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Creation Records box set due for release

Michael Bonner
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Creation Records box set due for release
A new box set celebrating Creation Records is due for release in September. Called The Dawn Of Creation Records 1983-1985, the five CD box set features two discs comprising early A and B sides, a third CD of rarities and album tracks, another comprising previously unissued demos and a fifth disc of...

A new box set celebrating Creation Records is due for release in September.

Called The Dawn Of Creation Records 1983-1985, the five CD box set features two discs comprising early A and B sides, a third CD of rarities and album tracks, another comprising previously unissued demos and a fifth disc of rare BBC sessions.

It’s due for release through Cherry Red records on September 25, 2015.

DISC 1: SINGLES
THE LEGEND! – ‘73 In’83
THE LEGEND! – You (Chunka Chunka) We’re Glamorous
THE LEGEND! – Melt The Guns
THE REVOLVING PAINT DREAM – Flowers In The Sky
THE REVOLVING PAINT DREAM – In The Afternoon
BIFF BANG POW! – Fifty Years Of Fun
BIFF BANG POW! – Then When I Scream
THE JASMINE MINKS – Think!
THE JASMINE MINKS – Work For Nothing
THE PASTELS – Something Going On
THE PASTELS – Stay With Me Till Morning
THE X-MEN – Do The Ghost
THE X-MEN – Talk
BIFF BANG POW! – There Must Be A Better Life
BIFF BANG POW! – The Chocolate Elephant Man
THE JASMINE MINKS – Where The Traffic Goes
THE JASMINE MINKS – Mr Magic
THE LOFT – Why Does The Rain
THE LOFT – Like
THE LOFT – Winter *
THE LEGEND! – The Legend! Destroys The Blues
THE LEGEND! – Arrogant Bastards
THE X-MEN – Bad Girl
THE PASTELS – Million Tears
THE PASTELS – Surprise Me
THE PASTELS – Baby Honey
* Bonus track

DISC 2: SINGLES
THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN -Upside Down
THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN – Vegetable Man
THE LOFT – Up The Hill And Down The Slope
THE LOFT – Your Door Shines Like Gold
THE LOFT – Lonely Street
THE LOFT – Time
THE BODINES – God Bless
THE BODINES – Paradise
PRIMAL SCREAM – All Fall Down
PRIMAL SCREAM – It Happens
THE JASMINE MINKS – What’s Happening
THE JASMINE MINKS – Black & Blue
MEAT WHIPLASH- Don’t Slip Up
MEAT WHIPLASH – Here It Comes
FIVE GO DOWN TO THE SEA? – Singing In Braille
FIVE GO DOWN TO THE SEA? – Aunt Nelly
FIVE GO DOWN TO THE SEA? – Silk Brain Worm Women
THE MOODISTS – Justice And Money Too
THE MOODISTS – You’ve Got Your Story
THE MOODISTS – Take Us All Home
THE PASTELS – I’m Alright With You
THE PASTELS – Couldn’t Care Less
THE PASTELS – What It’s Worth
BIFF BANG POW! – Love And Hate *
THE WEATHER PROPHETS -Worm In My Brain *
* Bonus tracks

DISC 3: RARITIES & ALBUM
THE LAUGHING APPLE – Participate!
THE LAUGHING APPLE – Wouldn’t You?
THE REVOLVING PAINT DREAM – In The Afternoon (Early Vsn)
THE JASMINE MINKS – The Thirty Second Set Up
THE JASMINE MINKS – Somers Town
BIFF BANG POW! – Fifty Years Of Fun (Almost Live Version)
BIFF BANG POW! – Waterbomb!
J.C. BROUCHARD with BIFF BANG POW! – Someone Stole My Wheels
J.C. BROUCHARD with BIFF BANG POW! – Sunny Days
THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN – Upside Down (Demo Version)
THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN -Just Like Honey (Oct 84 Demo)
THE BODINES – God Bless (Alternative Version)
THE MEMBRANES – I Am Fish Eye
THE MEMBRANES – Gift Of Life
ALIVE IN THE LIVING ROOM:
THE JASMINE MINKS – Seven And Seven Is
THE JUNE BRIDES – I Fall
THE LEGEND! – Arrogant Bastards
THE THREE JOHNS – A.W.O.L.
THE LOFT – Your Door Shines Like Gold
THE MEKONS – Rock’n’Roll Shoes
THE LEGEND! & HIS SWINGING SOUL SISTERS – Sweet Soul Music
THE JASMINE MINKS – Green Fuz
ALTERNATIVE TV – Lonely Lenny

BONUS TRACKS
TELEVISION PERSONALITIES – A Picture Of Dorian Gray (live)
2TELEVISION PERSONALITIES – The Dream Inspires (live) *
TELEVISION PERSONALITIES – Family Affair (live) *
* = previously unissued

DISC 4: DEMOS
THE JASMINE MINKS – All Fall Down *
THE JASMINE MINKS – Work *
THE JASMINE MINKS – Second Post *
THE LEGEND! – Boredom (Is) *
MEAT WHIPLASH – Losing Your Grip *
MEAT WHIPLASH – Always Sunday *
MEAT WHIPLASH – Walk Away *
THE LEGEND! – Victorian Values *
THE X-MEN – Home *
THE X-MEN – Planet Of The X *
THE MOODISTS – The Train From Kansas City *
THE MOODISTS – The Day They All Wake Up *
THE MOODISTS – I Guess I’m Dumb *
THE LEGEND! – Social Protest (By Numbers) *
THE JASMINE MINKS – Mr Magic *
THE JASMINE MINKS – Friends *
THE LEGEND! – Do You Remember *
BIFF BANG POW! – Lost Your Dreams (Demo)
BIFF BANG POW! – I’m Okay Me (Demo)
THE LEGEND! – Picture The Scene *
THE X-MEN – A Tryst For Liszt *
THE X-MEN – Stone Cold One Note Mind *
THE JASMINE MINKS – Choice *
THE JASMINE MINKS – Everybody’s Got To Grow Up Sometime *
* = previously unissued

DISC 5: BBC SESSIONS
THE X-MEN – The Witch (John Peel 13/9/1984)
THE X-MEN – Little Girl (John Peel 13/9/1984)
THE X-MEN – Xtramental (John Peel 13/9/1984)
THE LOFT – On A Tuesday (Janice Long 9/12/1984)
THE LOFT – Skeleton Staircase (Janice Long 9/12/1984)
THE LOFT – The Canal And The Big Red Town (Janice Long 9/12/1984)
THE LOFT – Lonely Street (Janice Long 9/12/1984)
THE MOODISTS – Other Man (John Peel 10/7/85)
THE MOODISTS – Bullet Train (John Peel 10/7/85)
THE MOODISTS – Take The Red Carpet Out Of Town (John Peel 10/7/85)
THE MOODISTS – Justice And Money Too (John Peel 10/7/85)
MEAT WHIPLASH – Loss (John Peel 28/10/1985)
MEAT WHIPLASH – Walk Away (John Peel 28/10/1985)
MEAT WHIPLASH – Eat Me To The Core (John Peel 28/10/1985)
MEAT WHIPLASH – She Comes Tomorrow (John Peel 28/10/1985)
THE BODINES – Scar Tissue (Janice Long 13/10/1985)
THE BODINES – Therese (Janice Long 13/10/1985)
THE BODINES – William Shatner (Janice Long 13/10/1985)
THE BODINES – The Back Door (Janice Long 13/10/1985)

BONUS TRACKS
THE LOFT – Beware (Live)
THE LOFT – Wide Open Arms (Live)
THE LOFT – Worm In My Brain (Live)
THE LOFT – Up The Hill And Down The Slope (Live)

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. 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.

