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Pink Floyd – Oh, By The Way…

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Pink Floyd – Oh, By The Way…

Fetch the helium balloons, face paints and mobile disco. After years of rancour and torpor, Pink Floyd suddenly can’t stop celebrating. First came September’s 40th anniversary reissue of The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. Now cop a load of this mammoth, 16-CD ‘instant Floyd collection’, containing mini-vinyl reproductions of all their studio albums (1967–94): a deluxe, executive, gold-member, £145 crash course in Floyd. The patient is strapped down. For the next 11 hours he will listen to the entire box set in chronological order, with no toilet breaks, human contact or wine. His experiment begins with Piper…, a space probe viewed from a child’s nursery, which alternately soothes and scares him (heartbeat: placid, berserk). He quickly impresses the doctors by reappraising the not-so-exalted A Saucerful Of Secrets, muttering: “You can hear how they took three bass-notes from the middle of ‘Interstellar Overdrive’ and devised a sort of speculative, post-Barrett, cosmic-progressive franchise for themselves to build on.” If the film soundtrack More and ‘studio’ half of Ummagumma (heartbeat: sluggish) don’t hold his attention (“undercooked, run-of-the-mill atmospherics”), he perks up during the latter’s ‘live’ half (“genuinely spooky”) and towards the end of Atom Heart Mother (heartbeat: inert) when we wake him with electric shocks (“yaaaaarrgh”). The sequence Meddle–Dark Side Of The Moon–Wish You Were Here meets with apparently sincere approval (“say what you like, the meticulous craftsmanship is to die for”) and special, if unusual, praise is reserved for the 1972 album Obscured By Clouds (“very much their ‘fuck you’ garage-rock classic”). The bleak Animals (1977), despite doctors’ concerns, stimulates him into forthright social comment (“more punk than punk, really”), but he baulks at The Wall and requires heavy sedation (“Roger Waters and Bob Ezrin at their tasteless, pompous worst”). He sleeps through The Final Cut, probably for the best, and, though revivified, his intravenous drip detaches itself midway through A Momentary Lapse Of Reason (“those mid-’80s productions… I’ve just remembered an urgent chiropodist’s appointment”). He is administered freebase cocaine to keep him alive during The Division Bell (“zzzzzz”). Further patient notes: “No outtakes, no ‘Vegetable Man’, chiz chiz”, “SO MUCH UNDERACHIEVEMENT: IRONY?”, “Remarkable how Nick Mason goes from primitive–African nutter to most banal drummer on earth in 2 yrs”. DAVID CAVANAGH

Fetch the helium balloons, face paints and mobile disco. After years of rancour and torpor, Pink Floyd suddenly can’t stop celebrating. First came September’s 40th anniversary reissue of The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. Now cop a load of this mammoth, 16-CD ‘instant Floyd collection’, containing mini-vinyl reproductions of all their studio albums (1967–94): a deluxe, executive, gold-member, £145 crash course in Floyd.

The patient is strapped down. For the next 11 hours he will listen to the entire box set in chronological order, with no toilet breaks, human contact or wine. His experiment begins with Piper…, a space probe viewed from a child’s nursery, which alternately soothes and scares him (heartbeat: placid, berserk). He quickly impresses the doctors by reappraising the not-so-exalted A Saucerful Of Secrets, muttering: “You can hear how they took three bass-notes from the middle of ‘Interstellar Overdrive’ and devised a sort of speculative, post-Barrett, cosmic-progressive franchise for themselves to build on.”

If the film soundtrack More and ‘studio’ half of Ummagumma (heartbeat: sluggish) don’t hold his attention (“undercooked, run-of-the-mill atmospherics”), he perks up during the latter’s ‘live’ half (“genuinely spooky”) and towards the end of Atom Heart Mother (heartbeat: inert) when we wake him with electric shocks (“yaaaaarrgh”). The sequence Meddle–Dark Side Of The Moon–Wish You Were Here meets with apparently sincere approval (“say what you like, the meticulous craftsmanship is to die for”) and special, if unusual, praise is reserved for the 1972 album Obscured By Clouds (“very much their ‘fuck you’ garage-rock classic”).

The bleak Animals (1977), despite doctors’ concerns, stimulates him into forthright social comment (“more punk than punk, really”), but he baulks at The Wall and requires heavy sedation (“Roger Waters and Bob Ezrin at their tasteless, pompous worst”). He sleeps through The Final Cut, probably for the best, and, though revivified, his intravenous drip detaches itself midway through A Momentary Lapse Of Reason (“those mid-’80s productions… I’ve just remembered an urgent chiropodist’s appointment”). He is administered freebase cocaine to keep him alive during The Division Bell (“zzzzzz”).

Further patient notes: “No outtakes, no ‘Vegetable Man’, chiz chiz”, “SO MUCH UNDERACHIEVEMENT: IRONY?”, “Remarkable how Nick Mason goes from primitive–African nutter to most banal drummer on earth in 2 yrs”.

DAVID CAVANAGH

U2 – The Joshua Tree Re-Mastered (R1987)

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U2 – The Joshua Tree Re-Mastered (R1987)

It is vexingly difficult to improve upon the summation of “The Joshua Tree” offered by longtime U2 confidant Bill Flanagan in his liner notes accompanying this sumptuous re-release. U2’s fifth studio album, Flanagan writes, “established both a standard they would always have to live up to, and an image they would forever try to live down.” The Joshua Tree was a milestone and a millstone. It turned U2 from a biggish rock’n’roll band into inescapable, ubiquitous, culture-straddling colossi. Even Time magazine felt obliged to put them on the cover, declaring U2 “Rock’s Hottest Ticket” and relegating Mikhail Gorbachev to a top-corner drop-in. It also turned U2, as that kind of success often does to its victim, into caricatures of themselves. The perception of U2 as a sack of pompous bores, which rather unfairly persists despite several expansive and expensive attempts by the band to exorcise it – Bono famously characterised U2’s dazzling reinvention in the 1990s as “the sound of four men chopping down ‘The Joshua Tree’” – is rooted in the album’s cover image: Anton Corbijn’s grainy, black-and-white study of a quartet of earnest young Irishmen regarding the Californian desert with a demeanour that made the statues of Easter Island resemble, by comparison, the cast of “Animal House”. So, 20 years and more than 20 million sales later, 'The Joshua Tree' is one of those albums which, like anything similarly culturally and commercially overwhelming, is a struggle to appreciate on its own merits. It’s a task made no easier by the – admittedly splendid – distractions included with this reissue. The deluxe edition includes a second disc of b-sides and demos. A limited box set has that plus a DVD which contains a concert from the “Joshua Tree” tour (Paris, July 4th, 1987), a couple of videos (including one for “Red Hill Mining Town” in which U2, clad in sweat-soaked singlets, stroll around what seems to be some sort of disreputable sauna) and a film called “Outside It’s America” – an agglomeration of home-movie footage, including the (almost literally) riotous filming of the “Where The Streets Have No Name” video on a Los Angeles rooftop, plus plane rides, photo shoots, soundchecks, shopping, and sundry after-hours clowning. The new sleeve features more of Corbijin’s photos, plus reflections on the album from most of its principals – each of U2, minus the obstinately modest Larry Mullen jr, Corbijn, producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, among others. 'The Joshua Tree' itself, it says here, has been “meticulously remastered”, but any casual listener who can perceive a meaningful difference between this and the original has i) ears like a bat and/or ii) needs to get out more. The emphasis on the re-mastering is, however, a telling indicator of U2’s essential restlessness: they are, whatever else one may think of them, the least complacent of megastars, gnawingly dissatisfied with their own canon (Bono’s contribution to the sleevenotes includes a hostage-offering admonishment to himself that he “never finished” the lyrics for “The Joshua Tree”). It’s also indicative of U2’s apparently insatiable desire to broadcast as far and wide as possible, this band who never – somewhat jarringly in the crucible of post-punk which formed them – saw the point, or the appeal, of obscurity (in the same treatise, Bono recalls rock of the late 80s as “starting to stare at its own shoes, with its gothic death cults and indie whingeing”). Even the b-sides and out-takes on the new bonus disc fizz with ambition – and, inevitably, occasionally, over-ambition. Those who experience an itching sensation in their teeth whenever U2 embrace Calliope a little too ardently should probably skip the arrangements of William Blake’s “Introduction” (from “Songs Of Experience”) and Allen Ginsberg’s “America”. Elsewhere, though, lie many treasures, greatly illuminating of U2’s palette of influences – the space-age Smokey Robinson “Sweetest Thing”, the svelte Television homage “Spanish Eyes”. 'The Joshua Tree' itself still bristles with the bravado of a band shaping up for a shot at the title, daring themselves to believe that they could make their idols their peers. Shortly afterwards, of course, the further pursuit of this impulse would lead to the hubris, well-meaning though it was, of (i)Rattle & Hum(i), but for these 11 tracks, U2 hit neither a metaphorical nor actual duff note. The track-listing is massively front-loaded, led off by the three big singles (“Where The Streets Have No Name”, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, “With Or Without You”): the result, Bono later claimed, of asking Kirsty MacColl (whose then-husband, Steve Lillywhite, mixed four of the cuts) to sequence the record; she simply listed the songs in order of preference. Starting with these ecstatic anthems sets the album up for a vertiginous downward momentum, plummeting through “Bullet The Blue Sky” (an oblique critique of American misadventurism in El Salvador, on which Edge’s screeching guitar satisfyingly approximates fighter jets) via the gorgeous “Running To Stand Still” to a succession of exquisitely reproachful, souped-up psalms contemplating, to various extents, what was, then and now, the biggest of subjects: the United States. The working title for 'The Joshua Tree' was “The Two Americas”, which would have been blundering and portentous, but also accurate. The album was, and remains, an epic and unflinching gaze into a country of possibilities inspiring and alarming: a country into which U2 were looking, perhaps, and seeing something of themselves. ANDREW MUELLER

It is vexingly difficult to improve upon the summation of “The Joshua Tree” offered by longtime U2 confidant Bill Flanagan in his liner notes accompanying this sumptuous re-release. U2’s fifth studio album, Flanagan writes, “established both a standard they would always have to live up to, and an image they would forever try to live down.”

The Joshua Tree was a milestone and a millstone. It turned U2 from a biggish rock’n’roll band into inescapable, ubiquitous, culture-straddling colossi. Even Time magazine felt obliged to put them on the cover, declaring U2 “Rock’s Hottest Ticket” and relegating Mikhail Gorbachev to a top-corner drop-in.

It also turned U2, as that kind of success often does to its victim, into caricatures of themselves. The perception of U2 as a sack of pompous bores, which rather unfairly persists despite several expansive and expensive attempts by the band to exorcise it – Bono famously characterised U2’s dazzling reinvention in the 1990s as “the sound of four men chopping down ‘The Joshua Tree’” – is rooted in the album’s cover image: Anton Corbijn’s grainy, black-and-white study of a quartet of earnest young Irishmen regarding the Californian desert with a demeanour that made the statues of Easter Island resemble, by comparison, the cast of “Animal House”.

So, 20 years and more than 20 million sales later, ‘The Joshua Tree’ is one of those albums which, like anything similarly culturally and commercially overwhelming, is a struggle to appreciate on its own merits. It’s a task made no easier by the – admittedly splendid – distractions included with this reissue. The deluxe edition includes a second disc of b-sides and demos. A limited box set has that plus a DVD which contains a concert from the “Joshua Tree” tour (Paris, July 4th, 1987), a couple of videos (including one for “Red Hill Mining Town” in which U2, clad in sweat-soaked singlets, stroll around what seems to be some sort of disreputable sauna) and a film called “Outside It’s America” – an agglomeration of home-movie footage, including the (almost literally) riotous filming of the “Where The Streets Have No Name” video on a Los Angeles rooftop, plus plane rides, photo shoots, soundchecks, shopping, and sundry after-hours clowning. The new sleeve features more of Corbijin’s photos, plus reflections on the album from most of its principals – each of U2, minus the obstinately modest Larry Mullen jr, Corbijn, producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, among others.

