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Elton John – The Diving Board

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Elton John – The Diving Board

The rocket man returns to his very best on 30th LP... Combining intimacy and extroversion, immediacy and reflection, in a way only accessible to a performer able to tweak one's tearducts whilst wearing a lavishly embroidered, gold-lamé general's costume, The Diving Board may be the best album of Elton John's entire career. Clearly reinvigorated by The Union, his 2010 collaboration with Leon Russell, Elton hooked up again with producer T-Bone Burnett for a veritable blizzard of work. In three days, he and Taupin had written eleven songs, the bulk of which were recorded virtually live in the studio in just five days with a typical T-Bone crack team designed to re-focus the star on a basic piano trio format, with the peerless Jay Bellerose bringing snap, punch and roll to the grooves, and Raphael Saadiq lacing expansive basslines through the songs. Around these core tracks, further colouration is provided by keyboardist Keefus Ciancia, Motown percussionist Jack Ashford, and Doyle Bramhall II and Burnett on guitars. It's a supple, flexible crew more than capable of bending to accommodate whatever style and emphasis is demanded from Elton's best collection of songs and stories in ages, an anthology in which threads of maturity, melancholy, sympathy and insight are braided into a strong, compelling rope that pulls the listener from the opening valediction of "Oceans Away" to the closing rumination of "The Diving Board". In the former, he adopts a smart, in places almost military, inflection to pay tribute to old soldiers haunted by fallen friends, "the ones who hold onto the ones they have to leave behind", a respectful acknowledgement of duty discharged. By contrast, the latter deals waspishly with the modern fascination with empty celebrity, a talent-show lottery culture which places its supposed winners high up on the diving board - a place from where "you see it all", but which equally exposes your every move and mistake to public gaze. With Elton's bluesy delivery tinted with subdued horns, it's Ray Charles crossed with Randy Newman. In between these poles reside a host of characters struggling to find their rightful place, their due respect, their heart's ease: from the would-be poet of "My Quicksand", long since sucked into a corrosive lifestyle, and the Depression-era dance-contestants of "The New Fever Waltz", to the blind black musician of "Ballad Of Blind Tom", using his instinctive gift to both lubricate his way through life, and bring more intangible aesthetic satisfaction. Several tracks hint back to Elton's early career, with both the dustbowl odyssey "Town Called Jubilee" and the gospel number "Take This Dirty Water" throwbacks to Tumbleweed Connection territory. Leon Russell's influence is reflected in the frisky, rumbustious R&B piano of "Mexican Vacation", while the shadow of David Ackles, an important model for the John/Taupin songwriting style, falls across "Voyeur", once considered as the album's title-track. It's a sombre work dealing with the way that we seek respite from adversity and melancholy, wars political and emotional, in the temporary solace of snatched liaisons, where "a whisper in the dark is holding more truth than a shout". Elsewhere, the jaunty country-pop plaint "Can't Stay Alone Tonight" deals in more optimistic manner with the same theme of estrangement covered in "Home Again". One of the album's highlights, the latter confronts the need to leave, and the desire to return, against a bleak piano soundscape whipped by wispy, wind-like synth noise, the homesick protagonist regretting "all this time I spent being someone else's friend". Another standout is "Oscar Wilde Gets Out", in which the writer's flight from Reading Gaol to France is borne on a compelling piano setting whose momentum evokes both furtive escape and decisive break, driven along by the restrained slap-punch of Bellerose's drums. It's also one of Taupin's best lyrics, blending regret and fond reminiscence with the bitter sting of humiliation, Wilde compared to "the head of John The Baptist in the arms of Salome". Punctuated by three piano miniatures, "Dream #1, #2 and #3", which serve as palate-cleansing sorbets between sharp changes of mood and direction, it's an impressively strong set of songs, diverse in both lyrical themes and musical styles, and delivered with a confident range of drama and empathy by a "heritage" act resolutely refusing to rest on his laurels, an artist secure in his abilities - and, yes, in his continuing relevance. Andy Gill Q&A ELTON JOHN How did these sessions work? “On the first three days of recording, in 2012, we wrote 11 songs. All the tracks on the first session were done in five days. We went back this year and Bernie wrote some additional lyrics. I chose four and they were written and recorded in two days.†You continue to work prolifically with Bernie Taupin… “The great advantage of having Bernie as a lyricist is he’s a very cinematic writer. I get a piece of paper [from him] and it has as story on it. Then I sit down at the keyboard…and because the story he’s telling affects what I’m hearing…something comes out. I don’t know what it is. It’s as exciting as it was when I wrote the first melody to his first lyric, way back in 1967." Tell me about working with T Bone Burnett. “When you’ve got musicians like these guys behind you, it’s so exciting. This was done, more or less, live. That’s the way I used to record. In the old days, with the Elton John album [1970] we were recording live with an orchestra, and I was terrified. But it’s the way to do it. And that’s the way T-Bone does it, he assembles this great group of musicians, and hence things don’t take five or six months.â€

The rocket man returns to his very best on 30th LP…

Combining intimacy and extroversion, immediacy and reflection, in a way only accessible to a performer able to tweak one’s tearducts whilst wearing a lavishly embroidered, gold-lamé general’s costume, The Diving Board may be the best album of Elton John’s entire career.

Clearly reinvigorated by The Union, his 2010 collaboration with Leon Russell, Elton hooked up again with producer T-Bone Burnett for a veritable blizzard of work. In three days, he and Taupin had written eleven songs, the bulk of which were recorded virtually live in the studio in just five days with a typical T-Bone crack team designed to re-focus the star on a basic piano trio format, with the peerless Jay Bellerose bringing snap, punch and roll to the grooves, and Raphael Saadiq lacing expansive basslines through the songs. Around these core tracks, further colouration is provided by keyboardist Keefus Ciancia, Motown percussionist Jack Ashford, and Doyle Bramhall II and Burnett on guitars.

It’s a supple, flexible crew more than capable of bending to accommodate whatever style and emphasis is demanded from Elton’s best collection of songs and stories in ages, an anthology in which threads of maturity, melancholy, sympathy and insight are braided into a strong, compelling rope that pulls the listener from the opening valediction of “Oceans Away” to the closing rumination of “The Diving Board“. In the former, he adopts a smart, in places almost military, inflection to pay tribute to old soldiers haunted by fallen friends, “the ones who hold onto the ones they have to leave behind”, a respectful acknowledgement of duty discharged. By contrast, the latter deals waspishly with the modern fascination with empty celebrity, a talent-show lottery culture which places its supposed winners high up on the diving board – a place from where “you see it all”, but which equally exposes your every move and mistake to public gaze. With Elton’s bluesy delivery tinted with subdued horns, it’s Ray Charles crossed with Randy Newman.

In between these poles reside a host of characters struggling to find their rightful place, their due respect, their heart’s ease: from the would-be poet of “My Quicksand”, long since sucked into a corrosive lifestyle, and the Depression-era dance-contestants of “The New Fever Waltz”, to the blind black musician of “Ballad Of Blind Tom“, using his instinctive gift to both lubricate his way through life, and bring more intangible aesthetic satisfaction. Several tracks hint back to Elton’s early career, with both the dustbowl odyssey “Town Called Jubilee” and the gospel number “Take This Dirty Water” throwbacks to Tumbleweed Connection territory.

Leon Russell‘s influence is reflected in the frisky, rumbustious R&B piano of “Mexican Vacation”, while the shadow of David Ackles, an important model for the John/Taupin songwriting style, falls across “Voyeur”, once considered as the album’s title-track. It’s a sombre work dealing with the way that we seek respite from adversity and melancholy, wars political and emotional, in the temporary solace of snatched liaisons, where “a whisper in the dark is holding more truth than a shout”.

Elsewhere, the jaunty country-pop plaint “Can’t Stay Alone Tonight” deals in more optimistic manner with the same theme of estrangement covered in “Home Again”. One of the album’s highlights, the latter confronts the need to leave, and the desire to return, against a bleak piano soundscape whipped by wispy, wind-like synth noise, the homesick protagonist regretting “all this time I spent being someone else’s friend”. Another standout is “Oscar Wilde Gets Out“, in which the writer’s flight from Reading Gaol to France is borne on a compelling piano setting whose momentum evokes both furtive escape and decisive break, driven along by the restrained slap-punch of Bellerose’s drums. It’s also one of Taupin’s best lyrics, blending regret and fond reminiscence with the bitter sting of humiliation, Wilde compared to “the head of John The Baptist in the arms of Salome”.

