Beck is set to release a special, limited-edition single on Jack White's Third Man Records label.
The single, 'I Just Started Hating Some People Today'/'Blue Randy', will be released on May 28 as a limited run of coloured seven-inch vinyl records, with 100 tri-colour versions of the track going o...
Beck is set to release a special, limited-edition single on Jack White‘s Third Man Records label.
The single, ‘I Just Started Hating Some People Today’/’Blue Randy’, will be released on May 28 as a limited run of coloured seven-inch vinyl records, with 100 tri-colour versions of the track going on sale exclusively at Randy’s Records, a store in Salt Lake City, Utah on June 2. A digital version of the two songs will also be on sale via iTunes.
The two tracks were recorded last year at the Third Man studio in Nashville, when Beck was in the Tennessee city recording the follow-up to 2008’s ‘Modern Guilt’, reports Rolling Stone.
Other established artists to release one-off singles on the Third Man label include Tom Jones, Laura Marling and Insane Clown Posse.
Earlier this year, a previously unreleased track by Beck, a cover of the traditional song ‘Corrina, Corrina’, featured on a charity album put out by model Christy Turlington Burns, who teamed up with coffee giants Starbucks to release ‘Every Mother Counts Volume 2’.
The Stone Roses played a rapturously received comeback show at Warrington Parr Hall tonight (May 23) - their first gig in 16 years.
It was also the group's first show with drummer Alan 'Reni' Wren since their performance in a big top at Glasgow Green in June 1990.
The Manchester legends, who ann...
The Stone Roses played a rapturously received comeback show at Warrington Parr Hall tonight (May 23) – their first gig in 16 years.
It was also the group’s first show with drummer Alan ‘Reni’ Wren since their performance in a big top at Glasgow Green in June 1990.
The Manchester legends, who announced last year that they had reunited, played an 11-song set, no encore, opening with ‘I Wanna Be Adored’, the opening track from their 1989 debut album, and closing with ‘Love Spreads’, the lead single from ‘Second Coming’. Like almost all of their gigs together in the past there was no encore, although their traditional set closer ‘I Am The Resurrection’ was not featured in the setlist.
In attendance was former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher, who took his seat on the balcony to a crowd chant of “Liam!”, and found time to tweet excitably during the gig: “The Stone Roses are back!” Also in the crowd was Cressa, the unofficial “fifth Stone Rose”, who told us he was delighted the band had decided to reform: “It’s just good everyone’s friends again.”
Frontman Ian Brown’s vocals were strong throughout and the band seemed well rehearsed and relaxed in each other’s company. During ‘Waterfall’, Brown said something in guitarist John Squire’s ear, and the pair exchanged a smile.
Bassist Mani in particular seemed in high spirits, sticking his tongue out at the audience. Drummer Reni, meanwhile, wore a headset microphone and played a double bass drum emblazoned with the lemon logo familiar from ‘The Stone Roses’ artwork.
Brown had harsh words for those in the crowd who insisted on filming/tweeting through the gig, rather than “living in the moment”. Aside from that, though, he bantered cheerfully with the intimate, 1,500-strong crowd. Before ‘She Bangs The Drums’ he quipped: “Are we in tune yet? There’s loads of girls in here.”
Stone Roses biographer John Robb commented to NME: “They sounded great. But how could they not with the world’s best drummer?”
There were no new songs, but there were a few surprises. At the end of ‘Love Spreads’, Brown broke into a rap, which appeared to feature the phrase, “Stone Roses up on the stage”. The band then left the stage, sharing hugs and taking a bow, with Brown telling the audience: “Thank you, we’ll be back.”
The lights went up, and Bob Marley’s ‘Redemption Song’ started playing over the PA. Film-maker Shane Meadows then went onstage to film the crowd. Not much in the way of fan footage has emerged on YouTube, but scroll down to watch a brief snippet of ‘Made Of Stone’ courtesy of Fionn Mac.
The gig had been announced last minute, just hours before show time, via the band’s official site. Fans were able to collect one wristband per person from the Warrington Pyramid box office (next to Warrington Parr Hall) from 4pm today. To qualify, fans needed to take a Stone Roses CD inlay cover, record sleeve, official band T-shirt or Heaton Park ticket with them. From talking to fans in the crowd, however, it was clear that many locals had known about the gig for some time, but had been sworn to secrecy.
The show will act as warm-up for the band’s summer European tour, which kicks off in Barcelona next month. The band will then play their first scheduled UK shows in Manchester’s Heaton Park on June 29, 30 and July 1.
The Stone Roses announced their reformation in October 2011. The foursome have since written “at least three or four new tracks” for a potential third album release, it was reported yesterday.
The Stone Roses played:
‘I Wanna Be Adored’
‘Mersey Paradise’
‘Sally Cinnamon’
‘Made Of Stone’
‘(Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister’
‘Where Angels Play’
‘Shoot You Down’
‘Tightrope’
‘Waterfall’
‘She Bangs The Drums’
‘Love Spreads’
Footage has also emerged on YouTube, purporting to be a “new song”, recorded at the soundcheck ahead of the Parr Hall gig. It actually appears to be a new version of ‘Sally Cinnamon’. It’s very poor quality, but you can watch it below.
Things may be different now but, when I was an NME staffer in the 1990s, we were forever being accused of building bands up, only to take delight in knocking them down soon after.
With hindsight, we probably should have been flattered to be credited with such Machiavellian scheming and clarity of purpose. The truth, more often than not, was a lot more prosaic: the fans of the band at the paper had simply been exhausted, or had run out of things to say. Backlashes were nothing of the sort – it was just a detractor’s turn to voice their opinion.
