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Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard – Django And Jimmie

Graeme Thomson
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Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard – Django And Jimmie
It might be over 30 years since their 1983 smash Pancho & Lefty, but at the age of 81 and 78 respectively country music’s Statler and Waldorf sound as engaged, energetic and mischievous as ever, if a little dewy-eyed at times. The opening title track is a lovely, lilting hymn to the pair’s ...

It might be over 30 years since their 1983 smash Pancho & Lefty, but at the age of 81 and 78 respectively country music’s Statler and Waldorf sound as engaged, energetic and mischievous as ever, if a little dewy-eyed at times.

The opening title track is a lovely, lilting hymn to the pair’s formative influences, and thereafter nostalgia is rarely far away. On Haggard’s “Missing Ol’ Johnny Cash” the duo reminisce warmly over a lively chick-a-boom backing, though thankfully they refuse to whitewash over the dark side of the Man In Black, who “carried his pills in a brown paper sack”. Elsewhere, there’s a nod to Bob Dylan on a jaunty version of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”.

As well as doffing their Stetsons to their peers, they raise a glass to one another. Haggard sings Nelson’s classic “Family Bible”, Willie returns the favour on “Somewhere Between”, and they croon together on Hag’s peerless “Swinging Doors”. Of the handful of bespoke new songs, highlights include the excellent title track and the greased-up truck-stop boogie of “It’s All Going To Pot”, which has plenty fun portraying Nelson as a trailblazer for stoner culture.

The pair kick up a similar kind of hot fuss on the driving “It’s Only Money”, one of four tracks Nelson co-wrote with producer Buddy Cannon. The other three – “Alice In Hulaland”, “Where Dreams Come To Die” and “Driving The Herd” – are fine and strong, but it’s Haggard who delivers an ace with “The Only Man Wilder Than Me”, a hymn to their combined 159 years spent “on a lifelong spree”.

Much like the rest of Django And Jimmie, it’s a vibrant argument for the benefits of ornery misadventure. Nelson sings like a canary and plays like a dream, Haggard growls like a grizzled jailbird, and everyone seems to be having a blast. Long may they roll and run.

Pink Floyd’s 30 best songs

Uncut Staff
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Pink Floyd’s 30 best songs
 To coincide with our world exclusive interview with David Gilmour in this month's Uncut, here's the Floyd's 30 greatest songs... as voted for by Gilmour himself, Nick Mason and their friends, fellow musicians and famous fans, including Paul Weller, Jarvis Cocker, Wayne Coyne, Ice Cube, Jim Reid, M...

 To coincide with our world exclusive interview with David Gilmour in this month’s Uncut, here’s the Floyd’s 30 greatest songs… as voted for by Gilmour himself, Nick Mason and their friends, fellow musicians and famous fans, including Paul Weller, Jarvis Cocker, Wayne Coyne, Ice Cube, Jim Reid, Mick Rock, Robert Wyatt and more… Originally published in Uncut’s October 2008 issue (Take 137).

______________________________

FOREWORD BY DAVID GILMOUR

“So, the Top 30 Pink Floyd songs. Hmm. When I joined, it sometimes never looked like we’d even be able to write any songs at all, so to have 30 songs that different people love is something of an achievement, I suppose! Looking through the Pink Floyd songbook of the past 40 years surprises me sometimes. There are hundreds of songs, we go through lots of different styles of music, three different leaders and at least three different singers, and dozens of guests. But everything’s linked by this collective psyche. When you’re playing a Floyd song, there’s a certain underground feel – it’s difficult to define, but it’s about texture, about atmosphere, about the use of space. It’s rarely about the technical stuff.

“I suppose there are several distinct stages in Pink Floyd’s songwriting history. Obviously, there’s the Syd era, which was before I joined. Then the second stage occurred in the years after he left, when we were all scrabbling around, trying to fill that Syd-shaped hole in the band and not knowing entirely what we were doing. We initially tried to write the quirky, well-structured pop songs that Syd wrote, but we couldn’t. Then, quite by accident, we developed what we were good at – those spacey, atmospheric instrumentals. And then there’s a third stage, where we started to turn those instrumentals into properly structured songs, and that hit a peak with Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here and Animals. Then the stuff after Roger left is yet another stage.

“On my first solo tour in 1985, I didn’t want to do any Pink Floyd songs. I think I grudgingly did a version of “Money”, but the whole issue of playing old material was a bit sore. Nowadays, when I tour, both as a solo act and as one third of Pink Floyd, I’m happy to play Pink Floyd songs from every era of the band’s history. There’s an emphasis on my side of the songs – or mine and Rick’s – and I feel uncomfortable doing things that are too heavily associated with Roger. It’s not a political thing, there’s no bad feeling about that, it’s just that they’re his songs to do. So I’d feel uncomfortable doing “Money” nowadays, same with things like “Another Brick In The Wall”, even though they’re all great, great songs.

“I’ve always played a few of Syd’s numbers. When I did Robert [Wyatt]’s Meltdown we played “Terrapin”, which was from a solo album that I produced for Syd; a month before Syd died we did “Arnold Layne” at the Albert Hall with Bowie; we played “Dark Globe” after Syd died; and we still play “Astronomy Domine”. I’ve revisited “Fat Old Sun” from Atom Heart Mother and a few other early things. Each one always sounds really fresh. But I’m proud of everything there, really.

“In the early days of a band you tend to write songs together. You spend all your time together, you jam in rehearsal studios, and you tend to write collectively. Then, you spend more time apart, and your songs tend to be based on ideas that were written individually. With us, sometimes the ideas would be mine, occasionally they’d be Rick’s, but invariably they’d be Roger’s. The main writer would bring the idea, which would be largely worked out beforehand, and it would then go through a process of being filtered through the influence of the rest of the band.

“Rick’s input started to fizzle out throughout the 1970s. In fact, by The Wall, even I wasn’t writing much. “Comfortably Numb” and “Run Like Hell” were two of the few tracks where I came up with the initial idea there – I think the producer Bob Ezrin played them to Roger and convinced him to get stuck in with it. I don’t think it was Roger being a dictator, it was more that we were happy to let him get on with it. And that was how we wrote for years – it was only with The Division Bell that we started to rectify that and write like we did in the old days, collectively, jamming in the studio.

“We were never the most proficient musicians. When the band started, Pink Floyd were unique in that they weren’t great blues players. In fact, we never did become that musically accomplished! And that pushes you to try other things – instead of copying Muddy Waters or whatever, you start to explore the sounds in your own head. You start to explore textures, hypnotic basslines, guitar effects, that kind of thing. That’s always been a part of our collective psyche. You have a sound in your head and you try to replicate it. I’m always looking for new sounds. And it’s true that I never used my guitar as a “riff machine”, it was always a mechanism for creating textures and atmosphere. That’s why, no matter how many records we sold, Pink Floyd were always an “underground band”. It was the way we approached music.”

Order Uncut’s Deluxe Ultimate Music Guide: Pink Floyd while stocks last at Backstreetmerch.com

The 26th Uncut Playlist Of 2015

John Mulvey
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The 26th Uncut Playlist Of 2015
An unusually active nightlife for me this past week: on Saturday, I went to see Terry Riley and wrote about it here; then, on Wednesday, I was fortunate enough to be invited to a secret Mick Head gig in a small, incense-filled church around my old stamping ground of Stoke Newington. Time has conspir...

An unusually active nightlife for me this past week: on Saturday, I went to see Terry Riley and wrote about it here; then, on Wednesday, I was fortunate enough to be invited to a secret Mick Head gig in a small, incense-filled church around my old stamping ground of Stoke Newington. Time has conspired against me being able to write about it properly (though I can confidently recommend the review that should be appearing in The Observer and on the Guardian’s website this Sunday). Very special night, though, as a celebration of Head and his incredible songs, from “Emergency” (on the first Shack album, “Zilch”; how weirdly poignant to hear references to Channel 4’s Diverse Reports, 25-odd years on) up to “Velvets In The Dark” from the second Red Elastic Band single that came out earlier this year.

