Patti Smith said she prefers to see herself as a "performer" rather than a "musician", speaking at a festival in New York this weekend.
Smith, who releases her new book M Train this week, was at a Q&A session at the New Yorker Festival on Saturday night [October 3].
"I feel embarrassed when pe...
Patti Smith said she prefers to see herself as a “performer” rather than a “musician”, speaking at a festival in New York this weekend.
Smith, who releases her new book M Train this week, was at a Q&A session at the New Yorker Festival on Saturday night [October 3].
“I feel embarrassed when people call me a musician, because I can’t play anything,†Smith told the crowd, according to The Guardian.
“I didn’t have any musical aspirations. I liked being in front of people,” she said before adding that she would rather be called a “performer”.
Smith also discussed her love-hate relationship with poetry, stating that she originally thought poetry readings were “snoresville”.
Smith attributes her love of the medium to Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Jim Carroll.
Speaking of her own foray into poetry, she added: “I didn’t have any game plan. It was just to make poetry a little more visceral.”
Meanwhile, Smith will adapt her memoir Just Kids with John Logan, who is showrunner on the cable network’s series, Penny Dreadful.
The announcement was made by Sowtime president David Nevins during the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour.
The Hollywood Reporter quotes Nevins as saying, “Just Kids is one of my favorite memoirs of all time.
“Not only is it a fascinating portrait of artists coming of age, but it’s also an inspiring story of friendship, love and endurance. I’m so thrilled that Patti Smith will bring her unique voice to writing the scripts along with the gifted John Logan, who has been doing such a phenomenal job with Penny Dreadful for us.”
In a statement, Patti Smith said, “A limited series on Showtime will allow us to explore the characters more deeply, enabling us to develop stories beyond the book and allow a measure of unorthodox presentation.
“The medium of a television limited series offers narrative freedom and a chance to expand upon the themes of the book.”
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.
Here's our piece on the making of A Hard Day’s Night which originally appeared in the September 2014 edition of Uncut
The feature includes original interviews with director Richard Lester, associate producer Denis O'Dell and executive producer David Picker as well as cast members Pattie Boyd, P...
Here’s our piece on the making of A Hard Day’s Night which originally appeared in the September 2014 edition of Uncut
The feature includes original interviews with director Richard Lester, associate producer Denis O’Dell and executive producer David Picker as well as cast members Pattie Boyd, Phil Collins and Lionel Blair: with a few words from The Beatles themselves…
Looking back on his first meeting with The Beatles, film director Richard Lester remembers the unexpected topic of conversation that brought them together. “The boys found out that I was this pathetic jazz piano player,†he explains. “That gave them something to lord over me because I was the past and they were the future. John Lennon in particular hated jazz, and he told me that.â€
When Lester met The Beatles in late 1963, the intention was to make a cheap, black-and-white jukebox movie to capitalise on the band’s extraordinary success. For his film, Lester assembled a remarkable cross section of talent – including Wilfred Brambell, Victor Spinetti, Pattie Boyd and Lionel Blair – who all witnessed first hand Beatlemania in full tilt. “It was becoming increasingly intense for the boys,†says Boyd, who met her future husband George Harrison on the film’s shoot.
Meanwhile Blair, an old friend of the band, recalls the logistical problems accompanying the shoot: “They couldn’t walk round the streets or anything. There were screaming girls everywhere.†But despite such obstacles, A Hard Day’s Night rose about the ruck of rock’n’roll exploitation movies: its sprightly blend of absurdist humour, French New Wave aesthetics and unshakable optimism enlivened the dreary cultural landscape of post-war Britain.
The soundtrack album, too, proved equally successful: the first album to feature all original Beatles compositions, it gave the band two No 1 singles on both sides of the Atlantic. Reflecting on what it was that made A Hard Day’s Night so remarkable, Richard Lester considers, “It was four people against the world and winning.â€
“… by the end of the summer The Beatles might be a spent force…†Brian Epstein is pitched the idea of a three-picture deal with The Beatles by American studio, United Artists. Goon Show affiliate Richard Lester is approached to direct…
RICHARD LESTER [DIRECTOR]: I first met The Beatles at The Playhouse Theatre on Northumberland Avenue. They were doing a radio show. This was November, 1963. I’d just finished a film with United Artists [The Mouse On The Moon] and David Picker, the head of production there, had seen the Running, Jumping & Standing Still Film I’d made with Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan. He knew that John [Lennon] liked the Goon Show. It seemed a nice fit. UA wanted to make a very low budget black and white film, to start shooting in March, but it would have to be in cinemas in July because they felt that by the end of the summer The Beatles might be a spent force. So I was brought along to meet the band by [producer] Walter Shenson, with whom I’d made The Mouse On The Moon.
DAVID PICKER [EXECUTIVE PRODUCER]: My main responsibilities were working with the filmmakers and deciding what movies we were going to make. I was also responsible for our music and record operation. I said to our London office, if there were a couple of up-coming groups we could sign or make a relationship with, I’d be interested. One of the groups they recommended was The Beatles. I met Brian Epstein and we agreed to consider making some very low budget movies. Then they performed in front of The Queen at the Royal Command Performance and suddenly it wasn’t a little group from Liverpool. It was The Beatles, and we had ‘em.
DENIS O’DELL [ASSOCIATE PRODUCER]: I’d be away filming and I hadn’t much heard abut The Beatles. United Artists asked me if I would do this cheap film with a new pop group. I said I wasn’t really interested, but my children asked who the band was. I said it as some pop group called The Beatles and they all went mad: “You said no to it?†I called back and contracted with UA for six or seven weeks.
RICHARD LESTER: Johnny Speight was my first choice for writer, but he had other commitments. I’d worked with Alun Owen before, in the very beginnings of television. Alun had written No Trams To Lime Street, as John said, “The trouble with you, Alun, is that you’re a professional Scouser.†Alun at least had the courage to say, “It’s better than being an amateur one.â€
DAVID PICKER: We shared publishing. We had the soundtrack album. The thing that made United Artists a very attractive place for some filmmakers is that once we agreed on a budget and on a script we left them totally alone. They had final cut as long as they stayed on budget.
DENIS O’DELL: From memory, I think the budget was £200,000 but I managed to bring it in for well under that. From memory again, The Beatles were paid £40,000 collectively. The deal with United Artists and Brian Epstein? I think Brian just agreed to everything that UA said. I’ll give you an example of how you worked with Brian. When we did How I Won The War, I went to see him in his office because we were a bit short on the budget. I said, “Do you think John will play a part?†He said, “Why don’t you go and ask him, he’s in the next office.†So I went and asked John and John said, “Yeah, yeah. I could do it, Denis. Yeah.†That was a deal with Brian.
RICHARD LESTER: In February 1964, we went to Paris with the boys when they were playing with Francoise Hardy at the Olympia. That was a key moment. They took a suite of rooms at the George V. Alun Owen and myself had rooms with them. The film was writing itself as we went. You got that sense of being told where to go, what to do, and being pursued a lot. We watched how they went from the car to the hotel, and the hotel to the Olympia and back and then to a club. We wrote a script to ask them to do things they knew. Messing about in hotel rooms with large blondes. Those elements of being let a bit off the leash and then being tugged back is very much a part of the early sequences of the film. They’re in low rooms, trains with low ceilings, being told what to do and organised.
“… They had this ability to find people that they thought weren’t going to do them down….†Monday, March 2, 1964. The Beatles join actors’ union Equity minutes before starting work on their first film. Cast and crew head off from platform 5 at Paddington station as shooting begins…
DENIS O’DELL: In the original script, all those scenes with The Beatles on the train were written as rear projection. I suggested to Richard quietly, “If I could get a real train, what do you think about the idea of shooting on that?†I spent the next two weeks arguing with British Rail to get the train. Then I had to get almost a private line so we could use a train as and when we wanted it. I got little platforms made up for the camera to go up and down the corridor of the train.
RICHARD LESTER: There were no rehearsals, everything started on March 2. By the time we started shooting, The Beatles had gone to America and done the Ed Sullivan Show. The film was already in profit because of advanced sales of the album. We started with them running for the train with about 500 people screaming after them.
PAUL McCARTNEY (1964): The film virtually opens with our departures from somewhere like Liverpool to somewhere like London, and that’s how we come to be on the train.
PATTIE BOYD [ACTRESS]: I was working as a fashion model. I got a phone call from my agent asking if I had my porfolio with me. If so, would I go to an address in Soho for a go-see. I went and there were loads of girls in the same room, waiting. We were called in and I saw Dick Lester, who I’d met on a TV commercial. Later that afternoon my agent phoned and said I had a part in the Beatles film! I did two days on set. We got the train from London to Cornwall and back. We got on at Paddington. After about twenty minutes, we stopped at a very small station, there were only four people on the platform – it was The Beatles. They came into our carriage – there were four of us girls, all dressed in school uniforms. They drew back the glass door and introduced themselves. It was so charming. The energy was explosive as they came in smiling and laughing.
RICHARD LESTER: I thought they were extraordinarily like each other. And that they liked each other. They protected each other. If one of them was down a bit, they would take over and protect them. Two or three nights later someone else would be down and they would pick them up. We tried to artificially create a difference between the four, so each had a unique characteristic. It’s probably apocryphal, but George was the mean one, they picked on Ringo, John was cynical and Paul was cute. It was something to hang things on. In real life, John was not known to suffer fools. I think I probably fell into the fool category. I have wounds, but I have huge admiration for John. I hope I formed a relationship with all of them. They had this ability to find people that they thought weren’t going to do them down. I spent a lot of time with John and was never less than impressed. How was it to direct Paul? I think the problem with Paul is he is so enthusiastic towards what’s going on, that it got in the way. Sometimes he tried harder than he should have. George was the most effective actor all the way through in that he attempted less but he always hit it right in the centre.
