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Rocket Science

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Rocket Science

Dir: Jeffrey Blitz | St: Reece Thompson If you’ve been following recent US indie cinema, Rocket Science may seem a little familiar. The story of a teen outsider with a small but, in his high-school world, debilitating affliction (a stammer) it uses all the ammo in the Sundance movie armoury – separated parents, weird stepbrothers, barking neighbours – to create yet another white-picket survivalist fable, scored with the obligatory alt.rock soundtrack (Broken Social Scene and The Violent Femmes do the honours). But in much the same way that Little Miss Sunshine gathered up all the available indie tropes and boiled them down to an accessible, near-Oscar-winning package, so Jeffrey Blitz’s debut creates something affecting and original out of such seemingly well-worn material. Central to its success is the artless Reece Thompson as Hal Hefner, the dweeb inducted into the school debating team by the not-as-philanthropic-as-she-seems Ginny Ryerson (Anna Kendrick), and his attempts, not always successful, to regain his dignity. Although the film builds to a kind of Rocky-style showdown, Blitz doesn’t follow the usual route for the standard underdog movie. Where other indies trumpet an idealistic right-will-prevail philosophy, Blitz is brave enough to wonder if it won’t, and the gamble pays off in this warm, funny comedy’s poignant last moments. DAMON WISE

Dir: Jeffrey Blitz | St: Reece Thompson

If you’ve been following recent US indie cinema, Rocket Science may seem a little familiar. The story of a teen outsider with a small but, in his high-school world, debilitating affliction (a stammer) it uses all the ammo in the Sundance movie armoury – separated parents, weird stepbrothers, barking neighbours – to create yet another white-picket survivalist fable, scored with the obligatory alt.rock soundtrack (Broken Social Scene and The Violent Femmes do the honours).

But in much the same way that Little Miss Sunshine gathered up all the available indie tropes and boiled them down to an accessible, near-Oscar-winning package, so Jeffrey Blitz’s debut creates something affecting and original out of such seemingly well-worn material. Central to its success is the artless Reece Thompson as Hal Hefner, the dweeb inducted into the school debating team by the not-as-philanthropic-as-she-seems Ginny Ryerson (Anna Kendrick), and his attempts, not always successful, to regain his dignity.

Although the film builds to a kind of Rocky-style showdown, Blitz doesn’t follow the usual route for the standard underdog movie. Where other indies trumpet an idealistic right-will-prevail philosophy, Blitz is brave enough to wonder if it won’t, and the gamble pays off in this warm, funny comedy’s poignant last moments.

DAMON WISE

Leonard Cohen And Beastie Boys Up For US Hall Of Fame

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Leonard Cohen And Beastie Boys Up For US Hall Of Fame

Leonard Cohen and The Beastie Boys are among the artists nominated for entry into the US Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame this year. Madonna, Chic and John Mellencamp are also among the nominees, of which five will be chosen by over 600 music experts. Artists are eligible for entry 25 years after their first recording. Musicians who entered the Hall Of Fame last year were REM, Grandmaster Flash, Van Halen, The Ronettes and Patti Smith. The nominees include: Leonard Cohen The Beastie Boys Donna Summer Madonna John Mellencamp Chic The Dave Clark Five Afrika Bambaataa The Ventures The ceremony takes place in New York on March 10, 2008.

Leonard Cohen and The Beastie Boys are among the artists nominated for entry into the US Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame this year.

Madonna, Chic and John Mellencamp are also among the nominees, of which five will be chosen by over 600 music experts.

Artists are eligible for entry 25 years after their first recording. Musicians who entered the Hall Of Fame last year were REM, Grandmaster Flash, Van Halen, The Ronettes and Patti Smith.

The nominees include:

Leonard Cohen

The Beastie Boys

Donna Summer

Madonna

John Mellencamp

Chic

The Dave Clark Five

Afrika Bambaataa

The Ventures

The ceremony takes place in New York on March 10, 2008.

Stephen Malkmus To Release New Album In March

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Stephen Malkmus To Release New Album In March

Stephen Malkmus has announced that his long-awaited fourth album will be released in March 2008. The record will be the follow-up to "Face The Truth", which was released in mid-2005. Stephen Malkmus and his band The Jicks are set to play a handful of dates in the US towards the end of December. The ex-Pavement frontman recently headlined the main stage at this year’s Green Man Festival in the Brecon Beacons.

Stephen Malkmus has announced that his long-awaited fourth album will be released in March 2008.

The record will be the follow-up to “Face The Truth”, which was released in mid-2005.

Stephen Malkmus and his band The Jicks are set to play a handful of dates in the US towards the end of December.

The ex-Pavement frontman recently headlined the main stage at this year’s Green Man Festival in the Brecon Beacons.

Patti Smith Returns For UK Tour

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Patti Smith Returns For UK Tour

Patti Smith has announced she is to tour the UK this autumn, calling at London, Oxford and Cambridge. The punk poet and singer, who first came to prominence in 1975 with her debut album "Horses", is to play two nights at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire as part of the tour. The full dates are: London Shepherd's Bush Empire (October 22) Oxford Carling Academy (22) Cambridge Junction (23) Earlier this year, Smith released "Twelve", an album of covers, featuring her renditions of songs by Nirvana and The Rolling Stones among others.

