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DUANE EDDY – ROAD TRIP

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DUANE EDDY – ROAD TRIP

You will hear, occasionally, about musicians who have a “signature” sound. Duane Eddy arrived at this point some time in 1957, when he recorded “Moovin’ N’Groovin’’ in the Audio Recorders Studio, a modest facility located in a strip-mall in Phoenix, Arizona. Stylistically, Eddy was indebted to the great country player and producer Chet Atkins, who picked out simple, clean lines on his guitar. Eddy took this a stage further: his melodies bordered on the minimal, and were extracted from the bass strings of his instrument. To give them extra oomph, he doctored the wiring of his Magnatone amplifier – the question of exactly how still a matter of urgent debate among aspiring rockabilly guitarists. So much for the physics. The chemistry in the equation was supplied by producer Lee Hazlewood. Hazlewood was yet to find his own voice as a performer, but as a producer, he made a significant stitch in the fabric of rock’n’roll when he embarked on a sonic experiment. Hazlewood took Eddy’s recordings and played around awhile, slowing the tape, creating depth and distance. You might say he added resonance to rock’n’roll. And so the Twang was born. The Twang has been remarkably durable, albeit quiet of late. For Eddy’s first studio album in 24 years, however, we find him joined by a longtime fan, Richard Hawley. If he is anything, the former Pulp man is a classicist. In his solo career he has done a decent job of inhabiting, and updating, the persona of the rock’n’roll singer who walks a lonesome road (Hawley’s unique contribution – which shouldn’t be underestimated – is to locate Lonely Street in Sheffield). Hawley is not the first musician to have the idea of disinterring Eddy – the Stray Cats’ Brian Setzer had a go, as did George Harrison and Jeff Lynne, and The Art Of Noise. But acting as producer (along with Colin Elliot, and using his own band, plus Ron Dziubia on sax), he shows great sensitivity to the sonorous qualities in Eddy’s playing. He doesn’t bring the desert to Yorkshire, exactly, but he has an outsider’s eye for a foreign landscape. More than half a century later, the Twang still has the capacity to transport the listener, though by now the effect is coloured by the influence of the sound, and of Eddy’s musical obduracy. When the Twang twangs on “Bleaklow Air”, supported by a plangent piano and widescreen strings, it sounds like the end title music in a tormented love story. On “Desert Song”, the melody is tantalisingly familiar, but unerringly sad. “Franklin Town” is a spaghetti western waiting to be written. “Twango” is a bus-ride past Django Reinhardt’s ranch. And on the title track, the Twang offers a perfect embodiment of the mature Eddy sound, ambling rather than racing, but still full of poise and pathos. While there’s nothing here that will startle the horses, the best moments are those when Hawley’s sensibility is most obvious. There are two such songs. “Kindness Ain’t Made Of Sand” cries out for a Hawley vocal, though the emotional expression of the guitar is eloquent enough. And “Rose Of The Valley” is simple and pretty, scatttering the petals of its heart-break from steeltown to Twin Peaks. Still, there is no sidelining Eddy himself. He plays guitar the way Hemingway writes. These tunes sound ageless, and somehow inevitable, but much of the action takes place in the spaces between notes. Such pregnant silences sold a reported 100 million records for Eddy, but their echoes have ebbed down the generations, so that the brilliant vulgarity of a sound which once seemed to characterise the assertive, lawless lust of rock’n’roll now evinces a winsome quality. The Twang has been on an epic journey, bounced along blue highways by Hank Marvin and George Harrison and Bruce Springsteen, into the epic landscapes of Ennio Morricone and Angelo Badalamenti. An instinct which was once sexy and youthful and boastful now carries with it the perfume of nostalgia for lost youth. It has become a gesture, a dance step. Alastair McKay

You will hear, occasionally, about musicians who have a “signature” sound.

Duane Eddy arrived at this point some time in 1957, when he recorded “Moovin’ N’Groovin’’ in the Audio Recorders Studio, a modest facility located in a strip-mall in Phoenix, Arizona.

Stylistically, Eddy was indebted to the great country player and producer Chet Atkins, who picked out simple, clean lines on his guitar. Eddy took this a stage further: his melodies bordered on the minimal, and were extracted from the bass strings of his instrument. To give them extra oomph, he doctored the wiring of his Magnatone amplifier – the question of exactly how still a matter of urgent debate among aspiring rockabilly guitarists.

So much for the physics. The chemistry in the equation was supplied by producer Lee Hazlewood. Hazlewood was yet to find his own voice as a performer, but as a producer, he made a significant stitch in the fabric of rock’n’roll when he embarked on a sonic experiment. Hazlewood took Eddy’s recordings and played around awhile, slowing the tape, creating depth and distance. You might say he added resonance to rock’n’roll. And so the Twang was born.

The Twang has been remarkably durable, albeit quiet of late. For Eddy’s first studio album in 24 years, however, we find him joined by a longtime fan, Richard Hawley. If he is anything, the former Pulp man is a classicist. In his solo career he has done a decent job of inhabiting, and updating, the persona of the rock’n’roll singer who walks a lonesome road (Hawley’s unique contribution – which shouldn’t be underestimated – is to locate Lonely Street in Sheffield).

Hawley is not the first musician to have the idea of disinterring Eddy – the Stray Cats’ Brian Setzer had a go, as did George Harrison and Jeff Lynne, and The Art Of Noise. But acting as producer (along with Colin Elliot, and using his own band, plus Ron Dziubia on sax), he shows great sensitivity to the sonorous qualities in Eddy’s playing. He doesn’t bring the desert to Yorkshire, exactly, but he has an outsider’s eye for a foreign landscape.

More than half a century later, the Twang still has the capacity to transport the listener, though by now the effect is coloured by the influence of the sound, and of Eddy’s musical obduracy. When the Twang twangs on “Bleaklow Air”, supported by a plangent piano and widescreen strings, it sounds like the end title music in a tormented love story. On “Desert Song”, the melody is tantalisingly familiar, but unerringly sad. “Franklin Town” is a spaghetti western waiting to be written. “Twango” is a bus-ride past Django Reinhardt’s ranch. And on the title track, the Twang offers a perfect embodiment of the mature Eddy sound, ambling rather than racing, but still full of poise and pathos.

While there’s nothing here that will startle the horses, the best moments are those when Hawley’s sensibility is most obvious. There are two such songs. “Kindness Ain’t Made Of Sand” cries out for a Hawley vocal, though the emotional expression of the guitar is eloquent enough. And “Rose Of The Valley” is simple and pretty, scatttering the petals of its heart-break from steeltown to Twin Peaks.

Still, there is no sidelining Eddy himself. He plays guitar the way Hemingway writes. These tunes sound ageless, and somehow inevitable, but much of the action takes place in the spaces between notes. Such pregnant silences sold a reported 100 million records for Eddy, but their echoes have ebbed down the generations, so that the brilliant vulgarity of a sound which once seemed to characterise the assertive, lawless lust of rock’n’roll now evinces a winsome quality. The Twang has been on an epic journey, bounced along blue highways by Hank Marvin and George Harrison and Bruce Springsteen, into the epic landscapes of Ennio Morricone and Angelo Badalamenti. An instinct which was once sexy and youthful and boastful now carries with it the perfume of nostalgia for lost youth. It has become a gesture, a dance step.

