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Spiritualized announce Pure Phase vinyl reissue

Sam Richards
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Spiritualized announce Pure Phase vinyl reissue

Following the reissue of Lazer Guided Melodies last week, Spiritualized have announced the next stage of The Spaceman Reissue Program.

Their 1995 second album Pure Phase – for which the band were briefly renamed Spiritualized Electric Mainline to reflect their expanding line-up – is due for release on 180g double vinyl via Fat Possum on June 11.

This remastered version of Pure Phase is presented in a gatefold jacket with reworked green artwork by Mark Farrow, and is available in both a standard black vinyl pressing and limited edition glow-in-the-dark vinyl exclusive to D2C / indie retail.

“You can’t really compare this record to any other because of how we mixed it; in such an “incorrect” way,” says Jason Pierce. “We mixed the tracks twice but I couldn’t decide which one I liked better so we said ‘let’s have them both’. Both of them were on tape so we spent hours cutting them into usable sections. If you run two things together in parallel you get this kind of Hawkwind effect (phase), which gets deeper as they drift away from being ‘locked’, so we had to keep re-locking on a bass drum every eight or ten bars and it took forever.

“If you listen to the isolated parts, everything is incredibly simple, the horns, the slide, all these little motifs and they lock together like some strange kind of machine. Something like Kraftwerk was the nearest thing in my musical vocabulary at the time. Great rock and roll music is like systems, it has its own endless cycle. Pure Phase was Michael Nyman, Steve Reich and John Adams, rock ‘n’ roll and gospel music, and it sounds like driving as fast as you can in torrential rain.

“I wish I could do it now, to mix things twice and throw it together and end up with this magic world. It was a thing that was out of our control and it just sounded better than we could have imagined so we chased it.”

You can read much more from Jason Pierce as he answers your questions in the latest issue of Uncut – in shops now with Bob Dylan on the cover!

Pete Townshend’s Top 10 deep cuts from The Who Sell Out box

Rob Hughes
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Pete Townshend’s Top 10 deep cuts from The Who Sell Out box

The Super Deluxe Edition of The Who’s 1967 classic The Who Sell Out is now on sale, featuring a whole tranche of out-takes and previously unreleased Pete Townshend home demos. In the April 2021 issue of Uncut (Take 287), we asked Pete to talk about 10 of his favourite deep cuts from the box, providing a fascinating insight as to where his head was at in the lead-up to the recording of The Who’s first truly great album.

JAGUAR (demo mix)
“I was starting to work on quite ambitious stuff by this time and had a really good little studio, where I’d begun doing tape phasing to get that swirling sound. ‘Jaguar’ was originally just meant to be one of the jingles for The Who Sell Out, but it became something else entirely. It was done very late in the process, properly in the last couple of weeks before the album came out.”

GLOW GIRL (demo mix)
“This was written in Las Vegas while on tour with Herman’s Hermits in the summer of 1967. It’s about reincarnation. That would’ve been in the early days of my interest in Meher Baba and realising, ‘Oh fuck, the whole basis for an interest in esoteric, metaphysical Eastern religion is rooted in the idea that the soul never dies.’ And of course the refrain later became part of Tommy.”

MELANCHOLIA
“This was one of my first attempts to write about depression and anxiety. Interestingly, in light of Covid, the working title was ‘The Virus’. Once depression sets in, it’s so difficult to escape it. It’s like drowning, in a sense. It was the end of a period just before I properly got to trust that my girlfriend Karen [Astley] really loved me. I thought she was only with me because we’d been on Ready Steady Go!”

CALL ME LIGHTNING
“I was still living in Ealing and going to art school when I first demoed this. The Jan & Dean-style backing vocals were probably to get Keith Moon onside. He was a huge fan of theirs. I was really surprised when [co-manager] Kit Lambert popped up one day and said, ‘That song “Call Me Lightning” – let’s do it now!’ It was maybe two years after I’d done the demo.”

FAITH IN SOMETHING BIGGER
“I had this period where I was on a bit of a high. Karen and I had this flat in Ebury Street, I’d got my studio sorted and life seemed to be good. And I had a sense that sooner or later we’d get married, which we did. I was also very interested in the early writings of Meher Baba, just getting to grips with it. This song just came from all that.”

DOGS
“This was definitely inspired by Small Faces – it was my version of ‘Lazy Sunday’. I loved what the Faces did in the studio, I loved their process. They had so much fun. I must admit I was interested in dog racing at the time, but the song is really about the craft, trying to create that studio sound.”

I CAN SEE FOR MILES (demo mix)
“I recorded this when I had a flat in Chelsea in 1966, but kept it quiet for a while. A couple of times, when I came back from touring, there would be these really cool-looking guys around the flat, who were all very interested in Karen. And I became paranoid. So I wrote the song. Quite shallow, unfortunately.”

THINKING OF YOU ALL THE WHILE
“This is the third version of this song [better known as “Sunrise”]. It was an attempt to evoke the music I grew up with, show tunes and musicals. The chords are a bit jazzy and it’s a celebration of love being like a sunrise. I recorded it on one of those Philips tape recorders and played it to my mum. She didn’t say it was rubbish, it was more like: ‘That’s very nice, dear. Would you like a cup of tea?’”

RELAX (demo mix)
“I was starting to explore other areas of my songwriting at this point in time, starting to become more ambitious. I’d already recorded a version of this song at the Gorham Hotel [New York], but I felt I needed to make it sound harder-edged and a bit more psychedelic, so The Who could record it.”

RAEL (IBC Remake)
“Initially, this song had nothing to do with The Who. I was studying opera, learning to write music. Kit Lambert came in one day and said [adopting a very posh, demanding voice], ‘It’s time for a new Who single, Pete.’ I told him I was working on my opera, but he just went, ‘Jolly good. Let’s have it.’ So I took the four or five strands that I’d managed to deal with and condensed them down into a five-minute pop single.”

An Audience With J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr

Uncut
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An Audience With J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr

To celebrate the release of Dinosaur Jr’s supersonic new album Sweep It Into Space, here’s an Audience With J Mascis from the September 2014 issue of Uncut (Take 208). Kevin Shields, Mark Arm and TV Smith pose the questions as we discover how Mascis almost joined Nirvana but stood in with GG Allin instead: “Fine in theory, but when he’s actually shitting onstage beside you, it’s not fun!”

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“Portugal aren’t coming back from that,” exclaims J Mascis with unexpected enthusiasm. Presently, the notoriously reticent Mascis is sitting in a hotel bar in London watching Germany beat Portugal in the World Cup on a giant television screen. His surprising outburst, he explains, is because he has a vested interest in the outcome of this particular game: Mascis’ wife is German. She is currently in Berlin with their son where, it transpires, they are watching the match on a big screen, in the church where his brother-in-law is a minister.

Meanwhile, Mascis is in the UK to promote his latest solo album, Tied To A Star. Despite his woolly appearance – faded black Cactus T-shirt, trucker cap and purple-rimmed glasses, grey hair, beard – Mascis is on sharp form as he answers your questions on subjects ranging from his favourite guitar riffs to the existence of some deep Dinosaur Jr rarities and exactly what happened when Kurt Cobain asked him to join Nirvana…

Hi, J. You’ve got a reputation for being difficult in interviews, do you think some people misunderstand your sense of humour?
Kevin Shields
I’ve learned from being interviewed and dealing with people that I talk slower than a lot of people. If a person’s really wired and ADD, and I don’t answer fast enough, they write me off as an asshole in that second where I’m not answering them. Then, that’s it. How long have I known Kevin? Since we first came to England. We opened for Primal Scream and then played at ULU. I think he was there. Someone told me to buy My Bloody Valentine, and the “You Made Me Realise” EP had just come out. We’ve seen each other pretty much every time I’ve come to England. Coming to Europe back then was great for us. They’d give us food and somewhere to stay and people actually liked us. We were pretty hated where we lived in Western Massachusetts.