Patti Smith has announced she is to tour the UK this autumn, calling at London, Oxford and Cambridge.

The punk poet and singer, who first came to prominence in 1975 with her debut album “Horses”, is to play two nights at London‘s Shepherd’s Bush Empire as part of the tour.

The full dates are:

London Shepherd’s Bush Empire (October 22)

Oxford Carling Academy (22)

Cambridge Junction (23)

Earlier this year, Smith released “Twelve”, an album of covers, featuring her renditions of songs by Nirvana and The Rolling Stones among others.

Amy Winehouse To Release Her First DVD

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Amy Winehouse To Release Her First DVD

Amy Winehouse is set to release her debut DVD in November. “I Told You I Was Trouble”, out on November 5, features a documentary charting Winehouse’s life over the last four years as well as a full-length concert film of the singer’s set at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire last April. The DVD also features an early acoustic version of “There Is No Greater Love” and a film of Winehouse’s performance of “Rehab” from the Brit Awards ceremony this year. The singer is reportedly due to go back in the studio to work on new material in the next few weeks, despite recent gig cancellations, a stay in a rehabilitation clinic and a widely-criticised performance at last week’s MOBO Awards (September 19).

Amy Winehouse is set to release her debut DVD in November.

“I Told You I Was Trouble”, out on November 5, features a documentary charting Winehouse’s life over the last four years as well as a full-length concert film of the singer’s set at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire last April.

The DVD also features an early acoustic version of “There Is No Greater Love” and a film of Winehouse’s performance of “Rehab” from the Brit Awards ceremony this year.

The singer is reportedly due to go back in the studio to work on new material in the next few weeks, despite recent gig cancellations, a stay in a rehabilitation clinic and a widely-criticised performance at last week’s MOBO Awards (September 19).

Why Across The Universe is the worst film you’ll see this year

Michael Bonner
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And considering the competition -- Spider-Man 3, Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End -- that takes some beating. Admittedly, last week saw something of a bumper crop of UNCUT friendly movies (The Assassination Of Jesse James, American Gangster, The Darjeeling Limited), but all the same -- Across The Universe is a truly dreadful film. The story takes place in the late Sixties, where a young Scouse lad called Jude (that's Jude) heads off to America in search of his father. He winds up in Greenwich Village with a girl called Lucy (that's Lucy) and her boho hipster chums Sadie, JoJo, Prudence and Maxwell, who does indeed brandish a silver hammer at one point during the proceedings. These hoopy froods run up against just the kind of pesky life problems you'd expect to encounter in the Age of Aquarius. There's a war in Vietnam, man, and the students are becoming radicalised. There's drug-soaked hippie gurus to tune in with, rock bands to form, and the Lennon-McCartney songbook to demolish with ham-fisted ineptitude. In one of the film's many jaw-droppingly bad moments, Bono appears as Dr Robert, a Ken Kesey-esque figure in loopy, tinted Lennon shades, a handlebar moustache and a cowboy hat, singing an excruciating version of "I Am The Walrus". And this is even after Eddie Izzard's Mr Kite has done some appalling, sub-Python turn in a tent. It goes from worse to dreadful, culminating in a rooftop gig where the entire cast boom out "All You Need Is Love". I'm not particularly precious about The Beatles, so please don't think I'm getting in a lather about their back catalogue being subjected to the kind of grim torture that, by rights, should have been outlawed long ago under the Geneva Convention. My problem here is the crushing witlessness with which the filmmakers have bolted Beatles' songs onto the narrative. In one scene, Prudence (that's Prudence) locks herself in a closet and refuses to come out. So, one by one, the cast members gather round the door and exhort her in song to come out and "greet the brand new day". Yes, it's genuinely that bad. It's just shockingly inept filmmaking. Quite what possessed The Beatles' estate to allow their songs to be used in this film is a mystery. And what compounds the grinding misery here is that the film was written by Dick Clement and Ian LeFresnais, the gentlemen who in a previous life wrote Porridge and The Likely Lads and clearly should know a lot better that this. It opens this Friday in the UK, should you be brave enough to go and see it.

And considering the competition — Spider-Man 3, Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End — that takes some beating. Admittedly, last week saw something of a bumper crop of UNCUT friendly movies (The Assassination Of Jesse James, American Gangster, The Darjeeling Limited), but all the same — Across The Universe is a truly dreadful film.

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Bright Eyes Line Up One-Off Orchestral Show

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Bright Eyes Line Up One-Off Orchestral Show

Bright Eyes are set to play a one-off show accompanied by the Los Angeles Philharmonic this weekend (September 29). The show, to be held at the Hollywood Bowl, will apparently feature reworked versions of songs from Bright Eyes' entire career, in contrast to the group's recent shows, which have featured tracks mainly drawn from their recent albums "Cassadaga" and "I’m Wide Awake It's Morning". Band member Nate Walcott worked out the arrangements for the orchestra, which comprises 40 string, 11 brass and 12 woodwind players. The arrangements reportedly took eight months to complete, according to Billboard. "In some cases I would take existing melodies or parts, and score them for a full orchestra," Walcott explained. "In other cases, I composed whole new elements - melodies, harmonies, whatever." Bright Eyes have no plans as yet to repeat the show anywhere else in the US or UK.