Alastair McKay

BON IVER – BON IVER

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BON IVER – BON IVER

You can pin the exact point that Justin Vernon, the young man who goes by the name Bon Iver, made the leap from unknown to major artist to a wonderful moment in “Flume”, the opening track from his unforgettable 2007 debut, For Emma, Forever Ago. Somewhere between the strummed acoustic opening and the first chorus, his double-tracked falsetto voice abruptly multiplied into a celestial choir, rising to an even higher register to deliver the gut punch: “Only love is all maroon/Gluey feathers on a flume/Sky is womb and she’s the moon.” In that moment, Justin Vernon touched a nerve, and many of those who discovered his album responded to its choral richness and psychological authenticity in an uncommonly deep way. Beguiled by its author’s Walden-like backstory, they were sucked in by his every sigh, every cathartic outpouring, making the connection between this stunningly personal work and their own inner lives. For Bon Iver’s full-length follow-up, Vernon no longer has the element of surprise going for him. On the contrary, confronting him are staggering expectations and the assumption that whatever he attempted next would inevitably fall short of the first album’s magical cosmology, its cavalcade of handmade hooks. As John Mulvey aptly put it in his five-star Uncut review, “For Emma, Forever Ago is such a hermetically sealed, complete and satisfying album, the prospect of a follow-up – of a life for Vernon beyond the wilderness, even – seems merely extraneous.” Could Vernon come in from the cold of that isolated Wisconsin cabin with his artistry intact? As it turns out, he could – and he has. He has spent nearly three years gestating the new record in a studio he’s built in Eau Claire, while also taking the time to stretch himself via outside undertakings with Gayngs, the Volcano Choir, St Vincent and Kanye West. All this networking is telling because, unlike the first album, Bon Iver is a collective effort, resulting from ongoing interaction with 10 other musicians including pedal steel master Greg Leisz, three horn players, a string arranger and two Volcano Choir mates who provided “processing”. The full-bodied ensemble work results in an album with pace, scale and stylistic variety, but all of this sound and rhythm feels purposeful. Essentially, it exists to support the quintessential aspects of Vernon’s aesthetic: the soaring melodic progressions; multi-tracked vocals that take on the sonic dimension of instruments; the overtly poetic lyrics, whose elusive meanings are far less important than the sounds of the words, tactile with the textures of natural things. The array of reference points Vernon hints at on these tracks is dizzying, and spotting them as they pop out of the fabric is part of the fun. The skewed orchestral tableaux of the sonically connected “Perth” and “Minnesota, WI”, which open the record in elliptical fashion, recall Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois, while Vernon seems to encapsulate the whole of early-’70s Cali country rock (think Fleet Foxes) on “Towers”. He adopts the minor-key art-folk of Simon & Garfunkel on “Michicant” before shape-shifting into mid-’60s Beach Boys on “Hinnom, TX”, playing up the radical contrast between his airy, Carl Wilson-like falsetto and earthy lower register that improbably recalls Mike Love. Then, on “Wash.”, Vernon breaks out his Marvin Gaye-style purring soul man as he sings a love song to a woman named Claire – or is the object of his affections his hometown of Eau Claire? But there’s no obvious precedent for the three peaks of this spellbinding album, save the earlier music of Bon Iver itself. Muted at first, “Holocene” almost imperceptibly blossoms into glorious life, intimating the first breath of spring after the long, hard winter. “Calgary” mates a soaring melody that embeds itself in the consciousness with a percolating groove. And the widescreen closer “Beth/Rest” has the satisfying resolution of the end title theme of a classic Western score, employing the entire ensemble, interweaving the album’s accumulated thematic and tonal elements in a majestic payoff. Fully realised in its ambition, Bon Iver possesses all of the austere beauty and understated emotiveness of its predecessor. Nestled within these panoramic soundscapes is the affecting intimacy the first album’s fans fervently hoped Vernon would recapture. This single-minded artist somehow manages to have it both ways. Bud Scoppa

You can pin the exact point that Justin Vernon, the young man who goes by the name Bon Iver, made the leap from unknown to major artist to a wonderful moment in “Flume”, the opening track from his unforgettable 2007 debut, For Emma, Forever Ago.

Somewhere between the strummed acoustic opening and the first chorus, his double-tracked falsetto voice abruptly multiplied into a celestial choir, rising to an even higher register to deliver the gut punch: “Only love is all maroon/Gluey feathers on a flume/Sky is womb and she’s the moon.” In that moment, Justin Vernon touched a nerve, and many of those who discovered his album responded to its choral richness and psychological authenticity in an uncommonly deep way. Beguiled by its author’s Walden-like backstory, they were sucked in by his every sigh, every cathartic outpouring, making the connection between this stunningly personal work and their own inner lives.

For Bon Iver’s full-length follow-up, Vernon no longer has the element of surprise going for him. On the contrary, confronting him are staggering expectations and the assumption that whatever he attempted next would inevitably fall short of the first album’s magical cosmology, its cavalcade of handmade hooks. As John Mulvey aptly put it in his five-star Uncut review, “For Emma, Forever Ago is such a hermetically sealed, complete and satisfying album, the prospect of a follow-up – of a life for Vernon beyond the wilderness, even – seems merely extraneous.”

Could Vernon come in from the cold of that isolated Wisconsin cabin with his artistry intact? As it turns out, he could – and he has. He has spent nearly three years gestating the new record in a studio he’s built in Eau Claire, while also taking the time to stretch himself via outside undertakings with Gayngs, the Volcano Choir, St Vincent and Kanye West.

All this networking is telling because, unlike the first album, Bon Iver is a collective effort, resulting from ongoing interaction with 10 other musicians including pedal steel master Greg Leisz, three horn players, a string arranger and two Volcano Choir mates who provided “processing”. The full-bodied ensemble work results in an album with pace, scale and stylistic variety, but all of this sound and rhythm feels purposeful. Essentially, it exists to support the quintessential aspects of Vernon’s aesthetic: the soaring melodic progressions; multi-tracked vocals that take on the sonic dimension of instruments; the overtly poetic lyrics, whose elusive meanings are far less important than the sounds of the words, tactile with the textures of natural things.

The array of reference points Vernon hints at on these tracks is dizzying, and spotting them as they pop out of the fabric is part of the fun. The skewed orchestral tableaux of the sonically connected “Perth” and “Minnesota, WI”, which open the record in elliptical fashion, recall Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois, while Vernon seems to encapsulate the whole of early-’70s Cali country rock (think Fleet Foxes) on “Towers”. He adopts the minor-key art-folk of Simon & Garfunkel on “Michicant” before shape-shifting into mid-’60s Beach Boys on “Hinnom, TX”, playing up the radical contrast between his airy, Carl Wilson-like falsetto and earthy lower register that improbably recalls Mike Love. Then, on “Wash.”, Vernon breaks out his Marvin Gaye-style purring soul man as he sings a love song to a woman named Claire – or is the object of his affections his hometown of Eau Claire?

But there’s no obvious precedent for the three peaks of this spellbinding album, save the earlier music of Bon Iver itself. Muted at first, “Holocene” almost imperceptibly blossoms into glorious life, intimating the first breath of spring after the long, hard winter. “Calgary” mates a soaring melody that embeds itself in the consciousness with a percolating groove. And the widescreen closer “Beth/Rest” has the satisfying resolution of the end title theme of a classic Western score, employing the entire ensemble, interweaving the album’s accumulated thematic and tonal elements in a majestic payoff.

Fully realised in its ambition, Bon Iver possesses all of the austere beauty and understated emotiveness of its predecessor. Nestled within these panoramic soundscapes is the affecting intimacy the first album’s fans fervently hoped Vernon would recapture. This single-minded artist somehow manages to have it both ways.

