Page 454 – UNCUT

The 18th Uncut Playlist Of 2014

John Mulvey

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15th May 2014

Scene of some devastation this morning, as we’re surrounded by crates, packing for a move to new offices on the floor below. In haste, then: this has been the soundtrack for throwing out a load of old shit these past few days. Special attention, please, to the tremendous new Pye Corner Audio business… Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey 1 Sam Lee & Friends - More For To Rise EP (Nest Collective) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss24LSJqcqY 2 Wildest Dreams – Wildest Dreams (Smalltown Supersound) 3 Stick In The Wheel – Bones EP (Stick In The Wheel) <a href="http://stickinthewheel.bandcamp.com/album/bones-ep">Bones EP by Stick In The Wheel</a> 4 Girma Yifrashewa – Love And Peace (Unseen Worlds) 5 Reigning Sound – Shattered (Merge) 6 Sharon Van Etten – Are We There (Jagjaguwar) 7 Straight Arrows – Rising (Agitated) 8 Martyn – The Air Between Words (Ninjatune) 9 Curtis Mayfield – Superfly (Charly) 10 James Blackshaw – Fantômas (Tompkins Square) 11 The The – Soul Mining (Sony) 12 King Creosote – From Scotland With Love (Domino) 13 OOIOO – Gamel (Thrill Jockey) 14 Hiss Golden Messenger – Brother, Do You Know The Road? (Merge) Listen to it on the blog here 15 Chicago Transit Authority - Chicago Transit Authority (Columbia) 16 Pye Corner Audio/Not Waving - Intercepts (Ecstatic) 17 Samantha Crain – The Confiscation EP (Fulltime Hobby) 18 Dennis Russell Davies & Sinfonieorchester Basel -Philip Glass: Symphony No 1 “Low” (Orange Mountain) 19 Wolfgang Voigt – Rückverzauberung 9/Musik für Kulturinstitutionen (Kompkakt) 20 Morrissey – World Peace Is None Of Your Business (Harvest) 21 Matt Kivel – Insignificance (Woodsist) 22 Günter Schlienz – Contemplation (Preservation) 23 Dusted Lux – Neverended (Preservation) 24 Bob Dylan - Full Moon And Empty Arms (Columbia)

Scene of some devastation this morning, as we’re surrounded by crates, packing for a move to new offices on the floor below. In haste, then: this has been the soundtrack for throwing out a load of old shit these past few days. Special attention, please, to the tremendous new Pye Corner Audio business…

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

1 Sam Lee & Friends – More For To Rise EP (Nest Collective)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss24LSJqcqY

2 Wildest Dreams – Wildest Dreams (Smalltown Supersound)

3 Stick In The Wheel – Bones EP (Stick In The Wheel)

<a href="http://stickinthewheel.bandcamp.com/album/bones-ep">Bones EP by Stick In The Wheel</a>

4 Girma Yifrashewa – Love And Peace (Unseen Worlds)

5 Reigning Sound – Shattered (Merge)

6 Sharon Van Etten – Are We There (Jagjaguwar)

7 Straight Arrows – Rising (Agitated)

8 Martyn – The Air Between Words (Ninjatune)

9 Curtis Mayfield – Superfly (Charly)

10 James Blackshaw – Fantômas (Tompkins Square)

11 The The – Soul Mining (Sony)

12 King Creosote – From Scotland With Love (Domino)

13 OOIOO – Gamel (Thrill Jockey)

14 Hiss Golden Messenger – Brother, Do You Know The Road? (Merge)

Listen to it on the blog here

15 Chicago Transit Authority – Chicago Transit Authority (Columbia)

16 Pye Corner Audio/Not Waving – Intercepts (Ecstatic)

17 Samantha Crain – The Confiscation EP (Fulltime Hobby)

18 Dennis Russell Davies & Sinfonieorchester Basel -Philip Glass: Symphony No 1 “Low” (Orange Mountain)

19 Wolfgang Voigt – Rückverzauberung 9/Musik für Kulturinstitutionen (Kompkakt)

20 Morrissey – World Peace Is None Of Your Business (Harvest)

21 Matt Kivel – Insignificance (Woodsist)

22 Günter Schlienz – Contemplation (Preservation)

23 Dusted Lux – Neverended (Preservation)

24 Bob Dylan – Full Moon And Empty Arms (Columbia)

Bob Dylan’s new album: let the wild speculation begin!

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14th May 2014

0

Bob Dylan’s new album: let the wild speculation begin!

Yesterday was bookended by a pair of unexpected releases. In the morning, Morrissey unveiled his first new studio material in almost five years, then just as we were packing up for the day, a new track appeared without fanfare on Bob Dylan’s website. Admittedly, we had been expecting some new musi...

Yesterday was bookended by a pair of unexpected releases. In the morning, Morrissey unveiled his first new studio material in almost five years, then just as we were packing up for the day, a new track appeared without fanfare on Bob Dylan’s website. Admittedly, we had been expecting some new music from Morrissey; Dylan, however, caught us entirely by surprise, and not for the first time…

So, what are we to make of Dylan’s “Full Moon And Empty Arms”? And what clues – if any – does it divulge about where the artist’s capricious muse will lead him next? The facts are thin on the ground at this point. What we do know for sure is that song dates from 1945 and was written by the team of lyricist Buddy Kaye and composer Ted Mossman and that Frank Sinatra had a hit with it that same year. Dylan’s version, driven by some beautiful slide guitar, is a bruised, atmospheric affair.

Questioned by Rolling Stone, a spokesman for Dylan confirmed, “This track is definitely from a forthcoming album due later on this year.” Is Dylan prepping, then, an album of covers, specifically Sinatra covers, or a mix of covers and originals? And is it simply coincidence that the track went live on the anniversary of Sinatra’s death..?

Let’s start with Ol’ Blue Eyes. Dylan is a long-standing fan, of course. He covered “All My Tomorrows”, from Sintra’s All The Way album, live in 1986 and delivered a moving version of “Restless Farewell” at Sinatra’s 80th birthday tribute in 1995. Broadening it out slightly, Dylan covered “Return To Me” for The Sopranos and “You Belong To Me” for the Natural Born Killers soundtrack, both of which Dean Martin recorded. We know, too, from anecdotal evidence unearthed in Uncut’s 2008 Tell Tale Signs cover story that during the making of “Love & Theft”, Dylan would play old records by artists like Dean Martin and Billie Holiday to his band to indicate the kind of mood he wanted to get for a particular song, and would often also get them to play the songs themselves. This was confirmed further by David Hidalgo, who told Uncut in late 2009 that during sessions for the Christmas In The Heart album, Dylan and the band listened to Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole and Mel Tormé.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT2WxkPNERM

Meanwhile, Dylan is certainly no stranger to cover versions. Apart from “Talkin’ New York” and “Song To Woody”, the 1962 debut album consisted of traditional material, and he released two albums of blues covers in the 1990s: Good As I Been To You and World Gone Wrong. There are covers, too, on Self Portrait and Down In The Groove, and let’s not go into how many cover versions of other artist’s songs he’s played live through the years.

While we may not be entirely certain about the content of the album, there is the possibility we might, at least, know the title. The front page of Dylan’s website currently displays what looks suspiciously like an album cover: a picture of Dylan’s face (perhaps dating from a 2006 William Caxton photo shoot) with the words ‘Shadows In The Night’, rendered in the style of a Blue Note LP cover.

From what we know about Dylan’s working practises, he doesn’t dawdle in the studio. Engineer Chris Shaw told us for the Tell Tale Signs story that the 12 songs on “Love And Theft” were recorded in 12 days, with another 10 days for mixing, and we believe that is still pretty much how he continues to work to this day. Looking at the maths, if the previous leg of the Never Ending Tour finished last November at the Royal Albert Hall and resumed in Japan on March 31, those three months off are more than enough time for Dylan to record a new album. We know that Dylan has certainly been in the studio while off the road: he’s cut a track, rumoured to be “Things We Said Today”, for a forthcoming Paul McCartney tribute album.

I’m aware it’s easy enough to tie yourself in knots trying to predict what Dylan will do next: which is certainly part of the fun. A new album, whatever it consists of, will certainly be most welcome. I can’t help, though, thinking that the release of “Full Moon And Empty Arms” comes so soon after Neil Young‘s own album of cover versions, A Letter Home. A mere coincidence? Surely, to think anything else would be madness…

Anyway, what do you think of “Full Moon And Empty Arms“, and what would you like from a new Bob Dylan album..?

Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner.

Thanks to: Damien Love

The Jesus And Mary Chain to perform Psychocandy in its entirety live

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Uncut

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14th May 2014

0

The Jesus And Mary Chain to perform Psychocandy in its entirety live

The Jesus And Mary Chain are set to perform their 1985 debut album Psychocandy at three UK shows this November. The gigs will take place in anticipation of the album's 30th anniversary, with the band kicking off the trio of concerts at London's Troxy on November 19, following it with shows at Manch...

The Jesus And Mary Chain are set to perform their 1985 debut album Psychocandy at three UK shows this November.

The gigs will take place in anticipation of the album’s 30th anniversary, with the band kicking off the trio of concerts at London’s Troxy on November 19, following it with shows at Manchester Academy on November 20 and Glasgow Barrowlands on November 21. Tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday May 16.

The band’s last UK appearances took place at London’s Roundhouse and Forum in 2008. Speaking about the impending 30th anniversary of Psychocandy, Jim Reid said: “Psychocandy was meant to be a kick in the teeth to all of those who stood in our way at the time, which was practically the whole music industry. In 1985 there were a great many people who predicted no more than a six month life span for The Mary Chain. To celebrate the approaching 30th anniversary of the album, we would like to perform it in its entirety. We will also perform key songs from that period that did not feature on the album.”

The Jesus And Mary Chain will play:

London The Troxy (November 19)

Manchester Academy (20)

Glasgow Barrowlands (21)

Track Premiere: Hiss Golden Messenger’s “Brother, Do You Know The Road?”

News

John Mulvey

-

14th May 2014

0

Track Premiere: Hiss Golden Messenger’s “Brother, Do You Know The Road?”