Joni Mitchell “has made remarkable progress”

Michael Bonner
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Joni Mitchell “has made remarkable progress”
Joni Mitchell is now at home and "has made remarkable progress", according to a report. People magazine claim to have obtained court papers filed in Los Angles on July 2 which reveal that Mitchell "is expected to make a full recovery" after suffering a brain aneurysm in late March. In the document...

Joni Mitchell is now at home and “has made remarkable progress”, according to a report.

People magazine claim to have obtained court papers filed in Los Angles on July 2 which reveal that Mitchell “is expected to make a full recovery” after suffering a brain aneurysm in late March.

In the documents, Mitchell’s lawyer Rebecca J. Thyne wrote that she had visited Mitchell at her home in California on June 26.

“When I arrived she was seated at her kitchen table feeding herself lunch,” Thyne wrote.

“She also told me that she receives excellent care from caregivers round-the-clock,” Thyne continued. “It was clear that she was happy to be home and that she has made remarkable progress. She has physical therapy each day and is expected to make a full recovery.”

The most recent official statement regards Mitchell’s health came on June 28, 2015 through the artist’s official website: “Joni is speaking, and she’s speaking well. She is not walking yet, but she will be in the near future as she is undergoing daily therapies. She is resting comfortably in her own home and she’s getting better each day. A full recovery is expected.”

In an interview with The Huffington Post published a few days earlier [June 26, 2015], David Crosby had voiced concerns about Mitchell’s health, revealing that Mitchell “is home, she is in care, she is in recovery. How that’s going to go, we don’t know yet. She took a terrible hit. She had an aneurysm, and nobody found her for a while. And she’s going to have to struggle back from it the way you struggle back from a traumatic brain injury.”

Mitchell, 71, was found unconscious in her Los Angeles home on March 31. She was admitted to an area hospital after which conflicting reports emerged concerning her responsiveness.

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. 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.

Introducing… The History Of Rock

John Mulvey
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Introducing… The History Of Rock
The big news yesterday, that my old home the NME would be undergoing a major brand transformation, was greeted with a lot of nostalgic meditations over yellowing old newspapers. Whenever I had a look at Twitter, people on my timeline were tweeting their favourite NME covers: no-one, as far as I coul...

The big news yesterday, that my old home the NME would be undergoing a major brand transformation, was greeted with a lot of nostalgic meditations over yellowing old newspapers. Whenever I had a look at Twitter, people on my timeline were tweeting their favourite NME covers: no-one, as far as I could see, picked one of the stranger highlights of my career there, when we put Godspeed! You Black Emperor – or rather, a gothically intense Godspeed quote – on the front page.

It’s a serendipitous time, anyhow, for us to unveil our own little publishing revolution. This Thursday, the first edition of The History Of Rock hits newsstands in the UK, though you can already buy it online here. It’s the first in a new monthly series that draws from the archives of NME and Melody Maker to discover how the key stories of rock’s golden years were told at the time. For anyone who’s interested in musical history, or indeed the history of music journalism, we hope it’ll be an essential read: we’re splashing out on some notably lavish production values for each issue, so that they feel even more rich and collectable. What was yesterday’s fish and chip paper has become, magically, today’s luxurious encyclopaedias.

Our story starts with a look at the momentous events of 1965. Here’s John Robinson, who’s doing all the heavy editorial lifting on The History Of Rock, and has become kind of besotted with the hip catchphrase “LP Winner!”, to introduce his handiwork…

“Welcome to 1965. As the year dawns, the personalities who will define much of the music of the next 50 years – be that The Beatles, Bob Dylan, or the Rolling Stones – are all still in their early 20s. They are already working at an extremely high level, producing classic work like “Help”, “Highway 61” and “Satisfaction”. In their wake, a second wave of innovators are busy determining their own paths, inspired by the work of others (“they knocked us out” is a phrase you’ll read a lot) and their own unique visions.

“The music writers of New Musical Express and Melody Maker were there with them all. These were not by any means the faintly dandyish figures of the following decades. Rather, these were diligent newspapermen with musical leanings; dedicated record “trade” professionals who uncovered pivotal detail by their fastidious reporting of music events. They skilfully captured the major personalities up close, at a time where music – and along with it, music writing – was undergoing rapid change.

“This is the world of The History Of Rock, a new monthly magazine and ongoing project which which reaps the benefits of this access for the reader decades later, one year at a time. In the pages of this first edition, dedicated to 1965, you will find verbatim articles from frontline staffers, compiled into long and illuminating reads. You will be present as enduring reputations (“the witty Beatles”; “the battling Kinks”) are formed, but also to discover fascinating byways off the main track.

“You will recognize many of the names, faces and places here, but you’ve perhaps never quite seen them quite so innocently, or so intimately in their time. Here, Carnaby Street is still a fashionable destination. A Rickenbacker guitar, as advertised by John Lennon, will cost you 150 guineas. Andrew Loog Oldham seems to have a hand in everything. America? America is spoken of as an extremely remote place indeed, and a sense of spirited transatlantic competition thrives in the language of much of the reporting.

“What may surprise the modern reader most is the access to, and the sheer volume of material supplied by the artists who are now the giants of popular culture. Now, a combination of wealth, fear and lifestyle would conspire to keep reporters at a rather greater length from the lives of musicians.

“At this stage, however, representatives from New Musical Express and Melody Maker are where it matters. At John Lennon’s dinner table. Being serenaded by John Coltrane in his hotel room. In a TV studio with the Rolling Stones.

“Join them there. You’ll be knocked out!”

The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson

Michael Bonner
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The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson
Julien Temple’s new film about Wilko Johnson takes its title from an unexpected state of euphoria the guitarist first experienced walking home after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. As he explains, Johnson felt “vividly alive… everything was tingling… present, future, past, it was all...

Julien Temple’s new film about Wilko Johnson takes its title from an unexpected state of euphoria the guitarist first experienced walking home after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. As he explains, Johnson felt “vividly alive… everything was tingling… present, future, past, it was all concentrated down into that moment.”

