Jeff Tweedy is writing a memoir.
He has been commissioned to write the book by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House. A title and release date are yet to be confirmed.
Tweedy's book will deal with his own stories and stories of his various musical collaborations, as well as his thoughts on th...
Jeff Tweedy is writing a memoir.
He has been commissioned to write the book by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House. A title and release date are yet to be confirmed.
Tweedy’s book will deal with his own stories and stories of his various musical collaborations, as well as his thoughts on the music industry and how Wilco fit into it. Associated Press reports Tweedy as saying:
“I have stories to tell, and I’d like for this book to be a combination of those stories about my experiences, and maybe a window into one person’s creative process, as well as some of what I’ve seen working with other artists in my current and former bands, in the studio, on the road, in my basement with my sons and more.”
Meanwhile, Wilco have a European tour planned for next year, including a couple of UK and Ireland dates. They will play:
Iveagh Garden, Dublin (July 10)
Albert Hall, Manchester (November 18)
O2 Academy, Brixton, London (November 19)
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
Uncut is delighted to be involved with Barnes & Noble's Vinyl Day, which takes place today [Saturday, November 21] in Barnes & Noble stores across America.
Vinyl Day sees the album taking centre stage, with limited editions, colour vinyl, Signed Editions and more by artists including The Be...
Uncut is delighted to be involved with Barnes & Noble’s Vinyl Day, which takes place today [Saturday, November 21] in Barnes & Noble stores across America.
Vinyl Day sees the album taking centre stage, with limited editions, colour vinyl, Signed Editions and more by artists including The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Brian Wilson, Neko Case, Sleater-Kinney and more.
Vinyl Day will also feature of a specially published Definitive Album Reviews edition of Uncut.
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
Over forty years on from the death of Duane Allman, the freewheeling adventures of The Allman Brothers Band show no sign of ending. Gregg Allman and Butch Trucks help uncover a tale as long and wild as one of their legendary all-night shows. “We lived together, fucked together, did drugs together,...
By 1978, the musicians were sufficiently cleaned up to reunite, starting three interrupted decades of touring and recording, despite various members’ recurring drug problems; Betts was “suspended” in 2000 and remains bitterly estranged from the other three original members.
During the breakup years, Gregg focused on his solo career and his improbable marriage to Cher, with whom he recorded the abominable 1977 LP, Two The Hard Way, as Allman And Woman. Of his seven solo albums, starting with 1973’s Laid Back, the best of the batch may well be his latest, the T Bone Burnett-produced Low Country Blues (its title referring to Gregg’s present home in Savannah, on the Georgia coast). The idea came from Burnett; Gregg had little knowledge of the producer’s numerous artistic achievements when, near the end of 2009, he met with him in Memphis at the urging of his manager. “I said, ‘What brings him down there?’ He said, ‘He’s got two architects with him, and they’re measuring Sun Records Studio board by board, and he’s gonna recreate it in this big piece of land he has next to it. I mean, identical.’ I thought that was just one of the hippest things ever. Plus, he was trying to get the place reconverted back into a studio, and not just a place that sells T-shirts. We got to talkin’ about that in the meeting, and I thought, ‘Man, this guy just might do.’
“We talked and talked, and he seemed to be real excited about it. And shit, that’s all you need, man, to cut a record – as much excitement as you can. He said this guy gave him this hard drive that had a couple thousand old, obscure blues songs. He said, ‘These are old, old songs. They’re like album cuts. Some of them you might recognise; most of ’em you might not. I’m gonna peel off about 20 of these songs and send them to ya; you pick out about 14 or 15 of ’em and let me know which ones you like.’ And he did some great pickin’, is all I gotta say.”
Last January, Gregg hooked up with T Bone at the Village Recorder in West LA. “He had part of his band there, and he had Mac Rebennack playin’ piano and Doyle Bramhall II playin’ guitar. He had this stand-up bass player from Nashville [Burnett regular Dennis Crouch], who had the strongest set of hands, man. He had a big ol’ callous runnin’ all the way down the index finger of his right hand.”
They banged out 15 tracks, some of them first takes, in 11 days. “The communication was dynamite, and we all just got right in there and played,” he says of the sessions. “We got it on.” Allman claims he’s never heard Burnett’s definitive production, Raising Sand, but Low Country Blues stands as the stylistic and spiritual sequel to Plant & Krauss’ masterpiece.
Allman’s years of excess had brought on Hepatitis C, and soon after completing the album, the 62-year-old learned that he was a candidate for a new liver, which he received last June. The record, he says, “helped me get well from this damn operation ’cos the doctors told me it was the biggest operation a human being could get. It was heavy. And just knowing that you’ve got a record like this one in the can greatly helps when you’re convalescing.”
What would Duane have thought of Low Country Blues? He emits a grizzled laugh before replying. “He’d say, ‘Set me up a seat and a mic and I’ll bring my amp. I’ll be right there.’”
For Gregg, Duane’s spirit is ever-present. “I’ve always felt a connection with my brother,” he says. “Sometimes I can feel him onstage. Especially with Derek [Trucks]. I mean, where does he come from? He wasn’t even born when my brother passed away. He stands like Duane, he’s got that long blond hair, even the same type humour.”
“Derek basically picked up where Duane left off,” Butch says with avuncular pride. “Don’t forget, Duane had only been playin’ slide two years when he died.”
It does seem downright cosmic that Butch’s nephew should turn out to be the spitting image of Duane. Derek’s presence has given all three old-timers a new lease on life. “Some of the music we’re playin’ now is so much more complex and goes into places that original band could never have done,” says Butch Trucks, “but I don’t think we’ll ever approach that band in originality.”
