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Jesus and Mary Chain announce further Psychocandy gigs for 2015

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Jesus and Mary Chain announce further Psychocandy gigs for 2015

They will play a run of shows in February to celebrate the album's 30th anniversary... The Jesus And Mary Chain have announced further dates in which they will play Psychocandy in full, following gigs later this month. The band will play 10 shows across the UK in February of next year, starting at Liverpool Guild of Students on February 16, visiting Leeds, Nottingham, Newcastle, Brighton and more, before finishing up on February 27 at Cardiff Uni. Tickets for the new tour go on sale at 9am on November 14. The band will first play a run of Psychocandy dates this month, in anticipation of the album's 30th anniversary, with shows in London, Manchester and Glasgow. You can read our exclusive interviews with William and Jim Reid in the current issue of Uncut The Jesus And Mary Chain will play: London Troxy (November 19) Manchester Academy (20) Glasgow Barrowlands (21) Glasgow Barrowlands (23) London Troxy (24) Liverpool Guild of Students (February 16, 2015) Leeds O2 Academy (17) Newcastle O2 Academy (18) Edinburgh Corn Exchange (19) Norwich UEA (21) Nottingham Rock City (22) Brighton Dome (23) Birmingham The Institute (25) Bristol O2 Academy (26) Cardiff Uni The Great Hall (27)

They will play a run of shows in February to celebrate the album’s 30th anniversary…

The Jesus And Mary Chain have announced further dates in which they will play Psychocandy in full, following gigs later this month.

The band will play 10 shows across the UK in February of next year, starting at Liverpool Guild of Students on February 16, visiting Leeds, Nottingham, Newcastle, Brighton and more, before finishing up on February 27 at Cardiff Uni. Tickets for the new tour go on sale at 9am on November 14.

The band will first play a run of Psychocandy dates this month, in anticipation of the album’s 30th anniversary, with shows in London, Manchester and Glasgow.

You can read our exclusive interviews with William and Jim Reid in the current issue of Uncut

The Jesus And Mary Chain will play:

London Troxy (November 19)

Manchester Academy (20)

Glasgow Barrowlands (21)

Glasgow Barrowlands (23)

London Troxy (24)

Liverpool Guild of Students (February 16, 2015)

Leeds O2 Academy (17)

Newcastle O2 Academy (18)

Edinburgh Corn Exchange (19)

Norwich UEA (21)

Nottingham Rock City (22)

Brighton Dome (23)

Birmingham The Institute (25)

Bristol O2 Academy (26)

Cardiff Uni The Great Hall (27)

Phil Collins: “I can’t play drums anymore, so a classic-lineup Genesis reunion is never going to happen”

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Phil Collins: “I can’t play drums anymore, so a classic-lineup Genesis reunion is never going to happen”

As a new boxset chronicles Genesis’ whole career, Uncut travels to New York to try and make sense of the group’s shifting identity in the new issue, dated December 2014 and out now. Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks and more provide the inside story on the band’s tangled history, while Collins rules out any future career-spanning reunion. “There’s this incessant desire for it to happen,” Collins acknowledges. “But I often think, ‘Have people thought it through?’ It’s not as if you’re going to get Peter [Gabriel] as singer, me as drummer. “I can’t play any more, so it’s never going to happen. But even if it could, you’re not going to get Peter singing ‘I Can’t Dance’ or ‘Invisible Touch’ or ‘Mama’.” The new issue of Uncut is out now.

As a new boxset chronicles Genesis’ whole career, Uncut travels to New York to try and make sense of the group’s shifting identity in the new issue, dated December 2014 and out now.

Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks and more provide the inside story on the band’s tangled history, while Collins rules out any future career-spanning reunion.

“There’s this incessant desire for it to happen,” Collins acknowledges. “But I often think, ‘Have people thought it through?’ It’s not as if you’re going to get Peter [Gabriel] as singer, me as drummer.

“I can’t play any more, so it’s never going to happen. But even if it could, you’re not going to get Peter singing ‘I Can’t Dance’ or ‘Invisible Touch’ or ‘Mama’.”

The new issue of Uncut is out now.

An Audience With… Bryan Ferry

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An Audience With… Bryan Ferry
Britain’s most elegant man releases his new album, Avonmore, on November 17 – in this piece from the Uncut archives (January 2013, Take 188), Bryan Ferry discusses impending Roxy Music boxsets, his missing Antony Price suits and his never-ending energy: “I think I’ll go on ’til I drop!” ...

Britain’s most elegant man releases his new album, Avonmore, on November 17 – in this piece from the Uncut archives (January 2013, Take 188), Bryan Ferry discusses impending Roxy Music boxsets, his missing Antony Price suits and his never-ending energy: “I think I’ll go on ’til I drop!” Interview: Michael Bonner

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Bryan Ferry’s studio is located in a small west London mews. Inside the foyer, a stack of framed photos of Kate Moss from the cover of Ferry’s 2010 LP Olympia lean against a wall. A row of Warhol Marilyn prints hang above stairs that head down to the studio. To the left, a door opens onto a spacious office-cum-lounge, split into alcoves by bulging bookcases. We meet Ferry sitting on an elegantly upholstered sofa, wearing a dark blue corduroy jacket, an Oxford blue shirt, dark trousers, polished tan shoes and a thick scarf looped round his neck. At 67, he has a patrician air, like a senior arts critic on a broadsheet, perhaps. He’s about to release his 14th solo LP, The Jazz Age, which reinterprets songs from his back catalogue in the style of the ’20s. And now he fields your questions, with topics ranging from the aborted Roxy reunion album to memories of growing up in the North East. “I had nothing,” he says. “My parents had zip!”

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You started out as an art student, very serious about painting. Is there any similarity in your approach to writing songs?
Johnny Marr
Yeah, I’ve always liked to try to create pictures with songs. I see them in textures and moods. Sometimes there’s a story, too. It’s very, very similar. If you’re dealing with something intangible like sounds rather than something you can touch, it can drive you mad, trying to structure all these sounds, but when it works it can be fascinating. But the great difference between being a painter and musician is that you make music with a whole bunch of people. I find it more interesting to share it with other people than be on my own.

There’s talk of a boxset of the first Roxy album coming out. What can we expect from that and will you be following it up with other boxsets of the rest of the Roxy Music catalogue?
Chris Harper, Croydon
We’re doing boxsets of the first two albums. They’ll have deluxe vinyl, and lots of bits and pieces that relate to the records. But that hasn’t been designed yet. We’ve just finished the boxset of the Roxy catalogue and various bits and pieces were on the final disc, like B-sides. People really enjoyed that. I think it was quite a limited edition. They should reissue it. It’s a good doorstop. Or headrest. Or Chinese block. There’ll be loads of extras in the Roxy boxsets.

You struggled with writer’s block, but managed to get two albums of material with Dave Stewart. Would you consider other longterm collaborators, or do you prefer to write alone?
Bryan O’Connor
Traditionally, I’ve always written alone. Until in Roxy, Andy [Mackay] and Phil [Manzanera] started bringing ideas to the table, and I’d say, “Oh yeah, I can work with that.” So that’s how I started collaborating. But I would write the tune and the words and the title and they would generally provide the basic chord sequence. Then I’d try and do what I could do to turn it into something that was unique. We did some good collaborations, especially with Andy. “Song For Europe”, “Love Is The Drug” stand out. Dave Stewart would come up with a riff and I’d take it away and work for three years on it and turn it into something. Dave is great. He probably writes a song a day. I wish I could find a lyric writer. If I had, I’d have written twice as many albums. I don’t really know anyone who writes lyrics that I like, apart from Bob Dylan.

Would you like to finish the LP we started in 2006?
Andy Mackay
Not sure. Was there quite a lot of work done on it? Not really. I didn’t get excited about it at the time. I tried to, but then I ran out of enthusiasm for it. The big tour we did in 2001 was one of the best tours I’ve played on. We hadn’t played for 18 years, and you felt this wonderful excitement every night. We did a lot of shows, but taking it into the studio is a different thing. A lot of the onus is on me. Over the years, I got so used to making what we call solo albums – but they’re not really solo albums, they’re where I choose who plays on what, and I wanted to do that again. So the songs I had kicking around then I ended up using – certainly “Reason Or Rhyme” – on Olympia. My heart wasn’t in it, and it was pointless doing it. If one of the guys in Roxy came to me with a fabulous tune, then I might change my mind.

Whatever happened to your Antony Price suits?
Martyn, Kingston upon Hull
Most of them I still have. A couple of things disappeared. One turned up at auction a couple of years ago. It was the one from the first Roxy album cover. Antony was a huge part of getting Roxy together and making it what it was. I still see him socially, but we don’t work together much. He came down when we did the Olympia cover shoot. I just wanted him around. He’s so funny, he said, “Oh you don’t need me here,” while there’s 20 assistants running round. It was this huge production, and we were used to doing things just him and me, and one other person. We didn’t know who to take in the pictures, we were all taking turns behind the camera, doing those album covers.

A few years ago, you recorded a version of the old Durham folk tale, “The Lambton Worm”, for a tiny North East-based label. You still did the accent very well. Do you still have an inner Geordie?
Alan, Newcastle
Of course, yeah. My uncle Brian still helps me at home. He’s in his ’80s now. I’m sure I sound much more Northern when I’m with him, or with Paul Thompson. “Aye, Paul, how’s it doin’, like?”, “Aye, canny, man.” It’s more about grunting when I do the accent. I’m very proud of coming from the North, but I don’t think people up there think of me as a Northerner, which is a shame. But I go back… my parents are buried there, and I’ll be playing there next year so I shall go and visit my mam and dad. People think that you reject your working-class roots, but it’s not that. Although I might not appear so, I always wanted to be a free spirit and create my own life. I have quite a controlling instinct, which is why sometimes being in a band isn’t the best place for me. I tried when I was at school and university to become the best person I could be. But that meant getting away from the North and being in London or wherever.

You seem to have a never-ending amount of energy and drive. Will you ever stop touring/recording or go on ’til you drop?
Paul Thompson
I think go on ’til I drop. I’m planning to go out next year on tour. Will I be touring the jazz album? We’re trying to devise a tour where we’ll include some of that, otherwise it’ll be instrumental and I’ll be sitting in the wings with a cigar like Diaghilev. We just did a photo session the other day with the jazz band. They don’t need electricity, so they just started playing their instruments. It sounded incredible and people were dancing around. But, yes, there’s the idea of the rock star embracing old age. It never seems unusual to me, because jazz players and blues singers always had long careers. Same with artists like Picasso, who went on doing really interesting work until they were very old.

