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Morrissey released from hospital after suffering concussion and whiplash?

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Morrissey released from hospital after suffering concussion and whiplash?
Morrissey has been released from hospital, it has been reported. According to the quasi-official site True-To-You.net, Morrissey was discharged from the Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, California yesterday (November 2) after receiving treatment for concussion, whiplash and an arm injury. How...

Morrissey has been released from hospital, it has been reported.

According to the quasi-official site True-To-You.net, Morrissey was discharged from the Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, California yesterday (November 2) after receiving treatment for concussion, whiplash and an arm injury. However, there are currently no details as to how he received the injuries.

The post read: “Morrissey has now been discharged from Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles following treatment for concussion, whiplash and an arm injury. Morrissey would like to thank the medical staff at Cedars-Sinai for their ‘outstanding level of care and attention’.”

Meanwhile, Morrissey’s Autobiography has landed an American publisher. The book was previously only available in the UK and Europe, through Penguin Classics, but now the New York Times explains that it will be released in North America through GP Putnam’s Sons, which is an imprint of Penguin Random House. The book is due for release in America on December 3.

Meanwhile, an audio version of Autobiography has been made available as a digital download, read by actor David Morrissey.

‘Sylvester Stallone wanted Bob Dylan for Rambo soundtrack,’ says Giorgio Moroder

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‘Sylvester Stallone wanted Bob Dylan for Rambo soundtrack,’ says Giorgio Moroder
Bob Dylan nearly provided a song for the film Rambo, according to producer Giorgio Moroder. In an interview with the Guardian, Moroder revealed that he had composed a song for Dylan at actor Sylvester Stallone's request, in the hope of tempting the legendary singer to provide lyrics. "It was act...

Bob Dylan nearly provided a song for the film Rambo, according to producer Giorgio Moroder.

In an interview with the Guardian, Moroder revealed that he had composed a song for Dylan at actor Sylvester Stallone‘s request, in the hope of tempting the legendary singer to provide lyrics.

“It was actually Sylvester Stallone who asked me to ask him [Dylan] to sing a song for a Rambo movie,” he said. “So I composed a song. I wanted him to write the lyrics, of course. I went to see him in Malibu, where he had a beautiful house.”

He continued: “He listened to it about four times. I’m not sure if he didn’t like the music that much, or if he wasn’t interested because of the nature of the movie, which was totally anti-Russian, anti-communist. I think he didn’t feel like being involved with a movie such as Rambo. It was nice to meet him and it could have worked, but it didn’t work out.”

The Beta Band – The Regal Years (1997 – 2004)

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The Beta Band – The Regal Years (1997 – 2004)

A 6 CD set of LPs, EPs, Beeb cuts, demos and live... In a scene in the 2000 movie adaptation of Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, John Cusack’s sardonic record store employee Rob drops The Beta Band’s “Dry The Rain” on the shop turntable and surveys the floor as his customers begin a slow head-nod, gazing admiringly towards the counter as the song lifts towards its euphoric coda. This was the very first track off The Beta Band’s very first EP, “Champion Versions” – a rustic Screamadelica shuffle of biscuit-tin percussion, campfire guitars and slow-burning horns that arrived to broad acclaim in the post-Britpop summer of 1997. If it all sounded curiously effortless, The Beta Band’s subsequent career would take a rockier road. Depression, self-sabotage, sombreros and spacesuits, a procession of bemused producers, and more experimental percussion than you could shake a maraca at: this was not a formula necessarily conducive to good business. “When it came to us ‘playing the game’ - well, I mean, we were always playing a game,” writes Beta Band bassist Richard Greentree, sole Londoner in a band of Scots, in this new boxset’s sleevenotes. “Just rarely was it the right one at the right time”. This six CD set, boxing three EPs, three studio albums, a disc of BBC recordings and a rag-bag of demos and live recordings is a reminder of the group’s contrary nature: of broad enough appeal to win the fandom of figures as diverse as Noel Gallagher and Radiohead, but bloody-minded enough that, by the time of their 2004 split, they were reportedly £1.2m in debt to EMI. On the material collected as The Three EPs, they come on like a Canterbury prog group converted to hip-hop, or a group of Caledonian folkies who, after a night on the psychedelics, set out to build their own Black Ark. Downhome folk homilies like “Dog’s Got A Bone” rub against tracks like the 16 minute “Monolith”, a plunderphonic collage of birdsong and mistreated washing machines that morphs into a spirited drum jam. In their twining of sonics and song, though, they hit on some exceptional moments: the Radiophonic Workshop meditations of “Inner Meet Me”, or the elegant looping and layering of “Push It Out”, Steve Mason’s Gregorian chant building into something of pious grace. So far, so good; but the group’s debut proper, The Beta Band, still stands out as a blunder. Their Magical Mystery Tour, it’s a whimsical and uneven roll o’er hill and dale, throughout which one often gets the impression the wheels are about to fall off. Around the album’s release, they told NME it was a “crock of shit”, and the opening “The Beta Band Rap” more or less conforms to this description, the band’s creation myth told through wacky music hall, cod-Beasties funk jamming and Elvis impersonation. Elsewhere it’s all either over or under-baked, and a downer vibe permeates even the best material. “Round The Bend”, while outwardly a thing of McCartneyish jollity, sees Mason in stream-of-consciousness mode, outlining an experience of clinical depression that sees him “at 90 degrees to the rest of the world” and “trying to function as a normal human being…” There is, however, still time for him to weigh up the relative merits of Wild Honey and Pet Sounds. Better is 2001’s Hot Shots Part II. The addition of Colin Emmanuel, a British R&B producer noted for work with Jamelia and Beverly Knight, helped bring consistency to their sound, the punchy beats and bass of “Broke” a bridge to Mason’s later solo work. Occasionally, it wants for a little of the early material’s haywire energy, but “Squares” spins a sample of Günter Kallmann Choir's version of Wallace Collection's “Daydream” into a hazy reverie, while non-album cut “Sequinsizer” toys with the rhythmic clap of UK Garage, proof they still had their ears wide open. Things had gone off the boil by the time of 2004’s Heroes To Zeros, their crisp rhythms blotted by producer Nigel Godrich’s gusty atmospherics, and the final two discs add little of interest. Live performances from T In The Park and Roskilde are serviceable, demos like “Idea For House Track” and “Bed In The Sunlight” mere sketches of what’s been fleshed out earlier. You leave The Regal Years with the sense of a band of sporadic brilliance, but ill-served by such completist statements. As for the sniffy record store clerks of High Fidelity, forever evaluating and revaluating the canon of musical greats, you wonder if The Beta Band might today make the grade. Louis Pattison Q&A Richard Greentree What is it like to listen back to The Beta Band material? In retrospect, what worked? What didn't? Emotional! Recently I listened to the B-side of ‘Broke’, a track called ‘Won’ with the rapper Sean Reveron. It’s built around Nilsson’s ‘One Is The Loneliest Number’, and took me right back to the moment - made me realise we could take a shot at any genre of music and still make it our own. What didn’t work? Listening to the first album, I wonder why it took us so long to find the stop button on the tape machine. It was reported that by the time the band split you were £1.2 million in debt to EMI. Is there a chance you’ll ever recoup? Ha ha! That was a vicious rumour put about by a chap called ‘Nicky Wire’ from the 'Manical Street People', apparently to validate something he’d said in an NME Awards video about how Beta Band was doomed to fail because we had not “sold out” – whatever that means. All very highbrow and frankly above our pay grade, which led to yet a juvenile incident where someone from the Beta Band said in another NME interview that Mr Wire was rumoured to have the appendage of a new-born baby. All a terrible misunderstanding, probably avoidable, certainly regrettable. Recoup? I very much doubt it. INTERVIEW: LOUIS PATTISON

A 6 CD set of LPs, EPs, Beeb cuts, demos and live…

In a scene in the 2000 movie adaptation of Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, John Cusack’s sardonic record store employee Rob drops The Beta Band’s “Dry The Rain” on the shop turntable and surveys the floor as his customers begin a slow head-nod, gazing admiringly towards the counter as the song lifts towards its euphoric coda.