Bud Scoppa

Bob Dylan: London Finsbury Park, June 18, 2011

John Mulvey
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0

When Bob Dylan dances onstage - and he does seem to dance, after a fashion - at 9.15, it is easier than usual to draw battlelines in the crowd. Mostly, they have been at this Feis festival in Finsbury Park (very much a pack-em-in and get-em-pissed throwback to the pre-boutique era) all day, have had a selection of rain, mud, corporate beverages and Cranberries thrown at them, and in some cases are probably expecting The Saw Doctors to headline the main stage. A few, though, have strategically timed their arrival to coincide with that of Dylan, and are consequently drier, warier and much more sober. It is alcohol, perhaps, which contributes to one of the evening's more interesting paradoxes: the more likely you are to recognise, say, "Summer Days", the less likely you are to dance to it. Less than a month into his 71st year, Dylan shows no sign of changing the course of the endless tour, or of making much allowance for a festival crowd over a more select and obsessive gathering. "Summer Days", "Thunder On The Mountain" and the like go down rather well, as it happens, generally rollicking boogies that allow the festival hardcore a chance to jive, of sorts, however ignorant they may be of what the songs are. These may be relatively unfamiliar tracks, but they're far from forbidding. Speaking as someone who hasn't seen Dylan for close on two decades, in fact, tonight it feels like rumours of his awkwardness have been somewhat overstated. Most of the songs are more or less instantly identifiable, and while arrangements may certainly vary, in the great scheme of things they amount to gentle tinkering rather than perverse heresies. "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is not reinvented as electropop, say; Dylan continues to work within clearly-defined and entirely logical parameters, without any neurotic desire to change his fundamental style. He appears much less capricious than reputation suggests, too. There is no hiding in the shadows, or attempting to wrongfoot either band or audience (a varispeed "Things Have Changed" is the closest he comes to self-sabotage), and the notorious voice has more elegance than expected: "Simple Twist Of Fate", in particular, is nuanced and quite lovely, as is "Tangled Up In Blue". Some of his organ playing has a slight air of a roadhouse Sun Ra, but you can't fault his enthusiasm. It's all, really, good fun, decently performed, and perhaps that's the weirdest thing. Rather than some apocalyptic travesty, Dylan's determination to play the hardworking road musician - to an almost mystical degree - means that his show does not feel remotely like that of a legend. One thinks of Neil Young's forensic sentimentality and energy as he grapples with his past, or Leonard Cohen's profound dignity, or even the Rolling Stones' bizarre and in some ways grotesque celebrations of the rock'n'roll they helped invent. And then you see Dylan playing scrupulously without gravity. These astonishing songs aren’t being disrespected or mistreated in any way, but they aren’t perhaps being given quite the heft they deserve, either. The lack of bombast is fair enough, but while "Highway 61 Revisited" works perfectly well as a rollicking bar band boogie (like a track from “Together Through Life”, perhaps), it’s hard not to wish for a little more drama and intensity. A fraught "Cold Irons Bound" and, especially, "Ballad Of A Thin Man", its stalking, withering malice intact, point some way to what might have been. But it seems Dylan has found the best way possible of escaping the burden of being the voice of a generation: by becoming the good-time entertainer, allbeit a somewhat gnomic one, ideal for county fairs and festivals like this one, with a bunch of good dance tunes and a few familiar and surprisingly uncomplicated old standards. An easier life, perhaps, but an interesting and strangely self-effacing one, too. Setlist 1. Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking 2. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue 3. Things Have Changed 4. Tangled Up In Blue 5. Summer Days 6. Simple Twist Of Fate 7. Cold Irons Bound 8. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall 9. Highway 61 Revisited 10. Forgetful Heart 11. Thunder On The Mountain 12. Ballad Of A Thin Man Encore: 13. Like A Rolling Stone 14. All Along The Watchtower 15. Blowin' In The Wind

When Bob Dylan dances onstage – and he does seem to dance, after a fashion – at 9.15, it is easier than usual to draw battlelines in the crowd. Mostly, they have been at this Feis festival in Finsbury Park (very much a pack-em-in and get-em-pissed throwback to the pre-boutique era) all day, have had a selection of rain, mud, corporate beverages and Cranberries thrown at them, and in some cases are probably expecting The Saw Doctors to headline the main stage.

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Paul McCartney: ‘Ringo Starr was robbed of a knighthood by Bruce Forsyth’

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Paul McCartney: ‘Ringo Starr was robbed of a knighthood by Bruce Forsyth’
Paul McCartney has said he believes former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr should be knighted. Speaking to Geoff Lloyd on Absolute Radio last night (June 16), McCartney also revealed that it was John Lennon who demanded that the Beatles end for good. Asked why Ringo hadn't been knighted, McCartney s...

Paul McCartney has said he believes former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr should be knighted.

Speaking to Geoff Lloyd on Absolute Radio last night (June 16), McCartney also revealed that it was John Lennon who demanded that the Beatles end for good.

Asked why Ringo hadn’t been knighted, McCartney said: “Yeah, well, don’t look at me.” He then responded to a question about whether he could ask the Queen himself, he replied: “The last time I went by she was out. Otherwise I would have popped in and said ‘Look, love, Sir Richard Starkey‘. Because I do think it’s about time, but she probably was a bit busy with Sir Brucie.”

He added that he thought nobody would have believed that Forsyth would become a knight of the realm before Ringo.

The singer also revealed it was John Lennon who had demanded that the Beatles call it quits after the recording of ‘Let It Be’.

He said: “Basically me, George and Ringo said ‘Does this have to be final, could we do a couple of gigs or can we think about this tomorrow?’, but John was off with Yoko and he was saying ‘No, no, it’s great, I feel a release’ and all that. So that was kind of final.”

McCartney also said he believed that The Beatles back catalogue would be available on Spotify “soon”.

Latest music and film news on Uncut.co.uk.

Uncut have teamed up with Sonic Editions to curate a number of limited-edition framed iconic rock photographs, featuring the likes of Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan and The Clash. View the full collection here.

U2, Bon Jovi, Elton John top music’s rich list

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U2, Bon Jovi, Elton John top music’s rich list
U2 have topped the list of the highest earning musicians over the last 12 months, with Bon Jovi and Elton John coming in second and third respectively. The list, which is put together by wealth magazine Forbes, compiles and ranks the top 25 highest earning musicians in the world over the last 12 m...

U2 have topped the list of the highest earning musicians over the last 12 months, with Bon Jovi and Elton John coming in second and third respectively.

The list, which is put together by wealth magazine Forbes, compiles and ranks the top 25 highest earning musicians in the world over the last 12 months.

U2, who also topped the list in 2010, earned over $195 million (£121 million). This was largely due to the continued success of their ‘360’ world tour, which has so far grossed over $700 million (£434 million) in its two years on the road.

Bon Jovi were second with earnings of $125 million (£78 million), also principally due to their ongoing world tour. Elton John came in third, having gathered over $100 million (£62 million) in the past year.

Lady Gaga came in fourth with earnings of $90 million (£56 million), while crooner Michael Buble rounded off the Top Five, having pocketed $70 million (£43 million) in the last 12 months.

Paul McCartney, the Black Eyed Peas and Justin Bieber all featured in the Top Ten, with the likes of Usher, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry narrowly missing out.

The top ten highest earning musicians according to Forbes were:

1. U2: $195 million (£121 million)

2. Bon Jovi: $125 million (£78 million)

3. Elton John: $100 million (£62 million)

4. Lady Gaga: $90 million (£56 million)

5. Michael Buble: $70 million (£43 million)

6. Paul McCartney: $67 million (£41 million)

7. The Black Eyed Peas: $61 million (£38 million)

8. The Eagles: $60 million (£37 million)

9. Justin Bieber: $53 million (£33 million)

10. Dave Matthews Band: $51 million (£31 million)

Latest music and film news on Uncut.co.uk.

Uncut have teamed up with Sonic Editions to curate a number of limited-edition framed iconic rock photographs, featuring the likes of Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan and The Clash. View the full collection here.

Bob Dylan denied Freedom of Haringey by council

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Bob Dylan denied Freedom of Haringey by council
Bob Dylan has had his request to be awarded the freedom of the London borough of Haringey rejected by the local council. The folk legend, who is in the UK capital to headline the first London Feis Festival on Saturday (June 18), had hoped to be given the freedom of the borough live onstage, report...

Bob Dylan has had his request to be awarded the freedom of the London borough of Haringey rejected by the local council.