‘The Joshua Tree’ itself, it says here, has been “meticulously remastered”, but any casual listener who can perceive a meaningful difference between this and the original has i) ears like a bat and/or ii) needs to get out more. The emphasis on the re-mastering is, however, a telling indicator of U2’s essential restlessness: they are, whatever else one may think of them, the least complacent of megastars, gnawingly dissatisfied with their own canon (Bono’s contribution to the sleevenotes includes a hostage-offering admonishment to himself that he “never finished” the lyrics for “The Joshua Tree”). It’s also indicative of U2’s apparently insatiable desire to broadcast as far and wide as possible, this band who never – somewhat jarringly in the crucible of post-punk which formed them – saw the point, or the appeal, of obscurity (in the same treatise, Bono recalls rock of the late 80s as “starting to stare at its own shoes, with its gothic death cults and indie whingeing”).

Even the b-sides and out-takes on the new bonus disc fizz with ambition – and, inevitably, occasionally, over-ambition. Those who experience an itching sensation in their teeth whenever U2 embrace Calliope a little too ardently should probably skip the arrangements of William Blake’s “Introduction” (from “Songs Of Experience”) and Allen Ginsberg’s “America”. Elsewhere, though, lie many treasures, greatly illuminating of U2’s palette of influences – the space-age Smokey Robinson “Sweetest Thing”, the svelte Television homage “Spanish Eyes”.

‘The Joshua Tree’ itself still bristles with the bravado of a band shaping up for a shot at the title, daring themselves to believe that they could make their idols their peers. Shortly afterwards, of course, the further pursuit of this impulse would lead to the hubris, well-meaning though it was, of (i)Rattle & Hum(i), but for these 11 tracks, U2 hit neither a metaphorical nor actual duff note. The track-listing is massively front-loaded, led off by the three big singles (“Where The Streets Have No Name”, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, “With Or Without You”): the result, Bono later claimed, of asking Kirsty MacColl (whose then-husband, Steve Lillywhite, mixed four of the cuts) to sequence the record; she simply listed the songs in order of preference.

Starting with these ecstatic anthems sets the album up for a vertiginous downward momentum, plummeting through “Bullet The Blue Sky” (an oblique critique of American misadventurism in El Salvador, on which Edge’s screeching guitar satisfyingly approximates fighter jets) via the gorgeous “Running To Stand Still” to a succession of exquisitely reproachful, souped-up psalms contemplating, to various extents, what was, then and now, the biggest of subjects: the United States.

The working title for ‘The Joshua Tree’ was “The Two Americas”, which would have been blundering and portentous, but also accurate. The album was, and remains, an epic and unflinching gaze into a country of possibilities inspiring and alarming: a country into which U2 were looking, perhaps, and seeing something of themselves.

ANDREW MUELLER

The Vernon Elliott Ensemble – Ivor The Engine & Pogles Wood

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The Vernon Elliott Ensemble – Ivor The Engine & Pogles Wood

To anoraks of a certain sensibility, Trunk Records honcho Jonny Trunk is slowly assuming the role of a pop culture National Trust – preserving musical memories that will always be too obscure or esoteric for mainstream consumption. Thanks to him, the soundtrack to camp horror-flick Blood On Satan’s Claw is once again in circulation, whilst Basil Kirchin’s Abstractions Of The Industrial North has been liberated from the music library limbo. If affection for such off-beam instrumental excursions runs deep, then that shouldn’t be surprising. As Trunk’s 2001 reissue of Vernon Elliott’s music for The Clangers serves to remind us, the music that accompanied our pre-school yesterdays defied categorisation. In the hands of Elliott, outer space was depicted not as a wonky Joe Meek-style futurescape of possibilities, but a place where tiny curiosities happened amid a backdrop of vast emptiness. This CD gathers together the rest of Elliott’s work with master storyteller Oliver Postgate. In keeping with their settings, the music for Pogles Wood and Ivor The Engine was stripped of avant-garde flourishes. The main Ivor theme included here is akin to a 12-inch (or, if you like, wide-gauge) version – with a minute of Satiesque piano and Elliott’s bassoon preceding the recognizably jaunty bit. Much of what follows is really just colour (“Ivor Resists Starting” is the sort of thing you insert as light relief when making CD-Rs for friends) but just as much is unexpectedly moving: the choir on “Land Of My Fathers” and the bucolic canter of “Fast Theme”. Even if you remember Pogles Wood, chances are you won’t remember its finest moment “Witch’s Theme”. After complaints from worried parents, this burst of air-thickening orchestral portent was shelved, along with the witch whose entrance it heralded. What remained, however, was hardly easy listening. “Pogles Walk” sounds like the music woodland animals might make after the humans have left, whilst Apprehensive Music is up there with Depeche Mode’s “It’s No Good” for the most literal title of all time. Odd doesn’t even begin to cover it – but smuggled in the Trojan horse of Postgate’s narratives, the effect of Elliott’s music was mesmerising. It’s hard to imagine a generation weaned on Tweenies and Fifi & The Flowertots coming to appreciate the music of their early years in quite the same way. PETER PAPHIDES

To anoraks of a certain sensibility, Trunk Records honcho Jonny Trunk is slowly assuming the role of a pop culture National Trust – preserving musical memories that will always be too obscure or esoteric for mainstream consumption. Thanks to him, the soundtrack to camp horror-flick Blood On Satan’s Claw is once again in circulation, whilst Basil Kirchin’s Abstractions Of The Industrial North has been liberated from the music library limbo.

If affection for such off-beam instrumental excursions runs deep, then that shouldn’t be surprising. As Trunk’s 2001 reissue of Vernon Elliott’s music for The Clangers serves to remind us, the music that accompanied our pre-school yesterdays defied categorisation. In the hands of Elliott, outer space was depicted not as a wonky Joe Meek-style futurescape of possibilities, but a place where tiny curiosities happened amid a backdrop of vast emptiness.

This CD gathers together the rest of Elliott’s work with master storyteller Oliver Postgate. In keeping with their settings, the music for Pogles Wood and Ivor The Engine was stripped of avant-garde flourishes. The main Ivor theme included here is akin to a 12-inch (or, if you like, wide-gauge) version – with a minute of Satiesque piano and Elliott’s bassoon preceding the recognizably jaunty bit. Much of what follows is really just colour (“Ivor Resists Starting” is the sort of thing you insert as light relief when making CD-Rs for friends) but just as much is unexpectedly moving: the choir on “Land Of My Fathers” and the bucolic canter of “Fast Theme”.

Even if you remember Pogles Wood, chances are you won’t remember its finest moment “Witch’s Theme”. After complaints from worried parents, this burst of air-thickening orchestral portent was shelved, along with the witch whose entrance it heralded. What remained, however, was hardly easy listening. “Pogles Walk” sounds like the music woodland animals might make after the humans have left, whilst Apprehensive Music is up there with Depeche Mode’s “It’s No Good” for the most literal title of all time. Odd doesn’t even begin to cover it – but smuggled in the Trojan horse of Postgate’s narratives, the effect of Elliott’s music was mesmerising. It’s hard to imagine a generation weaned on Tweenies and Fifi & The Flowertots coming to appreciate the music of their early years in quite the same way.

PETER PAPHIDES

Nick Cave And Warren Ellis – The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford: OST

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Nick Cave And Warren Ellis – The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford: OST

Maybe it's the aching romanticism, maybe it's the moral absolutes or maybe it's just all that gorgeous blood and thunder, but the New Western has proved fertile ground for some of rock's wildest mavericks. Bob Dylan infamously appeared in and scored Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid. Robert Altman shot to a soundtrack of Leonard Cohen songs on McCabe and Mrs Miller. And Neil Young provided an oddball addition to the canon with his work on Jim Jarmusch's inscrutably deadpan Dead Man. Having long aspired to precisely that company, Nick Cave is fast becoming the go-to guy to soundtrack your modern-day existential horse opera. He paired up with long-time Bad Seed/Grinderman accomplice Warren Ellis in 2005 to provide music for his own outback vengeance drama The Proposition, and now the duo have been commissioned by Aussie auteur Andrew Dominik (director of the stunning Chopper, among others) to score his would-be Malickian adaptation of Ron Hansen's novel, The Assassination of Jesse James... The Propositionfeatured tracks with such functional titles as "Sad Violin Thing" and "Gun Thing", and the new record kicks off with an ominous piano and violin number called "A Rather Lovely Thing". In truth, half of a dozen of the tracks here could be similarly titled. Dominik's ambitions for his movie were apparently scuppered by the studio, but that doesn't seem to have had any effect on the music which is thick with atmosphere, though -- entirely instrumental -- short on incident. Cave makes a brief cameo in the film, to sing a Jesse-inspired folksong with Zooey Deschanel, but that makes no appearance here. Instead we get a rich, heady musical moonshine, at its best on the twinkling spooked piano of "Song for Jesse". STEPHEN TROUSSÉ Q&A With Warren Ellis: UNCUT:Do you and Nick work differently on soundtracks compared to song-based material? WARREN ELLIS: With a film you are serving something else,and you find yourself making music you wouldn't necessarily do in your group.Generally there are no lyrics,so it's a different thing, more open ended, less reliant on form and structure.We tend to create the music apart from the images, then apply it and see how it fits. We don't spot music,or provide stings as such.I think it's quite different to how other composers work. What was your brief? We were sent one minute of Brad Pitt saying the same line over and over, and made the bulk of the music from that session. It was then left up to Nick and myself to find a way of doing what we do and in some way meet the demands of such a project.I think Andrew has made a huge leap with this film. It's extraordinairy. What's the appeal of the Western? What's not to like about a good Western?! But it's a coincidence that we've done two of them. Recently we completed music for a documentary on an English brain surgeon!

Maybe it’s the aching romanticism, maybe it’s the moral absolutes or maybe it’s just all that gorgeous blood and thunder, but the New Western has proved fertile ground for some of rock’s wildest mavericks. Bob Dylan infamously appeared in and scored Sam Peckinpah‘s Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid. Robert Altman shot to a soundtrack of Leonard Cohen songs on McCabe and Mrs Miller. And Neil Young provided an oddball addition to the canon with his work on Jim Jarmusch‘s inscrutably deadpan Dead Man.

Having long aspired to precisely that company, Nick Cave is fast becoming the go-to guy to soundtrack your modern-day existential horse opera. He paired up with long-time Bad Seed/Grinderman accomplice Warren Ellis in 2005 to provide music for his own outback vengeance drama The Proposition, and now the duo have been commissioned by Aussie auteur Andrew Dominik (director of the stunning Chopper, among others) to score his would-be Malickian adaptation of Ron Hansen’s novel, The Assassination of Jesse James…

The Propositionfeatured tracks with such functional titles as “Sad Violin Thing” and “Gun Thing”, and the new record kicks off with an ominous piano and violin number called “A Rather Lovely Thing”. In truth, half of a dozen of the tracks here could be similarly titled. Dominik’s ambitions for his movie were apparently scuppered by the studio, but that doesn’t seem to have had any effect on the music which is thick with atmosphere, though — entirely instrumental — short on incident. Cave makes a brief cameo in the film, to sing a Jesse-inspired folksong with Zooey Deschanel, but that makes no appearance here. Instead we get a rich, heady musical moonshine, at its best on the twinkling spooked piano of “Song for Jesse”.