What do you remember about the music scene in Newcastle when you were young?
Paul Parker, Dulwich
I used to go to The New Orleans Jazz Club. They had a great be-bop band who played there with a great trumpeter called John Walters. He later became John Peel’s producer at the BBC and he was also a graduate from Newcastle University’s Fine Art Department where I’d been – he was an abstract painter. They had a sax player called Nigel Stanger, who later played on one of my things. Great characters. I sat there as a schoolboy, nursing a small glass of beer all night hoping they wouldn’t chuck me out. Eric Burdon would get up and sing blues songs and it was fantastic. There was a great venue that I played at myself with my college band called the Club A Go Go. I spent half my life in the Club A Go Go when I was a student. You heard all the best records there, all the Motown things, Stax, it was a really cool place. Beautiful girls, cool guys, great bands. Captain Beefheart played there one night. Wilson Pickett. The young Spencer Davis Group with Steve Winwood. They were amazing. Great scene.

Did you ever have any part-time jobs when you were growing up?
Martin Sperl, London
I’d have to work during the school holidays in a local steel factory, or a building site, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to afford any records. Even when I was at school I had a paper round in the morning and in the evening. I worked all the bloody time. My dad only had 15 pounds a week wages. He’d keep a pound for himself to buy tobacco and pigeon corn. He spent all the time in his garden growing prize vegetables, with these racing pigeons flying around. My mother looked after everything else. I got two shillings pocket money, so the rest I had to get from selling papers. I’d sell them in pubs on a Saturday evening. “Football Echo?”, “Here, lad!” You’d get a 10-pence tip. All these drunken people buying football papers. It was a great job, delivering papers. Melody Maker. Jazz Monthly. I’d just be walking down the street reading about Charlie Parker and dreaming.

What are your memories of Roxy’s early, provincial tours?
Bryn Jones, Cardiff
It was exciting, travelling around in a van. We were on that first provincial tour and we heard “Virginia Plain” on the radio for the first time. It was the first this, the first that. It was a laugh, playing places like Scarborough, sleeping in the van. Eno was a laugh, we got on very well. And Andy Mackay was very amusing, very dry. So we spent a lot of time laughing. Paul was a character… they were all characters. I was proud of that band.

Is it true that the chorus of “Remake/Remodel – “CPL593H” – was taken from a car number plate?
Billy Porter
Yes, it was a very cool Mini that I saw at the Reading Festival. I went with a friend and I was very attracted to this girl backstage who was wearing a fluffy jacket. Anyway, I then saw her when we were driving home in the terrible slow queue to get out of the site, and she was in the car in front. And I memorised the number of the car. So it was a kind of cry in the wild… I never met her.

Why didn’t Paul Thompson play on Flesh + Blood?
Peter Ingvarsson, via email
He didn’t like the direction the group was going in. He played on Manifesto, didn’t he? Yes. He played on half of the album and the other half was played by Andy Newmark. I’d been living in America for quite a while and I drifted away from Paul. I think he fell off a motorbike, broke his arm, and he was out of action. And then he didn’t like… I’ve never talked to him much about it. But he drifted away. There were certain songs at the time that I wanted to have this other kind of feel. Paul was a fantastic rock drummer, he hits the snare harder than anyone, but there were things I wanted which weren’t his forte, so Andy Newmark came into the band and did Flesh + Blood and Avalon.

Can you tell us about the Banshees and The Gas Board?
Mark Pinks, Somerset
The Banshees was the first band I joined. I bumped into this guy I’d known in the cycling club and he said, “We’re looking for a singer, can you sing?” So I went to his dad’s hairdressing shop where they practised. The band were playing furiously, and I joined in. I was very, very shy, but I managed to grit my teeth and do it. I had a great summer working with the Banshees before I got to college. That was my baptism by fire. I put together a couple of bands at college, the best of them being The Gas Board. That’s where I started working with Graham Simpson who became part of Roxy.

Some thoughts on the return of John Carpenter and Alejando Jodorowsky

Michael Bonner
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Some thoughts on the return of John Carpenter and Alejando Jodorowsky

A couple of press releases appeared in my inbox over the last few days, both announcing the surprising return of two increasingly elusive filmmakers. But more pertinently, these aren't heralding the forthcoming release of new films; but new music instead. John Carpenter has announced his debut solo album Lost Themes, while the soundtracks from two Alejandro Jodorowsky films are also forthcoming. As a filmmaker, Carpenter seems to have become an increasingly marginalised force since his Eighties' heyday; his last film, 2010's The Ward, barely got a UK release. But increasingly, his soundtrack work has been cited as a significant inspiration for the synth and noise underground; you can hear the influence of his haunting atmospherics and subtle drone textures in the weird, gloomy, vaguely industrial soundscapes of artists like Raime or Demdike Stare; Cliff Martinez' Drive soundtrack, too, owned much to Carpenter's work in its bubbling analogue synth lines. You can hear the first track from Lost Themes – “Vortex” – below, while the album’s tracklisting includes titles like “Abyss”, “Dominion”, “Obsidian” and “Wraith”, which suggests that Carpenter's moody sonic palette hasn't diminished; nor his sense of humour. The release of the soundtracks for The Holy Mountain and The Dance Of Reality signal a different kind of creative rebirth for Jodorowsky. The Chilean filmmaker made his reputation with 1970's El Topo, a wild mix of spaghetti western and eastern spiritualism. John Lennon was a fan, and subsequently introduced the director to Allen Klein, who invested $1 million in Jodorowsky's ambitious follow-up, The Holy Mountain. Essentially the story of a thief who embarks on a quest for immortality, it memorably featured the conquest of Mexico as re-enacted with chameleons dressed as Aztecs and toads playing conquistadors. The Holy Mountain score was recorded with Don Cherry and Ron Frangipane. The Dance Of Reality, however, comes from Jodorowsky’s first film in 23 years; as yet unreleased in the UK, though it debuted at Cannes in May 2013. Its release coincided with a new documentary, Jodorowsky’s Dune, which documented the director’s failed attempt to film Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel. Again, this is currently unavailable in the UK, but presumably easy enough to track down online. The soundtrack for The Dance Of Reality was recorded by Jodorowsky with his son, Adan, a musician in his own right. Personally, I hope the film makes it over here soon; but for now, the soundtrack promises to be an enticing glimpse of new work from a genuinely out-there filmmaker. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sw_ExaVsoM

A couple of press releases appeared in my inbox over the last few days, both announcing the surprising return of two increasingly elusive filmmakers.

But more pertinently, these aren’t heralding the forthcoming release of new films; but new music instead. John Carpenter has announced his debut solo album Lost Themes, while the soundtracks from two Alejandro Jodorowsky films are also forthcoming.

As a filmmaker, Carpenter seems to have become an increasingly marginalised force since his Eighties’ heyday; his last film, 2010’s The Ward, barely got a UK release. But increasingly, his soundtrack work has been cited as a significant inspiration for the synth and noise underground; you can hear the influence of his haunting atmospherics and subtle drone textures in the weird, gloomy, vaguely industrial soundscapes of artists like Raime or Demdike Stare; Cliff Martinez’ Drive soundtrack, too, owned much to Carpenter’s work in its bubbling analogue synth lines.

You can hear the first track from Lost Themes – “Vortex” – below, while the album’s tracklisting includes titles like “Abyss”, “Dominion”, “Obsidian” and “Wraith”, which suggests that Carpenter’s moody sonic palette hasn’t diminished; nor his sense of humour.

The release of the soundtracks for The Holy Mountain and The Dance Of Reality signal a different kind of creative rebirth for Jodorowsky. The Chilean filmmaker made his reputation with 1970’s El Topo, a wild mix of spaghetti western and eastern spiritualism. John Lennon was a fan, and subsequently introduced the director to Allen Klein, who invested $1 million in Jodorowsky’s ambitious follow-up, The Holy Mountain. Essentially the story of a thief who embarks on a quest for immortality, it memorably featured the conquest of Mexico as re-enacted with chameleons dressed as Aztecs and toads playing conquistadors. The Holy Mountain score was recorded with Don Cherry and Ron Frangipane.

The Dance Of Reality, however, comes from Jodorowsky’s first film in 23 years; as yet unreleased in the UK, though it debuted at Cannes in May 2013. Its release coincided with a new documentary, Jodorowsky’s Dune, which documented the director’s failed attempt to film Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel. Again, this is currently unavailable in the UK, but presumably easy enough to track down online. The soundtrack for The Dance Of Reality was recorded by Jodorowsky with his son, Adan, a musician in his own right. Personally, I hope the film makes it over here soon; but for now, the soundtrack promises to be an enticing glimpse of new work from a genuinely out-there filmmaker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sw_ExaVsoM

The 42nd Uncut Playlist Of 2014

John Mulvey
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The 42nd Uncut Playlist Of 2014

I guess, since Uncut's end-of-year issue goes to the printers today, we should formally declare open season on Best Of 2014 speculation, if you're that way inclined. Our writers' charts fished up 401 new albums from the year worth voting for, and coalesced into a pretty eclectic Top 75, I think. I should probably keep my counsel about all this for now, but I will attempt to put together my own, probably absurdly long, list at some point in December. In the meantime, there's a whole bunch of 2015 music to be getting on with; I don't have anything I can play you as yet, but the new Richard Bishop album is quite something, for a start. Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey 1 M. Geddes Gengras - Collected Works Vol. 2: New Process Music (Umor Rex) 2 Robert Stillman - Leap Of Death (Archaic Future) 3 Howlin Rain - Mansion Songs (Easy Sound Recording Co) 4 Pond - Man It Feels Like Space Again (Caroline) 5 Bob Dylan & The Band - The Bootleg Series Vol 11: The Basement Tapes Complete (Columbia) 6 Lubomyr Melnyk - Evertina (Erased Tapes) 7 [REDACTED} 8 8:58 - Eight Fifty Eight (Pledge) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpQkFM5puL4 9 The Go-Betweens - G Is For Go-Betweens (Domino) 10 The Knife - Shaken-Up Versions (Brille) 11 Jack Name - Weird Moons (Castleface) 12 Exhaustion - Biker (Aarght) 13 Alasdair Roberts - Alasdair Roberts (Drag City) 14 Zun Zun Egui - Shackles' Gift (Bella Union) 15 Afrikan Sciences - Circuitous (Pan) 16 Blake Mills - Heigh Ho (Verve) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58tphQWdSZY 17 The Unthanks - Mount The Air (RabbleRouser) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYiMUUNu0QM 18 Duke Garwood - Heavy Love (Rank Panache) 19 Supersilent - Supersilent 12 (Rune Grammofon) 20 Feral Ohms - Super Ape (Agitated) 21 Various Artists - Black Fire! New Spirits! Radical And Revolutionary Jazz In The USA 1957-82 (Soul Jazz) 22 Sir Richard Bishop - Tangier Sessions (Drag City) 23 Jake Xerxes Fussell - Jake Xerxes Fussell (Paradise Of Bachelors) 24 Sun Kil Moon - Admiral Fell Promises (Caldo Verde)

I guess, since Uncut’s end-of-year issue goes to the printers today, we should formally declare open season on Best Of 2014 speculation, if you’re that way inclined. Our writers’ charts fished up 401 new albums from the year worth voting for, and coalesced into a pretty eclectic Top 75, I think.