Punctuated by three piano miniatures, “Dream #1, #2 and #3”, which serve as palate-cleansing sorbets between sharp changes of mood and direction, it’s an impressively strong set of songs, diverse in both lyrical themes and musical styles, and delivered with a confident range of drama and empathy by a “heritage” act resolutely refusing to rest on his laurels, an artist secure in his abilities – and, yes, in his continuing relevance.

Andy Gill

Q&A

ELTON JOHN

How did these sessions work?

“On the first three days of recording, in 2012, we wrote 11 songs. All the tracks on the first session were done in five days. We went back this year and Bernie wrote some additional lyrics. I chose four and they were written and recorded in two days.â€

You continue to work prolifically with Bernie Taupin…

“The great advantage of having Bernie as a lyricist is he’s a very cinematic writer. I get a piece of paper [from him] and it has as story on it. Then I sit down at the keyboard…and because the story he’s telling affects what I’m hearing…something comes out. I don’t know what it is. It’s as exciting as it was when I wrote the first melody to his first lyric, way back in 1967.”

Tell me about working with T Bone Burnett.

“When you’ve got musicians like these guys behind you, it’s so exciting. This was done, more or less, live. That’s the way I used to record. In the old days, with the Elton John album [1970] we were recording live with an orchestra, and I was terrified. But it’s the way to do it. And that’s the way T-Bone does it, he assembles this great group of musicians, and hence things don’t take five or six months.â€

Ginger Baker on The Rolling Stones: “They’re not good musicians”

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Ginger Baker on The Rolling Stones: “They’re not good musicians”
Ginger Baker has criticised The Rolling Stones. Interviewed by Rolling Stone during his current run of dates at New York's Iridium Jazz Club, Baker is asked what he thinks of the Stones' playing these days. "Charlie [Watts] is a great friend of mine. I think the world of Charlie. When I was livin...

Ginger Baker has criticised The Rolling Stones.

Interviewed by Rolling Stone during his current run of dates at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club, Baker is asked what he thinks of the Stones’ playing these days. “Charlie [Watts] is a great friend of mine. I think the world of Charlie. When I was living in the States, Charlie came to see me at my house and he said, ‘I’d give you some tickets but I know you would never go!’ I won’t go within 10 miles of a Rolling Stones gig.”

When asked why, he says: “They’re not good musicians, that’s why. The best musician in the Stones is Charlie by a country mile.”

In the interview, Baker is also asked whether he is a fan of The Who. “No,” he replies. “I knew Pete Townshend’s dad better than I knew Pete Townshend. I worked with Pete Townshend’s dad in the early Sixties and late Fifties. Keith Moon was a friend of mine but I wouldn’t say he was a great drummer.”

You can read the full interview here.

Arcade Fire to play secret shows this coming weekend?

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Arcade Fire to play secret shows this coming weekend?
Arcade Fire are rumoured to be playing two secret gigs this coming weekend (October 19-20) in New York. As the Arcade Fire Tube Twitter account has pointed out, posters bearing the name The Reflektors – the name the band went under for their surprise shows in Montreal last month – have begun sp...

Arcade Fire are rumoured to be playing two secret gigs this coming weekend (October 19-20) in New York.

As the Arcade Fire Tube Twitter account has pointed out, posters bearing the name The Reflektors – the name the band went under for their surprise shows in Montreal last month – have begun springing up in Brooklyn.

No venue has been announced so far, but, just like their previous secret shows, fans have been asked to wear formal attire or costume to the gig.

Meanwhile, Arcade Fire have teased new track “Awful Sound (Oh Eurydice)” in a short video. The 34-second clip, which you can watch by scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking ‘play’, shows the band recording in the studio along with footage of Haiti. There is no singing in the clip, just a warm droning sound.

David Byrne criticises music streaming sites

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David Byrne criticises music streaming sites
David Byrne has laid into online music streaming sites in a new opinion piece. In the blog, which was published by The Guardian, Byrne says that the 'pittance' paid by sites such as Spotify to artists means that new and upcoming musicians won't be able to survive without supplementing their income ...

David Byrne has laid into online music streaming sites in a new opinion piece.

In the blog, which was published by The Guardian, Byrne says that the ‘pittance’ paid by sites such as Spotify to artists means that new and upcoming musicians won’t be able to survive without supplementing their income in other ways and focusing less on making music.

Byrne writes: “I could conceivably survive, as I don’t rely on the pittance that comes my way from music streaming, as could [Thom] Yorke and some of the others. But up-and-coming artists don’t have that advantage – some haven’t got to the point where they can make a living on live performances and licensing, so what do they think of these services?”

He added: “What’s at stake is not so much the survival of artists like me, but that of emerging artists and those who have only a few records under their belts (such as St Vincent, my current touring partner, who is not exactly an unknown). Many musicians like her, who seem to be well established, well known and very talented, will eventually have to find employment elsewhere or change what they do to make more money. Without new artists coming up, our future as a musical culture looks grim.” Read the full piece here.

In another blog post earlier this week David Byrne claimed that the wealthiest section of New York’s population has crushed the city’s creative energy. He expressed his feelings in another opinion piece published by The Guardian. In the article, Byrne said he fears that New York is becoming increasingly dictated by wealth and not culture, adding that he will leave the city if he perceives that is is getting worse.

Crosby, Stills And Nash, London Royal Albert Hall, October 11, 2013

Michael Bonner
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Crosby, Stills And Nash, London Royal Albert Hall, October 11, 2013

There are two attempts early on to get the audience to sing along: one works, one doesn’t. During “Military Madnessâ€, Graham Nash tries unsuccessfully to encourage the audience to join in on his chant of “No more warâ€. A little while later, however, he’s got the entire Albert Hall singing cheerfully with him on “Our Houseâ€, which even leads to the first standing ovation of the night. There are two sides to CSN – the trenchant anti-war campaigners and the spinners of intricate folk rock harmonies – but clearly tonight’s audience seem more inclined towards a gentle trip down memory lane, enlivened by some light banter between the key players along the way. The banter is good, incidentally, at this third and final night of the band's Albert Hall shows. David Crosby calls “Bluebird†by Buffalo Springfield “a song from my childhoodâ€; having ceded the spotlight to his bandmates for a couple of consecutive songs Stephen Stills mutters “It’s still my turn†into his microphone; Nash berates Stills for not being rehearsed enough. It’s all good-natured, and there’s even something faintly democratic in the way they take it in turns to gang up against one other. Like a superhero team-up, each member of the band comes equipped with his own distinct set of strengths. Stephen Stills – at 68, the youngest member of the band – brings with him formidable guitar skills. His fiery solo on “Southern Cross†and the psychedelic riffs of “Bluebird†are both amazing; his voice, although shot in places, still has a warm, caramel quality to it. Barefooted and slightly earnest, Graham Nash is quick to hug Stills after a particularly successful solo, or praise Crosby’s harmonics. His voice is in the best condition of the three. For all his bonhomie, there’s something kind of unreadable about David Crosby. “I write the weird shit,†admits the man behind “Déjà Vuâ€. He debuts a song from his upcoming album whose sloping basslines and jazzy inflections call to mind Hejira-era Joni Mitchell. Talking of new songs, they all seem to have a couple in the back pocket. Here’s one Stills started playing the other day at soundcheck, here’s a little number Nash knocked out in Paris… and on they go. While there’s admirable sentiment at the heart of “Burning For The Buddha†– Nash’s new song about the self-immolation of Tibetan monks – musically it feels less successful, closer to a generic Eighties’ soft rock number than any of the more elegant compositions we hear elsewhere tonight. Meanwhile, the slow jam of Stills’ “Don’t Want Liesâ€, taken from his Rides album, fares better here than it did on that record where it was overwhelmed by Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s bloos rawk work-outs. In the end, they cover an impressive 28 songs in three hours, with the set divided into two halves. For the first, we get a run through some career highs, starting with “Carry On†and ending with a roaring “Love The One You’re Withâ€. The second half sees CSN play their 1969 debut album in its entirety. Such is the deathless nature of that material that the harmonies of “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes†are rapturous, the space between filled by Stills’ delicate guitar lines, Crosby’s “Guinnevere†and Nash’s “Lady Of The Island†still carry their tender beauty. CSN were always at their peak with these graceful compositions, wafted along on their harmonies and some light acoustic guitar, and this is the very best part of the night. An encore rounds things up with three Nash songs, and one each from Crosby and Stills. I suppose I have a tendency to overlook CSN - my preference is for the Y in that particular grouping of musicians. But tonight underlines the very specific qualities each of them has, and demonstrates amply that although they can't quite reach the high notes every time any more, there is still an ineffable magic to their combined voices. There's a refreshing, twinkly-eyed vitality, too, about the way in which they go about their business. Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner. CSN played: Carry On/Questions Military Madness Just A Song Southern Cross Lay Me Down Radio Our House Burning For The Buddha Don’t Want Lies Olympia/Golden Days Bluebird Déjà Vu Love The One You’re With Suite: Judy Blue Eyes Marrakesh Express Guinnevere You Don’t Have To Cry Pre-Road Downs Wooden Ships Lady Of The Island Helplessly Hoping Long Time Gone 49 Bye-Byes Cathedral Almost Cut My Hair Chicago For What It’s Worth Teach Your Children Photo credit: Buzz Person