The folk legend, who is in the UK capital to headline the first London Feis Festival on Saturday (June 18), had hoped to be given the freedom of the borough live onstage, reports The Daily Express.

According to the report, Dylan, who turned 70 recently and owns a house in Crouch End, has been denied the freedom of Haringey as the council don’t believe he has done enough for the borough.

A spokesperson for the council said: “We are grateful for the suggestion, but the freedom of the borough is usually reserved for individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to life in the borough.”

The Gaslight Anthem, The Cranberries, Thin Lizzy and Van Morrison are among the other acts booked to play London Feis Festival over the weekend.

Latest music and film news on Uncut.co.uk.

Uncut have teamed up with Sonic Editions to curate a number of limited-edition framed iconic rock photographs, featuring the likes of Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan and The Clash. View the full collection here.

Metallica set to release album with Lou Reed

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Metallica set to release album with Lou Reed
Metallica confirmed last night (June 15) that they have completed work on a full album in collaboration with Lou Reed. The San Francisco metal titans, who had said earlier in the year that the recording sessions they were undertaking were not for "a project that was 100% Metallica", have now publi...

Metallica confirmed last night (June 15) that they have completed work on a full album in collaboration with Lou Reed.

The San Francisco metal titans, who had said earlier in the year that the recording sessions they were undertaking were not for “a project that was 100% Metallica“, have now published details of the recordings on their official website Metallica.com. The band have said they revealed the sessions were taking place after Reed was spotted entering their studio.

The band wrote: “We are more than proud to announce that we have just completed recording a full length album that is a collaboration with none other than the legendary Lou Reed.”

They continued: “Ever since we had the pleasure of performing with Lou at Madison Square Garden in October 2009, we have been kicking around the idea of making a record together and we have indeed been working at our home studio at HQ on and off over the last few months.”

“In what would be lightning speed for a Metallica related project, we recorded ten songs during this time and while at this moment we’re not exactly sure when you’ll hear it, we’re beyond excited to share with you that the recording sessions wrapped up last week.”

The band did not give a tentative release date for the album or indicate in what format the collaboration would be released.

Metallica headline Sonisphere Festival on July 8 at Knebworth Park as part of their world tour with Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth.

Latest music and film news on Uncut.co.uk.

Uncut have teamed up with Sonic Editions to curate a number of limited-edition framed iconic rock photographs, featuring the likes of Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan and The Clash. View the full collection here.

Bruce Springsteen collaborates with Pete Seeger once again

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Bruce Springsteen collaborates with Pete Seeger once again
Bruce Springsteen has recorded a song for the new Pete Seeger album. The Boss sings two verses and a chorus on new track 'God Is Counting On Us', which was apparently written in response to the Gulf Coast oil spill. The track will feature on 92-year-old Seeger's new album, expected to be released ...

Bruce Springsteen has recorded a song for the new Pete Seeger album.

The Boss sings two verses and a chorus on new track ‘God Is Counting On Us’, which was apparently written in response to the Gulf Coast oil spill.

The track will feature on 92-year-old Seeger‘s new album, expected to be released around Christmas through Appleseed Recordings, according to Billboard.com.

The song will mark the sixth time Springsteen has collaborated with Seeger in recent years. He featured on tracks on 1998’s ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone?’, and ‘Sowing The Seeds’ and ‘Give Us Your Poor’, both from 2007, among others.

In 2006 Springsteen released ‘We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions’, a album that reinterpreted folk songs made popular by Seeger.

Seeger‘s most recent release ‘Tomorrow’s Children’ won a Grammy this year as the Best Album For Children. Meanwhile, Springsteen this week paid tribute to his “beloved comrade” Clarence Clemons, who has suffered a stroke. He said: “Clarence will need much care and support to achieve his potential once again.”

Latest music and film news on Uncut.co.uk.

Uncut have teamed up with Sonic Editions to curate a number of limited-edition framed iconic rock photographs, featuring the likes of Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan and The Clash. View the full collection here.

The 23rd Uncut Playlist Of 2011

John Mulvey
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0

Many thanks to everyone who has contributed lists to our Best Of 2011: Halftime Report blog – please keep them coming. I’m staying staunch, for the time being at least, and refusing to publish that list of disappointments you’ve been asking for; I guess you can probably figure a lot of it out, given what doesn’t appear in my Top 30 anyway. Moving on, a bit of a lopsided playlist this week, thanks to the distraction of writing my Wild Mercury Sound column for the next Uncut on the subject of Deep Magic, live auxiliary member of Sun Araw and creator of some of the richest NewNewNew Age jams I’ve heard in a while. Check out a wealth of his stuff at www.deeptapes.com and let me know what you think. Still loving the Jonathan Wilson album, daft as it is, too. 1 You – Electric Day (Bureau B) 2 The War On Drugs – Slave Ambient (Secretly Canadian) 3 Wu Lyf – Go Tell Fire To The Mountain (Lyf) 4 Fatoumata Diawara – Fatou (World Circuit) 5 Deep Magic – Lucid Thought (Preservation) 6 Deep Magic – Sky Haze (Deep Tapes) 7 Deep Magic – Ancestor Worship (Deep Tapes) 8 Deep Magic – Ocean Breaths (Deep Tapes) 9 Cian Nugent – Doubles (VHF) 10 The Jayhawks – Mockingbird Time (Decca) 11 Jonathan Wilson – Gentle Spirit (Bella Union) 12 Mark Kozelek - Live At Union Chapel & Sõdra Teatern (Caldo Verde) 13 Deep Magic – Illuminated Offerings (Deep Tapes) 14 The Stepkids – The Stepkids (Stones Throw) 15 Tinariwen – Tassili (V2)

Many thanks to everyone who has contributed lists to our Best Of 2011: Halftime Report blog – please keep them coming. I’m staying staunch, for the time being at least, and refusing to publish that list of disappointments you’ve been asking for; I guess you can probably figure a lot of it out, given what doesn’t appear in my Top 30 anyway.

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Paul McCartney to feature on next Gorillaz album?

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Paul McCartney to feature on next Gorillaz album?
Paul McCartney has hinted that he could be on the verge of collaborating with Gorillaz. The surprise move would see the former Beatle join the ranks of the likes of Snoop Dogg, Bobby Womack and Lou Reed, who have all appeared alongside Damon Albarn's animated band. McCartney was speaking to TheQui...

Paul McCartney has hinted that he could be on the verge of collaborating with Gorillaz.

The surprise move would see the former Beatle join the ranks of the likes of Snoop Dogg, Bobby Womack and Lou Reed, who have all appeared alongside Damon Albarn‘s animated band.

McCartney was speaking to TheQuietus.com as he releases reissues of his two solo albums ‘McCartney’ and ‘McCartney II’. He said: “We have kind of talked – nothing serious but I like what they do. It’s got near a couple of times but we never had the time.”

Expanding upon the rumours, a ‘source’ told The Sun: “Damon originally brought up the idea of doing something with Gorillaz at the Q Awards [in 2007] and they have been trying to sort something since. It never worked out on the last album, ‘Plastic Beach’, but things are looking good for something in the future.”

McCartney is currently putting the finishing touches to a score for the New York City Ballet.

Latest music and film news on Uncut.co.uk.

Uncut have teamed up with Sonic Editions to curate a number of limited-edition framed iconic rock photographs, featuring the likes of Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan and The Clash. View the full collection here.

Morrissey debuts three songs from new album – audio

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Morrissey debuts three songs from new album – audio
Morrissey has debuted three new songs from his as yet unreleased 10th studio album. You can listen to the tracks by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking. The ex-Smiths frontman, has previously said that the follow-up to 2009's 'Years Of Refusal' is finished, but that he still requ...

Morrissey has debuted three new songs from his as yet unreleased 10th studio album. You can listen to the tracks by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking.

The ex-Smiths frontman, has previously said that the follow-up to 2009’s ‘Years Of Refusal’ is finished, but that he still requires a record label to release the album.

