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Hear Bob Marley’s rare “Selassie Is The Chapel”

Michael Bonner
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Hear Bob Marley’s rare “Selassie Is The Chapel”

Bob Marley's 1968 recording "Selassie Is The Chapel" has been reissued via his original label, JAD Records, on 7" and streaming platforms.

Bob Marley’s 1968 recording “Selassie Is The Chapel” has been reissued via his original label, JAD Records, on 7″ and streaming platforms.

You can hear the track below.

KEITH RICHARDS IS ON THE COVER OF THE NEW UNCUT – HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

The single is taken from Marley’s JAD Records catalogue, after Marley had been discovered in Jamaica by Johnny Nash and JAD co-founder Danny Sims.

The lyrics were written by Mortimer Planno, who played a huge part in shaping Marley’s involvement in the Rastafarian religion and who met Haile Selassie when the former Emperor of Ethiopia visited Jamaica in 1966.

Donovan – A Gift From A Flower To A Garden

Rob Hughes
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Donovan – A Gift From A Flower To A Garden

Latching onto the prevailing spirit of glam-rock, 1973’s Cosmic Wheels was Donovan’s last significant success. The intervening years saw him undergo what amounted to a long slow fade from public view, once sending himself up in song as “A Well Known Has-Been” and quitting completely for over a decade. Even Rick Rubin couldn’t salvage his fortunes in the ’90s.

Latching onto the prevailing spirit of glam-rock, 1973’s Cosmic Wheels was Donovan’s last significant success. The intervening years saw him undergo what amounted to a long slow fade from public view, once sending himself up in song as “A Well Known Has-Been” and quitting completely for over a decade. Even Rick Rubin couldn’t salvage his fortunes in the ’90s.

KEITH RICHARDS IS ON THE COVER OF THE NEW UNCUT – HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

Given the above, plus only sporadic bouts of activity since, it’s sometimes easy to overlook Donovan’s legacy. But the ’60s would’ve been a very different place without him. A leading light of the counterculture, he transitioned from Dylan-a-like folkie (“Catch The Wind”) to psychedelic pioneer (“Sunshine Superman”) in little more than 12 months, marking him out as flower power’s poster boy, both here and in the States. Future members of Led Zeppelin served as his studio band. He taught fingerpicking to The Beatles, took part in anti-war protests and became the first major British pop star to get busted for pot. Whichever way you came at it, Donovan was news.

By late 1967, following a rack of hit singles and big albums, he had enough cachet to pitch his most ambitious idea yet. A Gift From A Flower To A Garden was to be a double album, presented as a boxset – customarily the preserve of classical or “serious” music – that deepened his mission to bridge pop, folk, jazz, psychedelia and poetry.

A Gift… was conceived in two distinct halves. Disc One, the idealistic Wear Your Love Like Heaven, rolled out an alternate world for Donovan’s generation, one that sought to transcend the socio-political chaos of the day. The second disc, For Little Ones, was intended for the children of the future – a romantic idyll of innocence and imagination. No doubt Donovan knew he might be in for a kicking. On a cynical level, this utopian dream could be dismissed as symptomatic of the age, a naïve folly by a wealthy hippie divorced from everyday life. But the sheer sincerity of his approach, and the ravishing melodic beauty of much of this music, is enough to disarm the toughest sceptic.

“Wear Your Love Like Heaven” feels like a simple prayer, Donovan inviting divine will over a baroque blend of guitar, organ and flute. Like several songs here, it relies on painterly allusions for lyrical colour, flooded with acute visions of Prussian blue, scarlet fleece, alizarin crimson and so on. The notion of spiritual deliverance extends into the almost childlike “Skip-A-Long Sam”, a trippy folk-jazz shuffle lightly dusted with piano. Here, Donovan evokes both William Blake and Lewis Carroll in his mystical depictions of secret doors to the underworld. He even smuggles a line from Carroll into a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Under The Greenwood Tree”, from As You Like It.

Chops, too, to Donovan’s studio hands, particularly flautist Harold McNair and keyboard player Mike O’Neill. The arrangements are quietly sophisticated, whether spinning “There Was A Time” into a kind of psychedelic madrigal or shifting tempos on the gorgeous “Sun”, possibly the most underrated song in Donovan’s entire canon. A prophetic eco fable prone to sudden outbreaks of pastoral jazz, it depicts a future of dry oceans, decimated trees and baking temperatures. “Life’s very unstable,” sings Donovan, his diction characteristically precise. “It’s built upon sand.”

By contrast, the settings of For Little Ones are simpler. Donovan’s voice and acoustic guitar drive most of these tunes about tinkers, starfish, magic forests and quixotic seekers. But these aren’t children’s songs in the traditional sense. Instead, their wonder and sophistry are very much aligned to Disc One, Donovan offering a richly poetic and often flowery discourse on the value of imagination.

It includes a tender tribute to Derroll Adams – “this banjo man with a tattoo on his hand” – on “Epistle To Derroll”, which traces a route back to Donovan’s own formative years. But perhaps the key song here is “The Enchanted Gypsy”. A reference to running buddy Gypsy Dave, the lyrics follow a metaphorical trail that suggests Donovan was within reach of what he’d always been looking for: “And a vision I saw/As the crow did craw/No more did I go searching-o.”

For all its pied piper conceit, A Gift From A Flower To A Garden ultimately feels like an intensely personal voyage of transformation. It’s still not clear whether Donovan was merely chasing castles in the air or had stumbled on a gateway to nirvana. But the joy, as is so often the case, lies in the rhapsodic journey.

James Elkington – Me Neither

Tom Pinnock
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James Elkington – Me Neither

“I've always been more interested in sketches than finished paintings,” says James Elkington. “I like listening to people's demos. I'm very interested in unfinished work, or work-in-progress. And I wanted this to sound like that.” Me Neither isn’t Elkington’s official follow-up to 2020’s excellent Ever-Roving Eye (that’s coming next year, along with a duo album he’s made with Nathan Salsburg). In fact he only finished this batch of recordings in September, and wasn’t planning to release them formally until No Quarter’s Mike Quinn intervened. “I haven't even had a chance to think about whether it's a good idea to put it out,” Elkington admits. “That's partly why it's called Me Neither. I'm not sure exactly what my involvement level is with this, really.”

“I’ve always been more interested in sketches than finished paintings,” says James Elkington. “I like listening to people’s demos. I’m very interested in unfinished work, or work-in-progress. And I wanted this to sound like that.” Me Neither isn’t Elkington’s official follow-up to 2020’s excellent Ever-Roving Eye (that’s coming next year, along with a duo album he’s made with Nathan Salsburg). In fact he only finished this batch of recordings in September, and wasn’t planning to release them formally until No Quarter’s Mike Quinn intervened. “I haven’t even had a chance to think about whether it’s a good idea to put it out,” Elkington admits. “That’s partly why it’s called Me Neither. I’m not sure exactly what my involvement level is with this, really.”

KEITH RICHARDS IS ON THE COVER OF THE NEW UNCUT – HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

It’s not quite a feat of subconscious composition to rank alongside <Astral Weeks> – you suspect that Elkington’s solid, curatorial nous was more present in the construction of this music than he’s letting on – but Me Neither is certainly a cabinet of curiosities: 28 spry instrumental vignettes, plus a not-quite cover of Abba’s “The Winner Takes It All”.

