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/.
Dexys have announced a full UK tour for this September.
The band will play 10 dates on the run. These begin at Cambridge Corn Exchange on September 11 and continue until September 25, when the band headline Oxford New Theatre.
Dexys will release their long-awaited new album 'One Day I'm Going To...
Dexys have announced a full UK tour for this September.
The band will play 10 dates on the run. These begin at Cambridge Corn Exchange on September 11 and continue until September 25, when the band headline Oxford New Theatre.
Dexys will release their long-awaited new album ‘One Day I’m Going To Soar’ on June 4.
The record is the band’s first since 1985’s ‘Don’t Stand Me Down’ and features the band’s members Kevin Rowland, Mick Talbot, Pete Williams and Jim Paterson as well as new recruits Neil Hubbard, Tim Cansfield, Madeleine Hyland, Lucy Morgan and Ben Trigg.
Dexys are also booked to perform at this summer’s Latitude and Lounge On The Farm festivals.
The new issue of Uncut, which hits shelves today, Tuesday (May 22), features Patti Smith, Alabama Shakes, Dr John, Neil Young and King Crimson.
Smith is on the cover, giving an incredible interview about her entire career, from her early days in the Chelsea Hotel to her creative rebirth with new album Banga.
Elsewhere in the issue, Alabama Shakes reveal what it’s like to be the biggest new band in the world, Dr John answers your questions about New Orleans voodoo and getting shot, and King Crimson’s bizarre story is told.
Neil Young’s new album with Crazy Horse, Americana, is reviewed, alongside new releases and reissues from the likes of Dexys, Paul Simon, David Bowie, Can and Beachwood Sparks.
The Beach Boys, Arbouretum and New Order are caught live, and The Grateful Dead, The Raconteurs, Pink Floyd and The Beatles are in our DVDs & Blu-ray section, alongside reviews of upcoming films Ill Manors, Dark Horse, Killer Joe, and more.
The free CD, New Directions Home, features tracks from Dexys, The Walkmen, Giant Giant Sand, Ty Segall & White Fence, Cold Specks, and more.
The new issue of Uncut is out now on newsstands.
The new issue of Uncut, which hits shelves today, Tuesday (May 22), features Patti Smith, Alabama Shakes, Dr John, Neil Young and King Crimson.
Smith is on the cover, giving an incredible interview about her entire career, from her early days in the Chelsea Hotel to her creative rebirth with new album Banga.
Elsewhere in the issue, Alabama Shakes reveal what it’s like to be the biggest new band in the world, Dr John answers your questions about New Orleans voodoo and getting shot, and King Crimson’s bizarre story is told.
Neil Young’s new album with Crazy Horse, Americana, is reviewed, alongside new releases and reissues from the likes of Dexys, Paul Simon, David Bowie, Can and Beachwood Sparks.
The Beach Boys, Arbouretum and New Order are caught live, and The Grateful Dead, The Raconteurs, Pink Floyd and The Beatles are in our DVDs & Blu-ray section, alongside reviews of upcoming films Ill Manors, Dark Horse, Killer Joe, and more.
The free CD, New Directions Home, features tracks from Dexys, The Walkmen, Giant Giant Sand, Ty Segall & White Fence, Cold Specks, and more.
Antony and the Johnsons have announced plans to release their fifth album, 'Cut The World', on August 6.
The album is made up of live symphonic versions of tracks from the band's previous four LPs - 'Antony & the Johnsons', 'I Am A Bird Now', 'The Crying Light' and 'Swanlights'. It was record...
Antony and the Johnsons have announced plans to release their fifth album, ‘Cut The World’, on August 6.
The album is made up of live symphonic versions of tracks from the band’s previous four LPs – ‘Antony & the Johnsons’, ‘I Am A Bird Now’, ‘The Crying Light’ and ‘Swanlights’. It was recorded last year in Copenhagen with the Danish National Chamber Orchestra.
Brand new track ‘Cut The World’ is the only studio recorded song on the record. Scroll down to watch a video Antony Hegarty made for ‘Future Feminism’, a speech by Hegarty which is included on the record.