I should probably keep my counsel about all this for now, but I will attempt to put together my own, probably absurdly long, list at some point in December. In the meantime, there’s a whole bunch of 2015 music to be getting on with; I don’t have anything I can play you as yet, but the new Richard Bishop album is quite something, for a start.

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

1 M. Geddes Gengras – Collected Works Vol. 2: New Process Music (Umor Rex)

2 Robert Stillman – Leap Of Death (Archaic Future)

3 Howlin Rain – Mansion Songs (Easy Sound Recording Co)

4 Pond – Man It Feels Like Space Again (Caroline)

5 Bob Dylan & The Band – The Bootleg Series Vol 11: The Basement Tapes Complete (Columbia)

6 Lubomyr Melnyk – Evertina (Erased Tapes)

7 [REDACTED}

8 8:58 – Eight Fifty Eight (Pledge)

9 The Go-Betweens – G Is For Go-Betweens (Domino)

10 The Knife – Shaken-Up Versions (Brille)

11 Jack Name – Weird Moons (Castleface)

12 Exhaustion – Biker (Aarght)

13 Alasdair Roberts – Alasdair Roberts (Drag City)

14 Zun Zun Egui – Shackles’ Gift (Bella Union)

15 Afrikan Sciences – Circuitous (Pan)

16 Blake Mills – Heigh Ho (Verve)

17 The Unthanks – Mount The Air (RabbleRouser)

18 Duke Garwood – Heavy Love (Rank Panache)

19 Supersilent – Supersilent 12 (Rune Grammofon)

20 Feral Ohms – Super Ape (Agitated)

21 Various Artists – Black Fire! New Spirits! Radical And Revolutionary Jazz In The USA 1957-82 (Soul Jazz)

22 Sir Richard Bishop – Tangier Sessions (Drag City)

23 Jake Xerxes Fussell – Jake Xerxes Fussell (Paradise Of Bachelors)

24 Sun Kil Moon – Admiral Fell Promises (Caldo Verde)

Jimi Hendrix’s rare instrumental studio recordings returning to vinyl

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Jimi Hendrix’s rare instrumental studio recordings returning to vinyl

Hear My Music will be double album of Hendrix's instrumental records... Jimi Hendrix's rare instrumental studio recordings are being released on vinyl as part of American Record Store Day's Black Friday event. The new "official bootleg" titled Hear My Music will be out on November 28 and will contain two LPs' worth of Hendrix's "creative explorations". According to Rolling Stone, Hendrix recorded the music in the first half of 1969, both as solo demos and as free-form group jams with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Among the 11 tracks are two versions of "Valleys Of Neptune" - one featuring a Hendrix solo on electric guitar and the other a piano version. Unedited versions of tracks 'Drone Blue' and 'Jimi', both of which appeared on the now out-of-print 1980 album Nine To The Universe, also appear. The double album, which is being released by Dagger Records (Experience Hendrix LLC's bootleg label), was produced by Hendrix's sister Janie Hendrix, engineer Eddie Kramer and Hendrix expert John McDermott, and it will be pressed on 200-gram audiophile vinyl. Hendrix's previous posthumous releases The Cry Of Love and Rainbow Bridge were also reissued this year as newly remastered CD, LP and digital releases.

Hear My Music will be double album of Hendrix’s instrumental records…

Jimi Hendrix‘s rare instrumental studio recordings are being released on vinyl as part of American Record Store Day’s Black Friday event.

The new “official bootleg” titled Hear My Music will be out on November 28 and will contain two LPs’ worth of Hendrix’s “creative explorations”.

According to Rolling Stone, Hendrix recorded the music in the first half of 1969, both as solo demos and as free-form group jams with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Among the 11 tracks are two versions of “Valleys Of Neptune” – one featuring a Hendrix solo on electric guitar and the other a piano version.

Unedited versions of tracks ‘Drone Blue’ and ‘Jimi’, both of which appeared on the now out-of-print 1980 album Nine To The Universe, also appear.

The double album, which is being released by Dagger Records (Experience Hendrix LLC’s bootleg label), was produced by Hendrix’s sister Janie Hendrix, engineer Eddie Kramer and Hendrix expert John McDermott, and it will be pressed on 200-gram audiophile vinyl.

Hendrix’s previous posthumous releases The Cry Of Love and Rainbow Bridge were also reissued this year as newly remastered CD, LP and digital releases.

Bruce Springsteen criticised for playing “anti-war anthem” at Veteran’s Day concert

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Bruce Springsteen criticised for playing “anti-war anthem” at Veteran’s Day concert

Singer criticised for playing "Fortunate Son"... Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl and Zac Bown performed a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son" at a Veteran's Day concert in Washington, DC. The performance was met with mixed reactions, as some conservative outlets such as The Weekly Standard here why the singers decided to perform "an anti-war anthem" at a concert "largely organised to honour those who volunteered to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq". The Washington Post also reported the story, picking up on the coverage on social media. MK @megtkel "Will never understand why Fortunate Son is played during 'patriotic' scenarios. Not really getting this. #TheConcertForValor" Colette Moran @ColetteMoran "Ummm... Why are they playing an anti-patriotic song "Fortunate Son" at the Concert for Valor? And why are they cheering?" Although, the Post also reported a more positive response to Springsteen's cover: Eric Boehlert @EricBoehlert "FIXED: 40+ yrs after "Fortunate Son" was written, culturally clueless (chickenhawk) conservatives are still clueless abt message. #ZacBrown" Springsteen also played "Born In The USA". The Concert For Valor, a free event, took place at the National Mall in Washington, DC. Other artists including Rihanna, The Black Keys and Metallica also performed. The event was sponsored by HBO and was staged to raise awareness of veterans' support groups, raise funds for veterans' charities and salute American troops. Jennifer Hudson opened the concert with a rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner", after which Barack Obama addressed the crowd in a video message.

Singer criticised for playing “Fortunate Son”…

Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl and Zac Bown performed a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival‘s “Fortunate Son” at a Veteran’s Day concert in Washington, DC.

The performance was met with mixed reactions, as some conservative outlets such as The Weekly Standard here why the singers decided to perform “an anti-war anthem” at a concert “largely organised to honour those who volunteered to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq”.

The Washington Post also reported the story, picking up on the coverage on social media.

MK @megtkel “Will never understand why Fortunate Son is played during ‘patriotic’ scenarios. Not really getting this. #TheConcertForValor”

Colette Moran @ColetteMoran “Ummm… Why are they playing an anti-patriotic song “Fortunate Son” at the Concert for Valor? And why are they cheering?”

Although, the Post also reported a more positive response to Springsteen’s cover:

Eric Boehlert @EricBoehlert

“FIXED: 40+ yrs after “Fortunate Son” was written, culturally clueless (chickenhawk) conservatives are still clueless abt message. #ZacBrown”

Springsteen also played “Born In The USA”.

The Concert For Valor, a free event, took place at the National Mall in Washington, DC. Other artists including Rihanna, The Black Keys and Metallica also performed. The event was sponsored by HBO and was staged to raise awareness of veterans’ support groups, raise funds for veterans’ charities and salute American troops. Jennifer Hudson opened the concert with a rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner”, after which Barack Obama addressed the crowd in a video message.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds announce new single

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Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds announce new single

10" vinyl due later this month... Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have announced details of a new single. The band will release two previously unavailable tracks: "Give Us A Kiss" and "Jubilee Street (live from The Sydney Opera House)". The songs, which feature in the 20,000 Days On Earth film, will be released on limited edition 10” vinyl on November 17. You can pre-order the vinyl here. Meanwhile, Cave and the Bad Seeds have begun reissuing their back-catalogue on vinyl. On October 27, they released 1984's From Her To Eternity, The Firstborn Is Dead (1985) and Your Funeral… My Trial (1986). More recent albums Nocturama (2003), Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus (2004) and Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (2008) will be available on November 17, followed by Kicking Against The Pricks (1986) on November 24. The remaining seven albums from the band's Mute-era catalogue will then be re-issued during 2015. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpCGZXG7Hwo

10″ vinyl due later this month…

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have announced details of a new single.

The band will release two previously unavailable tracks: “Give Us A Kiss” and “Jubilee Street (live from The Sydney Opera House)”. The songs, which feature in the 20,000 Days On Earth film, will be released on limited edition 10” vinyl on November 17.

You can pre-order the vinyl here.

Meanwhile, Cave and the Bad Seeds have begun reissuing their back-catalogue on vinyl.

On October 27, they released 1984’s From Her To Eternity, The Firstborn Is Dead (1985) and Your Funeral… My Trial (1986).

More recent albums Nocturama (2003), Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus (2004) and Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (2008) will be available on November 17, followed by Kicking Against The Pricks (1986) on November 24.

The remaining seven albums from the band’s Mute-era catalogue will then be re-issued during 2015.