A lot of the songs, predictably, came from the ’90s, and the run from “Waterpistol” to “HMS Fable”, centring on “The Magical World Of The Strands” (Here’s my Strands review, and recent interview with Mick Head). Head’s apparently been staying in London for the last few weeks, and the church was full of old friends and family from there and from Liverpool. Not least Head’s sister Joanne, who sang “Daniella” (from “HMS Fable”) magnificently and almost stole the show – as you can hear on this desk recording of the whole show…

Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

1 Wilco – Star Wars (dBpm)

Get Wilco’s “Star Wars” for free here

2 Plainsong – Reinventing Richard: The Songs Of Richard Farina (Fledg’ling)

3 Alela Diane & Ryan Francesconi – Cold Moon (Believe Recordings)

4 Lee Bannon – Pattern Of Excel (Ninja Tune)

5 Golden Void – Berkana (Thrill Jockey)

6 Hallock Hill – Folsom Cave (Bandcamp.com)

7 Kurt Vile – B’lieve I’m Goin Down (Matador)

8 Duane Pitre – Bayou Electric (Important)

9 Various Artists – Don Letts Presents Dread Meets Punk Rockers Uptown Volume 2 (Universal)

10 Peaches Featuring Nick Zinner – Bodyline (Adult Swim)

11 AFX – Orphaned Deejay Selek 2006-08 (Warp)

12 Steve Hauschildt – Where All Is Fled (Kranky)

13 Gun Outfit – Dream All Over (Paradise Of Bachelors)

14 Bixiga 70 – III (Glitterbeat)

15 Simon Scott – Insomni (Ash International)

16 Unwound – Empire (Numero Group)

17 The Grateful Dead – Ramble On Rose (Uncut/Rhino)

18 Michael Head & The Strands – The Magical World Of The Strands (Megaphone)

19 James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg – Ambsace (Paradise Of Bachelors)

20 Henryk Gorecki – Symphony No 4: Tansman Episodes (Nonesuch)

21 Hauschka – A NDO C Y (Temporary Residence)

22 Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness (Domino)

23 Fuzz – Fuzz II (In The Red)

24 Natural Snow Buildings – Terror’s Horns (Ba Da Bing)

25 HeCTA – The Diet (City Slang)

26 John Grant – Grey Tickles, Black Pressure (Bella Union)

Jamie XX – In Colour

Piers Martin
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Jamie XX – In Colour
For someone who treads so softly, the music of Jamie Smith has already made a huge impression on contemporary pop. At just 26, the Londoner has spent the past six years living what many would perceive to be a fantasy life in which everything he turns his hand to – the two albums with his schoolfri...

For someone who treads so softly, the music of Jamie Smith has already made a huge impression on contemporary pop. At just 26, the Londoner has spent the past six years living what many would perceive to be a fantasy life in which everything he turns his hand to – the two albums with his schoolfriends in The xx, his distinctive remixes, his satisfyingly eclectic DJ sets – is greeted with critical and commercial acclaim.

As a producer, he has dabbled with high-end pop, allowing his woozy tracks to be sampled by Drake and Alicia Keys, and composed a score for a modern ballet at this year’s Manchester International Festival, in addition to taking on a commission from the National Gallery to soundtrack a painting from its collection (he chose a neo-Impressionist landscape by Théo van Rysselberghe).

But it was 2011’s full-length We’re New Here, his inspired reworking of Gil Scott-Heron’s swansong I’m New Here, that first suggested Smith, then 21, could articulate his own feelings in an original and heartfelt way. Edging uneasily into the spotlight usually occupied by his xx bandmates Romy Madley-Croft and Oliver Sim, Smith transformed Scott-Heron’s inner-city blues into a different kind of streetwise sadness, one informed as much by the minimalist melancholy of The xx as his love for vintage soul and disco, and British house and techno. Propelled by Smith’s hazy skip’n’shuffle, the old soulman’s NYC love letter became a misty-eyed London rave-up, ultimately providing Smith with a blueprint of sorts for In Colour.

Amongst all this, Smith today finds himself a central figure in a trend in dance that romanticises a golden age of rave, as a generation of producers – Burial, Joy Orbison, Lee Gamble – fetishise old-school jungle mixtapes and look to YouTube for nostalgic footage of beaming ’90s clubbers, under the illusion that most innovations in electronic music were dreamt up and executed while some were still in primary school. Rather than attempt anything radically new, In Colour – the title a dig at the xx’s none-more-black look – celebrates Smith’s blissful version of the past, and the results are frequently glorious.

Having set out his stall with last summer’s “All Under One Roof Raving”, a homage to UK clubbing that weaved snippets from pirate radio and artist Mark Leckey’s cult 1999 video piece, Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore, around his trademark steel-drum-laced groove, Smith perfectly captures the anticipation and rush of the rave with “Gosh” and “Hold Tight”. “Gosh” in particular is an absurdly thrilling album opener with a surging bassline that appears to lasso the listener and drag them willingly to the dancefloor, encouraged all the way by a London MC chirping “Oh my gosh!” Equally uplifting is “Loud Places”, essentially a meatier xx number sung by Madley-Croft into which Smith has stitched the colossal chorus from Idris Muhammad’s 1977 hippy-disco classic “Could Heaven Ever Be Like This”; a cheesy move, arguably, but one he pulls off with aplomb.

Madley Croft also sings “SeeSaw”, a loved-up Boards Of Canada sunrise moment Smith produced with his friend, Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden. Not to be outdone, Oliver Sim smoulders on “Stranger In A Room”, perhaps the album’s weakest link, while the dancehall bounce of “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)” finds Atlanta rapper Young Thug and Jamaican star Popcaan exhorting positivity on a lithe Smith cut quite unlike anything else on In Colour. Smith rolls out the steel drums for “Sleep Sound” and “Obvs”, which lollop along tastefully, the latter a couple of pineapples away from being a calypso version of “Moments In Love” by Art Of Noise.

Before In Colour, one might have characterised “Girl” – the closing track here – as the definitive Jamie xx jam, a rolling, quasi-garage, mutant shuffle evocative of The Field or, further back, Akufen. What In Colour reveals is the sheer scope of Smith’s skills as a songwriter and producer. The xx on ecstasy: not a bad idea at all.

Q+A
Jamie xx
Naming tracks “Gosh” and “Hold Tight”, do you romanticise a ’90s
UK rave scene you were too young to be part of?
I do do that. I think that’s how all dance music is, it tends to be retrospective. Even stuff that’s ‘future’ isn’t really. But what I liked about those phrases is they’re old English phrases. “Oh my gosh” is a very old English thing to say and then jungle MCs started to say it in the ’90s. I like that more than it being a reference to ’90s dance music. I like its general Britishness.

Would you say In Colour is a very British dance record?
Well, London is a big part of what I think about when I’m making music, just because I love it and I’m in it all the time. The record was also made all over the world and I’d like it to not just have a London influence.

How did “Loud Places” come together?
The chorus is from Idris Muhammad’s “Could Heaven Ever Be Like This”. I had several versions of “Loud Places” but I was struggling with it. Then I listened to that record that I’ve loved for so long and the lyrics seemed to make perfect sense with what Romy was singing. So I tried it and it was like a eureka moment.

You have been recording the new xx album in Iceland, Texas and Los Angeles – is it nearing completion?
I’m not sure. I’m really happy with everything, but can’t really tell how far we are along. It’s nice to have so much time.
INTERVIEW: PIERS MARTIN

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.

Meanwhile, the September 2015 issue of Uncut is on sale in the UK on Tuesday, July 28 – featuring David Gilmour, a free Grateful Dead CD, Bob Dylan and the Newport Folk Festival, AC/DC, Killing Joke, the Isley Brothers, Julien Temple, Ryley Walker and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Watch Neil Young’s new 10-minute short film

Michael Bonner
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Watch Neil Young’s new 10-minute short film
Neil Young has released a 10-minute short film, Seeding Fear. Rolling Stone reports that the film tells the story of farmer Michael White, who with his father Wayne, took on agriculture giant Monsanto in court. The film accompanies his current album, The Monsanto Years. Click here to read Uncut's ...

Neil Young has released a 10-minute short film, Seeding Fear.

Rolling Stone reports that the film tells the story of farmer Michael White, who with his father Wayne, took on agriculture giant Monsanto in court.

The film accompanies his current album, The Monsanto Years. Click here to read Uncut’s review.

The film is credited to “Bernard Shakey“, Young’s long-standing directorial pseudonym.

Writing on his Facebook page, Young said: “As I write this, the dark act is up for a vote in the House of Representatives; representatives of the people. The dark act takes away the rights of those people to vote for or against things like GMO labeling in their states. It does seem ironic. If the act is passed, it will truly be a dark day for America.

“Monsanto is a corporation with great wealth, now controlling over 90% of soybean and corn growth in America. Family farms have been replaced by giant agri corp farms across this great vast country we call home. Farm aid and other organizations have been fighting the losing battle against this for 30 years now.