Bright Eyes are set to play a one-off show accompanied by the Los Angeles Philharmonic this weekend (September 29).

The show, to be held at the Hollywood Bowl, will apparently feature reworked versions of songs from Bright Eyes‘ entire career, in contrast to the group’s recent shows, which have featured tracks mainly drawn from their recent albums “Cassadaga” and “I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning”.

Band member Nate Walcott worked out the arrangements for the orchestra, which comprises 40 string, 11 brass and 12 woodwind players. The arrangements reportedly took eight months to complete, according to Billboard.

“In some cases I would take existing melodies or parts, and score them for a full orchestra,” Walcott explained. “In other cases, I composed whole new elements – melodies, harmonies, whatever.”

Bright Eyes have no plans as yet to repeat the show anywhere else in the US or UK.

Cut Of The Day: Bob Dylan and George Harrison’s Intimate Collaboration

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Cut Of The Day: Bob Dylan and George Harrison’s Intimate Collaboration

Following the news that Martin Scorsese is set to direct a documentary about George Harrison, we thought we’d have a look at the result when the late Beatle and the star of Scorsese’s “No Direction Home”, Bob Dylan, collaborated. This tentative performance seems so intimate that at one point a roadie brazenly comes up and tests the pair’s microphones. In fact, the two were sound-checking Dylan’s “If Not For You” for Harrison’s Concert For Bangladesh in 1971. Harrison had previously covered the song on his 1970 album “All Things Must Pass”. Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdvjoIfGViU

Following the news that Martin Scorsese is set to direct a documentary about George Harrison, we thought we’d have a look at the result when the late Beatle and the star of Scorsese’s “No Direction Home”, Bob Dylan, collaborated.

This tentative performance seems so intimate that at one point a roadie brazenly comes up and tests the pair’s microphones. In fact, the two were sound-checking Dylan’s “If Not For You” for Harrison’s Concert For Bangladesh in 1971.

Harrison had previously covered the song on his 1970 album “All Things Must Pass”.

Check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdvjoIfGViU

Paul McCartney And Ringo Starr Return To Liverpool For One-Off Concerts

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Paul McCartney And Ringo Starr Return To Liverpool For One-Off Concerts

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are set to perform at a set of special concerts to mark Liverpool’s status as the European Capital of Culture 2008. McCartney and his band will headline “The Liverpool Sound”, a concert to be held at Anfield Football Stadium on June 1, featuring other “global superstars” yet to be announced. Starr will participate in “Liverpool The Musical”, a one-off performance on January 12, held as part of the city’s three-day opening celebrations. The production will feature famous songs from Liverpool’s history rearranged by the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and stars Echo And The Bunnymen, Ian Broudie, Pete Wylie and Dave Stewart alongside the ex-Beatle. Other events will focus on the visual and performing arts and architecture. More information can be found at Liverpool08.com.

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are set to perform at a set of special concerts to mark Liverpool’s status as the European Capital of Culture 2008.

McCartney and his band will headline “The Liverpool Sound”, a concert to be held at Anfield Football Stadium on June 1, featuring other “global superstars” yet to be announced.

Starr will participate in “Liverpool The Musical”, a one-off performance on January 12, held as part of the city’s three-day opening celebrations.

The production will feature famous songs from Liverpool’s history rearranged by the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and stars Echo And The Bunnymen, Ian Broudie, Pete Wylie and Dave Stewart alongside the ex-Beatle.

Other events will focus on the visual and performing arts and architecture. More information can be found at Liverpool08.com.

Phil Spector Murder Case Results In Mistrial

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Phil Spector Murder Case Results In Mistrial

The judge in legendary producer Phil Spector’s murder trial has declared a mistrial, after the jurors were unable to agree on a verdict after 12 days of deliberations. The jury was 10-2 in favour of convicting Spector of the second degree murder of actress Lana Clarkson in his Los Angeles mansion in 2003. Spector, who worked with acts including The Beatles, Leonard Cohen and The Ramones, looks set to face a retrial in the near future – the judge and lawyers involved in the case are set to meet on October 3 to discuss proceedings. Sandi Gibbons, the spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office, said: “We’re disappointed the jury was unable to reach a verdict in this case, and we will immediately begin preparations for a retrial.” The case had hinged on whether Spector killed Clarkson or whether she had committed suicide, based largely on whether blood on Spector’s clothes placed him close enough to Clarkson to have shot her in the mouth.

The judge in legendary producer Phil Spector’s murder trial has declared a mistrial, after the jurors were unable to agree on a verdict after 12 days of deliberations.

The jury was 10-2 in favour of convicting Spector of the second degree murder of actress Lana Clarkson in his Los Angeles mansion in 2003.

Spector, who worked with acts including The Beatles, Leonard Cohen and The Ramones, looks set to face a retrial in the near future – the judge and lawyers involved in the case are set to meet on October 3 to discuss proceedings.