This was the very first track off The Beta Band’s very first EP, “Champion Versions” – a rustic Screamadelica shuffle of biscuit-tin percussion, campfire guitars and slow-burning horns that arrived to broad acclaim in the post-Britpop summer of 1997. If it all sounded curiously effortless, The Beta Band’s subsequent career would take a rockier road. Depression, self-sabotage, sombreros and spacesuits, a procession of bemused producers, and more experimental percussion than you could shake a maraca at: this was not a formula necessarily conducive to good business. “When it came to us ‘playing the game’ – well, I mean, we were always playing a game,” writes Beta Band bassist Richard Greentree, sole Londoner in a band of Scots, in this new boxset’s sleevenotes. “Just rarely was it the right one at the right time”.

This six CD set, boxing three EPs, three studio albums, a disc of BBC recordings and a rag-bag of demos and live recordings is a reminder of the group’s contrary nature: of broad enough appeal to win the fandom of figures as diverse as Noel Gallagher and Radiohead, but bloody-minded enough that, by the time of their 2004 split, they were reportedly £1.2m in debt to EMI. On the material collected as The Three EPs, they come on like a Canterbury prog group converted to hip-hop, or a group of Caledonian folkies who, after a night on the psychedelics, set out to build their own Black Ark. Downhome folk homilies like “Dog’s Got A Bone” rub against tracks like the 16 minute “Monolith”, a plunderphonic collage of birdsong and mistreated washing machines that morphs into a spirited drum jam. In their twining of sonics and song, though, they hit on some exceptional moments: the Radiophonic Workshop meditations of “Inner Meet Me”, or the elegant looping and layering of “Push It Out”, Steve Mason’s Gregorian chant building into something of pious grace.

So far, so good; but the group’s debut proper, The Beta Band, still stands out as a blunder. Their Magical Mystery Tour, it’s a whimsical and uneven roll o’er hill and dale, throughout which one often gets the impression the wheels are about to fall off. Around the album’s release, they told NME it was a “crock of shit”, and the opening “The Beta Band Rap” more or less conforms to this description, the band’s creation myth told through wacky music hall, cod-Beasties funk jamming and Elvis impersonation. Elsewhere it’s all either over or under-baked, and a downer vibe permeates even the best material. “Round The Bend”, while outwardly a thing of McCartneyish jollity, sees Mason in stream-of-consciousness mode, outlining an experience of clinical depression that sees him “at 90 degrees to the rest of the world” and “trying to function as a normal human being…” There is, however, still time for him to weigh up the relative merits of Wild Honey and Pet Sounds.

Better is 2001’s Hot Shots Part II. The addition of Colin Emmanuel, a British R&B producer noted for work with Jamelia and Beverly Knight, helped bring consistency to their sound, the punchy beats and bass of “Broke” a bridge to Mason’s later solo work. Occasionally, it wants for a little of the early material’s haywire energy, but “Squares” spins a sample of Günter Kallmann Choir’s version of Wallace Collection’s “Daydream” into a hazy reverie, while non-album cut “Sequinsizer” toys with the rhythmic clap of UK Garage, proof they still had their ears wide open.

Things had gone off the boil by the time of 2004’s Heroes To Zeros, their crisp rhythms blotted by producer Nigel Godrich’s gusty atmospherics, and the final two discs add little of interest. Live performances from T In The Park and Roskilde are serviceable, demos like “Idea For House Track” and “Bed In The Sunlight” mere sketches of what’s been fleshed out earlier. You leave The Regal Years with the sense of a band of sporadic brilliance, but ill-served by such completist statements. As for the sniffy record store clerks of High Fidelity, forever evaluating and revaluating the canon of musical greats, you wonder if The Beta Band might today make the grade.

Louis Pattison

Q&A

Richard Greentree

What is it like to listen back to The Beta Band material? In retrospect, what worked? What didn’t?

Emotional! Recently I listened to the B-side of ‘Broke’, a track called ‘Won’ with the rapper Sean Reveron. It’s built around Nilsson’s ‘One Is The Loneliest Number’, and took me right back to the moment – made me realise we could take a shot at any genre of music and still make it our own. What didn’t work? Listening to the first album, I wonder why it took us so long to find the stop button on the tape machine.

It was reported that by the time the band split you were £1.2 million in debt to EMI. Is there a chance you’ll ever recoup?

Ha ha! That was a vicious rumour put about by a chap called ‘Nicky Wire’ from the ‘Manical Street People’, apparently to validate something he’d said in an NME Awards video about how Beta Band was doomed to fail because we had not “sold out” – whatever that means. All very highbrow and frankly above our pay grade, which led to yet a juvenile incident where someone from the Beta Band said in another NME interview that Mr Wire was rumoured to have the appendage of a new-born baby. All a terrible misunderstanding, probably avoidable, certainly regrettable. Recoup? I very much doubt it.

INTERVIEW: LOUIS PATTISON

Arctic Monkeys postpone tour dates

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Arctic Monkeys postpone tour dates
Arctic Monkeys have postponed a second date on their current arena tour. The band already pulled a show due to take place last night [October 31] in Birmingham. They have now announced that the show due to take place tonight at Glasgow Hydro has also been postponed. The band have since announced ...

Arctic Monkeys have postponed a second date on their current arena tour.

The band already pulled a show due to take place last night [October 31] in Birmingham.

They have now announced that the show due to take place tonight at Glasgow Hydro has also been postponed.

The band have since announced that Alex Turner has been diagnosed as suffering from laryngitis.

“Following the decision to postpone the show at the Birmingham LG Arena tonight and after seeking medical advice, Arctic Monkeys must also postpone the show at the Glasgow Hydro on Fri November 1st. Alex Turner has been diagnosed with Laryngitis and is regrettably not able to perform. The show at the LG Arena in Birmingham will now take place on November 20th and the show at the Glasgow Hydro will now take place on November 21st. All tickets will remain valid for these shows.”

Neil Young announces first live dates for 2014

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Neil Young announces first live dates for 2014
Neil Young has announced a run of dates for January, 2014. Young will take up a four-night residency at New York's Carnegie Hall on January 6, 7, 9 and 10. Pre-sale begins at 10.00am EST on November 11. Click here for more details. Tickets are available via a first come first served online ticke...

Neil Young has announced a run of dates for January, 2014.

Young will take up a four-night residency at New York’s Carnegie Hall on January 6, 7, 9 and 10.