“Dairy and meat farming is done in those white sheds you see from the freeway, no longer on the green pastures of home with the old farmhouses and barns. Those beautiful buildings now stand in ruin across the country. This has happened on our watch while the country slept, distracted by advertising and false information from the corporations. Monsanto and others simply pay the politicians for voting their way. This is because of ‘Citizens United’, a legislation that has made it possible for corporations to have the same rights as people, while remaining immune to people’s laws.

“Both Democratic and Republican front runners are in bed with Monsanto, from Clinton to Bush, as many government branches are and have been for years. This presidential election could further cement the dominance of corporation’s rights over people’s rights in America. If you have a voice you have a choice. Use it.

“On the human side, the film I would like you to see tells the story of a farming family in America, but the same thing is happening around the world. It is a story that takes 10 minutes of your time to see. It is a simple human one, telling the heartbreaking story of one man who fought the corporate behemoth Monsanto, and it illustrates why I was moved to write The Monsanto Years.

“The film presents a rare opportunity to hear from the source as Mr. White is one of only four farmers who is still legally allowed to speak about his case as all the others have been effectively silenced.

“Thanks for reading this and I hope you look at this simple and powerful film, ‘Seeding Fear’.”

Meanwhile, Young recently announced he intends to remove his music from streaming services.

He said he was motivated by “the worst sound quality available in the history of broadcasting.”

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.

Meanwhile, the September 2015 issue of Uncut is on sale in the UK on Tuesday, July 28 – featuring David Gilmour, a free Grateful Dead CD, Bob Dylan and the Newport Folk Festival, AC/DC, Killing Joke, the Isley Brothers, Julien Temple, Ryley Walker and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

New Jam box set to feature six previously unreleased concerts

Michael Bonner
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New Jam box set to feature six previously unreleased concerts
The Jam are to release a new 6-CD box set Fire & Skill: The Jam Live on October 30, 2015. The set will feature six previously unreleased concerts, one from each year of their major-label career. It comes packaged in with a 72-page, colour hard-back book, with individual gatefold wallets for th...

The Jam are to release a new 6-CD box set Fire & Skill: The Jam Live on October 30, 2015.

The set will feature six previously unreleased concerts, one from each year of their major-label career.

It comes packaged in with a 72-page, colour hard-back book, with individual gatefold wallets for the discs, designed as facsimiles of the original tape boxes. The set also includes a new essay, period photos, rare memorabilia and set of five postcard prints.

The tracklisting is:

Disc One
Live at the 100 Club – September 11, 1977
I’ve Changed My Address
Carnaby Street
The Modern World
Time For Truth
So Sad About Us
London Girl
In The Street Today
Standards
All Around The World
London Traffic
Heat Wave
Sweet Soul Music (b-side of “Modern Word”)
Bricks And Mortar (b-side of “Modern Word”)
In The City
Art School
Back In My Arms Again (b-side of “Modern Word”)
Slow Down
18. In The Midnight Hour
19. Sounds From The Street
20. Takin’ My Love
21. In The City (encore)

Disc Two
Live at the Music Machine – March 2, 1978
The Modern World
London Traffic
I Need You
The Combine
Aunties And Uncles
Standards
Here Comes The Weekend
Sounds From The Street
News Of The World
London Girl
In The Street Today
Bricks And Mortar
In The Midnight Hour
Carnaby Street
All Around The World
Slow Down
News Of The World (Sound-check – bonus track)

Disc Three
Live at Reading University – February 16, 1979
The Modern World
Sounds From The Street
Away From The Numbers
All Mod Cons To Be Someone
It’s Too Bad
Mr Clean
Billy Hunt
In The Street Today
Standards (Originally released on Dig The New Breed, 1982)
Tonight At Noon
Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
News Of The World
Here Comes The Weekend
Bricks And Mortar / Batman
The Place I Love
David Watts
Heat Wave
‘A’ Bomb In Wardour Street

Disc Four
Live at Newcastle City Hall – October 28, 1980
Intro
Dreamtime
Thick As Thieves
Boy about Town
Monday
Going Underground
Pretty Green
Man In The Corner Shop
Set The House Ablaze
Private Hell
Liza Radley
Dreams Of Children
The Modern World
Little Boy Soldiers
But I’m Different Now
Start!
Scrape Away
Strange Town
When You’re Young
The Eton Rifles
Billy Hunt
Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
To Be Someone
‘A’ Bomb In Wardour Street
David Watts

Disc Five
Live at Hammersmith Palais – December 14, 1981
The Gift / Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
Man In The Corner Shop (originally released on Live Jam, 1993)
Ghosts
Absolute Beginners
Town Called Malice (originally released on Live Jam, 1993)
Set The House Ablaze (Originally released on Dig The New Breed, 1982)
That’s Entertainment / Tales From The River Bank
Precious
Happy Together
In The Crowd / David Watts
Boy About Town
Pretty Green
Funeral Pyre (originally released on Live Jam, 1993)
Circus
Going Underground
Big Bird (Originally released on Dig The New Breed, 1982)
Little Boy Soldiers

Disc Six
Live at Wembley Arena – December 2, 1982
Start!
It’s Too Bad
Beat Surrender
Away From The Numbers
Ghosts
In The Crowd
Boy About Town
Get Yourself Together
All Mod Cons
To Be Someone
Smithers-Jones
The Great Depression
Move On Up
When You’re Young
David Watts
Private Hell
Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
Mr Clean
Trans-Global Express
Going Underground
The Butterfly Collector (originally released on Live Jam, 1993)
Dreams Of Children
The Gift

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.

Meanwhile, the September 2015 issue of Uncut is on sale in the UK on Tuesday, July 28 – featuring David Gilmour, a free Grateful Dead CD, Bob Dylan and the Newport Folk Festival, AC/DC, Killing Joke, the Isley Brothers, Julien Temple, Ryley Walker and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Slade reveal 1971 – 1975 box set

Michael Bonner
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Slade reveal 1971 – 1975 box set
Slade have announced details of a new box set due for release on October 16, 2015. When Slade Rocked The World 1971 - 1975 will include the band's four albums from the period along with singles, a flexi-disc and more. The box set contains: * 4 vinyl albums reproduced in their original sleeves, re...

Slade have announced details of a new box set due for release on October 16, 2015.

When Slade Rocked The World 1971 – 1975 will include the band’s four albums from the period along with singles, a flexi-disc and more.

The box set contains:

* 4 vinyl albums reproduced in their original sleeves, remastered and pressed on 180gm coloured vinyl

* 4 double sided picture sleeve singles covering the key hits of the period not on the albums

* Flexidisc, Slade Talk To 19 Readers

* 2 CD collection of the audio on the four vinyl LPs

* 10” hardback book featuring reviews, features and memorabilia from each of the key years

* Reproduction of George Tremlett’s 1975 book The Slade Story

You can pre-order the box set by clicking here.

The full tracklisting is:

VINYL LP & SINGLES TRACKLISTINGS
Slayed?
How D’You Ride
The Whole World’s Goin’ Crazee
Look At Last Nite
I Won’t Let It ‘Appen Agen
Move Over
Gudbuy T’Jane
Gudbuy Gudbuy
Mama Weer All Crazee Now
I Don’ Mind
Let The Good Times Roll
Feel So Fine

Slade Alive!
Hear Me Calling
In Like A Shot From My Gun
Darling Be Home Soon
Know Who You Are
Keep On Rocking
Get Down With It
Born To Be Wild

Old New Borrowed And Blue
Just Want A Little Bit
When The Lights Are Out
My Town
Find Yourself A Rainbow
Miles Out To Sea
We’re Really Gonna Raise The Roof
Do We Still Do It
How Can It Be
Don’t Blame Me
My Friend Stan
Everyday
Good Time Gals

Slade In Flame
How Does It Feel
Them Kinda Monkeys Can’t Swing
So Far So Good
Summer Song (Wishing You Were Here)
O.K. Yesterday Was Yesterday
Far Far Away
This Girl
Lay It Down
Heaven Knows
Standin’ On The Corner

4 Double A side picture sleeve singles
‘Coz I Love You’ / ‘Look Wot You Dun’
‘Take Me Bak ‘Ome ‘ / ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’
‘Skweeze Me Pleeze Me’ / ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’
‘The Bangin’ Man’ / ‘Thanks For The Memory’

The Albums That Rocked The World Tracklisting
CD 1
Slayed?
How D’You Ride
The Whole World’s Goin’ Crazee
Look At Last Nite
I Won’t Let It ‘Appen Agen
Move Over
Gudbuy T’Jane
Gudbuy Gudbuy
Mama Weer All Crazee Now
I Don’ Mind
Let The Good Times Roll
Feel So Fine

Slade Alive!
Hear Me Calling
In Like A Shot From My Gun
Darling Be Home Soon
Know Who You Are
Keep On Rocking
Get Down With It
Born To Be Wild

CD 2
Old New Borrowed And Blue
Just Want A Little Bit
When The Lights Are Out
My Town
Find Yourself A Rainbow
Miles Out To Sea
We’re Really Gonna Raise The Roof
Do We Still Do It
How Can It Be
Don’t Blame Me
My Friend Stan
Everyday
Good Time Gals

Slade In Flame
How Does It Feel
Them Kinda Monkeys Can’t Swing
So Far So Good
Summer Song (Wishing You Were Here)
O.K. Yesterday Was Yesterday
Far Far Away
This Girl
Lay It Down
Heaven Knows
Standin’ On The Corner

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.