There are two attempts early on to get the audience to sing along: one works, one doesn’t. During “Military Madnessâ€, Graham Nash tries unsuccessfully to encourage the audience to join in on his chant of “No more warâ€. A little while later, however, he’s got the entire Albert Hall singing cheerfully with him on “Our Houseâ€, which even leads to the first standing ovation of the night. There are two sides to CSN – the trenchant anti-war campaigners and the spinners of intricate folk rock harmonies – but clearly tonight’s audience seem more inclined towards a gentle trip down memory lane, enlivened by some light banter between the key players along the way.

The banter is good, incidentally, at this third and final night of the band’s Albert Hall shows. David Crosby calls “Bluebird†by Buffalo Springfield “a song from my childhoodâ€; having ceded the spotlight to his bandmates for a couple of consecutive songs Stephen Stills mutters “It’s still my turn†into his microphone; Nash berates Stills for not being rehearsed enough. It’s all good-natured, and there’s even something faintly democratic in the way they take it in turns to gang up against one other. Like a superhero team-up, each member of the band comes equipped with his own distinct set of strengths. Stephen Stills – at 68, the youngest member of the band – brings with him formidable guitar skills. His fiery solo on “Southern Cross†and the psychedelic riffs of “Bluebird†are both amazing; his voice, although shot in places, still has a warm, caramel quality to it. Barefooted and slightly earnest, Graham Nash is quick to hug Stills after a particularly successful solo, or praise Crosby’s harmonics. His voice is in the best condition of the three. For all his bonhomie, there’s something kind of unreadable about David Crosby. “I write the weird shit,†admits the man behind “Déjà Vuâ€. He debuts a song from his upcoming album whose sloping basslines and jazzy inflections call to mind Hejira-era Joni Mitchell.

Talking of new songs, they all seem to have a couple in the back pocket. Here’s one Stills started playing the other day at soundcheck, here’s a little number Nash knocked out in Paris… and on they go. While there’s admirable sentiment at the heart of “Burning For The Buddha†– Nash’s new song about the self-immolation of Tibetan monks – musically it feels less successful, closer to a generic Eighties’ soft rock number than any of the more elegant compositions we hear elsewhere tonight. Meanwhile, the slow jam of Stills’ “Don’t Want Liesâ€, taken from his Rides album, fares better here than it did on that record where it was overwhelmed by Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s bloos rawk work-outs.

In the end, they cover an impressive 28 songs in three hours, with the set divided into two halves. For the first, we get a run through some career highs, starting with “Carry On†and ending with a roaring “Love The One You’re Withâ€. The second half sees CSN play their 1969 debut album in its entirety. Such is the deathless nature of that material that the harmonies of “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes†are rapturous, the space between filled by Stills’ delicate guitar lines, Crosby’s “Guinnevere†and Nash’s “Lady Of The Island†still carry their tender beauty. CSN were always at their peak with these graceful compositions, wafted along on their harmonies and some light acoustic guitar, and this is the very best part of the night. An encore rounds things up with three Nash songs, and one each from Crosby and Stills.

I suppose I have a tendency to overlook CSN – my preference is for the Y in that particular grouping of musicians. But tonight underlines the very specific qualities each of them has, and demonstrates amply that although they can’t quite reach the high notes every time any more, there is still an ineffable magic to their combined voices. There’s a refreshing, twinkly-eyed vitality, too, about the way in which they go about their business.

Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner.

CSN played:

Carry On/Questions

Military Madness

Just A Song

Southern Cross

Lay Me Down

Radio

Our House

Burning For The Buddha

Don’t Want Lies

Olympia/Golden Days

Bluebird

Déjà Vu

Love The One You’re With

Suite: Judy Blue Eyes

Marrakesh Express

Guinnevere

You Don’t Have To Cry

Pre-Road Downs

Wooden Ships

Lady Of The Island

Helplessly Hoping

Long Time Gone

49 Bye-Byes

Cathedral

Almost Cut My Hair

Chicago

For What It’s Worth

Teach Your Children

Photo credit: Buzz Person

The Rolling Stones planning a 2014 world tour?

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The Rolling Stones planning a 2014 world tour?

Ronnie Wood has revealed that the Rolling Stones are planning a world tour for 2014. According to The Sun, Wood revealed that the band will get together in February next year for another run of shows. The band's last gigs were in July this year (2013), when they played two sold-out headline dates at London's Hyde Park. However, a band spokesperson has revealed to NME that there are "no firm plans yet". "While the big wheel is rolling we are going to capture it before it stops totally," he told the paper. He added that the band were overwhelmed by the reaction to their 50th anniversary gigs, which included their debut performance at Glastonbury festival. "Everybody had a smile on their face, which was brilliant," he said.

Ronnie Wood has revealed that the Rolling Stones are planning a world tour for 2014.

According to The Sun, Wood revealed that the band will get together in February next year for another run of shows. The band’s last gigs were in July this year (2013), when they played two sold-out headline dates at London’s Hyde Park. However, a band spokesperson has revealed to NME that there are “no firm plans yet”.

“While the big wheel is rolling we are going to capture it before it stops totally,” he told the paper. He added that the band were overwhelmed by the reaction to their 50th anniversary gigs, which included their debut performance at Glastonbury festival. “Everybody had a smile on their face, which was brilliant,” he said.

An Audience With… Sinéad O’Connor

John Lewis
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An Audience With… Sinéad O’Connor
Following the sad news that Sinéad O'Connor has passed away, here in tribute is a piece from the Uncut archive (March 2013, Take 190), where she answers questions from fans and famous admirers… ___________ “If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last year, it’s to keep my lo...

Following the sad news that Sinéad O’Connor has passed away, here in tribute is a piece from the Uncut archive (March 2013, Take 190), where she answers questions from fans and famous admirers…

___________

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last year, it’s to keep my love life to myself,†says Sinéad O’Connor. She’s referring to a surreal series of events just over a year ago, which culminated in a very public courtship and a marriage in Las Vegas to her fourth husband. “It started off with three articles I wrote [for the Irish Independent] about wanting to find a boyfriend,†she says. “They were funny, but the way they were reported made me sound like a mental case…â€

After a “minor breakdownâ€, O’Connor is back touring with an “unplugged†band. She’s also given up Twitter (“lawyers and trolls are all over it, it’s not rock’n’roll anymoreâ€), is taking guitar lessons (“I wanna play like Big Mama Thorntonâ€) and still reading voraciously about theology. Over a long interview she’s refreshingly unguarded and hilariously coarse: a 7,000-word transcript includes 62 fucks, 38 shits and a dozen cunts.

___________

You’ve always been effortlessly fucking cool, man. How do you manage that?

Liam Gallagher

Oh, that’s sweet. I’ve never seen myself as cool, but I’m flattered. Actually, Liam’s brother Noel once asked me to marry him, just before he married Meg Mathews. He won’t remember, as he was off his face at a festival in Amsterdam. I am so glad to hear from Liam because I, as a mammy, am not happy that him and his brother aren’t getting along well, and their poor mammy must be very upset. Tell Liam I love him and his brother and I’d like them to get on with each other. Do it for mammy’s sake, yer feckers!

More than two decades ago you raised the scandal of child abuse being covered up within the Catholic Church. It would appear you’ve now been vindicated. Has anyone apologised to you about this?