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
Watching David Bowie’s new single “★” make its debut last night on Sky Atlantic, I was reminded of the last time a Bowie video premiered on television with such fanfare: “Jazzin’ For Blue Jean”. I can dimly recall sneaking down to the TV room at school to watch it – the BFI elves tel...
Watching David Bowie’s new single “★” make its debut last night on Sky Atlantic, I was reminded of the last time a Bowie video premiered on television with such fanfare: “Jazzin’ For Blue Jean”. I can dimly recall sneaking down to the TV room at school to watch it – the BFI elves tell me this would have been at 11.20pm on September 28, 1984 – but all I can really remember is the scene at the beginning, with Bowie up a ladder in orange overalls. I certainly couldn’t have told you that Bowie’s backing band in video contain at least one future member of Right Said Fred.
At the time, “Jazzin’ For Blue Jean” was quite a pioneering conceit from Bowie and the film’s director, Julien Temple. By then, Bowie had already made considerable inroads into music video. Mick Rock’s early promos from the Seventies still have a terrific raw energy; alas, “Ashes To Ashes”, with Bowie cavorting around Hastings beach with a bulldozer and Steve Strange in tow, holds up less well today. But in the context of the early Eighties, with MTV only a few years old, “Jazzin’ For Blue Jean” felt like part of a process by which musicians were exploring the parameters of what the promo video could do – whether that be, for instance, Duran Duran’s expensive jaunts to Sri Lanka or Peter Gabriel’s stop-motion antics in “Sledgehammer”. But Johan Renck’s film for “★” arrives in a different time for music videos, and when Bowie’s status is arguably less allied to the mainstream than he was during the Eighties.
These thoughts intermittently popped into my head last night as I watched “★” – or “Blackstar”, if you say it aloud. As I’m sure you know, the track is Bowie’s first new music since his Record Store Day 10”, “Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)”, and acts as a scene-setter for the ★ album. I don’t want to go too deeply into the album in this blog – you can read all about it in the new issue of Uncut – but I think the video for “★” offers plenty of insight into Bowie’s ongoing relationship with his responsibilities as an artist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF76qlwWM8s
Scrolling through the comments on Bowie’s Facebook page, almost every thread contains some kind of entreaty for Bowie to play live. But in the absence of a tour – which, we are repeatedly told, won’t happen – Bowie is exploring other ways to present his work visually. During his decade away from music, he continued to act – most memorably introduced walking through an arc of electric current in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige – and the slew of promos he released around The Next Day also allowed Bowie to indulge his thespish tendencies: as a mournful ‘face in a hole’ puppet in “Where Are We Now” or as a suburban husband in “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)”. Even the relatively straight-forward “Valentine’s Day”, where Bowie mostly just sat on a stool in an abandoned grain silo and strummed a guitar, had a strangely mannered and artificial quality about it.
Renck’s video for “★” finds Bowie playing three different characters – a blind seer, a trickster lurking in an attic and a priest out in the fields. Along the way, we meet crucified scarecrows, a woman with a tail and a dead astronaut. It is thin on conventional narrative, but rich with imagery. Does the dead astronaut signify the final fate of Major Tom? Is the smiley face badge on his space suit deliberately intended to reference GERTY in Duncan Jones’ film, Moon? Bowie’s blind seer recalls Tiresias from Greek mythology, or perhaps Gloucester in King Lear; less ostentatiously, perhaps, it made me think of the button-eyed Other Mother in Neil Gaiman’s book, Coraline. The religious imagery provided by the priest and crucified scarecrows calls to mind the depiction of Catholicism in “The Next Day” clip; the jeweled skull of the astronaut echoes similarly adorned skeletons of Christian martyrs.
There is a good interview on Vice with Renck this morning, where despite the “make of it whatever you want” caveat, he does offer some useful insight into the video – who knew the weird shuddering movements made by the other characters was inspired by Popeye cartoons?
It’s a rich, strange, possibly entirely pretentious project. But let’s talk for a while about the song itself. Renck has already used a snippet of it as the theme tune to his Sky TV series, The Last Panthers (Renck, incidentally, has also directed promos for New Order, Madonna and Suede, as well as episodes of Vikings and Breaking Bad). But now it’s possible to hear it in its full, 9’57 glory – 3 seconds shorter than the maximum duration iTunes allow for a single. “★” arrives on a warm ambient sound bed comprising strings, skittering beats and tiny shoals of synth pulses. Then Bowie at his most mannered intones: “In the villa of Ormen / Stands a solitary candle / At the centre of it all / Your eyes”. There is talk of “the day of execution”. It feels like a continuation of The Next Day’s Scott Walker-esque closer, “Heat”, married to the electronic textures of Outside. But at the 3’56 mark, the song drifts off in another, warmer director. Suddenly, Bowie is singing in his best 70s soul voice, supported by low, woozy sax rolls that recall “Sweet Thing/Candidate”, while a call-and-response passage, with Bowie pitted against his own heavily treated voice, twists the song in yet another direction.
You can read more – plenty more – about the making of Bowie’s ★ album in the next issue of Uncut, which goes on sale next Tuesday. In the meantime, this new video is at the very least the perfect taster for a new intriguing chapter in Bowie’s remarkable career.
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
Courtney Barnett took part in a special performance celebrating the 40th anniversary of Patti Smith's Horses album in Melbourne, Australia.
The performance took place at Melbourne's Town Hall at the end of October.
Barnett was joined by Jen Cloher, Magic Dirt's Adalita and The Drones' Gareth Liddi...