Pre-sale begins at 10.00am EST on November 11. Click here for more details.

Tickets are available via a first come first served online ticket ordering system. There is a 2 ticket limit per show.

Earlier this year, Neil Young & Crazy Horse cancelled a run of dates in Europe and North America after guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro injured his hand.

Last weekend [October 26/27] CSNY played at the Bridge School Benefit.

On November 26, Neil Young will release the latest instalment of his Archives series, Live At The Cellar Door, recorded during Young’s six-show stand at Washington D.C.’s Cellar Door between November 30, 1970 and December 2, 1970.

An Audience With… Ian Hunter

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An Audience With… Ian Hunter
As Mott The Hoople prepare to tour again this month (beginning at Birmingham’s Symphony on November 11), it seems fitting to revisit this archive piece from October 2009 (Take 149). Frontman Ian Hunter fondly remembers all the young dudes, from Bowie and Ronson to Max Wall… Interview: John Lewis...

As Mott The Hoople prepare to tour again this month (beginning at Birmingham’s Symphony on November 11), it seems fitting to revisit this archive piece from October 2009 (Take 149). Frontman Ian Hunter fondly remembers all the young dudes, from Bowie and Ronson to Max Wall… Interview: John Lewis

____________

It takes some reminding that this youthful-looking gentleman with the poodle hairdo sitting in a London hotel room has just turned 70. “I was 30 years old when Mott The Hoople started,” chuckles Ian Hunter. “Of course, I lied about my age when journalists asked me, knocked off five or six years.” Hunter didn’t let slip any of the things he’d been up to since the late 1950s – playing with rock’n’roll bands in Hamburg, working on local newspapers, in factories and even, for a few years, working as an in-house songwriter with Francis, Day & Hunter.

It meant that, when Mott The Hoople hit paydirt in the early 1970s, Hunter had enough life experience to deal with the fame comfortably, something that comes across from his acclaimed 1974 book, Diary Of A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star, the tale of jet-set ’70s hedonism from the vantage point of a bluff, shrewd lad from Shrewsbury.

He’s been living in the States for nearly half of his life, and most of the past two decades in rural Connecticut, although he’s looking forward to his five-night stint at the Hammersmith Apollo in early October. “I do miss a few things about England,” he says. “I can get me Marmite and Twiglets and Eddie Izzard DVDs in America, so that’s not a problem. The only thing is that you can’t get decent cheese or bacon, unless you really look hard. And I miss stodgy English food. If I lived here, I’d put on about a stone a week with all the pork pies and pasties!”

____________

What do you remember from your time as a journalist?

Neil, Durham

I actually worked out that I had about 40 jobs before I joined Mott The Hoople. Factory apprentice, hod carrier, you name it. Being a cub reporter for The Wellington Journal in Shropshire was just one of them. I had to learn typing (which I was quite good at) and shorthand (which I couldn’t stand, it was like learning Chinese or something). But, as the cub reporter, I got all the mundane tasks. You know, Shrewsbury Town Reserves midweek fixtures, births, deaths, marriages. Every week I had to see the Reverend AT Agnew and get the church news. I hated doing that, because he was a bachelor who had 32 cats and his place bloody stank to high heaven.

Do you think Mick Ronson is criminally overlooked?

Anthony Stobart, Newcastle

Upon Tyne

Yes. People are always asking about Mick. I hung out with him for 20 years. He was just a great bloke. A lot of people didn’t get Mick. If you met him casually you’d think he was daft. But he was an incredibly sharp guy. Classically trained. He would use musical terminology – arpeggios, obbligato – and I wouldn’t have a clue what he was talking about. He learned the violin as a kid, had perfect pitch, and was a fantastic piano player – that’s him on “Lady Stardust”. He didn’t really write songs, but he was a great arranger. I saw him arrange string sections and horn sections on the back of a fag packet. And his guitar solos were always beautifully structured – they were like mini-songs. My fondest memories of him are the nine months we lived together in Chappaqua, in New York State. His daughter Lisa was little at the time, he’d always be singing daft songs to the kids, and cooking incredible meals. I miss him a lot.

What’s your favourite cover of an Ian Hunter song? You don’t have to say Wilco’s version of “I Wish I Was Your Mother”, honest!

Jeff Tweedy, Wilco

Ha! I love Wilco’s version. I also like Maria McKee’s. The Pointer Sisters’ version of “Who Do You Love” is a good ’un. There’s been more than 300 covers of my songs, amazingly. A guy in France clocks them up. Lots of “Irene Wilde” and “Once Bitten Twice Shy”. The best known is probably Barry Manilow’s “Ships”. Everyone has a laugh at Barry, don’t they, but he’s a consummate musician. He keeps changing the key to create dramatic tension. Very clever. He got a US Top 10 hit out of it, didn’t he? I think it was the last Top 10 he had. He should give me a ring!

You worked with lots of great jazz musicians on All American Alien Boy. What was it like working with Jaco Pastorius?

Sheila E

Wow, Sheila E? We worked together once, didn’t we? Jaco was fantastic. He was young, he was only 21 when he worked with me. I met him through the drummer, Bobby Colomby, and I invited Jaco to stay in my house for a while. He’d practise every day, from nine in the morning until five at night. He’d been a drummer but he had to stop after a nasty wrist operation, so he then decided he was going to be the best bass player in the world. When we recorded [’76 solo LP] All American Alien Boy, he was fantastic. I lived about an-hour-and-a-quarter outside New York, and as we’d drive to the studio in Manhattan every day, he’d tell filthy jokes. And he’d never repeat himself once! He had a huge ego, but he was nice with it. He could be a flash bastard in the studio, but people forget that he would always service the songs. He’d never show off just for the sake of it.

The New York Dolls supported you on a US tour. How was that?

Ralph, New York

There was a band out of time. I remember before we met them, our management showed us a picture of this band who were supporting us on tour. I thought, fuck, if they play like they look, then we’ve had it! But America wasn’t ready for these trannies from hell. Alice Cooper would get away with it, because there was something manly about him, but the Dolls were just too outrageous. In the Midwest, they would literally be clinging to each other for support, terrified. Even when we played the Felt Forum, a 4,000-capacity theatre in the grounds of Madison Square Garden, they left the stage in total silence, no encores, no applause. And this is 40 blocks from the Bowery, their heartland! But I still get on great with them. They loved our bassist, Pete Overend Watts. Everything he wore, glam rock bands would be wearing in six months time. Dear old Arthur “Killer” Kane [the Dolls’ bassist] thought Pete was the business!

’Ello my darlin’! Are we going for a curry first week in October?

Joe Elliott, Def Leppard

I’m sure we are, Joe! A vegetable biryani, if you don’t mind. He was pissed off his head the last time I saw him. We were up until three in the morning and he had a gig the next day. Best of luck with that one! Joe’s always been a huge Mott fan. It’s weird, we were only a small band, really, but we had some obsessive fans, like Joe and Mick Jones, and I think it’s their interest which has kept us going. It’s interesting how all these people who went on to be punks and metallers and glam rockers were all fans of Mott. We were a rock’n’roll band before all this fragmentation took place. There were traces of metal and traces of punk and traces of glam. Nowadays it’s all so compartmentalised.

What are your memories of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Circus tour you did in 1972?

