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SUBMARINE

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SUBMARINE
Directed by Richard Ayoade Starring Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige, Paddy Considine As his 16th birthday fast approaches, Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) has two objectives in mind – both of which come burdened with their own particular set of problems. Firstly, he wants to save his parents’ failing ...

Directed by Richard Ayoade

Starring Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige, Paddy Considine

As his 16th birthday fast approaches, Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) has two objectives in mind – both of which come burdened with their own particular set of problems. Firstly, he wants to save his parents’ failing marriage. His mother, Jill (Sally Hawkins), has grown tired of his father, Lloyd (Noah Taylor), a marine biologist who’s recently been made redundant from the Open University and is slipping into a fug of depression. Jill, Oliver learns, may well harbour illicit feelings for self-improvement guru Graham (Paddy Considine), an ex-boyfriend from her past who’s recently moved in next door.

Further – Oliver also plans to lose his virginity before he turns 16. And to Jordana Bevan (Yasmin Paige), a moody, enigmatic pyromaniac whose bright red duffle coat calls to mind the murderous dwarf who stalked Donald Sutherland through Venice in Don’t Look Now. Oliver is prone to flights of high fantasy. He colourfully imagines, for instance, that his death will send the whole of his native Wales tail-spinning into a state of inconsolable grief. His early courtship with Jordana is presented as grainy Super 8 footage, as if Oliver is remembering it from years hence. He wonders, too, what his life would be like if it were a film; a pertinent digression for a story that’s filtered entirely through Oliver’s vision.

Submarine is the feature debut of Richard Ayoade – best known, of course, for playing Moss in The IT Crowd, but whose resumé also includes directing promos and a live DVD for the Arctic Monkeys. Ayoade lets the film move at a gentle pace, while its idiosyncratic charms often brings to mind Rushmore, Harold And Maude, or perhaps the youthful exploits of Adrian Mole.

There’s props, certainly, due to Craig Roberts, who makes Oliver a likeable narrator. “Her mouth tasted of milk, Polo mints and Dunhill International,” he sighs on voiceover when he first kisses Jordana; yet, later, he lets her down through an act of extraordinary cowardice. Surrounding Oliver is a flawed though mostly believable set of supporting characters. A particular highlight is Noah Taylor as Oliver’s father: a softly spoken man preoccupied by his own internalised struggles against depression. “I know you think I’m very boring,” he tells Oliver during a heart-to-heart chat about Jordana, “but once I ripped my vest off in front of a woman, and it was very effective. It produced a very atavistic response.”

Less convincing, though, is Paddy Considine, whose would-be seducer Graham is too broadly comedic in a film that works best as a series of low-key vignettes. A folksy, acoustic soundtrack by Alex Turner adds an extra layer of warmth.

Michael Bonner

QUEEN – THE FIRST FIVE ALBUMS

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QUEEN – THE FIRST FIVE ALBUMS

In his book Follow The Music, Jac Holzman of Elektra Records remembers first hearing Queen (whom he would sign for America, while EMI marketed them in Britain) on reels of 10-inch demo tape. “It was so beautifully recorded and performed; everything was there, like a perfectly cut diamond landing on your desk… [It was] like the purest ice cream poured over a real rock’n’roll foundation.” Holzman sent a memo round his staff, saying he’d heard the future of pop music. It was 1973. Every rock critic in the world would have laughed at him. Some people still laugh at Queen. Silly, overblown cod-opera. Tacky as a Katie Price wedding or a trompe l’œil in a lottery winner’s lavatory. But Queen, dismissed in 1973 as a poor man’s Zeppelin riding the coat-tails of glam, battered sceptical Britain into submission by means of tenacity, eccentric singles and stagecraft. They flaunted flash like Liberace in a mink-trimmed smoking-jacket. They approached each record with the obsessiveness of true madmen. They thought ‘over the top’ was a criticism meaning ‘not going far enough’. There has never been a People’s Band like them. Once, long ago, their albums were pored over in school corridors with gasps of excitement, like Goodies annuals or the latest Rothmans Football Yearbook. Queen (1973, ****) and Queen II (1974, ***) threw you into a fantasy world of ogres, lepers, white and black queens and giant rats. Ghoulish, sinister, they had excellent ack-ack guitar riffs from Brian May, phased to hell, which redesigned Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” for a “Ballroom Blitz” generation. The other trump card up their sleeve was their lip-smacking, candy-coated clusters of vocal harmonies, including helium-like screams from drummer Roger Taylor, which squirted sugar and marzipan everywhere as if Queen were building their music to the specifications of a cake. In many people’s eyes, and I’m proud to be one of them, the first five Queen albums, released here in new remastered editions with five extra tracks apiece, are the best they made in a 20-year career. Guitarist May, in particular, is an absolute revelation if you haven’t heard this stuff in a while. “Keep Yourself Alive”, “Liar”, “Great King Rat” and “Father To Son” are full to bursting with crackerjack axemanship; you can hear the deceptively mild-mannered young astrophysicist impatiently trying to leapfrog Page, Iommi, Blackmore and the other exalted gods of the ’70s. May’s magnificent “Brighton Rock”, which opens Sheer Heart Attack (1974, ****), has a headphone-orgasmic middle section where his guitars engage in a tense gun battle (or is it a mating ritual?) across the stereo picture. His equally superb “Now I’m Here”, on the same album, is like plutonium Chuck Berry fed through the Blue Öyster Cult mincer. And notice his sublime ‘miaow’ preceding “playful as a pussycat” on “Killer Queen”. What a talented boy. Sheer Heart Attack was a leap forward for Queen. It had a thrilling sense of lunacy: any kind of music was permissible as long as it was executed to perfection. Always an outstanding vocal group, Queen annexed unimaginable new territories by combining the butteriness of The Beach Boys, the close-harmony expertise of barbershop, the multi-octave hyperbole of The Sweet and the razzmatazz of Broadway. The sort of album that follows a blue-streak rocker (“Stone Cold Crazy”) with a lullaby (“Dear Friends”), and knows how to spit-shine its spats and dude up its shirtfront (“Killer Queen”), Sheer Heart Attack was a sign that Queen had grown too mature for gauche little fantasy yarns about ancient lands. It was still a hard rock album, and was filed as one in teenage record collections, but hindsight suggests its camp humour, filigree detail and lust for variety were closer to Sparks and Todd Rundgren than to Budgie and Bad Company. If Sheer Heart Attack revealed Queen’s taste for adventure, A Night At The Opera (1975, *****) proved there was no limit to their capabilities. The title, borrowed from the Marx Brothers’ screwball masterpiece, justified the maniacally paced proceedings within, and just as you were getting accustomed to some agreeably evil riff, along would come an authentic recreation of Edwardian music hall, or a George Formby-esque ukulele tune, or some 1920s flapper jazz. As if confirming that its mission was to go further than Sheer Heart Attack in every way, it began with “Death On Two Legs”, a vitriolic valedictory letter to their former manager, which outstripped a similar lyric on Sheer Heart Attack (“Flick Of The Wrist”) by urging the poor wretch to commit suicide. Containing not one but two monumental epics (“Bohemian Rhapsody”, “The Prophet’s Song”), and gorging on grandiose gestures galore, A Night At The Opera secured itself instant classic status. Its sister album A Day At The Races (1976, ***), considered by some to be its equal, disappointed a lot of us at the time. Diversity or not, nothing on it compared to Bismillah and the Wise Man. Queen’s singles no longer rocked –“Somebody To Love” was like something you’d hear on The Black And White Minstrel Show – and it was time to go searching for new heroes. Queen’s albums have been reissued over the years (and had bonus tracks included on the 1991 Hollywood CD editions), but these new remasters are recommended if you own the Hollywoods or the 1993-1994 EMI versions, as they sound much cleaner and more in-focus, with just the right amount of bass and no migraine-inducing compression. Of the 25 extra tracks, 15 were available for preview as Uncut went to press – which unfortunately didn’t include the eight-minute version of “Liar”, from a 1975 Hammersmith Odeon concert, that has been added to the debut album. “Now I’m Here” (from the same gig), appended to Sheer Heart Attack, is pretty hot, and it’s nice to hear the BBC radio recordings of “Flick Of The Wrist” and “Tenement Funster”. Do be aware, however, that some of the extras are merely vocal-free backing tracks, which may be of marginal interest only. Unless, that is, you are planning a career as a Freddie Mercury impersonator and need to get some practice in. DAVID CAVANAGH Q+A Brian May Why the move from EMI to Island Records? There were lots of legal ramblings, but basically it’s a fresh start for us. Island have been terrific to deal with. We appreciate that they’ve taken a lot of care with these recordings and made an effort to make these CDs sound good. What’s different this time? We were never very happy with the CD releases, and we wanted more control. So we’ve been hard at work with our technical chaps, remastering everything, and I’ve been very much involved in the whole process. I was just working on that last night, funnily enough. The exciting thing for me is that we’re trying to get them to sound more like the vinyl experience – something with punch and depth. That means going back to basics, really looking at how the sound is produced. I’m quite excited about how they look as well. And there are bonus tracks. What new material have you dredged up? My favourite gem is the original acetate which has on it all the demos we made prior to signing with Trident in the very beginning. This was just after we’d split up our earlier band, Smile. Nobody has ever heard these recordings before – I think I’m the owner of the only acetate in the world! These are five songs recorded with the idea of impressing record companies, done very quickly with an engineer called Louis Austin in what was to become De Lane Lea Studios. All of these songs ended up on the first album but in completely different forms. It includes a version of “Keep Yourself Alive”, which is something very special. You’re hearing Queen before anybody touched us or tried to mould us. And personally I find that rather warming, that we can rescue something so ancient and so significant in our history. INTERVIEW: JOHN LEWIS

