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Hear Jarvis Cocker and Iggy Pop cover Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand”

Michael Bonner
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Hear Jarvis Cocker and Iggy Pop cover Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand”
Jarvis Cocker and Iggy Pop have recorded a version of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' "Red Right Hand". The song appears as the theme tune to the Peaky Blinders TV series. Their version featured in this week’s episode, broadcasted last night on the BBC, and it is available on all digital platforms n...

Jarvis Cocker and Iggy Pop have recorded a version of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds‘ “Red Right Hand“.

The song appears as the theme tune to the Peaky Blinders TV series.

Their version featured in this week’s episode, broadcasted last night on the BBC, and it is available on all digital platforms now.

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

David Byrne announces 2018 tour

Michael Bonner
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David Byrne announces 2018 tour
David Byrne has announced an upcoming solo tour – his first in nine years. He will be performing a small number of shows on the American East Coast and South America, as well as European festivals including Inmusic in Croatia and Roskilde, Denmark. A number of new songs, as well as more familiar...

David Byrne has announced an upcoming solo tour – his first in nine years.

He will be performing a small number of shows on the American East Coast and South America, as well as European festivals including Inmusic in Croatia and Roskilde, Denmark.

A number of new songs, as well as more familiar tunes, will hit the setlist.

“I’m excited. This is the most ambitious show I’ve done since the shows that were filmed for Stop Making Sense, so fingers crossed,” he wrote on Twitter.

The musician also detailed an ambitious visual approach for the show, centred on his band using mobile instruments.

“With everyone mobile, I realized the stage could be completely clear. If we could have the monitors in our ears, the amps off-stage and the lights up high, then we had the possibility of a completely empty space,” he told Brooklyn Vegan.

He then revealed the difficulty in hiding the “people and gear” around the stage, initially considering drapes before settling on lightweight chains.

“It takes color beautifully. Not only does it take color, one can cast shadows on the chain,” he said.

David Byrne’s tour dates below:

March 3: Red Bank, NJ, USA – Count Basie Theatre
March 4: Wilkes-Barre, PA, USA – F.M. Kirby Center For The Performing Art
March 6: Buffalo, NY, USA – Center For The Arts
March 7: Hershey, PA, USA – Hershey Theatre
March 9: Waterbury, CT, USA – Palace Theater
March 10: Kingston, NY, USA – Ulster Performing Arts Center
March 16: Santiago, Chile – Lollapalooza Chile
March 18 Buenos Aires, Argentina – Lollapalooza Argentina
June 25: Zagreb, Croatia – Inmusic Festival
July 06: Roskilde, Denmark – Roskilde Festival

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

Jack White reveals “Servings And Portions From My Boarding House Reach”

Michael Bonner
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Jack White reveals “Servings And Portions From My Boarding House Reach”
Jack White has released a a four-minute collage containing new music. Titled “Servings And Portions From My Boarding House Reach”, the clip mixes vocal lines, guitar riffs and beats with other sonic textures. You can watch the film below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QClzlZTXj4Y The Janua...

Jack White has released a a four-minute collage containing new music.

Titled “Servings And Portions From My Boarding House Reach”, the clip mixes vocal lines, guitar riffs and beats with other sonic textures.

You can watch the film below.

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

Introducing Kate Bush: The Ultimate Music Guide

John Mulvey
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Introducing Kate Bush: The Ultimate Music Guide
Forty years ago next month, a very weird debut single was released, against the better judgment of the record company, EMI. The executives were keen on "James And The Cold Gun" as the best way to launch their new prodigy. Kate Bush, though, had other ideas. “I felt that to actually get your name ...

Forty years ago next month, a very weird debut single was released, against the better judgment of the record company, EMI. The executives were keen on “James And The Cold Gun” as the best way to launch their new prodigy. Kate Bush, though, had other ideas.

“I felt that to actually get your name anywhere, you’ve got to do something that is unusual,” she told Melody Maker’s Harry Doherty, “because there’s so much good music around and it’s all in a similar vein.” “Wuthering Heights”, by most measures, was not much like the other good music around in 1978. It was a world away from punk, though its antic, non-conformist spirit would gain the admiration of prime iconoclasts like John Lydon. It made sense to both prog and pop fans, but occupied a hitherto unexplored interzone somewhere between the two extremes. The effect was remarkable and, it seemed, not a little unhinged. Even in the volatile charts of the 1970s, success felt like a long shot.

And yet, of course, “Wuthering Heights” went to Number One, and Kate Bush immediately disproved those who believed that its ravishing eccentricities were the hallmarks of a one-hit wonder. Over 40 years, Bush’s music has become a cornerstone of the British canon: idiosyncratic, potent, proudly beyond fashion or expectation.

We celebrate these 40 years in a deluxe, updated version of our Ultimate Music Guide to Kate Bush, out in the UK on Thursday (but available now in our online shop). It’s the usual deal: forensic and revealing essays on every one of her albums contributed by Uncut’s finest writers, alongside a host of interviews we’ve taken from the archives of NME and Melody Maker. They show an artist who slowly gains the confidence to assert herself and – very slowly – gains the respect of the press. But also one whose idiosyncratic vision, and whose determination to bring that vision to fruition, has been there right from the start.

In the autumn of 1980, a rather excited Melody Maker journalist found himself in a Munich TV studio, watching Bush perform “Babushka” while she danced enthusiastically with a double bass. Like many male writers drawn into the presence of Bush at that time, there’s a certain vigour to his descriptions which doesn’t come across awfully well.

Nevertheless, once the show was over, the interview with Bush is fascinating. She talks about wanting to tour again, about the books and films that have influenced her, about the permeable lines between confession and fiction. “I rarely write purely personal songs from experience,” she says. “I worry about being too indulgent and giving too much away.” A little later, she is discussing the specifics of “Army Dreamers”, sung from the perspective of a mother mourning a son killed in action. “I seem to link on to mothers rather well,” she admits. “I find it fascinating about mothers, that there’s something in there, a kind of maternal passion which is there all the time, even when they’re talking about cheese sandwiches. Sometimes it can be very possessive, sometimes it’s very real.”

Even at her most elliptical, there is a clarity and consistency to Kate Bush which, looking back, seems a lot more obvious now than it might have done at the time. Latterly, for instance, the maternal fortitude implied in 1980 has become an explicit part of the most recent phase of her career, culminating in Before The Dawn – a theatrical spectacular inspired by her son Bertie McIntosh, and a showcase of his talents as a “very talented actor and beautiful singer,” as his mother wrote in her programme notes.

This, then, is the story of Kate Bush, a genius on her own remarkable trajectory. “There are always so many voices telling me what to do that you can’t listen to them,” she told another Melody Maker journalist in 1985. “All I ever do is listen to the little voices inside me. I don’t want to disappoint the little voices that have been so good to me…”

 

Johnny Marr and Maxine Peake collaborate on new track, “The Priest”

Michael Bonner
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0
Johnny Marr and Maxine Peake collaborate on new track, “The Priest”
Johnny Marr and Maxine Peake have collaborated on a new project, which sets Peake’s spoken word performances to Marr’s instrumental soundscapes. The first taster of the project comes with the lead track "The Priest", which is out now. "The Priest" is based upon the characters that Joe Gallagher...

