily hallucinatory “Straight To Hell” as notable a step towards something previously uncharted as “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais” had been from the screechy excitement of the early singles.

It’s not merely that by some benign alchemy time has been unusually kind to this music. That so much of it even now is so electrifying is rugged testimony to the sturdy basics of the Strummer-Jones songwriting partnership and the incremental wallop of the band’s musical clout.

Beyond their sometimes pantomimic rebel posturing, Joe’s ill-conceived admiration for a variety of squinty-eyed killers passing themselves off as revolutionary freedom fighters, and an apparent thrall at one point to the epaulette as a sartorial signature of their uncompromisingly radical intent, The Clash have a by-now pretty incontestible claim to make for themselves as rock immortals. Strummer’s unbridled passion was an indelible component of what made them unforgettable, and since his death he has been virtually canonised. It would be critically negligent, however, not to similarly hosanna Mick Jones, whose ear for a great tune, fantastic riff and gift for arrangement on all fronts gloriously enhanced Joe’s raucous rebel yell.

ALLAN JONES

The Killers – Sam’s Town

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The Killers – Sam’s Town

When they arrived on these shores in late 2003, the hype claimed that The Killers were the best British group in the world who weren’t from Britain. They were also the best ‘80s group in the world who weren’t from the ‘80s, but that’s beside the point. Because, somewhere in their meteoric rise from shy indie kids to Glastonbury 2007 headliners, The Killers became sick of the constant Smiths comparisons and looked towards home for inspiration. Only America could have spawned a record like Sam’s Town. In the past, Brandon Flowers has expressed patriotic admiration for George W Bush, and Dubya’s gung-ho “bigger is better” mantra is present here from the moment the record roars into action. You can virtually smell the money – a flawless production by Flood and Alan Moulder makes sure the fretless bass, giddy synth rushes and spiralling crescendos are pushed to the fore. The result remains in the ‘80s, but Flowers now privileges a bigger and more ambitious vision of the decade: that of U2, Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Nicks’ wonderful Wildheart LP. “When You Were Young”, “For Reasons Unknown” and “My List” (which sounds uncannily like The Waterboys’ “The Whole Of The Moon”) are all songs to stand on cliffs and beat chests to, whereas the cinematic synth hum of “Read My Mind” covers the same terrain as Springsteen’s “Streets Of Philadelphia”. The problem, though, is that size seems to be used here as an excuse for the lack of musical ideas. Along with Razorlight, The Killers’ bid for greatness involves aping their stadium-straddling forbears rather than exploring new paths. Instead of the era-defining classic the band claim, Sam’s Town works best as a ludicrous pop album (check “Uncle Jonny”’s opening gambit: “When everybody else refrained/My uncle Jonny did cocaine”). “Why Do I Keep Counting” even wobbles into Meatloaf territory, with an ending that lasts several weeks. Perhaps it’s best to forget authenticity and experimentation and merely enjoy the preposterous show. After all, if you believed they were Britain’s best band in 2003, what’s to stop you thinking they’re the best band in America this time around? TIM JONZE

When they arrived on these shores in late 2003, the hype claimed that The Killers were the best British group in the world who weren’t from Britain. They were also the best ‘80s group in the world who weren’t from the ‘80s, but that’s beside the point. Because, somewhere in their meteoric rise from shy indie kids to Glastonbury 2007 headliners, The Killers became sick of the constant Smiths comparisons and looked towards home for inspiration.

Only America could have spawned a record like Sam’s Town. In the past, Brandon Flowers has expressed patriotic admiration for George W Bush, and Dubya’s gung-ho “bigger is better” mantra is present here from the moment the record roars into action. You can virtually smell the money – a flawless production by Flood and Alan Moulder makes sure the fretless bass, giddy synth rushes and spiralling crescendos are pushed to the fore. The result remains in the ‘80s, but Flowers now privileges a bigger and more ambitious vision of the decade: that of U2, Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Nicks’ wonderful Wildheart LP. “When You Were Young”, “For Reasons Unknown” and “My List” (which sounds uncannily like The Waterboys’ “The Whole Of The Moon”) are all songs to stand on cliffs and beat chests to, whereas the cinematic synth hum of “Read My Mind” covers the same terrain as Springsteen’s “Streets Of Philadelphia”.

The problem, though, is that size seems to be used here as an excuse for the lack of musical ideas. Along with Razorlight, The Killers’ bid for greatness involves aping their stadium-straddling forbears rather than exploring new paths. Instead of the era-defining classic the band claim, Sam’s Town works best as a ludicrous pop album (check “Uncle Jonny”’s opening gambit: “When everybody else refrained/My uncle Jonny did cocaine”). “Why Do I Keep Counting” even wobbles into Meatloaf territory, with an ending that lasts several weeks. Perhaps it’s best to forget authenticity and experimentation and merely enjoy the preposterous show. After all, if you believed they were Britain’s best band in 2003, what’s to stop you thinking they’re the best band in America this time around?