In his book Follow The Music, Jac Holzman of Elektra Records remembers first hearing Queen (whom he would sign for America, while EMI marketed them in Britain) on reels of 10-inch demo tape. “It was so beautifully recorded and performed; everything was there, like a perfectly cut diamond landing on your desk… [It was] like the purest ice cream poured over a real rock’n’roll foundation.” Holzman sent a memo round his staff, saying he’d heard the future of pop music. It was 1973. Every rock critic in the world would have laughed at him.

Some people still laugh at Queen. Silly, overblown cod-opera. Tacky as a Katie Price wedding or a trompe l’œil in a lottery winner’s lavatory. But Queen, dismissed in 1973 as a poor man’s Zeppelin riding the coat-tails of glam, battered sceptical Britain into submission by means of tenacity, eccentric singles and stagecraft. They flaunted flash like Liberace in a mink-trimmed smoking-jacket. They approached each record with the obsessiveness of true madmen. They thought ‘over the top’ was a criticism meaning ‘not going far enough’. There has never been a People’s Band like them.

Once, long ago, their albums were pored over in school corridors with gasps of excitement, like Goodies annuals or the latest Rothmans Football Yearbook. Queen (1973, ****) and Queen II (1974, ***) threw you into a fantasy world of ogres, lepers, white and black queens and giant rats. Ghoulish, sinister, they had excellent ack-ack guitar riffs from Brian May, phased to hell, which redesigned Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” for a “Ballroom Blitz” generation. The other trump card up their sleeve was their lip-smacking, candy-coated clusters of vocal harmonies, including helium-like screams from drummer Roger Taylor, which squirted sugar and marzipan everywhere as if Queen were building their music to the specifications of a cake.

In many people’s eyes, and I’m proud to be one of them, the first five Queen albums, released here in new remastered editions with five extra tracks apiece, are the best they made in a 20-year career. Guitarist May, in particular, is an absolute revelation if you haven’t heard this stuff in a while. “Keep Yourself Alive”, “Liar”, “Great King Rat” and “Father To Son” are full to bursting with crackerjack axemanship; you can hear the deceptively mild-mannered young astrophysicist impatiently trying to leapfrog Page, Iommi, Blackmore and the other exalted gods of the ’70s. May’s magnificent “Brighton Rock”, which opens Sheer Heart Attack (1974, ****), has a headphone-orgasmic middle section where his guitars engage in a tense gun battle (or is it a mating ritual?) across the stereo picture. His equally superb “Now I’m Here”, on the same album, is like plutonium Chuck Berry fed through the Blue Öyster Cult mincer. And notice his sublime ‘miaow’ preceding “playful as a pussycat” on “Killer Queen”. What a talented boy.

Sheer Heart Attack was a leap forward for Queen. It had a thrilling sense of lunacy: any kind of music was permissible as long as it was executed to perfection. Always an outstanding vocal group, Queen annexed unimaginable new territories by combining the butteriness of The Beach Boys, the close-harmony expertise of barbershop, the multi-octave hyperbole of The Sweet and the razzmatazz of Broadway. The sort of album that follows a blue-streak rocker (“Stone Cold Crazy”) with a lullaby (“Dear Friends”), and knows how to spit-shine its spats and dude up its shirtfront (“Killer Queen”), Sheer Heart Attack was a sign that Queen had grown too mature for gauche little fantasy yarns about ancient lands. It was still a hard rock album, and was filed as one in teenage record collections, but hindsight suggests its camp humour, filigree detail and lust for variety were closer to Sparks and Todd Rundgren than to Budgie and Bad Company.

If Sheer Heart Attack revealed Queen’s taste for adventure, A Night At The Opera (1975, *****) proved there was no limit to their capabilities. The title, borrowed from the Marx Brothers’ screwball masterpiece, justified the maniacally paced proceedings within, and just as you were getting accustomed to some agreeably evil riff, along would come an authentic recreation of Edwardian music hall, or a George Formby-esque ukulele tune, or some 1920s flapper jazz. As if confirming that its mission was to go further than Sheer Heart Attack in every way, it began with “Death On Two Legs”, a vitriolic valedictory letter to their former manager, which outstripped a similar lyric on Sheer Heart Attack (“Flick Of The Wrist”) by urging the poor wretch to commit suicide. Containing not one but two monumental epics (“Bohemian Rhapsody”, “The Prophet’s Song”), and gorging on grandiose gestures galore, A Night At The Opera secured itself instant classic status. Its sister album A Day At The Races (1976, ***), considered by some to be its equal, disappointed a lot of us at the time. Diversity or not, nothing on it compared to Bismillah and the Wise Man. Queen’s singles no longer rocked –“Somebody To Love” was like something you’d hear on The Black And White Minstrel Show – and it was time to go searching for new heroes.

Queen’s albums have been reissued over the years (and had bonus tracks included on the 1991 Hollywood CD editions), but these new remasters are recommended if you own the Hollywoods or the 1993-1994 EMI versions, as they sound much cleaner and more in-focus, with just the right amount of bass and no migraine-inducing compression. Of the 25 extra tracks, 15 were available for preview as Uncut went to press – which unfortunately didn’t include the eight-minute version of “Liar”, from a 1975 Hammersmith Odeon concert, that has been added to the debut album. “Now I’m Here” (from the same gig), appended to Sheer Heart Attack, is pretty hot, and it’s nice to hear the BBC radio recordings of “Flick Of The Wrist” and “Tenement Funster”. Do be aware, however, that some of the extras are merely vocal-free backing tracks, which may be of marginal interest only. Unless, that is, you are planning a career as a Freddie Mercury impersonator and need to get some practice in.

DAVID CAVANAGH

Q+A Brian May

Why the move from EMI to Island Records?

There were lots of legal ramblings, but basically it’s a fresh start for us. Island have been terrific to deal with. We appreciate that they’ve taken a lot of care with these recordings and made an effort to make these CDs sound good.

What’s different this time?

We were never very happy with the CD releases, and we wanted more control. So we’ve been hard at work with our technical chaps, remastering everything, and I’ve been very much involved in the whole process. I was just working on that last night, funnily enough. The exciting thing for me is that we’re trying to get them to sound more like the vinyl experience – something with punch and depth. That means going back to basics, really looking at how the sound is produced. I’m quite excited about how they look as well. And there are bonus tracks.

What new material have you dredged up?

My favourite gem is the original acetate which has on it all the demos we made prior to signing with Trident in the very beginning. This was just after we’d split up our earlier band, Smile. Nobody has ever heard these recordings before – I think I’m the owner of the only acetate in the world! These are five songs recorded with the idea of impressing record companies, done very quickly with an engineer called Louis Austin in what was to become De Lane Lea Studios. All of these songs ended up on the first album but in completely different forms. It includes a version of “Keep Yourself Alive”, which is something very special. You’re hearing Queen before anybody touched us or tried to mould us. And personally I find that rather warming, that we can rescue something so ancient and so significant in our history.