Since being given 10 months to live in January 2013, Johnson admits he has never felt so good. Indeed, Temple’s follow-up to Oil City Confidential finds Johnson reflecting on his life and current circumstances with gleeful aplomb. Indeed, for much of the film, Johnson quite literally looks death in the face: in a nod to Ingmar Bergman’s film The Seventh Seal, Temple shoots Johnson on the jetty at his native Canvey Island, recounting his extraordinary story over a game of chess with a hooded opponent. Footage from A Matter Of Life And Death, Hamlet At Elsinore, Nosferatu and Orphée offer complimentary views on death, meanwhile readings from Traherne, Marlowe, Blake and Milton underscore Johnson’s former career as an English teacher. “It takes eight and a half hours with a break for lunch to read Paradise Lost,” he mentions in passing.

While some of the film inevitably overlaps with Oil City Confidential – in particular, the histories of Canvey and Johnson’s old band, Dr Feelgood – the focus is on Johnson and his own wide-ranging interests, including astronomy and Viking lore. Naturally, it is inspiring stuff. Given his deadline, Johnson embarks on a farewell tour, beginning in Japan – “a great piece of showbusiness,” he observes approvingly. “Everybody’s crying and that. It’s fantastic!” A final encore of “Johnny B Goode” assumes talismanic properties. An album with Roger Daltrey is hastily convened and becomes a success: Johnson finds himself on the chat show circuit. It seems, despite the circumstances, tremendous fun.

But although there is a happy ending – dear reader, he lives! – at the same time Johnson’s survival presents another set of problems. The life-saving surgery leaves him a diabetic; the mental impact of surviving is equally stressful, as he wrestles with loneliness and melancholia. Johnson’s conclusion – “I wasn’t supposed to be here at all, so it’s all a bonus” – at least provides an uplifting coda to Temple’s film.

Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. 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 Rolling Stones reportedly readying next archival release…

Michael Bonner
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The Rolling Stones reportedly readying next archival release…
The Rolling Stones are reportedly readying the next archival release in their From The Vault series. This latest addition is dedicated to the band's Hyde Park concert from July 5, 1969, reports the Superdeluxeedition website. DVD and Blu-ray editions are currently listed on Amazon.com and also Ama...

The Rolling Stones are reportedly readying the next archival release in their From The Vault series.

This latest addition is dedicated to the band’s Hyde Park concert from July 5, 1969, reports the Superdeluxeedition website.

DVD and Blu-ray editions are currently listed on Amazon.com and also Amazon’s Canadian site.

The release date on both Amazon sites is listed as July 24, 2015.

From The Vault consists of live concerts from the Stones which are getting their first official release. Previous releases have included shows from LA Forum in 1975 and Hampton Coliseum in 1981.

The most recent title was the band’s Marquee club show on March 26, 1971, shortly before the release of Sticky Fingers.

Superdeluxeedition flags up that the Stones’ Hyde Park show was originally from British TV and has previously been available on both DVD and Blu-ray in the UK.

It was also included in the US and Japanese versions of the Sweet Summer Sun deluxe edition.

As yet, there is no confirmed UK release date; nor is it known whether this release will be available on vinyl and CD, as per the previous releases in the series.

The Stones recently released a recording of their Sticky Fingers club gig, from May 20, 2015, on iTunes.

The band have also recently announced their first career-spanning exhibition.

EXHIBITIONISM will run from April 6 2016 – September 2016 at London’s Saatchi Gallery, where it will occupy nine themed galleries spread across two entire floors.

EXHIBITIONISM includes over 500 artefacts and will include original stage designs, dressing room and backstage paraphernalia; rare guitars and instruments, costumes, rare audio tracks and unseen video clips; personal diaries and correspondence; original poster and album cover artwork, and unique cinematic presentations.

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. 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.

Dead Weather announce new album, Dodge & Burn

Michael Bonner
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Dead Weather announce new album, Dodge & Burn
The Dead Weather have announced details of their new album, Dodge & Burn. The album will be released in September 2015 on Third Man Records. It will feature eight new songs alongside four previously released tracks that have been remixed and remastered for this album. "Open Up (That's Enough)...

The Dead Weather have announced details of their new album, Dodge & Burn.

The album will be released in September 2015 on Third Man Records.

It will feature eight new songs alongside four previously released tracks that have been remixed and remastered for this album.

“Open Up (That’s Enough)“, Rough Detective”, “Buzzkill(er)” and “It’s Just Too Bad” were previously available as subscription-only 7″s.

Dodge & Burn will be released in a limited edition Vault Package via Third Man.

The Dodge & Burn Vault Package will include:

A limited edition Dodge & Burn LP on Inclement Weather vinyl (opaque yellow with black ‘debris’) housed in a soft-touch embossed sleeve featuring metallic ink and a Vault-exclusive alternate cover designed by Rob Jones.

The only physical version of the new Dead Weather 7″ and single from Dodge & Burn on yellow vinyl with black debris.

A deck of custom Dead Weather playing cards designed by Silent Giants featuring the band members as the King, Queen, Jack and Joker. Previously released in limited numbers and now, due to popular demand, re-issued for the Vault only with new packaging artwork, also featuring a limited edition bonus poster inside.

Subscriptions for Vault Package are open until July 31, click here to register.

The full track listing and release date for the album will be confirmed shortly.

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. Click here for more details.

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, the Only Ones, Flying Saucer Attack, Ezra Furman and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Watch footage from the opening night of Neil Young’s new tour + set list revealed!

Michael Bonner
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Watch footage from the opening night of Neil Young’s new tour + set list revealed!
Neil Young and Promise Of The Real kicked off their Rebel Content tour last night [July 5, 2015] at Marcus Amphitheatre, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The show was part of Milwaukee's annual Summerfest event. A full review of the show appears on the website for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which reports th...

Neil Young and Promise Of The Real kicked off their Rebel Content tour last night [July 5, 2015] at Marcus Amphitheatre, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The show was part of Milwaukee’s annual Summerfest event.

A full review of the show appears on the website for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which reports that two people dressed as farmers tossed seeds onto the stage and watered sunflowers before Young opened the show at the piano with “After The Gold Rush“.

He played the first five song solo – including “Heart Of Gold“, “Old Man” and “Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)” – before he was joined by Promise Of The Real.

The 28-song set drew heavily from Young’s latest album, The Monsanto Years, as well as Harvest and Harvest Moon.

He also performed Ragged Glory track, “White Line”, live for only the sixth time; he had previously played it during a club gig in Charley’s Restaurant And Saloon, Paia, Maui, Hawaii, in May.

Other rare cuts included the first performance of “Don’t Be Denied” for 12 years and Greendale’s “Double E” both for the encore.

Click here to read our review of The Monsanto Years

The next stop on Young’s tour will be at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, Colorado on July 8 and 9.