PATTIE BOYD: The shoot took over two or three carriages. The boys didn’t hide away. They were mixing quite a lot. I think the train stopped for lunchtime. I remember going to sit with George. We were talking quite a bit. For some reason I imagined that he’d want to sit with the others but he said, “Come on, let’s sit here.†I thought he was really, really good looking. He wasn’t as vocal as John and Paul were; they seemed to behave in a more clownish way. George was quieter, more my level because I’m very shy.
RINGO STARR (1964): In the film, John is going to play mouth-organ for the first time in ages. He’ll do it during a number called “I Should Have Known Betterâ€, which we’ll probably use in the guard’s van scene.
DENIS O’DELL: I first met them on the train, on the first day of shooting. They seemed like a really nice bunch of young fellas for musicians. They were very polite. I was on set almost all the time. It turned out to be quite a dangerous operation. Kids were jumping in front of the bloody train to try and stop it.
“… The fans had got hacksaws…†Lionel Blair and Phil Collins are among those who witness over-zealous fans disrupting the shoot. Filming locations include The Scala Theatre, where the band’s TV concert takes place…
RICHARD LESTER: We couldn’t control the crowd. It became impossible to shoot. Every day we got one take. We got police permission to shoot in whichever street. We’d do Take 1 and suddenly 2,000 kids would arrive from nowhere. I think we had a mole in our production department. The police would rip up the permit and we’d have to go off and find a street six blocks away and hope we could get another take in before they found us again. It was total guerrilla filmmaking.
DENIS O’DELL: I knew shooting exteriors would be a problem. I arranged the schedule so we did half a day on location and half a day in the studios. I was aware there was a studio in Twickenham that had closed. It was 15 minutes from the London, so it would be easy to dive in there when we were in trouble. I talked to Ken Shipman, who owned the studios, and I agreed to rent them. It worked out so well. I had the idea of filming the television show scenes at the old Scala Theatre on Charlotte Street. I took a week’s lease on the theatre and we moved in there: lock, stock and barrel.
GEORGE HARRISON (1964): When we get to the big city we have to make our way to a television studio for a bit of a show – and that’s where the speciality acts like Lionel Blair Dancers come in.
LIONEL BLAIR [TV CHOREOGRAPHER]: I worked with The Beatles on Big Night Out with Mike and Bernie Winters up in Manchester. Then when Big Night Out came to London, they were our first guests. We filmed at Teddington Studios and the girls were waiting there from Saturday night for them to arrive. They came up the river in a boat then we had an open car to take them into the studio. As they got in, a girl got out of the crowd and threw herself inside the car. I said to her, “Why are you here?†She said, “We want to breathe the same air they are.†Anyway, I knew Dick Lester, and he said, “We’d love you in it, because there’s a scene where they’re supposed to be at the Palladium so we’d like you and your dancers in it.†That was at the Scala.
RICHARD LESTER: When we were shooting in La Scala Theatre, the fans had got hacksaws and sawed through the iron bars of the fire escape doors.
DENIS O’DELL: There was one situation where the kids had gotten a ladder and climbed out on the roof to try and get in the roof of the Scala as I’d had it barred up there to stop intruders.
PHIL COLLINS [EXTRA]: I had just started going to the Barbara Speake Stage School in East Acton. One of the first jobs I got sent out on was with about 20 or 30 other kids from the school. We didn’t know where we were going or what it was for. We arrived at the Scala. There were loads of other kids there from other stage schools. We traipsed into the theatre and saw The Beatles drum kit on stage. Then suddenly they rushed out and lip-synched. They did “She Loves You†– although I don’t know if that was in the movie – “Tell Me Whyâ€, “I Should Have Known Betterâ€, all that stuff.
RICHARD LESTER: I met George Martin about half way through. I was given a group of 10 songs and chose the eight that I wanted because I thought they would fit the rhythms of the film. Then we put old bits of the songs when we needed them. When they’re playing the songs in the film, they were working to play back. I was slightly miffed in the end that George wrote two and a half minutes of background music and got an Academy Award nomination.
LIONEL BLAIR: One thing I remember was there was a piano on the set and Paul was fiddling around. He wrote “Yesterdayâ€. On set, we’d fool around. They wanted them to do dance steps. I said to Paul, “Look, let’s do this…†and he said, “No, I don’t want to do any dance steps, Lionel!†They never did. Dance, that is.
RICHARD LESTER: The boys were pretty well behaved. One day, John was too hungover to turn up. So I borrowed his shoes and operated the camera. I started with my feet and then panned up to the other three. We had to do things like that to keep going because we had a very short schedule. I wasn’t surprised by their ease in front of the cameras. I think performers are performers, and we were only asking them to do things they were comfortable with. They’d done press conferences, they’d done shows, they’d been in hotel rooms, they’d gone to nightclubs. There were a few lines that were improvised. But most of the dialogue in the film was written down.
DENIS O’DELL: They had a very busy schedule, but it didn’t make any difference to them at all. They just sailed through what they had to do on a day and spent most of the nights at nightclubs. They were very professional for youngsters who’d never seen a film studio in their lives.
“… Dad! We got the horse…†Shooting finishes on April 24. The film receives two premiers – one at the London Pavilion (July 6) and one at the Odeon Cinema, Liverpool (July 10). The film takes $20,000 in its first week at the Pavilion; there are 1,600 prints in circulation. The soundtrack album, released on July 10, enters the charts at No 3: kept off the top spot by Cliff Richard and the Rolling Stones.
RICHARD LESTER: It was rushed. There wasn’t a lot of time to sit and chat. We only had three and a half weeks to dub the film, cut the negative and get our showprint ready for the premier at the London Pavilion. The film was in 10 minute reels. If something went wrong with the take, you’d have to stop, take all the reels off the projectors, put them on a bench and rewind them back to zero. In the dubbing theatre, we marked out a badminton court using camera tape. We had a league going in the ten minutes it took to rewind all these bloody bits of film. At that point, we showed it to United Artists, who hadn’t seen a frame of it.
DAVID PICKER: I didn’t see the movie until it was finished. We didn’t even look at dailies. It was simply the way we operated. I first saw A Hard Day’s Night in London in a small screening room.
DENIS O’DELL: All the executives were sitting in the projection room. I’m not sure if Richard was there, he was a bit shy about these things. To my astonishment, at the end of the film, I think it was [UA vice-president] Arnold Picker’s wife who said, “I think it’s lovely but we’ll have to dub the film. I can’t understand a word they say.†Can you believe dubbing The Beatles? It was extraordinary. These guys were powerful people.
RICHARD LESTER: We showed them the film in a cinema in Curzon Street and at the end they all thought it was terrific and they all – from United Artists – agreed that as soon as we could dub it, it would be terrific. We all said, “No.â€
DAVID PICKER: Was there any concern about the accents? Why, no.
RICHARD LESTER: I went to the London premier at the Pavilion. They had an organist playing Beatles hits, with a spotlight on him. The lights were just about to go down, the film was about to start, but he hadn’t finished. I had made sure that there were no credits or titles before the first chord that opens “A Hard Day’s Nightâ€. But this mighty Wurlizter was still finishing off his version of “Can’t By Me Love†and ran over it. We heard nothing during the film. There was wall to wall screening for 90 minutes.
PATTIE BOYD: I didn’t go to the premier. Brian Epstein was so keen on promoting The Beatles as single guys so they could be potentially available to their fans. Even though George and I were going out, Brian invited Hayley Mills to accompany George to the premier. She was the young English actress, it would have been a good look.
DENIS O’DELL: The premiers were incredible. While we were filming at the Scala, Paul had said to me, “It’s my dad’s birthday and I don’t know what to get him.†I bred race horses as a hobby. I said to Paul, ‘Does your dad ever have a bet? My father used to have a shilling each way on horses. Why don’t you buy him a race horse?’ Paul said, ‘Where do you get ‘em? How much do you pay for one?’ So I bought a horse called Drake’s Drum. I had a trainer in the north of England, a very straight, proper military man. He looked after the horse for a couple of months. Then Paul asked me to get a painting of the horse – ‘Drake’s Drum, Owned By James McCartney’. At the party after the premier, Paul called me over to join the band and one or two other people as Jim McCartney received his birthday present, wrapped in brown paper. He unwrapped it, looked at the painting and said in amazement, “What’s this?†I said to Paul, “Did you tell your dad we’ve got the horse?†“Oh, no! I forgot. Dad, we got the horse!†The horse won or three races afterwards, so that was a great success.
RICHARD LESTER: There was another premier in Liverpool, but I’d gone on holiday by then.
DENIS O’DELL: The biggest premier was in Liverpool. I’ve never seen so many people turn up in my life. It was amazing. We charted a train. All of us went up by train. There were thousands and thousands of people on the sidewalks from the railway station up the town hall. We were standing with the mayor and The Beatles on the balcony of the town hall and I couldn’t believe the amount of people we could see.
LIONEL BLAIR: I went to the premier in Liverpool. We went to the town hall. There was a balcony. We all walked out, even me. There were thousands there, screaming. Before the film started, they said, “We’ve got some of the people who were in the cast.†I went up on stage, and they went mad for everybody. Everybody that was associated with them, they went crazy for.