INTERVIEW: JOHN LEWIS

PRIMAL SCREAM – SCREAMADELICA

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PRIMAL SCREAM – SCREAMADELICA

Twenty years since Primal Scream released the cornerstone album not just of their career, but of that musical era. It’s a testament to its force that we feel it only came out, if not last week then, say, this century (and a testament to the band that they’re still with us, and still making new records while the blazered drabs of Britpop have been recycling their already recycled past on hits tours for years). The other fun thing about Screamadelica is how unlikely it would have seemed to anyone in 1987 or so that, of all the bands in the world to produce this extraordinary, rambling, brilliant record, it would have been Primal Scream. In their early years, the Scream were an archetypal Creation band; they started making twee jangle pop (“Leave me alone!” whimpers Bobby Gillespie on their C86 track, “Velocity Girl”) and then morphed into a leather-trousered, Stones-referencing, but still twee, indie rock band, boxfresh to tour with The Wishing Stones or The Weather Prophets. But then the drugs changed and it made sense to hire DJ Andrew Weatherall to remix “I’m Losing More Than I’ll Ever Have”, a Beggars Banquety cut from Primal Scream. Weatherall threw out all but one of Gillespie’s vocal lines, added the loping beat of the era and some sampled Peter Fonda dialogue, and invented baggy, Madchester and indie acid dance rock, all on one 12” single. And Primal Scream, instead of being furious, called it “Loaded” and ran with it. “Loaded” unlocked Primal Scream; it gave them the keys to what became Screamadelica. As an album, Screamadelica reads like a record collection (and the brilliance of Bobby Gillespie, as well as being his Achilles’ heel, is that he is always led by his record collection). The Stones are in there, in the souped-up Sympathy of “Movin’ On Up”. Roky Erickson’s there, in “Step Inside This House”. There’s dub in Jah Wobble’s megabass. Acid house leaks through everything, as does acid, and house. “Come Together”’s gospel house behemoth sits next to “Damaged”’s comedown country rock. On paper, it sounds like a calculated effort to be different and eclectic, but it worked, well enough to lift the Scream into another dimension (and easily enough to let C86 contemporaries The Soup Dragons bolt The Rolling Stones’ “I’m Free” onto a baggy wagon and have a proper indie dance hit.) If anything, 20 years on, Screamadelica sounds even more effective. Gillespie never lacked confidence as a frontman, but often the gap between his imagined rock star persona and the skinny, vocally askew reality wasn’t convincing; here, his apparent belief that he is channelling Mick Jagger, Gram Parsons, Sun Ra, Roky Erickson and King Tubby all at the same time is backed up by the aural evidence. And the band are more than equal to the task. From the perfect Stones riffing to the immaculate spacy passages. The production, much of it from Andrew Weatherall, is light and heavy all at the same time. Weatherall was, naturally, on the bus when Primal Scream toured Screamadelica, as much part of the Scream gang as any musician or dealer. I interviewed Gillespie around this time, and saw them play one of their best shows, most notably throwing “Hey Bulldog” into the set (that record collection is never wrong) and treated Northampton College of Further Education or wherever it was like the Fillmore East. That show isn’t here, but a pretty excellent one from LA is, as well as the “Dixie Narco” EP and an entire planet of remixes, some of which are excellent and some of which verge on the trainspotterly. You will have no pangs of conscience letting your family starve when you update a CD you already have; this is a superior version of the original, even though the promo videos on the DVD seem to have been copied off a VCR from the sale bin at Alan McGee’s local newsagents. Primal Scream went on after Screamadelica to embrace even more influences, from Can and Neu! to punk and hardcore. Before Screamadelica they were virtually a genre tribute act; after Screamadelica, they could do – and they’re still doing – everything. They are no nostalgia band, and this sense of the future comes entirely from Screamadelica. Meanwhile, in 2011, Screamadelica’s variety, imagination and, in a strange way, generosity continue to astonish. DAVID QUANTICK Q+A BOBBY GILLESPIE What shaped the album? We only saw it as an album towards the end. It was just a series of singles, b-sides and remixes. But there were three things that shaped it. First was getting a hit with “Loaded” – that gave us tons of confidence. Second,Andrew [Innes] got us to buy an Akai sampler after seeing Andy Weatherall with one. Third was building our tiny studio in Hackney. Do you ever listen to your old stuff? I try not to. When we started rehearsing for the Screamadelica tour, I listened to the LP for the first time! I now recall writing “Damaged” after seeing MBV at ULU, making “I’m Coming Down” after playing lots of Pharoah Sanders, and “Higher Than The Sun” after playing African Dub by Joe Gibbs over and over. How important were drugs to the album? You never get anything done on acid or E, it’s a fucking disaster. I remember [keyboard player Martin] Duffy coming in for a session, tripping. He ended up lying on his back, pissing into the air. “I’m pissing into the sun, man!” I’ll tell you a secret. I was so wasted on “Slip Inside This House” that I didn’t sing on it. It’s Robert Young’s voice on there! INTERVIEW: JOHN LEWIS

Twenty years since Primal Scream released the cornerstone album not just of their career, but of that musical era. It’s a testament to its force that we feel it only came out, if not last week then, say, this century (and a testament to the band that they’re still with us, and still making new records while the blazered drabs of Britpop have been recycling their already recycled past on hits tours for years). The other fun thing about Screamadelica is how unlikely it would have seemed to anyone in 1987 or so that, of all the bands in the world to produce this extraordinary, rambling, brilliant record, it would have been Primal Scream.

In their early years, the Scream were an archetypal Creation band; they started making twee jangle pop (“Leave me alone!” whimpers Bobby Gillespie on their C86 track, “Velocity Girl”) and then morphed into a leather-trousered, Stones-referencing, but still twee, indie rock band, boxfresh to tour with The Wishing Stones or The Weather Prophets.

But then the drugs changed and it made sense to hire DJ Andrew Weatherall to remix “I’m Losing More Than I’ll Ever Have”, a Beggars Banquety cut from Primal Scream. Weatherall threw out all but one of Gillespie’s vocal lines, added the loping beat of the era and some sampled Peter Fonda dialogue, and invented baggy, Madchester and indie acid dance rock, all on one 12” single. And Primal Scream, instead of being furious, called it “Loaded” and ran with it. “Loaded” unlocked Primal Scream; it gave them the keys to what became Screamadelica.

As an album, Screamadelica reads like a record collection (and the brilliance of Bobby Gillespie, as well as being his Achilles’ heel, is that he is always led by his record collection). The Stones are in there, in the souped-up Sympathy of “Movin’ On Up”. Roky Erickson’s there, in “Step Inside This House”. There’s dub in Jah Wobble’s megabass. Acid house leaks through everything, as does acid, and house. “Come Together”’s gospel house behemoth sits next to “Damaged”’s comedown country rock. On paper, it sounds like a calculated effort to be different and eclectic, but it worked, well enough to lift the Scream into another dimension (and easily enough to let C86 contemporaries The Soup Dragons bolt The Rolling Stones’ “I’m Free” onto a baggy wagon and have a proper indie dance hit.)

If anything, 20 years on, Screamadelica sounds even more effective. Gillespie never lacked confidence as a frontman, but often the gap between his imagined rock star persona and the skinny, vocally askew reality wasn’t convincing; here, his apparent belief that he is channelling Mick Jagger, Gram Parsons, Sun Ra, Roky Erickson and King Tubby all at the same time is backed up by the aural evidence. And the band are more than equal to the task. From the perfect Stones riffing to the immaculate spacy passages. The production, much of it from Andrew Weatherall, is light and heavy all at the same time.

Weatherall was, naturally, on the bus when Primal Scream toured Screamadelica, as much part of the Scream gang as any musician or dealer. I interviewed Gillespie around this time, and saw them play one of their best shows, most notably throwing “Hey Bulldog” into the set (that record collection is never wrong) and treated Northampton College of Further Education or wherever it was like the Fillmore East. That show isn’t here, but a pretty excellent one from LA is, as well as the “Dixie Narco” EP and an entire planet of remixes, some of which are excellent and some of which verge on the trainspotterly. You will have no pangs of conscience letting your family starve when you update a CD you already have; this is a superior version of the original, even though the promo videos on the DVD seem to have been copied off a VCR from the sale bin at Alan McGee’s local newsagents.