Neil Young and Promise Of The Real played:

After The Gold Rush
Heart Of Gold
Long May You Run
Old Man
Mother Earth
Hold Back The Tears
Out On The Weekend
Unknown Legend
Peace Of Mind
Field Of Opportunity
Wolf Moon
Harvest Moon
Words
Flying On The Ground Is Wrong
Walk On
People Want To Hear About Love
A New Day For Love
Down By The River
Big Box
A Rock Star Bucks A Coffee Shop
White Line
Workin’ Man
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Monsanto Years
If I Don’t Know
Love And Only Love

Encore:
Don’t Be Denied
Double E

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. Click here for more details.

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, the Only Ones, Flying Saucer Attack, Ezra Furman and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Rickie Lee Jones – The Other Side Of Desire

Nigel Williamson
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Rickie Lee Jones – The Other Side Of Desire
When Uncut last caught up with Rickie Lee Jones in 2012, she cheerfully admitted to suffering from writer’s block. “That’s why I keep recording albums of cover versions!” she breezily announced, seemingly unbothered by not having written any new material since 2003’s The Evening Of My Best...

When Uncut last caught up with Rickie Lee Jones in 2012, she cheerfully admitted to suffering from writer’s block. “That’s why I keep recording albums of cover versions!” she breezily announced, seemingly unbothered by not having written any new material since 2003’s The Evening Of My Best Day, and gamely plugging The Devil You Know, her second covers collection of the millennium. Since then, she’s moved to New Orleans and kicking back in the Big Easy has set the creative juices flowing again. She now lives on the street made famous by Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire – an address celebrated in the title of her first LP of new songs in a dozen years.

The scuffed up honesty and humanity of post-Katrina New Orleans (she calls it “a city of people who do not try to escape the gravity”) has also permeated the songs. “Singing is acting,” she told Uncut three years ago. But on the 11 new compositions here there is no sense that she is playing a part; the ‘beret and badass bravado’ have gone and she’s singing from the heart. “New Orleans has washed out any affectation,” she blogged while recording the album. “It’s streaming through my own filters, I am not dressing it ‘in the style of’; there is no pretence here in the Crescent City.”

Working on a limited, crowd-funded budget in what Jones calls “an outrageously optimistic amount of time to create a record” represents another break with the past for an artist who was notorious for taking months in the studio (she spent $250,000 recording 1981’s Pirates, an eye-watering sum at the time, even if not quite in the league of Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk).

Jones has always been something of an auteur, but for the first time in her career, confesses to feeling she was “not in charge” during the recording of The Other Side Of Desire, trusting producers John Porter (Roxy Music) and Daniel Lanois’ longtime amanuensis Mark Howard to mould and shape a compelling set of ripe and mature songs into an arrestingly ambitious musical journey, rich in sonic adventure and detail. The opener “Jimmy Choos” is a classic Jones narrative about an expensively dressed woman sitting on a rooftop and throwing bottles at the cops below. “You don’t have to tell me about giving up… someone loves you tonight,” she sings with palpable warmth and compassion over a simmering rhythm that calls to mind another great revenant New Orleans album, Dylan’s Oh Mercy.

The country two-step shuffle “Valtz De Mon Père” could have fitted on Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball, another Lanois/Howard landmark production. “J’ai Connais Pas”, a Waits-like tale of low-life set in a bar, taps deep into the city’s musical history, sung over a walking Fats Domino piano riff. “Blinded By The Hunt” is a slinky slice of secular Southern gospel, a sister song, perhaps, to Matthew E White’s “Will You Love Me”, and sung in a voice that evokes Brittany Howard. “Infinity” floats on a Blue Nile-style chimerical gauze as Jones describes a metaphysical dream riding “a wave through space”. “I Wasn’t Here” changes the mood again, Wizard Of Oz cuteness filtered via a Cerys Matthews pop-charm as Jones’ multi-tracked little-girl vocals dance seductively over an exquisite string arrangement. “Christmas In New Orleans” is a Southern answer to “Fairytale Of New York”, with which it shares a melody to an extent that might excite the interest of Shane MacGowan’s lawyers. “Feet On The Ground” is an achingly beautiful minor-key meditation on damage and loss, but leavened by a heavenly Philly-soul chorus. The album ends enigmatically but exquisitely with a half-sung, half-spoken poem, “A Spider In The Circus Of The Falling Star”, Jones’ voice eerily multi-tracked over a haunting sousaphone.It’s not only Jones’ most absorbing album since 1997’s beats-drenched Ghostyhead, but a record that crowns her career, not as an end but as a culmination.

Q+A
Rickie Lee Jones
What got the creative juices flowing again after such a prolonged period of writer’s block? The juices are probably always flowing, they ebb and flow. But I had nothing to write about or didn’t have the impetus. My decision to write again was a process. I can decide I want to write, then I have to search for what my inner voice wants to discuss. I don’t know why I’m not prolific. I guess it’s a process I treasure so much that I deny it to myself.

How has living in New Orleans shaped the songs?
I used New Orleans as the launch pad thematically. I get tired of abstract ideas and talking about myself. I wanted something concrete. I came here and made a new life. There is nowhere like this in the world. To move from Los Angeles to New Orleans at the age of 58 was a pretty big deal for me. Then the move was the catalyst for a better feeling about life, which in turn made room to write.

How do you respond to the description of the songs as ‘ripe’ and ‘mature’ – ‘thank you’ or ‘how dare you’?
I’m gonna pass! It doesn’t really matter, does it? We work with a few more elements and use every moment, every chance we have to speak with one another to make the world a better place and teach ourselves something.
INTERVIEW: NIGEL WILLIAMSON

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. Click here for more details.

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, the Only Ones, Flying Saucer Attack, Ezra Furman and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Hear rare David Bowie track unavailable since 1971

Michael Bonner
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Hear rare David Bowie track unavailable since 1971
Ahead of the release of David Bowie's Five Years 1969-1973 box set, The Guardian are hosting a version of "Holy Holy" that has been unavailable since 1971. Click here to listen to it. The version of "Holy Holy" appears on Re:Call 1, a 2-disc compilation of rarities including non-album singles, sin...

Ahead of the release of David Bowie‘s Five Years 1969-1973 box set, The Guardian are hosting a version of “Holy Holy” that has been unavailable since 1971.

Click here to listen to it.

The version of “Holy Holy” appears on Re:Call 1, a 2-disc compilation of rarities including non-album singles, single versions & b-sides.

The Guardian reports that this version of “Holy Holy” was originally released as single in January 1971. It was recorded with the members of Blue Mink in November 1970, after The Man Who Sold The World sessions had finished. A new, faster version of the song was recorded in 1971, but remained unreleased until appearing as the B-side of Diamond Dogs in 1974. It has been unavailable since then.

David Bowie Five Years 1969 – 1973 will be available across a number of formats: as a 12 CD box set, a 13 album vinyl set pressed on audiophile 180g vinyl and digital download.