Is it true you turned down Kurt Cobain’s invitation to join Nirvana?
Stan Maloney, New York
Yeah, Kurt asked me to join. I was with Thurston Moore at this Nirvana show at Maxwell’s in Hoboken. I was talking with Kurt, and he said, “You should join my band.” I think he was kind of sick of the guitar player at the time, Jason [Everman]. I was like, “Oh, yeah.” That was kind of it. You know, I wanted to go to college in Seattle and I didn’t get in. So I could have been there before all them. Imagine how different history would have been. I had gone to a semester in Amhurst. I hated college so I didn’t do too well. When I applied to Seattle, they weren’t too impressed. What was I studying? Nothing. You can do that in America. I took a lot of Hitler-inspired classes. I had a teacher who was an SS officer and another who was a Jew who escaped. They were both in the same history department, which was weird.

What do you remember about your earliest gigs in Boston?
Sheryl Dillon, Cardiff
When we started, we were too loud and we had no fans. That’s a bad combination when you’re trying to play shows in these bars and the bartender can’t hear the people trying to buy drinks. “Who are these guys?” So we’d get banned from all the clubs around there. In Boston the soundman threw a bottle at us. We were playing with Salem 66 or something. In Boston, in [Mascis’ early-’80s hardcore punk band] Deep Wound, people liked us in the hardcore scene but the hardcore scene did not like Dino when we started. But what are you gonna do? I guess the first time we went to New York, which was three hours away, that’s when we first met Sonic Youth and found some people who actually liked us. It was our home away from home. We’d spend a lot of time in New York.

J, even your acoustic guitar sounds loud. How do you do it? I’ve been trying to persuade sound technicians to make mine louder for years…
TV Smith, The Adverts
Travel with your own soundman, I guess. It’s a battle, if you don’t have your own soundman, to try and communicate what you’re trying to do to some other guy. I think TV Smith could make it happen. Yeah, I’m a total fan of British punk. What are the differences between British and American punk? The production was much better in England. I guess most US punk bands never recorded in real studios. English punk seemed better for some years, until probably ’81 when hardcore happened. It all came together perfectly at that age. I could relate to Minor Threat. They had more suburban problems, like me. You know, being pissed for no reason. “Oh, my parents are OK, I’m not starving, nothing is apparently wrong, but I’m still depressed and pissed off at everything. I have no reason to be.” You get jealous of people with real problems.

I’m a massive fan of the first three Dinosaur Jr albums. Are there any unreleased studio recordings from this era (“Center Of The Universe”, for example), and if so, what are the chances of them being released?
Bennett Sandhu
No, across the board. “Centre Of The Universe” was an early Lou [Barlow] song. It didn’t appear on any album, he didn’t want to play it. It could have been on our first album, but he decided he hated it immediately. There might be some practice tape of the song, but not that I have. I guess we could always re-record it now.

What was it about GG Allin that made you think, ‘I want to be in a band with that guy?’
Mark Arm, Mudhoney
Yeah… that’s a weird one. Gerard Cosloy, who went on to Matador fame, went to college in my town and became my band [Deep Wound]’s manager, for a minute, then we broke up. He said he’d put out the Dinosaur record when we formed, so we already knew we could make a record. But he was putting together this GG Allin band, and he asked me to be in it. I was excited, until the reality set in. I often thought it was kind of like how Kurt Cobain must have felt about Courtney Love. It’s like this punk idea that seems cool ’til you’re doing it. You like GG Allin in theory, but then when he’s actually shitting onstage and you’re standing there, it’s not fun and you think, ‘Wow, this is a bad scene.’

How many guitars do you own, J?
Craig Parsons, Hemel Hempstead
Quite a few. Under 100, but more than 50. That’s a good answer. Where do I keep them all? They’re pretty much everywhere. I like to try to get every conceivable rock guitar sound you could possibly need. The Wipers sound, the Keith Richards sound, the Fast Eddie sound. I’m just trying to cover all the bases. They all sound slightly different. Some for recording and some for playing. You hope some guitars have different songs in them you can just get out by playing them. That’s one crazy justification for buying them. It’s harder to justify to my wife, of course. The oldest guitar I’ve got is a Martin from the 1930s.

Question: Master Of Reality or Vol. 4? (Paranoid is not an answer.)
Jonathan Poneman, Sub Pop
Vol. 4, definitely. This is Sabbath, who I just saw for the first time. In fact, Jonathan helped me get in to the show. They played in Berlin. Tony Iommi has now gone to the top of my guitar list, Top 5 guitarists I’ve ever seen. I love Sabbath, I was maybe 12 years old when I first heard them, but I never considered Tony to be as good a guitarist as he evidently is. I was blown away when I saw him do “Supernaut” from Vol. 4. I always thought that solo was impossible to play. I’ve seen people try, but no-one can do it. Then to see Tony play it live, that was awesome. Do I think Bill Ward should be back in the band? The new guy kicked them in the ass a bit, gave them some energy, but he’s not so good it takes away from Bill. He’s ballpark.

Which of your album sleeves do you like the most – and why?
Peter Fors, Stockholm
Green Mind is a good one. It’s a cool photo. It seems to resonate. This ’70s icon of the kid. It’s got that over-the-edge look of teenage rebellion. Why do I like green and purple so much? They’re my favourite colours. I have some purple clothing, but it’s very hard to get for men. I’ve designed some purple trainers (below). They came with a 7” cover of Mazzy Star, “Fade Into You”. Will that ever get a proper release? Yeah, I think it’ll appear on this record, like a B-side maybe. I played it live first time the other day. It was pretty good. I’ll probably play it on this tour. It went on for a while. A lot of noodling. But if it’s good, let it noodle.

If you could only play one riff for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Patrick Proctor, Manchester
Maybe “City Slang” by Sonic’s Rendezvous Band. Is that a riff? Sorta. What makes a good riff? It’s memorable, you want to sing it and play it. What’s a favourite riff of mine? I like “Sludgefest” and “Out There”. “Out There” being more of what you’d consider a riff. It seems a bit complicated for me to play and sing, so I’m impressed. It seems a bit over my ability.

What are your memories of the 1992 Rollercoaster tour?
Debbie Williams, London
It was fun. I remember I was surprised that The Jesus And Mary Chain were even more socially retarded than I was. We didn’t speak until maybe the last show. They’d hide in the dressing room. That was impressive somehow. I was already friends with My Bloody Valentine, so we’d hang out. Blur were the most sociable, the Mary Chain the worst, then us, then MBV. Did we drink a lot at that time? I don’t think I was drinking. It was a cool tour. I’d never really heard Blur before, but obviously they became huge. Last time I was here, I saw the guitarist in Wagamama right over the road.

Hello J! Do you remember filming the “Freak Scene” video in my back garden in Manchester?
John Robb, The Membranes/Goldblade
Yes, I do. It was pretty exciting. We shaved our soundman’s head for the video. Dancing around in weird costumes with all the papier mâché stuff he had lying around his house. Our label edited out everything like that from the video and just had us playing in the garden. I was furious. The real version only came out when we re-released the LP. How did we end up in John’s garden? It’s Manchester, that’s what happened in those days.

How did you end up reforming the classic earlier lineup of Dinosaur Jr in 2005?
Matt Barlow, via email
We finally got the reissues to come out and got them away from SST, so we put it on Merge and my then-manager thought we could do something to promote it. I was the hard one to convince. Lou and Murph were on board but it took a bit of Lou mellowing out after being so angry with me for so long. I’d see him, and he’d still be angry. Then at some point he mellowed and it opened the door for apologies… we saw each other in the intervening years. I’d gone to Sebadoh shows when he was in town, but he’d never go to any show that I’d do. Was I on the guestlist? I’d never pay, so I must have got in somehow. Things are doing all right. It has its ups and downs, but it’s not as extreme.

Neil Young – Young Shakespeare

Tyler Wilcox
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Neil Young – Young Shakespeare

Young Shakespeare, the latest in Young’s ongoing Performance Series (this is vol 3.5 for those crazy enough to keep track), captures the songwriter at the cusp of solo superstardom. He was still best known as the Y in CSNY but he’d packed several lifetimes’ worth of activity into a very brief span of time: from the break-ups and make-ups of Buffalo Springfield to the dangerously unstable Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, from the lukewarm reception of his debut 1968 solo LP to the formation of Crazy Horse. Now, as he walked on stage at Stratford Connecticut’s Shakespeare Theatre in January of 1971, he was alone again, naturally, and rapidly emerging as a force to be reckoned with.

