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Rail Strike Threatens T In The Park Festival Goers

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Rail Strike Threatens T In The Park Festival Goers

The Scottish rail and transport union are planning to take strike action on July 6 - the first day of mammoth music festival T In The Park, possibly causing transport chaos for tens of thousands of fans attending. The dispute over bonus payments by around 400 Network Rail signallers in Scotland has been criticised as "appalling" by Network Rail, reports the BBC. Previous strike action in March by the same union members saw no trains run further north than Stirling. If the strike goes ahead, fans attempting to get to the festival site in Balado, near Perth and Kinross will have to make alternative arrangements, in turn causing road traffic chaos. In a statement, Network Rail chief executive John Armitt has said: "On behalf of all rail users, we are angered and extremely disappointed by the RMT's plans for an unnecessary strike. Time and again, this union adopts an outdated and divisive approach to managing employee relations which will, once again, serve to punish and inconvenience passengers and rail users." T In The Park takes place next weekend, July 6-8 and will see performances from Arctic Monkeys, The Killers and Brian Wilson amongst hundreds of others.

The Scottish rail and transport union are planning to take strike action on July 6 – the first day of mammoth music festival T In The Park, possibly causing transport chaos for tens of thousands of fans attending.

The dispute over bonus payments by around 400 Network Rail signallers in Scotland has been criticised as “appalling” by Network Rail, reports the BBC.

Previous strike action in March by the same union members saw no trains run further north than Stirling.

If the strike goes ahead, fans attempting to get to the festival site in Balado, near Perth and Kinross will have to make alternative arrangements, in turn causing road traffic chaos.

In a statement, Network Rail chief executive John Armitt has said: “On behalf of all rail users, we are angered and extremely disappointed by the RMT’s plans for an unnecessary strike. Time and again, this union adopts an outdated and divisive approach to managing employee relations which will, once again, serve to punish and inconvenience passengers and rail users.”

T In The Park takes place next weekend, July 6-8 and will see performances from Arctic Monkeys, The Killers and Brian Wilson amongst hundreds of others.

Two-Lane Blacktop

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Two-Lane Blacktop

In 1971, with every studio looking for the next Easy Rider, Esquire got so excited about Two-Lane Blacktop that it printed the screenplay and declared it the "movie of the year", without seeing a frame. It's easy to see why they might have come to that conclusion. The film stars James Taylor, then at the height of his success (and dating Joni Mitchell); and Beach Boy Dennis Wilson, the epitome of Californian cool. The director, Monte Hellmann, was a protŽgŽ of "quickie" director Roger Corman, who had worked as an editor on The Wild Angels, and directed Jack Nicholson in two westerns, The Shooting and Ride In The Whirlwind. The story fits in with the counter culture - being the tale of two drifters in a custom '55 Chevy, who challenge Warren Oates - "Korean war vet, an overgrown, maniacal fraternity boy, looking for action" in his yellow Pontiac GTO - to a race across country, with the winner taking the keys to the other's car. Along the way, Taylor ("the Driver") and Wilson ("the Mechanic") pick up "the Girl" (the boyish Laurie Bird), and glide through the disappearing landscapes of Route 66; all rural gas stations and empty diners. But Two-Lane Blacktop flopped, condemning Hellmann to a career as a "gun-for-hire". Occasionally, both director and film would threaten to emerge from the shadows. Hellman was asked to direct Reservoir Dogs, but took an executive role after Tarantino realised he could make it himself. And when Richard Linklater coordinated a Hellman retrospective at Austin's SXSW in 2000, he listed 16 reasons why Two-Lane Blacktop was an American classic. Roughly, these are: it's like a western, and the drivers are old-time gunfighters; because it's like a drive-in movie directed by a French New Wave director; and because, unlike most counter-culture efforts, it isn't about the alienation of the drug culture, it's about the alienation of everybody else, "like Robert Frank's America come alive." It's a far better film than Easy Rider. The screenplay, by Gunsmoke writer Will Corry, and given an existential sheen by Rudy Wurlitzer (who later wrote Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid) is beyond sparse. The Driver, the Mechanic and the Girl barely talk. The few lines they have are delivered flatly, because Hellmann insisted on the actors doing multiple takes after making the journey across state lines. They look exhausted because they are. Oates, meanwhile, grows increasingly crazed, "pickin' up one fantasy after another" on the road, and telling different stories to them all. His passengers bring reminders of death. "If I'm not grounded pretty soon," he tells the sleeping Girl, "I'm gonna go into orbit." From a roadside waitress, he orders: "Champagne, caviar, chicken sandwiches under glass." This, remember, is a man who keeps a bar in the trunk of the GTO, so that when offered a boiled egg by his rivals, he can reciprocate with a drink: "I've got other items, depending on which way you want to go," he boasts. "Up, down, or sideways." Somewhere along the way, the notion of the race dissolves, and the fact that Hellmann was first hired by Corman after a theatrical production of Waiting For Godot starts to make sense. The reason for Two-Lane Blacktop's initial failure is also the reason it endures: it captures the death of 1960s idealism, and shows how it hardly even reached the roadsides of middle-America. It journeys beyond cool, into nihilism. "Everything is going too fast and not fast enough," Oates moans, in the middle of nowhere, reaching for an Alka Seltzer. EXTRAS: Director's commentary - 2* ALASTAIR McKAY

In 1971, with every studio looking for the next Easy Rider, Esquire got so excited about Two-Lane Blacktop that it printed the screenplay and declared it the “movie of the year”, without seeing a frame.