Primal Scream went on after Screamadelica to embrace even more influences, from Can and Neu! to punk and hardcore. Before Screamadelica they were virtually a genre tribute act; after Screamadelica, they could do – and they’re still doing – everything. They are no nostalgia band, and this sense of the future comes entirely from Screamadelica. Meanwhile, in 2011, Screamadelica’s variety, imagination and, in a strange way, generosity continue to astonish.

DAVID QUANTICK

Q+A BOBBY GILLESPIE

What shaped the album?

We only saw it as an album towards the end. It was just a series of singles, b-sides and remixes. But there were three things that shaped it. First was getting a hit with “Loaded” – that gave us tons of confidence. Second,Andrew [Innes] got us to buy an Akai sampler after seeing Andy Weatherall with one. Third was building our tiny studio in Hackney.

Do you ever listen to your old stuff?

I try not to. When we started rehearsing for the Screamadelica tour, I listened to the LP for the first time! I now recall writing “Damaged” after seeing MBV at ULU, making “I’m Coming Down” after playing lots of Pharoah Sanders, and “Higher Than The Sun” after playing African Dub by Joe Gibbs over and over.

How important were drugs to the album?

You never get anything done on acid or E, it’s a fucking disaster. I remember [keyboard player Martin] Duffy coming in for a session, tripping. He ended up lying on his back, pissing into the air. “I’m pissing into the sun, man!” I’ll tell you a secret. I was so wasted on “Slip Inside This House” that I didn’t sing on it. It’s Robert Young’s voice on there!

INTERVIEW: JOHN LEWIS

Peter Buck explains REM’s reluctance to tour new album

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Peter Buck explains REM’s reluctance to tour new album
REM's Peter Buck has explained why the band are so reluctant to tour their new album 'Collapse Into Now'. The record came out on Monday (March 7), but the US veterans have said that fans are unlikely to see them take it on the road. Now Buck has explained that the nature of album sales strategies ...

REM‘s Peter Buck has explained why the band are so reluctant to tour their new album ‘Collapse Into Now’.

The record came out on Monday (March 7), but the US veterans have said that fans are unlikely to see them take it on the road.

Now Buck has explained that the nature of album sales strategies and not wanting to “repeat” themselves is the cause of their reluctance.

“We’ll just see what happens,” he told Beatweak. “But it does seem like we’ve toured a lot in the last eight or ten years. To some degree it felt like we’d just been doing kind of the same thing we did last time. You just don’t really want to repeat yourself in that way.”

He added: “In this era in which albums don’t tend to sell well regardless, the lack of touring isn’t a concern. I’m not really sure that touring sells records. What sells records anymore? It seems like less and less people are buying albums, so do what you want.”

Although REM haven’t been gearing up tour plans, they have been working on new video projects. They are set to unveil new videos directed by stars including James Franco and Sam Taylor-Wood to accompany ‘Collapse Into Now’ songs 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.

Arctic Monkeys name new album ‘Suck It And See’

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Arctic Monkeys name new album ‘Suck It And See’
Arctic Monkeys have named their new album 'Suck It And See', and will release it on June 6. The album, their fourth, was produced by James Ford at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles. It features 12 new songs including 'Brick By Brick', which was leaked onto the internet last week. The album will b...

Arctic Monkeys have named their new album ‘Suck It And See’, and will release it on June 6.

The album, their fourth, was produced by James Ford at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles. It features 12 new songs including ‘Brick By Brick’, which was leaked onto the internet last week.

The album will be the Sheffield band’s first since 2009’s ‘Humbug’, which Simian Mobile Disco man Ford also did some production work on, alongside Queens Of The Stone Age‘s Josh Homme.

It will arrive just before the band’s Sheffield Don Valley Bowl gigs, set for June 10 and 11.

The tracklisting of ‘Suck It And See’ is:

‘She’s Thunderstorms’

‘Black Treacle’

‘Brick By Brick’

‘The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala’

‘Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair’

‘Library Pictures’

‘All My Own Stunts’

‘Reckless Serenade’

‘Piledriver Waltz’

‘Love Is A Laserquest’

‘Suck It And See’

‘That’s Where You’re Wrong’

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The Strokes’ Nick Valensi: ‘Making ‘Angles’ was awful’

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The Strokes’ Nick Valensi: ‘Making ‘Angles’ was awful’
The Strokes' Nick Valensi has described the recording process for the band's new album 'Angles' as "awful". The returning New York five-piece have made no secret of the tension during sessions for their long-awaited fourth album. Now Valensi has said he is refusing to record their next one in a sim...

The Strokes‘ Nick Valensi has described the recording process for the band’s new album ‘Angles’ as “awful”.

The returning New York five-piece have made no secret of the tension during sessions for their long-awaited fourth album. Now Valensi has said he is refusing to record their next one in a similar way.

“I won’t do the next album we make like this,” he told Pitchfork.com. “No way. It was awful – just awful. Working in a fractured way, not having a singer there.”

Valensi was referring to band sessions at which singer Julian Casablancas was absent, instead recording his vocals alone away from the rest of the group.

“I’d show up certain days and do guitar takes by myself, just me and the engineer,” the guitarist added. “Some of the third album [2006’s ‘First Impressions Of Earth’] was done that way, but at least we were on the same page about what the arrangements and parts were.

“75 per cent of this album felt like it was done together and the rest of it was left hanging, like some of us were picking up the scraps and trying to finish a puzzle together.”

He added that the follow-up to ‘Angles’ wouldn’t be long in the pipeline. “I feel like we have a better album in us,” he said, “and it’s going to come out soon.”

‘Angles’ is out on March 21. The band recently debuted ‘Life Is Simple In The Moonlight’, a song from the record, on US TV.

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Gorillaz to release ‘The Fall’ physically in April

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Gorillaz to release ‘The Fall’ physically in April

Gorillaz' album 'The Fall' is set to come out on CD, vinyl and paid-for download in April. Damon Albarn's band gave the album away as a free download to fanclub members last December. It was recorded on an iPad by Albarn and produced by Stephen Sedgwick. It will now be released on 180g vinyl on April 16, for Record Store Day. The CD release will follow on April 18 and it will also be available as a paid-for download from the same date. Albarn said of the album, which he recorded on the band's 2010 US tour: "I did it because there's a lot of time that you just spend staring at walls, essentially. And it was a fantastic way of doing it. I found working in the day, whether it's in the hotel or in the venue, was a brilliant way of keeping myself well." The tracklisting of 'The Fall' is: 'Phoner To Arizona' 'Revolving Doors' 'HillBilly Man' 'Detroit' 'Shy-town' 'Little Pink Plastic Bags' 'The Joplin Spider' 'The Parish Of Space Dust' 'The Snake In Dallas' 'Amarillo' 'The Speak It Mountains' 'Aspen Forest' 'Bobby In Phoenix' 'California And The Slipping Of The Sun' 'Seattle Yodel' 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.

Gorillaz‘ album ‘The Fall’ is set to come out on CD, vinyl and paid-for download in April.

Damon Albarn‘s band gave the album away as a free download to fanclub members last December. It was recorded on an iPad by Albarn and produced by Stephen Sedgwick.

It will now be released on 180g vinyl on April 16, for Record Store Day. The CD release will follow on April 18 and it will also be available as a paid-for download from the same date.

Albarn said of the album, which he recorded on the band’s 2010 US tour: “I did it because there’s a lot of time that you just spend staring at walls, essentially. And it was a fantastic way of doing it. I found working in the day, whether it’s in the hotel or in the venue, was a brilliant way of keeping myself well.”