Johnny Marr and Maxine Peake have collaborated on a new project, which sets Peake’s spoken word performances to Marr’s instrumental soundscapes. The first taster of the project comes with the lead track “The Priest“, which is out now.

“The Priest” is based upon the characters that Joe Gallagher met on the streets in the first few days after becoming homeless in Edinburgh. Gallagher wrote a diary of his experiences for the Big Issue under the pseudonym James Campbell when he first became homeless in May 2015 and continued until he found a new home in March 2016.

“I wanted to do something different and I thought of asking Maxine to collaborate having been a fan of her work,” says Marr. “We started a creative process that clicked and culminated in ‘The Priest’, a song and short film inspired by a facet of modern life as we see it and feel it.”

The accompanying short film for the track was filmed in Manchester and features Molly Windsor, who recently alongside Peake in the BBC drama Three Girls.

Johnny Marr is due to release his third solo album in spring 2018.

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

Tim Buckley – Venice Mating Call / Greetings From West Hollywood

David Cavanagh
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Tim Buckley – Venice Mating Call / Greetings From West Hollywood
Some live albums document a tour. Others are souvenirs of a single, magnetic performance. And then there are others, like a 
Tim Buckley album issued in 1994 by the LA-based Manifesto label, that seem to chronicle not so much an event as an essence. Connecting us to the voice and vision of a long-...

Some live albums document a tour. Others are souvenirs of a single, magnetic performance. And then there are others, like a 
Tim Buckley album issued in 1994 by the LA-based Manifesto label, that seem to chronicle not so much an event as an essence. Connecting us to the voice and vision of a long-departed cult hero, Live At The Troubadour 1969 shone a light on two September evenings when Buckley forged new directions in folk-jazz at a West Hollywood nightclub. Receiving some good reviews, the album joined two prior live releases, Peel Sessions and Dream Letter: Live In London 1968, in his posthumous catalogue.

Buckley would have turned 70 this year, a poignant anniversary that evidently prompted Manifesto – run by Evan Cohen, a nephew of Buckley’s former manager Herb – to have another rummage in its archives. Venice Mating Call and Greetings From West Hollywood have been assembled from the same shows as Live At The Troubadour, drawing on five sets that Buckley performed over two nights (four before an audience, one a rehearsal) and repeating none of the versions that made up the 1994 album. Between them, Venice Mating Call and Greetings From West Hollywood add about two hours and 45 minutes of unreleased material to what’s out there.

Buckley, just 22 when these gigs took place, was about to make his fourth and final album for Jac Holzman’s Elektra label. Launched as a folk-rocker in 1966, he now viewed himself primarily as a jazz singer, which may be one reason why these albums often occupy a similar meditative headspace to Astral Weeks; rather than racing to the point, Buckley turns single words and individual syllables into lingering, probing ecstasies. Indeed, he’s transported within seconds of strumming his first chord on “Buzzin’ Fly”, the opening song on both albums, and immediately can be heard humming to himself, squealing, yelping, moaning sensually and – on Venice Mating Call – happily whistling.

The albums take somewhat different routes, offering alternative views of roughly the same setlist, before they really start to cook around track five or six. Venice Mating Call, a two-disc set, achieves take-off on “Gypsy Woman”, from Buckley’s then-current album Happy Sad. Lee Underwood, his lead guitarist, switches to electric piano 
and a groove starts up. Rolling and pulsing like Bitches Brew, it withdraws into a long percussion-only section, whereupon another groove gets going and Underwood returns to his guitar. Throughout all the changes, a delirious Buckley seems hellbent on locating every note in his four-octave range in whichever order he sees fit. It’s an astounding feat of singing. Really, the producers of The Voice should send an MP3 of “Gypsy Woman” to every applicant and tell them to try again 
in 10 years.

A similar epiphany, meanwhile, occurs in “Nobody Walkin’” on Greetings From West Hollywood. After a discouraging start (“Sounds horrible,” Buckley mutters), it soon livens up (“Yeah! All night long!”) and – again – Buckley rhapsodises and free-associates while his band play a Bitches Brew electric piano groove for a head-nodding 12 minutes. This is some pretty advanced stuff for the Troubadour crowd. Miles Davis had recorded Bitches Brew in New York only a fortnight earlier, and nobody outside Columbia Records would hear any of it until the following March.

Not every song on these sets will send people scurrying to check the recording dates of groundbreaking jazz-rock records. A lot of Buckley’s music is easy to lie back and luxuriate in. No Mingus or Dolphy expertise is needed to appreciate the sweet, swoony words and serene tempo of “Blue Melody”, for instance. But it’s telling that, with Happy Sad not even two months old, Buckley was already previewing the next album he would make (Lorca) and the one after that (Blue Afternoon), while pointedly ignoring the one that had won him his plaudits in the first place (Goodbye And Hello).

Spread across the second disc of Venice Mating Call are the five songs from Lorca – a formidable, fanbase-polarising step into the unknown 
that even the avowedly pro-artist Holzman found hard to swallow. 
Its title track, not yet saturated in 
that eerie pipe organ, is performed 
on a marimba and lacks the scary drama of the studio version.

Other tracks, however, are fully formed. Literally so in the case of “Driftin’”, which, give or take a bit of EQing, is revealed to be the same eight minutes of music that appears on Lorca’s second side. It gets a great reception, too. How ironic to hear Buckley’s fans in 1969 warmly applauding an album that would alienate so many of them when it 
came out in 1970.

Attractively presented and well recorded, Venice Mating Call and Greetings From West Hollywood will 
be lapped up by Buckley completists and should appeal to casual fans of Happy Sad and Blue Afternoon. Issuing this music as two separate 1CD and 2CD packages does seem an unnecessarily pedantic way of making it available, though, especially as the sets duplicate two songs (“Blue Melody” and “Chase The Blues Away”) and share identical sleevenotes. Wouldn’t an all-embracing 3CD release have been a more sensible idea? But then, if everything in the world made sense, Tim Buckley 
would still be alive.

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

The Cure to play London’s Hyde Park

Michael Bonner
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The Cure to play London’s Hyde Park
The Cure have announced details of an exclusive European concert for 2018. The show marks the band's 40th anniversary. The band will play Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park on Saturday July 7. The bill also features Interpol, Goldfrapp, Ride, Editors, Slowdive and The Twilight Sad. ...

The Cure have announced details of an exclusive European concert for 2018. The show marks the band’s 40th anniversary.

The band will play Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park on Saturday July 7. The bill also features Interpol, Goldfrapp, Ride, Editors, Slowdive and The Twilight Sad.

Fanclub and Barclaycard presale begins today (Tuesday, December 12) while general sale begins on Friday, December 15.

The Cure are the latest edition to this year’s line-up for concerts, which also includes Roger Waters and Eric Clapton.

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

Watch Björk’s new video for “Utopia”

Michael Bonner
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Watch Björk’s new video for “Utopia”
Björk has released a video for the title track of her recently released album, Utopia. It is the third promo film to come from the album, which is the singer's ninth. The video is directed by Nick Thornton Jones and Wareen Du Preez. You can watch the video below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...

Björk has released a video for the title track of her recently released album, Utopia.