Courtney Barnett took part in a special performance celebrating the 40th anniversary of Patti Smith’s Horses album in Melbourne, Australia.
The performance took place at Melbourne’s Town Hall at the end of October.
Barnett was joined by Jen Cloher, Magic Dirt’s Adalita and The Drones’ Gareth Liddiard for the one-off show.
Now, Barnett’s own label Milk! Records have released footage from the evening, including a full performance of Barnett playing “Redondo Beach“.
“It’s a really challenging album,” Barnett told Uncut. “But you’ve got to challenge yourself in life or you don’t get anywhere. I try to constantly push myself a little outside my comfort zone, or I’d just stay in my room and be depressed. So I have to keep trying to grow as a person.”
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
Keith Richards has revealed the video for his latest solo single.
"Long Overdue" will be released on December 11 and featured on Crosseyed Heart, Richards' album released earlier this year.
You can read Uncut's review of the album by clicking here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9orkd6ZpBx8
Mea...
Keith Richards has revealed the video for his latest solo single.
“Long Overdue” will be released on December 11 and featured on Crosseyed Heart, Richards’ album released earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Richards’ other band, The Rolling Stones, have recently announced plans to tour South America in February and March 2016.
The band will play:
3 February – Santiago, Chile – Estadio Nacional
7 February – Buenos Aires, Argentina – La Plata Stadium
10 February – Buenos Aires, Argentina – La Plata Stadium
13 February – Buenos Aires, Argentina – La Plata Stadium
17 February – Montevideo, Uruguay – Centenario Stadium
20 February – Rio de Janeiro, Brasil Maracana Stadium
24 February – São Paulo, Brasil Morumbi
27 February – São Paulo, Brasil – Morumbi
2 March – Porto Alegre, Brasil – Beira Rio Stadium
6 March – Lima, Peru – Estadio Monumental
10 March – Bogotá, Colombia Estadio El Campin
14 March – México D.F., México Foro Sol
In other Stones news, Ron Wood revealed the band are likely to start recording new material next month.
He told ABC Radio: “We’ll maybe go in the studio in December and cut a few tracks and see what happens … We’ll take it from there, see how it all goes … One thing at a time … it’s always good after a little sabbatical to get back with the boys and exchange stories and start the engines running again.”
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
Jarvis Cocker is among the arists taking part in celebration of Gerry Anderson's TV theme tunes.
The event will take place on December 1, 2015 at the Colston Hall, Bristol.
Cocker and British conductor Charles Hazlewood, Adrian Utley from Portishead and Will Gregory from Goldfrapp will take part i...
Jarvis Cocker is among the arists taking part in celebration of Gerry Anderson‘s TV theme tunes.
The event will take place on December 1, 2015 at the Colston Hall, Bristol.
Cocker and British conductor Charles Hazlewood, Adrian Utley from Portishead and Will Gregory from Goldfrapp will take part in full, orchestral interpretations of the themes from Thunderbirds and Anderson’s other many shows.
The collective will be accompanied by the British Paraorchestra, the world’s only professional ensemble of disabled musicians.
Hazlewood, conductor and Artistic Director of the Paraorchestra and All Star Collective said:
“We will be bringing back to life all the iconic hits of composer Barry Gray, in the 50th anniversary year of the launch of Thunderbirds. Expect high octane, big band-fuelled live renditions from this hit TV series, alongside timeless classics from shows including Stingray and Captain Scarlett. We even have Gray’s original Ondes Martinot, the old-school futuristic electronic instrument, which is the sound of the Mysterons.
“Jarvis shares our passion for this music, and is as delighted as we are about putting it back on the map. He joins my All Star Collective and members of the British Paraorchestra in a unique musical adventure. From Stingray to Dangerous Game via ‘I wish I was a Spaceman’ and Supercar, these are pocket rocket British classics.”
Tickets are on sale now, £20 incl. booking fee from www.colstonhall.org.
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
David Bowie has revealed details of his new album ★ (pronounced Blackstar).
The ★ album will be released January 8 2016 on Iso/RCA Records in formats including digital, CD, and a vinyl LP package.
The sleeve artwork has been designed by Jonathan Barnbrook, who worked with Bowie previously on T...
David Bowie has revealed details of his new album ★ (pronounced Blackstar).
The ★ album will be released January 8 2016 on Iso/RCA Records in formats including digital, CD, and a vinyl LP package.
The sleeve artwork has been designed by Jonathan Barnbrook, who worked with Bowie previously on The Next Day.
The album’s title track and first single will be released tomorrow November 20 on all digital retailer and streaming platforms.
The single and film will premiere worldwide today on Sky Atlantic at 8.45pm before episode 2 of The Last Panthers.
A special clear vinyl configurations including exclusive lithograph artwork is available to pre-order by clicking here.
Plus! The secrets of ★ revealed! In the new issue of Uncut, Bowie’s new key collaborator reveals the inside story of the album’s recording sessions!
Learn all about Bowie’s remarkable working-practices – including jazz solos, sushi lunches and conceptual feedback.
“David would say things that would engage your imagination,” we discover. “You could think about it and figure out what it means to you…” The new Uncut: on sale Tuesday, November 24, 2105.
Blackstar lithos
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
If DJ Kool Herc is generally considered the godfather of hip-hop, it can be argued that Cornell Benjamin was its first martyr. Benjamin was neither a musician nor a DJ. Rather, he was a drugs counsellor and appointed peacemaker who, under the aegis of New York street gang the Ghetto Brothers, was de...
