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Fleetwood Mac to reissue Rumours for 35th anniversary

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Fleetwood Mac to reissue Rumours for 35th anniversary
Fleetwood Mac have announced that they will be reissuing expanded and deluxe versions of their 1977 album Rumours early next year. Posting the news on their website yesterday (December 12), the band revealed that the expanded edition will contain three CDs including the original album with B-Side '...

Fleetwood Mac have announced that they will be reissuing expanded and deluxe versions of their 1977 album Rumours early next year.

Posting the news on their website yesterday (December 12), the band revealed that the expanded edition will contain three CDs including the original album with B-Side ‘Silver Springs’, 12 unreleased live recordings from the band’s 1977 world tour including ‘The Chain’, ‘Oh Daddy’ and ‘Songbird’, and another disc filled with 16 unreleased takes from the album recording sessions.

A separate deluxe edition will also include everything from the expanded version, as well as the album on 12″ vinyl, plus an additional disc of outtakes and a DVD of The Rosebud Film – a documentary about the album filmed in 1977.

Althought it’s being trumpeted as a 35th anniversary reissue, the expanded edition will come out 36 years after the record was originally released.

Fleetwood Mac are also set to embark on a world tour, kicking off with a 34-date US tour in April, 2013. Stevie Nicks also revealed to NME that the band are planning on coming to the UK and that she would love to do Glastonbury too.

RUMOURS: DELUXE EDITION Tracklisting:

Disc 1

1. “Second Hand News”

2. “Dreams”

3. “Never Going Back Again”

4. “Don’t Stop”

5. “Go Your Own Way”

6. “Songbird”

7. “The Chain”

8. “You Make Loving Fun”

9. “I Don’t Want To Know”

10. “Oh Daddy”

11. “Gold Dust Woman”

12. “Silver Springs” – b-side

Disc 2: Live, 1977 Rumours World Tour

1. Intro

2. “Monday Morning”

3. “Dreams”

4. “Don’t Stop”

5. “The Chain”

6. “Oh Daddy”

7. “Rhiannon”

8. “Never Going Back Again”

9. “Gold Dust Woman”

10. “World Turning”

11. “Go Your Own Way”

12. “Songbird”

Disc 3: More from the Recording Sessions

1. “Second Hand News” (Early Take)

2. “Dreams” (Take 2)

3. “Never Going Back Again” (Acoustic Duet)

4. “Go Your Own Way” (Early Take)

5. “Songbird” (Demo)

6. “Songbird” (Instrumental, Take 10)

7. “I Don’t Want To Know” (Early Take)

8. “Keep Me There” (Instrumental)

9. “The Chain” (Demo)

10. “Keep Me There” (With Vocal)

11. “Gold Dust Woman” (Early Take)

12. “Oh Daddy” (Early Take)

13. “Silver Springs” (Early Take)

14. “Planets Of The Universe” (Demo)

15. “Doesn’t Anything Last” (Acoustic Duet)

16. “Never Going Back Again” (Instrumental)

Disc 4: 2004 Reissue Roughs & Outtakes

1. “Second Hand News”

2. “Dreams”

3. “Brushes (Never Going Back Again)”

4. “Don’t Stop”

5. “Go Your Own Way”

6. “Songbird”

7. “Silver Springs”

8. “You Make Loving Fun”

9. “Gold Dust Woman #1”

10. “Oh Daddy”

11. “Think About It”

Early Demos

12. “Never Going Back Again”

13. “Planets Of The Universe”

14. “Butter Cookie (Keep Me There)”

15. “Gold Dust Woman”

16. “Doesn’t Anything Last”

Jam Sessions

17. “Mic The Screecher”

18. “For Duster (The Blues)”

DVD

“The Rosebud Film” by Michael Collins

Vinyl LP

Side 1

1. “Second Hand News”

2. “Dreams”

3. “Never Going Back Again”

4. “Don’t Stop”

5. “Go Your Own Way”

6. “Songbird”

Side 2

1. “The Chain”

2.“You Make Loving Fun”

3. “I Don’t Want To Know”

4. “Oh Daddy”

5. “Gold Dust Woman”

Arcade Fire, Black Keys and Karen O shortlisted for Oscars

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Arcade Fire, Black Keys and Karen O shortlisted for Oscars

Arcade Fire, The Black Keys, Adele, Karen O and Fiona Apple are among the artists shortlisted for Oscars. Arcade Fire's track "Abraham's Daughter" on The Hunger Games soundtrack is one of the 75 tracks nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Also receiving nods are Adele's "Skyfall" theme for the latest Bond film, Mumford and Sons' "Learn Me Right" from Disney Pixar animation Brave, The Black Keys, who contributed "Baddest Man Alive" to RZA's kung-fu movie The Man With The Iron Fists, and Karen O for "Strange Love" from Tim Burton's Frankenweenie and Fiona Apple's "Dull Tool", which will appear in Judd Apatow's upcoming comedy This Is 40. Four tracks from Quentin Tarantino's forthcoming Western Django Unchained were also nominated, including Rick Ross' "100 Black Coffins" and John Legend's "Freedom". Katy Perry's track 'Wide Awake' from her documentary and concert film Part Of Me is also shortlisted, along with Liz Phair's "Dotted Line" from People Like Us. The songs making the final cut for nominations will be announced at a ceremony on January 10 before Seth MacFarlane hosts the 85th Annual Academy Awards on February 24.

Arcade Fire, The Black Keys, Adele, Karen O and Fiona Apple are among the artists shortlisted for Oscars.

Arcade Fire’s track “Abraham’s Daughter” on The Hunger Games soundtrack is one of the 75 tracks nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Also receiving nods are Adele’s “Skyfall” theme for the latest Bond film, Mumford and Sons’ “Learn Me Right” from Disney Pixar animation Brave, The Black Keys, who contributed “Baddest Man Alive” to RZA’s kung-fu movie The Man With The Iron Fists, and Karen O for “Strange Love” from Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie and Fiona Apple’s “Dull Tool”, which will appear in Judd Apatow’s upcoming comedy This Is 40.

Four tracks from Quentin Tarantino’s forthcoming Western Django Unchained were also nominated, including Rick Ross’ “100 Black Coffins” and John Legend’s “Freedom”.

Katy Perry’s track ‘Wide Awake’ from her documentary and concert film Part Of Me is also shortlisted, along with Liz Phair’s “Dotted Line” from People Like Us.

The songs making the final cut for nominations will be announced at a ceremony on January 10 before Seth MacFarlane hosts the 85th Annual Academy Awards on February 24.

Paul McCartney to front a Nirvana reunion tonight?

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Paul McCartney to front a Nirvana reunion tonight?
Paul McCartney could be set to join the surviving members of Nirvana onstage at a charity gig tonight (December 12). According to a report in The Sun, McCartney will join Foo Fighters' singer Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic onstage, replacing Kurt Cobain as singer, at a benefit for the victims of Hu...

Paul McCartney could be set to join the surviving members of Nirvana onstage at a charity gig tonight (December 12).

According to a report in The Sun, McCartney will join Foo Fighters’ singer Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic onstage, replacing Kurt Cobain as singer, at a benefit for the victims of Hurricane Sandy in New York.

According to the newspaper, McCartney rang Grohl who asked him to come and “jam with some mates” and then found himself playing with Grohl on drums, Novoselic on bass and Pat Smear on guitar. The report then quotes McCartney as saying: “I didn’t really know who they were. They are saying how good it is to be back together. I said ‘Whoa? You guys haven’t played together for all that time?’ And somebody whispered to me ‘’That’s Nirvana. You’re Kurt.’ I couldn’t believe it.”

The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Green Day, Kanye West and The Who are all set to play the 121212 concert tonight.

Paul McCartney is reportedly working on a new album, the follow-up to this years’ collection of covers Kisses On The Bottom. Producer Ethan Johns recently told NME that he had been in the studio with him, along with Mark Ronson. Adele producer Paul Epworth is also reported to be working on the record.

Meanwhile Dave Grohl is working on his documentary Sound City about the legendary California recording studio Sound City, where classics such as Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Nirvana’s Nevermind were recorded. It is set to be premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013.

Stevie Nicks: ‘We’d love to headline Glastonbury!’