DENIS O’DELL: There was such a burst of interest, before we’d even finished it. I ended up running around the country delivering prints to the cinemas for UA to save time. They couldn’t get it out quick enough. What did the boys think of the film? They loved it, of course. Some years ago we went to a showing of it. Paul was there. We had a laugh about it. I think we did about eight pictures together, Richard and I. And my association with The Beatles went on for six or seven years.
RICHARD LESTER: How do I feel about the film now? I knew while we were filming, probably the second week, that one day in fiftysomething years time, if I fell under a bus and died the newspaper headlines would say, “Beatles director in death dramaâ€, no matter what else I did. And that has absolutely come out to be the way it’s been. If I managed to produce the way I felt about them on the screen in a way that holds up, I’m just grateful. They were a marvellous part of my life.
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When Wilco invited suggestions for their setlist at the 2013 edition of the Solid Sound Festival, they got a surprise. They expected their fans to treat the invitation lightly, and were braced for requests to play Justin Bieber songs. But the Wilco legions had other ideas. “I have worries,†says...
When Wilco invited suggestions for their setlist at the 2013 edition of the Solid Sound Festival, they got a surprise. They expected their fans to treat the invitation lightly, and were braced for requests to play Justin Bieber songs. But the Wilco legions had other ideas. “I have worries,†says guitarist Nels Cline at a rehearsal, only half-joking, “some of this stuff was iconic.â€
He needn’t have worried. Wilco’s covers set stands as a cut-out-and-keep guide to their creative roots, starting with Thin Lizzy and meandering through Big Star, Uncle Tupelo (obvious, that), the Rolling Stones, Dylan, the Grateful Dead, the Velvets, Brinsley Schwarz (or possibly Elvis Costello/Nick Lowe), Neil Young, Cheap Trick, The Band and, er, Daft Punk (Nels Cline’s impersonation of Nile Rodgers is quite something). There are also nods to the Modern Lovers and the Count Five. Oh, and Abba’s “Waterlooâ€.
The full set is readily available on the internet, thanks to the friendly bootlegger, NYC Taper, and YouTube has the usual smattering of wobbly videos. Still, it’s a little disappointing to discover that this film of that year’s festival – a two-yearly event which takes place at MASS MoCA in the rust belt town of North Adams, Massachusetts – features only a handful of Wilco numbers. They are are worth it, though.
The documentary, directed by Christoph Green and (Fugazi drummer) Brendan Canty, opens with Wilco rehearsing Television’s eerie anthem, “Marquee Moonâ€, a composition which is so particular and precise that it should be uncoverable. Wilco come close to nailing it, though their version does illuminate the difference between Tom Verlaine and Jeff Tweedy. Verlaine sings from a distance, he’s an alienated narrator. Tweedy is a soul singer whose voice has rock muscles. This makes him slightly unsuited to the task. Cline, though, is quite capable of echoing those Verlaine/Richard Lloyd guitar lines.
Tweedy has a happier experience with Talking Heads’ “Heavenâ€, which plays out beautifully at the end of the film. Then, perhaps the song which is most in keeping with the event, Wilco’s cover of Pavement’s “Cut Your Hairâ€. It really is fantastic. There’s a fierce micro-solo from Cline, and then the band is joined by Tommy Stinson of The Replacements, who attaches jump-leads to a neurotic, punked-up version of “Color Me Impressedâ€. At the end, the song collapses on itself, and Tweedy punches the air. You don’t see that very often. Wilco have not relied on rock gestures in recent years, so it’s refreshing to see Tweedy embracing his inner heavy metal drummer.
The festival, in its way, embodies Wilco’s broad suspicion of rock cliche. “There are a lot of really big festivals in the world now,†says Tweedy. “But the big festivals … to me, I don’t think they’re very musical. They’re big cultural events and they’re valuable in a lot of ways that I’m not necessarily a part of. The only real desire was to make a festival that we wouldn’t be miserable at.â€
Solid Sound is an intimate event, thanks to MASS MoCA’s sprawling campus; an experimental art space, inhabiting an abandoned industrial site. The way North Adams seems to have embraced both experimental art and Wilco’s regular invasions is extraordinary. A local massage therapist, Molly Kerns, explains that the mayor, Dick Alcombright, held a meeting before the first Solid Sound festival, and said: “We’ve got 8,000 people coming next week. What are you gonna do?†As a result, townsfolk volunteer, and the event is integrated with its environment. People are allowed to get up close to challenging art, Cline notes, approvingly. “It’s not a white gloves kind of feeling.â€
Wilco fans disappointed at not being able to experience Glenn Kotche’s Earth Drums (“an interactive experiment in archaic percussion†– buried drums, essentially) or John Stirrat’s Rickshaw FM (a bicycle taxi, with music and street sounds) will welcome the clips of The Autumn Defense doing “The Golden Pathâ€, a sweet song, fringed with steel guitar. And those who value Wilco’s experimental edge, will enjoy the jazzy free playing of Mikael Jorgensen, Greg O’Keeffe and Oliver Chapoy; and a guitar duet between Nels Cline and Julian Lage. In the same vein, it’s fascinating to witness David Hidalgo (Los Lobos) and Marc Ribot (who punctured Tom Waits’ sound) swapping ideas.
Another Tweedy favourite, The Dream Syndicate, deliver an extended version of “Days And Wine And Rosesâ€, and Yo La Tengo essay a fine, percussive version of “Autumn Sweaterâ€, which runs over a video portrait gallery of festival goers. Neko Case, The Relatives (psychedelic soul), Foxygen (Doors-like racket) and Lucius also feature. There’s also a lovely turn by Sam Amidon, doing the ancient-sounding “Sugar Baby†on a banjo to an audience of almost nobody.
There is but one song from Wilco’s non-covers set, a blistering version of “Art Of Almostâ€. The organ shreds the tune, which unfurls in waves of neurotic minimalism as Cline, again, takes charge. It really is terrific. So, yes, Solid Sound isn’t just about music, and the music isn’t just about Wilco. But, modesty aside, there is room for a lot more of that stuff.
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Julian Cope and his cohorts tell the full story of his first two solo albums, 1984's World Shut Your Mouth and Fried, in the new issue of Uncut, out now.
The Archdrude explains how he subsisted on Mars bars and giant speed pills, played with his toy cars, crawled around under a giant turtleshell â€...
Julian Cope and his cohorts tell the full story of his first two solo albums, 1984’s World Shut Your Mouth and Fried, in the new issue of Uncut, out now.
The Archdrude explains how he subsisted on Mars bars and giant speed pills, played with his toy cars, crawled around under a giant turtleshell – and made arguably the greatest music of his career.
“Being naked under a turtleshell, I can’t say that wasn’t really ‘in’ in the ’80s, because that wasn’t ‘in’ in the ’70s and that wasn’t ‘in’ in the ’90s, but it did sum up my metaphor,” Cope says. “It was ridiculous. But at least it was almost valiantly ridiculous.”
He also recalls the tumultuous end of The Teardrop Explodes and his attempts to adjust to life away from the pop world. “When [chart success] was taken away from me, even though I myself had taken the choice to split the group up, I suddenly realised that I had very quickly got used to the trappings of rock’n’roll. And I thought, ‘What am I going to do? I can’t go to Tesco’s, that’s outrageous!'”
“We worked very quickly,” says Cope’s longterm guitarist Donald Ross Skinner. “He knew what he was going for musically; he had a clear picture, and however his mind was at the time, it was still functioning artistically. He was always very lucid… but bonced.”
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.
With the help of her bandmates, friends and admirers, Uncut looks behind the rock-casualty myth to discover what Janis Joplin was really like... Words: John Lewis. Originally published in Uncut’s June 2009 issue (Take 145).
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It was, at the time, the biggest music festival e...
Perhaps aware of Janis’ failings, Albert Grossman took full control of the Full Tilt Boogie Band. “He definitely called all the shots,†says John Till. “Janis was definitely more comfortable with that situation. Kozmic Blues was a great band, but Janis couldn’t control 12 people. She was much more comfortable with a smaller, more organic outfit like Full Tilt, where everyone had room to stretch out and explore. It was more democratic than Kozmic Blues, more of a gang.†Ironically, after two years and countless lineup changes, she had reverted to the dynamic she had with Big Brother.
According to rock myth, Janis’ heroin addiction increased after she left Big Brother and spun steadily out of control. But in fact, her habit seemed to have peaked by late 1969. By early 1970, she appeared to have quit after a detox holiday in Brazil.
“She was put on a methadone treatment programme, she was receiving counselling and she was clean,†insists Till. “In the last days of the Kozmic Blues band, we had gotten used to people having to walk Janis around the block a few times after a bad dose, to prevent her from passing out and never waking up again. But from the time she formed the Full Tilt band in early 1970 until the time that we started recording that last album she was bright and chipper and right on top of it.â€
In September 1970, The Full Tilt Boogie Band went to Sunset Sound in Los Angeles to record Pearl. “It was an incredibly productive time for everyone,†recalls Till. “And Janis was on top form. She’d turn up every day on time for every session. Except for that final day, when she didn’t show.â€
On October 3, Janis was due to lay down the vocals for the very last track on the album, a new song called “Buried Alive In The Blues†by her old friend Nick Gravenites from Electric Flag. When she didn’t turn up, Full Tilt’s road manager John Cooke became suspicious and got a pass key to her hotel room, to find her dead body crumpled between the bed and a bedside table. The general agreement is that Janis started dabbling in heroin a few weeks before her death, and accidentally overdosed on some unusually pure opiates.