If DJ Kool Herc is generally considered the godfather of hip-hop, it can be argued that Cornell Benjamin was its first martyr. Benjamin was neither a musician nor a DJ. Rather, he was a drugs counsellor and appointed peacemaker who, under the aegis of New York street gang the Ghetto Brothers, was despatched to broker a truce during the vicious turf wars of the early ‘70s. He was killed by a rival gang.
Benjamin’s murder is the pivotal moment in Rubble Kings, Shan Nicholson’s engrossing documentary about gang culture in New York, largely centred around the South Bronx of the ‘60s and ‘70s. His death brought years of brutality to a head, resulting in an inter-gang treaty – the historic Hoe Avenue Peace Meeting of December 1971 – that led to a shift of emphasis among the tribal factions. Violence was out, music was in. Opposing gangs jammed with one another at block parties. DJs became the new community leaders. And crucially, the culture of intimidation found a creative outlet in dance battles and DJ match-ups. Hip-hop, as one ex-gang member puts it, “calmed the savage beast.”
The birth of hip-hop serves as the resting point for Rubble Kings’ narrative arc. But this is primarily a film about the socio-economic conditions that gave rise to gang culture, the fierce allegiances therein and the eventual realisation that, unless they took drastic action, their only achievement would be to wipe themselves out completely.
Nicholson uses archive footage, graphic novel-style illustrations and plenty of talking heads (mostly former gang members) to tell the story of how the Bronx went from picturesque borough to the ultimate symbol of civic decay in just a few short years. America’s grand vision of urban renewal failed to reach the Bronx at all. Houses were torn down, landlords began torching their own buildings to claim insurance and the poor were left behind as the moneyed classes moved out.
Outlaws sprung up from the rubble, raising hell and rigorously marking out their territory. The choice was stark: either join a gang or become a victim. Each clan had its own hierarchy, from Presidents and Vice-Presidents to Warlords and Gestapo agents, whose task it was to mete out severe punishment to members guilty of contravening their strict code. Anyone wanting to join a gang was required to undertake a ruthless initiation rite. The most common of these was the Apache Line, in which the prospective recruit made his way though two flanks of gang members while being pummelled by a sea of fists. If you made it out in one piece, unconscious or otherwise, you were in.
The Ghetto Brothers’ method involved slipping a 45 on the turntable and pitching the recruit in a fist fight against three hardcore members for the duration of the song. Bloodlust often took over. Joint leader ‘Yellow Benjy’ Melendez recalls one of his charges eagerly returning from the local store with a full album, hoping to see the hapless guy’s jaw break.
The testimony of Melendez, alongside fellow Ghetto Brothers chief Carlos ‘Karate Charlie’ Suarez, is at the heart of Rubble Kings. Both men exude charisma. Former colleagues describe them as yin and yang – Suarez the pragmatist ex-Marine who styled himself on the Japanese Bushido; Melendez the impassioned orator who sought a way out of the malaise.
There were well over a hundred gangs in New York, all with fabulous names – Savage Nomads, Ebony Dukes, Young Dynamite, Seven Immortals, Harlem Turks, Golden Guineas – but the Ghetto Brothers were unique in that they were driven by a political consciousness, using the media to fan the cause (there’s fascinating footage of a leadership summit on The David Susskind Show). They were intent on helping the community around them, be it providing essentials like food and clothes, scrubbing graffiti or warning people off drugs. They were also a very handy Latin-funk band, whose 1971 opus Power-Fuerza was finally granted a proper release in 2012.
At just 70 minutes in length, Rubble Kings doesn’t hang about. But it nevertheless manages to cover an impressive amount of ground, the hip-hop fraternity represented by Kool Herc, Jazzy Jay and the key figure of Afrika Bambaataa. The latter was a warlord in the Black Spades before co-opting them into Universal Zulu Nation: “The first black force to promote positivity through music.”
This is far more than just a story about survivalist machismo. Rubble Kings offers a powerful reminder of the sheer resilience of the human spirit in the face of terrible odds. And, more impressively, the ability to create something meaningful from utter chaos.
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
Bon Iver have announced details of some forthcoming live shows.
They will play Asia, according to Justin Vernon's Twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/boniver/status/666783082435989505
Most recently, Bon Iver played at the inaugural Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival, a two-day event organised b...
Bon Iver have announced details of some forthcoming live shows.
They will play Asia, according to Justin Vernon’s Twitter feed:
We're headed to Asia to play some shows early next year! We're going because we've never been. Join us! pic.twitter.com/fDfzmdb1rS
Most recently, Bon Iver played at the inaugural Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival, a two-day event organised by Vernon and The National’s Aaron Dessner, held in Vernon’s hometown of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
They debuted two new songs at the Eaux Claires festival, which you can watch by clicking here.
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
John Cale has released a new video for "Close Watch".
The track is taken from his new album, M:FANS: a reworking of his 1982 album, Music For A New Society.
M:FANS will be released on January 22, 2016 on Double Six / Domino, while a fully re-mastered version of Music For A New Society will also be...
John Cale has released a new video for “Close Watch”.
The track is taken from his new album, M:FANS: a reworking of his 1982 album, Music For A New Society.
M:FANS will be released on January 22, 2016 on Double Six / Domino, while a fully re-mastered version of Music For A New Society will also be available from the same date, featuring 3 previously unreleased bonus tracks from the original multi-track recordings.
Cale will be performing live as part of London Roundhouse’s In The Round series on February 3, 2016.
Meanwhile, Cale is due to answer your questions in Uncut as part of our regular An Audience With… feature.
Send up your questions by noon, Monday, November 16 to uncutaudiencewith@timeinc.com.