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Stevie Nicks: ‘We’d love to headline Glastonbury!’
Stevie Nicks has told NME that she'd love the reformed Fleetwood Mac to headline Glastonbury in 2013. Addressing rumours that the band could coincide a forthcoming summer 2013 tour with their debut appearance headlining the Pyramid Stage, Nicks says she watched Beyonce's performance at the festiva...

Stevie Nicks has told NME that she’d love the reformed Fleetwood Mac to headline Glastonbury in 2013.

Addressing rumours that the band could coincide a forthcoming summer 2013 tour with their debut appearance headlining the Pyramid Stage, Nicks says she watched Beyonce’s performance at the festival in 2011 from her hotel room in London after her own slot at Hyde Park Calling that year.

“When we were there [in the UK] in 2011, I watched it. I watched Beyonce and it was pretty amazing! I had just got home from the Hyde Park thing, so I was just home from my own show and I turned on the TV and we had a pretty big screen in the hotel where we were, so I sat and watched like three hours, four hours of it, so would I love to do it? I’d Love to do it!”

Speaking about Fleetwood Mac‘s forthcoming world tour, she added: “We are coming to the UK. It’s on there, the pre-schedule that they start sending out to you. We have basically 50 shows in the United States and then a little break, then It looks like we are coming to England to do, probably like seven or eight shows. I don’t know that for sure, but I think that’s what it will work out to be, and hopefully we will do other shows through Europe. I’m delighted to come over there, I’m thrilled about it.”

When asked if one of those shows could be Glastonbury, Nicks replied: “Oh yeah! I hope, you know, I hope I hope!”

Previously, festival boss Emily Eavis admitted to NME that she would love to see Fleetwood Mac headline the Pyramid Stage in 2013. “I think Fleetwood Mac would be amazing to get,” she said in October of this year. “I’ll be totally honest we haven’t had any conversations with them yet but, you know, it is still early days. We’re just talking to some headliners now. For us it’s about getting the balance of heritage bands, legends and new bands – just keeping that balance.”

Wild Mercury Sound 112 from 2012: 50 to 26

John Mulvey
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Wild Mercury Sound 112 from 2012: 50 to 26

Nearly there now: the third instalment of my personal favourite albums of the year… Previously: 112-76 Previously: 75-51 50 Starving Weirdos - Land Lines (Amish) 49 Sic Alps – Sic Alps (Drag City) 48 Beachwood Sparks – The Tarnished Gold (Sub Pop) 47 Daphni – Jiaolong (Jiaolong) 46 Bill Fay – Life Is People (Dead Oceans) 45 “Blue” Gene Tyranny – Detours (Unseen Worlds) 44 Cody ChesnuTT – Landing On A Hundred (One Little Indian) 43 Pelt – Effigies (MIE Music) 42 Robert Stillman – Station Wagon Interior Perspective (A Requiem For John Fahey) (Archaic Future) 41 Orbital – Wonky (ACP) 40 Hot Chip – In Our Heads (Domino) 39 Arbouretum/Hush Arbors – Aureola (Thrill Jockey) 38 Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Americana (Reprise) 37 The Baird Sisters – Until You Find Your Green (Grapefruit) 36 Michael Chapman – Pachyderm (Blast First Petite) 35 Dan Deacon – America (Domino) 34 Woods – Bend Beyond (Woodsist) 33 Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! (Constellation) 32 Dexys – One Day I’m Going To Soar (BMG) 31 The Liminanas – Crystal Anis (Hozac) 30 Goat – World Music (Rocket) 29 Four Tet – Pink (Text) 28 Sam Lee – Ground Of Its Own (Nest Collective) 27 Rangda – Formerly Extinct (Drag City) 26 Elephant Micah - Louder Than Thou (Product Of Palmyra) To be continued… Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

Nearly there now: the third instalment of my personal favourite albums of the year…

Previously: 112-76

Previously: 75-51

50 Starving Weirdos – Land Lines (Amish)

49 Sic Alps – Sic Alps (Drag City)

48 Beachwood Sparks – The Tarnished Gold (Sub Pop)

47 Daphni – Jiaolong (Jiaolong)

46 Bill Fay – Life Is People (Dead Oceans)

45 “Blue” Gene Tyranny – Detours (Unseen Worlds)

44 Cody ChesnuTT – Landing On A Hundred (One Little Indian)

43 Pelt – Effigies (MIE Music)

42 Robert Stillman – Station Wagon Interior Perspective (A Requiem For John Fahey) (Archaic Future)

41 Orbital – Wonky (ACP)

40 Hot Chip – In Our Heads (Domino)

39 Arbouretum/Hush Arbors – Aureola (Thrill Jockey)

38 Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Americana (Reprise)

37 The Baird Sisters – Until You Find Your Green (Grapefruit)

36 Michael Chapman – Pachyderm (Blast First Petite)

35 Dan Deacon – America (Domino)

34 Woods – Bend Beyond (Woodsist)

33 Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! (Constellation)

32 Dexys – One Day I’m Going To Soar (BMG)

31 The Liminanas – Crystal Anis (Hozac)

30 Goat – World Music (Rocket)

29 Four Tet – Pink (Text)

28 Sam Lee – Ground Of Its Own (Nest Collective)

27 Rangda – Formerly Extinct (Drag City)

26 Elephant Micah – Louder Than Thou (Product Of Palmyra)

To be continued…

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

Ravi Shankar dies aged 92

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Ravi Shankar dies aged 92
Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitar maestro, has died in hospital in San Diego, aged 92. Shankar, who helped popularise Indian music in the 1960s, was described as "the godfather of world music" by his most famous student, George Harrison. According to Associated Press, a statement on his website said ...

Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitar maestro, has died in hospital in San Diego, aged 92.

Shankar, who helped popularise Indian music in the 1960s, was described as “the godfather of world music” by his most famous student, George Harrison.

According to Associated Press, a statement on his website said he died in San Diego, near his Southern California home with his wife and a daughter by his side. The musician’s foundation issued a statement saying that he had suffered upper respiratory and heart problems and had undergone heart-valve replacement surgery last week.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described him as a “national treasure and global ambassador of India’s cultural heritage”.

Shankar played sitar on The Beatles‘ “Norwegian Wood”, he also performed at Woodstock and the 1967 Monterey Pop festival, and collaborated with jazz saxophonist John Coltrane.

Pic credit: Vincent Limongelli

The Allah-Las, London Shackleworth Arms, December 11, 2012

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The Allah-Las, London Shackleworth Arms, December 11, 2012