The songs, which the singer performed on Janice Long‘s show on BBC Radio 2 and have been streamed online by Thenjunderground.com, are titled ‘Action Is My Middle Name’, ‘The Kid’s A Looker’ and ‘People Are The Same Everywhere’.

The singer has previously said he has no plans to self-release the album, stating that his “talents do not lie in DIY.”

Morrissey plays underneath headliner U2 at Glastonbury on June 24. He starts an extensive UK tour tonight (June 15) at Perth Concert Hall.

Morrissey – Action Is My Middle Name (BBC Session) by TheNJUnderground

Morrissey – The Kid’s a Looker (BBC Session) by TheNJUnderground

Morrissey – People Are The Same Everywhere (BBC Session) by TheNJUnderground

Latest music and film news on Uncut.co.uk.

Uncut have teamed up with Sonic Editions to curate a number of limited-edition framed iconic rock photographs, featuring the likes of Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan and The Clash. View the full collection here.

Ray Davies may delay the sale of Konk studio to record new album

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Ray Davies may delay the sale of Konk studio to record new album
Ray Davies may delay the sale of the iconic Konk studio while he records a new album there. The Crouch End studio was put up for sale in July last year with a price tag of £2 million. The estate agent Paul Simon Residential described the building as an "investment opportunity," but according to Da...

Ray Davies may delay the sale of the iconic Konk studio while he records a new album there.

The Crouch End studio was put up for sale in July last year with a price tag of £2 million. The estate agent Paul Simon Residential described the building as an “investment opportunity,” but according to Davies, the sale may be delayed, and the studio could even be protected.

“It was up for sale but I’ve got another record to do so we’re debating what to do now. It’s open for discussion,” Davies told the BBC. However, adverts for the studio’s sale remain on display.

Konk was set up by The Kinks in 1971 as their private studio, before opening it to other bands a few years later. It remained their main studio until they disbanded in 1996. Over the years it has attracted artists including The Stone Roses, Thin Lizzy, Arctic Monkeys, Blur and Massive Attack. The Kooks, who recorded their second album there, even named the record in the studio’s honour.

In the face of such heritage, many fans have called for the studio to be preserved. Councillor David Winskill, who represents Crouch End on Haringey Council said last year: “I think it’s possible that if this had happened in any other country there would have been an enormous campaign to preserve this as some kind of national monument.”

Davies acknowledged that any sale would be controversial, saying: “There’s a lot of history with The Kinks, we bought it as a hangout really, somewhere we could rehearse and record it and mushroomed into a studio. We”ve had some really good acts over the years come here. We’re doing the best we can.”

Latest music and film news on Uncut.co.uk.

Uncut have teamed up with Sonic Editions to curate a number of limited-edition framed iconic rock photographs, featuring the likes of Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan and The Clash. View the full collection here.

The Killers announce two tiny London club shows

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The Killers announce two tiny London club shows
The Killers will play two intimate shows at London’s Scala next week, before they headline Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park on June 24. Taking place on June 22 and 23, the Scala shows will be the band’s first UK shows in nearly two years. Going on general sale today (June 14) at midday, the ticke...

The Killers will play two intimate shows at London’s Scala next week, before they headline Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park on June 24.

Taking place on June 22 and 23, the Scala shows will be the band’s first UK shows in nearly two years. Going on general sale today (June 14) at midday, the tickets have already been made available to members of the band’s fanclub.

The band have started writing their fourth studio album – their first since 2008’s ‘Day And Age’ – and will pick up the process after their three London gigs.

Last year Brandon Flowers released his first solo album, ‘Flamingo’, which went to the top of the Official UK Albums Chart. His bandmate Ronnie Vannucci is due to follow in his footsteps, putting out his own solo release, Big Talk, on July 11.

The Killers play:

London The Scala (June 22,23)

London Hyde Park (June 24)

Red Hot Chili Peppers announce tracklisting for new album ‘I’m With You’

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Red Hot Chili Peppers announce tracklisting for new album ‘I’m With You’
Red Hot Chili Peppers have announced the tracklisting for their 10th studio album 'I'm With You'. The LP, which is the band's first since their 2006 double album 'Stadium Arcadium', will come out on August 29, with a single 'The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie', dropping on July 18. The album, ...

Red Hot Chili Peppers have announced the tracklisting for their 10th studio album ‘I’m With You’.

The LP, which is the band’s first since their 2006 double album ‘Stadium Arcadium’, will come out on August 29, with a single ‘The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie’, dropping on July 18.

The album, which has been produced by longstanding knob twiddler Rick Rubin, was originally thought to be titled ‘Dr Johnny Skinz’s Disproportionately Rambunctious Polar Express Machine-head’.

‘I’m With You’ is the band’s first album since 1995’s ‘One Hot Minute’ not to feature guitarist John Frusciante. He quit the band in 2009 to be replaced by former touring guitarist and ex-Warpaint six stringer Josh Klinghoffer.

The tracklisting for ‘I’m With You’ is as follows:

‘Monarchy Of Roses’

‘Factory Of Faith’

‘Brendan’s Death Song’

‘Ethiopia’

‘Annie Wants A Baby’

‘Look Around’

‘The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie’

‘Did I Let You Know’

‘Goodbye Hooray’

‘Happiness Loves Company’

‘Police Station’

‘Even You Brutus?’

‘Meet Me At The Corner’

‘Dance, Dance, Dance’

Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham to release sixth solo album in September

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Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham to release sixth solo album in September
Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham will release his sixth solo album on September 5. The album, which is titled 'Seeds We Sow', is Buckingham's first since 2008's 'Gift Of Screws' and sees the guitarist operating as engineer and producer as well as sole songwriter. The first single to be...

Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham will release his sixth solo album on September 5.

The album, which is titled ‘Seeds We Sow’, is Buckingham‘s first since 2008’s ‘Gift Of Screws’ and sees the guitarist operating as engineer and producer as well as sole songwriter.

The first single to be taken from the LP is titled ‘In Our Time’. Other tracks on the album include ‘Ilumination’, ‘One Take’, ‘End Of Time’, ‘When She Comes Down’ and ‘When She Smiles Sweetly’.

Buckingham has also announced that he will undertake a full US tour to coincide with the release, with 31 dates booked for the autumn. He has not, as yet, scheduled any European tour dates.

The guitarist’s bandmate Stevie Nicks has previously confirmed that Fleetwood Mac will tour in 2012, after she and Buckingham have finished promoting their solo material.

KABOOM

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KABOOM
Directed by Gregg Araki Starring Thomas Dekker, Haley Bennett, Juno Temple Gregg Araki was an early exemplar of ‘New Queer Cinema’, with his low-budget features – including The Living End and Nowhere – fuelled by punk urgency, hormonal exuberance and AIDS-generation rage. Following a main...

Directed by Gregg Araki

Starring Thomas Dekker, Haley Bennett, Juno Temple

Gregg Araki was an early exemplar of ‘New Queer Cinema’, with his low-budget features – including The Living End and Nowhere – fuelled by punk urgency, hormonal exuberance and AIDS-generation rage.

Following a mainstream backflip with stoner comedy Smiley Face, Kaboom resembles his earlier work, with slightly less anger.

Abductions, witchcraft, the Apocalypse – plus a cameo from Explosions In The Sky – are all fodder for this shaggy dog tale about gay student Smith (Thomas Dekker) and his strange days on campus.

Stealing the show are the wild Juno Temple as an omnivorous siren and Haley Bennett as Smith’s brittle, wisecracking lesbian buddy Stella.

Vibrantly coloured, unspooling like a free-associative comic strip, Kaboom is enjoyable, throwaway and a touch ’90s in its self-congratulatory coolness. Yet it still feels strikingly defiant in its no-holds-barred polysexual insouciance.