Sometimes great songs fall by the wayside, for whatever reason, and over the past year or so it’s felt that Hiss Golden Messenger’s “Brother, Do You Know the Road?” might unfortunately be one of those. Hiss’ MC Taylor refers to “Brother…” as “something of an orphan; it’s never found its way onto any full-length HGM album, although it frequently gets played at full-band performances.” Today, though, I’m honoured to host the premiere of the studio version, which is finally being released as a prelude (though it won’t feature on) Hiss Golden Messenger’s forthcoming album for Merge. According to Taylor, “’Brother, Do You Know the Road?’ was written quickly and recorded in one take in a house belonging to Joyce and Joel Martin in Oxford, North Carolina. It was green early summer. Lots of insects humming in the mics. There is a refrain in this song that is important to me: ‘And though the storm’s passed over/And the sun is in its place/Oh, it took a long time/And the rain, how I know it.’” “Brother Do You Know The Road” is a stately, bluesy song with spiritual implications that takes its time to unravel; after a few seconds, you can hear Taylor suggesting, “Keep going,” as Scott Hirsch digs into a particularly satisfying bassline. As it goes along, though, and Phil Cook unfurls great staticky clouds of organ beneath the call-and-response vocals, “Brother…” accumulates a very specific gravity of its own, and you can understand why it’s been an “orphan” for so long. It’s the kind of song that would suck attention away from the ones that surrounded it on an album, that has a profoundly heavy presence. It’s a tremendous song, too, one of my favourites of the last couple of years. One occasionally half-arsed theory is that most great bands have their “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” moment sooner or later. Here’s Hiss Golden Messenger’s… “Brother, Do You Know the Road?” is available now for purchase digitally on iTunes A lot to talk about involving the band in the next few months, not least a European solo tour from MC Taylor that kicks off tomorrow in Dublin: May 15 Dublin, IE – Whelan’s May 16 Glasgow, UK – Nice N Sleazy May 17 Hyde Park, UK – Brudenell Social Club May 18 Manchester, UK – Soup Kitchen May 19 London, UK – The Borderline May 20 Falmouth. UK – Beerwolf Books May 22 Esch Sur Alzette, LU – Rockhal Café May 23 Leuven, BE – Stuk May 24 Utrecht, NL – Le Guess Who? May Day There are some forthcoming full band shows over the summer, too, including the first time Taylor has brought a group – in this case Scott Hirsch, Matt McCaughan (Bon Iver and The Rosebuds), and Tim Bluhm (Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers, The Mother Hips, Mickey Hart etc) - over to the UK… May 30 Blackstock, SC – Blackstock Music Festival Jun 01 Nelsonville, OH – Nelsonville Music Festival Jul 09-13 Winnipeg, MB – Winnipeg Folk Festival Jul 14 Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso Jul 18 Suffolk, UK – Latitude Festival Jul 19 London, UK – Bush Hall Jul 20 North Devon, UK – Somersault Festival In the meantime, for those of you coming fresh to Hiss Golden Messenger, it’s ostensibly the project of MC Taylor (with constant support from Scott Hirsch), a singer-songwriter based in North Carolina. Over the past few years, Taylor has built up an imposing catalogue, refining a rich blend of folk-rock, country and soul into a music that deals with issues of faith, parenthood and mortality in an uncommonly mature and emotionally involving fashion. These records mean a lot to me, and I’ve written a fair bit about many of them. If you’d like to find out more, here are my blogs on: The “Root Work” live album from 2009 (I think) The original release of “Bad Debt” (2010) A London Live show from 2011 A blog linking to NYCTaper’s great recording of Hiss at Hopscotch 2012, which opens with “Brother…” Something about Taylor’s essential “Wah Wah Cowboys” compilations A little on the great “Haw” from 2013 The Golden Gunn collaboration with Steve Gunn (2013) Finally, a couple of auspicious clips. Here’s an early live version of “Brother Do You Know The Road”, performed by Taylor with the Bowerbirds and Christy (Haw River Ballroom, Saxapahaw, North Carolina, 2012)… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7QIil8WF3w And one more from the other week: Taylor hooking up with Megafaun (featuring frequent collaborators Phil and Brad Cook) and Justin Vernon (ie Bon Iver) to jam “Mahogany Dread”, a preview of what might figure on that first Hiss album for Merge, due in the autumn. Enjoy… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exwYb4YD82U Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey PICTURE: Remedy Co.

Sometimes great songs fall by the wayside, for whatever reason, and over the past year or so it’s felt that Hiss Golden Messenger’s “Brother, Do You Know the Road?” might unfortunately be one of those.

Hiss’ MC Taylor refers to “Brother…” as “something of an orphan; it’s never found its way onto any full-length HGM album, although it frequently gets played at full-band performances.” Today, though, I’m honoured to host the premiere of the studio version, which is finally being released as a prelude (though it won’t feature on) Hiss Golden Messenger’s forthcoming album for Merge.

According to Taylor, “’Brother, Do You Know the Road?’ was written quickly and recorded in one take in a house belonging to Joyce and Joel Martin in Oxford, North Carolina. It was green early summer. Lots of insects humming in the mics. There is a refrain in this song that is important to me: ‘And though the storm’s passed over/And the sun is in its place/Oh, it took a long time/And the rain, how I know it.’”

“Brother Do You Know The Road” is a stately, bluesy song with spiritual implications that takes its time to unravel; after a few seconds, you can hear Taylor suggesting, “Keep going,” as Scott Hirsch digs into a particularly satisfying bassline. As it goes along, though, and Phil Cook unfurls great staticky clouds of organ beneath the call-and-response vocals, “Brother…” accumulates a very specific gravity of its own, and you can understand why it’s been an “orphan” for so long. It’s the kind of song that would suck attention away from the ones that surrounded it on an album, that has a profoundly heavy presence.

It’s a tremendous song, too, one of my favourites of the last couple of years. One occasionally half-arsed theory is that most great bands have their “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” moment sooner or later. Here’s Hiss Golden Messenger’s…

“Brother, Do You Know the Road?” is available now for purchase digitally on iTunes

A lot to talk about involving the band in the next few months, not least a European solo tour from MC Taylor that kicks off tomorrow in Dublin:

May 15 Dublin, IE – Whelan’s

May 16 Glasgow, UK – Nice N Sleazy

May 17 Hyde Park, UK – Brudenell Social Club

May 18 Manchester, UK – Soup Kitchen

May 19 London, UK – The Borderline

May 20 Falmouth. UK – Beerwolf Books

May 22 Esch Sur Alzette, LU – Rockhal Café

May 23 Leuven, BE – Stuk

May 24 Utrecht, NL – Le Guess Who? May Day

There are some forthcoming full band shows over the summer, too, including the first time Taylor has brought a group – in this case Scott Hirsch, Matt McCaughan (Bon Iver and The Rosebuds), and Tim Bluhm (Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers, The Mother Hips, Mickey Hart etc) – over to the UK…

May 30 Blackstock, SC – Blackstock Music Festival

Jun 01 Nelsonville, OH – Nelsonville Music Festival

Jul 09-13 Winnipeg, MB – Winnipeg Folk Festival

Jul 14 Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso

Jul 18 Suffolk, UK – Latitude Festival

Jul 19 London, UK – Bush Hall

Jul 20 North Devon, UK – Somersault Festival

In the meantime, for those of you coming fresh to Hiss Golden Messenger, it’s ostensibly the project of MC Taylor (with constant support from Scott Hirsch), a singer-songwriter based in North Carolina. Over the past few years, Taylor has built up an imposing catalogue, refining a rich blend of folk-rock, country and soul into a music that deals with issues of faith, parenthood and mortality in an uncommonly mature and emotionally involving fashion. These records mean a lot to me, and I’ve written a fair bit about many of them. If you’d like to find out more, here are my blogs on:

The “Root Work” live album from 2009 (I think)

The original release of “Bad Debt” (2010)

A London Live show from 2011

A blog linking to NYCTaper’s great recording of Hiss at Hopscotch 2012, which opens with “Brother…”

Something about Taylor’s essential “Wah Wah Cowboys” compilations

A little on the great “Haw” from 2013

The Golden Gunn collaboration with Steve Gunn (2013)

Finally, a couple of auspicious clips. Here’s an early live version of “Brother Do You Know The Road”, performed by Taylor with the Bowerbirds and Christy (Haw River Ballroom, Saxapahaw, North Carolina, 2012)…

And one more from the other week: Taylor hooking up with Megafaun (featuring frequent collaborators Phil and Brad Cook) and Justin Vernon (ie Bon Iver) to jam “Mahogany Dread”, a preview of what might figure on that first Hiss album for Merge, due in the autumn. Enjoy…

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

PICTURE: Remedy Co.

Bob Dylan releases new song; plans new album

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Uncut

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13th May 2014

0

Bob Dylan releases new song; plans new album

Bob Dylan has posted a new song on his website. The track, called "Full Moon And Empty Arms", is a cover version of a 1945 song written by Buddy Kaye and Ted Mossman and popularised by Frank Sinatra. You can hear the song here. According to a spokesman for Dylan quoted on Rolling Stone, "This tra...

Bob Dylan has posted a new song on his website.

The track, called “Full Moon And Empty Arms“, is a cover version of a 1945 song written by Buddy Kaye and Ted Mossman and popularised by Frank Sinatra.

You can hear the song here.

According to a spokesman for Dylan quoted on Rolling Stone, “This track is definitely from a forthcoming album due later on this year.”

Dylan’s website also contains an image of himself with the phrase ‘Shadows In The Night‘, although the Dylan spokesman wouldn’t confirm an album title to Rolling Stone.

Introducing – The Cure: the Ultimate Music Guide

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Uncut

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13th May 2014

0

Introducing – The Cure: the Ultimate Music Guide

We’re busy this week finishing the next issue of Uncut – the final pages are being signed off and sent as I write this. We’re also packing an ungodly amount of stuff into crates and boxes ahead of another office move this weekend to the floor below the one we’ve been calling home since the last time we packed up and moved. There’s just time to tell you, though, that the latest Uncut Ultimate Music Guide goes on sale this Thursday, May 15. It’s a 148-page celebration of the wayward genius of Robert Smith and The Cure, the band he formed nearly four decades years ago and which almost from the very beginning of their illustrious career he seems to have almost every year promised to walk away from, even as they have become one of British rock’s most enduring and fascinating musical institutions. This is the story of how Robert Smith took the fledgling Cure from suburban Crawley to the pinnacles of pop success, leading them through multiple line-ups whose comings and goings have included several members leaving and returning in a manner that may have left even Smith confused about exactly who was in the band at any given point. As ever, we’ve braved the cobwebby dungeons in which the archive copies of Melody Maker and NME reside to return from those depths with the greatest Cure interviews from the last 36 years to reprint them in our Ultimate Music Guide, alongside revealing new reviews by the current team of Uncut writers, who bring their forensic attention to every Cure album. All this, plus a wealth of rare pictures, discographies, a complete collectables guide and that’s The Ultimate Music Guide: The Cure... Just Like Heaven! The Ultimate Music Guide: The Cure is on sale from Thursday, May 15. You can order a copy at www.uncut.co.uk/store or download digitally at www.uncut.co.uk/digital-edition. Have a good week.