It’s easy to see why they might have come to that conclusion. The film stars James Taylor, then at the height of his success (and dating Joni Mitchell); and Beach Boy Dennis Wilson, the epitome of Californian cool.

The director, Monte Hellmann, was a protŽgŽ of “quickie” director Roger Corman, who had worked as an editor on The Wild Angels, and directed Jack Nicholson in two westerns, The Shooting and Ride In The Whirlwind. The story fits in with the counter culture – being the tale of two drifters in a custom ’55 Chevy, who challenge Warren Oates – “Korean war vet, an overgrown, maniacal fraternity boy, looking for action” in his yellow Pontiac GTO – to a race across country, with the winner taking the keys to the other’s car. Along the way, Taylor (“the Driver”) and Wilson (“the Mechanic”) pick up “the Girl” (the boyish Laurie Bird), and glide through the disappearing landscapes of Route 66; all rural gas stations and empty diners.

But Two-Lane Blacktop flopped, condemning Hellmann to a career as a “gun-for-hire”. Occasionally, both director and film would threaten to emerge from the shadows. Hellman was asked to direct Reservoir Dogs, but took an executive role after Tarantino realised he could make it himself. And when Richard Linklater coordinated a Hellman retrospective at Austin’s SXSW in 2000, he listed 16 reasons why Two-Lane Blacktop was an American classic. Roughly, these are: it’s like a western, and the drivers are old-time gunfighters; because it’s like a drive-in movie directed by a French New Wave director; and because, unlike most counter-culture efforts, it isn’t about the alienation of the drug culture, it’s about the alienation of everybody else, “like Robert Frank’s America come alive.”

It’s a far better film than Easy Rider. The screenplay, by Gunsmoke writer Will Corry, and given an existential sheen by Rudy Wurlitzer (who later wrote Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid) is beyond sparse. The Driver, the Mechanic and the Girl barely talk. The few lines they have are delivered flatly, because Hellmann insisted on the actors doing multiple takes after making the journey across state lines. They look exhausted because they are.

Oates, meanwhile, grows increasingly crazed, “pickin’ up one fantasy after another” on the road, and telling different stories to them all. His passengers bring reminders of death. “If I’m not grounded pretty soon,” he tells the sleeping Girl, “I’m gonna go into orbit.” From a roadside waitress, he orders: “Champagne, caviar, chicken sandwiches under glass.” This, remember, is a man who keeps a bar in the trunk of the GTO, so that when offered a boiled egg by his rivals, he can reciprocate with a drink: “I’ve got other items, depending on which way you want to go,” he boasts. “Up, down, or sideways.”

Somewhere along the way, the notion of the race dissolves, and the fact that Hellmann was first hired by Corman after a theatrical production of Waiting For Godot starts to make sense. The reason for Two-Lane Blacktop’s initial failure is also the reason it endures: it captures the death of 1960s idealism, and shows how it hardly even reached the roadsides of middle-America. It journeys beyond cool, into nihilism. “Everything is going too fast and not fast enough,” Oates moans, in the middle of nowhere, reaching for an Alka Seltzer.

EXTRAS: Director’s commentary – 2*

ALASTAIR McKAY

Shut Up And Sing

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Shut Up And Sing

DIR: BARBARA KOPPLE & CECILIA PECK ST: NATALIE MAINES, EMILY ROBISON, MARTIE MAGUIRE, SIMON RENSHAW PLOT SYNOPSIS In March 2003 - ten days before the invasion of Iraq - the Dixie Chicks' lead singer Natalie Maines tells her British fans she's ashamed of President Bush. Right wing commentators jump on the remark, and America's best-selling girl group is dismayed as the backlash threatens their career. *** Talk about a free Country: within a week of Natalie Maines informing the good folks at the Shepherd's Bush Empire how she was "ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas", the Dixie Chicks had been branded anti-American "Dixie Twits", CD sales plummeted, and they were quietly dropped from radio play-lists. Although documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple and co-director Cecilia Peck didn't sign on until the aftermath of the affair, the group handily supplied eye-of-the-storm footage from the Shepherd's Bush concert and the crisis management meetings that followed. This is riveting stuff, and several things become clear. For a start, while Maines was evidently sincere in what she said, she was also playing to the crowd; first and foremost, this was a flippant statement, not a declaration of independence. The band - and British manager Simon Renshaw - didn't anticipate long-term repercussions, and when the shit hits the fan, carefully worded apologies are forthcoming. By then, though, the rightwing Free Republic campaign is in full flow, and these improbable dissidents have been hung out to dry. Ironically, only two months earlier they were playing the Star-Spangled Banner at the Superbowl and setting off on the Top of the World tour. Kopple - best known for the Woody Allen doc Wild Man Blues - shies away from interviews and narration in favour of 'fly-on-the-wall' observation. In theory this technique allows us to glean our own meanings, but an opening scene with the Chicks laughing off internet hate-mail while they play with Emily's and Martie's babies leaves no doubt where the filmmakers' sympathies lie. The up-close and personal approach serves the women well, and the trio emerges with a good deal of credit, not just for the united front they maintain through this trial by fire, but for defending the principle of freedom of speech even as they fear it might cost them their livelihood - and indeed, their lives. Kopple cuts back and forth between 2003 and 2006, when they re-emerged with Taking The Long Way album, and this before-and-after shows how the feisty Maines in particular found her artistic voice in defiance of her critics. Hardly natural born protest singers, they are politicized by the extreme over-reaction of a constituency they assumed was their own. Heck, they even decide to tour without the safety net of a corporate sponsor - a decision that costs them when ticket sales prove disappointing throughout the States. Admittedly the subjective focus only hints at what may be the most significant aspect of the story - the way media capitulated to and often exacerbated a censorious rightwing agenda - but this remains a remarkably candid account of a high-flying band going into freefall overnight - and dealing with it. If they're still pariahs on Country radio, at least the Chicks have discovered greater musical freedom as a result. Too bad, as Natalie is bummed out to learn, even if they're cool now, they're still too old for MTV. Tom Charity

