Ache

The Heartbreakers’ Benmont Tench is about to release a solo album, You Should Be So Lucky, produced by the legendary Glyn Johns. In this star-studded archive piece from Uncut’s December 2011 issue (Take 175), Johns takes us through producing and engineering The Beatles, the Stones, The Who, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and more – not a bad CV, you could say… Interview: Graeme Thomson

There’s a very good feature in the current Uncut on the making of XTC’s “Making Plans For Nigel”, which reminded me of a time when I was often in their company, usually in far flung corners of the world, far from their Swindon homes, including the following adventure.

The two surviving members of The Doors have confirmed that they will reunite to honour their fellow band member Ray Manzarek, who died last year aged 74. Speaking to Billboard, Robby Krieger said he has approached a number of other musicians to honour the late keyboardist to play a gig this summer.

Limited edition box set to mark JAMC's 30th...

Something like two decades ago, when I was Features Editor of NME and making some pragmatic decisions involving coverage of second and third-tier Britpop bands, I had a kind of argument with Laurence Bell, the owner of the Domino label.

Wilco's Jeff Tweedy is set to make a guest appearance in US TV series Parks And Recreation. The singer will be the latest special guest to join series six of the show, following cameos from Kristen Bell and Heidi Klum. Tweedy will appear as the frontman of a fictional band called Land Ho!, who is lobbied by Amy Poehler's character, government worker Leslie Knope.

Prince continued his Hit And Run Tour last night (February 9) with a two-and-a-half hour spectacular at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire. Prince and 3rd Eye Girl played almost 40 tracks during the performance with a setlist comprised of hits, covers and new tracks from 'Plectrum Electrum'.

Bill Callahan plays London’s Royal Festival Hall tonight (February 7), in support of his Dream River album (and its recent dub remix, Have Fun With God) – so it seems a good time to skip back to our 197th issue, in which Uncut spends an intimate evening at Callahan’s house in Austin, unpicking the mysteries of the Artist Formerly Known As Smog... “I left clues?” Words: Jaan Uhelszki ________________

This week’s excuse for briskness is I have a longish review of Real Estate to write for the mag, but some good news in here: not least the appearance of a mighty stash of Fela Kuti albums on Bandcamp and some predictably weird mixtapes, compiled by John Fahey, fetching up on Soundcloud.

Pavement’s ex-mainman plays to strengths in his first since becoming a Berliner. By Jason Anderson