Reading Twitter and the like over the past few days, it seems as if it might be the detractors’ turn to write about Hot Chip this time. If the band have received a critical free pass for much of the past eight years, the loudest opinions around “In Our Heads” look as if they might be negative, from the writers uncharmed by Hot Chip’s unsteady fusion of club music, English pop and a somewhat winsome brand of indie. Their greatest crime, one deduces, is to allow Alexis Taylor near a microphone, possessing as he does a voice of notable frailness and vulnerability: “wimpy indie wank” might well have been the verdict of at least one of my old NME colleagues.
It would be disingenuous of me to pretend that Taylor’s voice on “In Our Heads” is entirely to my taste. As alluded to in this blog about “One Night Stand”, it can be cloying, especially on some of Hot Chip’s slow jams.
Nevertheless, “In Our Heads” feels like the work of a band who are maturing in a mostly elegant, occasionally daft, highly satisfying fashion. The daftness you’ve possibly detected on the camp Euro-electro flashback of “Night And Day”, a song that unexpectedly sounds ripe for a Ya Kid K cameo. That would be preferable, perhaps, to Taylor’s own self-deprecating rap, which betrays a similar sense of humour – not really mine – that came to the fore on Joe Goddard’s otherwise lovely Two Bears album, and which I could possibly describe as Bestivallish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxg2JbWA7Nk
As ever, though, Taylor’s vocal melodies are terrific: rich, addictive, possessing a certain melancholic bent even when they’re superficially euphoric. They work best here when the music is at its most subtle, supple and repetitive – when the rest of Hot Chip lock into a sort of gently pounding techno.
You can hear it in the opening track, “Motion Sickness”, and the way Hot Chip calmly layer some pretty tacky sounds – those horn stabs! – into such a sophisticated whole. In common with many of Hot Chip’s best songs – “Boy From School”, “Don’t Dance”, “One Life Stand” – there’s something intangibly emotional about it all, even before Taylor arrives with a killer, weirdly elegaic first line, “Remember when the people thought the world was round…”
If there’s an obvious parallel to be drawn, the New Order of “Technique” seems apposite, albeit filtered through another 20+ years of house and techno scholarship. “Let Me Be Him” is an even softer take on the formula, with rare prominence initially given to Goddard’s lulling voice.
Best of all, there’s “Flutes”: mantric, intense in a covert way and, though this may be the product of the video, impressively disorienting. At times, during the seven minutes of “Flutes”, it feels as if Hot Chip are at their best when they stray closest to dance music. But of course their strength – or, to some, their weakness – is that they are never quite so straightforward. For dance fans, one suspects Hot Chip will never be enough of a dance band, just as indie fans and pop fans will continue to be irritated by their reluctance to be an uncomplicated indie band or pop group.
For some of us, though, their vagaries are crystallising into something quite precious: a fine and eccentric English musical phenomenon. Here’s “Flutes”…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99z1_IMJNl8
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey
Things may be different now but, when I was an NME staffer in the 1990s, we were forever being accused of building bands up, only to take delight in knocking them down soon after.
With hindsight, we probably should have been flattered to be credited with such Machiavellian scheming and clarity of purpose. The truth, more often than not, was a lot more prosaic: the fans of the band at the paper had simply been exhausted, or had run out of things to say. Backlashes were nothing of the sort – it was just a detractor’s turn to voice their opinion.
Reading Twitter and the like over the past few days, it seems as if it might be the detractors’ turn to write about Hot Chip this time. If the band have received a critical free pass for much of the past eight years, the loudest opinions around “In Our Heads” look as if they might be negative, from the writers uncharmed by Hot Chip’s unsteady fusion of club music, English pop and a somewhat winsome brand of indie. Their greatest crime, one deduces, is to allow Alexis Taylor near a microphone, possessing as he does a voice of notable frailness and vulnerability: “wimpy indie wank” might well have been the verdict of at least one of my old NME colleagues.
It would be disingenuous of me to pretend that Taylor’s voice on “In Our Heads” is entirely to my taste. As alluded to in this blog about “One Night Stand”, it can be cloying, especially on some of Hot Chip’s slow jams.
Nevertheless, “In Our Heads” feels like the work of a band who are maturing in a mostly elegant, occasionally daft, highly satisfying fashion. The daftness you’ve possibly detected on the camp Euro-electro flashback of “Night And Day”, a song that unexpectedly sounds ripe for a Ya Kid K cameo. That would be preferable, perhaps, to Taylor’s own self-deprecating rap, which betrays a similar sense of humour – not really mine – that came to the fore on Joe Goddard’s otherwise lovely Two Bears album, and which I could possibly describe as Bestivallish.
As ever, though, Taylor’s vocal melodies are terrific: rich, addictive, possessing a certain melancholic bent even when they’re superficially euphoric. They work best here when the music is at its most subtle, supple and repetitive – when the rest of Hot Chip lock into a sort of gently pounding techno.
You can hear it in the opening track, “Motion Sickness”, and the way Hot Chip calmly layer some pretty tacky sounds – those horn stabs! – into such a sophisticated whole. In common with many of Hot Chip’s best songs – “Boy From School”, “Don’t Dance”, “One Life Stand” – there’s something intangibly emotional about it all, even before Taylor arrives with a killer, weirdly elegaic first line, “Remember when the people thought the world was round…”
If there’s an obvious parallel to be drawn, the New Order of “Technique” seems apposite, albeit filtered through another 20+ years of house and techno scholarship. “Let Me Be Him” is an even softer take on the formula, with rare prominence initially given to Goddard’s lulling voice.
Best of all, there’s “Flutes”: mantric, intense in a covert way and, though this may be the product of the video, impressively disorienting. At times, during the seven minutes of “Flutes”, it feels as if Hot Chip are at their best when they stray closest to dance music. But of course their strength – or, to some, their weakness – is that they are never quite so straightforward. For dance fans, one suspects Hot Chip will never be enough of a dance band, just as indie fans and pop fans will continue to be irritated by their reluctance to be an uncomplicated indie band or pop group.