TIM JONZE

The Who – Endless Wire

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The Who – Endless Wire

So here it is. Almost exactly 24 years since The ‘Oo’s last studio album (1982’s It’s Hard), Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey have finally overcome their studio phobia and delivered a 19 track, 56 minute song suite comprising vaporous acoustic laments, nihilistic numbskull Who-rock and – naturally - a ten-song mini-opera. En route, there are enough thematic riddles and symptoms of mid-life malaise (they are both in their early sixties) to keep students of Who-ology in business for a decade. But there’s also a sense of closure, which suggests these grizzled veterans may finally have found a way of tackling their demons outside of the psychiatrist’s chair. Not that The Who’s 11th studio album serves as some form of musical rapprochement. Despite all they’ve been through in the last few years, Endless Wire is – like all Who albums - Townshend’s record to the core; pretentious and portentous, but packed with spirit and a lacerating intelligence. Things start briskly enough. Ushered in by an oscillating riff hijacked from “Baba O’Reilly”, “Fragments” is a thinly disguised call-to-arms for fans of Tommy to dust off their credit cards and worship once more at the altar of the powerchord. When the crashing guitars and strident holler of “The Mike Post Theme” follows shortly after (think “We’re Not Gonna Take It”), you can almost see Tommy Saxondale lighting up a spliff and saluting the “descending arpeggios reminiscent of autumn leaves”. So far, so good. It’s with the Dylan-esque “Man In A Purple Dress”, though, that Endless Wire begins to get really interesting. Incontestibly about the media circus surrounding Townshend’s police caution for a single case of accessing child pornography in 2003, it’s a vicious sideswipe at those who used it to score points at his expense. “How dare you be the one to assess?/Me in this God-forsaken mess/You, a man in a purple dress!” rages Daltrey, touchingly, in Townshend’s defence, whilst the line, “Men above men/Or prats?/With your high hats,” should, at the very least, have them rolling in the aisles at Westminster Abbey. There’s hope amidst the fury, too. “You Stand By Me”, sung by Towshend himself, testifies to the healing power of love whilst hinting at the humbling dark nights of the soul he surely suffered: “You take my side/Against those who lied/ Gimme back my pride”. It’s hardly laugh-a-minute stuff, but the schizophrenic drive which has seen Townshend morph from Barthes-quoting mod, to boiler-suited boffin, to good-natured host of his own website TV show, ensures tunes also come thick and fast. Deep breath. The second half of the album consists of a ten song mini-opera entitled “Wire And Glass”, previewed in the summer on the similarly-titled EP and based on Townshend’s novella, The Boy Who Heard Music, that he published as a blog on his website last year. Tempting as it is to see “Wire And Glass” as an extra twist to the Gordian knot of the never-ending Lifehouse project (famously dismissed by Daltrey with the words, “Nah, won’t work -you’ll never get enough wire”) Wire & Glass instead deals with an apocalyptic vision of a “society strangled by communications” and sounds – thankfully - as though it could have been rescued from the cutting room floor of Quadrophenia. “I fear the future as I take in the view/ Don’t know where to head to now,” gasps Daltrey on the storming “Sound Round”, whilst a thunderous “Pick Up The Peace” wouldn’t be out of place on the next Oasis album - if it didn’t segue, after a minute and a half, into a jaunty banjo-led jig called “Unholy Trinity’”. Exhausting and exhilarating in equal measure, it climaxes with “Mirror Door”, an utterly bonkers rollcall of the musical greats (“Johnny Cash and Johnnie Ray/ Amadeus and Ludvig Van/ Henry, Johann and the Doo-Dah Band”), before finally bidding us a very British farewell with “Tea & Theatre”. “Before we walk from the stage/ Will you have more tea?” None of it, for all the digital jiggery-pokery Townshend catalogues in the sleevenotes, sounds like it was written or recorded after 1974. Despite all of this, Endless Wire doesn’t feel like some Life On Mars-style glitch in the time-space continuum. Having spent the last 20 years touring intermittently as a Greatest Hits cash-cow - even after the tragic death of John Entwhistle in 2002 - the over-riding sensation is of The Who Two and their cohorts (Pino Palladino on bass, Zak Starkey and Peter Huntingdon on drums, Townshend’s brother Simon on backing vocals, the faithful John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick on keys) battling heroically to conjure up music that can match The Who in their pomp. Part exorcism, part quixotic attempt to raise the bar for rock’s modern day songwriters, Endless Wire serves as both an accomplished sonic full-stop for the band and a brave and necessary means for Pete Townshend to address his core audience in the wake of his brush with the tabloids. Madly ambitious and deeply heartfelt, it’s a grand folly in the great tradition of Brish rock. “I’m still briefly alive,” wrote Townshend gloomily in his sleevenotes for the Thirty Years Of Maximum R&B box set. Ten years on, he sounds reinvigorated. PAUL MOODY

So here it is. Almost exactly 24 years since The ‘Oo’s last studio album (1982’s It’s Hard), Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey have finally overcome their studio phobia and delivered a 19 track, 56 minute song suite comprising vaporous acoustic laments, nihilistic numbskull Who-rock and – naturally – a ten-song mini-opera. En route, there are enough thematic riddles and symptoms of mid-life malaise (they are both in their early sixties) to keep students of Who-ology in business for a decade. But there’s also a sense of closure, which suggests these grizzled veterans may finally have found a way of tackling their demons outside of the psychiatrist’s chair.

Not that The Who’s 11th studio album serves as some form of musical rapprochement. Despite all they’ve been through in the last few years, Endless Wire is – like all Who albums – Townshend’s record to the core; pretentious and portentous, but packed with spirit and a lacerating intelligence.

Things start briskly enough. Ushered in by an oscillating riff hijacked from “Baba O’Reilly”, “Fragments” is a thinly disguised call-to-arms for fans of Tommy to dust off their credit cards and worship once more at the altar of the powerchord. When the crashing guitars and strident holler of “The Mike Post Theme” follows shortly after (think “We’re Not Gonna Take It”), you can almost see Tommy Saxondale lighting up a spliff and saluting the “descending arpeggios reminiscent of autumn leaves”. So far, so good.

It’s with the Dylan-esque “Man In A Purple Dress”, though, that Endless Wire begins to get really interesting. Incontestibly about the media circus surrounding Townshend’s police caution for a single case of accessing child pornography in 2003, it’s a vicious sideswipe at those who used it to score points at his expense. “How dare you be the one to assess?/Me in this God-forsaken mess/You, a man in a purple dress!” rages Daltrey, touchingly, in Townshend’s defence, whilst the line, “Men above men/Or prats?/With your high hats,” should, at the very least, have them rolling in the aisles at Westminster Abbey.