It is the third promo film to come from the album, which is the singer’s ninth. The video is directed by Nick Thornton Jones and Wareen Du Preez.

You can watch the video below.

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

Neil Young’s 1953 Buick Roadmaster Skylark sells for £300,000 at auction

Michael Bonner
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Neil Young’s 1953 Buick Roadmaster Skylark sells for £300,000 at auction
Neil Young's collection of classic cars, model trains and gear were auctioned on Saturday, December 9 at Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles. A portion of proceeds from the auction went to The Bridge School, which Young and his ex-wife Pegi Young co-founded in 1986 for children with severe speech an...

Neil Young‘s collection of classic cars, model trains and gear were auctioned on Saturday, December 9 at Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles.

A portion of proceeds from the auction went to The Bridge School, which Young and his ex-wife Pegi Young co-founded in 1986 for children with severe speech and physical impairments.

Young’s 1953 Buick code 76X Roadmaster Skylark convertible with a steering wheel hub that says, “Customized for Neil Young,” went for $400,000 (£299,230.98), the auction house said on Saturday. A rare 1941 Chrysler Series 28 Windsor Highlander 2-Door 3-Person Coupe, which was once owned by Steve McQueen according to Young, that sold for $35,200 (£26,332.33).

Young, a model train enthusiast for decades, offered more than 230 pieces from his collection of Lionel trains, including a custom-painted Commodore Vanderbilt 4-6-4 locomotive that sold for $10,000 (£7,480.77).

Of the musical gear, a 1977 Martin D-19 acoustic 6-string guitar played by Young on “Goin’ Back” and “Human Highway” on the 1978 Comes A Time album and on “Lost in Space” from 1980’s Hawks & Doves, sold for $43,750 (£32,728.39) well above its original estimate $2,000 – $3,000.

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

Exclusive! Watch the new video for Gregg Allman’s “Song For Adam”

Michael Bonner
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0
Exclusive! Watch the new video for Gregg Allman’s “Song For Adam”
To celebrate what would have been Gregg Allman's 70th birthday today, we're delighted to bring you the new music video for "Song For Adam" from Allman's posthumous album, Southern Blood. The song was written and features background vocals by Allman's longtime friend, Jackson Browne. The video its...

To celebrate what would have been Gregg Allman‘s 70th birthday today, we’re delighted to bring you the new music video for “Song For Adam” from Allman’s posthumous album, Southern Blood.

The song was written and features background vocals by Allman’s longtime friend, Jackson Browne.

The video itself was directed by Erica Alexandria Silverman and stars Zach Chance (Jamestown Revival), Yates Robertson, Zoe Graham, and Johnny McPhail. It was filmed entirely in Texas.

You can read Uncut’s review of Southern Blood by clicking here.

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

Bang! The Bert Berns Story

Michael Bonner
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Bang! The Bert Berns Story
Bert Berns was a triple threat: writer, producer and, according to Exciters singer Brenda Reid, “white soul brother”. A swaggering, charismatic Bronx boy who wrote dozens of classics – “Piece Of My Heart”, “Under The Boardwalk”, “Here Comes The Night” and “Twist And Shout” amon...

Bert Berns was a triple threat: writer, producer and, according to Exciters singer Brenda Reid, “white soul brother”. A swaggering, charismatic Bronx boy who wrote dozens of classics – “Piece Of My Heart”, “Under The Boardwalk”, “Here Comes The Night” and “Twist And Shout” among them – Berns was “one of the greatest songwriters of all bloody time”, according to Keith Richards, one of several stellar interviewees in a film narrated, with full Noo Yawk brio, by Stevie Van Zandt.

It’s a colourful tale, mostly pieced together by wiseacre Brill Building types talking out of the sides of their mouths. Mobsters pepper the narrative and tall tales abound. When 35-year-old Berns marries Ilena, a “22-year-old Jewish go-go dancer”, his mother warns him her youthful beauty will prove fatal to a heart weakened by a childhood bout of rheumatic fever. Aware that his time on earth was likely to be limited, Berns lived life to the full, but an underlying sadness played out in his songs. They were “complex and neurotic” pieces, says his biographer, “masquerading as teenage records”.

His love of Cuba – he claimed to have run guns and drugs for the revolution – can be heard in his early hits for Atlantic, including Solomon Burke’s “Cry To Me” and The Exciters’ “Tell Him”, which introduced Afro-Cuban rhythms to rock’n’roll and R&B. After The Beatles covered “Twist And Shout” and The Rolling Stones recorded “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love”, Berns travelled to London to scout talent, working briefly with Them. Van Morrison pops up in Ray-Bans and Barbour jacket, in unusually gracious form. “The guy was a genius,” he says. 
“A brilliant songwriter with a lot of soul.”

Later, Berns formed BANG! Records and made “Brown Eyed Girl” with Morrison, as well as launching the career of Neil Diamond. By now, he has “money coming out the yin-yang” and is bosom buddies with Tommy Eboli, head of the Genovese crime family, “a knee-buster and leg-breaker of the first order”. When things go awry, Diamond is threatened and his manager mugged. Morrison goes through similar torture. A spectacular feud with Jerry Wexler, Berns’ mentor and business partner, ends with GoodFellas levels of intimidation. His desk is loaded with pill bottles and a revolver, and “he seemed stressed all the time” – which coming from Van Morrison is saying something.

Berns’ fragile heart finally failed on December 30, 1967, aged 38. “I don’t know where he’s buried, but if I did I’d piss on his grave,” was Wexler’s eulogy. This vibrant film – while acknowledging the dark stuff – offers a more generous assessment of a man who, says Paul McCartney, “deserves 
to be elevated to his rightful place”.

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

Roxy Music to release a super deluxe edition box set of their debut album

Michael Bonner
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Roxy Music to release a super deluxe edition box set of their debut album
Roxy Music have announced details of a box set devoted to their self-titled debut album. It'll be released by UMC on February 2, 2018. It'll be available as a four-disc Super Deluxe Edition featuring previously unreleased demos, outtakes, radio sessions, rare footage and 136-page book. Meanwhile, ...

Roxy Music have announced details of a box set devoted to their self-titled debut album.

It’ll be released by UMC on February 2, 2018.

It’ll be available as a four-disc Super Deluxe Edition featuring previously unreleased demos, outtakes, radio sessions, rare footage and 136-page book. Meanwhile, the whole album has been remixed in 5.1 by Steven Wilson.

A deluxe 2CD set, featuring a 24-page booklet, will also be released, as well as a digital version and on 180GM vinyl.

Speaking today about the band’s debut, guitarist Phil Manzanera commented, “At 21, my musical dreams came true, recording this album with these wonderfully talented and unique band members. Magical times, magical music.”

Saxophonist Andy Mackay recalls, “Late ’71/’72 Roxy was our Arts Lab. The place where we exchanged ideas and dreams freely and created and explored a new sound landscape. We stepped into Command Studios with a complete album in our heads (and half the next one) and it only needed the tape to start running… no album was as easy to record again.”

Drummer Paul Thompson: “The first Roxy Music album was my opportunity to create. I wasn’t used to this type of line-up, I was used to being in guitar-based bands but always wanted to broaden my horizons and here was my chance. A landmark in the history of pop!”