Stevie Nicks – 24 Karat Gold – Songs From The Vault

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Stevie Nicks – 24 Karat Gold – Songs From The Vault

Fleetwood Mac star heads to Nashville chasing the songs that nearly got away... As if Stevie Nicks hasn’t done enough soul-searching during her 40 years in one of the world’s biggest bands… On her eighth solo album, Nicks immerses herself in her past, gathering 15 of her long lost songs together like errant children and dressing them in traditional costume – the billowing robes and gypsy shawl – before sending them out, fully Nicksed, into the world. 24 Karat Gold – Songs From The Vault finds the 66-year-old getting her memories in order with the help of longtime associates Waddy Wachtel (he first played with her on 1973’s Buckingham Nicks) and Dave Stewart, producer of Nicks’ last solo set, 2011’s In Your Dreams, and a band of hired hands in Nashville who knocked out new versions of Nicks’ old songs in 15 days last May. In Your Dreams, somewhat tarnished by Stewart’s sweet tooth, took 14 months. Fleetwood Mac records take far longer. The songs in question stem from demos Nicks wrote at various stages in her career between 1969 and 1995, intended for her solo or Fleetwood Mac albums. One ballad, the bonus track “Twisted”, written in ’95 with Lindsey Buckingham for the film Twister, she felt deserved a wider audience. “When songs go into movies you might as well dump them out the window as you’re driving by because they never get heard,” she tells Uncut. Many of these songs will be familiar to Mac devotees, having appeared online and on bootlegs or boxsets in one form or another. Indeed, Nicks’ main incentive for the project was to record definitive versions of those unauthorised tracks floating around online that her assistant had drawn to her attention. Nicks hates computers and was once so worried about internet piracy that she didn’t release a solo record between 2001 and 2011, so this principled stance represents some sort of progress; if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. “Just because I think computers are ruining the world, I can’t expect everyone to be on my wavelength,” she reasons. But to most, 24 Karat Gold is effectively a brand new album, albeit one that on occasion has the luxury of revelling in the twists and turns of a vintage Nicks number like “Lady”, formerly a fragile piano demo from the mid-’70s called “Knocking On Doors” that’s now a footstep away from “Landslide”. With these demos newly upholstered as midtempo soft-rock ballads by a solid Nashville outfit, it’s tempting to view the collection as an alternative look at Nicks’ life in music, each song offering a slightly different take on key moments in her colourful career. Nicks, too, her lived-in voice stained with experience, seems to relish the chance to reacquaint herself through her lyrics with the girl she once was. The earliest cut here, a corny speakeasy pastiche called “Cathouse Blues”, was written by a 22-year-old Nicks in 1969 before she and Buckingham, who played on the original, moved to Los Angeles. By “The Dealer”, a musky Tusk-era tumble, she’s already world-weary: “I was the mistress of my fate, I was the card shark/If I’d’ve looked a little ahead, I would’ve run away”, runs the chorus. On (i)Bella Donna(i) cast-offs “Belle Fleur” and “If You Were My Love”, Elton John guitarist Davey Johnstone reprises his original role and plays on these new versions. Her trusted foil, Mike Campbell of The Heartbreakers, rolls up his sleeves for AOR jams “Starshine” and “I Don’t Care”, tracks he just about remembers writing with Nicks in the early ’80s. “Mabel Normand”, a moving parable based on the tragic life of the 1920s silent movie star, came to Nicks when she herself was dancing with the devil in 1985. Following the death of her godson from an accidental overdose in 2012, the song has a more profound resonance today. As befits a compilation of songs that weren’t up to scratch first time around, 24 Karat Gold contains a few tinpot tracks that even the Nashville boys couldn’t fix. Most, too, spill over the five-minute mark. But as fresh testament from one of rock’s great survivors, it makes for a fascinating listen. Piers Martin Q+A Stevie Nicks How did you end up recording in Nashville? The last album I did was with Dave Stewart in my house and we let it take a year because we were having so much fun. So I called him and said, Dave, I know we spent a year doing In Your Dreams but how can we do a record in two months? And he said, “Go to Nashville. Those guys are on the clock.” So you go to Nashville and hire six or seven of the best players in the world and give them your 16 demos and they give you 15 days. You do two songs a day, which is unheard of in the way that we record, usually, but they are union people so they get there at nine in the morning. How did “Hard Advice” come about? “Hard Advice” was a lecture Tom Petty gave me on his way through Phoenix one night. I was having a little problematic moment in my life and he gave me one of his seriously hard advice lectures. He looked me straight in the eyes with those big clear blue eyes and said, “This pain’s gone on too long. Go home, light up your incense and your candles and go to your Bosendorfer and write some real songs.” This could be an alternative greatest hits. Or a greatest hits that never came out. Somebody said at one point, “If you took the last line out of this chorus it would be much more of a hit record” and I just flat out said in front of the record company and everybody else: I’m not trying to make a hit record here, I’m trying to make a great record. Hit records don’t even sell anymore anyway. Records don’t sell anymore. INTERVIEW BY PIERS MARTIN

Fleetwood Mac star heads to Nashville chasing the songs that nearly got away…

As if Stevie Nicks hasn’t done enough soul-searching during her 40 years in one of the world’s biggest bands… On her eighth solo album, Nicks immerses herself in her past, gathering 15 of her long lost songs together like errant children and dressing them in traditional costume – the billowing robes and gypsy shawl – before sending them out, fully Nicksed, into the world.

24 Karat Gold – Songs From The Vault finds the 66-year-old getting her memories in order with the help of longtime associates Waddy Wachtel (he first played with her on 1973’s Buckingham Nicks) and Dave Stewart, producer of Nicks’ last solo set, 2011’s In Your Dreams, and a band of hired hands in Nashville who knocked out new versions of Nicks’ old songs in 15 days last May. In Your Dreams, somewhat tarnished by Stewart’s sweet tooth, took 14 months. Fleetwood Mac records take far longer.

The songs in question stem from demos Nicks wrote at various stages in her career between 1969 and 1995, intended for her solo or Fleetwood Mac albums. One ballad, the bonus track “Twisted”, written in ’95 with Lindsey Buckingham for the film Twister, she felt deserved a wider audience. “When songs go into movies you might as well dump them out the window as you’re driving by because they never get heard,” she tells Uncut.

Many of these songs will be familiar to Mac devotees, having appeared online and on bootlegs or boxsets in one form or another. Indeed, Nicks’ main incentive for the project was to record definitive versions of those unauthorised tracks floating around online that her assistant had drawn to her attention. Nicks hates computers and was once so worried about internet piracy that she didn’t release a solo record between 2001 and 2011, so this principled stance represents some sort of progress; if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. “Just because I think computers are ruining the world, I can’t expect everyone to be on my wavelength,” she reasons. But to most, 24 Karat Gold is effectively a brand new album, albeit one that on occasion has the luxury of revelling in the twists and turns of a vintage Nicks number like “Lady”, formerly a fragile piano demo from the mid-’70s called “Knocking On Doors” that’s now a footstep away from “Landslide”.

With these demos newly upholstered as midtempo soft-rock ballads by a solid Nashville outfit, it’s tempting to view the collection as an alternative look at Nicks’ life in music, each song offering a slightly different take on key moments in her colourful career. Nicks, too, her lived-in voice stained with experience, seems to relish the chance to reacquaint herself through her lyrics with the girl she once was. The earliest cut here, a corny speakeasy pastiche called “Cathouse Blues”, was written by a 22-year-old Nicks in 1969 before she and Buckingham, who played on the original, moved to Los Angeles. By “The Dealer”, a musky Tusk-era tumble, she’s already world-weary: “I was the mistress of my fate, I was the card shark/If I’d’ve looked a little ahead, I would’ve run away”, runs the chorus.

On (i)Bella Donna(i) cast-offs “Belle Fleur” and “If You Were My Love”, Elton John guitarist Davey Johnstone reprises his original role and plays on these new versions. Her trusted foil, Mike Campbell of The Heartbreakers, rolls up his sleeves for AOR jams “Starshine” and “I Don’t Care”, tracks he just about remembers writing with Nicks in the early ’80s. “Mabel Normand”, a moving parable based on the tragic life of the 1920s silent movie star, came to Nicks when she herself was dancing with the devil in 1985. Following the death of her godson from an accidental overdose in 2012, the song has a more profound resonance today.

As befits a compilation of songs that weren’t up to scratch first time around, 24 Karat Gold contains a few tinpot tracks that even the Nashville boys couldn’t fix. Most, too, spill over the five-minute mark. But as fresh testament from one of rock’s great survivors, it makes for a fascinating listen.

Piers Martin

Q+A

Stevie Nicks

How did you end up recording in Nashville?

The last album I did was with Dave Stewart in my house and we let it take a year because we were having so much fun. So I called him and said, Dave, I know we spent a year doing In Your Dreams but how can we do a record in two months? And he said, “Go to Nashville. Those guys are on the clock.” So you go to Nashville and hire six or seven of the best players in the world and give them your 16 demos and they give you 15 days. You do two songs a day, which is unheard of in the way that we record, usually, but they are union people so they get there at nine in the morning.

How did “Hard Advice” come about?

“Hard Advice” was a lecture Tom Petty gave me on his way through Phoenix one night. I was having a little problematic moment in my life and he gave me one of his seriously hard advice lectures. He looked me straight in the eyes with those big clear blue eyes and said, “This pain’s gone on too long. Go home, light up your incense and your candles and go to your Bosendorfer and write some real songs.”

This could be an alternative greatest hits.

Or a greatest hits that never came out. Somebody said at one point, “If you took the last line out of this chorus it would be much more of a hit record” and I just flat out said in front of the record company and everybody else: I’m not trying to make a hit record here, I’m trying to make a great record. Hit records don’t even sell anymore anyway. Records don’t sell anymore.

INTERVIEW BY PIERS MARTIN

The Sugarhill Gang’s Big Bank Hank dies aged 57

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The Sugarhill Gang’s Big Bank Hank dies aged 57

The MC was best known for the group's 1979 hit "Rapper's Delight"... Henry Jackson, also known as Big Bank Hank of pioneering rap group The Sugarhill Gang, has died. According to TMZ, the MC passed away this morning (November 11) with the cause believed to be cancer. He was 57 years old. Speaking to TMZ, fellow Sugarhill Gang members Michael 'Wonder Mike' Wright and Guy 'Master Gee' O'Brien said they are "so sad to hear of our brother's passing. Rest in peace Big Bank." The trio are best known for their 1979 hit "Rappers Delight", which is widely considered to the first ever mainstream rap hit. They also released four LPs in the 1980s and a children's album, Jump on It!, in 1999. Among the people to pay tribute to Jackson include rappers Kurtis Blow, Q-Tip and LL Cool J, who have all tweeted their condolences. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cELt9nCWY_0

The MC was best known for the group’s 1979 hit “Rapper’s Delight”…

Henry Jackson, also known as Big Bank Hank of pioneering rap group The Sugarhill Gang, has died.

According to TMZ, the MC passed away this morning (November 11) with the cause believed to be cancer. He was 57 years old.

Speaking to TMZ, fellow Sugarhill Gang members Michael ‘Wonder Mike’ Wright and Guy ‘Master Gee’ O’Brien said they are “so sad to hear of our brother’s passing. Rest in peace Big Bank.”

The trio are best known for their 1979 hit “Rappers Delight“, which is widely considered to the first ever mainstream rap hit. They also released four LPs in the 1980s and a children’s album, Jump on It!, in 1999.

Among the people to pay tribute to Jackson include rappers Kurtis Blow, Q-Tip and LL Cool J, who have all tweeted their condolences.