The tracklisting of ‘The Fall’ is:

‘Phoner To Arizona’

‘Revolving Doors’

‘HillBilly Man’

‘Detroit’

‘Shy-town’

‘Little Pink Plastic Bags’

‘The Joplin Spider’

‘The Parish Of Space Dust’

‘The Snake In Dallas’

‘Amarillo’

‘The Speak It Mountains’

‘Aspen Forest’

‘Bobby In Phoenix’

‘California And The Slipping Of The Sun’

‘Seattle Yodel’

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Gruff Rhys, St Etienne added to Truck Festival line up

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Gruff Rhys, St Etienne added to Truck Festival line up

Gruff Rhys and Bellowhead will headline this year's Truck festival. Other acts confirmed for the July 22-24 bash at Hill Farm, Steventon include Fixers, St Etienne, Johnny Flynn and John Grant. See Thisistruck.com for more information. The line up, so far, for Truck 2011 is: Gruff Rhys Bellowhead Saint Etienne Johnny Flynn John Grant The Duke & The King Cherry Ghost Fixers Trophy Wife Jonquil Chad Valley Caitlin Rose Marques Toliver Treefight For Sunlight Marcus Foster Jonny Richmond Fontaine Dreaming Spires 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.

Gruff Rhys and Bellowhead will headline this year’s Truck festival.

Other acts confirmed for the July 22-24 bash at Hill Farm, Steventon include Fixers, St Etienne, Johnny Flynn and John Grant.

See Thisistruck.com for more information.

The line up, so far, for Truck 2011 is:

Gruff Rhys

Bellowhead

Saint Etienne

Johnny Flynn

John Grant

The Duke & The King

Cherry Ghost

Fixers

Trophy Wife

Jonquil

Chad Valley

Caitlin Rose

Marques Toliver

Treefight For Sunlight

Marcus Foster

Jonny

Richmond Fontaine

Dreaming Spires

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 to headline London Feis festival

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Bob Dylan to headline London Feis festival

Bob Dylan is set to headline the first London Feis festival this June. Celebrating Irish music and culture, the event takes place in London's Finsbury Park on June 18, with more acts set to be added to the bill soon. Organiser Vince Power explained that he had booked Dylan on an "exclusive" deal, meaning that the show will be his only UK appearance this year. "Announcing Bob Dylan for an exclusive UK performance means that the first year will be one to remember," Power said. The festival will feature three stages. See Londonfeis.com for more information. 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 is set to headline the first London Feis festival this June.

Celebrating Irish music and culture, the event takes place in London‘s Finsbury Park on June 18, with more acts set to be added to the bill soon.

Organiser Vince Power explained that he had booked Dylan on an “exclusive” deal, meaning that the show will be his only UK appearance this year.

“Announcing Bob Dylan for an exclusive UK performance means that the first year will be one to remember,” Power said.

The festival will feature three stages. See Londonfeis.com for more information.

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 Ninth Uncut Playlist Of 2011

John Mulvey
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After whingeing about the last couple of playlists, I think there’s a lot more good stuff arrived for this week’s effort. Check this lot out: espeically new ones from Mountains and The Master Musicians Of Bukkake (really can’t wait for the spam that name’s going to attract), and a bunch of awesome Purling Hiss records that I’m indebted to Miles for playing to me. One admin thing, though: our Twitter feed went off on Monday, so some of you may have missed that day’s blog. Here’s the link; it’s on D Charles Speer & The Helix’s “Leaving The Commonwealth” and Chris Forsyth’s “Paranoid Cat”, among other things. 1 Psychedelic Horseshit – Laced (FatCat) 2 Mountains – Air Museum (Thrill Jockey) 3 Black Eagle Child – Lobelia (Preservation) 4 Smith Westerns – Dye It Blonde (Domino) 5 Mercury Rev – Deserter’s Songs: Deluxe Edition (V2) 6 Dennis Coffey – Dennis Coffey (Strut) 7 Purling Hiss – Purling Hiss (Permanent) 8 Wild Beasts – Smother (Domino) 9 Michael Chapman – Fully Qualified Survivor (Light In The Attic) 10 Gang Gang Dance – Eye Contact (4AD) 11 Panda Bear – Tomboy (Paw Tracks) 12 New Mystery Record 13 The Master Musicians Of Bukkake – Totem 3 (Important) 14 Implodes – Black Earth (Kranky) 15 The Zombies – Breathe Out, Breathe In (Red House) 16 Purling Hiss – Public Service Announcement (Woodsist) 17 The Feelies – Here Before (Bar None) 18 White Denim – Anvil Everything (whitedenimmusic.com) 19 Purling Hiss – Hissteria (Richie)

After whingeing about the last couple of playlists, I think there’s a lot more good stuff arrived for this week’s effort.

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Paul Weller to support Kings Of Leon at Hyde Park gig

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Paul Weller to support Kings Of Leon at Hyde Park gig
Paul Weller is to play support slots at Kings Of Leon's Hyde Park shows in London this summer. The former Jam man will support the Nashville rockers on June 22 and 23. The gigs are set to be his last two shows of the year. White Lies and Zac Brown Band are also set to play support slots at the out...

Paul Weller is to play support slots at Kings Of Leon‘s Hyde Park shows in London this summer.

The former Jam man will support the Nashville rockers on June 22 and 23. The gigs are set to be his last two shows of the year.

White Lies and Zac Brown Band are also set to play support slots at the outdoor gigs.

Kings Of Leon are currently out of gigging action while drummer Nathan Followill recovers from surgery, having suffered a torn bicep. The sticksman was told to rest for three months following the January surgery, meaning he should be fit and well in time for the UK shows.

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

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Spiritualized announce Royal Albert Hall gig

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Spiritualized announce Royal Albert Hall gig
Spiritualized are to play a one-off gig at London's Royal Albert Hall in October. The band, who are currently working on the follow-up to 2008's 'Songs In A&E' album, will play the venue on October 11. The show is being billed as a career-spanning set. In 2009 and 2010 the band performed th...

Spiritualized are to play a one-off gig at London‘s Royal Albert Hall in October.

The band, who are currently working on the follow-up to 2008’s ‘Songs In A&E’ album, will play the venue on October 11.

The show is being billed as a career-spanning set.

In 2009 and 2010 the band performed the entirety of their 1997 album ‘Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space’ at selected gigs.

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AC/DC to release live DVD

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AC/DC to release live DVD
AC/DC are set to release a live DVD this spring. 'AC/DC Live At River Plate', out on May 9, features footage taken at the band's three shows in Buenos Aires' River Plate Stadium in December 2009. They played to nearly 200,000 people over the three nights. The release will also be available on Blu...

AC/DC are set to release a live DVD this spring.

‘AC/DC Live At River Plate’, out on May 9, features footage taken at the band’s three shows in Buenos Aires‘ River Plate Stadium in December 2009. They played to nearly 200,000 people over the three nights.

The release will also be available on Blu-Ray.

Last month the band said that they will be taking a lengthy break after the DVD comes out.

The tracklisting for ‘AC/DC Live At River Plate’ is:

‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Train’

‘Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be’

‘Back In Black’

‘Big Jack’

‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’

‘Shot Down In Flames’

‘Thunderstruck’

‘Black Ice’

‘The Jack’

‘Hells Bells’

‘Shoot To Thrill’

‘War Machine’

‘Dog Eat Dog’

‘You Shook Me All Night Long’

‘T.N.T.’

‘Whole Lotta Rosie’

‘Let There Be Rock’

‘Highway To Hell’

‘For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)’

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.