Meanwhile, the September 2015 issue of Uncut is on sale in the UK on Tuesday, July 28 – featuring David Gilmour, a free Grateful Dead CD, Bob Dylan and the Newport Folk Festival, AC/DC, Killing Joke, the Isley Brothers, Julien Temple, Ryley Walker and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

An interview with Lawrence: “‘Primitive Painters’ was this great big statement, Felt were going to be massive.”

Michael Bonner
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An interview with Lawrence: “‘Primitive Painters’ was this great big statement, Felt were going to be massive.”
I wrote about Felt's magisterial 12" single, "Primitive Painters", for Uncut's June 2015 issue [Take 217]. I ended up speaking to Lawrence for close to an hour for the piece; so for your delectation here's the full transcript. Subjects under discussion: being attacked by dogs, nearly working with To...

I wrote about Felt’s magisterial 12″ single, “Primitive Painters”, for Uncut’s June 2015 issue [Take 217]. I ended up speaking to Lawrence for close to an hour for the piece; so for your delectation here’s the full transcript. Subjects under discussion: being attacked by dogs, nearly working with Tom Verlaine and making “Half a video”…

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Where were Felt just prior to Ignite the Seven Cannons?
Honestly there’s so much. I don’t want to blab on and on. Originally I wanted to continue with John Leckie after The Strange Idols Pattern. He didn’t want to do it. I was writing these trademark pop songs at the time, short 3-minute things. Leckie said, “They’re all the same, they just seem to start and then stop, there’s no beginning.” Things like that. He was reluctant to get involved. But I said, “These are just a few rough demos that you’re listening to, the songs are nothing like that really. They’re quite expansive, there’s a lot going on.” But he wouldn’t give it a chance. So he passed on it anyway. We were trying to get Tom Verlaine as well.

Did you approach Verlaine?
We did, yeah. He said – oh God, his quote was classic – he said he didn’t want to get involved himself because he felt the guitars were playing all the way through the songs. That’s the gist of it. They would start and continue, like a long solo. The songs, they weren’t arranged. Like most would start and then continue all the way through the song. That’s a lot to do with me, because Maurice [Deebank] is such a great guitarist that I encouraged him to play from beginning to end, especially on my songs. That’s something Tom Verlaine picked up on. It was a good criticism, I suppose, in a way, if you were trying to write conventional songs. But we weren’t. At the beginning of this chat my point would be that these people didn’t give us a chance to see what could happen in the studio with this.

feltopener

How did Robin Guthrie become involved?
Cocteau Twins had approached us to play with them live because we were Robin’s favourite band. We didn’t know them, they got in touch with us, and Robin said they were doing a small UK tour – well, for them it was a massive tour. It was 5 days on the trot I think, or 6 days. They took us with them in their mini bus and they paid for everything. They were very kind to us, and we became great friends on this tour. So, I thought, “Maybe I’ll ask Robin because he seems to know what he’s doing in the studio.” He wasn’t known as a producer then, he’d only produced Cocteau Twins. Now he’s known as more of a producer. I wanted to work with a musician. Robin liked us a lot, and he agreed to do it as long as I wasn’t at the mixing. I had to sign a contract to say that I wasn’t allowed to be at the mixing, because he thought my presence was too overpowering. There could only be one person mixing the record, and that would be him.

Is that just how he works or was that about you personally?
That was about me personally, absolutely. Because I was in control of every asset of the band. I had a comment on everything, even a shoelace, for example. I was in to everything, and I was completely obsessed. I think he thought, if he was going to produce, he’d want to produce it his way. He’d probably heard stories of me in the studio before anyway.

What sort of stories?
I don’t know, the usual. You always hear stories about people in the studio that are kind blown up out of all proportion. I don’t know what he could have heard, there are so many. He’d probably heard that it’s very hard to work with me. I signed this piece of paper anyway. There was a production contract and there was an extra contract for me to sign saying that I wouldn’t be there at the mixing. I can’t go into the whole thing, we’d need a whole book. But, what happened was, as we were recording the album, I was more and more reluctant to go along with this. I wasn’t sure that I shouldn’t be there. It got to the point where we had 11 days to record and five or six days to mix. We did it in Palladium studios in Edinburgh. Robin knew the engineer, the guy who owned it. Jon Turner I think his name was.

Graham Parker & The Rumour – Mystery Glue

Luke Torn
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Graham Parker & The Rumour – Mystery Glue
Graham Parker recently described his long-overdue return to the UK, his breakout backing band the Rumour in tow, as a victory lap, and Mystery Glue — smart, nuanced, good-natured, relaxed, masterful, the songs sashing and swaying with a kind of jazzy elegance — radiates with the confidence of ju...

Graham Parker recently described his long-overdue return to the UK, his breakout backing band the Rumour in tow, as a victory lap, and Mystery Glue — smart, nuanced, good-natured, relaxed, masterful, the songs sashing and swaying with a kind of jazzy elegance — radiates with the confidence of just such an endeavor. The subtext for the sextet’s second record following their surprise 2012 reunion, and Parker’s appearance in the Judd Apatow’s smash hit movie This is 40, is “we’ve paid our dues plenty, this time it’s (mostly) for fun.”

But it’s hardly mindless fun. Parker’s songs still cut and slash, at times with righteous indignation, and the Rumour are focused, just within a different lens. Considering the gritty, hardboiled, defiant R&B that defined the group’s explosion out of the UK in the late 1970s, Mystery Glue plays as its slightly shocking obverse: open-hearted, airy, poised, versatile, but slotted with plenty of slyly relevant observations on a world gone mad circa 2015. Now that the long-ago pressures—of a career, of a hit record—are off, the group sounds regal, like an ensemble that has seen it all and can play it all, gracefully slipping into the role of diverse honky-tonk pub band of your dreams. From nods to reggae and jazz, soul and rockabilly, it all merges into the Rumour’s mélange.

Parker’s songwriting, meanwhile, veers masterfully from the political to the personal, the playful to the melancholy, from retro to right now. There are no awkward attempts at Rumour-esque retreads; instead, he simply continues along the arc of his more recent work—consistently strong, unfairly ignored albums (see especially 2001’s Deepcut To Nowhere and 2007’s Don’t Tell Columbus), comprised of witty compositions with strong angles on history, sociology, downed romance, the absurdities of modern life, and the complexity of human relationships. Just about all of the new ones come stocked with pop hooks so persistent they’ll commence rattling around the cerebellum after just minimal attention.

Among Glue’s more striking offerings is “Flying Into London”, an exceptionally atmospheric bit of anxiety and anticipation performed with acuity, plus superb guitar-and-keyboard tradeoffs by Brinsley Schwarz, Martin Belmont, and Bob Andrews. Working on multiple levels, its universalism suggests a faceoff with reality, a sizing up and coming to terms; it manages, too, to hook in all that old Rumour history, if only surreptitiously. “Wall Of Grace”, meanwhile, is Mystery Glue’s most affecting song. A fascinating character sketch, the protagonist (Grace) proudly papering her walls with family photos, the song crawls inside the her heart and comes out with a kind of giddy affirmation, of life, of love, aided by the Rumour nailing its stretched-out glider of a melody, Schwarz’ wah-wah solo, and the album’s most devastating hook.

The combo’s playfulness rules on the upbeat zingers “Swing State” and “I’ve Done Bad Things”. “I live in a swing state/It’s better than a state of hate,” Parker joyfully posits on the former, castigating those blindly chasing material wealth amid swimming keyboards and dancing guitars. On the latter, the Rumour underpin with Stax-style country soul, Parker exuberantly shedding of guilt and shame, before taking a noose to the song with a coruscating, politically pointed middle eight: “We need someone who gets up there and stands for what’s right,” he barks, as the Rumour positively wail in support.