Neil Young pays tribute to Rick Rosas: “one of the greatest musicians to ever play with me”

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Neil Young pays tribute to Rick Rosas: “one of the greatest musicians to ever play with me”

Young's bassist died aged 65... Neil Young has paid tribute to bassist Rick Rosas, who died last week. Rosas first worked with Young as a member of The Bluenotes band on Young's 1988 album, This Note's For You; most recently, he filled in for Billy Talbot on Crazy Horse's European tour this summer. He also played with CSNY and Pegi Young's band, The Survivors. Now both Neil and Pegi Young have paid tribute to Rosas in separate posts on Young's website. Neil Young wrote, "It is with great admiration, appreciation and sadness that I note the passing of Rick Rosas. Rick played on many of my records, from Rockin in the Free World, Eldorado and This Note's for you, to Prairie Wind, Living with War and Who's Gonna Stand Up. There were great live performances with Rick which will be unveiled in upcoming Archives releases, chronicling the talent and soul of one of the greatest musicians to ever play with me. Heart of Gold and Trunk Show, two motion pictures featuring Rick and directed by Jonathan Demme, are among my favorite creations of all time. Trunk Show is still unreleased. "Rest in Peace Rick. "Lots of love, "Neil" Meanwhile, Pegi Young wrote: "On Thursday, November 6th, I lost one of the dearest friends I had. An original Survivor, RTBP gave me love and encouragement and support as I progressed from a shy and timid singer and songwriter on our first record right through to the making of our last record, Lonely In A Crowed Room, which he loved and was very proud of. He was a brother to me as I was a sister to him. Knowing he was always there on stage at my right shoulder gave me great comfort and support. He was always there for me through thick and thin and never let me down. "His loss is a terrible shock to our band of Survivors, along with his many other dear friends and loved ones. So respected in the music community, he was truly an amazing bass player. I was incredibly lucky and honored to have him in my band and to count him among my friends. "As with our dear friend, Ben Keith, Rick too passed on the occasion of the full moon. "His loss is profound and we will always miss him. Our hearts go out to his long time partner, Elizabeth, and the rest of his family they suffer through this unexpected and unthinkable loss. "Sending you love and light as you travel to the other side Rick. "Love always. "Pegi" Credit Anthony Pidgeon/Redferns

Young’s bassist died aged 65…

Neil Young has paid tribute to bassist Rick Rosas, who died last week.

Rosas first worked with Young as a member of The Bluenotes band on Young’s 1988 album, This Note’s For You; most recently, he filled in for Billy Talbot on Crazy Horse’s European tour this summer. He also played with CSNY and Pegi Young’s band, The Survivors.

Now both Neil and Pegi Young have paid tribute to Rosas in separate posts on Young’s website.

Neil Young wrote, “It is with great admiration, appreciation and sadness that I note the passing of Rick Rosas. Rick played on many of my records, from Rockin in the Free World, Eldorado and This Note’s for you, to Prairie Wind, Living with War and Who’s Gonna Stand Up. There were great live performances with Rick which will be unveiled in upcoming Archives releases, chronicling the talent and soul of one of the greatest musicians to ever play with me. Heart of Gold and Trunk Show, two motion pictures featuring Rick and directed by Jonathan Demme, are among my favorite creations of all time. Trunk Show is still unreleased.

“Rest in Peace Rick.

“Lots of love,

“Neil”

Meanwhile, Pegi Young wrote: “On Thursday, November 6th, I lost one of the dearest friends I had. An original Survivor, RTBP gave me love and encouragement and support as I progressed from a shy and timid singer and songwriter on our first record right through to the making of our last record, Lonely In A Crowed Room, which he loved and was very proud of. He was a brother to me as I was a sister to him. Knowing he was always there on stage at my right shoulder gave me great comfort and support. He was always there for me through thick and thin and never let me down.

“His loss is a terrible shock to our band of Survivors, along with his many other dear friends and loved ones. So respected in the music community, he was truly an amazing bass player. I was incredibly lucky and honored to have him in my band and to count him among my friends.

“As with our dear friend, Ben Keith, Rick too passed on the occasion of the full moon.

“His loss is profound and we will always miss him. Our hearts go out to his long time partner, Elizabeth, and the rest of his family they suffer through this unexpected and unthinkable loss.

“Sending you love and light as you travel to the other side Rick.

“Love always.

“Pegi”

Credit Anthony Pidgeon/Redferns

Win limited edition T.Rex coloured vinyl box set!

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Win limited edition T.Rex coloured vinyl box set!

8 album set is up for grabs... We're delighted to have one copy of T.Rex - The Vinyl Collection on limited edition coloured vinyl to give away as a competition prize. T.Rex - The Vinyl Collection is an eight-album set released on December 15 by Demon Music and features T.Rex, Electric Warrior, The Slider, Tanx, Zinc Alloy & The Hidden Riders of Tomorrow, Bolan’s Zip Gun, Futuristic Dragon and Dandy In The Underworld. It is available in a 500-only limited edition coloured vinyl set and also as a normal black vinyl set. The coloured vinyl is only available via the D2C store - see below for order details. To be in with a chance of winning, just tell us the correct answer to this question: Which UK punk band famously supported T.Rex on tour in March 1977? Send your entries to UncutComp@timeinc.com by noon, Friday, November 28. Please include your full name, address and a contact telephone number. A winner will be chosen by the Uncut team from the correct entries. The editor's decision is final. The coloured vinyl sets are available through D2C, Demon’s online outlet here.

8 album set is up for grabs…

We’re delighted to have one copy of T.Rex – The Vinyl Collection on limited edition coloured vinyl to give away as a competition prize.

T.Rex – The Vinyl Collection is an eight-album set released on December 15 by Demon Music and features T.Rex, Electric Warrior, The Slider, Tanx, Zinc Alloy & The Hidden Riders of Tomorrow, Bolan’s Zip Gun, Futuristic Dragon and Dandy In The Underworld.

It is available in a 500-only limited edition coloured vinyl set and also as a normal black vinyl set.

The coloured vinyl is only available via the D2C store – see below for order details.

To be in with a chance of winning, just tell us the correct answer to this question:

Which UK punk band famously supported T.Rex on tour in March 1977?

Send your entries to UncutComp@timeinc.com by noon, Friday, November 28. Please include your full name, address and a contact telephone number.

A winner will be chosen by the Uncut team from the correct entries. The editor’s decision is final.

The coloured vinyl sets are available through D2C, Demon’s online outlet here.

Marcus Hook Roll Band – Tales Of Old Grand Daddy

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Marcus Hook Roll Band – Tales Of Old Grand Daddy

BC/DC! Lost 1973 LP featuring AC/DC's Angus and Malcolm Young, finally reissued... If the Marcus Hook Roll Band are known for anything it’s as the first vehicle for AC/DC siblings Angus and Malcolm Young. But the story began in London in 1972 when Australians George Young and Harry Vanda, formerly of The Easybeats, handed a demo to EMI. Producer Wally Waller, a former Pretty Things bassist, recorded two singles but by the time an album was requested Young and Vanda were back in Australia. Waller was told to follow. “I stood there tutting, making out it would be a terrible drag,” chuckles Waller. In Sydney, George roped in elder brother Alex, once of Beatles prodigies Grapefruit, on sax while guitar came from 20-year-old Malcolm. “Malcolm was playing stuff you needed to be 30 to play, stuff that required a bit of soul, some life experience,” recalls Waller. “I said to George: “Your brother is really something”. He said “There’s another like him at home”. Angus turned up and was just as good.” The album – named after Waller’s duty-free bourbon consumed in well-oiled sessions – thus became the first record featuring Malcolm and Angus Young, and the only album to feature four Young brothers. It’s an odd one, covering slick 70s rock (“Can’t Stand The Heat”), glam (“Goodbye Jane”), 60s throwbacks (“Silver Shoes And Strawberry Wine”) and Faces-meets-Queen show-stoppers (“Cry For Me”). You can hear proto-DC riffing on “Quick Reaction” and also some AC/DC sexual politics on the (literally) grunting “Ape Man”. Particularly odd is the radical-chic two-hander “The People And The Power” and “Red Revolution”. Five bonus tracks include previously unreleased country cornball “Ride Baby Ride”. Nobody can remember who played what but Malcolm was on everything and Waller is sure Angus played on “Watch Her Do It Now”. As it was, the album was shelved after Young and Vanda refused to tour America, but Waller wasn’t surprised to hear of Angus and Malcolm’s subsequent success. “I knew how talented they were,” says Waller. “And they had everything else that was required – drive, luck and a brother who knew the industry.” Extras: Five bonus tracks. PETER WATTS Photo credit: Philip Morris

BC/DC! Lost 1973 LP featuring AC/DC’s Angus and Malcolm Young, finally reissued…

If the Marcus Hook Roll Band are known for anything it’s as the first vehicle for AC/DC siblings Angus and Malcolm Young. But the story began in London in 1972 when Australians George Young and Harry Vanda, formerly of The Easybeats, handed a demo to EMI. Producer Wally Waller, a former Pretty Things bassist, recorded two singles but by the time an album was requested Young and Vanda were back in Australia. Waller was told to follow. “I stood there tutting, making out it would be a terrible drag,” chuckles Waller.

In Sydney, George roped in elder brother Alex, once of Beatles prodigies Grapefruit, on sax while guitar came from 20-year-old Malcolm. “Malcolm was playing stuff you needed to be 30 to play, stuff that required a bit of soul, some life experience,” recalls Waller. “I said to George: “Your brother is really something”. He said “There’s another like him at home”. Angus turned up and was just as good.” The album – named after Waller’s duty-free bourbon consumed in well-oiled sessions – thus became the first record featuring Malcolm and Angus Young, and the only album to feature four Young brothers.

It’s an odd one, covering slick 70s rock (“Can’t Stand The Heat”), glam (“Goodbye Jane”), 60s throwbacks (“Silver Shoes And Strawberry Wine”) and Faces-meets-Queen show-stoppers (“Cry For Me”). You can hear proto-DC riffing on “Quick Reaction” and also some AC/DC sexual politics on the (literally) grunting “Ape Man”.

Particularly odd is the radical-chic two-hander “The People And The Power” and “Red Revolution”. Five bonus tracks include previously unreleased country cornball “Ride Baby Ride”. Nobody can remember who played what but Malcolm was on everything and Waller is sure Angus played on “Watch Her Do It Now”. As it was, the album was shelved after Young and Vanda refused to tour America, but Waller wasn’t surprised to hear of Angus and Malcolm’s subsequent success. “I knew how talented they were,” says Waller. “And they had everything else that was required – drive, luck and a brother who knew the industry.”

Extras: Five bonus tracks.