_____________________
Death turned Janis Joplin into a legend. Released in January 1971, Pearl topped the US charts for nine weeks. Lead single “Me And Bobby McGee†sold more than a million ; 1973’s Greatest Hits package went on to sell seven million copies in America alone. But her name, even more than that of Hendrix (who died three weeks before her) and Jim Morrison (ten months later), became a byword for the perils of hedonism. In the words of Kurt Cobain’s mother, she’s part of that “stupid club†of 27-year-old rock casualties.
What survives is that remarkable voice. “Janis laid the foundations for all of us,†says Patti Smith. “She redefined what it meant to be a woman in rock.†For Seasick Steve, “Janis was the most incredible singer I have ever seen – she would rip herself inside out every time she performed.â€
“It’s difficult to say whether things would have been different if she’d stayed with Big Brother,†says Sam Andrew. “I think we could have certainly accommodated most of her demands. I think she might have had more grounding in her career. There was something magical about the music we made. I don’t think she ever emulated that.â€
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.
Ride have confirmed they will play their debut album, Nowhere, in its entirety on their forthcoming UK tour.
The band have enjoyed a hugely successful run of shows since reuniting at the start of this year - and this will this will be the only chance to see the Oxford four-piece playing Nowhere in ...
Ride have confirmed they will play their debut album, Nowhere, in its entirety on their forthcoming UK tour.
The band have enjoyed a hugely successful run of shows since reuniting at the start of this year – and this will this will be the only chance to see the Oxford four-piece playing Nowhere in its entirety.
“I’m so excited about playing Nowhere in full,” says guitarist Andy Bell. “We are going with the 11 track CD track listing, not just the 8 tracks from the original vinyl. So the set will end with the title track on every gig of the UK tour, which is going to sound epic.
“I didn’t realise how few times we’d actually played most of the songs. And of course we have never played the album in its original track order before.
“We have been throwing in versions of some of the songs at our US dates but the majority of the preparation for these shows was done during rehearsals in London in-between our festival shows this summer. I’m especially buzzing about how ‘Kaleidoscope’ is sounding. It’s going to be amazing playing it for the first time.
“All in all, it’s a big deal to us, and we haven’t been certain we could pull it off until now. We as a band are so proud of the album and we are aware that fans have been campaigning for us to perform it in full on this tour but it’s only now that we are sure we can do the album justice.”
Ride will release Nowhere25 on November 6: a CD+DVD release featuring the expanded 15-track album alongside the live recording of their concert at London’s Town & Country Club in March 1991 that until recently had been lost in the archives. A heavyweight blue marble vinyl version will also be available.
Ride will play: October 11 – Leeds O2 Academy
October 12 – Norwich UEA
October 14 – London – O2 Academy Brixton
October 15 – Liverpool – O2 Academy
October 17 – Bristol – Anson Rooms (SOLD OUT)
October 18 – Newcastle – O2 Academy
October 19 – Edinburgh – Corn Exchange
October 21 – Nottingham – Rock City
October 22 – Birmingham – Institute
Track-listing for ‘Nowhere’ CD and Double LP Seagull
Kaleidoscope
In A Different Place
Polar Bear
Dreams Burn Down
Decay
Paralysed
Vapour Trail
Taste
Here And Now
Nowhere
Unfamiliar
Sennen
Beneath
Today
Track-listing for Town & Country Club ’91 DVD Polar Bear
Unfamiliar
Like A Daydream
Drive Blind
Vapour Trail
Beneath
In A Different Place
Perfect Time
Sennen
Taste
Today
Decay
Dreams Burn Down
Chelsea Girl
Nowhere
Seagull
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.
Neil Young + Promise Of The Real kicked off the second leg of their Rebel Content tour last night [October 1] at Adams Center, University of Montana, Missoula.
The first leg of the tour ended on July 24 at the Wayhome Festival, Ontario, Canada; though Young and the band reconvened to play Farm Aid ...
Neil Young + Promise Of The Real kicked off the second leg of their Rebel Content tour last night [October 1] at Adams Center, University of Montana, Missoula.
The first leg of the tour ended on July 24 at the Wayhome Festival, Ontario, Canada; though Young and the band reconvened to play Farm Aid on September 19.
Sugar Mountain reports that Young and the band played 23 songs.
He performed “Alabama” for the second time since 1973’s Time Fades Away tour, and “Western Hero” for only the third time ever. He also played “I Won’t Quit”, a tirade against corporate greed and the treatment of farmers and animals, for only the second time.
All three songs had been in Young’s set list at Farm Aid.
Young also treated the audience to two cover versions: Kurt Weill’s “September Song” and “Precious Memories” by Willie Nelson, whose sons Lukas and Micah are in Promise Of The Real. This wasn’t the first time Young and the band had played a song recorded by Willie Nelson: they’d covered the standard “Moonlight In Vermont†on July 19 at the Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction, Vermont, USA.
At the end of the first leg of the tour, Young expressed his desire to continue working with The Promise Of The Real. Writing on Facebook, Young said, “Thanks to Promise of the Real for making this tour such a wonderful experience in my life. I love all the bands I have played with, but this band (and the multi generational thing) is epic!
“The #RebelContentTour was an experience I will never forget. Once in a lifetime. The guys, Lukas, Micah, Corey, Tony and Tato are the greatest!
“Amazing how easy and natural it was to rock on the old songs and the brand new ones – from Cortez to Big Box, from Wolf Moon to Out On The Weekend.
“We played songs we had never played before EVERY NIGHT That has never happened to me the new songs and the hits & 3-hour performances night after night. The crew loved it, the band, and people too! Playing with these guys was a gift – Such positivity, pure energy & no fear I loved rocking with Promise of the Real I love this band Lets keep it going…”
Neil Young and Promise Of The Real’s setlist, October 1, 2015: After The Gold Rush
Heart Of Gold
Long May You Run
Old Man
Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)
Hold Back The Tears
Out On The Weekend
Western Hero
Unknown Legend
Wolf Moon
Harvest Moon
Words
Winterlong
September Song
Precious Memories
A Rock Star Bucks A Coffee Shop
People Want To Hear About Love
Down By The River
“I Won’t Quit”
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Southern Man
Love And Only Love
Rockin’ In The Free World
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A recording of The Beatles playing at The Cavern Club found in a desk drawer after 50 years will be sold at auction next month.
The tape features audio of the band playing "Some Other Guy" at the Liverpool venue in September 1962.
Granada chose to record the band playing live after footage they f...
A recording of The Beatles playing at The Cavern Club found in a desk drawer after 50 years will be sold at auction next month.
The tape features audio of the band playing “Some Other Guy” at the Liverpool venue in September 1962.
Granada chose to record the band playing live after footage they filmed for TV show Know The North was affected by technical issues.
Brian Epstein ordered five copies of the tape to be produced.
TV producer Johnnie Hamp will auction one of the tapes at The Cavern on November 4 as part of a memorabilia auction, BBC News reports.
Hamp worked at Granada for 35 years, where he was responsible for television shows including The Comedians, Scene At 6.30 and The Music Of Lennon And McCartney.
Just one of the five tapes has been sold in the past, with Apple Records buying a copy in 1993 for £16,000.
Meanwhile, Paul McCartney has spoken exclusively to Uncut about the forthcoming new edition of The Beatles 1.
McCartney gave us a sneak peek at what to expect from his former band’s latest release.
The Beatles 1+ compiles 50 promotional films and videos. These ‘mini movies’ were recorded by the band after the stopped touring and gave fans around the world the chance to see The Beatles at work and play.
As McCartney explains, some of the promotional material was recorded purely by chance.
“We’ve got all visuals associated with the hits on the album, 1,” he tells us. “All the music videos, and where there isn’t a music video – they’ve made some up! Which is brilliant. They’ve found footage.”
“‘Hey, Bulldog’ is to die for, as my wife would say,” McCartney continues. “It’s great, because there happened to be a camera crew there filming The Beatles at EMI while we were doing ‘Lady Madonna’. They were going to film a little bit of that, but they stayed and we got onto ‘Hey, Bulldog’. It’s great, and it all fits with the record because they filmed the take we used.”
Essentially a restored and expanded update of The Beatles’ 1 compilation from 2000, the 200-minute The Beatles 1+ includes the band’s 27 No 1 singles, with the restored videos, along with a second disc of 23 videos, including alternate versions, as well as rarely seen and newly restored films and videos; all include new audio mixes in deluxe CD/2DVD and CD/2Blu-ray packages. The original 27-track audio CD is also being made available with new stereo mixes.
They will be released on November 6 by Apple Corps Ltd/UMG.
A 2LP, 180-gram vinyl package will follow.
The footage was scanned in high-def 4K and the audio restored from the original analogue tapes at Abbey Road Studios by Giles Martin.
McCartney and Ringo Starr have provided exclusive audio commentary and filmed introductions respectively.
