The thirteenth International Festival De Benicassim is starting in Valencia, Spain today (July 19) and Uncut.co.uk will be bringing you all the action live.
The thirteenth International Festival De Benicassim is starting in Valencia, Spain today (July 19) and Uncut.co.uk will be bringing you all the action live. Headlining the nocturnal festival are Arctic Monkeys, Muse and US new-wave revolutionaries Devo. Also playing the three day eclectic rock and dance festival are perennial Uncut favourites Wilco, playing their second festival in two weekends, after Nels Cline and Jeff Tweedy and co wowed us at Latitude last weekend. Benicassim's main stages will also see performances from rock veterans Iggy & The Stooges, Os Mutantes and Animal Collective. Atlanta new-wavers back from a lengthy hiatus the B-52s are also billed to appear, their first show in Europe ahead of their first UK show at London's Lovebox this Sunday (July 22). Alt.country rockers Calexico, Rufus Wainwright, Bright Eyes and Antony and the Johnsons will also be appearing the Spanish festival and Uncut will bringing you up to date blogs, news, gossip and photos from as much as we can. Check back to Uncut.co.uk's special Festivals blog for all the latest www.www.uncut.co.uk/festivals We will also be bringing you live reports from Hackney's Victoria Park this Saturday (July 21) where Sly and the Family Stone will be performing a very rare show at this weekend's Lovebox event. Wilco pic credit: Chris Strong
The thirteenth International Festival De Benicassim is starting in Valencia, Spain today (July 19) and Uncut.co.uk will be bringing you all the action live.
Headlining the nocturnal festival are Arctic Monkeys, Muse and US new-wave revolutionaries Devo.
Also playing the three day eclectic rock and dance festival are perennial Uncut favourites Wilco, playing their second festival in two weekends, after Nels Cline and Jeff Tweedy and co wowed us at Latitude last weekend.
Benicassim’s main stages will also see performances from rock veterans Iggy & The Stooges, Os Mutantes and Animal Collective.
Atlanta new-wavers back from a lengthy hiatus the B-52s are also billed to appear, their first show in Europe ahead of their first UK show at London’s Lovebox this Sunday (July 22).
Alt.country rockers Calexico, Rufus Wainwright, Bright Eyes and Antony and the Johnsons will also be appearing the Spanish festival and Uncut will bringing you up to date blogs, news, gossip and photos from as much as we can.
Check back to Uncut.co.uk’s special Festivals blog for all the latest www.www.uncut.co.uk/festivals
We will also be bringing you live reports from Hackney’s Victoria Park this Saturday (July 21) where Sly and the Family Stone will be performing a very rare show at this weekend’s Lovebox event.
Wilco pic credit: Chris Strong
Here is part two of our exlusive interview with the Hold Steady, filmed on the night they dropped in to play the Uncut 10th birthday party, at the start of the month (July 2). The band played a short but blistering set in the Uncut canteen on the 10th floor, before jetting off across town to play their own headline show at Shepherd's Bush Empire. The video interview with bandmembers Franz Nicoklay and Tak Kubler cuts to a live performance of 'Boys and Girls In America' album track and recent single 'Chips Ahoy!' Click here for the interview: lo / hi and here for the brilliant 'Chips Ahoy!': lo / hi For more MP3s and tour updates, go here for the official Hold Steady websitewww.theholdsteady.com
Here is part two of our exlusive interview with the Hold Steady, filmed on the night they dropped in to play the Uncut 10th birthday party, at the start of the month (July 2).
The band played a short but blistering set in the Uncut canteen on the 10th floor, before jetting off across town to play their own headline show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
The video interview with bandmembers Franz Nicoklay and Tak Kubler cuts to a live performance of ‘Boys and Girls In America’ album track and recent single ‘Chips Ahoy!’
Click here for the interview:
and here for the brilliant ‘Chips Ahoy!’:
For more MP3s and tour updates, go here for the official Hold Steady websitewww.theholdsteady.com
By Season 8 - the show's penultimate series - Seinfeld had set a new standard for American comedy. Head writer Larry David and the eponymous Jerry had grown so much in confidence that nothing was out of bounds for them. The four misanthropes they created (George, Kramer, Elaine and Seinfeld himself) were now orbited by an equally self-seeking cast of painfully credible weirdoes - Newman, Uncle Leo and the magnificent Anglophile, Peterman, a former heroin addict turned fashion impresario. Brilliant, brilliant stuff. EXTRAS: Cast and crew commentary. 3* BEN MARSHALL
By Season 8 – the show’s penultimate series – Seinfeld had set a new standard for American comedy.
Head writer Larry David and the eponymous Jerry had grown so much in confidence that nothing was out of bounds for them.
The four misanthropes they created (George, Kramer, Elaine and Seinfeld himself) were now orbited by an equally self-seeking cast of painfully credible weirdoes – Newman, Uncle Leo and the magnificent Anglophile, Peterman, a former heroin addict turned fashion impresario. Brilliant, brilliant stuff.
EXTRAS: Cast and crew commentary.