Almost everything is played on acoustic guitar, but Elkington uses the instrument inventively, tapping it with felt mallets to create a percussion track or elongating notes with a freeze pedal until they begin to sound like synth tones. There are some lo-fi tape loops, plus found sounds that include the recording of a train going past his house. Even the straighter folk fingerpicking numbers are spontaneous attempts to explore a new tuning or a curious time signature, and yet Elkington always seems to come up with something pleasing and melodic. He’s freed himself from the constraints of trying to write complete songs, but this isn’t aimless experimentation. At roughly two minutes apiece, these little sketches are the opposite of improvised indulgence.

Halfway through, Elkington wondered if he might be making an album of library music for potential film and TV use. It would be quite a modish thing to do, given that the likes of Ben Chasny and Matt Berry have recently released instrumental albums under the reactivated KPM banner. “But then I sent it to a friend who actually does library music placement,” reveals Elkington, “and he was like, ‘I don’t think so!’”

He should probably take that snub as a compliment. Most of these tunes are too characterful to be used as general scene-setting; “The 100-Faced Magma” and “Part The Thin Painter From His Work” – Elkington presumably had as much fun titling them as writing them – have a jolly, perambulatory quality, as if accompanying a cast of local eccentrics as they wend their way to work through the streets of a pretty Alpine village. Others, such as “A Round, A Bout” and the beautiful “Double Orchid”, are odder and more atmospheric. Thankfully, they all lack the pretentious/portentous widescreen sweep of most present-day soundtrack (or ‘imaginary soundtrack’) music. Whatever kind of production this might be for, it’s a resolutely small-screen one: a children’s stop-motion animation or a nature documentary, viewed at 11am on a chilly Monday while stuck at home with a cold.

Growing up in England in the 1970s, there’s no doubt that Elkington’s first encounter with instrumental folk guitar music will have been via Camberwick Green and Bagpuss rather than Bert Jansch and John Fahey. Me Neither acknowledges this formative influence without getting too cutesy about it. In that sense – not to mention his homespun Radiophonic Workshop-style FX and the way his guitar is often warped and woozed by several generations of tape dubs – you can draw comparisons with Broadcast and Boards Of Canada. This album shares their complex, peculiarly British relationship with nostalgia: fuzzy and comforting but potentially sinister around the edges.

In conclusion, it would be traditional to observe that Me Neither bodes well for both of Elkington’s ‘proper’ albums coming next year. Which it does, of course – after a couple of decades as a supporting player on the Chicago scene, he seems to be coming into his own as a leading man. But you don’t need any of that context to enjoy Me Neither and its random sprinkling of everyday wonder.

“Great mutual respect”: Keith Richards by Jimmy Page

Michael Bonner
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“Great mutual respect”: Keith Richards by Jimmy Page

Keith Richards stars on the January 2024 issue of Uncut, as we celebrate the great guitarist's 80th birthday this month. Inside, a host of famous faces share their favourite stories and memories of Richards - including Jimmy Page. Sadly, we didn't have room to feature all of Jimmy in the magazine - so below you'll find the full version of our interview with him which begins in Manchester on October 21, 1962.

Keith Richards stars on the January 2024 issue of Uncut, as we celebrate the great guitarist’s 80th birthday this month. Inside, a host of famous faces share their favourite stories and memories of Richards – including Jimmy Page. Sadly, we didn’t have room to feature all of Jimmy in the magazine – so below you’ll find the full version of our interview with him which begins in Manchester on October 21, 1962.

Now read on…

KEITH RICHARDS IS ON THE COVER OF THE NEW UNCUT – HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

“Our paths first crossed when the first American Folk Blues tour came through Manchester [October 21, 1962]. To the true and faithful, it was a clarion call for all blues collectors and enthusiasts. There was an Epsom contingent that travelled up there, and that’s where I first met Keith and Mick. There they were and there I was, and I’m sure he remembered meeting me from that. Later, there was a gathering of people at this record collector’s house, which was a treat because he put on the Howlin’ Wolf album with the rocking chair on the cover [Howlin’ Wolf, 1962], which had stuff like ‘Down In The Bottom’, ‘Going Down Slow’, ‘You’ll Be Mine’. None of us had even heard that album yet. Can you imagine?

“Then I’d meet Keith along the way during the ‘60s. I went to hear the Stones when they did a night at the Flamingo club and I’d see them at various venues around London. They were truly faithful devotees of the Chess catalogue and they could play it all really well. Later I’d bump into them at Immediate Records, when I did a few bits and pieces, though they were more like demos. The first time I was actually playing with Keith was when we were on the same Chris Farlowe sessions that Mick was producing. ‘Yesterday’s Papers’ [1967] was a really good one. I’m playing acoustic on that. We were sitting next to each other and I got on really well with Keith because there was a great mutual respect. You could see that he was really disciplined in the studio, because you know what those sort of sessions were like – it’d be a three-hour session or whatever, where they get as much done as possible. And he was on the nail all the way through.

“Then we jump to 1974, when Ronnie had the Wick [in Richmond] and the studio underneath. He said, ‘Do you want to come round? I think Keith wants to do something.’ So that was the time when I really had a chance to play with him, because that was the backing track to ‘Scarlet’, with Keith playing rhythm and me doing a counterpoint riff. I remember thinking, ‘This is great,’ because I just wanted to sort of lay it on top of what he did and not get in the way. The following day, I put a couple of solo overdubs on it at Island. The thing I remember the most is that Keith was solid and driving and he didn’t make mistakes. He kept going all the way through. And I realised just what a powerful force he is behind those Rolling Stones records. There was no doubt about it. Of course, I could take it all apart and highlight everybody’s vital contribution, but Keith was really driving it.

“You can hear from listening to ‘Scarlet’ that I’m really on the crest of a wave with Zeppelin, with all the playing, so it would’ve been nice to maybe have done more together with Keith around that time, before we moved on to other pastures. It was two guitar musos creating something, which is how it is when you get together with someone like that. It was similar to me and Jeff [Beck], where we’d just sort of lock in, because there’s an automatic sort of mutual respect for each other that’s built up over the years.

“The next time I got a chance to play with him was in New York, when I was invited to the studio during Dirty Work [1986]. We had a couple of days to have a bit of a play and a jam, then I did the soloing over ‘One Hit (To The Body)’. Keith sent me a magnum of champagne afterwards, which was very sporting.

“There was another time too, jamming atthe Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [1992], when Keith inducted Leo Fender. He gave a great speech about Leo Fender. He’d already taken off his dickie bib and had his shirt open and was up there in his tux. He looked great. And he said that the thing about Leo Fender was he built these wonderful guitars, but then he also built the amps to go with it. And I thought, ‘That’s right on the nail!’

“The thing about Keith is his timing is really good and he has the imagination to be able to construct these wonderful riffs, which are the driving force behind the Stones’ records, pretty much. Not only that, but he could then turn his attention towards the acoustic playing on the 12-string, where he does ‘Angie’ and things like that. So he’s extremely versatile. And super creative. If you’ve got somebody who can keep coming up with really good riffs decade after decade, that’s pretty serious. And to be respected.

“He’s given us decades of wonderful, creative music with an attitude and character which could only be Keith Richards. Let’s hope he lives for another 80 years. Who knows, I might be able to jam with him again in another 50!”