The Beatles 1 [CD; DVD; Blu-ray; CD/DVD; CD/Blu-ray] DISC 1 AUDIO (CD) + DISC 1 VIDEO (DVD or Blu-ray)
1. Love Me Do
2. From Me To You
3. She Loves You
4. I Want To Hold Your Hand
5. Can’t Buy Me Love
6. A Hard Day’s Night
7. I Feel Fine
8. Eight Days a Week
9. Ticket To Ride
10. Help!
11. Yesterday
12. Day Tripper
13. We Can Work It Out
14. Paperback Writer
15. Yellow Submarine
16. Eleanor Rigby
17. Penny Lane
18. All You Need Is Love
19. Hello, Goodbye
20. Lady Madonna
21. Hey Jude
22. Get Back
23. The Ballad of John and Yoko
24. Something
25. Come Together
26. Let It Be
27. The Long and Winding Road DISC 1 VIDEO EXTRAS
Paul McCartney audio commentary
Penny Lane
Hello, Goodbye
Hey Jude
Ringo Starr filmed introductions
Penny Lane
Hello, Goodbye
Hey Jude
Get Back
The Beatles 1+ (CD/2DVD; CD/2Blu-ray] DISC 1 AUDIO (CD) + DISC 1 VIDEO (DVD or Blu-ray)
(same as above)
DISC 2 VIDEO (DVD or Blu-ray)
1. Twist & Shout
2. Baby It’s You
3. Words Of Love
4. Please Please Me
5. I Feel Fine
6. Day Tripper *
7. Day Tripper *
8. We Can Work It Out *
9. Paperback Writer *
10. Rain *
11. Rain *
12. Strawberry Fields Forever
13. Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows
14. A Day In The Life
15. Hello, Goodbye *
16. Hello, Goodbye *
17. Hey Bulldog
18. Hey Jude *
19. Revolution
20. Get Back *
21. Don’t Let Me Down
22. Free As A Bird
23. Real Love DISC 2 VIDEO EXTRA
Paul McCartney audio commentary
Strawberry Fields Forever
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To coincide with yesterday's momentous news that Carpenter is to make his live debut at ATP next year, I thought I'd post the full transcript of my interview with Carpenter from our February 2015 issue. Ostensibly, we were due to talk about Carpenter's debut album, Lost Themes, which was about to be...
To coincide with yesterday’s momentous news that Carpenter is to make his live debut at ATP next year, I thought I’d post the full transcript of my interview with Carpenter from our February 2015 issue. Ostensibly, we were due to talk about Carpenter’s debut album, Lost Themes, which was about to be released – but the conversation also covered Carpenter’s great movies (and their soundtracks), his early failure at the violin and the possible return of Snake Plissken.
Why have you decided to make an album now?
In the way it was done, there’s no ‘why’ to it. A couple of years ago, my son and I, he would come over to my house and we’d play video games and then we’d go downstairs to my Logic Pro computer set up and we’d improvise some music. Then we’d come back to the video games and then go back to the music and that just kept going and then we had about 60 minutes worth of music done. I was searching for a new music internee, and she asked me, ‘Do you have anything new?’. So, I sent over what my son and I had done and then a month or two later we had a record deal. But yeah, why now? I don’t know. I have no clue.
Do you feel like this is a continuation of the work that you’ve been doing for the last 40 years?
Yeah, it is in a sense. This is the first music that I’ve done that has nothing to do with image – it has to do simply with the music and the joy of playing and improvising – so that’s the difference. It reflects all the years that I’ve been doing this and it also affects my son’s abilities and my Godson’s abilities – Daniel Davies, he also worked on it. So, it’s a family affair! I’ve taken the two young guys and exploited them and tried to make myself rich.
It seems of a part with those great soundtracks like Assault On Precinct 13…
Well, the music is in you. That’s what it is all about. It’s either there or it’s not and it’s in me.
Those records were made on old analog synths weren’t they?
Yeah! And this one was to, but just on a modern synth.
Do you remember the first synth that you bought?
I think I got one as a gift once, but I don’t know if I have ever bought one. I still have a synth that my wife bought me a Korg Tribe and I love that thing. It’s unbelievable – I used it for the last two movies that I scored. I’ve had it for over ten years.
When did you first start making music?
My father was a music professor, he graduated from Eastman School Of Music and was a virtuoso violinist. When I was young, he decided that maybe it was time for me to learn to play the violin. Unfortunately, I had no talent, but we struggled through some lessons anyway and I picked up some basics. I played the violin for a while, but unfortunately that made me a mark for any of the bullies in high-school. Like, carrying your violin case to school is not a good idea, but those were the old days. So I went from there to keyboards to guitars and such.
As film maker, your influences are Hawks and Ford. What about your musical influences?
Classical music, generally. That’s what I first grew up with. But then movie scores, rock and roll, all influences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGME6jCwqw0
Which movie scores were particularly influential on you?
I loved Bernard Hermann, Dimitri Tiomkin and some of the low-budget, science fiction and horror scores. But there are a number of composers but especially Bernard Hermann because of his hardcore progressions and his use of simplicity to get across a mood and I really responded to that – because simple music is all I can basically do. So the idea was, in film school, I started to score student films because nobody has any money to hire somebody to score a film for you and with the low budgets movies that I started with it’s still the same model – there’s no money. But I was cheap and I was fast and that just kind of kept going and then that just became another part of my directing – it became another voice and creative process.
When you’re writing or directing a scene in a film, are you also thinking about the music? Do you ever work a scene and think ‘I’ve got this good riff that will work with that…’?
No, nothing quite as romantic as that. It’s after the movie is cut together. I take the movie and synchronise it with a keyboard and then I begin improvising, right from the first image. I just provide whatever the scene needs and it’s all an after thought. It’s all done afterwards and it’s a process of discovery, but then I’ll suddenly find I’m playing something that I like and I’ll be like, “Wow, where did that come from?†I have no idea, probably from another movie.
Do you have a favourite score of your own?
I don’t think I have ever thought that, but the more complicated ones that came later in my career – I really thought I did a pretty good job with Big Trouble In Little China. That score was pretty good. It was the complexity of it and it had different kinds of sounds.
How did Ennio Morricone come to score The Thing?
Because he is a genius! First of all though, the studio didn’t even consider me for it, but then I got to have him! And it’s the same thing with Starman and Jack Nitzsche – God he is a genius. He was unbelievable – what a composer!
There are some great titles on this album – “Vortexâ€, “Abyssâ€, “Purgatory 
Well, the thinking behind the titles was, “Gee, we need some titles for these – let me make up some dark words…†This album is for the movie that’s playing in your head because most people have a movie in their head or an image of something or and actor or a place or a thing. So, my album is to score that for you. So turn down the lights, put the album on and let that movie in your head go and I’ll be the music for it. I want to turn everybody crazy!
Are you aware of the significance of your soundtrack work?
Well okay, I know it because you are telling me this – but do I know it? No. Directors, when they are done with their work just want to be alone and they want to get away from people – especially actors. So no one tells me these things, I know a fan or two here and there but I don’t have any idea what influences and I don’t know why. Why would I be an influence? I can barely play.
But you must of seen something like Drive, heard the soundtrack and thought, ‘Hang on a minute, that’s a bit familiar…’
No I don’t think I have seen that! Nor would I know the influence but I have some favourite composers now though – not because they remind me of anything, but because they are great! I love Hans Zimmer and I think Trent Reznor is doing some great stuff! His stuff is just really interesting.
So what’s the plan after this album?
I’ll continue to live my life, hopefully or I’ll keep watching basketball. It’s fun and it’s awesome and it’s really something that I never dreamed would happen – making music like this. But I am still making music as we speak, with the same group we’re still working on stuff. And we’ll see – maybe another album or two or maybe not.
What about films?
If something comes along that I love, I’ll do it! But I am an old man now, what do you want from me? I’m 67 in January and that’s old!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-LDW7tWwAI
Do you still see Kurt Russell at all?
I do occasionally, yeah.
Is there any chance of a third outing for Snake Plissken?
You never know. We have talked about a couple of things, but you never know. The business has changed a lot since then and I don’t know if modern Hollywood has any fans of the movie. They are more pre-occupied with cartoon characters and super heroes – Marvel comic book heroes. He is a little tougher than they are!
I keep hearing rumours of remakes…
You know how it goes in the movie business. Most of the movies that I have made are co-owned with companies and a big company is Canal Plus. And they keep trying to resuscitate these corpses and remake them and get life in them – so they go out there and bang the bushes but it’s not me doing it. So maybe they’ll get something up and I’ll get a pay cheque or maybe not.
How do you spend your days?
What, when I’m not talking to journalists like you? I tend to play video games. I’ll probably go play them a few minutes after talking to you. I watch NBA Basketball. I play music and we have some projects under development – which means we are trying to raise some money. But my days are spent not getting up at in the morning. Not walking around on set and not having the stress of movie making which profound.
What games are you enjoying at the moment?
I’m playing Far Cry 4 right now – it’s an awesome game.
Do you ever see the influence of your films on computer games?
No. I’m not that egocentric, I’m just not. I don’t sit around and think, ‘Oh boy, I influenced that.’ That’s just full of insanity, I think.
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.
Not sure whether me playing actual whalesong in the office the other day was welcomed enthusiastically by all my colleagues, but David Rothenburg's interesting comp sits nicely in this reasonably eclectic selection. NYC Taper's come up trumps again with a killer Steve Gunn & The Black Twig Picke...
Not sure whether me playing actual whalesong in the office the other day was welcomed enthusiastically by all my colleagues, but David Rothenburg’s interesting comp sits nicely in this reasonably eclectic selection. NYC Taper’s come up trumps again with a killer Steve Gunn & The Black Twig Pickers session from the Hopscotch fest in Raleigh last month, plus there’s a new track from the mighty Spacin’ streaming at their website.