The ‘Cut The World’ tracklisting is:
‘Cut the World’
‘Future Feminism’
‘Cripple and the Starfish’
‘You Are My Sister’
‘Swanlights’
‘Epilepsy Is Dancing’
‘Another World’
‘Kiss My Name’
‘I Fell In Love With a Dead Boy’
‘The Rapture’
‘The Crying Light’
‘Twilight’
Antony Hegarty is curating this year’s Meltdown festival at London’s Southbank Centre, which runs from August 1-12. This summer the event will see performances from the Cocteau Twins‘ Elizabeth Fraser, Diamanda Galás, Laurie Anderson, CocoRosie and Buffy Sainte-Marie while Marc Almond will present Marc and The Mambas’ Torment and Toreros.
The Stone Roses "have at least three or four new tracks recorded", according to Chris Coghill, the writer of the new film which is set at their 1990 Spike Island show.
Coghill, who has penned the film, suitably named Spike Island after the 30,000-capacity Merseyside gig, said when asked if he'd h...
The Stone Roses “have at least three or four new tracks recorded”, according to Chris Coghill, the writer of the new film which is set at their 1990 Spike Island show.
Coghill, who has penned the film, suitably named Spike Island after the 30,000-capacity Merseyside gig, said when asked if he’d heard any new music that the reformed legends “have at least three or four songs recorded”.
24 Hour Party People actor Coghill has also revealed that the band have given him and the movie “their blessing”. The movie revolves around an unsigned band from a council estate in Manchester.
Speaking to the BBC about the film, which premiered in Cannes last weekend, Coghill said: “Mani and Ian Brown said, ‘Whatever we can do to help.’ Essentially, it’s my love letter to the Stone Roses and being 16 years old in 1990 in Manchester. There’s a little bit of me in all the boys.”
Asked how the band responded, he said: “I’m mates with Mani and I know Ian a bit, and when we first started talking about it, I emailed them both an outline of what we wanted to do and they said, ‘You have our support, you have our blessing, whatever you need.”
The trailer for Spike Island, which has been shown to selected journalists, features several Stone Roses songs. Coghill says he hopes to complete the film by November.
The Stone Roses kick off their reunion gigs with two warm-up shows at Club Razzmatazz in Barcelona on June 8 and 9, before moving on to dates in Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and France ahead of their trio of homecoming gigs at Heaton Park (29, 30 and July 1).
Following the hometown shows, they’ll then play at Dublin’s Phoenix Park (5) and Spain’s Benicassim (12-15), along with shows in Italy and the Far East.
Weekly UK Album chart sales fell to their lowest level since 1996 over the weekend.
Keane's fifth album 'Strangeland' topped the chart with sales of 19,982, which was over 58% lower than their sales for the previous week, where they also took the Number One spot.
It is the second time a UK Number One has sold fewer than 20,000 copies in any of the 646 weeks of the 21st century with the other occurring four weeks ago, when Adele's '21' took the Number One spot with sales of only 17,065.
Tenacious D had looked odds-on for Number One all week, but only managed to sell 15,971 copies, which still landed them the Number Two spot, according to Music Week.
Total sales for the week are just under 1.35 million, which is 7.5% down from last week and almost 250,000 lower than this time last year. It is the lowest seven-day sale tally recorded since week-ending 22 June 1996 when just 1,277,279 albums were sold.
Singles sales are also down from last year's mark by almost 7% to just over 3.15 million for 2012 so far.
Weekly UK Album chart sales fell to their lowest level since 1996 over the weekend.
Keane’s fifth album ‘Strangeland’ topped the chart with sales of 19,982, which was over 58% lower than their sales for the previous week, where they also took the Number One spot.
It is the second time a UK Number One has sold fewer than 20,000 copies in any of the 646 weeks of the 21st century with the other occurring four weeks ago, when Adele’s ’21’ took the Number One spot with sales of only 17,065.
Tenacious D had looked odds-on for Number One all week, but only managed to sell 15,971 copies, which still landed them the Number Two spot, according to Music Week.
Total sales for the week are just under 1.35 million, which is 7.5% down from last week and almost 250,000 lower than this time last year. It is the lowest seven-day sale tally recorded since week-ending 22 June 1996 when just 1,277,279 albums were sold.
Singles sales are also down from last year’s mark by almost 7% to just over 3.15 million for 2012 so far.
Beach House have told their fans that they shouldn't be angry at Volkswagen for mimicking one of their songs in a new commercial, but should blame the advertising agency instead.
Fans of the Baltimore duo have commented angrily on the similarities between the band's track 'Take Care', which featu...
Beach House have told their fans that they shouldn’t be angry at Volkswagen for mimicking one of their songs in a new commercial, but should blame the advertising agency instead.