Introducing the Definitive Ultimate Music Guide to Bruce Springsteen

John Robinson
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Introducing the Definitive Ultimate Music Guide to Bruce Springsteen

Beyond the ticket prices, the real conversation about Bruce Springsteen recently has been about the length of his shows. As you’ll read in the foldout chronology section of our new Definitive Edition of our Ultimate Music Guide, in recent years, Bruce and band have proved it all night with sets involving deep cuts, dives into entire years of work (respect due, 1973), and ultimately bringing us to a situation where his shows can bust curfews, annoy chi-chi neighbours who don’t like the noise, and  top a ridiculous four hours on stage.

Beyond the ticket prices, the real conversation about Bruce Springsteen recently has been about the length of his shows. As you’ll read in the foldout chronology section of our new Definitive Edition of our Ultimate Music Guide, in recent years, Bruce and band have proved it all night with sets involving deep cuts, dives into entire years of work (respect due, 1973), and ultimately bringing us to a situation where his shows can bust curfews, annoy chi-chi neighbours who don’t like the noise, and  top a ridiculous four hours on stage.

On occasion (say, Philadelphia 2016), there can be a sense that Bruce knows exactly what record he is trying to break. Really, though, the magic of these Springsteen performances hasn’t been so much about what’s on the clock as in their energy, and the humility of a performer that not only still has so much to say – but is also mindful of how much there is that his audience want to hear.  In these pages, the singer-songwriter Steve Earle recalls meeting Bruce after a 2023 show and telling him “I don’t know what you didn’t play!”

The range and power of Springsteen’s work is what we celebrate in this 172-page edition. From the prolixity of his early work, through to the laconic poetry of his classic albums this is music with the strength of character to reach out and touch its audience. Occasionally (we’re thinking of you here, Ronald Reagan) casual listeners can misconstrue the sublety of what is being communicated. For the most part, though, Springsteen creates a unique empathy. His songs are a dramatic biography of a relatable America. 

The big dreams and blood vows of high school. The unfulfilled promises, the dead-end employment and relationship breakdowns. The temptation to dwell on the good old days. The best Springsteen music acknowledges the wolves at the door – crime, mental illness, economic hardship, war – but offers some assistance in resisting them. As you read the in-depth reviews of every Springsteen album in this premium magazine, you’ll want to revisit this powerful music, and also admire the ethic of the person behind it.

It comes across almost as a sense of duty. Springsteen sees it with customary self-awareness as “playing hard and trying not to disappoint”. As Steve Earle reflected to Uncut earlier this year, Springsteen’s willingness to put in the work seems to come from not wanting to let any member of his audience down. After all, says Steve, “somebody somewhere identifies with every single fucking song he’s ever written.”

Enjoy the magazine. Get yours here

Watch Nick Cave perform “A Rainy Night in Soho” at Shane MacGowan’s funeral

Michael Bonner
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Watch Nick Cave perform “A Rainy Night in Soho” at Shane MacGowan’s funeral

Nick Cave was among the artists to pay tribute to Shane MacGowan at his funeral on Friday, December 8.

Nick Cave was among the artists to pay tribute to Shane MacGowan at his funeral on Friday, December 8.

Cave performed “A Rainy Night In Soho“, from the Pogues’ album Rum, Sodomy And The Lash. You can watch the footage below.

KEITH RICHARDS IS ON THE COVER OF THE NEW UNCUT – HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

Other performances included Spider Stacey and the Pogues performing “The Parting Glass“…

Cait O’Riordan and John Francis Flynn performing “I’m A Man You Don’t Meet Every Day“…

Imelda May and Declan O’Rourke performing “You’re The One”…

Glen Hansard, Lisa O’Neill and the Pogues performing “Fairytale In New York“…

Meanwhile, Johnny Depp, Gerry Adams and Aiden Gillen spoke at the service while Bono sent in a recording.

Harp – Albion

Tom Pinnock
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Harp – Albion

Take a look at the cover of Albion and you’ll see a bearded, robed traveller – Harp’s Tim Smith – on a bleak, snow-dappled moor, guitar held at his waist in place of a sword, an ill-advised and dangerous quest no doubt weighing heavy on his mind. It’s a brilliant, and silly, image, and yet it says something about the long journey Smith has been on since he left Midlake, the band he fronted and ostensibly led, back in 2012.

Take a look at the cover of Albion and you’ll see a bearded, robed traveller – Harp’s Tim Smith – on a bleak, snow-dappled moor, guitar held at his waist in place of a sword, an ill-advised and dangerous quest no doubt weighing heavy on his mind. It’s a brilliant, and silly, image, and yet it says something about the long journey Smith has been on since he left Midlake, the band he fronted and ostensibly led, back in 2012.

KEITH RICHARDS IS ON THE COVER OF THE NEW UNCUT – HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

The Texans had been trying and failing to make the follow-up to 2010’s The Courage Of Others when Smith departed, fed up of it all. While 2006’s stellar The Trials Of Van Occupanther had been a record that predicted much of what was to come in indie-rock over the following few years – Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver and more – The Courage Of Others was a puzzling sequel, with some fans and critics bemused by the austere pace and super-serious English folk within.

Attempts to write and record his first album as Harp became an epic struggle, however; a decade-long quest, during which Smith met and married Kathi Zung, now an integral part of the project, especially in its production, and moved to North Carolina. Like most foolhardy crusaders, Smith continued doggedly on, seemingly working out how he could make the courtly folk of The Courage Of Others even more dour: the answer, he discovered, was in the influence of ’80s goth, especially The Cure’s masterpiece of misery, Faith.

Yet, like some hooded alchemist of yore, Smith has skirted disaster and finally transformed these elements into a glittering bounty. His preoccupation with an olde-worlde Britain may be alarming to some – that title, that cover, the medieval dress-up in the “I Am A Seed” video, lyrical nods to William Blake and a few “thee”s and “thou”s here and there – but they are pursued so avidly one can’t help but engage with it all on Smith’s own terms. The result is as if early-’80s Robert Smith suddenly discovered his parents’ Fairport records; not an entirely fanciful idea, considering the threads of misery and detachment within both new wave and the darkest traditional folk.

Short instrumental “The Pleasant Grey” begins the record, its title and funereal synth tones echoing Faith’s “All Cats Are Grey”. This, it seems to promise, is not an upbeat record. “Throne Of Amber” is also very Cure-esque, but its light-footed beat is the fastest on the album: elsewhere, tempos are generally glacial, with the stately, romantic “A Fountain” waltzing over picked, chorused guitar. The guitars move woozily on Albion, effected in a very early ’80s manner – you’d bet a Roland Jazz Chorus amp was utilised at some point. The intro to “I Am A Seed” wows and flutters so far out of key that it’s unsettling, while on the other hand beautifully crystalline, circular arpeggios power “Silver Wings” and clouds of reverb submerge “Country Cathedral Drive”.

It’s a beautifully produced record, with Zung and Smith’s percussion – mostly drum machines – providing a gorgeous, gentle bed for the spirals of guitar, synths and the occasional woodwind. Hovering above all that are Smith’s vocals: clean, yearning and poised, often multi-tracked and sometimes even harmonising in close liturgical fashion.