David Bowie Five Years 1969 – 1973 tracklisting:

6 Original Studio Albums:
David Bowie AKA Space Oddity*
The Man Who Sold The World*
Hunky Dory*
The Rise and Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
Aladdin Sane
PinUps*
(*New 2015 Remasters)

2 Live Albums:
Live Santa Monica ‘72
Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture Soundtrack

Exclusive To All Sets:
Re:Call 1
The Rise and Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (2003 mix)

Re:Call 1 – Track Listing
CD1
Space Oddity (original UK mono single edit)*
Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (original UK mono single version)*
Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola
The Prettiest Star (original mono single version)*
Conversation Piece*
Memory Of A Free Festival (Part 1)
Memory Of A Free Festival (Part 2)
All The Madmen (mono single edit)*
Janine*
Holy Holy (original mono single version)*
Moonage Daydream (The Arnold Corns single version)*
Hang On To Yourself (The Arnold Corns single version)*

CD 2
Changes (mono single version)*
Andy Warhol (mono single version)*
Starman (original single mix)
John, I’m Only Dancing (original single version)
The Jean Genie (original single mix)
Drive-In Saturday (German single edit)
Round And Round
John, I’m Only Dancing (sax version)
Time (U.S. single edit)
Amsterdam
Holy Holy (Spiders version)
Velvet Goldmine
All tracks stereo except *mono.

David Bowie Five Years 1969 – 1973 is released by Parlophone Records on September 25.

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. Click here for more details.

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, the Only Ones, Flying Saucer Attack, Ezra Furman and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

President Obama pays tribute to “iconic” Grateful Dead

Michael Bonner
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President Obama pays tribute to “iconic” Grateful Dead
President Barack Obama has paid tribute to the Grateful Dead with a message congratulating the group on their 50th anniversary and enduring legacy. According to a report on Relix, Obama's message appeared on the cover of the programme for the band's final tour dates. "Here's to fifty years of the ...

President Barack Obama has paid tribute to the Grateful Dead with a message congratulating the group on their 50th anniversary and enduring legacy.

According to a report on Relix, Obama’s message appeared on the cover of the programme for the band’s final tour dates.

“Here’s to fifty years of the Grateful Dead, an iconic American band that embodies the creativity, passion and ability to bring people together that makes American music so great,” Obama wrote. “Enjoy this weekend’s celebration of your fans and legacy. And as Jerry [Garcia] would say, ‘Let there be songs to fill the air.'”

The Grateful Dead finished their Fare Thee Well run – featuring the surviving “core four” of Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann paired with Jeff Chimenti, Phish’s Trey Anastasio and keyboardist Bruce Hornsby – last night [July 5, 2015].

Rolling Stone flags up Obama’s connection to the Grateful Dead. They report that Weir, Lesh and Hart reunited for the first time in four years to perform at “Deadheads for Obama” in February 2008. Later that year, in October 2008, the Dead once again reunited – this time with Kreutzmann – to perform at an Obama rally in Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, following on from our exclusive live version of “Viola Lee Blues”, at the band’s October 10, 1967 show at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, we’re delighted to offer you more exclusive Grateful Dead goodies. Click here to watch it.

This time, get ready for a live version of “Shakedown Street” recorded in 1981 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

This exclusive live track is taken from 30 Trips Around The Sun: The Definitive Live Story 1965-1995, a four disc set containing previously unreleased live performances from the Dead’s archive, which is released on September 18 by Rhino.

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. Click here for more details.

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, the Only Ones, Flying Saucer Attack, Ezra Furman and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Morrissey announces UK live dates

Michael Bonner
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Morrissey announces UK live dates
Morrissey has announced live dates for September. He'll play: Hull, Hull Arena (September 18) London, Eventim Hammersmith Apollo (September 20, 21) Tickets go on sale on Friday, July 10, 2015. Morrissey is currently on tour in north America. He recently bemoaned the lack of label interest at hi...

Morrissey has announced live dates for September.

He’ll play:

Hull, Hull Arena (September 18)
London, Eventim Hammersmith Apollo (September 20, 21)

Tickets go on sale on Friday, July 10, 2015.

Morrissey is currently on tour in north America.

He recently bemoaned the lack of label interest at his New York show at Madison Square Garden on Saturday June 27, 2015.

Writing on the quasi-official fansite, True To You, he described the New York show as “fantastic!… and … of course … zero label interest … a sad sign of the times”.

The show also garnered controversy by selling meat dishes at the show.

Morrissey reportedly claimed that the venue accepted his wishes for no meat to be served at his show, with Madison Square Garden duly delivering on their agreement by serving only veggie and vegan food to standard ticket holders.

However, as The Gothamist reports, corporate suite guests were exempt to such rules. An attendee named Jessica Pearson informed the publication that platters of chicken, meatballs and sushi were served to guests in the VIP boxes.

“This weekend I attended the Morrissey show at Madison Square Garden,” she said. “Moz proudly announced that it was a historic day as Madison Square Garden went fully Vegan. Turns out it was vegan everywhere BUT the corporate suites.”

Pearson continued to claim: “MSG offered up House Made Meatball Sliders, Hill Country Brisket Sandwiches, Cereal-Crusted Chicken Fingers, and Fresh Sushi Platters. Friends on the main floor ate vegan hot dogs. Thought you would find it amusing — though I’m sure Mr Morrissey will not.”

A statement from Madison Square Garden reads: “We changed the menu in the public areas for the show on Saturday night and didn’t make the same changes in the private areas. This was an oversight and will be fixed the next time.”

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. Click here for more details.

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, the Only Ones, Flying Saucer Attack, Ezra Furman and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Uncut’s 25 best lost films

Tom Pinnock
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Uncut’s 25 best lost films
Here, then, is our list of the greatest lost films, featuring work that’s fallen off the radar by such fabled directors as Stanley Kubrick, Robert Altman, Billy Wilder, Francis Ford Coppola, Lindsay Anderson, Orson Welles, John Huston and Jean-Luc Godard. This being Uncut, even Bob Dylan has made ...

Here, then, is our list of the greatest lost films, featuring work that’s fallen off the radar by such fabled directors as Stanley Kubrick, Robert Altman, Billy Wilder, Francis Ford Coppola, Lindsay Anderson, Orson Welles, John Huston and Jean-Luc Godard. This being Uncut, even Bob Dylan has made our extraordinary list.

As you’ll discover, many of these films are hard to find because they’re tangled up in labyrinthine rights issues. Some have been suppressed by the director or the studio, while others have simply disappeared off the map entirely, too “obscure” to warrant a DVD, Blu-ray or Special Edition like the latest blockbuster. Ironically, in this digital age, a 20-odd year old VHS cassette is often the only format in which these brilliant movies can be located. But we think they’re all worth seeing – perhaps at film festivals, online, or most likely late at night on a satellite movie channel like TCM.