The Allah-Las make their UK debut in the back room of a north London pub on a freezing December night, the inhospitable weather not something familiar to in their native Los Angeles, where it probably only gets this cold in disaster movies, palm trees turning brittle with frost, the ocean becoming ice, CGI snow drifts on Sunset Strip and Denis Quaid in a parka and Bermuda shorts standing square-jawed and wrinkled-kneed against the elements. How sweet it would be to report that for at least the brief time they are on stage, the crowd that had turned out to see them were transported from London’s winter chill to the enveloping warmth of a notable California night, the scruffily homely venue where they are appearing transformed into the Troubadour or Whiskey A-Go-Go, one of those legendary venues where once you would have seen some of the bands the Allah-Las on their terrific self-titled debut so often remind you of, like Love or The Byrds. It doesn’t happen, though. Good as the Allah-Las turn out to be, they are not yet in the business of performing miracles. Give them time, though, and who knows what they may prove capable of. It’s still early days, after all and if they aren’t fully practised in the art of the miraculous, then there’s still a certain magic about a lot of what they do that turns their retrospective musical inclinations into something conversely fresh, as if their career trajectory to date has been a case of reversing into tomorrow. Their album, greatly admired in this particular neighbourhood, features much harking back to a glorious yesterday. If its songs weren’t in every instance so good, it could pitifully have been little more than an exercise in nostalgic fetishism, a pathological obsession with the paraphernalia of the past. As it stands their reported preoccupation with valve amps, the right kind of microphones, mixing desks and studio set-ups are at the service of an exciting impulse that makes the listener believe they are listening to something that was recorded in 1965 or 1966, a little ahead of a swing towards the fully-blown psychedelic. There’s never a truly bad time, of course, to listen to anything from Love’s Forever Changes. But playing “You Set The Scene” and “A House is Not A Motel” over the PA just before the band appear feels less appropriate than a quick blast of something like “My Little Red Book”, say, or “My Flash On You”, from Love’s earlier repertoire, as much as it would have been odd if we’d been treated to something from Their Satanic Majesties Request instead of Aftermath, the Allah-Las as similarly beholden to the Stones of “Stupid Girl” and “Under My Thumb”. Set opener “Don’t You Forget It” demonstrates as much, Miles Michaud’s vocal as cool, haughty and dismissive as the young Mick, with just the right hint of kiss-off menace – “I think I found a girl that I can talk to/Yeah, I think I found a girl who might replace you” – with Pedrum Siadation nagging’s guitar figure providing a suitably taunting counterpoint. “Tell Me (What’s On Your Mind)” occupies similar territory, with added backbeat and booming bass. Its mocking lilt is at first almost innocuous and then darkly insidious, its chorus a callous put down. “Tell me what’s on your mind,” Michaud sings, “because I can’t find it.” Album highlight “Busman’s Holiday”, with its ominous drum rumble, cymbal splashes and spiky guitar is more primal, like something straight off Nuggets, and sounds at point like it’s going to end up as “Paint It, Black”. “Sandy”, with its murmuring echoes of The Yardbirds’ “For Your Love”, is just as good, Michaud’s voice grainier here than elsewhere, a slight but appealing hoarseness to his delivery that could be deployed more often. Drummer Matthew Correia takes over vocal duties from Michaud for the slightly creepy “Long Journey”, which closes the album and also tonight’s show, the end of which has suddenly arrived after something like 45 minutes and 10 songs. The set’s a bit of a master class, really, in keeping to things to the point, played out more or less brilliantly, without windy digression or unnecessary elaboration. They’re in Brighton tonight, and play Liverpool on Wednesday and Manchester on Thursday. If you’re anywhere in the area, don’t miss them, whatever the weather’s like.

The Allah-Las make their UK debut in the back room of a north London pub on a freezing December night, the inhospitable weather not something familiar to in their native Los Angeles, where it probably only gets this cold in disaster movies, palm trees turning brittle with frost, the ocean becoming ice, CGI snow drifts on Sunset Strip and Denis Quaid in a parka and Bermuda shorts standing square-jawed and wrinkled-kneed against the elements.

How sweet it would be to report that for at least the brief time they are on stage, the crowd that had turned out to see them were transported from London’s winter chill to the enveloping warmth of a notable California night, the scruffily homely venue where they are appearing transformed into the Troubadour or Whiskey A-Go-Go, one of those legendary venues where once you would have seen some of the bands the Allah-Las on their terrific self-titled debut so often remind you of, like Love or The Byrds. It doesn’t happen, though.

Good as the Allah-Las turn out to be, they are not yet in the business of performing miracles. Give them time, though, and who knows what they may prove capable of. It’s still early days, after all and if they aren’t fully practised in the art of the miraculous, then there’s still a certain magic about a lot of what they do that turns their retrospective musical inclinations into something conversely fresh, as if their career trajectory to date has been a case of reversing into tomorrow.

Their album, greatly admired in this particular neighbourhood, features much harking back to a glorious yesterday. If its songs weren’t in every instance so good, it could pitifully have been little more than an exercise in nostalgic fetishism, a pathological obsession with the paraphernalia of the past. As it stands their reported preoccupation with valve amps, the right kind of microphones, mixing desks and studio set-ups are at the service of an exciting impulse that makes the listener believe they are listening to something that was recorded in 1965 or 1966, a little ahead of a swing towards the fully-blown psychedelic.

There’s never a truly bad time, of course, to listen to anything from Love’s Forever Changes. But playing “You Set The Scene” and “A House is Not A Motel” over the PA just before the band appear feels less appropriate than a quick blast of something like “My Little Red Book”, say, or “My Flash On You”, from Love’s earlier repertoire, as much as it would have been odd if we’d been treated to something from Their Satanic Majesties Request instead of Aftermath, the Allah-Las as similarly beholden to the Stones of “Stupid Girl” and “Under My Thumb”.

Set opener “Don’t You Forget It” demonstrates as much, Miles Michaud’s vocal as cool, haughty and dismissive as the young Mick, with just the right hint of kiss-off menace – “I think I found a girl that I can talk to/Yeah, I think I found a girl who might replace you” – with Pedrum Siadation nagging’s guitar figure providing a suitably taunting counterpoint. “Tell Me (What’s On Your Mind)” occupies similar territory, with added backbeat and booming bass. Its mocking lilt is at first almost innocuous and then darkly insidious, its chorus a callous put down. “Tell me what’s on your mind,” Michaud sings, “because I can’t find it.”

Album highlight “Busman’s Holiday”, with its ominous drum rumble, cymbal splashes and spiky guitar is more primal, like something straight off Nuggets, and sounds at point like it’s going to end up as “Paint It, Black”. “Sandy”, with its murmuring echoes of The Yardbirds’ “For Your Love”, is just as good, Michaud’s voice grainier here than elsewhere, a slight but appealing hoarseness to his delivery that could be deployed more often.

Drummer Matthew Correia takes over vocal duties from Michaud for the slightly creepy “Long Journey”, which closes the album and also tonight’s show, the end of which has suddenly arrived after something like 45 minutes and 10 songs. The set’s a bit of a master class, really, in keeping to things to the point, played out more or less brilliantly, without windy digression or unnecessary elaboration.

They’re in Brighton tonight, and play Liverpool on Wednesday and Manchester on Thursday. If you’re anywhere in the area, don’t miss them, whatever the weather’s like.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse announce UK dates

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Neil Young & Crazy Horse announce UK dates
Neil Young & Crazy Horse have announced five UK dates for 2013. According to Ticketmaster website, the band will play: Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle: June 10 LG Arena, Birmingham: June 11 SECC Arena, Glasgow: June 13 RDS Arena, Dublin: June 15 The O2 Arena, London: June 17 Tickets for all ...

Neil Young & Crazy Horse have announced five UK dates for 2013.

According to Ticketmaster website, the band will play:

Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle: June 10

LG Arena, Birmingham: June 11

SECC Arena, Glasgow: June 13

RDS Arena, Dublin: June 15

The O2 Arena, London: June 17

Tickets for all shows go on sale later this week.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse released a new album, Americana, in June. The record was Young’s first with Crazy Horse since 2003 and the first album with the full Crazy Horse line-up of Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina and Frank Sampedro since 1996’s Broken Arrow.

They followed it up with a second album, Psychedelic Pill, in October.

Young, meanwhile, published his autobiography, Waging Heavy Peace, in October.

The Bryan Ferry Orchestra – The Jazz Age

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The Bryan Ferry Orchestra – The Jazz Age