Both Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (his first collab with Crazy Horse) and the then-freshly released After The Gold Rush had been powerful statements of intent, unearthing a glittering vein of sonic possibilities that Young continues to mine to this day. Neil’s confidence as a performer was growing with leaps and bounds too, his distinctive, percussive acoustic guitar technique crystallising and his high, lonesome vocals becoming more bewitching.

This era is well represented in Young’s always expanding archival universe; indeed, Live At Massey Hall 1971 (released as Performance Series 3.0 in 2007) was recorded just a few days prior to the Shakespeare Theatre show, and Live At The Cellar Door (released as Performance Series 2.5 in 2013) comprises solo performances from December 1970. (There’s even more to come: Neil recently announced a Bootleg Series that will include three more late ’70/early ’71 solo shows.) With a setlist and overall mood that doesn’t deviate wildly from Massey Hall 1971, some fans might find reason to complain about Young Shakespeare. Maybe one can have too much of a good thing? But in a world where listeners can immerse themselves in every last note of Dylan and the Hawks’ 1966 tour or the Grateful Dead on their Europe ’72 trek, more examples of Neil Young at this early peak are welcome.

Young Shakespeare is differentiated by its visual accompaniment – a murky but absorbing 16mm document of the show made by Dutch filmmaker Wim van der Linden (and subsequently edited by Young’s directorial alter ego Bernard Shakey). Flannel-clad Neil is a shadowy but friendly presence as he moves from guitar to piano, at times gently ribbing his audience with a wry joke, at others earnestly seeking a connection. At this point, Young’s stage presence is the perfect mix of seductive mystique and aw-shucks bonhomie.

The performance itself? Flawless. Even at this early stage, Neil had an impressive stash of songs to draw from, and he dispatches tunes from Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Déjà Vu and After The Gold Rush with focus and precision. These may be relatively new compositions but they already sound like sturdy classics on stage, from the wistful opener, “Tell Me Why”, to the moody acoustic remakes of “Cowgirl In The Sand” and “Down By The River”. Instead of coasting on past successes, however, Young takes the opportunity to debut several new numbers destined to become signature concert favourites. “Old Man”, inspired by the foreman on Neil’s northern California ranch, is close to fully formed; the songwriter would record its definitive Harvest version in Nashville just a few weeks later. Young prefaces “The Needle And The Damage Done” with a ramble that references the recent heroin-related deaths of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix but it’s likely he had another musician in mind: guitarist Danny Whitten, whose drug habits had caused Neil’s break-up of Crazy Horse in 1970. Whitten passed away in 1972 while trying to kick heroin.

Equally heavy is “Ohio”, a song less than a year old, but a fresh wound for the counterculture. Written and recorded in the immediate wake of the Kent State massacre of May 1970, the CSNY single is militant and aggressive, with piercing guitars and urgent vocals. In Stratford, the acoustic “Ohio” is a more mournful thing, a personal lament, the lines that cut the deepest here: “What if you knew her/And found her dead on the ground?” However, Young is enough of a showman to follow up this dark cloud with the featherweight hoedown “Dance Dance Dance”, which serves to lighten the mood considerably.

As on Massey Hall 1971, Young Shakespeare’s most interesting highlight is the “A Man Needs A Maid”/“Heart Of Gold” medley, performed on piano and introduced by Young sheepishly as “my most elaborate accomplishment”. But elaborate it is. “Maid” is a dramatic performance, even when stripped of its bombastic Jack Nitzsche arrangement, Young’s vocal rising over crashing minor chords. “Heart Of Gold”, by contrast, is given an intimate, hopeful reading. In just about a year’s time, the song (in a radically altered form) would take Neil to the top of the charts. But there’s an even more enticing hint of things to come; during the medley’s elegant instrumental preamble, Young plays the unmistakable melody of “Borrowed Tune”, a song that wouldn’t appear on record until 1975. It’s brief moments like these that remind us of why releases such as Young Shakespeare are essential to our appreciation of the songwriter’s long career. They give us a valuable, if slightly blurry, freeze-frame of an artist who is always in motion – here one minute, gone the next.

Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises

Stephen Dalton
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Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises

Even by his own over-achieving standards, Sam Shepherd has pulled off an impressive coup with his latest pan-generational opus. Over the past decade, the classically trained Mancunian polymath composer behind Floating Points has traversed the outer limits of jazz, electronica and orchestral post-rock, DJ-ed at achingly cool clubs and worked with numerous stellar talents. Meanwhile, lest we forget, he also completed a PhD in neuroscience. But Shepherd surpasses himself on Promises by scoring an increasingly rare collaboration with living legend and towering tenor sax innovator Pharoah Sanders, who turned 80 last year, with classy back-up from the string section of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Closer in form and mood to the expansive electro-orchestral reveries of his 2015 debut album, Elaenia, than to its more eclectic, club-friendly 2019 sequel, Crush, Shepherd’s latest release pays unashamed homage to the spiritually inclined “astral jazz” of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Of course, as a former collaborator with both John and Alice Coltrane, Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman and other immortals, Sanders himself was a pioneer in this field, moving from frenetic free jazz into more meditative, cosmic, ambient fusion territory. With its woozy lava-lamp tempo, Quaalude-fuzzy warmth and emphatically analogue feel, Promises could almost be some long-lost modal jazz classic from 1972. The only surprise is that Shepherd did not sprinkle the sound mix with authentically retro vinyl crackle.

Promises first began to take shape five years ago as an improvised jam session in LA featuring Sanders and Shepherd, which was commissioned by Luaka Bop, the globalised fusion-pop label founded by David Byrne. Shepherd later embroidered this sparse conversation between piano and saxophone into a rich tapestry of vintage acoustic and electronic instruments including harpsichord, Hammond B3 organ, EMS Synthi, ARP 2600, Buchla 200e and more. As with previous Floating Points albums, the studio gear list alone will be pure geek-porn for analogue-synth nerds.

Just last year, Shepherd completed this long-gestating project by convening the LSO strings for a socially distanced session in London. Though they never dominate the album’s sound, the string players give it extra ballast and bandwidth, couching the core modal melody in supple arrangements that alternate between delicate tonal retouching and drenching widescreen lyricism.

Despite being pretentiously packaged as a suite in nine movements, Promises is essentially a single long composition topped off with a short surprise coda. The gently hypnotic heartbeat running through the album is Shepherd’s spare keyboard motif, a recurring ripple of broken chords that steadily lap and ebb like becalmed waves on a sheltered beach. Over these amniotic undulations, Sanders initially lays hesitant vapour trails of saxophone, breathy and reedy, intimate and warm-blooded. “It was like the instrument was an extension of his being,” Shepherd recalls in the accompanying press notes, “a megaphone for his soul.”

But as the piece expands, with voluptuous LSO strings and lush electronica swamping the main melody, Sanders shifts into a more assertive gear, striking off on choppy free-jazz tangents, melismatic volleys and blues-inflected licks. As Shepherd’s keyboard noodling swells into cosmic lounge-jazz mode, Sanders also adds some half-submerged vocalese burbles, sleepy-voiced scats and falsetto ululations that sound more like spontaneous responses to the music than pre-planned interjections. These are very human touches, fleeting but charming. More of these playful interjections would have been very welcome.

Hitting its feverish peak around the 30-minute mark, Promises becomes a ravishing symphony of glissando synth sirens, melting portamento chords, hovering strings and twinkling birdsong effects. There are countless musical ghosts at this feast, from the mind-bending celestial visions of mid-period Miles and Alice Coltrane to the cumulative avant-minimalism of Gavin Bryars and William Basinski. Sanders finally gets to let rip here with some thrilling, energised, discordant honking before Shepherd dims the lights again for a slowly receding fade-out of low drones and deepening silence. A hidden coda lurks in the afterglow, rearing up from the shadows with a shiny effusion of strings. Far more modern classical than jazz in style, this brief encore is a bracing but oddly incongruous afterthought.

Promises rewards repeat listens with its immersive, densely layered, quietly mesmerising beauty. But it is also an unusually slender piece of work for Shepherd, especially when set against the kaleidoscope range and dynamism of Crush. Beneath its ornate instrumentation, this elegant exercise in retro pastiche never quite shirks the sense of being a single skeletal composition stretched a little too thinly across 40-plus minutes, a watercolour sketch dressed up as a grand canvas.