Peter, Uppsala, Sweden

Well, I’m the last person who needs an apology. There are thousands of victims who need apologies first. For the representatives of Jesus Christ to stand up and say lies in the presence of the Holy Spirit, lies about the rape of small boys and girls, is a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which is unforgiveable. I get sick of all these rock stars – like Bono – thanking God for their Grammys, but when there’s a pitched battle for the honour of God, there’s tumbleweed. Apparently, I’ve been excommunicated by the Catholic Church, but the only place you find this is in L’Osservatore Romano, their newspaper which no other fucker reads. I want my excommunication in the form of a certificate! I’ve been tweeting

Pope Benedict about this. Give me something to show my grandkids!

Why have protest songs dropped out of the repertoire for new acts?

Matt Elliott, Auckland, NZ

Part of it died with the murder of John Lennon. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks Lennon was shot as he showed how dangerous pop music could be. But, nowadays, I lay the blame with the likes of Louis Walsh, Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole. All that lot need to be taken to court for crimes against music. You rarely hear people say: “I wanna be a musician.†It’s all, “I wanna be famous.†Because fuckers like Cowell are showing people how to worship fame and money. You don’t get famous on X Factor unless you’re a great cocksucker. And that means you don’t stick your head above the parapet and sing protest songs.

At the Dylan 30th anniversary tribute concert in 1992, you were booed offstage for making an anti-Vatican statement, and seemed quite shattered as you were led offstage by Kris Kristofferson. What happened backstage right after that?

Fred Wolno, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Half the audience were cheering, half were booing, which is a strange sound. I’m highly affected by sound, and it was making me want to vomit. So, when Kris helped me offstage, I was trying to suppress the urge to vomit over him… a bit of a headfuck. And I still remember dear old Booker T – who’s now a great friend – on the piano, getting ready to play the Dylan song. But my version involved whispering it, and the noise was too loud. So I just shouted the lyrics to Bob Marley’s “War†instead. Willie Nelson was waiting backstage. He’s a very funny character, who’d previously trained me how to transport weed across county lines! He’d also asked me to record a version of Peter Gabriel’s “Don’t Give Up†the next day. So when Kris led me offstage, Willie came up and whispered: “You’re still coming in the studio tomorrow, right?†Ha ha! And we went off and had a spliff.

If you could go back in time to see any artist perform, who would it be, where and when?

Justin Adams

Aw, Justin is the best guitarist I’ve ever shared a stage with! And, as he’ll understand, I’d like to go and see Chuck Berry perform a gig he did for the BBC in London in 1972. There’s footage on YouTube, and it’s the best gig I’ve ever seen. I thought, this guy is an absolute angel, I have to go and thank him. Actually, I tried to meet him recently, it was all arranged and he didn’t show up, ’cos the poor guy is kind of old and he forgot. But I got to give him a painting I made for him. He’s still playing gigs once a month in St Louis at the age of 87!

Just curious, if you’re really “Mrs John Grantâ€, how come you been whoring around with all them other slack-jawed troglodytes?

John Grant

Ha! I guested on John’s album and he asked how I’d like to be credited, and we decided on “Mrs John Grantâ€. Sadly, John is gay. If he wasn’t, I’d lap him up. I’ve tried to talk him out of being gay, but he’s not having it. John and I are the best of friends, and we are the male and female equivalent of each other, it’s the weirdest thing. An extraordinarily talented musician and songwriter, and genuinely like a brother to me. And he likes to be insulting to any man I’m whoring around with but, sadly, I have the wrong equipment for John. I’m here, John, I’m all oiled up and ready for you. I even look like a boy.

You took part in the 1991 production of The Wall in Berlin. What was Roger Waters like?

Alex Reardon, Risca, South Wales

I cannot bear Roger Waters, and I’ll tell you why. Hundreds of thousands of people spent a week’s wages, if not nearly a month’s, for what’s billed as a live show. The day before, they rehearsed all the lights and the explosions and pyrotechnics and all the wankdom you wouldn’t need if you had confidence in the music. They tell us that they’re recording the soundcheck, just so they can practise again later with the lights. So the next day, I go on stage to sing live – and this happened to a number of artists – and my mic is not working. And on comes a playback of yesterday’s recording. So I’m forced to stand there and mime. I don’t like lying to an audience so, as soon as I got offstage, I saw Roger and chased the cunt to beat the shit out of him. He was quite agile, as I remember.

What did you know of Prince’s music before you recorded “Nothing Compares 2 U†and did you ever meet him?

Simon Banwell, Berlin, Germany

I loved his music, but I had absolutely no idea or expectation that that single would be such a big hit, not at all. Did I ever meet Prince? I did and, again, we didn’t like each other. At all. Ha ha! I’m not going to go into it, but we detest each other, even more than me and Roger Waters. It got violent too, which is why I can’t go into it, but it is a very funny story. I’ll tell it when I’m an old lady and I write my book.

For someone who has been so critical of belief systems, what is the appeal of Rastafarianism?

Dan Ellis, Cambridge

I must correct you – it’s Rastafari, not Rastafarianism. It’s not a religion, it’s an anti-religious movement with no “ismsâ€, one that believes in the presence of a living God. I’m a bit of a sponge regarding religion, I soak up the useful bits of everything, but Rastafari has helped focus me as a human being and as an artist. I also love the fact that they see music as a priesthood. There are a lot of myths about Rastafari. It’s not, in my experience, anti-female. Yes, there are silly beliefs. I laugh at the homophobic aspect of it. I confront Rastas when they’re being homophobic, but I also just laugh and point out how silly they are. There are silly beliefs within all cultures and organisations, but if we were to reject something because some aspects are laughable, then we’d reject everything, including ourselves. Parts of me are ridiculous, but I don’t reject myself!

What was Nellee Hooper like to work with?

Yannis, Foals

For some reason, which is totally unreasonable on both our halves, we just didn’t warm to each other. It’s often hard for two very shy people to bond, creatively. He’s a nice guy, and I felt bad about it. We weren’t left alone in the studio, just me and him, which I now realise is crucial for any creative partnership to work. We just did that one song – “Nothing Compares 2 U†– and never worked together again. I loved his stuff with Soul II Soul and Massive Attack and all that, and I would have liked to have done more stuff with him in that territory.

Have you read Anthony Kiedis’ Scar Tissue, and what’s your take on his chapter on you?

Brad Voegel, San Diego, California, USA

Ah, dear old Anthony from the Chili Peppers, or Walter Mitty as I call him. He claims there was some romance between us. Which is absolutely untrue. I hung out with the guy for a few weeks. He thinks he’s God’s gift to women, and I think he had it in his head that I fancied him, which I utterly didn’t. One day, Jake, my son, who was then about three, was very ill, and Anthony gave us a lift to hospital. Which was very kind of him. Then, inside the hospital, Anthony made a bit of a pass at me. I thought it a bit inappropriate to grope me given that I was distressed and upset about my son, and I did lose my fucking head at him. And, as for his claims that he kissed me, it must have been some other bald bitch, ’cos it certainly wasn’t me. I’d have to wash my mouth out A LOT if I did anything like that, for fuck’s sake!