DIR: BARBARA KOPPLE & CECILIA PECK

ST: NATALIE MAINES, EMILY ROBISON, MARTIE MAGUIRE, SIMON RENSHAW

PLOT SYNOPSIS

In March 2003 – ten days before the invasion of Iraq – the Dixie Chicks’ lead singer Natalie Maines tells her British fans she’s ashamed of President Bush. Right wing commentators jump on the remark, and America’s best-selling girl group is dismayed as the backlash threatens their career.

***

Talk about a free Country: within a week of Natalie Maines informing the good folks at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire how she was “ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas”, the Dixie Chicks had been branded anti-American “Dixie Twits”, CD sales plummeted, and they were quietly dropped from radio play-lists.

Although documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple and co-director Cecilia Peck didn’t sign on until the aftermath of the affair, the group handily supplied eye-of-the-storm footage from the Shepherd’s Bush concert and the crisis management meetings that followed.

This is riveting stuff, and several things become clear. For a start, while Maines was evidently sincere in what she said, she was also playing to the crowd; first and foremost, this was a flippant statement, not a declaration of independence. The band – and British manager Simon Renshaw – didn’t anticipate long-term repercussions, and when the shit hits the fan, carefully worded apologies are forthcoming. By then, though, the rightwing Free Republic campaign is in full flow, and these improbable dissidents have been hung out to dry.

Ironically, only two months earlier they were playing the Star-Spangled Banner at the Superbowl and setting off on the Top of the World tour.

Kopple – best known for the Woody Allen doc Wild Man Blues – shies away from interviews and narration in favour of ‘fly-on-the-wall’ observation. In theory this technique allows us to glean our own meanings, but an opening scene with the Chicks laughing off internet hate-mail while they play with Emily’s and Martie’s babies leaves no doubt where the filmmakers’ sympathies lie.

The up-close and personal approach serves the women well, and the trio emerges with a good deal of credit, not just for the united front they maintain through this trial by fire, but for defending the principle of freedom of speech even as they fear it might cost them their livelihood – and indeed, their lives.

Kopple cuts back and forth between 2003 and 2006, when they re-emerged with Taking The Long Way album, and this before-and-after shows how the feisty Maines in particular found her artistic voice in defiance of her critics. Hardly natural born protest singers, they are politicized by the extreme over-reaction of a constituency they assumed was their own. Heck, they even decide to tour without the safety net of a corporate sponsor – a decision that costs them when ticket sales prove disappointing throughout the States.

Admittedly the subjective focus only hints at what may be the most significant aspect of the story – the way media capitulated to and often exacerbated a censorious rightwing agenda – but this remains a remarkably candid account of a high-flying band going into freefall overnight – and dealing with it. If they’re still pariahs on Country radio, at least the Chicks have discovered greater musical freedom as a result. Too bad, as Natalie is bummed out to learn, even if they’re cool now, they’re still too old for MTV.

Tom Charity

Today’s Uncut Playlist: So Far

John Mulvey
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OK, I know this looks a bit pathetic, but Michael and Allan are off today and I've been too busy to put together a proper blog. So instead, here are the records that we've played in the Uncut office today: - 1 Robert Wyatt - "Comicopera" 2 Michel Legrand - "Soundtrack To Eva" 3 Fuzzy Duck - "Fuzzy Duck" 4 Howlin Rain - "Magnificent Fiend" 5 ESG - "A South Bronx Story 2" 6 Faust - "So Far" 7 Effie Briest - "The Newlywed Song" 8 The Mekons - "Natural" The new Howlin Rain (that's Ethan from Comets On Fire and friends) arrived this morning, and I suspect we'll have another go at that once this new Mekons thing is over. Proper service resumed tomorrow, I hope. Bear with me. . .

OK, I know this looks a bit pathetic, but Michael and Allan are off today and I’ve been too busy to put together a proper blog. So instead, here are the records that we’ve played in the Uncut office today: –

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The Go Team Headline Hometown Festival

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The Go Team Headline Hometown Festival

Brighton based infectious six-piece The Go! Team are headlining a new one-day outdoor music festival in their hometown. The event, Loop, is billed as 'A Celebration of Digital Culture' and takes place in the city centre at Victoria Gardens on August 18. As well as performances from a host of new bands and film and art installations - there will also be a LoopLearning programme to help develop skills in music and film production. Artists appearing at Loop include Krautrock-esque Fujiya & Miyagi, Husky Rescue, Foals and Mira Calix and Dan Le Sac. Former Beta Band and Lone Pigeon members' new psychedelic electronica band The Aliens will also be performing. Tickets for the one-day bash are £20. More details are available here from www.loopbrighton.com

Brighton based infectious six-piece The Go! Team are headlining a new one-day outdoor music festival in their hometown.