For some of us, though, their vagaries are crystallising into something quite precious: a fine and eccentric English musical phenomenon. Here’s “Flutes”…
The Afghan Whigs have performed in public for the first time since they split in 2001.
The Ohio group played two songs on last night's Late Night With Jimmy Fallon – a cover of "See And Don't See" originally by Marie Queenie Lyons, and their own "I'm Her Slave", originally released on the band'...
The Afghan Whigs have performed in public for the first time since they split in 2001.
The Ohio group played two songs on last night’s Late Night With Jimmy Fallon – a cover of “See And Don’t See” originally by Marie Queenie Lyons, and their own “I’m Her Slave”, originally released on the band’s 1992 album Congregation.
Afghan Whigs last performed in public in New York on September 29, 1999, and announced their reunion in December 2011.
Watch the band’s performance of “I’m Her Slave” below.
Damon Albarn has halted work on new Blur material, producer William Orbit has told NME.
The producer, who worked on the reunited Britpop band's 1999 album '13', confirmed that the four-piece had been recording new material, but that the sessions were stopped "suddenly" three weeks ago.
"The new stuff sounded amazing," he says in this week's NME, which is on newsstands from today or available digitally now, "Then it all stopped suddenly. It was all over with Damon, and the rest of the band were like, 'Is this it?'".
Orbit had previously hinted that he was recording with the band in a series of tweets. Back in January, he wrote: "I just found out that she [Diawara] has done tracks with Damon A, who I’m in the studio with from Wednesday!" He later added to the band's guitarist Graham Coxon: ‘Loving the guitars you laid down! Vocal session March 3!’, suggesting that the sessions were with Blur and not one of Albarn's many side-projects.
However, another tweet later suggested the work may have stalled. Replying to a tweet from one fan who asked for Blur news in March, Orbit replied: "Blur could have been good. But Damon, brilliant and talented tho he is, is kinda a shit to the rest of Blur."
Last month, Albarn denied he was finished with Blur after earlier suggesting that their huge Hyde Park reunion gig to coincide with the close of this summer's Olympics in August would be their final show. Click below to watch an NME video interview with Graham Coxon talking about the band's preparations for the show.
The band are due to warm up for the show with a short tour taking in dates in Margate, Wolverhampton and Plymouth, along with headlining Sweden's Way Out West in the same month.
Damon Albarn has halted work on new Blur material, producer William Orbit has told NME.
The producer, who worked on the reunited Britpop band’s 1999 album ’13’, confirmed that the four-piece had been recording new material, but that the sessions were stopped “suddenly” three weeks ago.
“The new stuff sounded amazing,” he says in this week’s NME, which is on newsstands from today or available digitally now, “Then it all stopped suddenly. It was all over with Damon, and the rest of the band were like, ‘Is this it?'”.
Orbit had previously hinted that he was recording with the band in a series of tweets. Back in January, he wrote: “I just found out that she [Diawara] has done tracks with Damon A, who I’m in the studio with from Wednesday!” He later added to the band’s guitarist Graham Coxon: ‘Loving the guitars you laid down! Vocal session March 3!’, suggesting that the sessions were with Blur and not one of Albarn’s many side-projects.
However, another tweet later suggested the work may have stalled. Replying to a tweet from one fan who asked for Blur news in March, Orbit replied: “Blur could have been good. But Damon, brilliant and talented tho he is, is kinda a shit to the rest of Blur.”
Last month, Albarn denied he was finished with Blur after earlier suggesting that their huge Hyde Park reunion gig to coincide with the close of this summer’s Olympics in August would be their final show. Click below to watch an NME video interview with Graham Coxon talking about the band’s preparations for the show.
The band are due to warm up for the show with a short tour taking in dates in Margate, Wolverhampton and Plymouth, along with headlining Sweden’s Way Out West in the same month.
The Stone Roses will play a free show in Warrington tonight (May 23).
The Manchester legends, who announced last year that they had reunited, will headline the town's Parr Hall for a last-minute free show.
Fans are able to collect one wristband per person from the Warrington Pyramid box office ...
The Stone Roses will play a free show in Warrington tonight (May 23).
The Manchester legends, who announced last year that they had reunited, will headline the town’s Parr Hall for a last-minute free show.
Fans are able to collect one wristband per person from the Warrington Pyramid box office (next to Warrington Parr Hall) from 4pm today. To qualify fans will need to take a Stone Roses CD inlay cover, record sleeve, official band T-shirt or Heaton Park ticket with them.
The show will act as warm-up for the band’s summer European tour, which kicks off in Barcelona next month. The band will then play their first scheduled UK shows in Manchester’s Heaton Park on June 29, 30 and July 1.
Residents of Brooklyn Heights, New York have started a petition, campaigning to rename the rapper's local park, Squibb Park, in honour of the Beastie Boys' Adam 'MCA' Yauch.
Yauch was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 and succumbed to the disease earlier this month, aged 47.
Billboard reports that Squibb Park is currently undergoing renovations to be turned into a skate park.
The campaign's Facebook page, Facebook.com/adamyauchpark, writes: "Squibb Park in Brooklyn Heights, NY is currently undergoing a transformation into a skateboarding facility and gateway to Brooklyn Bridge Park. The Brooklyn Heights Blog community believes that it would be a fitting tribute to name it after Brooklyn Heights native, musician, humanitarian Adam Yauch (MCA) of the Beastie Boys."
They continue: "Adam Yauch Park sits directly across the street from the Harry Chapin Playground which is also named after a great Brooklyn Heights resident, musician and humanitarian."
Yauch was also recently honoured by the local government in his home state. The rapper, who grew up in New York and lived there throughout his life, was honoured by the city's state senate last week.