We’re busy this week finishing the next issue of Uncut – the final pages are being signed off and sent as I write this. We’re also packing an ungodly amount of stuff into crates and boxes ahead of another office move this weekend to the floor below the one we’ve been calling home since the last time we packed up and moved.

There’s just time to tell you, though, that the latest Uncut Ultimate Music Guide goes on sale this Thursday, May 15.

It’s a 148-page celebration of the wayward genius of Robert Smith and The Cure, the band he formed nearly four decades years ago and which almost from the very beginning of their illustrious career he seems to have almost every year promised to walk away from, even as they have become one of British rock’s most enduring and fascinating musical institutions.

This is the story of how Robert Smith took the fledgling Cure from suburban Crawley to the pinnacles of pop success, leading them through multiple line-ups whose comings and goings have included several members leaving and returning in a manner that may have left even Smith confused about exactly who was in the band at any given point.

As ever, we’ve braved the cobwebby dungeons in which the archive copies of Melody Maker and NME reside to return from those depths with the greatest Cure interviews from the last 36 years to reprint them in our Ultimate Music Guide, alongside revealing new reviews by the current team of Uncut writers, who bring their forensic attention to every Cure album. All this, plus a wealth of rare pictures, discographies, a complete collectables guide and that’s The Ultimate Music Guide: The Cure… Just Like Heaven!

The Ultimate Music Guide: The Cure is on sale from Thursday, May 15. You can order a copy at www.uncut.co.uk/store or download digitally at www.uncut.co.uk/digital-edition.

Have a good week.

Thee Oh Sees – Drop

Uncut

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13th May 2014

0

Oscillating garage rock weirdness from West Coast psychonaut... There’s always been something restless about Thee Oh Sees. It’s in the shimmering psychedelic music they have been recording since 2008’s The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In. It’s in the speed with which they put out new releases, 13 in six years including lives and comps, plus numerous EPs and seven inches. It’s in the constant changes of musical emphasis, the switches between light and dark, pop and experimental, with the band’s heaviness peaking on 2013’s formidable, metal-flirting Floating Coffin. And it’s there in spades on Drop, the first album since ringmaster John Dwyer announced he was taking a break, a widely misinterpreted “hiatus” that lasted, oh, a couple of months, while Dwyer moved to LA and effectively became a solo artist, having left the band behind in SF. This is a band that refuses to settle down. That isn’t clear at first, when Drop sounds like a continuation of Floating Coffin, with the monstrous opening track “Penetrating Eye” playing out on an unsettling, industrial palate of wildly shrieking guitars and an evil ‘na na na na’ chorus that sounds a little like being aurally tortured by the Joker. Nothing else on the album is quite as heavy, even if it shares that discomforting atmosphere. “Encrypted Bounce” is a mite more relaxed – if sounding like Suicide can be considered thus – but even here there’s a semi-crazed Mellotron solo in the middle eight before it locks into a wicked groove. Drop was created in a Sacramento studio by Dwyer and producer/drummer Chris Woodhouse, and carries an air of synth-heavy experimentation, as the pair take a song and then beat it boldly out of shape and back again. The joy is in how much of it there is to listen to, with constant changes of tempo, instrument and texture that manage to maintain an overall coherence while keeping anybody from getting bored. The occult, mysterious “Savage Victory” ends in a buzz of fuzz that leads to the strange delights of “Put Some Reverb On My Brother”. “I can’t see you, you can’t see me” the Lynchian lyrics repeat intensely against claustrophobic 8-bit guitars, before the song abruptly switches to blissed-out 1967 freakpop, with refreshing organ and acoustic guitar backing dreamy vocals that counter, “I can see you, you can see me”. Then the cycle repeats, going back and forth for two-and-a-half endless, spiralling, minutes. “Drop” is a more conventional piece of guitar-led garage-pop, and Dwyer probably could have recorded a whole album like this, but it wouldn’t have been half as interesting. This is one of the few songs from the album you may hear live given that Dwyer has decided to ditch keyboards as he puts together a new touring band from LA-based musicians. Dwyer had lived in the Bay Area for 16 years, becoming a key part of the scene that spawned Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin and the Fresh & Onlys. He moved to LA for reasons of space as much as anything, but was delighted to discover he’s now neighbour to a stoned, 60-year-old drummer “who can’t hear shit”, so is free to make as much noise as he wishes. Fittingly, “Camera” comes in thumping like a grunge “Stepping Stone” and wears well its menacing Link Wray strut, before we meet the ultra-weird “The Kings Nose”, that lulls you by beginning with a Pink Floyd-style haze until you realise every line of lyric will be met by a jolting guitar flourish, creating a stop-start effect that really pulls the rug out from under you. Once more, you don’t quite know what to expect. “Transparent World” is abuzz with feedback, before Dwyer says goodbye with the lush “The Lens”, wrapping up a lyrical fascination with the human gaze – eyes, camera, lenses are recurring themes. It’s a soothing ear bath after 30 torrid, tremendous, minutes of electrifying weirdness. Peter Watts Q&A John Dwyer Is the hiatus over? That was a social media shitstorm and I decided to stay out of it. People’s memories are so short everything is relative. I just said I was taking a break while I moved to LA. It was a reboot of my life. I’m older, I need some elbow room. I have nothing bad to say about SF, it was just too damn full. There’s still such an amazing scene there. There’s Pow!, the Scrapers and a band with a terrible name who are so fucking good, Chad And The Meatbodies. They blew my head off, total shredders, like a psychpop Iron Maiden. Who played on Drop? Me and Chris [Woodhouse] worked on it together. I wrote a bunch of demos and then brought them to him. We recorded in a studio in Sacramento, an old banana-ripening warehouse. He plays drums and we switch instruments throughout. We recorded 15 songs and then cut back. Regardless of what people might think about my output, I’ve tried to be a little bit better at editing. Have you put a new touring band together? I’m working on a few things. I don’t know how much of this will be played live. The future of the band doesn’t hold much keyboard, I want to go more guitar. I’ll still record with a keyboard but I’m burned out with it live. I’ve been getting trapped into synthesizer land, I’m just surrounded by drum machines and keyboards while all my rock and roll stuff is in another studio. There comes a time where every guitarist discovers the keyboard. INTERVIEW: PETER WATTS

Oscillating garage rock weirdness from West Coast psychonaut…

There’s always been something restless about Thee Oh Sees. It’s in the shimmering psychedelic music they have been recording since 2008’s The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In. It’s in the speed with which they put out new releases, 13 in six years including lives and comps, plus numerous EPs and seven inches. It’s in the constant changes of musical emphasis, the switches between light and dark, pop and experimental, with the band’s heaviness peaking on 2013’s formidable, metal-flirting Floating Coffin.

And it’s there in spades on Drop, the first album since ringmaster John Dwyer announced he was taking a break, a widely misinterpreted “hiatus” that lasted, oh, a couple of months, while Dwyer moved to LA and effectively became a solo artist, having left the band behind in SF. This is a band that refuses to settle down.

That isn’t clear at first, when Drop sounds like a continuation of Floating Coffin, with the monstrous opening track “Penetrating Eye” playing out on an unsettling, industrial palate of wildly shrieking guitars and an evil ‘na na na na’ chorus that sounds a little like being aurally tortured by the Joker. Nothing else on the album is quite as heavy, even if it shares that discomforting atmosphere. “Encrypted Bounce” is a mite more relaxed – if sounding like Suicide can be considered thus – but even here there’s a semi-crazed Mellotron solo in the middle eight before it locks into a wicked groove. Drop was created in a Sacramento studio by Dwyer and producer/drummer Chris Woodhouse, and carries an air of synth-heavy experimentation, as the pair take a song and then beat it boldly out of shape and back again. The joy is in how much of it there is to listen to, with constant changes of tempo, instrument and texture that manage to maintain an overall coherence while keeping anybody from getting bored.

The occult, mysterious “Savage Victory” ends in a buzz of fuzz that leads to the strange delights of “Put Some Reverb On My Brother”. “I can’t see you, you can’t see me” the Lynchian lyrics repeat intensely against claustrophobic 8-bit guitars, before the song abruptly switches to blissed-out 1967 freakpop, with refreshing organ and acoustic guitar backing dreamy vocals that counter, “I can see you, you can see me”. Then the cycle repeats, going back and forth for two-and-a-half endless, spiralling, minutes.

“Drop” is a more conventional piece of guitar-led garage-pop, and Dwyer probably could have recorded a whole album like this, but it wouldn’t have been half as interesting. This is one of the few songs from the album you may hear live given that Dwyer has decided to ditch keyboards as he puts together a new touring band from LA-based musicians. Dwyer had lived in the Bay Area for 16 years, becoming a key part of the scene that spawned Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin and the Fresh & Onlys. He moved to LA for reasons of space as much as anything, but was delighted to discover he’s now neighbour to a stoned, 60-year-old drummer “who can’t hear shit”, so is free to make as much noise as he wishes.

Fittingly, “Camera” comes in thumping like a grunge “Stepping Stone” and wears well its menacing Link Wray strut, before we meet the ultra-weird “The Kings Nose”, that lulls you by beginning with a Pink Floyd-style haze until you realise every line of lyric will be met by a jolting guitar flourish, creating a stop-start effect that really pulls the rug out from under you. Once more, you don’t quite know what to expect. “Transparent World” is abuzz with feedback, before Dwyer says goodbye with the lush “The Lens”, wrapping up a lyrical fascination with the human gaze – eyes, camera, lenses are recurring themes. It’s a soothing ear bath after 30 torrid, tremendous, minutes of electrifying weirdness.

Peter Watts

Q&A

John Dwyer

Is the hiatus over?

That was a social media shitstorm and I decided to stay out of it. People’s memories are so short everything is relative. I just said I was taking a break while I moved to LA. It was a reboot of my life. I’m older, I need some elbow room. I have nothing bad to say about SF, it was just too damn full. There’s still such an amazing scene there. There’s Pow!, the Scrapers and a band with a terrible name who are so fucking good, Chad And The Meatbodies. They blew my head off, total shredders, like a psychpop Iron Maiden.

Who played on Drop?

Me and Chris [Woodhouse] worked on it together. I wrote a bunch of demos and then brought them to him. We recorded in a studio in Sacramento, an old banana-ripening warehouse. He plays drums and we switch instruments throughout. We recorded 15 songs and then cut back. Regardless of what people might think about my output, I’ve tried to be a little bit better at editing.

Have you put a new touring band together?