Elsewhere, Parker’s songwriting sparkles with lines that might initially appear clichéd (“Pub Crawl”, “Slow News Day”), but sink in as casual, conversational, astutely observational, while the Rumour traverse. “Railroad Spikes”, for example, plays on the ancient themes—work song, train song—angling toward a kind of Johnny Cash-style rockabilly. “Fast Crowd” revisits the group’s familiarity with reggae—a think-for-yourself theme hung over a reggae backdrop. “Long Shot”, the de facto title track, lays down some heart-on-sleeve philosophy, playing like a classic pop anthem, Parker tidily wrapping up the life’s elusive ethereality in four-and-a-half short minutes.

Q&A
Graham Parker
What are things like with the Rumour now?
This is a jump from the last one. Now that we’ve played together a bit more. It’s still extremely complex, how the band fits together, but the Rumour are settling into the musicianship. They can play with a huge variety, and the record sounds incredibly natural to me. It takes extreme effort, actually, but the end result is now sounding effortless.

“Flying Into London” is the song that struck me quickest…
A song is a grain of truth blown up out of all proportion, you know. ”Flying into London” came from this feeling, of kinda hurtling myself into something and I don’t know what it’s going to be like. And it’s got all this foreboding in it.

How have things changed for you over the last few years?
In some ways, it’s superfluous, because I’m just gonna do what I do anyway. I’m a field of one. You never know how these things are going to go, but it certainly didn’t hurt me to be in a number 3 movie in America.

So, with your new record deal, a boxed set is in the works?
Yeah, I’m signed to Universal. How does that happen? Anyway, it was first going to be a Graham Parker and the Rumour boxed set, but it morphed. This guy putting it together became aware that between 1980 and now I’ve made a lot of records, and he couldn’t believe how good they were. He said, “let’s do a career-spanning boxed set, with DVDs.” So, we’re picking out songs from every record.
INTERVIEW: LUKE TORN

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.

Meanwhile, the September 2015 issue of Uncut is on sale in the UK on Tuesday, July 28 – featuring David Gilmour, a free Grateful Dead CD, Bob Dylan and the Newport Folk Festival, AC/DC, Killing Joke, the Isley Brothers, Julien Temple, Ryley Walker and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

David Gilmour world exclusive interview: the new Uncut revealed!

Michael Bonner
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David Gilmour world exclusive interview: the new Uncut revealed!
As David Gilmour returns with his latest studio album, he invites Uncut to his houseboat recording studio moored on the river Thames for a world exclusive interview. On sale in the UK from Tuesday, July 28, the new issue sees Gilmour reveal the secrets of his brilliant new album, Rattle That Lock, ...

As David Gilmour returns with his latest studio album, he invites Uncut to his houseboat recording studio moored on the river Thames for a world exclusive interview.

On sale in the UK from Tuesday, July 28, the new issue sees Gilmour reveal the secrets of his brilliant new album, Rattle That Lock, and look back at the many peaks of his illustrious career.

“In some ways, I think I’ve found my feet,” says Gilmour of his new album. “It’s quite late in life to start finding one’s feet, I must admit. Or at least, to find them again…”

David-Gilmour-Kevin-Westenberg

Meanwhile, Gilmour reflects on his extraordinary musical adventures, from “Fat Old Sun” to On An Island and The Endless River – with help from his oldest friends and collaborators. We hear stories involving Steve Marriott’s old home, Tiger Moths, the pizza restaurants of southern France and Smiths cover versions.

We learn, too, which song reminds David Gilmour of Syd Barrett – and which song reminds him of Roger Waters…

All will be revealed in the new issue of Uncut. Available in UK shops and to buy digitally from Tuesday, July 28.

The issue comes with a FREE GRATEFUL DEAD CD: our historic attempt to piece together the album that should have followed “Workingman’s Dead” and “American Beauty”…

You can find more details about how to order Rattle That Lock, plus David Gilmour’s forthcoming tour dates, by clicking here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHP7l0EaouM

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.

Meanwhile, the September 2015 issue of Uncut is on sale in the UK on Tuesday, July 28 – featuring David Gilmour, a free Grateful Dead CD, Bob Dylan and the Newport Folk Festival, AC/DC, Killing Joke, the Isley Brothers, Julien Temple, Ryley Walker and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Small Faces 5-CD set to include rarities and outtakes

Michael Bonner
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Small Faces 5-CD set to include rarities and outtakes
A new Small Faces box set will include rarities, outtakes and alternative versions. The Decca Years is released on Octobr 9, 2015. The 5-CD box set compiles everything that the Small Faces recorded for Decca during their 18-month record deal with the label, along with the last remaining recording ...

A new Small Faces box set will include rarities, outtakes and alternative versions.

The Decca Years is released on Octobr 9, 2015.

The 5-CD box set compiles everything that the Small Faces recorded for Decca during their 18-month record deal with the label, along with the last remaining recording sessions that the group made for the BBC during the same period.

This includes an interview with Steve Marriott which has not been officially heard in the UK since it was made by the BBC Transcription Services for transmission overseas. In total, 5 BBC interviews with Steve Marriott are featured.

All the audio, including the rarities and alternative versions, has been remastered from original analogue sources under the supervision of Kenney Jones.

You can pre-order the set by clicking here.

The release follows yesterday’s news of a Faces box set, You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything, which is due on August 28, 2015.

CD 1
GREATEST HITS: Worldwide singles As, Bs & EPs

1. What’Cha Gonna Do About It
2. What’s A Matter Baby
3. I’ve Got Mine
4. It’s Too Late
5. Sha La La La Lee
6. Grow Your Own
7. Hey Girl
8. Almost Grown
9. All Or Nothing
10. Understanding
11. My Mind’s Eye
12. I Can’t Dance With You
13. I Can’t Make It
14. Just Passing
15. Patterns
16. E Too D
17. Don’t Stop What You’re Doing
18. Come On Children
19. Shake
20. One Night Stand
21. You Need Loving

CD 2
SMALL FACES

Original UK LP Decca LK 4790
Released 6 May 1966

1. Shake
2. Come On Children
3. You Better Believe It
4. It’s Too Late
5. One Night Stand
6. What’Cha Gonna Do About It
7. Sorry She’s Mine
8. Own Up Time
9. You Need Loving
10. Don’t Stop What You’re Doing
11. E Too D
12. Sha La La La Lee

CD 3
FROM THE BEGINNING

Original UK LP Decca LK 4879
Released 2 June 1967

1. Runaway
2. My Mind’s Eye
3. Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow
4. That Man
5. My Way Of Giving
6. Hey Girl
7. (Tell Me) Have You Ever Seen Me
8. Take This Hurt Off Me
9. All Or Nothing
10. Baby Don’t You Do It
11. Plum Nellie
12. Sha La La La Lee
13. You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me
14. What’Cha Gonna Do About It

CD 4
RARITIES & OUTTAKES

1. Come On Children (alternate version)
2. Shake (alternate version)
3. You Better Believe It (alternate version)
4. Own Up Time (alternate version)
5. E Too D (alternate version)
6. Don’t Stop What You’re Doing (alternate version)
7. What’s A Matter Baby (alternate mix)
8. What’Cha Gonna Do About It (alternate version)
9. Sha La La La Lee (stereo version)
10. Runaway (alternate mix) (stereo)
11. That Man (alternate mix)
12. Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow (alternate mix)
13. Picanniny (backing track)
14. Hey Girl (alternate version)
15. Take This Hurt Off Me (different version)
16. Baby Don’t You Do It (different version)
17. My Mind’s Eye (early version) (mono)
18. Talk To You (take 5 backing track)
19. All Our Yesterdays (take 7 backing track)
20. (Tell Me) Have You Ever Seen Me (alternate take 2)
21. Show Me The Way (take 3 backing track)
22. I Can’t Make It (take 11 backing track)
23. Things Are Going To Get Better (take 14 session version)

CD 5
BBC SESSIONS

BBC Studios – Saturday Club – 23-Aug-65
1. Interview with Steve Marriott 2. What’cha Gonna Do About It (BBC Session version)
3. Jump Back (BBC Session version)
4. Baby Don’t You Do It (BBC Session version)

BBC Studios – Joe Loss Pop Show – 14-Jan-66
5. Sha La La La Lee (BBC Session version)
6. What’cha Gonna Do About It (BBC Session version)
7. Comin’ Home Baby (BBC Session version)
8. You Need Loving (BBC Session version)

9. Steve Marriot Pop Profile Interview

BBC Studios – Saturday Club – 14-Mar-66
10. Shake (BBC Session version
11. Interview with Steve Marriott
12. Sha La La La Lee (BBC Session version)
13. You Need Loving (BBC Session version)

BBC Studios – Saturday Club – 3-May-66
14. Interview with Steve Marriott
15. Hey Girl (BBC Session version)
16. E to D (BBC Session version)
17. One Night Stand (BBC Session version)

BBC Studios – Saturday Club 3-Aug-66
18. You’d Better Believe It (BBC Session version)
19. Understanding (BBC Session version)
20. Interview with Steve Marriott
21. All Or Nothing (BBC Session version)

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.