They passed a resolution which declared that it was "mourning the death of famed rapper and activist Adam 'MCA' Yauch", writing that he "exemplified New York" and helped rejuvenate the city during the band's influential early years.
The senate also praised Yauch's work outside of the band, which included his pro-Tibet Milarepa Fund and the film distribution company Oscilloscope Laboratories. In the resolution, they described him as "a man of colossal talent and charisma".
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coldplay, Jay-Z, Green Day, Eminem, Weezer, Tom Morello and Slash are among the bands and musicians who have paid tribute to Yauch, who died on May 4.
Residents of Brooklyn Heights, New York have started a petition, campaigning to rename the rapper’s local park, Squibb Park, in honour of the Beastie Boys‘ Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch.
Yauch was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 and succumbed to the disease earlier this month, aged 47.
Billboard reports that Squibb Park is currently undergoing renovations to be turned into a skate park.
The campaign’s Facebook page, Facebook.com/adamyauchpark, writes: “Squibb Park in Brooklyn Heights, NY is currently undergoing a transformation into a skateboarding facility and gateway to Brooklyn Bridge Park. The Brooklyn Heights Blog community believes that it would be a fitting tribute to name it after Brooklyn Heights native, musician, humanitarian Adam Yauch (MCA) of the Beastie Boys.”
They continue: “Adam Yauch Park sits directly across the street from the Harry Chapin Playground which is also named after a great Brooklyn Heights resident, musician and humanitarian.”
Yauch was also recently honoured by the local government in his home state. The rapper, who grew up in New York and lived there throughout his life, was honoured by the city’s state senate last week.
They passed a resolution which declared that it was “mourning the death of famed rapper and activist Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch”, writing that he “exemplified New York” and helped rejuvenate the city during the band’s influential early years.
The senate also praised Yauch’s work outside of the band, which included his pro-Tibet Milarepa Fund and the film distribution company Oscilloscope Laboratories. In the resolution, they described him as “a man of colossal talent and charisma”.
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coldplay, Jay-Z, Green Day, Eminem, Weezer, Tom Morello and Slash are among the bands and musicians who have paid tribute to Yauch, who died on May 4.
Paul Simon has dashed hopes he'll ever record with Art Garfunkel again.
The legendary duo haven't completed an album together since 'Bridge Over Troubled Water', which was released shortly before they split in 1970. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Simon said that a problem with Garfunk...
Paul Simon has dashed hopes he’ll ever record with Art Garfunkel again.
The legendary duo haven’t completed an album together since ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, which was released shortly before they split in 1970. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Simon said that a problem with Garfunkel’s vocal chords had left suggestions the duo could reunite a “moot point”.
Asked about a possible reunion, he replied that he “would just as soon not go back and visit the past”. The pair last reunited at the 25th anniversary of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame concerts in New York in 2009. A 13-date tour was planned for the following year, but was postponed indefinitely owing to Garfunkel’s vocal problems.
Simon was speaking ahead of the re-issue of his 1986 album ‘Graceland’. He once again insisted he had no regrets over the recording of the album in South Africa.
The folk legend was widely criticised for travelling to the country and making the 1986 with South African musicians, for effectively breaking the cultural boycott of the country due to its racist Apartheid regime.
Although the album was a smash hit and is now credited with bringing local music to the a global audience, he was also censured at the time by the African National Congress, who implied that he was supporting the regime. The controversy is documented in new film Under African Skies, which marks the 25th anniversary of the album.
Speaking at Sundance Film Festival last month, he said: “As for regrets, no I don’t have any regrets because it’s a happy ending. Would I have done things differently? Perhaps. If anybody had come to me and said, during the recording or in the 16 months between the recording and the release of the record anybody from the ANC had come and said ‘we don’t want you to do this’, or ‘we wish you would make some sort of statement supporting us’ I would have been very happy to do so.”
Madness have announced plans for a winter UK tour.
The string of shows, entitled The Charge of the Mad Brigade, will kick off at the band's previously announced second annual House Of Fun Weekender at Butlins Minehead from November 23-26, which will see the iconic ska-pop band playing two live se...
Madness have announced plans for a winter UK tour.
The string of shows, entitled The Charge of the Mad Brigade, will kick off at the band’s previously announced second annual House Of Fun Weekender at Butlins Minehead from November 23-26, which will see the iconic ska-pop band playing two live sets over the weekend.
The band then travel to Dublin O2 for November 28, before playing across the UK, finishing up on December 14 at London’s O2 Arena.
Madness are due to release their brand new album, the follow up to ‘The Liberty Of Norton Folgate’, later this year. The band will be playing songs from the as-yet-untitled LP at the weekender and the arena shows.
The Flaming Lips will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the most live shows in 24 hours in multiple cities.
The record is currently held by Jay-Z, who in 2006 performed seven shows in seven cities in a day.
The Lips will attempt the record on June 27 with eight concerts, which will stream live for the [url=http://www.omusicawards.com]O Music Awards[/url].
In a press release, Flaming Lips singer Wayne Coyne said: "I don't remember if I was asked or if I volunteered… But, I've accepted the job of, not DRIVING, but commandeering the Magical Mystery Merry Prankster bus."
He added: "I've accepted the attempt at breaking the world record of performing eight shows in 24 hours. And I've explained to the music freaks at MTV, VH1 and CMT that I am not a host… But, I always liked the way Jerry Lewis would get all sweaty toward the end of his yearly telethon… To play and sing Flaming Lips songs at eight in the morning… Well, I'm open to new experiences…"
The band aren’t the only ones bidding to break world records this week – with Jack White claiming he would attempt to "break the world record for most metaphors in a single concert''.
The Flaming Lips will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the most live shows in 24 hours in multiple cities.
The record is currently held by Jay-Z, who in 2006 performed seven shows in seven cities in a day.
