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Hop Farm festival organisers call in administrators

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The company behind Hop Farm and Benicassim festivals is preparing to go into administration. Shares in Vince Power's ailing Music Festivals company were worth 66.5p last June, valuing the company at £10m, but they were suspended at just 2.12p on Friday (September 21), making the company worth just £310,000, The Guardian reports. The company's prospects looked shaky at the beginning of the summer, when it told investors that ticket sales for Spanish bash Benicassim and Kent's Hop Farm looked disappointing. Both events proved to be loss-making despite big-name headliners such as Bob Dylan. In August, the company told investors that it expected to make losses for the year and admitted that it was looking for a financial lifeline. Last week, after the search had proved fruitless, it moved for its shares to be suspended. "The board has in recent weeks pursued a number of different funding proposals but the company has not been able to procure the necessary funding it requires," it said in a statement. Power owns 23 per cent of the company and, along with relatives, the family stake adds up to more than 40 per cent. Power had also propped up the company with a £750,000 unsecured loan in July. Industry experts have cited the wet summer and an increasingly crowded festival market – there are now thought to be over 700 festivals taking place each year – as well as the Olympics for the company's woes. Power opened his first venue, Mean Fiddler, in north-west London in 1982. He opened many more venues and events, including London's Forum and Reading festival, turning Mean Fiddler into the largest promoter in Europe. In 2002, he took operational control of Glastonbury for a three-year stint. He sold Mean Fiddler in 2005 for £38 million. Meanwhile, Surrey music festival Guilfest will shut down after 21 years. Organisers cite the worst weather conditions in its history this summer, and increased competition from other events as the main reasons for pulling the plug on the bash in Guilford, according to BBC News. "I'd love to see Guilfest keep going, but I think it's got to be somebody who takes the helm or somebody who would need deeper pockets," organiser Tony Scott said. His company Scotty Events Ltd has been left with debts of around £300,000. This year's bash – which was headlined by Jools Holland, Ash, Olly Murs and Bryan Ferry – faced heavy rain over three days in July. "It rained on the Saturday and Sunday in 2011, but this year I've never known anything like it," Scott said. "It was a quagmire by Saturday and [by] Sunday it had turned into sticky bog." He added: "There was a lot of competition this year. The Olympics were on, a lot of people were going to that...There was Tom Jones playing up the road at Sandown Park, Bruce Springsteen was playing in London, and there was an awful lot going on around our weekend as well as the bad weather."

The company behind Hop Farm and Benicassim festivals is preparing to go into administration.

Shares in Vince Power’s ailing Music Festivals company were worth 66.5p last June, valuing the company at £10m, but they were suspended at just 2.12p on Friday (September 21), making the company worth just £310,000, The Guardian reports.

The company’s prospects looked shaky at the beginning of the summer, when it told investors that ticket sales for Spanish bash Benicassim and Kent’s Hop Farm looked disappointing. Both events proved to be loss-making despite big-name headliners such as Bob Dylan.

In August, the company told investors that it expected to make losses for the year and admitted that it was looking for a financial lifeline. Last week, after the search had proved fruitless, it moved for its shares to be suspended.

“The board has in recent weeks pursued a number of different funding proposals but the company has not been able to procure the necessary funding it requires,” it said in a statement.

Power owns 23 per cent of the company and, along with relatives, the family stake adds up to more than 40 per cent. Power had also propped up the company with a £750,000 unsecured loan in July. Industry experts have cited the wet summer and an increasingly crowded festival market – there are now thought to be over 700 festivals taking place each year – as well as the Olympics for the company’s woes.

Power opened his first venue, Mean Fiddler, in north-west London in 1982. He opened many more venues and events, including London’s Forum and Reading festival, turning Mean Fiddler into the largest promoter in Europe. In 2002, he took operational control of Glastonbury for a three-year stint. He sold Mean Fiddler in 2005 for £38 million.

Meanwhile, Surrey music festival Guilfest will shut down after 21 years.

Organisers cite the worst weather conditions in its history this summer, and increased competition from other events as the main reasons for pulling the plug on the bash in Guilford, according to BBC News.

“I’d love to see Guilfest keep going, but I think it’s got to be somebody who takes the helm or somebody who would need deeper pockets,” organiser Tony Scott said. His company Scotty Events Ltd has been left with debts of around £300,000.

This year’s bash – which was headlined by Jools Holland, Ash, Olly Murs and Bryan Ferry – faced heavy rain over three days in July. “It rained on the Saturday and Sunday in 2011, but this year I’ve never known anything like it,” Scott said. “It was a quagmire by Saturday and [by] Sunday it had turned into sticky bog.”

He added: “There was a lot of competition this year. The Olympics were on, a lot of people were going to that…There was Tom Jones playing up the road at Sandown Park, Bruce Springsteen was playing in London, and there was an awful lot going on around our weekend as well as the bad weather.”

Neil Young joins Twitter, unveils “Walk Like A Giant” video

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Neil Young has joined social networking site Twitter. The legendary rocker revealed his account yesterday [September 25], and explained that he would be doing a Q&A session on the site ahead of the release of his new album, Psychedelic Pill. He wrote: @neilyoung Look forward to talking to al...

Neil Young has joined social networking site Twitter.

The legendary rocker revealed his account yesterday [September 25], and explained that he would be doing a Q&A session on the site ahead of the release of his new album, Psychedelic Pill. He wrote:

@neilyoung

Look forward to talking to all of you music lovers. Will be doing a #TwitterLegends Q&A with fans about #PsychPill before the release!

He also revealed a link to the official video for his and Crazy Horse’s new song, “Walk Like A Giant“. Scroll down to watch the video.

Earlier this month, Neil Young revealed that he quit booze and drugs one year ago. He gave up drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana in order to write his memoir, Waging Heavy Peace, which comes out in the UK on October 11.

“I did it for 40 years. Now I want to see what it’s like to not do it,” said Young to the New York Times. “It’s just a different perspective.”

Neil Young And Crazy Horse release their second album of this year, Psychedelic Pill, on October 29. The album follows June’s covers LP Americana.

Watch trailer for Rolling Stones doc, Crossfire Hurricane

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Scroll down to watch the trailer for the Rolling Stones new documentary, Crossfire Hurricane. Crossfire Hurricane, will simultaneously premiere at a host of cinemas in the UK and Ireland on October 18. The film, directed by Brett Morgen, documents the band's career from their early road trips and gigs in the 1960s, via the release of 1972's seminal 'Exile On Main Street' right up to present day. Over 250 cinemas across the country will screen the movie live from the 2012 London Film Festival in London's Leicester Square. The multi-cinema screenings will also show Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood's red carpet interviews as well as an interview with Morgen. Tickets for the screenings are on sale now at: crossfire-hurriance.com. The screenings begin at 6.15pm (BST) and will run for 150 minutes. The movie will feature stacks of unseen footage of the band, including commentaries from Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood and former Stones Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor. Director Morgen said: "Crossfire Hurricane invites the audience to experience firsthand the Stones' nearly mythical journey from outsiders to rock and roll royalty. This is not an academic history lesson. Crossfire Hurricane allows the viewer to experience the Stones' journey from a unique vantage point. It's an aural and visual rollercoaster ride." Crossfire Hurricane will go on general release in November. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRodNxDEiYc

Scroll down to watch the trailer for the Rolling Stones new documentary, Crossfire Hurricane.

Crossfire Hurricane, will simultaneously premiere at a host of cinemas in the UK and Ireland on October 18.

The film, directed by Brett Morgen, documents the band’s career from their early road trips and gigs in the 1960s, via the release of 1972’s seminal ‘Exile On Main Street’ right up to present day.

Over 250 cinemas across the country will screen the movie live from the 2012 London Film Festival in London’s Leicester Square. The multi-cinema screenings will also show Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood’s red carpet interviews as well as an interview with Morgen.

Tickets for the screenings are on sale now at: crossfire-hurriance.com. The screenings begin at 6.15pm (BST) and will run for 150 minutes.

The movie will feature stacks of unseen footage of the band, including commentaries from Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood and former Stones Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor.

Director Morgen said: “Crossfire Hurricane invites the audience to experience firsthand the Stones’ nearly mythical journey from outsiders to rock and roll royalty. This is not an academic history lesson. Crossfire Hurricane allows the viewer to experience the Stones’ journey from a unique vantage point. It’s an aural and visual rollercoaster ride.”

Crossfire Hurricane will go on general release in November.