Lyrically, Albion leans on Smith’s passion for Britain and history, but he avoids any possible prog missteps by imbuing his songs with heartfelt emotions. Many appear to be hymns of deep devotion to his wife, of thankfulness that they met: “Where are you, where are you, my dear?” he sings on “Seven Long Suns”. “How long until you’re here?” Indeed, his lover is celebrated as a “splendid fawn, brighter than every sea and all the mountains” on “Shining Spires”, while on a number of songs the Blakean “daughters of Albion” are evoked as another muse.

Amid the gloam, the closing Cocteaus-esque “Herstmonceux” – named after an East Sussex castle, naturally – acts as the triumphant final scene of Smith’s noble pilgrimage. Over ambient synth pads, strummed acoustic and an ethereal yet anthemic keyboard line, he finds some kind of peace: “Quietly the sorrow flees from me/Bright as day the soul no longer grieves.” This particular quest, then – the search for a redemptive new record, the equal to Smith’s previous peaks – has a joyful ending after all. We can only hope this knight errant’s next journey won’t be so arduous.

Robert Forster – My Life In Music

Sam Richards
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Robert Forster – My Life In Music

The former Go-Between on the records that lit his candle: “Everything changed at that moment”

The former Go-Between on the records that lit his candle: “Everything changed at that moment”

KEITH RICHARDS IS ON THE COVER OF THE NEW UNCUT – HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

ROXY MUSIC

Stranded

ISLAND, 1973

I was 16 when this came out and I’d lived a fairly sheltered life, so it felt like a very exotic record. It’s also a great collection of songs: “Song For Europe”, “Serenade” and “Mother Of Pearl”, which is one of my all-time favourites. There’s still a lingering sense of experimentation from the first two albums – Eno’s ghost is in there somewhere – but it’s a little more rock-y, the production is a lot better. It was just a very exciting record. I saw them live in Brisbane in 1974, my first ever concert. There were people dressed in ’30s clothes, women in furs, guys in fedoras. The band started playing and Ferry did this sort of cha-cha dance as an intro. I really fell for that.

NEIL YOUNG

Tonight’s The Night

REPRISE, 1975

It’s almost the complete opposite of Roxy Music: it’s denim and rootsy where Roxy are fabricated and arch. But it’s a record I’ve gone back to a lot. It’s very woozy, very floaty; ramshackle, but with musicians who know what they’re doing. I like that he’s singing off the microphone – you can hear him swaying back and forward as he’s looking down at his guitar or turning to see what someone else is doing. It’s a great mood. You imagine it’s very late at night and the band has played past their peak. All the songs sound like the most sparkling take was three or four takes back, which I really like ’cause people don’t do that.

RAMONES
Ramones

SIRE, 1976

As the Ramones made more albums they became a rock’n’roll band and fell into the system, but when that first album came out in ‘76 it sounded more like an art project, it was very conceptual. The songs were really simple, there were no lead breaks. It was very fast compared to Led Zeppelin or The Stones, and the lyrics were funny. By this time I was playing guitar in a garage band, and this record just wiped the slate clean. Everything changed at that moment, and I lost my fear of songwriting. When I heard <Hunky Dory> or <Blood On The Tracks>, I thought, “I couldn’t do that”. But the Ramones, I could get there. So it’s a big one.

PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION

Parade

PAISLEY PARK/WARNER BROS, 1986

Back then, everyone that was on the radio – Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson – was making very loud, dense, thundering music; quite po-faced, in a way. Whereas Prince was in the mainstream having hits, but he was very witty and mischievous, which appealed to me. I loved the dancing, the singing, the look on his face, the production of his records, the songwriting, all the way from Purple Rain to Sign O’ The Times. Stylistically, he’d be all over the shop – on Parade you’ve got “Kiss” and “Christopher Tracy’s Parade” and “Boys And Girls”. Every trip was very different because he was so talented. But because he was at his peak, wherever he went, he was hitting it.

GUY CLARK

Old No. 1

RCA, 1975

This record came out in 1975 but I didn’t really appreciate it until 1987/88. The songwriting is very literate and it’s got a warm, beautiful feeling to it. It’s like the Astral Weeks of country music – it just <swims>. For anyone who’s not sure about country, this would be a good place to start. If you like Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan or Joni Mitchell, you’ll like this – it’s of that standard. I didn’t have time for Guy Clark when I was 19 but I came back to him in my early thirties and it knocked me out. The influence on me was fairly instantaneous, and I was happy because I didn’t want to continue making rock records at that time.

TINDERSTICKS

Tindersticks

THIS WAY UP, 1993

This record replenished me. I was in a complete hole with my songwriting, my career was going nowhere, and I found this record very liberating. It broke many rules. It could have been your standard 10-song classic, but all the instrumentals and the spoken word passages give you a far bigger and more interesting picture. I’d lived on the breadline in London with The Go-Betweens, so I knew this London they were singing about – I knew about sitting in the pub, counting the cigarettes as you smoked them. But the majesty of their sound gives that world a sort of glamour. The instrumentation is really wonderful and inventive.

SLEATER-KINNEY

Dig Me Out

KILL ROCK STARS, 1997

Sleater-Kinney were the first rock band in a long time that I found totally convincing. <Dig Me Out> jolted me, in a really good way. The songwriting was strong, the lyrics were cutting and aggressive, and the guitar riffs were fantastic. I love three-pieces because everyone’s gotta be firing, there’s no-one to weld it all together. And I like that it came from the Pacific Northwest. If it was coming from LA or London or New York, it would be more conceptualised and jaded, but the fact that it came from far away is something else I can relate to, coming from Brisbane. I could tell that it was from a corner.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND

Vampire Weekend

XL, 2008

I have a theory: there’s three adventurous New York pop bands and they’re all linked – The Lovin’ Spoonful, Talking Heads and Vampire Weekend. I heard “Oxford Comma” first and I was totally taken with it. The songwriting was just so hooky and the production was incredible, but

it wasn’t as if they’d gone into a $200,000 studio with a big producer. There was a homemade feel to it, which I loved. There was something organic about what they were doing and it sounded really fresh. As a songwriter, it really took me back to a love of pop. I thought, ‘I’ve got to get more melodic and up the tempos!’ And it still stands up, it’s wonderful.

Robert Forster’s The Candle And The Flame is out now on Tapete

The Best Albums Of 2023 – the Editor’s picks

Michael Bonner
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The Best Albums Of 2023 – the Editor’s picks

I've been putting this off for a few weeks, but as our Review Of The Year issue is about to come off sale, I figured now's a good moment to post this very personal list of my favourite albums of 2023.

I’ve been putting this off for a few weeks, but as our Review Of The Year issue is about to come off sale, I figured now’s a good moment to post this very personal list of my favourite albums of 2023.

KEITH RICHARDS IS ON THE COVER OF THE NEW UNCUT – HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

I’ve added in Bandcamp links to each entry – despite all the worrying news coming out from there in recent weeks, I think it’s still the best place to get money direct to the artists. Where the artist is not on Bandcamp, I’ve put in Linktree or similar so you have a choice of, basically, not using Spotify to listen to anything that takes your fancy.

This list is chronological, so there’s no No 1 or other ranking involved.

What else? Well, I think it’s been another strong year for music – some typically strong work from returning favourites like Yo La Tengo, Robert Forster and Wilco as well as valiant upstarts like Brown Spirits, Wednesday, Sam Burton and Kassi Valazza. Some great new-to-mes this year, like Joshua Van Tassel and Ryan Davis, while I’m fairly astonished at the level that our senior artists like Paul Simon and Ryuichi Sakamoto are working at; Sakamoto’s 12, of course, had the added poignancy of being his final work. Simon’s Seven Psalms was just incredible.