The Lips will attempt the record on June 27 with eight concerts, which will stream live for the [url=http://www.omusicawards.com]O Music Awards[/url].
In a press release, Flaming Lips singer Wayne Coyne said: “I don’t remember if I was asked or if I volunteered… But, I’ve accepted the job of, not DRIVING, but commandeering the Magical Mystery Merry Prankster bus.”
He added: “I’ve accepted the attempt at breaking the world record of performing eight shows in 24 hours. And I’ve explained to the music freaks at MTV, VH1 and CMT that I am not a host… But, I always liked the way Jerry Lewis would get all sweaty toward the end of his yearly telethon… To play and sing Flaming Lips songs at eight in the morning… Well, I’m open to new experiences…”
The band aren’t the only ones bidding to break world records this week – with Jack White claiming he would attempt to “break the world record for most metaphors in a single concert”.
A lot of good things this week, and I should quickly mention that the new Uncut is now in the shops (in the UK at least). This link here has all the details of the issue contents, plus there’s a piece/interview by me about Bill Fay’s impending comeback.
A plug for the free CD, too, not least because it includes a bunch of stuff discussed here over the past few weeks: Dexys, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Spacin’, and Ty Segall & White Fence.
In other related publishing news, we’ve just finished the next Uncut Ultimate Music Guide, dedicated to Led Zeppelin - hence the appearance of “The Song Remains The Same” in this week’s rundown (also been revisiting Page & Plant’s “No Quarter” album a lot, next to more obvious selections). On sale June 6, I’m told.
If you’ve been following my Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey, you probably found out about a bunch of these records as they arrived in the Uncut office (though not, perhaps, the dodgier ones on this list). Much love this week, anyway, for Entrance Band, Sir Richard Bishop, the Black Twigs, the Six Organs/Comets jam of course, and the amazing Caroline Crawford track, an obsession with which has temporarily prevented me getting much further than Disc 3 of the Philly box set.
Maybe best of all, there’s the new Mark Kozelek; definitely the funniest, and possibly also one of the saddest records of his storied career. I have a lot more to say about that one, I promise…
1 Sun Kil Moon – Among The Leaves
2 Black Twig Pickers – Whompyjawed (Thrill Jockey)
3 Antony And The Johnsons – Cut The World (Rough Trade)
4 Entrance Band – Entrance Band (Latitudes)
5 Six Organs Of Admittance – Ascent (Drag City)
6 Sir Richard Bishop – Intermezzo (Ideologic Organ)
7 Led Zeppelin – The Song Remains The Same (Swan Song)
8 Julia Holter – Ekstasis (RVNG INTL)
9 Stevie Jackson – (I Can’t Get No) Stevie Jackson (Banchory)
10 Marissa Nadler – The Sister (Box Of Cedear)
11 Seaworthy – Bellows And Breath (Preservation)
12 Poliça – Give You The Ghost (Memphis Industries)
13 Man Forever – Pansophical Cataract (Thrill Jockey)
14 Plant And See – Plant And See (Paradise Of Bachelors)
15 Sun Kil Moon – Ghosts Of The Great Highway (Jet Set)
16 Caroline Crawford – If You Move, You Lose (Philadelphia International)
17 Spain – The Soul Of Spain (Glitterhouse)
18 Chris Robinson Brotherhood – Big Moon Ritual (Silver Arrow)Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey
A lot of good things this week, and I should quickly mention that the new Uncut is now in the shops (in the UK at least). This link here has all the details of the issue contents, plus there’s a piece/interview by me about Bill Fay’s impending comeback.
In other related publishing news, we’ve just finished the next Uncut Ultimate Music Guide, dedicated to Led Zeppelin – hence the appearance of “The Song Remains The Same” in this week’s rundown (also been revisiting Page & Plant’s “No Quarter” album a lot, next to more obvious selections). On sale June 6, I’m told.
If you’ve been following my Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey, you probably found out about a bunch of these records as they arrived in the Uncut office (though not, perhaps, the dodgier ones on this list). Much love this week, anyway, for Entrance Band, Sir Richard Bishop, the Black Twigs, the Six Organs/Comets jam of course, and the amazing Caroline Crawford track, an obsession with which has temporarily prevented me getting much further than Disc 3 of the Philly box set.
Maybe best of all, there’s the new Mark Kozelek; definitely the funniest, and possibly also one of the saddest records of his storied career. I have a lot more to say about that one, I promise…
1 Sun Kil Moon – Among The Leaves
2 Black Twig Pickers – Whompyjawed (Thrill Jockey)
3 Antony And The Johnsons – Cut The World (Rough Trade)
Quiet ones from the quiet one...
Now, it seems, the slow unpeeling of the George Harrison archive is beginning.
Designed to accompany the Martin Scorsese documentary boxed set, Early Takes Vol. 1 – even the title sounds like a bootleg – is a collection of ten demos, six of which ended up on All Things Must Pass, two glorious covers (Dylan’s “Mama You’ve Been On My Mind”, which Harrison had played during the Let It Be sessions, and the Everlys’ “Let It Be Me”) and two songs saved for later albums, “The Light That has Lighted The World” and “Woman Don’t You Cry For Me”.
All of them – except, arguably, “My Sweet Lord” – benefit from these spartan, bandless versions, as Harrison brings a delicacy to the material that Phil Spector, for one, chose not to. This is a delightful and charming addition to the original body of George’s work, which highlights the quality of his songwriting and presents the material in a fresh light.
Sadly, it’s unclear why quality has not been matched by quantity; those of us growing up in the 1970s who thought George’s Beatle/solo greatest hits was short weight will be nostalgically jolted back in time when they realise that this collection barely makes it past the 30 minute mark.