There’s hope amidst the fury, too. “You Stand By Me”, sung by Towshend himself, testifies to the healing power of love whilst hinting at the humbling dark nights of the soul he surely suffered: “You take my side/Against those who lied/ Gimme back my pride”. It’s hardly laugh-a-minute stuff, but the schizophrenic drive which has seen Townshend morph from Barthes-quoting mod, to boiler-suited boffin, to good-natured host of his own website TV show, ensures tunes also come thick and fast.

Deep breath. The second half of the album consists of a ten song mini-opera entitled “Wire And Glass”, previewed in the summer on the similarly-titled EP and based on Townshend’s novella, The Boy Who Heard Music, that he published as a blog on his website last year. Tempting as it is to see “Wire And Glass” as an extra twist to the Gordian knot of the never-ending Lifehouse project (famously dismissed by Daltrey with the words, “Nah, won’t work -you’ll never get enough wire”) Wire & Glass instead deals with an apocalyptic vision of a “society strangled by communications” and sounds – thankfully – as though it could have been rescued from the cutting room floor of Quadrophenia.

“I fear the future as I take in the view/ Don’t know where to head to now,” gasps Daltrey on the storming “Sound Round”, whilst a thunderous “Pick Up The Peace” wouldn’t be out of place on the next Oasis album – if it didn’t segue, after a minute and a half, into a jaunty banjo-led jig called “Unholy Trinity’”. Exhausting and exhilarating in equal measure, it climaxes with “Mirror Door”, an utterly bonkers rollcall of the musical greats (“Johnny Cash and Johnnie Ray/ Amadeus and Ludvig Van/ Henry, Johann and the Doo-Dah Band”), before finally bidding us a very British farewell with “Tea & Theatre”. “Before we walk from the stage/ Will you have more tea?” None of it, for all the digital jiggery-pokery Townshend catalogues in the sleevenotes, sounds like it was written or recorded after 1974.

Despite all of this, Endless Wire doesn’t feel like some Life On Mars-style glitch in the time-space continuum. Having spent the last 20 years touring intermittently as a Greatest Hits cash-cow – even after the tragic death of John Entwhistle in 2002 – the over-riding sensation is of The Who Two and their cohorts (Pino Palladino on bass, Zak Starkey and Peter Huntingdon on drums, Townshend’s brother Simon on backing vocals, the faithful John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick on keys) battling heroically to conjure up music that can match The Who in their pomp. Part exorcism, part quixotic attempt to raise the bar for rock’s modern day songwriters, Endless Wire serves as both an accomplished sonic full-stop for the band and a brave and necessary means for Pete Townshend to address his core audience in the wake of his brush with the tabloids.

Madly ambitious and deeply heartfelt, it’s a grand folly in the great tradition of Brish rock.

“I’m still briefly alive,” wrote Townshend gloomily in his sleevenotes for the Thirty Years Of Maximum R&B box set. Ten years on, he sounds reinvigorated.

PAUL MOODY

THE BEATLES’ NEW LOVE ALBUM

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THE BEATLES’ NEW LOVE ALBUM

Experimental versions of The Beatles’ original Abbey Road studio master tapes are on ‘Love’, a new collection due out next month. The highly anticipated album was created by legendary Beatles producer Sir George Martin while working on a collaboration with Cirque Du Soleil. The remaining Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Yoko Ono Lennon, helped on the album. Martin, working with his son Giles, has meticulously trawled through the entire archive of Beatles recordings in a quest to create this new Beatles album. The album is dense with remixes and snippets taken from the entire catalogue. Tracks include “Eleanor Rigby”, “A Day In The Life”, “Here Comes The Sun” and “Dear Prudence”. Sir George Martin told Uncut: “It’s a Da Vinci Code for Beatles fanatics, isn’t it? It’s the most supreme puzzle of all time. I wanted to have a competition to see if anyone could spot everything we’d done in the right sequence. No one will be able to do it.” An added highlight of ‘Love’ for Beatles completists is an unearthed demo version of ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’. Martin has said of the album: “The Beatles always looked for other ways of expressing themselves and this is another step forward for them.” The album will be released worldwide in November 2006.

Experimental versions of The Beatles’ original Abbey Road studio master tapes are on ‘Love’, a new collection due out next month.

The highly anticipated album was created by legendary Beatles producer Sir George Martin while working on a collaboration with Cirque Du Soleil.

The remaining Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Yoko Ono Lennon, helped on the album.

Martin, working with his son Giles, has meticulously trawled through the entire archive of Beatles recordings in a quest to create this new Beatles album.

The album is dense with remixes and snippets taken from the entire catalogue. Tracks include “Eleanor Rigby”, “A Day In The Life”, “Here Comes The Sun” and “Dear Prudence”.

Sir George Martin told Uncut: “It’s a Da Vinci Code for Beatles fanatics, isn’t it? It’s the most supreme puzzle of all time. I wanted to have a competition to see if anyone could spot everything we’d done in the right sequence. No one will be able to do it.”

An added highlight of ‘Love’ for Beatles completists is an unearthed demo version of ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’.

Martin has said of the album: “The Beatles always looked for other ways of expressing themselves and this is another step forward for them.”

The album will be released worldwide in November 2006.

PATTI SMITH SAYS GOODBYE TO CBGBs

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PATTI SMITH SAYS GOODBYE TO CBGBs

Patti Smith will play the final ever gig at the legendary New York venue CBGBs in a fortnight. Smith, an original icon of the ‘70s New York music scene, who helped create CBGBs' cool punk reputation, is a fitting addition to the club’s final show bill. CBGBs is being forced to close after a disagreement over future rent with its landlord. Hilly Kristal, owner of CBGBs, has also confirmed that the club will re-open in a similar guise in Las Vegas, Nevada. The new venue is expected to open in 2008. About playing at the historic venue at a show earlier this year, Smith said she “had the Jackie Onassis spirit of preservation of our historic architecture. One of the things that has drawn so many people down to the Bowery area—the people living there and the housing and shops and all of the revitalization of that area—was CBGB." Tickets for the final show went on sale yesterday, but are already sold out.

