Joni Mitchell, Nick Cave, Sufjan Stevens and PJ Harvey all feature in the new issue of Uncut, dated April 2015 and out now.
The incredible Joni Mitchell is on the cover, and inside, famous fans including Robert Plant, David Crosby and members of Radiohead and Pink Floyd pick the singer-...
Joni Mitchell, Nick Cave, Sufjan Stevens and PJ Harvey all feature in the new issue of Uncut, dated April 2015 and out now.
The incredible Joni Mitchell is on the cover, and inside, famous fans including Robert Plant, David Crosby and members of Radiohead and Pink Floyd pick the singer-songwriter’s 30 greatest songs.
Close friends and collaborators also choose their favourites, with recollections of Mitchell provided by Graham Nash, the Incredible String Band’s Mike Heron, Linda Thompson, Joe Boyd, members of LA Express, and Alberta Ballet’s artistic director Jean Grand-Maitre, who worked closely with the singer on 2007’s The Fiddle And The Drum ballet.
“I don’t think there’s a singer-songwriter in the world that hasn’t been affected by Joni,†David Crosby explains.
Elsewhere, Warren Ellis provides the inside story of life in the Bad Seeds, describing the way Nick Cave and the group go about their work. Scary silences, boils, Australian Goths and, of course, the evolving work of this enduring musical force, are included.
“Nick loves to work,†says Ellis, “he has this incredible drive and a belief in what he’s doing. He’s always challenging himself.â€
Uncut also heads to New York City to meet Sufjan Stevens and hear all about the musical polymath’s hushed, delicate new album, Carrie & Lowell, while editor John Mulvey reports from PJ Harvey’s pioneering Recording In Progress project, where fans can watch her working on a new album.
Also in the issue, Phil Manzanera answers your questions about Roxy Music, David Gilmour’s new solo album and his work with Nico, David Bowie, John Cale and Robert Wyatt.
Uncut meets a young breed of country artists, including Kacey Musgraves, Brandy Clark and Angaleena Presley, emerging from the US, positioned between the grit of Americana and mainstream glitz. “Go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is,†we are told.
We also salute the late legend Kim Fowley, auteur, producer, Svengali and provocateur, with a hair-raising 1972 interview from the Melody Maker archives; meanwhile, Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr takes us through the records that informed his adolescence in this month’s My Life In Music piece.
Our ‘album by album’ feature this month comes from Matt Johnson, who guides us through his catalogue with The The and solo, while we also hear from The Dave Clark Five on how they created their transatlantic chart-topper “Glad All Over†and became the first British Invasion band to tour America.
Uncut’s 40-page reviews section looks at new releases from Laura Marling, Björk, Ryley Walker, Courtney Barnett and more, while we assess archive releases from The Specials, Bob Marley, Roxy Music and more.
Live, we catch Julian Cope on typically entertaining form in London, and Lambchop recreating their masterpiece, Nixon, in Berlin.
Kim Gordon’s memoir, Girl In A Band, and a new biography of Sandy Denny feature on our books page, while we look at films including Altman, Michael Winterbottom’s The Face Of An Angel and a new Joe Strummer documentary.
And finally, our free CD, Back To The Garden, includes songs by Sufjan Stevens, Matthew E White, Courtney Barnett, Marc Almond, Ryley Walker, Steve Gunn, Cat’s Eyes, Sam Lee and more.
Nile Rodgers has announced that Daft Punk have made a film to accompany the upcoming Chic album.According to Billboard, Rodgers announced the news on Twitter on February 21 by releasing a still from what he called a "touching film" made by Daft Punk.When asked when fans can view the video, the guita...
Nile Rodgers has announced that Daft Punk have made a film to accompany the upcoming Chic album.According to Billboard, Rodgers announced the news on Twitter on February 21 by releasing a still from what he called a “touching film” made by Daft Punk.When asked when fans can view the video, the guitarist responded “within the next few weeks”. Rodgers previously worked with Daft Punk on their single “Get Lucky“.
Nile Rodgers
In a blog post penned for his official website, Rodgers has also released a snippet of new music, previewing the track ‘I’ll Be There’.
Due to be released on March 20, the new record will be a double-sided 12-inch single and will come with B-side ‘Back In The Old School’.
According to Rodgers, “I’ll be there” were the “first words I spoke upon finding my partner Bernard Edwards, (RIP) dead after our last concert together”. Click above to listen to the preview.
Starbucks are reportedly to stop selling CDs in their stores worldwide, according to a story on Billboard.As well as selling music from major artists in their shops, the coffee chain also has its own Hear Music label.
The label has previously released original material from artists including Joni M...
Starbucks are reportedly to stop selling CDs in their stores worldwide, according to a story on Billboard.As well as selling music from major artists in their shops, the coffee chain also has its own Hear Music label.
The label has previously released original material from artists including Joni Mitchell, Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello. Now, they are to stop physical sales from March 2015, although digital music will still be available via Starbucks outlets.”We will stop selling physical CDs in our stores at the end of March,” a representative from the company told Billboard.”Starbucks continually seeks to redefine the experience in our retail stores to meet the evolving needs of our customers. Music will remain a key component of our coffeehouse and retail experience, however we will continue to evolve the format of our music offerings to ensure we’re offering relevant options for our customers. As a leader in music curation, we will continue to strive to select unique and compelling artists from a broad range of genres we think will resonate with our customers.”
Meanwhile, Neil Young recently urged fans to boycott Starbucks in response to the coffee house chain’s decision to ally with agrochemical company Monsanto in a lawsuit against the state of Vermont.
“Monsanto might not care what we think – but as a public-facing company, Starbucks does,” he wrote. “If we can generate enough attention, we can push Starbucks to withdraw its support for the lawsuit, and then pressure other companies to do the same.”
Young added: “Vermont is a small, entirely rural state with just 600,000 people. It’s a classic David and Goliath fight between Vermont and Monsanto. Considering that Starbucks has been progressive on LGBT and labour issues in the past, it’s disappointing that it is working with the biggest villain of them all, Monsanto.”
Brian Wilson has released a video for new song "The Right Time".
The song, which is taken from Wilson's upcoming new album, No Pier Pressure, also features fellow Beach Boys Al Jardine and David Marks.
The clip was filmed in-studio during the track's recording and includes the song's lyrics. Click...
Brian Wilson has released a video for new song “The Right Time”.
The song, which is taken from Wilson’s upcoming new album, No Pier Pressure, also features fellow Beach Boys Al Jardine and David Marks.
The clip was filmed in-studio during the track’s recording and includes the song’s lyrics. Click above to watch.
No Pier Pressure sleeve artwork
No Pier Pressure will be released on April 7. It features collaborations with a number of artists, including Jardine and Marks, She & Him’s Zooey Deschanel and country singer Kacey Musgraves.The tracklisting for No Pier Pressure is:
‘This Beautiful Day’
‘Runaway Dancer’ [featuring Sebu Simonian]
‘What Ever Happened’ [featuring Al Jardine and David Marks]
‘On The Island’ [featuring She & Him]
‘Our Special Love’ [featuring Peter Hollens]
‘The Right Time’ [featuring Al Jardine and David Marks]
‘Guess You Had To Be There’ [featuring Kacey Musgraves]
‘Tell Me Why’ [featuring Al Jardine]
‘Sail Away’ [featuring Blondie Chaplin and Al Jardine]
‘One Kind Of Love’
‘Saturday Night’ [featuring Nate Ruess]
‘The Last Song’
‘Half Moon Bay’
Originally published in Uncut's December 2004 issue
In this epic archive feature, Neil Young himself explains the making of every single song on his Greatest Hits album. "I wrote a lot of songs when I couldn’t talk…"
_________________
Neil Young is just back from playing several dates o...
Originally published in Uncut’s December 2004 issue
In this epic archive feature, Neil Young himself explains the making of every single song on his Greatest Hits album. “I wrote a lot of songs when I couldn’t talk…”
_________________
Neil Young is just back from playing several dates on the “Vote For Change†tour and he’s still sporting the button badge and a custom-made “Canadians For Kerry†T-shirt to prove it. “Too bad you guys in Europe don’t get to vote. Then it would be a landslide, right?†he jokes.
Politically, Young has often appeared an ambivalent figure. He made potent early socio-political statements with songs such as “Ohio†and “Southern Manâ€, both of which have a prominent place on his forthcoming best-of compilation (reviewed on p168). But then in the ’80s he appeared to flirt with Reaganism. At the end of the decade, as the Cold War was coming to an end and global communism was collapsing, he wrote “Rockin’ In The Free Worldâ€. It’s also on the new ‘hits’ collection, and is one of those ambiguous songs claimed equally by both sides. To the right it’s a celebration of capitalism’s ultimate triumph. To the left it’s a critique of ‘freedom’ American-style, with its litany of victims who fall between democracy’s cracks.
On the Vote For Change tour, it’s become a ‘stop Bush’ anthem, Young performing the song with the likes of Pearl Jam and the Dave Matthews Band.
“It seems to be resonating again,†he says. “But it depends on how you cut it and what words you leave in and what you take out.â€
He’s clearly pleased with the way Michael Moore adapted the song for the soundtrack of his recent Fahrenheit 9/11. “The way he edited in the film made it very topical for now,†he enthuses, and reveals that Moore has now made a four-minute video for the song. “I just saw it for the first time half an hour ago,†Young says. “He’s done a great job.â€
There are two ways of viewing rock stars who pontificate about politics. On the one hand, there’s the ’60s notion that artists have a duty to “speak out against the madnessâ€, as David Crosby put it on CSN&Y’s “Almost Cut My Hairâ€. The other holds that just because we enjoy the music of citizens Springsteen, Stipe, Vedder or Young, why should we care a hoot about their political views?
Uncut wonders where Young stands within this spectrum of opinion.
“At both ends, because they’re both right,†he says. “Half the people feel musicians should be listened to simply as artists and shouldn’t step outside their area as political spokesmen. But the other half feel what musicians have to say is meaningful. Maybe it’s not going to change your mind. But it’s going to reinforce what you feel if someone whose music you relate to agrees with you. It can be a very effective thing if people go and vote for whatever they feel the music says.â€
Whether humanity has made any progress since the titanic social and cultural battles that rock’n’roll seemed to embody in the ’60s is a moot point.
“It’s 50:50 right now,†Young reckons. “I like to think things are getting better. But there are so many levels of control through the media. It’s confusing. You think you’re making progress. And then you see how strong the other side is and how they’re manipulating the media to change the meaning of things and put out their take on it. People have to learn to think for themselves.â€
Away from his contribution to the campaign to oust Bush, Young has been busy readying his new compilation, his first career overview since Decade in 1977. A long-term obsessive about sound quality, typically the record comes in various formats, including not only standard CD but something he calls “super-saturated DVD-Stereo†and a new, enhanced vinyl format he claims is “the best everâ€.