Fans of the Baltimore duo have commented angrily on the similarities between the band’s track ‘Take Care’, which featured on their 2010 album ‘Teen Dream’, and the music used in a commercial for the car company’s new Polo model, which you can watch by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking.
Writing on their Facebook page, however, Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally said that people should be angry at the agency responsible for the advert rather than Volkswagen themselves.
“The ad agency actively tried to license ‘Take Care’ from us for weeks, to which we politely declined,” they wrote, before adding: “People’s comments/anger should not be directed towards VW or us. It was the ad agency that made these moves.”
They went on: “I hope this also clarifies to fans and non-fans just how ‘Take Care’ and the VW ad song are related. We will release a proper statement weeks from now when we don’t have more interesting things to do/talk about.”
Beach House released their fourth studio album ‘Bloom’ earlier this week (May 15). Speaking to NME about the album, Legrand said that the LP is darker than its predecessor ‘Teen Dream’, explaining that its themes are “death [and] loss of innocence”. “As we’ve got older and as we’ve evolved, it’s normal that there would be darker themes,” she said, but also added: “There’s lightness, it’s not all dark.”
You can hear the first single from the album, ‘Lazuli’, by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking.
Blur's Graham Coxon has hit out at TV talent shows such as The X Factor and The Voice by labelling them as "disgraceful".
Speaking to the Independent, the guitarist said that he disapproved of the idea that aspiring artists could achieve immediate success in the music industry and claimed that he...
Blur‘s Graham Coxon has hit out at TV talent shows such as The X Factor and The Voice by labelling them as “disgraceful”.
Speaking to the Independent, the guitarist said that he disapproved of the idea that aspiring artists could achieve immediate success in the music industry and claimed that he believed in “doing things right”.
“To get better at anything you have to practice a lot,” he said of his approach to songwriting. “It doesn’t just appear.
“I’ve only got myself to please. When I’m on my own in my front room with a guitar, there’s no one going to say to me, ‘That’s really great’ if I play some old rubbish,” he added. “I do believe in doing things right. Which is why The X Factor and The Voice are so disgraceful to me.”
He then went on to say: “That’s how I feel about it. Perhaps I’m old-fashioned in that sense – that I believe you have to pay your dues. Being a musician is not something you can become overnight.”
Coxon also paid tribute to his Blur bandmate Damon Albarn’s varied musical projects and said he would like to challenge himself in a similar fashion by working outside of his comfort zone. “Damon’s gone off to Mali and worked with all sorts of different people,” he said. “Musically, he’s put himself in some weird areas where he might have struggled. He’s made some brave and adventurous moves and that’s probably what I want to do.”
Coxon released his eighth solo album ‘A+E’ in April of this year, and will join up with Blur again to play the Olympic closing ceremony concert on August 12.
Black Sabbath made their live return on Saturday night (May 19) with a homecoming gig at Birmingham's O2 Academy.
Back in city for the first time in over a decade, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler, together with drummer Tommy Clufetos – the replacement for original sticksman Bill Wa...
Black Sabbath made their live return on Saturday night (May 19) with a homecoming gig at Birmingham’s O2 Academy.
Back in city for the first time in over a decade, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler, together with drummer Tommy Clufetos – the replacement for original sticksman Bill Ward, whose contractual disputes with the rest of the band remain unresolved – blazed through a career-spanning set to a sell-out crowd.
Billed as a warm-up for their forthcoming headline slot at this year’s Download Festival, the heavy metal pioneers opened with ‘Into The Void’ from 1971’s ‘Master Of Reality’.
Shortly after ‘Under The Sun’, the emotional crowd began chanting Tony Iommi’s name – a clear demonstration of their support for the guitarist, who is currently battling cancer. The gesture didn’t go unnoticed by Osbourne, who hugged the guitarist on behalf of the fans.
Ripping through ‘Snowblind’, the crowd – including Ozzy’s wife and manager Sharon Osbourne – were once again whipped up into a frenzy, which continued throughout the rest of a set. The band treated their fans to classic tracks such as ‘War Pigs’, ‘Black Sabbath’, ‘Iron Man’ and finished their triumphant set with ‘Paranoid’.
Posting on his website shortly after the performance, bassist Geezer Butler thanked the “best fans ever” and praised his friend and bandmate Tony Iommi.
He wrote: “Thank you, thank you, thank you Birmingham. Best fans ever- you brought out the best in us. It was a privilege playing for you tonight. Tony was a hero- you were the best medicine he has had. Proud to be a Brummie.”