Panda Bear: “Tomboy”

John Mulvey
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Listening to “Tomboy” on the way to work this morning, I started thinking about how Radiohead and Panda Bear have both played the internet these past few weeks/months. I read a very good piece yesterday by Stephen Troussé, that’ll be in the next print edition of Uncut, about “The King Of Limbs” and what he calls “the re-enchantment of the album release.” Not wanting to steal all Stephen’s thunder or ideas, but he does talk a lot about Radiohead Week and the communal anticipation/gratification that came with “The King Of Limbs”’ release plot, a kind of modern upgrade of old-fashioned, pre-internet, pre-leak frenzy. Panda Bear, though, has taken the opposite route with “Tomboy”, stretching the frenzy out over the best part of a year, exploiting the internet to present a kind of work in perpetual progress: playing the songs live, so that putative versions fill up Youtube; releasing most of the tracks as singles; repeatedly pushing the album release date back; then remixing the lot with Sonic Boom. Rather than a rapid surprise, it’s an epic tease – and Noah Lennox’s dense, elusive music is as suited as any to be showcased in a state of constant flux. For more assiduous followers, I guess the actual arrival of “Tomboy” as a finished piece of work might be something of an anticlimax. But it’s evidence of my quaint attachment to albums over tracks that, fannishness notwithstanding, I haven’t felt compelled to keep up with the singles and leaks over the past few months. Apologies in advance, then, that I’m not in a position to compare these final, Sonic Boom-assisted versions with the earlier takes. In comparison to “Person Pitch”, though, the loops and samples have been much stripped back. This is still fanatically textured music, but the unsteadily shifting layers are closer to those of the Animal Collective rather than any of Lennox’s previous solo records: the glittering timelag accumulation of the lovely “Surfer’s Hymn”, for instance – Terry Riley re-upholsters “Pet Sounds”, glibly – would’ve sat pretty comfortably just after midway through “Merriweather Post Pavilion”. Both Riley and The Beach Boys are reflex critical responses to Animal Collective and especially Panda Bear projects, of course. But more than ever, the latter seems glaringly pertinent: even if, on the waterlogged schaffel of “Slow Motion”, it occurs to me that Lennox is tonally closer to pinched Al Jardine than to Brian Wilson. “Last Night At The Jetty”, “Benfica”, and “Friendship Bracelet”, again, feel like “Pet Sounds” songs dropped into a contemporary echo chamber. If some of AC/PB work has previously been easy to characterise as in some way infantilised, many of these songs capture a tentative, melancholy sweetness on the cusp of maturity; an age of pop defined so poignantly by Wilson. Which reminds me: Lennox has never been involved in a poppier record. Beneath the trademark amniotic sloshing, there’s a melodic clarity and directness that’s more pronounced than ever, unmediated by Avey Tare’s more jarring aesthetic (must revisit his solo album, while I think about it). And for all their deference to adjusted ‘80s pop, it’s hard to think of one of Animal Collective’s chillwave/hypnagogic descendants – save Ariel Pink – who can be quite so accessible while at the same time synthesising such a pervasive air of dislocation, of otherness. If there’s a caveat it may be that, in spite of all their innovations and pleasures, I suspect that there may soon come a time when Lennox and Animal Collective’s aerated schtick might start sounding a little played out to me. Not just yet, though. Belying its public gestation, “Tomboy” feels like an impeccably constructed and complete album experience. But a clutch of songs still stand out as some of Lennox’s very best: “Scheherezade”, devotional ambient minimalism that feels like a technological upgrade of something from “Young Prayer”; and two relative bangers, “Afterburner” and the title track, which both harbour a sort of pulsating urgency, a saturated delirium, while somehow managing to keep the air of dazed solipsism that binds the album together. If you’ve been following the singles thus far, let me know how this tallies…

Listening to “Tomboy” on the way to work this morning, I started thinking about how Radiohead and Panda Bear have both played the internet these past few weeks/months. I read a very good piece yesterday by Stephen Troussé, that’ll be in the next print edition of Uncut, about “The King Of Limbs” and what he calls “the re-enchantment of the album release.”

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George Michael ‘deserved’ jail

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George Michael ‘deserved’ jail
George Michael has claimed he deserved to be jailed last year after crashing his car into a London shop while high on cannabis. The singer was sentenced to eight weeks behind bars and fined after crashing his Range Rover into a branch of Snappy Snaps in Hampstead on July 4. He pleaded guilty to d...

George Michael has claimed he deserved to be jailed last year after crashing his car into a London shop while high on cannabis.

The singer was sentenced to eight weeks behind bars and fined after crashing his Range Rover into a branch of Snappy Snaps in Hampstead on July 4.

He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving under the influence of cannabis in August, but was released after serving less than a month of his sentence.

Speaking to Chris Evans in an interview due to be broadcast on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show next week, Michael admitted to feeling “ashamed” over the incident, but believed he got the punishment he deserved.

“This was a hugely shameful thing to have done repeatedly. So karmically I felt like I had a bill to pay. I went to prison, I paid my bill,” he said.

Michael also denied reports that he was distressed while locked up in Pentonville Prison, where he spent the first part of his sentence before being transferred to Highpoint open prison in Suffolk.

“Remarkably enough, I know people must think it was a really horrific experience – it’s so much easier to take any form of punishment if you believe you actually deserve it, and I did,” he added.

The full interview is due to be broadcast on Evans‘ show in two parts on Monday and Tuesday (March 7 and 8).

Meanwhile, the former Wham! singer is scheduled to release a cover of New Order’s 1987 track ‘True Faith’ on March 13 in aid of Comic Relief.

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

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Elbow confirm Glastonbury appearance

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Elbow confirm Glastonbury appearance
Elbow have confirmed they will play before U2 at this year's Glastonbury festival. Frontman Guy Garvey revealed the news while talking on his BBC 6 Music show yesterday (March 6). Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis later said on her Twitter page, Twitter.com/emilyeavis, "We're delighted that the mig...

Elbow have confirmed they will play before U2 at this year’s Glastonbury festival.

Frontman Guy Garvey revealed the news while talking on his BBC 6 Music show yesterday (March 6). Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis later said on her Twitter page, Twitter.com/emilyeavis, “We’re delighted that the mighty Elbow have confirmed.”

Elbow‘s new album ‘Build A Rocket Boys!’ is released today (March 7).

Glastonbury takes pace on June 22-26. U2 headline the festival’s Pyramid Stage on the Friday night (June 24), with Coldplay headlining the following day and Beyonce bringing the bash to a close on the Sunday.

The following acts have now been confirmed to play Glastonbury 2011:

U2

Coldplay

Beyonce

Anna Calvi

BB King

Big Boi

The Chemical Brothers

Crystal Castles

Elbow

Friendly Fires

Fleet Foxes

Gruff Rhys

Janelle Monae

Mumford & Sons

Primal Scream

Warpaint

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.

NORWEGIAN WOOD

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NORWEGIAN WOOD
Directed by Tran Anh Hung Starring Rinko Kikuchi, Kenichi Matsuyama, Kiko Mizuhara Such is the affection in which Haruki Murakami’s 1987 novel is held that Tran Anh Hung’s adaptation will never please everyone. So Murakami fans please note that while the cinematography is beautiful, the story...

Directed by Tran Anh Hung

Starring Rinko Kikuchi, Kenichi Matsuyama, Kiko Mizuhara

Such is the affection in which Haruki Murakami’s 1987 novel is held that Tran Anh Hung’s adaptation will never please everyone.

So Murakami fans please note that while the cinematography is beautiful, the story’s melancholy allure and wit are over-shadowed by a torpid sense of dread.

Set in 1967, student Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) moves to Tokyo at the time of student unrest, haunted by the suicide of his friend, and struggling with his attraction to two girls, the grieving Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi) and the playful Midori (Kiko Mizuhara).

Essentially, Watanabe is torn between life and death, and while the film can’t replicate the snap of Murakami’s writing, it does evince the intensity of young adulthood, mired in infatuation and doom.

Jonny Greenwood’s excellent score adds dark angles to the emotional tumescence.

Alastair McKay

REM – COLLAPSE INTO NOW

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REM – COLLAPSE INTO NOW
As recently as three years ago, it looked like REM were done. The first certifiably poor record of their astonishing career, 2004’s Around The Sun had been followed by an unenthralling tour, and a lengthy period of sulky silence, during which REM’s three remaining members admitted that, during t...

As recently as three years ago, it looked like REM were done. The first certifiably poor record of their astonishing career, 2004’s Around The Sun had been followed by an unenthralling tour, and a lengthy period of sulky silence, during which REM’s three remaining members admitted that, during the gestation of Around The Sun, they’d pretty much ceased speaking to each other.

2008’s brash, punky Accelerate, a wilful and hearty tug on their garage band roots, was immense fun, but rather felt like the old gang getting back together for one last job, determined not to bow out on a low note. There still seemed very little likelihood that REM were going to be REM, as we’d come to understand the idea, again.

Collapse Into Now, REM’s 15th studio album, finds them at least trying to be exactly that, and not infrequently succeeding, though the struggle with the syndrome of diminishing returns must be at least as arduous for the band as it is for the listener. Nobody, surely REM least of all, expects them to reconquer the heights they commanded between 1983’s Murmur and 1992’s Automatic For The People, an eight-album sequence of near flawlessness and incalculable influence. Set in that context Collapse Into Now can only sound like an afterthought, but it is nevertheless one which bristles and fizzes with invigorating quantities of wit and fury.