Andrew Field, Manchester

It was more of a variety bill. We were joined by some dogs who did tricks, and by a knife-thrower, who was always drunk. On the last night of the tour, I was up on this bloody spinning board, with this pissed bloke flinging huge knives at me. Terrifying. The tour also featured Max Wall, who we loved. I remember flying out to Jersey airport to convince him to come on tour with us. In the end, he loved our music – at soundchecks this 65-year-old fella would be up against the speakers! When you gave him silence, and let him weave his stuff, he was brilliant. Early on in the tour, up north, he was dying a death because they wouldn’t shut up and listen to him. I said, hang in there, Max, the further south you go, the easier it will get. And it was. By the time we got to Guildford, people were falling off their seats. That tour was the last thing we did with Island Records. I remember that David Bowie was courting us throughout the tour. He’d send a big bunch of flowers to every venue! The guys from Island Records were sitting there wondering, hmmm, what’s going on here, then…

What did you think of David Bowie’s original version of “All The Young Dudes”? And what was Bowie like as a producer?

Jim McConnell, Perthshire

Bowie’s version was good, but I think we improved it. We took it up from C to D, so it had more impact, we wrote our own harmonies and guitar hooks. We recorded it in two evenings in Olympic Studios in Barnes – we’d actually had that before we left Island Records, we had to keep it hidden. We knew it would be a big hit for the next label that signed us. Bowie certainly knew how to use a studio. I guess he’d learned from his bass player, Tony Visconti. If he has a problem, it’s that I think he was sometimes a bit fey in the mixing. It’s annoying that we still can’t find the masters to the …Dudes album we did with him, because there’s a lot of balls on that record that never saw the light of day.

Go on, tell us your favourite Guy Stevens story…

Mick Jones

Guy was our producer. There was the time when we were recording an album for Island and he set the studio on fire. And some poor mug had to ring up Chris Blackwell and tell him. And Chris just sighed and said, “Was that really necessary?” Guy just wanted manic excitement in the room. He’d start telling stories and they’d escalate until they were absurd. You’d be waiting, desperate to play music. It was like winding up elastic. So by the time you eventually got to record, the whole band would be playing with a manic intensity. And that’s what he wanted. It worked!

How did you meet a young Mott The Hoople fan called Mick Jones?

Cain Bell, Bury

I remember Mick from the early days, because he always dressed good. He used to hang out with these guys called Kelvin Blackwell and Mad Mick. They were a bit dodgy, rogue-ish, but nice lads. They felt that we were theirs, that we belonged to them. We’d let fans sing on stage. Anyway, we ended up contacting Mick in the late ’70s when me and Ronson were recording Short Back And Sides. We’d written this reggae song called “Theatre Of The Absurd” and we didn’t know anything about reggae, so we thought we’d get Mick to show us what reggae is about! So he came down to The Power Station in New York and finished it off in Wessex Studios in London. Everything goes with Mick Jones – if the radiator sounds good, the radiator is on the tape. I like the width of his imagination.

So, when’s your follow-up to Diary Of A Rock’N’Roll Star coming out, then?

Charlie Gillett

Ha! The DJ Charlie Gillett was the reason that book got published. I was round his house one day, people were coming in off the street and borrowing his records, as always. I remember Ian Dury popping his head around the door. Anyway, Charlie had this deal with Panther, and I mentioned I’d just written this tour diary. He read it and liked it, so Panther published it. I’d just got married which meant that the whole girl-in-every-port thing was out of the question. So when everyone else was partying, I was up writing in my A4 diary. It was all about the boredom of touring, basically. Even though it’s rarely been out of print and someone once said “this is the greatest music book ever written”, I haven’t made much money out of it. You’re better off writing songs than books!

I understand that you and Mick Ronson recorded an album’s worth of material with John Cale. What was it like working with Cale and will it ever see the light of day?

Ziggy Rokita, London

Yeah, John was doing an album with Dylan’s mate, can’t remember his name now [Bob Neuwirth], and he had a few days spare in the studio. So John rang me and Ronson and we mucked about in the studio for a few days. Lots of drink was imbibed. It was a fascinating experience, a real guide in how to write a song. We’d jam for ages and suddenly it will turn into something. John would play anything he wasn’t good on – he hates playing anything he’s good at – so he’d be thrashing away on some cheapo guitar, making an awful din! And they’d turn into songs, somehow. John has threatened to put them out a couple of times. I don’t think anyone’s that interested, to be honest. The tapes would probably be a load of stream-of-consciousness junk and then suddenly a great song. I seem to remember that one of them went, “Queen Elizabeth, you’re just a luxury liner!”

Laurie Anderson pays tribute to Lou Reed

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Laurie Anderson pays tribute to Lou Reed

Lou Reed's wife, Laurie Anderson, has posted an open letter online to the residents of Springs, East Hampton, the New York town where Reed passed away over the weekend. Writing in the East Hampton Star , she explained that last week she promised Reed that she would get him out of hospital and take him to his 'spiritual home' of Springs. "He died on Sunday morning looking at the trees and doing the famous 21 form of tai chi with just his musician hands moving through the air," she wrote of his passing. Read the full letter below: "To our neighbors: What a beautiful fall! Everything shimmering and golden and all that incredible soft light. Water surrounding us. Lou and I have spent a lot of time here in the past few years, and even though we're city people this is our spiritual home. Last week I promised Lou to get him out of the hospital and come home to Springs. And we made it! Lou was a tai chi master and spent his last days here being happy and dazzled by the beauty and power and softness of nature. He died on Sunday morning looking at the trees and doing the famous 21 form of tai chi with just his musician hands moving through the air. Lou was a prince and a fighter and I know his songs of the pain and beauty in the world will fill many people with the incredible joy he felt for life. Long live the beauty that comes down and through and onto all of us." Reed's cause of death was confirmed as liver disease by his doctor. Dr Charles Miller of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, where the singer had liver transplant surgery this year and was being treated again until last week, confirmed the cause of death to The New York Times. Reed died on Sunday [October 27]. He was aged 71. Many other musicians have paid tribute to Reed, including David Bowie, John Cale and The Who. Morrissey has also written a personal tribute to Reed. You can hear Neil Young, Elvis Costello and Jim James cover a Lou Reed song here. You can read a 2002 interview with Reed from the Uncut archives here.

Lou Reed’s wife, Laurie Anderson, has posted an open letter online to the residents of Springs, East Hampton, the New York town where Reed passed away over the weekend.

Writing in the East Hampton Star , she explained that last week she promised Reed that she would get him out of hospital and take him to his ‘spiritual home’ of Springs. “He died on Sunday morning looking at the trees and doing the famous 21 form of tai chi with just his musician hands moving through the air,” she wrote of his passing. Read the full letter below:

“To our neighbors: What a beautiful fall! Everything shimmering and golden and all that incredible soft light. Water surrounding us. Lou and I have spent a lot of time here in the past few years, and even though we’re city people this is our spiritual home. Last week I promised Lou to get him out of the hospital and come home to Springs. And we made it! Lou was a tai chi master and spent his last days here being happy and dazzled by the beauty and power and softness of nature. He died on Sunday morning looking at the trees and doing the famous 21 form of tai chi with just his musician hands moving through the air. Lou was a prince and a fighter and I know his songs of the pain and beauty in the world will fill many people with the incredible joy he felt for life. Long live the beauty that comes down and through and onto all of us.”