Mick Jagger was joined by Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters and Jeff Beck on the season finale of US comedy show Saturday Night Live.
Jagger performed three songs with Arcade Fire. They played a trio of The Rolling Stones' hits, including 'Ruby Tuesday', 'The Last Time' and 'She's A Rainbow'. You can wat...
Mick Jagger was joined by Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters and Jeff Beck on the season finale of US comedy show Saturday Night Live.
Jagger performed three songs with Arcade Fire. They played a trio of The Rolling Stones‘ hits, including ‘Ruby Tuesday’, ‘The Last Time’ and ‘She’s A Rainbow’. You can watch a video of Jagger playing ‘The Last Time’ with Arcade Fire by scrolling down the page and clicking.
Along with being the host of the show, Jagger was also the musical guest and performed a medley of Rolling Stones songs with Foo Fighters, which included ’19th Nervous Breakdown’, and ‘Tea Party’ with Jeff Beck.
Jagger, who last hosted the show with the rest of The Rolling Stones in 1978, also got into the spirit of the show’s notorious, wacky skits and played various characters throughout. Most notably, he portrayed a crazed Steven Tyler.
The show ended with a tribute to comic actress Kristen Wiig, who is said to be leaving the show. Arcade Fire and Mick Jagger played ‘Ruby Tuesday’ and ‘She’s A Rainbow’ as a tearful Wiig danced with other members of the Saturday Night Live cast.
The Rolling Stones had been expected to celebrate their 50-year anniversary by embarking on a world tour later this year, but in March the band revealed that they would be delaying their live shows until 2013.
Peter Jones, the drummer of Australian rock band Crowded House, has died aged 45.
The Liverpool-born musician, who joined the band after original drummer Paul Hester quit in 1994, lost his battle for brain cancer on Friday (May 18).
A statement, published on the Crowded House website paid tribute to the drummer and described him as a "warm-hearted, funny and talented man".
It read: "We are in mourning today for the death of Peter Jones. We remember his as a warm-hearted, funny and talented man, who was a valuable member of Crowded House. He played with style and spirit. We salute him and send out love and best thoughts to his family and friends."
Leading the tributes from his friends was bandmate Neil Finn, who marked his respect by posting an eulogy on his Twitter. He tweeted:
Peter Jones, the drummer of Australian rock band Crowded House, has died aged 45.
The Liverpool-born musician, who joined the band after original drummer Paul Hester quit in 1994, lost his battle for brain cancer on Friday (May 18).
A statement, published on the Crowded House website paid tribute to the drummer and described him as a “warm-hearted, funny and talented man”.
It read: “We are in mourning today for the death of Peter Jones. We remember his as a warm-hearted, funny and talented man, who was a valuable member of Crowded House. He played with style and spirit. We salute him and send out love and best thoughts to his family and friends.”
Leading the tributes from his friends was bandmate Neil Finn, who marked his respect by posting an eulogy on his Twitter. He tweeted:
Iamvery sad toheartonight that Peter Jones has died . ..agreatman and a wonderful drummer. RIP Pete
? neil mullanefinn (@neilmullanefinn) May 18, 2012
Jones is the group’s second drummer to pass away, after founding drummer Paul Hester committed suicide in 2005 following depression.
Crowded House were founded in 1985 by singer-songwriter Neil Finn. The group went on to achieve global success with hits such as ‘Don’t Dream Its Over’ and, most notably, ‘Weather With You’.
To Café Oto, where a guy who goes by the name of Hitodama is making the sort of brutal avant-noise that a colleague is inspired to describe as “entropic deathwank”.
It’s a jarring start to the evening, though Hitodama (“Wigan-reared, Tokyo-dwelling drone obsessive Dave McMahon,” promoters Miles Of Smiles reveal) will make further contributions later: at key moments when the other, in most ways more serene, artists are playing, McMahon adds piratical roars of pleasure from the audience.
Dean McPhee, much admired and written about on this blog (here’s a link to my last piece), is up next, with a set of as-yet unreleased songs bookended by a couple he premiered at that linked Michael Chapman show, “Rolling Stream” and the especially fine “Evil Eye”. There are odd moments – McPhee breaks off one piece to move his flight case into the toilet, presumably distracted by minute vibrations. And, as is usually the case when an artist prefaces a song by saying they wrote it only a few days before, it’s hard not to prejudge that work as a little tentative, incomplete in some way.