More On the Byrds in Uncut

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The new Uncut’s only been on sale since the end of last week, but there’s already been a fair amount of correspondence about our cover story on The Byrds. Most of it’s been about our Top 20 countdown of The Byrds’s greatest tracks. You were broadly in agreement with what was included, but many of you wondered aloud at certain omissions – “Chestnut Mare” was particularly missed by many, including me it must be said. To make it clear, the tracks on the Top 20 were voted for by the artists we approached who we knew were big Byrds fans, and much to my surprise none of them went for that particular late classic from (Untitled). The Clarence White-era Byrds were in fact, in your general opinion, quite woefully unrepresented. And in answer to several reader emails, yes, I do know how good that line-up of The Byrds was. I saw them at Bristol’s Colston Hall in 1971, when the highlight of a brilliant set was the extended version of “Eight Miles High”. They truly blew my mind that night. Anyway, there’ll be more from Uncut readers about The Byrds and what was and what wasn’t included in our Top 20 in the next issue. In the meantime, among the artists we spoke to about their favourite Byrds songs was Brett Rademaker of Beachwood Sparks, a band who owe a conspicuous debt to The Byrds. It turned out that Brett’s favourite album is The Notorious Byrd Brothers. So as well as waxing lyrical about “Lady Friend”, the 1967 single penned and mostly performed by David Crosby, he was so keen to tell us about how he discovered the album and the impact it had on him that he wrote the following piece for us, which I thought I’d share with you. Have a good week. Allan The Notorious Byrd Brothers Most records that "change your life" don't literally change your life, for me this one really did. Here's how. I first bought The Notorious Byrd Brothers on cassette in 1985 in Tampa, Florida at a thrift shop. I had been a fan of everything I had ever heard by The Byrds on the radio and one of my favorite groups named checked Roger McGuinn in a song (“Consolation Prize” by Orange Juice), but I never owned any of their albums despite them being referenced in many articles and record reviews I had read on my favorite groups. REM was constantly being compared to them and I held both Murmer and Reckoning real dear. Why did it take me almost three more years before I listened to this tape and what finally made me do it? Lysergic Acid Diethylamide – LSD - "that crazy acid" that was the spark, pun intended. I dropped my first (and only) full hit of acid on a hot summer night in 1989 after playing a show with my group at the time, Shadowland. Shadowland was a band my brother Darren and I started in 1987 in Los Angeles that within a three year period took on the jaded LA club scene, signed to Geffen records, recorded an EP and LP at Rockfield studios in Wales, toured with The Meat Puppets/Del Amitri and morphed into our beloved Further band after being fucked with and dropped by Geffen right as they were about to release Sonic Youth’s Goo and Teenage Fanclub’s Bandwagonesque, which left us to do it ourselves. The funny thing is that Geffen and our A&R man Tom Zutaut had heard us play our Dylan ala Byrds covers at our shows and pushed us to record them. Of course they came out flat and slick. It was at the end of this period that I discovered Notorious. My best friend Pete Kinne, "Sleigher" as he came to be known later as the tambourine player of Beachwood Sparks, and I were a bit drunk after the show and when we returned home to our house in Silverlake we wanted to stay up for a while. The only issue was the living room was being used as our drummer Kevin Fitzgerald’s bedroom. When the Geffen money was running low we all lived like The Monkees in one house. Some folks at the label and our booking agent used to call us The Monkees as we always rode around in my big green four door 1971 Dodge Coronet named "Hollywood Undercover". We ended up at the kitchen table with a gallon of OJ, two hits of acid and a boom box. I ducked into my bedroom (a converted breakfast nook covered with a big pirate flag that was once used as a heavy metal band’s back drop) and grabbed a few cassettes. The Notorious Byrd Brothers tape was a bit old and although I couldn't remember ever playing it, someone sure had played the heck out of it. I'd imagined a Vietnam vet buying it through the Columbia Tape Club and blasting it in his 4-wheel drive truck in the swamps of Florida. We were just two guys tripping away, staring at a screen in the window not knowing what we were in for. WOW! as I pressed play and the horns of “Artificial Energy” came blasting out, I swear I saw silver and gold bells of trumpets coming out of the tiny speakers. I had played the trumpet all my life but never associated horns with The Byrds. I liked the use of horns from Chicago to The Teardrop Explodes to The Waterboys, but horns and The Byrds? Even cooler. I remember being stopped in our tracks at the line about being "in jail for killing a queen" - what the fuck? Scary. Lucky for us the next song, “Goin' Back”, mellowed us into a perfect moment of friendship and sense of self. Musically you hear so many things, where “Artificial Energy” was a link to our love of Julian Cope and Teardrop Explodes, “Goin' Back” was very much like the Bunnymen circa Ocean Rain. All grace and perfection, with a stop and start bass line - it's not always about referencing The Beatles, but Liverpool nonetheless I guess. Although I later found out it wasn't written by The Byrds, but in part by Carol King, a woman I came to know from my job on Melrose at Fred Segal lunch counter where she was a frequent after hours visitor of mine. She loved my cafe au lait. Little did either of us know that later on two of her songs would make up the basis for Beachwood Sparks - the "rivers of our vision" would eventually flow into one another I guess. It's kind of the way my brother and I loved punk, but liked the more melodic side more than the political motives. "A little bit of courage is all we lack". Moving on through side one and “Natural Harmony” and that phased-out sound and jazzy freak-out sliding into “Draft Morning”, the bass baby, that's the place. The bass is my love and listening to Chris Hillman’s playing on this album is the thing. It's still something I haven't attempted. I stay in the ballpark of “Wasn't Born to Follow” in his honor. That night, Pete and I perked up and remembered hearing it in the Easy Rider film, talk about a double whammy! It crept into our psyche and all I could think of was the scene in the catacombs of New Orleans. This one song served as the template for many Beachwood Sparks tunes, although we never stole any melodies or lyrics from The Byrds. “Get To You”, the closing song on side one, is not one I remember from that night, but it has served as a theme song on every trip to London for many years after. Time to flip the tape and take a bathroom break. "Stay away from the mirror," is what I remember Pete telling me and from there we spent an hour cracking each other up by making the most insane faces we could manage. There's even a picture we snapped that night where Pete looks like something from Middle Earth as I recall. Maybe you can see the cassette sitting on the table, I will have to try to find it and take a look. Side two – “Changes Now” and more pulsing bass and a country and western feel. This is acid rock as it very finest, backwards guitar lyrics about what's real? “Old John Robertson” was actually my first favorite song from this LP. It had everything to do with that night and that string quartet breakdown, although is only last for 20 seconds, I remember the two of us just delighting in the fact that it appeared out of nowhere. I think David Crosby has two tunes on side two – “Tribal Gathering”, which has that Take Five feel and that explosion of sound that Beachwood likes to go to from time to time. This one and “Dolphin Smile” don't sound as finished as other songs on the record. I especially love them as we were two guys who surfed everyday and grew up dreaming of being Oceanographers or Marine Biologists. “Space Odyssey” brought us in for a safe landing. "PRESS EJECT AND GIVE ME THE TAPE"! We ended up "coming to" on Zuma Beach the next morning with only a hand towel to sit on despite miles of hot sand. I remember saying it was like sitting on a postage stamp not a magic carpet. How did this experience impact on me? I really don't know but in 1996 as our band Further was melting and ‘97 was coming into its own, Chris Gunst, Farmer Dave, Ben Knight and Jimi Hey were at my house on Sparks Street listening to this album and retreating to the "cold room" and trying our hand at playing country jazz freak-outs of our own. And as Chris suggested as he passed Beachwood Ave we called it Beachwood Sparks. Suddenly all the things I ever wanted in a group were there and at the same time folks were actually coming to hear us in fairly big numbers by when we merged what was left of Further (Josh Schwartz, Tom Sanford , Pete Kinne) with our new Beachwood Sparks and it was really taking off. Our shows were effortless affairs with amazing results. Some nights if we had 30 minutes of set time, we would jam for 20 and then play one or two of our songs. We had real camaraderie as well, but ironically we lost our brilliant drummer Tom after two shows where he had dropped so much acid we couldn't follow or relate to what he was playing or saying. Looking back, I wished we had talked it out a bit more. If you get the CD Columbia re-issue of Notorious Byrd Brothers and listen past the last track to the "hidden" song, you'll hear The Byrds taking a stab at recording Crosby’s tune “Dolphin Smile”. It gives you a glimpse of what you don't see but does go on. It's sad. I always feel uncomfortable with Beachwood Sparks write-ups that mention Gram Parsons and Cosmic American Music. Sure we love Gram (although I don't even own a copy of Sweetheart Of The Rodeo) and the Burrito Bros, but if they don't mention The Notorious Byrd Brothers, I know they probably don't know what they are talking about or are just being lazy. It's true that the first and only goal that Beachwood Sparks had was to play a Gram Parsons festival in Joshua Tree. Funny enough, we were rejected. Once we got access to a real recording studio, we really strived to capture, not only our own sound and feelings, but the sound of Notorious as well. While mixing the Cowboy Robots Cry, I attempted to dial in the same drum sound as “Get To You”, got pretty darn close too. The phased out section of “You Take The Gold” from our second LP, Once We Were Trees, was the second stab at creating that “Wasn't Born To Follow” middle eight, we also tried it on “Something I Don’t Recognize” from the debut LP. Maybe we should have dosed the engineer’s coffee with LSD, because we fell a bit short both times. The point is, we try because we simply love it and when I said earlier that all the things I ever wanted in a group came to Beachwood Sparks -- it had what the groups I had with my brother (A New Personality, Further, Shadowland) had and more. A sense of purpose and inspiration that never wears out plus we found success within the music scene of our hometown and a great record label in Sub Pop, who have stuck behind us through thick and thin. This record has had so much to do with it. If someone really likes our group and hasn't heard this record, I always urge them to go and listen to it first so as not to be found out later. Can a record really change your life? Yes! The places I have gone, the moves I have made, the friendships and relationships that have shaped my life for the last 20 years can be directly traced back to that summer night in our kitchen in Silverlake listening to the Notorious Byrd Brothers. One day I will connect all the dots and prove it. Brent Rademaker

The new Uncut’s only been on sale since the end of last week, but there’s already been a fair amount of correspondence about our cover story on The Byrds. Most of it’s been about our Top 20 countdown of The Byrds’s greatest tracks. You were broadly in agreement with what was included, but many of you wondered aloud at certain omissions – “Chestnut Mare” was particularly missed by many, including me it must be said.

To make it clear, the tracks on the Top 20 were voted for by the artists we approached who we knew were big Byrds fans, and much to my surprise none of them went for that particular late classic from (Untitled). The Clarence White-era Byrds were in fact, in your general opinion, quite woefully unrepresented.

And in answer to several reader emails, yes, I do know how good that line-up of The Byrds was. I saw them at Bristol’s Colston Hall in 1971, when the highlight of a brilliant set was the extended version of “Eight Miles High”. They truly blew my mind that night.

Anyway, there’ll be more from Uncut readers about The Byrds and what was and what wasn’t included in our Top 20 in the next issue. In the meantime, among the artists we spoke to about their favourite Byrds songs was Brett Rademaker of Beachwood Sparks, a band who owe a conspicuous debt to The Byrds. It turned out that Brett’s favourite album is The Notorious Byrd Brothers. So as well as waxing lyrical about “Lady Friend”, the 1967 single penned and mostly performed by David Crosby, he was so keen to tell us about how he discovered the album and the impact it had on him that he wrote the following piece for us, which I thought I’d share with you.

Have a good week.

Allan

The Notorious Byrd Brothers

Most records that “change your life” don’t literally change your life, for me this one really did. Here’s how.

I first bought The Notorious Byrd Brothers on cassette in 1985 in Tampa, Florida at a thrift shop. I had been a fan of everything I had ever heard by The Byrds on the radio and one of my favorite groups named checked Roger McGuinn in a song (“Consolation Prize” by Orange Juice), but I never owned any of their albums despite them being referenced in many articles and record reviews I had read on my favorite groups. REM was constantly being compared to them and I held both Murmer and Reckoning real dear. Why did it take me almost three more years before I listened to this tape and what finally made me do it? Lysergic Acid Diethylamide – LSD – “that crazy acid” that was the spark, pun intended.

I dropped my first (and only) full hit of acid on a hot summer night in 1989 after playing a show with my group at the time, Shadowland. Shadowland was a band my brother Darren and I started in 1987 in Los Angeles that within a three year period took on the jaded LA club scene, signed to Geffen records, recorded an EP and LP at Rockfield studios in Wales, toured with The Meat Puppets/Del Amitri and morphed into our beloved Further band after being fucked with and dropped by Geffen right as they were about to release Sonic Youth’s Goo and Teenage Fanclub’s Bandwagonesque, which left us to do it ourselves.

The funny thing is that Geffen and our A&R man Tom Zutaut had heard us play our Dylan ala Byrds covers at our shows and pushed us to record them. Of course they came out flat and slick. It was at the end of this period that I discovered Notorious. My best friend Pete Kinne, “Sleigher” as he came to be known later as the tambourine player of Beachwood Sparks, and I were a bit drunk after the show and when we returned home to our house in Silverlake we wanted to stay up for a while. The only issue was the living room was being used as our drummer Kevin Fitzgerald’s bedroom. When the Geffen money was running low we all lived like The Monkees in one house. Some folks at the label and our booking agent used to call us The Monkees as we always rode around in my big green four door 1971 Dodge Coronet named “Hollywood Undercover”. We ended up at the kitchen table with a gallon of OJ, two hits of acid and a boom box.

I ducked into my bedroom (a converted breakfast nook covered with a big pirate flag that was once used as a heavy metal band’s back drop) and grabbed a few cassettes. The Notorious Byrd Brothers tape was a bit old and although I couldn’t remember ever playing it, someone sure had played the heck out of it. I’d imagined a Vietnam vet buying it through the Columbia Tape Club and blasting it in his 4-wheel drive truck in the swamps of Florida. We were just two guys tripping away, staring at a screen in the window not knowing what we were in for.