I’m working on a few things. I don’t know how much of this will be played live. The future of the band doesn’t hold much keyboard, I want to go more guitar. I’ll still record with a keyboard but I’m burned out with it live. I’ve been getting trapped into synthesizer land, I’m just surrounded by drum machines and keyboards while all my rock and roll stuff is in another studio. There comes a time where every guitarist discovers the keyboard.

INTERVIEW: PETER WATTS

Robert Plant on his new album: “It’s a celebratory record”

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13th May 2014

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Robert Plant on his new album: “It’s a celebratory record”

Robert Plant has been talking about his new solo album, which is due later this year. Plant has signed to Nonesuch for the follow-up to 2010's Band Of Joy. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Plant said: "It’s really a celebratory record, but it's very crunchy and gritty, very West African and very Massiv...

Robert Plant has been talking about his new solo album, which is due later this year.

Plant has signed to Nonesuch for the follow-up to 2010’s Band Of Joy. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Plant said: “It’s really a celebratory record, but it’s very crunchy and gritty, very West African and very Massive Attack-y. There’s a lot of bottom end, so it might sound alright at a Jamaican party, but I’m not sure it would sound alright on [US radio network] NPR.”

The album will feature The Sensational Space Shifters and was recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World studios. Speaking about working with Nonesuch, Plant has commented: “I’m pleased to find such a reputable home for our renegade departures. The support and encouragement we have received has been strong and refreshing.”

Meanwhile, Plant has postponed a run of Spanish live dates. According to his website, the shows have been postponed “due to scheduling conflicts”. Tickets can be refunded through local ticketing agents.

The shows are:

July 24 – Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

July 26 – La Mar De Músicas, Cartagena Port (Murcia)

July 27 – Plaza De Toros, Malaga

July 29 – Palacio De Deportes, Madrid

July 31 – Cap Roig Festival, Girona

Win tickets to see Pearl Jam in concert

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13th May 2014

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Pearl Jam's upcoming European tour reaches the UK in July. We have a pair of tickets to give away to see the band at the Milton Keynes Bowl on the Friday, July 11, courtesy of Live Nation. To enter, just tell us: What was the name of Pearl Jam's debut single? Send your entries to uncutcomp@ipcm...

Pearl Jam‘s upcoming European tour reaches the UK in July.

We have a pair of tickets to give away to see the band at the Milton Keynes Bowl on the Friday, July 11, courtesy of Live Nation.

To enter, just tell us:

What was the name of Pearl Jam’s debut single?

Send your entries to uncutcomp@ipcmedia.com. Please include your full name, address and a daytime phone number. The competition closes at noon GMT on Monday, June 2. The editor’s decision is final.

Tickets for the show can also be bought from the Live Nation website, here.

Morrissey releases new single, “World Peace Is None of Your Business”

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13th May 2014

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Morrissey releases new single, “World Peace Is None of Your Business”

Morrissey has released the title track for his forthcoming album, World Peace Is None of Your Business, as a digital single. The accompanying video features spoken word version of the track and includes a cameo from Nancy Sinatra. According to Pitchfork, the single is available as an iTunes downlo...

Morrissey has released the title track for his forthcoming album, World Peace Is None of Your Business, as a digital single.

The accompanying video features spoken word version of the track and includes a cameo from Nancy Sinatra.

According to Pitchfork, the single is available as an iTunes download with pre-orders of the album.

iTunes are also carrying a full tracklist for the album, as well as an expected release date of July 14. It has been produced by Joe Chiccarelli in France and will be released by Harvest Records through Capitol.

Meanwhile, Cliff Richard has been speaking exclusively to Uncut about supporting Morrissey live in America. You can read our interview here.

The tracklisting for World Peace Is None of Your Business is:

World Peace Is None of Your Business

Neal Cassady Drops Dead

Istanbul

I’m Not A Man

Earth Is The Loneliest Planet

Staircase At The University

The Bullfighter Dies

Kiss Me a Lot

Smiler With Knife

Kick The Bride Down The Aisle

Mountjoy

Oboe Concerto

Scandinavia [Deluxe]

One Of Our Own [Deluxe]

Drag The River [Deluxe]

Forgive Someone [Deluxe]

Julie In The Weeds [Deluxe]

Art-Hounds [Deluxe]

Bruce Springsteen to receive his own online museum

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13th May 2014

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Bruce Springsteen to receive his own online museum

An online museum of Bruce Springsteen memorabilia is set to launch in June to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the singer’s record Born In The USA. BlindedByTheLight.com will feature over 300 objects, ranging from concert posters to handwritten lyrics – with more items to be added in the future. The online museum will offer contest prizes every six months, with website creator Michael Crane offering signed album artwork as the prize for the first contest, reports Rolling Stone. Springsteen is currently on tour in America. Recently, he performed live for the first time a song he first wrote 40 years ago, "Linda Let Me Be the One", a rarity from the Born To Run sessions, during his show at the BB&T Center, Sunrise, Florida. He also released a four-track EP, "American Beauty", for Record Store Day. You can watch the video for the title track here.

An online museum of Bruce Springsteen memorabilia is set to launch in June to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the singer’s record Born In The USA.

BlindedByTheLight.com will feature over 300 objects, ranging from concert posters to handwritten lyrics – with more items to be added in the future. The online museum will offer contest prizes every six months, with website creator Michael Crane offering signed album artwork as the prize for the first contest, reports Rolling Stone.

Springsteen is currently on tour in America. Recently, he performed live for the first time a song he first wrote 40 years ago, “Linda Let Me Be the One“, a rarity from the Born To Run sessions, during his show at the BB&T Center, Sunrise, Florida.

He also released a four-track EP, “American Beauty“, for Record Store Day. You can watch the video for the title track here.

Watch Neil Young and Jack White on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon

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13th May 2014

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Watch Neil Young and Jack White on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon

Neil Young and Jack White recorded a song straight to vinyl on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon last night (May 12). Scroll down to watch. The pair appeared on Fallon's show and brought the same 1947 Voice-o-Graph vinyl recording booth from Third Man Records in Nashville used to record Young's la...

Neil Young and Jack White recorded a song straight to vinyl on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon last night (May 12). Scroll down to watch.

The pair appeared on Fallon’s show and brought the same 1947 Voice-o-Graph vinyl recording booth from Third Man Records in Nashville used to record Young’s latest album A Letter Home.

During the show, White and Young showed the viewers how the booth works by getting Young to record a cover of “Crazy” by Willie Nelson as the live show aired. It was then pressed on vinyl and distributed at the end of the show. Fallon shared a picture of the record via Twitter (see above).

You can read Uncut‘s review of A Letter Home here.

Neil Young performs ~ Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show by HumanSlinky

Young also also covered Ivory Joe Hunter’s “Since I Met You Baby” as a web exclusive.

Bobby Charles – Bobby Charles (reissue, 1972)

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12th May 2014

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Bobby Charles – Bobby Charles (reissue, 1972)

Swamp-pop goes Woodstock: Louisiana legend's rarely heard '72 masterpiece with The Band... As much rumor as album, vanishing for decades from the moment it was released, Bobby Charles is a mythic missing link — between Mardi Gras and hippie denouement, the Crescent City's fabled "Second Line" and '70s singer/songwriter — a funky, bluesy, laconic masterpiece fusing genteel delta wistfulness with barbed wit and a sly, post-apocalypse vibe. That it fell through the cracks isn't surprising: Charles' reclusive, waiflike personality and aversion to touring hardly hardwired him for rock stardom; that its sentiments resonate more in 2014 than in 1973 mark it as a timeless, enigmatic classic. The irony is that had Charles not been on the lam from a Nashville pot bust, the record wouldn't exist. But Rick Danko and his esteemed Woodstock circle — John Simon to Bob Neuwirth, David Sanborn to Geoff Muldaur, plus fine backing musicians from Ian & Sylvia's Great Speckled Bird: guitarist Amos Garrett, bassist Jim Colegrove, drummer N.D. Smart — were in on the secret: As Robert Charles Guidry, Charles had written some of the most exciting, enduring hits of the early rock era: "See You Later, Alligator" (Bill Haley), "(I Don't Know Why I Love You) But I Do" (Clarence 'Frogman' Henry), "Walking to New Orleans" (Fats Domino). This later Bobby Charles, spending much of 1973 writing songs, sleeping on Colegrove's couch, recording at Albert Grossman's Bearsville Studio, was a different animal, though, a laconic, ramblingly philosophical soul who fit right in with the erstwhile Hawks, who'd spent their pre-fame years — think 1967-68 — concocting Bob Dylan's deep yet similarly off-the-cuff Basement Tapes. As everyone duly discovered, Charles' songs were subtly devastating, powerfully deceptive, textured to disarm even the most skeptical detractor. Relaxed, stoned-out grooves, rustic easygoing yet quirky takes on New Orleans' classic sound, dominate the proceedings. The presentation is loose, airy, with plenty of room for Dr. John's piano or Ben Keith's pedal steel to dance eloquently around Charles' serpentine melodies, or for Smart or Levon Helm to assert their downhome, funky, rhythmic stamp. At times, like on "Street People," "Up on Cripple Creek"'s cousin, or the gentle, drop-dead gorgeous "Tennessee Blues," the sessions sound like The Band amid hearty rounds of red wine. On the latter, mellifluous, abetted by Garth Hudson's superb accordion, Charles sings with a longing for the ages. On others — the infectious "Before I Grow Too Old," with crashing electric guitar and Sanborn sax — the combo trips along like a tipsy, high-on-life Bourbon Street bar band. "I'm gonna do a lot of things I know is wrong," Charles whoops in his backwoods, country-boy dialect. Yet for all the Louisiana soul seeping into the grooves, Bobby Charles also doubles as The Band's (sans Robertson) lost album. The parent group was spent, heading out on a long sabbatical; but here sundry individuals could exit the rat race, invade the studio with old friends. Even if Danko/Hudson/Helm/Manuel weren't all always on board (true credits remain murky), their vibe is everywhere, the idyllic extended Woodstock musical family come to life. Charles, meanwhile, is inscrutable. Deftly delivering deep-in-the-pocket vocals, seemingly offhandedly — even pulling off mic sometimes — he's the personification of less-is-more. Jabs of humor emerge, sly hooks land permanently in your cranium, and canny social commentary — on greed, hypocrisy, duplicity, blind ambition — bubbles up. While the dreamy, floating-on-a-cloud love songs ("I Must Be in a Good Place Now") are uncomplicated, Zen in approach — "Oh what a good day to go fishin'" — he posits, ironically — the trouble starts when the power-mongers start throwing their weight around. The bluesy "He's Got All the Whiskey" pricks at what we'd now call the one percenters, while "Street People" salutes those unwilling to play the rat-race game before leaning sardonically into the punchline: "Some people would rather work/We need people like that!" "Save Me Jesus" may be the most unconventional protest music ever, its message wrapped in seesawing, rocking R&B. "So when you take me Jesus," Charles pleads, "Please put me among friends/Don't put me back with these power crazy money-lovers again." The minimalist "Small Town Talk," a Charles/Danko co-write, Dr. John on skipping organ trills, boils it all down, echoing small truths Dylan and The Band danced around on the Basement Tapes: "Who are we to judge one another?" Charles coos in a lilting croon. "That could cause a lot of hurt." Luke Torn Q&A Jim Colegrove What kind of guy was Bobby Charles? Bobby was one of the friendliest guys I’ve ever met. As we came to know each other he told me, in his thick Cajun accent, that he’d been living with his wife and son in Nashville. He’d been busted for possession of marijuana and charged with dealing, jumped bail, and took flight to the north. I began to see he was looking for someone with the power to make a deal for him to square the charges. It didn’t take long for Bobby to see that man was Albert Grossman. What did you think his songwriting? Bobby wrote songs, but he didn’t play an instrument. He’d start singing his songs and you had to find his key and find the changes by ear! If you made a wrong change, he would correct you until you got the right one. It was in this manner I learned the new songs he’d written. . . . We weren't thinking so much about making a record as much as doing a songwriter's demo. It escalated to a full-fledged project as time passed. Who organized the sessions? Bobby wanted N.D. Smart, Amos Garrett, and me to play with him. As you may or may not know, the three of us were in Great Speckled Bird together and N.D. and I had been playing together for seven years at that time. I don't recall how John Simon got into the picture but Dr. John was a friend of Bobby's from way back. Luke Torn