At one point, I had a couple of live albums in here – including the Feelies‘ terrific Velvets tribute, Some Kinda Love – but as those were recorded prior to 2023, I didn’t include them.

Anyway, please forgive all this indulgence. And we’re off…

Meg Baird – Furling (Drag City)

Ryuichi Sakamoto – 12 (Milan)

Sunny War – Anarchist Gospel (New West)

Robert Forster – The Candle And The Flame (Tapete)

Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World (Matador)

Lisa O’Neill – All Of This Is Chance (Rough Trade)

The Necks – Travel (Northern Spy)

Jana Horn – The Window Is The Dream (No Quarter)

Trees Speak – Mind Maze (Soul Jazz)

Lonnie Holley – Oh Me Oh My (Jagjaguwar)

Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble – Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble III (Astral Spirits)

Lana Del Ray – Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (Polydor)

Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily – Love In Exile (Verve)

Lankum – False Lankum (Rough Trade)

Billy Valentine – Billy Valentine & The Universal Truth (Acid Jazz)

Eddie Chacon – Sundown (Stones Throw)

Sissoko Segal Parisien Peirani – Les Égarés (NØ FØRMAT!)

Steve Gunn & David Moore – Reflections Vol 1 Let The Moon Be A Planet (RVNG)

Rob Mazurek / Exploding Star Orchestra – Lightning Dreamers (International Anthem)

North Americans – Long Cool World (Third Man)

Wednesday – Rat Saw God (Dead Oceans)

Spencer Cullum – Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection 2 (Full Time Hobby)

Rose City Band – Garden Party (Thrill Jockey)

Cian Nugent – She Brings Me Back To The Land Of The Living (No Quarter)

Craven Faults – Standers (Lead Label)

Paul Simon – Seven Psalms (Owl Records/Legacy Recordings)

Sarabeth Tucek (SBT) – Joan Of All (Ocean Omen)

Kassi Valazza – Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing (Loose Music)

Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay – Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay (Topic)

Shirley Collins – Archangel Hill (Domino)

Califone – Villagers (Jealous Butcher)

Brown Spirits – Solitary Transmissions (Soul Jazz)

Sam Burton – Dear Departed (Snowball)

Danny Paul Grody – Arc Of Day (Three Lobed Recordings)

Cory Hanson – Western Cum (Drag City)

Brigid Mae Power – Dream From The Deep Well (Fire)

Jim O’Rourke – Hands That Bind (Drag City)

PJ Harvey – I Inside the Old Year Dying (Partisan)

Blake Mills – Jelly Road (New Deal/Verve)

Blur – The Ballad Of Darren (Parlophone)

Dot Allison – Consciousology (Sonic Cathedral)

The Clientele – I Am Not There Anymore (Merge)

Damon Locks & Rob Mazurek – New Future City Radio (International Anthem)

Bush Tetras – They Live In My Head (Wharf Cat)

Buck Meek – Haunted Mountain (4AD)

Hiss Golden Messenger – Jump For Joy (Merge)

Jaimie Branch – Fly Or Die Fly Or Die Fly Or Die (World War) (International Anthem)

Slowdive – Everything Is Alive (Dead Oceans)

P.G Six – Murmurs & Whispers (Drag City)

Matthew Halsall – An Ever Changing View (Gondwana Records)

Margo Cilker – Valley Of Heart’s Delight (Loose Music)

Connie Lovatt – Coconut Mirror (Enchanté)

Alabaster DePlume – Come With Fierce Grace (International Anthem)

Wilco – Cousin (dBpm)

Setting – Shine A Rainbow Light On (Paradise Of Bachelors)

Modern Nature – No Fixed Point In Space (Bella Union)

Animal Collective – Isn’t It Now (Domino)

Daniel Villareal – Lados B (International Anthem)

Mary Lattimore – Goodbye, Hotel Arkada (Ghostly International)

Virginia Astley – The Singing Places (Bandcamp)

Emma Anderson – Pearlies (Sonic Cathedral)

Israel Nash – Ozarker (Loose Music)

Robert Finley – Black Bayou (Easy Eye Sound)

Kacey Johansing – Year Away (Night Bloom Records)

Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band – Dancing on The Edge (Sophomore Lounge)

Jeffrey Martin – Thank God We Left The Garden (Loose Music)

Thandi Ntuli with Carlos Nino – Rainbow Revisited (International Anthem)

Daniel Bachman – When The Roses Come Again (Three Lobed Recordings)

Joshua Van Tassel – The Recently Beautiful (Forward Music Group)

Harp – Albion (Bella Union)

Denny Laine has died

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Denny Laine has died

Denny Laine, the co-founder of Wings and The Moody Blues, has died aged 79.

Denny Laine, the co-founder of Wings and The Moody Blues, has died aged 79.

KEITH RICHARDS IS ON THE COVER OF THE NEW UNCUT – HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

On Instagram, his wife Elizabeth Hines said Laine died on Tuesday morning after a long battle with Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD).

“My darling husband passed away peacefully early this morning. I was at his bedside, holding his hand as I played his favorite Christmas songs for him. He’s been singing Christmas songs the past few weeks and I continued to play Christmas songs while he’s been in ICU on a ventilator this past week.

“All he wanted was to be home with me and his pet kitty, Charley, playing his gypsy guitar.

He made my days colorful, fun and full of life-just like him.”

With The Moody Blues, Laine sang lead vocals and played guitar on “Go Now!”.

Born in Tyseley, Birmingham on October 29, 1944, Laine was a member of the Moody Blues from 1964 – 66, going on to co-found Wings with Paul and Linda McCartney and Denny Seiwell in 1971. A frequent contributor to Wings’ albums, he co-wrote “Mull Of Kintyre“. He stayed in the band until it folded in 1981.

Laine also recorded a number of solo albums, starting with Ahh…Laine in 1973. His final studio album was 2008’s The Blue Musician.

Laine’s death coincides with the 50th anniversary of the American release of Band On The Run: December 5, 1973.

Welcome to the new Uncut: Keith Richards at 80, The Doors, Essential 2024 Preview and more

Michael Bonner
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Welcome to the new Uncut: Keith Richards at 80, The Doors, Essential 2024 Preview and more

HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

IN ‘The Titanic Sails At Dawn’, his 1976 polemic for the NME, Mick Farren harangued the previous decade’s rock’n’roll trailblazers who by now, he believed, had become part of the very establishment they had once rebelled against. “Did we ever expect to see The Rolling Stones on News At Ten,” railed Farren, “just like they were at the Badminton Horse Trials or the Chelsea Flower Show?”

The Stones, of course, have weathered such barbs with ease down the decades. Increasingly, it seems as they push ever onwards, they have become their own establishment – a kind of self-sufficient republic with its own rules, regulations and a unique set of operating systems. Releasing new music in their seventh decade, and with North American tour dates for 2024, they continue to break fresh ground with remarkable ease, redefining our ideas and expectations of what a band should be. Milestones continue to be reached: Mick Jagger turned 80 in July – and now, astonishingly, Keith Richards joins him later this month.