WOW! as I pressed play and the horns of “Artificial Energy” came blasting out, I swear I saw silver and gold bells of trumpets coming out of the tiny speakers. I had played the trumpet all my life but never associated horns with The Byrds. I liked the use of horns from Chicago to The Teardrop Explodes to The Waterboys, but horns and The Byrds? Even cooler. I remember being stopped in our tracks at the line about being “in jail for killing a queen” – what the fuck? Scary. Lucky for us the next song, “Goin’ Back”, mellowed us into a perfect moment of friendship and sense of self. Musically you hear so many things, where “Artificial Energy” was a link to our love of Julian Cope and Teardrop Explodes, “Goin’ Back” was very much like the Bunnymen circa Ocean Rain. All grace and perfection, with a stop and start bass line – it’s not always about referencing The Beatles, but Liverpool nonetheless I guess. Although I later found out it wasn’t written by The Byrds, but in part by Carol King, a woman I came to know from my job on Melrose at Fred Segal lunch counter where she was a frequent after hours visitor of mine. She loved my cafe au lait. Little did either of us know that later on two of her songs would make up the basis for Beachwood Sparks – the “rivers of our vision” would eventually flow into one another I guess. It’s kind of the way my brother and I loved punk, but liked the more melodic side more than the political motives. “A little bit of courage is all we lack”.

Moving on through side one and “Natural Harmony” and that phased-out sound and jazzy freak-out sliding into “Draft Morning”, the bass baby, that’s the place. The bass is my love and listening to Chris Hillman’s playing on this album is the thing. It’s still something I haven’t attempted. I stay in the ballpark of “Wasn’t Born to Follow” in his honor. That night, Pete and I perked up and remembered hearing it in the Easy Rider film, talk about a double whammy! It crept into our psyche and all I could think of was the scene in the catacombs of New Orleans. This one song served as the template for many Beachwood Sparks tunes, although we never stole any melodies or lyrics from The Byrds. “Get To You”, the closing song on side one, is not one I remember from that night, but it has served as a theme song on every trip to London for many years after.

Time to flip the tape and take a bathroom break. “Stay away from the mirror,” is what I remember Pete telling me and from there we spent an hour cracking each other up by making the most insane faces we could manage. There’s even a picture we snapped that night where Pete looks like something from Middle Earth as I recall. Maybe you can see the cassette sitting on the table, I will have to try to find it and take a look. Side two – “Changes Now” and more pulsing bass and a country and western feel. This is acid rock as it very finest, backwards guitar lyrics about what’s real?

“Old John Robertson” was actually my first favorite song from this LP. It had everything to do with that night and that string quartet breakdown, although is only last for 20 seconds, I remember the two of us just delighting in the fact that it appeared out of nowhere. I think David Crosby has two tunes on side two – “Tribal Gathering”, which has that Take Five feel and that explosion of sound that Beachwood likes to go to from time to time. This one and “Dolphin Smile” don’t sound as finished as other songs on the record. I especially love them as we were two guys who surfed everyday and grew up dreaming of being Oceanographers or Marine Biologists. “Space Odyssey” brought us in for a safe landing. “PRESS EJECT AND GIVE ME THE TAPE”! We ended up “coming to” on Zuma Beach the next morning with only a hand towel to sit on despite miles of hot sand. I remember saying it was like sitting on a postage stamp not a magic carpet.

How did this experience impact on me? I really don’t know but in 1996 as our band Further was melting and ‘97 was coming into its own, Chris Gunst, Farmer Dave, Ben Knight and Jimi Hey were at my house on Sparks Street listening to this album and retreating to the “cold room” and trying our hand at playing country jazz freak-outs of our own. And as Chris suggested as he passed Beachwood Ave we called it Beachwood Sparks. Suddenly all the things I ever wanted in a group were there and at the same time folks were actually coming to hear us in fairly big numbers by when we merged what was left of Further (Josh Schwartz, Tom Sanford , Pete Kinne) with our new Beachwood Sparks and it was really taking off. Our shows were effortless affairs with amazing results. Some nights if we had 30 minutes of set time, we would jam for 20 and then play one or two of our songs. We had real camaraderie as well, but ironically we lost our brilliant drummer Tom after two shows where he had dropped so much acid we couldn’t follow or relate to what he was playing or saying. Looking back, I wished we had talked it out a bit more.

If you get the CD Columbia re-issue of Notorious Byrd Brothers and listen past the last track to the “hidden” song, you’ll hear The Byrds taking a stab at recording Crosby’s tune “Dolphin Smile”. It gives you a glimpse of what you don’t see but does go on. It’s sad.

I always feel uncomfortable with Beachwood Sparks write-ups that mention Gram Parsons and Cosmic American Music. Sure we love Gram (although I don’t even own a copy of Sweetheart Of The Rodeo) and the Burrito Bros, but if they don’t mention The Notorious Byrd Brothers, I know they probably don’t know what they are talking about or are just being lazy. It’s true that the first and only goal that Beachwood Sparks had was to play a Gram Parsons festival in Joshua Tree. Funny enough, we were rejected. Once we got access to a real recording studio, we really strived to capture, not only our own sound and feelings, but the sound of Notorious as well. While mixing the Cowboy Robots Cry, I attempted to dial in the same drum sound as “Get To You”, got pretty darn close too. The phased out section of “You Take The Gold” from our second LP, Once We Were Trees, was the second stab at creating that “Wasn’t Born To Follow” middle eight, we also tried it on “Something I Don’t Recognize” from the debut LP.

Maybe we should have dosed the engineer’s coffee with LSD, because we fell a bit short both times. The point is, we try because we simply love it and when I said earlier that all the things I ever wanted in a group came to Beachwood Sparks — it had what the groups I had with my brother (A New Personality, Further, Shadowland) had and more. A sense of purpose and inspiration that never wears out plus we found success within the music scene of our hometown and a great record label in Sub Pop, who have stuck behind us through thick and thin. This record has had so much to do with it. If someone really likes our group and hasn’t heard this record, I always urge them to go and listen to it first so as not to be found out later.

Can a record really change your life? Yes! The places I have gone, the moves I have made, the friendships and relationships that have shaped my life for the last 20 years can be directly traced back to that summer night in our kitchen in Silverlake listening to the Notorious Byrd Brothers.

One day I will connect all the dots and prove it.

Brent Rademaker

Beach Boys to continue touring without Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and David Marks

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According to reports, Mike Love is to continue touring without Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and David Marks when the current 50th anniversary tour finishes at the end of this week. The line-up for future shows will instead consist of Love, Bruce Johnston along with their regular touring band. "As we move on, Bruce and I look forward to performing live for Beach Boys fans everywhere," Love said in a press release, also noting, "The 50th Reunion Tour was designed to be a set tour with a beginning and an end to mark a special 50-year milestone for the band." Rolling Stone reports comments Brian Wilson made to CNN about the situation. "I'm disappointed and can't understand why [Love] doesn't want to tour with Al, David and me. We are out here having so much fun. After all, we are the real Beach Boys." Meanwhile, Al Jardine has posted a petition on his Facebook page for fans to sign. The letter reads: "To Mike Love. "In order to preserve the validity of 'The Beach Boys' as a whole, and not as a 'money saving, stripped down version' that only contains one original member, and one member that joined in 1965, we ask you to reinstate the three other members to the touring group for your final years performing. It's the right thing to do, and it's what the fans want!" The Beach Boys play the Royal Albert Hall on September 27 and Wembley Arena on September 28.

According to reports, Mike Love is to continue touring without Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and David Marks when the current 50th anniversary tour finishes at the end of this week. The line-up for future shows will instead consist of Love, Bruce Johnston along with their regular touring band.

“As we move on, Bruce and I look forward to performing live for Beach Boys fans everywhere,” Love said in a press release, also noting, “The 50th Reunion Tour was designed to be a set tour with a beginning and an end to mark a special 50-year milestone for the band.”

Rolling Stone reports comments Brian Wilson made to CNN about the situation. “I’m disappointed and can’t understand why [Love] doesn’t want to tour with Al, David and me. We are out here having so much fun. After all, we are the real Beach Boys.”

Meanwhile, Al Jardine has posted a petition on his Facebook page for fans to sign. The letter reads:

“To Mike Love.

“In order to preserve the validity of ‘The Beach Boys’ as a whole, and not as a ‘money saving, stripped down version’ that only contains one original member, and one member that joined in 1965, we ask you to reinstate the three other members to the touring group for your final years performing. It’s the right thing to do, and it’s what the fans want!”

The Beach Boys play the Royal Albert Hall on September 27 and Wembley Arena on September 28.

Levon Helm Band to release ‘Midnight Ramble Sessions Vol 3’

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A new CD featuring live songs from Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble house concerts, will be released on November 20, according to a report on Rolling Stone. Midnight Ramble Sessions Volume 3 is one of the last projects Helm completed before he died on April 19. He and producer Brendan McDonough are reported to have sifted through hundreds of gigs which took place at the Rambles held in Helm's Woodstock barn. Guests on the album include Chris Robinson and Allen Toussaint. A tribute concert, Love For Levon, will be held on October 3, at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, The Eagles' Joe Walsh, Gregg Allman and Bruce Hornsby are all scheduled to perform.

A new CD featuring live songs from Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble house concerts, will be released on November 20, according to a report on Rolling Stone.

Midnight Ramble Sessions Volume 3 is one of the last projects Helm completed before he died on April 19. He and producer Brendan McDonough are reported to have sifted through hundreds of gigs which took place at the Rambles held in Helm’s Woodstock barn. Guests on the album include Chris Robinson and Allen Toussaint.

A tribute concert, Love For Levon, will be held on October 3, at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, The Eagles’ Joe Walsh, Gregg Allman and Bruce Hornsby are all scheduled to perform.

John Lydon slams Sex Pistols’ ‘Never Mind The Bollocks…’ reissue

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John Lydon has slammed the reissue campaign surrounding the Sex Pistols' seminal album 'Never Mind The Bollocks…'. Speaking to NME, the Public Image Ltd. frontman said that although he was happy the album was being "re-released properly" and given a sonic overhaul, he was keeping himself "distan...

John Lydon has slammed the reissue campaign surrounding the Sex Pistols’ seminal album ‘Never Mind The Bollocks…’.

Speaking to NME, the Public Image Ltd. frontman said that although he was happy the album was being “re-released properly” and given a sonic overhaul, he was keeping himself “distant” from the media furore.

A new super deluxe boxset of the LP is being released today (September 24) to celebrate the album’s 35th anniversary which includes music, videos, interviews pictures and replica memorabilia. But Lydon said: “As you must know, I’m keeping myself distant from that.”

Then, referencing the campaign earlier this year which tried to get “God Save The Queen” to the Number One spot in the Official UK Singles Chart to coincide with the Golden Jubilee, he continued: “It wasn’t right from the start. I don’t mind the records being re-released properly, that’s a good thing, but I don’t like the vacuous nonsense of trying to create false agendas and pretending to want to be Number One. Hello? Never did nothing for Number One. Not ever. Not in my entire life. What the fuck are you lot thinking of? I’m immediately at war with them on that.”