STEPHEN TROUSSÉ

Q&A With Warren Ellis:

UNCUT:Do you and Nick work differently on soundtracks compared to song-based material?

WARREN ELLIS: With a film you are serving something else,and you find yourself making music you wouldn’t necessarily do in your group.Generally there are no lyrics,so it’s a different thing, more open ended, less reliant on form and structure.We tend to create the music apart from the images, then apply it and see how it fits. We don’t spot music,or provide stings as such.I think it’s quite different to how other composers work.

What was your brief?

We were sent one minute of Brad Pitt saying the same line over and over, and made the bulk of the music from that session. It was then left up to Nick and myself to find a way of doing what we do and in some way meet the demands of such a project.I think Andrew has made a huge leap with this film. It’s extraordinairy.

What’s the appeal of the Western?

What’s not to like about a good Western?! But it’s a coincidence that we’ve done two of them. Recently we completed music for a documentary on an English brain surgeon!

Paul McCartney To Get Second Special BRIT Award

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Paul McCartney To Get Second Special BRIT Award

Paul McCartney is to receive his second Outstanding Contribution To Music Award at next year's BRITS ceremony. McCartney already holds a Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution To Music for his work with The Beatles, is now to be honoured for his solo work. The singer has previously refused to accept the award, as he thought it indicated that his career was coming to an end. It has also been announced that singer Adele will be given the Critics Choice prize - a new award "created to encourage and launch new talent". The Brits Committee spokesman Ged Doherty said: "Huge congratulations to Adele. I know the competition was fierce in this, the inaugural year of this award, and she is a worthy winner." Other contenders for the new award included Duffy and Foals. Next year's BRITS are to be hosted by The Osbornes, Ozzy and Sharon and is set to take place at London's Earls Court on February 20. The show will be live broadcast on ITV1. Pic credit: Rex Features

Paul McCartney is to receive his second Outstanding Contribution To Music Award at next year’s BRITS ceremony.

McCartney already holds a Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution To Music for his work with The Beatles, is now to be honoured for his solo work.

The singer has previously refused to accept the award, as he thought it indicated that his career was coming to an end.

It has also been announced that singer Adele will be given the Critics Choice prize – a new award “created to encourage and launch new talent”.

The Brits Committee spokesman Ged Doherty said: “Huge congratulations to Adele. I know the competition was fierce in this, the inaugural year of this award, and she is a worthy winner.”

Other contenders for the new award included Duffy and Foals.

Next year’s BRITS are to be hosted by The Osbornes, Ozzy and Sharon and is set to take place at London’s Earls Court on February 20.

The show will be live broadcast on ITV1.

Pic credit: Rex Features

Donald Fagen – Nightfly Trilogy

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Donald Fagen – Nightfly Trilogy

More personal than Steely Dan’s records but every bit as acerbic, Donald Fagen’s solo LPs are united not just by their sophistication but also by a sense of nostalgia for what has been irretrievably lost – Duke Ellington and Ray Charles, the promise and optimism of postwar America and Fagen’s own innocence. The three albums make a powerful cumulative point – as memories recede, from adolescence through midlife to encroaching mortality, the associated emotions intensify. On The Nightfly Trilogy, the sleek contours, and soulful female backing vocals provide a counterpoint to the anxiety that permeates the lyrics, forming a smooth coating of familiarity around the increasingly bitter pill of the material. As Fagen puts it in his newly penned notes to Morph The Cat, “paranoia just wasn’t any fun anymore in the age of Al Qaeda.” If unease is the trilogy’s recurring tonality, fierce intelligence and unerring taste are the gears that turn its complexities. On 1982’s The Nightfly (Fagen’s reflection on adolescence), Dan mainstays like guitarist Larry Carlton and drummer Jeff Porcaro play with seemingly effortless virtuosity on the beguiling “Green Flower Street” and “The Goodbye Look”. Eleven years later, Kamakiriad (the “midlife” album) boasts an entirely new crew, including partner Walter Becker on lead guitar, gliding back to the future on “Trans-Island Skyway”. For 2006’s Morph The Cat, the core line-up of the reformed Dan band seems as unruffled gamboling through the nightmare zeitgeist narratives of “Mary Shut The Garden Door” and the title song as they do on Fagen’s silky ode to Brother Ray, “It’s What I Do”. Free of the thematic weight of the proper albums, the 10 little-heard songs on the bonus disc provide pleasurable marginalia as they embrace Henry Mancini, and the big-band era. The opener, a delectably funky 2006 cover of Al Green’s “Rhymes” created in collaboration with Todd Rundgren, makes a tantalizing case for a joint album from the two iconoclasts. That would be just the thing to snap Fagen out of own morose state: the prospect of a fourth solo project is simply too unsettling to contemplate. BUD SCOPPA Q&A DONALD FAGEN: UNCUT: The trilogy is startling in its thematic cohesiveness. DONALD FAGEN: While I was doing The Nightfly, I realized that the songs had the point of view of someone in early adolescence. And when I did Kamakiriad, although it had a science fiction framing device, it was actually about midlife. At that point I kind of knew I was going to do a third album that would make it a kind of trilogy. So Morph The Cat was more premeditated as to its theme. What’s the difference between a Steely Dan record and a solo album? When I’m in my studio and I say, “Hey Walter, what do you think of this?,” and no one answers, that’s the difference. But every once in a while I’ll come up with a song that is more personal or subjective in some way. And sometimes there are things I’ve shown to Walter that he didn’t feel like working on; maybe he sensed that they were songs I should work on by myself. INTERVIEW: BUD SCOPPA

More personal than Steely Dan’s records but every bit as acerbic, Donald Fagen’s solo LPs are united not just by their sophistication but also by a sense of nostalgia for what has been irretrievably lost – Duke Ellington and Ray Charles, the promise and optimism of postwar America and Fagen’s own innocence. The three albums make a powerful cumulative point – as memories recede, from adolescence through midlife to encroaching mortality, the associated emotions intensify.

On The Nightfly Trilogy, the sleek contours, and soulful female backing vocals provide a counterpoint to the anxiety that permeates the lyrics, forming a smooth coating of familiarity around the increasingly bitter pill of the material. As Fagen puts it in his newly penned notes to Morph The Cat, “paranoia just wasn’t any fun anymore in the age of Al Qaeda.”

If unease is the trilogy’s recurring tonality, fierce intelligence and unerring taste are the gears that turn its complexities.

On 1982’s The Nightfly (Fagen’s reflection on adolescence), Dan mainstays like guitarist Larry Carlton and drummer Jeff Porcaro play with seemingly effortless virtuosity on the beguiling “Green Flower Street” and “The Goodbye Look”. Eleven years later, Kamakiriad (the “midlife” album) boasts an entirely new crew, including partner Walter Becker on lead guitar, gliding back to the future on “Trans-Island Skyway”. For 2006’s Morph The Cat, the core line-up of the reformed Dan band seems as unruffled gamboling through the nightmare zeitgeist narratives of “Mary Shut The Garden Door” and the title song as they do on Fagen’s silky ode to Brother Ray, “It’s What I Do”.

Free of the thematic weight of the proper albums, the 10 little-heard songs on the bonus disc provide pleasurable marginalia as they embrace Henry Mancini, and the big-band era. The opener, a delectably funky 2006 cover of Al Green’s “Rhymes” created in collaboration with Todd Rundgren, makes a tantalizing case for a joint album from the two iconoclasts. That would be just the thing to snap Fagen out of own morose state: the prospect of a fourth solo project is simply too unsettling to contemplate.

BUD SCOPPA

Q&A DONALD FAGEN:

UNCUT: The trilogy is startling in its thematic cohesiveness.

DONALD FAGEN: While I was doing The Nightfly, I realized that the songs had the point of view of someone in early adolescence. And when I did Kamakiriad, although it had a science fiction framing device, it was actually about midlife. At that point I kind of knew I was going to do a third album that would make it a kind of trilogy. So Morph The Cat was more premeditated as to its theme.

What’s the difference between a Steely Dan record and a solo album?

When I’m in my studio and I say, “Hey Walter, what do you think of this?,” and no one answers, that’s the difference. But every once in a while I’ll come up with a song that is more personal or subjective in some way. And sometimes there are things I’ve shown to Walter that he didn’t feel like working on; maybe he sensed that they were songs I should work on by myself.

INTERVIEW: BUD SCOPPA

Countdown To Led Zeppelin Reunion

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Countdown To Led Zeppelin Reunion

Led Zeppelin are due to headline the tribute to Ahmet Ertegun concert is tonight (December 10), with the legends due to perform at 9pm (GMT). The band, comprising the three original members of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones will be playing a two-hour set with Jason Bonham, the late John Bonham's son on drums at the reunion show which takes place at London's O2 Arena. Also playing the tribute to the late Atlantic Records' founder are Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, Paul Rodgers, Foreigner, Paolo Nutini who was the last artist that Ertegun mentored. The show is due to start at 7pm, with the running order yet to be confirmed, though www.uncut.co.uk will be bringing you the build up from inside the O2 Arena from 5pm today. Stay tuned as tonight we'll be bringing you news reports throughout the night, including a live blog of what tracks Led Zeppelin perform. The songs have been a closely guarded secret, though the band have already promised us there will be some set list surprises! Meanwhile in conjunction with our sister title nme.com there's still time for you for your ultimate Led Zep rock tracks. Just head to the special vote page here: Rate The Song and rate which songs you'd like to see the band play! We'll be publishing the final results ahead of tonight's highly anticipated gig! Pic credit: PA Photos

Led Zeppelin are due to headline the tribute to Ahmet Ertegun concert is tonight (December 10), with the legends due to perform at 9pm (GMT).

The band, comprising the three original members of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones will be playing a two-hour set with Jason Bonham, the late John Bonham’s son on drums at the reunion show which takes place at London’s O2 Arena.

Also playing the tribute to the late Atlantic Records’ founder are Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, Paul Rodgers, Foreigner, Paolo Nutini who was the last artist that Ertegun mentored.

The show is due to start at 7pm, with the running order yet to be confirmed, though www.uncut.co.uk will be bringing you the build up from inside the O2 Arena from 5pm today.

Stay tuned as tonight we’ll be bringing you news reports throughout the night, including a live blog of what tracks Led Zeppelin perform.

The songs have been a closely guarded secret, though the band have already promised us there will be some set list surprises!

Meanwhile in conjunction with our sister title nme.com there’s still time for you for your ultimate Led Zep rock tracks.

Just head to the special vote page here: Rate The Song and rate which songs you’d like to see the band play! We’ll be publishing the final results ahead of tonight’s highly anticipated gig!