Nevertheless, McPhee’s tone, resolve, measure and concentrated, courtly playing (I found myself thinking of John Renbourn again) remains beguiling, and a pleasing movement on from the Takoma thing practised by so many of his guitar soli contemporaries.
Unexpectedly, Michael Flower also touches on the edges of that tradition in his set – a solo outing for the Vibracathedral Orchestra/Flower-Corsano Duo player, even though he’s billed as the Michael Flower Band. The Band turns out to be a bunch of kit arrayed on an ironing board behind Flower and his electric guitar, including a rudimentary drum machine that makes Flower’s first moves resemble that recent Sandy Bull & His Rhythm Ace release.
Soon enough, though, Flower is moving on, revealing an orthodox virtuosity that’s not always apparent in the skrees he unleashes in more avant-garde manifestations. At times, the tone of his guitar matches that high-end fizz of the Japan-banjo he uses in tandem with Chris Corsano. At others, amid the various loops and delays, he tries on various styles for size: from the expansive strafe of Michael Rother and Robert Fripp, to fluid Southern Rock jams. There is a brief burst of crude arpeggiated ‘90s techno, too. Quite a set.
While Flower roams far and wide, the Charalambides duo of Tom and Christina Carter concentrate on methodically ploughing a straight, assiduously-measured furrow. Rarely seen in the UK, the pair have been making music for two decades now, on and off (I found this in my archives on “Likeness”), and though I’ve seen them about a decade ago, the strength of Christina Carter’s voice still comes as something of a shock when it arrives, unmediated, between Tom’s stark desert blues. Stentorian, mantric and resonant, she sounds a little like a cross between Nico and one of the sterner English folk singers; June Tabor, perhaps.
The minimalism is exposing, and not all of her lyrics are entirely successful. But the cumulative effect is tremendous, especially when she takes up guitar, and the duo gracefully switch up from blasted, spacious passages to a denser and more frictional sound; a sit-down Sonic Youth, might be a fairly superficial reading of these sparingly-deployed, maximum-impact peaks. “Charalambides wailing freakout mode tonight,” says Tom Carter later, on Twitter. “Shed blood on white guitar.” Wonder how he managed for their solo sets on Sunday?
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey
To Café Oto, where a guy who goes by the name of Hitodama is making the sort of brutal avant-noise that a colleague is inspired to describe as “entropic deathwank”.
It’s a jarring start to the evening, though Hitodama (“Wigan-reared, Tokyo-dwelling drone obsessive Dave McMahon,” promoters Miles Of Smiles reveal) will make further contributions later: at key moments when the other, in most ways more serene, artists are playing, McMahon adds piratical roars of pleasure from the audience.
Dean McPhee, much admired and written about on this blog (here’s a link to my last piece), is up next, with a set of as-yet unreleased songs bookended by a couple he premiered at that linked Michael Chapman show, “Rolling Stream” and the especially fine “Evil Eye”. There are odd moments – McPhee breaks off one piece to move his flight case into the toilet, presumably distracted by minute vibrations. And, as is usually the case when an artist prefaces a song by saying they wrote it only a few days before, it’s hard not to prejudge that work as a little tentative, incomplete in some way.
Nevertheless, McPhee’s tone, resolve, measure and concentrated, courtly playing (I found myself thinking of John Renbourn again) remains beguiling, and a pleasing movement on from the Takoma thing practised by so many of his guitar soli contemporaries.
Unexpectedly, Michael Flower also touches on the edges of that tradition in his set – a solo outing for the Vibracathedral Orchestra/Flower-Corsano Duo player, even though he’s billed as the Michael Flower Band. The Band turns out to be a bunch of kit arrayed on an ironing board behind Flower and his electric guitar, including a rudimentary drum machine that makes Flower’s first moves resemble that recent Sandy Bull & His Rhythm Ace release.
Soon enough, though, Flower is moving on, revealing an orthodox virtuosity that’s not always apparent in the skrees he unleashes in more avant-garde manifestations. At times, the tone of his guitar matches that high-end fizz of the Japan-banjo he uses in tandem with Chris Corsano. At others, amid the various loops and delays, he tries on various styles for size: from the expansive strafe of Michael Rother and Robert Fripp, to fluid Southern Rock jams. There is a brief burst of crude arpeggiated ‘90s techno, too. Quite a set.