The best questions, and John’s answers, will be published in a future edition of Uncut magazine.
Please include your name and location with your question.
The tracklisting for M:Fans and Music For A New Society ar:
M:FANS
1. Prelude
2. If You Were Still Around
3. Taking Your Life In Your Hands
4. Thoughtless Kind
5. Sanctus (Sanities Mix)
6. Broken Bird
7. Chinese Envoy
8. Changes Made
9. Library Of Force (feat. Man In The Book excerpt)
10. Close Watch
11. If You Were Still Around (Choir Reprise)
12. Back To The End
Music For A New Society – re-mastered:
1. Taking Your Life In Your Hands
2. Thoughtless Kind
3. Sanctus (Sanities)
4. If You Were Still Around
5. Close Watch
6. Broken Bird
7. Chinese Envoy
8. Changes Made
9. Damn Life
10. Risé, Sam And Rimsky Korsakov
11. Library Of Force (Unreleased)
12. Chinese Envoy (Outtakes)
13. Thoughtless kind (Outtakes)
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
Bruce Springsteen will release The Ties That Bind: The River Collection, a four-CD/three-DVD package dedicated to his 1980 double album, on December 4.
Ahead of that, a rare clip of Springsteen performing "The River" from a concert on November 5, 1980 in Tempe, Arizona has been released (via Rollin...
Ahead of that, a rare clip of Springsteen performing “The River” from a concert on November 5, 1980 in Tempe, Arizona has been released (via Rolling Stone).
Scoll down to watch the clip.
The Ties That Bind: The River Collection includes the original single disc album of The River (then called The Ties That Bind) that Springsteen planned to release in 1979, 11 previously unreleased outtakes from The River sessions, the Tempe, Arizona concert film and a new hour long documentary shot by his long-term collaborator Thom Zimny featuring unseen footage and photographs.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Zimny explained that the Tempe concert film does not feature the entire show, but was still the highest-quality concert from Springsteen’s 1980 tour to support the album.
“There’s so many moments in the Tempe concert where you finally get to see things that maybe you heard on a bootleg source or on E Street Radio,” Zimny said. “Also, the songs were new at the time — the band had such raw energy. Even though it’s not a complete show, it still gives the dramatic arc of the show.”
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
Welcome to the third in our series of Grateful Dead premieres, which coincide with the release of the band's final concerts at Soldier's Field in Chicago on July 3, 4 and 5.
We're delighted to bring you a world exclusive of "Shakedown Street", from the band's July 5 show.
Previously, we've brought...
Welcome to the third in our series of Grateful Dead premieres, which coincide with the release of the band’s final concerts at Soldier’s Field in Chicago on July 3, 4 and 5.
We’re delighted to bring you a world exclusive of “Shakedown Street”, from the band’s July 5 show.
Previously, we’ve brought you “Truckin’“, from the July 5 show – which you can watch by clicking here.
And also “China Cat Sunflower” and “I Know You Rider”, also from the band’s July 5 show – which you can watch by clicking here.
The Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead sets will be available on November 20 through Rhino on a number of formats.
A 3-CD/2 Blu-ray, 3/CD-DVD, 2 Blu-Ray or 2-DVD sets will be released in shops and digitally which includes full audio from the band’s final show on July 5.
A 2 CD/digital Best Of edition will feature highlights from all three shows. You can order it by clicking here.
Meanwhile, a 12-CD/Blu-ray set and a 12-CD-DVD set will be available exclusively on Dead.net the official Grateful Dead website, and will be limited to 20,000 individually numbered copies per sets.
FARE THEE WELL – Dead.net Exclusive Complete Versions 12-CD/7-Blu-ray Complete Version – Full audio and high-definition video from all three shows on CD and Blu-ray plus exclusive bonus Blu-ray of behind-the-scenes footage and three CDs of intermission music by Circles Around The Sun. Individually numbered, limited edition of 20,000.
12-CD/7-DVD Complete Version – Full audio and video from all three shows on CD and DVD plus exclusive bonus DVD of behind-the-scenes footage and three CDs of intermission music by Circles Around The Sun. Individually numbered, limited edition of 20,000.
FARE THEE WELL – Retail Versions 3-CD/2-Blu-ray Version – Full audio and high-definition video from final show (July 5) on CD and Blu-ray. 3-CD/2-DVD Version – Full audio and video from final show (July 5) on CD and DVD. 2-Blu-ray Version – Full high-definition video from final show (July 5) on Blu-ray. 2-DVD Version – Full video from final show (July 5) on DVD. 2-CD “Best Of” Version – Audio highlights from all three shows. Digital Download – Audio and video from the final show (July 5) will be available as well as audio from the “Best Of” version.
Tracklisting for Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead Dead.Net edition:
July 3rd, 2015 Disc One
1. “Box of Rain”
2. “Jack Straw”
3. “Bertha”
4. “Passenger”
5. “The Wheel”
6. “Crazy Fingers”
7. “The Music Never Stopped”
Disc Two
1. “Mason’s Children”
2. “Scarlet Begonias”
3. “Fire On The Mountain”
4. “Drums”
5. “Space”
Disc Three
1. “New Potato Caboose”
2. “Playing In The Band”
3. “Jam”
4. “Let It Grow”
5. “Help On The Way”
6. “Slipknot!”