The Beach Boys – Made In California

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The Beach Boys – Made In California

Hits, rarities and more - the two sides of The Beach Boys laid bare in extensive box set... It has been the Beach Boys’ habit to confound those ready to predict their demise. Despite functioning (or, at times, dysfunctioning) largely as a de-luxe oldies act since before the Reagan presidency, there have been occasional glimmers of creativity throughout the latter stages of their career, with perhaps the biggest surprise coming last year, when they marked their 50th anniversary not just with a 73-concert tour featuring all surviving original members but with an album of new material that was at worst tolerable and at best excellent. But there are, of course, two groups called the Beach Boys: the celestial choir that first caught the ear with the stained-glass harmonies of hits from “Surfer Girl†to “God Only Knowsâ€, and a second outfit that emerged much later, a group whose voices (like those of The Band) came together as individual sounds, each with its own grain, rubbing against each other to create little abrasions that mirrored the internal tensions of an institution frequently riven by disputes but held together by bonds of blood and commerce. That second group began to show itself when Brian Wilson’s soaring falsetto lost its unblemished purity and Dennis Wilson, the youngest of the three brothers, stepped out from behind the drum kit with his own songs and his hoarsely compelling lead vocals. The personalities of each member came into clearer focus: they were not, after all, merely five indistinguishable versions of the same person. Their music became even more interesting, if much less predictable and consistent. As time goes by, that phenomenon becomes easier to identify and appreciate. Twenty years ago, with Dennis already 10 years in his grave, a box set titled Good Vibrations marked the group’s 30th anniversary, assembling the hits alongside a substantial quantity of rare material. Since then much has happened, notably the death from cancer of Carl Wilson in 1998, the rebirth of Brian’s public career -- symbolised by the triumphant 2004 restoration of the lost masterpiece Smile -- and the atomisation of the core group into at least three performing units. Made In California, compiled to celebrate last year’s golden jubilee, offers – in the words of Mike Love – “a window into all the various eras of the Beach Boys and a peek into things that were less well known or simply unreleased.†Inevitably depleted by previous raids, the vault of unseen treasure will nevertheless continue to yield gems and new perspectives for a few more anniversaries yet. If Mike Love’s 1979 composition “Going to the Beach†is a trifle to please only the most undeveloped palate, the many treats for the hard core include glorious acapella mixes of Sunflower’s “This Whole World†and “Slip on Throughâ€, the sumptuous instrumental track from Glen Campbell’s “Guess I’m Dumb†(recorded during the Beach Boys Today! sessions), Dennis’s unreleased and epically yearning “(Wouldn’t It Be Nice to) Live Againâ€, “Don’t Worry, Baby†with an alternate (and slightly inferior) lead vocal, three excellent and previously unheard Phil Spector covers -- “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’†(with Brian’s lead vocal) from the Beach Boys Love You sessions in 1976, Carl singing “Da Doo Ron Ron†from 1979 and Brian and Mike duetting on “Why Don’t They Let Us Fall in Love†from 1980 – and excellent unreleased versions of “Soul Searchin’†and “You’re Still a Mysteryâ€, produced by Brian, Andy Paley and Don Was in 1995. A selection of live tracks is highlighted by three songs -- “Wendyâ€, “When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)†and “Hushabye†-- recorded at the BBC in 1964, during their first UK visit, and by an exquisite version of “Only With You†from Carnegie Hall in 1972, just prior to the release of Holland, with Carl and Dennis sharing the lead on what may be the loveliest of all the group’s songs. The hits are here, of course, from “Surfin’†in 1962 to “Kokomo†in 1988, but some of their most startling material has always been found down the back of the sofa, among such relatively unconsidered trifles as “In The Back of My Mind†(from The Beach Boys Today!), with its still-astonishing orchestral arrangement, and “Angel Come Homeâ€, a song written by Carl with his occasional collaborator Geoffrey Cushing-Murray, sung by Dennis and left to languish on the 1979 collection titled L.A. (Light Album). In those two songs, recorded 15 years apart, the second of the two bands called the Beach Boys stands revealed: one capable of the most beautifully textured and exquisitely pain-racked white soul music ever made. Richard Williams Q&A MIKE LOVE Did you come across any nice surprises as you went through the archives? There’s a song called “Going to the Beachâ€. I wrote it and we all recorded around the time we were doing the Keeping the Summer Alive album, maybe it was 1979 -- and I’d forgotten all about it. Here it surfaces, and I’ll be darned if it isn’t a great song. It kind of harks back to the old “Surfin’ USA†days. We’re doing it on our concerts these days, in the encore section. Looking back at the 50th anniversary tour and album, what are your thoughts? What the anniversary established was a couple of things. One, that we can get in the studio together and still sound great. Listening to the songs coming back through the speakers, with all the harmonies and so on, it kind of harked back to the mid-60s. Both Brian and I remarked on that. It was kind of like sonic déjà vu. In terms of the shows we did, there were originally scheduled to be 50, but it actually expanded to more like 73. That was done by agreement that we would all put aside our individual pursuits and do this fixed number of shows. It was a really good thing to have done, and now we’re back on our merry way. Could it happen again, on tour or in the studio? I don’t really know. I know they’ve announced that Brian is working on a solo album. He may have two or three projects he’s working on, so he’s pretty busy. As far as getting together like that again, it remains to be seen. I would like to write songs with my cousin Brian. I’d be up for doing that. I’ll leave it there. INTERVIEW: RICHARD WILLIAMS

Hits, rarities and more – the two sides of The Beach Boys laid bare in extensive box set…

It has been the Beach Boys’ habit to confound those ready to predict their demise. Despite functioning (or, at times, dysfunctioning) largely as a de-luxe oldies act since before the Reagan presidency, there have been occasional glimmers of creativity throughout the latter stages of their career, with perhaps the biggest surprise coming last year, when they marked their 50th anniversary not just with a 73-concert tour featuring all surviving original members but with an album of new material that was at worst tolerable and at best excellent.

But there are, of course, two groups called the Beach Boys: the celestial choir that first caught the ear with the stained-glass harmonies of hits from “Surfer Girl†to “God Only Knowsâ€, and a second outfit that emerged much later, a group whose voices (like those of The Band) came together as individual sounds, each with its own grain, rubbing against each other to create little abrasions that mirrored the internal tensions of an institution frequently riven by disputes but held together by bonds of blood and commerce.

That second group began to show itself when Brian Wilson’s soaring falsetto lost its unblemished purity and Dennis Wilson, the youngest of the three brothers, stepped out from behind the drum kit with his own songs and his hoarsely compelling lead vocals. The personalities of each member came into clearer focus: they were not, after all, merely five indistinguishable versions of the same person. Their music became even more interesting, if much less predictable and consistent.

As time goes by, that phenomenon becomes easier to identify and appreciate. Twenty years ago, with Dennis already 10 years in his grave, a box set titled Good Vibrations marked the group’s 30th anniversary, assembling the hits alongside a substantial quantity of rare material. Since then much has happened, notably the death from cancer of Carl Wilson in 1998, the rebirth of Brian’s public career — symbolised by the triumphant 2004 restoration of the lost masterpiece Smile — and the atomisation of the core group into at least three performing units. Made In California, compiled to celebrate last year’s golden jubilee, offers – in the words of Mike Love – “a window into all the various eras of the Beach Boys and a peek into things that were less well known or simply unreleased.â€

Inevitably depleted by previous raids, the vault of unseen treasure will nevertheless continue to yield gems and new perspectives for a few more anniversaries yet. If Mike Love’s 1979 composition “Going to the Beach†is a trifle to please only the most undeveloped palate, the many treats for the hard core include glorious acapella mixes of Sunflower’s “This Whole World†and “Slip on Throughâ€, the sumptuous instrumental track from Glen Campbell’s “Guess I’m Dumb†(recorded during the Beach Boys Today! sessions), Dennis’s unreleased and epically yearning “(Wouldn’t It Be Nice to) Live Againâ€, “Don’t Worry, Baby†with an alternate (and slightly inferior) lead vocal, three excellent and previously unheard Phil Spector covers — “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’†(with Brian’s lead vocal) from the Beach Boys Love You sessions in 1976, Carl singing “Da Doo Ron Ron†from 1979 and Brian and Mike duetting on “Why Don’t They Let Us Fall in Love†from 1980 – and excellent unreleased versions of “Soul Searchin’†and “You’re Still a Mysteryâ€, produced by Brian, Andy Paley and Don Was in 1995.

A selection of live tracks is highlighted by three songs — “Wendyâ€, “When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)†and “Hushabye†— recorded at the BBC in 1964, during their first UK visit, and by an exquisite version of “Only With You†from Carnegie Hall in 1972, just prior to the release of Holland, with Carl and Dennis sharing the lead on what may be the loveliest of all the group’s songs.

The hits are here, of course, from “Surfin’†in 1962 to “Kokomo†in 1988, but some of their most startling material has always been found down the back of the sofa, among such relatively unconsidered trifles as “In The Back of My Mind†(from The Beach Boys Today!), with its still-astonishing orchestral arrangement, and “Angel Come Homeâ€, a song written by Carl with his occasional collaborator Geoffrey Cushing-Murray, sung by Dennis and left to languish on the 1979 collection titled L.A. (Light Album). In those two songs, recorded 15 years apart, the second of the two bands called the Beach Boys stands revealed: one capable of the most beautifully textured and exquisitely pain-racked white soul music ever made.

Richard Williams

Q&A

MIKE LOVE

Did you come across any nice surprises as you went through the archives?