The event, Loop, is billed as ‘A Celebration of Digital Culture’ and takes place in the city centre at Victoria Gardens on August 18.

As well as performances from a host of new bands and film and art installations – there will also be a LoopLearning programme to help develop skills in music and film production.

Artists appearing at Loop include Krautrock-esque Fujiya & Miyagi, Husky Rescue, Foals and Mira Calix and Dan Le Sac.

Former Beta Band and Lone Pigeon members’ new psychedelic electronica band The Aliens will also be performing.

Tickets for the one-day bash are £20.

More details are available here from www.loopbrighton.com

The Chemical Brothers – We Are The Night

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The Chemical Brothers – We Are The Night

Supposedly there’s nothing more uncool than an aging raver, but Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons wear the epithet with pride. Long freed from the constraints of dance scene fashion, they now gambol in the same playful, psychedelic realm as The Flaming Lips or Super Furry Animals. Klaxons and Willy Mason are worthy fellow cosmonauts (less so Hoxton twit Ali Love), while the Brothers prove they can still poleaxe a dancefloor with a well-aimed barrage of strobe-ing electro-house. The now-traditional woozy album closer is invoked with the aid of Midlake, who swoon through a beatific number titled, appropriately, “The Pills Won’t Help You Now”. SAM RICHARDS

Supposedly there’s nothing more uncool than an aging raver, but Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons wear the epithet with pride. Long freed from the constraints of dance scene fashion, they now gambol in the same playful, psychedelic realm as The Flaming Lips or Super Furry Animals.

Klaxons and Willy Mason are worthy fellow cosmonauts (less so Hoxton twit Ali Love), while the Brothers prove they can still poleaxe a dancefloor with a well-aimed barrage of strobe-ing electro-house. The now-traditional woozy album closer is invoked with the aid of Midlake, who swoon through a beatific number titled, appropriately, “The Pills Won’t Help You Now”.

SAM RICHARDS

Lou Reed – Hudson River Wind Meditations

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Lou Reed – Hudson River Wind Meditations

Reed first composed this music for himself, as accompaniment to “meditation, Tai Chi and bodywork, and as music to play in the background of life,” to relax the “body, mind and spirit”. There's the faintest of conceit implicit in Reed's mission statement that he's come up with a new concept in sound – there's enough Ambient/New Age life soundtracking out there to fill a small black hole. Still, as regards the content, “Move Your Heart” rumbles like an empty stomach an a loop for an inconsequential half hour, and “Find Your Note” orbits uneventfully for a half hour further. Ultimately, 'Metal Machine Music' was much more fun. DAVID STUBBS

Reed first composed this music for himself, as accompaniment to “meditation, Tai Chi and bodywork, and as music to play in the background of life,” to relax the “body, mind and spirit”.

There’s the faintest of conceit implicit in Reed’s mission statement that he’s come up with a new concept in sound – there’s enough Ambient/New Age life soundtracking out there to fill a small black hole.

Still, as regards the content, “Move Your Heart” rumbles like an empty stomach an a loop for an inconsequential half hour, and “Find Your Note” orbits uneventfully for a half hour further. Ultimately, ‘Metal Machine Music’ was much more fun.

DAVID STUBBS

Built To Spill – You In Reverse

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Built To Spill – You In Reverse

The recent groundswell in popularity of literate US college rock has undoubtedly been good news for Doug Martsch. Long a resident at that scenic stopping place between Neil Young and Johnny Marr, Built To Spill’s blend of expressive guitar playing and light to moderate whining plays as well today as it did when the band emerged nearly fifteen years ago. 'You In Reverse' puts its challenges at the start with the eight minute “Going Against Your Mind”, but it’s the great “Liar” that finds the best blend of the band’s melodies and imploring vocals. It’s good to hear it again. JOHN ROBINSON

The recent groundswell in popularity of literate US college rock has undoubtedly been good news for Doug Martsch. Long a resident at that scenic stopping place between Neil Young and Johnny Marr, Built To Spill’s blend of expressive guitar playing and light to moderate whining plays as well today as it did when the band emerged nearly fifteen years ago.

‘You In Reverse’ puts its challenges at the start with the eight minute “Going Against Your Mind”, but it’s the great “Liar” that finds the best blend of the band’s melodies and imploring vocals. It’s good to hear it again.

JOHN ROBINSON

Dirty Three – Dirty Three/ Horse Stories

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R1995 - Dirty Three - 3* R1996 - Dirty Three - 4* Dirty’s Three’s eponymous second album (1995) captures future Bad Seed Warren Ellis, drummer Jim White and guitarist Mick Turner in their first, vigorous flush of youth, taking up gnarly guitar, gypsy violin and brushed, freeform drums and building them into swirling, chaotic cyclones of sound. “Everything’s Fucked” sounds like a backwoods cousin to the sleek, futuristic post-rock music that was emerging from Chicago around the same time, while “The Last Night” comes on like one of Morricone’s Spaghetti Western scores transplanted into the Australian outback. 1996’s 'Horse Stories' is something else still though. There’s dramatics here, but also feats of measured grace and startling tenderness - take “Sue’s Last Ride”, wherein Ellis’ violin relates a rocky emotional narrative from sombre mourning to bloodthirsty revenge, without a single word spoken. LOUIS PATTISON

R1995 – Dirty Three – 3*

R1996 – Dirty Three – 4*

Dirty’s Three’s eponymous second album (1995) captures future Bad Seed Warren Ellis, drummer Jim White and guitarist Mick Turner in their first, vigorous flush of youth, taking up gnarly guitar, gypsy violin and brushed, freeform drums and building them into swirling, chaotic cyclones of sound.