Swamp-pop goes Woodstock: Louisiana legend’s rarely heard ’72 masterpiece with The Band…

As much rumor as album, vanishing for decades from the moment it was released, Bobby Charles is a mythic missing link — between Mardi Gras and hippie denouement, the Crescent City’s fabled “Second Line” and ’70s singer/songwriter — a funky, bluesy, laconic masterpiece fusing genteel delta wistfulness with barbed wit and a sly, post-apocalypse vibe. That it fell through the cracks isn’t surprising: Charles’ reclusive, waiflike personality and aversion to touring hardly hardwired him for rock stardom; that its sentiments resonate more in 2014 than in 1973 mark it as a timeless, enigmatic classic.

The irony is that had Charles not been on the lam from a Nashville pot bust, the record wouldn’t exist. But Rick Danko and his esteemed Woodstock circle — John Simon to Bob Neuwirth, David Sanborn to Geoff Muldaur, plus fine backing musicians from Ian & Sylvia’s Great Speckled Bird: guitarist Amos Garrett, bassist Jim Colegrove, drummer N.D. Smart — were in on the secret: As Robert Charles Guidry, Charles had written some of the most exciting, enduring hits of the early rock era: “See You Later, Alligator” (Bill Haley), “(I Don’t Know Why I Love You) But I Do” (Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry), “Walking to New Orleans” (Fats Domino).

This later Bobby Charles, spending much of 1973 writing songs, sleeping on Colegrove’s couch, recording at Albert Grossman’s Bearsville Studio, was a different animal, though, a laconic, ramblingly philosophical soul who fit right in with the erstwhile Hawks, who’d spent their pre-fame years — think 1967-68 — concocting Bob Dylan’s deep yet similarly off-the-cuff Basement Tapes.

As everyone duly discovered, Charles’ songs were subtly devastating, powerfully deceptive, textured to disarm even the most skeptical detractor. Relaxed, stoned-out grooves, rustic easygoing yet quirky takes on New Orleans’ classic sound, dominate the proceedings. The presentation is loose, airy, with plenty of room for Dr. John’s piano or Ben Keith’s pedal steel to dance eloquently around Charles’ serpentine melodies, or for Smart or Levon Helm to assert their downhome, funky, rhythmic stamp.

At times, like on “Street People,” “Up on Cripple Creek”‘s cousin, or the gentle, drop-dead gorgeous “Tennessee Blues,” the sessions sound like The Band amid hearty rounds of red wine. On the latter, mellifluous, abetted by Garth Hudson’s superb accordion, Charles sings with a longing for the ages. On others — the infectious “Before I Grow Too Old,” with crashing electric guitar and Sanborn sax — the combo trips along like a tipsy, high-on-life Bourbon Street bar band. “I’m gonna do a lot of things I know is wrong,” Charles whoops in his backwoods, country-boy dialect.

Yet for all the Louisiana soul seeping into the grooves, Bobby Charles also doubles as The Band’s (sans Robertson) lost album. The parent group was spent, heading out on a long sabbatical; but here sundry individuals could exit the rat race, invade the studio with old friends. Even if Danko/Hudson/Helm/Manuel weren’t all always on board (true credits remain murky), their vibe is everywhere, the idyllic extended Woodstock musical family come to life.

Charles, meanwhile, is inscrutable. Deftly delivering deep-in-the-pocket vocals, seemingly offhandedly — even pulling off mic sometimes — he’s the personification of less-is-more. Jabs of humor emerge, sly hooks land permanently in your cranium, and canny social commentary — on greed, hypocrisy, duplicity, blind ambition — bubbles up.

While the dreamy, floating-on-a-cloud love songs (“I Must Be in a Good Place Now”) are uncomplicated, Zen in approach — “Oh what a good day to go fishin'” — he posits, ironically — the trouble starts when the power-mongers start throwing their weight around.

The bluesy “He’s Got All the Whiskey” pricks at what we’d now call the one percenters, while “Street People” salutes those unwilling to play the rat-race game before leaning sardonically into the punchline: “Some people would rather work/We need people like that!” “Save Me Jesus” may be the most unconventional protest music ever, its message wrapped in seesawing, rocking R&B. “So when you take me Jesus,” Charles pleads, “Please put me among friends/Don’t put me back with these power crazy money-lovers again.”

The minimalist “Small Town Talk,” a Charles/Danko co-write, Dr. John on skipping organ trills, boils it all down, echoing small truths Dylan and The Band danced around on the Basement Tapes: “Who are we to judge one another?” Charles coos in a lilting croon. “That could cause a lot of hurt.”

Luke Torn

Q&A

Jim Colegrove

What kind of guy was Bobby Charles?

Bobby was one of the friendliest guys I’ve ever met. As we came to know each other he told me, in his thick Cajun accent, that he’d been living with his wife and son in Nashville. He’d been busted for possession of marijuana and charged with dealing, jumped bail, and took flight to the north. I began to see he was looking for someone with the power to make a deal for him to square the charges. It didn’t take long for Bobby to see that man was Albert Grossman.

What did you think his songwriting?

Bobby wrote songs, but he didn’t play an instrument. He’d start singing his songs and you had to find his key and find the changes by ear! If you made a wrong change, he would correct you until you got the right one. It was in this manner I learned the new songs he’d written. . . . We weren’t thinking so much about making a record as much as doing a songwriter’s demo. It escalated to a full-fledged project as time passed.

Who organized the sessions?

Bobby wanted N.D. Smart, Amos Garrett, and me to play with him. As you may or may not know, the three of us were in Great Speckled Bird together and N.D. and I had been playing together for seven years at that time. I don’t recall how John Simon got into the picture but Dr. John was a friend of Bobby’s from way back.

Luke Torn

Neil Young and Jack White to perform together on The Tonight Show tonight

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12th May 2014

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Neil Young and Jack White to perform together on The Tonight Show tonight

Neil Young and Jack White will perform together on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon tonight. The pair will chat to Fallon and perform a song from Young's new covers album A Letter Home on Monday (May 12). Jimmy Page and comedian Louis CK will also appear on the episode. Earlier this year Young ...

Neil Young and Jack White will perform together on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon tonight.

The pair will chat to Fallon and perform a song from Young’s new covers album A Letter Home on Monday (May 12). Jimmy Page and comedian Louis CK will also appear on the episode.

Earlier this year Young released A Letter Home on Jack White’s Third Man Records. It features covers of tracks Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, The Everly Brothers and more. Young recorded the album in a refurbished 1947 Voice-o-Graph vinyl recording booth at the Third Man shop in Nashville, Tennessee.

A statement on Young’s website describes the record as: “an unheard collection of rediscovered songs from the past recorded on ancient electro-mechanical technology captures and unleashes the essence of something that could have been gone forever”.

You can read the Uncut review of A Letter Home here.

Peter Gabriel cancels Kiev show due to violence in Ukraine capital

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12th May 2014

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Peter Gabriel cancels Kiev show due to violence in Ukraine capital

Peter Gabriel cancelled Saturday night's (May 10) planned concert in Kiev due to security concerns as violence continues to sweep Ukraine. In a statement on his website, Gabriel said: "Due to the on-going unrest in Ukraine it has become clear that the security of the touring personnel and equipment...

Peter Gabriel cancelled Saturday night’s (May 10) planned concert in Kiev due to security concerns as violence continues to sweep Ukraine.

In a statement on his website, Gabriel said: “Due to the on-going unrest in Ukraine it has become clear that the security of the touring personnel and equipment cannot be guaranteed during the planned visit to the country and this has presented us with significant logistical difficulties that we have been unable to resolve.

“Any delays or damage as result of the situation in Ukraine would not be insured and would also potentially jeopardise future shows on the tour, something which we feel we also have to consider. It was due to our desire to do everything possible in order to make the show happen that the decision to cancel the show is now being made at such late notice. It is our sincere hope that the situation is resolved in a positive and peaceful fashion and we can return to the Ukraine in the not-too-distant future.”

Gabriel’s cancellation is the latest in a list of artists to pull out of the region. Depeche Mode had been due to perform there in February but called off their Kiev concert as street clashes between opposition protesters and the government grew particularly intense just before the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovich. Aerosmith have already cancelled their planned concert on May 21, and Motorhead have called off their show in the city scheduled for July 27.

The National, meanwhile, announced in late April that they were cancelling their shows in Moscow and St Petersburg along with a Kiev date as tensions between Russia and Ukraine boiled over. They said: “We remain hopeful of coming to play for you in the future and we sincerely hope this current instability resolves in a positive, democratic and peaceful way. Take care of yourselves and we hope to see you soon.”

Jimmy Page on writing new songs: “I’ve got lots of material”

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12th May 2014

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Jimmy Page on writing new songs: “I’ve got lots of material”

Jimmy Page says now he has finished working on the forthcoming Led Zeppelin remastered albums, he has time to write songs again. Speaking to Rolling Stone, he said: "I play guitar at least once a week," he says. "But now that the Zeppelin project is finished, I'll be playing daily for the foreseea...