There’s a song called “Going to the Beachâ€. I wrote it and we all recorded around the time we were doing the Keeping the Summer Alive album, maybe it was 1979 — and I’d forgotten all about it. Here it surfaces, and I’ll be darned if it isn’t a great song. It kind of harks back to the old “Surfin’ USA†days. We’re doing it on our concerts these days, in the encore section.

Looking back at the 50th anniversary tour and album, what are your thoughts?

What the anniversary established was a couple of things. One, that we can get in the studio together and still sound great. Listening to the songs coming back through the speakers, with all the harmonies and so on, it kind of harked back to the mid-60s. Both Brian and I remarked on that. It was kind of like sonic déjà vu. In terms of the shows we did, there were originally scheduled to be 50, but it actually expanded to more like 73. That was done by agreement that we would all put aside our individual pursuits and do this fixed number of shows. It was a really good thing to have done, and now we’re back on our merry way.

Could it happen again, on tour or in the studio?

I don’t really know. I know they’ve announced that Brian is working on a solo album. He may have two or three projects he’s working on, so he’s pretty busy. As far as getting together like that again, it remains to be seen. I would like to write songs with my cousin Brian. I’d be up for doing that. I’ll leave it there.

INTERVIEW: RICHARD WILLIAMS

Sharon Jones announces return to music following cancer surgery

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Sharon Jones announces return to music following cancer surgery
Sharon Jones has announced her return to music, following her recent successful cancer surgery. In June of this year, Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings cancelled plans for a new album and tour after doctors found a stage-one tumour on the singer's bile duct. The tumour was removed that month. Jones ...

Sharon Jones has announced her return to music, following her recent successful cancer surgery.

In June of this year, Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings cancelled plans for a new album and tour after doctors found a stage-one tumour on the singer’s bile duct. The tumour was removed that month.

Jones has now revealed plans for the next Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings album. Give The People What They Want is set for release on January 13, 2014. Listen to the record’s opening track, ‘Retreat!’ below:

Speaking about Jones’ return, the band’s bassist and bandleader Bosco Mann commented: “The entire Daptone Family is overjoyed and inspired to see Sharon’s recovery. Without a doubt, this album is the greatest thing we’ve ever recorded and I’ve been anxious for the world to hear it. That moment when Sharon walks out to join us on stage again is going to be insane.”

Last month, Jones wrote on Facebook: “Although my surgery to remove my cancer in June was successful, my doctor recommended that I do a 6 month course of preventative chemotherapy, which I started a month ago… I wish I could say it’s been a breeze, but this is looking to be the most challenging part yet. Thankfully, I’m feeling stronger and more focused on getting back out on stage every day. I want you all to know that YOU are the reason why I am so motivated and driven to stay healthy and work through my recovery. Can’t wait to see you all soon!”

Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings have released six albums since their 2002 debut, Dap Dippin’ with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.

The Give The People What They Want tracklisting is:

‘Retreat!’

‘Stranger To My Happiness’

‘We Get Along’

‘You’ll Be Lonely’

‘Now I See’

‘Making Up And Breaking Up (And Making Up And Breaking Up Over Again)’

‘Get Up And Get Out’

‘Long Time, Wrong Time’

‘People Don’t Get What They Deserve’

‘Slow Down, Love’

Watch Atoms For Peace cover Marvin Gaye

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Watch Atoms For Peace cover Marvin Gaye
Atoms For Peace covered Marvin Gaye's 1977 single "Got To Give It Up" last night at a gig in Mexico City. Click below to watch fan shot footage of the performance, via Consequence of Sound. Atoms For Peace are currently in the news following their comments about streaming service Spotify. They re...

Atoms For Peace covered Marvin Gaye’s 1977 single “Got To Give It Up” last night at a gig in Mexico City.

Click below to watch fan shot footage of the performance, via Consequence of Sound.

Atoms For Peace are currently in the news following their comments about streaming service Spotify. They recently revealed that they were pulling their music from Spotify after claiming that the streaming service was “bad for new music”. Thom Yorke also called Spotify “the last desperate fart of a dying corpse.”

Eric Burdon: “Guys come up to me and tell me The Animals saved their livesâ€

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Eric Burdon: “Guys come up to me and tell me The Animals saved their livesâ€
The Animals reveal the worldwide impact of “We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place†in the new issue of Uncut (dated November 2013), out now. The group’s 1965 hit became an anthem for American soldiers during the Vietnam War. “We only realised its impact after the band had split [in 1966],â...

The Animals reveal the worldwide impact of “We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place†in the new issue of Uncut (dated November 2013), out now.

The group’s 1965 hit became an anthem for American soldiers during the Vietnam War.

“We only realised its impact after the band had split [in 1966],†says guitarist Hilton Valentine. “We reformed in 1976 and did a world tour, and it was only then we realised the profound effect it had on US forces in Vietnam. We were meeting vets backstage who told us the song got them through Vietnam. It was No 1 on the American Forces network for years.â€

“I’ve had guys come up to me and tell me that I saved their lives,†explains vocalist Eric Burdon, “people I’ve never met. Guys who went out on a patrol for a few hours and came back to the camp and found all their friends had been blown up. It was Vietnam, and then it was Iraq. That song means so much to people.â€

Burdon, Valentine and drummer John Steel take us through the creation of “We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Placeâ€, originally a Brill Building folk song, in the piece.

The November 2013 issue of Uncut is out now.

Photo: Courtesy of ABKCO Records ©Marianna Burdon

Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon play to be released on CD

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Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon play to be released on CD

Tom Stoppard' BBC Radio 2 play Darkside is to be released as a deluxe CD package on November 25. The play, which incorporates music from Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, was an original commission by Radio 2 to mark the 40th anniversary of the album, and broadcast on August 26, 2013. Tom Stoppard said: “When The Dark Side of the Moon was a new album in 1973, a friend of mine walked into my room where I was working with a copy in his hand and said 'You really have to do a play about this album.' So, when, roughly 39-and-a-half years later, Jeff Smith from Radio 2 asked me if I’d like to do some kind of play around the 40thbirthday of the Pink Floyd album, it really wasn’t a very difficult decision.†Produced in collaboration with Faber And Faber, the package resembles a hard-backed book, including a CD carrying the 54-minute play, which includes the majority of the Dark Side of the Moon album, plus a 56-page bound insert of the play’s script. The cover features artwork by Hipgnosis designer Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell in collaboration with StormStudios, based on the specially-created Aardman Animations piece used to publicise the broadcast. The full play script includes all the dialogue and stage directions, plus Roger Waters’ original lyrics from the album. The package will feature a bonus disc with text translations in German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin and Russian. “I found the script of Tom’s play fascinating," said Dave Gilmour. "I can’t think of a better way to celebrate The Dark Side of The Moon’s 40 year anniversary.†“I love it," said Nick Mason. "If anyone is going to mess with the crown jewel of albums, Tom is a very good choice.†Pink Floyd and Dark Side Of The Moon are on the cover of the current issue of Uncut. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvaSzYcDXFw

Tom Stoppard’ BBC Radio 2 play Darkside is to be released as a deluxe CD package on November 25.

The play, which incorporates music from Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, was an original commission by Radio 2 to mark the 40th anniversary of the album, and broadcast on August 26, 2013.

Tom Stoppard said: “When The Dark Side of the Moon was a new album in 1973, a friend of mine walked into my room where I was working with a copy in his hand and said ‘You really have to do a play about this album.’ So, when, roughly 39-and-a-half years later, Jeff Smith from Radio 2 asked me if I’d like to do some kind of play around the 40thbirthday of the Pink Floyd album, it really wasn’t a very difficult decision.â€

Produced in collaboration with Faber And Faber, the package resembles a hard-backed book, including a CD carrying the 54-minute play, which includes the majority of the Dark Side of the Moon album, plus a 56-page bound insert of the play’s script.

The cover features artwork by Hipgnosis designer Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell in collaboration with StormStudios, based on the specially-created Aardman Animations piece used to publicise the broadcast.

The full play script includes all the dialogue and stage directions, plus Roger Waters’ original lyrics from the album. The package will feature a bonus disc with text translations in German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin and Russian.

“I found the script of Tom’s play fascinating,” said Dave Gilmour. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate The Dark Side of The Moon’s 40 year anniversary.â€

“I love it,” said Nick Mason. “If anyone is going to mess with the crown jewel of albums, Tom is a very good choice.â€

Pink Floyd and Dark Side Of The Moon are on the cover of the current issue of Uncut.