Patti Smith will play the final ever gig at the legendary New York venue CBGBs in a fortnight.

Smith, an original icon of the ‘70s New York music scene, who helped create CBGBs’ cool punk reputation, is a fitting addition to the club’s final show bill.

CBGBs is being forced to close after a disagreement over future rent with its landlord. Hilly Kristal, owner of CBGBs, has also confirmed that the club will re-open in a similar guise in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The new venue is expected to open in 2008.

About playing at the historic venue at a show earlier this year, Smith said she “had the Jackie Onassis spirit of preservation of our historic architecture. One of the things that has drawn so many people down to the Bowery area—the people living there and the housing and shops and all of the revitalization of that area—was CBGB.”

Tickets for the final show went on sale yesterday, but are already sold out.

BJORK TO REJOIN THE SUGARCUBES

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BJORK TO REJOIN THE SUGARCUBES

The Sugarcubes are to reform for a one-off gig in Iceland, when quirky singer Bjork rejoins them to mark the cult band’s 20th anniversary. This concert will be the first time the band have played together in 14 years. It is also 20 years since Smekkleysa, the band’s label, released their debut single ‘Birthday’. The Sugarcubes were born on exactly the same day as Bork’s’ first child, in 1986. They had their first bona fide UK Top 20 single with the aptly named ‘Hit’ in January 1992. However, the band’s success was short-lived. They had three top 20 UK albums - 1988’s ‘Life’s Too Good’, 1989’s ‘Here Today, Tomorrow, Next Week!’ and 1992’s ‘Stick Around For Joy’ – before calling it quits. They split when singer Bjork left to pursue an incredibly successful solo career. 1993’s Debut was a massive success, including several hit singles and earning two Brit award nominations. Bjork also performed at the opening ceremony for the Olympics in Athens in 2004. All profits from the concert, with the support of FL Group, will go back into Smekkleysa SM. Bjork states on her website that the money will allow the company to "continue to work on a non-profit basis for the future betterment of Icelandic music". Other artists on the label include Gus Gus and Sigor Ros. www.Icelandair.net are offering flight and ticket packages for the gig on November 17th.

The Sugarcubes are to reform for a one-off gig in Iceland, when quirky singer Bjork rejoins them to mark the cult band’s 20th anniversary.

This concert will be the first time the band have played together in 14 years.

It is also 20 years since Smekkleysa, the band’s label, released their debut single ‘Birthday’.

The Sugarcubes were born on exactly the same day as Bork’s’ first child, in 1986. They had their first bona fide UK Top 20 single with the aptly named ‘Hit’ in January 1992.

However, the band’s success was short-lived. They had three top 20 UK albums – 1988’s ‘Life’s Too Good’, 1989’s ‘Here Today, Tomorrow, Next Week!’ and 1992’s ‘Stick Around For Joy’ – before calling it quits.

They split when singer Bjork left to pursue an incredibly successful solo career. 1993’s Debut was a massive success, including several hit singles and earning two Brit award nominations.

Bjork also performed at the opening ceremony for the Olympics in Athens in 2004.

All profits from the concert, with the support of FL Group, will go back into Smekkleysa SM.

Bjork states on her website that the money will allow the company to “continue to work on a non-profit basis for the future betterment of Icelandic music”.

Other artists on the label include Gus Gus and Sigor Ros.

www.Icelandair.net are offering flight and ticket packages for the gig on November 17th.

JACK WHITE GOES ORCHESTRAL

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JACK WHITE GOES ORCHESTRAL

White Stripes and Raconteurs man Jack White has put together ‘Aluminium’ – an avant-garde album of orchestral recordings. The album – co-produced by Richard Russell and Joby Talbot, the latter formerly of The Divine Comedy - will be available in limited quantities: 3,333 CDs and 999 LPs to be precise, and only through the Aluminium website. The album will come accompanied by a series of 10 special images, created by artist and White Stripes collaborator, Rob Jones. The arty LP format will also feature a silk screen print by Jones. As if that wasn’t enough, choreographer Wayne McGregor has incorporated several tracks from the haunting ‘Aluminium’ into a piece he is putting together for the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden this November. Aluminium will be available for pre-order from November 6th, through XL, also label home to The White Stripes. More details on the classical concept album can be found at www.alumiiinium.com

White Stripes and Raconteurs man Jack White has put together ‘Aluminium’ – an avant-garde album of orchestral recordings.

The album – co-produced by Richard Russell and Joby Talbot, the latter formerly of The Divine Comedy – will be available in limited quantities: 3,333 CDs and 999 LPs to be precise, and only through the Aluminium website.

The album will come accompanied by a series of 10 special images, created by artist and White Stripes collaborator, Rob Jones. The arty LP format will also feature a silk screen print by Jones.

As if that wasn’t enough, choreographer Wayne McGregor has incorporated several tracks from the haunting ‘Aluminium’ into a piece he is putting together for the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden this November.

Aluminium will be available for pre-order from November 6th, through XL, also label home to The White Stripes.

More details on the classical concept album can be found at www.alumiiinium.com

JAMES BLUNT IS TOP OF THE STIFFS

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JAMES BLUNT IS TOP OF THE STIFFS

“Goodbye My Lover” by James Blunt is officially the most popular funeral song request in Britain. Last year’s winner, “Angels” by Robbie Williams, is relegated to second place. The Bereavement Register survey also unearthed a diverse selection of songs in the Top 20, including Daniel O’Donnell’s “Danny Boy” at number 11 and S Club 7’s “Reach For The Stars” marking the kids’ top request at Number 20. Here’s the gloomy yet strangely uplifting Top 10 in full: 1. Goodbye My Lover – James Blunt 2. Angels – Robbie Williams 3. I’ve Had The Time of My Life – Jennifer Warnes & Bill Medley 4. Wind Beneath My Wings – Bette Midler 5. Pie Jesu – Requiem 6. Candle In The Wind – Elton John 7. With Or Without You – U2 8. Tears From Heaven – Eric Clapton 9. Every Breath You Take – The Police 10. Unchained Melody – Righteous Brothers The Bereavement Register helpfully removes names and addresses of the deceased from companies’ mailing lists; to register a relative, visit www.the-beareavent-register.org.uk

“Goodbye My Lover” by James Blunt is officially the most popular funeral song request in Britain. Last year’s winner, “Angels” by Robbie Williams, is relegated to second place.

