After this week's Oscars post-mortem it's a relief to find this viral clip designed to whet our appetites for Prometheus, Ridley Scott's maybe-it's-a-prequel to Alien. Those who've been following all this - and I am one - will know that Scott has been playing down quite how closely connected his new film, Prometheus, is to Alien. Scott gave an interview at the back end of last year, where he discussed the connection between the two films, which seem to hinge on the 'Space Jockey', the giant alien pilot whose body the crew of the Nostromo found on the derelict spaceship in Alien. But he was pretty emphatic that was where the connection ended. It might all be a smokescreen to deflect from some deeper truth about how Prometheus fits into the Alien universe. Truth be told, I'm kind of reluctant to dig too deep into all this: I'd quite like some surprises when I eventually get to see Prometheus. But I was pretty excited this morning when I clicked on the link to the Prometheus viral. In the clip, over at www.weylandindustries.com, you see Guy Pearce's Peter Weyland, CEO of Weyland Industries, delivering a TED talk in 2023, and handily getting out of the way a lot of exposition about the myth of Prometheus, which I presume will be referenced in some way in the film. I read an interview somewhere with Scott recently, where he talked about how, in the late Seventies, he always imagined the future would be run by big corporations - hence, Weyland-Yutani in Alien (never mentioned by name, but you see their logo everywhere) and the Tyrell Corporation in Blade Runner. Of course, Weyland-Yutani took on a larger and more sinister role as the Alien series developed. So it's great to see Pearce's Peter Weyland - slightly dodgy British accent aside - delivering his lecture. Has this vibed you up for Prometheus? Is it a good idea for Scott to revisit the Alien universe, or are you not fussed? Let us know.

Readers with a regular subscription received their copies of the new-look Uncut over the weekend, ahead of it going on sale generally. Thanks to those among them who have responded so promptly to our invitation to comment on the redesign and new content. Your views as ever are much appreciated and useful to us in shaping the kind of magazine you want. I’m happy to report the reaction so far has been broadly positive and enthusiastic, with a particular thumbs-up to the much-expanded review section, which was especially encouraging to note. There were good things said, too, about the features on Danny Whitten and Sun Records, and our cover story on the making of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust. I’ve lived with the album for 40 years and thought I knew everything about until Garry Mulholland delivered his copy and I discovered a lot of things I didn’t. Among the emails I started to receive on Sunday about the issue and new look one in particular stood out, from a reader named Alan Twyford. “Hi Al,” he began chummily, “you’ve invited us punters to comment on the new format of Uncut…” This was true enough, and Alan went on to tell me what he thought of the issue. In his considered opinion, the new Uncut could be further improved by a simple if brutal expedient, namely the immediate removal of my mug shot from my Are We Rolling? column on page three. Alan evidently found the picture quite disagreeable, describing it at one point as “a medical warning to us all” and concluding in something perhaps resembling a huff that it “confirms you have a great face for an iPod”. I’m not entirely sure what was meant by this, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that Mr Twyford is clearly of the opinion I am probably not often mistaken in the street, or anywhere else, for, let’s say, Brad Pitt, fans of the ultra-buffed Hollywood hunk not likely to pause, open-mouthed, as I walk by, thinking, “It CAN’T be him!” This latter presumption in every respect is correct, there existing not even the merest resemblance between the leonine star of Troy and me. I once described Feargal Sharkey, in a review of one of his singles, as having a face like a bucket with a dent in it, a thoughtless remark that caused much noisy outrage at the time among fans of the squeaky-voiced Ulsterman and former Undertone. So I can barely complain about Reader Twyford’s comments. Besides, much worse has been said about me in far more colourful terms, by such as Tony Iommi, who took such exception to my face that he tried, and not without a certain success, to rearrange my features with his fists, the scars still visible if you know where to look. Anyway, maybe Alan has a point. Perhaps it’s time at least I had a new picture taken for the column, perhaps with a bag over my head if that will placate the disgruntled Mr Twyford. And at the risk of provoking similarly sharp-tongued reader asides, please continue to let us know what you think of the new issue, now that it’s on sale. As I said earlier, we welcome your thoughts - whatever they are. In other news this week, we’re just finishing the latest of our Ultimate Music Guides. This one is dedicated to REM, and features, as usual, in-depth new essays on every REM album from the Uncut team - I’ve pitched in with a piece on Green – plus a ton of brilliant and illuminating features from the archives of Melody Maker and NME, unseen for years. REM – The Ultimate Music Guide will be on sale from March 15. Have a good week. Allan allan_jones@ipcmedia.com

Here's your chance to question the Southern Rock icon... With his autobiography, My Cross To Bear, due for publication soon, Gregg Allman will answer your questions for our An Audience With... feature. So, is there anything you've ever wanted to ask Gregg? What are his memories of the Allman Brothers' legendary Fillmore East show in 1971? Who are his favourite Hammond organ players? What rock autobiographies would be recommend? Send us your questions by noon, Friday, March 2 to uncutaudiencewith@ipcmedia.com The best questions, and Gregg's answers will be published in a future edition of Uncut magazine. Please include your name and location with your question.

Apologies for occupying yet more space on www.uncut.co.uk with another load of hype about our relaunched magazine, but I thought it worth pointing a couple of things out here, now that the issue has finally reached the shops in the UK. There was a small amount of disgruntlement when I mentioned a few weeks ago that my Wild Mercury Sound column in the print edition had been (mercifully, I think) sacrificed as part of Uncut’s makeover. The point I made at the time was that the more esoteric music I’d been covering in WMS would still be a significant part of the magazine. To that end, there’s a Louis Pattison piece in our new front section about Sun Araw’s adventures in Jamaica with The Congos, and another one by John Robinson on Real Estate. There’s also a Sun Araw/Congos track on the free CD, alongside stuff by Elephant Micah and Julia Holter, among many others. Orbital figure in the Album By Album slot, talking through their back catalogue. Holter, meanwhile, crops up again in the expanded reviews section, with a lengthy review and Q&A by Laura Snapes. As part of the extra features in there, we also have pieces on Ethan Miller/Howlin Rain, the Trunk label, something by Rob Young on Masaki Batoh, Louis Pattison on Johnny ‘Symmetry’ Jewel, John Robinson on Thelonius Monk, and Mick Houghton on Michael Chapman. Again, sorry if this is coming across like a rather hard sell, but there’s a lot that we’re proud of in the new mag, and I wanted to make sure that beside the headline stories – David Cavanagh’s feature on Danny Whitten is a personal favourite – we talked up the depths of the issue. Thanks to all of you who’ve been in touch about the relaunch thus far, and for all your disarmingly positive comments. The one thing that seems to be bothering a few of you is the shift from a five-point marking system to a ten-point one. We thought long and hard about this, but in the end decided that marks out of ten would be a more nuanced way of assessing an album – on the understanding, of course, that awarding marks to an album is a necessary expediency rather than a foolproof system. This way, we’ll hopefully avoid having so much of the section populated by somewhat ambivalent-looking three-star reviews: six out of ten now denoting a more or less average album, while seven out of ten signifies a distinctly decent one. Hope this all makes sense. Please get in touch to talk about the issue, as ever: either in the Facebook comments box below, or at my usual Twitter address - www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey. Thanks.