Sandi Gibbons, the spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office, said: “We’re disappointed the jury was unable to reach a verdict in this case, and we will immediately begin preparations for a retrial.”

The case had hinged on whether Spector killed Clarkson or whether she had committed suicide, based largely on whether blood on Spector’s clothes placed him close enough to Clarkson to have shot her in the mouth.

The Cure Announce Wembley Arena Show

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The Cure Announce Wembley Arena Show

The Cure are set to play a show at London’s Wembley Arena in spring 2008. The gig, to be held on March 20, will be the first in the capital for the band since they completed work on their new album, the follow-up to 2004’s “The Cure”. Tickets for the gig go on sale on September 29 at 9am. The band’s record label, Geffen, recently confirmed that the group’s forthcoming album will be a double CD, but Smith has added that it will be sold at the price of a single album. It is believed that a single CD version of the record will also be released in 2008.

The Cure are set to play a show at London’s Wembley Arena in spring 2008.

The gig, to be held on March 20, will be the first in the capital for the band since they completed work on their new album, the follow-up to 2004’s “The Cure”.

Tickets for the gig go on sale on September 29 at 9am.

The band’s record label, Geffen, recently confirmed that the group’s forthcoming album will be a double CD, but Smith has added that it will be sold at the price of a single album.

It is believed that a single CD version of the record will also be released in 2008.

Uncut’s Worst Gigs!

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Uncut’s Worst Gigs!

In last month's UNCUT, our writers, friends and favourite musicians reminisced about their favourite gigs. Well, in this month’s issue we’re looking back on the worst gigs we’ve ever seen - including The Stone Roses, Bob Dylan, Kevin Rowland and David Bowie - with rare photos from the shows too. We're also going to publish one of the worst gigs every day, so feast your eyes on this, and be glad you weren’t there! ***** GUNS N' ROSES Madison Square Garden, New York, December 9, 1991 Marc Spitz: We're talking semi-original line-up, minus Steven Adler, plus Matt Sorum. We're talking pre-grunge twilight of hard rock, where even show openers Soundgarden had yet to find their alternative rock footing and were still Badmotorfinger-era riff monsters. Guns took the stage nearly two hours late. Not a good start. And then they stopped playing so that Axl, dressed in white biker jacket and spandex shorts, could launch into a splenetic, four-minute rant that bummed out even the most loyal fans. He quoted Wayne's World, lambasted rock journalists by name and unconsciously outed himself as a rapidly softening rock star ("You wanna get in the ring, we'll get in the ring. We'll sue your motherfuckin' ass!"). Then he sang "Double Talkin' Jive". Which was just not enough of a good song to win back over the crowd. It's all here on YouTube - but what you won't see on the video, and what I remember clearly (or at least clearly enough to poeticize here, with 15 plus years hindsight) is that during that lengthy wait for the band to arrive on stage, the Garden's sound system played "Smells Like Teen Spirit". 20,000 people seemed to thrill to it as one, as if we got a sense that we'd all soon be liberated from crap like this. ***** plus WERE YOU THERE? Not even UNCUTs war-weary gig-hounds have been to every show in history – but you lot probably have. Email Allan_Jones@ipcmedia.com, or share your memories in the comments box below, of the ones we might have missed, and we’ll publish the best in a future issue!

In last month’s UNCUT, our writers, friends and favourite musicians reminisced about their favourite gigs.

Well, in this month’s issue we’re looking back on the worst gigs we’ve ever seen – including The Stone Roses, Bob Dylan, Kevin Rowland and David Bowie – with rare photos from the shows too.

We’re also going to publish one of the worst gigs every day, so feast your eyes on this, and be glad you weren’t there!

*****

GUNS N’ ROSES

Madison Square Garden, New York, December 9, 1991

Marc Spitz:

We’re talking semi-original line-up, minus Steven Adler, plus Matt Sorum. We’re talking pre-grunge twilight of hard rock, where even show openers Soundgarden had yet to find their alternative rock footing and were still Badmotorfinger-era riff monsters. Guns took the stage nearly two hours late. Not a good start. And then they stopped playing so that Axl, dressed in white biker jacket and spandex shorts, could launch into a splenetic, four-minute rant that bummed out even the most loyal fans. He quoted Wayne’s World, lambasted rock journalists by name and unconsciously outed himself as a rapidly softening rock star (“You wanna get in the ring, we’ll get in the ring. We’ll sue your motherfuckin’ ass!”). Then he sang “Double Talkin’ Jive”. Which was just not enough of a good song to win back over the crowd. It’s all here on YouTube – but what you won’t see on the video, and what I remember clearly (or at least clearly enough to poeticize here, with 15 plus years hindsight) is that during that lengthy wait for the band to arrive on stage, the Garden’s sound system played “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. 20,000 people seemed to thrill to it as one, as if we got a sense that we’d all soon be liberated from crap like this.

*****

plus WERE YOU THERE?

Not even UNCUTs war-weary gig-hounds have been to every show in history – but you lot probably have.

Email Allan_Jones@ipcmedia.com, or share your memories in the comments box below, of the ones we might have missed, and we’ll publish the best in a future issue!