Pride of place this week, though, goes to the new Soldiers Of Fortune album; a New York coalition I haven’t come across before (and which has been misleadingly promoted in the UK as an Interpol/Spiritualized supergroup), but which features among others Kid Millions and Pat Sullivan from Oneida, the redoubtable Matt Sweeney, and Jesper Eklow. Eklow and – latterly – Sweeney’s work in Endless Boogie is satisfyingly key here, and I can’t recommend “Early Risers” enough: featured vocalists include Steve Malkmus, Cass McCombs and Comets On Fire/Howlin Rain/Heron Oblivion’s Ethan Miller. A decade ago, a Comets/Endless Boogie supergroup would’ve struck me as the best thing ever. As of today, it pretty much is; two songs below for your delectation. Let me know what you think…
14 Chris Forsyth & Koen Holtkamp – Early Astral (Blackest Rainbow)
15 The Necks – Vertigo (ReR/Northern Spy)
16 Tinariwen – Live In Paris: Oukis N’Asuf (Wedge)
17 Rod Stewart – Another Country (Capitol)
18 Nots – We Are Nots (Heavenly)
19 Soldiers Of Fortune – Early Risers (Mexican Summer)
20 Nectarine No 9 – Saint Jack (Heavenly)
21 Skyray – Neptune Variations (Ochre)
22 Dave Rawlings Machine – Nashville Obsolete (Acony)
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John Carpenter will make his live debut at All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Iceland.
The festival will take place from July 1 - 3, 2016 in KeflavÃk.
Carpenter will play selections from last year's Lost Themes album - which is available to order from Amazon.co.uk by clicking here - alongside his...
John Carpenter will make his live debut at All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Iceland.
The festival will take place from July 1 – 3, 2016 in KeflavÃk.
He will be joined by his son Cody, godson Daniel Davies, and a full live band for the show. You can watch a trailer announcing the show below.
“We are incredibly honoured to present the first ever show by this legendary film-maker and composer. Having had the opportunity to present the maestro Ennio Morricone twice in recent years, it has been a burning ambition of ours to also present John Carpenter, who is both a pioneer and a huge influence on us and so many great musicians and film-makers that we work with. You’d be fucking crazy to miss this,” said ATP’s Barry Hogan.
You can find more info about tickets, accomodation and travel 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.
The Jesus And Mary Chain have announced that they are working on their first new album in 17 years.
The band released their last album, Munki, in 1998, now preparing to follow it up with a "more mature" record.
"We’re doing an album now. We actually just started recording," lead singer Jim Reid ...
The Jesus And Mary Chain have announced that they are working on their first new album in 17 years.
The band released their last album, Munki, in 1998, now preparing to follow it up with a “more mature” record.
“We’re doing an album now. We actually just started recording,” lead singer Jim Reid told Time Out New York.
Reid continued, “It’s early days, but I would say it’s a more mature sound for the Mary Chain. But let’s just wait and see.”
Reid told the NME earlier this year that plans were afoot to work on some new music. “We’ve got the material, we’ve talked about doing an album for so long now,” Reid said. “We got back together in 2007 and it was the plan then. We thought ‘We’ve got a bunch of songs, this would make a pretty good Mary Chain album’ – and then there was the usual slaps and scratches between my brother and myself. ‘I wanna do it here’ and ‘I don’t’ and then it was all ‘Fuck you’ and swinging at each other. The usual shit basically.”
However, Reid admitted that since the band started touring their Psychocandy album, to celebrate its 30th anniversary, a new album seems more likely than ever. “We are kind of coming round to being in agreement, which is a bit weird for us, he commented. “There will be an album – we will get it together. I’m more convinced now than I ever have been that there will be a new Mary Chain album.”
Speaking about the problems that have plagued recording new material in the past, Reid explained: “We couldn’t agree how to approach the songs. At the time when the band got back together my kids were very young and William lives in LA and wanted to record out there, and I didn’t want to go and spend months away from my family. But my kids are a bit older now and I’m kind of in the middle of a divorce, so it seems like a good time to get the hell out of town.”
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 Dead Weather have released a new video to coincide with the release of their new album, Dodge And Burn.
In this episode, guitarist Dean Fertita reveals the process of writing and recording new song, “Let Me Throughâ€.
The video, directed by Jack White, concludes with a live performance of t...
The Dead Weather have released a new video to coincide with the release of their new album, Dodge And Burn.
In this episode, guitarist Dean Fertita reveals the process of writing and recording new song, “Let Me Throughâ€.
The video, directed by Jack White, concludes with a live performance of the track.
Dodge And Burn features eight new songs alongside four previously released tracks that have been remixed and remastered for this album.
“Open Up (That’s Enough)“, Rough Detective”, “Buzzkill(er)” and “It’s Just Too Bad” were previously available as subscription-only 7″s.
The tracklisting for The Dead Weather’s Dodge And Burn is:
I Feel Love (Every Million Miles)
Buzzkill(er)
Let Me Through
Three Dollar Hat
Lose The Right
Rough Detective
Open Up
Be Still
Mile Markers
Cop and Go
Too Bad
Impossible Winner
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.
When Patrick Stickles began talking to the press in September 2013 about his band Titus Andronicus’ forthcoming fourth record, a 30-track concept album entitled The Most Lamentable Tragedy, he had just one song committed to tape, the raucous, self-lacerating “Fatal Flawâ€. This would seem, on t...
When Patrick Stickles began talking to the press in September 2013 about his band Titus Andronicus’ forthcoming fourth record, a 30-track concept album entitled The Most Lamentable Tragedy, he had just one song committed to tape, the raucous, self-lacerating “Fatal Flawâ€. This would seem, on the surface, to be foolhardy – we know what happens to the best-laid schemes, after all. But as Stickles had it, there was method in his madness. By talking about it, he had to follow through with this gigantic undertaking – or self-destruct in the process.
Now it has finally appeared, Titus Andronicus’ fourth album feels, if anything, more ambitious in reality than on paper. A musical tale in five acts, it follows the story of an unnamed protagonist who comes face to face with his own doppelgänger, sending him on a “transformative odyssey†and to the brink of sanity along the way. Stickles is keen to point out that The Most Lamentable Tragedy is fiction, and this certainly is a strand that runs through Titus Andronicus. Here, after all, is a group who take their name from Shakespeare’s most bloodthirsty revenge tragedy, and once titled a song “Albert Camusâ€. But truthfully, it is hard – and probably unhelpful – to disentangle the album’s theme from Stickles’ biography, which encompasses an ongoing struggle with manic depression, suicidal ideation, a lifetime on medication and a rare eating disorder. It’s not that Stickles isn’t a skilled enough writer to spin a brilliant story – indeed the opposite is true. More that he’s burrowed far enough down the artistic rabbit hole to a place where art and life are essentially indistinguishable.
Just as fundamental to understanding Titus Andronicus is knowing this band hail from New Jersey, and how that fact is imprinted on their DNA. Punk rock and Springsteen are the twin pillars of Stickles’ musical philosophy, and Titus Andronicus songs have that soused, celebratory feel, even when – as on “I Lost My Mind†or the good-time boogie “Lonely Boy†¬– the written contents go to the darkest places. It’s a mark of Stickles’ voracious creative energies that all these competing currents don’t feel so much reconcilable as pure and instinctual. The result, on The Most Lamentable Tragedy, is a collison of blue-collar brawn and baroque artistry, like Springsteen And The E-Street Band covering Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over the Sea, or The Replacements with David Foster Wallace installed as their creative director.
This is undoubtedly Titus Andronicus’ best-sounding album to date. Assembled over five months at five different studios between New York and Massachusetts, each song explodes with organ, clarinet, mandolin and saxophone, with violin and viola parts arranged and played by Owen Pallett. “No Future Part IV: No Future Triumphant†and “Stranded (On My Own)†set the scene, harrowing portraits of the tormented artist that articulate the life-ebb of depression with lyrical extravagance. “Fragrance of a pungent skunk/Hung in the repugnant dungeon where I had sunk,†sings Stickles on the former, before acknowledging the line is a good one, and singing it again.
The plot gets moving on Act Two’s opener “Lookalikeâ€, a one-minute punk thrash that sees our hero come face to face with his double (“He don’t act like me/But we look alike!â€). This is the cue for a remarkable 20 minutes of music that encompasses a radically reassembled take on Daniel Johnston’s “I Had Lost My Mindâ€; “Fired Upâ€, a triumphant screed against organised religion and physicians who drug children; and “Dimed Outâ€, a voracious hymn to living in the red that resembles a manic episode rendered as song. (This isn’t just conjecture: one of Stickles’ touchstones here is Kay Redfield Jamison’s book Touched With Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness And The Artistic Temperament, which applies modern psychological learning to the works of Byron, Van Gogh and Virginia Woolf.)
For a 91-minute album, The Most Lamentable Tragedy feels astonishingly consistent. There is little sense of flag throughout, even as it zigs and zags madly to its creator’s whim. There is a nine-minute heavy metal headbanger called “(S)HE SAID/(S)HE SAIDâ€, a casually tossed in cover of The Pogues’ “A Pair Of Brown Eyesâ€, a rousing chorus of “Auld Lang Syne†that ends on a tolling note of doom. Come the final, fifth act, the plot is coming a little unstuck, and not everything hits – in particular, the closing “Stable Boyâ€, a deliberately naïve cassette-recorded piece about how cats and horses don’t fear death, played by Stickles on a chord organ, makes for a shambolic climax. But by now you’ve long since given up on Stickles serving up a coherent denouement, accustomed as you are by being flung around on the storm of his moods.