He continued: “It’s so ridiculous. They don’t realise they’re actually killing the fucking spirit of the thing. This is not KISS.”

The singer then went on to claim that Universal should have signed Public Image Ltd. rather than the Sex Pistols, stating: “There’s been bizarre, millions-of-pound offers for tours. I don’t want it for any price; I could do with the money, you know, but not on that level. I can’t write a song for them anymore. I’ve moved on. It’s over.”

“I don’t see any progress from working with the chaps,” he continued. “To me, they’re still pocketed 30 years back and they haven’t grown out of that. That’s not fair to me, to expect me to take 10 steps back and wreck what is a perfectly healthy thing that I’m doing right now. If Universal had any sense, they’d have signed fucking PiL and not the Pistols.”

Public Image Ltd. released their latest album This Is PiL in May of this year. The LP, which was the follow-up to the band’s 1992 effort That What Is Not, was their first official studio album in 20 years and was released through their own PiL Official label.

Justin Vernon to ‘walk away’ from Bon Iver Bon Iver

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Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon has said that he plans to 'walk away' from his double Grammy award winning act. Speaking to 89.3 The Current - via The Daily Swarm - Vernon said of the band: "I really feel the need to walk away from it while I still care about it. And then if I come back to it – i...

Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon has said that he plans to ‘walk away’ from his double Grammy award winning act.

Speaking to 89.3 The Current – via The Daily Swarm – Vernon said of the band: “I really feel the need to walk away from it while I still care about it. And then if I come back to it – if at all – I’ll feel better about it and be renewed or something to do that.”

When asked what the latest was with Bon Iver, he said he was: Winding it down. I look at it like a faucet. I have to turn it off and walk away from it because so much of how that music comes together is subconscious or discovering. There’s so much attention on the band, it can be distracting at times.

Justin Vernon recently asked fans to design him a new tattoo based on his favourite TV show. He is offering a cash prize to the winner of his 99designs competition and will have the top illustration inked on his arm.

Vernon has published a long description detailing the requirements he wants from his new body art, with the singer choosing five finalists to propose designs influenced by the TV series Northern Exposure – the same show which was the inspiration behind his band’s name, and the name of his new record label.

Bon Iver embark on an arena tour of the UK and Ireland in November this year. The gigs kick off on November 8 at London’s Wembley Arena and run until November 12 when the band headline Dublin’s O2 Arena. They will also play dates in Manchester and Glasgow.

Produced By George Martin

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A fascinating journey through the life of the producer who changed the world... This DVD is, significantly, a production for the BBC’s Arena, which gives it the edge over ITV/ Sky’s slicker, more promo-faced South Bank Show. Here we get the familiar story of George Martin told with a brilliant freshness. Naturally The Beatles’ story is threaded through Martin’s (Ringo and Sir Paul contribute, both full of affection for their old headmaster), but for once we get the early years (the breadline childhood, the Fleet Air Arm), the comedy years (Bernard Cribbins and Rolf Harris), and the post-Fabs years (Mahavishnu Orchestra!), as well as a visit to Montserrat, where Martin built his second Air Studios (destroyed by Hurricane Hugo). The story is told in a pleasantly jumbled up fashion, as if someone just threw the tapes up in the air. Martin’s son Giles conducts several interviews, and at one point is charmingly admonished by his dad for trying to make him admit that he was ambitious. Macca recalls a dinner in Paris hosted by Epstein where they were served “phallic delicacies”. Ringo reveals a collective Beatle fancying of Judy, now Lady Martin. Michael Palin discusses The Goons with Sir George. And throughout the programme there is a strong sense of just how extraordinary a person George Martin is. He remains the modest patrician, the polite innovator, and the man whose suggestions helped to change popular music (at one point, he explains how McCartney’s staccato verses for “Eleanor Rigby” reminded him of Bernard Hermann, which led him to the sawing orchestral arrangement - Psycho out of Father Mackenzie!) You also get a sense of the man’s inner steel. This is a producer unfazed by neither Lennon nor McCartney. Told by EMI that The Beatles didn’t want his name on Let It Be, he says, “I wasn’t having that,” adding that he suggested the credit should be “produced by George Martin, over-produced by Phil Spector”. Martin was never a yes-man (Rolf Harris, interviewed, is still amazed that George bluntly told him the aboriginal music he wanted on “Sun Arise” was “boring”). After years of the Lennon version of history, in which Martin’s role as the mythic fifth Beatle was sharply denigrated, it’s good to be shown how important he was, moving from practical suggestions (beginning a song with the chorus) to introducing the band to new ideas, and then working as an equal partner on creating new worlds. The origins of these new worlds were unknown to Phil Spector. Martin says of his first encounter with The Beatles, “I didn’t know them from Adam, but they knew me,” Martin says, because the band had seen his name on records by Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan. When he adds, “Building up Sergeant Pepper became a bit like working on a Peter Sellers record,” he says, you see how a career as a comedy producer gave him both The Beatles’ respect – The Goons were as important to Lennon as Chuck Berry – and the open-mindedness to make a record like “Strawberry Fields Forever”. (And in the end, he could have said, after the disaster of Let It Be, they came crawling back to make Abbey Road.) This is a brilliant DVD, with huge chunks of Martin productions, from America to Irene Handl, from Humphrey Lyttelton to Jeff Beck (the extras are extended Giles Martin interviews, as well as tributes from the slightly random trio of Rick Rubin, T-Bone Burnett and Ken Scott). Its most poignant moment comes when Martin, now in his 80s, visits the devastated Air Studios in Montserrat. “It's like everything in life,” he says, “Everything has a period. You bring something out of nothing but it always goes back to nothing again.” Looking at George Martin’s career, it’s impossible to believe that’s true. EXTRAS: Extended interviews. 6/10 DAVID QUANTICK

A fascinating journey through the life of the producer who changed the world…

This DVD is, significantly, a production for the BBC’s Arena, which gives it the edge over ITV/ Sky’s slicker, more promo-faced South Bank Show. Here we get the familiar story of George Martin told with a brilliant freshness. Naturally The Beatles’ story is threaded through Martin’s (Ringo and Sir Paul contribute, both full of affection for their old headmaster), but for once we get the early years (the breadline childhood, the Fleet Air Arm), the comedy years (Bernard Cribbins and Rolf Harris), and the post-Fabs years (Mahavishnu Orchestra!), as well as a visit to Montserrat, where Martin built his second Air Studios (destroyed by Hurricane Hugo).

The story is told in a pleasantly jumbled up fashion, as if someone just threw the tapes up in the air. Martin’s son Giles conducts several interviews, and at one point is charmingly admonished by his dad for trying to make him admit that he was ambitious. Macca recalls a dinner in Paris hosted by Epstein where they were served “phallic delicacies”. Ringo reveals a collective Beatle fancying of Judy, now Lady Martin. Michael Palin discusses The Goons with Sir George. And throughout the programme there is a strong sense of just how extraordinary a person George Martin is. He remains the modest patrician, the polite innovator, and the man whose suggestions helped to change popular music (at one point, he explains how McCartney’s staccato verses for “Eleanor Rigby” reminded him of Bernard Hermann, which led him to the sawing orchestral arrangement – Psycho out of Father Mackenzie!)

You also get a sense of the man’s inner steel. This is a producer unfazed by neither Lennon nor McCartney. Told by EMI that The Beatles didn’t want his name on Let It Be, he says, “I wasn’t having that,” adding that he suggested the credit should be “produced by George Martin, over-produced by Phil Spector”. Martin was never a yes-man (Rolf Harris, interviewed, is still amazed that George bluntly told him the aboriginal music he wanted on “Sun Arise” was “boring”). After years of the Lennon version of history, in which Martin’s role as the mythic fifth Beatle was sharply denigrated, it’s good to be shown how important he was, moving from practical suggestions (beginning a song with the chorus) to introducing the band to new ideas, and then working as an equal partner on creating new worlds.

The origins of these new worlds were unknown to Phil Spector. Martin says of his first encounter with The Beatles, “I didn’t know them from Adam, but they knew me,” Martin says, because the band had seen his name on records by Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan. When he adds, “Building up Sergeant Pepper became a bit like working on a Peter Sellers record,” he says, you see how a career as a comedy producer gave him both The Beatles’ respect – The Goons were as important to Lennon as Chuck Berry – and the open-mindedness to make a record like “Strawberry Fields Forever”. (And in the end, he could have said, after the disaster of Let It Be, they came crawling back to make Abbey Road.)

This is a brilliant DVD, with huge chunks of Martin productions, from America to Irene Handl, from Humphrey Lyttelton to Jeff Beck (the extras are extended Giles Martin interviews, as well as tributes from the slightly random trio of Rick Rubin, T-Bone Burnett and Ken Scott). Its most poignant moment comes when Martin, now in his 80s, visits the devastated Air Studios in Montserrat. “It’s like everything in life,” he says, “Everything has a period. You bring something out of nothing but it always goes back to nothing again.” Looking at George Martin’s career, it’s impossible to believe that’s true.

EXTRAS: Extended interviews.

6/10

DAVID QUANTICK

The Cairo Gang: “The Corner Man”

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Emmett Kelly has been making records as The Cairo Gang for a good few years now but, if he’s known at all, chances are it’s for his unusually enduring role in Will Oldham’s band: the amazing Royal Stable site suggests he’s been in on most Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy projects since 2006. The...

Emmett Kelly has been making records as The Cairo Gang for a good few years now but, if he’s known at all, chances are it’s for his unusually enduring role in Will Oldham’s band: the amazing Royal Stable site suggests he’s been in on most Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy projects since 2006.

The most prominent of these, I guess, would be 2010’s “Wonder Show Of The World”, for which The Cairo Gang got equal billing with Billy. Kelly co-wrote the album, one of Oldham’s best – though I didn’t know about the joint credit when I posted this review of “Wonder Show…”.

Listening to “The Corner Man”, Kelly’s first solo LP for six years – and I haven’t listened to a great deal else over the weekend – that becomes pretty obvious (“There Is Something Here”, especially, sounds like a sequel of sorts to one of my favourite Oldham songs, “That’s What Our Love Is”) . Kelly’s skills for a spare, courtly kind of music are much in evidence, but his voice is also reminiscent of Will Oldham’s. Perhaps, in fairness, it’s the shapes of the vocal melodies that seem familiar. Kelly never tries to copy Oldham’s eccentricities, and his voice is a more orthodox instrument: when the instruments totally drop out for a while on “Ill Force”, it sounds strong, true and uncannily beautiful.

I’m conscious, useful context though it might be, of examining this lovely record solely through the prism of Will Oldham. Even when I find other references worth citing – the classical acoustic guitar used in a not dissimilar way to Mark Kozelek’s work on “Admiral Fell Promises”; a forlorn soulfulness to “Gland In Gland” that recalls Liam Hayes’ Plush – it occurs that both those excellent musicians collaborated with Oldham, fleetingly.

Casting the net wider, I still find it weirdly hard to get out of Louisville: the last record I remember having a comparable atmosphere and potency was Elephant Micah’s “Louder Than Thou” right at the start of the year. Kelly has a great sense of dynamics, too, and occasionally these insidious and understated songs rear up with banked electric guitars, provided at least in part by a noted alumnus of Wilco, Leroy Bach.

