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Kate Bush, Ronnie Lane, Blur, Elliott Smith, Moby Grape, XTC, Joan Jett, Tinariwen and more all feature in the new Uncut, dated September 2023 and in UK shops from July 13 or available to buy online now. All copies come with a free, 15-track CD of the month’s best new music including tracks from Public Image Limited, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Rhiannon Giddens, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Dot Allison, James Blackshaw and more.
INSIDE THIS MONTH’S UNCUT
KATE BUSH: We celebrate 40 of Kate’s greatest songs in the company of musicians and eyewitnesses, as we attempt to unravel the magical thinking and creative mysteries behind one of the most consistently adventurous and radical songbooks of the last 50 years – from her career defining hits to b-sides, deep cuts and even a Christmas song. “The one thing that she taught me, there are no barriers,” says one collaborator. “Too many people think you shouldn’t do this or that. But Kate would often ask, “Is that weird?’ or ‘How can we make this weird..?”
RONNIE LANE: Mod, mystic, vagabond, songwriter and more… friends and bandmates celebrate the many (ace) faces of Lane, from superstardom with The Small Faces and the Faces to ragged roots hootenannies, spiritual enlightenment and beyond. “Ronnie was an extraordinary guy,” says Pete Townshend. “He had his own space which he was going to occupy, musically, and he never deviated from it.”
MOBY GRAPE: Blessed with three guitarists, five distinctive songwriters and seemingly endless promise, things began to fall apart for San Francisco’s finest early on. We hear how record company hype, a coercive manager, a witch named Joanna and a ‘fake’ touring line-up of the band brought chaos to their exuberant psychedelic folk rock imperative. “Our story isn’t straightforward,” one former member confirms.
ELLIOTT SMITH: The first few months of 1998 were a critical time for Smith. A major label record label, a new batch of songs and an unexpected Oscar nomination promised much – but as this extract from a major new biography reveals, the additional pressures this new found level of fame brought began to take their toll on the shy, introverted singer-songwriter: “It was the beginning of the end.”
XTC: From hit singles and getting banned from Top Of The Pops to (almost) working with Brian Eno and his love-hate relationship with his Swindon hometown, Andy Partridge’s candour knows no bounds. “If people think we’re so good, then fucking say it now, come on,” he tells Tom Pinnock. “Why wait?”
TINARIWEN: We meet the valiant Tuareg collective in Paris to discuss how the troubled genesis of their latest album and how turmoil and tragedy in their homeland has only brought them closer together. “We don’t want the band to ever stop.”
AN AUDIENCE WITH… JOAN JETT: The former Runaway and lifelong rock’n’roll advocate talks beach gurus, British humour and the power of the guitar.
THE MAKING OF “IF I’M IN LUCK I MIGHT GET PICKED UP” BY BETTY DAVIS: How the former Mrs Miles Davis hooked up w with Sly Stone’s drummer to create a “stinkingly funky” song about sexual autonomy
ALBUM BY ALBUM WITH OREN AMBARCHI: A handy primer to the ever-expanding catalogue of the Aussie experimentalist.
MY LIFE IN MUSIC WITH PROTOMARTYR: Frontman Joe Casey on the records that raised him: “If you’re from Detroit they give you a Stevie Wonder album at birth”.
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REVIEWED Blur, Public Image Limited, Rhiannon Giddens, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Blake Mills, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy, DeYarmond Edison, Kevin Ayers, Mellow Candle, Hipgnosis and more
PLUS Tony McPhee RIP, Elton at Glastonbury, Brian Eno, Shaun Ryder, James Blackshaw returns, and introducing instrumental avant-rockers Horse Lords
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