The Bereavement Register survey also unearthed a diverse selection of songs in the Top 20, including Daniel O’Donnell’s “Danny Boy” at number 11 and S Club 7’s “Reach For The Stars” marking the kids’ top request at Number 20.

Here’s the gloomy yet strangely uplifting Top 10 in full:

1. Goodbye My Lover – James Blunt

2. Angels – Robbie Williams

3. I’ve Had The Time of My Life – Jennifer Warnes & Bill Medley

4. Wind Beneath My Wings – Bette Midler

5. Pie Jesu – Requiem

6. Candle In The Wind – Elton John

7. With Or Without You – U2

8. Tears From Heaven – Eric Clapton

9. Every Breath You Take – The Police

10. Unchained Melody – Righteous Brothers

The Bereavement Register helpfully removes names and addresses of the deceased from companies’ mailing lists; to register a relative, visit www.the-beareavent-register.org.uk

BECK – THE INFORMATION

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BECK – THE INFORMATION

Though he may be styled as a maverick, Beck Hansen has stuck to a pretty predictable routine in the decade since Odelay. He releases a hip-hop/pop/blues romp, produced by the Dust Brothers, showcasing his post-modern hipster schtick. Then he follows it up with a faintly ethereal, largely straight-faced singer-songwriter album, helmed by Nigel Godrich. Fine records all, but a little formulaic. Beck’s ninth album represents a twist, of sorts. As the schedule dictates, Godrich is on duty (The Dust Brothers having handled last year’s Guero). But instead of muted introspection, The Information finds Godrich complicit in one of Beck’s elaborate party projects. Stickers allow you to design the sleeve. Daft, cute, lo-fi videos for every track come on a bonus DVD. Puppets dance at the accompanying gigs. As for the music, the first half-dozen songs are terrific, and suggest Godrich has introduced Beck to a crateful of British music he’d hitherto ignored. The glittering synth-pomp of Simple Minds’ “New Gold Dream” is invoked by “Soldier Jane”, while “Loaded”-era Primal Scream are manifest on “Cellphone’s Dead” and “Strange Apparition”. Spooks from old Warp records squelch and hiss in the background throughout. Over 17 tracks, however, something more compromised emerges - a spacey, live reconfiguring of Odelay’s sample-heavy sound. As Radiohead can testify, Godrich’s precise, airless style can add other-worldly gravitas to a conventional rock song. But another former client, Stephen Malkmus, described his work on Pavement’s Terror Twilight as putting “Nigel Godrich swooshing” all over it. Similarly, The Information often feels hygienised and missing some grit: the clanking metal percussion for “1000 BPM” is unencumbered by rust; the harmonica on “Dark Star” tastes resolutely spittle-free. There are plenty of good things here, but there’s also a sense of artist and producer (and Godrich’s presence sometimes overwhelms even Beck) operating in default mode. Only “Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton” totally fulfils the promise of risk-taking: a 12-minute sprawl that takes in ambient jams, disruptive electric guitar, shades of Serge Gainsbourg and Boards Of Canada, the shipping forecast, a conversation between Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers, and an edginess that breaks up the prevailing sheen. “There’s a light beaming through the galaxy, telling you everything’s gonna be OK,” Beck claims on “Motorcade”. Once, we’d have taken it as fabulist irony. Now, the thought occurs that it may be Scientologist rhetoric. It’s a paradox that could usher in a tricky and interesting phase of Beck’s career: how best to resolve the realities of his life with the flippancy of his best art? By John Mulvey

Though he may be styled as a maverick, Beck Hansen has stuck to a pretty predictable routine in the decade since Odelay. He releases a hip-hop/pop/blues romp, produced by the Dust Brothers, showcasing his post-modern hipster schtick. Then he follows it up with a faintly ethereal, largely straight-faced singer-songwriter album, helmed by Nigel Godrich. Fine records all, but a little formulaic.

Beck’s ninth album represents a twist, of sorts. As the schedule dictates, Godrich is on duty (The Dust Brothers having handled last year’s Guero). But instead of muted introspection, The Information finds Godrich complicit in one of Beck’s elaborate party projects. Stickers allow you to design the sleeve. Daft, cute, lo-fi videos for every track come on a bonus DVD. Puppets dance at the accompanying gigs. As for the music, the first half-dozen songs are terrific, and suggest Godrich has introduced Beck to a crateful of British music he’d hitherto ignored. The glittering synth-pomp of Simple Minds’ “New Gold Dream” is invoked by “Soldier Jane”, while “Loaded”-era Primal Scream are manifest on “Cellphone’s Dead” and “Strange Apparition”. Spooks from old Warp records squelch and hiss in the background throughout.

Over 17 tracks, however, something more compromised emerges – a spacey, live reconfiguring of Odelay’s sample-heavy sound. As Radiohead can testify, Godrich’s precise, airless style can add other-worldly gravitas to a conventional rock song. But another former client, Stephen Malkmus, described his work on Pavement’s Terror Twilight as putting “Nigel Godrich swooshing” all over it. Similarly, The Information often feels hygienised and missing some grit: the clanking metal percussion for “1000 BPM” is unencumbered by rust; the harmonica on “Dark Star” tastes resolutely spittle-free.