Our cover story, then, is a celebration of both Keith’s longevity and his irrepressible vitality as he reaches this landmark birthday. There are wonderful, warm and funny stories from old friends and collaborators as well as bandmates past and present. Stand by for plenty of piratical yarns; but also moments of surprising tenderness and warmth. Who knew Keith Richards – the old devil himself – could be so generous to the Boy Scouts during Bob-a-job week…?

The whole shabang opens with an exclusive introduction from Ron Wood while none other than Tom Waits has written us a brilliant new poem to honour this auspicious occasion.

What else is there to say? I’ll leave it up to Uncut’s newest contributor, then. As Waits’ writes in “Burnt Toast For Keith”…

“Happy Birthday KEITH the big 80 is here,

slap it in the face

and wake it up…”

Uncut – January 2024

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Uncut – January 2024

HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

Keith Richards, The Doors, Bruce Springsteen, The Birthday Party, Kurt Vile, Pentangle, Sunny War, our essential 2024 Album Preview and more all feature in Uncut‘s January 2024 issue, in UK shops from December 8 or available to buy online now.

All print copies come with a free CD – Come On, 15 Tracks Of The Month’s Best Music including Ty Segall, Steve Gunn & Bridget St John, Gruff Rhys, Jerry David DeCicca, Office Dog, Brown Horse, ØXN, Future Islands, Nailah Hunter and Johnny Dowd!

INSIDE THIS MONTH’S UNCUT

KEITH RICHARDS: As rock’n’roll’s greatest survivor turns 80, a stellar cast – including MICK JAGGER, JIMMY PAGE, RON WOOD and JOHNNY MARR – share their favourite encounters with the Human Riff… plus! “Burnt Toast For Keith”: an all-new poem by TOM WAITS written exclusively for Uncut

2024 ALBUM PREVIEW: Everything you need to know about the key albums for the coming year, including PAUL McCARTNEY, THE BLACK KEYS, THE WEATHER STATION, MICK HEAD, KAMASI WASHINGTON, MERCURY REV, RICHARD THOMPSON, JEFF TWEEDY, PHOSPHORESCENT and more

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Lynn Goldsmith’s previously unseen pictures of the Boss capture a diligent idol-in-waiting

THE DOORS: The LA native whose expressive guitar-playing and songwriting chops helped define the sound of The Doors, ROBBIE KRIEGER on jamming with Zappa, bad vibes with the Grateful Dead and “weirdos” in the studio

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY: Crashing out of the Australian suburbs, NICK CAVE and THE BIRTHDAY PARTY took post-punk nihilism to its darkest, most demented extremes. With tales of violence, drugs and hostility, the survivors recall how hell broke loose

PENTANGLE: From London folk pubs to the stage of New York’s Fillmore East and beyond, PENTANGLE’s trajectory marked them out as one of the greatest and most adventurous groups of the late ‘60s. JACQUI McSHEE and DANNY THOMPSON look back on their magickal revolution

SUNNY WAR: The singer-songwriter has overcoming adversity and addiction, sustained by a deep devotion to music – be it Black Flag, AC/DC or Hank Williams. Bringing a punk edge to roots music, she emerges as Americana’s brightest star and biggest disruptor

AN AUDIENCE WITH… KURT VILE: The hard-working slacker talks sativa, forklifts, worshipping SUN RA and joining NEIL YOUNG in outer space

THE MAKING OF “BLISTERS IN THE SUN” BY THE VIOLENT FEMMES: Forty years of the acoustic punks’ ramshackle hit – heard in film soundtracks, a burger ad and even the White House

ALBUM BY ALBUM WITH SLEATER-KINNEY: Riot grrrls, interrupted… The on-off -on story of Olympia, WA’s finest

MY LIFE IN MUSIC WITH JJ BURNEL: The Stranglers bassman picks his peachiest tunes: “It’s the nearest thing to an orgasm in music”

CLICK TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR

REVIEWED Ty Segall, Brown Horse, Future Islands, Thandi Ntuli, Gruff Rhys, Jerry David DeCicca, Mott The Hoople, Cocteau Twins, The Long Ryders, Alan Sparkhawk, The Lost Weekend and more

PLUS Joni Mitchell tribute, The Replacements, Magnetic Fields… and introducing the hairy jams of Jeffrey Alexander

CLICK TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR

Paul McCartney & Wings announce 50th anniversary edition of Band On The Run

Sam Richards
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Paul McCartney & Wings announce 50th anniversary edition of Band On The Run

50 years to the week of its original release, MPL and UMe will release an expanded 50th anniversary edition of Paul McCartney & Wings’ classic Band On The Run album on February 2, 2024.

50 years to the week of its original release, MPL and UMe will release an expanded 50th anniversary edition of Paul McCartney & Wings’ classic Band On The Run album on February 2, 2024.

The single LP vinyl edition was cut at half speed using a high-resolution transfer of the original master tapes from 1973 by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, London. It mirrors the US tracklist which features the song “Helen Wheels”, and also includes a Linda McCartney Polaroid poster.

The 2-LP vinyl edition – which includes two Linda McCartney Polaroid posters – features the original US album, remastered at half speed, and a second LP titled ‘Underdubbed’ Mixes Edition.

The ‘Underdubbed’ Mixes present Band On The Run’s songs for the first time without any orchestral overdubs. The previously unreleased rough mixes were created by Geoff Emerick, assisted by Pete Swettenham, at AIR Studios, on October 14, 1973.

“This is Band On The Run in a way you’ve never heard before,” explains Paul McCartney. “When you are making a song and putting on additional parts, like an extra guitar, that’s an overdub. Well, this version of the album is the opposite, underdubbed.”

The 2-CD edition will feature the original US album, ‘Underdubbed’ mixes, and a Linda McCartney Polaroid poster. The ‘Underdubbed’ mixes will also be released digitally.

Finally, Band On The Run will also be available in Dolby ATMOS for the first time, newly mixed by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard.

You can pre-order all editions here.

Peter Gabriel – i/o

John Lewis
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Peter Gabriel – i/o

Nowadays, so much of culture is available on demand that it is like being delivered art from a firehose. So it was an unusual move of Peter Gabriel to drip feed us his latest album – his first original studio LP in two decades – online over the course of 2023; releasing just a single track every four weeks.

Nowadays, so much of culture is available on demand that it is like being delivered art from a firehose. So it was an unusual move of Peter Gabriel to drip feed us his latest album – his first original studio LP in two decades – online over the course of 2023; releasing just a single track every four weeks.

Each came complete with artwork commissioned from a designated artist – including Ai Weiwei, Cornelia Parker, Annette Messager and Olafur Eliasson. Each came in two (very slightly different) mixes: a “dark side” mix by Tchad Blake and a “bright side” mix by Mark “Spike” Stent. It has turned his album into a series of events: a throwback to how we once experienced a great TV series – a scrap of brilliance tossed at us from time to time, leaving us hungry for more.

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But even the millions of Gabriel fans who will have picked up these songs over the last year will not have been able to put these 12 discrete tracks into a context. Looking at them as a single body of work (albeit still released in ‘dark’/‘bright’ versions), what’s immediately apparent is how the album shifts steadily from a mood of misery and doom towards positivity and light. The first few tracks are mainly in a minor key and deal – obliquely – with issues of global injustice and environmental catastrophe; the latter tracks largely switch from the political to the personal, from the dystopian to the utopian. We start with songs about global justice, data mining and mass surveillance; we end with love songs and appeals to wisdom.