With fairly limited room for textural variation or harmonic progression, Sanders also feels underused in places, more guest player than equal collaborator. And while it would be unfair to expect a veteran jazz revolutionary to break new ground so deep into his autumn years, Shepherd’s tastefully manicured moodscapes would have benefited from a little more Pharoah input in general, even in his current mellow grandfatherly mode. Promises is an impressive collision of talents, and sublimely lovely in places, but also frustratingly slight. A minor addition to the canon of its two main authors, it earns the double-edged compliment of all half-great albums: it leaves you craving more.

Marianne Faithfull: “I managed not to die!”

Laura Barton
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Marianne Faithfull: “I managed not to die!”

The new issue of Uncut – in shops now or available to buy online by clicking here, with free P&P for the UK – includes a candid interview with Marianne Faithfull about new album She Walks In Beauty, the latest instalment in her remarkable career as rock’s most regal survivor, completed after her hospitalisation with Covid-19. She tells Laura Barton about recovery, Romantic poetry and how, perhaps, the ’60s weren’t all they were cracked up to be. Here’s an extract…

On a midweek afternoon, Faithfull, 74, is at home in Putney, south-west London, batting away questions about ’60s infamy to recall the formative influence of Palgrave’s Golden Treasury and her English teacher, Mrs Simpson.“She was very ordinary, she had white hair and glasses,” she says. “But she was really, really good. I liked her so much, and she taught me all this stuff about the Romantics. She taught me for that first year, and then of course I was torn away, and I was discovered…”

The story of how Marianne Faithfull was discovered – a teenage ingénue fêted by the in-crowd and caught up with the Stones, then duly lost to scandal and addiction, has coloured much of her career. For a long time, the popular imagination carried her as a kind of tragic muse, a victim of her own beauty and the era’s excesses. Later it recast her as a fighter, a treasure, an artist of indefatigable spirit.

Today, she sounds determined and faintly amused. She has a deeply fragrant voice, grown a little hoarse following a serious altercation with Covid that kept her in hospital for several weeks last spring. “I got terribly ill. I don’t really remember it, but apparently I almost died,” she says. “I managed not to die.”

Still, the effects of the illness have lingered – she warns we might have to conduct our interview in segments, to allow her breaks to recalibrate. “It’s been very hard to cope with,” she explains. “Particularly my lungs, because I used to smoke, and I have of course got emphysema or whatever they call it now.” She pauses. “It’s got another name, and that’s the big problem – my memory, and the fatigue. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be talking about this! Not the point!”

The point is that before she contracted Covid, Faithfull had begun work on She Walks In Beauty. “When I came out of hospital I finished it,” she says. “I was worried: would I be able to do it? But I was, amazingly enough. It’s a miracle, really. It’s beautiful, because the ones I did post-Covid are very, very vulnerable and that’s kind of lovely.”

She Walks In Beauty, her 22nd studio album, is a spoken-word collection of some of her favourite Romantic poetry, scored by the composer and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, with contributions from Nick Cave, Brian Eno and Vincent Ségal. It is a crowning moment in her career; the product of a long-held ambition to interpret works by Keats, Shelley, Tennyson and their contemporaries that she has carried close since St Joseph’s. Cave calls it “the greatest Marianne Faithfull album ever. And that’s saying something.” Ellis, meanwhile, describes it to Uncut as “this incredible thing, this kind of wonder. This bit of a little miracle.”

You can read the full interview in the June 2021 issue of Uncut, out now with Bob Dylan on the cover and available to buy direct from us here.

Hear “Your Fandango”, the new single by Todd Rundgren and Sparks

Sam Richards
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Hear “Your Fandango”, the new single by Todd Rundgren and Sparks

50 years since Todd Rundgren produced a self-titled album by the LA group Halfnelson, soon to rename themselves Sparks, he’s reunited with Ron and Russell Mael for the latest single from his forthcoming album Space Force.

Hear “Your Fandango” below:

Says Rundgren, “It’s been a long way since ‘Simple Ballet’, but we finally got the old dance troupe back together!”

Add the Mael brothers: “It’s been a truly heartwarming experience to once again be working with Todd, our first-ever producer, after a brief 50-year hiatus.”

“Your Fandango” will released physically on 7” vinyl later this year.

Peek inside John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s mansion in new “Isolation” video

Sam Richards
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Peek inside John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s mansion in new “Isolation” video

This Friday (April 23), Capitol/UMC will release John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band: The Ultimate Collection, featuring 6 CDs and two Blu-Ray discs of demos, outtakes and alternate mixes of the 1970 album.

One of the alternate takes is a ‘Raw Studio Mix’ of “Isolation”, recorded in EMI Studio 3, Abbey Road on Oct 6, 1970. You can hear it below accompanied by a video shot at John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Tittenhurst Park mansion on July 16, 1971.

The annotated video takes you inside John and Yoko’s private bedroom, bathroom and dressing rooms pointing out artefacts of interest, including the piano on which Lennon composed “Imagine”. Watch below:

You can read a full review of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band: The Ultimate Collection in the latest issue of Uncut, in shops now and available to buy online here.

Paul McCartney, Kate Bush and Damon Albarn urge PM to change music streaming law

Sam Richards
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Paul McCartney, Kate Bush and Damon Albarn urge PM to change music streaming law

Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Damon Albarn, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Marianne Faithfull, Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, Massive Attack, Roger Daltrey, Noel Gallagher, Joan Armatrading, The Chemical Brothers, David Gilmour and many more of the UK’s greatest living songwriters have put their name to an open letter, drafted by the Musicians’ Union, calling on the Prime Minister to fix the glaring inequalities in the music streaming system.

The economics of streaming have long been a bone of contention within the music industry, with many artists pointing out that they only receive a tiny fraction of a pence per stream, while major record companies have been able to cling on to a much greater revenue share based on laws and contracts drawn up in the pre-streaming era.

“For too long, streaming platforms, record labels and other internet giants have exploited performers and creators without rewarding them fairly,” reads the letter. “We must put the value of music back where it belongs – in the hands of music makers.”

The letter’s main proposal is a change to the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, which will bring songwriting royalties for streaming in line with those from radio.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Commons Select Committee is currently carrying out an inquiry into the economics of music streaming, during which artists, label bosses and tech companies have given testimony to MPs. The results of the inquiry are expected in the summer.

Read the full text of the open letter and list of signatories below. You can sign the petition yourself here.

“Dear Prime Minister,

We write to you on behalf of today’s generation of artists, musicians and songwriters here in the UK.

For too long, streaming platforms, record labels and other internet giants have exploited performers and creators without rewarding them fairly. We must put the value of music back where it belongs – in the hands of music makers.

Streaming is quickly replacing radio as our main means of music communication. However, the law has not kept up with the pace of technological change and, as a result, performers and songwriters do not enjoy the same protections as they do in radio.

Today’s musicians receive very little income from their performances – most featured artists receive tiny fractions of a US cent per stream and session musicians receive nothing at all.

To remedy this, only two words need to change in the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. This will modernise the law so that today’s performers receive a share of revenues, just like they enjoy in radio. It won’t cost the taxpayer a penny but will put more money in the pockets of UK taxpayers and raise revenues for public services like the NHS.

There is evidence of multinational corporations wielding extraordinary power and songwriters struggling as a result. An immediate government referral to the Competition and Markets Authority is the first step to address this. Songwriters earn 50% of radio revenues, but only 15% in streaming. We believe that in a truly free market the song will achieve greater value.

Ultimately though, we need a regulator to ensure the lawful and fair treatment of music makers. The UK has a proud history of protecting its producers, entrepreneurs and inventors. We believe British creators deserve the same protections as other industries whose work is devalued when exploited as a loss-leader.

By addressing these problems, we will make the UK the best place in the world to be a musician or a songwriter, allow recording studios and the UK session scene to thrive once again, strengthen our world leading cultural sector, allow the market for recorded music to flourish for listeners and creators, and unearth a new generation of talent.

We urge you to take these forward and ensure the music industry is part of your levelling-up agenda as we kickstart the post-Covid economic recovery.”