Meanwhile, the August 2015 issue of Uncut is in shops now – featuring David Byrne, Sly & The Family Stone, BB King and the death of the blues, The Monkees, Neil Young, Merle Haggard and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Bob Marley’s 70th birthday year celebration continues with two vinyl box sets

Michael Bonner
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Bob Marley’s 70th birthday year celebration continues with two vinyl box sets
Bob Marley's 70th birthday year-long celebration continues with the release of two new box sets, The Complete Island Recordings and The Complete Island Recordings: Collector’s Edition. Released on September 25, 2015, the sets feature 11 albums on 180-gram vinyl. The Complete Island Recordings co...

Bob Marley‘s 70th birthday year-long celebration continues with the release of two new box sets, The Complete Island Recordings and The Complete Island Recordings: Collector’s Edition.

Released on September 25, 2015, the sets feature 11 albums on 180-gram vinyl.

The Complete Island Recordings comes in a standard version and a special Collector’s Edition.

Both editions come packaged silver boxes and have a lift-top lid that resembles a Zippo lighter; the Collector’s Edition box is actually metal.

The Complete Island Recordings: Collector’s Edition will also include a 70th anniversary slip mat and two photos in glassine envelopes.

Both boxes will include Bob’s 70th birthday logo and all nine Bob Marley & The Wailers studio albums recorded for Island Records.

The 11 LP’s from the box set will also be released individually on 180-gram vinyl beginning September 25.

Apart from the actual disc labels which will feature more recently reissued artwork, the LP’s will faithfully replicate the original album pressings. The Live! album will include the original poster with the vinyl, while the Exodus album will feature the original gold metallic jacket with embossed lettering. The Babylon By Bus album will feature the die-cut cover with the color printed inner sleeves showing through.

The albums are:
Catch A Fire
Burnin’
Natty Dread
Live!
Rastaman Vibration
Exodus
Babylon By Bus
Kaya
Survival
Uprising
Confrontation

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.

Meanwhile, the August 2015 issue of Uncut is in shops now – featuring David Byrne, Sly & The Family Stone, BB King and the death of the blues, The Monkees, Neil Young, Merle Haggard and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Ultimate Music Guide: Sex Pistols

Charlotte Treadaway
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Ultimate Music Guide: Sex Pistols
Never mind the b*******, here's the latest Uncut Ultimate Music Guide: the complete and unexpurgated story of the Sex Pistols. Inside, you'll find a wealth of punk reportage from the archives of NME and Melody Maker: manifestos from Malcolm McLaren and Tony Parsons; adventures with the band in Amste...

Never mind the b*******, here’s the latest Uncut Ultimate Music Guide: the complete and unexpurgated story of the Sex Pistols. Inside, you’ll find a wealth of punk reportage from the archives of NME and Melody Maker: manifestos from Malcolm McLaren and Tony Parsons; adventures with the band in Amsterdam, Stockholm and Uxbridge, and on their last fateful tour of America; many long-lost interviews that reveal the antic genius and secret depths of the Pistols. Plus! We pass new, in-depth judgment on every Sex Pistols release, and follow the adventures of John Lydon, through the glory years of Public Image Ltd, up to the provocative Sex Pistols reunion in 1996, and beyond. “Energy, that’s the thing that’s missing from this bleeding country,” Lydon tells one Melody Maker journalist in 1986. “It makes me sick. What becomes clear to me is that I’m needed here. Good God, you need me. I’m your conscience…”

Order Online

 

Elvis Presley’s jumpsuit and guitar for sale on eBay

Michael Bonner
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Elvis Presley’s jumpsuit and guitar for sale on eBay
A collection of rare Elvis Presley artifacts and memorabilia are to be auctioned in August. Organised by Graceland Auctions, the event will take place during Elvis Week 2015. The Auction At Graceland will take place in the Graceland Archives Studio on Thursday, August 13, 2015, at 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:...

A collection of rare Elvis Presley artifacts and memorabilia are to be auctioned in August.

Organised by Graceland Auctions, the event will take place during Elvis Week 2015.

The Auction At Graceland will take place in the Graceland Archives Studio on Thursday, August 13, 2015, at 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT — and will be available to bid online on eBay Live Auctions’ platform.

Among the 174 lots are:
Elvis Presley Light Blue “Starburst” Jumpsuit worn during 1973 at the Las Vegas Hilton and other concerts (Estimated $100,000-150,000)

Elvis Presley “Viva Las Vegas” Jacket worn in dance scene with Ann-Margret (Estimated $30,000-50,000)

Million Dollar Quartet Signed Guitar with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis signatures (Estimated $20,000-30,000)

1956 Elvis Presley Double-Signed Transfer Agreement moving 15 Songs to Gladys Music (Estimated $20,000-30,000)

Elvis Presley’s Personal Walther Model PPK/S 9mm Kurz Handgun ornately engraved “Elvis” and “TCB (Estimated $100,000–125,000)

The full catalogue will be available to browse on eBay very soon: click here for more details.

You can find more details abou Elvis Week 2015 by clicking here.

Meanwhile, Elvis Presley’s 80 birthday is being commemorated with a yearlong celebration of his work.

In January, Legacy Recordings released all Presley’s albums recorded between 1960 and 1965 onto iTunes. Titled The Complete ’60s Albums Collection Vol. 1, the set has been newly mastered and includes the albums Elvis Is Back, G.I. Blues, His Hand In Mine, Something For Everybody, Blue Hawaii, Pot Luck, Girls! Girls! Girls!, It Happened At The World’s Fair, Elvis’ Golden Records Vol. 3, Fun In Acapulco, Kissin’ Cousins, Roustabout, Girl Happy, Elvis for Everyone and Harum Scarum.

A new official website was also launched in January.

In related news, an Elvis Presley exhibition is currently running at London’s O2 Arena until August. The exhibition will showcase over 300 artefacts direct from the Presley family’s Graceland Archives, some of which have never been exhibited outside Memphis. Tickets are available 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.

Meanwhile, the August 2015 issue of Uncut is in shops now – featuring David Byrne, Sly & The Family Stone, BB King and the death of the blues, The Monkees, Neil Young, Merle Haggard and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

New Faces box set to feature rarities, outtakes and unreleased material

Michael Bonner
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New Faces box set to feature rarities, outtakes and unreleased material
A new Faces box set will contain newly remastered versions of all four of the Faces' studio albums, plus a bonus disc of rarities. You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything (1970 - 1975) is due on August 28, 2015 from Rhino Records. The set will be released on CD and digitally and as a limited editi...

A new Faces box set will contain newly remastered versions of all four of the Faces’ studio albums, plus a bonus disc of rarities.

You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything (1970 – 1975) is due on August 28, 2015 from Rhino Records.

The set will be released on CD and digitally and as a limited edition vinyl.

The vinyl has cut from the original analog master tapes directly to lacquers and pressed on 180-gram heavyweight vinyl. The records will come packaged in sleeves that accurately recreate the original release.

The CD and digital set features unreleased bonus tracks included with each album.

The collection also features a bonus disc that gathers up nine tracks that didn’t appear on proper albums, including the 1973 single “Pool Hall Richard“, a live performance of the Temptations’ “I Wish It Would Rain” from the 1973 Reading Festival, and “Dishevelment Blues“, a song that came free as a flexi-disc in copies of NME.