Gabriel has spent so much of the last two decades since his last original studio album curating his legacy – best-of compilations, live retrospectives, re-recording his lesser-known songs, getting others to record his more famous songs, recording covers of his favourite songs by other artists, and so on. In some ways, you could also see i/o as something of a compilation – your favourite elements of Peter Gabriel’s career, but reworked into wholly original material.

The heavy drums on the slow-burning dystopian openers, “Panopticom” (a lyric suggesting an inversion of Jeremy Bentham’s sinister, all-seeing “panopticon”) and “The Court” (a doomy appeal for social justice), draw parallels with the heavier tracks on 1980’s Melt, like “Intruder” and “No Self Control”.

“Road To Joy” is a terrific piece of bombastic digi-funk in the vein of “Shock The Monkey”, “Big Time” or “Steam”; while anyone who loves Gabriel’s big, widescreen ballads, from “Here Comes The Flood” to “Don’t Give Up”, will love “So Much” and “Love Can Heal”.

And, for those who could rightly claim that Gabriel’s albums since So have failed to deliver much in the way of a strong melody, there are plenty of songs here that are the equal of “Solsbury Hill” or “Sledgehammer”: the Randy Newman-style ballad “Playing For Time’, the sunny, optimistic title track “i/o”, the shimmering, singalong funk of “Road To Joy”.

Gabriel famously takes years on his projects. Partly it’s because he’s an obsessive tinkerer; partly it’s because he’s as interested in the process as the end. Sometimes this seemingly fruitless tinkering can filter down into results: “Four Kinds Of Horses” – a celebration of spiritual wisdom, set to twinkly, horror-movie tubular bells and a gothic beat – is a collaboration with Richard Russell of XL, something that started as an idea for Russell’s Everything Is Recorded a few years ago.

Meanwhile, the loping funk of “This Is Home” was apparently inspired by a brief but unused collaboration with DJ/producer Skrillex – instead of dubstep, it has birthed a machine-led funk groove that underpins a warm meditation on hearth and home. “As we struggle through the buzz and the grind/ Of one thing I’m certain/ I know this is home”. It’s a song that assists us in the move from political to personal, a transition completed by the penultimate track “And Still”, a lovely ballad where Gabriel deals with the death of his mother. “And still your hands feel cold/Those hands that brushed my hair”, he sings, poetically. “I’ll carry you inside of me”.

There are points where his relentless utopianism can sound trite. The final track, “Live And Let Live”, is an appeal for global understanding, set to a rolling two-chord groove and a Beatles-y cello riff. Its appeal to follow the wisdom of William Blake, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela is sincere and well-meaning but it’s rather glib to hear as complex conflicts rage around the world. Who, be it in Ukraine or Israel or Nagorno-Karabakh, is going to “lay your weapons down”? What does “it takes courage to learn to forgive, to be brave enough to listen” mean in a global context?

But, let’s face it, these are nice flaws to have. In an era where so many of our musical heroes seem to be growing more cantankerous and ill-tempered with age, it comes as a welcome relief to see one heritage act pushing positively into the future – and making some of the warmest and most joyous music of his career.

Send us your questions for Squeeze!

Sam Richards
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Send us your questions for Squeeze!

Half a century ago, Chris Difford stuck a 'guitarist wanted' ad in the window of his local shop in South-East London. There was no band, and only one person replied.

Half a century ago, Chris Difford stuck a ‘guitarist wanted’ ad in the window of his local shop in South-East London. There was no band, and only one person replied.

But that person was Glenn Tilbrook, and thus began one of the great British songwriting partnerships, encompassing 15 studio albums to date – more if you count the music they released together outside the Squeeze banner – and numerous classic singles, including three Top 10 hits.

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Next autumn, Squeeze will celebrate their 50th anniversary with a comprehensive UK tour – see the full list of dates here.

But first, they’ve kindly consented to go up the junction with you lot, the Uncut readers, for our next Audience With feature. So what do you want to ask these witty chroniclers of a bruised but not-quite-broken Britain? Send your questions to audiencewith@uncut.co.uk by Friday (December 8) and Chris and Glenn will answer the best ones in a future issue of Uncut.

Lou Reed’s final solo album to be reissued on January 12

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Lou Reed’s final solo album to be reissued on January 12

Lou Reed's final solo album Hudson River Wind Meditations is to be reissued by Light In The Attic in partnership with Laurie Anderson and The Lou Reed Archive on January 12.

Lou Reed’s final solo album Hudson River Wind Meditations is to be reissued by Light In The Attic in partnership with Laurie Anderson and The Lou Reed Archive on January 12.

Order the latest issue of UNCUT now, featuring Bob Dylan and our bumper Review Of 2023

Originally released in 2007, the ambient compositions were initially created for Reed’s personal use, to accompany spoken-word meditations that his acupuncturist recorded for him. Over time, they transformed into music for Reed’s Tai Chi and yoga practices. Eventually, he crafted them into an album with producer Hal Willner.

“I first composed this music… to play in the background of life,” wrote Reed in the liner notes of the original release. “To replace the everyday cacophony with new and ordered sounds of an unpredictable nature.”

The newly remastered Hudson River Wind Meditations will be available in double LP, CD and digital formats. Physical editions include liner notes by yoga instructor and author Eddie Stern, plus a recent conversation with Reed’s wife, Laurie Anderson.

Pre-order Hudson River Wind Meditations here and watch an unboxing video below.

Shane MacGowan has died

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Shane MacGowan has died

Shane MacGowan has died aged 65.

Shane MacGowan has died aged 65.

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A statement confirmed he “died peacefully at 3.30am this morning (30 November) with his wife and and sister by his side”.

“Prayers and the last rites were read during his passing.”

Posting on Instagram, McGowan’s wife Victoria Mary Clarke said MacGowan “meant the world to me”.

She wrote: “I don’t know how to say this so I am just going to say it. Shane… has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese.”

She said MacGowan “will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life and the most beautiful soul and beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the start and end of everything that I hold dear”.

MacGowan had been diagnosed with viral encephalitis in 2022, and as a result spent several months of 2023 in intensive care. Clarke had recently posted pictures of her husband, lying in his hospital bed, on social media. He seemed to have been improving and was discharged on November 22, 2023; the BBC reports that MacGowan and Clarke spent their wedding anniversary together at home.

Among many tributes paid to MacGowan, Nick Cave wrote, “A true friend and the greatest songwriter of his generation. A very sad day.”

Fellow Pogue Spider Stacy posted on Twitter:

And Lankum, whose False Lankum is Uncut’s Album Of The Year, wrote:

The Irish President Michael D Higgins said, “Like so many across the world, it was with the greatest sadness that I learned this morning of the death of Shane MacGowan.

“His words have connected Irish people all over the globe to their culture and history, encompassing so many human emotions in the most poetic of ways.”

Juliana Hatfield – My Life In Music

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Juliana Hatfield – My Life In Music

ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan and the Review Of 2023 star the latest UNCUT

ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan and the Review Of 2023 star the latest UNCUT

X

Under The Big Black Sun

ELEKTRA, 1982

​​I was a teenager living in this small town in Massachusetts. My older brother decided to join the army and his girlfriend moved in with us. She became the cool, older sister that I never had and her record collection was really a really important education. I remember one day she put on the X song “Motel Room In My Bed” and I thought it was the most exciting, glorious sound I’d ever heard. It made me realise that I was looking for something much more raw and weird and tough than the pop stuff on the radio, but without losing any of the melody. I didn’t really understand that they’re singing about sex and poverty and death, but somehow I still related to the angst underneath.