3*
BEN MARSHALL
Director Lindsay Anderson saw the boarding school as a paradigm for the "obstinate hierarchy" of Britain, and the west. His revenge fantasy pits anarchy against authority, anticipating the youth rebellions of 1968. In his film debut, Malcolm McDowell practices the insolent rebellion he would perfect in A Clockwork Orange. Thirty years on, the notion of shooting up the school has a more disturbing resonance. EXTRAS: Commentaries, doc, interview with the mighty Graham Crowden. 4* ALASTAIR McKAY
Director Lindsay Anderson saw the boarding school as a paradigm for the “obstinate hierarchy” of Britain, and the west.
His revenge fantasy pits anarchy against authority, anticipating the youth rebellions of 1968. In his film debut, Malcolm McDowell practices the insolent rebellion he would perfect in A Clockwork Orange.
Thirty years on, the notion of shooting up the school has a more disturbing resonance.
EXTRAS: Commentaries, doc, interview with the mighty Graham Crowden.
4*
ALASTAIR McKAY
Is it weird to like a record even though it reminds you, however faintly, of something you never liked very much? I only ask because I've been playing this new Iron & Wine record quite a lot this past couple of weeks. The past Iron & Wine albums have had a distinct touch of Simon & Garfunkel about them, I think, in their hushed minimalism, the way Sam Beam sang in a calm whisper that masked all manner of psychic anxieties. "The Shepherd's Dog", though, is a much fuller and more dynamic record. Many of the 12 tracks have driving, rattling grooves and, although there's a still a feeling of air and space, a clarity and precision to each sound in the mix, there's a whole lot more going on. But what's strange, especially in the gentle and persistent undulations of a track like "Lovesong Of The Buzzard", is how it kind of reminds me of Paul Simon's "Graceland". It's not an African influence, exactly; more, perhaps, a sense of a traditionally discreet folksinger hitching his songs to elaborately unravelling rhythms. Fortunately, it works brilliantly, too. Perhaps it's residual indie absolutism, but I'm often a bit suspicious of artists, who've virtually perfected something small, trying to construct a bigger sound that doesn't really suit them. Beam, though, has been extremely clever here. On "White Tooth Man", he and his musicians kick up a momentum that's irresistible and actually psychedelic. But there's still a lightness of touch at all times which ensures, critically, that the musical arrangements don't overwhelm the delicacy of Beam's voice. "Carousel" is more familiar, muted, but even here there's a depth and detailing which reveals itself on fifth, sixth, seventh listens. Listening to "The Shepherd's Dog" as I write, I'm struck by how much there is to take in here, a kind of measured lushness, a subtle hyperactivity, that aligns Iron & Wine firmly with this sector's heavy hitters Calexico and Lambchop; Joey Burns and Paul Niehaus actually contribute to the album, few of you will be surprised to hear. "Wolves (Song Of The Shepherd's Dog)" has just come on. There are weird dub drop-outs, bubbling FX and echoing piano chords reverberating around some Cooder-ish slide, then a fidgety, chattering rhythm that, again, feels a world away from the gothic southern folk with which Beam made his name. I'm thinking of "Graceland" again, and I'm wondering if anyone else has a record they love which reminds them of a record they loathe? Drop me a line below. . .
Is it weird to like a record even though it reminds you, however faintly, of something you never liked very much? I only ask because I’ve been playing this new Iron & Wine record quite a lot this past couple of weeks.
I know we have to stop banging on about the Latitude festival at some point this year, but I've just been going through some of your comments on the Uncut Latitude blog. I've never seen such a positive response on the Uncut blogs before, exemplified by Dave's pithy, "Superb. Great Atmosphere. Great Organisation." I've just done a bit of unscientific number-crunching, and can now exclusively reveal your favourite bands of the weekend. The Top Five looks something like: 1 Arcade Fire 2 Wilco 3 Cold War Kids 4 The Hold Steady 5 Bat For Lashes Not far off our feelings, there, apart from Cold War Kids, who seem to have provoked some of the more extreme reactions of the weekend, as these comments prove. A quick heads up, next, for the new James Blackshaw album, "The Cloud Of Unknowing". I'm a bit late on this one, since it's out already, though to be honest I've only just found out about it. Blackshaw is a terrific 12-string guitar player from London who constructs long, lustrous pieces that recall those progressive extrapolations of folk music made by John Fahey and the Takoma school - especially, actually, Robbie Basho. Blackshaw doesn't have a peculiar operatic bellow like Basho - in fact, he doesn't sing at all. But he does create a very similar spiritual calm, as wave after wave of guitar roll in. I realise describing it like this makes Blackshaw sound like some kind of new age practitioner, but this is a profoundly deep practise, and he's also not averse to adding discordance to these semi-improvised pastoral trances. When you look at the array of amazing musicians who are working under some notional "acid/freak/free-folk" flag in America (Jack Rose and Ben Chasny are two obvious fellow travellers to Blackshaw), it really points up how thin our indigenous "nu-folk" scene is (God, that name). I think I've done this rant before about how much of the British stuff flogged under this catch-all is really mimsy, well-scrubbed indie with an acoustic guitar. And I think that rant was nailed to a rave about Voice Of The Seven Woods, who's probably the closest kindred spirit to Blackshaw here. The VOT7W album is finally out in a couple of weeks, by the way; one of my favourites of the year. I suspect Blackshaw may be, too. Have a listen at his Myspace.