Reed’s cause of death was confirmed as liver disease by his doctor. Dr Charles Miller of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, where the singer had liver transplant surgery this year and was being treated again until last week, confirmed the cause of death to The New York Times. Reed died on Sunday [October 27]. He was aged 71.

Many other musicians have paid tribute to Reed, including David Bowie, John Cale and The Who.

Morrissey has also written a personal tribute to Reed.

You can hear Neil Young, Elvis Costello and Jim James cover a Lou Reed song here.

You can read a 2002 interview with Reed from the Uncut archives here.

The 40th Uncut Playlist Of 2013

John Mulvey
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The 40th Uncut Playlist Of 2013

A brief moment away from collating Uncut’s end of year album charts to post this: 24 records etc we’ve played over the last couple of days in the Uncut office. Some interesting things for you to listen to (as ever, I’d hope), though sadly nothing from this week’s two headline arrivals: the Neil Young “Live At The Cellar Door” set (the piano versions of “Expecting To Fly”, “Flying On The Ground Is Wrong” and “Cinnamon Girl” have been initial standouts); and the long-awaited return of Michael Head (this new EP is actually as close to the sound of The Pale Fountains and The Strands as it is to Shack, notwithstanding the usual profound Arthur Lee influence)… Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey 1 Neil Young – Live At The Cellar Door (Reprise) 2 Warpaint – Love Is To Die (Rough Trade) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnuFYYJHaY0 3 Mogwai – Remurdered (Rock Action) 4 Neneh Cherry – Blank Project (Smalltown Supersound) 5 Mark Lanegan – Has God Seen My Shadow (Light In The Attic) 6 Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band – Artorius Revisited (Violette) 7 Kevin Morby – Harlem River (Woodsist) 8 Steve Gunn & Mike Gangloff - Melodies For A Savage Fix (Important) 9 Duane Pitre – Feel Free: Live At Cafe OTO (Important) 10 Courtney Barnett – The Double EP: A Sea Of Split Peas (House Anxiety) 11 The Necks – Open (ReR) 12 Cate Le Bon – Mug Museum (Turnstile) 13 Al Green – I’m Still In Love With You (Hi/Fat Possum) 14 Al Green – Let’s Stay Together (Hi/Fat Possum) 15 Wesley Stace – Self-Titled (Yep Roc) 16 Eleanor Friedberger – Personal Record (Merge) 17 Bill Callahan – Small Plane (Drag City) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh5km2xKlfk 18 Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle – Perils From The Sea (Caldo Verde) 19 Doug Paisley – Strong Feelings (No Quarter) 20 Pet-Tich-Eye – Roll On (Live) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCdTTVcp4_0 21 Hiss Golden Messenger – Haw (Paradise Of Bachelors) 22 Thee Oh Sees – What You Need (Castle Face) 23 These New Puritans – Field Of Reeds (Infectious) 24 The Arcade Fire – Reflektor (Sonovox)

A brief moment away from collating Uncut’s end of year album charts to post this: 24 records etc we’ve played over the last couple of days in the Uncut office.

Some interesting things for you to listen to (as ever, I’d hope), though sadly nothing from this week’s two headline arrivals: the Neil Young “Live At The Cellar Door” set (the piano versions of “Expecting To Fly”, “Flying On The Ground Is Wrong” and “Cinnamon Girl” have been initial standouts); and the long-awaited return of Michael Head (this new EP is actually as close to the sound of The Pale Fountains and The Strands as it is to Shack, notwithstanding the usual profound Arthur Lee influence)…

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

1 Neil Young – Live At The Cellar Door (Reprise)

2 Warpaint – Love Is To Die (Rough Trade)

3 Mogwai – Remurdered (Rock Action)

4 Neneh Cherry – Blank Project (Smalltown Supersound)

5 Mark Lanegan – Has God Seen My Shadow (Light In The Attic)

6 Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band – Artorius Revisited (Violette)

7 Kevin Morby – Harlem River (Woodsist)

8 Steve Gunn & Mike Gangloff – Melodies For A Savage Fix (Important)

9 Duane Pitre – Feel Free: Live At Cafe OTO (Important)

10 Courtney Barnett – The Double EP: A Sea Of Split Peas (House Anxiety)

11 The Necks – Open (ReR)

12 Cate Le Bon – Mug Museum (Turnstile)

13 Al Green – I’m Still In Love With You (Hi/Fat Possum)

14 Al Green – Let’s Stay Together (Hi/Fat Possum)

15 Wesley Stace – Self-Titled (Yep Roc)

16 Eleanor Friedberger – Personal Record (Merge)

17 Bill Callahan – Small Plane (Drag City)

18 Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle – Perils From The Sea (Caldo Verde)

19 Doug Paisley – Strong Feelings (No Quarter)

20 Pet-Tich-Eye – Roll On (Live)

21 Hiss Golden Messenger – Haw (Paradise Of Bachelors)

22 Thee Oh Sees – What You Need (Castle Face)

23 These New Puritans – Field Of Reeds (Infectious)

24 The Arcade Fire – Reflektor (Sonovox)

Prefab Sprout – Crimson/Red

Uncut
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Prefab Sprout – Crimson/Red