PETER WATTS

Photo credit: Philip Morris

Rolling Stones face insurance battle over postponed gigs

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Rolling Stones face insurance battle over postponed gigs
The Rolling Stones look set to face an insurance battle when it comes to claiming money due to gigs cancelled in the wake of L'Wren Scott's death. Mick Jagger's partner committed suicide in March of this year, causing the band to postpone a number of their shows in Australia. BBC News reports that ...

The Rolling Stones look set to face an insurance battle when it comes to claiming money due to gigs cancelled in the wake of L’Wren Scott’s death.

Mick Jagger‘s partner committed suicide in March of this year, causing the band to postpone a number of their shows in Australia. BBC News reports that the band are attempting to claim $12.7 million (£7.9 million).

The group had taken out a policy to be paid in the event shows were cancelled due to the death of family members or others, including Scott.

But underwriters say Scott’s death may not be covered by the policy, saying that Scott may have been suffering from a pre-existing mental condition. As such, the policy would be invalid. They are now looking into the state of Scott’s mental health, with a judge granting underwriters permission to gather information from Randall Bambrough, Scott’s brother. However, according to AP, Bambrough has said that he is unaware of the court case and has not yet been asked to provide any information.

The Rolling Stones postponed their tour of Australia and New Zealand following Scott’s death. The band are currently playing the rescheduled dates, but had to cancel a gig in Hanging Rock, Victoria over the weekend, as Mick Jagger was suffering from a sore throat.

Pink Floyd: more unreleased music to come?

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Pink Floyd: more unreleased music to come?

Nick Mason thinks more archival releases a possibility... Nick Mason has revealed that its possible Pink Floyd will make more previously unreleased archival material available. Speaking to Billboard, Mason said, "There's always a sort of discussion going on about what we could do. And it tends to be one of those things that I think is probably more driven by the record company than us. But we're always open to their ideas." Mason specifically cites the band's 1977 album, Animals, as due for remastering. "I know both Roger [Waters] and David have at times mentioned they'd like to have a remix of Animals, which technically is perhaps one of our less well-recorded records," Mason notes. "I think we'd just probably clean up some of the tapes and just sort of review it and see whether it can be enhanced. And if one was doing that, one might have a look at whether there's anything else to be done on it. But no one's got that down on their work schedule at the moment." Mason went on to say, "I've spent a lot of time over the last few years putting together an archive of video and film footage, and I think it'd be an interesting thing to [release] at some time. "There's been an abundance of movies recently, or video, on bands and the history of a band. Our problem is we go back so far to the point where no one recorded things; maybe there's some Super 8 stuff and a few early television appearances and things like that, which are fun. The biggest problem is when we were touring in the '70s, we never filmed or recorded the show, which would have been really nice now to have a look at those original Dark Side shows. So there's a funny old mix of stuff, but I think there's enough to do something really entertaining, eventually, when there's time to work on it."

Nick Mason thinks more archival releases a possibility…

Nick Mason has revealed that its possible Pink Floyd will make more previously unreleased archival material available.

Speaking to Billboard, Mason said, “There’s always a sort of discussion going on about what we could do. And it tends to be one of those things that I think is probably more driven by the record company than us. But we’re always open to their ideas.”

Mason specifically cites the band’s 1977 album, Animals, as due for remastering. “I know both Roger [Waters] and David have at times mentioned they’d like to have a remix of Animals, which technically is perhaps one of our less well-recorded records,” Mason notes. “I think we’d just probably clean up some of the tapes and just sort of review it and see whether it can be enhanced. And if one was doing that, one might have a look at whether there’s anything else to be done on it. But no one’s got that down on their work schedule at the moment.”

Mason went on to say, “I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few years putting together an archive of video and film footage, and I think it’d be an interesting thing to [release] at some time.

“There’s been an abundance of movies recently, or video, on bands and the history of a band. Our problem is we go back so far to the point where no one recorded things; maybe there’s some Super 8 stuff and a few early television appearances and things like that, which are fun. The biggest problem is when we were touring in the ’70s, we never filmed or recorded the show, which would have been really nice now to have a look at those original Dark Side shows. So there’s a funny old mix of stuff, but I think there’s enough to do something really entertaining, eventually, when there’s time to work on it.”

Bob Dylan “wanted to make a slapstick comedy”

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Bob Dylan “wanted to make a slapstick comedy”

Singer was inspired by Jerry Lewis... Bob Dylan conceived a surrealist comedy series for HBO in the Nineties, according to producer/writer Larry Charles. Speaking to podcast You Made It Weird (via Rolling Stone), Charles - whose credits include Curb Your Enthusiasm and Borat - revealed Dylan had "gotten deeply into Jerry Lewis, and he wanted to make a slapstick comedy." The two men worked up a treatment which they presented to HBO's then-president, Chris Albrecht. "I probably was having a nervous breakdown and didn't realize it, but I wore pajamas everywhere I went," Charles said. "I was so comfortable. It was great. [Bob] shows up for the meeting at HBO in a black cowboy hat, a black floor-length duster, black boots. He looks like Cat Ballou or something. He looks like a Western guy who's carrying six guns.... My hair's super long, beard down to my belly button in fucking pajamas, and Bob Dylan's dressed like a cowboy from a movie." According to Charles, Albrecht presented his original tickets to Woodstock, to which Dylan said, "I didn't play Woodstock." He spent the rest of the meeting looking out of the window. Although Dylan ended up abandoning the idea, he and Charles later collaborated on the film, Masked & Anonymous. Speaking to Uncut in 2003, Charles said, "At that time," Charles reveals, "Bob had gotten very heavily into comedy. When he was touring, he'd watch a lot of comedy, got interested in that, and television. So, he decided maybe he'd do a comedy show on TV. Yeah, I know. Bob Dylan? A comedy show? On TV? But that's what he wanted to do. So he started meeting writers." Charles was originally introduced to Dylan by his friend, long-time Dylan associate, Jeff Rosen. "Jeff said, 'We've been setting up these meetings with writers, but nothing's really coming - you wouldn't consider sitting down with Bob would you?' I was like, 'Are you kidding?' "I figured, I'll have one meeting with Bob - he really insists on being called Bob, because Bob is the person; "Dylan" is your problem - and I can tell all my friends, and that would be it. But we just immediately started riffing, and it developed into this very exhilarating verbal jam session. By the end of that meeting, we were working together. He walked me to my car, and I felt like I was on a date. Cars are driving by, I'm thinking, 'Will someone please look and see - I'm with Bob Dylan!'" You can read about Bob Dylan's The Complete Basement Tapes in this month's here, in shops now

Singer was inspired by Jerry Lewis…

Bob Dylan conceived a surrealist comedy series for HBO in the Nineties, according to producer/writer Larry Charles.

Speaking to podcast You Made It Weird (via Rolling Stone), Charles – whose credits include Curb Your Enthusiasm and Borat – revealed Dylan had “gotten deeply into Jerry Lewis, and he wanted to make a slapstick comedy.”

The two men worked up a treatment which they presented to HBO‘s then-president, Chris Albrecht.

“I probably was having a nervous breakdown and didn’t realize it, but I wore pajamas everywhere I went,” Charles said. “I was so comfortable. It was great. [Bob] shows up for the meeting at HBO in a black cowboy hat, a black floor-length duster, black boots. He looks like Cat Ballou or something. He looks like a Western guy who’s carrying six guns…. My hair’s super long, beard down to my belly button in fucking pajamas, and Bob Dylan’s dressed like a cowboy from a movie.”

According to Charles, Albrecht presented his original tickets to Woodstock, to which Dylan said, “I didn’t play Woodstock.” He spent the rest of the meeting looking out of the window.

Although Dylan ended up abandoning the idea, he and Charles later collaborated on the film, Masked & Anonymous.

Speaking to Uncut in 2003, Charles said, “At that time,” Charles reveals, “Bob had gotten very heavily into comedy. When he was touring, he’d watch a lot of comedy, got interested in that, and television. So, he decided maybe he’d do a comedy show on TV. Yeah, I know. Bob Dylan? A comedy show? On TV? But that’s what he wanted to do. So he started meeting writers.”

Charles was originally introduced to Dylan by his friend, long-time Dylan associate, Jeff Rosen. “Jeff said, ‘We’ve been setting up these meetings with writers, but nothing’s really coming – you wouldn’t consider sitting down with Bob would you?’ I was like, ‘Are you kidding?’

“I figured, I’ll have one meeting with Bob – he really insists on being called Bob, because Bob is the person; “Dylan” is your problem – and I can tell all my friends, and that would be it. But we just immediately started riffing, and it developed into this very exhilarating verbal jam session. By the end of that meeting, we were working together. He walked me to my car, and I felt like I was on a date. Cars are driving by, I’m thinking, ‘Will someone please look and see – I’m with Bob Dylan!'”

You can read about Bob Dylan’s The Complete Basement Tapes in this month’s here, in shops now

Sunken Treasure: on Wilco’s 20th anniversary, Alpha Mike Foxtrot and What’s Your 20?

John Mulvey
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Sunken Treasure: on Wilco’s 20th anniversary, Alpha Mike Foxtrot and What’s Your 20?

