Subscribe
Home Blog Page 141

Pete Townshend looks back at The Who in 1967: “I don’t think I was angry”

Rob Hughes
-
0
Pete Townshend looks back at The Who in 1967: “I don’t think I was angry”

The new issue of Uncut – in shops now or available to buy online here, with free P&P for the UK – features a massive 12-page interview with Pete Townshend about the past, present and future of The Who. Up for discussion first of all is a major reissue of 1967’s The Who Sell Out, which brings back memories of home recording, hanging out with Bowie, Brian Jones and Small Faces, and trying to engage “true musical anarchist” Keith Moon…

Aside from various new projects, there are always Who anniversaries to deal with. How do you reconcile those two aspects of your life?
I cash in on my past! I live off it. If I tour with Roger I make a bit of money, but I don’t do it because I love it, I do it because it keeps interest in the past. It leads us to a new audience sometimes. For me, the past is something I’m very, very proud of. I’m amazed at how much I achieved in the first five or six years of The Who’s career. At the same time, I’m not amazed or surprised that I eventually ran out of steam. I think it was very difficult when Keith Moon died and when Kit Lambert, who was my friend and mentor and manager, died, which was all in the late ’70s and early ’80s. But I look back and just feel very lucky to have a catalogue that people are still interested in.

How do you view The Who Sell Out now?
The Who didn’t make that many records, when you compare us to bands like Metallica or even fucking Primal Scream, who’ve got dozens of albums. I think it was partly because I was the main writer, but we were also touring so much. I know that’s true of a lot of artists, but the way that I write is not with the band. I tend to write at home, which The Who Sell Out is a good testament to, because it’s got all the demos on and you can see how I gathered material.

Tell us a bit about the 1967 version of Pete Townshend…
I was still growing. A lot of people that talk to me about smashing guitars, for example, will say, “Oh, you must’ve been an angry young man.” Then I give them my art-school thing [the concept of auto-destructive art] and they go, “What a load of bollocks!” I don’t think I was angry. I had a lovely girlfriend [Karen Astley], good friends from art college and I had my own social circle, a very supportive bunch. So I felt OK about myself. I had an early friendship with a couple of other artists that I really liked. David Bowie was starting to emerge around that time and he was a real friend. The Stones were friends of mine. In ’67, I was still seeing a lot of Brian Jones and hanging out with him.

And the Small Faces, too?
Oh, yeah. Ronnie Lane and I used to spend huge amounts of time together. He was my best friend. He’d moved to Twickenham two months after I’d moved there, and we used to see each other twice a week if we weren’t on tour. We’d play together, record demos together. He was a really extraordinary guy. He was a bit like Neil Young, in that he had his own space that he was going to occupy, musically, and never deviated from it. I was close to the other Small Faces, too. I knew Stevie [Marriott] very well and would go down to his cottage in Essex. I used to try to fucking save him, because I thought he was going to die. He was in bad shape. But I knew Mac [Ian McLagan] and the guy that played keyboards and guitar for the band [Jimmy Winston] before Ian came in. I was close to Kenney [Jones] as well. I’d go along to their recording sessions, which were in Olympic Studios, down the road from where I was living in Twickenham. I used to love the way they worked in the studio; it was all about having a laugh. Later, when the Faces came together with Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart, hanging out with them was the best place to be on the planet. Being in The Who was fucking grim by comparison. I don’t know what it says about those years, but I don’t think Roger could’ve been having a very nice time, although he had some beautiful girlfriends. Apart from that, I think he was sort of a permanent outcast. It must have been horrible for him.

Was it difficult to keep everyone in the band interested?
I didn’t see John or Roger as problematic. I saw Keith as problematic. I thought he was really going to go off sideways. He was such a fucking huge fan of Jan & Dean and early Beach Boys. It was all he listened to – that and The Goons. So a song like “Call Me Lightning” has that feel to the backing vocals. “Silver Stingray” was another one I wrote around that time that was a bit Jan & Dean.

Did you keep Keith onside because you were worried that he might quit The Who?
I was just trying to get him fucking engaged, involved in the music of the band. Keith was a true musical anarchist. He was still living at home in Wembley with his mum and dad. When we went to pick him up in the van, the windows would be open and he’d be playing The Beach Boys… yet we were an R&B band.

You can read much more from Pete Townshend in the April 2021 issue of Uncut, in shops now or available to buy direct from us here with no delivery charge to the UK.

Reggae toaster U-Roy has died, aged 78

Sam Richards
-
0
Reggae toaster U-Roy has died, aged 78

Reggae vocalist and DJ U-Roy has died in Jamaica, aged 78. No cause of death has been disclosed.