7. “Franklin’s Tower”
8. “Ripple”
Disc Four Intermission Music by Circles Around The Sun
1. “Space Wheel”
2. “Mountains Of The Moon”
3. “Praying For The Band”
4. “Tripple”
5. “Deal Breaker”
6. “Deadometer”
7. “Borrow From A Friend”
8. “Grimes Surf Story”
July 4th, 2015 Disc Five
1. “Shakedown Street”
2. “Liberty”
3. “Standing On The Moon”
4. “Me And My Uncle”
5. “Tennessee Jed”
6. “Cumberland Blues”
7. “Little Red Rooster”
8. “Friend Of The Devil”
9. “Deal”
Disc Six
1. “Bird Song”
2. “The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)”
3. “Lost Sailor”
4. “Saint Of Circumstance”
5. “West Of L.A. Fadeaway”
Disc Eight Intermission Music by Circle Around The Sun
1. “Hallucinate A Solution”
2. “Ginger Says”
3. “Saturday’s Children”
4. “Eartha”
5. “Split Pea Shell”
July 5th, 2015 Disc Nine
1. “China Cat Sunflower”
2. “I Know You Rider”
3. “Estimated Prophet”
4. “Built To Last”
5. “Samson and Delilah”
6. “Mountains On The Moon”
7. “Throwing Stones”
Disc Eleven
1. “Space”
2. “Unbroken Chain”
3. “Days Between”
4. “Not Fade Away”
5. “Touch Of Grey”
6. “Attics Of My Life”
Disc Twelve Intermission Music by Circles Around The Sun
1. “Gilbert’s Groove”
2. “Farewell Franklins”
3. “Hat And Cane”
4. “Never Too Late”
5. “Scarlotta’s Magnolias”
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
It's one of those rare weeks when I don’t have a new magazine to flog you (though of course we have an enriching range of Uncuts, Ultimate Music Guides and History Of Rocks if you're short of something to read). As a respite, though, it gives me the opportunity to round up reviews of a few albums ...
It’s one of those rare weeks when I don’t have a new magazine to flog you (though of course we have an enriching range of Uncuts, Ultimate Music Guides and History Of Rocks if you’re short of something to read). As a respite, though, it gives me the opportunity to round up reviews of a few albums I’ve liked a lot over the past couple of months.
I’ve had to miss an aggravating number of live shows these past few weeks, not least among them the Necks’ residency at Café Oto over the weekend. “Vertigo”, their relatively fraught 18th album, has at least provided some succour. If you haven’t encountered The Necks thus far into their 25-year career (here’s one of the last things I wrote about them), the Australian trio have become one of the most critically revered bands on the planet, renowned for their epic live improvisations and a back catalogue that exists in a rarefied interzone between jazz and ambient music (pianist Chirs Abrahams, incidentally, might be familiar to a few of you who’ve studied the small print on Triffids sleeves at some point in the past).
Their 2013 abum “Open”, at once serene and compelling, provided a useful entry point for newcomers to the Necks’ music. But “Vertigo” is a hairier experience, in which the band’s trademark grid of recurring phrases and silences is augmented by ominous drones and some explosive percussive disruptions. As ever, the single 44-minute track is immersive; those coming to The Necks for a transcendent mindfulness session, however, may find it distinctly unnerving in places.
They may, in fact, be better directed to the latest album by another band who recently played Café Oto, Chicago’s Bitchin Bajas. Cooper Crain and Bitchin Bajas’ discreetly intensive campaign to establish themselves as this era’s finest ambient/kosmische outfit has already produced one strong 2015 album in “Transporteur“. “Autoimaginary”, though, is a hook-up with another bunch of Chicagoans, Josh Abrams’ Natural Information Society. Abrams’ improv background is to the fore, as he and his bandmates provide organic rustle and scrape to the Bajas’ lunar synthscapes. The twitchiness never detracts, though, from the meditative calm of tracks like the Necks-like 19-minute opener “On No Fade”, while the fluttering epiphanies of “Anenometer” posit an alternative path Kraftwerk might have taken after “Ralf & Florian”; away from the “Autobahn”, towards an idiosyncratic take on spiritual jazz.
A couple more auspicious collaborations now. On September 9, Ryley Walker, a loquacious and irreverent Twitter habitue, announced. “Next Rec written n jammed live! All shows from here on will be to promote our not yet finished LP.” “Primrose Green”, released to much acclaim in March, was already old news; here Walker asserted himself as restless troubadour, always heading somewhere new. “Land Of Plenty” is, perhaps, a minor but beguiling stop on that journey, being a set of instrumental guitar duets with Bill Mackay, recorded during a Chicago club residency last January. In general more courtly and serene than the ecstasies of “Primrose Green”, there are still rapturous moments: “Gold Season”, for example, could just about plausibly be passed off as a John Renbourn/Robbie Basho face-off. Walker’s next serendipitous project, you may have seen, is a UK jaunt in the company of Danny Thompson; very much living the dream, I guess.
Chris Forsyth’s current day job, fronting the Solar Motel Band, involves a brand of guitar heroism aligned to classic archetypes like Jerry Garcia and Tom Verlaine. But “The Island”, a second collaboration with discreet synth maestro Koen Holtkamp (half of Thrill Jockey’s Mountains), shows he’s still attuned to more leftfield impulses. The Island opens with “Sun Blind”, all feedback skronk and keyboard flurries, that daringly suggests Casper Brötzmann gatecrashing a Tangerine Dream session. After that, Forsyth’s more lyrical playing takes charge, with the lovely “Alternator” akin to early solo work like “Paranoid Cat”. Not quite a match for the pair’s first, more intense set, “Early Astral” (2011), but a useful diversion before the Solar Motel Band’s potentially amazing return in 2016.