“Everything’s Fucked” sounds like a backwoods cousin to the sleek, futuristic post-rock music that was emerging from Chicago around the same time, while “The Last Night” comes on like one of Morricone’s Spaghetti Western scores transplanted into the Australian outback. 1996’s ‘Horse Stories’ is something else still though.

There’s dramatics here, but also feats of measured grace and startling tenderness – take “Sue’s Last Ride”, wherein Ellis’ violin relates a rocky emotional narrative from sombre mourning to bloodthirsty revenge, without a single word spoken.

LOUIS PATTISON

The Verve Return

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The Verve Return

The Verve have regrouped nearly ten years after they announced their split, and went back into the studio last week to start work on new material. The original band members Richard Ashcroft, Nick McCabe, Simon Jones and Pete Sailsbury have also announced live gig dates for this winter, including two at Blackpool's Empress Ballroom. In a statement online at www.theververeturn.com, the band have announced they are "Getting back together for the joy of the music." Forming in Wigan in 1990, The Verve released several critically acclaimed albums including 'A Storm In Heaven', 'A Northern Soul' and 'Urban Hyms.' The band broke up in 1999, reputedly due to a breakdown in Ashcroft and McCabe's relationship which had been rocky throughout the early 90s. Ashcroft has since had a successful solo career, releasing three albums, all of which have charted in the UK albums chart in the top three. The reunited Verve will play the following dates; tickets go onsale on July 6. Glasgow Academy (November 2,3) Blackpool Empress Ballroom (5,6) London Roundhouse (8,9)

The Verve have regrouped nearly ten years after they announced their split, and went back into the studio last week to start work on new material.

The original band members Richard Ashcroft, Nick McCabe, Simon Jones and Pete Sailsbury have also announced live gig dates for this winter, including two at Blackpool’s Empress Ballroom.

In a statement online at www.theververeturn.com, the band have announced they are “Getting back together for the joy of the music.”

Forming in Wigan in 1990, The Verve released several critically acclaimed albums including ‘A Storm In Heaven’, ‘A Northern Soul’ and ‘Urban Hyms.’

The band broke up in 1999, reputedly due to a breakdown in Ashcroft and McCabe’s relationship which had been rocky throughout the early 90s.

Ashcroft has since had a successful solo career, releasing three albums, all of which have charted in the UK albums chart in the top three.

The reunited Verve will play the following dates; tickets go onsale on July 6.

Glasgow Academy (November 2,3)

Blackpool Empress Ballroom (5,6)

London Roundhouse (8,9)

Countdown to Latitude…Elvis Perkins

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ELVIS PERKINS This LA native – the son of the late actor, Anthony “Norman Bates” Perkins – may tap the same talent pools as many other contemporary troubadours (Dylan, Tom Waits, Loudon Wainwright III), but his voice rather suggests that of a 1930s blues crooner whose soul is scarred by ter...

ELVIS PERKINS

This LA native – the son of the late actor, Anthony “Norman Bates” Perkins – may tap the same talent pools as many other contemporary troubadours (Dylan, Tom Waits, Loudon Wainwright III), but his voice rather suggests that of a 1930s blues crooner whose soul is scarred by terrible loss.

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Super Furry Animals, Effi Briest and a lengthy digression which brings us to the keyboardist from A-Ha

John Mulvey
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No more quotes from Yeats landed in the comments box today, sadly, but there is a pretty interesting discussion about Super Furry Animals over by the "Hey Venus" blog. I thought Vince, especially, deserved a response to this question: "No one who has listened to it has mentioned if there is any of the 'strangeness' factor in it; one of my personal reasons for loving the group. Is there none?" I haven't played the record for a couple of days, but from memory there isn't much that could be described as "strange" - a bit of a nebulous quantity, obviously, but I get his gist. In fact, maybe the lack of "strangeness" is the key reason why I find "Hey Venus" vaguely disappointing. The Super Furry Animals' knack for writing nagging, memorable pop tunes is certainly there, but they don't stretch those hooks into the more adventurous shapes that you find in their best records. I'll play it again, and see. One thing I can fairly confidently call strange is the first single from Effi Briest. I was drawn to this one after reading something in the NME this afternoon that featured them alongside disparate Wild Mercury Sound favourites Howlin' Rain (new album due soon, excitingly) and Pissed Jeans. Effi Briest don't sound much like either of those two, but I can just about buy the idea of them as, ahem, "flower punk". Essentially, they're a largely female bunch from Brooklyn who've managed to hybridise the prevailing strains of art/dance/post-punk and something weirder, more tribal and hippyish. Tremendously fashionable, clearly, and you could plausibly place them as a more commercially viable, linear manifestation of that Gang Gang Dance, Black Dice, maybe even Animal Collective (I'll write about their new album soon, too) scene. It's good, anyway. One song consists entirely of palindromes (apparently: I am copying this from the press release and am too busy to check. There's a job for the weekend). Another is a great cover of "The Newlywed Song" by Jim Pepper, whose work I've only previously encountered when I became obsessed with the song "Witchi Tai To" and discovered that his version was the first version. I spent a long stupid night downloading every version of the song, starting with great ones by Harper's Bizarre and Future Pilot AKA, taking in a lusty Quebecois version and finally grinding to a halt with an ambient techno treatment by Pal Waketaar out of A-Ha. But, God, I digress. Here's their Myspace

No more quotes from Yeats landed in the comments box today, sadly, but there is a pretty interesting discussion about Super Furry Animals over by the “Hey Venus” blog.