“Sound quality hit the dark ages in the early ’80s. But it’s starting to come back thanks to DVD-Stereo,†he enthuses. “There’s just no comparison between that and a regular compact disc or even 5.1 sound. It’s the difference between a true reflection of the music and a mere replica.â€
In reality, Young has had very few ‘hits’ in the conventional sense; his only solo Top 30 single to date has been “Heart Of Gold†in 1972. Was the selection his or his record company’s, and what were the criteria?
“There was a large list that was created,†he explains. “Then we based it on sales and airplay and downloading. We took all the information that we could and came up with what would fit.â€
The result is a collection on which all but two of the 16 tracks date from the period 1969-79, with only “Rockin’ In The Free World†and “Harvest Moon†to represent the last 25 years.
“Well, that’s when the hottest hits happened, or what you might call hits,†he shrugs. “So that’s real.â€
A greatest hits album will hardly satisfy those who were hoping 2004 would see the release of the multi-CD Archives boxset (at various times rumoured to consist of anything between six and 20 CDs) that he’s been promising for years. But, he insists, the project is now “big and real close†and the hits album is intended to “set the bar†for the Archives release.
Yet he denies all this journeying through his past has put him in nostalgic mood. “Like Dylan said, ‘Don’t look back.’ I can only play the old songs if there’s also new material. Greendale is what gave me enough belief in myself to continue and to sing the old songs. If it wasn’t for things like Greendale, I’d just be replicating myself, travelling round the world doing things I’d already done. Which would be very depressing and probably life-threatening.â€
At the moment he admits there are no new songs. “I don’t have anything. Greendale completely drained me, to the point where I’m just standing here, the wind is blowing and I’m waiting.â€
Perhaps he could fill the time by giving us his literary version of events, like Dylan’s Chronicles?
“Boy, I hope I’ll be too busy doing something else to do that. It’d be a heck of a job. But maybe at some point in my life it will become a relaxing thing to do.â€
If he ever does write the book, though, don’t expect too many insights on what inspired the songs.
“Fact is, when it comes to songwriting, it’s all just a bunch of information coming from the same place. And I don’t know how to relate to the thoughts behind it. I really don’t. The songs are on their own little trip, I go out and ride along with them and sing them and sometimes I won’t sing them because I don’t feel like it.â€
Despite this protestation, he’s perfectly happy to range over the album’s track selection for Uncut’s edification, and reveals he’s still particularly enamoured of the trio of songs from 1969’s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, which forged the Crazy Horse sound.
“That was the beginning of playing electric guitar and jamming and being able to play those extended instrumentals for me,†says Young. “That was a great band and Danny Whitten was a great guitar player. I love all those records that I made back then. Those tracks still kick ass.â€
Then came the success of “Heart Of Gold†and 1972’s Harvest album, which categorised him in the minds of many as a lovelorn troubadour. Did he then make a conscious decision to subvert that image?
“That’s what success does – it will categorise you. But luckily I haven’t had that much success. That was the one time and the first thing an artist will do if he doesn’t want to be categorised is to react and fight back. There’s a spirit inside you that’s like an animal. And it’s cornered when it’s categorised. So we’re not dealing with thought here. It’s an animal reaction.â€
And does he still believe it’s better “to burn out than to fade away� He wrote the line when he was in his thirties. A quarter of a century on, he appears to have successfully avoided both fates.
“I was exactly 33 and a third when I wrote that so I was on long play,†he jokes. “It wasn’t a literal thing. It was a spontaneous description of a feeling rather than endorsing a way of life. But what a line like that means changes every time you sing it, depending on what’s going on in the world. If you really believe in something when you write it or you’re open to some channel and things comes through you, then that’s going to happen. What you write will reapply itself to whatever’s happening around you. And that’s the fun of what I do.â€
Next year, Young will turn 60. With Greendale having left him “drained†and no new songs jostling for his attention, perhaps it will be the year that the long-awaited Archives boxset, with its treasure trove of unreleased tracks, finally makes its appearance. In the meantime, as a curtain-raiser, we give you the low-down on his new best-of…
Joni Mitchell, Nick Cave, Sufjan Stevens and PJ Harvey all feature in the new issue of Uncut, dated April 2015 and out now.
The incredible Joni Mitchell is on the cover, and inside, famous fans including Robert Plant, David Crosby and members of Radiohead and Pink Floyd pick the singer-songwriterâ€...
Joni Mitchell, Nick Cave, Sufjan Stevens and PJ Harvey all feature in the new issue of Uncut, dated April 2015 and out now.
The incredible Joni Mitchell is on the cover, and inside, famous fans including Robert Plant, David Crosby and members of Radiohead and Pink Floyd pick the singer-songwriter’s 30 greatest songs.
Close friends and collaborators also choose their favourites, with recollections of Mitchell provided by Graham Nash, the Incredible String Band’s Mike Heron, Linda Thompson, Joe Boyd, members of LA Express, and Alberta Ballet’s artistic director Jean Grand-Maitre, who worked closely with the singer on 2007’s The Fiddle And The Drum ballet.
“I don’t think there’s a singer-songwriter in the world that hasn’t been affected by Joni,†David Crosby explains.
Elsewhere, Warren Ellis provides the inside story of life in the Bad Seeds, describing the way Nick Cave and the group go about their work. Scary silences, boils, Australian Goths and, of course, the evolving work of this enduring musical force, are included.
“Nick loves to work,†says Ellis, “he has this incredible drive and a belief in what he’s doing. He’s always challenging himself.â€
Uncut also heads to New York City to meet Sufjan Stevens and hear all about the musical polymath’s hushed, delicate new album, Carrie & Lowell, while editor John Mulvey reports from PJ Harvey’s pioneering Recording In Progress project, where fans can watch her working on a new album.
Also in the issue, Phil Manzanera answers your questions about Roxy Music, David Gilmour’s new solo album and his work with Nico, David Bowie, John Cale and Robert Wyatt.
Uncut meets a young breed of country artists, including Kacey Musgraves, Brandy Clark and Angaleena Presley, emerging from the US, positioned between the grit of Americana and mainstream glitz. “Go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is,†we are told.
We also salute the late legend Kim Fowley, auteur, producer, Svengali and provocateur, with a hair-raising 1972 interview from the Melody Maker archives; meanwhile, Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr takes us through the records that informed his adolescence in this month’s My Life In Music piece.
Our ‘album by album’ feature this month comes from Matt Johnson, who guides us through his catalogue with The The and solo, while we also hear from The Dave Clark Five on how they created their transatlantic chart-topper “Glad All Over†and became the first British Invasion band to tour America.
Uncut’s 40-page reviews section looks at new releases from Laura Marling, Björk, Ryley Walker, Courtney Barnett and more, while we assess archive releases from The Specials, Bob Marley, Roxy Music and more.
Live, we catch Julian Cope on typically entertaining form in London, and Lambchop recreating their masterpiece, Nixon, in Berlin.
Kim Gordon’s memoir, Girl In A Band, and a new biography of Sandy Denny feature on our books page, while we look at films including Altman, Michael Winterbottom’s The Face Of An Angel and a new Joe Strummer documentary.
And finally, our free CD, Back To The Garden, includes songs by Sufjan Stevens, Matthew E White, Courtney Barnett, Marc Almond, Ryley Walker, Steve Gunn, Cat’s Eyes, Sam Lee and more.
In the aftermath of Bob Dylan's speech at the MusiCares charity gala in February, most of the attention focused on his apparent hostility towards Merle Haggard, his enduring prickliness with those who would question the texture and timbre of that indefatigable voice.
At the heart of his 30-minute d...
In the aftermath of Bob Dylan‘s speech at the MusiCares charity gala in February, most of the attention focused on his apparent hostility towards Merle Haggard, his enduring prickliness with those who would question the texture and timbre of that indefatigable voice.
At the heart of his 30-minute disquisition, though, was the sort of sentimentality that informed Chronicles, the Theme-Time Radio Hour and, most recently, “Shadows In The Night”; a devotion to the music of his youth that was at once nostalgic and forensic, and appeared deeply informed by a conviction that modern music could never measure up against the towering achievements of the mid-20th Century.
“Very few rock’n’roll bands today play with rhythm. They don’t know what it is,” Dylan claimed, although he gave no indication that he’d actually heard or analysed any of these bands. Not for the first time, it was possible to be touched by Dylan’s scholarly humility to those who went before him, and exasperated by his ignorance of those who came after.
I was thinking about this, though God alone knows why, at some point in the extraordinary show by D’Angelo & The Vanguard on Saturday night. D’Angelo, it should be said straight away, is not remotely indebted to Dylan. But if anyone needed an example of the continuing, evolving potency of rhythm and blues, of how a 21st Century artist can not just channel, but effectively match up against, the achievements of his forefathers, Michael ‘D’Angelo’ Archer works perfectly.
Take “Sugah Daddy”, the last song The Vanguard play in their main set at the Hammersmith Apollo (though it turns out that they will return, soon enough, to continue for the best part of another hour). “Sugah Daddy” is a song from “Black Messiah”, the album that D’Angelo released, with about 24 hours’ notice, near the end of 2014: his third album in 20 years, and his first since the 2000 nu-soul landmark, “Voodoo”.
On record, “Sugah Daddy” is a masterclass in fiendish syncopation, an intricate and infectious song that provides a jazzy spin on the kind of science worked by Prince circa “Kiss”. This is more or less how it begins live, though the fluent urgency of The Vanguard have now accelerated it into something approaching a frenzy. D’Angelo is, initially, sat behind a piano as the groove bends around him, the swinging complexities underpinned by the bass of Pino Palladino, on leave from The Who, positioned to his right.
After a while, D’Angelo emerges from behind the keyboard, bounces his mic stand with the nonchalant grace of James Brown, and begins exhorting his band to faster, harder, higher goals. When the song finishes, he stands silent for what feels like a minute, becalmed after what has been a virtuoso maelstrom. Not for the first time, however, he appears to be toying with the expectations of his audience. He is, in fact, fulfilling the expectations of what the complete R&B bandleader can, and possibly should, do.
“Sugah Daddy”, it transpires, is far from over. First it morphs into a massive JBs groove, with D’Angelo’s creative spar, Kendra Foster and two more backing singers pinballing across the stage while the two star guitarists, Isaiah Sharkey and Jesse Johnson (an early Prince cohort, from Minneapolis veterans The Time) continue to play with phenomenal restraint, sublimated in the nuanced collective effort. Then, after another flamboyant caesura, Cleo ‘Pookie’ Sample generates a theremin-like wail from his keyboards and the whole thing ramps up another notch, into the tight abandon of peak Family Stone.
At one point, D’Angelo seems to be quoting Curtis Mayfield as he chants “Freddie’s Dead” in the midst of it all. At this point, though, it’s hard to work out quite what’s happening, beyond a sense that this might be one of the finest shows I’ve seen in years: staggeringly accomplished, historically resonant, conceptually progressive, socially aware, dynamic, erotic, adventurous, theatrical – the whole package.