Paddy McAloon makes a heartfelt, hook-laden return... “The beauty of a song is when you can combine universality with particularity,” says Paddy McAloon, speaking to Uncut about his first album in four years. Crimson/Red is, like pretty much everything Durham’s finest has made these past 30-plus years, an adoring tribute to the miracle of music, and a sincere exploration of what a mysterious privilege it is to be paid to make it. But then, nothing makes a person count their blessings more thoroughly than the very real possibility of losing them. McAloon has suffered these last twenty years from Ménierè’s disease, a condition of the inner ear which can cause tinnitus, vertigo, loss of balance and, of course, deafness. Although one hesitates to patronize someone as extravagantly gifted as McAloon, the fact that he has overcome the affliction to such an extent that he plays every instrument on Crimson/Red is a remarkable feat in itself. It’s a life of surprises, and the initial ones hit hard from the first wall of rich, jauntily rocking sound of opening track “The Best Jewel Thief In The World”. Firstly, it immediately brings to mind any number of classics from Prefab Sprout’s Thomas Dolby-produced mid-‘80s imperial phase, with its analogue string synths layered to sound like a plastic orchestra, its trebly, textured guitars, its blue-eyed soul chord sequence established as hook long before the vocals start. But secondly… Paddy McAloon still sings like a fresh-faced twenty-something. Which lends all the more energetic optimism to the song’s simple metaphor about the craft of the songwriter, stealing from the masters – or from the mysterious ether – to make noise that transcends literal meaning. The song is also good advice to the budding young songsmith in the face of haters and doubters: “What do those assholes know?... Watch your legend grow”. Lyrically the album is rich in universality with particularity. The singer with the shot voice in the ballad “List Of Impossible Things” could be McAloon himself, but is really humanity’s refusal to accept our own limitations. “Devil Came A Calling” sees McAloon revive the ersatz Americana of “Faron Young” and cast himself as Faust, alluding to the rock ‘n’ roll indulgence of his ‘80s glory days but actually exploring mankind’s constant fall to temptation. And while “The Songs Of Danny Galway” and “Mysterious” are specific tributes to McAloon songwriting heroes Jimmy Webb and Bob Dylan respectively, they become poetic ruminations on McAloon’s own desire, as a songwriter, to “Annotate the feast” that is life. The simple-but-complex nature of Crimson/Red’s themes is best summed up by “The Old Magician”, which is initially a witty metaphor about the ageing entertainer peddling “The tired act that no one loves”, broadens out into a bleak rumination on failed marriage (“She’s tired of being sawn in two”) and death (“a lousy disappearing act”), but also happens to have the cheeriest country-folk backing on the whole damn album. Ingenious, weird, and quintessentially McAloonesque. But the final triumph of Crimson/Red doesn’t lie in the usual smart artifice. It lies in the fact that it is ridiculously catchy. McAloon assembled these songs from the vaults – “The Old Magician” is 16-years-old, “List Of Impossible Things” has been tinkered with for a decade – on a deadline, and decided to forgo his normal tendency to take a hookline and sink it beneath modal twists and muso turns, and just let the choruses breathe. All of the songs mentioned plus the harmonica-led, yacht-rock note-to-self of the endlessly repeating “Billy” are once-heard, forever-whistled earworms, destined to get you humming annoyingly at the checkout in Tescos. The result is an album that cuts through much of the cerebral work that being a Prefab Sprout fan generally entails, in favour of mainlining directly to the heart. It’s a genius pop album by a genius pop singer-songwriter. Or: A universally accessible joy from a particularly clever bastard. Garry Mulholland Q&A Paddy McAloon Crimson/Red feels like the most sincere and musically straightforward album you’ve ever made. Do you agree? I know what you mean. But I have a problem with the word “sincere”. People take that to mean that you’re getting some straight talking from someone, and I don’t know that I like straight talking. It makes for earnest and dull records. But the goal I set myself this time was this: instead of fighting against simplicity, I would try and ride with it. And I’d let the burden fall on the lyrics or on the melodic hook. I’m dead conscious that people prefer things simple. “The Songs Of Danny Galway” is about meeting your hero Jimmy Webb in Dublin. What was he like? It was in 1991 for a show on RTE about songwriters with orchestras. I did a duet with him on “The Highwayman”. He was very nice and very humble about his talent. I was too shy to say too much to him. I was just thinking, “You wrote ‘Wichita Lineman”!’ You’re 56 but you still have the same boyish singing voice that sang “Lions In My Own Garden” in 1982. What’s your secret? Gargling with virgins’ blood I always find helps. I think my voice is OK because I didn’t hammer it for two hours a night for 30 years. It’s a side effect of not touring. See… vindicated at last. INTERVIEW: GARRY MULHOLLAND

Paddy McAloon makes a heartfelt, hook-laden return…

“The beauty of a song is when you can combine universality with particularity,” says Paddy McAloon, speaking to Uncut about his first album in four years. Crimson/Red is, like pretty much everything Durham’s finest has made these past 30-plus years, an adoring tribute to the miracle of music, and a sincere exploration of what a mysterious privilege it is to be paid to make it.

But then, nothing makes a person count their blessings more thoroughly than the very real possibility of losing them. McAloon has suffered these last twenty years from Ménierè’s disease, a condition of the inner ear which can cause tinnitus, vertigo, loss of balance and, of course, deafness. Although one hesitates to patronize someone as extravagantly gifted as McAloon, the fact that he has overcome the affliction to such an extent that he plays every instrument on Crimson/Red is a remarkable feat in itself.

It’s a life of surprises, and the initial ones hit hard from the first wall of rich, jauntily rocking sound of opening track “The Best Jewel Thief In The World”. Firstly, it immediately brings to mind any number of classics from Prefab Sprout’s Thomas Dolby-produced mid-‘80s imperial phase, with its analogue string synths layered to sound like a plastic orchestra, its trebly, textured guitars, its blue-eyed soul chord sequence established as hook long before the vocals start.

But secondly… Paddy McAloon still sings like a fresh-faced twenty-something. Which lends all the more energetic optimism to the song’s simple metaphor about the craft of the songwriter, stealing from the masters – or from the mysterious ether – to make noise that transcends literal meaning. The song is also good advice to the budding young songsmith in the face of haters and doubters: “What do those assholes know?… Watch your legend grow”.

Lyrically the album is rich in universality with particularity. The singer with the shot voice in the ballad “List Of Impossible Things” could be McAloon himself, but is really humanity’s refusal to accept our own limitations. “Devil Came A Calling” sees McAloon revive the ersatz Americana of “Faron Young” and cast himself as Faust, alluding to the rock ‘n’ roll indulgence of his ‘80s glory days but actually exploring mankind’s constant fall to temptation. And while “The Songs Of Danny Galway” and “Mysterious” are specific tributes to McAloon songwriting heroes Jimmy Webb and Bob Dylan respectively, they become poetic ruminations on McAloon’s own desire, as a songwriter, to “Annotate the feast” that is life.

The simple-but-complex nature of Crimson/Red’s themes is best summed up by “The Old Magician”, which is initially a witty metaphor about the ageing entertainer peddling “The tired act that no one loves”, broadens out into a bleak rumination on failed marriage (“She’s tired of being sawn in two”) and death (“a lousy disappearing act”), but also happens to have the cheeriest country-folk backing on the whole damn album. Ingenious, weird, and quintessentially McAloonesque.

But the final triumph of Crimson/Red doesn’t lie in the usual smart artifice. It lies in the fact that it is ridiculously catchy. McAloon assembled these songs from the vaults – “The Old Magician” is 16-years-old, “List Of Impossible Things” has been tinkered with for a decade – on a deadline, and decided to forgo his normal tendency to take a hookline and sink it beneath modal twists and muso turns, and just let the choruses breathe. All of the songs mentioned plus the harmonica-led, yacht-rock note-to-self of the endlessly repeating “Billy” are once-heard, forever-whistled earworms, destined to get you humming annoyingly at the checkout in Tescos.

The result is an album that cuts through much of the cerebral work that being a Prefab Sprout fan generally entails, in favour of mainlining directly to the heart. It’s a genius pop album by a genius pop singer-songwriter. Or: A universally accessible joy from a particularly clever bastard.

Garry Mulholland

Q&A

Paddy McAloon

Crimson/Red feels like the most sincere and musically straightforward album you’ve ever made. Do you agree?

I know what you mean. But I have a problem with the word “sincere”. People take that to mean that you’re getting some straight talking from someone, and I don’t know that I like straight talking. It makes for earnest and dull records. But the goal I set myself this time was this: instead of fighting against simplicity, I would try and ride with it. And I’d let the burden fall on the lyrics or on the melodic hook. I’m dead conscious that people prefer things simple.

“The Songs Of Danny Galway” is about meeting your hero Jimmy Webb in Dublin. What was he like?

It was in 1991 for a show on RTE about songwriters with orchestras. I did a duet with him on “The Highwayman”. He was very nice and very humble about his talent. I was too shy to say too much to him. I was just thinking, “You wrote ‘Wichita Lineman”!’

You’re 56 but you still have the same boyish singing voice that sang “Lions In My Own Garden” in 1982. What’s your secret?