At some point in the last couple of days, though, I finally found another way of looking at this fine album. I was playing “Gone Is The Light”, and it struck me that Kelly’s delicacy, the uncertain air of warmth and melancholy, had something of Chris Bell’s solo work to it. I keep meaning to dig out “I Am The Cosmos” to check.

Hopefully, anyhow, this index of possible references will have whetted a few appetites. You can check out “Now You Are One Of Us”, from “The Corner Man”, here. Give it a listen and, as ever, let me know what you think.

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

AC/DC’s Bon Scott to have monument erected in birthplace

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AC/DC singer Bon Scott, who died aged 33 in 1980, is to have a monument honouring him erected in his birthplace. Scott was born in Kirriemuir in Scotland in 1946, before his family moved to Australia when he was six, and a community group want to honour their local hero by erecting a statue. DD8 Music, who are also behind the annual Bon Scott music festival in the town, have approached sculptor John McKenna to design a statue as a lasting tribute, reports The Daily Record. McKenna told the newspaper: "It's early days, but it's a great honour. Bon Scott was an icon from my teenage years.: The tribute to the late singer has received backing from former AC/DC bassist Mark Evans, who told Ultimate Classic Rock: "It’s so amazing that Bon is getting honoured like this, especially since Scotland is such an important place in the history of AC/DC. Bon already had a street named after him in Kirriemuir and now this!" Scott has a statue in his honour in his hometown of Claremont, Australia. Erected in 2008, the monument is situated at the Freemantle Fishing Boat Harbour.

AC/DC singer Bon Scott, who died aged 33 in 1980, is to have a monument honouring him erected in his birthplace.

Scott was born in Kirriemuir in Scotland in 1946, before his family moved to Australia when he was six, and a community group want to honour their local hero by erecting a statue.

DD8 Music, who are also behind the annual Bon Scott music festival in the town, have approached sculptor John McKenna to design a statue as a lasting tribute, reports The Daily Record.

McKenna told the newspaper: “It’s early days, but it’s a great honour. Bon Scott was an icon from my teenage years.:

The tribute to the late singer has received backing from former AC/DC bassist Mark Evans, who told Ultimate Classic Rock: “It’s so amazing that Bon is getting honoured like this, especially since Scotland is such an important place in the history of AC/DC. Bon already had a street named after him in Kirriemuir and now this!”

Scott has a statue in his honour in his hometown of Claremont, Australia. Erected in 2008, the monument is situated at the Freemantle Fishing Boat Harbour.

Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder raises $1.7million for Obama re-election campaign

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Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder helped raise $1.7million at a fundraiser for US President Barack Obama's re-election campaign. The singer performed two Pearl Jam Songs, "Rise" and "Without You", along with covers of James Taylor's "Millworker" and Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World", at the $20,000 ticket event at the home of singer-songwriter Don Miggs in Tampa, Florida. Vedder, who played the gig in a suit, then made a short speech - which you can watch below - slamming Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his recent "47 per cent comments", reports The Hollywood Reporter. Speaking to the 85 guests who paid the hefty ticket price, Vedder shared his own story of how a government program helped him, saying: "I'm an example of someone who never made it to university. I did have this dream to be a musician. I felt that this dream had an expiration date." The front man then went on to recall signing up to a government program, which led him to a job as a security guard in a petroleum company prior to Pearl Jam. He said: "It was that job which allowed me to keep affording to guitars and microphones. For me, it all began with that ability to get the proper training for a decent job." Vedder then introduced President Obama, who thanked the singer for playing at the fundraiser and for sharing his story which "speaks volumes not only about you (Eddie) but about this country".

Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder helped raise $1.7million at a fundraiser for US President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.

The singer performed two Pearl Jam Songs, “Rise” and “Without You”, along with covers of James Taylor’s “Millworker” and Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World”, at the $20,000 ticket event at the home of singer-songwriter Don Miggs in Tampa, Florida.

Vedder, who played the gig in a suit, then made a short speech – which you can watch below – slamming Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his recent “47 per cent comments”, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Speaking to the 85 guests who paid the hefty ticket price, Vedder shared his own story of how a government program helped him, saying: “I’m an example of someone who never made it to university. I did have this dream to be a musician. I felt that this dream had an expiration date.”

The front man then went on to recall signing up to a government program, which led him to a job as a security guard in a petroleum company prior to Pearl Jam.

He said: “It was that job which allowed me to keep affording to guitars and microphones. For me, it all began with that ability to get the proper training for a decent job.”

Vedder then introduced President Obama, who thanked the singer for playing at the fundraiser and for sharing his story which “speaks volumes not only about you (Eddie) but about this country”.

Charles Manson writes Marilyn Manson an open letter from his prison cell

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Charles Manson has sent Marilyn Manson an open letter from his prison cell. The rocker, whose real name is Brian Warner, took the latter half of his moniker from Manson's surname and his first half from actress Marilyn Monroe. A number of Manson's bandmates took similar stage names, with the like...

Charles Manson has sent Marilyn Manson an open letter from his prison cell.

The rocker, whose real name is Brian Warner, took the latter half of his moniker from Manson’s surname and his first half from actress Marilyn Monroe.

A number of Manson’s bandmates took similar stage names, with the likes of Twiggy Ramirez, Ginger Fish and Madonna Wayne Gacy also inspired in the same way.

The postcard, which leaked online via Loudwire earlier this week, is largely abstract, but has a slightly threatening undertone to a number of its passages.

Charles Manson wrote: “To Marilyn Manson, It’s taken me a long time to get there from where I could touch M. Manson. Now I got a card to play – you may look into my non-profit, ATWA, and give Manson what you think he’s got coming for Air, Trees, Water, and you. Or I will pay Manson what you think Manson got coming – the music has make Manson into Abraxas Devil, and I’m SURE you would want some of what I got from what I got. It’s a far out balance.”

He continued: “Beyond good and bad, right, wrong. What you don’t do is what I will do – what you did a sing-along, and let it roll and said how you saved me a lot of steps – I don’t need, it’s not a need or a want. Couped – coup. Ghost dancers slay together and you’re just in my grave Sunstroker Corona-coronas-coronae – you seen me from under with it all standing on me. That’s 2 dump trucks – doing the same as CMF 000007. Charles Manson.”

Charles Manson was convicted of being behind a string of murders in Los Angeles in 1969, including the slaying of pregnant actress Sharon Tate. He is currently imprisoned in California State Prison in Corcoran.

Marilyn Manson is currently touring in support of his eighth studio album ‘Born Villain’, which was released in May of this year.

He will play a joint UK arena tour with Rob Zombie later this year, with the pair joining forces for four UK arena shows. The run of gigs kicks off in London on November 26 at the O2 Arena. They will then play Manchester Arena on November 27, Glasgow SECC on November 28 and finally Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena on November 29.

The Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols – 35th anniversary box set

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Shambolic punk artefact gets the grand, 3-CD and DVD box-set treatment, with lavish book. Punk purists – stop sniggering at the back! Be honest, when was the last time you actually played this album all the way through? It might have been a UK chart-topper, be a fixture on every “classic album” list, and the catalyst for post-punk, Oi!, New Wave, NWOBHM, indie rock, grunge and all that followed, but the Sex Pistols’ only studio long-player is still seen less as a rock album and more as a sociological artefact from an era of flexidiscs and Xeroxed fanzines. It’s regarded as a situationist manifesto; a death warrant for the postwar consensus; a cultural totem to be claimed by leftists, anarchists and Thatcherites alike. This four-disc package reminds us that the Pistols were a solid, hard-gigging, heavy rock band, one capable of inspiring the most energetic air drummer in anyone. It also reminds us that NMTB was a tardy release from a band on the verge of imploding. It came out on November 13 1977, two years after their first gigs, 14 months after their first NME cover and a full year after the Bill Grundy TV appearance made them household names. By this time, each track had been recorded countless times in at least half a dozen aborted sessions. Here the original album release –produced by Chris Thomas and engineered by Bill Price at Wessex Studios in Islington – has been remastered from recently unearthed master tapes, as have the 21 “demos, studio rarities and b-sides” that fill the second CD. Obviously, you won’t find any discarded SMiLE-style orchestral arrangements here, nor will you find many pipe-chewing audiophiles admiring the crisply remastered sonics on their Bang & Olufsens. But there is a peculiar fascination in tracing the evolution of these songs. Six of the bonus tracks are from January 1977’s famously shambolic sessions helmed by the late Dave Goodman at Gooseberry Studios in Gerrard Street. They provided the backbone of the Spunk bootleg which surfaced in the summer of 1977, and there are plenty of punk purists who prefer them to the finished album. Certainly, “New York” and “EMI” (the latter titled “Unlimited Edition” at this stage) both benefit from Goodman’s laissez-faire production, showcasing Steve Jones’s ultra-trebly guitar, Glenn Matlock’s walking basslines, Paul Cook’s funky kick drums and the oddest, most American-accented vocals that John Lydon ever committed to tape. But it’s Chris Thomas’s album versions that terrorise you into submission. Thomas – a classically- trained old hand who’d cut his teeth co-producing The Beatles’ “White Album” before working with the likes of Roxy Music, Pink Floyd and Badfinger – piles layer upon layer of guitar on each track, building a wall of heavily processed distortion. He almost succeeds in turning this garage rock band into Led Zeppelin, or even, fleetingly, into early Queen (check out his “Rough Mix” of “Satellite”), and one often recalls The Damned’s baffled response on hearing the Pistols (Captain Sensible: “they sounded like a Bad Company out-take with Old Man Steptoe wailing over the top”). Sometimes it’s only Lydon’s declamatory, Shakespearean street-urchin howl that sets them apart from the rock dinosaurs they were meant to usurp. It’s also instructive to compare Lydon’s vocals on earlier demos (cockier, dafter, more playful) to those recorded after he was stabbed by neo-fascists in June 1977 (more paranoid, filled with self-loathing and hysteria, howling the Catholic blues). And, despite the commonly held belief that they never sang love songs, there’s a wracked romance to “Did You No Wrong” and “Submission” (the latter a terrified voyage into female sexuality). Disc three of this set features what appears to be complete, mixing-board bootlegs of two gigs from their 13-date tour of Scandinavia. The first is a lacklustre date from Trondheim on July 21 st (previously a limited-edition bonus CD with 1992’s Kiss This), played to a surly Norwegian crowd (“Fucking hell,” Lydon complains, “half of you are dead out there…”). The second gig features a more enthusiastic crowd in Stockholm a week later, where they even play two encores. For all the proud boasts of amateurism, this is a tight, well-rehearsed unit, filled with Jones’s axe heroics and even Sid Vicious barely putting a note out of place. Hell, they almost sound like they’re having fun. John Lewis Q&A STEVE JONES Do you remember all these demos? I don’t think I’d heard most of them before! There’s a hilarious recording of me and Cookie screaming at each other after a version of “Bodies”, like a mini Troggs-style bust up. But the remaster sounds good. Crisper, not so much mid-range. How did Dave Goodman and Chris Thomas compare as producers? Dave was our sound guy for gigs. We gave him the chance to produce us, but he drove us insane and smoked way too much pot. But Chris Thomas was great. He took his time. He spent ages on the guitars – every track has many, many layers of multitracked guitars, sometimes dozens. And he insisted I tune up before each take, which pissed me off a bit at the time, but it paid off. How many of the tunes did Glenn Matlock write? For most of the singles, Glenn came in with the initial ideas and we’d rework them. And, of course, John’d sit in the corner and write the lyrics. But Glenn didn’t write everything. “EMI”, “17”, “New York”, “Holidays” and “Bodies” were my tunes. It was around 50/50 between us. Of course, we shared the credits, otherwise you get the singer living in a mansion and the rest of the band in council houses. Did you play all Sid’s bass parts? Yeah. “Anarchy” was recorded while Glenn was in the band. Otherwise, Sid was in hospital, I think he may have played on “Bodies”, but it took him a while to learn all the songs. It’s nothing difficult, just eighth notes, and he soon learned them. It was only when we got to America when he couldn’t give a shit and it all went wrong. Did you see “Pretty Vacant” being used at the Olympic Opening Ceremony? Annoyingly, here in the US, NBC cut to an ad break for our song! But I’m glad it looked good. Of course, Danny Boyle had to ask us for permission. Some fucking trainspotters will tell you that we were selling out by saying yes, but fuck them – I’m proud that it was used. We knew Danny would do something good. Any chance of more Sex Pistols shows? Well, you know, I need a new kitchen, so maybe. Ever come back to Shepherd’s Bush? No, but I miss the football and Cooke’s Pie & Mash shop. Is the Bush looking nice these days? Really? I’m glad to hear it. But I think I prefer Beverly Hills, thanks very much. INTERVIEW: JOHN LEWIS