I know we have to stop banging on about the Latitude festival at some point this year, but I’ve just been going through some of your comments on the Uncut Latitude blog. I’ve never seen such a positive response on the Uncut blogs before, exemplified by Dave’s pithy, “Superb. Great Atmosphere. Great Organisation.” I’ve just done a bit of unscientific number-crunching, and can now exclusively reveal your favourite bands of the weekend.
Gorilla - R1967 - 5* As the Bonzo Dog Band; The Doughnut In Granny’s Greenhouse - R1968 - 4* Tadpoles - R1969 - 3* Keynsham - R1969 - 3* Let’s Make Up And Be Friendly - R1972- 2* All issued by EMI Catalogue Marketing ***** Amiably reunited in 2006, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band tend to kindle a warm glow in the heart and inspire faintly patronising talk of “quintessential English eccentrics”, as though Aggers and CMJ from Test Match Special have picked up tubas and gone on tour with Brian Sewell. In reality, the comedic bandwidth of the Bonzos’ recorded output (1966–72) defies easy analysis or categorisation. Neil Innes’ misty-eyed whimsy shared the spotlight with body-function belly-laughs. Farmyard animals and trouser presses were as integral to the work as Vivian Stanshall’s meticulous vernaculars. Surrealist? Slapstick? Satire? Or were the Bonzos an ‘L’ band – strictly lunacy, language and life? Their five albums, all reissued here with extra tracks, achieved at their best a fully interdependent relationship between music and comedy. You hear it on The Doughnut In Granny’s Greenhouse, where Innes’ instantly appealing rock riff (“Rockaliser Baby”) is interrupted by an angry policeman, then by Stanshall talking about an electric iron, and finally by Stanshall as a leaden-voiced northerner complaining about Bournemouth. Laugh-aloud funny, for sure, but musically groovy too. You could file it next to Python, or alongside The Move. Gorilla (1967), recorded before the Bonzos went totally electric, is the place to start. A cynical dissection of a Britain under the grip of polka-dot fashions and The Sound Of Music, it’s dominated by Stanshall as MC, story-teller and crooner. As each song pipes up, Stanshall dons a new mantle: Edwardian frivolity, showbiz insincerity, Establishment rectitude, Spillane-esque fantasy machismo. On “Cool Britannia”, he’s an upper-class twit singing in jive. On “The Intro And The Outro”, he introduces so many musicians (“… and looking very relaxed, Adolf Hitler on vibes”) that there’s no time left for a tune. On the sensational “Jazz, Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold”, he’s part of a tone-deaf brass frontline performing an incompetent Dixieland rave-up. The Bonzos had once been a novelty jazz act like The Temperance Seven, and Gorilla contains two examples of the exuberant 1920s and ’30s ditties they liked to play. “Jollity Farm” is pure gold, about a farm where the animals make peculiar noises (“grunt, howl, grunt, howl”) to show their happiness, while “Mickey’s Son And Daughter” celebrates the arrival of twins (“hooray, hooray”) in the Mickey Mouse household. The Gorilla bonus tracks give us five more of these delightfully silly numbers, recorded in 1966, including “Button Up Your Overcoat”, “Ali Baba’s Camel” (heartbreaking) and “I’m Gonna Bring A Watermelon To My Girl Tonight”. The second album, The Doughnut In Granny’s Greenhouse (1968), is also recommended. Strikingly different to Gorilla, it takes a bird’s eye view of England in her suburbs and her seaside resorts, this time with psychedelic instruments and a proper rock production. “Postcard” and “Rhinocratic Oaths” are standout pieces in which Stanshall’s kaleidoscopic descriptions of the crushingly mundane (neighbours arguing about hedges; end-of-the-pier ennui; “fat sea cows with gorgonzola skin”) are refracted through Innes’ glittering melodic prisms. It’s an ambitious and experimental album, from “We Are Normal” at one end (with its vox pops, musique concrete and rock-band-on-the-moon sonic attack) to “11 Mustachioed Daughters” at the other, where the hocus-pocus atmospheres rival Dr John. If the Bonzos ever made a Sgt Pepper, with no two tracks alike, this was it. Sadly, the bonus selections are nothing special, unless you need to hear them do “Blue Suede Shoes” or Cher’s “Bang Bang”, or “Mr Apollo” in mono. Later in ’68 the Bonzos enjoyed their sole hit, “I’m The Urban Spaceman”, an Innes tune which appears on Tadpoles. Comprised mainly of material for the TV series Do Not Adjust Your Set, the album’s child-friendly yarns (“Hunting Tigers Out In ‘Indiah’”) and benevolent musclemen (“Mr Apollo”) see the Bonzos return to pre-Gorilla days of gaiety and good manners, and warm evenings ’neath the palm trees when the only sound was a swanee whistle (“Dr Jazz”) or “the humming of a melancholy coon” (“Tubas In The Moonlight”). The Tadpoles bonus tracks vary in quality, their clear highlight being Innes’ “Readymades”, a ghostly pop dream from the same school as The Casuals’ “Jesamine”. Innes contributes several similarly wistful songs to Keynsham (1969), notably the title track, obviously interested in exploring serious, non-comedy directions. Stanshall, by contrast, seems distracted and diminished in stature. But on the occasions they write together, the results are superb. “The Bride Stripped Bare By The Batchelors” is an authentic account (“hot dogs on sale in foyer”) of the Bonzos’ adventures on the northern club circuit in the mid-’60s. “Busted”, the finale, is a pop surrealist singalong: “All together