Unlike fellow travellers Four Tet and Caribou, Sam ‘Floating Points’ Shepherd’s profile has mostly been restricted to dance music circles, having spent a decade carving a reputation as a DJ. Floating Points’ debut album “Elaenia”, however, pitches him compellingly to a broader audience: as a club visionary whose music has now expanded to encompass rich jazz, ambient and classical influences. Much here, like the outstanding “‘Silhouettes (I, II & III)”, sits elegantly in a progressive tradition that draws on Teo Macero’s collage work on “In A Silent Way”, David Axelrod’s string arrangements, and Four Tet’s own “Thirtysixtwentyfive”. Worth noting, too, that another act have artfully juggled a very similar collection of influences: the closing “Peroration 6” is bracingly similar to latterday Radiohead.
Finally, something a little poppier. At this point, the back catalogue of Kelley Stoltz is so comically undervalued, it feels like something of a conceptual joke; designed for him to be rediscovered as a Great Lost Genius in 30 years’ time. His latest album, “In Triangle Time”, beautifully augments the myth, mostly forsaking Stoltz’ artisanal vintage freakbeat for equally catchy, new wave crypto-hits. He’s been in this territory before, covering the Bunnymen’s “Crocodiles” (2001), but never with such verve. Bowie, The Fall and the Teardrops get sly nods, in a set that seems primed for the Futurama Festival circa 1982. Fans of Stoltz’ more psychedelic work should also note the “Odds & Sods” offcuts EP, and a further album, “The Scuzzy Inputs Of Willie Weird”, released simultaneously.
A great moment a few weeks ago when we found ourselves crawling down the M11 at sunset, blasting out the bespoke rhapsodies of “In Triangle Time” and then noticing who was sat in the lane next to us: Jacco Gardner and his band.
Michael Rother has announced a UK date.
He will play Under The Bridge in London on February 5, 2016.
Rother ́s current live line-up includes Hans Lampe on drums and Franz Bargmann on guitar. Franz Bargmann is an ex-member of the Berlin-based band Camera. Hans Lampe contributed drumming on the alb...
Michael Rother has announced a UK date.
He will play Under The Bridge in London on February 5, 2016.
Rother ́s current live line-up includes Hans Lampe on drums and Franz Bargmann on guitar. Franz Bargmann is an ex-member of the Berlin-based band Camera. Hans Lampe contributed drumming on the album NEU! ́75 and was a member of La Düsseldorf.
The show will feature music from Rother’s solo career as well as cuts from his recordings with NEU! and Harmonia.
You can find more details about the show – including how to buy tickets – by clicking here.
Meanwhile, Harmonia’s back catalogue was recently issued as a five vinyl box set, including previously unreleased material recorded 40 years ago at Harmonia HQ: Forst, Lower Saxony, Germany.
The set covers Harmonia’s lifspan, from 1973 to 1976.
The box set consists of:
Musik Von Harmonia (1974; digitally remastered) Deluxe (1975; digitally remastered) Tracks And Traces (1976; digitally remastered on double vinyl including the “lost” Brian Eno recordings, which were found and originally released in 1997 Live (1974; digitally remastered)
And in addition to the four Harmonia albums there will be a fifth vinyl: Documents 1975, featuring previously unreleased recordings from Hamburg gigs and 2 studio tracks from Forst.
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
P.F. Sloan - the songwriter behind "Eve Of Destruction" and "Secret Agent Man" - has died aged 70.
Sloan signed his first record deal when he was 13 and went on to write songs for artists including the Turtles, Jan & Dean, the Searchers and Herman's Hermits.
His biggest hit, though, was Barry ...
P.F. Sloan – the songwriter behind “Eve Of Destruction” and “Secret Agent Man” – has died aged 70.
Sloan signed his first record deal when he was 13 and went on to write songs for artists including the Turtles, Jan & Dean, the Searchers and Herman’s Hermits.
His biggest hit, though, was Barry McGuire’s “Eve Of Destruction“.
A statement issued by his American publicist confirmed the news of Sloan’s death.
“It is with deepest sadness that we are announcing that P.F. Sloan (Phil) passed away on the evening of November 15, 2015, at his home in Los Angeles. Phil had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer several weeks before and was fighting it valiantly. The world has lost one of its great talents.
“Phil was a key element on the music that became the sound of the Sunset Strip. Phil was a true prodigy, signing his first record deal with Aladdin Records when he was thirteen. He recently published his memoirs, What’s Exactly The Matter With Me? with S.E. Feinberg, and his latest album, My Beethoven has recently been released on Foothill Records.
“P.F. Sloan’s ‘Eve Of Destruction‘ was an anthem for a generation. It is as relevant now as it ever has been.”
The statement also quoted from a 1965 interview with Bob Dylan, who said, “If you want to find out anything that’s happening now, you have to listen to the music. I don’t mean the words, although ‘Eve Of Destruction’ will tell you something about it.”
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
Tom Petty is getting his own radio station.
Tom Petty Radio will launch on November 20 on SiriusXM's Channel 31.
According to a report on Rolling Stone, Petty will open proceedings with a two-hour show in which he'll play songs from his own career and rare live cuts from his own archive, for which...
Tom Petty is getting his own radio station.
Tom Petty Radio will launch on November 20 on SiriusXM‘s Channel 31.
According to a report on Rolling Stone, Petty will open proceedings with a two-hour show in which he’ll play songs from his own career and rare live cuts from his own archive, for which he will provide accompanying commentary.
The show will also feature the radio debut of Petty and the Heartbreakers’ concert from Boston’s Fenway Park on August 30, 2014.