While Flower roams far and wide, the Charalambides duo of Tom and Christina Carter concentrate on methodically ploughing a straight, assiduously-measured furrow. Rarely seen in the UK, the pair have been making music for two decades now, on and off (I found this in my archives on “Likeness”), and though I’ve seen them about a decade ago, the strength of Christina Carter’s voice still comes as something of a shock when it arrives, unmediated, between Tom’s stark desert blues. Stentorian, mantric and resonant, she sounds a little like a cross between Nico and one of the sterner English folk singers; June Tabor, perhaps.
The minimalism is exposing, and not all of her lyrics are entirely successful. But the cumulative effect is tremendous, especially when she takes up guitar, and the duo gracefully switch up from blasted, spacious passages to a denser and more frictional sound; a sit-down Sonic Youth, might be a fairly superficial reading of these sparingly-deployed, maximum-impact peaks. “Charalambides wailing freakout mode tonight,” says Tom Carter later, on Twitter. “Shed blood on white guitar.” Wonder how he managed for their solo sets on Sunday?
Moving epitaph for The Blue Nile’s melancholic grace...
Talking to Graeme Thomson in 2006, Paul Buchanan discussed the ordinary miracle of music: “Being able to listen to music and being able to talk to each other through music is like being able to walk on air. It saddens me that music has just turned into a loss-leader in a supermarket. It’s like a miracle that has been turned into a marketing factor. I’m dumbfounded. Every record should be compared to silence – silence is perfect, what are you going to put on it?”
For his first record in eight years, the first solo record of his career – that is, if you discount the suggestion that The Blue Nile effectively became a solo project some time in the mid-’90s – Buchanan pushes the pop song to the very brink of that perfect silence.
Mid Air is a collection of 13 ballads and an instrumental, recorded at some 3am of the soul, in the cell in the tower of song a few storeys above where Leonard Cohen is eternally recording Songs From A Room, Sinatra is composing “Where Are You?” and Tom Waits is working on Small Change. It barely rises above murmur and sigh, the clang of the night-train, the chime of the city clock, the foghorn from the docks.
It’s also, it almost goes without saying, magnificent. Even the most devout Nileists had to concede that Peace At Last (1996) and High (2004) had their longueurs. But here is a record that in its determinedly modest way – Buchanan describes it as a “record-ette” and apparently toyed with titling it “Minor Poets Of The Seventeenth Century” – matches their immaculate ’80s albums A Walk Across The Rooftops and Hats. It’s no great departure; it’s more like a refinement or elaboration of latent possibilities in the earlier music. In a way, Mid Air revisits the deep, still pool of Rooftops’ “Easter Parade” and explores the musical and emotional space as though it were a new ocean.
“Easter Parade”, in fact, always felt like the first draft of an ideal Blue Nile torch song, one that Buchanan pursued keenly down the years, across the classic early B-side “Regret” (“It’s 3.30 and I’m thinking of you…”) , Hats’ “From A Late Night Train” and Peace At Last’s “Family Life”.
Mid Air amounts to 14 enigmatic variations on this mood, just piano, voice, the occasional pale moonbeam of orchestration, which miraculously never feels monotonous or morose. This is partly due to the songs’ brevity (none lasts more than three minutes) and the spare neon-haiku imagism of Buchanan’s words. The title track lists “the buttons on your collar, the colour of your hair”, like the ingredients in a spell to conjure someone’s presence, while “Wedding Party” is not much more than a handful of snapshots – “tears in the carpark”, “a long walk in the wrong dress”, “I was drunk when I danced with the bride” – that seem to condense lifetimes of regret. But it’s also down to Buchanan’s peerlessly evocative croon. From a country known for its bluster and bravado (from the sublime – Billy Mackenzie – to the ridiculous – Jim Kerr), Buchanan signifies heartsick soul-storms with little more than the muttered, broken “yeah…” that closes the final song, “After Dark”.
Indeed you’d suggest that he’s Scotland’s greatest living singer, except, as he avers on “My True Country”, he’s really a patriot of that dream nation “far beyond the chimney tops... where the bus don’t stop”. There’s a conscious echo there of the tinseltown rooftops of his debut, and though it’s been suggested that this album is in part a work of mourning for a friend, you can’t help but hear it is a dirge for his old band. If you’ve read Allan Brown’s touching 2010 biography, Nileism, you’ll be familiar with the baffling way in which the band, schoolmates, university friends, all still living in the same square mile of Glasgow, have gradually grown inexplicably estranged. Though you pray that it’s proved to be premature, the band couldn’t hope for a better epitaph than Mid Air.