Damon Albarn OBE
Lily Allen
Wolf Alice
Marc Almond OBE
Joan Armatrading CBE
David Arnold
Massive Attack
Jazzie B OBE
Adam Bainbridge (Kindness)
Emily Barker
Gary Barlow OBE
Geoff Barrow
Django Bates
Brian Bennett OBE
Fiona Bevan
Aflie Boe OBE
Billy Bragg
The Chemical Brothers
Kate Bush CBE
Melanie C
Eliza Carthy MBE
Martin Carthy MBE
Celeste
Guy Chambers
Mike Batt LVO
Don Black OBE
Badly Drawn Boy
Chrissy Boy
Tim Burgess
Mairéad Carlin
Laura-Mary Carter
Nicky Chinn
Dame Sarah Connolly DBE
Phil Coulter
Roger Daltrey CBE
Catherine Anne Davies (The Anchoress)
Ian Devaney
Chris Difford
Al Doyle
Anne Dudley
Brian Eno
Self Esteem
James Fagan
Paloma Faith
Marianne Faithfull
George Fenton
Rebecca Ferguson
Robert Fripp
Shy FX
Gabrielle
Peter Gabriel
Noel Gallagher
Guy Garvey
Bob Geldof KBE
Boy George
David Gilmour CBE
Nigel Godrich
Howard Goodall CBE
Jimi Goodwin
Graham Gouldman
Tom Gray
Roger Greenaway OBE
Will Gregory
Ed Harcourt
Tony Hatch OBE
Richard Hawley
Justin Hayward
Fran Healy
Orlando Higginbottom
Jools Holland OBE, DL
Mick Hucknall
Crispin Hunt
Shabaka Hutchings
Eric Idle
John Paul Jones
Julian Joseph OBE
Kano
Linton Kwesi Johnson
Gary Kemp
Nancy Kerr
Richard Kerr
Soweto Kinch
Beverley Knight MBE
Mark Knopfler OBE
Annie Lennox OBE
Shaznay Lewis
Gary Lightbody OBE
Tasmin Little OBE
Calum MacColl
Roots Manuva
Laura Marling
Johnny Marr
Chris Martin
Claire Martin OBE
Cerys Matthews MBE
Sir Paul McCartney CH MBE
Horse McDonald
Thurston Moore
Gary “Mani” Mounfield
Mitch Murray CBE
Field Music
Frank Musker
Laura Mvula
Kate Nash
Stevie Nicks
Orbital
Roland Orzabal
Gary Osborne
Jimmy Page OBE
Hannah Peel
Daniel Pemberton
Yannis Philippakis
Anna Phoebe
Phil Pickett
Robert Plant CBE
Karine Polwart
Emily Portman
Chris Rea
Eddi Reader MBE
Sir Tim Rice
Orphy Robinson MBE
Matthew Rose
Nitin Sawhney CBE
Anil Sebastian
Peggy Seeger
Nadine Shah
Feargal Sharkey OBE
Shura
Labi Siffre
Martin Simpson
Skin
Mike Skinner
Curt Smith
Fraser T Smith
Robert Smith
Sharleen Spiteri
Lisa Stansfield
Sting CBE
Suggs
Tony Swain
Heidi Talbot
John Taylor
Phil Thornalley
KT Tunstall
Ruby Turner MBE
Becky Unthank
Norma Waterson MBE
Cleveland Watkiss MBE
Jessie Ware
Bruce Welch OBE
Kitty Whately
Ricky Wilde
Olivia Williams
Daniel “Woody” Woodgate
Midge Ure OBE
Nikki Yeoh

Hear the new single by James, “Beautiful Beaches”

Sam Richards
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Hear the new single by James, “Beautiful Beaches”

James have today released a new single from their forthcoming album All The Colours Of You, due out on June 4.

Hear “Beautiful Beaches” below:

Frontman Tim Booth wrote the lyrics of “Beautiful Beaches” in response to climate change migration and the increasingly regular Californian fires that eventually forced him to move his family from Topanga Canyon to Costa Rica.

“We love how this song is so uplifting, focusing on new beginnings,” says Booth. “I like the idea that many might not know the backstory and hear it as a post-Covid holiday song! Praying that the lyrics don’t turn out prophetic.”

James have also just announced a headline show at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on September 9, with tickets going on sale at 9am on Friday (April 23) from here.

You can read much more from Tim Booth and James in the new issue of Uncut, in shops now or available to order online here!

Madness announce London Palladium livestream

Sam Richards
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Madness announce London Palladium livestream

Madness have revealed details of a livestreamed show taking place at the London Palladium on May 14.

Madness & Charlie Higson In ‘The Get Up!’ is billed as an evening of music, drama and comedy. It will include a full live set from the band in which they’ll premiere some brand new songs alongside Madness classics.

Watch a trailer below:

Tickets for Madness & Charlie Higson In ‘The Get Up!’ go on sale at 9am on Friday (April 23) from here.

Madness also star in a three-part docuseries about their early years, Before We Was We, coming to BT TV on May 1. Watch a trailer for that below:

Cory Hanson – Pale Horse Rider

Peter Watts
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Cory Hanson – Pale Horse Rider

Over the course of five albums with LA-based psych five-piece Wand, frontman Cory Hanson has charted a trajectory from the Ty Segall-approved 2014 garage-rock debut, Ganglion Reef, to 2019’s artier and more thoughtful Laughing Matter. The sense of change and development has been palpable, but even so nothing quite prepares you for the sumptuous beauty of Pale Horse Rider, his second solo album.

Recorded with a three-piece in December 2019 at a home studio in Joshua Tree and then refined and enhanced by Hanson through January and February 2020, it’s an album that offers epic sound on an intimate scale, with country-influenced songs awash with steel guitar and spotted by delicate ambient textures that maintain a sense of sonic drama and defy genre. If Wand feel like a band on an endless, exciting and unpredictable journey, Pale Horse Rider offers the completeness, consistency and confidence that comes from arrival.

Hanson had originally tried to bend the songs for Pale Horse Rider into shape with Wand, but when that didn’t work decided to use them for a solo record. Wand had formed as a trio who mainly played songs written by Hanson, but by 2017’s Plum they had developed into a more collaborative vehicle. That gave Hanson space to branch into solo albums, the first of which appeared in 2016.

The freaky, string-laden folk of The Unborn Capitalist From Limbo was a clear departure from Wand and a fine record in its own right, but one that still paid service to psych stylings as if Hanson couldn’t quite abandon the Wand universe entirely. Pale Horse Rider sees him travel a lot further down this new road and with much more conviction. You can hear that self-assurance in the arrangements, the production and the lyrics but most clearly in the vocals, Hanson’s best singing to date. While on Unborn Capitalist he seemed to affect a voice, on Pale Horse Rider there’s a natural and unselfconscious vulnerability to tracks like “Angeles”, a hymn to his hometown of LA, and the sparkling “Bird Of Paradise”. Other songs – including the powerful trinity of “Pale Horse Rider”, “Another Story From The Center Of The Earth” and “Pigs” – require a more forceful but still moderated delivery that’s typical of the control Hanson demonstrates over all aspects of the record for its duration.

A sense of place has always been important to Hanson’s music. Pale Horse Rider was recorded in the desert, surrounded by cacti, and the songs have an epic and uncluttered quality, stretched out and flecked with tiny detail like the gorgeous pedal steel of “Another Story…” that comes in like a sharp intake of breath, or the clip-clop rhythm that opens “Paper Fog”. Even the urban-set songs have this panoramic quality. On “Angeles”, Hanson wanted to celebrate LA but he wrote from the perspective of a drone, hovering over the city, studying it from afar rather than amid the bustle of the streets. Several songs were written in the ultimate desert city, Las Vegas, including the most populated track, “Vegas Knights”, a gentle lilt with strings and sly references to cards, slots, blackjack and whiskey.

“Angeles” contains the single most memorable lyric: “Your mama, she was a psychoanalyst/Until she egged my car; and then she was my nemesis”. It’s something that could have come from the pen of David Berman, Hanson’s Drag City labelmate. Berman’s spirit hovers over Pale Horse Rider – the album is literally dedicated “to David, for the good haunting”. That’s a reference to the fact Berman sought out Hanson in summer 2019 to offer support and advice, telling him to write 20 lines every day. This process would hone his lyrical instincts and give him a bank of material to draw on when he was making a record. Hanson dutifully followed that advice for Pale Horse Rider.