Shambolic punk artefact gets the grand, 3-CD and DVD box-set treatment, with lavish book. Punk purists – stop sniggering at the back!

Be honest, when was the last time you actually played this album all the way through? It might have been a UK chart-topper, be a fixture on every “classic album” list, and the catalyst for post-punk, Oi!, New Wave, NWOBHM, indie rock, grunge and all that followed, but the Sex Pistols’ only studio long-player is still seen less as a rock album and more as a sociological artefact from an era of flexidiscs and Xeroxed fanzines. It’s regarded as a situationist manifesto; a death warrant for the postwar consensus; a cultural totem to be claimed by leftists, anarchists and Thatcherites alike.

This four-disc package reminds us that the Pistols were a solid, hard-gigging, heavy rock band, one capable of inspiring the most energetic air drummer in anyone. It also reminds us that NMTB was a tardy release from a band on the verge of imploding. It came out on November 13 1977, two years after their first gigs, 14 months after their first NME cover and a full year after the Bill Grundy TV appearance made them household names. By this time, each track had been recorded countless times in at least half a dozen aborted sessions.

Here the original album release –produced by Chris Thomas and engineered by Bill Price at Wessex Studios in Islington – has been remastered from recently unearthed master tapes, as have the 21 “demos, studio rarities and b-sides” that fill the second CD. Obviously, you won’t find any discarded SMiLE-style orchestral arrangements here, nor will you find many pipe-chewing audiophiles admiring the crisply remastered sonics on their Bang & Olufsens. But there is a peculiar fascination in tracing the evolution of these songs.

Six of the bonus tracks are from January 1977’s famously shambolic sessions helmed by the late Dave Goodman at Gooseberry Studios in Gerrard Street. They provided the backbone of the Spunk bootleg which surfaced in the summer of 1977, and there are plenty of punk purists who prefer them to the finished album. Certainly, “New York” and “EMI” (the latter titled “Unlimited Edition” at this stage) both benefit from Goodman’s laissez-faire production, showcasing Steve Jones’s ultra-trebly guitar, Glenn Matlock’s walking basslines, Paul Cook’s funky kick drums and the oddest, most American-accented vocals that John Lydon ever committed to tape.

But it’s Chris Thomas’s album versions that terrorise you into submission. Thomas – a classically- trained old hand who’d cut his teeth co-producing The Beatles’ “White Album” before working with the likes of Roxy Music, Pink Floyd and Badfinger – piles layer upon layer of guitar on each track, building a wall of heavily processed distortion. He almost succeeds in turning this garage rock band into Led Zeppelin, or even, fleetingly, into early Queen (check out his “Rough Mix” of “Satellite”), and one often recalls The Damned’s baffled response on hearing the Pistols (Captain Sensible: “they sounded like a Bad Company out-take with Old Man Steptoe wailing over the top”).

Sometimes it’s only Lydon’s declamatory, Shakespearean street-urchin howl that sets them apart from the rock dinosaurs they were meant to usurp. It’s also instructive to compare Lydon’s vocals on earlier demos (cockier, dafter, more playful) to those recorded after he was stabbed by neo-fascists in June 1977 (more paranoid, filled with self-loathing and hysteria, howling the Catholic blues). And, despite the commonly held belief that they never sang love songs, there’s a wracked romance to “Did You No Wrong” and “Submission” (the latter a terrified voyage into female sexuality).

Disc three of this set features what appears to be complete, mixing-board bootlegs of two gigs from their 13-date tour of Scandinavia. The first is a lacklustre date from Trondheim on July 21 st (previously a limited-edition bonus CD with 1992’s Kiss This), played to a surly Norwegian crowd (“Fucking hell,” Lydon complains, “half of you are dead out there…”). The second gig features a more enthusiastic crowd in Stockholm a week later, where they even play two encores. For all the proud boasts of amateurism, this is a tight, well-rehearsed unit, filled with Jones’s axe heroics and even Sid Vicious barely putting a note out of place. Hell, they almost sound like they’re having fun.

John Lewis

Q&A

STEVE JONES

Do you remember all these demos?

I don’t think I’d heard most of them before! There’s a hilarious recording of me and Cookie screaming at each other after a version of “Bodies”, like a mini Troggs-style bust up. But the remaster sounds good. Crisper, not so much mid-range.

How did Dave Goodman and Chris Thomas compare as producers?

Dave was our sound guy for gigs. We gave him the chance to produce us, but he drove us insane and smoked way too much pot. But Chris Thomas was great. He took his time. He spent ages on the guitars – every track has many, many layers of multitracked guitars, sometimes dozens. And he insisted I tune up before each take, which pissed me off a bit at the time, but it paid off.

How many of the tunes did Glenn Matlock write?

For most of the singles, Glenn came in with the initial ideas and we’d rework them. And, of course, John’d sit in the corner and write the lyrics. But Glenn didn’t write everything. “EMI”, “17”, “New York”, “Holidays” and “Bodies” were my tunes. It was around 50/50 between us. Of course, we shared the credits, otherwise you get the singer living in a mansion and the rest of the band in council houses.

Did you play all Sid’s bass parts?

Yeah. “Anarchy” was recorded while Glenn was in the band. Otherwise, Sid was in hospital, I think he may have played on “Bodies”, but it took him a while to learn all the songs. It’s nothing difficult, just eighth notes, and he soon learned them. It was only when we got to America when he couldn’t give a shit and it all went wrong.

Did you see “Pretty Vacant” being used at the Olympic Opening Ceremony?

Annoyingly, here in the US, NBC cut to an ad break for our song! But I’m glad it looked good. Of course, Danny Boyle had to ask us for permission. Some fucking trainspotters will tell you that we were selling out by saying yes, but fuck them – I’m proud that it was used. We knew Danny would do something good.

Any chance of more Sex Pistols shows?

Well, you know, I need a new kitchen, so maybe.

Ever come back to Shepherd’s Bush?

No, but I miss the football and Cooke’s Pie & Mash shop. Is the Bush looking nice these days? Really? I’m glad to hear it. But I think I prefer Beverly Hills, thanks very much.

INTERVIEW: JOHN LEWIS

First Look – Led Zeppelin’s Celebration Day

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Here’s Jimmy Page, reminiscing about Led Zeppelin’s 2007 reunion show at the 02. “We wanted to go out there, stand up and be counted,” he said at a press conference held earlier today in London. “To show people who maybe didn’t know Led Zeppelin but had heard a lot about us why we were what we were. And not only that, we had had a really good time that night. We made a lot of people very happy.” We're in the swish conference hall of a high-end London hotel. Page – lightly tanned, dressed in black, his hair in ponytail and a slim, black scarf tied loosely round his neck – and his bandmates Robert Plant and John Paul Jones are here to launch Celebration Day, their concert film, Blu-ray/DVD and album commemorating the 02 show. (Forgive me, incidentally, if this blog slips between news report on the press conference and a kind of 'highlights' preview/review of Celebration Day itself.) Anyway, back to the press conference: why release it now? “Five years is five minutes in Zeppelin time,” said John Paul Jones, soberly dressed in a charcoal grey suit jacket, dark t-shirt and trousers. “I’m surprised we got it out so quickly.” Robert Plant, in a loose, blue shirt, spoke of how the show "was very rewarding for all of us." Plant's presence here today was arguably a surprise. He's the one who's moved on professionally the furthest from Zeppelin, and found himself blessed with a very successful second act career. Accordingly, he came across as the most mischievous of the three today. He talked about arriving at the 02 by boat, seeing visions of Arthur and Guenièvre emerging from the Thames, and later digressing into a yarn about having to get Jason Bonham out of bed on his wedding night to play with Zeppelin. "I struggle with lyrics from particular periods in time," Plant admitted at one point. "Maybe I'm still trying to work out what I'm taking about. I know every other fucker is." When asked about the possibility of more Zeppelin shows, the band were unsurprisingly evasive. A question about whether the 02 show had excited them enough to regroup once more, Page answered, "Can I just ask you all if you enjoyed the film?" When pushed for an answer, Plant replied, "That would be kiss and tell." Celebration Day “will be part of the legacy,” acknowledged Page. “It is what we managed to do for one day. However, what needs to be stressed here was that when we played the 02, the idea wasn’t to make a DVD or film. It just so happened that we had all this material going on behind us [on the screens], and some very fine production and camera work, so it made the utmost sense to record it. Don’t forget, we were only doing one show. We didn’t know whether we were going to have half a dozen train wrecks in it. But at least we could record it, even for our own collection and amusement.” Read into all this what you will. But certainly the journey from the 02 to Celebration Day has been as epic as you’d expect from a band with Zeppelin’s credentials. The statistics for the show itself briefly bear repeating: out of the 20 million people who applied for tickets to the 02, only 18,000 were lucky enough to see the band’s first headline show in 27 years. After Celebration Day gets a theatrical release on 1,500 screens in 40 countries, it will then be available across no less than six formats – from a 2 DVD/2 CD Deluxe Edition, including footage of the 02 rehearsals at Shepperton, to an old-school 3 LP set. Page is rumoured to have spent five years working on this. When he’s asked, however, whether there’s been any fixes to the sound, he replied: “If I say there might have been a handful of fixes, what I’m really saying is the minimum to what other people would do. The concert was what it was. There was very little that needed to be messed about with. Because we’d already done it well in the first place.” So, what do we get? Celebration Day is directed by Dick Carruthers, who’s worked on videos for the White Stripes, Oasis, McFly and Take That. Carruthers worked with Zeppelin previously on their 2003 DVD set. Regardless of whether or not Page and co had their eye on recording the show for a future commercial release or simply their own “amusement”, Carruthers has presented a commendably fit-for-purpose film. If you were one of the disappointed 19,982,000 people unlucky enough not to get a ticket to the show itself, you will be relieved to learn that Carruthers puts you in the thick of the action. You can see the white of Page’s plectrums, and you might notice that he’s scrubbed out certain letters on his Orange AD-30 amp so it spells ‘OR GE’. There are no gimmicks to speak of – apart from a handful of freeze-frames, or cuts to super 8 camera footage filmed in the audience, Carruthers presents the 02 show as it happens, his crew catching every one of Page’s grimaces as he wrings another solo from his guitar, or John Paul Jones’ unexpectedly hypnotic runs along the fretboard of his bass guitar. The band play in a tight formation, centred around Jason Bonham's drum kit, facing in and often playing to each other. The differences in performance style is enhanced by Carruthers' tight-up camerawork. There's Page, tearing through some ferocious slide guitar on "In My Time Of Dying", the sweat beginning to seep through is shirt, and opposite him is John Paul Jones, a more discreet presence, certainly, but completely in tune with Page's histrionics. A thrilling "Trampled Underfoot" finds Page and Jones - on piano - duelling solo against solo. Unlike, say, Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones' concert film Shine A Light, Celebration Day isn't looking to say anything profound or particularly meaningful about Led Zeppelin. Curruthers' proficient film is a testament to the physical endurance of these men, and a satisfying reminder of the brilliance of that show in 2007. Celebration Day is released in cinemas on October 17, and then on November 19 on these formats: Standard Editions – 1-DVD/2-CD set and 1-Blu-ray/2-CD set Deluxe Editions – 2-DVD/2-CD set and 1-Blu-ray/1-DVD/2-CD set featuring exclusive bonus video content including the Shepperton rehearsals, and BBC news footage Music Only CD Edition – 2-CD set Music Only Blu-ray Audio Edition – Blu-ray Audio release featuring high-resolution 48K 24 bit PCM stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound audio only, no video Vinyl Edition – 3 LPs, 180-gram, audiophile quality vinyl Digital Edition

