Audience

Best known for his work on The Beach Boys’ Smile, Parks is a student of serious music, whose flirtation with the counterculture saw him fall in with unlikely company. His first job was arranging “The Bear Necessities” for Disney’s Jungle Book, but his association with Brian Wilson led to him producing debuts by Ry Cooder and Randy Newman, as well as making idiosyncratic solo albums. As he prepares to release his new album, Songs Cycled (reviewed in this month’s Uncut, dated June 2013), we look back to July 2010’s issue, where Parks reflects on a career that’s straddled the worlds of serious music and pop, without fitting in to either. Words: Alastair McKay

Several Beatles songs that have never before been performed before were given their live debut by Paul McCartney on the opening night of his world tour. McCartney played "Your Mother Should Know", "Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite", "Lovely Rita" and "All Together Now" for the first time ever during the gig in Belo Horizone, Brazil on Saturday (May 4). You can watch fan-shot footage of the gig below.

The Rolling Stones kicked off their 2013 50 and Counting tour last night (May 3) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The band were joined by Mick Taylor, who has been announced as special guest on the tour, to play "Midnight Rambler". Other guests included Gwen Stefani, who joined the band for "Wild Horses" and Keith Urban who played guitar and sang during "Respectable".

Since Thee Oh Sees start their UK tour tonight in Liverpool (then Leeds on the 7th, Cardiff (8), London (9), and Camber Sands ATP at some point between the 10th and the 12th), today seems a good time to post this excellent piece about the band by Lou Barlow.

The last time I had occasion to write about my old friend BP Fallon in Uncut was in March, 2010, when he’d just released his debut single, produced by Jack White and released by Jack’s Third Man Records as the first in the label’s new Spoken Word-Instructional record Series. “Fame #9” was backed with “BP Fallon Interview By Jack White” and “I Believe In Elvis Presley”, on which White played some viperish slide guitar, with The Raconteurs’ Patrick Keeler on drums. There was also a video, featuring some of BP’s many friends, including Kevin Shields, Bobby Gillespie and Gemma Hayes.

A revitalised Burdon tells survivor’s tales...

Bob Weir left the stage early last night (April 25), during a set by Further at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. According to music website jambase, Weir was seen struggling throughout the show and was eventually helped into a chair onstage by two crew members. The band left the stage, returning without Weir.

Jackson Browne features heavily in Uncut’s piece on the making of the Eagles’ Desperado – in the new issue, dated June 2013 and out now – and here, in this archive feature, originally from August 2010’s Uncut (Take 159), Browne takes us through the creation of his greatest albums. Interview: Bud Scoppa ____________________

The Eagles have revealed that their forthcoming world tour may well be their last, Speaking in London earlier today (April 25) ahead of the UK premier of their History Of The Eagles documentary at the Sundance London festival, the band opened up about their planned tour.

Seeing as how Matthew E White and his band are on tour in the UK this week (I’m seeing him play in London tomorrow), it seemed a good time to post the feature about my visit to Richmond a couple of months ago. I’ve put a few links to stuff in here, too, so you can get a taste of the really interesting music coming out of the scene that revolves around White. Long read, this one…