Two defining lines, laced with gleeful self-mockery, lurk in the terrific second track, raging rock’n’roll jams-kicker “All The Best”. “It’s just like me to overstay my welcome” is one. “I’ll show the kids how to do it” is the other.

Collapse Into Now was produced by Jacknife Lee, who presided over Accelerate, and recorded in Berlin’s Hansa studios, birthplace of David Bowie’s “Heroes”, Iggy Pop’s Lust For Life and perhaps more significantly, for a somewhat becalmed rock leviathan seeking a renewed sense of purpose, U2’s Achtung Baby. Collapse Into Now will neither define a moment nor redefine a career, but it flourishes a few worthwhile reminders of REM’s singular capabilities. “Mine Smell Like Honey” is swaggering boogie in the “Bad Day”/”End Of The World As We Know It” mould, borne aloft, as so many great REM moments have been, by Mike Mills’ harmonies. Opening track “Discoverer” summons memories of the baleful stadium rock of “Green”, Buck recycling the purposeful, shuddering guitar of “Turn You Inside Out”.

Where Accelerate was an explicit exercise in REM brushing the grey out of their whiskers and reconnecting with the adolescent joy of rattling the garage walls, Collapse Into Now sees REM permitting themselves a return to their traditionally wider sonic palette (it does share with its predecessor a determination to get on with things – the 12 tracks consume just 41 minutes). Guest stars are invited along – Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder on the sweet country shuffle “It Happened Today”, Peaches and Lenny Kaye on the exuberantly daft thrash “Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter”. The acoustic guitars and mandolins – as well as accordions and other accoutrements of REM’s backporch-strummers mode – are retrieved from the attic for the likes of “Uberlin”, “Oh My Heart” and “Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando And I”, each eloquent studies in the gothic folk previously heard on the more introspective moments of Out Of Time. The closing track, “Blue”, is a sonorous, sprawling and altogether seductive dirge, Stipe’s distorted, distracted spoken monologue counterpointed by the backing vocals of Patti Smith.

It says everything about REM’s stature at this point that it’s really only possible to define and describe their new album by referring to their old albums: they’re one of those rare acts who’ve become a genre unto themselves. Collapse Into Now is doomed, as all post-Automatic For The People REM albums are doomed, to spend its life in mighty shadows, but it sparkles and twinkles nonetheless.
Andrew Mueller

Q+A PETER BUCK AND MIKE MILLS
UNCUT: This is a more expansive record than Accelerate.
MIKE MILLS: We didn’t try and limit ourselves to any type of song on this one, we just picked the best we had. It runs the gamut from pretty loud and fast to slow and beautiful. We tried to get most of the songs in two or three takes.
PETER BUCK: In recent years it’s felt like my job in REM is to keep things moving, to work quickly and keep everyone working with an edge so it’s spontaneous. Some of the material this time sounds very emotional.

Is there a deeper meaning to the LP title?
PB: Someone in the studio asked Patti Smith what we should call it. She looked at Michael’s notes and said: “What about ‘Collapse Into Now?’,” which is a line from “Blue”. From Michael’s lyrics, it sort of feels like the way we run everything. It’s kind of ramshackle.
MM: Today is a very immediate time, we’re all used to immediate gratification, knowledge and availability. Past and future matter less, as everyone’s focused on the moment. We weren’t thinking about that when we chose the title, but looking back it makes sense. It’s a record that fits the time in which we live.
INTERVIEW: ROB HUGHES

ELBOW – BUILD A ROCKET BOYS!

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ELBOW – BUILD A ROCKET BOYS!

After two decades of making music to mass indifference, as of 2011 Elbow find themselves in a unique position. Their fifth album will be both their highest charting release and their most-eagerly awaited album, and they’ll be touring it in larger venues than they’ve ever played before. A well-deserved Mercury prize triumph in 2008 has elevated them into rock’s premier league, and turned Guy Garvey – keen birdwatcher, unrepentant Yes fan and the band’s affable frontman – into something of a national treasure. The band haven’t moved from Manchester. Indeed Garvey’s moved back to his hometown of Bury, just north of the city, and these songs see him reflecting on the past, on childhood, friendship, family and suburbia. “Old friends/You are angels and drunks/You are magi”, he sings on “Dear Friends”, the slow-burning closer. It’s the first Elbow album that doesn’t bear any of the usual reference points cited by observers – Blur, Radiohead, Peter Gabriel – and instead taps into a very different influence at the core of their music. Garvey has talked about his lapsed Catholicism and, like several members of the band, was an altar boy in his youth. He often abandons songs as they sound “too much like hymns”, only once relenting when he wrote the full-on secular hymn “Grace Under Pressure”. What’s immediately striking about this album is that nearly every track resembles a hymn. Each employs simple chord changes and striking melodies; most move the piano to the foreground, relegating the guitar to soft, minimal noises; most reduce the rhythm track to something gentle and pattering. None of the tracks are about romantic love, all view love in the spiritual sense, in terms of community, fellowship and awe of nature. This spiritual dimension adds an epic feel to these rather parochial ruminations. “Lippy Kids” is a portrait of Manchester’s ASBO kids, one that explores similar territory to The Smiths’ “Rusholme Ruffians”. But, where Morrissey eyes his subjects with an excited disgust, Garvey paints a softer, “hug-a-hoodie” picture. He mourns that he “never perfected that simian stroll” and elevates his benighted subjects to “freshly painted angels/walking on walls/stealing booze and hour-long hungry kisses”. He urges them to “build a rocket, boys”, conferring a dignity upon them by use of a gentle piano and a luscious orchestral accompaniment. Likewise Davey Graham-ish “Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl” takes an unprepossessing young woman – apparently based on a local friend, around whose house a teenage Garvey and his friends would hang out – and paints her home (“she’s got a house that you can smoke in”) as a spiritual refuge. It’s also an album steeped in civic pride. Crucially, however, it’s a different Manchester to the usual clichés of rain-sodden streets or dark satanic mills. Theirs is not the city of Joy Division, Bernard Manning (or indeed Freddie And The Dreamers), but the Manchester of the Whitworth and Chetham’s, of Harrison Birtwistle and Anthony Burgess, of the grand Central Library and the Hallé. Indeed, the latter play a role on this record. After collaborating with the Hallé Orchestra at last year’s Manchester International Festival, this album features the Hallé Youth Choir, who add a John Tavener-like intensity to tracks like “The River”. There’s still plenty to appeal to Elbow loyalists. “Open Arms” and “With Love” are anthemic crowdpleasers in the vein of “One Day Like This”. “Neat Little Rows” – with a nod to Echo And The Bunnymen – shows that they haven’t lost their knack for punchy post-punk. “The Night Will Always Win” is a fine ballad with a resemblance to Abba’s “Fandango”. Pride of place, however, goes to opener “The Birds”, a lengthy, symphonic, harmony-laden trip hop groove that’s reprised near the end of the LP when sung by an elderly, anonymous actor, who turns it into a spooky Benjamin Britten aria. In short, it’s a quietly beautiful record: anthemic but not bombastic, introspective yet universal, simply drawn but beautifully coloured in. John Lewis Q+A Guy Garvey The record seems very nostalgic... I found myself writing about home. I suppose everyone feels that, after childhood, adulthood flies by. Of course I’ve got a side to my nature that’s had a really good party for the last 20 years, but then there’s another side to everyone. One that wants to spend more time reflecting on things rather than running headlong at them. I guess I’m there. Did you discover new things about yourself? A lot of the record is about not blaming people. And there are references to not looking at young men as potential murderers but as potential life-savers instead – doctors and scientists. If someone’s on a street corner figuring out how to be a man, it doesn’t mean they’re going to rob you. There’s a fashion in the right-wing press to alienate every age group. You’re not allowed to be young… or old. Is this reflected in the music itself? We’re giving the listener credit for knowing our music already. We’re not on a first date with anybody that comes to this record; we’ve allowed ourselves subtlety. The songs are long enough to swim in. And that’s partly down to our confidence growing. INTERVIEW: ROB HUGHES

After two decades of making music to mass indifference, as of 2011 Elbow find themselves in a unique position. Their fifth album will be both their highest charting release and their most-eagerly awaited album, and they’ll be touring it in larger venues than they’ve ever played before. A well-deserved Mercury prize triumph in 2008 has elevated them into rock’s premier league, and turned Guy Garvey – keen birdwatcher, unrepentant Yes fan and the band’s affable frontman – into something of a national treasure.