There are plenty of good things here, but there’s also a sense of artist and producer (and Godrich’s presence sometimes overwhelms even Beck) operating in default mode. Only “Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton” totally fulfils the promise of risk-taking: a 12-minute sprawl that takes in ambient jams, disruptive electric guitar, shades of Serge Gainsbourg and Boards Of Canada, the shipping forecast, a conversation between Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers, and an edginess that breaks up the prevailing sheen.

“There’s a light beaming through the galaxy, telling you everything’s gonna be OK,” Beck claims on “Motorcade”. Once, we’d have taken it as fabulist irony. Now, the thought occurs that it may be Scientologist rhetoric. It’s a paradox that could usher in a tricky and interesting phase of Beck’s career: how best to resolve the realities of his life with the flippancy of his best art?

By John Mulvey

RYAN ADAMS GOES HIP HOP!

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RYAN ADAMS GOES HIP HOP!

Ryan Adams has streamed a new track online at Ryan-Adams.com called “Look Who's Got A Website” - and it marks yet another surprising new musical direction for the ever-changing Americana singer-songwriter. The track sees Adams trying his hand at rapping in a similar style to Beck. Sounding also a bit like The Beastie Boys, Adams gives shout-outs to New York, Kevin Costner and witches. He also takes the opportunity to rap about his recent albums and the critical maulings and low sales they’ve suffered: "Two and a half star... My record went balsa wood... basically he's alternative country but crappy.” The website has been revamped in a garish ‘80s retro-galactic style – with a Cardinals Radio flight deck to ensure safe passage through a moving cartoon galaxy. Hidden gems on the site include a Space Invaders-style game, while hitting random buttons reveals links to New York weather, Google Earth and geometric visual puzzles. It’s all guaranteed to make your eyes hurt. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Adams is set to play London's Shepherds Bush Empire on Saturday (September 30) - however, it's unclear whether or not he will be on a hip hop tip.

Ryan Adams has streamed a new track online at Ryan-Adams.com called “Look Who’s Got A Website” – and it marks yet another surprising new musical direction for the ever-changing Americana singer-songwriter.

The track sees Adams trying his hand at rapping in a similar style to Beck. Sounding also a bit like The Beastie Boys, Adams gives shout-outs to New York, Kevin Costner and witches.

He also takes the opportunity to rap about his recent albums and the critical maulings and low sales they’ve suffered: “Two and a half star… My record went balsa wood… basically he’s alternative country but crappy.”

The website has been revamped in a garish ‘80s retro-galactic style – with a Cardinals Radio flight deck to ensure safe passage through a moving cartoon galaxy.

Hidden gems on the site include a Space Invaders-style game, while hitting random buttons reveals links to New York weather, Google Earth and geometric visual puzzles.

It’s all guaranteed to make your eyes hurt.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Adams is set to play London’s Shepherds Bush Empire on Saturday (September 30) – however, it’s unclear whether or not he will be on a hip hop tip.

JAZZ LEGEND GETS POSTHUMOUS ACCOLADE

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JAZZ LEGEND GETS POSTHUMOUS ACCOLADE

Yesterday (Sep 28) saw Miles Davis inducted into Hollywood’s RockWalk, for his significant contribution to music with landmarks albums such as Kind Of Blue, On The Corner and Bitches Brew. His son Erin Davis was at the induction to accept the special award. Former RockWalk inductee, celebrated guitar wizard Carlos Santana, said of Davis’ recognition, “He represents the very best that the human mind, soul, and spirit have ever conceived.” Previous inductees have included Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder and B.B. King.

Yesterday (Sep 28) saw Miles Davis inducted into Hollywood’s RockWalk, for his significant contribution to music with landmarks albums such as Kind Of Blue, On The Corner and Bitches Brew.

His son Erin Davis was at the induction to accept the special award.

Former RockWalk inductee, celebrated guitar wizard Carlos Santana, said of Davis’ recognition, “He represents the very best that the human mind, soul, and spirit have ever conceived.”

Previous inductees have included Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder and B.B. King.

GIG ON A RIG PLANNED BY KATIE MELUA

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GIG ON A RIG PLANNED BY KATIE MELUA

Katie Melua will attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the deepest underwater concert when she performs a concert at the bottom of the North Sea on October 2nd. The concert will be held at the bottom of one of the four shafts of the Statoil Troll A Platform gas rig, Europe’s largest. They invited Melua to play as part of the gas platform’s 10th anniversary celebrations. In addition to the gas rig staff, the audience will include Craig Glenday, Editor-in Chief of Guinness World Records, to make sure the right criteria are met. Melua will perform a fully live concert in order to be eligible for a Guinness World Record, and will be likely performing tracks from her debut album ‘Call Off The Search’ (from 2004) and its 2005 follow-up ‘Piece By Piece’. Katie Melua is one of Britain’s most successful exports, having sold more than 6 million albums globally. The concert will premiere on Norwegian television. Melua releases a new single, ‘It’s Only Pain’, later this year. www.katiemelua.com

Katie Melua will attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the deepest underwater concert when she performs a concert at the bottom of the North Sea on October 2nd.

The concert will be held at the bottom of one of the four shafts of the Statoil Troll A Platform gas rig, Europe’s largest. They invited Melua to play as part of the gas platform’s 10th anniversary celebrations.

In addition to the gas rig staff, the audience will include Craig Glenday, Editor-in Chief of Guinness World Records, to make sure the right criteria are met.

Melua will perform a fully live concert in order to be eligible for a Guinness World Record, and will be likely performing tracks from her debut album ‘Call Off The Search’ (from 2004) and its 2005 follow-up ‘Piece By Piece’.

Katie Melua is one of Britain’s most successful exports, having sold more than 6 million albums globally.

The concert will premiere on Norwegian television.