DAVID QUANTICK
Quiet ones from the quiet one…
Now, it seems, the slow unpeeling of the George Harrison archive is beginning.
Designed to accompany the Martin Scorsese documentary boxed set, Early Takes Vol. 1 – even the title sounds like a bootleg – is a collection of ten demos, six of which ended up on All Things Must Pass, two glorious covers (Dylan’s “Mama You’ve Been On My Mind”, which Harrison had played during the Let It Be sessions, and the Everlys’ “Let It Be Me”) and two songs saved for later albums, “The Light That has Lighted The World” and “Woman Don’t You Cry For Me”.
All of them – except, arguably, “My Sweet Lord” – benefit from these spartan, bandless versions, as Harrison brings a delicacy to the material that Phil Spector, for one, chose not to. This is a delightful and charming addition to the original body of George’s work, which highlights the quality of his songwriting and presents the material in a fresh light.
Sadly, it’s unclear why quality has not been matched by quantity; those of us growing up in the 1970s who thought George’s Beatle/solo greatest hits was short weight will be nostalgically jolted back in time when they realise that this collection barely makes it past the 30 minute mark.
Yeasayer have announced full details of their third studio album, which is to be titled 'Fragrant World'.
The album is the follow-up to their 2010 second album 'Odd Blood' and is due for release on August 20.
The album will contain a total of 11 tracks, including 'Henrietta', which the band rec...
Yeasayer have announced full details of their third studio album, which is to be titled ‘Fragrant World’.
The album is the follow-up to their 2010 second album ‘Odd Blood’ and is due for release on August 20.
The album will contain a total of 11 tracks, including ‘Henrietta’, which the band recently released.
That track was sent out to members of the band’s mailing list, with a physical CD containing the song sent to every person who had signed up to updates from Yeasayer. You can hear the track by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking.
Late last year, the band spoke about ‘Fragrant World’ and said that it is shaping up to be “like a demented R&B record”. Multi-instrumentalist Chris Keating said of it: “It’s like an Aaliyah album if you played it backwards and slowed it down. Or David Bowie’s ‘Lodger’. Those two are major influences.”
Yeasayer will return to the UK in July to play Latitude Festival.
The tracklisting for ‘Fragrant World’ is as follows:
A rare photograph showing The Beatles walking 'backwards' across Abbey Road has sold for £16,000 at auction this afternoon (May 22).
The snap, taken by late photographer Iain Macmillan, shows the band walking right to left across the zebra crossing outside the London studio where they made their 1969 album - the opposite direction to the photograph which appears on the album cover.
There are other notable differences, including the fact Paul McCartney is wearing sandals rather than walking with bare feet. The cigarette he's holding on the album version is also missing.
The photograph was expected to sell for around £9,000, but ended up going for £7,000 more than that after frenzied bidding took place at the Bloomsbury auction house in Central London this afternoon. Initially bidding began at £6,000, but quickly escalated and ended up with a figure of £16,000 in less than one minute.
Beatles artefacts regularly fetch big prices at auctions - last year a document showing how the Fab Four refused to play to segregated crowds was sold for $23,000 (£14,407).
A rare photograph showing The Beatles walking ‘backwards’ across Abbey Road has sold for £16,000 at auction this afternoon (May 22).
The snap, taken by late photographer Iain Macmillan, shows the band walking right to left across the zebra crossing outside the London studio where they made their 1969 album – the opposite direction to the photograph which appears on the album cover.
There are other notable differences, including the fact Paul McCartney is wearing sandals rather than walking with bare feet. The cigarette he’s holding on the album version is also missing.
The photograph was expected to sell for around £9,000, but ended up going for £7,000 more than that after frenzied bidding took place at the Bloomsbury auction house in Central London this afternoon. Initially bidding began at £6,000, but quickly escalated and ended up with a figure of £16,000 in less than one minute.
Beatles artefacts regularly fetch big prices at auctions – last year a document showing how the Fab Four refused to play to segregated crowds was sold for $23,000 (£14,407).
Pete Doherty's acting debut in Confession Of A Child Of The Century has been given scathing reviews by critics.
The film, which also stars Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lily Cole, was shown to the world's press at the Cannes film festival over the weekend and got a universal thumbs down.
In the film...
Pete Doherty‘s acting debut in Confession Of A Child Of The Century has been given scathing reviews by critics.
The film, which also stars Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lily Cole, was shown to the world’s press at the Cannes film festival over the weekend and got a universal thumbs down.
In the film, Doherty plays Octave, a young romantic who falls into depression and debauchery after discovering his mistress (Cole) is unfaithful. It is his first foray into acting, and, according to the reviews, it should also be his last. You can watch the trailer for the film by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking.
The Guardian labeled Doherty’s acting as full of “shambling amateurisim”, while Screen Daily said that Doherty delivers “a wooden performance” in “a turgid adaptation”.
The Hollywood Reporter was a little kinder, but only in that they chose to blame the film’s director Sylvie Verheyde rather than Doherty. They wrote of the former Libertines man: “It’s hard to recall an actor looking more uncomfortable on screen”, but adds, “it was perhaps too much to expect a first-timer to shoulder a demanding lead”.
The harshest of all were Cine Vue, who called Doherty “a sixth former who hasn’t learnt his lines for drama class” and said he “joins a long line of successful musicians and pop stars who have become truly awful actors”.
To read a new interview with Doherty, pick up the new issue of NME, which is on newsstands tomorrow (May 23) or available digitally.
Blur mainman Damon Albarn and Portishead singer Beth Gibbons have collaborated with rapper JJ Doom on a new track for his forthcoming album 'Key To The Kuffs'.
The rapper confirmed the collaboration over the weekend, tweeting: "Just did a song with Beth of Portishead and Damon Albarn! I figured I...