To those who have followed D’Angelo’s story this past decade or so, the achievements of “Black Messiah” and this supercharged live show are even more remarkable. For most of the 21st Century, D’Angelo has been missing in action, an apparently lost genius, intermittently resurfacing in a cloud of rumour and innuendo; car crashes, substance issues, police scrapes, precious little music. All the time, however, it seems he was working on the songs that would become “Black Messiah” with a team focused around Palladino, Foster, Q-Tip and Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson.
“Black Messiah” sounds like an album that took an insane amount of work to give the impression of effortlessness, and one suspects that D’Angelo would have continued finessing it indefinitely, had not the American political climate, in the wake of the Ferguson and New York shootings, provoked him into action. The context of the album’s release, notwithstanding the Afropunk artwork and a Saturday Night Live performance during which The Vanguard wore “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirts, has slightly overplayed the actual political content of the album. Tonight, it reverberates through the stuttering “1000 Deaths” (Funkadelic’s “Wars Of Armageddon” might be a useful analogue here) and, in particular, the ravishing “The Charade’, a Prince-like psychedelic rock song whose key lines – “All we wanted was a chance to talk/ ‘Stead we only outlined in chalk” – come punctuated with raised fists from The Vanguard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpMIB4ETkkQ
Mostly, though, there’s a sense that the personal and political, self-expression and community action, partying and protest, are intertwined in a fundamental way which is not always easy to parse. The throb of “1000 Deaths” is sticky, forbidding, and the first sequence of songs pass by in an interlocking rush that has an unexpected urgency and relentlessness. Where D’Angelo appeared still and dignified on Saturday Night Live, it’s a shock to see how he has regained the physicality, the energy, that rippled through sensational gigs around the time of “Voodoo”. “If you’re wondering about the shape I’m in,” he sings in “Back To The Future”, “I hope it ain’t my abdomen that you’re referring to.”
As the show goes on, his aura of command intensifies at the same rate as his showmanship. “One Mo Gin”, in particular, is astonishing, the band falling into a kind of militarised, hyper-alert funk slouch, then gradually being compelled towards a rapturous climax, with D’Angelo’s keen manipulation of soul history moving into the terrain explored so enthusiastically by Marvin Gaye on “Let’s Get It On”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3eZSd1LqEw
The performance of “Chicken Grease”, meanwhile, could probably be dissected as an accelerated history of funk grandstanding, compacted into ten or 15 minutes, but which always feels intuitive rather than studied. There are multiple false endings, successful attempts to take it to the bridge, soulclaps, mic stand pivots, priapic yowls, mysterious hand signals to drummer Chris ‘Daddy’ Dave. The instructions reveal the rigorous management that goes into such delirium, and remind that the most freakish auteurs have often been the most unstinting taskmasters.
There’s a danger in all of this that such a depth of cultural knowledge can manifest itself as pastiche, so much so that it can lead one to some preposterous speculations – as when D’Angelo wears a Stars’n’Stripes cape for “The Charade” that appears faded to the same tone as the flag on the cover of “There’s A Riot Goin’ On”. But for all the assiduous study, the show feels more like a kinetic updating of old traditions, one that transcends mere revivalism, with D’Angelo having cast himself emphatically as heir rather than interloper.
He has, critically, classics of his own to spare, none more resonant than the closing “Untitled (How Does It Feel?)”, a song which takes the lubricious tenets of the slow jam and stretches them into something that is immensely calculated, but also moving to the point of absurdity. Tonight, “Untitled” lasts for about 15 minutes, the last seven of which see the band taking rare, microscopic solos and leaving one by one until, finally, D’Angelo is alone at the piano, singing a refrain which he finally hands over to the audience. In keeping with the extraordinary standards of the evening, their performance is subtle and exceptional.
“Times always change,” Bob Dylan noted in that MusiCares speech. “They really do. And you have to always be ready for something that’s coming along and you never expected it.”
In the end, Wes Anderson got overlooked. Boyhood got beaten. The Brits just about made it. In many respects, last night’s Oscars were more ho hum than brouhaha. In winning both Best Picture and Best Director (for Alejandro Inarritu), Birdman demonstrated that Hollywood really does love nothing bet...
In the end, Wes Anderson got overlooked. Boyhood got beaten. The Brits just about made it. In many respects, last night’s Oscars were more ho hum than brouhaha. In winning both Best Picture and Best Director (for Alejandro Inarritu), Birdman demonstrated that Hollywood really does love nothing better than films about Hollywood; especially ones that expose the rigors they often endure. That it trumped Richard Linklater’s warm, human and technically audacious Boyhood is less a reflection of Linklater than it is on Hollywood’s capacity for self-reflection. It was good, at least, to see Boyhood’s fragile mother Patricia Arquette winning Best Supporting Actress; though it’s conspicuous (again) how few of the Best Film nominations had strong roles for women.
Admittedly, I was curious to see how American Sniper would fare. I’m no fan of Clint Eastwood’s Iraq war film; yet the film has shattered one of Hollywood’s ancient myths, that launching a film in January is doomed for failure. Not only that, American Sniper has become a phenomenon – debuting with a stunning $89.5m during its opening weekend in the States. And it has travelled, too: taking £2.53m from 410 UK cinemas. It is a divisive film; one that has played incredibly well in middle America yet less well received by more liberal audiences. In the end, it won Best Sound Editing.
Elsewhere, the Oscars were remarkably unremarkable. Wes Anderson managed four technical wins for The Grand Budapest Hotel (my favourite), Eddie Redmayne won Best Actor for his deeply felt portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything, Julianne Moore won Best Actress for Still Alice; a film in which she is the only remotely interesting item. It would have taken some kind of miracle for JK Simons not to win Best Supporting Actor for his fierce music professor in Whiplash. Nothing, though, for Foxcatcher; the other big film in contention.
It was good, though, to see Oscars for the Edward Snowden documentary CitizenFour and Pawel Pawelkowski’s Ida to win Best Documentary and Best Foreign Language Film.
But what do you think? Did Birdman deserve to best Boyhood..? Or would you rather have seen Foxcatcher outsmart Whiplash?
Best Picture Birdman
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory Of Everything
Whiplash
Best Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game
Best Actor Eddie Redmayne, The Theory Of Everything
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Best Actress Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory Of Everything
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Supporting Actress Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Laura Dern, Wild
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into The Woods
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Supporting Actor JK Simmons, Whiplash
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
Adapted Screenplay The Imitation Game
American Sniper
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Original Screenplay Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler
Animated Feature Big Hero 6
Boxtrolls
How To Train Your Dragon 2
Song Of The Sea
The Tale Of Princess Kaguya
Foreign Language Film Ida
Leviathan
Tangerines
Timbuktu
Wild Tales
Best Cinematography Birdman, Emmanuel Lubezki
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Robert Yeoman
Ida, Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
Mr. Turner, Dick Pope
Unbroken, Roger Deakins
Visual Effects Interstellar
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
Guardians Of The Galaxy
X:Men: Days Of Future Past
Film Editing Whiplash
American Sniper
Boyhood
Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Production Design The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into The Woods
Mr. Turner
Best Score Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Hans Zimmer, Interstellar
Gary Yershon, Mr. Turner
Jóhann Jóhannsson, The Theory Of Everything
Best Original Song “Glory”, Selma
“Everything Is Awesome”, The Lego Movie
“Grateful”, Beyond the Lights
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You”, Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
“Lost Stars”, Begin Again
Best Costume Design The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner
Best Documentary CitizenFour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga
Best Documentary Short Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1Â
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper (La Parka)
White Earth
Best Makeup And Hair The Grand Budapest Hotel
Foxcatcher
Guardians of the Galaxy
Best Animated Short Feast
The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life
Best Live-Action Short The Phone Call
Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak)
Parvaneh
Best Sound Editing American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken
Best Sound Mixing Whiplash
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Blur have spoken about their new album The Magic Whip, which was announced yesterday [February 19].
In an interview broadcast on BBC 6 Music, Damon Albarn explained that the album was kept a secret because it wasn't finished until yesterday. "We finished mixing last Friday and we literally mastered...
Blur have spoken about their new album The Magic Whip, which was announced yesterday [February 19].
In an interview broadcast on BBC 6 Music, Damon Albarn explained that the album was kept a secret because it wasn’t finished until yesterday. “We finished mixing last Friday and we literally mastered it yesterday,” he explained. “The reason that we’ve kept it secret is because we didn’t have a record until yesterday!”
Albarn also discussed the band’s last album, 2003’s Think Tank, which was recorded without guitarist Graham Coxon. “It’s… got some real stinkers on it – there’s some bollocks on there,” he commented, adding that The Magic Whip was a “proper Blur album” thanks to presence of Coxon. “There was an element of making amends with the guys but the fact [is] that I thought there was good music there and it’s a duty to deal with it,” said Coxon.
The Magic Whip is released on April 27. Hear new song “Go Out” below.
Blur will also headline London’s Hyde Park for fourth time in June with additional gigs planned after the Hyde Park date.
Meanwhile, the band have today added Fuji Rock to their itinerary of forthcoming festival performances. The Japanese festival takes place between July 24 and 26.
Ride, 2014
Ride’s tour dates so far are:
Friday 10th April 2015: Coachella Festival, Indio, California, USA
Monday 13th April 2015: The Warfield, San Francisco, USA
Tuesday 14th April 2015: Fox Theater, Pomona USA
Friday 17th April 2015: Coachella Festival, Indio, California, USA
Sunday 10 May 2015: Shaky Knees Festival, Atlanta, USA
Friday 22 May 2015: Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, UK
Saturday 23 May 2015: Albert Hall, Manchester, UK
Sunday 24 May 2015: Roundhouse, London, UK
Tuesday 26 May 2015: Paradiso, Amsterdam, Holland
Wednesday 27 May 2015: Olympia, Paris, France
Friday 29 May 2015: Primavera Festival, Barcelona, Spain
Tuesday 2 June 2015: DanForth Music Hall, Toronto, Canada
Thursday 4 June 2015: Terminal 5, New York, US
Saturday 6 June 2015: Primavera Festival, Porto, Portugal
Sunday 7 June 2015: Field Day (headlining), London, UK
Friday July 24/Sunday 26, 2015: Fuji Rock, Naeba Ski Resort, Japan
Photo credit: Maria Jefferis/Redferns via Getty Images
In director Peter Strickland’s last film Berberian Sound Studio, a tweedy British audio expert toiled miserably in an Italian recording studio on the sound effects for a horror film. But beneath Berberian Sound Studio’s grisly giallo tropes was a portrait of midlife anxiety, and an attendant des...