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Catch Up With Uncuts Glastonbury Coverage Here

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Catch Up With Uncuts Glastonbury Coverage Here

Catch up with Uncut.co.uk's blogs from Glastonbury weekend here and let us know what you were upto -- Will you go next year? who do you want to see play? We've got a copy of the new three disc collector's edition of the Julien Temple Glastonbury movie to give away for the best anecdote... Thurs June 21: Onsite and soaking Glastonbury in Friday June 22: Glasto Weather Update, and Modest Mouse Friday June 22: Super Sunny Furry Animals Friday June 22: Sun goes down on Rufus Wainwright Saturday June 23: Bjork rules, Arctics whimper, good morning on day two Saturday June 23: Biffy Clyro, CSS and Klaxons defy Glastonbury rain Saturday June 23: John Fogerty triumphs at Glastonbury Sunday June 24: Wellies, Weller and Weather, Glasto wades in for final day Sunday June 24: The Waterboys get Glastonbury a-twirling Sunday June 24: Come down Sunday, Shirely Bassey, Stonehenge and more Sunday June 24: So The Who close Glastonbury, how was it for you? Pic credit: Farah Ishaq

Catch up with Uncut.co.uk’s blogs from Glastonbury weekend here and let us know what you were upto —

Will you go next year? who do you want to see play?

We’ve got a copy of the new three disc collector’s edition of the Julien Temple Glastonbury movie to give away for the best anecdote…

Thurs June 21: Onsite and soaking Glastonbury in

Friday June 22: Glasto Weather Update, and Modest Mouse

Friday June 22: Super Sunny Furry Animals

Friday June 22: Sun goes down on Rufus Wainwright

Saturday June 23: Bjork rules, Arctics whimper, good morning on day two

Saturday June 23: Biffy Clyro, CSS and Klaxons defy Glastonbury rain

Saturday June 23: John Fogerty triumphs at Glastonbury

Sunday June 24: Wellies, Weller and Weather, Glasto wades in for final day

Sunday June 24: The Waterboys get Glastonbury a-twirling

Sunday June 24: Come down Sunday, Shirely Bassey, Stonehenge and more

Sunday June 24: So The Who close Glastonbury, how was it for you?

Pic credit: Farah Ishaq

Aerosmith Play Through Hits In Hyde Park

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Aerosmith Play Through Hits In Hyde Park

Aerosmith played through their back catalogue of rock hits to close this weekends' Hyde Park Calling event on Sunday (June 24). Steven Tyler and co's first full live show in nine years was raptuosly received by the full capacity crowd, despite the rainy weather conditions. They were also joined onstage by special guest DMC from Run DMC to play the set closer of their collaborative 1986 hit single 'Walk This Way.' Sunday's show was the culmination of the two day festival which also saw performances from Peter Gabriel, Crowded House, The Feeling and former Soundgarden member Chris Cornell. Kicking off their show with 'Love In An Elevator', the crowd responded with lots of air guitar action and singing. The rock ballads 'Crying' and 'I don't Wanna Miss A Thing' proving especially popular. Aerosmith played: 'Elevator' 'Same Old Song' 'Cryin' 'Eat The Rich' 'Miss A Thing' 'Jaded' 'Baby Please' 'Seasons' 'Dream On' 'Edge' 'Stop Messin'' 'Sweet E' 'Draw The Line' 'Walk This Way' Pic credit: Phil Wallis

Aerosmith played through their back catalogue of rock hits to close this weekends’ Hyde Park Calling event on Sunday (June 24).

Steven Tyler and co’s first full live show in nine years was raptuosly received by the full capacity crowd, despite the rainy weather conditions.

They were also joined onstage by special guest DMC from Run DMC to play the set closer of their collaborative 1986 hit single ‘Walk This Way.’

Sunday’s show was the culmination of the two day festival which also saw performances from Peter Gabriel, Crowded House, The Feeling and former Soundgarden member Chris Cornell.

Kicking off their show with ‘Love In An Elevator’, the crowd responded with lots of air guitar action and singing. The rock ballads ‘Crying’ and ‘I don’t Wanna Miss A Thing’ proving especially popular.

Aerosmith played:

‘Elevator’

‘Same Old Song’

‘Cryin’

‘Eat The Rich’

‘Miss A Thing’

‘Jaded’

‘Baby Please’

‘Seasons’

‘Dream On’

‘Edge’

‘Stop Messin”

‘Sweet E’

‘Draw The Line’

‘Walk This Way’

Pic credit: Phil Wallis

Coutdown to Latitude… Soulsavers Feat Mark Lanegan

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SOULSAVERS featuring MARK LANEGAN The Stoke production/remix duo of Rich Machin and Ian Glover will perform a rare but very welcome live set as Soulavers in the Uncut Arena at Latitude, aided and abetted by the marvellous Mark Lanegan. The American singer’s deep and affectingly rough rasp was...