George Harrison To Be Star Of New Scorsese Documentary

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George Harrison To Be Star Of New Scorsese Documentary

Martin Scorsese has confirmed he is to direct a documentary about the life of George Harrison. The acclaimed director, whose documentary on Bob Dylan, “No Direction Home”, was released to critical acclaim in 2005, will also work with Olivia Harrison, who will act as a producer on the film. Scorsese is keen to focus on the spiritual aspects of Harrison’s life, saying that the late Beatle’s “music and his search for spiritual meaning is a story that still resonates today”. The Oscar-winning director also told Variety he was “looking forward to delving deeper”. Harrison’s widow Olivia added: “It would have given George great joy to know that Martin Scorsese has agreed to tell his story.” The guitarist died in 2001 from lung cancer which had spread to his brain. Scorsese is currently working on a concert film of The Rolling Stones, titled “Shine A Light”. The film is set to be released in spring 2008.

Martin Scorsese has confirmed he is to direct a documentary about the life of George Harrison.

The acclaimed director, whose documentary on Bob Dylan, “No Direction Home”, was released to critical acclaim in 2005, will also work with Olivia Harrison, who will act as a producer on the film.

Scorsese is keen to focus on the spiritual aspects of Harrison’s life, saying that the late Beatle’s “music and his search for spiritual meaning is a story that still resonates today”.

The Oscar-winning director also told Variety he was “looking forward to delving deeper”.

Harrison’s widow Olivia added: “It would have given George great joy to know that Martin Scorsese has agreed to tell his story.”

The guitarist died in 2001 from lung cancer which had spread to his brain.

Scorsese is currently working on a concert film of The Rolling Stones, titled “Shine A Light”. The film is set to be released in spring 2008.

‘Control’ Premieres In New York Watched By Music Glitterati

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‘Control’ Premieres In New York Watched By Music Glitterati

"Control", the film based on the life of Joy Division's Ian Curtis, was previewed in New York last night (September 25), watched by a number of the city’s celebrities. Dave Gahan and members of Sonic Youth, along with Helena Christensen and Steve Buscemi, all turned up to watch Anton Corbijn's long-awaited biopic of Curtis, set for only limited release in America. Speaking to NME.COM at the premiere, Corbijn said: "I wanted to make sure that Ian was portrayed as normal and so I felt it was important to surround him with an everyday background. A lot of people's lives are very mundane but a great deal of beauty can come from these kind of environments too and Joy Division's music was a great example of this." "Control" is released on October 5 in the UK.

“Control”, the film based on the life of Joy Division‘s Ian Curtis, was previewed in New York last night (September 25), watched by a number of the city’s celebrities.

Dave Gahan and members of Sonic Youth, along with Helena Christensen and Steve Buscemi, all turned up to watch Anton Corbijn‘s long-awaited biopic of Curtis, set for only limited release in America.

Speaking to NME.COM at the premiere, Corbijn said: “I wanted to make sure that Ian was portrayed as normal and so I felt it was important to surround him with an everyday background. A lot of people’s lives are very mundane but a great deal of beauty can come from these kind of environments too and Joy Division‘s music was a great example of this.”

“Control” is released on October 5 in the UK.

Josh Ritter Announces UK Tour

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Josh Ritter Announces UK Tour

American singer-songwriter Josh Ritter has announced a UK tour for November, visiting eight major cities. The musician, who features in the new issue of Uncut out tomorrow (September 27), is set to play a massive show at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire towards the end of his tour. Ritter is visiting the UK in support of his forthcoming fifth album "The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter", which is released on October 1. The full dates are: Nottingham Rescue Rooms (November 16) Newcastle Sage (17) Manchester Academy 2 (18) Glasgow Classic Grand (19) Birmingham Glee Club (21) London Shepherd’s Bush Empire (22) Brighton Concorde (23) Bristol Trinity (24)

American singer-songwriter Josh Ritter has announced a UK tour for November, visiting eight major cities.

The musician, who features in the new issue of Uncut out tomorrow (September 27), is set to play a massive show at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire towards the end of his tour.

Ritter is visiting the UK in support of his forthcoming fifth album “The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter”, which is released on October 1.

The full dates are:

Nottingham Rescue Rooms (November 16)

Newcastle Sage (17)

Manchester Academy 2 (18)

Glasgow Classic Grand (19)

Birmingham Glee Club (21)

London Shepherd’s Bush Empire (22)

Brighton Concorde (23)

Bristol Trinity (24)

Steve Earle – Washington Square Serenade

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Steve Earle – Washington Square Serenade