Here’s Jimmy Page, reminiscing about Led Zeppelin’s 2007 reunion show at the 02. “We wanted to go out there, stand up and be counted,” he said at a press conference held earlier today in London. “To show people who maybe didn’t know Led Zeppelin but had heard a lot about us why we were what we were. And not only that, we had had a really good time that night. We made a lot of people very happy.”

We’re in the swish conference hall of a high-end London hotel. Page – lightly tanned, dressed in black, his hair in ponytail and a slim, black scarf tied loosely round his neck – and his bandmates Robert Plant and John Paul Jones are here to launch Celebration Day, their concert film, Blu-ray/DVD and album commemorating the 02 show. (Forgive me, incidentally, if this blog slips between news report on the press conference and a kind of ‘highlights’ preview/review of Celebration Day itself.)

Anyway, back to the press conference: why release it now?

“Five years is five minutes in Zeppelin time,” said John Paul Jones, soberly dressed in a charcoal grey suit jacket, dark t-shirt and trousers. “I’m surprised we got it out so quickly.”

Robert Plant, in a loose, blue shirt, spoke of how the show “was very rewarding for all of us.” Plant’s presence here today was arguably a surprise. He’s the one who’s moved on professionally the furthest from Zeppelin, and found himself blessed with a very successful second act career. Accordingly, he came across as the most mischievous of the three today. He talked about arriving at the 02 by boat, seeing visions of Arthur and Guenièvre emerging from the Thames, and later digressing into a yarn about having to get Jason Bonham out of bed on his wedding night to play with Zeppelin. “I struggle with lyrics from particular periods in time,” Plant admitted at one point. “Maybe I’m still trying to work out what I’m taking about. I know every other fucker is.”

When asked about the possibility of more Zeppelin shows, the band were unsurprisingly evasive. A question about whether the 02 show had excited them enough to regroup once more, Page answered, “Can I just ask you all if you enjoyed the film?”

When pushed for an answer, Plant replied, “That would be kiss and tell.”

Celebration Day “will be part of the legacy,” acknowledged Page. “It is what we managed to do for one day. However, what needs to be stressed here was that when we played the 02, the idea wasn’t to make a DVD or film. It just so happened that we had all this material going on behind us [on the screens], and some very fine production and camera work, so it made the utmost sense to record it. Don’t forget, we were only doing one show. We didn’t know whether we were going to have half a dozen train wrecks in it. But at least we could record it, even for our own collection and amusement.”

Read into all this what you will. But certainly the journey from the 02 to Celebration Day has been as epic as you’d expect from a band with Zeppelin’s credentials. The statistics for the show itself briefly bear repeating: out of the 20 million people who applied for tickets to the 02, only 18,000 were lucky enough to see the band’s first headline show in 27 years. After Celebration Day gets a theatrical release on 1,500 screens in 40 countries, it will then be available across no less than six formats – from a 2 DVD/2 CD Deluxe Edition, including footage of the 02 rehearsals at Shepperton, to an old-school 3 LP set.

Page is rumoured to have spent five years working on this. When he’s asked, however, whether there’s been any fixes to the sound, he replied: “If I say there might have been a handful of fixes, what I’m really saying is the minimum to what other people would do. The concert was what it was. There was very little that needed to be messed about with. Because we’d already done it well in the first place.”

So, what do we get? Celebration Day is directed by Dick Carruthers, who’s worked on videos for the White Stripes, Oasis, McFly and Take That. Carruthers worked with Zeppelin previously on their 2003 DVD set. Regardless of whether or not Page and co had their eye on recording the show for a future commercial release or simply their own “amusement”, Carruthers has presented a commendably fit-for-purpose film. If you were one of the disappointed 19,982,000 people unlucky enough not to get a ticket to the show itself, you will be relieved to learn that Carruthers puts you in the thick of the action. You can see the white of Page’s plectrums, and you might notice that he’s scrubbed out certain letters on his Orange AD-30 amp so it spells ‘OR GE’. There are no gimmicks to speak of – apart from a handful of freeze-frames, or cuts to super 8 camera footage filmed in the audience, Carruthers presents the 02 show as it happens, his crew catching every one of Page’s grimaces as he wrings another solo from his guitar, or John Paul Jones’ unexpectedly hypnotic runs along the fretboard of his bass guitar.

The band play in a tight formation, centred around Jason Bonham‘s drum kit, facing in and often playing to each other. The differences in performance style is enhanced by Carruthers’ tight-up camerawork. There’s Page, tearing through some ferocious slide guitar on “In My Time Of Dying”, the sweat beginning to seep through is shirt, and opposite him is John Paul Jones, a more discreet presence, certainly, but completely in tune with Page’s histrionics. A thrilling “Trampled Underfoot” finds Page and Jones – on piano – duelling solo against solo.

Unlike, say, Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Stones’ concert film Shine A Light, Celebration Day isn’t looking to say anything profound or particularly meaningful about Led Zeppelin. Curruthers’ proficient film is a testament to the physical endurance of these men, and a satisfying reminder of the brilliance of that show in 2007.

Celebration Day is released in cinemas on October 17, and then on November 19 on these formats:

Standard Editions – 1-DVD/2-CD set and 1-Blu-ray/2-CD set

Deluxe Editions – 2-DVD/2-CD set and 1-Blu-ray/1-DVD/2-CD set featuring exclusive bonus video content including the Shepperton rehearsals, and BBC news footage

Music Only CD Edition – 2-CD set

Music Only Blu-ray Audio Edition – Blu-ray Audio release featuring high-resolution 48K 24 bit PCM stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound audio only, no video

Vinyl Edition – 3 LPs, 180-gram, audiophile quality vinyl

Digital Edition

Led Zeppelin refuse to rule out further reunion shows

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The surviving members of Led Zeppelin have refused to rule out another reunion. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones made a rare public appearance today (September 21) to launch their new Celebration Day concert film of their 2007 show at the London's 02 Arena. After a screening of the film at the Odeon West End, the bandmates answered questions from the assembled press. But when pressed on the possibility of coming together again for more shows, the band remained evasive. When asked if the 02 show had excited them enough to regroup once more, Jimmy Page answered, "Can I just ask you all if you enjoyed the film?" When the journalist in question retorted by asking if he could have his question answered, Robert Plant replied, "That would be kiss and tell." Elsewhere in the Q&A session, Plant declared that, "Mumford and Sons excite me." The DVD release comes five years after their legendary 02 performance, which saw them reunite to honour late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. The surviving members were joined by Jason Bonham - the son of their late drummer John Bonham, for a two-hour set, which included classics 'Whole Lotta Love,' 'Rock And Roll,' 'Kashmir,' and 'Stairway To Heaven'. As many as 20 million people applied for tickets to the gig - the band's first headline show in 27 years – but only 18,000 were lucky enough to win in the lottery. Celebration Day will screen in cinemas from October 17, following premieres on September 13. The film will then get a general DVD release on November 19. The tracklisting for Celebration Day is as follows: 'Good Times Bad Times' 'Ramble On' 'Black Dog' 'In My Time Of Dying' 'For Your Life' 'Trampled Under Foot' 'Nobody's Fault But Mine' 'No Quarter' 'Since I've Been Loving You' 'Dazed And Confused' 'Stairway To Heaven' 'The Song Remains The Same' 'Misty Mountain Hop' 'Kashmir' 'Whole Lotta Love' 'Rock And Roll' Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant has previously ruled out another reunion of the band, saying in a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone: "I've gone so far somewhere else that I almost can't relate to it... It's a bit of a pain in the pisser to be honest. Who cares? I know people care, but think about it from my angle - soon, I'm going to need help crossing the street."

The surviving members of Led Zeppelin have refused to rule out another reunion.

Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones made a rare public appearance today (September 21) to launch their new Celebration Day concert film of their 2007 show at the London’s 02 Arena. After a screening of the film at the Odeon West End, the bandmates answered questions from the assembled press.

But when pressed on the possibility of coming together again for more shows, the band remained evasive. When asked if the 02 show had excited them enough to regroup once more, Jimmy Page answered, “Can I just ask you all if you enjoyed the film?”

When the journalist in question retorted by asking if he could have his question answered, Robert Plant replied, “That would be kiss and tell.”

Elsewhere in the Q&A session, Plant declared that, “Mumford and Sons excite me.”

The DVD release comes five years after their legendary 02 performance, which saw them reunite to honour late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. The surviving members were joined by Jason Bonham – the son of their late drummer John Bonham, for a two-hour set, which included classics ‘Whole Lotta Love,’ ‘Rock And Roll,’ ‘Kashmir,’ and ‘Stairway To Heaven’.

As many as 20 million people applied for tickets to the gig – the band’s first headline show in 27 years – but only 18,000 were lucky enough to win in the lottery.

Celebration Day will screen in cinemas from October 17, following premieres on September 13. The film will then get a general DVD release on November 19.