Where to begin? Why not with a film deemed so controversial it has been airbrushed out of existence by its studio – Disney…

Originally published in Uncut’s July 2010 issue (Take 158), and updated in July 2015. (We define a ‘lost’ film as one you can’t buy new, whether as an officially released DVD, Blu-ray or download. However, due to the often complicated nature of film rights ownership, licensing deals, sales territories and release schedules, some films can appear to be “officially available” one week and then not the next. Let’s make it clear, then: all information is correct at time of going to press…)

______________________

25 SONG OF THE SOUTH
Directors: Wilfred Jackson and Harve Foster
Starring: Ruth Warrick, Bobby Driscoll, James Baskett (USA, 1946)
Disney is famous for operating a system of ‘limited edition’ DVD runs of its catalogue (Bambi, for example, is also currently unavailable), but Song Of The South has never been part of that schedule. Wary of racial controversy, the studio has practically airbrushed the film from its own history; according to rumour, a DVD release was last considered – and swiftly rejected – in 2006. Little Bobby Driscoll plays a lonely white kid on a plantation. When he runs away, Baskett’s Uncle Remus, a former slave, tricks him into going home by spinning him tales of Brer Rabbit. This was Disney’s finest early attempt at mixing live action and animation, but even in the 1940s caused outrage for its picture-book presentation of the rabid Old South as an idyllic paradise, and for its beyond stereotypical depiction of black characters – screenings were picketed by the NAACP. But then Song Of The South is also the movie that has Baskett singing “Zip A Dee Doo Da”, surely one of the most popular songs in all of Disney, a bluebird on his shoulder. Could we give that up?
Expect to pay: My oh my, it’s a VHS or nothing! £20, maybe?

______________________

24 HIDE IN PLAIN SIGHT
Director: James Caan,
Starring: James Caan, Jane Eikenberry, Robert Viharo (USA, 1980)
By the end of the ’70s, Caan’s career was in freefall, due to a series of high-profile flops and an almost irrational arrogance that saw him turn down starring roles in Apocalypse Now, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Superman and Kramer Vs Kramer. People simply stopped asking him to be in their films, so he decided to make his own. He had promising material to work with here – the true story of a divorced factory worker’s attempt to find his children, who disappeared into the Witness Protection Programme when their stepfather testified against Mob associates. Caan, however, didn’t seem to know what kind of film he was making, and mixed blue collar realism with conspiracy thriller paranoia. He was good in it, and you wanted to see what he did next. But the film bombed and Caan, after starring in Michael Mann’s Thief, and by then battling bankruptcy and cocaine addiction, vanished from the screen for five years before making a comeback in Coppola’s Gardens Of Stone. He never directed again, and this has never been reissued.
Expect to pay: £20 – and that’s for a 30-year-old VHS cassette!

The 23rd Uncut Playlist Of 2015

John Mulvey
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The 23rd Uncut Playlist Of 2015
Still pretty hooked on the Four Tet album and the Kompakt comp this week; apart from anything else, both very powerful working soundtracks for hot weather. Ditto a strong late arrival from Duane Pitre, which completes a trilogy with his last couple of albums ("Feel Free" and "Bridges") and confirms ...

Still pretty hooked on the Four Tet album and the Kompakt comp this week; apart from anything else, both very powerful working soundtracks for hot weather. Ditto a strong late arrival from Duane Pitre, which completes a trilogy with his last couple of albums (“Feel Free” and “Bridges”) and confirms him once again as my favourite – and most nuanced – drone artist out there at the moment.

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

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. Click here for more details.

1 Four Tet – Morning/Evening (Text)

2 Various Artists – Total 15 (Kompakt)

3 Mercury Rev – The Light In You (Bella Union)

4 Natural Information Society & Bitchin Bajas – Autoimaginary (Drag City)

5 Bilal – In Another Life (BBE)

6 Gwenno – Y Dydd Olaf (Heavenly)

7 Alif – Aynama-Rtama (Nawa Recordings)

8 Wand – 1000 Days (Drag City)

9 Phil Cook – Southland Mission (Thirty Tigers)

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

11 Dungen – Allas Sak (Smalltown Supersound)

12 Duane Pitre – Bayou Electric (Important)

13 Master Musicians Of Bukkake – Further West Quad Cult (Important)

14 Alela Diane & Ryan Francesconi – The Sun Today (Believe Recordings)

15 Craig Finn – Faith In The Future (Partisan)

16 Blondes – Persuasion (RVNG INTL)

17 Uncut’s next free CD

18 Jamie xx – In Colour (Young Turks)

Own your own Nick Cave doll!

Michael Bonner
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Own your own Nick Cave doll!
A new range of Nick Cave dolls will go on sale at this year's ComicCon event. The dolls have been produced by LA-based pop artist Plasticgod and will be available in a series of six different models, each tailored to a specific Cave song. Pitchfork reports that each toy will be on sale from July 9...

A new range of Nick Cave dolls will go on sale at this year’s ComicCon event.

The dolls have been produced by LA-based pop artist Plasticgod and will be available in a series of six different models, each tailored to a specific Cave song.

Pitchfork reports that each toy will be on sale from July 9 and retail for $40 in a limited edition of 200.

“Red Right Hand”, “Into My Arms”, “Tupelo”, “Ship Song” and two dolls for “Babe, You Turn Me On“, one of which glows in the dark.

In other intriguing Cave miscellany, earlier this year teamed up with Australian skateboarding company Fast Times to produce his own official skateboard.

More recently, Cave and Warren Ellis released their latest film soundtrack.

The score for Loin Des Hommes is the duo’s latest soundtrack collaboration, which previously included The Proposition (2005), The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007), The Road (2009) and Lawless (2012).

A compilation of their previous soundtrack work, White Lunar, was released in 2009.

Loin Des Hommes (Far From Men) is French drama starring Viggo Mortensen and directed by David Oelhoffen.

Meanwhile, you can watch Bongwater’s strangely prescient “Nick Cave Dolls” below…

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. Click here for more details.

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, the Only Ones, Flying Saucer Attack, Ezra Furman and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Watch Bruce Springsteen sing Beach Boys classics with Brian Wilson

Michael Bonner
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Watch Bruce Springsteen sing Beach Boys classics with Brian Wilson
Bruce Springsteen joined Brian Wilson on stage in Holmdel, New Jersey on Wednesday, July 1, 2015. Wilson was appearing at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel as part of his current tour. Springsteen joined Wilson on stage to perform Beach Boys' classics, "Barbara Ann" and "Surfin' USA". https://w...

Bruce Springsteen joined Brian Wilson on stage in Holmdel, New Jersey on Wednesday, July 1, 2015.

Wilson was appearing at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel as part of his current tour.

Springsteen joined Wilson on stage to perform Beach Boys’ classics, “Barbara Ann” and “Surfin’ USA“.

Meanwhile, Brian Wilson recently postponed his scheduled UK tour due to commitments in America.