Favourite songs from the Roxy man's past, played by jazz vets and cut in crackly mono... We don’t know what F. Scott Fitzgerald would have made of Roxy Music, but we do know he was a jazz connoisseur. The early standards “Three O’Clock In The Morning” and “The Sheik Of Araby” are mentioned in The Great Gatsby, and saxophones wail “Beale Street Blues” at the southern dances attended by Daisy. “And will I like being called a jazz-baby?” Beauty asks The Voice in The Beautiful And Damned. “You will love it,” he replies. Flappers, bohemians and future Geordie crooners as yet unborn would all gravitate towards jazz. Bryan Ferry’s new album doesn’t just borrow its title from Fitzgerald’s stylish epithet for the 1920s. It selects 13 songs from Ferry’s past – as far back as “Virginia Plain” and as recent as “Reason Or Rhyme” from Olympia – and reproduces them in the style of Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra entertaining revellers at the ballroom of the Club Alabam in New York in 1922. Recorded in crackly mono, The Jazz Age might easily be a shellac 78 manufactured for a wind-up gramophone. When “Do The Strand” strikes up, sounding like the getaway music for an inept gang of bank robbers in a Woody Allen film, the temptation is to fall about laughing. Rock music rarely engages with the 1920s, except for the occasional McCartney pastiche (“Honey Pie”) or a Steely Dan simulation of Duke Ellington (“East St. Louis Toodle-oo”). Unlike the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for whom the decade was a knockabout Dadaist fantasy, Ferry approaches the roots of jazz with neither burlesque nor whimsy, though he uses near-identical instruments to the Bonzos. His ensemble features clarinet, trombone, baritone and bass saxes, plunger-muted trumpets going “wap-waah”, a banjo in “Love is The Drug” and what sound suspiciously like coconuts for percussion in “Don’t Stop The Dance”. As it dawns on us that Ferry is serious, we warm to the idea of hearing these familiar songs in unfamiliar idioms. Aside from fleeting worries that “Do The Strand” and “The Bogus Man” may sound comical the next time we revisit For Your Pleasure, it seems like a homage with real heart to it. Ferry himself is absent from the tracks, which are performed by British jazz veterans including past and present members of the Pasadena Roof Orchestra. At times they swing like crazy. “I Thought” (from Frantic) is a vehicle for trumpeter Enrico Tomasso, who solos several times, fighting off attempts by Robert Fowler (clarinet) and Malcolm Earle-Smith (trombone) to hog the limelight. Other tunes, however, like “Reason Or Rhyme” and “This Island Earth” (from The Bride Stripped Bare) are in the sombre tradition of Ellington’s “Black And Tan Fantasy” or “Reminiscing In Tempo”, their heads bowed in bereavement as if a funeral procession was slowly marching by. The famous “Avalon” is another impressive revamp with an arrangement that emphasises its samba rhythm while sounding both melancholy and playful – not an easy trick to pull off. The less successful pieces tend not to have strong melodies to start with. “This Is Tomorrow” (a 1977 single) is a decent romp but lacks the pleasure of recognition – that moment when you pick up the vocal line in your head – and you’d assume it was an old Kenny Ball number if you heard it by accident. And the surreal notion of Roxy’s “Virginia Plain” being given a Creole jazz makeover loses something in the execution, sadly, because there aren’t enough chords in it to make it worth rearranging. “Slave To Love”, on the other hand, is superb. Walking a tightrope between wit and period authenticity, it almost dares us not to summon up images of blackface minstrels dancing with canes. We wouldn’t want Ferry’s concept to become contagious – the thought of Rod Stewart recording old-time jazz versions of “Maggie May” and “Stay With Me” is too dreadful to contemplate. But as a reminder that music is fundamentally there for our pleasure, The Jazz Age is splendid. David Cavanagh

Favourite songs from the Roxy man’s past, played by jazz vets and cut in crackly mono…

We don’t know what F. Scott Fitzgerald would have made of Roxy Music, but we do know he was a jazz connoisseur. The early standards “Three O’Clock In The Morning” and “The Sheik Of Araby” are mentioned in The Great Gatsby, and saxophones wail “Beale Street Blues” at the southern dances attended by Daisy. “And will I like being called a jazz-baby?” Beauty asks The Voice in The Beautiful And Damned. “You will love it,” he replies. Flappers, bohemians and future Geordie crooners as yet unborn would all gravitate towards jazz.

Bryan Ferry’s new album doesn’t just borrow its title from Fitzgerald’s stylish epithet for the 1920s. It selects 13 songs from Ferry’s past – as far back as “Virginia Plain” and as recent as “Reason Or Rhyme” from Olympia – and reproduces them in the style of Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra entertaining revellers at the ballroom of the Club Alabam in New York in 1922. Recorded in crackly mono, The Jazz Age might easily be a shellac 78 manufactured for a wind-up gramophone. When “Do The Strand” strikes up, sounding like the getaway music for an inept gang of bank robbers in a Woody Allen film, the temptation is to fall about laughing.

Rock music rarely engages with the 1920s, except for the occasional McCartney pastiche (“Honey Pie”) or a Steely Dan simulation of Duke Ellington (“East St. Louis Toodle-oo”). Unlike the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for whom the decade was a knockabout Dadaist fantasy, Ferry approaches the roots of jazz with neither burlesque nor whimsy, though he uses near-identical instruments to the Bonzos. His ensemble features clarinet, trombone, baritone and bass saxes, plunger-muted trumpets going “wap-waah”, a banjo in “Love is The Drug” and what sound suspiciously like coconuts for percussion in “Don’t Stop The Dance”. As it dawns on us that Ferry is serious, we warm to the idea of hearing these familiar songs in unfamiliar idioms. Aside from fleeting worries that “Do The Strand” and “The Bogus Man” may sound comical the next time we revisit For Your Pleasure, it seems like a homage with real heart to it.

Ferry himself is absent from the tracks, which are performed by British jazz veterans including past and present members of the Pasadena Roof Orchestra. At times they swing like crazy. “I Thought” (from Frantic) is a vehicle for trumpeter Enrico Tomasso, who solos several times, fighting off attempts by Robert Fowler (clarinet) and Malcolm Earle-Smith (trombone) to hog the limelight. Other tunes, however, like “Reason Or Rhyme” and “This Island Earth” (from The Bride Stripped Bare) are in the sombre tradition of Ellington’s “Black And Tan Fantasy” or “Reminiscing In Tempo”, their heads bowed in bereavement as if a funeral procession was slowly marching by. The famous “Avalon” is another impressive revamp with an arrangement that emphasises its samba rhythm while sounding both melancholy and playful – not an easy trick to pull off.

The less successful pieces tend not to have strong melodies to start with. “This Is Tomorrow” (a 1977 single) is a decent romp but lacks the pleasure of recognition – that moment when you pick up the vocal line in your head – and you’d assume it was an old Kenny Ball number if you heard it by accident. And the surreal notion of Roxy’s “Virginia Plain” being given a Creole jazz makeover loses something in the execution, sadly, because there aren’t enough chords in it to make it worth rearranging. “Slave To Love”, on the other hand, is superb. Walking a tightrope between wit and period authenticity, it almost dares us not to summon up images of blackface minstrels dancing with canes. We wouldn’t want Ferry’s concept to become contagious – the thought of Rod Stewart recording old-time jazz versions of “Maggie May” and “Stay With Me” is too dreadful to contemplate. But as a reminder that music is fundamentally there for our pleasure, The Jazz Age is splendid.

David Cavanagh

Subscribe to Uncut and save up to 46%

Jo Weakley
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Subscribe to Uncut and save up to 46%

January Sale! A subscription to Uncut makes a great gift for any music fan, and we are currently offering up to 46% off our subscription packages. More great reasons to subscribe; - Save money on the cover price every month - Print subscribers can read Uncut on the iPad at no extra cost - Free CD every month - Enjoy convenient home delivery of every issue - Get your issue before it hits the shops! HURRY OFFER ENDS 31ST JANUARY 2013! To take advantage of this great offer, click here.

January Sale! A subscription to Uncut makes a great gift for any music fan, and we are currently offering up to 46% off our subscription packages.

More great reasons to subscribe;

– Save money on the cover price every month

– Print subscribers can read Uncut on the iPad at no extra cost

– Free CD every month

– Enjoy convenient home delivery of every issue

– Get your issue before it hits the shops!

HURRY OFFER ENDS 31ST JANUARY 2013!

To take advantage of this great offer, click here.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs debut new track at tiny comeback gig

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Yeah Yeah Yeahs debut new track at tiny comeback gig
Yeah Yeah Yeahs made their live return in New York over the weekend, performing new material to a crowd of just 70 people. The band performed live at the Union Pool venue as part of a benefit show for the victims of hurricane Sandy on Saturday night (December 8). All money raised from the gig was d...

Yeah Yeah Yeahs made their live return in New York over the weekend, performing new material to a crowd of just 70 people.

The band performed live at the Union Pool venue as part of a benefit show for the victims of hurricane Sandy on Saturday night (December 8). All money raised from the gig was donated to Waves 4 Water. Support on the night came from Higgins Waterproof Blackmagic, a side project from TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe.

The band ran through a potted history of their back catalogue including early tracks like “Art Star” and “Black Tongue” as well as material from their last studio album, 2009’s It’s Blitz!, including “Heads Will Roll”.

One new song also made it into the 12-song set, a track titled “Despair”, which has been described by Spin as “a spare thumper that recalled Florence and the Machine’s ‘Dog Days Are Over’.”