in the blood rush hour/Come on fish-face, you’ve got the power.” Among the bonuses are Stanshall’s (much later) version of “The Young Ones”, which he delivers like a drunk Peter O’Toole; and “Legs” Larry Smith’s infectious single “Witchai Tai To”, released under the terrible name Topo D. Bil. Let’s Make Up And Be Friendly (1972), a contractual obligation album, is disappointingly patchy, marred by tedious surf-and-doowop spoofs in its first half. (An unreleased bonus, “Sofa Head”, is far superior.) But it does boast one classic. “Rawlinson End”, a Bonzos epic, opens with two minutes of Innes’ mockingly jaunty piano before mutating into a Stanshall monologue about the dark secrets of a family of unspeakable toffs. It’s beautifully written (“Mrs Radcliffe, still at table, straight-backed and cadaverous, poised over her sherry like a mantis…”), and remarkable to think that Stanshall, who sounds well into his fifties, was in fact only 28. DAVID CAVANAGH
Gorilla – R1967 – 5*
As the Bonzo Dog Band;
The Doughnut In Granny’s Greenhouse – R1968 – 4*
Tadpoles – R1969 – 3*
Keynsham – R1969 – 3*
Let’s Make Up And Be Friendly – R1972- 2*
All issued by EMI Catalogue Marketing
*****
Amiably reunited in 2006, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band tend to kindle a warm glow in the heart and inspire faintly patronising talk of “quintessential English eccentrics”, as though Aggers and CMJ from Test Match Special have picked up tubas and gone on tour with Brian Sewell. In reality, the comedic bandwidth of the Bonzos’ recorded output (1966–72) defies easy analysis or categorisation. Neil Innes’ misty-eyed whimsy shared the spotlight with body-function belly-laughs. Farmyard animals and trouser presses were as integral to the work as Vivian Stanshall’s meticulous vernaculars. Surrealist? Slapstick? Satire? Or were the Bonzos an ‘L’ band – strictly lunacy, language and life?
Their five albums, all reissued here with extra tracks, achieved at their best a fully interdependent relationship between music and comedy. You hear it on The Doughnut In Granny’s Greenhouse, where Innes’ instantly appealing rock riff (“Rockaliser Baby”) is interrupted by an angry policeman, then by Stanshall talking about an electric iron, and finally by Stanshall as a leaden-voiced northerner complaining about Bournemouth. Laugh-aloud funny, for sure, but musically groovy too. You could file it next to Python, or alongside The Move.
Gorilla (1967), recorded before the Bonzos went totally electric, is the place to start. A cynical dissection of a Britain under the grip of polka-dot fashions and The Sound Of Music, it’s dominated by Stanshall as MC, story-teller and crooner. As each song pipes up, Stanshall dons a new mantle: Edwardian frivolity, showbiz insincerity, Establishment rectitude, Spillane-esque fantasy machismo. On “Cool Britannia”, he’s an upper-class twit singing in jive. On “The Intro And The Outro”, he introduces so many musicians (“… and looking very relaxed, Adolf Hitler on vibes”) that there’s no time left for a tune. On the sensational “Jazz, Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold”, he’s part of a tone-deaf brass frontline performing an incompetent Dixieland rave-up.
The Bonzos had once been a novelty jazz act like The Temperance Seven, and Gorilla contains two examples of the exuberant 1920s and ’30s ditties they liked to play. “Jollity Farm” is pure gold, about a farm where the animals make peculiar noises (“grunt, howl, grunt, howl”) to show their happiness, while “Mickey’s Son And Daughter” celebrates the arrival of twins (“hooray, hooray”) in the Mickey Mouse household. The Gorilla bonus tracks give us five more of these delightfully silly numbers, recorded in 1966, including “Button Up Your Overcoat”, “Ali Baba’s Camel” (heartbreaking) and “I’m Gonna Bring A Watermelon To My Girl Tonight”.
The second album, The Doughnut In Granny’s Greenhouse (1968), is also recommended. Strikingly different to Gorilla, it takes a bird’s eye view of England in her suburbs and her seaside resorts, this time with psychedelic instruments and a proper rock production. “Postcard” and “Rhinocratic Oaths” are standout pieces in which Stanshall’s kaleidoscopic descriptions of the crushingly mundane (neighbours arguing about hedges; end-of-the-pier ennui; “fat sea cows with gorgonzola skin”) are refracted through Innes’ glittering melodic prisms.
It’s an ambitious and experimental album, from “We Are Normal” at one end (with its vox pops, musique concrete and rock-band-on-the-moon sonic attack) to “11 Mustachioed Daughters” at the other, where the hocus-pocus atmospheres rival Dr John. If the Bonzos ever made a Sgt Pepper, with no two tracks alike, this was it. Sadly, the bonus selections are nothing special, unless you need to hear them do “Blue Suede Shoes” or Cher’s “Bang Bang”, or “Mr Apollo” in mono.
Later in ’68 the Bonzos enjoyed their sole hit, “I’m The Urban Spaceman”, an Innes tune which appears on Tadpoles. Comprised mainly of material for the TV series Do Not Adjust Your Set, the album’s child-friendly yarns (“Hunting Tigers Out In ‘Indiah’”) and benevolent musclemen (“Mr Apollo”) see the Bonzos return to pre-Gorilla days of gaiety and good manners, and warm evenings ’neath the palm trees when the only sound was a swanee whistle (“Dr Jazz”) or “the humming of a melancholy coon” (“Tubas In The Moonlight”). The Tadpoles bonus tracks vary in quality, their clear highlight being Innes’ “Readymades”, a ghostly pop dream from the same school as The Casuals’ “Jesamine”.