Looking back on the album, Bryan Ferry reflected, “We never really felt accepted, I can see how the old guard would have felt threatened by it, because it was so jammed full of ideas and a massive amount of energy. But we hadn’t paid our dues, not in the same way. And we’re still not a part of it, not really, even to this day. That’s been very hard over the years, to try and make it work without being one of them. The ‘them’ is always different, but we’re not part of it. It’s been one of the triumphs, that we’ve managed to stay sane. Or sane-ish. We’re a part of it all, somehow, but still on the outside.”

Here’s the tracklisting for the Super Deluxe Edition:

DISC ONE THE ALBUM

Re-Make/Re-Model
Ladytron
If Tere Is Something
Virginia Plain
2 H.B.
The Bob (Medley)
Chance Meeting
Would You Believe?
Sea Breezes
Bitters End

DISC TWO DEMOS & OUT-TAKES

EARLY DEMOS April/May 71
Ladytron
2 HB
Chance Meeting
The Bob (Medley)

ALBUM OUT-TAKES
Instrumental
Re-Make/Re-Model
Ladytron
If There Is Something
2 H.B.
The Bob (Medley)
Chance Meeting
Sea Breezes
Bitters End
Virginia Plain

DISC THREE THE BBC SESSIONS

THE PEEL SESSIONS 4/1/72
If There Is Something
The Bob (Medley)
Would You Believe?
Sea Breezes
Re-Make/Re-Model

THE PEEL SESSIONS 25/5/72
2 HB
Ladytron
Chance Meeting

THE PEEL SESSIONS 25/5/72
Virginia Plain
If There Is Something

BBC IN CONCERT 3/8/72
The Bob (Medley)
Sea Breezes
Virginia Plain
Chance Meeting
Re-Make/Re-Model

DVD
The full album remixed in 5.1 by Steven Wilson

VIDEOS
Re-Make/Re-Model
The Royal College Of Art, 6/6/72
Ladytron
The Old Grey Whistle Test, 20/6/72
Virginia Plain
Top Of The Pops, 24/8/72
Re-Make/Re-Model
Full House, 25/11/72
Ladytron
Full House, 25/11/72
Would You Believe
French TV, Bataclan, Paris, 26/11/72
If There Is Something
French TV, Bataclan, Paris, 26/11/72
Sea Breezes
French TV, Bataclan, Paris, 26/11/72
Virginia Plain
French TV, Bataclan, Paris, 26/11/72

The two disc set features the album and also the BBC material, including the Peel sessions and In Concert.

You can pre-order the album here.

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

The 46th Uncut Playlist Of 2017

John Mulvey
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The 46th Uncut Playlist Of 2017
Thanks for all your kind messages about my favourite albums of 2017 list. I’ve spent some of the last two or three days picking through some other interesting end-of-year charts and investigating what I’d missed. Especially useful have been Marc Masters’ thread on Twitter of neglected records ...

Thanks for all your kind messages about my favourite albums of 2017 list. I’ve spent some of the last two or three days picking through some other interesting end-of-year charts and investigating what I’d missed. Especially useful have been Marc Masters’ thread on Twitter of neglected records

and Stewart Smith’s Jazz list for The Quietus, which lead me to the superb Amir El Saffar/Rivers Of Sound and Nicole Mitchell records: please check them out.

A good crop of new 2018 things here, too, kicked off by what I think may be Ty Segall’s best ever LP. I never thought I’d have cause to recommend a Hot Chocolate, but here we are – it’s a killer. Also strongly recommended among this lot: the expanded Hiss Golden Messenger letting fly on the Seth Meyers show; Jerry David DeCicca’s Cohenish reverie; Pharrell and NERD bringing the Dead Kennedys; Kate Carr (from Marc’s fine list); and, at last, something from the terrific Tomaga record I’ve been playing a hell of a lot…

Follow me on Twitter @JohnRMulvey

1 Ty Segall – Freedom’s Goblin (Drag City)

Freedom’s Goblin by Ty Segall

2 Neil Young – Live At Coronation Hall, Omemee, Canada 1/12/17

3 The Hold Steady – Entitlement Crew/A Snake In The Shower (Bandcamp)

Entitlement Crew b/w A Snake In The Shower by The Hold Steady

4 Brigid Mae Power – The Two Worlds (Tompkins Square)

5 Robert Stillman – Portals (Orindal)

6 The Lightmen – Free As You Wanna Be (Now Again)

7 Bedouine – Louise (Spacebomb)

8 Imarhan – Temet (City Slang)

9 Jonathan Wilson – Rare Birds (Bella Union)

10 Desertion Trio – Midtown Tilt (Shhpuma/Clean Feed)

11 Bitchin Bajas – Bajas Fresh (Drag City)

12 Olden Yolk – Olden Yolk (Trouble In Mind)

13 Hiss Golden Messenger – Domino (Time Will Tell) (Late Night With Seth Meyers)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkOrhGkka_Y

14 Hans Chew – Open Sea (At The Helm)

15 Gwenno – Le Kov (Heavenly)

16 Björk – Utopia (One Little Indian)

17 NERD & Future – 1000 (RCA)

18 Tyshawn Sorey – Verisimilitude (Pi)

Verisimilitude by Tyshawn Sorey

19 HC McEntire – Lionheart (Merge)

20 Amir El Saffar/Rivers Of Sound – Not Two (New Amsterdam)

Not Two by Amir ElSaffar / Rivers of Sound

21 Tomaga – Memory In Vivo Exposure (Hands In The Dark)

22 Kate Carr – The Story Surrounds Us (Helen Scarsdale)

The Story Surrounds Us by Kate Carr

23 Nicole Mitchell – Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds (FPE)

Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds by Nicole Mitchell

24 Jerry David DeCicca – Time The Teacher (Impossible Ark)

 

Ask Gary Numan

Michael Bonner
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Ask Gary Numan
With a new album Savage: Songs From A Broken World on sale now and a run of UK dates coming up in March, Gary Numan has a commendably busy schedule at present. But in a rare moment of downtime, he's agreed to answer your questions as part of our regular An Audience With… feature. So is there anyt...

With a new album Savage: Songs From A Broken World on sale now and a run of UK dates coming up in March, Gary Numan has a commendably busy schedule at present. But in a rare moment of downtime, he’s agreed to answer your questions as part of our regular An Audience With… feature.

So is there anything you’ve always wanted to ask the legendary techno-warrior?

Would he ever reform Tubeway Army?
What’s his biggest extravagance?
Did he ever meet David Bowie?

Send up your questions by noon, Monday, December 18 to uncutaudiencewith@timeinc.com.

The best questions, and Gary’s answers, will be published in a future edition of Uncut magazine.

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

New Jimi Hendrix album includes 10 previously unreleased songs

Michael Bonner
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New Jimi Hendrix album includes 10 previously unreleased songs
A 'new' Jimi Hendrix album will contain 10 songs which have never before been released. Both Sides Of The Sky is due on March 9 from Experience Hendrix and Legacy Recordings on CD, digitally and as a numbered 180 gram audiophile vinyl 2LP. The songs were recorded between 1968 and 1970. Many of th...

A ‘new’ Jimi Hendrix album will contain 10 songs which have never before been released.