Gargling with virgins’ blood I always find helps. I think my voice is OK because I didn’t hammer it for two hours a night for 30 years. It’s a side effect of not touring. See… vindicated at last.

INTERVIEW: GARRY MULHOLLAND

Robert Fripp: “Working with Eno and Bowie was a lot of laughs. King Crimson? Not so many laughs”

Uncut
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Robert Fripp: “Working with Eno and Bowie was a lot of laughs. King Crimson? Not so many laughs”
Robert Fripp discusses the return of King Crimson in the new Uncut (dated December 2013), out now. The guitarist revealed his plans for the revitalised group, his appearance on All Star Mr & Mrs with Toyah Wilcox and recording with Brian Eno and David Bowie in Berlin. “Working with Eno and...

Robert Fripp discusses the return of King Crimson in the new Uncut (dated December 2013), out now.

The guitarist revealed his plans for the revitalised group, his appearance on All Star Mr & Mrs with Toyah Wilcox and recording with Brian Eno and David Bowie in Berlin.

“Working with Eno and Bowie was an utter joy,” explains Fripp. “The key thing was lots of laughs, which is a necessary part of the creative process. King Crimson? Not so many laughs.”

“I walked through Checkpoint Charlie with David, and on the way back he said [casually], ‘Don’t run. There’s a machine gun up there.’ That was life in West Berlin. It was on the edge. And on the edge is where an artist goes.”

The new issue of Uncut (dated December 2013) is out now.

Stevie Wonder confirms first new albums in eight years

Uncut
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Stevie Wonder confirms first new albums in eight years
Stevie Wonder has confirmed his plans to release two new albums in 2014, and is working on a third, reports AP. The albums are titled When The World Began, a collaboration with producer David Foster, and Ten Billion Hearts. He also plans to fulfil a promise he made to his mother Lula, who died in ...

Stevie Wonder has confirmed his plans to release two new albums in 2014, and is working on a third, reports AP.

The albums are titled When The World Began, a collaboration with producer David Foster, and Ten Billion Hearts.

He also plans to fulfil a promise he made to his mother Lula, who died in 2006, to record a gospel album in her memory.

When The World Began will include reworked versions of several of Wonder’s hits played with a symphony orchestra.

Meanwhile, Wonder is due to play his 1976 album Songs In The Key Of Life in its entirety on December 21 at his annual Los Angeles charity concert.

David Bowie unveils new video for ‘Love Is Lost’ plus four new songs

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David Bowie unveils new video for ‘Love Is Lost’ plus four new songs
David Bowie has released a video accompanying the James Murphy remix of "Love Is Lost". Scroll down to watch it. The 10-minute video was the video premiered during last night's Mercury Music Prize ceremony at London's Roundhouse. The origins of the video were disclosed in a post on David Bowie'...

David Bowie has released a video accompanying the James Murphy remix of “Love Is Lost”.

Scroll down to watch it.

The 10-minute video was the video premiered during last night’s Mercury Music Prize ceremony at London’s Roundhouse.

The origins of the video were disclosed in a post on David Bowie’s website:

“Last week David Bowie had an idea. His new single, ‘Love Is Lost’, was to be released this week and a video clip was needed.

“Eschewing both celebrity guests and splashy production, Bowie picked up his domestic camera from home, rescued a couple of puppets from his legendary archive and wrote, shot and edited the entire video over this last weekend in the darkened corridor of his office in Manhattan, New York.

“With his assistant Jimmy King on camera and best friend Coco Schwab handling everything from continuity to sandwiches they worked through the evenings finishing on Monday morning, sending it out to the rest of the world.

“The result of this speedy production is a strangely moving gothic inflected storyline perfect for Halloween. And the cost? Just $12.99 for the thumb drive to download the finished video on.”

Bowie has also released four new songs online. “Atomica“, “The Informer”, “Like A Rocket Man” and “Born In A UFO”, which feature on the three disc edition of his latest album, The Next Day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj1VMTdcKd0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN3p1HnLk60

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0akZ7b-5WbI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0M6oSLKeT8

James Blake wins 2013 Barclaycard Mercury Prize

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James Blake wins 2013 Barclaycard Mercury Prize
James Blake has won the 2013 Barclaycard Mercury Prize with his album Overgrown. The album, his second, was picked above competition from Arctic Monkeys, Disclosure, Villagers, Rudimental and David Bowie and the bookies favourite Laura Mvula. Upon winning the award, the 22nd Mercury Prize, he deliv...

James Blake has won the 2013 Barclaycard Mercury Prize with his album Overgrown.

The album, his second, was picked above competition from Arctic Monkeys, Disclosure, Villagers, Rudimental and David Bowie and the bookies favourite Laura Mvula. Upon winning the award, the 22nd Mercury Prize, he delivered a short speech, and said: “Thank you to my parents for showing me the importance of being independent.”

He follows in the footsteps of Primal Scream, Badly Drawn Boy, Elbow, Ms Dynamite, Roni Size, Antony & The Johnsons, Speech Debelle and Alt-J, who have all won the prize. The ceremony, presented by BBC Radio 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne, was held at London’s Roundhouse.

Laura Marling, whose fourth album Once I Was An Eagle was nominated, her third album to pick up a Mercury nod, and David Bowie, whose comeback The Next Day made the shortlist, were unable to attend the ceremony. They did both send videos to be shown at the event, however, Marling offering a video of “Master Hunter”, Bowie preferring to premiere the video of new single “Love Is Lost”, as remixed by James Murphy.

Rare Bob Dylan track appears in American TV commercial

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Rare Bob Dylan track appears in American TV commercial

A rare Bob Dylan recording has been used in a new advertisement for the Jeep Cherokee. Scroll down to watch the clip. The ad, which ran last night [October 28] on American television, uses Dylan's recording of the traditional blues standard “Motherless Children”. This particular version was recorded at New York's Gaslight Café in October, 1962. It didn't appear on the official Live at The Gaslight 1962 album, although it was recently included on the limited 50th Anniversary Collection set earlier this year. In 2007, Dylan appeared in a TV advert for a Cadillac Escalade. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_81MWUO45wc

A rare Bob Dylan recording has been used in a new advertisement for the Jeep Cherokee.

Scroll down to watch the clip.

The ad, which ran last night [October 28] on American television, uses Dylan’s recording of the traditional blues standard “Motherless Children”.

This particular version was recorded at New York’s Gaslight Café in October, 1962.

It didn’t appear on the official Live at The Gaslight 1962 album, although it was recently included on the limited 50th Anniversary Collection set earlier this year.

In 2007, Dylan appeared in a TV advert for a Cadillac Escalade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_81MWUO45wc

U2 to release limited edition single in November

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U2 to release limited edition single in November
U2 will release two new songs from the forthcoming Nelson Mandela biopic, Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom on Record Store Day's Black Friday. The two new tracks, titled "Ordinary Love" and "Breath", will be released on exclusive 10-inch vinyl on November 29, according to the official Record Store Day...

U2 will release two new songs from the forthcoming Nelson Mandela biopic, Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom on Record Store Day’s Black Friday.

The two new tracks, titled “Ordinary Love” and “Breath”, will be released on exclusive 10-inch vinyl on November 29, according to the official Record Store Day website. Modern Vinyl reports that only 10,000 copies of the release will be pressed, while the artwork for the single can be seen above.

Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones are Nirvana are also due to release records on Black Friday. Click here for the full story.

You can hear “Ordinary Love” below.

Bill Callahan announces European tour dates

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Bill Callahan announces European tour dates
Bill Callahan has announced tour dates for 2014. The dates are in support of his latest solo album, Dream River. You can read Uncut's review here. Callahan has also released a new video, for the Dream River track, "Small Plane!" Scroll down to watch it. Bill Callahan plays: January 31, Gateshea...

Bill Callahan has announced tour dates for 2014.

The dates are in support of his latest solo album, Dream River. You can read Uncut’s review here.

Callahan has also released a new video, for the Dream River track, “Small Plane!” Scroll down to watch it.

Bill Callahan plays:

January 31, Gateshead, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, United Kingdom

February 1, Glasgow, United Kingdom

February 2, Dublin, United Kingdom

February 3, Manchester, United Kingdom

February 5, Leeds, United Kingdom

February 6, Bristol, United Kingdom

February 7, London, United Kingdom

February 8, London, United Kingdom

February 9, Copenhagen, Denmark

February 10, Amsterdam, Netherlands

February 11, Brussels, Belgium

February 12, Paris, France

February 14, Cologne, Germany

February 15, Berlin, Germany

February 16, Munich, Germany

February 17, St.Gallen, Switzerland

February 18, Bologna, Italy

February 19, Lyon, France

February 21, Valladolid, Spain

February 22, Lisbon, Portugal

February 23, Porto, Portugal

February 24, Madrid, Spain

February 24, San Sebastian, Spain

February 26, Barcelona, Spain

Joni Mitchell: “I like a lot of Bob Dylan’s songs, but he’s not very musically gifted”

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Joni Mitchell: “I like a lot of Bob Dylan’s songs, but he’s not very musically gifted”
Joni Mitchell discusses her mercurial career in an exclusive to celebrate her 70th birthday, in the new issue of Uncut (dated December 2013), out now. The singer-songwriter identifies Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan as her only contemporaries, but also criticises Dylan for not being “musically gift...

Joni Mitchell discusses her mercurial career in an exclusive to celebrate her 70th birthday, in the new issue of Uncut (dated December 2013), out now.

The singer-songwriter identifies Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan as her only contemporaries, but also criticises Dylan for not being “musically gifted” and for alleged plagiarism.

“I like a lot of Bob’s songs,” says Mitchell. “Musically he’s not very gifted, he’s borrowed his voice from a lot of old hillbillies. He’s got a lot of borrowed things.”

Addressing her claim that Dylan is a “plagiarist”, Mitchell explains: “It’s not like I outed him. He stole all of his lines out of a Japanese hoodlum’s novel. There was a lawsuit impending, but it got dropped. He told me ‘I haven’t written a song in years.’ I said, ‘What’re you talking about? Who’s writing them, then?’ He came down to craft.”

She claims she’s not at all disappointed in Dylan, though, praising him for inventing “a character to deliver his songs… Because you can do things with that character. It’s a mask of sorts… To sustain a gift for a long time is rare.”

Mitchell was originally interviewed at length for the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and this will be the first time this incredible, in-depth interview has been published in print.

The new issue of Uncut (dated December 2013) is out now.

Uncut is now available as a digital edition! Download here on your iPad/iPhone and

John Lennon’s childhood home sells for £480,000

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John Lennon’s childhood home sells for £480,000

The house where John Lennon was born and raised has been sold at auction for £480,000. The property at 9 Newcastle Road in Wavertree, Liverpool was given a guide price between £150,000 and £250,000. According to a report in The Guardian, the red brick terraced house was bought by an anonymous American fan who placed the winning bid via telephone. The Guardian quotes Andrew Brown, managing director of auctioneer Countrywide Property: "There was a lot of interest in the property before the auction from potential buyers who lived in the UK and internationally. "The auction was very exciting with a number of keen buyers bidding for the property and we are delighted to have sold such an iconic piece of The Beatles and Liverpool's history." Lennon's second home, Mendips, on Menlove Avenue in Woolton received Grade II listed status in 2012.

The house where John Lennon was born and raised has been sold at auction for £480,000.

The property at 9 Newcastle Road in Wavertree, Liverpool was given a guide price between £150,000 and £250,000.

According to a report in The Guardian, the red brick terraced house was bought by an anonymous American fan who placed the winning bid via telephone.

The Guardian quotes Andrew Brown, managing director of auctioneer Countrywide Property: “There was a lot of interest in the property before the auction from potential buyers who lived in the UK and internationally.

“The auction was very exciting with a number of keen buyers bidding for the property and we are delighted to have sold such an iconic piece of The Beatles and Liverpool’s history.”

Lennon’s second home, Mendips, on Menlove Avenue in Woolton received Grade II listed status in 2012.

Beck to release new album Morning Phase in February

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Beck to release new album Morning Phase in February
Beck has announced plans to release his new album Morning Phase in February 2014. He has signed a new deal with Capitol Records and will release his 12th album with the label early next year. Morning Phase is Beck's first album in six years, coming after Modern Guilt in 2008. The album is described...

Beck has announced plans to release his new album Morning Phase in February 2014.

He has signed a new deal with Capitol Records and will release his 12th album with the label early next year. Morning Phase is Beck’s first album in six years, coming after Modern Guilt in 2008. The album is described as being a “companion piece” to the largely acoustic Sea Change, released in 2002, and will include a number of guest stars.

Confirmed names set to appear on Morning Phase include Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Joey Waronker, Smokey Hormel, Roger Joseph Manning Jr, and Jason Falkner. A press release comparing the album to Sea Change discusses how it, “harkens back to the stunning harmonies, songcraft and staggering emotional impact of that record, while surging forward with infectious optimism”.

The Who to record new material next year?

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The Who to record new material next year?
Roger Daltrey has suggested The Who might record new material next year, while also played down reports that a proposed Who tour in 2015 will be their last. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Daltrey said, "That will be the last big tour. People have read that wrong though. We aren't finishing after that. ...

Roger Daltrey has suggested The Who might record new material next year, while also played down reports that a proposed Who tour in 2015 will be their last.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Daltrey said, “That will be the last big tour. People have read that wrong though. We aren’t finishing after that. We intend to go on doing music until we drop, but we have to be realistic about our age. The touring is incredibly grinding on the body and we have to draw a line in the sand somewhere. This will be the last old-fashioned, big tour.”

Asked whether the band will dig deep into their back catalogue to play some rarer cuts, Daltrey confirmed that the shows would focus on The Who‘s substantial catalogue of hits. “People don’t want new stuff,” says Daltrey. “The fans might want that, but most people that want to come to a show want to hear what they grew up with. Let’s not kid ourselves. We will always sell more tickets if we play the hits. That’s a fact. The economics of the road, obviously, demand that you sell a lot of tickets… There might be 40,000 total people in America who want to hear ‘Slip Kid.’ That won’t be enough to put us on the road.”

In perhaps the biggest revelation, Daltrey claimed: “We’re hoping to do an album. If we play any of those songs, we’ll have to do them in separate shows and announce that ahead of time. If people want to buy those tickets in great numbers, fabulous.”

You can read a new interview with Daltrey and Pete Townshend here.

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