Pic credit: PA Photos

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

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Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

Don Siegel has acquired neither a fanatical cult following nor the iconic status of his most famous protégés, Sam Peckinpah and Clint Eastwood. And yet, he still continues to exert influence today. Jodie Foster's vigilante drama The Brave One plays like a Dirty Harry revenge movie, while The Invasion, starring Nicole Kidman, makes the third official remake of his 1955 sci-fi classic - and that's not counting the slew of films it unofficially "inspired," from Quatermass 2 (1957) to The Faculty (1998). Adapted from Jack Finney's novella The Body Snatchers, this is set in a sunny American small-town, where local doctor Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) is bemused by the string of patients coming to see him claiming their relatives are not, in fact, their relatives. A hysterical little boy swears his mother is not his mother; a young woman feels sudden distance from her uncle. Each complaint is the same: they look the same, but "...there's something *missing*." Bennell prescribes sedatives, mutters "mass hysteria," but he's nagged by the feeling something else is going on. Then his friends Jack and Theodora call him to their house to share an eerie discovery: lying there on their billiard table, a blank, half-formed figure, slowly growing to resemble Jack. In the garden, they find huge alien seedpods, splitting open to reveal incomplete replicas of them all. Crafting a Blue Velvet-ish sense of the weird behind neat picket fences, Siegel has built slowly, but now the brakes are off. Bennell, losing his friends one by one, works out the invaders can only take over when their human models are asleep. Soon everyone in town (including a young Peckinpah) has been replaced. They look, sound, even remember the same way - but lack emotion, passion, soul. Finally only Bennell and his girlfriend are left, gobbling amphetamines to stay awake, and watching in horror as colonised townsfolk begin loading trucks with pods destined to spread their invisible invasion nationwide. Released as the Cold War was beginning to freeze, Siegel's movie has been decried as a typical Red Menace flick. But its nightmarish picture of square, bland suburbanites happily surrendering individuality is equally plausible as a comment on the witch-hunt climate and consumerist ideals that brainwashed the American '50s. Siegel was adept at such straight-faced ambiguity; years later, critics couldn't decide whether Dirty Harry was a fascist fantasy, or a warning. It's a measure of his accomplishment that this film, shot in an astonishing 19 days, manages to survive severe studio interference. Panicked by his stark non-ending - a rabid, deranged McCarthy, running through highway traffic screaming, "They're HERE!!!" - the producers insisted on inserting a placatory prologue and epilogue, showing the authorities springing into action. In '60s America, underground cinemas made a ritual of showing the movie with the studio bookends chopped out and in 1978, Philip Kaufman, directing the first remake, ignored them all together, beginning where Siegel ended: McCarthy, in a cameo, still screaming in the traffic. Kaufman's chill movie took Siegel's lead, using the story to comment on his times, describing an America turning from social awareness and activism toward passive self-absorption. In 1993, for his underrated update, Bodysnatchers, Abel Ferrara continued the tradition, transferring the action to a US military base for a film that questioned the blind nationalism whipped up around Gulf War I. For all their merits, however, no remake has matched Siegel's original. A concise but ambiguous masterpiece of paranoia, its sharp, haunting brilliance grows clearer with the appearance of each subsequent replicant. What the big-budget Kidman version has to tell us about today remains to be seen. Perhaps that the pod-people are now making movies? EXTRAS: A missed opportunity. Instead of seeking to restore Siegel's cut, this features a pointlessly "colorized" version alongside the black and white original; a pretty washed-out print, too. 1* DAMIEN LOVE

Don Siegel has acquired neither a fanatical cult following nor the iconic status of his most famous protégés, Sam Peckinpah and Clint Eastwood. And yet, he still continues to exert influence today. Jodie Foster‘s vigilante drama The Brave One plays like a Dirty Harry revenge movie, while The Invasion, starring Nicole Kidman, makes the third official remake of his 1955 sci-fi classic – and that’s not counting the slew of films it unofficially “inspired,” from Quatermass 2 (1957) to The Faculty (1998).

Adapted from Jack Finney’s novella The Body Snatchers, this is set in a sunny American small-town, where local doctor Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) is bemused by the string of patients coming to see him claiming their relatives are not, in fact, their relatives. A hysterical little boy swears his mother is not his mother; a young woman feels sudden distance from her uncle. Each complaint is the same: they look the same, but “…there’s something *missing*.”

Bennell prescribes sedatives, mutters “mass hysteria,” but he’s nagged by the feeling something else is going on. Then his friends Jack and Theodora call him to their house to share an eerie discovery: lying there on their billiard table, a blank, half-formed figure, slowly growing to resemble Jack. In the garden, they find huge alien seedpods, splitting open to reveal incomplete replicas of them all.

Crafting a Blue Velvet-ish sense of the weird behind neat picket fences, Siegel has built slowly, but now the brakes are off. Bennell, losing his friends one by one, works out the invaders can only take over when their human models are asleep. Soon everyone in town (including a young Peckinpah) has been replaced. They look, sound, even remember the same way – but lack emotion, passion, soul. Finally only Bennell and his girlfriend are left, gobbling amphetamines to stay awake, and watching in horror as colonised townsfolk begin loading trucks with pods destined to spread their invisible invasion nationwide.

Released as the Cold War was beginning to freeze, Siegel’s movie has been decried as a typical Red Menace flick. But its nightmarish picture of square, bland suburbanites happily surrendering individuality is equally plausible as a comment on the witch-hunt climate and consumerist ideals that brainwashed the American ’50s. Siegel was adept at such straight-faced ambiguity; years later, critics couldn’t decide whether Dirty Harry was a fascist fantasy, or a warning.

It’s a measure of his accomplishment that this film, shot in an astonishing 19 days, manages to survive severe studio interference. Panicked by his stark non-ending – a rabid, deranged McCarthy, running through highway traffic screaming, “They’re HERE!!!” – the producers insisted on inserting a placatory prologue and epilogue, showing the authorities springing into action.

In ’60s America, underground cinemas made a ritual of showing the movie with the studio bookends chopped out and in 1978, Philip Kaufman, directing the first remake, ignored them all together, beginning where Siegel ended: McCarthy, in a cameo, still screaming in the traffic. Kaufman’s chill movie took Siegel’s lead, using the story to comment on his times, describing an America turning from social awareness and activism toward passive self-absorption. In 1993, for his underrated update, Bodysnatchers, Abel Ferrara continued the tradition, transferring the action to a US military base for a film that questioned the blind nationalism whipped up around Gulf War I.

For all their merits, however, no remake has matched Siegel’s original. A concise but ambiguous masterpiece of paranoia, its sharp, haunting brilliance grows clearer with the appearance of each subsequent replicant. What the big-budget Kidman version has to tell us about today remains to be seen. Perhaps that the pod-people are now making movies?

EXTRAS: A missed opportunity. Instead of seeking to restore Siegel’s cut, this features a pointlessly “colorized” version alongside the black and white original; a pretty washed-out print, too.

1*

DAMIEN LOVE

AC/DC – Plug Me In

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AC/DC – Plug Me In

In December 1989, US forces attempting to smoke Panamanian dictator General Noriega out of hiding played AC/DC at ear-splitting volume until he finally surrendered. A note for Special Forces then: Plug Me In will do the trick in half the time. A five hour riff-kreig of AC/DC in concert (or seven, if you bag the Collectors edition) Plug Me In is not for the uninitiated. There are points - particularly in the latter stages of DVD 2, where the band are captured gurning through "The Jack" live in 2001 - that even the most fanatical fan will acknowledge that their salty, Chuck Berry meets Benny Hill boogie loses some of it's magic in the journey from enormodome to living room. Yet as footage of the Bon Scott years, the righteous mayhem of Back In Black and even the gonzoid stadium smut of "Stiff Upper Lip" show, Plug Me In offers a route into a riotously un-PC world of sweat, jugs and rock'n'roll where Hell is fun, hookers have a heart of gold and sexual diseases are something to brag about. We begin, then, with a TV performance of "High Voltage" from 1975. With the band dressed up in garish Carnaby Street threads and Bon Scott terrorising the front row in a lace up catsuit, they could almost be an Antipodean answer to The Sweet, if Angus wasn't jitter-like bugging across stage like a crazed Jeanette Kranky. Following some grainy footage taken at their first ever gig in Sydney, we're soon witnessing AC/DC in their pumped-up pomp. You can almost smell the liquor 'n' sawdust during cranked up renditions of "Dog Eat Dog" and "Let There Be Rock" filmed at a raucous Glasgow Apollo in 1978. But it's a clip of "Highway To Hell" from Dutch TV in 1979 which marks their transition from feisty outsiders to genuine cock-rock contenders. Stripped to the waist and with the band superglue tight behind him, Scott is Rod, Ozzy and Alex Harvey rolled into one - a bar-room screamer who''ll steal your girl, start a fight and drink you under the table and still give you the best night of your life. If DVD 2 - the Brian Johnson years - see the band mutate from fun-loving riff-rats to stadium-levelling rock titans, their tongue remains firmly in cheek throughout. Seeing the Beavis & Butthead intro film for 1996's Ballbreaker, where the sniggering pair are seen off by a cartoon of a bug-like Angus and a ten foot dominatrix, reminds you that as well as being a biting satire on male adolecent fantasises, AC/DC are above all, as they'd put it, bloody great entertainment. It's only when they enter the real world for a plain awful version of "Rock Me Baby" with The Rolling Stones in 2003, where the Young brothers, for once, look lost, that the spell gets broken. "How many dirty deeds have you done in the last year?" an interviewer asks Angus during a promo flick for Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. A filthy grin, a quick touch of the grubby school cap. "Err, about four hundred and fifty..." Let there be rock. EXTRA'S: Interviews, tour promo films and alternate live versions. DVD 3 features the never-before-seen 1983 show from the Houston Summit PAUL MOODY Pic credit: Rex

In December 1989, US forces attempting to smoke Panamanian dictator General Noriega out of hiding played AC/DC at ear-splitting volume until he finally surrendered. A note for Special Forces then: Plug Me In will do the trick in half the time.

A five hour riff-kreig of AC/DC in concert (or seven, if you bag the Collectors edition) Plug Me In is not for the uninitiated. There are points – particularly in the latter stages of DVD 2, where the band are captured gurning through “The Jack” live in 2001 – that even the most fanatical fan will acknowledge that their salty, Chuck Berry meets Benny Hill boogie loses some of it’s magic in the journey from enormodome to living room.

Yet as footage of the Bon Scott years, the righteous mayhem of Back In Black and even the gonzoid stadium smut of “Stiff Upper Lip” show, Plug Me In offers a route into a riotously un-PC world of sweat, jugs and rock’n’roll where Hell is fun, hookers have a heart of gold and sexual diseases are something to brag about.

We begin, then, with a TV performance of “High Voltage” from 1975. With the band dressed up in garish Carnaby Street threads and Bon Scott terrorising the front row in a lace up catsuit, they could almost be an Antipodean answer to The Sweet, if Angus wasn’t jitter-like bugging across stage like a crazed Jeanette Kranky.

Following some grainy footage taken at their first ever gig in Sydney, we’re soon witnessing AC/DC in their pumped-up pomp. You can almost smell the liquor ‘n’ sawdust during cranked up renditions of “Dog Eat Dog” and “Let There Be Rock” filmed at a raucous Glasgow Apollo in 1978. But it’s a clip of “Highway To Hell” from Dutch TV in 1979 which marks their transition from feisty outsiders to genuine cock-rock contenders. Stripped to the waist and with the band superglue tight behind him, Scott is Rod, Ozzy and Alex Harvey rolled into one – a bar-room screamer who”ll steal your girl, start a fight and drink you under the table and still give you the best night of your life.

If DVD 2 – the Brian Johnson years – see the band mutate from fun-loving riff-rats to stadium-levelling rock titans, their tongue remains firmly in cheek throughout. Seeing the Beavis & Butthead intro film for 1996’s Ballbreaker, where the sniggering pair are seen off by a cartoon of a bug-like Angus and a ten foot dominatrix, reminds you that as well as being a biting satire on male adolecent fantasises, AC/DC are above all, as they’d put it, bloody great entertainment.

It’s only when they enter the real world for a plain awful version of “Rock Me Baby” with The Rolling Stones in 2003, where the Young brothers, for once, look lost, that the spell gets broken.

“How many dirty deeds have you done in the last year?” an interviewer asks Angus during a promo flick for Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.

A filthy grin, a quick touch of the grubby school cap.

“Err, about four hundred and fifty…”

Let there be rock.