REM

Murmur

IRS, 1983

Again, it’s unpolished and kind of raw but there’s a lot of beauty to the songs. The band was not a stardom vehicle for the singer – everything was equally important and working together to create this totally new sound. I related to what seemed like the inarticulation of the words because I was very inarticulate myself, I didn’t really know how to communicate. So I liked that the singer wasn’t making all the words clear. All the feeling came through, regardless of what the words were saying. Music for me was always about transmitting honesty and emotion and it wasn’t so much about the words. Up until my twenties I never even really listened to lyrics, it was all about just hearing sound.

THE REPLACEMENTS

Let It Be

TWIN/TONE, 1984

Paul Westerberg’s voice was like a beacon to me. I recognised its defiant sadness, like we had been siblings in another life. I really related to the misfit attitude of always defying authority, even at personal risk: the idea of self-sabotage as heroism. Later, Paul and I made music together, and it was very exciting to get to know this hero of mine as an actual person. He hasn’t lost any of his musical power. But the fact that he doesn’t want to share his music with the public, I totally get it, because it’s very draining. Paul said to me once about music that I needed to save some for myself – don’t give everything to the audience because then you’ll have nothing of yourself left.

DINOSAUR JR

You’re Living All Over Me

SSE, 1987

A huge, huge inspiration to me. J Mascis is one of my top five guitar players of all time, the way he soloed was just totally mind-blowing. I love the combination of heaviness and beauty with this album, and just the ache running through it. I was listening to it this morning in preparation for this interview, and I started crying because of the ache. Blake Babies, my first band, we all lived together in this apartment in Boston and we were obsessed with this record. I remember sitting in front of the stereo, head between speakers, just absorbing the sound. It felt like it was from another planet, and I wanted to go there.

NIRVANA

Bleach

SUB POP, 1989

Another album that blew the minds of me and the Blake Babies when we were all living together in the late ’80s. When we went on tour, we had the cassette of Bleach and we put it in the van and we would all just bliss out on it. Just the relentlessness of the disillusionment, I found so pure. It was there from the very beginning; you could almost predict his suicide because it was like he was almost defeated before he started. He really was the voice of a generation, although I hate that expression. He spoke to us and he spoke for us. But at the root of it he was a great rock voice – and a genius, really.

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN & ELO

Xanadu OST

MCA, 1980

It was a marriage of two of my favourite childhood artists of the ’70s who came together on the soundtrack to this crazy, excellent movie. Olivia Newton-John was a really graceful and gracious artist with no pretension. I was very moved by the sound of her voice. She was really mainstream, but she also seemed kind of natural, like she wasn’t trying too hard to make the audience love her. She was never trying to pander to the crowd in my opinion, she was just lovable by nature. And then ELO, they’re a whole other category of genius. Obviously I love them – I just made an album of all ELO songs.

THE POLICE

Outlandos d’Amour

A&M, 1978

Sting had a unique singing voice, he didn’t sound like anyone. I was in a cover band in high school and we did a lot of Police songs, so I had a real affinity for the way that Sting sang those songs. The chemistry between those three guys was unreal. All the lore says that they fought, even came to blows at times. I don’t know if that’s true, but some of the best bands have volatile personal relationships and maybe that’s necessary when you have such strong personalities blending together musically. And I’m wearing a Sting concert T-shirt! I went to see him a couple of weeks ago play in Boston with my oldest friend in the world. It was kind of a nostalgia trip, but Sting still sang and played bass amazingly.

PRETENDERS

Pretenders

REAL RECORDS, 1979

Chrissie Hynde is one of the great rock voices of all time. Such a boss, such a badass, such a great songwriter. I’m still waiting for someone else to live up to the example that she made. And I love that some of the songwriting’s kind of experimental – the second song on that album is in 7/8 time, it’s in a non-traditional time signature, which is so cool. It’s such a rock thing to do and it’s a little bit progressive. What else can you say about her? She’s just one of the great singers: so tough, so smart. A great example and inspiration. The real deals, they don’t stop – they just keep doing it, because it’s in their blood.

Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO is out now via American Laundromat

Hear Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band’s new single, “Ciao Ciao Bambino”

Michael Bonner
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Hear Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band’s new single, “Ciao Ciao Bambino”

Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band return with a new single, "Ciao Ciao Bambino".

Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band return with a new single, “Ciao Ciao Bambino“.

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Head’s first new music since 2022’s Dear Scott, “Ciao Ciao Bambino” is released on Modern Sky UK.

“’Ciao Ciao Bambino’ came to me one night when I was thinking about the first words I ever heard,” says Head. “It was a song called ‘Ciao Ciao Bambino’ that my mum used to sing to me when I was a baby. The song then kinda evolved from there and became a journey through time.”

Head and the Red Elastic Band – featuring Phil Murphy (drums), Tom Powell (bass), Danny Murphy (guitars) and Nathaniel Cummings (guitars/backing vocals) – were once again produced by Bill Ryder-Jones.

Hear The Jesus And Mary Chain’s new single, “jamcod”

Michael Bonner
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Hear The Jesus And Mary Chain’s new single, “jamcod”

The Jesus And Mary Chain are back to mark their 40th anniversary with a new album, Glasgow Eyes. The album's released on March 8 via Fuzz Club.

The Jesus And Mary Chain are back to mark their 40th anniversary with a new album, Glasgow Eyes. The album’s released on March 8 via Fuzz Club.

ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan and the Review Of 2023 star the latest UNCUT

You can hear “jamcod“, the first single from the album, here.

The tracklisting for Glasgow Eyes is:

‘Venal Joy’

‘American Born’

‘Mediterranean X Film’

‘jamcod’

‘Discotheque’

‘Pure Poor’

‘The Eagles and The Beatles’

‘Silver Strings’

‘Chemical Animal

‘Second of June’

‘Girl 71’

‘Hey Lou Reid’

The album was recorded at Mogwai’s Castle of Doom studio in Glasgow. You can pre-order by clicking here.

The band have also announced a run of tour dates:

MARCH

22nd – UK, Manchester, Albert Hall

25th – Ireland, Dublin, Olympia

26th – UK, Belfast, Limelight 1

27th – UK, Edinburgh, Usher Hall

30th – UK, London, Roundhouse

APRIL

2nd – Denmark, Copenhagen, Amager Bio

3rd – Sweden, Gothenburg, Pustervik

5th – Norway, Oslo, Rockefeller

6th – Sweden, Stockholm, Munich Brewery

7th – Sweden, Malmo, Plan B

9th – Germany, Hamburg, Markthalle

11th – Germany, Berlin, Huxleys

12th – Germany, Cologne, Live Music Hall

13th – France, Paris, Elysée Montmartre

15th – Switzerland, Geneva, L’Usine

16th – Switzerland, Winterthur, Salzhaus

17th – Italy, Milan, Alcatraz

19th – Austria, Krems, Donaufestival

20th – Germany, Heidelberg, Halle O2

21st – Netherlands, Tilburg, Roadburn Festival

23rd – Belgium, Brussels, AB

24th – Netherlands, The Hague, Paard

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