Scroll down the page for the full setlist from the Union Pool gig as well as a collection of tweets from fans in attendance at the show.

‘Runaway’

‘Black Tongue’

‘Art Star’

‘Phenomena’

‘Soft Shock’

‘Gold Lion’

‘Sealings’

‘Maps’

‘Despair’

‘Heads Will Roll’

‘Poor Song’

‘Tick’

Bruce Springsteen, Black Keys and Lady Gaga to join The Rolling Stones onstage in New York

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Bruce Springsteen, Black Keys and Lady Gaga to join The Rolling Stones onstage in New York
The Rolling Stones have announced that Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen and Black Keys will join them onstage at their gig at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on December 15. "We're excited these extraordinary artists, Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga and the Black Keys, had agreed to help cele...

The Rolling Stones have announced that Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen and Black Keys will join them onstage at their gig at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on December 15.

“We’re excited these extraordinary artists, Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga and the Black Keys, had agreed to help celebrate our 50th anniversary as we share the night live with our fans all over the world,” the band said in a statement on the their official app. “Now the fun begins of trying to figure out the best songs to perform together.”

Seemingly tweeting about the gig this afternoon, Lady Gaga wrote on Twitter: “He had me at ‘Hello, it’s Mick’.”

Fresh from two performances in London last month, the legendary group kicked off their three-date US stint at the Barclays Arena in Brooklyn on Saturday (December 8) and are set to play two dates at The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on December 13 and 15.

The band’s two London show’s at the O2 Arena saw them joined by Jeff Beck, Mary J Blige, Eric Clapton and Florence Welch. Blige and Gary Clark Jr also joined them onstage in Brooklyn. As yet, there’s been no word on who will join the band for their December 13 gig.

Leonard Cohen announces new O2 Arena date

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Leonard Cohen announces new O2 Arena date
Leonard Cohen is to return to the UK in 2013 with a one-off show at London’s The O2 Arena on Friday June 21. The singer-songwriter, who released his 12th studio album Old Ideas in January, performed two shows at London's Wembley Arena in September, though they had originally been scheduled for Ho...

Leonard Cohen is to return to the UK in 2013 with a one-off show at London’s The O2 Arena on Friday June 21.

The singer-songwriter, who released his 12th studio album Old Ideas in January, performed two shows at London’s Wembley Arena in September, though they had originally been scheduled for Hop Farm in Kent, site of the annual Hop Farm Festival.

Leonard Cohen released Old Ideas in January of this year. It followed 2004’s Dear Heather, and is his 12th studio album since 1967.

Old Ideas is Uncut‘s Album Of The Year.

Leonard Cohen will play:

The O2 Arena, London (June 21)

Tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday December 14.

Wild Mercury Sound 112 from 2012: 75 to 51

John Mulvey
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Wild Mercury Sound 112 from 2012: 75 to 51

OK, here’s the second part of my 2012 albums list… Previously: 112-76 75 Go-Kart Mozart – On The Hot Dog Streets (West Midlands) 74 Michael Mayer – Mantasy (Kompakt) 73 Blues Control – Valley Tangents (Drag City) 72 Fontanelle – Vitamin F (Southern Lord) 71 The Bryan Ferry Orchestra – The Jazz Age (BMG Rights Management) 70 Sir Richard Bishop - Intermezzo (Ideologic Organ) 69 The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Meat And Bone (Bronzerat) 68 Neneh Cherry & The Thing – The Cherry Thing (Smalltown Supersound) 67 Sun Araw/M Geddes Gengras/The Congos - FRKWYS Vol. 9: Sun Araw & M. Geddes Gengras meet Congos (RVNG Intl) 66 Patti Smith – Banga (Columbia) 65 Icebreaker & BJ Cole – Apollo (Canteloupe/Naxos) 64 Hiss Golden Messenger – Lord I Love The Rain (Jellyfant) 63 Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin – Instrumental Tourist (Software) 62 Black Twig Pickers – Whompyjawed (Thrill Jockey) 61 Bee Mask - Vaporware / Scanops (Room40) 60 King Blood – Vengeance, Man (Richie/Testoster Tunes) 59 Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch - Concerning The Entrance Into Eternity (Important) 58 Black Bananas - Rad Times Express IV (Drag City) 57 Nathan Bowles - Bottle A Buckeye (Soft Abuse) 56 Gunn/Truscinski Duo - Ocean Parkway (Three-Lobed) 55 Angel Olsen – Half Way Home (Bathetic) 54 Michael Chapman & The Woodpiles – Natch 7 (http://natchmusic.tumblr.com) 53 Fennesz – Aun (Ash International) 52 The Dirty Three – Towards The Low Sun (Bella Union) 51 Thee Oh Sees – Purifiers II (In The Red) Click here to see Numbers 50 to 26 Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

OK, here’s the second part of my 2012 albums list…

Previously: 112-76

75 Go-Kart Mozart – On The Hot Dog Streets (West Midlands)

74 Michael Mayer – Mantasy (Kompakt)

73 Blues Control – Valley Tangents (Drag City)

72 Fontanelle – Vitamin F (Southern Lord)

71 The Bryan Ferry Orchestra – The Jazz Age (BMG Rights Management)

70 Sir Richard Bishop – Intermezzo (Ideologic Organ)

69 The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Meat And Bone (Bronzerat)

68 Neneh Cherry & The Thing – The Cherry Thing (Smalltown Supersound)

67 Sun Araw/M Geddes Gengras/The Congos – FRKWYS Vol. 9: Sun Araw & M. Geddes Gengras meet Congos (RVNG Intl)

66 Patti Smith – Banga (Columbia)

65 Icebreaker & BJ Cole – Apollo (Canteloupe/Naxos)

64 Hiss Golden Messenger – Lord I Love The Rain (Jellyfant)

63 Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin – Instrumental Tourist (Software)

62 Black Twig Pickers – Whompyjawed (Thrill Jockey)

61 Bee Mask – Vaporware / Scanops (Room40)

60 King Blood – Vengeance, Man (Richie/Testoster Tunes)

59 Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch – Concerning The Entrance Into Eternity (Important)

58 Black Bananas – Rad Times Express IV (Drag City)

57 Nathan Bowles – Bottle A Buckeye (Soft Abuse)

56 Gunn/Truscinski Duo – Ocean Parkway (Three-Lobed)

55 Angel Olsen – Half Way Home (Bathetic)

54 Michael Chapman & The Woodpiles – Natch 7 (http://natchmusic.tumblr.com)

53 Fennesz – Aun (Ash International)

52 The Dirty Three – Towards The Low Sun (Bella Union)

51 Thee Oh Sees – Purifiers II (In The Red)

Click here to see Numbers 50 to 26

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

Wild Mercury Sound 112 from 2012: 112 to 76

John Mulvey
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Wild Mercury Sound 112 from 2012: 112 to 76