In director Peter Strickland’s last film Berberian Sound Studio, a tweedy British audio expert toiled miserably in an Italian recording studio on the sound effects for a horror film. But beneath Berberian Sound Studio’s grisly giallo tropes was a portrait of midlife anxiety, and an attendant desire for stability and approval. Strickland essentially revisits the same themes for his new film, The Duke Of Burgundy. As with its predecessor – one of our Films Of The Year in 2012 – The Duke Of Burgundy introduces us to an insecure middle-aged protagonist – in this instance, a highly-regarded etymologist named Cynthia (Borgen’s Sidse Babett Knudsen). We discover she is engaged in an S&M relationship with Evelyn (Berbarian Sound Studio’s Chiara D’Anna), with their role-play casting Evelyn as a maid and Cynthia as her unforgiving employer. But, as they repeat their unusual routines, it transpires that it is Evelyn who is the architect of their relationship, issuing her lover with cards detailing strict rules and listing dialogue for specific scenarios. “This is all I ever dreamed about,†she tells Cynthia in a rare moment of casual intimacy. “To be owned by you, to be used by you. I can’t tell you how happy I am.â€
Initially, The Duke Of Burgundy appears to be Strickland’s take on Seventies’ Euro erotica (with a nod, too, to Bergman’s Persona). But Strickland is evidently concerned with more than just gratuitous titillation. As with its predecessor, the events in The Duke Of Burgundy happen in a cocooned environment, slightly dislocated from reality: a remote European village where there are no men or cars. Its sound design mixes ambient orchestral pieces by Faris Badwan’s Cat’s Eyes project with insect noises and disquieting electronic passages, while the film occasionally drifts into hallucinatory montages of the natural world. It is, in its own way, just as unsettling as Berbarian Sound Studio. Indeed, like his previous film, Strickland’s latest includes flashes of tremendous gallows humour. The opening credits list “Perfume by Je Suiz Gizelle†and a “Dress and Lingerie†wrangler.
A visit from a carpenter (Fatima Mohamed) who specialises in making fetish beds is particularly rewarding. “Is there anyway you can offer faster service?†Asks Cynthia when told there will be a delay completing an order. “It’s just that Evelyn’s birthday is coming up and I was planning this as a present.†Indeed, The Duke Of Burgundy – its title comes from a rare type of butterfly – is a remarkable and unusual film, where the finer details of a business transaction include the question, “Would a human toilet be a suitable compromise?â€
Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson has been diagnosed with cancer.
A statement on the band's website said he was diagnosed just before Christmas after a small tumour was found at the back of his tongue.
The prognosis is positive, and Dickinson is expected to make a full recovery.
The statement reads: ...
Iron Maiden‘s Bruce Dickinson has been diagnosed with cancer.
A statement on the band’s website said he was diagnosed just before Christmas after a small tumour was found at the back of his tongue.
The prognosis is positive, and Dickinson is expected to make a full recovery.
The statement reads: “Just before Christmas, Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson visited his doctor for a routine check-up. This led to tests and biopsies which revealed a small cancerous tumour at the back of his tongue. A seven week course of chemotherapy and radiology treatment was completed yesterday. As the tumour was caught in the early stages, the prognosis thankfully is extremely good. Bruce’s medical team fully expect him to make a complete recovery, with the all clear envisaged by late May.
“It will then take a further few months for Bruce to get back to fullfitness. In the meantime we would ask for your patience, understanding and respect for Bruce and his family’s privacy. Bruce is doing very well considering the circumstances and the whole team are very positive.”
Blur have announced details of their first new album since 2003's Think Tank.
The Magic Whip will be released on April 27.
The announcement was made via a live streamed press conference from a Chinese restaurant in London.
Blur, Magic Whip sleeve
Initially conceived in Hong Kong during downtime ...
Blur have announced details of their first new album since 2003’s Think Tank.
The Magic Whip will be released on April 27.
The announcement was made via a live streamed press conference from a Chinese restaurant in London.
Blur, Magic Whip sleeve
Initially conceived in Hong Kong during downtime following a cancelled show in Japan, the band spent five or six days laying down ideas, then enlisted regular producer Stephen Street to develop them.
The band will also headline this year’s British Summer Time in London’s Hyde Park on 20 June, the fourth time they have played the venue.
The tracklisting for The Magic Whip is:
‘Lonesome Street’
‘New World Towers’
‘Go Out’
‘Ice Cream Man’
‘Thought I Was A Spaceman’
‘I Broadcast’
‘My Terracotta Heart’
‘There Are Too Many Of Us’
‘Ghost Ship’
‘Pyongyang’
‘Ong Ong’
‘Mirrorball’
As you've hopefully noticed, we've had something of a makeover at www.www.uncut.co.uk this week. Not to get too bogged down in technical hype at this point, but the whole site should be easier and more satisfying to use, not least on your phone or whatever, where you won't need to try and read 5,000...
As you’ve hopefully noticed, we’ve had something of a makeover at www.www.uncut.co.uk this week. Not to get too bogged down in technical hype at this point, but the whole site should be easier and more satisfying to use, not least on your phone or whatever, where you won’t need to try and read 5,000 words of prime Uncut feature in a microscopic point size any more.
Anyhow, this is the music which soundtracked our surprisingly non-traumatic website migration (God knows what the developers, who did the actual hard work, were listening to down on the third floor). Can I especially flag the first track to surface from the wonderful Weather Station album, the new Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and a new live epic from Chris Forsyth and his Solar Motel Band? Thanks…
Richard Thompson has revealed details of his new studio album.
Speaking to Addicted To Noise, Thompson confrms that the album has been produced by Jeff Tweedy.
“We’ve worked with Jeff live,†Thompson said. “In fact, last year in the States we toured with Wilco. They’re very conscious of ...
Richard Thompson has revealed details of his new studio album.
Speaking to Addicted To Noise, Thompson confrms that the album has been produced by Jeff Tweedy.
“We’ve worked with Jeff live,†Thompson said. “In fact, last year in the States we toured with Wilco. They’re very conscious of the roots of music so we think in a similar way about how to make records. So I think it was a fairly easy single-minded process.â€
Jeff Tweedy
The new album will contain original songs, although Thompson admits that as yet he does not have a title for the record. “We’re still going backwards and forwards with it,†he said. “We’re very close. Don’t quite have it yet.â€
In this mammoth piece from Uncut's March 2008 issue (Take 133), a host of famous fans and collaborators pick David Bowie's 30 best songs! "Bowie represented a way to get out of myself, an escape, a hope that there was something else..."
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TONY VISCONTI: "When I first met B...
In this mammoth piece from Uncut’s March 2008 issue (Take 133), a host of famous fans and collaborators pick David Bowie’s 30 best songs! “Bowie represented a way to get out of myself, an escape, a hope that there was something else…”
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TONY VISCONTI: “When I first met Bowie in 1967, he couldn’t get arrested. The music business and journalists just weren’t looking in his direction for the Next Big Thing. Even when Hunky Dory came out, I think the industry was still scratching their heads. David had to pull his socks up big time and invent his Ziggy Stardust persona.
“I love to work with him because I think we make really good records. His talents are exceptional, and he has rarely inhibited his creativity. I think other recording artists regard him enviably as someone who’s reached the pinnacle of unbridled creativity. He’s multi-dimensional. For most of his career, he’s been an iconoclast, not a trend follower. But then, he also has a charm and charisma usually associated with movie actor legends. Although he never denies his working-class upbringing, he’s like royalty. These days, we keep in touch via email. Instead of watching a film together we send each other links to YouTube. We also send each other all types of music we’ve either discovered or rediscovered. During the making of the last two albums, Heathen and Reality [which Visconti produced, along with earlier Bowie LPs Young Americans, Low, “Heroesâ€, Lodger and Scary Monsters…] we used to watch episodes of The Fast Show and The Office, respectively, on our lunch breaks. We both love British comedy.
“We’ve known each other for 40 years. There’s no pretension, no awe, just a mutual love of creating something from nothing. On the other hand, we don’t take each other for granted. I respect him more than ever. He’s one of the few people I know who actually keeps on growing. He’s always full of surprises and revelations.
“Who hasn’t been inspired by Bowie’s music? Certainly not the über and unter peers contributing to this collection. David Bowie has long ago achieved Gandalf status in the rock world, and his songs have become potent magic spells.
“Welcome to Uncut’s Top 30 Bowie songs, picked to praise by an all-star cast.â€
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30 In The Heat Of The Morning Available on Bowie At The Beeb: The Best Of The BBC Radio Sessions 1968-1972 (recorded 1968, released 2004) An early track that catches the newly solo artist in mid-transformation – part mod King Bee, part theatrical Tony Newley trouper
ALEX TURNER (Arctic Monkeys/Last Shadow Puppets): For the B-side of [the Last Shadow Puppets’] “The Age Of The Understatement†single we’ve done “In The Heat Of The Morningâ€, which is the first track on Bowie At The Beeb. It’s got a great melody – it’s one of them, where we both had the CD, and we were both like, “The first tune on that!†And we were both like, “Yeah, yeah!†It was very much part of the world we were in when we started writing stuff for The Age Of The Understatement, so when it came to recording B-sides, there were some tunes we definitely wanted to do: “The Girls And The Dogs†by Scott Walker, “Wondrous Place†by Billy Fury, and this.
MILES KANE: I also like “Time†on Aladdin Sane, and “Five Yearsâ€. Does the aspect of re-inventing myself appeal? You should see me at the weekend. Eyeliner, the lot…
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29 Boys Keep Swinging From Lodger (May 1979); released as a single, April 1979. Highest UK chart position: 7 Neurotic funk à la Talking Heads, released ahead of Lodger, with Bowie dragging up as three different backing singers for the video
ADRIAN BELEW: Bowie was a very charismatic person to be around. Musically, he gave me complete freedom to go wild and have lots of ideas. Recording Lodger in Lake Geneva, David and [co-producer] Brian Eno played me some tapes, wanting my initial reaction to certain music. Eno had a chart of favourite chords on the wall. He’d point to a chord and you’d just go along and improvise. He and David were great advocates of getting you to do things you never realised you could. You wouldn’t even hear the songs – no tempo, no key – and it immediately threw you into a different space. It was one giant brainstorm. I had a go at playing “Heroes†and remember walking in on David and Brian and they were just laughing. Nobody told me the original was made of various guitar parts spliced together. They thought it was hilarious I’d been able to play all those composites live! In New York, David was doing vocals for “Boys Keep Swingingâ€. He played me it and said: “This is written after you, in the spirit of you.†I think he saw me as a naïve person who just enjoyed life. I was thrilled with that.
28 Moonage Daydream From The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust… (June 1972) Originally written for Bowie’s 1971 Arnold Corns side-project, subsequently dusted down to herald the arrival of the space-invading alligator and “rock’n’rolling bitch†Ziggy Stardust
DAVE GAHAN (Depeche Mode): Bowie represented a way for me to get out of myself, and also to escape from where I was. Basildon was a factory, working-class town. Bowie gave me a hope that there was something else. This world that he seemed to be a part of – where was it? I wanted to find it. I just thought he wasn’t of this earth. And that was really attractive to me, to live in a different persona.
