Uncut presents our latest 148-page special, telling the complete story of The Smiths, and tracing Morrissey and Johnny Marr's careers to the present day.

When towards the end of 1974, The Troggs announce their latest comeback single will be a cover of The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations", it's an occasion for much mocking laughter in the offices of what used to be Melody Maker.

In this month's Audience With Sinéad O'Connor, she's asked about her traumatic appearance at the all-star bash at New York's Madison Square Garden, put on by Columbia Records to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Dylan's debut album for the label.

Uncut Ultimate Music Guide is a very special one – a 148-page extravaganza dedicated to John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Before Melody Maker swept me off the street in the manner of a benevolent old codger taking a pallid waif into his kindly, white-haired care in something written to make you weep by the venerable Dickens, I worked for a bleak season or two in the mail order department of a bookstore near Piccadilly Circus.

This is the last Uncut of 2012, rather unbelievably. It barely seems 12 months since I sat down to write the column that introduced our final issue of 2011. How much faster can time go by?

As an alternative to my usual wittering, I'm handing over this column to Matt Allan, one of the many readers who were moved to write in response to our recent cover story on The Byrds, a band for whom Uncut readers clearly have an uncommon affection.

When it comes out in the autumn of 1974, Gene Clark's No Other seems to me like an album everybody should hear, nothing short of a masterpiece.

The first time Melody Maker feels confident enough to send me abroad without fearing an international incident as a consequence, I'm dispatched to interview Frank Zappa in Paris, where The Mothers Of Invention are celebrating their 10th anniversary.

Joe Strummer would have been 60 this month, but imagine him for a moment the way I remember him at 20.