Innes contributes several similarly wistful songs to Keynsham (1969), notably the title track, obviously interested in exploring serious, non-comedy directions. Stanshall, by contrast, seems distracted and diminished in stature. But on the occasions they write together, the results are superb. “The Bride Stripped Bare By The Batchelors” is an authentic account (“hot dogs on sale in foyer”) of the Bonzos’ adventures on the northern club circuit in the mid-’60s. “Busted”, the finale, is a pop surrealist singalong: “All together in the blood rush hour/Come on fish-face, you’ve got the power.” Among the bonuses are Stanshall’s (much later) version of “The Young Ones”, which he delivers like a drunk Peter O’Toole; and “Legs” Larry Smith’s infectious single “Witchai Tai To”, released under the terrible name Topo D. Bil.
Let’s Make Up And Be Friendly (1972), a contractual obligation album, is disappointingly patchy, marred by tedious surf-and-doowop spoofs in its first half. (An unreleased bonus, “Sofa Head”, is far superior.) But it does boast one classic. “Rawlinson End”, a Bonzos epic, opens with two minutes of Innes’ mockingly jaunty piano before mutating into a Stanshall monologue about the dark secrets of a family of unspeakable toffs. It’s beautifully written (“Mrs Radcliffe, still at table, straight-backed and cadaverous, poised over her sherry like a mantis…”), and remarkable to think that Stanshall, who sounds well into his fifties, was in fact only 28.
DAVID CAVANAGH
The dawn of the 1980s found Marvin Gaye at the nadir of his fortunes. The man who had been hailed as a pop genius ten years previously was now a cocaine-addled tax exile living in a trailer in Hawaii. Financially, Gaye was cleaned out by profligate living and a divorce from his first wife. His second wife, whom he had almost murdered, was estranged. All Gaye had left was his talent, and that, like his health, was in a parlous state. For his part, Motown supremo Berry Gordy was out of patience. He had endured 1979’s Here My Dear, Gaye’s sour appraisal of his failed marriage to Berry’s sister Anna, but had balked at releasing Love Man, a fumbled attempt to recapture the carnal funk of Let’s Get It On. Having bailed out Gaye from a financial morass, Gordy demanded the troubled star deliver his long-awaited next album. When In Our Lifetime finally appeared, Gaye exploded with fury. The album had been remixed without his knowledge, an unfinished song (‘’Far Cry”) had been included, and – horrors! - the question mark on the title had been excised. Gaye vowed never to record for Motown again. Nor did he – his contract was sold on to CBS (most of the money went to the taxman), who recouped instantly when “Sexual Healing” became a monster hit. Who was right? With Gaye’s and Gordy’s records side by side for the first time, there is sympathy for both parties. Gaye’s mixes, with his vocals double and treble tracked, are clearly superior, and its songs are better sequenced. Still, In Our Lifetime? remains a rambling, largely tune-free affair whose trite lyrics are disguised by Gaye’s still-engaging voice. “Some songs are from love, some songs are from lust.” You don’t say Marvin. The unheard Love Man sessions are worse, little more than rambling work-outs over which Gaye periodically cries “Ooh baby!” It’s the sound of a psyche that’s lost touch with its centre, of a talent so unravelled all Gaye can do is repeat a mantra of “Funk Me, Funk Me, Funk Me” with a silent ‘n’. Conceived as a ‘party album’, it’s just plain sad. NEIL SPENCER
The dawn of the 1980s found Marvin Gaye at the nadir of his fortunes. The man who had been hailed as a pop genius ten years previously was now a cocaine-addled tax exile living in a trailer in Hawaii. Financially, Gaye was cleaned out by profligate living and a divorce from his first wife. His second wife, whom he had almost murdered, was estranged. All Gaye had left was his talent, and that, like his health, was in a parlous state.
For his part, Motown supremo Berry Gordy was out of patience. He had endured 1979’s Here My Dear, Gaye’s sour appraisal of his failed marriage to Berry’s sister Anna, but had balked at releasing Love Man, a fumbled attempt to recapture the carnal funk of Let’s Get It On. Having bailed out Gaye from a financial morass, Gordy demanded the troubled star deliver his long-awaited next album.
When In Our Lifetime finally appeared, Gaye exploded with fury. The album had been remixed without his knowledge, an unfinished song (‘’Far Cry”) had been included, and – horrors! – the question mark on the title had been excised. Gaye vowed never to record for Motown again. Nor did he – his contract was sold on to CBS (most of the money went to the taxman), who recouped instantly when “Sexual Healing” became a monster hit.
Who was right? With Gaye’s and Gordy’s records side by side for the first time, there is sympathy for both parties.