The UK tour was planned for September 2015, but Wilson has now decided to postpone the dates due to the success of the biopic, Love And Mercy.

The rescheduled shows will now take place in 2016, with a string of concerts to mark the 50th anniversary of Pet Sounds.

Critically, they will also be Wilson’s last European dates.

Said Wilson in the statement, “I’m sorry I won’t be able to make these shows this year, but I look forward to seeing all my fans in 2016 to help me celebrate 50 years of Pet Sounds. This will be my final European tour. I hope you all enjoy my movie when it opens in the UK on July 10, I’ll see you all soon, Best Brian.”

Click here to read our review of Love And Mercy. The film stars John Cusack, Paul Dano and Elizabeth Banks and tells the story of two periods of Wilson’s life in the 1960s and 1980s.

Wilson released his latest album, No Pier Pressure, on April 6 through Virgin EMI. The album featured collaborations with Al Jardine, David Marks and Jim Keltner as well as M Ward and Zooey Deschanel.

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. Click here for more details.

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, the Only Ones, Flying Saucer Attack, Ezra Furman and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Super rare Bob Dylan test pressing up for sale…

Michael Bonner
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Super rare Bob Dylan test pressing up for sale…
A rare test pressing of Bob Dylan's album Blood On The Tracks is up for sale. Los Angeles store, Ameoba Music, is selling the record for $12,000 (£7,600). The copy is one of only five test pressings known to exist of an early pressing of the album, dubbed the "New York" version. The pressing inc...

A rare test pressing of Bob Dylan‘s album Blood On The Tracks is up for sale.

Los Angeles store, Ameoba Music, is selling the record for $12,000 (£7,600).

The copy is one of only five test pressings known to exist of an early pressing of the album, dubbed the “New York” version.

The pressing includes four previously unreleased takes of songs from the album (“Lily, Rosemary & The Jack Of Hearts”, “Idiot Wind”, “If You See Her, Say Hello” and “Tangled Up In Blue”), plus an alternate version of “You’re A Big Girl Now”.

According to Amoeba, “The story goes that in the fall of 1974, Bob Dylan went home for the holidays with a copy of his newly recorded album Blood On The Tracks, which was set to release in weeks…

“Upon listening to the record, which was recorded at A&R Recording in New York, Dylan’s brother, David Zimmerman, suggested that Dylan re-record some of the songs because too many sounded the same. Dylan then stopped production of the album to re-record half of it at Sound 80 in Minneapolis with different musicians, ending up with a 10-song album evenly split between the two sessions.

“The ultra rare pressing was made at a Columbia Records plant in Santa Maria, Calif.”

Here’s the “New York” version of “Tangled Up In Blue”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x-0aECsy98

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. Click here for more details.

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, the Only Ones, Flying Saucer Attack, Ezra Furman and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Hustlers Convention

Stephen Dalton
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Hustlers Convention
In 1973, Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, one-time acupuncturist, US Army paratrooper and founding member of The Last Poets, recorded his debut solo album. Released under the alias Lightnin’ Rod, the album – Hustlers Convention – was mired in bad luck and bad business. While the genre’s pioneers – G...

In 1973, Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, one-time acupuncturist, US Army paratrooper and founding member of The Last Poets, recorded his debut solo album. Released under the alias Lightnin’ Rod, the album – Hustlers Convention – was mired in bad luck and bad business. While the genre’s pioneers – Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, Fab 5 Freddie and others – embraced it, nevertheless protracted legal issues held it back from mainstream success. Widely sampled since, its admirers cite it as an underground classic, and the recognition the album and its creator deserve is long overdue.

The story of Nurridin and his album are taken up by British director Mike Todd in this partly crowdfunded documentary. Clearly a low-budget passion project, although it lacks the cinematic gloss of comparable retro-themed rockumentaries like Searching For Sugar Man the heavyweight list of talking-head cameos here attests to the project’s cultural importance. Todd interviews famous fans and commentators including George Clinton, Melle Mel, Fab 5 Freddie, KRS-One, Ice-T, MC Lyte, Greil Marcus, Nelson George and Chuck D, who is also credited as executive producer on the film. Nuriddin himself, now a senior citizen who speaks in effortless rhyme almost constantly, is also an engagingly laidback star presence.

Nuriddin made Hustlers Convention with Alan Douglas, The Last Poets regular producer whose other credits included Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis. A vivid Blaxploitation-style narrative about living large and paying a heavy price, the album tells the story of two brothers, Sport and Spoon, whose visit to the eponymous gathering of pimps and high-rollers ends in a dramatic showdown with the police. Full of verbal dexterity and superfly imagery, the story ends with Sport on Death Row reflecting on where his life went wrong. Nuriddin laid down the bling-heavy gangsta blueprint, though his cautionary message about the deadly downside of thug life clearly got lost in translation.

Todd’s film frames the album in historical and cultural context: from the civil rights struggle to the Black Panthers, from African oral tradition to “jail toast” convict rhymes, from the Harlem-based Black Arts Movement of the 1960s to the Rudy Ray Moore’s bawdy Dolemite movies of the 1970s. “If you were 14 years old and trying to understand the streets, it was sort of like a verbal Bible,” recalls Chuck D. “It was the seedy side of life told in an eloquent way,” confirms Douglas. The producer assembled a starry guest list of musicians to provide backing for Nuriddin on Hustlers Convention, including Billy Preston and Kool and the Gang. The latter offered their services following a chance encounter in a neighbouring studio, but no paperwork was signed and the band’s manager later raised objections. The United Artists label consequently got cold feet about promoting the album, fearing a messy legal battle. Hustlers Convention was a commercial flop but enjoyed a long cult afterlife, with some hip-hop historians claiming it went on to sell a million copies on word of mouth alone.

The Mancunian Todd gives the story a strong British dimension. After playing with The Last Poets in Liverpool in the 1980s, Nuriddin spent several years living in the city. Just last year, he finally performed the Hustlers Convention album live for the first time at London’s Jazz Cafe, and Todd captures that performance on film. DJ Gilles Peterson and poet Lemn Sissay are among the Brit acolytes giving testimony on camera.

But there remain some fuzzy gaps in this story. Nuriddin’s intriguing English exile is never fully explained. Nor is there much insight into what he has been doing musically and personally for the last four decades. At 71, he appears to live in a pleasant but modest retirement community in small-town Georgia. “I chose the message over the money,” he shrugs, insisting he never made a penny from Hustlers Convention. Even so, he still harbours ambitions to complete two unreleased sequels, Hustlers Detention and Hustlers Ascension. The film touches on these basic details, but leaves them unexamined. Todd deserves ample respect for fanboy dedication, but not much for journalistic rigour.

