Historically, AC/DC have triumphed making the best of a bad job. When Bon Scott, the charismatic singer who fronted the band on their rise to fame died in London in 1980, they responded the only way they could. Namely, heavily: employing a new singer, and turning Back In Black into one of the 10 biggest-selling albums of all time. “Oblique strategies” aren’t something you imagine the band have a lot of time for, but their pragmatic problem-solving has often yielded spectacular results.
I reviewed The Velvet Underground: 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition for new issue of Uncut. It's a comprehensive, six-disc set compiling the band's third album in an assortment of mixes, plus 1969 demos and a live recording from The Matrix in San Francisco. Of course, it marks the first album the band recorded after John Cale had left, with Doug Yule assuming bass and (some) vocal duties. I was fortunate enough to speak to both Yule and Mo Tucker for a Q&A to accompany my review.
David Bowie has revealed the artwork for his forthcoming compilation, Nothing Has Changed. The album will come out with different covers for each format, each depicting Bowie looking into a mirror.
As AC/DC announce Malcolm Young's retirement and the release of a new album, Rock Or Bust, we look back at the life of former frontman Bon Scott in a piece taken from Uncut's December 2013 issue (Take 199). A street poet who’d been inside for ‘carnal knowledge’? A teenybop idol and hippy seer? A tearaway who swam with jellyfish and rode motorbikes naked? “A fantastic guy, a real human, so different to what people thought…” Words: Peter Watts_________________________
Dan Michaelson is not a particularly prolific Tweeter, but between musing about IKEA hotdogs and the time he DJed in Topshop (playing John Tavener, Laurie Anderson and ESG back-to-back) he found time to re-Tweet a backhanded compliment from a thoughtful soul called @recordshopbloke. “I do like Dan Michaelson's records,” said the bloke, “but sometimes it’s a bit like a mate on the phone going on endlessly about his tragic life.”
Robert Fripp showcases the revitalised King Crimson, complete with a brand new, three-drummer lineup, at their first show in Albany, New York, on September 9. In this feature from Uncut’s July 2012 issue (Take 182), Rob Young asks Fripp and many of his former bandmates how they gave birth to a bright and extravagant series of albums and – inadvertently – to a whole new genre: prog rock. Surprising, desperate – and shocking...
Even Jimi Hendrix was taken aback!