Like Tom Russell and Dave Alvin, Earle is a songwriter who sharpens with age. Recent albums “Jerusalem” (2002) and 2004's “The Revolution Starts...Now” found him politically charged, tilting at Bush & Co. with undisguised revulsion. It was reflected in the music too, which was gruff, tetchy, raw. Now, a move to New York (Greenwich Village to be specific) has given Earle fresh impetus. Produced by Dust Brother John King at Electric Lady Studios, “Washington Square Serenade” feels far more personal. Layering acoustic and electric guitars over vaguely hip-hop beats, much of it sounds like Earle taking stock of his new home and nodding his approval. New York, he admits, was where he was always headed. Nashville just happened to get in the way. "Tennessee Blues" directly addresses his decision to quit Nashville two years ago. Set to bright guitar and skeletal beats, Earle growls "Sunset in my mirror / Pedal on the floor / Bound for New York City / And I won't be back no more". And why would you, when you're nestled in a garden apartment on the street depicted on the sleeve of “The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan”? Elsewhere, there's a new thrust to most of the other songs too. "Satellite Radio", bizarrely enough, begins like Portishead, then opens out into an improbable kind of folk rap that's one of the best moments here. And with traditional Brazilian rhythms courtesy of Forro In The Dark, "City Of Immigrants" finds Earle plugging in to a new strain of urban tropicalia. Of course, this is hardly wholesale reinvention. Wife Alison Moorer duets on "Days Aren't Long Enough", while the country boy shines through on the banjo-heavy "Oxycontin Blues" and an old-timey "Jericho Road". It's all invigorating, wonderful stuff. Wherever he goes, Earle finds a rich seam of song to mine. ROB HUGHES

Like Tom Russell and Dave Alvin, Earle is a songwriter who sharpens with age. Recent albums “Jerusalem” (2002) and 2004’s “The Revolution Starts…Now” found him politically charged, tilting at Bush & Co. with undisguised revulsion. It was reflected in the music too, which was gruff, tetchy, raw.

Now, a move to New York (Greenwich Village to be specific) has given Earle fresh impetus. Produced by Dust Brother John King at Electric Lady Studios, “Washington Square Serenade” feels far more personal. Layering acoustic and electric guitars over vaguely hip-hop beats, much of it sounds like Earle taking stock of his new home and nodding his approval. New York, he admits, was where he was always headed. Nashville just happened to get in the way.

“Tennessee Blues” directly addresses his decision to quit Nashville two years ago. Set to bright guitar and skeletal beats, Earle growls “Sunset in my mirror / Pedal on the floor / Bound for New York City / And I won’t be back no more”. And why would you, when you’re nestled in a garden apartment on the street depicted on the sleeve of “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”?

Elsewhere, there’s a new thrust to most of the other songs too. “Satellite Radio”, bizarrely enough, begins like Portishead, then opens out into an improbable kind of folk rap that’s one of the best moments here. And with traditional Brazilian rhythms courtesy of Forro In The Dark, “City Of Immigrants” finds Earle plugging in to a new strain of urban tropicalia.

Of course, this is hardly wholesale reinvention. Wife Alison Moorer duets on “Days Aren’t Long Enough”, while the country boy shines through on the banjo-heavy “Oxycontin Blues” and an old-timey “Jericho Road”. It’s all invigorating, wonderful stuff. Wherever he goes, Earle finds a rich seam of song to mine.

ROB HUGHES

SHACK – Time Machine: The Best Of Shack

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SHACK – Time Machine: The Best Of Shack

To those who've not heard it, the story of Shack can't help but sound a little bit like “Great Expectations”. From humble beginnings, a band has some interesting adventures, and endures some hairy moments. A promise of great wealth seems it will emerge from one source - but in the end, their salvation comes from a surprising, but generous benefactor. If there weren't drugs involved, you could almost see it being serialized at Sunday teatime, on BBC2. As it is, a different kind of domesticity pervades the work of Mick and John Head. For the twenty years that the pair have made music as Shack - they were once part of the fragile, bossa-nova-centric Pale Fountains - they have specialized in wringing amazing beauty from the humdrum. Lyrically, their songs take their starting points from experiences as everyday as having a cup of tea ("Cup Of Tea"), picking up dry cleaning (the great single "Al's Vacation"), or being spooked by the television ("Neighbours"). Where the band take them from there, however, is where their magic lies. “Time Machine” collects some hugely strong examples of their transformative art. "Cosmic Scousers" is a rather demeaning epithet, but Shack's talents - which stylistically pay a homage to the works of Love and The Byrds – is for creating a poetic, indoor psychedelia. The resulting music, propelled by Mick Head's soft mumbling and rich with his brother's impressive lead guitar is empathetic, at times (like 1998's "Pull Together") anthemic, but without any kind of bombast. Instead, the songs here feel as though they're less being performed, more being shared. Worthy contemporaries of The Stone Roses in one era, and Oasis in another, Shack remain now as they have for years: a band you'd hope more people would know about. Why they don't (a blend of tragicomic misfortune, lost tapes, self-inflicted obstacles, and what must simply be bad luck) is something we can only hope that this great record, released on Noel Gallagher's own label, might help re-address. Whatever, you suspect the trappings of fame wouldn't particularly turn their heads – Shack have already seen so much, without even leaving the house. JOHN ROBINSON Q and A: Mick Head UNCUT: How did the association with Noel Gallagher come about? MH: Noel turned up at a gig in Birmingham, and we had a chat, and we got on from there. It was like: "Let's try and do something one day". And when we were looking round, he said did we want to do something, and we said, "Yeah, definitely." He's a total kindred spirit, he's a beautiful man. I'm his brother - we played with them: if we were fucking up, they'd pull us aside and say like, "behave yourselves". UNCUT: There's nothing from “The Magical World Of The Strands” album on there? MH: Is that a fact? Oh d'you know what, I thought there was. Bloody hell! Oh, I know: it's because we were The Strands. It was a very different thing to Shack, a different time of our lives: it started off as a solo album, but I needed some guitar, and I thought, "Why not ask our John, he's the best guitarist in the world?" INTERVIEW: JOHN ROBINSON

To those who’ve not heard it, the story of Shack can’t help but sound a little bit like “Great Expectations”. From humble beginnings, a band has some interesting adventures, and endures some hairy moments. A promise of great wealth seems it will emerge from one source – but in the end, their salvation comes from a surprising, but generous benefactor. If there weren’t drugs involved, you could almost see it being serialized at Sunday teatime, on BBC2.