Jonathan Romney

NEIL YOUNG & THE INTERNATIONAL HARVESTERS – A TREASURE

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NEIL YOUNG & THE INTERNATIONAL HARVESTERS – A TREASURE

This being Neil Young, it only makes sense he should follow his most haunted and out-there record in years, 2010’s Le Noise, with one of the easiest, most carefree and down-home releases of his career. You could argue there’s simply not much that really needs be said about this, the latest in Young’s Archives Performance Series – a live compilation drawn from his 1984-’85 tours through the heartland of Reagan’s America with the band of country veterans. For the most, this is music to be felt more than thought. Good simple songs about good simple things, to tap a toe to, drink a beer to, wipe away a tear to. On the other hand, though, when you step back and consider the context, A Treasure becomes more than just a collection of countrified tunes delivered with gloriously ragged enthusiasm. This album is the sound Neil Young makes when you push him. These recordings date directly from the period when Young, infamously, stood about to be sued by his own record company, Geffen, for wilfully making “musically uncharacteristic” records. The troubles commenced with his baffling, vocoder-led ’82 label debut, Trans, but really blew up over his intended ’83 follow-up, the Nashville-recorded Old Ways (not to be confused with the drastically reworked album of that title eventually released in ’85). When Geffen rejected that for being “too country” and asked for something “more rock’n’roll,” Young’s answering fuck-you came in two parts. First, he greased his hair into a parody quiff and handed them an ersatz ’50s rockabilly LP, Everybody’s Rockin’. Then, without his label’s backing, he gathered the best country band he could, and hit the road to play the countriest songs for the countriest audiences in the countriest venues possible. Most of A Treasure was recorded away from the regular rock circuit, at state fairs, rodeo arenas and on country TV shows. This, folks, is what happens when you tell Neil Young not to play country music. He goes and plays it. The plainly gorgeous, Harvest Moon-y opener, “Amber Jean”, one of five previously unreleased songs, sets the tone. Written for Young’s newborn daughter, it’s a daddy singing to his baby about all the good things that await her. The order of the day is family values, love, home, work, but the band play with rare fire, and the singer has this strange glint in his eye. After hearing the tearing version of “Are You Ready For The Country” preserved here, in fact, it’s difficult to return to the song’s Harvest incarnation without finding it wanting and weedy; the International Harvesters cut roils with joyful venom reminiscent of Young’s Time Fades Away era. Equally, a frayed reprise of “Flying On The Ground Is Wrong” is plausibly more exquisitely sweet than Buffalo Springfield’s original. But, on the whole, there’s no long-haired weirdo stuff. No llamas, spacemen or Aztecs, no tired-eyed drug deaths, no Nixon, no students getting shot. The closest to ‘protest’ is the slightly ugly “Motor City”, where the protest is that there are too many damn Japanese cars on American streets. And when it comes you can hear the baited, recession-hit crowd baying agreement. And here’s where, back in the mid-1980s, it got difficult for Neil Young fans. While playing these hootin’ and a-hollerin’ shows, Farmer Young was also suddenly praising Reagan and, notoriously during AIDS’ first grip, using homophobic language in interview. Never mind that country’s high lonesome end had always been an essential part of his DNA. For some, all this combined was like watching the man who sang “Ohio” jump tracks to join forces with the rednecks who blew Captain America away at the end of Easy Rider. As often with Young, what the hell was actually going on remains hard to fathom. It could be that, after Geffen trying to force him one way, he’d just swung out in the other direction, like a wrecking ball. Listening back 26 years on, though, the question fades. It’s the music that you hear. Clearest of all that, in The International Harvesters, Young had found a band that fired him up like few outfits outside Crazy Horse. Those buying the Blu-Ray version of A Treasure will also see visual evidence, in a shaky collection of live footage. Young’s guitar is here, of course, but cedes ground to blind pianist Hargus “Pig” Robbins and, particularly, Rufus Thibodeaux’s show-stealing fiddle. Their interplay on a reworking of “Southern Pacific”, Young yelling final announcements like a demented Casey Jones, blows the neutered version Crazy Horse recorded for Re-ac-tor clear off the tracks. Strangest of all, though, is how straight and lifeless the re-recorded Old Ways album Young finally cut with these guys sounds compared to their live shows. If you want to quibble, you could bemoan the decision to make this a cut-up compilation, with songs drawn from different concerts, rather than a straight document of one night. Equally, among the unreleased tracks, I would gladly have ditched three – “Soul Of A Woman”, a slightly plodding big blues vamp that points in a direction Young would explore with The Bluenotes; the comedy country-by-numbers “Let Your Fingers Do The Walking”; and the slightly cloying “Nothing Is Perfect” – to make room for another not included, “Interstate,” one of Young’s most desolate lost songs, which found its definitive shape with the Harvesters. Warts, ugly cousins, blazes of greatness and all, however, A Treasure makes a perfect snapshot of this ornery, shapeshifting moment. Certainly, there’s no arguing with the other unreleased song, “Grey Riders”, a spooked, weird run through “Ghost Riders In The Sky” territory, cannily sequenced as the closing track, and not merely because the Harvesters shift to a new pitch of intensity. Here, as though he can hold it back no longer, Young’s guitar begins wrenching loose in mangled, restless, rusty squeals. You could call it the “classic Neil Young” sound, if there was such a thing. But as the howl comes slicing through, it sends out a clear signal. Things were about to change. Again. Damien Love

This being Neil Young, it only makes sense he should follow his most haunted and out-there record in years, 2010’s Le Noise, with one of the easiest, most carefree and down-home releases of his career.

You could argue there’s simply not much that really needs be said about this, the latest in Young’s Archives Performance Series – a live compilation drawn from his 1984-’85 tours through the heartland of Reagan’s America with the band of country veterans. For the most, this is music to be felt more than thought. Good simple songs about good simple things, to tap a toe to, drink a beer to, wipe away a tear to.

On the other hand, though, when you step back and consider the context, A Treasure becomes more than just a collection of countrified tunes delivered with gloriously ragged enthusiasm. This album is the sound Neil Young makes when you push him.

These recordings date directly from the period when Young, infamously, stood about to be sued by his own record company, Geffen, for wilfully making “musically uncharacteristic” records. The troubles commenced with his baffling, vocoder-led ’82 label debut, Trans, but really blew up over his intended ’83 follow-up, the Nashville-recorded Old Ways (not to be confused with the drastically reworked album of that title eventually released in ’85).

When Geffen rejected that for being “too country” and asked for something “more rock’n’roll,” Young’s answering fuck-you came in two parts. First, he greased his hair into a parody quiff and handed them an ersatz ’50s rockabilly LP, Everybody’s Rockin’. Then, without his label’s backing, he gathered the best country band he could, and hit the road to play the countriest songs for the countriest audiences in the countriest venues possible. Most of A Treasure was recorded away from the regular rock circuit, at state fairs, rodeo arenas and on country TV shows. This, folks, is what happens when you tell Neil Young not to play country music. He goes and plays it.

The plainly gorgeous, Harvest Moon-y opener, “Amber Jean”, one of five previously unreleased songs, sets the tone. Written for Young’s newborn daughter, it’s a daddy singing to his baby about all the good things that await her. The order of the day is family values, love, home, work, but the band play with rare fire, and the singer has this strange glint in his eye. After hearing the tearing version of “Are You Ready For The Country” preserved here, in fact, it’s difficult to return to the song’s Harvest incarnation without finding it wanting and weedy; the International Harvesters cut roils with joyful venom reminiscent of Young’s Time Fades Away era. Equally, a frayed reprise of “Flying On The Ground Is Wrong” is plausibly more exquisitely sweet than Buffalo Springfield’s original. But, on the whole, there’s no long-haired weirdo stuff. No llamas, spacemen or Aztecs, no tired-eyed drug deaths, no Nixon, no students getting shot. The closest to ‘protest’ is the slightly ugly “Motor City”, where the protest is that there are too many damn Japanese cars on American streets. And when it comes you can hear the baited, recession-hit crowd baying agreement.