Gaye’s mixes, with his vocals double and treble tracked, are clearly superior, and its songs are better sequenced. Still, In Our Lifetime? remains a rambling, largely tune-free affair whose trite lyrics are disguised by Gaye’s still-engaging voice. “Some songs are from love, some songs are from lust.” You don’t say Marvin. The unheard Love Man sessions are worse, little more than rambling work-outs over which Gaye periodically cries “Ooh baby!” It’s the sound of a psyche that’s lost touch with its centre, of a talent so unravelled all Gaye can do is repeat a mantra of “Funk Me, Funk Me, Funk Me” with a silent ‘n’. Conceived as a ‘party album’, it’s just plain sad.
NEIL SPENCER
On their last outing, 'Let’s Bottle Bohemia', D Sardy polished the edges from the Thrills sound, and indulged their love of West Coast rock by enlisting Van Dyke Parks. They avoided California for the Teenager sessions (with Beck/Fratellis producer Tony Hoffer), settling instead in Vancouver. The theme of lost innocence is ideal for the sad sweetness of Conor Deasy’s voice, which has never sounded better than on “This Year”, a rush of noise which restores the busked immediacy of their debut, 'So Much For The City'. ALASTAIR McKAY
On their last outing, ‘Let’s Bottle Bohemia’, D Sardy polished the edges from the Thrills sound, and indulged their love of West Coast rock by enlisting Van Dyke Parks. They avoided California for the Teenager sessions (with Beck/Fratellis producer Tony Hoffer), settling instead in Vancouver.
The theme of lost innocence is ideal for the sad sweetness of Conor Deasy’s voice, which has never sounded better than on “This Year”, a rush of noise which restores the busked immediacy of their debut, ‘So Much For The City’.
ALASTAIR McKAY
There was wit in the way that Garbage titled their second album 'Version 2.0', but also an acknowledgement that they were unlikely to ever do more than tweak and tease their early successful formula, marrying Butch Vig’s epic, sci-fi grunge to Shirley Manson’s louche self-loathing. Remarkably extending to 18 tracks, Absolute… traces the discography from the wide-screen Mary Chain of “Only Happy When It Rains” to the Bond theme “The World Is Not Enough” and the Spectorish strings of this year’s comeback, “Tell Me Where it Hurts” - though 2001’s cute “Androgyny” is an odd omission. STEPHEN TROUSSÉ
There was wit in the way that Garbage titled their second album ‘Version 2.0’, but also an acknowledgement that they were unlikely to ever do more than tweak and tease their early successful formula, marrying Butch Vig’s epic, sci-fi grunge to Shirley Manson’s louche self-loathing.
Remarkably extending to 18 tracks, Absolute… traces the discography from the wide-screen Mary Chain of “Only Happy When It Rains” to the Bond theme “The World Is Not Enough” and the Spectorish strings of this year’s comeback, “Tell Me Where it Hurts” – though 2001’s cute “Androgyny” is an odd omission.
STEPHEN TROUSSÉ
Bright Eyes have announced three new UK dates for the week preceding their appearances at the two legs of this year's V Festival on August 18 and 19. Conor Oberst, after playing a string of sold-out dates last month will now play shows in Bristol, Liverpool and Nottingham. The venues and dates are as follows: Bristol Academy (August 15) Liverpool Academy (16) Nottingham Royal Centre (17) Stafford V Festival (18) Chelmsford V Festival (19) Tickets are on sale now. Bright Eyes’ new single ‘Hot Knives’/'If The Brakeman Turns My Way’ is out now.
Bright Eyes have announced three new UK dates for the week preceding their appearances at the two legs of this year’s V Festival on August 18 and 19.
Conor Oberst, after playing a string of sold-out dates last month will now play shows in Bristol, Liverpool and Nottingham.
The venues and dates are as follows:
Bristol Academy (August 15)
Liverpool Academy (16)
Nottingham Royal Centre (17)
Stafford V Festival (18)
Chelmsford V Festival (19)
Tickets are on sale now.
Bright Eyes’ new single ‘Hot Knives’/’If The Brakeman Turns My Way’ is out now.
Here is part one of an exlusive interview with the Hold Steady, filmed when the night they dropped in to play the Uncut 10th birthday party, at the start of the month (July 2). The band played a short but blistering set in the Uncut canteen on the 10th floor, before jetting off across town to play their own headline show at Shepherd's Bush Empire. The video interview with bandmembers Franz Nicoklay and Tak Kubler cuts to a live performance of 'Same Kooks.' The track from Hold Steady's 'Boys and Girls In America' album was filmed at their Shepherd's Bush show. Click here for the interview: lo / hi And here for 'Same Kooks': lo / hi We'll be posting the second video interview tomorrow, featuring 'Chips Ahoy' from the London show.
Here is part one of an exlusive interview with the Hold Steady, filmed when the night they dropped in to play the Uncut 10th birthday party, at the start of the month (July 2).
The band played a short but blistering set in the Uncut canteen on the 10th floor, before jetting off across town to play their own headline show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
The video interview with bandmembers Franz Nicoklay and Tak Kubler cuts to a live performance of ‘Same Kooks.’
The track from Hold Steady’s ‘Boys and Girls In America’ album was filmed at their Shepherd’s Bush show.
Click here for the interview:
And here for ‘Same Kooks’:
We’ll be posting the second video interview tomorrow, featuring ‘Chips Ahoy’ from the London show.