You could place The Most Lamentable Tragedy into a grand lineage of concept albums about a young man pitted against a cruel world that stretches from The Who’s Tommy through Hüsker Dü’s Zen Arcade to Fucked Up’s David Comes To Life. But more than trying to slot into any existing canon, you sense that Stickles is more interested in assembling his own body of work. “No Future Part IV: No Future Triumphant†and “No Future Part V: In Endless Dreaming†continue a series that commenced on Titus Andronicus’ debut LP, while other moments hark back to earlier work – see mandolin shanty “More Perfect Unionâ€, which revisits the themes of patriotism and liberty invoked on “A More Perfect Union†from 2010’s The Monitor.
Instead, Stickles calls The Most Lamentable Tragedy his Gesamtkunstwerk – a term coined by the German philosopher Karl Trahndorff that translates as “total artworkâ€, drawing on multiple mediums to create an artwork of the future. Exactly how this plays out live we shall see, but prior to the album’s release landed a 15-minute video, The Magic Morning, Stickles and band dramatising the album’s standout second act with added dance routines. It’s low-budget and playfully done – with the aid of some clever angling, Stickles plays both himself and his doppelgänger, one in sweatpants and sporting a full fisherman’s beard, the other clean-shaven and darting around in white gym kit. Still, it leads you to reflect on the album’s themes further. Is one the manic Stickles and the other the depressed Stickles? Is one the real Patrick Stickles – and if so, which?
Titus Andronicus are undoubtedly a band scholarly about their rock history. But The Most Lamentable Tragedy feels like a quintessentially modern album, a scintillating examination of mania and neurosis that uses the history of rock’n’roll as mere stage dressing for its bravura performance. Stickles is no Springsteen, writing relatable songs for the American Everyman. Instead, what he does here sounds close to unprecedented in the field of rock music: he journeys right to the heart of madness, and through artistic ambition and sheer determination, he grasps it and bends it to his will.
Q&A
Patrick Stickles
So your new album, The Most Lamentable Tragedy…
TMLT. That’s what I call it. Like “tumultâ€. Like the tumultuous state that all life is permanently affixed in.
So it’s intended to be an acronym?
Primarily, it’s an allusion to the Shakespeare play from which we named our band – but it also turned out to be an acronym. I didn’t know about the acronym when we had the notion it might be the title, but when I realised the acronym was there – and what the acronym said – then it was a lock. I took that as a sign from the universe, a secret message that was hidden from me, in the works of Shakespeare. If only we had the eyes to see it and the ears to hear it, because the poetry of the universe is being spoken around us all the time.
Describing The Most Lamentable Tragedy, you invoke the notion of a Gesamtkunstwerk, or “total artworkâ€. What does that say about what you’re trying to achieve?
Well, even though we work in a particular idiom, rock’n’roll in this case, that’s not the length or width of our interests. We are interested in other things. And as a vocalist who, in my more pretentious moments, talks of what I do in literary terms, I’m trying to curate a certain emotional experience for the listener. When you put the album on, I want you to surrender – in the same way that you might to a great movie, or a book. The way that I am overjoyed to surrender to Lars Von Trier, or Louis CK, or Alan Moore. Anyone who is fearless, or stretching the boundaries of the field that they are working in. I love “Tutti Frutti†and fucking “Louie Louieâ€, and you’d better believe at the end of “Louie Louie†I’m fucking grateful. But it’s not the same experience you get when you’re immersed in a great book, or the feeling you get when you’ve seen a great movie and it’s shaken up your interior. They light a spark in your brain. I’m a musician and we’re a fucking rock’n’roll band, and that’s the number one thing. But at the same time I still want to do to people what the artists I just described did to me. Artists that wanted to take us on a ride. Whatever the hell we’re doing, whatever the format is – whether it’s a rock album, movie, TV sitcom – it’s all just to get the audience member to a certain emotional point, or lead them on an emotional journey.
INTERVIEW: LOUIS PATTISON
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The Velvet Underground – The Complete Matrix Tapes, is a four-CD, 42-track box due for release on November 20 by Polydor/Universal Music Catalogue(UMC).
The material was recorded on November 26 and 27, 1969 at The Matrix club in North Beach, San Francisco, during the band's lengthy residency at t...
The Velvet Underground – The Complete Matrix Tapes, is a four-CD, 42-track box due for release on November 20 by Polydor/Universal Music Catalogue(UMC).
The material was recorded on November 26 and 27, 1969 at The Matrix club in North Beach, San Francisco, during the band’s lengthy residency at the club.
The band features Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, Maureen Tucker and Doug Yule.
Some versions of these performances were first issued in 1974 by Mercury Records as part of a double LP, 1969: The Velvet Underground Live, others appeared on The Quine Tapes – cassette recordings made by future Lou Reed guitarist, Bob Quine – while 18 tracks featured on the Super Deluxe Edition of the Velvets’ third album, released last year.
The Complete Matrix Tapes features 42 recordings that have been mixed down directly from the original in-house multi-tracks, including nine previously unreleased performances, marking the first time all the available tapes will be released commercially.
Set One includes previously unreleased versions of “Some Kinda Love†and “Sweet Janeâ€, while Set Two’s rarities include performances of “There She Goes Againâ€, “After Hours†and “We’re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Togetherâ€.
Rare live takes of “Venus in Furs†(one on Set One, the other Set Two) and Set One’s “The Black Angel’s Death Song†are also notable for their inclusion here.
Track Listing:
SET ONE
1. I’M WAITING FOR THE MAN (Version 1) (14:06) ***
2. WHAT GOES ON (Version 1) (8:58) **
3. SOME KINDA LOVE (Version 1) (4:59) *
4. HEROIN (Version 1) (8:13) ***
5. THE BLACK ANGEL’S DEATH SONG (6:20) ***
6. VENUS IN FURS (Version 1) (4:38) +
7. THERE SHE GOES AGAIN (Version 1) (3:08) +
8. WE’RE GONNA HAVE A REAL GOOD TIME TOGETHER (Version 1) (3:16) **
9. OVER YOU (Version 1) (2:24) **
10. SWEET JANE (Version 1) (5:12) *
11. PALE BLUE EYES (6:08) +
12. AFTER HOURS (Version 1) (2:58) +
SET TWO
1. I’M WAITING FOR THE MAN (Version 2) (6:38) **
2. VENUS IN FURS (Version 2) (5:16) ***
3. I CAN’T STAND IT (Version 1) (7:54) **
4. THERE SHE GOES AGAIN (Version 2) (2:54) *
5. SOME KINDA LOVE (Version 2) (4:12) + / **
6. OVER YOU (Version 2) (3:07) +
7. AFTER HOURS (Version 2) (2:37) *
8. WE’RE GONNA HAVE A REAL GOOD TIME TOGETHER (Version 2) (3:42) *
9. SWEET BONNIE BROWN/TOO MUCH (7:54) **
10. HEROIN (Version 2) (10:08) **
11. WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT (Version 1) (9:30) ***
12. I’M SET FREE (4.48) +
SET THREE
1. WE’RE GONNA HAVE A REAL GOOD TIME TOGETHER (Version 3) (3:18) *
2. SOME KINDA LOVE (Version 3) (4:40) *
3. THERE SHE GOES AGAIN (Version 3) (3:02) *
4. HEROIN (Version 3) (8:34) **
5. OCEAN (11:03) **
6. SISTER RAY (37.08) + / ***
SET FOUR
1. I’M WAITING FOR THE MAN (Version 3) (5:31) +
2. WHAT GOES ON (Version 2) (4:34) +
3. SOME KINDA LOVE (Version 4) (4:46) *
4. WE’RE GONNA HAVE A REAL GOOD TIME TOGETHER (Version 4) (3:26) +
5. BEGINNING TO SEE THE LIGHT (5:42) + / **
6. LISA SAYS (6:05) + / **
7. NEW AGE (6:41) **
8. ROCK AND ROLL (6.58) + / ** / ***
9. I CAN’T STAND IT (Version 2) (6:54) +
10. HEROIN (Version 4) (8:18) +
11. WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT (Version 2) (8:45) + / **
12. SWEET JANE (Version 2) (4:20) + / **
All mixes previously unreleased, except +
+ appears on The Velvet Underground (3rd album) Super Deluxe Edition
* previously unreleased performance
** performance appears on 1969: The Velvet Underground Live
*** performance appears on The Quine Tapes Box Set
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Three-quarters of the way through one of their finest albums, 1997’s I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, Yo La Tengo cut from the breezy bossa-nova of “Center Of Gravity†and move straight into “Spec Bebobâ€, a borderline-unlistenable 10-minute jam between drums and distorted organ. It’s...
Three-quarters of the way through one of their finest albums, 1997’s I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, Yo La Tengo cut from the breezy bossa-nova of “Center Of Gravity†and move straight into “Spec Bebobâ€, a borderline-unlistenable 10-minute jam between drums and distorted organ. It’s a typical spin between extremes for a group who have often found it hard to keep things simple.
So far, the only moment on record where they’ve resisted the urge to demonstrate their full – and admittedly thrilling – range is 1990’s Fakebook, their mainly acoustic fourth album. With Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan joined by Dave Schramm on electric guitar and Al Greller on double bass, the record is still a low-key delight, a fan favourite more intimate and warm than anything else the group have produced.