SOULSAVERS featuring MARK LANEGAN

The Stoke production/remix duo of Rich Machin and Ian Glover will perform a rare but very welcome live set as Soulavers in the Uncut Arena at Latitude, aided and abetted by the marvellous Mark Lanegan.

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Countdown to Latitude…The Magic Numbers

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THE MAGIC NUMBERS Whatever the weather at Latitude on Friday, the two hirsute sets of siblings that together are The Magic Numbers will be doing their cheerily exuberant bit to spread sunshine and smiles in the Obelisk Arena. Led by the almost perpetually Cheshire-cat grinning Romeo Stodart, th...

THE MAGIC NUMBERS

Whatever the weather at Latitude on Friday, the two hirsute sets of siblings that together are The Magic Numbers will be doing their cheerily exuberant bit to spread sunshine and smiles in the Obelisk Arena.

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The Jesus And Mary Chain – Live At The Royal Festival Hall – June 22

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The Jesus And Mary Chain – Live At The Royal Festival Hall – June 22

The last time I saw The Jesus And Mary Chain was in Glasgow, back when they supported Primal Scream on the XTRMNTR tour sometime around 1998. Then, Jim and William Reid’s fractious relationship had pretty much reached breaking point, a tired and wired Jim having something of an episode on stage, smashing things before storming off. It was their last UK date, the band imploding a few months later on stage in Los Angeles. That the two brothers managed to patch up their differences and have locked in a number of festival dates, and a tour including shows at Brixton Academy, could be construed as something of a minor miracle. Tonight’s show, as part of Jarvis Cocker’s Meltdown festival, is the JAMC’s first UK date in close to a decade, sold out in minutes. Always one to spot a canny theatrical opportunity, Jarvis himself appears spot-lit in one of the boxes to introduce the band before they emerge through banks of dry ice spilling off the stage and launch into their second single, “Never Understand”. While consensual opinion remains that their debut album, Psychocandy, is their high water mark, it’s clear from this career-spanning set that there was a lot more to them besides. “Head On”, “Far Gone And Out”, “Sidewalking”, “Happy When It Rains” are dispatched with snarls, greeted with cheers. “Blues From A Gun” – favourite lyric: “I’m a stone-dead tripper dying in a fantasy” – is belted out, along side a new song, “All Things Must Pass”. Jim and William look happy and healthy, while the rest of the band – including UNCUT’s own Picture Researcher Phil King and former Ride drummer Loz Colbert – tear voraciously into the material. In fact, I forgot how good a drummer Colbert is, and the minute I got home I’m digging out Ride’s “Dreams Come Down” for his fantastic drum intro. For “Just Like Honey”, the band are joined on stage by Leila Moss from The Duke Spirit. I’d have been happy with Kate Moss, but there – this was Glastonbury weekend. They encore with Syd Barrett’s “Vegetable Man”, backed with “You Trip Me Up” and a growling, snake-hipped “Reverence”. Good to have you back, chaps. MICHAEL BONNER Set list: Never Understand Head On Far Gone And Out Catchfire Sidewalking Snakedriver Dead End Kids Happy When It Rains Some Candy Talking Between Planets Blues From a Gun Cracking Up All Things Must Pass Teenage Lust Just Like Honey Vegetable Man You Trip Me Up Reverence Pic credit: Rex

The last time I saw The Jesus And Mary Chain was in Glasgow, back when they supported Primal Scream on the XTRMNTR tour sometime around 1998. Then, Jim and William Reid’s fractious relationship had pretty much reached breaking point, a tired and wired Jim having something of an episode on stage, smashing things before storming off. It was their last UK date, the band imploding a few months later on stage in Los Angeles.

That the two brothers managed to patch up their differences and have locked in a number of festival dates, and a tour including shows at Brixton Academy, could be construed as something of a minor miracle. Tonight’s show, as part of Jarvis Cocker’s Meltdown festival, is the JAMC’s first UK date in close to a decade, sold out in minutes. Always one to spot a canny theatrical opportunity, Jarvis himself appears spot-lit in one of the boxes to introduce the band before they emerge through banks of dry ice spilling off the stage and launch into their second single, “Never Understand”.

While consensual opinion remains that their debut album, Psychocandy, is their high water mark, it’s clear from this career-spanning set that there was a lot more to them besides. “Head On”, “Far Gone And Out”, “Sidewalking”, “Happy When It Rains” are dispatched with snarls, greeted with cheers. “Blues From A Gun” – favourite lyric: “I’m a stone-dead tripper dying in a fantasy” – is belted out, along side a new song, “All Things Must Pass”.

Jim and William look happy and healthy, while the rest of the band – including UNCUT’s own Picture Researcher Phil King and former Ride drummer Loz Colbert – tear voraciously into the material. In fact, I forgot how good a drummer Colbert is, and the minute I got home I’m digging out Ride’s “Dreams Come Down” for his fantastic drum intro.

For “Just Like Honey”, the band are joined on stage by Leila Moss from The Duke Spirit. I’d have been happy with Kate Moss, but there – this was Glastonbury weekend.

They encore with Syd Barrett’s “Vegetable Man”, backed with “You Trip Me Up” and a growling, snake-hipped “Reverence”.

Good to have you back, chaps.