The band haven’t moved from Manchester. Indeed Garvey’s moved back to his hometown of Bury, just north of the city, and these songs see him reflecting on the past, on childhood, friendship, family and suburbia. “Old friends/You are angels and drunks/You are magi”, he sings on “Dear Friends”, the slow-burning closer. It’s the first Elbow album that doesn’t bear any of the usual reference points cited by observers – Blur, Radiohead, Peter Gabriel – and instead taps into a very different influence at the core of their music. Garvey has talked about his lapsed Catholicism and, like several members of the band, was an altar boy in his youth. He often abandons songs as they sound “too much like hymns”, only once relenting when he wrote the full-on secular hymn “Grace Under Pressure”.

What’s immediately striking about this album is that nearly every track resembles a hymn. Each employs simple chord changes and striking melodies; most move the piano to the foreground, relegating the guitar to soft, minimal noises; most reduce the rhythm track to something gentle and pattering. None of the tracks are about romantic love, all view love in the spiritual sense, in terms of community, fellowship and awe of nature.

This spiritual dimension adds an epic feel to these rather parochial ruminations. “Lippy Kids” is a portrait of Manchester’s ASBO kids, one that explores similar territory to The Smiths’ “Rusholme Ruffians”. But, where Morrissey eyes his subjects with an excited disgust, Garvey paints a softer, “hug-a-hoodie” picture. He mourns that he “never perfected that simian stroll” and elevates his benighted subjects to “freshly painted angels/walking on walls/stealing booze and hour-long hungry kisses”. He urges them to “build a rocket, boys”, conferring a dignity upon them by use of a gentle piano and a luscious orchestral accompaniment. Likewise Davey Graham-ish “Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl” takes an unprepossessing young woman – apparently based on a local friend, around whose house a teenage Garvey and his friends would hang out – and paints her home (“she’s got a house that you can smoke in”) as a spiritual refuge.

It’s also an album steeped in civic pride. Crucially, however, it’s a different Manchester to the usual clichés of rain-sodden streets or dark satanic mills. Theirs is not the city of Joy Division, Bernard Manning (or indeed Freddie And The Dreamers), but the Manchester of the Whitworth and Chetham’s, of Harrison Birtwistle and Anthony Burgess, of the grand Central Library and the Hallé. Indeed, the latter play a role on this record. After collaborating with the Hallé Orchestra at last year’s Manchester International Festival, this album features the Hallé Youth Choir, who add a John Tavener-like intensity to tracks like “The River”. There’s still plenty to appeal to Elbow loyalists. “Open Arms” and “With Love” are anthemic crowdpleasers in the vein of “One Day Like This”. “Neat Little Rows” – with a nod to Echo And The Bunnymen – shows that they haven’t lost their knack for punchy post-punk. “The Night Will Always Win” is a fine ballad with a resemblance to Abba’s “Fandango”. Pride of place, however, goes to opener “The Birds”, a lengthy, symphonic, harmony-laden trip hop groove that’s reprised near the end of the LP when sung by an elderly, anonymous actor, who turns it into a spooky Benjamin Britten aria. In short, it’s a quietly beautiful record: anthemic but not bombastic, introspective yet universal, simply drawn but beautifully coloured in.

John Lewis

Q+A Guy Garvey

The record seems very nostalgic…

I found myself writing about home. I suppose everyone feels that, after childhood, adulthood flies by. Of course I’ve got a side to my nature that’s had a really good party for the last 20 years, but then there’s another side to everyone. One that wants to spend more time reflecting on things rather than running headlong at them. I guess I’m there.

Did you discover new things about yourself?

A lot of the record is about not blaming people. And there are references to not looking at young men as potential murderers but as potential life-savers instead – doctors and scientists. If someone’s on a street corner figuring out how to be a man, it doesn’t mean they’re going to rob you. There’s a fashion in the right-wing press to alienate every age group. You’re not allowed to be young… or old.

Is this reflected in the music itself?

We’re giving the listener credit for knowing our music already. We’re not on a first date with anybody that comes to this record; we’ve allowed ourselves subtlety. The songs are long enough to swim in. And that’s partly down to our confidence growing.

INTERVIEW: ROB HUGHES

D Charles Speer & The Helix, “Leaving The Commonwealth”; Chris Forsyth, “Paranoid Cat”; D Charles Speer, “Arghiledes”

John Mulvey
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I have a good few mysterious records in my collection, as you can probably imagine. Among the more obtuse are a bunch by a shadowy New York collective called The No-Neck Blues Band. It’s not always easy to read these albums, since the band have an apparent disdain for even the most fundamental marketing expediencies. Often, their name is nowhere to be found on the package, replaced by a kind of glyph that, decoded, reads NNCK. No surprise, I guess, that No-Neck’s music is similarly elusive. Mostly, their records (I like 2003’s "Intonomancy" best, of the ones I have) are eerie commune jams; improvised dispatches from the wilder shores of the free-folk movement. One of their number, though, is called Dave Shuford, who increasingly works under the name of D Charles Speer to make a radically different sort of music. Where No-Neck feel unanchored and ethereal, D Charles Speer and his band The Helix sound tremendously earthed, deep in American tradition. I’ve written plenty before about bands who straddle the divide between roots music and the avant-garde. Many clustered around the late guitarist Jack Rose, and figured on the "Honest Strings" tribute album; The Helix actually joined Rose on his last EP, “Ragged And Right”. Nevertheless, the disparity between No-Neck’s explorations and the Helix’s honky-tonk country rock is still startling. Ostensibly, on their forthcoming third album, Speer and The Helix resemble a terrific, intermittently cosmic, bar band. There’s an obvious antecedent for this stuff, and much of Leaving The Commonwealth has the spirit of The Grateful Dead circa "Europe ’72", especially the roistering, spiralling “Freddie’s Lapels”. But everything here, from zydeco dalliances to the levitational riffing of the title track, is hugely enjoyable in its own right. Speer is a charismatic baritone, paying sweet homage to Rose during “Cumberland” (“Still can’t believe Dr Ragtime’s gone,” he drawls, “he should be right over there, booing this lousy song.”), and he’s blessed with a fine and feisty band; Hans Chew, whose own "Tennessee And Other Stories…" was one of my favourites of 2010, is prominent on piano throughout, along with the pedal steel ace, Marc Orleans (another No-Neck vet, who also figures in the equally zonked Sunburned Hand Of The Man). Digressing for a moment, Chew and Orleans provide back-up to the guitarist Chris Forsyth on his new one, "Paranoid Cat". There’s a tribute to Jack Rose here, too (“New Pharmacist Boogie”), but the album’s dominated by the amazing 20-minute title track, where Forsyth moves through Sandy Bull-ish passages of folk-raga, through systems drones, and into rattling full-band workouts and rearing electric cacophonies. Some of Forsyth’s more abstract moments sit reasonably well alongside yet another D Charles Speer album on the way, a solo set called "Arghiledes". This one is, of all things, a selection of bouzouki freak-outs heavily influenced, it seems, by early 20th Century Greek drug music. As a document of Speer’s eclecticism and virtuosity, it’s certainly compelling, and it makes me wonder what other tangents are hidden on his CV. I found a couple of his albums with The Suntanama, pleasingly ragged Southern-rockers from the turn of the century, at home. But can anyone fill me in on Enos Slaughter? Egypt Is The Magick #? Coach Fingers? Your help, as ever, is much appreciated.

I have a good few mysterious records in my collection, as you can probably imagine. Among the more obtuse are a bunch by a shadowy New York collective called The No-Neck Blues Band. It’s not always easy to read these albums, since the band have an apparent disdain for even the most fundamental marketing expediencies. Often, their name is nowhere to be found on the package, replaced by a kind of glyph that, decoded, reads NNCK.

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