EXTRA’S: Interviews, tour promo films and alternate live versions. DVD 3 features the never-before-seen 1983 show from the Houston Summit

PAUL MOODY

Pic credit: Rex

Paul McCartney – The McCartney Years

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Paul McCartney – The McCartney Years

"All pizza and fairytales," was John Lennon's withering mid-70s putdown of the McCartney canon, and while this new DVD box of solo videos, Wings footage, live shows, duets, interviews and documentaries certainly has its fair share of three-cheese crust and Disney schmaltz, it also has enough to suggest that a life without either of those things would be pretty dismal. McCartney himself recalls, on the extensive track-by-track commentary, Bruce Springsteen approaching him at an awards show, telling him that for the longest time he never could get the point of "Silly Love Songs". "But now I've got a wife and kids myself, well, it makes a lot more sense." You would have hardly thought The Boss would be in need of such sentimental education. As the title of the collection hints, The McCartney Years often feels as much like a belated memorial for Linda as it is a round-up of old promos and live shows. The pair famously spent only a week apart over the course of three decades - and that only when Paul was busted in Japan. The best videos on the first disc - covering the Seventies and early 80s, from Ram, Wings and "Mull of Kintyre" to the duets with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson - are the simplest, Paul and Linda and the kids escaping the fall-out from The Beatles in rural Scotland, captured in photos and home movies on "Maybe I'm Amazed" and "Heart of the Country". The contentment he found here undoubtedly demotivated him as a writer. Having conquered the world in the 60s, proved himself again and found domestic bliss in the 70s, what was left for him to do in the 80s and 90s? The second disc is best when McCartney is simply remembering the music that first inspired him - a verse of Eddie Cochrane's "20 Flight Rock" on the Parkinson show, a cover of The Vipers' skiffle b-side "No Other Baby", a snatch of the first Buddy Holly pastiche he wrote as a fourteen year old. The third disc collects three live performances: Wings' 1976 Rockshow, a mellow, Unplugged from 1991 and ultimately the eccentrically exuberant Glastonbury set from 2004, where McCartney, with all his cheese, showbiz singalong wisdom, melody and magic, finally seemed to have found his ideal home. EXTRAS: Track commentaries, Melvyn Bragg and Parkinson interviews, Creating Chaos documentary, Live Aid footage, alternate takes. 4* STEPHEN TROUSSÉ

“All pizza and fairytales,” was John Lennon‘s withering mid-70s putdown of the McCartney canon, and while this new DVD box of solo videos, Wings footage, live shows, duets, interviews and documentaries certainly has its fair share of three-cheese crust and Disney schmaltz, it also has enough to suggest that a life without either of those things would be pretty dismal.

McCartney himself recalls, on the extensive track-by-track commentary, Bruce Springsteen approaching him at an awards show, telling him that for the longest time he never could get the point of “Silly Love Songs”. “But now I’ve got a wife and kids myself, well, it makes a lot more sense.” You would have hardly thought The Boss would be in need of such sentimental education.

As the title of the collection hints, The McCartney Years often feels as much like a belated memorial for Linda as it is a round-up of old promos and live shows. The pair famously spent only a week apart over the course of three decades – and that only when Paul was busted in Japan. The best videos on the first disc – covering the Seventies and early 80s, from Ram, Wings and “Mull of Kintyre” to the duets with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson – are the simplest, Paul and Linda and the kids escaping the fall-out from The Beatles in rural Scotland, captured in photos and home movies on “Maybe I’m Amazed” and “Heart of the Country”.

The contentment he found here undoubtedly demotivated him as a writer. Having conquered the world in the 60s, proved himself again and found domestic bliss in the 70s, what was left for him to do in the 80s and 90s? The second disc is best when McCartney is simply remembering the music that first inspired him – a verse of Eddie Cochrane‘s “20 Flight Rock” on the Parkinson show, a cover of The Vipers‘ skiffle b-side “No Other Baby”, a snatch of the first Buddy Holly pastiche he wrote as a fourteen year old.

The third disc collects three live performances: Wings’ 1976 Rockshow, a mellow, Unplugged from 1991 and ultimately the eccentrically exuberant Glastonbury set from 2004, where McCartney, with all his cheese, showbiz singalong wisdom, melody and magic, finally seemed to have found his ideal home.

EXTRAS: Track commentaries, Melvyn Bragg and Parkinson interviews, Creating Chaos documentary, Live Aid footage, alternate takes.

4*

STEPHEN TROUSSÉ

John Lennon – Stars Pick Their Favourite Tracks

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John Lennon – Stars Pick Their Favourite Tracks

The January issue of UNCUT is on sale now, featuring an all-star panel of musicians selecting their favourite song by the late Beatle John Lennon. Which Lennon song "flipped out" Brian Wilson when he first heard it? Which one reminds Arctic Monkey Alex Turner of his mum and dad? And when we asked The Who's Roger Daltrey for his favourite, what on earth led him to conclude: "I can see why people go completely mad in this business."? And there's many, many brilliant contributions from the likes of Yoko Ono, John Cale, John Lydon, Jarvis Cocker and Liam Gallagher. Meanwhile, Uncut.co.uk will be running online exclusives throughout the month, today is Alan McGee's pick. Coming up: Richmond Fontaine's Willy Vlautin, Josh Ritter, Roy Wood and more will be picking out their favourite tracks. ~ Robyn Hitchcock: "WELL, WELL, WELL" From the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album (December 1970) It’s my favourite off the Plastic Ono Band record. It’s just so to the point. He’d been doing Primal Therapy. But that also really suited the way he sang. He was able to make his voice break up and splinter in a way that sounded attractive and soulful. He could belt it out like Beefheart or Robert Plant, but he could also sing beautiful, high harmonies like the Beach Boys. The great strength of John Lennon is the number of emotional layers that are in him. On the surface he was funny, then underneath he was nasty, and then under that he was really sad. There’s so many feelings in his voice. And he could write pop songs - but he could also sing really heavy blues. And “Well, Well, Well” is one of the great blues rants. The lyrics just shrug at times - “Oh, well”. Because what can you do? He’s not singing about, “Man, we’re gonna change things.” He’s saying, “Well, here we are, wandering around talking - who gives a shit?” It always makes me cry. It connects with an emotional truth, which is how sad living is, and how fucked up. But it doesn’t pontificate about it. Instead it’s a vehicle for his voice. If Neil Young had written that, it would have sounded like a cat being boiled. You have to have that kind of voice, to get away with that kind of song. To me that is absolutely the perfect rock vocal. It’s not a tumescent bellow, it’s a soulful, wounded bellow. It’s a human elephant heading for the graveyard. There’s been nothing like it before or since. ~ Plus! What do you think Lennon's greatest song is? You can vote for your choice, and tell us why, by clicking here for the special poll. We'll be publishing your choices in a future issue of Uncut, along with a reader Top 10. VOTE HERE!

The January issue of UNCUT is on sale now, featuring an all-star panel of musicians selecting their favourite song by the late Beatle John Lennon.

Which Lennon song “flipped out” Brian Wilson when he first heard it?

Which one reminds Arctic Monkey Alex Turner of his mum and dad?

And when we asked The Who‘s Roger Daltrey for his favourite, what on earth led him to conclude: “I can see why people go completely mad in this business.”?

And there’s many, many brilliant contributions from the likes of Yoko Ono, John Cale, John Lydon, Jarvis Cocker and Liam Gallagher.

Meanwhile, Uncut.co.uk will be running online exclusives throughout the month, today is Alan McGee‘s pick.

Coming up: Richmond Fontaine‘s Willy Vlautin, Josh Ritter, Roy Wood and more will be picking out their favourite tracks.

~

Robyn Hitchcock:

“WELL, WELL, WELL”

From the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album (December 1970)

It’s my favourite off the Plastic Ono Band record. It’s just so to the point. He’d been doing Primal Therapy. But that also really suited the way he sang. He was able to make his voice break up and splinter in a way that sounded attractive and soulful. He could belt it out like Beefheart or Robert Plant, but he could also sing beautiful, high harmonies like the Beach Boys.

The great strength of John Lennon is the number of emotional layers that are in him. On the surface he was funny, then underneath he was nasty, and then under that he was really sad. There’s so many feelings in his voice. And he could write pop songs – but he could also sing really heavy blues. And “Well, Well, Well” is one of the great blues rants.

The lyrics just shrug at times – “Oh, well”. Because what can you do? He’s not singing about, “Man, we’re gonna change things.” He’s saying, “Well, here we are, wandering around talking – who gives a shit?” It always makes me cry. It connects with an emotional truth, which is how sad living is, and how fucked up. But it doesn’t pontificate about it. Instead it’s a vehicle for his voice. If Neil Young had written that, it would have sounded like a cat being boiled. You have to have that kind of voice, to get away with that kind of song. To me that is absolutely the perfect rock vocal. It’s not a tumescent bellow, it’s a soulful, wounded bellow. It’s a human elephant heading for the graveyard. There’s been nothing like it before or since.

~

Plus! What do you think Lennon’s greatest song is? You can vote for your choice, and tell us why, by clicking here for the special poll. We’ll be publishing your choices in a future issue of Uncut, along with a reader Top 10. VOTE HERE!

Led Zeppelin – Knebworth ’79 – Your memories

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Led Zeppelin – Knebworth ’79 – Your memories