Hanson was on holiday when he learnt of Berman’s death and spent a couple of weeks driving round Greece listening exclusively to Silver Jews. That inevitably feeds into the sound of the record. Like Silver Jews or Matthew Houck of Phosphorescent, Hanson borrows affectionately from country music without ever putting himself dangerously in debt to genre tropes. No songs here could be described outright as country, but the sounds, rhythms, shades and themes of country & western are ever present, shadows against which Hanson has etched a more personal and distinctive vision.

Those country flavours come through most clearly with the pedal and lap steel played expertly by Tyler Nuffer, but it’s present too in Heather Lockie’s string arrangements and the backing vocals, multi-tracked to create what Hanson describes as the “Nashville choir”. There’s a countrypolitan element to the fluidity of the playing, with Hanson, Nuffer and Evan Backer tracking the album live in their isolated home-studio – and that band element is crucial to Pale Horse Rider’s success, giving it a more expansive and fuller sound than Unborn Capitalist…. Hanson then added texture after the rest of his band had departed, taking time and working alone to hone, file, edit and improve the songs using pedals, effects, found sounds and even a dog’s pig-shaped squeeze toy.

He draws on country for his lyrical themes, focusing on amoral “losers and suckers” and “rambling gambling lowlifes” and then creating non-narratives featuring drifters, riders and runners who flit through “Paper Fog”, the title track, “Limited Hangout” and “Another Story…”. From these four songs emerge fragments and shards of images featuring horses, ghosts, dust and sunsets. Hanson refuses to corral these into anything resembling a coherent story, and the elusive qualities are further enhanced by Hanson’s use of effects pedals. In the single most Wand-like moment on the record, “Another Story…” soars into a distorted, crunchy Crazy Horse desert jam, while effects are prominent in the two non-vocal tracks, “Necklace” and “Surface To Air”, which act as extended intros, setting the scene for the songs that follow. Hanson names Brian Eno as one influence on the ambient texture of the album, and “Surface To Air” and “Necklace” both have an Eno-esque quality – these are moments of sound and atmosphere rather than conventional instrumentals.

Animals are another recurring motif. From his desert location, Hanson was inspired by the Native American folklore featuring humans turning into animals as well as the way the desert wasteland can teem with life despite its inhospitable appearance. As a result, there are horses, dogs, birds of prey and “Birds Of Paradise”, while the superb closer, “Pigs”, plays with the idea of pigs as policemen and children dressing as pigs for Halloween, but with the feeling there’s a lot more happening beneath the surface as the narrator sings, “I’m high on codeine/And digging up shadows in the backyard/Setting fire to their graves”. It’s not entirely clear what’s taking place, but Hanson is confident enough to know that it doesn’t really matter as long as the music sustains and the images are arresting.

It’s that confidence that makes Pale Horse Rider such an impressive record. While Wand can be defined by their playful experimentation, veering wildly and thrillingly between genres from track to track, Hanson has imbued this LP with a thematic and musical cohesiveness that makes it the finest record of his career to date. Given his nature, it’s unlikely that he will make a record quite like this again, but its timeless qualities make it one to savour.

Laurie Anderson – Big Science

Laura Barton
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Laurie Anderson – Big Science

United States, an eight-hour orchestral and multimedia performance piece by the artist Laurie Anderson, was first performed in its entirety over two nights at Brooklyn Academy Of Music, in the February of 1983. It was an examination of the American Utopia, a collage of spoken word, technology, music and film, divided into four sections: transportation, politics, money and love, and 78 separately titled segments. There were shadow puppets, a miniature speaker she placed in her mouth, a drum solo performed on her own skull; the Statue Of Liberty and the Stars And Stripes.

The show that February was not entirely new material. For some while, Anderson had been performing segments of United States at smaller venues, including at the Nova Convention, held in New York City in 1978, where the audience had included William S Burroughs, Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg and Frank Zappa.

Anderson had also distilled and studio-recorded several sections of the work for her 1982 album Big Science, released in haste after the unexpected success of her 1981 single “O Superman”, which reached No 2 in the UK charts (having been championed by John Peel) and led to a seven-album deal with Warner Brothers.

If Anderson seemed to land at that moment out of nowhere, it’s worth remembering that in 1979 the New York Times called her “the best and most popular performance artist of her age”. That she was already the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the San Francisco Art Institute, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Above all, that the 10 songs of Big Science (including the bonus B-side “Walk The Dog”) are intricately linked to an artistic movement and an era, to the time of the Iran hostage crisis, the emergence of Reaganism, the burgeoning technological age. That Anderson was more, much more, than just a novelty hit or a quirk.

But it’s also worth considering how readily Big Science stands alone, untethered from time and place. And how, over the course of its near-40-year existence, it has been a record that has come to acquire new resonance with each generation, now standing as one of the most influential albums of the past four decades – its effect tangible in recent work by the likes of Cassandra Jenkins, St Vincent, Perfume Genius and more.

Still suffering the effects of the 9/11 attacks, listeners duly pointed to the record’s eerie prescience, to its talk of buildings on fire, the tale of a pilotless aeroplane crash-landing in its opening track, “From The Air”, and “O Superman”’s calm advisory: “Here come the planes/They’re American planes/Made in America…” Beneath Anderson’s mellifluously disembodied voice, a saxophone jabbed and juddered. Listening again, it was hard not to recall a description from the New York Times review of the United States performance, painting Anderson as “a mad empress overlooking a radioactive cityscape, her music evoking the whines of sirens and the sobs of the people”.

And it seemed right to remember in that moment that “O Superman”’s full title included the tribute “For Massenet” – a thank you to the French composer whose 1885 opera Le Cid included the aria “O Souverain”, which inspired Anderson’s song, and which served as something of a prayer to a higher power.

This latest reissue comes at a time of new crisis, when science has never seemed bigger or more urgent, and the American Utopia more tarnished. Today, in an age of near-Trump, and civil rights uprisings, and riots at the US Capitol, the lyrics to “O Superman”, that oddity of sublimely  vocodered voice and electronic tenderness, have acquired new weight: “’Cause when love is gone there’s always justice”, Anderson notes. “And when justice is gone, there’s always force”.

This year, Big Science’s emotional heart seems to lie towards the close of the record, in the sweet medley of “Let X=X” and “It Tango”. In the first, warm synths and xylophone carry Anderson’s jumbled world of hat check guys and burning buildings, sky-blue skies and Swiss Army knives, of writing a book “thick enough to stun an ox”. In the latter, there is brass, electronic huffs and handclaps, hiccoughs of Dylan lyrics, trails of associated meaning, a song that bobs and weaves and pushes forward. Together, they suit these strange days of disorientation, false starts and momentum.

Anderson’s early studies were in violin and sculpture, and often her artworks have combined sound and temporary structure – Automotive, for instance, which conducted car horns at a drive-in bandshell in Rochester, Vermont, or Duets On Ice, in which she wore ice skates to stand atop blocks of ice and perform cowboy songs on a “self-playing violin” until the blocks of ice melted.

To listen to the songs of Big Science is to feel something of this state of perpetual transience, as if it is not quite the same album you listened to 10 years ago, nor even this morning. This is testament to both its sense of free-floating disembodiment and its sheer variation of sound – the steady drip of “Walking And Falling”; the bagpiped punkish discomfort of “Sweaters”; the joyously unexpected twists and turns of “Example #22”, in which snippets of German, a telephone, a saxophone, a sultry chorus, a pitter-pattering drumline, synths and vocal distortion gather and gather, growing ever more frenzied and zig-zagged. It is also a tribute to Anderson’s manipulation of language – a phrase that might seem harmless one moment, can easily glower the next. So the lyrics of, say, “Born, Never Asked”, about a room full of people all arriving at the same time, all free, and all wondering what’s behind the curtain, quickly feels like a curdled portrait of America.

Despite the juggernauting eight minutes of “O Superman”, this is a strikingly short album, made up of mostly short songs. And yet Big Science carries the sense that what you are listening to holds great breadth and depth. As if it contains not only 9 songs, and one chart hit, but something more profound: ideas of America, thoughts on transportation, politics, money and love. As if, should you listen hard enough, you might just hear 78 separately named segments, shadow puppets, and the Stars And Stripes; all the richness and wonder of an eight-hour performance spread out over 44 minutes.