Both Sides Of The Sky is due on March 9 from Experience Hendrix and Legacy Recordings on CD, digitally and as a numbered 180 gram audiophile vinyl 2LP.

The songs were recorded between 1968 and 1970. Many of them feature the trio that would come to be known as Band Of Gypsys: Hendrix on guitar and vocals, Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums. “Hear My Train A Comin'” features the original line-up from the Jimi Hendrix Experience: Hendrix, bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell.

The album includes notable guest collaborators including Stephen Stills, Dallas Taylor, Johnny Winter and vocalist/saxophonist Lonnie Youngblood who played with Hendrix in Curtis Knight & the Squires.

The tracklisting for Both Sides Of The Sky is:

“Mannish Boy” (previously unreleased)
“Lover Man” (previously unreleased)
“Hear My Train A Comin'” (previously unreleased)
“Stepping Stone” (previously unreleased)
“$20 Fine” (previously unreleased, featuring Stephen Stills)
“Power Of Soul” (previously unavailable extended version)
“Jungle” (previously unreleased)
“Things I Used to Do” (featuring Johnny Winter)
“Georgia Blues” (featuring Lonnie Youngblood)
“Sweet Angel” (previously unreleased)
“Woodstock” (previously unreleased, featuring Stephen Stills)
“Send My Love To Linda” (previously unreleased)
“Cherokee Mist” (previously unreleased)

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

John Prine announces new studio album plus tour dates with Kurt Vile, Margo Price and Sturgill Simpson

Michael Bonner
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John Prine announces new studio album plus tour dates with Kurt Vile, Margo Price and Sturgill Simpson
John Prine has announced a spring tour and a new album. The tour begins in April in New York and winds up in Norfolk, Virginia in June. Prine will be joined on select dates by Sturgill Simpson, Kurt Vile and Margo Price. Here's Kurt Vile introducing Prine's recently-published book, John Prine Beyo...

John Prine has announced a spring tour and a new album.

The tour begins in April in New York and winds up in Norfolk, Virginia in June. Prine will be joined on select dates by Sturgill Simpson, Kurt Vile and Margo Price.

Here’s Kurt Vile introducing Prine’s recently-published book, John Prine Beyond Words, and briefly cover “That’s the Way the World Goes Round”.

Prine will also release his first album of original material since 2005’s Fair & Square to coincide with the dates. No details have yet been announced about the record, though.

The tour dates are:

April 13 — New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall (with Sturgill Simpson)
April 14 — Philadelphia, PA @ Merriam Theatre (with Kurt Vile)
April 25 — Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theatre
April 27 — Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
April 28 — Champaign, IL @ Virginia Theatre
May 11 — Beaver Dam, KY @ Beaver Dam Amphitheater
May 12 —Indianapolis, IN @ Clowes Hall
May 19 — San Diego, CA @ Balboa Theatre
May 23 — Folsom, CA @ Harris Center
May 24 — San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
June 2 — Norfolk, VA @ Chrysler Hall (with Margo Price)

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

Gun Outfit – Out Of Range

Peter Watts
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Gun Outfit – Out Of Range
You might want to pick up a guide to ancient myths before listening to the latest Gun Outfit album, which includes songs about Orpheus and Cybele as well as references to “monads”, “viridian”, “hierophants” and “syrinxes”. From Ancient Greece to contemporary California, there’s a f...

You might want to pick up a guide to ancient myths before listening to the latest Gun Outfit album, which includes songs about Orpheus and Cybele as well as references to “monads”, “viridian”, “hierophants” and “syrinxes”. From Ancient Greece to contemporary California, there’s a fascination with myth and legend on Out Of Range, due in part to co-songwriter Dylan Sharp’s job as a security guard in an art gallery, time that allowed him to gaze upon visual art for six hours a day, and also to contemplate ways of incorporating what he self-mockingly calls “pretentious” references into the band’s fifth LP of cosmic Americana.

Opening song “Ontological Intercourse”, a rough-necked samba, is in part about Orpheus, the Greek “father of songs” who made rocks dance and worshipped only the sun, a heresy that led to his death, while “Landscape Painter” sees Sharp celebrate the work of Brueghel. The myths of drugs and California also feature, and by closer “Second Decade”, he’s exploring the legend of the band itself. “We’re building a labyrinth/And playing hide and seek,” he sings in a self-declared love song to the band he has co-led for 10 years.

Gun Outfit were formed in Olympia when Sharp and co-songwriter Carrie Keith began playing as a duo around the city’s fertile hardcore scene. After expanding to a four-piece and moderating their punky vibe, Gun Outfit released a couple of hard-to-find but well-received albums and then moved to LA where they released two more – the driving Hard Coming Down and looser, atmospheric Dream All Over. They now play as a five-piece following the addition of Henry Barnes, whose homemade instruments (the “sibanjar”, the “springocaster lap-slide”) as well as his mastery of the dulcimer and bouzouki, adds to the sense of mystery that hangs over their music and which Gun Outfit are so adept at exploiting in their more abstract lyrics. It’s Barnes who coined the phrase “western expanse” to describe the band’s sound, a label that hints at both geography and their sense of openness. There are elements of folk and country in their music, but it’s also the sound of the desert, the ocean, the prairie and the loneliness of LA. Within this vibe, there’s little space for the band’s hardcore origins. Instead there’s the sardonic drawl of Silver Jews, the incandescent richness of Phosphorescent, the unsettling dislocation of Lift To Experience and the more adventurous moments of Wilco.

There’s also a diversity that comes from the contrasting styles of Sharp and Keith. Loosely put, Sharp favours oblique non-narrative lyrics with wry asides, while Keith is more direct, both in terms of delivery and content. Keith provides Out Of Range with its sense of momentum, moving things forward where Sharp will circle his themes like a vulture. The clearest example is “The 101”, an ode to the road that took the band from Washington to California. With Barnes playing bouzouki and Keith accompanying her vocal with fiddle, the song sounds ancient even as it picks apart modern LA where “the first lesson you learn is how to project”. “California’s a legend,” she sings, “on the brink of destruction every day”, arcing back to “Cybele”, Sharp’s Ozymandian lament about a lost ancient cult.

Keith is always on the move. Amid the swirling “Sally Rose” she sings, “not gonna run, I’m gonna fly… Quitting all my jobs is good for my career”, while love song “Three Words” has her threaten “and you know in a moment I’ll be on my way”. Sharp, though, is more likely to be chasing his own thoughts. On country rattler “Strange Insistence” he starts by contemplating the perceived outcomes of taking different drugs – “Speed makes you a genius/Cocaine will make you rich/LSD shows you divinity/And everything’s alright on opiates” – before exploring related themes of authenticity and reality, while on the crawl of “Slow Realisation”, he pauses to apologise for his own drift towards abstraction: “Pardon me for the hippie talk…”

On “Second Decade” he abandons that strategy to sing an unalloyed love song for his band, directed at Keith: “Oh my Caroline/Can you believe how swiftly a decade has gone by?”. In the process, he neatly captures the sonic atmosphere of the band – “A simple recollection of the rhythm of waves” – but still finds time to reference Samuel Beckett. It’s a tricky thing to pull off without sounding self-obsessed, but it shows that Gun Outfit can sing from the heart as well as from the brain.