Preamble: I’m going to start rolling out this list over the next couple of days whenever I get a chance to post. Apologies, first, for the weird number… It’d be disingenuous to pretend that there was anything scientific about these placings and, in truth, a lot of the ordering is pretty arbitrary. I did, though, make a list of 2012 records I liked which came out at 112, and it seemed churlish to hack it down to 100 just for the sake of neatness. Second, I’m very conscious as I go along that one or two selections will look like token nods to otherwise neglected genres etc. These, I’d say, aren’t a sign of tokenism, more evidence of slackness on my part: I’m acutely aware, for example, reading other end-of-year lists, that there were quite clearly other R&B records beyond Frank Ocean that I’d probably enjoy. Maybe a good new year’s resolution for 2013 would be to get back to the levels of engagement I had with rap/R&B in the early 2000s. Or at least hear a bunch of things like Kendrick Lamar and Miguel that I’ve missed. Truth is, of course, that most of us have our special interests, and I guess this list reflects how mine manifested themselves over the last 12 months. Thanks, as ever, for all your attention and support this year; your comments, speculations and personal 2012 charts are welcome in the Facebook comments box at the bottom. Oh, and please follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey 112 Alexander Turnquist – Like Sunburned Snowflakes (VHF) 111 The Pre-New – Music For People Who Hate Themselves (Pre-War Black Ghetto) 110 Dinosaur Jr – I Bet On Sky (PIAS) 109 Lumerians - Transmissions From The Telos Vol IV (Permanent) 108 Stephanie Hladowski & C Joynes – The Wild Wild Berry (Bo’Weavil) 107 Red River Dialect – Awellupontheway (Lono) 106 Corin Tucker Band – Kill My Blues (Kill Rock Stars) 105 The White Meadows - A Time For Drunken Horses (Tor) 104 Zombie Zombie – Rituels D’Un Nouveau Monde (Versatile) 103 Ombre – Believe You Me (Asthmatic Kitty) 102 Tindersticks – The Something Rain (Lucky Dog) 101 Graham Coxon - A+E (Parlophone) 100 Spain – The Soul Of Spain (Glitterhouse) 99 Lee Ranaldo - Between The Times And The Tides (Matador) 98 James Blackshaw - Love Is The Plan, The Plan Is Death (Important) 97 Animal Collective – Centipede Hz (Domino) 96 White Fence – Family Perfume Vol 1 (Woodsist) 95 Cornershop – Urban Turban: The Singhles Club (Ample Play) 94 Sun Araw – The Inner Treaty (Drag City) 93 MV/EE – Space Homestead (Woodsist) 92 The Men – Open Your Heart (Sacred Bones) 91 Oren Ambarchi/Robin Fox – Connected (Kranky) 90 Daniel Bachman – Seven Pines (Tompkins Square) 89 Mark Lanegan Band – Blues Funeral (4AD) 88 Loscil - Sketches From New Brighton (Kranky) 87 Terry Riley – Aleph (Tzadik) 86 Lubomyr Melnyk – The Voice Of Trees (Hinterzimmer) 85 Ryan Francesconi & Mirabai Peart – Road To Palios (Bella Union) 84 The Entrance Band – The Entrance Band (Latitudes) 83 Koen Holtkamp – Liquid Light Forms (Barge) 82 Mmoss – Only Children (Trouble In Mind) 81 Donald Fagen – Sunken Condos (Warner Bros) 80 Eyvind Kang – The Narrow Garden (Kranky) 79 Lindstrøm – Smalhans (Smalltown Supersound) 78 Holly Herndon – Movement (RVNG Intl) 77 Chris Forsyth – Kenzo Deluxe (Northern Spy) 76 Hallock Hill - The Union/A Hem Of Evening (MIE Music) Click here to see Numbers 75 to 51... and here to see Numbers 50 to 26

Preamble: I’m going to start rolling out this list over the next couple of days whenever I get a chance to post. Apologies, first, for the weird number…

It’d be disingenuous to pretend that there was anything scientific about these placings and, in truth, a lot of the ordering is pretty arbitrary. I did, though, make a list of 2012 records I liked which came out at 112, and it seemed churlish to hack it down to 100 just for the sake of neatness.

Second, I’m very conscious as I go along that one or two selections will look like token nods to otherwise neglected genres etc. These, I’d say, aren’t a sign of tokenism, more evidence of slackness on my part: I’m acutely aware, for example, reading other end-of-year lists, that there were quite clearly other R&B records beyond Frank Ocean that I’d probably enjoy. Maybe a good new year’s resolution for 2013 would be to get back to the levels of engagement I had with rap/R&B in the early 2000s. Or at least hear a bunch of things like Kendrick Lamar and Miguel that I’ve missed.

Truth is, of course, that most of us have our special interests, and I guess this list reflects how mine manifested themselves over the last 12 months. Thanks, as ever, for all your attention and support this year; your comments, speculations and personal 2012 charts are welcome in the Facebook comments box at the bottom. Oh, and please follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

112 Alexander Turnquist – Like Sunburned Snowflakes (VHF)

111 The Pre-New – Music For People Who Hate Themselves (Pre-War Black Ghetto)

110 Dinosaur Jr – I Bet On Sky (PIAS)

109 Lumerians – Transmissions From The Telos Vol IV (Permanent)

108 Stephanie Hladowski & C Joynes – The Wild Wild Berry (Bo’Weavil)

107 Red River Dialect – Awellupontheway (Lono)

106 Corin Tucker Band – Kill My Blues (Kill Rock Stars)

105 The White Meadows – A Time For Drunken Horses (Tor)

104 Zombie Zombie – Rituels D’Un Nouveau Monde (Versatile)

103 Ombre – Believe You Me (Asthmatic Kitty)

102 Tindersticks – The Something Rain (Lucky Dog)

101 Graham Coxon – A+E (Parlophone)

100 Spain – The Soul Of Spain (Glitterhouse)

99 Lee Ranaldo – Between The Times And The Tides (Matador)

98 James Blackshaw – Love Is The Plan, The Plan Is Death (Important)

97 Animal Collective – Centipede Hz (Domino)

96 White Fence – Family Perfume Vol 1 (Woodsist)

95 Cornershop – Urban Turban: The Singhles Club (Ample Play)

94 Sun Araw – The Inner Treaty (Drag City)

93 MV/EE – Space Homestead (Woodsist)

92 The Men – Open Your Heart (Sacred Bones)

91 Oren Ambarchi/Robin Fox – Connected (Kranky)

90 Daniel Bachman – Seven Pines (Tompkins Square)

89 Mark Lanegan Band – Blues Funeral (4AD)

88 Loscil – Sketches From New Brighton (Kranky)

87 Terry Riley – Aleph (Tzadik)

86 Lubomyr Melnyk – The Voice Of Trees (Hinterzimmer)

85 Ryan Francesconi & Mirabai Peart – Road To Palios (Bella Union)

84 The Entrance Band – The Entrance Band (Latitudes)

83 Koen Holtkamp – Liquid Light Forms (Barge)

82 Mmoss – Only Children (Trouble In Mind)

81 Donald Fagen – Sunken Condos (Warner Bros)

80 Eyvind Kang – The Narrow Garden (Kranky)

79 Lindstrøm – Smalhans (Smalltown Supersound)

78 Holly Herndon – Movement (RVNG Intl)

77 Chris Forsyth – Kenzo Deluxe (Northern Spy)

76 Hallock Hill – The Union/A Hem Of Evening (MIE Music)

Click here to see Numbers 75 to 51…

and here to see Numbers 50 to 26

The Rolling Stones kick off their run of American gigs

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The Rolling Stones kick off their run of American gigs
The Rolling Stones played the first of their three American shows on Saturday (December 8). Fresh from two outstanding performances in London last month, the legendary group kicked off their gig at the Barclays Arena in Brooklyn with "Get Off Of My Cloud" before launching into the Lennon/McCartney-...

The Rolling Stones played the first of their three American shows on Saturday (December 8).

Fresh from two outstanding performances in London last month, the legendary group kicked off their gig at the Barclays Arena in Brooklyn with “Get Off Of My Cloud” before launching into the Lennon/McCartney-penned “I Wanna Be Your Man”.

After “Last Time”, the band were joined onstage, just like they were on the first night of their O2 Arena gigs, by Mary J Blige who performed “Gimme Shelter” – you can watch fan-filmed footage of the performance below.

In a hit-laden set, which was different from their gigs in London, the band were also joined by blues guitarist Gary Clark Jr during “Going Down” and the Trinity Wall Street Choir on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. They finished their rapturously-received set with “I Can’t Get No (Satisfaction)”.

The Rolling Stones will perform two dates at The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on December 13 and 15. The group are also in the line-up for the Hurricane Sandy relief concert in New York.