“Moonage Daydream†still gives me the goosebumps. I couldn’t really tell you what the hell he’s singing about. It’s about feeling and emotion first, it doesn’t really have to make any sense. It makes more sense melodically, it’s abstract musically. That’s with me now, every time I’m trying to write. It inspired me. Without it, I would have been resolved to a life of petty crime. Over the years, it’s the one staple I’ve stayed with. When it comes down to it, The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars… or David Live goes on.
I had the wonderful experience of actually meeting him, a couple of years back. I felt like he was just as much out of sorts as I imagined he would be. Even though he seemed to have it really together, and was very healthy. But I think that stuff doesn’t go away: that longing to belong, somehow.
____________________ 27 Station To Station From Station To Station (January 1976) Twisting, coldly funky, 10-minute epic that namechecked the “Thin White Duke/throwing darts in lovers’ eyes â€. The only track from its eponymous album not to be released on a single
STEPHEN MORRIS (New Order): I got into Bowie early on, when Hunky Dory came out. I remember going to see him at the [Manchester] Free Trade Hall with Ian [Curtis] in 1972. Bowie apparently asked Ian if there was a club he could go to, where he could hear some Northern soul. This was the same day that “Starman†came out, and Bowie bore a startling resemblance to my best friend’s mother. She had red hair and the same boots. I sort of fell out with Bowie when he jacked Ziggy in, but thanks to the Britannia Music Club, I got Station To Station. It was bloody weird, with The Thin White Duke and the cabbalistic lyrics.
The title track itself gave strong hints as to where Bowie was going, with various Kraftwerk-isms in there. At the same time, it has soulfulness too, but it’s mutating into something else. Listening to it now, it reminds me of something by Van Der Graaf Generator. There’s prog-ness about it, but it has a real energy and drive. Christ knows what he’s singing about, but it was a stepping stone to Joy Division for me, in that it moves from funk towards the experimentalism of Low and “Heroesâ€. It completely restored my faith in Bowie.
26 Always Crashing In The Same Car From Low (January 1977) “Every chance that I take, I take it on the road…†Three minutes of bleak, breathtakingly nihilist melodrama, and a powerful metaphor for making the same mistakes over and over again…
RICKY GARDINER (Low guitarist): I was surprised when I got the call to play guitar on Low. I wasn’t as familiar with David’s work as I might have been. My impression of David was of a man who took life seriously and who understood the need to keep working, irrespective of what else may have been going on in his life. That is worthy of respect. He also kept working when not necessarily feeling in top form. David, Iggy Pop and I are near contemporaries [Gardiner also played on Iggy’s Lust For Life, and composed the music for “The Passenger†] – there is something like 18 months between us. Brian [Eno] is not far away in age either. What makes this generation of musicians tick is creative expression. It is pleasure and release. It is identity and purpose. It’s love at a deep level, together with the challenge that brings.
I wasn’t instructed in any way at all regarding modes of approach or specific techniques. When it came to overdubbing the solo in “Always Crashing…â€, David hummed the first few notes he wanted and I took it from there. These things don’t evolve as such. They happen spontaneously and the engineer has to catch them. I believe it was generally well received at the time. People do ask me about that solo so it must mean something out there!
____________________ 25 Can’t Help Thinking About Me By David Bowie & The Lower Third. Released as a single, January 1966. Did not chart. Available on David Bowie: Early On (1964-66) The first song released as Bowie: a would-be mod anthem about leaving home and making it on your own
STEVE VAN ZANDT: This is one of those really classic garage rock things that I have in my permanent playlist. I’m not really a Bowie expert, but he was quite a good, mod-ish rocker before he went into the John Lennon-slash-glam thing. I love his early stuff. He had a blues band, The King Bees, who were great, and then The Lower Third. I play early things by people in spite of their success. All of that British scene were good – The Move, The Pretty Things, The Creation, The Animals. But Bowie was a great blues singer, a great interpreter. There’s a song or two later on – “Rebel Rebel†is a wonderful track – but that era for me is it. There was a lot going on there, and he was a big part of it.
24 Drive-In Saturday From Aladdin Sane (April 1973); released as a single, April 1973 Highest UK chart position: 3 Bowie’s sci-fi take on American Graffiti, imagining future teens boning up on romance from old movies and pop songs…
MORRISSEY: I’ve covered the song, and even recorded a version last year in Omaha, Nebraska. It was a very strong song in its time, and a very clever song too. I prefer the Jobriath version, but nevertheless “Drive-In Saturday†was a fascinating piece of art at the time, infiltrating a very, very drab Top 30. Yes, Bowie’s a human vampire, but I’m grateful, very grateful, for some of the songs. ____________________ 23 Kooks From Hunky Dory (December 1971) Charmingly ramshackle and oddly touching British pop pastiche, dedicated to Bowie’s new-born son, Zowie (later Joey) Bowie
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT: I always loved this, and “Fame,†and “Heroesâ€. When I grew up David Bowie was still in the mainstream, in the prime of his career. But I got into it when I moved to New York and met a bunch of hip drag queens who wanted to sleep with straight rock boys. I have a very special relationship with David only because we share a guitar player in Gerry Leonard. He plays with David a lot, so David has come to a lot of my shows and always been very supportive, which is such an amazing honour.
I’ve talked a lot with Gerry about the insides of the workings of David’s mind – and it’s pretty amazing. I think the main thing I’ve realised is that he’s actually quite shy: there’s a real kind of Wizard Of Oz quality to him, by which I mean that behind the flamboyance, the fire and green lasers and stuff there’s this little guy there, working away in his attic. Really, he’s very, very sensitive about being an artist – trying to be in sync. He’s a very vulnerable, and very affected by the world around him, and by what people say. He’s not at all jaded.
22 Sunday From Heathen (June 2002) Low-key opening track from Heathen, with Bowie reunited with Tony Visconti for the first time since Scary Monsters…
TONY VISCONTI: “Sunday†is absolutely stunning. It took a long time to make and every time we added a layer of sound from either us or a visiting musician, the song grew to be more and more of an emotional experience. I think Heathen was a very spiritual album. David wrote some great lyrics, wore his heart on his sleeve for that album. This is all my assumption. He rarely “explains†his lyrics to me. But I have to make something of them so I can help to create his musical settings. Sometimes he would specifically tell me his meaning, to keep the recording focussed. I don’t know what [2003 album] Reality really is. We created it under completely different conditions. Heathen was made in an isolated studio in upstate New York and it sounds as lofty as where the studio was located, on a mountain top. Reality was made on the border of SoHo and NoHo in New York City. It has more angst than Heathen and sounds like a teeth-grinding record to me. Was he on the way to another great trilogy of albums? Yes, David was very keen to do a third album and it would’ve been perfect. There might be a third in the series someday. He’s very fit now.
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21 The Bewlay Brothers From Hunky Dory (December 1971) Mysterious but moving closing track on Hunky Dory, reputedly about Bowie’s relationship with troubled half-brother Terry Burns
JAMES MURPHY (LCD Soundsystem): Where I grew up, it was a small town. I always played music. I don’t remember not playing music or writing songs since I was four or five. My older brothers and sisters were 10 years older than me so I listened to a lot of classic rock. My first records were “Alone Again Naturally†by Gilbert O Sullivan and “Fame†by David Bowie.
People say that “New York I Love You†[from LCD’s Sound Of Silver album] sounds like Bowie’s production on Transformer. But are we really in a time where the problem is that there are too many bands that sound like Transformer? How is this a problem?! I WISH we had the kind of problem!
“The Bewley Brothers†is just so beautiful and sad. It really uses his voice. It’s one of those songs that would be a very hard cover. Maybe that’s why I like it most. His best songs are just so wonderfully coverable, because they’re such good songs. But “The Bewley Brothers� So sad, and it really uses his voice in a really cheesy, borderline hack-Broadway kind of way. But it’s so good!
20 Letter To Hermione From David Bowie – US title: Man Of Words/Man Of Music – (November 1969); reissued as Space Oddity (November 1972) Dreamy acoustic farewell dedicated to Bowie’s ex-girlfriend and fellow Lindsay Kemp dance student, Hermione Farthingale
RICKY GERVAIS: It was a surprise. I discovered it probably in reverse order. It’s on the Space Oddity album in 1969. When I first got into Bowie it was for “Heroes†and I worked my way backwards to Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane. And, then I heard this song and of course the badge I was wearing of Bowie was one of this artistic, fashionable, trendsetting, androgyne – “I’m different.†What I wasn’t wearing was, “I’m a brilliant songwriter of love songs.†And, it’s a total surprise. It’s stripped down. Just like Bob Dylan surprises you sometimes. Just as most people think Dylan is a political singer-songwriter and then he comes out with “If You See Her, Say Helloâ€, and you go, “Oh my God.†The same with Bowie. “Letter To Hermione†starts off, “The hand that wrote this letter sweeps the pillow clean…†It sounds like Keats. And then, “Something tells me that you hide/When all the world is warm and tired/You cry a little in the dark/Well, so do I.†That’s amazing. “Did you ever call my name just by mistake?†This guy just hoping. It’s beautiful. It’s beautiful.
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19 Oh! You Pretty Things From Hunky Dory (December 1971) Stomping, melodious album cut that somehow proposed a pop collaboration between Paul McCartney and Friedrich Nietzsche
PHIL MAY (The Pretty Things): With The Pretty Things, you’d have lots of people who’d come around the stage at the end, from Bromley or Sidcup, even at the early art school shows we did. Lost souls who, like us, thought they were weird and different and yet, when they were in a place where music was played, suddenly didn’t feel such a weirdo. David was the one who struck me like a jackdaw. He was collecting, storing and taking in music like a sponge. He wasn’t like a fan. We talked about art, too – we’d been at the same art school.
I’ve always interpreted this song as a fantasy of outsiders taking over. In terms of using our name, I think we were a beacon to him. I’ve never had a conversation with him about it, but there was “Pretty Things Are Going To Hellâ€, too [from 1999’s hours…]. I think the phrase is a euphemism for how he saw our band when he was starting up – somebody shining a light on his situation, when for the rest of his life, he was on his own.
18 Rock’n’Roll Suicide From The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (June 1972); released as a single, April 1974. Highest UK chart position: 22 Epic, defiantly show-stopping closer to the Ziggy live show, a rock’n’roll update of Jacques Brel’s “My Deathâ€
MARC ALMOND: There are so many Bowie songs of the late ’60s and early ’70s that represent so much to me, but I have to single out “Rock’N’Roll Suicideâ€. As a skinny, spotty 14-year-old, bloody from being bottled by thugs on the way to Liverpool Empire in 1972, I climbed over the orchestra pit at the front of the stage. And as Bowie sang “Give me your hand!â€, he reached down and took my hand. I was a mess of blood, glitter and cheap, badly applied make-up, but in a state of near religious ecstasy. “Rock’N’Roll Suicide†is a wonderfully structured song. It’s Bowie at his theatrical, Jacques Brel-inspired best. Sometimes I still sing it live to bring back that moment.