Melua releases a new single, ‘It’s Only Pain’, later this year.

www.katiemelua.com

ROBERT PLANT PLAYS BENEFIT SHOW FOR NEIGHBOUR

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ROBERT PLANT PLAYS BENEFIT SHOW FOR NEIGHBOUR

Robert Plant is staging a benefit gig at his local town hall, in, of all places, Kidderminster! He hopes to raise £25,000 to help pay for specialist medical treatment required by local resident named Jackie Jennings. Jennings needs treatment for a recurring brain tumour. The kind-hearted Plant heard that she’d already raised £75,000, and so offered to stage the gig as the quickest way to raise the remainder, since time is of the essence. Plant is to be backed by a group of musicians who are billed as "The Return Of The Honeydrippers". 1984’s Return Of The Honeydrippers: Volume One was a Plant solo album. It featured cameos from Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, among others. However, it is not known who the latterday version of The Honeydrippers will be. Plant and Co are booked to play the Kidderminster Town Hall, Worcestershire, on December 23rd.

Robert Plant is staging a benefit gig at his local town hall, in, of all places, Kidderminster!

He hopes to raise £25,000 to help pay for specialist medical treatment required by local resident named Jackie Jennings.

Jennings needs treatment for a recurring brain tumour. The kind-hearted Plant heard that she’d already raised £75,000, and so offered to stage the gig as the quickest way to raise the remainder, since time is of the essence.

Plant is to be backed by a group of musicians who are billed as “The Return Of The Honeydrippers”.

1984’s Return Of The Honeydrippers: Volume One was a Plant solo album. It featured cameos from Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, among others. However, it is not known who the latterday version of The Honeydrippers will be.

Plant and Co are booked to play the Kidderminster Town Hall, Worcestershire, on December 23rd.

ELVIS TRIBUTE ACT EXTRAVAGANZA THIS WEEKEND

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ELVIS TRIBUTE ACT EXTRAVAGANZA THIS WEEKEND

The biggest Elvis event of the year, the Elvies Awards, will see hundreds of Elvis tribute acts from all over Europe gather to compete this weekend in Porthcawl, South Wales. The Elvies on Saturday is only part of the festival. An Elvis Disco kicks off proceedings on Friday night. Other Elvisy highlights include an Elvis Gospel show, and the Elvis Presley Story, a glittering two-hour show featuring Mario Kombou, star of the musical Jailhouse Rock. Dust off your blue suede shoes. Tickets for shows over the weekend start at £5. A weekend VIP package is £86. More information about the festival is available at www.elvies.co.uk.

The biggest Elvis event of the year, the Elvies Awards, will see hundreds of Elvis tribute acts from all over Europe gather to compete this weekend in Porthcawl, South Wales.

The Elvies on Saturday is only part of the festival. An Elvis Disco kicks off proceedings on Friday night. Other Elvisy highlights include an Elvis Gospel show, and the Elvis Presley Story, a glittering two-hour show featuring Mario Kombou, star of the musical Jailhouse Rock.

Dust off your blue suede shoes.

Tickets for shows over the weekend start at £5. A weekend VIP package is £86.

More information about the festival is available at www.elvies.co.uk.

ISLAND TO RE-RELEASE JULIAN COPE’S JEHOVAHKILL

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ISLAND TO RE-RELEASE JULIAN COPE’S JEHOVAHKILL

Julian Cope’s Jehovahkill is being re-released next month in a two-disc deluxe edition. 1992’s Jehovahkill, the follow-up to Peggy Suicide, was a mad scramble of pop bliss, krautrock and techno-dance. It was arguably Cope’s biggest critical success. However, the self-styled arch drude was famously dropped from Island Records only one week after the album's release, the label citing as justification that acclaim was not being matched by record sales. Ironically, all this publicity helped Jehovahkill become a career turning point for the wilful, experimental rocker. The deluxe edition features eight previously unreleased album sessions as well as a 22-minute version of the far-out ‘Poet Is Priest’. Jehovahkill is re-released on October 30th, through Universal/Island.

Julian Cope’s Jehovahkill is being re-released next month in a two-disc deluxe edition.

1992’s Jehovahkill, the follow-up to Peggy Suicide, was a mad scramble of pop bliss, krautrock and techno-dance. It was arguably Cope’s biggest critical success.

However, the self-styled arch drude was famously dropped from Island Records only one week after the album’s release, the label citing as justification that acclaim was not being matched by record sales.

Ironically, all this publicity helped Jehovahkill become a career turning point for the wilful, experimental rocker.

The deluxe edition features eight previously unreleased album sessions as well as a 22-minute version of the far-out ‘Poet Is Priest’.

Jehovahkill is re-released on October 30th, through Universal/Island.

NEW RANGE OF MUSIC BOOKS-PLUS-CDs HIT SHOPS

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NEW RANGE OF MUSIC BOOKS-PLUS-CDs HIT SHOPS

The definitive Jam collection is here! Entitled Direction, Reaction, Creation, this 5-CD set features their complete studio recordings - all 117 tracks. But there’s more. The music is part of a sumptuous thread-bound book, featuring extensive liner notes, in-depth band chronology, as well as rare photographs and memorabilia. Everything you wanted to know about The Jam, basically, plus a whole lot more. This collectors’ package is part of a new concept series, courtesy Universal Music, called ‘Earbooks’. The first six Earbooks will feature seminal bands The Jam, The Police and Thin Lizzy as well soul legends Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and country-pop star Dusty Springfield. The Police collection, ‘Message In A Box – The Complete Recordings’, for example, contains all 78 songs released by the band between 1977 and 1986; it also features Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland revealing their thoughts about the recordings. The first Earbooks will be on sale from October 23rd in book and gift shops, as well as traditional music retailers.

The definitive Jam collection is here! Entitled Direction, Reaction, Creation, this 5-CD set features their complete studio recordings – all 117 tracks.

But there’s more. The music is part of a sumptuous thread-bound book, featuring extensive liner notes, in-depth band chronology, as well as rare photographs and memorabilia. Everything you wanted to know about The Jam, basically, plus a whole lot more.

This collectors’ package is part of a new concept series, courtesy Universal Music, called ‘Earbooks’.