As it is, a different kind of domesticity pervades the work of Mick and John Head. For the twenty years that the pair have made music as Shack – they were once part of the fragile, bossa-nova-centric Pale Fountains – they have specialized in wringing amazing beauty from the humdrum. Lyrically, their songs take their starting points from experiences as everyday as having a cup of tea (“Cup Of Tea”), picking up dry cleaning (the great single “Al’s Vacation”), or being spooked by the television (“Neighbours”). Where the band take them from there, however, is where their magic lies.

“Time Machine” collects some hugely strong examples of their transformative art. “Cosmic Scousers” is a rather demeaning epithet, but Shack‘s talents – which stylistically pay a homage to the works of Love and The Byrds – is for creating a poetic, indoor psychedelia. The resulting music, propelled by Mick Head‘s soft mumbling and rich with his brother’s impressive lead guitar is empathetic, at times (like 1998’s “Pull Together”) anthemic, but without any kind of bombast.

Instead, the songs here feel as though they’re less being performed, more being shared. Worthy contemporaries of The Stone Roses in one era, and Oasis in another, Shack remain now as they have for years: a band you’d hope more people would know about.

Why they don’t (a blend of tragicomic misfortune, lost tapes, self-inflicted obstacles, and what must simply be bad luck) is something we can only hope that this great record, released on Noel Gallagher‘s own label, might help re-address. Whatever, you suspect the trappings of fame wouldn’t particularly turn their heads – Shack have already seen so much, without even leaving the house.

JOHN ROBINSON

Q and A: Mick Head

UNCUT: How did the association with Noel Gallagher come about?

MH: Noel turned up at a gig in Birmingham, and we had a chat, and we got on from there. It was like: “Let’s try and do something one day”. And when we were looking round, he said did we want to do something, and we said, “Yeah, definitely.” He’s a total kindred spirit, he’s a beautiful man. I’m his brother – we played with them: if we were fucking up, they’d pull us aside and say like, “behave yourselves”.

UNCUT: There’s nothing from “The Magical World Of The Strands” album on there?

MH: Is that a fact? Oh d’you know what, I thought there was. Bloody hell! Oh, I know: it’s because we were The Strands. It was a very different thing to Shack, a different time of our lives: it started off as a solo album, but I needed some guitar, and I thought, “Why not ask our John, he’s the best guitarist in the world?”

INTERVIEW: JOHN ROBINSON

FOO FIGHTERS – Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace

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FOO FIGHTERS – Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace

Like some movie assassin, Dave Grohl is a man leading a double life. On the one hand, he's the mild mannered musician and contented family man who disarms all who meet him. On the other, he's the Foo Fighters' songwriter, who goes to work doing something much more aggressive: the heavy, cathartic business of casting his demons out. This sees him doing that (not least in the excellent opener "The Pretender"), but it also attempts to reconcile more of his contrary impulses. On the last Foos album, "In Your Honour" rock and acoustic music were exiled to different discs. Here, a satisfactory compromise is brokered between the two: the excellent "Summer's End" is easy on the ear, easier still on the brain, and sets him up in the radio-friendly “Wonderwall” district one imagines is his spiritual home. JOHN ROBINSON

Like some movie assassin, Dave Grohl is a man leading a double life. On the one hand, he’s the mild mannered musician and contented family man who disarms all who meet him. On the other, he’s the Foo Fighters‘ songwriter, who goes to work doing something much more aggressive: the heavy, cathartic business of casting his demons out. This sees him doing that (not least in the excellent opener “The Pretender”), but it also attempts to reconcile more of his contrary impulses. On the last Foos album, “In Your Honour” rock and acoustic music were exiled to different discs. Here, a satisfactory compromise is brokered between the two: the excellent “Summer’s End” is easy on the ear, easier still on the brain, and sets him up in the radio-friendly “Wonderwall” district one imagines is his spiritual home.