Encounters with Bob Dylan: “He was a real hotbed of songs”

Uncut
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Encounters with Bob Dylan: “He was a real hotbed of songs”

To complement the astonishing Bob Dylan covers CD that comes free with the new issue of Uncut – which is in shops now and available to buy online by clicking here – the magazine itself includes a unique celebration of Bob Dylan at 80. We’ve asked friends, collaborators and admirers – including Paul McCartney, Robbie Robertson, Jackson Browne, Roger McGuinn, Jeff Tweedy, Van Morrison, Graham Nash, Kris Kristofferson, Elton John, Peggy Seeger, Roger Daltrey and Richard Thompson – to share their most memorable Dylan encounter with us.

Spanning six decades, from 1960 to 2020, these remarkable stories shed new light on rock’s most capricious and elusive genius, whose startling transformations from folk hero to electrified renegade and beyond continue to captivate us all. To begin, then, let us return to Minnesota, Dylan’s home state, where an earnest young admirer awaits the arrival of folk royalty…

PEGGY SEEGER: Bob was always around whenever Ewan [MacColl] and I played in Minneapolis, where he was a student at the university. He’d ask us for our autographs. He was always very neat and carried a little briefcase. Two years later, when we went back to Minneapolis, the organiser said, “Remember that little fella who was always attached to you? You know that’s Bob Dylan, right?” You’d be astounded at how far away from the pop scene Ewan and I were, so when Robert Zimmerman became Bob Dylan it didn’t mean anything to us.

Not long after, he came to the UK and performed at the Singers Club [December 1962]. But nobody could hear him because we didn’t have microphones and his voice wasn’t loud enough. Some peple have since said that he was given the cold shoulder, but I don’t think that’s true. It was just that at that time we were singing pretty much folk songs or highly political songs in our club. Bob Dylan’s songs fell halfway in between. It was a new kind of song.

RAMBLIN’ JACK ELLIOTT: In late 1961, I took a bus out to New Jersey to visit Woody Guthrie in hospital. This kid was there, quite an engaging guy – kinda pudgy and funny-looking, but nice. He told me he had all my recordings. It was Bob. Back in New York City, he’d ask me all about Woody, who I’d known since 1951. I was some years older than Bob and got him into the musicians’ union. At his first paid performance at Gerde’s Folk City, they put up a cardboard sign written in ballpoint pen: “Appearing tonight: Son of Jack Elliott”. So there was some sort of parental relationship going on there, you might say. I used to play harmonica with my guitar, just like Woody did. Bob did the same thing. People used to poke me and say, “He’s imitating you, Jack.” I couldn’t see the resemblance myself, but I suppose his playing was reminiscent of my crazy, whooped-up, distorted blues-style harp.

CAROLYN HESTER: I was playing at Gerde’s Folk City in Greenwich Village one night in 1961 and introduced “Lonesome Tears” by saying, “This one’s by Buddy Holly, who taught it to me.” Before you know it, somebody in this little hat pulled his chair up to almost beside me. He said, Is that true about Buddy Holly? I just think the world of him. It’s nice to meet you, I’m Bob Dylan.”

Six months later, Bob hitchhiked to a club in Boston where I was playing and talked the manager into letting him open for me. He said afterwards, “I’ve been living with Dave Van Ronk and he’s been helping me get gigs, but they’re so few and far between. I can play guitar and harmonica. Where are you going to be next?” I said that I was about to make an album for John Hammond. I already had a guitar player, Bruce Langhorne, so I asked Bob, “Would you mind playing harmonica?” He said: “I’m there!” Back in New York, in September, John gathered the band in a borrowed apartment in the Village. We sat at a picnic table in the dining area – Dylan’s across from me, Bruce is next to me, across from John Hammond, Bill Lee is standing with his double bass. John was absolutely fascinated by Bob, who ended up playing on three songs on the album [1961’s Carolyn Hester]. I’m so proud when I think that’s where Bob started.

JOHN SEBASTIAN: I spent most of my time with Bob in the basement of Gerde’s Folk City. We ended up playing harmonica together down there. We used to entertain ourselves by trying to outdo each other with dumb songs we knew – really stupid, ’50s rock’n’roll stuff. He loved it.

Bob was a real hotbed of songs, very charismatic. He was never in one place too long, always moving on. Then when he started gaining fame at a much higher rate than me, our criss-crossing became less frequent. One night at the Gaslight, he uncorked “Chimes Of Freedom” for the first time. I stood at the back thinking, ‘What the hell happened to this guy since I last looked? Who gave him the Ten Commandments?’ It was borderline comical, because he’d always had this real kinda scufflin’ aspect to him, a real ragamuffin character. Then all of a sudden here he was with the strength of a Greek play every time he opened his mouth.

You can read many more fascinating encounters with Bob Dylan, going right up to Rough And Rowdy Ways, in the June 2021 issue of Uncut – on sale now!

Hear Low’s version of “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” from our exclusive Bob Dylan covers CD

Michael Bonner
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Hear Low’s version of “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” from our exclusive Bob Dylan covers CD

The June 2021 issue of Uncut comes with a free, 15-track CD, Dylan Revisited – a new compilation featuring exclusive covers of Bob Dylan songs by The Flaming Lips, Weyes Blood, The Weather Station, Cowboy Junkies, Richard Thompson and many others as well as a previously unreleased Dylan track.

As a taster for Dylan Revisited, we’re delighted to present Low’s cover of “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” below.

Dylan Revisited is only available, free, with the June 2021 issue of Uncut, on sale today, April 15, in UK shops and online.

Uncut presents Dylan Revisited – tracklisting

Bob Dylan – Too Late (Acoustic Version)
Richard Thompson – This Wheel’s On Fire
Courtney Marie Andrews – To Ramona
The Flaming Lips – Lay Lady Lay
The Weather Station – Precious Angel
Cowboy Junkies – I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You
Thurston Moore – Buckets Of Rain
Fatoumata Diawara – Blowin’ In The Wind
Brigid Mae Power – One More Cup Of Coffee
Low – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
Joan Shelley & Nathan Salsburg – Dark Eyes
Patterson Hood & Jay Gonzalez of Drive-By Truckers – Blind Willie McTell
Frazey Ford – The Times They Are a-Changin’
Jason Lytle – Most Of The Time
Weyes Blood – Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands

For this special issue of Uncut, the magazine is celebrating Dylan’s 80th birthday by asking friends, collaborators and admirers – including Paul McCartney, Robbie Robertson, Jackson Browne, Roger McGuinn, Jeff Tweedy, Van Morrison, Graham Nash, Kris Kristofferson, Elton John, Peggy Seeger and Roger Daltrey – to share their most memorable Dylan encounter.

Spanning six decades, from 1960 to 2020, these remarkable stories shed new light on rock’s most capricious and elusive genius, whose startling transformations from folk hero to electrified renegade and beyond continue to captivate us all.

HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World celebrated with new companion piece, The Width Of A Circle

Michael Bonner
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David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World celebrated with new companion piece, The Width Of A Circle

To mark the 50th anniversary of David Bowie‘s The Man Who Sold The World album, a new companion-piece has been unveiled.

The Width Of A Circle feature non-album singles, a BBC In Concert l session, music for a TV play and Tony Visconti remixes which complete Bowie’s recordings from 1970.

It complements the 2020 edition of The Man Who Sold The World, reissued under its original title Metrobolist, while featuring a new mix by Visconti.

The Width Of A Circle is due for release on May 28 on Parlophone as a 2CD set.

The tracklisting is:

CD 1:
THE SUNDAY SHOW INTRODUCED BY JOHN PEEL
Recorded on 5th February, 1970 and broadcast on 8th February, 1970

Amsterdam *
God Knows I’m Good *
Buzz The Fuzz
Karma Man
London Bye, Ta-Ta
An Occasional Dream
The Width Of A Circle*
Janine
Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud
Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed*
Fill Your Heart
The Prettiest Star
Cygnet Committee*
Memory Of A Free Festival*

Performed by David Bowie and The Tony Visconti Trio (a.k.a. The Hype)

CD 2:
THE LOOKING GLASS MURDERS AKA PIERROT IN TURQUOISE:
When I Live My Dream
Columbine
The Mirror
Threepenny Pierrot
When I Live My Dream (Reprise)

SINGLES

The Prettiest Star (Alternative Mix)
Single mix released on 6th March, 1970 on Mercury Records MF 1135. This is the unreleased alternative mix created for promotion in the US market.