I loved all his work throughout the ’70s. That’s an incredible body of work, brilliant and innovative. I can’t think of any other artist that’s made so much impact in a short period. A year ago, at an opera in New York, he sat opposite me. We smiled at each other, but I’m not even sure he knew who I was, though Bowie probably knows who everyone is. I quite like it that we’ve never really met, as I can still be a fan that admires him from a distance.
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17 Young Americans From Young Americans (March 1975); released as a single, February 1975 Highest UK chart position: 18 Highest US chart position: 28 Stateside, Bowie hopes to catch some of the Philly Sound, and winds up inventing post-Nixonian Plastic Soul
SLASH: I remember this track really well. I was about 11 years old and my mom had worked as a costume designer on the Nic Roeg movie that he starred in, The Man Who Fell To Earth, and Bowie was around the family a lot. He and my mum were kinda dating. And this was the record that had come out when my mom was first hanging out with him. I didn’t know anything about him before that, he was just this cool-looking guy who’d come round the house. So this period of Bowie’s work – the whole white funk thing, Young Americans, Station To Station – that was my introduction to his work. What I love about it is that it’s funk, but there’s no sense of pastiche or parody. He’s taken this music and made it his own – cool, icy, stylish, sexy, a bit frightening – to the point that it couldn’t be anyone else. After that I worked backwards into Aladdin Sane and Ziggy Stardust, and I got heavily into “Heroesâ€, which is a fantastic single, and I loved all the Low period, like “Warszawaâ€. But it’s stuff like “Young Americans†that had the biggest effect on me.
16 The Man Who Sold The World From The Man Who Sold The World (April 1971) The title track of Bowie’s third album, a cryptic sci-fi lyric but an unforgettable riff, covered by everyone from Lulu to Nirvana
LULU: I first met Bowie on tour in the early ’70s, when he invited me to his concert. And back at the hotel, he said to me, in very heated language, “I want to make an MF of a record with you. You’re a great singer.†I didn’t think it would happen, but he followed up two days later. He was über-cool at the time and I just wanted to be led by him. I didn’t think “The Man Who Sold The World†was the greatest song for my voice, but it was such a strong song in itself. In the studio, Bowie kept telling me to smoke more cigarettes, to give my voice a certain quality. We were like the odd couple. Were we ever an item? I’d rather not answer that one, thanks!
For the video, people thought he came up with the androgynous look, but that was all mine. It was very Berlin cabaret. We did other songs, too, like “Watch That Manâ€, “Can You Hear Me?†and “Dodoâ€. “The Man Who Sold The World†saved me from a certain niche in my career. If we’d have carried on, it would have been very interesting.
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15 Sound & Vision From Low (January 1977); released as a single, February 1977 Highest UK chart position: 3; Highest US chart position: 69 A gleaming two-minute intro of Krautrock easy listening – featuring Mary Hopkin singing backup – leads into one of Bowie’s bleakest Berlin lyrics
ALEX KAPRANOS (Franz Ferdinand): We were asked to cover a song from 1977 [for the Radio 1: Established 1967 LP] and when I looked down the list, “Sound And Vision†jumped out as my favourite song of that year. I love it because it does what my favourite pop songs do: it’s out there, it’s unpredictable and does things you’d never heard in music. Yet it’s immediate at the same time. Because it takes so long for the vocals to come in, the pattern of the melody is so unpredictable and takes so long to evolve, and the fact it fades out at a bizarre point, you immediately want to put it on again. You feel like the song is playing for eternity in some other universe. It’s like you caught a snippet of something that will always be playing. And that’s not really like a standard pop song. There’s no start, middle and finish.
I grew up listening to Bowie. It’s one of the few things you inherit from your parents, something with edge. I’ve met him a couple of times at our gigs, which is always a little disconcerting. I remember him looking at the setlist and saying, “Oh good, you’re doing ‘Evil And A Heathen’. I’m looking forward to that one.â€
14 John, I’m Only Dancing Released as a single, September 1972, re-released January 1980; “John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)†(1975) released as a single, December 1979; Highest UK chart position: 12 Bowie’s first successful follow-up single, six months after “Starmanâ€, consolidated his career and cemented the “Hi, I’m bi!†pose
SIOUXSIE SIOUX: It always takes me back to when I was 14. I just remember the feeling of that time. I think “School’s Out†by Alice Cooper was out, too. I was just getting ready to turn, I think. When Bowie’s music happened, it was a lifeline. I’d always grown up with music, but to be into something that was happening currently, something of my own that my sister and my brother hadn’t played first… it felt personal. I liked the subversiveness of Bowie. That was his appeal, and the fact that there was all that confusion about “Is it a boy? Is it a girl?†And I was pretty confused about myself, and that really tapped into something. I’d never be tempted to cover “John, I’m Only Dancingâ€. It’s perfect as it is. It’s so of a time. I wouldn’t want to mess with that.
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13 Diamond Dogs From Diamond Dogs (May 1974); released as a single, June 1974; highest UK chart position: 21 The title track from Bowie’s George Orwell concept opera once again mines Stones riffola and wasted Iggyish hijinks
HERBIE FLOWERS (Diamond Dogs bassist): The first time I played with Bowie was on the session for “Space Oddityâ€. Dear Gus [Dudgeon] was quaking in his boots. It might have been the first thing he ever produced. “Space Oddity†was this strange hybrid song. Rick Wakeman went out to buy a little Stylophone for seven shillings from a small shop on the corner where Trident Studios was. With that and all the string arrangements, it’s like a semi-orchestral piece.
We did Diamond Dogs very fast, doing basic tracks in three days in the little studio at Olympic. Bowie was writing a lot of the stuff as we were going. I think it was a semi-rescue attempt from his proposed George Orwell musical. The music was weird. I have to say I found it mildly unattractive at the time, but it was interesting stuff. Touring Diamond Dogs across America afterwards, it felt like those new songs were anarchic, all about tearing things down. It was prophetic in many ways. And the music was so loud and angry. Those shows were well organised. Strange things were going on, too. There was some in-fighting and maybe a lot of other things going on. But the band stuck together.
12 All The Young Dudes Bowie’s version was never released on a studio album, but is available on a number of compilations and David Live (November 1974) After Mott The Hoople rejected “Suffragette Cityâ€, Bowie came up with this career-saving track that they took to No 3
ROBERT WYATT: On the chorus of “All The Young Dudes†there’s a slight out-of-sync-ness between the chords as they go under the vocal melody. The chords start marching off before the tune comes in, so the word “dudes†is already on the third chord. Then there’s a great catch-up at the end of the chorus where the chords stamp their feet a couple of times waiting for the melody to catch up. Most writers would strum and hum, having the melody and chords coming in at the same time, but Bowie gives the song a great sense of motion. It’s got the immediate appeal of a timeworn folk melody, or one of the better football chants. I think it’s extraordinary and very generous that Bowie chose to give this song away and that his own role in it was so modestly placed.
I only met David for the first time very recently. We were guests at a David Gilmour concert at the Albert Hall. He came in to do a couple of old Pink Floyd songs. He was an extremely nice young man – I call him young, I’m in my sixties – and what he was doing on stage was blindingly good. All due respect to Syd, but his songs couldn’t have been realised any better. David’s voice is terrific now – it’s got a warm weight to it, and real authority.
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11 The Jean Genie From Aladdin Sane (April 1973); released as a single, November 1972. Highest UK chart position: 2; Highest US chart position: 71 Inspired by a combination of Jean Genet and Iggy Pop, hitched to a quasi Yardbirds riff, this proved Bowie’s biggest hit to date
JOHNNY MARR: It’s one of those amazing bits of noise that existed as a commercial release. It’s got sex and subversion and artistry in it. But it’s not so obscure that it couldn’t get on the radio. It really is a superb advertisement for what was once called rock’n’roll . Of course Mick Ronson’s guitar-playing is fantastic, but it’s the atmosphere created by the vocal and the attitude of the singer: it’s remote and scary and… quite alluring. It’s all the things that attracted me to rock music in the first place. And that it’s all wrapped up in a 7-inch 45 format is just perfect. It’s also really funny! The actual words themselves are a great example of why you don’t need to be earnest in pop music. And a great example of a sort of nonsense. It’s all about imagery over message. It’s just… cool!
10 Let’s Dance From Let’s Dance (April 1983); released as a single, March 1983. Highest UK chart position: 1; Highest US chart position: 1 Bowie straightest pop song yet, white funk immaculately produced by Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards, eases him into stadium megastardom
JIMMY PAGE: I played on his records, did you know that? His very early records, when he was Davy Jones & The Lower Third. The Shel Talmy records. I can think of two individual sessions that I did with him. He said in some interview that on one of those sessions I showed him these chords, which he used in “Space Oddity†– but he said, “Don’t tell Jim, he might sue me.†Ha ha!
There’s a lot of Bowie stuff that’s just terrific. He’s multi-faceted, multi-talented, isn’t he? I’m going to say “Let’s Dance†because it introduced everybody to Stevie Ray Vaughan. People were always saying, “Who’s the guitarist on that?†In the early days [Page is presumably referring to the 1970s] he was prolific and he put out some really important work. He was taking from various sources and putting it together, but that’s an art form in itself. And then the application of images… that whole Ziggy Stardust period and the build-up to Aladdin Sane, it captured the imagination. I knew people who couldn’t get enough of that world he created, couldn’t wait for the next release, the next tour. People still refer to his work from that time, and I think they always will. He’s a really important figure.
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9 Life On Mars From Hunky Dory (December 1971); released as a single June 1973 Highest UK chart position: 3 Bowie’s rejected English lyrics for the French original of “My Way†form the backbone of this astonishing song, and relocate the Dame as a kind of glam Sinatra…
MICK ROCK (photographer): Bowie wasn’t very well-known when I first met him. There were about 400 people at Birmingham Town Hall in March 1972. But I was fascinated with him. Even though they were small audiences, he projected very big. I made videos for him – “Moonage Daydreamâ€, “John, I’m Only Dancing†and “The Jean Genieâ€. Then “Life On Mars†was released as a single in the summer of ’73. The video production values are minimal, all born of necessity. There was no budget at all. I shot “Life On Mars†in a day at Earls Court. I loved Hunky Dory, but there was something about “Life On Mars†that really got me. I still couldn’t tell you what it’s about, but that’s art. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s like reading Rimbaud, but it is rock’n’roll poetry. There’s something Zen-like about that song, even though it’s so emotional. It was the song that sold me on David. It triggered me towards wanting to write something about him and take some pictures. And as a result, our relationship developed from that. All that came afterwards, from Iggy and Lou to Queen, came in the wake of the stimulation provided by that LP and, specifically, “Life On Marsâ€. It’s the most significant Bowie song for me.