The tracklisting for Celebration Day is as follows:

‘Good Times Bad Times’

‘Ramble On’

‘Black Dog’

‘In My Time Of Dying’

‘For Your Life’

‘Trampled Under Foot’

‘Nobody’s Fault But Mine’

‘No Quarter’

‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’

‘Dazed And Confused’

‘Stairway To Heaven’

‘The Song Remains The Same’

‘Misty Mountain Hop’

‘Kashmir’

‘Whole Lotta Love’

‘Rock And Roll’

Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant has previously ruled out another reunion of the band, saying in a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone: “I’ve gone so far somewhere else that I almost can’t relate to it… It’s a bit of a pain in the pisser to be honest. Who cares? I know people care, but think about it from my angle – soon, I’m going to need help crossing the street.”

Woods, “Bend Beyond”

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The new Uncut, as discussed, is in the shops today with The Byrds on the cover, and a free CD of tracks inspired by that band. Woods are included on the comp, and their latest, “Bend Beyond”, is a record I’ve played a lot these past couple of months, but somehow neglected to write much about. “Bend Beyond” actually came out this week, rather inappropriately given that its woozy good vibes seem more suited to high summer rather than the cusp of autumn. If, in the past, Jeremy Earl’s band (and, indeed, his excellent label Woodsist) have appeared a little torn between frail indie-pop and something more freeform and psychedelic, many of the 12 songs here feel a good deal more substantial. Where once they were bashful and sketchy, “Bend Beyond” showcases a band whose good ideas have coalesced into genuinely memorable songs. From the start, and the title track, there feels like a new focus and confidence. “Bend Beyond” is, like many of the other tracks, a neatly compressed series of jams, punctuated with inventive solos. Earl’s quavering, reedy voice still marks out Woods as fundamentally indie kids, but the tangled riffing also puts them into a classic Californian tradition (even though they come from Brooklyn). That’s emphasised further by the next track, “Cali In A Cup”; dippy, marginally fried, immensely catchy folk-rock, with a harmonica line soaked in fuzztone in a really clever way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8SuI7BqKP0 Woods don’t sound a great deal like Teenage Fanclub – there are no harmonies to speak of, for a start – but there’s something comparable about ambling, ragged singalongs like “Cali In A Cup”, “Is It Honest” and “Lily”. It’s a sense, maybe, of a band so artfully absorbing their classic influences that they come out in a tumbling, jangling, loving way rather than a crippling one. So “Find Them Empty” is a terrific, wistful kind of Nuggety garage rock, built on churning organ and a spectacularly needling guitar line, while a bunch of stripped-back ballads mix well with another fine recent album I’ve neglected to write about - “Sic Alps” by Sic Alps, where previously haphazard skills are shaped into exquisite and blasted reveries in the vein of “Sister Lovers”. There’s still an endearingly random aspect to “Bend Beyond”: the instrumental “Cascade” is a spindly, tentative squiggle with the faintest hint of hi-life. Mostly, though, it feels like promise realised, never more so than on “Size Meets The Sound”, a brilliant and compact psych-rocker with a surging refrain oddly – and surely accidentally – redolent of The House Of Love’s “Shine On”. Cracking album. Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

The new Uncut, as discussed, is in the shops today with The Byrds on the cover, and a free CD of tracks inspired by that band. Woods are included on the comp, and their latest, “Bend Beyond”, is a record I’ve played a lot these past couple of months, but somehow neglected to write much about.

“Bend Beyond” actually came out this week, rather inappropriately given that its woozy good vibes seem more suited to high summer rather than the cusp of autumn. If, in the past, Jeremy Earl’s band (and, indeed, his excellent label Woodsist) have appeared a little torn between frail indie-pop and something more freeform and psychedelic, many of the 12 songs here feel a good deal more substantial. Where once they were bashful and sketchy, “Bend Beyond” showcases a band whose good ideas have coalesced into genuinely memorable songs.

From the start, and the title track, there feels like a new focus and confidence. “Bend Beyond” is, like many of the other tracks, a neatly compressed series of jams, punctuated with inventive solos. Earl’s quavering, reedy voice still marks out Woods as fundamentally indie kids, but the tangled riffing also puts them into a classic Californian tradition (even though they come from Brooklyn).

That’s emphasised further by the next track, “Cali In A Cup”; dippy, marginally fried, immensely catchy folk-rock, with a harmonica line soaked in fuzztone in a really clever way.

Woods don’t sound a great deal like Teenage Fanclub – there are no harmonies to speak of, for a start – but there’s something comparable about ambling, ragged singalongs like “Cali In A Cup”, “Is It Honest” and “Lily”. It’s a sense, maybe, of a band so artfully absorbing their classic influences that they come out in a tumbling, jangling, loving way rather than a crippling one.

So “Find Them Empty” is a terrific, wistful kind of Nuggety garage rock, built on churning organ and a spectacularly needling guitar line, while a bunch of stripped-back ballads mix well with another fine recent album I’ve neglected to write about – “Sic Alps” by Sic Alps, where previously haphazard skills are shaped into exquisite and blasted reveries in the vein of “Sister Lovers”. There’s still an endearingly random aspect to “Bend Beyond”: the instrumental “Cascade” is a spindly, tentative squiggle with the faintest hint of hi-life.

Mostly, though, it feels like promise realised, never more so than on “Size Meets The Sound”, a brilliant and compact psych-rocker with a surging refrain oddly – and surely accidentally – redolent of The House Of Love’s “Shine On”. Cracking album.

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

This month in Uncut!

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The new issue of Uncut, out today (September 21), features The Byrds, Neil Young, Siouxsie & The Banshees and LCD Soundsystem. The Byrds are on the cover, and inside, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Chris Hillman discuss the tumultuous, highly creative period leading up to their classic 1968 album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers. By its release, Crosby and Michael Clarke were gone, and the group had embarked on a whole new trip into cosmic Americana. The Byrds’ 20 greatest songs are also counted down, chosen by the likes of McGuinn, Hillman, Crosby, Bobby Gillespie, Emmylou Harris and Van Dyke Parks. Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s Psychedelic Pill is reviewed, Siouxsie & The Banshees’ wild, self-destructive time during the making of A Kiss In The Dreamhouse is examined, and James Murphy explains his career options now he’s broken up LCD Soundsystem. Elsewhere, Mark Eitzel takes us through the best of his own albums, Don McLean delves into the dark heart of “American Pie” in this month’s Making Of…, Steve Miller recalls the highs and lows of The Steve Miller Band, and Rickie Lee Jones answers your questions in An Audience With… The news section features Prince, Jah Wobble and Keith Levene, Cody ChesnuTT and the return of the Uncut Music Award. As well as Young, the 40-page reviews section puts the likes of Donald Fagen, ELO, Bat For Lashes, Van Morrison, The Velvet Underground, REM, Peter Gabriel and Johnny Cash to the test. The live section features reviews of Leonard Cohen, End Of The Road Festival and At The Drive-In, while the film and DVD section looks at The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour and On The Road, among others. Books reviewed this month include Peter Hook’s Joy Division book and Barney Hoskyns’ oral history of Led Zeppelin. The issue’s free CD features a host of artists inspired by The Byrds, including Beachwood Sparks, the Flamin’ Groovies and The Coral. The new Uncut (dated November 2012, Take 186) is out now.

The new issue of Uncut, out today (September 21), features The Byrds, Neil Young, Siouxsie & The Banshees and LCD Soundsystem.

The Byrds are on the cover, and inside, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Chris Hillman discuss the tumultuous, highly creative period leading up to their classic 1968 album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers.

By its release, Crosby and Michael Clarke were gone, and the group had embarked on a whole new trip into cosmic Americana. The Byrds’ 20 greatest songs are also counted down, chosen by the likes of McGuinn, Hillman, Crosby, Bobby Gillespie, Emmylou Harris and Van Dyke Parks.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s Psychedelic Pill is reviewed, Siouxsie & The Banshees’ wild, self-destructive time during the making of A Kiss In The Dreamhouse is examined, and James Murphy explains his career options now he’s broken up LCD Soundsystem.

Elsewhere, Mark Eitzel takes us through the best of his own albums, Don McLean delves into the dark heart of “American Pie” in this month’s Making Of…, Steve Miller recalls the highs and lows of The Steve Miller Band, and Rickie Lee Jones answers your questions in An Audience With…

The news section features Prince, Jah Wobble and Keith Levene, Cody ChesnuTT and the return of the Uncut Music Award.

As well as Young, the 40-page reviews section puts the likes of Donald Fagen, ELO, Bat For Lashes, Van Morrison, The Velvet Underground, REM, Peter Gabriel and Johnny Cash to the test.

The live section features reviews of Leonard Cohen, End Of The Road Festival and At The Drive-In, while the film and DVD section looks at The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour and On The Road, among others. Books reviewed this month include Peter Hook’s Joy Division book and Barney Hoskyns’ oral history of Led Zeppelin.

The issue’s free CD features a host of artists inspired by The Byrds, including Beachwood Sparks, the Flamin’ Groovies and The Coral.

The new Uncut (dated November 2012, Take 186) is out now.

Neil Young quits drugs and alcohol

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Neil Young has reportedly given up smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol to write his forthcoming memoir, Waging Heavy Peace. Speaking to the New York Times, Young said, "I did it for 40 years. Now I want to see what it's like to not do it. It's just a different perspective." Young, aged 66, said ...

Neil Young has reportedly given up smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol to write his forthcoming memoir, Waging Heavy Peace.

Speaking to the New York Times, Young said, “I did it for 40 years. Now I want to see what it’s like to not do it. It’s just a different perspective.”

Young, aged 66, said he has been sober for about a year.

According to another report on Rolling Stone, Young recalls in the book being arrested for drugs with Eric Clapton and Stephen Stills, and jokes about an incident involving CSN bandmate, David Crosby: “I still remember ‘the mighty Cros’ visiting the ranch in his van. That van was a rolling laboratory that made Jack Casady’s briefcase look like chicken feed. Forget I said that! Was my mike on?”

Waging Heavy Peace is published in the UK on October 4.

Bob Dylan second favourite to win Nobel Prize for Literature

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Bob Dylan is now second favourite to win the Nobel prize for literature this autumn, thanks to a wave of bets on the singer. Dylan is now 10/1 to win the prestigious award, with Japanese writer Haruki Murakami topping the bookies poll with odds of 7/1, The Guardian reports. According to a spokes...

Bob Dylan is now second favourite to win the Nobel prize for literature this autumn, thanks to a wave of bets on the singer.

Dylan is now 10/1 to win the prestigious award, with Japanese writer Haruki Murakami topping the bookies poll with odds of 7/1, The Guardian reports.

According to a spokesperson for bookmakers Ladbrokes, Dylan has been “backed from 33/1 into 10/1 thanks to some decent £100-plus bets… One of the big bets comes from Norway, the others are UK-based”. The average stake on Dylan to bag the Nobel is around £40, they said.

Alongside his music, Dylan authored a collection of poetry and prose titled Tarantula in 1971 as well as his memoir Chronicles in 2004, which he recently revealed he working on a sequel for. However, this is unlikely to place him ahead of other literary big guns who have won the award before, including TS Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter and Doris Lessing.

Ladbrokes believes it’s highly unlikely the singer will ever win prize, but that’s not stopped his fans bidding on him again this year: “We’re happy to ‘fill the satchel’ in bookmaking terms as we expect the Dylan backers to part with their cash again this year.”