MICHAEL BONNER

Set list:

Never Understand

Head On

Far Gone And Out

Catchfire

Sidewalking

Snakedriver

Dead End Kids

Happy When It Rains

Some Candy Talking

Between Planets

Blues From a Gun

Cracking Up

All Things Must Pass

Teenage Lust

Just Like Honey

Vegetable Man

You Trip Me Up

Reverence

Pic credit: Rex

Paul McCartney To Play Record Shop Gig

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Paul McCartney To Play Record Shop Gig

Paul McCartney is to make a 'surprise' appearance at a record shop in Los Angeles tomorrow (June 27). The superstar musician will play tracks from his latest album 'Memory Almost Full' at Amoeba Records in Hollywood at around 7.30pm. The record store gig is not the first intimate show that the former Beatle has performed. To promote the new album, McCartney has played several hastily arranged special shows in small venues. A fortnight ago, McCartney played the 700 capacity Highline Ballroom in New York, the same week he played the 1000 capacity Electric Ballroom in London. 'Memory Almost Full' has been number one in the US album charts since it's release. Check out Uncut.co.uk's review of McCartney's last UK show at theElectric ballroomhere.

Paul McCartney is to make a ‘surprise’ appearance at a record shop in Los Angeles tomorrow (June 27).

The superstar musician will play tracks from his latest album ‘Memory Almost Full’ at Amoeba Records in Hollywood at around 7.30pm.

The record store gig is not the first intimate show that the former Beatle has performed. To promote the new album, McCartney has played several hastily arranged special shows in small venues.

A fortnight ago, McCartney played the 700 capacity Highline Ballroom in New York, the same week he played the 1000 capacity Electric Ballroom in London.

‘Memory Almost Full’ has been number one in the US album charts since it’s release.

Check out Uncut.co.uk’s review of McCartney’s last UK show at theElectric ballroomhere.

So The Who close Glastonbury, how was it for you?

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Aw boo, it's over for another year, but hey wasn't it great mud-sliding fun! The Who closed the world's biggest music festival with a resounding greatest hits set, as the rain pounded down for one final time, it certainly didnt dampen Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey's spirits. Having just...

Aw boo, it’s over for another year, but hey wasn’t it great mud-sliding fun!

The Who closed the world’s biggest music festival with a resounding greatest hits set, as the rain pounded down for one final time, it certainly didnt dampen Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey‘s spirits.

Continue

Manic Street Preachers Pay Tribute To Richey

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Manic Street Preachers Pay Tribute To Richey

The Manic Street Preachers played a career-spanning set for their Pyramid stage show at Glastonbury last night (June 24), paying tribute to former band member Richey Edwards. Just before playing debut single 'Motown Junk' towards the end of their set, singer James Dean Bradfield said emotionally: "We first played Glastonbury in 1994. One of us was hammered before the gig, during the gig and after the gig. That man was Mr Richey James. This one is for him." The trio were also joined onstage by Cardigans songstress Nina Persson, who reprised her role on the Manics recent number two charting single 'Your Love Alone Is Not Enough. Playing for just over an hour, the Manics treated fans to classic tracks from the early 90s such as 'Faster', 'From Despair To Where' and 'La Tristesse Durera' - as well as from their new LP 'Send Away The Tigers.' With regard to the typical English festival weather, James Dean Bradfield quipped: "If it's any comfort we did two gigs in Germany and it was pissing down there as well." Check out more festival news on the new Uncut Festivals Blog here - we've been at Glastonbury and Knowsley Hall all this weekendwww.www.uncut.co.uk/blog/index.php?blog=10&title= The Manics played the following: 'You Love Us' 'Motorcycle Emptiness' 'You Stole The Sun From My Heart' 'Faster' 'You're Love Alone Is Not Enough' 'Everything Must Go' 'From Despair To Where' 'Autumnsong' 'Ocean Spray' 'If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next' 'La Tristesse Durera' 'Imperial Bodybags' 'Motown Junk' 'A Design For Life' Pic credit: Andy Willsher

The Manic Street Preachers played a career-spanning set for their Pyramid stage show at Glastonbury last night (June 24), paying tribute to former band member Richey Edwards.

Just before playing debut single ‘Motown Junk’ towards the end of their set, singer James Dean Bradfield said emotionally: “We first played Glastonbury in 1994. One of us was hammered before the gig, during the gig and after the gig. That man was Mr Richey James. This one is for him.”

The trio were also joined onstage by Cardigans songstress Nina Persson, who reprised her role on the Manics recent number two charting single ‘Your Love Alone Is Not Enough.

Playing for just over an hour, the Manics treated fans to classic tracks from the early 90s such as ‘Faster’, ‘From Despair To Where’ and ‘La Tristesse Durera’ – as well as from their new LP ‘Send Away The Tigers.’

With regard to the typical English festival weather, James Dean Bradfield quipped: “If it’s any comfort we did two gigs in Germany and it was pissing down there as well.”

Check out more festival news on the new Uncut Festivals Blog here – we’ve been at Glastonbury and Knowsley Hall all this weekendwww.www.uncut.co.uk/blog/index.php?blog=10&title=

The Manics played the following:

‘You Love Us’

‘Motorcycle Emptiness’

‘You Stole The Sun From My Heart’

‘Faster’

‘You’re Love Alone Is Not Enough’

‘Everything Must Go’

‘From Despair To Where’

‘Autumnsong’

‘Ocean Spray’

‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’

‘La Tristesse Durera’

‘Imperial Bodybags’

‘Motown Junk’

‘A Design For Life’

Pic credit: Andy Willsher

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