A two minute clip from Todd Haynes’ forthcoming Bob Dylan biopic, I’m Not There, is now up on the website Youtube. The clip features Cate Blanchett – one of six actors cast as Dylan in the film – meeting Allen Ginsberg, played by comic David Cross. The other actors playing Dylan in the film are Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Christian Bale, Ben Wishaw and Marcus Carl Franklin. Each actor embodies an aspect of Dylan during his career. I’m Not There isn’t Haynes first music-related movie. In 1987, he directed Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story with Barbie dolls, and in 1998 retold the story of Glam rock for Velvet Goldmine. I’m Not There: Suppositions On A Film Concerning Dylan opens in the US in September. You can watch the sneak preview clip by clicking here
A two minute clip from Todd Haynes’ forthcoming Bob Dylan biopic, I’m Not There, is now up on the website Youtube.
The clip features Cate Blanchett – one of six actors cast as Dylan in the film – meeting Allen Ginsberg, played by comic David Cross.
The other actors playing Dylan in the film are Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Christian Bale, Ben Wishaw and Marcus Carl Franklin. Each actor embodies an aspect of Dylan during his career.
I’m Not There isn’t Haynes first music-related movie. In 1987, he directed Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story with Barbie dolls, and in 1998 retold the story of Glam rock for Velvet Goldmine.
I’m Not There: Suppositions On A Film Concerning Dylan opens in the US in September.
You can watch the sneak preview clip by clicking here
Just back from the Mercury Music Prize scrum down in Covent Garden. I realise that making a fuss about this sort of thing is playing into the hands of the organisers, on the grounds that any publicity is good publicity and all. And, yes, there are a bunch of records here that I like: the Arctic Monkeys (a deserving winner, I'd say), Amy Winehouse and the Klaxons, for a start. I guess as a measure of how healthy new British music is right now, it's OK. And the absence of Editors, The Fratellis, The Twang and so on is mildly satisfying. But the thing is, if I understand it rightly, aren't the Mercurys meant to focus on the 12 best albums of the year, without any other criteria taken into account? If that's the case, are we honestly expected to believe that no-one over the age of 30 has made a good record in the past year? As far as I can tell, no artist here (with the exception of Seb Rochford) has actually released more than two albums. I imagine the most disgruntled man omitted from the shortlist is Damon Albarn, who, I seem to remember, withdrew Gorillaz from competition a year or two back, but deigned to enter The Good, The Bad And The Queen this time. To no avail, clearly. Jarvis Cocker's solo debut wasn't quite the classic I'd hoped for, but it still ranks higher than most of the stuff here. And while I imagine neither of them give much of a toss either way, Bert Jansch and Richard Thompson both deserve the Faithful Old Retainer's Return To Form slot on the shortlist previously occupied by Robert Wyatt, Scritti Politti, Bowie etc. It's wrong to care, I know, but it's also good to rant. I should also say at this point that I've correctly picked the winner three years in a row, and this year I'm backing Jamie T to sweep to victory with a coalition of old Clash fans and NME kids; as the Lily Allen it's OK to like, ostensibly. Lily Allen is much better, of course, but what can you do?
Just back from the Mercury Music Prize scrum down in Covent Garden. I realise that making a fuss about this sort of thing is playing into the hands of the organisers, on the grounds that any publicity is good publicity and all. And, yes, there are a bunch of records here that I like: the Arctic Monkeys (a deserving winner, I’d say), Amy Winehouse and the Klaxons, for a start. I guess as a measure of how healthy new British music is right now, it’s OK. And the absence of Editors, The Fratellis, The Twang and so on is mildly satisfying.
This year's Nationwide Mercury Music Prize Shortlist has been revealed this morning (July 17) and includes two previous winners. This year's shortlist appears to reflect the resurgence indie dance and the continuing success of guitar bands. Bands the Klaxons, New Young Pony Club, The View and The Young Knives are all in competition for the award due to be announced on September 4. Arctic Monkeys have been nominated for the second year running with their second album 'Favourite Worst Nightmare'. They won the £20, 000 award last year for their debut 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'. The British hip-hop/grime producer/MC Dizzee Rascal, also a winner of the prize in 2003 for his debut 'Boy In The Corner' has also been nominated for the award again. His new album 'Maths + English' is up for contention. Arctic Monkeys - 'Favourite Worst Nightmare' Dizzee Rascal - 'Maths + English' Bat for Lashes - 'Fur and Gold' Maps - 'We Can Create' Fionn Regan - 'The End of History' The View - 'Hats Off to the Buskers' New Young Pony Club - 'Fantastic Playroom' Dizzee Rascal - 'Maths + English' Klaxons - 'Myths of the Near Future' Amy Winehouse - 'Back to Black' The Young Knives - 'Voices of Animals and Men' Jamie T - 'Panic Prevention' Basquiat Strings - 'Basquiat Strings with Seb Rochford' You can read Uncut's thoughts on the shortlist at our Wild Mercury Sound blog.
This year’s Nationwide Mercury Music Prize Shortlist has been revealed this morning (July 17) and includes two previous winners.
This year’s shortlist appears to reflect the resurgence indie dance and the continuing success of guitar bands. Bands the Klaxons, New Young Pony Club, The View and The Young Knives are all in competition for the award due to be announced on September 4.
Arctic Monkeys have been nominated for the second year running with their second album ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’. They won the £20, 000 award last year for their debut ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’.
The British hip-hop/grime producer/MC Dizzee Rascal, also a winner of the prize in 2003 for his debut ‘Boy In The Corner’ has also been nominated for the award again. His new album ‘Maths + English’ is up for contention.