In last month's UNCUT magazine - we delved back into the photo archives to bring you Simon Fowler's memories of recording the sell-out record-breaking attendence show - now with Led Zeppelin about to do it all again, here we publish your memories from 1979. Don't forget UNCUT.co.uk and NME.com will both be at the reunion gig, bringing you comprehensive live coverage of the led Zep show at the O2 Arena. So over to you for part 1 of your recollections...come back tomorrow for another batch from the front-line. Mel Lambert: I covered the two weekends of Knebworth for Sound International, a sadly now defunct musician's magazine that sent me north to check out the remote recordings that had been organized by the band and Swan Song. My contact for the Knebworth concerts in August 1979 was my pal George Chkiantz, who was one of the recording and mixing engineers, who during the late-Sixties, worked on Led Zeppelin II and other albums at Olympic Studios, Barnes. Jimmy Page and Zeppelin’s management had hired George to record the Knebworth concerts using the world-famous Rolling Stones mobile recording truck; George invited me along to prepare a ”behind-the-scenes” article for Sound International. As the weekend matured, the atmosphere within the mobile became increasingly fraught. There was some inevitable conflict between fulfilling the rigid requirements of the live-sound crew, who had erected a huge sound system designed to deafen anybody within 200 feet of the front of the stage area - and satisfying the more exacting needs of the multitrack recording process. I slunk off to find a beer, and ended up out of harm’s way on the roof of the mobile truck, from which vantage point I could see the comings and goings backstage. Robert Plant arrived mid-morning with a glamorous retinue, looking very relaxed – he impressed me immediately as being in total control of the proceedings; nothing was going to happen until he was sure that he and the band’s gear were just the way they wanted it. Everyone within his immediate circle was moving like a shoal of fish; turning and moving off to anticipate his next physical move, and emotional requirements, as the ensemble made its collective way through the gathering throng backstage. Plant came to visit with George and his recording crew, checking that they had everything they needed, and ensuring that his exacting requirement were being met. He was obviously distracted by a lot of external – and maybe chemical – influences, but dazzled everybody close by when his face broke into an all to rare smile, as he joked with his minders. But beneath the surface, you could sense that Page was a force to be reckoned with; quixotic in temperament, you just knew that he could move with lightning speed from an easy-going guitar player and music producer, to somebody that could render you incapable, if provoked, of even simple bodily functions. I recall almost colliding with Keith Richards and Ron Wood as they came sprinting out of their trailer, obviously in a viciously altered state of mind, and charging off for one of their few live performances as The New Barbarians. Their combination of flowing, medieval garb and high-speed crouching-sprint – and what blazing eyes - reminded me more of a demonic Groucho Marx than two guys who proved that the Stones was a better performance experience than their brief flirtation with whatever The New Barbarians were supposed to achieve. The shows, of course, were major success, proving that Zeppelin could outperform anybody – it just took a lot of audio and video paraphernalia to complete the illusion. I was again fortunate enough to spend most of the second weekend’s concert backstage, rendered speechless both by the sound volume that the bands’ instruments could produce – John Bonham's double-handed stick work could waken the dead – and the sheer concentration of the show crew. For months, everyone involved had been working towards this event; that is should be marred by even a simple oversight was unthinkable. When the band came off stage at the end of their long set, and sprinted to the waiting limos that were to speed them off to wherever speeding limos eventually end up, you just knew that they’d had a great time. And who can blame them? ~ David G Connell: Two reasonably fresh-faced 20-year-olds from Huntly managed to get tickets for Knebworth and enjoyed basking in the glorious sunshine – Zeppelin coming onstage I remember just as the sun was setting. Many have talked about the concert but I have never heard anything about people getting home afterward Nervous about getting back in London and back to our digs in Chelsea, we left I think as the first encore was being played - I certainly remember climbing out of the vast natural amphitheatre to the sound of 'Rock ‘n’ Roll'. We boarded probably one of the first trains out of Knebworth that evening and set off, but within maybe 20 minutes our train ground to a halt in a shower of electric sparks as the power cables came down around us onto the roof of the train. As the temperature started to rise we sat and waited for probably an hour or two before railway staff came to lead us out of the carriages - and led us, Gulag like by torch light along the tracks to the nearest station where we boarded a second train. On getting back to Kings Cross we realised we would never get a taxi so took it upon ourselves to walk back to Chelsea - arriving just in time for breakfast. I have often wondered if others share this memory of the wonderful day but equally epic night getting home from Knebworth? Worth it? 'Course. ~ Slim,Wild man of the Accordion: I was both surprised and chuffed to see a picture of my younger self in your crowd shot from Knebworth. At the time of the gig I was hanging out with the Blockheads, having won the NME Champion Blockhead competition the previous year, who were playing a whole week of gigs at the Hammersmith Odeon. I'd already bought a ticket for Knebworth, so I gave the Blockheads a miss for the night and sloped off to Knebworth. I wasn't particularly into Led Zeppelin at the time, and had mainly gone along to see Keith Richard's band, the New Barbarians. I must admit that I don't remember much about the gig, but I did manage to get down the front for long enough to be photographed. I got into Zeppelin much later having met Robert Plant a few times when he came down to the Saturday lunchtime Rockabilly gigs at Dingwalls for which I was the doorman. He was always very pleasant and knowledgeable the music. He never once came across as a big rock star, and, I think, enjoyed the fact that he could hang and listen to the music there, without being hassled. ~ Muchtytam: The Knebworth article brought back fantastic memories, and it is far from nostalgia that places the Led Zep performance as one of the highlights of my gig-going years. They were stunning, and I'm sure that everyone there will always remember the explosion of sound and light when they came on. A lot to be said for those early festivals. A hot summers day, fed by plastic cup lager, and the no-nonsense pleasure of sitting in the grass just waiting for each act to make an appearance. I remember little of Southside Johnny or Todd Rundgren. The New Barbarians came on late, and we assumed at the time that they had been on the helicopter which flew in 15 minutes before they took to the stage. Strange, however, that my recollection of Knebworth is book-ended by the sublime and the ridiculous. My mate and I had travelled down overnight from Fife, catching a morning train to Stevenage before arriving at Knebworth to set up our tent. Who started the show? As the tent pegs went in we were graced by the distant swirling sound of “Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit”. Sad to say, apart from the Zep set, its the only song I can remember from the whole day. ~ Andy McKeown: I was fortunate to have access to a restricted area at Knebworth 79 and I had a chat with Todd Rundgren and a very nice guy he was - so much so that he was very polite when the only thing I could remember was " I Saw The Light" (I hadn't realised his Meatloaf connection yet). I also spoke to Nicky Horne, who tried to tell me that it was not pLemmy standing next to us, he changed his mind when a guy came up and embraced him and said "How are you, Lemmy?" When the gig started I was standing next to Johnny Fingers – can’t remember if he had the trademark jim-jams or the trews were LOUD! After the dust had settled from this epic I went to see Zep get into their mothership, which turned out to be a kind of people carrier thingy except Jimmy Page he got into the back of a Volvo with two "handpicked babes". I was left with a 450 mile trip home but could not wait to tell my mate what a day he had missed. He was holidaying in Ibiza with his girl, and when he got home his first words were, "I bought Robert Plant a drink in Ibiza" and he’d also done a couple of songs in this bar in Ibiza. Anyway, we all lived happy ever after PS I thought yellow made Todd look fat! ~ www.uncut.co.uk will be publishing more of your recollections tomorrow, as part of our countdown to the reunion show this Monday (December 10). Pic credit: LFI

In last month’s UNCUT magazine – we delved back into the photo archives to bring you Simon Fowler’s memories of recording the sell-out record-breaking attendence show – now with Led Zeppelin about to do it all again, here we publish your memories from 1979.

Don’t forget UNCUT.co.uk and NME.com will both be at the reunion gig, bringing you comprehensive live coverage of the led Zep show at the O2 Arena.

So over to you for part 1 of your recollections…come back tomorrow for another batch from the front-line.

Mel Lambert:

I covered the two weekends of Knebworth for Sound International, a sadly now defunct musician’s magazine that sent me north to check out the remote recordings that had been organized by the band and Swan Song. My contact for the Knebworth concerts in August 1979 was my pal George Chkiantz, who was one of the recording and mixing engineers, who during the late-Sixties, worked on Led Zeppelin II and other albums at Olympic Studios, Barnes. Jimmy Page and Zeppelin’s management had hired George to record the Knebworth concerts using the world-famous Rolling Stones mobile recording truck; George invited me along to prepare a ”behind-the-scenes” article for Sound International.

As the weekend matured, the atmosphere within the mobile became increasingly fraught. There was some inevitable conflict between fulfilling the rigid requirements of the live-sound crew, who had erected a huge sound system designed to deafen anybody within 200 feet of the front of the stage area – and satisfying the more exacting needs of the multitrack recording process. I slunk off to find a beer, and ended up out of harm’s way on the roof of the mobile truck, from which vantage point I could see the comings and goings backstage.

Robert Plant arrived mid-morning with a glamorous retinue, looking very relaxed – he impressed me immediately as being in total control of the proceedings; nothing was going to happen until he was sure that he and the band’s gear were just the way they wanted it. Everyone within his immediate circle was moving like a shoal of fish; turning and moving off to anticipate his next physical move, and emotional requirements, as the ensemble made its collective way through the gathering throng backstage.

Plant came to visit with George and his recording crew, checking that they had everything they needed, and ensuring that his exacting requirement were being met.

He was obviously distracted by a lot of external – and maybe chemical – influences, but dazzled everybody close by when his face broke into an all to rare smile, as he joked with his minders. But beneath the surface, you could sense that Page was a force to be reckoned with; quixotic in temperament, you just knew that he could move with lightning speed from an easy-going guitar player and music producer, to somebody that could render you incapable, if provoked, of even simple bodily functions.

I recall almost colliding with Keith Richards and Ron Wood as they came sprinting out of their trailer, obviously in a viciously altered state of mind, and charging off for one of their few live performances as The New Barbarians. Their combination of flowing, medieval garb and high-speed crouching-sprint – and what blazing eyes – reminded me more of a demonic Groucho Marx than two guys who proved that the Stones was a better performance experience than their brief flirtation with whatever The New Barbarians were supposed to achieve.

The shows, of course, were major success, proving that Zeppelin could outperform anybody – it just took a lot of audio and video paraphernalia to complete the illusion. I was again fortunate enough to spend most of the second weekend’s concert backstage, rendered speechless both by the sound volume that the bands’ instruments could produce – John Bonham‘s double-handed stick work could waken the dead – and the sheer concentration of the show crew. For months, everyone involved had been working towards this event; that is should be marred by even a simple oversight was unthinkable. When the band came off stage at the end of their long set, and sprinted to the waiting limos that were to speed them off to wherever speeding limos eventually end up, you just knew that they’d had a great time. And who can blame them?

~

David G Connell:

Two reasonably fresh-faced 20-year-olds from Huntly managed to get tickets for Knebworth and enjoyed basking in the glorious sunshine – Zeppelin coming onstage I remember just as the sun was setting.

Many have talked about the concert but I have never heard anything about people getting home afterward Nervous about getting back in London and back to our digs in Chelsea, we left I think as the first encore was being played – I certainly remember climbing out of the vast natural amphitheatre to the sound of ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’.

We boarded probably one of the first trains out of Knebworth that evening and set off, but within maybe 20 minutes our train ground to a halt in a shower of electric sparks as the power cables came down around us onto the roof of the train.

As the temperature started to rise we sat and waited for probably an hour or two before railway staff came to lead us out of the carriages – and led us, Gulag like by torch light along the tracks to the nearest station where we boarded a second train.

On getting back to Kings Cross we realised we would never get a taxi so took it upon ourselves to walk back to Chelsea – arriving just in time for breakfast. I have often wondered if others share this memory of the wonderful day but equally epic night getting home from Knebworth?

Worth it? ‘Course.

~

Slim,Wild man of the Accordion:

I was both surprised and chuffed to see a picture of my younger self in your crowd shot from Knebworth. At the time of the gig I was hanging out with the Blockheads, having won the NME Champion Blockhead competition the previous year, who were playing a whole week of gigs at the Hammersmith Odeon. I’d already bought a ticket for Knebworth, so I gave the Blockheads a miss for the night and sloped off to Knebworth. I wasn’t particularly into Led Zeppelin at the time, and had mainly gone along to see Keith Richard‘s band, the New Barbarians.

I must admit that I don’t remember much about the gig, but I did manage to get down the front for long enough to be photographed. I got into Zeppelin much later having met Robert Plant a few times when he came down to the Saturday lunchtime Rockabilly gigs at Dingwalls for which I was the doorman. He was always very pleasant and knowledgeable the music. He never once came across as a big rock star, and, I think, enjoyed the fact that he could hang and listen to the music there, without being hassled.

~

Muchtytam:

The Knebworth article brought back fantastic memories, and it is far from nostalgia that places the Led Zep performance as one of the highlights of my gig-going years. They were stunning, and I’m sure that everyone there will always remember the explosion of sound and light when they came on.

A lot to be said for those early festivals. A hot summers day, fed by plastic cup lager, and the no-nonsense pleasure of sitting in the grass just waiting for each act to make an appearance. I remember little of Southside Johnny or Todd Rundgren. The New Barbarians came on late, and we assumed at the time that they had been on the helicopter which flew in 15 minutes before they took to the stage.

Strange, however, that my recollection of Knebworth is book-ended by the sublime and the ridiculous. My mate and I had travelled down overnight from Fife, catching a morning train to Stevenage before arriving at Knebworth to set up our tent. Who started the show? As the tent pegs went in we were graced by the distant swirling sound of “Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit”. Sad to say, apart from the Zep set, its the only song I can remember from the whole day.