Jimmy Page says now he has finished working on the forthcoming Led Zeppelin remastered albums, he has time to write songs again.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, he said: “I play guitar at least once a week,” he says. “But now that the Zeppelin project is finished, I’ll be playing daily for the foreseeable future. I want to get myself back into playing shape. I’m a bit of a perfectionist about these things.”

Having only released one solo album, 1988’s Outrider, Page is not known as a prolific artist. He did, however, go on to say he’s been writing new songs: “I’ve got lots of material I’ve written on acoustic guitar. Lots and lots. And right now I need to get myself up to speed, and that won’t take too long. But I don’t know what musicians I’d play with. I do have material and a passion for it. I need to work towards it, and now I can without all the other side issues going on.”

The question of performing live was then raised, to which Page said: “At this moment, it’s safe to say that I haven’t been playing gigs. I’ve been doing this Zeppelin project, but now I intend to start getting to a point where I could play some gigs. But what those gigs are going to be, I don’t know yet. I have ideas of what I want to do, but they’re pretty complex. I would love to play live again. I love playing live. It’s wonderful.”

Page has also been honoured with a doctorate by the Berklee College Of Music in Boston, reports Billboard. He delivered the commencement address Saturday (May 10) to almost 900 graduates of the private college known for its music program, telling them that their love of music will sustain them through the unexpected twists and turns that lie ahead.

The school also presented honorary doctorates to Motown and R&B songwriter Valerie Simpson, jazz pianist and educator Geri Allen, and American Music Program youth jazz orchestra founder Thara Memory.

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2014 – Day Three: Trans, Arc Iris, You Are Wolf, Lisa Knapp

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11th May 2014

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Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2014 – Day Three: Trans, Arc Iris, You Are Wolf, Lisa Knapp

In the same way that Marshall amps revolutionised rock music, allowing heavy rock and metal to flourish, loop pedals have changed the state of play for solo performers. No longer having to rely on real-time performing, the first two acts on tonight at the final night of Club Uncut at The Great Escape have been able to take folk to stranger, new climes. Opening the night at the Dome Studio, Lisa Knapp's take on folk is more traditional and earthier than what follows. Performing May carols, folk songs from Cornwall and Hampshire ballads about water sprites, Knapp loops her voice and violin, sometimes picking at her instrument like it's a ukulele and at other points looping long, sweeping drones reminiscent of John Cale. While the songs and instrumentation are traditional, though, some of her other approaches are wildly experimental. The spoken-word loop, “Sky… wood… meadow…”, plays throughout the opening song, while near the end of her set one piece is disrupted by a lo-fi sample of a cuckoo clock. Cuckoos are also present in the next performance, from You Are Wolf – and Buckinghamshire native Kerry Andrew also uses the loop pedal to its full extent, yet, aside from bass guitar on some songs, the only tuned instrument is her voice. Constructing layers of beatboxed percussion and harmonies, along with some eccentric real percussion like a knife and fork, a whisk and what looks like the lid of a kitchen bin. These impressive looped edifices are the foundations for a set of songs about British birds, both traditional and original. Barn owls, sparrows and, yes, cuckoos are all featured, along with some fascinating ornothological facts. More Springwatch than The Great Escape, but a welcome change. If the feathers on You Are Wolf's shoulders seem glamorous, that's nothing compared to Arc Iris' get-up. The four-piece, led by former Low Anthem member Jocie Adams, are clothed in glittery jackets, and in the case of Adams herself, a skintight, sparkly gold bodysuit. From this you might expect electro-pop or '70s-inspired glam if you hadn't heard their debut album, released a few months ago, but the quartet are a lot more complex than appearances might suggest – there are masses of augmented chords reminiscent of Steely Dan, cascading Rhodes pianos that suggest Hatfield And The North and complex time signatures, with almost every song featuring off-kilter rhythms such as 7/4 or 5/4. This is ambitious music, also taking in influences from cabaret and the kind of vocal melodies that you find in classic American musicals; it's no surprise to hear that Adams has extensive classical training. They finish with “Swimming” and get a hugely warm reception from the audience, obviously impressed by the twists and turns of their songs and their outlandish attire. Both their music and outfits are clearly ridiculous, yet in the best possible way. The evening, and this year's Club Uncut at The Great Escape, is closed by Trans, Bernard Butler and Jackie McKeown's Krautrock-inspired, improvisational pop outfit. Before they even begin their first song, “Dancing Shoes”, from their debut “Red” EP, though, they are suffering from sound problems onstage. “Where's the bass? Where's the bass?” repeats Butler. “This is the worst stage chat I've ever heard,” laughs McKeown as he asks yet again for more guitar in his monitor. During the first song's instrumental break, he and Butler are forced to swap sides onstage in order to hear each other. When we saw Trans at London's tiny Shacklewell Arms a few months ago, they seemed to be having a great time onstage, which gave the music a real energy and sense of fun in line with their “celebrate good times” style of lyrics. Tonight, the musical interplay is excellent, with Butler's soloing (unsurprisingly) shining, but due to the sound conditions, it doesn't seem like the band are having such a good time onstage. Still, though, McKeown springs around like a dynamo on stage left, always ready with a witty quip or a risqué joke, while Butler is his glowering, intense opposite on stage right. As the set nears its end, Trans finally seem to get comfortable, with “Building No 8” a jammy, Television-esque highlight (“this might seem like four songs, but it's actually one,” says McKeown), before their goofiest and most enjoyable pair of tracks, “Rock Steady” and “Jubilee”, send everyone off into the dark Brighton streets with a spring in their step. Tom Pinnock Pic: Andy Ford Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2014 – Day One Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2014 – Day Two

In the same way that Marshall amps revolutionised rock music, allowing heavy rock and metal to flourish, loop pedals have changed the state of play for solo performers. No longer having to rely on real-time performing, the first two acts on tonight at the final night of Club Uncut at The Great Escape have been able to take folk to stranger, new climes.

Opening the night at the Dome Studio, Lisa Knapp‘s take on folk is more traditional and earthier than what follows. Performing May carols, folk songs from Cornwall and Hampshire ballads about water sprites, Knapp loops her voice and violin, sometimes picking at her instrument like it’s a ukulele and at other points looping long, sweeping drones reminiscent of John Cale.

While the songs and instrumentation are traditional, though, some of her other approaches are wildly experimental. The spoken-word loop, “Sky… wood… meadow…”, plays throughout the opening song, while near the end of her set one piece is disrupted by a lo-fi sample of a cuckoo clock.

Cuckoos are also present in the next performance, from You Are Wolf – and Buckinghamshire native Kerry Andrew also uses the loop pedal to its full extent, yet, aside from bass guitar on some songs, the only tuned instrument is her voice. Constructing layers of beatboxed percussion and harmonies, along with some eccentric real percussion like a knife and fork, a whisk and what looks like the lid of a kitchen bin.

These impressive looped edifices are the foundations for a set of songs about British birds, both traditional and original. Barn owls, sparrows and, yes, cuckoos are all featured, along with some fascinating ornothological facts. More Springwatch than The Great Escape, but a welcome change.

If the feathers on You Are Wolf’s shoulders seem glamorous, that’s nothing compared to Arc Iris‘ get-up. The four-piece, led by former Low Anthem member Jocie Adams, are clothed in glittery jackets, and in the case of Adams herself, a skintight, sparkly gold bodysuit. From this you might expect electro-pop or ’70s-inspired glam if you hadn’t heard their debut album, released a few months ago, but the quartet are a lot more complex than appearances might suggest – there are masses of augmented chords reminiscent of Steely Dan, cascading Rhodes pianos that suggest Hatfield And The North and complex time signatures, with almost every song featuring off-kilter rhythms such as 7/4 or 5/4.

This is ambitious music, also taking in influences from cabaret and the kind of vocal melodies that you find in classic American musicals; it’s no surprise to hear that Adams has extensive classical training.

They finish with “Swimming” and get a hugely warm reception from the audience, obviously impressed by the twists and turns of their songs and their outlandish attire. Both their music and outfits are clearly ridiculous, yet in the best possible way.

The evening, and this year’s Club Uncut at The Great Escape, is closed by Trans, Bernard Butler and Jackie McKeown’s Krautrock-inspired, improvisational pop outfit. Before they even begin their first song, “Dancing Shoes”, from their debut “Red” EP, though, they are suffering from sound problems onstage.

“Where’s the bass? Where’s the bass?” repeats Butler. “This is the worst stage chat I’ve ever heard,” laughs McKeown as he asks yet again for more guitar in his monitor. During the first song’s instrumental break, he and Butler are forced to swap sides onstage in order to hear each other.

When we saw Trans at London’s tiny Shacklewell Arms a few months ago, they seemed to be having a great time onstage, which gave the music a real energy and sense of fun in line with their “celebrate good times” style of lyrics. Tonight, the musical interplay is excellent, with Butler’s soloing (unsurprisingly) shining, but due to the sound conditions, it doesn’t seem like the band are having such a good time onstage.

Still, though, McKeown springs around like a dynamo on stage left, always ready with a witty quip or a risqué joke, while Butler is his glowering, intense opposite on stage right.

As the set nears its end, Trans finally seem to get comfortable, with “Building No 8” a jammy, Television-esque highlight (“this might seem like four songs, but it’s actually one,” says McKeown), before their goofiest and most enjoyable pair of tracks, “Rock Steady” and “Jubilee”, send everyone off into the dark Brighton streets with a spring in their step.