And here’s where, back in the mid-1980s, it got difficult for Neil Young fans. While playing these hootin’ and a-hollerin’ shows, Farmer Young was also suddenly praising Reagan and, notoriously during AIDS’ first grip, using homophobic language in interview. Never mind that country’s high lonesome end had always been an essential part of his DNA. For some, all this combined was like watching the man who sang “Ohio” jump tracks to join forces with the rednecks who blew Captain America away at the end of Easy Rider.

As often with Young, what the hell was actually going on remains hard to fathom. It could be that, after Geffen trying to force him one way, he’d just swung out in the other direction, like a wrecking ball. Listening back 26 years on, though, the question fades. It’s the music that you hear. Clearest of all that, in The International Harvesters, Young had found a band that fired him up like few outfits outside Crazy Horse. Those buying the Blu-Ray version of A Treasure will also see visual evidence, in a shaky collection of live footage.

Young’s guitar is here, of course, but cedes ground to blind pianist Hargus “Pig” Robbins and, particularly, Rufus Thibodeaux’s show-stealing fiddle. Their interplay on a reworking of “Southern Pacific”, Young yelling final announcements like a demented Casey Jones, blows the neutered version Crazy Horse recorded for Re-ac-tor clear off the tracks. Strangest of all, though, is how straight and lifeless the re-recorded Old Ways album Young finally cut with these guys sounds compared to their live shows.

If you want to quibble, you could bemoan the decision to make this a cut-up compilation, with songs drawn from different concerts, rather than a straight document of one night. Equally, among the unreleased tracks, I would gladly have ditched three – “Soul Of A Woman”, a slightly plodding big blues vamp that points in a direction Young would explore with The Bluenotes; the comedy country-by-numbers “Let Your Fingers Do The Walking”; and the slightly cloying “Nothing Is Perfect” – to make room for another not included, “Interstate,” one of Young’s most desolate lost songs, which found its definitive shape with the Harvesters.

Warts, ugly cousins, blazes of greatness and all, however, A Treasure makes a perfect snapshot of this ornery, shapeshifting moment. Certainly, there’s no arguing with the other unreleased song, “Grey Riders”, a spooked, weird run through “Ghost Riders In The Sky” territory, cannily sequenced as the closing track, and not merely because the Harvesters shift to a new pitch of intensity. Here, as though he can hold it back no longer, Young’s guitar begins wrenching loose in mangled, restless, rusty squeals. You could call it the “classic Neil Young” sound, if there was such a thing. But as the howl comes slicing through, it sends out a clear signal. Things were about to change. Again.

Damien Love

PAUL SIMON – SO BEAUTIFUL OR SO WHAT

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PAUL SIMON – SO BEAUTIFUL OR SO WHAT

Paul Simon’s huge contribution to pop hasn’t always been acknowledged. Yet, as a songwriter, he is as significant as any of The Beatles, a point which becomes more obvious as pop revisits its folk roots. Listen to Fleet Foxes’ “Helplessness Blues”, and what you hear is a sweet echo of Simon and Garfunkel; an acerbic emotion gently expressed, a certain wistfulness, and a sense that the singer is aware that his complaints may be insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Of course, Simon himself has travelled a long way from that. Since introducing Afrobeat to mainstream pop with Graceland, his career since has shown admirable restlessness. For his last album, Surprise, he did what artists in need of external stimulation do: enlist Brian Eno. In truth, it didn’t work. Surprise sounded like a fight between the instincts of the two opinionated men. Oddly, Simon’s inspiration for So Beautiful Or So What comes from one of Surprise’s failures. “Everything About It Is A Love Song” was a skittish collage in the style of David Gray, but the technician in Simon appreciated the song’s melodic shifts. More significantly, for the new album he decided to change his working methods. He stopped building songs from rhythms, and returned to writing with a guitar on his knee. Producer Phil Ramone, who worked on most of Simon’s good records, starting with “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard”, was enlisted. Clearly, the chemistry still works. From the opening “Getting Ready For Christmas Day” to the valedictory title track, this sounds like classic Paul Simon. The voice is upfront, the melodies adhesive, and there’s a real sense that the singer’s writing has clicked into focus. Some of Surprise was soft to the point of being slushy. Here, he’s telling stories, throwing narrative shapes, and twisting his songs into the service of a bigger idea. Almost every song is preoccupied somehow by God. Not that he’s preaching. You’d be hard-pressed to ascertain where Simon stands on the matter of religion by listening to “Questions For The Angels”, in which a lonely pilgrim confronts a Jay Z billboard by the Brooklyn Bridge. “Who believes in angels?” Simon sings, “fools do”. On “Love Is Eternal Sacred Light” – a blues guitar, a battered tambourine, and a sample of Sonny Terry’s harmonica – he muses on the nature of evil, even assuming the voice of God, before the song turns to joy as the narrator tunes into gospel radio. And in “The Afterlife” – a Bo Diddley/Buddy Holly shuffle – a dead man finds himself queuing for admission to heaven, only to be struck almost dumb on coming face-to-face with God: “All that remains is a fragment of song – be-bop a-lula…” A joke on a lifetime spent in the service of rock’n’roll? Maybe. But Simon’s contribution to the form is his ability to engage emotion and intellect without making the effort obvious. He’s a reporter on the human condition, a soul singer employing the manners of pop. And the beauty of So Beautiful Or So What is the way its complexities are made to seem simple: the electronic drum parts contributed by Grizzly Bear's Chris Bear, the Southern harmonies of bluegrass veterans Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, all of it blends into the whole, adding grit, but not friction, to Simon’s slippery melodies. Mostly, what you get is that voice, effortlessly sunny, conversational, and questioning, but delivering a strangely barbed message. Consider the closing song, “So Beautiful Or So What”. It begins with the singer making dinner. He then tells his kids a bedtime story. And the song ends, quite shockingly, with the assassination of Martin Luther King. As ever, Simon’s work is a strange mix of easy and uneasy listening – it’s balm, but it leaves an itch. Also this month, Bridge Over Troubled Water (Columbia Legacy; 4 stars) receives a deluxe reissue in time for the 40th anniversary of the record’s release. The album itself is no different from previous versions, though it does sound oddly peppy and almost experimental in places. Two extra songs were recorded at the original sessions, but Simon objected to one (a Bach-inspired number) and Garfunkel to the other (a political pop song). Neither is included. But the additional DVD does add interesting context. It includes the Songs Of America CBS television special from 1969; an accidentally controversial broadcast, which ran film of Bobby Kennedy’s funeral train over “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, adding political context to a song which Simon feared was too lyrically simple to succeed. Of course, the simplicity made the song a universal hymn of friendship. A new documentary, The Harmony Game, frames the album as the work which finally allowed the duo to move away from their original aim; mimicking the Everly Brothers. Producer Roy Halee began to record their voices independently, and with his mastery of echo helped shape their music into something which aimed to compete with The Beatles’ sonic experiments. Listen hard, and you’ll hear compressed xylophones, distorted handclaps, and, just after the last echo fades, the sound of Simon and Garfunkel growing apart. Alastair McKay

Paul Simon’s huge contribution to pop hasn’t always been acknowledged. Yet, as a songwriter, he is as significant as any of The Beatles, a point which becomes more obvious as pop revisits its folk roots. Listen to Fleet Foxes’ “Helplessness Blues”, and what you hear is a sweet echo of Simon and Garfunkel; an acerbic emotion gently expressed, a certain wistfulness, and a sense that the singer is aware that his complaints may be insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Of course, Simon himself has travelled a long way from that. Since introducing Afrobeat to mainstream pop with Graceland, his career since has shown admirable restlessness. For his last album, Surprise, he did what artists in need of external stimulation do: enlist Brian Eno. In truth, it didn’t work. Surprise sounded like a fight between the instincts of the two opinionated men.