Stephen Troussé
Q&A
Paul Buchanan
Are you pursuing some ideal song on Mid Air? Are you getting closer?
That’s a good question. Partly yes, partly no. “Easter Parade” got very close. But part of what was relaxing about this record was not thinking. You’re always playing with the same circle and trying different things. I was re-reading George Martin’s Summer Of Love… recently and I came across that Lennon quote again – that he only wrote two real songs, “Help!” and “Strawberry Fields Forever”. You might disagree, but you understand what he meant.
You said a few years ago that you aspired to write songs of ludicrous optimism. Are you saving them for the next album?
Very good! I am saving them for the next album, yeah! Our first single, “I Love This Life”, was the starting point. Without sounding like The Odyssey, it’d be nice to conclude with the same ludicrous optimism. The only difference being, you have idealism and maybe you lose it, but it doesnt mean you can’t weigh up experience and decide to be ludicrously optimistic, despite all the evidence to the contrary. I don’t know if we’ll make another record, but that’d be a good place to go to. There’s a wilful innocence to Mid Air that’s at least some of the way back to that.
INTERVIEW: STEPHEN TROUSSÉ
Moving epitaph for The Blue Nile’s melancholic grace…
Talking to Graeme Thomson in 2006, Paul Buchanan discussed the ordinary miracle of music: “Being able to listen to music and being able to talk to each other through music is like being able to walk on air. It saddens me that music has just turned into a loss-leader in a supermarket. It’s like a miracle that has been turned into a marketing factor. I’m dumbfounded. Every record should be compared to silence – silence is perfect, what are you going to put on it?”
For his first record in eight years, the first solo record of his career – that is, if you discount the suggestion that The Blue Nile effectively became a solo project some time in the mid-’90s – Buchanan pushes the pop song to the very brink of that perfect silence.
Mid Air is a collection of 13 ballads and an instrumental, recorded at some 3am of the soul, in the cell in the tower of song a few storeys above where Leonard Cohen is eternally recording Songs From A Room, Sinatra is composing “Where Are You?” and Tom Waits is working on Small Change. It barely rises above murmur and sigh, the clang of the night-train, the chime of the city clock, the foghorn from the docks.
It’s also, it almost goes without saying, magnificent. Even the most devout Nileists had to concede that Peace At Last (1996) and High (2004) had their longueurs. But here is a record that in its determinedly modest way – Buchanan describes it as a “record-ette” and apparently toyed with titling it “Minor Poets Of The Seventeenth Century” – matches their immaculate ’80s albums A Walk Across The Rooftops and Hats. It’s no great departure; it’s more like a refinement or elaboration of latent possibilities in the earlier music. In a way, Mid Air revisits the deep, still pool of Rooftops’ “Easter Parade” and explores the musical and emotional space as though it were a new ocean.
“Easter Parade”, in fact, always felt like the first draft of an ideal Blue Nile torch song, one that Buchanan pursued keenly down the years, across the classic early B-side “Regret” (“It’s 3.30 and I’m thinking of you…”) , Hats’ “From A Late Night Train” and Peace At Last’s “Family Life”.
Mid Air amounts to 14 enigmatic variations on this mood, just piano, voice, the occasional pale moonbeam of orchestration, which miraculously never feels monotonous or morose. This is partly due to the songs’ brevity (none lasts more than three minutes) and the spare neon-haiku imagism of Buchanan’s words. The title track lists “the buttons on your collar, the colour of your hair”, like the ingredients in a spell to conjure someone’s presence, while “Wedding Party” is not much more than a handful of snapshots – “tears in the carpark”, “a long walk in the wrong dress”, “I was drunk when I danced with the bride” – that seem to condense lifetimes of regret. But it’s also down to Buchanan’s peerlessly evocative croon. From a country known for its bluster and bravado (from the sublime – Billy Mackenzie – to the ridiculous – Jim Kerr), Buchanan signifies heartsick soul-storms with little more than the muttered, broken “yeah…” that closes the final song, “After Dark”.
Indeed you’d suggest that he’s Scotland’s greatest living singer, except, as he avers on “My True Country”, he’s really a patriot of that dream nation “far beyond the chimney tops… where the bus don’t stop”. There’s a conscious echo there of the tinseltown rooftops of his debut, and though it’s been suggested that this album is in part a work of mourning for a friend, you can’t help but hear it is a dirge for his old band. If you’ve read Allan Brown’s touching 2010 biography, Nileism, you’ll be familiar with the baffling way in which the band, schoolmates, university friends, all still living in the same square mile of Glasgow, have gradually grown inexplicably estranged. Though you pray that it’s proved to be premature, the band couldn’t hope for a better epitaph than Mid Air.