~

Andy McKeown:

I was fortunate to have access to a restricted area at Knebworth 79 and I had a chat with Todd Rundgren and a very nice guy he was – so much so that he was very polite when the only thing I could remember was ” I Saw The Light” (I hadn’t realised his Meatloaf connection yet). I also spoke to Nicky Horne, who tried to tell me that it was not pLemmy standing next to us, he changed his mind when a guy came up and embraced him and said “How are you, Lemmy?” When the gig started I was standing next to Johnny Fingers – can’t remember if he had the trademark jim-jams or the trews were LOUD!

After the dust had settled from this epic I went to see Zep get into their mothership, which turned out to be a kind of people carrier thingy except Jimmy Page he got into the back of a Volvo with two “handpicked babes”. I was left with a 450 mile trip home but could not wait to tell my mate what a day he had missed. He was holidaying in Ibiza with his girl, and when he got home his first words were, “I bought Robert Plant a drink in Ibiza” and he’d also done a couple of songs in this bar in Ibiza. Anyway, we all lived happy ever after

PS I thought yellow made Todd look fat!

~

www.uncut.co.uk will be publishing more of your recollections tomorrow, as part of our countdown to the reunion show this Monday (December 10).

Pic credit: LFI

Yoko Ono Makes ‘War Is Over’ Artwork Available

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Yoko Ono Makes ‘War Is Over’ Artwork Available

Yoko Ono has issued a statement today (December 7) reflecting on the eve of the anniversary of her late husband John Lennon's death. The message of peace includes a link to to the Imaginepeace website, from where you will be able to download free 'War Is Over' artwork as well as a video tomorrow. The website also has a letter that Yoko has written to Lennon. The message reads: "Dear Friends This December 8th is the 27th anniversary of John Lennon's passing. Please visit www.IMAGINEPEACE.com at any time on Dec 8th for a special message & video. WAR IS OVER! artwork is now available for download here. Please print & display in your window, workplace, school, street, car, computer & elsewhere over the holiday season. On December 8th, 11.15pm (your local time) please remember John by taking a moment of quiet reflection. If you would like to play or sing "Imagine" and IMAGINE a world of PEACE, we will all be together at that moment in every time zone as IMAGINE PEACE makes its way around the world - every hour for 24 hours. Please send in stories & photos of what you did on December 8th to stories@imaginepeace.com and tell us of your experiences. That would be lovely! With deepest love Yoko Ono Lennon" Meanwhile, this month's UNCUT cover feature is stars picking their top 30 favourite Lennon song. Vote for your favourite Lennon track here! We'll be publishing your choices in a future issue of Uncut, along with a reader Top 10. Pic credit: PA Photos

Yoko Ono has issued a statement today (December 7) reflecting on the eve of the anniversary of her late husband John Lennon‘s death.

The message of peace includes a link to to the Imaginepeace website, from where you will be able to download free ‘War Is Over’ artwork as well as a video tomorrow.

The website also has a letter that Yoko has written to Lennon.

The message reads:

“Dear Friends

This December 8th is the 27th anniversary of John Lennon’s passing.

Please visit www.IMAGINEPEACE.com at any time on Dec 8th for a special message & video.

WAR IS OVER! artwork is now available for download here.

Please print & display in your window, workplace, school, street, car, computer & elsewhere over the holiday season.

On December 8th, 11.15pm (your local time) please remember John by taking a moment of quiet reflection. If you would like to play or sing “Imagine” and IMAGINE a world of PEACE, we will all be together at that moment in every time zone as IMAGINE PEACE makes its way around the world – every hour for 24 hours.

Please send in stories & photos of what you did on December 8th to stories@imaginepeace.com and tell us of your experiences. That would be lovely!

With deepest love

Yoko Ono Lennon”

Meanwhile, this month’s UNCUT cover feature is stars picking their top 30 favourite Lennon song.

Vote for your favourite Lennon track here!

We’ll be publishing your choices in a future issue of Uncut, along with a reader Top 10.

Pic credit: PA Photos

Unknown Bob Dylan Lyric Offered For Sale

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Unknown Bob Dylan Lyric Offered For Sale

The handwritten lyrics of an unknown Bob Dylan song have come to light and are being offered at auction. The song, titled ''NYC Blues'', was written by Dylan in 1961 shortly after he arrived in Greenwich Village. Although it comes from his earliest, tentative days as a songwriter and the lyric was swiftly discarded, it contains at least one classic line : "I went to sleep at nite clean as I could be, When I awoke in the morning dirt all overme". The lyric, written in pencil on lined paper, was left by Dylan at the East 28th Street apartment of Mac and Eve McKenzie, with whom he stayed when he first arrived in New York. The document is being offered for sale by their son, Peter McKenzie, who inherited it with other papers left by Dylan at the McKenzie home. It is being sold with a certificate of authenticationand a letter from Peter McKenzie, stating: "This handwritten lyric by Bob Dylan for the song 'NYC Blues' is authentic and comes from my collection. Bob Dylan lived with my family during the early 1960s." Dylan wrote two well-known songs about his early days in the city; "Talking New York" which appeared on his debut album, and "Hard Times In New York Town", which eventually got an official release 30 years after it was recorded on the Bootleg Series Vols 1-3. The lyric of "NYC Blues"appears to predate both but the song is not listed in any of the standard Dylan reference works. The full lyric is divided into six lines of uneven length and reads: You ever been walking down the streets in NY town Walking down east fourth St, Call for the Mayor to fix the trouble there, mayor'll say there ain't no trouble, it's all down in Wash-S Standing on the corner of Broadway an' 49th seen so many people I never saw in my life I went to sleep at nite clean as I could be when I awoke in the morning dirt all over me Now I don't mind dirt cause there's dirt on the land but did you ever see dirty - that's one thing I can't stand A seventh line begins "I..." and then stops, indicating that Dylan was dissatisfied with the lyric and at this point abandoned the song. Bids are invited at http://www.rrauction.com/bidtracker_detail.cfm?IN=600

The handwritten lyrics of an unknown Bob Dylan song have come to light and are being offered at auction.

The song, titled ”NYC Blues”, was written by Dylan in 1961 shortly after he arrived in Greenwich Village. Although it comes from his earliest, tentative days as a songwriter and the lyric was swiftly discarded, it contains at least one classic line : “I went to sleep at nite clean as I could be, When I awoke in the morning dirt all overme”.

The lyric, written in pencil on lined paper, was left by Dylan at the East 28th Street apartment of Mac and Eve McKenzie, with whom he stayed when he first arrived in New York.

The document is being offered for sale by their son, Peter McKenzie, who inherited it with other papers left by Dylan at the McKenzie home.

It is being sold with a certificate of authenticationand a letter from Peter McKenzie, stating: “This handwritten lyric by Bob Dylan for the song ‘NYC Blues’ is authentic and comes from my collection. Bob Dylan lived with my family during the early 1960s.”

Dylan wrote two well-known songs about his early days in the city; “Talking New York” which appeared on his debut album, and “Hard Times In New York Town”, which eventually got an official release 30 years after it was recorded on the Bootleg Series Vols 1-3.

The lyric of “NYC Blues”appears to predate both but the song is not listed in any of the standard Dylan reference works.

The full lyric is divided into six lines of uneven length and reads:

You ever been walking down the streets in NY town

Walking down east fourth St,

Call for the Mayor to fix the trouble there, mayor’ll say there ain’t no

trouble, it’s all down in Wash-S

Standing on the corner of Broadway an’ 49th seen so many people I never saw in my life

I went to sleep at nite clean as I could be when I awoke in the morning

dirt all over me

Now I don’t mind dirt cause there’s dirt on the land but did you ever see

dirty – that’s one thing I can’t stand

A seventh line begins “I…” and then stops, indicating that Dylan was dissatisfied with the lyric and at this point abandoned the song.

Bids are invited at http://www.rrauction.com/bidtracker_detail.cfm?IN=600

Madonna Unveils Her Sweet New Album

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Madonna Unveils Her Sweet New Album

Madonna's latest studio album is to be entitled 'Licorice' and will be released next April, according to a report on US music website Billboard. However, a Madonna fan site 'Drowned Madonna' have seperately reported that the new 13-track album is to be called 'Give It To Me.' Whichever is the case, this is the last album release for Madonna on her current record deal with her longtime label Warners. All future recordings are to be released through an all en-compassing recording and touring deal with promoter's Live Nation. Two tracks from the new album, 'Candy Shop' and 'The Beat Goes On' have been now been played on former Billboard editor Larry Flick's radio show, as well as being leaked online. Kanye West and Pharell Williams have both contributed to the new album. According to 'Drowned Madonna' - the singer filled a room with sweets and a candy theme when playing the album to record label staff in New York for the first time. Pic credit: PA Photos

Madonna‘s latest studio album is to be entitled ‘Licorice’ and will be released next April, according to a report on US music website Billboard.

However, a Madonna fan site ‘Drowned Madonna’ have seperately reported that the new 13-track album is to be called ‘Give It To Me.’

Whichever is the case, this is the last album release for Madonna on her current record deal with her longtime label Warners. All future recordings are to be released through an all en-compassing recording and touring deal with promoter’s Live Nation.

Two tracks from the new album, ‘Candy Shop’ and ‘The Beat Goes On’ have been now been played on former Billboard editor Larry Flick’s radio show, as well as being leaked online.

Kanye West and Pharell Williams have both contributed to the new album.

According to ‘Drowned Madonna’ – the singer filled a room with sweets and a candy theme when playing the album to record label staff in New York for the first time.

Pic credit: PA Photos

When Nicole Kidman acts

Michael Bonner
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You may have noticed that the big movie for this Christmas period is The Golden Compass, a $90 million adaptation of the first volume of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. It's got talking bears, witches on broomsticks and Nicole Kidman, as the film's villain, Mrs Coulter. It's the best performance in a film that has many surprisingly smart casting choices (Tom Courtenay, Daniel Craig, Jim Carter, Derek Jacobi), despite its rather hamfisted handling of the source material. Kidman's Mrs Coulter is glacial, controlling; a Hitchcock femme fatale channelling the soul of the Wicked Witch of the West. It's a relief, after having been stuck on autopilot for what now seems like an eternity, to see her act again. The same is true of Margot At The Wedding, Noah Baumbach's follow-up to the brilliant Squid And The Whale, which Kidman excels in. It's something of a disappointment, then, to report that Kidman's performance is pretty much the only thing to recommend this film. Like Wes Anderson, with whom he co-wrote The Life Aquatic, Baumbach's primary inspiration seems to be the dysfunctional family unit. The Squid & The Whale was a largely autobiographical take on his own parents' break up, with sympathetic performances from Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney, and a witty, literate script. He revisits the idea of families falling apart here, but this is an ugly, mean and sour film. The problem -- and it's a pretty big one -- is that all the characters are utterly unlikeable, toxic and monstrous. There's Margot (Kidman), a short story writer with passive-agressive issues. She's married to another writer, Jim (John Turturro) but having an affair with another writer Dick (Ciaran Hinds). She and Jim have a son, Claude (Zane Pais), who she oscillates between being cruel and kind to. She has a sister, Pauline (Jennifer Jason Lee), who she resents because their mother gave her the family home. Oh, and she hates Pauline's fiance, unemployed artist and all-round slob, Malcolm (Jack Black). Basically, it involves a lot of people shouting at each other, squabbling, being catty behind each other's backs and generally undergoing intensely emotional and psychological meltdowns. It is, as you might have guessed by now, pretty grim viewing. I've nothing against excoriating family crack-up dramas, but Margot and co are vile, self-absorbed, selfish, vicious, narcissistic, cold people, their constant fights and arguments utterly draining. With such a horrid cast opf characters, it's pretty hard to find any reason to like this film. But it is easy to admire Kidman's brilliant performance. Margot is an absolute monster; and, as her marriage drifts further to the rocks, the suggestion that she is herself beginning to suffer some kind of mental destabilisation presents itself. We see her popping Valiums, drinking wine pretty constantly throughout, her face subtely distorting itself with minor tics, her eyes widening, her voice pitching that bit higher, her moods drifting precariously from loving and concerned to spiteful, almost bipolar. As a performance, it reminds you quite why Kidman is a great actress. After the dross of The Stepford Wives, Bewitched and The Invasion, it's brilliant to see her engaging with the kind of work that really stretches her talents. Think back to the peaks of that filmography -- Malice, To Die For, Moulin Rouge, The Others, The Hours, Dogville, Cold Mountain, Birth -- and you can see an actress with a formidable range, pretty fearless in her decisions. For all its many faults, Margot At The Wedding is, at least, reassuring evidence that, when she's working with the right material, Kidman is still the finest actress of her generation. Margot At The weddings opens on February 29

You may have noticed that the big movie for this Christmas period is The Golden Compass, a $90 million adaptation of the first volume of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy.