Grateful Dead launch their own craft beer

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Grateful Dead launch their own craft beer
The Grateful Dead are releasing their own craft beer. Called American Beauty, the pale ale has been developed with Delaware brewery Dogfish Head. The brewery and the band asked fans to help decide on one ingredient to add to the recipe that would complement the pale ale base. They received more t...

The Grateful Dead are releasing their own craft beer.

Called American Beauty, the pale ale has been developed with Delaware brewery Dogfish Head.

The brewery and the band asked fans to help decide on one ingredient to add to the recipe that would complement the pale ale base.

They received more than 1,500 entries, before settling on granola – an idea submitted by Thomas Butler, a 39-year-old chemist and homebrewer who saw his first Dead show when he was nine.

According to a report on Rolling Stone, “The components of granola – honey, toasted grains, oats and fruit – offer a lot from a beer perspective,” Butler said on the Dogfish Head website. “The idea is to have a sessionable ale that highlights the oats and honey with a nice ‘dank’ hop selection.”

American Beauty will be available on draft and in 750-ml bottles in America – at least for now. To find retailers selling the beer, try Dogfish Head’s “Fish Finder†app here.

Metallica’s James Hetfield says band are ‘itchin” to start work on new album

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Metallica’s James Hetfield says band are ‘itchin” to start work on new album
Metallica frontman James Hetfield has revealed that the band are planning to start recording their next studio album early next year. The metal titans released their last studio album 'Death Magnetic' in 2008 and claimed that they had amassed 600 song ideas for a follow-up in June of this year. N...

Metallica frontman James Hetfield has revealed that the band are planning to start recording their next studio album early next year.

The metal titans released their last studio album ‘Death Magnetic’ in 2008 and claimed that they had amassed 600 song ideas for a follow-up in June of this year. Now, in an interview with The Oakland Press, Hetfield said he and his bandmates were “itchin'” to return to the studio and finish work on the LP.

Asked about progress on the long-awaited follow-up, the frontman said: “Hopefully it happens soon. I’m itchin’. We have tons of material to sift through. That takes a lot of time, because there’s a lot of great stuff. I know we only need a few songs, but there’s 800 riffs we’re going through. It’s kind of insane. We have sifted through a lot of the stuff and pulled the cream of the crop – it’s just sitting there waiting for us to take it to the next level.”

Hetfield also said that the band would need a break after working on their 3D film Metallica: Through The Never, which was released on October 4. “I know we do need to decompress after this, get this film thing out of our systems,” he said. “It’s taken up a lot of time and a lot of effort. We go full-throttle into something and multitasking is not what we’re after. So the next record will hopefully start some time in the spring.”

Metallica: Through The Never was directed by Nimród Antal (who worked on Predators and Kontroll) and stars the band as themselves. Dane DeHann (The Place Beyond The Pines, Kill Your Darlings, The Amazing Spider-Man 2) plays the lead role in the film, which follows her character Trip – a young roadie sent on an urgent mission during one of the band’s shows.

John Lennon’s Hollywood Star defaced by vandals

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John Lennon’s Hollywood Star defaced by vandals
John Lennon's star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame has been defaced by vandals. The damage was noticed by a Beatles tour guide Gillian Lomax, who organises A Magical Mystery Tour around California. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she was showing a group of tourists John Lennon's star on Vine St...

John Lennon‘s star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame has been defaced by vandals.

The damage was noticed by a Beatles tour guide Gillian Lomax, who organises A Magical Mystery Tour around California. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she was showing a group of tourists John Lennon’s star on Vine Street on October 5 when she discovered that vandals had covered it with graffiti, which included drawings and the words “I love you,” and “Blackbird… Rain was here.”

“Morons did it,” Lomax said. “Rather tacky. There was a group of them, judging from the different coloured pens. I tried to rub it out, but to no avail.”

Representatives from the Hollywood Walk Of Fame reacted promptly when alerted to the damage, by October 7 the graffiti had gone. “We don’t mess around,” Ana Martinez from the Hollywood Walk Of Fame said. “I think Capitol is looking into seeing if there’s any video [of the crime]. They’re registered state landmarks. Those are my babies! We’ve had people destroy stars, cracking or prying out parts of the stars, and they do go to jail and they have to pay back for the repairs. We just had one recently damaged – Arsenio Hall‘s, and a couple near him.”

Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich ‘distraught’ over LSE report on music piracy

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Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich ‘distraught’ over LSE report on music piracy
Nigel Godrich has said he is "distraught" over a report published by London School of Economics which claims that digital filesharing has not had an adverse affect on music industry profits. The briefing paper sent to MPs, published by the university, counters claims that the creative industries a...

Nigel Godrich has said he is “distraught” over a report published by London School of Economics which claims that digital filesharing has not had an adverse affect on music industry profits.

The briefing paper sent to MPs, published by the university, counters claims that the creative industries are suffering an overall revenue decline because of digital filesharing and streaming services.

“We show that new business models are enabling the industry to gain advantage by building on a digital culture based on sharing and co-creating,” it reads. “Taking total revenues of the music industry into account – i.e. including revenues from concerts and publishing rights, these revenues have not declined as dramatically has been suggested; they have increased considerably from 1998 to the 2000s. These revenues have stagnated in the last few years, but the claims of many in the music industry about a dramatic decline in revenue apply specifically to the sale of CDs and vinyl. As Figure 1 shows, overall revenue of the industry in 2011 was almost USD 60 bn, and revenues from live performances and publishing rights largely offset the revenue decline associated with sales of CDs and vinyl.”

Writing on Twitter, the producer and Atoms For Peace member said: “The recorded music industry has been so decimated by piracy that the only way for artists to survive is by gaining visibility at any cost, which includes allowing piracy itself, or virtual piracy like subscription streaming services, and earning from other means like merchandise or concert tickets, none of which are ‘content’.”

He continued: “That is not an argument for relaxing copyright law! T-shirts and tickets are nothing to do with ‘copyright and creation’, which is the supposed subject of this document. I hope the government sees how ridiculous this document seems to people who make records. The authors are ‘pro piracy’ and they wish to influence the UK government’s upcoming review of digital copyright law. It’s madness.”

Hear David Bowie’s “Sound And Vision 2013” remix

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Hear David Bowie’s “Sound And Vision 2013” remix
David Bowie has released his "Sound And Vision 2013" remix. The new version of 1977 track was originally recorded for an Xperia Z smartphone advert and mixed from the original recording session tapes by Sonjay Prabhakar. The track, which is only one minute and 48 seconds long, is available to down...

David Bowie has released his “Sound And Vision 2013” remix.

The new version of 1977 track was originally recorded for an Xperia Z smartphone advert and mixed from the original recording session tapes by Sonjay Prabhakar.

The track, which is only one minute and 48 seconds long, is available to download digitally here.

It has been uploaded to the official David Bowie YouTube page, and you can hear it at the bottom of this page.

A description of the song on YouTube reads, “By stripping away much of the original instrumentation to just leave Roy Young’s plaintive piano, Mary Hopkin’s backing vocal and the lead vocal, the song takes on a new reflective resonance.”

Meanwhile, James Murphy‘s reworking of “Love Is Lost” from The Next Day will debut tomorrow.