Developed by Kaplan and Hubley during stripped-down radio sessions promoting the previous year’s President Yo La Tengo album, Fakebook included adept covers of songs by the likes of Cat Stevens, John Cale and The Kinks, reworked versions of older YLT songs such as “Barnaby, Hardly Working†and a handful of brand new tracks, including the effortless, sublime opener “Can’t Forgetâ€. A follow-up to the album, then – a Fakebook 2, if you like – is a surprising, though very welcome move for Yo La Tengo to make 25 years later.
Stuff Like That There mimics its forebear in nearly every way, welcoming back Dave Schramm on guitar, though this time alongside longtime YLT bassist James McNew. Throughout, Schramm’s playing is a delight, his electric guitar swathed in delay and tremolo on “Deeper Into Moviesâ€, and his slide achingly quicksilver on a cover of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cryâ€.
The gorgeous version of Great Plains’ “Before We Stopped To Thinkâ€, sung by Kaplan, is a sure high-point, but the most affecting, heartbreaking songs on Stuff are all sung by Hubley, whose voice seems to have grown richer and more melancholy with each passing year of the last quarter-century. On the evidence of her performances here on Darlene McCrea’s country ballad “My Heart’s Not In Itâ€, Antietam’s stately “Naples†and especially “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cryâ€, she’s stealthily become one of America’s most quietly impressive vocalists. A hushed take on “Deeper Into Moviesâ€, originally a fuzzy highlight of I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, even utilises the classic Yo La Tengo trick of having Kaplan and Hubley harmonise, except with the guitarist taking the higher part and Hubley the lower.
Of the two new songs, “Rickety†is almost acoustic motorik – on a more orthodox Yo La Tengo album, it would perhaps end up as a close relation of Summer Sun’s “Little Eyes†– while “Awhileaway†is a pretty, waltzing ballad that would have sat well on 2000’s tender And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out.
Not all of the songs work, however – the band’s take on The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love†sticks out as a little too predictable and rushed among its more subtle neighbours. Indeed, as seems to be the case with most sequels, Stuff Like That There can’t quite match up to Fakebook. For all the album’s strengths, something – novelty, most likely – is often lost when a trick is repeated, no matter how successful it was the first time around.
Yet these are minor gripes – on the majority of Stuff Like That There, Yo La Tengo are able to recapture the magic of those sessions a quarter of a century ago, and introduce us to some more underrated classics. Alone with its stylistic predecessor in their catalogue, Stuff is a comforting listen, startlingly consistent in mood and featuring some of Yo La Tengo’s – and especially Georgia Hubley’s – most touching moments. Frankly, it would be churlish to refuse a second helping.
Q&A
Ira Kaplan
Why did you decide to revisit Fakebook as a concept after 25 years?
We often play acoustically and we do lots of covers anyway, so I think we’d circled around [the idea] and gotten kind of near it almost constantly. Then the idea came up and it felt right. We didn’t really question it much more deeply than that. But I think for a while we felt the need to establish that we were not that band, that even when we made Fakebook that was a side of us but not the whole band. Even at the time, Fakebook wasn’t a plan or a strategy, it just seemed to make sense in the moment.
How did you go about choosing the covers?
There’s a number that we have done fairly steadily over the years, then once we knew this was what we were gonna do, a bunch of new ideas just flooded into us – The Parliaments song, the Darlene McCrea song… We also did a Sun City Girls song that didn’t end up on the record.
Georgia’s voice is getting richer as time goes on.
Very quickly it became apparent to all of us that we wanted her to sing more on this record than she’s ever sung. I mean, she’s definitely carrying the singing. With something like “Naplesâ€, she did more than in the past to make sure she was singing in a key that she felt comfortable in – we do it in a different key than Antietam did. In the first song, when I hear her sing “my heart’s not in itâ€, my heart just melts.
INTERVIEW: TOM PINNOCK
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The sleeve art for Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home is the subject of a new documentary, which you can watch below.
The documentary has been made by PopSpots, who explore locations where interesting events in the history of Pop Culture took place; this new film anticipates the release of Dylan...
The sleeve art for Bob Dylan‘s Bringing It All Back Home is the subject of a new documentary, which you can watch below.
The documentary has been made by PopSpots, who explore locations where interesting events in the history of Pop Culture took place; this new film anticipates the release of Dylan’s upcoming The Cutting Edge 1965–1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12, which contains material from the album.
The documentary features an interview with photographer Daniel Kramer, who shot the sleeve at the house of Albert Grossman, Dylan’s manager.
Rolling Stone reports that this documentary will be followed by films focussing on the artwork for the other albums included in this latest installment of Dylan’s Bootleg series – Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde.
The deluxe six-CD anthology The Cutting Edge 1965–1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 – which can be pre-ordered from Amazon.co.uk by clicking here – will be released by Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings on November 6, and features previously unheard songs, outtakes, rehearsal tracks and alternate versions from the sessions. All the recordings have been mixed from the original studio tracking tapes. The set includes an annotated book featuring rare and previously unseen photographs, memorabilia and new essays written by Bill Flanagan and Sean Wilentz.
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Peter Buck has announced a new solo album, Warzone Earth.
The album will be released on vinyl on October 16 by Little Axe Records.
According to a report on Stereogum, guests on the album include Jeff Tweedy, Krist Novoselic, Scott McCaughey, Bill Rieflin, Kurt Bloch, Chris Slusarenko, Annalisa Tor...
Peter Buck has announced a new solo album, Warzone Earth.
The album will be released on vinyl on October 16 by Little Axe Records.
According to a report on Stereogum, guests on the album include Jeff Tweedy, Krist Novoselic, Scott McCaughey, Bill Rieflin, Kurt Bloch, Chris Slusarenko, Annalisa Tornfelt, Chloe Johnson and Kristin Tornfelt.
“I’ve just had an exciting couple of weeks working with Tucker Martine on the new record by The Jayhawks which is a stunning tour de force. I think it will blow a lot of minds. I spent yesterday with my good friend Mike, who came to town to add some Millsian glamour to the proceedings. And I am pleased to announce this morning my new magnum opus Warzone Earth is now available. The record features two alternate covers by the folk art legend Mingering Mike. I never thought I’d look so good in tights!
“All kidding aside, it’s the best solo record I have made, and I’m excited for it to be out in the world. It’s available through littleaxerecords.com who distributes the record. It should also be available in all the cool independent record stores in your neighborhood, once again, vinyl only, but feel free to make a cassette for your friends.”
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A vintage interview with Tom Waits has been animated by PBS as part of their ongoing Blank On Blank series.
The PBS’ Blank On Blank series has previously featured animated archival interviews with Joni Mitchell, Lou Reed, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Elliott Smith and Jim Morrison.
The interview wi...
A vintage interview with Tom Waits has been animated by PBS as part of their ongoing Blank On Blank series.
The PBS’ Blank On Blank series has previously featured animated archival interviews with Joni Mitchell, Lou Reed, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Elliott Smith and Jim Morrison.
The interview with Waits took place in 1988, around the release of his Big Time album. The interview was conducted for Melody Maker by Chris Roberts, a former Uncut writer.
In the interview, Waits discusses subjects ranging from Stonehenge to showbusiness and laughing at funerals.
“I’ve never been to Stonehenge,†he admits. “There are moles in Stonehenge… the most elaborate systems of mole catacombs is in Stonehenge. There are more moles at Stonehenge than there are anywhere in the world. In the community, they reward moles that have the courage to tunnel beneath great rivers, it takes an understanding of physics and engineering, that type of thing.â€
On showbusiness, he said: “When I first got into show business, my stepfather bought me a wild shirt, which said more about what he thought show business was than what I thought it was. It was like this lime green shirt, with like seven different kinds of fabrics and textures on it, with wooden buttons, like a Hawaiian nightmare.
“He gave it to me, he was very serious when he gave it to me, it was like he was giving me a sword to go out into the world of show business, and ‘kill some dragons, pal, and bring us back the skins.’ And I looked at that shirt and I went ‘goddamn.’â€
On laughing at funerals, Waits admitted, “I was always laughing in church. There’s nothing that makes me laugh more than being in the situation where you’re not supposed to laugh. Funerals. People crying. Breaking down. Telling you their life. I’m the worst. I’m the worst at that.â€
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Budget supermarket chain Aldi have teamed up with Napster to launch their own music streaming service.
Music Week reports that users will have access to Napster's catalogue for €7.99 per month, €2 cheapper than Napster itself.
At the moment the service - Aldi Life Musik - is only available in ...
Budget supermarket chain Aldi have teamed up with Napster to launch their own music streaming service.
Music Week reports that users will have access to Napster’s catalogue for €7.99 per month, €2 cheapper than Napster itself.
At the moment the service – Aldi Life Musik – is only available in Aldi’s native Germany.
It’s not yet confirmed whether this service will be available in the UK.
The service will be available in apps for Android, iOS, Windows and desktops, and will include access to 4,000 radio stations as well as 10,000 audiobooks.
Recent statistics from Germany’s Federal Music Industry Association showed a 87 per cent increase in online streaming from the previous year. Streaming revenue now accounts for 12.8 per cent of all music sales in the country.
“Digital business is the driving force in the German market,” said Philip Ginthör, CEO Sony Music GSA. “The music industry will achieve sustainable growth if we continue to focus on investing in talent and fair digital revenue models.”
BVMI Managing Director Dr Florian Drücketold Billboard of the news, “The 87 percent increase in music streaming even exceeds the forecast contained in the streaming study we published back in March. With regard to current discussions about copyright amendments, it’s important we don’t forget that the digital licensing business needs reliable conditions to function effectively, and this requires involving creatives and their partners in the revenues generated by the platforms to the appropriate degree.”
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