It’s got talking bears, witches on broomsticks and Nicole Kidman, as the film’s villain, Mrs Coulter. It’s the best performance in a film that has many surprisingly smart casting choices (Tom Courtenay, Daniel Craig, Jim Carter, Derek Jacobi), despite its rather hamfisted handling of the source material.

Continue

Amy Winehouse Scoops Six Grammy Nominations

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Amy Winehouse Scoops Six Grammy Nominations

Amy Winehouse has been nominated for six US Grammy Awards, including Best Song and Best Album. The singer, who recently cancelled the rest of her UK tour dates saying she couldn't perform while her husband Blake Fielder-Civil is in prison awaiting trial, has sold over a million copies of her album 'Back To Black' in the US. The 24-year old singer's nominations include Best New Artist and Album of The Year, as well as Record of the Year and Song of the Year for her track 'Rehab'. Winehouse is expected to appear at the Grammy Awards ceremony, the 50th, taking place in Los Angeles on February 10, after successfully applying for a US work visa. Kanye West leads the Grammy nominations with eight nominations, u0p against Winehouse in the Album of the year category. The White Stripes have also done well, earning themselves four nominations including Best Alternative Album for their latest 'Icky Thump' and Best Rock Song. Bruce Springsteen's 'Magic' and Wilco's 'Blue Sky Blue' were also nominated for Best Rock Album. Other nominees include the Foo Fighters who received nominations for Record of the Year and Best Rock Album, as well as Paul McCartney, Bon Jovi and Timbaland.

Amy Winehouse has been nominated for six US Grammy Awards, including Best Song and Best Album.

The singer, who recently cancelled the rest of her UK tour dates saying she couldn’t perform while her husband Blake Fielder-Civil is in prison awaiting trial, has sold over a million copies of her album ‘Back To Black’ in the US.

The 24-year old singer’s nominations include Best New Artist and Album of The Year, as well as Record of the Year and Song of the Year for her track ‘Rehab’.

Winehouse is expected to appear at the Grammy Awards ceremony, the 50th, taking place in Los Angeles on February 10, after successfully applying for a US work visa.

Kanye West leads the Grammy nominations with eight nominations, u0p against Winehouse in the Album of the year category.

The White Stripes have also done well, earning themselves four nominations including Best Alternative Album for their latest ‘Icky Thump’ and Best Rock Song.

Bruce Springsteen‘s ‘Magic’ and Wilco‘s ‘Blue Sky Blue’ were also nominated for Best Rock Album.

Other nominees include the Foo Fighters who received nominations for Record of the Year and Best Rock Album, as well as Paul McCartney, Bon Jovi and Timbaland.

Led Zep Would Not Have Reformed If Not For Family

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Led Zep Would Not Have Reformed If Not For Family

Robert Plant has explained how Led Zeppelin would not have reformed for Monday's reunion gig (December 10) if they didnt have the family connection with their new drummer. Jason Bonham, the late John Bonham's son will be drumming with the group for the one-off reunion show at the O2 Arena. Singer Robert Plant has said it was important that they kept the reunion within the 'family. Speaking to The Sun's Something For The Weekend today, he said: "I've know the Bonham family since I was 15 and I know Pat, John's widow. I've know Jason since he was born." He added:"I've spent so much time talking to Jason over the years. He's such a good guy and I've got very close. Jason's such a great drummer and he's now in his reformation character." Don't forget to vote for your ultimate Led Zeppelin set list here: Rate The Song we'll be publishing the final scores on Monday, ahead of Monday night's highly anticipated gig! UNCUT.CO.UK and NME.com will both be at the reunion gig, bringing you comprehensive coverage of the Tribute To Ahmet Ertegun Concert at the 02 Arena. We've already started our daily Led Zep countdown to December 10, and on the night we will have live coverage straight from the 02 Arena including news, pictures and a special blog. Stay tuned for all the action. Pic credit: Rex Features

Robert Plant has explained how Led Zeppelin would not have reformed for Monday’s reunion gig (December 10) if they didnt have the family connection with their new drummer.

Jason Bonham, the late John Bonham’s son will be drumming with the group for the one-off reunion show at the O2 Arena.

Singer Robert Plant has said it was important that they kept the reunion within the ‘family. Speaking to The Sun’s Something For The Weekend today, he said: “I’ve know the Bonham family since I was 15 and I know Pat, John’s widow. I’ve know Jason since he was born.”

He added:”I’ve spent so much time talking to Jason over the years. He’s such a good guy and I’ve got very close. Jason’s such a great drummer and he’s now in his reformation character.”

Don’t forget to vote for your ultimate Led Zeppelin set list here: Rate The Song we’ll be publishing the final scores on Monday, ahead of Monday night’s highly anticipated gig!

UNCUT.CO.UK and NME.com will both be at the reunion gig, bringing you comprehensive coverage of the Tribute To Ahmet Ertegun Concert at the 02 Arena.

We’ve already started our daily Led Zep countdown to December 10, and on the night we will have live coverage straight from the 02 Arena including news, pictures and a special blog.

Stay tuned for all the action.

Pic credit: Rex Features

Babyshambles Play On Despite No Show From Doherty

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Babyshambles Play On Despite No Show From Doherty

Pete Doherty failed to show at the NME Awards launch party at the O2 Arena tonight (December 6), but the rest of Babyshambles soldiered on bravely without him. After sets from current NME faves Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong and The Wombats, Pete Doherty failed to show to lead planned headliner's Babyshambles. Instead, the band carried on without him, with bassist Drew McConnell taking vocal duties. After pulling a member from the audience to sing "Carry On Up The Morning", Drew delivered vocals for five songs, joined by Josh from The Paddingtons, who sang vocals on a cover of The Clash's "Janie Jones". The Shockwaves NME Awards are set to take place at the Indig02 on February 28, 2008.

Pete Doherty failed to show at the NME Awards launch party at the O2 Arena tonight (December 6), but the rest of Babyshambles soldiered on bravely without him.

After sets from current NME faves Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong and The Wombats, Pete Doherty failed to show to lead planned headliner’s Babyshambles.

Instead, the band carried on without him, with bassist Drew McConnell taking vocal duties.

After pulling a member from the audience to sing “Carry On Up The Morning”, Drew delivered vocals for five songs, joined by Josh from The Paddingtons, who sang vocals on a cover of The Clash’s “Janie Jones”.

The Shockwaves NME Awards are set to take place at the Indig02 on February 28, 2008.

John Lennon – Stars Pick Their Favourite Tracks

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John Lennon – Stars Pick Their Favourite Tracks

The January issue of UNCUT is on sale now, featuring an all-star panel of musicians selecting their favourite song by the late Beatle John Lennon. Which Lennon song "flipped out" Brian Wilson when he first heard it? Which one reminds Arctic Monkey Alex Turner of his mum and dad? And when we asked The Who's Roger Daltrey for his favourite, what on earth led him to conclude: "I can see why people go completely mad in this business."? And there's many, many brilliant contributions from the likes of Yoko Ono, John Cale, John Lydon, Jarvis Cocker and Liam Gallagher. Meanwhile, Uncut.co.uk will be running online exclusives throughout the month, today is Alan McGee's pick. Coming up: Richmond Fontaine's Willy Vlautin, Josh Ritter, Roy Wood and more will be picking out their favourite tracks. ~ COLD TURKEY Plastic Ono Band single (October 1969). High chart postion: 14 Alan McGee: I suppose I first heard the song when I about 14, probably on [compilation] Shaved Fish, and had no idea what it was about. It’s an incredible piece of work. And what’s unbelievable is that Eric Clapton is playing guitar on it. I mean, this is the man who plays 23 nights at the Royal Albert Hall and who’s never made a decent record in his life, yet he’s playing guitar on this amazing song. Probably the greatest thing he’s ever done. I remember Primal Scream doing a brilliant version of “Cold Turkey”, which they used to do live, but I don’t think they recorded it [it’s available on several early ‘90s live bootlegs]. People always ask what the difference was between Lennon and McCartney. Well, Lennon was the genius songwriter with attitude, McCartney the genius with a melody. They were amazing apart, but better together. “Cold Turkey” was in the same vein as “Mother” or “Working Class Hero”, in that he was often drawing on personal experience and writing in the first person. He was a fucking pop genius. You’ve gotta love it. I mean, Lennon was punk rock before fucking punk was even thought of. He was a visionary songwriter. ~ Plus! What do you think Lennon's greatest song is? You can vote for your choice, and tell us why, by clicking here for the special poll. We'll be publishing your choices in a future issue of Uncut, along with a reader Top 10. VOTE HERE!

The January issue of UNCUT is on sale now, featuring an all-star panel of musicians selecting their favourite song by the late Beatle John Lennon.

Which Lennon song “flipped out” Brian Wilson when he first heard it?

Which one reminds Arctic Monkey Alex Turner of his mum and dad?

And when we asked The Who‘s Roger Daltrey for his favourite, what on earth led him to conclude: “I can see why people go completely mad in this business.”?

And there’s many, many brilliant contributions from the likes of Yoko Ono, John Cale, John Lydon, Jarvis Cocker and Liam Gallagher.

Meanwhile, Uncut.co.uk will be running online exclusives throughout the month, today is Alan McGee‘s pick.

Coming up: Richmond Fontaine‘s Willy Vlautin, Josh Ritter, Roy Wood and more will be picking out their favourite tracks.

~

COLD TURKEY

Plastic Ono Band single (October 1969). High chart postion: 14

Alan McGee:

I suppose I first heard the song when I about 14, probably on [compilation] Shaved Fish, and had no idea what it was about. It’s an incredible piece of work. And what’s unbelievable is that Eric Clapton is playing guitar on it.

I mean, this is the man who plays 23 nights at the Royal Albert Hall and who’s never made a decent record in his life, yet he’s playing guitar on this amazing song. Probably the greatest thing he’s ever done. I remember Primal Scream doing a brilliant version of “Cold Turkey”, which they used to do live, but I don’t think they recorded it [it’s available on several early ‘90s live bootlegs].

People always ask what the difference was between Lennon and McCartney. Well, Lennon was the genius songwriter with attitude, McCartney the genius with a melody. They were amazing apart, but better together.

“Cold Turkey” was in the same vein as “Mother” or “Working Class Hero”, in that he was often drawing on personal experience and writing in the first person. He was a fucking pop genius. You’ve gotta love it.

I mean, Lennon was punk rock before fucking punk was even thought of. He was a visionary songwriter.

~

Plus! What do you think Lennon’s greatest song is? You can vote for your choice, and tell us why, by clicking here for the special poll. We’ll be publishing your choices in a future issue of Uncut, along with a reader Top 10. VOTE HERE!

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