Hustlers Convention follows an all too familiar narrative arc for African-American artists, one of early promise compromised by ill fortune and bad business decisions. But for all the star names offering testimony to Nuriddin’s poetic skills and deep cultural impact, it seems odd that nobody has stepped up to take a financial risk on his artistry nowadays. Neither tragic downfall nor triumphant comeback story, Todd’s film lacks a sense of closure. But it works just fine as a solid documentary tribute to a classic spoken-word album that is, quite literally, unsung.

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. Click here for more details.

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, the Only Ones, Flying Saucer Attack, Ezra Furman and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Jim Morrison’s vulgar ‘bootleg’ Peanuts cartoon strip to be auctioned

Michael Bonner
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Jim Morrison’s vulgar ‘bootleg’ Peanuts cartoon strip to be auctioned
A 'bootleg' Peanuts cartoon by Jim Morrison is to be auctioned by Lelands in America. According to the auction house, "this humorous original artwork incorporating pasted-on Peanuts character cut-outs with his own handwritten dialogue." Morrison's humour itself is lewd. The first frame depicts Sno...

A ‘bootleg’ Peanuts cartoon by Jim Morrison is to be auctioned by Lelands in America.

According to the auction house, “this humorous original artwork incorporating pasted-on Peanuts character cut-outs with his own handwritten dialogue.”

Morrison’s humour itself is lewd. The first frame depicts Snoopy growling at Pigpen, who replies, “If you bite my balls, I’ll suck your c–k.” The second frame shows Lucy pleading with Charlie Brown: “I’ll give you 15 [cents] if you’ll f–k me, Charlie Brown,” to which he replies: “Throw in your tricycle and it’s a deal, Baby.”

The strip is done entirely in the hand of Morrison and signed “Jim” in the upper right corner.

Elsewhere, two Doors albums, released after the death of Jim Morrison, are to be reissued later this year.

Other Voices and Full Circle, the band’s seventh and eighth albums, will be reissued in September by Rhino. These editions feature remastered audio by producer Bruce Botnick, while Full Circle CD is accompanied by bonus track, “Treetrunk“.

Morrison died in July 1971 while The Doors were recording Other Voices. Following his death, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore, continued the recording with Krieger and Manzarek sharing vocal duties.

The vinyl editions of both albums will be pressed on 180g vinyl and will come with sleevenotes.

The albums will also be paired together for a 2CD set.

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. Click here for more details.

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, the Only Ones, Flying Saucer Attack, Ezra Furman and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

Rolling Stones release Sticky Fingers Live album

Michael Bonner
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Rolling Stones release Sticky Fingers Live album
The Rolling Stones have released a new live album, Sticky Fingers Live. The digital-only release was recorded on May 20, 2015 at the Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles, when the Stones performed their 1971 album during a secret club gig. The album is currently available from iTunes in the US and UK. The ...

The Rolling Stones have released a new live album, Sticky Fingers Live.

The digital-only release was recorded on May 20, 2015 at the Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles, when the Stones performed their 1971 album during a secret club gig.

The album is currently available from iTunes in the US and UK.

The tracklisting for Sticky Fingers Live is:

“Sway”
“Dead Flowers”
“Wild Horses”
“Sister Morphine”
“You Gotta Move”
“Bitch”
“Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’”
“I Got the Blues”
“Moonlight Mile”
“Brown Sugar”

Click here to read Uncut’s review of the new Sticky Fingers deluxe edition

In Stones-related news, the band have announced details of a major new retrospective, EXHIBITIONISM.

The exhibition will run from April 6 2016 – September 2016 at London’s Saatchi Gallery, where it will occupy nine themed galleries spread across two entire floors.

EXHIBITIONISM includes over 500 artefacts and will include original stage designs, dressing room and backstage paraphernalia; rare guitars and instruments, costumes, rare audio tracks and unseen video clips; personal diaries and correspondence; original poster and album cover artwork, and unique cinematic presentations.

“We’ve been thinking about this for quite a long time but we wanted it to be just right and on a large scale,” said Mick Jagger. “The process has been like planning our touring concert productions and I think that right now it’s an interesting time to do it.”

Keith Richards said, “While this is about The Rolling Stones, it’s not necessarily only just about the members of the band. It’s also about all the paraphernalia and technology associated with a group like us, and it’s this, as well as the instruments that have passed through our hands over the years, that should make the exhibition really interesting.”

The band are currently wrapping up their North American Zip Code tour. The tour began on May 24 at Petco Park, San Diego. You can click here to watch footage from the opening night of the show.

July 4: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, Indiana
July 8: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
July 11: Ralph Wilson Stadium, Buffalo, New York
July 15: Le Festival d’ete de Quebec, Quebec City

American readers! Uncut’s July 2015 issue [Take 218] featuring the Rolling Stones on the cover is now available in US stores and is also available digitally

The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – goes on sale in the UK on July 9. Click here for more details.

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, the Only Ones, Flying Saucer Attack, Ezra Furman and more.

Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.

The Beatles “lost” concert film blocked from release

Michael Bonner
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The Beatles “lost” concert film blocked from release
A film of The Beatles first concert in the States has been blocked by a court ruling. Bloomberg reports that Sony have won a legal battle blocking the release of the film which features material from the band's show at the Coliseum in Washington D.C. on February 11, 1964. According to a previous s...

A film of The Beatles first concert in the States has been blocked by a court ruling.

Bloomberg reports that Sony have won a legal battle blocking the release of the film which features material from the band’s show at the Coliseum in Washington D.C. on February 11, 1964.

According to a previous story on Spin, Ace Arts had obtained 35 minutes of footage from the concert which formed part of a 92-minute documentary entitled The Beatles: The Lost Concert.

The film was due to premier in New York’s Ziegfield Theater on May 6, 2012.

The BBC reports that the first part of The Beatles: The Lost Concert focused on the rise of Beatlemania in the United States and was followed by the 12-song set, which was originally broadcast in American cinemas in March 1964.

The Beatles: The Lost Concert has subsequently been in hiatus.

However, a UK judge has now ruled in favour of Sony Corp, effectively blocking the film from release.

Sony owns the worldwide copyrights to the eight Lennon-McCartney compositions played during the concert, including “I Saw Her Standing There“, “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and “From Me To You”.

According to Judge Richard Arnold, the songs “are reproduced in their entirety; the extent of the reproduction is excessive having regard to the transformative purpose; and the permit such use would likely damage the market for, or potential value of” the songs.

Meanwhile, several items of Beatles memorabilia are up for auction via Lelands in America.

Rolling Stone reports that the items include a postcard signed by all four Beatles during their stay at Miami’s Deauville Hotel in 1964, a week after they filmed their second appearance for the Ed Sullivan Show. The current bid is $12,636.21 (£19,699.41).

Another lot consists of three Apple Records bank cheques signed by John Lennon (undated), George Harrison (dated 1971) and Ringo Starr (1972).

Among other Beatles artefacts in the auction are a vintage Ludwig drum set designed like Starr’s and an unused ticket for a 1965 Beatles show in Portland, Oregon, currently priced at $1,100 (£705.46).

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