First Look – Captain Phillips

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First Look – Captain Phillips

This year's London Film Festival opens with a bang: Somali pirates, Navy SEALS and Tom Hanks... What happened to the little guy in the movies? In a crowded superhero marketplace, the humble blue-collar worker is – alas – a neglected figure in today’s movie landscape. We’re a long way away from Paul Shrader’s Blue Collar – or even Ridley Scott’s Alien: the ultimate regular joes in space in movie. Imagine Tom Cruise working construction. Or Bradley Cooper earning minimum wage in manufacturing. Christian Bale: a plumber? Movies are so disconnected from the reality of working class American life, you could be forgiven for wondering which major Hollywood star could open a movie populated by guys’ guys – all of them paunchy, the wrong side of 40 and distinctly unglamorous. Fortunately – you might say – cuddly 57 year-old Tom Hanks ticks those particular boxes. Never one to show off, Hanks immerses himself behind specs and stubble as Rich Phillips, the captain of cargo ship the Maersk Alabama that was seized by Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa in 2009. This real life story is filmed by Paul Greengrass much as you’d expect, with shaky hand-held cameras shoved so closely into people’s faces that you can see sweat literally ooze from their pores. And this is a very sweaty film. A companion piece of sorts to United 93 – another Greengrass film about normal people trapped in confined space under extraordinary circumstances – Captain Phillips also invites comparisons with Tobias Lindholm’s excellent film, A Hijacking, from earlier this year. But while Lindholm’s film followed the hijacking of a Danish cargo ship from multiple perspectives – both on the boat and back in Denmark – Greengrass maintains tight focus on the Maersk Alabama and, later, a covered lifeboat. By the time he brings in the Navy SEALS and it gets a bit Zero Dark Thirty, you might be thankful for a bit of light relief. What lingers most about Phillips’ story is the lack of robust security on broad the Maersk Alabama; the crew appear to have no significant protection against pirates beyond some slightly ineffectual water canons, after that the only option available is to lock themselves in the engine room and hope for the best. The Maersk Alamaba was the sixth vessel in a week to be attacked off the Somali coast – very much a “real world scenarioâ€, as Phillips calls it. Incidentally, Captain Phillips is one of two Tom Hanks films bookending this year’s BFI London Film Festival – in the other, Saving Mr. Banks, he plays Walt Disney, the man responsible for the ultimate blue-collar line-up in the movies: the Seven Dwarfs. Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner.

This year’s London Film Festival opens with a bang: Somali pirates, Navy SEALS and Tom Hanks…

What happened to the little guy in the movies? In a crowded superhero marketplace, the humble blue-collar worker is – alas – a neglected figure in today’s movie landscape. We’re a long way away from Paul Shrader’s Blue Collar – or even Ridley Scott’s Alien: the ultimate regular joes in space in movie. Imagine Tom Cruise working construction. Or Bradley Cooper earning minimum wage in manufacturing. Christian Bale: a plumber? Movies are so disconnected from the reality of working class American life, you could be forgiven for wondering which major Hollywood star could open a movie populated by guys’ guys – all of them paunchy, the wrong side of 40 and distinctly unglamorous.

Fortunately – you might say – cuddly 57 year-old Tom Hanks ticks those particular boxes. Never one to show off, Hanks immerses himself behind specs and stubble as Rich Phillips, the captain of cargo ship the Maersk Alabama that was seized by Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa in 2009. This real life story is filmed by Paul Greengrass much as you’d expect, with shaky hand-held cameras shoved so closely into people’s faces that you can see sweat literally ooze from their pores. And this is a very sweaty film.

A companion piece of sorts to United 93 – another Greengrass film about normal people trapped in confined space under extraordinary circumstances – Captain Phillips also invites comparisons with Tobias Lindholm’s excellent film, A Hijacking, from earlier this year. But while Lindholm’s film followed the hijacking of a Danish cargo ship from multiple perspectives – both on the boat and back in Denmark – Greengrass maintains tight focus on the Maersk Alabama and, later, a covered lifeboat. By the time he brings in the Navy SEALS and it gets a bit Zero Dark Thirty, you might be thankful for a bit of light relief.

What lingers most about Phillips’ story is the lack of robust security on broad the Maersk Alabama; the crew appear to have no significant protection against pirates beyond some slightly ineffectual water canons, after that the only option available is to lock themselves in the engine room and hope for the best. The Maersk Alamaba was the sixth vessel in a week to be attacked off the Somali coast – very much a “real world scenarioâ€, as Phillips calls it. Incidentally, Captain Phillips is one of two Tom Hanks films bookending this year’s BFI London Film Festival – in the other, Saving Mr. Banks, he plays Walt Disney, the man responsible for the ultimate blue-collar line-up in the movies: the Seven Dwarfs.

Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner.

Sinéad O’Connor says Miley Cyrus fans are urging her to commit suicide

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Sinéad O’Connor says Miley Cyrus fans are urging her to commit suicide
Sinéad O'Connor has claimed that she has received threatening messages from Miley Cyrus fans urging her to commit suicide since publishing her open letter urging the pop star not to let the music industry take advantage of her. The latest exchange in a week-long war of words between the pair, O'C...

Sinéad O’Connor has claimed that she has received threatening messages from Miley Cyrus fans urging her to commit suicide since publishing her open letter urging the pop star not to let the music industry take advantage of her.

The latest exchange in a week-long war of words between the pair, O’Connor addresses the dangers in mocking people with mental health problems in another lengthy letter published on her website, and calls on Cyrus to apologise to both herself and the actress Amanda Bynes, whom Cyrus referred to in earlier Twitter posts about the Irish singer.

“As a result of what you did I have had numerous communications from people urging me to commit suicide,” O’Connor writes. “Not to mention I have been the subject of literally thousands of abusive articles and or comments left after articles, which state that I and therefore all perceived mentally ill people, should be bullied and be invalidated.” Read the full post here.

Cyrus and O’Connor had a disagreement last week after O’Connor published an open letter warning Cyrus not let the music industry make a “prostitute” out of her. Cyrus has since been criticised by mental health charities for mocking O’Connor’s battles with psychological illnesses over the years, although O’Connor subsequently claimed that their spat was “over”.

The 37th Uncut Playlist Of 2013

John Mulvey
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The 37th Uncut Playlist Of 2013

Not much to say here, other than I think I’ve managed to embed more tracks you can actually play into this playlist than ever before. Dig in, I guess… Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey 1 Spain – The Morning Becomes Eclectic Session (Glitterhouse) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSbPGImK9l4 2 Four Tet – Beautiful Rewind (Text) 3 Katie Gately – Pipes/Acahella (Blue Tapes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZIcjPethrg 4 Circuit Des Yeux – Overdue (Ba Da Bing) 5 Courtney Barnett – The Double EP: A Sea Of Split Peas (House Anxiety) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcnIhzaDTd0 6 Goat – Let It Bleed (Rocket) 7 My Bloody Valentine – m b v (MBV) 8 The Bottle Rockets – Bottle Rockets (Bloodshot) 9 bEEdEEgEE – Sum/One (4AD) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWHEdFkMhMY 10 Pixies – Big New Prinz (Live At The El Rey) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe6mMvQC4mk 11 The Fall – Big New Prinz (Beggar’s Banquet) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wygQmJ59E4Q 12 The Necks – Open (Northern Spy) 13 Trans – Trans Red EP (Rough Trade) Read my review here 14 White Denim – Corsicana Lemonade (Downtown) 15 Roy Harper – Man And Myth (Bella Union) 16 Alasdair Roberts & Robin Robertson – Hrta Songs (Stone Tape) 17 Israel Nash Gripka – Israel Nash’s Rain Plains (Loose) 18 David Van Tieghem x Ten - FRKWYS Vol. 10: Fits & Starts (RVNG INTL) 19 Cian Nugent & The Cosmos – Born With The Caul (No Quarter) 20 Bill Callahan – Dream River (Drag City) Read my review here

Not much to say here, other than I think I’ve managed to embed more tracks you can actually play into this playlist than ever before. Dig in, I guess…

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

1 Spain – The Morning Becomes Eclectic Session (Glitterhouse)

2 Four Tet – Beautiful Rewind (Text)

3 Katie Gately – Pipes/Acahella (Blue Tapes)

4 Circuit Des Yeux – Overdue (Ba Da Bing)

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

6 Goat – Let It Bleed (Rocket)

7 My Bloody Valentine – m b v (MBV)

8 The Bottle Rockets – Bottle Rockets (Bloodshot)

9 bEEdEEgEE – Sum/One (4AD)

10 Pixies – Big New Prinz (Live At The El Rey)

11 The Fall – Big New Prinz (Beggar’s Banquet)

12 The Necks – Open (Northern Spy)

13 Trans – Trans Red EP (Rough Trade)

Read my review here

14 White Denim – Corsicana Lemonade (Downtown)

15 Roy Harper – Man And Myth (Bella Union)

16 Alasdair Roberts & Robin Robertson – Hrta Songs (Stone Tape)

17 Israel Nash Gripka – Israel Nash’s Rain Plains (Loose)

18 David Van Tieghem x Ten – FRKWYS Vol. 10: Fits & Starts (RVNG INTL)

19 Cian Nugent & The Cosmos – Born With The Caul (No Quarter)

20 Bill Callahan – Dream River (Drag City)

Read my review here

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