Stephen Troussé
Q&A
Paul Buchanan
Are you pursuing some ideal song on Mid Air? Are you getting closer?
That’s a good question. Partly yes, partly no. “Easter Parade” got very close. But part of what was relaxing about this record was not thinking. You’re always playing with the same circle and trying different things. I was re-reading George Martin’s Summer Of Love… recently and I came across that Lennon quote again – that he only wrote two real songs, “Help!” and “Strawberry Fields Forever”. You might disagree, but you understand what he meant.
You said a few years ago that you aspired to write songs of ludicrous optimism. Are you saving them for the next album?
Very good! I am saving them for the next album, yeah! Our first single, “I Love This Life”, was the starting point. Without sounding like The Odyssey, it’d be nice to conclude with the same ludicrous optimism. The only difference being, you have idealism and maybe you lose it, but it doesnt mean you can’t weigh up experience and decide to be ludicrously optimistic, despite all the evidence to the contrary. I don’t know if we’ll make another record, but that’d be a good place to go to. There’s a wilful innocence to Mid Air that’s at least some of the way back to that.
Garth Hudson has paid tribute to his late collaborator in The Band, Levon Helm, in the new issue of Uncut, out Tuesday (May 22), calling him “a true hero”.
Hudson speaks in our special feature remembering the legendary drummer and singer, who passed away in April, aged 71.
“He is a true he...
Garth Hudson has paid tribute to his late collaborator in The Band, Levon Helm, in the new issue of Uncut, out Tuesday (May 22), calling him “a true hero”.
Hudson speaks in our special feature remembering the legendary drummer and singer, who passed away in April, aged 71.
“He is a true hero and has left us grieving,” says Hudson. “The things that Levon has made us think about are dignity, loyalty, friendship, friendship, family.”
Many of Helm’s varied collaborators also pay tribute to the musician in the piece, and there’s a comprehensive guide on how to buy the drummer’s solo work.
Read more on Helm’s extraordinary life and work in the new issue of Uncut, out Tuesday (May 22).
The Bee Gees' Robin Gibb has died after a lengthy battle with cancer, his family have confirmed.
The legendary singer, who was 62, had been battling liver and colon cancer in recent years. After making what he had described as a "spectacular recovery", a secondary tumour had recently developed.
Last month, Gibb fell into a coma when he contracted pneumonia due to complications arising from the cancer. He later woke and was reportedly able to communicate with his family.
A statement from Gibb's family confirmed his death: "The family of Robin Gibb, of the Bee Gees, announce with great sadness that Robin passed away today following his long battle with cancer and intestinal surgery. The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this very difficult time."
Robin Gibb's career in music began when he formed The Bee Gees with his brothers Barry and Maurice in 1958. The group went onto to enjoy success spanning six decades, with hits including 'Stayin' Alive' and 'I've Gotta Get A Message To You'.
Gibb had recently composed his classical debut, 'The Titanic Requiem', to mark the 100th anniversary of the nautical disaster. The score, which he worked on with son Robin-John, was premiered at an event in central London on April 12. However, Robin was too ill to attend.
Picture: Randee St Nicholas
The Bee Gees’ Robin Gibb has died after a lengthy battle with cancer, his family have confirmed.
The legendary singer, who was 62, had been battling liver and colon cancer in recent years. After making what he had described as a “spectacular recovery”, a secondary tumour had recently developed.
Last month, Gibb fell into a coma when he contracted pneumonia due to complications arising from the cancer. He later woke and was reportedly able to communicate with his family.
A statement from Gibb’s family confirmed his death: “The family of Robin Gibb, of the Bee Gees, announce with great sadness that Robin passed away today following his long battle with cancer and intestinal surgery. The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this very difficult time.”
Robin Gibb’s career in music began when he formed The Bee Gees with his brothers Barry and Maurice in 1958. The group went onto to enjoy success spanning six decades, with hits including ‘Stayin’ Alive’ and ‘I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You’.
Gibb had recently composed his classical debut, ‘The Titanic Requiem’, to mark the 100th anniversary of the nautical disaster. The score, which he worked on with son Robin-John, was premiered at an event in central London on April 12. However, Robin was too ill to attend.