Around the turn of the millennium, Jeff Tweedy merrily nurtured a reputation as a contrarian. How best could a man, sanctified as the archetype of what was once called alt-country, confound his fans? With antsy powerpop? Radio static? Fifteen-minute ambient noise jams? The recruitment of a fiendish avant-jazzer to take over on lead guitar? A song for a Spongebob Squarepants movie? What might look perverse at the time can, of course, be thrown into an uncannily logical light by history. So it is with Alpha Mike Foxtrot, a 4CD boxset that celebrates Wilco's 20th anniversary by telling their story through 77 tracks of marginalia. It's a clever idea, not least because Wilco have become the sort of band defined by the nuanced depths of their catalogue, one whose fans have long been encouraged to treat apparent obscurities - the 2002 singalong b-side "A Magazine Called Sunset", say - as critical parts of the canon. The tour page of Wilco's website contains a "Request a song" function for every show; a challenge to be obtuse, perhaps, that Alpha Mike Foxtrot will only exacerbate. As a result, a companion 2CD greatest hits set, What’s Your 20: Essential Tracks, is terrific but somewhat extraneous, Wilco generally attracting obsessive fans rather than casual ones (no new tracks are included on What's Your 20 to bait the completists). The hardcore might feel a little disappointed that there is no unreleased content on Alpha Mike Foxtrot, either, though even the most committed collector may have struggled to stay abreast of the various bonus discs, downloads, b-sides and tribute albums from which the tracklisting has been assembled. An oddly faithful, entirely creditable 2000 stab at Steely Dan's "Any Major Dude Will Tell You", for example, is salvaged from the soundtrack to Me, Myself & Irene. At times, in his wry sleevenotes, Tweedy seems to decry the notion of continuity. "Listening back to stuff like this, I don't know how we got from where we were to where we are. It's been a strange, strange path," he wonders, confronted with a workmanlike country-rock take on Jim Glaser's "Who Were You Thinking Of". For all the shifts in tone and lineup, however, it is Wilco's underlying consistency that is most striking - or rather, the consistency of Tweedy's hesitant, sometimes fractured, way of unravelling a song. It's a self-effacing quirk that remains charming rather than affected, even 20 years after the discreet twang of a gem like "Promising", or 18 on from the lovely "Blasting Fonda", another lost song from a movie, Feeling Minnesota. That fragile songcraft does not stand up to all the things that have been thrown at it. Tweedy sounds lost in Randy Scruggs' mainstream Nashville production of "The TB Is Killing Me" for a 1994 Red Hot + Country comp. The fraught end of Wilco's tenure with Reprise, meanwhile, results in a gimmicky radio remix of "Shot In The Arm" by the antagonistic head of A&R, David Kahne. "A dated mess," reckons Tweedy, not unreasonably, of a track clearly included for historical rather than aesthetic reasons. Other songs from the end of the '90s fare better. "The Lonely 1 (White Hen Version)", from 1997, is a precursor of the layered soundscaping that would come to full fruition on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, with the band making a field recording of their walk from the studio to buy cigarettes, then chopping it up and using it as an effective backdrop to the song. "That might be the first example of our using a process as a way to be creative," Tweedy notes. The tense, low-key experiments from the time of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot are predictably among the best songs here. One Tweedy/Jay Bennett co-write, "Cars Can't Escape", with a distorted noise solo at the death that never disrupts the restrained vibes, is especially strong. A tipping point comes, though, two-thirds of the way through Disc 3, with the arrival of the master guitarist Nels Cline and the multi-tasking Pat Sansone, and the stable lineup that has endured for the past decade. A slew of live tracks - "At Least That's What You Said", from 2004, and a rearing 2007 take on the Television-like "Impossible Germany" may be the pick - illustrate the questing virtuosity that has become Wilco's default setting. "Sort of like a small version of The Dead," reckons bassist John Stirratt in the sleevenotes. "I think we've been able to attract fans who have created their own culture around us." It's a culture manifest in Alpha Mike Foxtrot: encyclopaedic, loving, droll, emotionally candid, often adventurous, but never really as alienating or difficult as the legends might suggest. "I've got a million things that I'd rather do than play rock'n'roll for you," sings Tweedy at the start of "Let's Not Get Carried Away", a fine, refusenik take on Stones raunch from 2007. He is, though, kidding no-one these days. "These lyrics were meant to be funny, but I think people might have taken them more seriously than I meant them," he writes. "Maybe the reason it didn’t make it on any record is because the drum solo is way too short." Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

Around the turn of the millennium, Jeff Tweedy merrily nurtured a reputation as a contrarian. How best could a man, sanctified as the archetype of what was once called alt-country, confound his fans? With antsy powerpop? Radio static? Fifteen-minute ambient noise jams? The recruitment of a fiendish avant-jazzer to take over on lead guitar? A song for a Spongebob Squarepants movie?

What might look perverse at the time can, of course, be thrown into an uncannily logical light by history. So it is with Alpha Mike Foxtrot, a 4CD boxset that celebrates Wilco’s 20th anniversary by telling their story through 77 tracks of marginalia. It’s a clever idea, not least because Wilco have become the sort of band defined by the nuanced depths of their catalogue, one whose fans have long been encouraged to treat apparent obscurities – the 2002 singalong b-side “A Magazine Called Sunset”, say – as critical parts of the canon. The tour page of Wilco’s website contains a “Request a song” function for every show; a challenge to be obtuse, perhaps, that Alpha Mike Foxtrot will only exacerbate.

As a result, a companion 2CD greatest hits set, What’s Your 20: Essential Tracks, is terrific but somewhat extraneous, Wilco generally attracting obsessive fans rather than casual ones (no new tracks are included on What’s Your 20 to bait the completists). The hardcore might feel a little disappointed that there is no unreleased content on Alpha Mike Foxtrot, either, though even the most committed collector may have struggled to stay abreast of the various bonus discs, downloads, b-sides and tribute albums from which the tracklisting has been assembled. An oddly faithful, entirely creditable 2000 stab at Steely Dan’s “Any Major Dude Will Tell You”, for example, is salvaged from the soundtrack to Me, Myself & Irene.

At times, in his wry sleevenotes, Tweedy seems to decry the notion of continuity. “Listening back to stuff like this, I don’t know how we got from where we were to where we are. It’s been a strange, strange path,” he wonders, confronted with a workmanlike country-rock take on Jim Glaser’s “Who Were You Thinking Of”.

For all the shifts in tone and lineup, however, it is Wilco’s underlying consistency that is most striking – or rather, the consistency of Tweedy’s hesitant, sometimes fractured, way of unravelling a song. It’s a self-effacing quirk that remains charming rather than affected, even 20 years after the discreet twang of a gem like “Promising”, or 18 on from the lovely “Blasting Fonda”, another lost song from a movie, Feeling Minnesota.

That fragile songcraft does not stand up to all the things that have been thrown at it. Tweedy sounds lost in Randy Scruggs’ mainstream Nashville production of “The TB Is Killing Me” for a 1994 Red Hot + Country comp. The fraught end of Wilco’s tenure with Reprise, meanwhile, results in a gimmicky radio remix of “Shot In The Arm” by the antagonistic head of A&R, David Kahne. “A dated mess,” reckons Tweedy, not unreasonably, of a track clearly included for historical rather than aesthetic reasons.

Other songs from the end of the ’90s fare better. “The Lonely 1 (White Hen Version)”, from 1997, is a precursor of the layered soundscaping that would come to full fruition on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, with the band making a field recording of their walk from the studio to buy cigarettes, then chopping it up and using it as an effective backdrop to the song. “That might be the first example of our using a process as a way to be creative,” Tweedy notes.

The tense, low-key experiments from the time of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot are predictably among the best songs here. One Tweedy/Jay Bennett co-write, “Cars Can’t Escape”, with a distorted noise solo at the death that never disrupts the restrained vibes, is especially strong. A tipping point comes, though, two-thirds of the way through Disc 3, with the arrival of the master guitarist Nels Cline and the multi-tasking Pat Sansone, and the stable lineup that has endured for the past decade. A slew of live tracks – “At Least That’s What You Said”, from 2004, and a rearing 2007 take on the Television-like “Impossible Germany” may be the pick – illustrate the questing virtuosity that has become Wilco’s default setting. “Sort of like a small version of The Dead,” reckons bassist John Stirratt in the sleevenotes. “I think we’ve been able to attract fans who have created their own culture around us.”

It’s a culture manifest in Alpha Mike Foxtrot: encyclopaedic, loving, droll, emotionally candid, often adventurous, but never really as alienating or difficult as the legends might suggest. “I’ve got a million things that I’d rather do than play rock’n’roll for you,” sings Tweedy at the start of “Let’s Not Get Carried Away”, a fine, refusenik take on Stones raunch from 2007. He is, though, kidding no-one these days. “These lyrics were meant to be funny, but I think people might have taken them more seriously than I meant them,” he writes. “Maybe the reason it didn’t make it on any record is because the drum solo is way too short.”

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

Fleetwood Mac announce UK and Ireland tour for 2015

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Fleetwood Mac announce UK and Ireland tour for 2015

The shows will take place during May and June 2015... Fleetwood Mac have announced a European tour for 2015, including a series of UK and Ireland dates. The band will kick things off with back-to-back shows at London's 02 Arena at the end of May, before travelling to Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin and Leeds during June. Tickets go on sale this Friday (November 14) at 9am. The shows will feature Christine McVie, who recently rejoined the group and performed with the band for the first time since 1997. The band's Mick Fleetwood has denied that Fleetwood Mac will be appearing at Glastonbury in 2015. Despite Fleetwood's statement, the band have remained one of the favourites to top the bill at the event next year, though Michael Eavis has stated in recent weeks that the chances of the band headlining were looking unlikely. "One of the things that I'd like to clear up is that we're not playing Glastonbury," Fleetwood told Radio 2. "A lot of folks think that we are, so loud and clear: We love Glastonbury and all the surrounding history of such a lovely festival but we're not playing it." Fleetwood added: "No bad faith for Glastonbury because I just don't want people thinking it's us." He was then asked if this meant the band will never play Worthy Farm to which the drummer replied: "Never say never." You can check out the tour dates in full below. London O2 Arena (May 27) London O2 Arena (28) Birmingham LG Arena (June 8) Manchester Arena (12) Glasgow SSE Hydro (16) Dublin 3Arena (20) Leeds First Direct Arena (30)

The shows will take place during May and June 2015…

Fleetwood Mac have announced a European tour for 2015, including a series of UK and Ireland dates.

The band will kick things off with back-to-back shows at London’s 02 Arena at the end of May, before travelling to Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin and Leeds during June.

Tickets go on sale this Friday (November 14) at 9am.

The shows will feature Christine McVie, who recently rejoined the group and performed with the band for the first time since 1997.

The band’s Mick Fleetwood has denied that Fleetwood Mac will be appearing at Glastonbury in 2015.

Despite Fleetwood’s statement, the band have remained one of the favourites to top the bill at the event next year, though Michael Eavis has stated in recent weeks that the chances of the band headlining were looking unlikely.

“One of the things that I’d like to clear up is that we’re not playing Glastonbury,” Fleetwood told Radio 2. “A lot of folks think that we are, so loud and clear: We love Glastonbury and all the surrounding history of such a lovely festival but we’re not playing it.”

Fleetwood added: “No bad faith for Glastonbury because I just don’t want people thinking it’s us.” He was then asked if this meant the band will never play Worthy Farm to which the drummer replied: “Never say never.”

You can check out the tour dates in full below.