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

My 174 favourite albums of 2017

John Mulvey
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My 174 favourite albums of 2017
Chronic underachieving here maybe, since I’ve only managed to find 163 albums I liked in 2017 for this year’s list; one down on my 2016 total. I’m sure many of you find implausible the idea of so many new albums being worth a listen. But as usual, I think it’s really important to share enthu...

Chronic underachieving here maybe, since I’ve only managed to find 163 albums I liked in 2017 for this year’s list; one down on my 2016 total. I’m sure many of you find implausible the idea of so many new albums being worth a listen. But as usual, I think it’s really important to share enthusiasms, to give a platform to a wealth of music that might not always be getting much attention in other end-of-year round-ups.

I can’t pretend that every album here will be acknowledged as a classic in 20 years’ time. But the richness and possibilities of a vast musical world still seems worth celebrating in the here and now, even while plenty of other commentators around my age seem so keen to claim that creativity has dried up, rock is dead, or whatever. Please note that this is very much a personal list, and that the official Uncut countdown, compiled from the charts of 40-odd key contributors, can be found in the current issue of Uncut.

I doubt I’m done with this yet, and so if I discover anything else I like in the next few weeks I’ll add them to the list: the Robert Stillman album only turned up the other day, for instance – glad I got to squeeze that in. I’ll resist fucking about with the order, since it’s obviously mostly arbitrary, and because I’ve flipped numbers one and two a few times too many in the past week; enough.

Thanks for your patience and indulgence – I hope, as ever, I can lead you to some interesting music as a consequence of all this…

UPDATE: As of December 19, I’ve found another 11 good ones. Here’s my amended list…

174 El Michels Affair – Return To The 37th Chamber (Big Crown)

173 Ifriqiyya Electrique – Rûwâhîne’ (Glitterbeat)

172 Gospelbeach – Another Summer Of Love (Alive Naturalsound)

171 The Heliocentrics – A World Of Masks (Soundway)

170 Mountain Movers – Mountain Movers (Trouble In Mind)

169 Peacers – Introducing The Crimsmen (Drag City)

168 Peter Oren – Anthropocene (Western Vinyl)

167 The Magnetic Fields – 50 Song Memoir (Nonesuch)

166 Ka Baird – Sapropelic Pycnic (Drag City)

165 Visible Cloaks – Reassemblage (RVNG INTL)

164 Alasdair Roberts – Pangs (Drag City)

163 NERD – No One Ever Really Dies (Columbia)

162 Shannon Lay – Living Water (Mare/Woodsist)

161 Anna St Louis – First Songs (Mare/Woodsist)

160 The Frightnrs – More To Say Versions (Daptone)

159 David Grubbs – Creep Mission (Blue Chopsticks)

158 Dead Rider – Crew Licks (Drag City)

157 Robert Finley – Goin’ Platinum (Easy Eye Sound)

156 Richard Osborn – Endless (Tompkins Square)

155 Shabazz Palaces – Quazarz: Born On A Gangster Starr/Quazarz Vs The Jealous Machines (Sub Pop)

154 Bill Orcutt – Bill Orcutt (Palilalia)

153 Joseph Shabason – Aytche (Western Vinyl)

152 Laraaji – Bring On The Sun (All Saints)

151 Sam Amidon – The Following Mountain (Nonesuch)

150 Charlotte Gainsbourg – Rest (Because)

149 Astrïd & Rachel Grimes – Through The Sparkle (Gizeh)

148 Laura Marling – Semper Femina (More Alarming/Kobalt)

147 Omar Souleyman – To Syria, With Love (Mad Decent/Because)

146 Orpheo McCord – Recovery Inhale (Bandcamp)

145 Mind Over Mirrors – Undying Color (Paradise of Bachelors)

144 Matt Jencik – Weird Times (Hands In The Dark)

143 Juana Molina – Halo (Crammed Discs)

142 Bargou 08 – Targ (Glitterbeat)

141 Neil Young & Promise Of The Real – The Visitor (Reprise)

140 Blanck Mass – World Eater (Sacred Bones)

139 Hologram Teen – Between The Funk And The Fear (Polytechnic Youth)

138 David Nance – Negative Boogie (Ba Da Bing)

137 Downtown Boys – Cost Of Living (Sub Pop)

136 Big Thief – Capacity (Saddle Creek)

135 Nick Hakim – Green Twins (ATO)

134 Sampha – Process (XL)

133 Angelo De Augustine – Swim Inside The Moon (Asthmatic Kitty)

132 Kate Carr – The Story Surrounds Us (Helen Scarsdale)

131 Filthy Friends – Invitation (Kill Rock Stars)

130 Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Best Troubador (Domino)