The track listing for You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything (1970 – 1975) is:

THE FIRST STEP
1. “Wicked Messenger”
2. “Devotion”
3. “Shake, Shudder, Shiver”
4. “Stone”
5. “Around The Plynth”
6. “Flying”
7. “Pineapple And The Monkey”
8. “Nobody Knows”
9. “Looking Out The Window”
10. “Three Button Hand Me Down”
11. “Behind The Sun” (Outtake) *
12. “Mona – The Blues” (Outtake) *
13. “Shake, Shudder, Shiver” (BBC Session) *
14. “Flying” (Take 3) *
15. “Nobody Knows” (Take 2) *

LONG PLAYER
1. “Bad ‘n’ Ruin”
2. “Tell Everyone”
3. “Sweet Lady Mary”
4. “Richmond”
5. “Maybe I’m Amazed”
6. “Had Me A Real Good Time”
7. “On The Beach”
8. “I Feel So Good”
9. “Jerusalem”
10. “Whole Lotta Woman” (Outtake) *
11. “Tell Everyone” (Take 1) *
12. “Sham-Mozzal” (Instrumental – Outtake) *
13. “Too Much Woman” (Live) *
14. “Love In Vain” (Live) *

A NOD IS AS GOOD AS A WINK…TO A BLIND HORSE
1. “Miss Judy’s Farm”
2. “You’re So Rude”
3. “Love Lives Here”
4. “Last Orders Please”
5. “Stay With Me”
6. “Debris”
7. “Memphis”
8. “Too Bad”
9. “That’s All You Need”
10. “Miss Judy’s Farm” (BBC Session) *
11. “Stay With Me” (BBC Session) *

OOH LA LA
1. “Silicone Grown”
2. “Cindy Incidentally”
3. “Flags And Banners”
4. “My Fault”
5. “Borstal Boys”
6. “Fly In The Ointment”
7. “If I’m On The Late Side”
8. “Glad And Sorry”
9. “Just Another Honky”
10. “Ooh La La”
11. “Cindy Incidentally” (BBC Session) *
12. “Borstal Boys” (Rehearsal) *
13. “Silicone Grown” (Rehearsal) *
14. “Glad And Sorry” (Rehearsal) *
15. “Jealous Guy” (Live) *

* previously unreleased

BONUS LP
1. “Pool Hall Richard”
2. “I Wish It Would Rain” (With A Trumpet)
3. “Rear Wheel Skid”
4. “Maybe I’m Amazed”
5. “Oh Lord I’m Browned Off”
6. “You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything (Even Take The Dog For A Walk, Mend A Fuse, Fold Away The Ironing Board, Or Any Other Domestic Short Comings)” (UK Single Version)
7. “As Long As You Tell Him”
8. “Skewiff (Mend The Fuse)”
9. “Dishevelment Blues”

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.

Meanwhile, the August 2015 issue of Uncut is in shops now – featuring David Byrne, Sly & The Family Stone, BB King and the death of the blues, The Monkees, Neil Young, Merle Haggard and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Kurt Vile announces new album; shares “Pretty Pimpin” video

Michael Bonner
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Kurt Vile announces new album; shares “Pretty Pimpin” video
Kurt Vile has released details of his new album, b’lieve i'm goin down.... The album will be released on September 25, 2015 by Matador. The tracklisting is: Pretty Pimpin I'm an Outlaw Dust Bunnies That's Life, tho (almost hate to say) Wheelhouse Life Like This All In a Daze Work Lost My Head T...

Kurt Vile has released details of his new album, b’lieve i’m goin down….

The album will be released on September 25, 2015 by Matador.

The tracklisting is:
Pretty Pimpin
I’m an Outlaw
Dust Bunnies
That’s Life, tho (almost hate to say)
Wheelhouse
Life Like This
All In a Daze Work
Lost My Head There
Stand Inside
Bad Omens
Kidding Around
Wild Imagination

You can watch the video for “Pretty Pimpin” below.

Kim Gordon, a longtime fan, wrote about the album: “Kurt does his own myth-making; a boy/man with an old soul voice in the age of digital everything becoming something else, which is why this focused, brilliantly clear and seemingly candid record is a breath of fresh air. Recorded and mixed in a number of locations, including Los Angeles and Joshua Tree, b’lieve i’m goin down… is a handshake across the country, east to west coast, thru the dustbowl history (“valley of ashes”) of woody honest strait forward talk Guthrie, and a cali canyon dead still nite floating in a nearly waterless landscape. The record is all air, weightless, bodyless, but grounded in convincing authenticity, in the best version of a singer songwriter up cycling.”

Meanwhile, Kurt Vile and the Violators will be heading out on a US and European tour in October and November to support the album.

They play:

October
02 – BOSTON, MA – The Paradise * #
03 – AUSTIN, TX – Austin City Limits
04 – AUSTIN, TX – Austin City Limits
07 – NEW YORK, NY – Webster Hall * #
08 – WASHINGTON, DC – 9:30 Club * #
09 – PHILADELPHIA, PA – Union Transfer * #
10 – AUSTIN, TX – Austin City Limits
11 – AUSTIN, TX – Austin City Limits
14 – LOS ANGELES, CA – Fonda Theater %
16 – SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Fillmore %
17 – PORTLAND, OR – Crystal Ballroom %
18 – SEATTLE, WA – The Showbox %
21 – MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Mill City Lights * #
23 – CHICAGO, IL – Thalia Hall * #
24 – DETROIT, MI – St. Andrew’s Hall * #
25 – TORONTO, ON – Phoenix Theatre * #
30 – PARIS – Pitchfork Festival
31 – AMSTERDAM – London Calling @ Paradiso *

November
01 – BRUSSELS – Autumn Falls @ AB-Box *
03 – HAMBURG – Uebel & Gefahrlich *
04 – AARHUS – Voxhall
05 – OSLO – Rockefeller
06 – STOCKHOLM – Munchenbryggeriet *
07 – COPENHAGEN – Amerbio *
09 – BERLIN – Postbahnhof *
10 – KOLN – Gebaeude 9 *
11 – BRIGHTON – Concorde 2 *
12 – LONDON – Electric Ballroom
13 – BRISTOL – Motion *
15 – DUBLIN – Vicar Street *
16 – GLASGOW – ABC1 *
17 – LEEDS – Leeds University Stylus *
18 – MANCHESTER – The Ritz *
20 – LUCERNE – Sudpol *
21 – LYON – Epicerie Moderne *
22 – BARCELONA – Apolo *
23 – MADRID – Penelope *
24 – LISBON – Armasem F *

* with Waxahatchee
# with Luke Roberts
& with Cass McCombs and Heron Oblivion

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.

Meanwhile, the August 2015 issue of Uncut is in shops now – featuring David Byrne, Sly & The Family Stone, BB King and the death of the blues, The Monkees, Neil Young, Merle Haggard and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Watch Bon Iver debut two new songs

Michael Bonner
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Watch Bon Iver debut two new songs
Bon Iver debuted two new songs over the weekend at the Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival in Wisconsin. The festival - organised by Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and The National's Aaron Dessner - also included sets from The National, Sufjan Stevens, Hiss Golden Messenger, Sturgill Simpson and Spoon...

Bon Iver debuted two new songs over the weekend at the Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival in Wisconsin.

The festival – organised by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and The National’s Aaron Dessner – also included sets from The National, Sufjan Stevens, Hiss Golden Messenger, Sturgill Simpson and Spoon.

Bon Iver have not released a new album since the self-titled record in 2011. In a new interview with Grantland, Vernon cast doubts over the future of Bon Iver.

“I definitely care about the Bon Iver thing a lot,” he said. “But it’s kind of my thing and there’s only so much time you can spend with yourself before you just become an asshole.”

“I’ve been taking it really slow,” he continued. “I just think maybe I ran my course with being able to come up with new moments on the guitar.”

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.

Meanwhile, the August 2015 issue of Uncut is in shops now – featuring David Byrne, Sly & The Family Stone, BB King and the death of the blues, The Monkees, Neil Young, Merle Haggard and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Cluster’s Dieter Moebius dies aged 71

Michael Bonner
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Cluster’s Dieter Moebius dies aged 71
Dieter Moebius, the influential German electronica pioneer, has died aged 71. The news was confirmed on Facebook by his bandmate, Michael Rother. "Very sad news today for all friends of Dieter Moebius and his unique music. Our friend, neighbour and collaborator passed away this morning, July 20th ...

Dieter Moebius, the influential German electronica pioneer, has died aged 71.

The news was confirmed on Facebook by his bandmate, Michael Rother.

“Very sad news today for all friends of Dieter Moebius and his unique music. Our friend, neighbour and collaborator passed away this morning, July 20th 2015. He will be missed dearly by all of us. Our thoughts go out to his wife, Irene. RIP, Dieter (Möbi)”.

Screen Shot 2015-07-21 at 09.20.10

The Facebook account for Cluster, Moebius’ long-running collaboration with Hans-Joachim Roedelius, also confirmed his passing.

Moebius was born in Switzerland in 1944. He studied art in Brussels and West Berlin. In Berlin, he met Roedelius and Tangerine Dream’s Conrad Schnitzler at the city’s influential Zodiak Free Arts Lab; they formed Kluster in 1969. When Schnitzler left two years later, they began operating as Cluster.