The first six Earbooks will feature seminal bands The Jam, The Police and Thin Lizzy as well soul legends Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and country-pop star Dusty Springfield.

The Police collection, ‘Message In A Box – The Complete Recordings’, for example, contains all 78 songs released by the band between 1977 and 1986; it also features Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland revealing their thoughts about the recordings.

The first Earbooks will be on sale from October 23rd in book and gift shops, as well as traditional music retailers.

LEE HAZLEWOOD’S SWANSONG

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LEE HAZLEWOOD’S SWANSONG

Lee Hazlewood has confirmed details of his final album, saying these are the 13 songs he wants to bequeath to the world before he dies. Entitled Cake Or Death, in homage to his comic hero Eddie Izzard, the album pulls together the different strands of his career, employing musicians he has previously worked with, as well as those he has always wanted to. Among the tracks is a new version of ‘Some Velvet Morning’, originally recorded as a duet with Nancy Sinatra, this time reprised by his granddaughter Phaedra Dawn Stewart. Joked Hazelwood recently: “Who says nepotism is dead?” Life-long collaborator Al Casey co-writes two tracks on the album. As well as recording with Hazlewood, Casey has previously worked with The Beach Boys, Dean Martin and Duane Eddy. Hazlewood’s music found a new audience in the ‘90s when influential artists such as Beck, Pulp, Sonic Youth and Nick Cave rediscovered him. Cake or Death will be released on the BPX1992 label on December 4th

Lee Hazlewood has confirmed details of his final album, saying these are the 13 songs he wants to bequeath to the world before he dies.

Entitled Cake Or Death, in homage to his comic hero Eddie Izzard, the album pulls together the different strands of his career, employing musicians he has previously worked with, as well as those he has always wanted to.

Among the tracks is a new version of ‘Some Velvet Morning’, originally recorded as a duet with Nancy Sinatra, this time reprised by his granddaughter Phaedra Dawn Stewart. Joked Hazelwood recently: “Who says nepotism is dead?”

Life-long collaborator Al Casey co-writes two tracks on the album. As well as recording with Hazlewood, Casey has previously worked with The Beach Boys, Dean Martin and Duane Eddy.

Hazlewood’s music found a new audience in the ‘90s when influential artists such as Beck, Pulp, Sonic Youth and Nick Cave rediscovered him.

Cake or Death will be released on the BPX1992 label on December 4th

GRUNGE LEGENDS JOIN FORCES

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GRUNGE LEGENDS JOIN FORCES

Two of the biggest names from the grunge era, Afghan Whigs’ Greg Dulli and Screaming Trees’ Mark Lanegan, have joined forces on a new five-track EP, A Stitch In Time. The lead track on the EP is a hypnotic cover version of the Massive Attack song 'Live With Me' (written by and featuring soul legend Terry Callier). Other tracks on the EP are ‘Sublime’, co-written by Dulli and Joseph Arthur (with Arthur on guest vocals); ‘Flashback’, a track by New Zealand’s finest high-tech soulsters Fat Freddy’s Drop and featuring Mark Lanegan again on vocals; ‘They Ride’, co-written by Dulli and Rick McCollum; and ‘The Lure Would Prove Too Much’, written by Dulli. The full track listing for A Stitch In Time is: 1. Live With Me (featuring Mark Lanegan) 2. Sublime (featuring Joseph Arthur) 3. Flashback (featuring Mark Lanegan) 4. They Ride (featuring Rick McCollum) 5. The Lure Would Prove Too Much ‘Live With Me’ was one of the highlights of the August gig by Twilight Singers, Greg Dulli’s new band. It was at that gig that Lanegan joined Dulli and Co onstage as guest vocalist. The collaboration proved such a success that the grunge twosome, together named The Gutter Twins, are currently working on a full length album. They aim to have the album completed by early 2007. In the meantime you can catch the Twilight Singers on a brief tour of the UK, after they complete a mammoth 19-date US tour in October. Mark Lanegan will be joining them. The dates are as follows: Dublin, The Village (November 18) Belfast, Limelight (19) London, KOKO (23) The EP is released through One Little Indian on 4th Dec. The tracks will be available for download through iTunes on Nov 20th.

Two of the biggest names from the grunge era, Afghan Whigs’ Greg Dulli and Screaming Trees’ Mark Lanegan, have joined forces on a new five-track EP, A Stitch In Time.

The lead track on the EP is a hypnotic cover version of the Massive Attack song ‘Live With Me’ (written by and featuring soul legend Terry Callier).

Other tracks on the EP are ‘Sublime’, co-written by Dulli and Joseph Arthur (with Arthur on guest vocals); ‘Flashback’, a track by New Zealand’s finest high-tech soulsters Fat Freddy’s Drop and featuring Mark Lanegan again on vocals; ‘They Ride’, co-written by Dulli and Rick McCollum; and ‘The Lure Would Prove Too Much’, written by Dulli.

The full track listing for A Stitch In Time is:

1. Live With Me (featuring Mark Lanegan)

2. Sublime (featuring Joseph Arthur)

3. Flashback (featuring Mark Lanegan)

4. They Ride (featuring Rick McCollum)

5. The Lure Would Prove Too Much

‘Live With Me’ was one of the highlights of the August gig by Twilight Singers, Greg Dulli’s new band. It was at that gig that Lanegan joined Dulli and Co onstage as guest vocalist.

The collaboration proved such a success that the grunge twosome, together named The Gutter Twins, are currently working on a full length album. They aim to have the album completed by early 2007.

In the meantime you can catch the Twilight Singers on a brief tour of the UK, after they complete a mammoth 19-date US tour in October. Mark Lanegan will be joining them.

The dates are as follows:

Dublin, The Village (November 18)

Belfast, Limelight (19)

London, KOKO (23)

The EP is released through One Little Indian on 4th Dec. The tracks will be available for download through iTunes on Nov 20th.

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