London O2 Arena (May 27)

London O2 Arena (28)

Birmingham LG Arena (June 8)

Manchester Arena (12)

Glasgow SSE Hydro (16)

Dublin 3Arena (20)

Leeds First Direct Arena (30)

Pink Floyd – The Endless River

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Pink Floyd – The Endless River

Finally! The first new album in 20 years proves a graceful, open-hearted swansong... For a group who perhaps personify English reserve, Pink Floyd’s approach to making their first new album in 20 years seems surprisingly open-hearted. The Endless River is ostensibly a tender tribute to the late Rick Wright, whose keyboards have long provided much of the sonic identity of the band, from their days as psychedelic pipers and onwards - with the exception of The Final Cut, ostensibly a Waters solo album anyway - to the tolling of The Division Bell. The effort put into curating this 55-minute memorial, pairing hours of 21-year-old jams with newly recorded parts, appears considerable – four producers, eight keyboardists and a number of studios were enlisted during its long gestation. And compared to its chillier-named forebears, even the record’s title seems to embrace warmer, hippier ideals, perhaps a sign that this once closed-off band of passive-aggressives have learned to go with the flow and maybe even appreciate each other and what they do best. As the first of the album’s four “sides” drifts into earshot with a clear evocation of “Speak To Me” from Dark Side Of The Moon – all hushed drones and muffled speech - it certainly seems that way. Side One continues in this comforting, warmly nostalgic vein: the synth and E-bowed acoustic guitar on “It's What We Do” recall the first few minutes of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, even with the same dramatic chord change as the synths blossom. Soon, David Gilmour embarks on a very David Gilmour solo, all yearning melody and bent blue-notes, while Wright digs out his trademark French horn sound. It's no great departure, but it’s beautifully bittersweet, and very Floyd. It's not just the band's '70s work that is evoked throughout The Endless River, either. Side Two fades in with Wright’s Farfisa fed through a Binson Echorec, a combination which soundtracked the Barrett-era Floyd and hasn’t been heard for around 40 years. Why Wright decided to bring it back is a mystery, but it’s a perfect example of what producer Phil Manzanera has described as the “part documentary” aspect of the album. The middle sides are more experimental, and consequently more uneven, with the second marred by a stiff drum solo from Mason. On Side Three, however, the galloping blues of “Allons-y” is bisected by Wright beautifully playing the Royal Albert Hall organ in 1969, with new Gilmour parts answering his lines. It’s reminiscent of the hymnal solemnity of “A Saucerful Of Secrets”, and one of the record’s highlights. Though in truth nothing here is as inspired as “Echoes”, “Astronomy Domine” or even “Comfortably Numb”, The Endless River’s success as an immersive listening experience is all in the edit. The level of sonic detail across the four sides is staggering, a testament to the effort put into weaving these ragged offcuts and newly recorded additions into one seamless tapestry, that winds through the band’s back catalogue towards its climax. That elegiac conclusion, “Louder Than Words”, takes up half of Side Four, and when Gilmour’s vocals come floating in, it’s a surprise. “We bitch and we fight/Diss each other on sight/But this thing we do…” he sings over a stately ballad that could have been a highlight of The Division Bell. “[We could] stay by the fire/Failed by desire/Stoking the flames/But we’re here for the ride…” It's a surprisingly moving finale, and a fitting tribute to Wright. And yet, The Endless River as a whole is more than that. With its flashbacks to their past glories, it’s also a memorial to Pink Floyd as a group, a glimpse of what’s been lost and what could have been. From Polly Samson’s lyrics, and Stephen Hawking urging us to “keep talking”, to the opening clip of Wright discussing “things left unsaid”, almost every word on The Endless River is about communication, and it serves to highlight just how bad the members of Pink Floyd have been at it, historically. Why they waited until Wright's death to make another album is one of many questions that remain unanswered. Though it's the end, then, this isn’t goodbye – that already happened at Hyde Park in 2005. The Endless River is a transmission from the afterlife of the group, an echo from the past. That it far surpasses its cut-up, protracted origins, and might even be the best thing the Floyd have released for over 30 years, is a welcome surprise. So, with a grand Gilmour solo, a departing wave of ambient noise and the same synth arpeggio that kicked things off almost an hour before, the record, and Pink Floyd, bow out. As always, with a little quiet desperation, but a lot of grace. Tom Pinnock

Finally! The first new album in 20 years proves a graceful, open-hearted swansong…

For a group who perhaps personify English reserve, Pink Floyd’s approach to making their first new album in 20 years seems surprisingly open-hearted. The Endless River is ostensibly a tender tribute to the late Rick Wright, whose keyboards have long provided much of the sonic identity of the band, from their days as psychedelic pipers and onwards – with the exception of The Final Cut, ostensibly a Waters solo album anyway – to the tolling of The Division Bell.

The effort put into curating this 55-minute memorial, pairing hours of 21-year-old jams with newly recorded parts, appears considerable – four producers, eight keyboardists and a number of studios were enlisted during its long gestation. And compared to its chillier-named forebears, even the record’s title seems to embrace warmer, hippier ideals, perhaps a sign that this once closed-off band of passive-aggressives have learned to go with the flow and maybe even appreciate each other and what they do best.

As the first of the album’s four “sides” drifts into earshot with a clear evocation of “Speak To Me” from Dark Side Of The Moon – all hushed drones and muffled speech – it certainly seems that way. Side One continues in this comforting, warmly nostalgic vein: the synth and E-bowed acoustic guitar on “It’s What We Do” recall the first few minutes of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, even with the same dramatic chord change as the synths blossom. Soon, David Gilmour embarks on a very David Gilmour solo, all yearning melody and bent blue-notes, while Wright digs out his trademark French horn sound. It’s no great departure, but it’s beautifully bittersweet, and very Floyd.

It’s not just the band’s ’70s work that is evoked throughout The Endless River, either. Side Two fades in with Wright’s Farfisa fed through a Binson Echorec, a combination which soundtracked the Barrett-era Floyd and hasn’t been heard for around 40 years. Why Wright decided to bring it back is a mystery, but it’s a perfect example of what producer Phil Manzanera has described as the “part documentary” aspect of the album.

The middle sides are more experimental, and consequently more uneven, with the second marred by a stiff drum solo from Mason. On Side Three, however, the galloping blues of “Allons-y” is bisected by Wright beautifully playing the Royal Albert Hall organ in 1969, with new Gilmour parts answering his lines. It’s reminiscent of the hymnal solemnity of “A Saucerful Of Secrets”, and one of the record’s highlights.

Though in truth nothing here is as inspired as “Echoes”, “Astronomy Domine” or even “Comfortably Numb”, The Endless River’s success as an immersive listening experience is all in the edit. The level of sonic detail across the four sides is staggering, a testament to the effort put into weaving these ragged offcuts and newly recorded additions into one seamless tapestry, that winds through the band’s back catalogue towards its climax.

That elegiac conclusion, “Louder Than Words”, takes up half of Side Four, and when Gilmour’s vocals come floating in, it’s a surprise. “We bitch and we fight/Diss each other on sight/But this thing we do…” he sings over a stately ballad that could have been a highlight of The Division Bell. “[We could] stay by the fire/Failed by desire/Stoking the flames/But we’re here for the ride…”

It’s a surprisingly moving finale, and a fitting tribute to Wright. And yet, The Endless River as a whole is more than that. With its flashbacks to their past glories, it’s also a memorial to Pink Floyd as a group, a glimpse of what’s been lost and what could have been. From Polly Samson’s lyrics, and Stephen Hawking urging us to “keep talking”, to the opening clip of Wright discussing “things left unsaid”, almost every word on The Endless River is about communication, and it serves to highlight just how bad the members of Pink Floyd have been at it, historically. Why they waited until Wright’s death to make another album is one of many questions that remain unanswered.

Though it’s the end, then, this isn’t goodbye – that already happened at Hyde Park in 2005. The Endless River is a transmission from the afterlife of the group, an echo from the past. That it far surpasses its cut-up, protracted origins, and might even be the best thing the Floyd have released for over 30 years, is a welcome surprise.

So, with a grand Gilmour solo, a departing wave of ambient noise and the same synth arpeggio that kicked things off almost an hour before, the record, and Pink Floyd, bow out. As always, with a little quiet desperation, but a lot of grace.

Tom Pinnock

World exclusive! Watch Neil Young perform new song “Like You Used To Do” live in the studio

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World exclusive! Watch Neil Young perform new song “Like You Used To Do” live in the studio

"Like You Used To Do" appears on new album Storytone... We're delighted to be be able to host this world exclusive film of Neil Young in the studio. The footage features Young performing the track "Like You Used To Do" from his new album, Storytone. In this clip, Young - dressed in a black t-shirt and baseball cap - is accompanied by a big band. Storytone was released last week, November 3, by Reprise Records. It features 10 songs, some recorded with a 92-piece orchestra and choir and some with a 60-piece orchestra and three with a big band. A deluxe version also includes an additional studio album of solo versions of all the songs. The tracklisting for the deluxe version is: "Plastic Flowers" (Solo) "Who's Gonna Stand Up?" (Solo) "I Want To Drive My Car" (Solo) "Glimmer" (Solo) "Say Hello To Chicago" (Solo) "Tumbleweed" (Solo) "Like You Used To Do" (Solo) "I'm Glad I Found You" (Solo) "When I Watch You Sleeping" (Solo) "All Those Dreams" (Solo) "Plastic Flowers" (Orchestral) "Who's Gonna Stand Up?" (Orchestral) "I Want To Drive My Car" (Band) "Say Hello To Chicago" (Big Band) "Tumbleweed" (Orchestral) "Like You Used To Do" (Band) "I'm Glad I Found You" (Orchestral) "When I Watch You Sleeping" (Orchestral) "All Those Dreams" (Orchestral)

“Like You Used To Do” appears on new album Storytone…

We’re delighted to be be able to host this world exclusive film of Neil Young in the studio.

The footage features Young performing the track “Like You Used To Do” from his new album, Storytone. In this clip, Young – dressed in a black t-shirt and baseball cap – is accompanied by a big band.

Storytone was released last week, November 3, by Reprise Records.

It features 10 songs, some recorded with a 92-piece orchestra and choir and some with a 60-piece orchestra and three with a big band. A deluxe version also includes an additional studio album of solo versions of all the songs.

The tracklisting for the deluxe version is:

“Plastic Flowers” (Solo)

“Who’s Gonna Stand Up?” (Solo)

“I Want To Drive My Car” (Solo)

“Glimmer” (Solo)

“Say Hello To Chicago” (Solo)

“Tumbleweed” (Solo)

“Like You Used To Do” (Solo)

“I’m Glad I Found You” (Solo)

“When I Watch You Sleeping” (Solo)

“All Those Dreams” (Solo)

“Plastic Flowers” (Orchestral)

“Who’s Gonna Stand Up?” (Orchestral)

“I Want To Drive My Car” (Band)

“Say Hello To Chicago” (Big Band)

“Tumbleweed” (Orchestral)

“Like You Used To Do” (Band)

“I’m Glad I Found You” (Orchestral)

“When I Watch You Sleeping” (Orchestral)

“All Those Dreams” (Orchestral)

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