8 Changes From Hunky Dory (December 1971); released as a single, January 1972, re-released December 1974. Highest UK chart position: 41; Highest US chart position: 66 The first single taken from Hunky Dory was a commercial flop, but proved an enduring artistic manifesto for Bowie’s pop mutations
GUY GARVEY (Elbow): Hunky Dory was my entry point into music. One of my sisters had a cassette tape of it and when I got my first player, I put it on. I loved it as a kid, mainly because of the sing-a-long nature of the tunes. When I came back to it in my teens, I started to realise what Bowie was singing about. It made it exist on a whole different level. It was organic and personal, a beautiful piece of work. From the outset, the chord progression of “Changes†is so dramatic. It starts off uneasy, gets a little less uneasy and then suddenly becomes so excited. The last chord of the intro is quite disconcerting, then this riff drops in that’s very sure of itself. It’s very well-constructed. It’s also the first time you hear this spiky kind of character emerge in his singing. The way he sings those first few lines is like he’s adopted some really bizarre character, like a wizened old scientist.
KEITH RICHARDS: Can’t remember. Who is he? Oh, he went to the same art school as me. “Changesâ€, maybe. That’s about it. Not a large fan, no. It’s all pose. It’s all fucking posing. It’s nothing to do with music. He knows it, too. I can’t think of anything else he’s done that would make my hair stand up.
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7 Rebel Rebel From Diamond Dogs (May 1974); released as a single, February 1974. Highest UK chart position: 5; Highest US chart position: 64 Bowie says farewell to glam with an irresistably Keefy riff and gender-bending lyric, originally written for a proposed Ziggy musical
RODNEY BINGENHEIMER, DJ: In early 1971, I was working for Mercury Records in LA and took Bowie around Hollywood. We stayed at my friend Tom Ayres’ house. I remember Gene Vincent being there and Bowie writing the lyrics for “Hang On To Yourself†and talking about the Ziggy character. He was talking about making it into a stage play. I think LA was a culture shock for Bowie. His mind was blown, everything was so big and bright. But it was a culture shock for others, too, because he was wearing a dress, the same one from the cover of The Man Who Sold The World. One party was at [socialite, columnist] Dianne Bennett’s house and [Warhol acolyte] Ultra Violet was there, in a milk bath. Bowie sat on the bed and played stuff from Hunky Dory and Ziggy on acoustic guitar. Everyone loved it.
In London, Bowie took me to the Cellar club, where they played music by Slade and T.Rex. That was where he gave me the idea for doing Rodney’s English Disco in LA. I always loved Bowie’s glam stuff. When I had the club, he would send me acetates and test pressings of those songs. “Rebel Rebel†was such a great dance song. It was really the glam rock song. It was like an anthem.
6 Ashes To Ashes From Scary Monsters (September 1980); released as a single, August 1980. Highest UK chart position: 1 Bowie’s second No 1: an audaciously self-referential junkie confessional, matched with a sublime video, perfectly timed to catch the New Romantic wave
ROBERT DEL NAJA (Massive Attack): I was 16 when it came out, just left school. I was sniffing too much glue, messing around with chemicals. Growing up with Bowie as a kid, with the references in the song, I bound them into this idea of addiction, and personality development, and change. As well as being a beautiful pop song, it dealt with those issues in an accessible way. The sense of impending change and doom was interesting to a boy of my age. Major Tom’s so strung out he’s in outer space. I was going through a time where I’d lost my grip. That line, “My mother said, to get things done, you’d better not mess with Major Tom†was really resonant for me. That record was an echo of what was going on inside my head, questions I couldn’t answer.
“Ashes to Ashes†sounds so distinct. It’s got a strange start-stop quality, there’s something very beautiful about the way it rolls. Although it’s electronic construction, with its synths, it’s still one of the great songs of that time which managed to convey absolute human spirit. You were totally captivated by the song and the voice.
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5 Space Oddity First released as a single, July 1969; re-issued September 1975. Highest UK chart positions: 1 His first hit, rush-released to cash-in on the Apollo 11 moon landing, this snapshot of cosmic alienation was also – six years later – Bowie’s first UK No 1
SUFJAN STEVENS: It’s so beautiful, bizarre and otherworldly. It’s everything that Bowie does in one song: there’s humour, a political thrust, great guitar sounds and beautiful melodies. The countdown especially gives it a childlike feel. It’s got that comic-book quality, similar to what The Beatles achieved with “Yellow Submarineâ€, and yet it’s vast and psychedelic like a Pink Floyd song. Bowie sings it like an alien.
I suppose “Space Oddity†is the song on which he started to explore the idea of becoming a character, as followed through later on Ziggy Stardust. I first remember seeing Bowie doing “Let’s Dance†on MTV in the ’80s. Then I saw the film Labyrinth – I loved that when I was a kid. Bowie was so odd, so magical, and… I don’t know… sexually ambiguous. And that’s a very strange impression to take away as a kid! His art is so multi-faceted. He has many faces. I mean, even his eyes are two different shades.
4 Starman From The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (June 1972); released as a single, April 1972. Highest UK chart position: 10; Highest US chart position: 65 The last song to be recorded for Ziggy Stardust, supposedly because nobody heard a single on the album. The chorus octave-leap self-consciously apes “Somewhere Over The Rainbowâ€
WOODY WOODMANSEY (Spiders From Mars drummer): I first met David in 1969 at his place, Haddon Hall in Kent. Mick [Ronson] had been working with him for a few months. My only knowledge of him was “Space Oddityâ€, and a Hull festival flyer showing him with what looked like an afro hairstyle. So I met this guy wearing red cords, red slip-on shoes with a blue star painted on them, and a rainbow-striped T-shirt. His hair was long, so I didn’t immediately recognise him. We chatted about music. He even did a bit of mime. My impression was that this guy’s serious about making it, he’s already living it. For me the whole trip was a leap of faith. By Ziggy, we were all focused. We all lived in Haddon Hall. David was writing almost on a daily basis, He’d just started writing on the piano. I love “Starman†as it’s the concept of hope that the song communicates. That “we’re not alone†and “they†contact the kids, not the adults, and kind of say “get on with itâ€. “Let the children boogieâ€: music and rock’n’roll! It lifted the attention away from the depressing affairs in the ’70s, made the future look better. “Starman†was the first Bowie song since “Space Oddity†with mass appeal. After “Starmanâ€, everything changed.
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3 Fame From Young Americans (March 1975); released as a single, July 1975. Highest UK chart position: 17; Highest US chart position: 1 Bowie meets Lennon in New York, and talk naturally turns to celebrity team-up – superbly soundtracked by Carlos Alomar’s irresistible guitar riff
DAVE GROHL: I’d like to pick one that not everyone else is going to pick. I love “Fameâ€, it’s fucking amazing. The drums, the vocals, the arrangement, the performance. That song is fucking slimy. I think it’s classic Bowie – the guitar tones just sound dirty, it sounds like a fucking garage band and could have been a Sub Pop single. There’s also“Hello Spaceboyâ€. We [Foo Fighters] played it with him at his 50th birthday party, at Madison Square Garden. Fuck man, the four of us onstage with his band – it was so fucking brutal. But for classic Bowie I’d have to say “Fameâ€.
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2 Ziggy Stardust From The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (June 1972); released as the B-side to “The Jean Genieâ€, April 1972 Supposedly inspired by a combination of Brit rocker Vince Taylor and C&W weirdo The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, and the first of Bowie’s many adventures in rock’n’roleplay
PETER BUCK, REM: I lived in a small town called Roswell, Georgia, which
is now pretty much part of Atlanta but back then was like the Moon. “Ziggy Stardust†was about as weird as anything that existed anywhere. I remember buying the LP and learning four or five of those songs. I loved “Ziggy†particularly – Mick Ronson’s guitar lines are just beautiful. As someone who was trying to figure out a way to be a guitar player, but who didn’t want to be a Southern rock boogie guitar player, it was nice to see a soloist playing something angular and forward looking, and not rooted in “Hoochie-Coochie Manâ€. Ronson was very much an influence – the pithiness and intelligence of his playing. He does a lot of single-note stuff that doesn’t sound like he’s soloing away – it’s very melodic and very smart guitar-playing.
Living where I did, when I did, there weren’t any glam people in my town. But I did see the New York Dolls when I was 15. Bowie wasn’t quite underground – some radio stations would play him – but it didn’t make you popular to like that stuff. It would call your sexuality into question. But there were about five of my friends who would put on a little makeup, or wear one black thumbnail. Getting beaten up by guys in pick-up trucks was always a threat but, you know, all those guys are selling insurance somewhere or working for fertiliser companies.
1 “Heroes†From “Heroes†(October 1977); released as a single, September 1977 Highest UK chart position: 24 “There’s old wave. There’s new wave. And there’s David Bowie…†ran the press ads for the “Heroes†album, and Bowie never caught a better balance between epic romantic alienation and cool ironic poise than on the title track. Originally an instrumental composition partly inspired by Neu!’s track “Heroâ€, Bowie and producer Tony Visconti conjured up a Phil Spector dream of krautrock, from Robert Fripp’s endless feedbacking guitar to Eno’s droning synth discordance. The result is the greatest song of Bowie’s career
JOHN CALE: My first encounter with David was when I was doing A&R at Warners in 1971. I was there to bring in the strange and freaky stuff, the underground stuff. So there we were with Hunky Dory, the deal was on the table and everyone was trying to figure out how this cabaret-ish, Brit art-rock could work. At that time, Warners had The Doobie Brothers and Alice Cooper and all of that, which they understood. But coming around to the art side of things, they just didn’t get what David was doing. It was [producer] Ted Templeman and I who went to [Warners head] Joe Smith and told him the rest of the A&R department was really divided about Hunky Dory. It’s a very difficult thing to fight for in a large corporation like that if no-one understands where they’re going with it. It really wasn’t fair, certainly not to David. There were certain things you knew you weren’t going to get your hands on in those days and that was one of them. You were struggling in the trenches. But I loved Hunky Dory. I saw the Anthony Newley/Lionel Bart vein in it. It was unique, strange and very unorthodox. But if you tried to explain Anthony Newley and British music hall tradition to the executives, they just wouldn’t get it. So I was really disappointed I couldn’t do anything at Warners with him. I think, later on in the ’70s when I saw the whole thing build with David, it all started to make sense to people.
David and I didn’t actually meet until I first went back to New York, after I’d done Patti [Smith; Cale produced Horses in 1975]. When we did that bootleg [Cale and Bowie recorded “Piano-La†and “Velvet Couch†in New York in October 1979], it was like the good old bad old days. We were partying very hard. It was exciting working with him, as there were a lot of possibilities and everything, but we were our own worst enemies at that point. We also played that show for Steve Reich and Philip Glass [1979’s ‘The First Concert Of The Eighties’]. That was a lot of fun. That was when we were hanging out, so I asked David if he’d like to come and play “Sabotage†with me. I ended up teaching him the viola part, which he had a whack at and then ended up playing on stage for the first time. Did I ever want to produce Bowie? After spending time with him, I realised the answer was no. The way we were then would have made it too dangerous. Nowadays it would be different, though. He could improvise songs very well, which was what that bootleg was all about. The great thing about when we met and then started hanging out in the ’70s was that he would say [puts on thick Welsh accent] “That’s Dai Jones from Wales, isn’t it?†He loved all that. That set us off. We got along really well, but most of what we were doing was just partying.