129 Mapache – Mapache (Spiritual Pajamas)

128 Rhiannon Giddens – Freedom Highway (Nonesuch)

127 Jeff Tweedy – Together At Last (dBpm)

126 Como Mamas – Move Upstairs (Daptone)

125 Julie Byrne – Not Even Happiness (Basin Rock)

124 Colleen – A Flame My Love, A Frequency (Thrill Jockey)

123 Girl Ray – Earl Grey (Moshi Moshi)

122 Kelela – Take Me Apart (Warp)

121 Nadia Reid – Preservation (Basin Rock)

120 Robert Haigh – Creatures Of The Deep (Unseen Worlds)

119 Tamikrest – Kidal (Glitterbeat)

118 Gospel Of Mars – Gospel Of Mars (Amish)

117 Antibalas – Where The Gods Are In Peace (Daptone)

116 Queens Of The Stone Age – Villains (Matador)

115 Mark Eitzel – Hey Mr Ferryman (Décor)

114 SZA – Ctrl (Top Dawg)

113 Anjou – Epithymia (Kranky)

112 King Gizzard – Flying Microtonal Banana (Heavenly)

111 Alvarius B – With A Beaker On The Burner And An Otter In The Oven (Abduction)

110 The Feelies – In Between (Bar/None)

109 Zimpel/Ziołek – Zimpel/Ziołek (Instant Classic)

108 Thurston Moore – Rock’n’Roll Consciousness (Caroline)

107 Mavis Staples – If All I Was Was Black (Anti-)

106 Jaimie Branch – Fly Or Die (International Anthem)

105 On Fillmore – Happiness Of Living (Northern Spy)

104 Woods – Love Is Love (Woodsist)

103 Julia Holter – In The Same Room (Domino)

102 Trio Da Kali & The Kronos Quartet – Ladilikan (World Circuit)

101 Kevin Morby – City Music (Dead Oceans)

100 Fever Ray – Plunge (Rabid)

99 Tootard – Laissez Passer (Glitterbeat)

98 Kevin Drumm – October(Early Warning) (Bandcamp)

97 Gregg Kowalsky – L’Orange L’Orange (Mexican Summer)

96 Jen Cloher – Jen Cloher (Milk)

95 Thundercat – Drunk (Brainfeeder)

94 Zombie Zombie – Livity (Versatile)

93 Feist – Pleasure (Polydor)

92 Seabuckthorn – Turns (Lost Tribe Sound)

91 The Dream Syndicate – How Did I Find Myself Here (Anti-)

90 Prana Crafter – MindStreamBlessing (Eiderdown)

89 Oh Sees – Orc (Castle Face)

88 Bjork – Utopia (One Little Indian)

87 Goran Kajfes Subtropic Arkestra – The Reason Why Volume 3 (Headspin)

86 Elkhorn – The Black River (Debacle)

85 Jlin – Black Origami (Planet Mu)

84 Les Filles De Illighadad – Eghass Malan (Sahel Sounds)

83 Jay-Z – 4:44 (Roc Nation)

82 The Deslondes – Hurry Home (New West)

81 Circuit Des Yeux – Reaching For Indigo (Drag City)

80 Bedouine – Bedouine (Spacebomb)

79 Frozen Corn – Frozen Corn (Idea)

78 SAICOBAB – Sab Se Purani Bab (Thrill Jockey)

77 Bibio – Phantom Brickworks (Warp)

76 Heron Oblivion – The Chapel (Self-Released)

75 Various Artists – The Hired Hands: A Tribute To Bruce Langhorne (Scissor Tail/Bandcamp)

74 Prins Thomas – Prins Thomas 5 (Prins Thomas Musikk)

73 Man Forever – Play What They Want (Thrill Jockey)

72 Širom – I Can Be A Clay Snapper (Tak:til)

71 Thor & Friends – The Subversive Nature Of Kindness (Living Music Duplication)

70 House And Land – House And Land (Thrill Jockey)

69 Robert Stillman – Portals (Orindal)

68 Dean McPhee – Four Stones (Hood Faire)

67 Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – Soul Of A Woman (Dap-Tone)

66 Art Feynman – Blast Off Through The Wicker (Western Vinyl)

65 Wand – Plum (Drag City)

64 Feral Ohms – Feral Ohms (Silver Current)

63 Lindstrøm – It’s Alright Between Us (Smalltown Supersound)

62 Six Organs Of Admittance – Burning The Threshold (Drag City)

61 Bill MacKay – Esker (Drag City)

60 Brokeback – Illinois River Valley Blues (Thrill Jockey)

59 William Basinski – A Shadow In Time (Temporary Residence)

58 Alexander – Alexander (No Label)

57 Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory (Def Jam)

56 Ron Gallo – Heavy Meta (New West)

55 Aldous Harding – Party (4AD)

54 The Cairo Gang – Untouchable (God?/Drag City)

53 Daphni – Fabric Live 93: Daphni (Fabric)

52 Tinariwen – Elwan (Anti-)

51 Laura Baird – I Wish I Were A Sparrow (Ba Da Bing)

50 Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – The Kid (Western Vinyl)

49 James Elkington – Wintres Woma (Paradise Of Bachelors)

48 Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile – Lotta Sea Lice (Marathon/Matador)

47 Zara McFarlane – Arise (Brownwood)

46 Claire M Singer – Fairge (Touch)

45 Wet Tuna – Livin’ The Die (Feeding Tube/Child Of Microtones)

44 Grizzly Bear – Painted Ruins (RCA)

43 Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires – Youth Detention (Don Giovanni)

42 David Rawlings – Poor David’s Almanack (Acony)

41 Nicole Mitchell – Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds (FPE)

40 Beast – Volume One/Volume Two (Pre-Echo Press)

39 Saz’Iso – At Least Wave Your Handkerchief At Me: The Joys And Sorrows of Southern Albanian Song (Glitterbeat)

38 Ty Segall – Ty Segall (Drag City)

37 Margo Price – All American Made (Third Man)

36 Träd, Gräs Och Stenar – Tack För Kaffet (Thanks For The Coffee) (Subliminal Sounds)

35 Tomaga – Memory In Vivo Exposure (Hands In The Dark)

34 Arbouretum – Song Of The Rose (Thrill Jockey)

33 Brooklyn Raga Massive– Terry Riley’s In C (Northern Spy)

32 James Holden & The Animal Spirits – The Animal Spirits (Border Community)

31 Chris Robinson Brotherhood – Barefoot In The Head (Silver Arrow)

30 LCD Soundsystem – American Dream (Columbia)

29 Fleet Foxes – Crack-Up (Nonesuch)

28 Bill MacKay & Rykey Walker – Spiderbeetlebee (Drag City)

27 Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band – Adios Senor Pussycat (Violette)

26 Chuck Johnson – Balsams (VDSQ)

25 Gas – Narkopop (Kompakt)

24 Michael Chapman – 50 (Paradise Of Bachelors)

23 Brian Eno – Reflection (Warp)

22 Amir ElSaffar/Rivers Of Sound – Not Two (New Amsterdam)

21 Floating Points – Reflections: Mojave Deser (Pluto)

20 Anthony Pasquarosa With John Moloney – My Pharaoh, My King (Feeding Tube)

19 Rick Tomlinson – Phases Of Daylight (Voix)

18 Kendrick Lamar – DAMN. (Top Dawg)

17 Four Tet – New Energy (Text)

16 Hans Chew – Open Sea (At The Helm)

15 Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – The French Press (Sub Pop)

14 Gunn-Truscinski Duo – Bay Head (Three Lobed Recordings)

13 The Necks – Unfold (Ideologic Organ/Editions Mego)

12 Wooden Wand – Clipper Ship (Three Lobed Recordings)

11 Endless Boogie – Vibe Killer (No Quarter)

10 Kamasi Washington – Harmony Of Difference (Young Turks)

9 Jake Xerxes Fussell – What In The Natural World (Paradise Of Bachelors)

8 Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band – Dreaming In The Non-Dream (No Quarter)

7 Hurray For The Riff Raff – The Navigator (ATO)

6 Joan Shelley – Joan Shelley (No Quarter)

5 Psychic Temple – Psychic Temple IV (Joyful Noise)

4 The Weather Station – The Weather Station (Paradise Of Bachelors)

3 Hiss Golden Messenger – Hallelujah Anyhow (Merge)

2 Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society – Simultonality (tak:til/Glitterbeat/Eremite)

1 Bitchin Bajas – Bajas Fresh (Drag City)

Hüsker Dü – Savage Young Dü

Louis Pattison
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Hüsker Dü – Savage Young Dü
The last two decades have been open season for the band reunion, a phenomenon that has seen all manner of broken relationships and battered egos salved by the prospect of lucrative comeback tours and a thriving reissue market eager for new ways to package the past. For all this, there have been a fe...

The last two decades have been open season for the band reunion, a phenomenon that has seen all manner of broken relationships and battered egos salved by the prospect of lucrative comeback tours and a thriving reissue market eager for new ways to package the past. For all this, there have been a few holdouts, groups for whom no cheque could paper over the cracks. The Smiths, for one. Talking Heads, another. And of course Hüsker Dü, the prolific Minnesota punk rock trio whose collapse on the road in 1988 after nine years and six furious albums amounted to one of the most acrimonious splits in rock.

In the years hence, the trio continued with new projects – most notably, Bob Mould’s Sugar, a sleek, commercially solvent update on the Hüsker Dü template, and a string of solo albums from drummer and co-vocalist Grant Hart that explored bold conceptual realms (2013’s The Argument was inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost). There was the briefest of reunions in 2004, when Mould and Hart came together at a benefit concert for Karl Mueller of Soul Asylum, playing a couple of Hüsker Dü songs, before informing the audience not to hold their breath for more. But the promise of a Hüskers reunion was never entirely dispelled, and the news in 2015 that Mould, Hart and bassist Greg Norton had opened collective communications – if only to sell T-shirts from an official website – raised hopes anew.