Oddly, Simon’s inspiration for So Beautiful Or So What comes from one of Surprise’s failures. “Everything About It Is A Love Song” was a skittish collage in the style of David Gray, but the technician in Simon appreciated the song’s melodic shifts. More significantly, for the new album he decided to change his working methods. He stopped building songs from rhythms, and returned to writing with a guitar on his knee. Producer Phil Ramone, who worked on most of Simon’s good records, starting with “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard”, was enlisted.

Clearly, the chemistry still works. From the opening “Getting Ready For Christmas Day” to the valedictory title track, this sounds like classic Paul Simon. The voice is upfront, the melodies adhesive, and there’s a real sense that the singer’s writing has clicked into focus. Some of Surprise was soft to the point of being slushy. Here, he’s telling stories, throwing narrative shapes, and twisting his songs into the service of a bigger idea. Almost every song is preoccupied somehow by God.

Not that he’s preaching. You’d be hard-pressed to ascertain where Simon stands on the matter of religion by listening to “Questions For The Angels”, in which a lonely pilgrim confronts a Jay Z billboard by the Brooklyn Bridge. “Who believes in angels?” Simon sings, “fools do”. On “Love Is Eternal Sacred Light” – a blues guitar, a battered tambourine, and a sample of Sonny Terry’s harmonica – he muses on the nature of evil, even assuming the voice of God, before the song turns to joy as the narrator tunes into gospel radio. And in “The Afterlife” – a Bo Diddley/Buddy Holly shuffle – a dead man finds himself queuing for admission to heaven, only to be struck almost dumb on coming face-to-face with God: “All that remains is a fragment of song – be-bop a-lula…”

A joke on a lifetime spent in the service of rock’n’roll? Maybe. But Simon’s contribution to the form is his ability to engage emotion and intellect without making the effort obvious. He’s a reporter on the human condition, a soul singer employing the manners of pop. And the beauty of So Beautiful Or So What is the way its complexities are made to seem simple: the electronic drum parts contributed by Grizzly Bear‘s Chris Bear, the Southern harmonies of bluegrass veterans Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, all of it blends into the whole, adding grit, but not friction, to Simon’s slippery melodies.

Mostly, what you get is that voice, effortlessly sunny, conversational, and questioning, but delivering a strangely barbed message. Consider the closing song, “So Beautiful Or So What”. It begins with the singer making dinner. He then tells his kids a bedtime story. And the song ends, quite shockingly, with the assassination of Martin Luther King. As ever, Simon’s work is a strange mix of easy and uneasy listening – it’s balm, but it leaves an itch.

Also this month, Bridge Over Troubled Water (Columbia Legacy; 4 stars) receives a deluxe reissue in time for the 40th anniversary of the record’s release. The album itself is no different from previous versions, though it does sound oddly peppy and almost experimental in places.

Two extra songs were recorded at the original sessions, but Simon objected to one (a Bach-inspired number) and Garfunkel to the other (a political pop song). Neither is included. But the additional DVD does add interesting context. It includes the Songs Of America CBS television special from 1969; an accidentally controversial broadcast, which ran film of Bobby Kennedy’s funeral train over “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, adding political context to a song which Simon feared was too lyrically simple to succeed. Of course, the simplicity made the song a universal hymn of friendship.

A new documentary, The Harmony Game, frames the album as the work which finally allowed the duo to move away from their original aim; mimicking the Everly Brothers. Producer Roy Halee began to record their voices independently, and with his mastery of echo helped shape their music into something which aimed to compete with The Beatles’ sonic experiments. Listen hard, and you’ll hear compressed xylophones, distorted handclaps, and, just after the last echo fades, the sound of Simon and Garfunkel growing apart.

Alastair McKay

The Best Of 2011: Halftime Report

John Mulvey
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Given we’re coming up to the end of June, I figured it should be time for this annual bit of anal-retentive album-crunching. A lot of fine records here , though not necessarily the 30 I might have envisaged at the start of 2011; as I’ve alluded to before, I feel like there have been a lot of eagerly-anticipated letdowns this year. I imagine I may have forgotten one or two I’ve liked, too (I’ve left out things like Date Palms and Purling Hiss, which I only found out about this year but which actually came out in 2010), but an interesting selection, hopefully. Arranged in alphabetical order, you’ll note. If you want to check up on these, plenty are on the Wild Mercury Sound Spotify playlist, for your delectation. Next up, of course, let’s see your Top Tens of the year. Send them in – in order if you can – and I’ll work out a chart in the next week or so. 1. Arbouretum – The Gathering (Thrill Jockey) 2. Julianna Barwick – The Magic Place (Asthmatic Kitty) 3. The Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (Capitol) 4. Bill Callahan – Apocalypse (Drag City) 5. Cornershop & Bubbley Kaur - Cornershop & Double ‘O’ Groove Of… (Ample Play) 6. Deep Magic – Lucid Thought (Circa) 7. Chris Forsyth – Paranoid Cat (Family Vineyard) 8. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues (Bella Union) 9. Gang Gang Dance – Eye Contact (4AD) 10. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake (Island) 11. Tim Hecker – Ravedeath, 1972 (Kranky) 12. Nicolas Jaar – Space Is Only Noise (Circus Company) 13. Jonny – Jonny (Turnstile) 14. Low – C’Mon (Sub Pop) 15. The Master Musicians Of Bukkake - Totem 3 (Important) 16. Metronomy – The English Riviera (Because) 17. Mountains – Air Museum (Thrill Jockey) 18. Panda Bear – Tomboy (Paw Tracks) 19. The People’s Temple – Sons Of Stone (Hozac) 20. Radiohead – The King Of Limbs (XL) 21. Raphael Saadiq – Stone Rollin’ (Columbia) 22. Six Organs Of Admittance – Asleep On The Floodplain (Drag City) 23. D Charles Speer & The Helix – Leaving The Commonwealth (Thrill Jockey) 24. Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol 2: Judges (Constellation) 25. Robert Stillman – Machine’s Song (OIB) 26. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo (Matador) 27. Gillian Welch – The Harrow And The Harvest (Acony) 28. Weyes Blood & The Dark Juices – The Outside Room (Not Not Fun) 29. White Denim – D (Downtown) 30. Whomadewho – Knee Deep (Kompakt)

Given we’re coming up to the end of June, I figured it should be time for this annual bit of anal-retentive album-crunching. A lot of fine records here , though not necessarily the 30 I might have envisaged at the start of 2011; as I’ve alluded to before, I feel like there have been a lot of eagerly-anticipated letdowns this year.

Continue

Ask Jeff Bridges!

Uncut
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Ask Jeff Bridges!
Jeff Bridges, the Oscar winning star of The Big Lebowski, True Grit, Rancho Deluxe, Cutter's Way, The Last Picture Show and many of Uncut's favourite movies, has a new T Bone Burnett-produced album out in September. What better way to celebrate than for Jeff to answer your questions in our regular ...

Jeff Bridges, the Oscar winning star of The Big Lebowski, True Grit, Rancho Deluxe, Cutter’s Way, The Last Picture Show and many of Uncut’s favourite movies, has a new T Bone Burnett-produced album out in September.

What better way to celebrate than for Jeff to answer your questions in our regular ‘Audience With…’ feature.

So what would you like to ask him?

How has playing ‘Bad’ Blake in Crazy Heart helped him prepare to record his new album..?

Did he get to keep that legendary cardigan from The Big Lebowski?

What are his memories of filming Heaven’s Gate?

It’s up to you what to ask him, so email your questions to uncutaudiencewith@ipcmedia.com by Tuesday, June 14.

The best questions, and Jeff’s answers will be published in a future issue Uncut magazine. Please include your name and location with your question.

White Russians all round!

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