I suppose David and I were similar in that we were coming from the European art side of things as much as rock’n’roll. What struck me about “Heroes†was that branded hammer piano. There was a lot of layering, too, a lot of orchestral stuff on it, but it’s really that two-chord special. It was that “Waiting For The Man†thing, though when we eventually met, we didn’t really talk about The Velvet Underground at all. Aside from the repetitive hammer piano, there’s a real groove in “Heroesâ€, but it’s very horizontal. And then it was layered with all Brian [Eno]’s stuff. If anything, I think it was their dissimilarity that drew David and Brian together. It was kind of how the VU was with Lou and I: put two people from very different backgrounds in the same room and you get a third thing. And I think that’s what happened with David and Brian. Did I see my own influence on Low and “Heroesâ€? If you’re talking about David’s use of drone, then yes. It’s all through that stuff. That’s why Brian was involved. But I think the tapestry idea of “Heroes†and blanketing the music to give it depth was a very good idea. I could see David’s progression to making it rhythm-oriented and then disco-oriented, which was the style of the day. Against what was happening with disco, if you had that sustained tapestry of sound behind you, it really helped. Especially if you had material like David had. It wasn’t like doing The Village People.
The imagery in “Heroes†is interesting. Hansa Studios was an interesting place to be at the time. The Berlin Wall was still up. I saw the two lovers by the Wall as two Brits adrift in Berlin, when Berlin was really something you couldn’t pin down at all. You’d have to drive through East Germany to get there. Being in West Berlin was very different from what it is now: everyone was nuts, living on the edge. It was a real circus over there. When Brian and I did that Nico concert where she insisted on singing “Deutschland Über Alles†[in October 1974 at The Nationalgalerie], they really went nuts. All the young people there were living with the Wall. And it was a fiery place to be.
Jack White has unveiled a "three-in-one" video for his new single, "That Black Bat Licorice".The interactive clip features a live action video directed by White himself, an animated version directed by James Blagden, as well as a "headbang" edition directed by Brad Holland.
Watch all three by tog...
Jack White has unveiled a “three-in-one” video for his new single, “That Black Bat Licorice”.The interactive clip features a live action video directed by White himself, an animated version directed by James Blagden, as well as a “headbang” edition directed by Brad Holland.
Watch all three by toggling the keys in the embed above.
Jack White is currently touring his 2014 album Lazaretto around America. He recently shared an audio recording of his show at Madison Square Garden in New York, White’s first at the venue since he performed there with The White Stripes in 2007. It saw White perform a 23-song set that included work from his two solo records, as well as songs from The White Stripes and The Raconteurs.
My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields has teamed up with French-born, London-based musician Charlotte Marionneau.
https://soundcloud.com/rtamusic-1/le-volume-courbe-the-house
Marionneau's Le Volume Courbe have unveiled a new single, with "The House" featuring Shields, who also appeared on 2005 debut...
My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields has teamed up with French-born, London-based musician Charlotte Marionneau.
Marionneau’s Le Volume Courbe have unveiled a new single, with “The House” featuring Shields, who also appeared on 2005 debut ‘I Killed My Best Friend’. You can stream “The House” above.
Meanwhile, the single’s other track “Monte Dans Mon Ambulance” features Primal Scream’s Martin Duffy, with both tracks mixed by PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish.
To coincide with the 35th anniversary of The Smiths' debut album, here's a very special piece on The Smiths - from the March 2007 issue of Uncut (Take 118). Famous fans including Noel Gallagher and Ian Brown, as well as the band themselves, select the very finest songs written by Morrissey and Marr....
To coincide with the 35th anniversary of The Smiths’ debut album, here’s a very special piece on The Smiths – from the March 2007 issue of Uncut (Take 118). Famous fans including Noel Gallagher and Ian Brown, as well as the band themselves, select the very finest songs written by Morrissey and Marr. Come on, let’s talk about precious things…
JOHNNY MARR: “Well, well, The 30 Greatest Smiths Songs. It’s amazing to think that what we did still means so much to so many people.
“From the very first writing session that Morrissey and I had in my attic lodgings, we were excited and high with it. We couldn’t get our ideas out fast enough and that feeling remained in the studio for all of us when we were making the records.
“Greatness is the best achievement, greatness and recognition from your peers and other artists you respect. We had and still have that, plenty of other stuff too, good and bad and dramatic. But that’s The Smiths.
“We loved each other and we loved what we were doing more than anything. That’s probably why we still sound good. There’s love in it, inspired musicians, great words and some pretty good tunes, too.
“Bless you.â€
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30 BARBARISM BEGINS AT HOME From the album Meat Is Murder (February 1985, highest chart position: 1)
The bluntest expression of Morrissey’s second album violence fixation. A real curio in the Smiths catalogue, unfurling into an extended funk coda where pained operatic wails meet Andy Rourke’s slap bass.
IAN BROWN: I met Andy Rourke at a party when I was 16. My favourite memory of those days is that he used to wear a ’60s sheepskin coat, which belonged to the mother of my friend, Simon Wolstencroft [pre-Reni Roses drummer and later sticksman for The Fall]. I thought it was really funny that he had me mate’s mum’s coat on. But it was dead fashionable at the same time.
I didn’t meet Johnny until a few years later. There’s a great story of Johnny going into a pub in Sale called The Vine when he was 17 and telling everyone he was going to have a No 1 album – and a year or two later, he did! He always had that belief.
The thing about The Smiths that never got written about was that the pre-Smiths groups that Andy and Johnny were in, the Paris Valentinos and White Dice, were funk outfits. When everyone else was a punk rocker, Andy was into The Fatback Band and Parliament. I think that’s what gave The Smiths the groove; Andy played the melody like a McCartney, but he had that funk undercarriage that he learned when he was a kid, when he first picked that bass up. That’s what gave Morrissey the cradle to jump on top. So my favourite Smiths track is “Barbarism…†because that bassline is what Andy would’ve playing when he was about 14.
That Morrissey sang with his own accent was a big deal. Obviously, the lyrics are great. The way that he arranges his songs… no one else arranges their songs like that. He repeats lines, but each one’s got a different melody.
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29 SHEILA TAKE A BOW Single (April 1987). Highest chart position: 10
Following in the footsteps of “Panicâ€, “Sheila…†equalled the band’s highest ever single placing, paid mispelled homage to A Taste Of Honey author Shelagh Delaney, and even doffed a hat to Bowie’s “Kooksâ€.
BETH DITTO, THE GOSSIP: For me, it’s like when you’re on tour and you have to associate with people you don’t like, and then you come home and go to your favourite dance night and the music connects with you. It reminds you that you do have a place where you belong and this song hits the nail on the head. It’s rare for a man to sing about a woman this way. To let you know that you’re not alone is empowering for me and I think it’s important in music to alienate the alienators and for the alienated to feel comfortable.
I used to hate The Smiths. Every time I heard them I got mad. It just brought up some creepy emotions inside me that I cannot explain. Now I can’t get enough, because one day the genius of it clicked in my head. Johnny Marr and Morrissey together were amazing. They’re the most dynamic songwriting duo of all time. The Smiths were about the pure ache of raw emotion and at that time for Morrissey it was all so secretive. It was very cryptic and the fact you had to break the code was interesting. It’s smart music. You have to sit down and appreciate it. The Smiths and Morrissey were very elitist, but only to the people who didn’t understand it – when you do, it’s a welcoming place.
28 YOU JUST HAVEN’T EARNED IT YET, BABY From the compilation album The World Won’t Listen (February 1987, highest chart position: 7)
Supposedly Rough Trade boss Geoff Travis’ verdict on why success eluded The Smiths – a phrase that so irked Morrissey he recycled it both here and on “Paint A Vulgar Pictureâ€. Marr and producer John Porter construct a dazzling wall of guitars, while Morrissey portrays himself as the hapless victim of petty thugs and bullies.
BRANDON FLOWERS, THE KILLERS: This LP had the biggest impact on me. I was living in a small town in Utah and kids my age were into Korn and Tool, but I was on the other end of the spectrum. Years later, I went to Salford Lads Club and took pictures. We played a gig at Manchester Academy, and across the street is the same church Morrissey sings about in “Vicar In A Tutuâ€. Even driving by a cemetery, I was thinking: “Is this the cemetery he was talking about?†You can walk down the streets and you can hear the songs come to life. “You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby†is the best Smiths song – it lit a fire in me when I heard it. I l loved it immediately.
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27 LAST NIGHT I DREAMT THAT SOMEBODY LOVED ME From the album Strangeways, Here We Come (September 1987, highest chart position: 2)
Following “Stop Me…†on Strangeways, “Last Night…†was another acknowledgement of lyrical repetition – but if the former was comically wry, here it was tragically pained: “This story is old, I know, but it goes on,†croons Morrissey, with a subtle lyrical homage to Joni’s “Amelia†and an orchestral flourish worthy of Morricone.
GERARD WAY, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE: It’s the bleakest one. It’s even bleaker than “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want†which I used to think was the bleakest. Waking up with the feeling described in “Last Night…†is the worst feeling in the world. It takes the cake for bleakness, irony and melody.
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26 REEL AROUND THE FOUNTAIN From the album The Smiths (Feb 1984, highest chart position: 2)
Sublime opener from the band’s debut album. It established Morrissey as a new kind of pop romantic comedian, the rueful, amused spectator of his own emotional tragedies.
BRETT ANDERSON, SUEDE: This track perfectly captures The Smiths’ dark beauty and brooding soul. Looking back, the debut album was flawed, but I still loved every bruised moment. I was fascinated with the wordplay in this song; the way the phrase “15 minutes with you†seemed to allude to the pursuit of fame in the Warholian sense. But The Smiths were always about so much more than the lyrics, and like any great band, they blended the interplay between melody and meaning expertly. They went on to make better records, possibly making the LP of the decade in The Queen Is Dead, but those early moments like “Reel Around The Fountain†are still special.
Sun Kil Moon have announced details of a new album, Universal Themes.
Caldo Verde Records will release the follow-up to Benji on June 2, reports Pitchfork.
The tracklisting for Universal Themes is:
The Possum
Birds of Flims
With a Sort of Grace I Walked to the Bathroom to Cry
Garden of Lavende...
Sun Kil Moon have announced details of a new album, Universal Themes.
Caldo Verde Records will release the follow-up to Benji on June 2, reports Pitchfork.
The tracklisting for Universal Themes is:
The Possum Birds of Flims With a Sort of Grace I Walked to the Bathroom to Cry Garden of Lavender Cry Me a River Williamsburg Sleeve Tattoo Blues Ali/Spinks 2 Little Rascals This Is My First Day and I’m Indian and I Work at a Gas Station