Blur mainman Damon Albarn and Portishead singer Beth Gibbons have collaborated with rapper JJ Doom on a new track for his forthcoming album ‘Key To The Kuffs’.
The rapper confirmed the collaboration over the weekend, tweeting: “Just did a song with Beth of Portishead and Damon Albarn! I figured I’ll say it since it’s already leaked in press!”
‘Key To The Kuffs’ is due out in the near future via Lex Records. You can hear the album’s lead-off single ‘Banished’ by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking.
Damon Albarn is currently gearing up with his bandmates in Blur for their huge summer shows. The band announced an intimate tour last week, which will see them play four shows, beginning at Margate’s Winter Gardens on August 1. They will then play two shows at Wolverhampton’s Civic Hall on August 5 and 6, before finishing off at Plymouth’s Pavilions on August 7.
The shows will act as a warm-up for the band’s huge outdoor gig at London’s Hyde Park on August 12. That show sees Blur topping a bill that also includes New Order and The Specials. The gig has been put on to coincide with the closing ceremony of the Olympic games.
Along with playing at Hyde Park, Blur are also scheduled to headline Sweden’s Way Out West festival in August.
Portishead are currently working on their fourth studio album and tour mainland Europe this summer.
November tour announced
Having stormed back onto the UK charts with their top ten album "Weapons", Lostprophets will release their new single "We Bring An Arsenal" on June 4th. Lostprophets have also announced a massive UK tour for later this year following their sold out April/May tour.
Guitari...
November tour announced
Having stormed back onto the UK charts with their top ten album “Weapons“, Lostprophets will release their new single “We Bring An Arsenal” on June 4th. Lostprophets have also announced a massive UK tour for later this year following their sold out April/May tour.
Guitarist Mike Lewis says: “We Bring An Arsenal is about us as a band, our gang mentality. We’ve always had that, even before we formed Lostprophets. When we were just mates growing up, we had that us vs. them, underdog mentality. That song is about that – whatever you throw at us we’ll come back with more.”
As well as being confirmed for Radio 1’s Hackney Weekender in June, Lostprophets will also be playing the following venues this November:
Mick Ronson once fell asleep on me during an interview, the glam rock guitar god nodding off towards the end of what had become quite an emotional late night outburst on his part about how he had been betrayed by David Bowie after thanklessly contributing so much to Bowie’s success.
One moment, Ronson was seething at Bowie’s evident duplicity, devious manipulation and other such unappealing behaviour. The next, Mick was declaring his unqualified love for ‘Dave’, as he called Bowie, who had wooed and jilted him but nevertheless continued to be held in conflicted affection by his former musical lieutenant. His turmoil was palpable and evidently exhausting and the next thing I knew he’d gone very quiet and on closer inspection was found to be sleeping, when for a panicky second or two there I rather feared he had slipped his mortal moorings, his soul beckoned by some distant light to a better place.
I was just about to leave him snoring lightly in the darkened room at Newcastle’s Holiday Inn where we had until several minutes earlier been talking, when he woke up as if someone had run an electric current through his apparently comatose body, Mick sitting up suddenly like someone rising from the dead and giving us both a bit of a fright as he took a further minute or two to remember where and possibly who he was.
To my recollection, however, I’ve never had to sit and watch during an interview while someone broke down and actually wept in front of me, although I have a distant memory of Bryan Ferry getting awfully maudlin, to the point where I thought he might start blubbing somewhat uncontrollably, when during a chat about his Bride Stripped Bare album the conversation turned to Jerry Hall, who not long previously had rather unceremoniously dumped him for Mick Jagger.
This means I’ve never quite been in the position David Cavanagh found himself when he interviewed Patti Smith for the cover story of the new Uncut, which goes on sale today, during which conversation mention of first Kurt Cobain and then her children reduced her to tears. Further sobbing ensued as she recalled Michael Stipe telling her how special she is, and more weeping followed when David told her the story of Bob Dylan visiting Neil Young’s childhood home in Winnipeg a few years ago.
We’ve trailed the feature as Patti’s most revealing ever, an easy claim to make when it happens to be true, Patti opening up to David during the three hours he spent with her and displaying a rare candour for someone not best known for revealing too much of her private self in meetings with the press.
Emotions also run high in the new issue in our tribute to the great Levon Helm, who is movingly remembered by among others his former Band mate Garth Hudson and Larry Campbell, Levon’s co-producer on his two last great albums, Dirt Farmer and Electric Dirt. Many Uncut readers were also touched enough by Levon’s sad passing to write in with their own heartfelt tributes for someone whose music, especially the music he made with The Band, had clearly meant so much to them for so long. Thanks to everyone for writing and apologies for not having the space in the issue to print all your letters.
Elsewhere in the new issue, Andy Gill is on the road in America with band-of-the-moment The Alabama Shakes, Rob Young looks back at the ‘fiery creativity’ of King Crimson in the company of key members of its original line-up, Dr John holds court in An Audience With, there’s an outrageous chat with La legend Kim Fowley, Jhn Mulvey tracks down Jimmy page’s ‘demonic lost album’, Lucifer’s Rising and Suede talk us through the making of “The Drowners”.
Our recently expanded reviews section, meanwhile, is host to an impressive line-up of new releases, including Neil Young’s Americana, Patti Smith’s Bangra, Dexys’ One Day I’m Going To Soar, The Chris Robinson Brotherhood’s Big Moon Ritual, Giant Giant Sand’s Tucson, Bobby Womack’s The Bravest Man In The Universe and Beachwood Sparks’ The Tarnished Gold. In our Archive section, look out for reviews of new box sets and reissues from Can (pariticularly brilliant unreleased stuff), Paul Simon, David Bowie and Van Dyke Parks.
As ever, we’re keen to hear what you think of the issue and what’s in, so drop me a line if you have a moment. You can reach me at allan_jones@ipcmedia.com.