London Bye, Ta-Ta*
Originally recorded and rejected as the follow up single to ‘Space Oddity’. This mono mix was finally released on the Sound & Vision box set in 1989.

London Bye, Ta-Ta (1970 Stereo Mix)*
This stereo mix of the above remained unreleased until the reformatted reissue of the Sound & Vision box set in 2003, replacing the mono mix.

Memory Of A Free Festival (Single Version Part 1)*
Memory Of A Free Festival (Single Version Part 2)*

The re-recorded electric version of the closing track from the David Bowie (aka Space Oddity) album released as a single on Mercury Records 6052 026 on 26th June, 1970.

Holy Holy*
This non-album single A side, backed by the album version of ‘Black Country Rock’ from The Man Who Sold The World album, was released on Mercury Records 6052 049 on 15th January, 1971.

SOUNDS OF THE 70’S: ANDY FERRIS SHOW
Recorded on 25th March, 1970 and broadcast on the 6th April, 1970

Waiting For The Man
The Width Of A Circle
The Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud*
The Supermen (Bowie At The Beeb vinyl only)*
Performed by David Bowie and The Hype

2020 MIXES
The Prettiest Star (2020 Mix)
London Bye, Ta-Ta (2020 Mix)
Memory Of A Free Festival (Single Version – 2020 Mix)
All The Madmen (Single Edit 2020 Mix)
Holy Holy (2020 Mix)

(*denotes previously released)

A 10″ single and digital EP, available only from the official David Bowie store, will include:

Side 1
1. The Prettiest Star (2020 Mix)
2. London Bye, Ta-Ta (2020 Mix)

Side 2
1. Memory Of A Free Festival (2020 Mix)
2. Holy Holy (2020 Mix)

Hear “Spanish Doors” from Liz Phair’s new album, Soberish

Michael Bonner
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Hear “Spanish Doors” from Liz Phair’s new album, Soberish

Liz Phair has shared a new track, “Spanish Doors” – you can hear it below.

The track is taken from her upcoming new album, Soberish – Phair’s first collection of original material in eleven years.

Soberish will be released on June 4, 2021 via Chrysalis Records and can be pre-ordered here.

The tracklisting for Soberish is:

Spanish Doors
The Game
Hey Lou
In There
Good Side
Sheridan Side
Ba Ba Ba
Soberish
Soul Sucker
Lonely Street
Dosage
Bad Kitty
Rain Scene

Phair has also announced a slew of tour dates with Alanis Morissette, including four UK dates:

31st July Portland, OR @ Sunlight Supply Amphitheater

3rd August Concord, CA @ Concord Pavilion

5th August Phoenix, AZ @ Ak-Chin Pavilion

6th August Las Vegas, NV @ USANA Amphitheater

12th August Austin, TX @ Germania Insurance Amphitheater

13th August Dallas, TX @ Dos Esquis Pavilion

14th August Rogers, AR @ Walmart Amp

17th August Tampa, FL @ MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheater

18th August West Palm Beach, FL @ ITHINK Financial Amphitheater

20th August Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheater

21st August Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion

22nd August Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park

25th August Virginia Beach, CA @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater

26th August Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion

28th August Hartford, CT @ XFINITY Theatre

29th August Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Amphitheater

31st August Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion

1st September Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center

3rd September Gilford, NJ @ Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion

4th September Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center

5th September Saratoga, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts

8th September Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center

10th September Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center

11th September Tinley Park, IL @ Hollywood Casino

12th September Clarkson, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre

15th September Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center

17th September Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena

18th September St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Ampitheatre

18th October Birmingham, England @ Utilita Arena

20th October London, England @ The O2 Arena

22nd October Manchester, England @ AO Arena

25th October Dubin, Ireland @ 3Arena

28th October Hamburg, Germany @ Barclaycard Arena

29th October Copenhagen, Denmark @ Royal Arena

31st October Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Ziggo Dome

3rd November Budapest, Hungary @ Papp Laszlo Budapest Sportarena

6th November Warsaw, Poland @ Expo XXI

8th November Milan, Italy @ Mediolanum Forum

10th November Barcelona, Spain @ Palau Sant Jordi

11th November Madrid, Spain @ WiZink Center

13th November Paris, France @ Acoor Arena

Hear new Teenage Fanclub track, “In Our Dreams”

Michael Bonner
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Hear new Teenage Fanclub track, “In Our Dreams”

Teenage Fanclub have released a new song from their upcoming album, Endless Arcade.

You can watch a video for the song, “In Our Dreams“, below.

The clip was filmed at Motherwell Concert Hall.

Talking about the song, Raymond McGinley says: “To rephrase an aphorism most famously used by John Lennon, existence is what happens while the human race is busy making other plans. This song is kinda about that, but like all our songs, we write them intuitively and only think about what to say about them afterwards.”

Endless Arcade is released on April 30 by PeMa.

The band’s UK, Ireland and European tour dates are:

2021
7th September 2021 – Manchester – Academy 2
8th September 2021 – London – Forum
14th September 2021 – Edinburgh – Usher Hall
15th September 2021 – Aberdeen – Music Hall
16th September 2021 – Glasgow – Barrowland

2022
8th April 2022- Sheffield – Leadmill
9th April 2022 – Leeds – Beckett’s
10th April 2022 – Nottingham – Rock City
12th April 2022 – Birmingham – Institute
13th April 2022 – Norwich – Waterfront
14th April 2022 – Bath – Komedia
16th April 2022 – Brighton – Chalk
17th April 2022 – Portsmouth – Wedgewood Rooms
20th April 2022 – Belfast – Empire Music Hall
21st April 2022 – Dublin – Academy
23rd April 2022 – Gothenburg, SE – Pustervik
24th April 2022 – Oslo, NO – Vulkan
25th April 2022 – Copenhagen, DK – Pumpehuset
27th April 2022 – Hamburg, DE – Knust
28th April 2022 – Berlin, DE – Columbia Theater
29th April 2022 – Dusseldorf, DE – Zakk

1st May 2022 – Munich, DE – Strom
2nd May 2022 – Mannheim, DE – Alte Feuerwache
4th May 2022 – Lyon, FR – Épicerie Moderne
5th May 2022 – Nantes, FR – Stereolux
6th May 2022 – Rouen, FR – Le 106
7th May 2022 – Paris, FR – La Gaîté Lyrique
8th May 2022 – Eindhoven, NL – Effenaar
9th May 2022 – Utrecht, NL – De Helling

Tickets for the ‘Endless Arcade’ tour are available here.

Watch footage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono rehearsing “Give Peace A Chance”

Michael Bonner
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Watch footage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono rehearsing “Give Peace A Chance”

The John Lennon Estate have released a clip of John Lennon and Yoko Ono rehearsed an early version of the song while at the Sheraton Oceanus Hotel in the Bahamas on May 25 – days before their Bed-In for Peace at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal on May 31.

The performance, which was captured by the Lennon’s film cameraman Nic Knowland and sound recordist Mike Lax, has never been released until now. It is the earliest known recording of the song.

This unearthed video comes in advance of the forthcoming box set, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band – The Ultimate Collection, which is due for release on April 23 via Capitol/UMC.

The track is included alongside demos for every song on the album as well as Lennon’s non-album singles.

Listen to Mick Jagger and Dave Grohl’s new track, “Eazy Sleazy”

Michael Bonner
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0
Listen to Mick Jagger and Dave Grohl’s new track, “Eazy Sleazy”

Mick Jagger unveiled a track titled “Eazy Sleazy“.

The song features Jagger on vocals and guitar in collaboration with Dave Grohl, who plays drums, guitar and bass. The song has been produced by Matt Clifford.

Says Jagger, “It’s a song that I wrote about coming out of lockdown, with some much needed optimism. Thanks to Dave Grohl for jumping on drums, bass and guitar, it was a lot of fun working with him. – hope you all enjoy Eazy Sleazy”

Adds Grohl, “It’s hard to put into words what recording this song with Sir Mick means to me. It’s beyond a dream come true. Just when I thought life couldn’t get any crazier……and it’s the song of the summer, without a doubt!!”

The song, which includes the lines “Shooting the vaccine/Bill Gates is in my bloodstream/It’s mind control”, continues Jagger’s current run of solo releases – including 2017’s “England Lost” and “Gotta Get A Grip”, which similarly addressed social and political themes.

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