JOHN ROBINSON

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – MAGIC

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BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – MAGIC

Probably as early as his fifth album, 1980's “The River”, Springsteen reached that sparsely populated stratosphere of artists recognised by surname alone, with a personal mythology so well entrenched that his newest records were best described in terms of their predecessors. “Magic”, then, Springsteen's 15th studio album, is “Born To Run” crossed with “Tunnel Of Love”, an attempt to recover the indomitable youthful fury of the former, astutely tempered by the older, wiser, sadder resignation of the latter. The album's more exuberant intentions are telegraphed by opening track "Radio Nowhere", a glorious signature E Street Band tear-up in the manner of "No Surrender", clearly written in anticipation of shaking the seats at the back of the hangars they'll be touring in. The succeeding cuts possess similar swagger - "You'll Be Comin' Down" a withering evocation of fading beauty set to a pulsing "Glory Days" strum, "Livin' In The Future" anchored by a Clarence Clemons sax riff cheerfully recycled from “310th Avenue Freeze-Out". It's on this latter tune that a thematic undertow begins to pull. There's a lot of decay and corruption freighted in the busy lyrics, and when Springsteen sings "My faith's been torn asunder, tell me is that rollin' thunder/Or just the sinking sound of something righteous going under?", he's well aware that Rolling Thunder was both a riotously bohemian and optimistic Bob Dylan revue, and a monstrous American military rampage. Springsteen's uneasy - but increasingly assertive - self-appointed role as America's conscience is given further rein on "Last To Die", the chorus paraphrasing the question put by a young John Kerry in 1971: "Who'll be the last to die for a mistake?" For all that, the album's best moment is its most restrained and contemplative. "Girls In Their Summer Clothes" is a gorgeous, heartbreaking lament, the simple man-in-love content of, say, "All That Heaven Will Allow" now soured by the cruel inevitabilities: it sounds, as it was, written by a man pushing 60, watching balefully as those girls "pass me by". The references to breezes crossing porches, and seeking solace in a place on "the edge of town" affectingly personalise the best mid-life crisis anthem since Don Henley's "Boys Of Summer". As such, the song perfectly encapsulates “Magic”'s rather oddly mixed tone. It trades in giddying, irresistible, full-steam-ahead-and-damn-the-torpedoes rock'n'roll. But at its heart, it's essentially a thoughtful wander in search of personal and national innocence. ANDREW MUELLER

Probably as early as his fifth album, 1980’s “The River”, Springsteen reached that sparsely populated stratosphere of artists recognised by surname alone, with a personal mythology so well entrenched that his newest records were best described in terms of their predecessors. “Magic”, then, Springsteen‘s 15th studio album, is “Born To Run” crossed with “Tunnel Of Love”, an attempt to recover the indomitable youthful fury of the former, astutely tempered by the older, wiser, sadder resignation of the latter.

The album’s more exuberant intentions are telegraphed by opening track “Radio Nowhere”, a glorious signature E Street Band tear-up in the manner of “No Surrender”, clearly written in anticipation of shaking the seats at the back of the hangars they’ll be touring in. The succeeding cuts possess similar swagger – “You’ll Be Comin’ Down” a withering evocation of fading beauty set to a pulsing “Glory Days” strum, “Livin’ In The Future” anchored by a Clarence Clemons sax riff cheerfully recycled from “310th Avenue Freeze-Out”.

It’s on this latter tune that a thematic undertow begins to pull. There’s a lot of decay and corruption freighted in the busy lyrics, and when Springsteen sings “My faith’s been torn asunder, tell me is that rollin’ thunder/Or just the sinking sound of something righteous going under?”, he’s well aware that Rolling Thunder was both a riotously bohemian and optimistic Bob Dylan revue, and a monstrous American military rampage. Springsteen‘s uneasy – but increasingly assertive – self-appointed role as America’s conscience is given further rein on “Last To Die”, the chorus paraphrasing the question put by a young John Kerry in 1971: “Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake?”

For all that, the album’s best moment is its most restrained and contemplative. “Girls In Their Summer Clothes” is a gorgeous, heartbreaking lament, the simple man-in-love content of, say, “All That Heaven Will Allow” now soured by the cruel inevitabilities: it sounds, as it was, written by a man pushing 60, watching balefully as those girls “pass me by”. The references to breezes crossing porches, and seeking solace in a place on “the edge of town” affectingly personalise the best mid-life crisis anthem since Don Henley‘s “Boys Of Summer”.

As such, the song perfectly encapsulates “Magic”’s rather oddly mixed tone. It trades in giddying, irresistible, full-steam-ahead-and-damn-the-torpedoes rock’n’roll. But at its heart, it’s essentially a thoughtful wander in search of personal and national innocence.

ANDREW MUELLER

Sex Pistols Add More Dates In London And Manchester

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Sex Pistols Add More Dates In London And Manchester

The Sex Pistols will play a gig in Manchester as well as another at London’s Brixton Academy, they have announced. The Manchester date, to be held on November 17 at the MEN Arena, will be the group's first in the city for over 30 years. The reformed group's new London gig will take place on November 12, and tickets for the two shows are set to go on sale at 9am on September 28. The Sex Pistols’ now play the following dates: London Brixton Academy (November 8-10, 12) Manchester MEN Arena (November 17)

The Sex Pistols will play a gig in Manchester as well as another at London’s Brixton Academy, they have announced.

The Manchester date, to be held on November 17 at the MEN Arena, will be the group’s first in the city for over 30 years.

The reformed group’s new London gig will take place on November 12, and tickets for the two shows are set to go on sale at 9am on September 28.

The Sex Pistols’ now play the following dates:

London Brixton Academy (November 8-10, 12)

Manchester MEN Arena (November 17)

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