The Rolling Stones played:

‘Get Off Of My Cloud’

‘I Wanna Be Your Man’

‘The Last Time’

‘Paint It Black’

‘Gimme Shelter’

Wild Horses’

‘Going Down’

‘All Down The Line’

‘Miss You’

‘One More Shot’

‘Doom And Gloom’

‘It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (But I Like It)’

‘Honky Tonk Women’

‘Before They Make Me Run’

‘Happy’

‘Midnight Rambler’

‘Start Me Up’

‘Tumbling Dice’

‘Brown Sugar’

‘Sympathy For The Devil’

‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’

‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’

‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’

Blur – Parklive

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Blur – Parklive

Sound and vision live bonanza; improved audio is the icing on the Hyde Park memorial cake... Last spring, following his Twitter comments early in the year concerning Blur’s “amazing” work in the studio on new material, producer William Orbit announced that Damon Albarn had unexpectedly pulled the plug on recording sessions. The hearts of the eternally hopeful sagged, despite the fact that there had never been any confirmation from the band that they were embarking on an album. The release in early July of “Under The Westway” and “The Puritan” – two of only three new tracks recorded since 2003 – was very likely no more or less than what Blur had planned; that is, a teaser for their headlining set in Hyde Park on August 12 to mark the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics. However clear a full stop at the end of the latest chapter in the Britpop survivors’ history it appears to be, the issue of this hefty (five-disc) deluxe live set – including DVD and 60-page hardback book of exclusive photographs – is unlikely to stem constant, see-sawing speculation about their future. It’s necessarily a time capsule, in which are sealed reminders of the twin triumphs of team Blur and Team GB, bathed in the glow of nostalgic pop euphoria and swollen national pride, albeit tempered by Albarn’s expressed distaste for the Olympics’ overweening commercialism. He declared that the band’s performance that summer evening was “for the human beings” – all 60,000 of them, packed in nose-to-neck. This wasn’t Blur’s first gig in the royal park – they played two shows there on their initial reunion run in July of 2009 – but the double-CD that is the centerpiece of Parklive underscores the monumentality of the event. It’s rare among live recordings in that it offers a high-definition and overall vastly superior listening experience to the real-time performance, where the volume was frustratingly inadequate and echo a problem, prompting Albarn to enquire anxiously, “Can you hear us at the back? Back, back, back… well, I hope so.” It’s an ecstatically hits-stuffed set that features only two songs from ‘The Great Escape’ (“Country House” and “The Universal”), just one (“Sing”) from ‘Leisure’ and seldom-aired, Hoople-like B-side, “Young And Lovely”, which Albarn prefaces with a group dedication to “our beautiful children.” Blur have released three compilation albums, but none of them point up the band’s engagingly contrary creativity and elastic pop nous quite like these two discs. Songs switch from rowdy and attitudinal (“Tracy Jacks”, a grungey and squalling “Trimm Trabb”, “Colin Zeal”) to sombre and reflective (“Beetlebum”, “Caramel”, the always touching “No Distance Left To Run”); from galumphing (“Country House”, “For Tomorrow”) and geezerish (“Sunday Sunday”, conceptual albatross “Parklife”, which features a comically rough-voiced Phil Daniels) to almost graceful (a compelling, desert-blues variation on “Out Of Time”, featuring Iranian oud player Khyam Allami, and horns-assisted closer “The Universal”). There’s no shortage of sing-along opportunities, but an epic and unravelled “Tender” takes the communal biscuit. Given the fullness of this set, the “live extras” disc – comprised chiefly of a Wolverhampton Civic Hall warm-up in June, plus “Under The Westway” and “The Puritan” as performed live on Twitter from a London rooftop – demands a second sitting. As does the recording of Blur’s show at the tiny 100 Club on August 2, where Albarn tests out his introduction to “Young And Lovely” and the sweaty ambience is almost audible. Any live audio recording, however impressive its quality, stumbles at the verisimilitude hurdle; those who were there are reminded of something they already remember, those who weren’t can only imagine it. The Parklive DVD bridges that gap. There’s Graham Coxon rolling on his back, legs flailing during a gnarly guitar workout; here he is mid-“Tender”, receiving an affectionate kiss on the cheek from Albarn; now, in a raucous “Song 2” the singer’s losing his shit and – during one particularly athletic leap – almost his trousers, too. Even the appearance during “Parklife” of Harry Enfield dressed as a tea lady, complete with trolley and urn looks less like a hideously dated gaucherie and more a crowd-pleasing concession made by a band in their mid-40s who’ve made peace not only with one other, but also their pop past. Parklive, of course, comes with a cockles-warming narrative; four grown men with wildly divergent interests – lo-fi garage punk, local politics, artisan cheese and Chinese opera – who’ve somehow beaten the survival odds. But it takes more than sentimentality to sustain a live record, however “historic” the event. Blur’s set will stand. Until their next move… Sharon O'Connell

Sound and vision live bonanza; improved audio is the icing on the Hyde Park memorial cake…

Last spring, following his Twitter comments early in the year concerning Blur’s “amazing” work in the studio on new material, producer William Orbit announced that Damon Albarn had unexpectedly pulled the plug on recording sessions. The hearts of the eternally hopeful sagged, despite the fact that there had never been any confirmation from the band that they were embarking on an album. The release in early July of “Under The Westway” and “The Puritan” – two of only three new tracks recorded since 2003 – was very likely no more or less than what Blur had planned; that is, a teaser for their headlining set in Hyde Park on August 12 to mark the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics.

However clear a full stop at the end of the latest chapter in the Britpop survivors’ history it appears to be, the issue of this hefty (five-disc) deluxe live set – including DVD and 60-page hardback book of exclusive photographs – is unlikely to stem constant, see-sawing speculation about their future. It’s necessarily a time capsule, in which are sealed reminders of the twin triumphs of team Blur and Team GB, bathed in the glow of nostalgic pop euphoria and swollen national pride, albeit tempered by Albarn’s expressed distaste for the Olympics’ overweening commercialism. He declared that the band’s performance that summer evening was “for the human beings” – all 60,000 of them, packed in nose-to-neck.

This wasn’t Blur’s first gig in the royal park – they played two shows there on their initial reunion run in July of 2009 – but the double-CD that is the centerpiece of Parklive underscores the monumentality of the event. It’s rare among live recordings in that it offers a high-definition and overall vastly superior listening experience to the real-time performance, where the volume was frustratingly inadequate and echo a problem, prompting Albarn to enquire anxiously, “Can you hear us at the back? Back, back, back… well, I hope so.”

It’s an ecstatically hits-stuffed set that features only two songs from ‘The Great Escape’ (“Country House” and “The Universal”), just one (“Sing”) from ‘Leisure’ and seldom-aired, Hoople-like B-side, “Young And Lovely”, which Albarn prefaces with a group dedication to “our beautiful children.” Blur have released three compilation albums, but none of them point up the band’s engagingly contrary creativity and elastic pop nous quite like these two discs. Songs switch from rowdy and attitudinal (“Tracy Jacks”, a grungey and squalling “Trimm Trabb”, “Colin Zeal”) to sombre and reflective (“Beetlebum”, “Caramel”, the always touching “No Distance Left To Run”); from galumphing (“Country House”, “For Tomorrow”) and geezerish (“Sunday Sunday”, conceptual albatross “Parklife”, which features a comically rough-voiced Phil Daniels) to almost graceful (a compelling, desert-blues variation on “Out Of Time”, featuring Iranian oud player Khyam Allami, and horns-assisted closer “The Universal”). There’s no shortage of sing-along opportunities, but an epic and unravelled “Tender” takes the communal biscuit.

Given the fullness of this set, the “live extras” disc – comprised chiefly of a Wolverhampton Civic Hall warm-up in June, plus “Under The Westway” and “The Puritan” as performed live on Twitter from a London rooftop – demands a second sitting. As does the recording of Blur’s show at the tiny 100 Club on August 2, where Albarn tests out his introduction to “Young And Lovely” and the sweaty ambience is almost audible.

Any live audio recording, however impressive its quality, stumbles at the verisimilitude hurdle; those who were there are reminded of something they already remember, those who weren’t can only imagine it. The Parklive DVD bridges that gap. There’s Graham Coxon rolling on his back, legs flailing during a gnarly guitar workout; here he is mid-“Tender”, receiving an affectionate kiss on the cheek from Albarn; now, in a raucous “Song 2” the singer’s losing his shit and – during one particularly athletic leap – almost his trousers, too. Even the appearance during “Parklife” of Harry Enfield dressed as a tea lady, complete with trolley and urn looks less like a hideously dated gaucherie and more a crowd-pleasing concession made by a band in their mid-40s who’ve made peace not only with one other, but also their pop past.