Have a good week.
Allan
Patti Smith pic: Melodie McDaniel
Mick Ronson once fell asleep on me during an interview, the glam rock guitar god nodding off towards the end of what had become quite an emotional late night outburst on his part about how he had been betrayed by David Bowie after thanklessly contributing so much to Bowie’s success.
One moment, Ronson was seething at Bowie’s evident duplicity, devious manipulation and other such unappealing behaviour. The next, Mick was declaring his unqualified love for ‘Dave’, as he called Bowie, who had wooed and jilted him but nevertheless continued to be held in conflicted affection by his former musical lieutenant. His turmoil was palpable and evidently exhausting and the next thing I knew he’d gone very quiet and on closer inspection was found to be sleeping, when for a panicky second or two there I rather feared he had slipped his mortal moorings, his soul beckoned by some distant light to a better place.
I was just about to leave him snoring lightly in the darkened room at Newcastle’s Holiday Inn where we had until several minutes earlier been talking, when he woke up as if someone had run an electric current through his apparently comatose body, Mick sitting up suddenly like someone rising from the dead and giving us both a bit of a fright as he took a further minute or two to remember where and possibly who he was.
To my recollection, however, I’ve never had to sit and watch during an interview while someone broke down and actually wept in front of me, although I have a distant memory of Bryan Ferry getting awfully maudlin, to the point where I thought he might start blubbing somewhat uncontrollably, when during a chat about his Bride Stripped Bare album the conversation turned to Jerry Hall, who not long previously had rather unceremoniously dumped him for Mick Jagger.
This means I’ve never quite been in the position David Cavanagh found himself when he interviewed Patti Smith for the cover story of the new Uncut, which goes on sale today, during which conversation mention of first Kurt Cobain and then her children reduced her to tears. Further sobbing ensued as she recalled Michael Stipe telling her how special she is, and more weeping followed when David told her the story of Bob Dylan visiting Neil Young’s childhood home in Winnipeg a few years ago.
We’ve trailed the feature as Patti’s most revealing ever, an easy claim to make when it happens to be true, Patti opening up to David during the three hours he spent with her and displaying a rare candour for someone not best known for revealing too much of her private self in meetings with the press.
Emotions also run high in the new issue in our tribute to the great Levon Helm, who is movingly remembered by among others his former Band mate Garth Hudson and Larry Campbell, Levon’s co-producer on his two last great albums, Dirt Farmer and Electric Dirt. Many Uncut readers were also touched enough by Levon’s sad passing to write in with their own heartfelt tributes for someone whose music, especially the music he made with The Band, had clearly meant so much to them for so long. Thanks to everyone for writing and apologies for not having the space in the issue to print all your letters.
Elsewhere in the new issue, Andy Gill is on the road in America with band-of-the-moment The Alabama Shakes, Rob Young looks back at the ‘fiery creativity’ of King Crimson in the company of key members of its original line-up, Dr John holds court in An Audience With, there’s an outrageous chat with La legend Kim Fowley, Jhn Mulvey tracks down Jimmy page’s ‘demonic lost album’, Lucifer’s Rising and Suede talk us through the making of “The Drowners”.
Our recently expanded reviews section, meanwhile, is host to an impressive line-up of new releases, including Neil Young’s Americana, Patti Smith’s Bangra, Dexys’ One Day I’m Going To Soar, The Chris Robinson Brotherhood’s Big Moon Ritual, Giant Giant Sand’s Tucson, Bobby Womack’s The Bravest Man In The Universe and Beachwood Sparks’ The Tarnished Gold. In our Archive section, look out for reviews of new box sets and reissues from Can (pariticularly brilliant unreleased stuff), Paul Simon, David Bowie and Van Dyke Parks.
As ever, we’re keen to hear what you think of the issue and what’s in, so drop me a line if you have a moment. You can reach me at allan_jones@ipcmedia.com.
The Hacienda's 30th anniversary has been celebrated with a rave in an underground car park.
The celebration, which took place last night (May 21) on the original site of the legendary Manchester club and venue, was organised by former New Order and Joy Division bassist Peter Hook.
Some of the DJ...
The Hacienda‘s 30th anniversary has been celebrated with a rave in an underground car park.
The celebration, which took place last night (May 21) on the original site of the legendary Manchester club and venue, was organised by former New Order and Joy Division bassist Peter Hook.
Some of the DJs who packed out the club in its glory days also returned to perform, including 808 State, Dave Haslam and Jon DaSilva.
Speaking to the BBC, Hook said: “The idea came about to celebrate the 30th simply because Graeme Park and I thought that we might not be here for the 40th. I’m hoping so, but I’m not sure I’ll be in any fit state to rave.”
Proceeds from the event were given to a music therapy charity.
Mystery Jets, Marcus Foster and Fionn Regan are all confirmed to perform at this year's Bushstock festival.
The event will take place on June 2 in the Shepherds Bush area of London and is being put on by Communion Records, the label part run by Mumford And Sons' Ben Lovett (pictured far right).
...
Mystery Jets, Marcus Foster and Fionn Regan are all confirmed to perform at this year’s Bushstock festival.
The event will take place on June 2 in the Shepherds Bush area of London and is being put on by Communion Records, the label part run by Mumford And Sons‘ Ben Lovett (pictured far right).
Also confirmed to play at the event are Bastille, Daughter, Alessi’s Ark, Jamie N Commons, Lanterns On The Lake, Juan Zelada, Matthew And The Atlas, Ellen & The Escapades, Dog Is Dead and over 20 others.
Speaking about the label, Lovett said: “It’s an artist run label. It started as a club night and morphed into many different things. But we’re basically trying to help out artists who are getting screwed over, who aren’t getting what they deserve.”
For more information about the event and for full stage times, visit Bushstock.co.uk/.