Arctic Monkeys – ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’
Dizzee Rascal – ‘Maths + English’
Bat for Lashes – ‘Fur and Gold’
Maps – ‘We Can Create’
Fionn Regan – ‘The End of History’
The View – ‘Hats Off to the Buskers’
New Young Pony Club – ‘Fantastic Playroom’
Dizzee Rascal – ‘Maths + English’
Klaxons – ‘Myths of the Near Future’
Amy Winehouse – ‘Back to Black’
The Young Knives – ‘Voices of Animals and Men’
Jamie T – ‘Panic Prevention’
Basquiat Strings – ‘Basquiat Strings with Seb Rochford’
You can read Uncut’s thoughts on the shortlist at our Wild Mercury Sound blog.
This year’s Nationwide Mercury Music Prize Shortlist has been reveleasd this morning (July 17) and includes two previous winners.
Arctic Monkeys have been nominated for the second year running with their second album ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’. They won the £20, 000 award last year for their debut ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’.
The British hip-hop/grime producer/MC Dizzee Rascal, also a winner of the prize in 2003 for his debut ‘Boy In The Corner’ has also been nominated for the award again. His new album ‘Maths + English’ is up for contention.
This year’s shortlist appears to reflect the resurgence indie dance and the continuing success of guitar bands. Bands the Klaxons, New Young Pony Club, The View and The Young Knives are all in competition for the award due to be announced on September 4.
Arctic Monkeys – ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’
Dizzee Rascal – ‘Maths + English’
Bat for Lashes – ‘Fur and Gold’
Maps – ‘We Can Create’
Fionn Regan – ‘The End of History’
The View – ‘Hats Off to the Buskers’
New Young Pony Club – ‘Fantastic Playroom’
Dizzee Rascal – ‘Maths + English’
Klaxons – ‘Myths of the Near Future’
Amy Winehouse – ‘Back to Black’
The Young Knives – ‘Voices of Animals and Men’
Jamie T – ‘Panic Prevention’
Basquiat Strings – ‘Basquiat Strings with Seb Rochford’
So what do think of the judges shortlist? Has anyone been criminally left off? Who are you placing bets on?
Let us know here…
And you can read Uncut’s thoughts on the shortlist at our Wild Mercury Sound blog.
Well, we’re all finally back from Latitude and looking back at one of the best festivals any of us can remember.
The shortlist of twelve albums for the annual Nationwide Mercury Music Prize are to be announced this morning (July 17). The overall winner will be announced at the awards show on September 4. Albums in the running for this year must have been released between July 18, 2006 and July 9, 2007. Last year saw indie prodigies Arctic Monkeys walk off with the gong. The Sheffield band were favourites to win the £20,000 award for their massively successful debut album 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'. The judges described that debut album as "great songs, astonishingly performed. Essential". Albums that could be possibly be in contention for this year's shortlist include the Arctic Monkeys again, with their second album 'Favourite Worst Nightmare.' Others that are eligible include Amy Winehouse - 'Back To Black', Gruff Rhys - 'Candylion', Jarvis Cocker - 'Jarvis' and Editors - 'The End Has A Start.' Previous winners of the award, running since 1992 have included Franz Ferdinand, Suede and Pulp. Check back to Uncut.co.uk here after 11.30 to find out who has been chosen, and to have your say about who you think deserves to win.
The shortlist of twelve albums for the annual Nationwide Mercury Music Prize are to be announced this morning (July 17).
The overall winner will be announced at the awards show on September 4.
Albums in the running for this year must have been released between July 18, 2006 and July 9, 2007.
Last year saw indie prodigies Arctic Monkeys walk off with the gong.
The Sheffield band were favourites to win the £20,000 award for their massively successful debut album ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’.
The judges described that debut album as “great songs, astonishingly performed. Essential”.
Albums that could be possibly be in contention for this year’s shortlist include the Arctic Monkeys again, with their second album ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare.’
Others that are eligible include Amy Winehouse – ‘Back To Black’, Gruff Rhys – ‘Candylion’, Jarvis Cocker – ‘Jarvis’ and Editors – ‘The End Has A Start.’
Previous winners of the award, running since 1992 have included Franz Ferdinand, Suede and Pulp.
Check back to Uncut.co.uk here after 11.30 to find out who has been chosen, and to have your say about who you think deserves to win.
Sorry this blog's been quiet these past few days. I've actually been squatting over at the Latitude blog. The extended Uncut family all spent an excellent weekend up there at the festival, and there are something like 40 blogs you can check out on all our highlights. My personal favourites, with a certain grinding inevitability, were The Hold Steady, Wilco and Tinariwen. But there were plenty more great things, not least Alberta Cross, who I accidentally blogged about on Wild Mercury Sound in a moment of profound computer confusion. Normal service this week, in theory, and I should be writing about Iron And Wine, James Blackshaw, Kevin Ayers and Konono Number One. Right now we're frantically finishing the next issue while being soothed by a terrific new Judee Sill live album. Wow, "The Kiss"! Oh well. Back to proofreading.
Sorry this blog’s been quiet these past few days. I’ve actually been squatting over at the Latitude blog. The extended Uncut family all spent an excellent weekend up there at the festival, and there are something like 40 blogs you can check out on all our highlights.