The bond between Moebius and Roedelius was strong. As the latter explained to The Guardian in 2005, “We are completely different people. He is Capricorn, I am Scorpio. But because we liked each other personally we didn’t care. We did everything together. The only thing we didn’t share was our girlfriends!”

Between 1971 and 2009, Cluster released 11 studio albums; many of them in collaboration with Conny Plank. In 1973, Moebius and Roedelius moved to a rural village of Forst, where they built their own studio. They were joined by Neu!‘s Michael Rother, and together the three musicians formed Harmonia.

Harmonia releasing two albums, 1974’s Musik Von Harmonia and 1975’s Harmonia – Deluxe.

Brian Eno regarded Harmonia highly and briefly relocated to Forst to live and record with them. These sessions were eventually released as Tracks And Traces (1977). Eno also recorded two albums with Eno: 1978’s Cluster And Eno and 1979’s After The Heat.

In addition to his collaborations with Roedelius, Moebius also recorded over a dozen solo albums, most recently Nidemonex in 2014.

Interviewed in 2012 by Frieze, Moebius shed some light on his working practises. “I work with very simple machines,” he revealed. “The recorder, it all has to be easy to handle. All my records, like the last three, I make them with an eight-track digital recorder. And of course it’s a very different thing to produce in a studio with a guy who knows about recording, a recording engineer. When I’m working at home, it’s really the most simple way of recording, and I don’t have to pass my time with complicated machines. When I want to be creative, I need to have something that works nearly on its own if possible, that I can handle.”

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.

Meanwhile, the August 2015 issue of Uncut is in shops now – featuring David Byrne, Sly & The Family Stone, BB King and the death of the blues, The Monkees, Neil Young, Merle Haggard and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

PJ Harvey to perform new material at London Literature Festival

Michael Bonner
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PJ Harvey to perform new material at London Literature Festival
PJ Harvey will showcase new material at the London Literature Festival held at the city's Southbank Centre later this year. The event coincides with the publication of her new poetry and photography book, The Hollow Of The Hand; a collaboration with photographer Seamus Murphy. The book of poetry a...

PJ Harvey will showcase new material at the London Literature Festival held at the city’s Southbank Centre later this year.

The event coincides with the publication of her new poetry and photography book, The Hollow Of The Hand; a collaboration with photographer Seamus Murphy.

The book of poetry and images was created during Harvey and Murphy’s travels to destinations including Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Washington, DC between 2011 and 2014.

The event will include “poetry readings and new songs performed by PJ Harvey alongside images and a short film by Seamus Murphy”.

It is not clear whether these new songs will be taken from the Recording In Progress sessions that took place at London’s Somerset House earlier this year. Click here to read Uncut’s report of those sessions.

Harvey’s event at the London Literature Festival will run on October 9 and 10. Tickets will go on sale to the public on Wednesday (July 22) at 10am. You can find more details by clicking here.

Harvey previously said of her book: “Gathering information from secondary sources felt too far removed for what I was trying to write about. I wanted to smell the air, feel the soil and meet the people of the countries I was fascinated with.”

“My friend Seamus Murphy and I agreed to grow a project together – I would collect words, he would collect pictures, following our instincts on where we should go.”

Murphy added: “Polly is a writer who loves images and I am a photographer who loves words. She asked me if I would like to take some photographs and make some films for her last album ‘Let England Shake’. I was intrigued and the adventure began, now finding another form in this book. It is our look at home and the world.”

According to The Bookseller, the book will be released in four different editions simultaneously on October 8.

It will appear as a limited edition with original artwork for an as yet unannounced price; a £45 large format cloth-bound hardback; a £16.99 trade paperback readers’ edition; and a £13.99 enhanced e-book.

Alexa von Hirschberg, commissioning editor at Bloomsbury, said: “We always wanted to do a digital edition of the material and now the printed book is sort of done, we’re finalising content. The e-book has been designed by the same designer as the print books, [freelancer] Lizzie Ballantyne, and it’s a fixed-format electronic edition that will include audio of Polly [Harvey] reading her poetry, audio from Seamus giving background to the photography, and hopefully moving images.” Von Hirschberg added: “The limitations of the format means it will probably only be available within Apple iBooks.”

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.

Meanwhile, the August 2015 issue of Uncut is in shops now – featuring David Byrne, Sly & The Family Stone, BB King and the death of the blues, The Monkees, Neil Young, Merle Haggard and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

The genius of Terry Riley

John Mulvey
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The genius of Terry Riley
I tend to write about eight or nine albums in each issue of Uncut, and barely a month goes by without me dropping the name of Terry Riley into at least one review. Clearly this is down to my personal taste, and also the fact that Bitchin Bajas seem to release something most months. Nevertheless, Ril...

I tend to write about eight or nine albums in each issue of Uncut, and barely a month goes by without me dropping the name of Terry Riley into at least one review. Clearly this is down to my personal taste, and also the fact that Bitchin Bajas seem to release something most months. Nevertheless, Riley’s rippling, delay-and-drone, improvised take on minimalism seems to be having an elongated moment of influence among more exploratory musicians from a much younger generation.

Riley, it turns out, has just turned 80, and on Saturday he performed a rare UK show at the Barbican in London. It was a pretty varied and absorbing show, which threw out a bunch of links to his last 50 years of ravishing music, while at the same time moving into territory that felt kind of new for him.

Riley’s roots lie in the ’60s avant-garde, to the musicians who expanded on the ideas of John Cage and found some unsteady common ground with the more adventurous end of rock music: the likes of Steve Reich and Lamonte Young. He’s usually classified as a minimalist, but that always seems to be a problematically reductive take on his musical scope, since even “In C” – the piece with which he made his name, and which is most frequently described as a key minimalist text – is often rendered as a busy, exuberant grid of overlapping improvisations, rather than some aural take on a Donald Judd piece.

“In C” is great, but I always direct Riley neophytes to start with “A Rainbow In Curved Air” from a year or two later, the critical work that established Riley’s timelag organ flurries and reed drones and presented him, very loosely, as a psychedelic JS Bach. Lots of his subsequent records provide variants on this sound – sometimes meditative, sometimes euphoric; personal favourites include “Persian Surgery Dervishes” and “Shri Camel”, but there’s a lot to explore, and not much to avoid.

You could hear plenty of strands from this tradition in the fifth section of Riley’s Barbican concert, when he moved behind a Korg Triton synth and embarked on a dazzling solo piece that started off reminiscent of his most recent album, 2012’s “Aleph”, before moving into the sort of ravishing overdrive that felt like an update on another one of his crucial ’60s pieces, “Poppy Nogood And The Phantom Band”. As the accompanying films ramped up the music’s hallucinatory potential, I started seeing it as a radical twin experience to the Grateful Dead revisiting “Dark Star” in Santa Clara at the end of last month: twin poles of psychedelia, reverberating in sync.

Riley could’ve jammed like that all night, but the overall performance – titled “Bell Station III” – hinged on a collaborative piece he’d spent the week workshopping with members of the London Contemporary Orchestra and the Tiffin Boys’ Choir. He split this into three frequently frantic sections, in which the boys’ voices were underpinned by a couple of manic toy pianos, bits of brass and some immensely skittish percussion. I couldn’t immediately find an analogue for this in what I know of Riley’s catalogue – if anything, it reminded me more of an unusually buoyant John Adams piece. Nevertheless, the loops and swoops of Riley’s fluid style could still be detected, just about, and with them the sense that you can always find a path of serenity through his work, even when it is at its most manic.

A clue to how Riley pulls off this particular trick was provided, perhaps, by the opening section of “Bell Station III”: Riley sat alone, cueing up harmonium drones and tabla on what may well have been his phone, then launched into a lengthy raga that increased in intensity, joy and vocal strength as it went along. This was Riley’s debt to the Indian master Pandit Pran Nath at its most transparent, but the ornate melodic flourishes of raga underpin everything he does – even another solo section of the concert, when Riley took to a prepared grand piano which started out like a spindly Cage piece, but again acquired a cumulative power the longer it lasted, with rapid deep rumble being twinned with a nimbleness that shaded closer to jazz territory.

Maybe Riley’s music is always about patterns, that become more vivid and complex as he piles on layer after layer of sonic detailing. On his early records and performances, he’d do this using timelag delay, or tape loops (check his amazing deconstruction/extrapolation of a marginal R&B side on “You’re No Good”). At the Barbican, he seemed to be showcasing how he could create the same heady effects using either a synth, two hands on a piano, a choir and orchestra – or even just his own voice, and his faith in the intoxicating potential of Indian devotional music. A portal to ecstatic states, arrived at by different paths – and even on his own, not exactly minimal…

Picture: Mark Allan/Barbican

 

 

 

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