Any lingering ‘what if?’ was blotted out forever in September, when Hart succumbed to a battle with liver cancer. It is difficult to imagine Hüsker Dü lacking any of its three core members, but in particular, the dynamic between its two songwriters is the fulcrum the band revolved on: Mould, intense and buttoned-down, his songs caustic and bitter; Hart, hippyish and energetic, with a generous melodic sense and a taste for raw, confessional songwriting. If their relationship could sometimes feel competitive, a sort of Lennon/McCartney one-upmanship, it certainly worked in the service of the songs. “You hear some live bootlegs, and Bob and I are working so hard to outshine each other that it just lifts the whole thing off the ground with peace and wonderfulness,” Hart told The AV Club in 2000.

Just two months on from Hart’s death comes Savage Young Dü. A 69-track boxset collecting freshly remastered and largely unheard music from Hüsker Dü’s first five years, it captures the group in first flush, evolving from green teenage punks rehearsing in the basement of St Paul record store Northern Lights into a savagely tight and notoriously fast power trio, cutting a swathe through clubs across North America. That Hüsker Dü were real road dogs is sometimes forgotten, but a thorough hardcover book packaged with the box lays out their hectic live schedule through tour dates and a wealth of photos and hand-written flyers –countless support slots at Minneapolis venues, extensive sorties along the West Coast, all the way down to Texas and all the way up to Canada. Some hardcore bands were strictly local heroes, but not Hüsker Dü. Like Black Flag before them, they were DIY networkers, building their reputation and honing their sound out there on the road.

So what’s here? Of the familiar stuff, we have the group’s debut single, “Statues/Amusement”, the A-side an uncharacteristically slow post-punk lurk with spiky Keith Levene-style guitars; a newly mixed recording of second single “In A Free Land”, warp-speed hardcore with a thrilling anti-authority vocal from Mould; and the group’s debut studio album Everything Falls Apart, a 12-track charge that sometimes holds tight to the hardcore template (“Bricklayer”, “Afraid Of Being Wrong”) but throws in some wild cards along the way. The title track buries a brilliant array of melodies amidst its mopey, greyscale guitars, while a surprising cover of Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman” is played not for the hyucks, but for the hooks. Careful remastering throughout makes the melodies crisper and the noise crunchier.

And what’s new? Primarily, there’s a new take on the group’s 1981 live album Land Speed Record. Like the original, it’s taken straight from the soundboard at Minneapolis venue 7th Street Entry. But this take was recorded a couple of weeks later, with Hüsker Dü fresh from a tour that saw them play bills with a stack of hardcore groups from up and down the West Coast. Land Speed Record was already fast – the title says it all – but here you can hear the trio pushing themselves further and further, faster and faster, keeping it together even as they dare the songs to fall apart. There are hints, too, of a musical scope reaching beyond that of their punk peers. “It’s like free jazz,” Hart says in the sleevenotes. “When you listen to the whole thing – the gestalt of the thing – there’s Bengali music, Indian music, because we were able to get this raga thing happening. That’s part of what people say was our unique hardcore sound.”

Elsewhere, there is valuable live and rehearsal material, much of it taken from the archive of the band’s live sound engineer, Terry Katzman. An early show recorded at Minneapolis venue Jay’s Longhorn captures the group in vestigial form – the Norton-sung “You’re So Obtuse” might be considered new wave, if it wasn’t for Hart’s chaotic drum batteries, while an appropriately bug-eyed song called “Insects Rule The World” closes with a great Hart public service announcement: “We’re not the most professional band in the Twin Cities… we have fun though…” An early 1980 session spawns a breathless take on Johnny Thunders standard “Chinese Rocks”, while lost Mould originals like “Stick It To Me” show how the group were exploring pensive, introspective material in rehearsal, even as their live shows were gaining in speed and intensity.

But probably the most thrilling material comes towards the box’s close. Live takes on “Real World”, “It’s Not Funny Anymore”, “Out On A Limb” and Hart’s harrowing serial killer fable “Diane” – all of which would appear on the band’s debut release for SST, Metal Church – mark the band truly arriving at their signature sound: a raging tug-of-war between the fulsome melodies and thematic broadness of classic rock, and the pent-up range and pedal-to-the-metal pacing of hardcore punk. There is the slight sense that Savage Young Dü cuts out just as things are getting good, but that’s more than countered by the quantity of material here, and the promise of what else might be to come.

That Savage Young Dü exists at all is surely in large part to do with Hart. When Ken Shipley at Numero Group first contacted him about piecing together Hüsker Dü reissues back in 2010, the drummer was initially sceptical, but his increasing enthusiasm for the project proved crucial, even as his illness sapped his energy. “When plans were made to fly out to the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle to pour through his archives, he wanted to join,” recalled Shipley. “But when it came time to go, he suddenly cooled to the idea and withdrew from the project entirely. ‘Can you get it out before I go?’ he asked.” It was not to be, but Savage Young Dü stands as some testament to his wild, energetic creativity, and the protean energy of the band that first brought his songs to the world.

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

Watch Neil Young’s hometown acoustic concert

Michael Bonner
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Watch Neil Young’s hometown acoustic concert
Neil Young played a solo acoustic show in his hometown of Omemee on December 1. The occasion was the launch of his latest album, The Visitor, as well as the opening of his online archives. The invite-only event took place in the town's Coronation Hall, a small venue which seats about 225 people. ...

Neil Young played a solo acoustic show in his hometown of Omemee on December 1.

The occasion was the launch of his latest album, The Visitor, as well as the opening of his online archives.

The invite-only event took place in the town’s Coronation Hall, a small venue which seats about 225 people.

Titled Somewhere In Canada, the concert was livestreamed by CTV on various platforms, including CTV.ca, iHeartRadio.ca and on Facebook outside Canada.

You can watch the entire concert by clicking here.

No public tickets were available for the show, which will be mostly attended by friends and family of the singer, as well as contest winners. Proceeds from the show are reportedly to be donated to the local Scott Young Public School, named after Neil’s father.

The set contained a number of surprised. “Tumbleweed” got only its second-ever outing while “I’m Glad I Found You” has only been played live on five previous occasions, during the solo tour of 2014.

The rarest track Young performed was the Harvest track, “There’s A World“, which he hasn’t performed live since 1971. It was only the song’s 8th performance.

Neil Young’s set list from December 1, 2017. Coronation Hall, Omemee, Ontario, Canada:

Comes A Time
Love Is A Rose
Journey Through The Past
Long May You Run
I’m Glad I Found You
Tumbleweed
Old Man
Old King
Someday
There’s A World
Stand Tall
War Of Man
Don’t Be Denied
Helpless
Heart Of Gold
—
One Of These Days
Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)
Sugar Mountain

The January 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. We also celebrate the best of the last 12 months with our Ultimate Review Of 2017 – featuring the best albums, reissues, films and books of the year. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, The Weather Station, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mavis Staples and more. Our free 15 track-CD celebrates the best music from 2017.

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