Tom Pinnock

Pic: Andy Ford

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2014 – Day One

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2014 – Day Two

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2014 – Day Two: Courtney Barnett, Ethan Johns, Syd Arthur, Serafina Steer

Tom Pinnock

-

10th May 2014

0

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2014 – Day Two: Courtney Barnett, Ethan Johns, Syd Arthur, Serafina Steer

After last night's Hold Steady-headlined first night, Uncut's stage at The Great Escape continues tonight (May 10) with an opening set from Serafina Steer. The English psych-folk singer-songwriter is a real multi-tasker, flitting between her trusty harp, bass guitar and a MiniKorg, joined by guitarist Ben and, on brand new song “Something To Tide Me Over”, an audience member on tambourine. Steer's music could certainly be described as 'ethereal', with its rippling harp, droning synth (on “The Removal Man”) and Incredible String Band-esque lyrics about “extraterrestrial beings”. It seems this otherworldliness has a limit for Steer, though – after one song, she asks for the lush echo on her voice to be taken off, leaving a starker sound for the rest of the performance. There's a pretty large crowd here to see her, despite her early stage time, and Steer seems humble and appreciative of the audience, especially as she's “outside [her] album cycle”, as she puts it. Up next are Syd Arthur, a band at the other end of their “album cycle”, having just released their acclaimed Sound Mirror LP. The Kent quartet are that rare thing, a young band influenced by '70s prog rock, in particular their hometown's jazzy, psychedelic scene that spawned Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers. In truth, there's little of the pastoral melancholy of Wyatt and Ayers, with Syd Arthur's complex time signatures (5/4 is common) and use of violin more reminiscent of mid-'70s Caravan. Raven Bush (yes, nephew of Kate) switches between that, mandolin and keys during the set, while vocalist and guitarist Liam Magill fingerpicks his Stratocaster with considerable skill and precision. Like Tame Impala, another band they sound like, Syd Arthur aren't as keen as their '70s forebears to stretch out and jam, and they only really let go at the end of the set. Still, an impressive and dynamic show. Ethan Johns fits the bill for The Great Escape as a new bands festival; after all, the master producer's own career is only two albums old, with his second LP, the Ryan Adams-produced The Reckoning, set to be released at the beginning of June. “Fuck record cycles!” says Johns (it's becoming quite a theme tonight), before he and his three-piece band, which includes pedal steel maestro BJ Cole and drummer Jeremy Stacey, perform a new song that's set to feature on Johns' currently unrecorded third solo album. Encouragingly, it's perhaps the best song he plays tonight, a grungy, languorous stomp that sounds very much like Neil Young. One new track from The Reckoner showcases a heavier tack for Johns – “If you can hear hints of Black Sabbath,” he tells the Dome Studio crowd, “you can blame Ryan Adams for that.” Uncut saw Johns perform at last year's End Of The Road, solo on the picturesque Garden Stage, and his music definitely benefits from being played by a full band. “We're gonna send you off with a space jam,” he says before the final, jammy song of the set. “Hope you don't mind.” Judging from the audience's warm cheers and applause, it seems they don't have a problem with that. The final act of the night, Courtney Barnett, is up next. The Dome Studio is well and truly at capacity, packed with fans and industry people eager to hear tracks from the Australian's globally acclaimed Sea Of Split Peas double EP. Her live set is pretty different from the tracks collected on Split Peas – for a start, Barnett handles all the guitar, while on record there are a fair number of overdubs and lush, interlocking parts; more importantly, the restrained atmosphere on record is evaporated by raucous noise, faster tempos and some thrashing, primitive solos from Barnett. The glammy “Blockbuster”/“Jean Genie” stomp of “David” is tonight so exciting, it's enough to make you wish her two EPs were recorded in such a raw, amped-up style. It's clear the audience love her, and Barnett is all beaming smiles throughout the set, bantering with the crowd about swapping shirts and the truth behind the burning of Brighton's West Pier, among other topics. Unlike Syd Arthur earlier, Barnett's vocals are clearly audible, a serious plus when her songs are so reliant on their witty lyrical narratives. Wry medical drama “Avant Gardener” is unsurprisingly the best received song of the night, but closer “History Eraser” runs it a close second. Intriguingly, Barnett performs a new song, which begins with a powerful drum climax that brings to mind nothing less than Nirvana's ferocious “Breed”. An interesting look at her next move, maybe. Tom Pinnock Picture: Andy Ford Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2014 – Day One Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2014 – Day Three

After last night’s Hold Steady-headlined first night, Uncut’s stage at The Great Escape continues tonight (May 10) with an opening set from Serafina Steer.

The English psych-folk singer-songwriter is a real multi-tasker, flitting between her trusty harp, bass guitar and a MiniKorg, joined by guitarist Ben and, on brand new song “Something To Tide Me Over”, an audience member on tambourine.

Steer’s music could certainly be described as ‘ethereal’, with its rippling harp, droning synth (on “The Removal Man”) and Incredible String Band-esque lyrics about “extraterrestrial beings”. It seems this otherworldliness has a limit for Steer, though – after one song, she asks for the lush echo on her voice to be taken off, leaving a starker sound for the rest of the performance.

There’s a pretty large crowd here to see her, despite her early stage time, and Steer seems humble and appreciative of the audience, especially as she’s “outside [her] album cycle”, as she puts it.

Up next are Syd Arthur, a band at the other end of their “album cycle”, having just released their acclaimed Sound Mirror LP. The Kent quartet are that rare thing, a young band influenced by ’70s prog rock, in particular their hometown’s jazzy, psychedelic scene that spawned Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers.

In truth, there’s little of the pastoral melancholy of Wyatt and Ayers, with Syd Arthur’s complex time signatures (5/4 is common) and use of violin more reminiscent of mid-’70s Caravan. Raven Bush (yes, nephew of Kate) switches between that, mandolin and keys during the set, while vocalist and guitarist Liam Magill fingerpicks his Stratocaster with considerable skill and precision.

Like Tame Impala, another band they sound like, Syd Arthur aren’t as keen as their ’70s forebears to stretch out and jam, and they only really let go at the end of the set. Still, an impressive and dynamic show.

Ethan Johns fits the bill for The Great Escape as a new bands festival; after all, the master producer’s own career is only two albums old, with his second LP, the Ryan Adams-produced The Reckoning, set to be released at the beginning of June.

“Fuck record cycles!” says Johns (it’s becoming quite a theme tonight), before he and his three-piece band, which includes pedal steel maestro BJ Cole and drummer Jeremy Stacey, perform a new song that’s set to feature on Johns’ currently unrecorded third solo album. Encouragingly, it’s perhaps the best song he plays tonight, a grungy, languorous stomp that sounds very much like Neil Young. One new track from The Reckoner showcases a heavier tack for Johns – “If you can hear hints of Black Sabbath,” he tells the Dome Studio crowd, “you can blame Ryan Adams for that.”

Uncut saw Johns perform at last year’s End Of The Road, solo on the picturesque Garden Stage, and his music definitely benefits from being played by a full band. “We’re gonna send you off with a space jam,” he says before the final, jammy song of the set. “Hope you don’t mind.” Judging from the audience’s warm cheers and applause, it seems they don’t have a problem with that.

The final act of the night, Courtney Barnett, is up next. The Dome Studio is well and truly at capacity, packed with fans and industry people eager to hear tracks from the Australian’s globally acclaimed Sea Of Split Peas double EP.

Her live set is pretty different from the tracks collected on Split Peas – for a start, Barnett handles all the guitar, while on record there are a fair number of overdubs and lush, interlocking parts; more importantly, the restrained atmosphere on record is evaporated by raucous noise, faster tempos and some thrashing, primitive solos from Barnett. The glammy “Blockbuster”/“Jean Genie” stomp of “David” is tonight so exciting, it’s enough to make you wish her two EPs were recorded in such a raw, amped-up style.

It’s clear the audience love her, and Barnett is all beaming smiles throughout the set, bantering with the crowd about swapping shirts and the truth behind the burning of Brighton’s West Pier, among other topics.

Unlike Syd Arthur earlier, Barnett’s vocals are clearly audible, a serious plus when her songs are so reliant on their witty lyrical narratives. Wry medical drama “Avant Gardener” is unsurprisingly the best received song of the night, but closer “History Eraser” runs it a close second. Intriguingly, Barnett performs a new song, which begins with a powerful drum climax that brings to mind nothing less than Nirvana’s ferocious “Breed”. An interesting look at her next move, maybe.

Tom Pinnock

Picture: Andy Ford

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2014 – Day One

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2014 – Day Three

Uncut at The Great Escape 2014! Night 1: The Hold Steady, The Rails, Alice Boman, PHOX…

Uncut

-

9th May 2014

0

Uncut at The Great Escape 2014! Night 1: The Hold Steady, The Rails, Alice Boman, PHOX…

The storms battering the South Coast have blown themselves out by the time Club Uncut reconvenes for another year at The Great Escape festival. It’s after midnight and very nearly pitch-black in the Dome Studio just before our first night’s headliners, The Hold Steady, dramatically hit the lights, then the stage. “As the song says,” Craig Finn promises, “we’re gonna have a real good time together.” With his close-cropped hair, Finn looks all business, and his band play a tight 45 minutes, focusing on the best of their 2007 breakthrough Boys And Girls In America, and the current Teeth Dreams. 2010’s Heaven Is Whenever is wholly disowned, For “Stuck Between Stations”, Finn holds his hands over the crowd in Springsteen-style testifying. Part of his appeal, though, is that his bespectacled looks make him resemble a Woody Allen klutz more than a Boss, an underdog rocker closer to the audience, claiming his right to be onstage by the force of his songs and his belief in them. Feedback acts as a bridge to the Motown beat of “Big Cig”, about a girl who “smoked cigarettes ever since she was seven.” “Sequestered In Memphis” provides a still more gripping, cautionary tale, as dime-store novel debauchery and disaster descend on the luckless Finn. “I went there on business,” he says in hapless excuse, clutching his head, as his band’s twin guitars give sympathetic Stones raunch. The crowd start to pack in from nearby, finished gigs, as the clock ticks towards 1am sweat starts to drip down backs. The Hold Steady have played much bigger places than this upstairs club in the last seven years, but they look comfortable, as if this sort of situation is their natural home. “I wish we had a song about seagulls,” Finn says, trying to get with the seaside programme. Instead, he plays “Chips Ahoy!”, Boys And Girls In America’s great tale of racetrack romance. The crowd sing along to the wordless chorus, one of rock’s best of the last decade. The big choruses, drum tattoos, keyboard chimes and rasping riffs of punk-sharpened ‘70s US rock punch right through the set. “Your Little Hoodrat Friend”, from way back in pre-success 2005, finds Finn looking beatific as he communes with the jumping and punching front rows. After a rousing “Southside Girls”, he takes a moment to address what we’re all doing here in 2014, when so many digital pleasures could keep us at home. “You chose to drink some beer, and sing some songs,” he congratulates us. “If we can get in a room and have a rock’n’roll show, I think that’s more and more important.” Rock as a meeting place, not the market-place the wider Great Escape can sometimes seem, is as good a mission statement for Club Uncut as any. Earlier, PHOX’s recent work at Justin Vernon’s studio might lead you to expect music in Bon Iver’s image, but the Madison, Wisconsin band are agreeably slippery to define. In her diaphanous black dress, Monica Martin has a torch singer’s quiet glamour and smoky voice. Her band, though, mostly play a sort of chamber-country, as Martin’s slow, reverb-assisted croon rings through the room. “In due time if I gain some self-respect/ I can smile upon the day when we first met,” she sings in “In Due Time”, “but I made some swift revisions...” The stiffly formal language, like a Bible-schooled letter from a former century, fits a three-part harmony-soaked country ballad. “This one’s about my sister,” Martin informs us of their final song. “She’s tall as hell...” Its delicate, bashful country somehow slips in an Attractions-style keyboard climax. The Rails have the hearty folk-rock sound and striking female co-vocalist of early ‘70s Fairport Covention, fittingly as the leopard-spot-scarved redhead by James Walbourne’s side is his wife, Richard and Linda’s daughter Kami Thompson. “They’ve revived the pink label for us,” Walbourne proudly notes of the Londoners’ imminent Island debut. Mandolin and fiddle bolster arrangements with a touch of tightly compressed prog, while narrative songs lean on the folk verities of soldiers and sailors leaving for war, mostly sung by Thompson as the strong, wronged woman left behind. Walbourne leads on the more recent, Stones-style mythology of “the hustlers and the runaways”, and “too much mascara” around a girl’s “sad, sad eyes”. “Panic Attack Blues” is, he jokes, “how I felt this morning”. He needn’t have worried. The Rails hold no musical surprises, but plenty of swaggering spirit. Sweden’s Alice Boman plays the night’s strangest, most intriguing music. She’s demure and diffident between songs which obsessively delineate a ragingly resentful broken heart. “Are you coming back?” she typically demands. “I’m waiting, waiting...” Her passive-aggressive pleading is backed by the heavy, reverberating pulse of her synth, and fellow bashful Swede Tom, whose work on drums and second synth makes “Over” resemble Visage’s “Fade To Grey”. “Please don’t run from me,” Boman continues with vaulting anguish, implacably hunting a lover who you get the impression is running for his life. Tom leaves the stage for the final song, “What”, where she reaches the desolate heart of the matter. “Come take me out tonight/ Come light my fire,” she sings, part-Smiths, part-Doors, but with an echoing, mournful sigh that is her lonely own. The man next to me, here for The Hold Steady, talks excitedly as Boman leaves about what a great bonus she’s been, a treat he couldn’t have expected. All part of the Club Uncut service, continuing at the Dome Theatre tonight with Serafina Steer, Syd Arthur, Ethan Johns and Courtney Barnett. NICK HASTED Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2014 – Day Two Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2014 – Day Three Photo credit: Andy Ford