Parklive, of course, comes with a cockles-warming narrative; four grown men with wildly divergent interests – lo-fi garage punk, local politics, artisan cheese and Chinese opera – who’ve somehow beaten the survival odds. But it takes more than sentimentality to sustain a live record, however “historic” the event. Blur’s set will stand. Until their next move…

Sharon O’Connell

Jack White: ‘Meg White was uninterested in The White Stripes’

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Jack White: ‘Meg White was uninterested in The White Stripes’
Jack White has said he found it difficult sharing the good moments in The White Stripes with Meg White as she was often "uninterested". The duo found commercial popularity in 2001 following the release of their third album White Blood Cells and became one of the biggest bands of the decade, but fro...

Jack White has said he found it difficult sharing the good moments in The White Stripes with Meg White as she was often “uninterested”.

The duo found commercial popularity in 2001 following the release of their third album White Blood Cells and became one of the biggest bands of the decade, but frontman Jack White claims drummer Meg White never shared his level of enthusiasm during their glory years.

White, who released his debut solo album Blunderbuss earlier this year, told Esquire:

“In The White Stripes, it was impossible to share the good moments with Meg because she was very uninterested. If something nice happened, it wasn’t like we would hug or have a drink. That wasn’t what went on.

“We would record a White Stripes song in the studio and it would be me, Meg and an engineer,” he added. “So we would finish a mix of a song and I’d say, ‘Wow! That’s pretty good!’ I’d look around and Meg would just be sitting there, and the engineer would just be sitting there.”

He continued: “So it’d be sorta like, ‘OK… Let’s just move on to the next one.’ It was just me by myself. But it was the best thing for me. It taught me a lot about trusting my gut.”

However, Jack White, who was once married to Meg White, said that there were a lot of treasurable moments shared between the duo during their time in The White Stripes. “It’s strange to know that there’s beautiful moments that no one will ever know about,” he said. “It’s whether I’m going to tell you, because Meg’s never going to tell you. There’s a sadness to that, a romance.”

Jimmy Page plans 2013 solo tour

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Jimmy Page plans 2013 solo tour
Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page has revealed that he plans to go out on a solo tour next year. The guitarist, who is busy promoting the release of Led Zeppelin's live DVD Celebration Day, said he had planned to tour this year but with the release of the O2 Arena concert film he has had to postpone his so...

Led Zeppelin‘s Jimmy Page has revealed that he plans to go out on a solo tour next year.

The guitarist, who is busy promoting the release of Led Zeppelin’s live DVD Celebration Day, said he had planned to tour this year but with the release of the O2 Arena concert film he has had to postpone his solo trek till 2013.

Speaking in an interview with Guitar World, Page said: “This time last year I intended to be actually playing by now in a live outfit. So that will have to be postponed now into sort of next year, tail end of next year. But I definitely want to be doing that.”

Page also spoke out about rumours that he, bassist John-Paul Jones and drummer Jason Bonham were looking to replace Robert Plant with another singer and tour as Led Zeppelin.

“[After the 2007 O2 Arena tribute gig] Jason, myself and John Paul Jones felt it was the right thing to do to go in and start playing new material and see how we were getting on,” said Page. “There was talk about bringing in some other singers, but that would have changed the character of what we were doing, and done it rather suddenly.”

He added: “There was a lot of… I won’t say pressure but a lot of hinting about ‘this singer and that singer.’ And for me, it was more about, ‘Let’s see what we can really do.’ But I don’t think we really got a chance to do that.”

Last week, Led Zeppelin were honoured at the White House by Barack Obama for their contribution to America culture and the arts. Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page were among a group of artists who received Kennedy Centre Honours.

Pic credit: Getty Images

Neil Young Journeys

Michael Bonner
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Neil Young Journeys

In May 2011, Jonathan Demme filmed Neil Young on the three hour drive from the singer’s hometown of Omemee to Toronto’s Massey Hall, where he was scheduled to play the final shows of his Le Noise tour. “I’m giving a tour, from the driver’s seat, of my old haunting grounds,” as Young described it in his autobiography, Waging Heavy Peace. Demme splices footage from this tripalongside film of the Massey Hall show into what Young describes a “docu-music-entary”, acknowledging the slightly uneven hybrid nature of the thing. Demme, now on his third concert film with the singer (after Heart Of Gold and, as yet unreleased in the UK, Neil Young Trunk Show), finds Young in a white panama hat, linen jacket, black t-shirt and blue jeans. The opening moments of the film show Young's sound mixers setting up their boards; the soundtrack for Journeys has been tweaked in super high-resolution audio and the audience applause has been dampened. This serves to foreground the music, privileging the rich textures and vivid effects Young coaxes from a number of guitars, including Old Black for an elemental version of “Hitchhiker”. The lack of audience footage, or establishing shots, creates an incredibly intimate piece. Unlike Demme’s previous films, which featured Young accompanied by a band, this is just Young on his own, up close, everything focussed on his actions and the delivery of the songs. Demme even fixes a camera to the microphone stand, granting us an extra level of intimacy as the camera displays Young’s immaculate nashers and catches flecks of spit. The songs come mostly from Le Noise, but Young adds in “Ohio”, “Down By The River”, “After The Goldrush” and “Hey Hey My My (Into The Black)” as well as a pair of new songs – a jaunty piano ballad “Leia” and the more sombre “You Never Call”, about Larry Johnson, the head of Shakey Pictures who died in 2010. Meanwhile, back on the road, Young is a lively raconteur:here he is, as he steers his ’56 Crown Victoria past Goof Whitney’s house, telling us about the time he ate tarmac off the road – “that was the beginning of my relationship with cars” – or putting firecrackers up a turtle’s ass: “My environmental roots are not that deep,” he admits. He follows his brother Bob through Omemee – approvingly, Bob drives “Not too fast, not too slow” – to the site of the Young family home, since burned down. Young tells Demme about sleeping in the garden during summer, “to be closer to my chickens.” Back in the car, Young reflects on this journey through his past: “That’s why you don’t have to worry when you lose friends. They’re still in your head. Still in your heart.” Neil Young Journeys opens in the UK this Friday

In May 2011, Jonathan Demme filmed Neil Young on the three hour drive from the singer’s hometown of Omemee to Toronto’s Massey Hall, where he was scheduled to play the final shows of his Le Noise tour.

“I’m giving a tour, from the driver’s seat, of my old haunting grounds,” as Young described it in his autobiography, Waging Heavy Peace.

Demme splices footage from this tripalongside film of the Massey Hall show into what Young describes a “docu-music-entary”, acknowledging the slightly uneven hybrid nature of the thing. Demme, now on his third concert film with the singer (after Heart Of Gold and, as yet unreleased in the UK, Neil Young Trunk Show), finds Young in a white panama hat, linen jacket, black t-shirt and blue jeans. The opening moments of the film show Young’s sound mixers setting up their boards; the soundtrack for Journeys has been tweaked in super high-resolution audio and the audience applause has been dampened. This serves to foreground the music, privileging the rich textures and vivid effects Young coaxes from a number of guitars, including Old Black for an elemental version of “Hitchhiker”.

The lack of audience footage, or establishing shots, creates an incredibly intimate piece. Unlike Demme’s previous films, which featured Young accompanied by a band, this is just Young on his own, up close, everything focussed on his actions and the delivery of the songs. Demme even fixes a camera to the microphone stand, granting us an extra level of intimacy as the camera displays Young’s immaculate nashers and catches flecks of spit. The songs come mostly from Le Noise, but Young adds in “Ohio”, “Down By The River”, “After The Goldrush” and “Hey Hey My My (Into The Black)” as well as a pair of new songs – a jaunty piano ballad “Leia” and the more sombre “You Never Call”, about Larry Johnson, the head of Shakey Pictures who died in 2010. Meanwhile, back on the road, Young is a lively raconteur:here he is, as he steers his ’56 Crown Victoria past Goof Whitney’s house, telling us about the time he ate tarmac off the road – “that was the beginning of my relationship with cars” – or putting firecrackers up a turtle’s ass: “My environmental roots are not that deep,” he admits. He follows his brother Bob through Omemee – approvingly, Bob drives “Not too fast, not too slow” – to the site of the Young family home, since burned down. Young tells Demme about sleeping in the garden during summer, “to be closer to my chickens.” Back in the car, Young reflects on this journey through his past: “That’s why you don’t have to worry when you lose friends. They’re still in your head. Still in your heart.”

Neil Young Journeys opens in the UK this Friday

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