“We are so honored and grateful to SiriusXM for giving our fans access to all of our music, from our biggest hits to very obscure tracks only available through this channel,” Petty said in a statement. “I intend to be very hands on and supply brand new exclusive tracks as well as rarities from our vaults. Our biggest hope is for a channel that is always entertaining in the way only radio can be.”
Heartbreakers Steve Ferrone and Benmont Tench will play guest DJ slots as well as friends of the band including Roger McGuinn, Jackson Browne and Lucinda Williams.
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Lemmy has paid tribute to Phil Taylor, who died last Thursday, November 13.
Taylor was Motörhead's drummer twice - from 1976 to 1984 and again from 1987 to 1992.
Writing on Facebook, Lemmy said, "I'm feeling very sad at the moment, in fact devastated because one of my best friends died yesterday....
Lemmy has paid tribute to Phil Taylor, who died last Thursday, November 13.
Taylor was Motörhead’s drummer twice – from 1976 to 1984 and again from 1987 to 1992.
Writing on Facebook, Lemmy said, “I’m feeling very sad at the moment, in fact devastated because one of my best friends died yesterday. I miss him already. His name was Phil Taylor, or Philthy Animal, and he was our drummer twice in our career. Now he’s died and it really pisses me off that they take somebody like him and leave George Bush alive. So muse on that. We’re still going, we’re still going strong, it’s just first Würzel and now Philthy, it’s a shame man. I think this rock n roll business might be bad for the human life. Oh well.”
Ozzy Osbourne also wrote on Facebook, “Just heard about Phil ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor’s passing. It’s a terrible terrible loss. He was a great friend – great drummer – a great guy and he will be dearly missed. Today is a very sad day for me. Rest in peace – and he still owes me 500 bucks from that time in Vegas.”
Metallica posted on their Facebook page, “You inspired us beyond words.”
Tributes were also posted by Slash, Metallica and other members of the heavy metal community:
Sad sad news about losing Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor. One of the best drummers in Rock n Roll. RIP Phil, you will be missed. A lot.
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
The phrase “lost album” is often a nicety denoting a record nobody cared about at the time, often with good reason, but which is being re-released yet again in the faint hope that it might somehow coincide with fashion. Now That Everything’s Been Said, however, is one of the genuine great lost...
The phrase “lost album” is often a nicety denoting a record nobody cared about at the time, often with good reason, but which is being re-released yet again in the faint hope that it might somehow coincide with fashion. Now That Everything’s Been Said, however, is one of the genuine great lost albums. It fulfils every criteria of the classification: by a significant artist, a significant work by that significant artist, and for many years genuinely unavailable. First released in 1968, deleted in 1969 in a record company reshuffle, Now That Everything’s Been Said went missing for three decades before its first American reissue in 1999. This re-release represents its first availability on vinyl since Nixon was president.
It is an extraordinary dereliction. The City were formed by Carole King following her relocation to Los Angeles and divorce from Gerry Goffin. Still in her mid-twenties, she was half of one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of that (or any) time. She and Goffin had composed, among many others, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” for Aretha Franklin, “The Loco-Motion” for Little Eva, “Pleasant Valley Sunday” for The Monkees and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” for The Shirelles. Two years after The City folded, King would release Tapestry, a resounding umpty-platinum colossus. Even if it were terrible, Now That Everything’s Been Said would be at least interesting. It is very far from terrible.
Unsurprisingly, Now That Everything’s Been Said is a congruent way-station between the deceptively melancholy pop classics King and Goffin had composed for other artists, and the poised personal statements of Tapestry. It’s also a deserving addition to the pantheon of Laurel Canyon folk rock, replete with echoes and/or precursors of the Eagles, The Mamas & The Papas and The Byrds (who covered The City’s “I Wasn’t Born To Follow” on the soundtrack to Easy Rider). The songs are predictably brilliant, especially the elegant ballads “Paradise Alley” and “Lady”, and the ecstatic Motown-hit-that-never-was “Victim Of Circumstance”. And The City were not merely Carole King plus two – guitarist Danny Kortchmar and bassist Charles Larkey both had form with New York proto-punk yahoos The Fugs. Kortchmar would subsequently write and/or produce with Jackson Browne, Don Henley and Neil Young; Larkey would become the second Mr King.
The City never made another album, and never played a show, in deference to their singer’s chronic stage fright. Now That Everything’s Been Said remains a startling first step along a path never taken.
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David Gilmour's 2006 concert, Live At The Royal Albert Hall – Remember That Night, is now live on BBC iPlayer.
You can watch it by clicking here.
The BBC reports James Stirling, Editor of BBC Music, saying: “We’re really excited to bring this iconic performance to BBC iPlayer for fans to enj...
David Gilmour‘s 2006 concert, Live At The Royal Albert Hall – Remember That Night, is now live on BBC iPlayer.
The BBC reports James Stirling, Editor of BBC Music, saying: “We’re really excited to bring this iconic performance to BBC iPlayer for fans to enjoy. It is an amazing show where two legendary British musicians came together to create some musical magic.”
The show took place during Gilmour’s On An Island tour and includes material from that album as well as Pink Floyd’s back catalogue.
The show features appearances from Graham Nash and David Crosby, Robert Wyatt and also David Bowie.
Meanwhile, David Bowie’s new video for “Blackstar” debutes on Sky Atlantic this coming Thursday, November 19.
The track is also featured in the opening titles of Renck’s new Sky/Canal+ drama series, The Last Panthers, the second episode of which will be shown after the “Blackstar” short film.
The Blackstar album – also known as ★ – is released by RCA on Bowie’s birthday, January 8, 2016.
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