The storms battering the South Coast have blown themselves out by the time Club Uncut reconvenes for another year at The Great Escape festival. It’s after midnight and very nearly pitch-black in the Dome Studio just before our first night’s headliners, The Hold Steady, dramatically hit the lights, then the stage. “As the song says,” Craig Finn promises, “we’re gonna have a real good time together.”

With his close-cropped hair, Finn looks all business, and his band play a tight 45 minutes, focusing on the best of their 2007 breakthrough Boys And Girls In America, and the current Teeth Dreams. 2010’s Heaven Is Whenever is wholly disowned, For “Stuck Between Stations”, Finn holds his hands over the crowd in Springsteen-style testifying. Part of his appeal, though, is that his bespectacled looks make him resemble a Woody Allen klutz more than a Boss, an underdog rocker closer to the audience, claiming his right to be onstage by the force of his songs and his belief in them.

Feedback acts as a bridge to the Motown beat of “Big Cig”, about a girl who “smoked cigarettes ever since she was seven.” “Sequestered In Memphis” provides a still more gripping, cautionary tale, as dime-store novel debauchery and disaster descend on the luckless Finn. “I went there on business,” he says in hapless excuse, clutching his head, as his band’s twin guitars give sympathetic Stones raunch.

The crowd start to pack in from nearby, finished gigs, as the clock ticks towards 1am sweat starts to drip down backs. The Hold Steady have played much bigger places than this upstairs club in the last seven years, but they look comfortable, as if this sort of situation is their natural home.

“I wish we had a song about seagulls,” Finn says, trying to get with the seaside programme. Instead, he plays “Chips Ahoy!”, Boys And Girls In America’s great tale of racetrack romance. The crowd sing along to the wordless chorus, one of rock’s best of the last decade. The big choruses, drum tattoos, keyboard chimes and rasping riffs of punk-sharpened ‘70s US rock punch right through the set.

“Your Little Hoodrat Friend”, from way back in pre-success 2005, finds Finn looking beatific as he communes with the jumping and punching front rows. After a rousing “Southside Girls”, he takes a moment to address what we’re all doing here in 2014, when so many digital pleasures could keep us at home. “You chose to drink some beer, and sing some songs,” he congratulates us. “If we can get in a room and have a rock’n’roll show, I think that’s more and more important.” Rock as a meeting place, not the market-place the wider Great Escape can sometimes seem, is as good a mission statement for Club Uncut as any.

Earlier, PHOX’s recent work at Justin Vernon’s studio might lead you to expect music in Bon Iver’s image, but the Madison, Wisconsin band are agreeably slippery to define. In her diaphanous black dress, Monica Martin has a torch singer’s quiet glamour and smoky voice. Her band, though, mostly play a sort of chamber-country, as Martin’s slow, reverb-assisted croon rings through the room. “In due time if I gain some self-respect/ I can smile upon the day when we first met,” she sings in “In Due Time”, “but I made some swift revisions…” The stiffly formal language, like a Bible-schooled letter from a former century, fits a three-part harmony-soaked country ballad. “This one’s about my sister,” Martin informs us of their final song. “She’s tall as hell…” Its delicate, bashful country somehow slips in an Attractions-style keyboard climax.

The Rails have the hearty folk-rock sound and striking female co-vocalist of early ‘70s Fairport Covention, fittingly as the leopard-spot-scarved redhead by James Walbourne’s side is his wife, Richard and Linda’s daughter Kami Thompson. “They’ve revived the pink label for us,” Walbourne proudly notes of the Londoners’ imminent Island debut. Mandolin and fiddle bolster arrangements with a touch of tightly compressed prog, while narrative songs lean on the folk verities of soldiers and sailors leaving for war, mostly sung by Thompson as the strong, wronged woman left behind. Walbourne leads on the more recent, Stones-style mythology of “the hustlers and the runaways”, and “too much mascara” around a girl’s “sad, sad eyes”. “Panic Attack Blues” is, he jokes, “how I felt this morning”. He needn’t have worried. The Rails hold no musical surprises, but plenty of swaggering spirit.

Sweden’s Alice Boman plays the night’s strangest, most intriguing music. She’s demure and diffident between songs which obsessively delineate a ragingly resentful broken heart. “Are you coming back?” she typically demands. “I’m waiting, waiting…” Her passive-aggressive pleading is backed by the heavy, reverberating pulse of her synth, and fellow bashful Swede Tom, whose work on drums and second synth makes “Over” resemble Visage’s “Fade To Grey”. “Please don’t run from me,” Boman continues with vaulting anguish, implacably hunting a lover who you get the impression is running for his life. Tom leaves the stage for the final song, “What”, where she reaches the desolate heart of the matter. “Come take me out tonight/ Come light my fire,” she sings, part-Smiths, part-Doors, but with an echoing, mournful sigh that is her lonely own.

The man next to me, here for The Hold Steady, talks excitedly as Boman leaves about what a great bonus she’s been, a treat he couldn’t have expected. All part of the Club Uncut service, continuing at the Dome Theatre tonight with Serafina Steer, Syd Arthur, Ethan Johns and Courtney Barnett.

NICK HASTED

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2014 – Day Two

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2014 – Day Three

Photo credit: Andy Ford

The Smiths’ 1986 tour rider (apparently) revealed

News

Uncut

-

9th May 2014

0

The Smiths’ 1986 tour rider (apparently) revealed

A rider purporting to be from The Smiths’ 1986 US tour has begun circulating on Twitter. Posted by a user calling themselves Viva Hate 72, the image shows that Morrissey requested cheese sandwiches, while band members Andy Rourke, Mike Joyce and Craig Gannon wanted tuna sandwiches without mayonnaise. Morrissey’s handwritten amendments to the rider include requesting Lucozade rather than Gatorade, also adding in a bottle of red wine and a quarter-bottle of gin alongside printed requests for fruit, nuts and “some biscuits or cake”. Johnny Marr’s rider asked for beer, Coke, two packets of cigarettes and two rounds of cheese and tomato sandwiches, without butter or margarine. The alleged rider, which can be seen below, was for a tour in support of the band’s 1986 album ‘The Queen Is Dead’, which reached No 70 in the Billboard chart. Morrissey began a US tour this week (May 7) and releases his new album ‘World Peace Is None Of Your Business’ in July. It’s his first new album since ‘Years Of Refusal’ in 2009 and his first for his new record label Harvest.

A rider purporting to be from The Smiths’ 1986 US tour has begun circulating on Twitter.

Posted by a user calling themselves Viva Hate 72, the image shows that Morrissey requested cheese sandwiches, while band members Andy Rourke, Mike Joyce and Craig Gannon wanted tuna sandwiches without mayonnaise.

Morrissey’s handwritten amendments to the rider include requesting Lucozade rather than Gatorade, also adding in a bottle of red wine and a quarter-bottle of gin alongside printed requests for fruit, nuts and “some biscuits or cake”. Johnny Marr’s rider asked for beer, Coke, two packets of cigarettes and two rounds of cheese and tomato sandwiches, without butter or margarine.

The alleged rider, which can be seen below, was for a tour in support of the band’s 1986 album ‘The Queen Is Dead’, which reached No 70 in the Billboard chart.

Morrissey began a US tour this week (May 7) and releases his new album ‘World Peace Is None Of Your Business’ in July. It’s his first new album since ‘Years Of Refusal’ in 2009 and his first for his new record label Harvest.

The 18th Uncut Playlist Of 2014

Bob Dylan’s new album: let the wild speculation begin!

The Jesus And Mary Chain to perform Psychocandy in its entirety live

Track Premiere: Hiss Golden Messenger’s “Brother, Do You Know The Road?”

Bob Dylan releases new song; plans new album

Introducing – The Cure: the Ultimate Music Guide

Thee Oh Sees – Drop

Robert Plant on his new album: “It’s a celebratory record”

Win tickets to see Pearl Jam in concert

Morrissey releases new single, “World Peace Is None of Your Business”

Bruce Springsteen to receive his own online museum

Watch Neil Young and Jack White on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon

Bobby Charles – Bobby Charles (reissue, 1972)

Neil Young and Jack White to perform together on The Tonight Show tonight

Peter Gabriel cancels Kiev show due to violence in Ukraine capital

Jimmy Page on writing new songs: “I’ve got lots of material”

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The Smiths’ 1986 tour rider (apparently) revealed

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Uncut June 2025

The new Ultimate Music Guide: Siouxsie & The Banshees

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