Born Ewart Beckford in Kingston, U-Roy rose to prominence in the late 1960s with King Tubby’s Hometown Hi-Fi soundsystem. He became known as “the originator” for ‘toasting’ over dub versions of records, a style that proved influential on the development of both reggae and of hip-hop in New York.

His 1975 album Dread In A Babylon was picked up by Virgin Records, winning him a cult audience in the UK.

In later years, U-Roy worked regularly with British reggae producer Mad Professor. His final album – produced by Youth with guest appearances from Mick Jones and Ziggy Marley – is due for release later this year.

“A very sad moment of transition for the man who inspired [my label] Ariwa,” wrote Mad Professor on Twitter. “Without him, there would be no Ariwa. From I was 15 when I heard Version Galore I wanted to work with U-Roy.”

UB40’s Ali Campbell said: “A true inspiration pathing the way for many generations and creating a sound that will live forever!”

Field Music announce new album, Flat White Moon

Sam Richards
-
0
Field Music announce new album, Flat White Moon

Field Music have announced that their new album Flat White Moon will be released on April 23.

Watch a video for new single “No Pressure” below, in which you can learn how to make a song the Field Music way…

“The song is like a mirror image of ‘Under Pressure’,” says the band’s David Brewis. “But if that was about ‘people on the street’, this is mostly from the perspective of someone up on high insisting that nothing is his fault while the rest of us scratch around trying to hold things together.”

Flat White Moon is available to preorder here on yellow vinyl and CD, along with exclusive sets of coasters and T-shirt bundles, including discounted tickets for a livestream performance of Flat White Moon from the Brudenell Social Club on 29 April.

Peruse Field Music’s October 2021 tourdates below and buy tickets here.

07 Oct 2021, Aberdeen, Tunnels
08 Oct 2021, Glasgow, St Luke’s
09 Oct 2021, Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
14 Oct 2021, Birmingham, Mama Roux’s
15 Oct 2021, Bristol, The Fleece
16 Oct 2021, Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
21 Oct 2021, Brighton, Komedia
22 Oct 2021, London, Electric Ballroom
23 Oct 2021, Manchester, Gorilla

Hear José González’s first new song in six years

Sam Richards
-
0
Hear José González’s first new song in six years

José González has released his first new music since 2015’s Vestiges & Claws album.

“El Invento” also marks the first time he’s sung in Spanish, as a nod to his Argentinian heritage. Watch a video for the song below:

Speaking of the track, which is inspired by the birth of his daughter, González says: “Every now and then I try to write lyrics in Spanish – this time I succeeded! I guess talking to Laura in Spanish every day helped. I started writing ‘El Invento’ around 2017 when she was born. The song is about the questions – who we are, where we’re going and why? Whom can we thank for our existence? Historically, most traditions have invented answers to these questions. Thereof the name of the song: The Invention (god).”

Floating Points announce new album with Pharoah Sanders and The LSO

Sam Richards
-
0
Floating Points announce new album with Pharoah Sanders and The LSO

Sam Shepherd AKA Floating Points has revealed that his new album is a collaboration with legendary spiritual jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and The London Symphony Orchestra.

Promises will be released by Luaka Bop on March 26, and you can watch an album trailer below:

Pre-order Promises here.

Introducing the new issue of Uncut

Michael Bonner
-
0
Introducing the new issue of Uncut

GETTING YOUR COPY OF THIS MONTH’S UNCUT DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR DOOR IS EASY AND HASSLE FREE – CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

One of the many satisfying aspects of my job is finding new tales to bring you each month. This issue alone, we have first-time features on Fugazi, Peggy Seeger, Scritti Politti and Israel Nash, while Jackie DeShannon and Toyah pop up in two of our key franchises. These artists also embody the wide span of music we strive to bring you every issue. Their stories are all great – but I’m especially proud of Jim Wirth’s Peggy Seeger feature. On one hand, the piece satisfyingly completes a trilogy of interviews Jim’s conducted for us with the grand dames of folk, following on from Shirley Collins and Anne Briggs. Also, much like Sonny Rollins in last month’s issue, Seeger is a window onto a period of major cultural and political change. Inevitably, these kind of eyewitness reports from the frontline of history are becoming an increasingly depleted resource. It means a lot, then, to feature their voices in Uncut.

GETTING YOUR COPY OF THIS MONTH’S UNCUT DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR DOOR IS EASY AND HASSLE FREE – CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

There is, of course, plenty of new music in the issue, too – not least Allan Jones’ interview with Israel Nash on page 50. Nash has been on the fringes of Uncut for a while now – with rapturous reviews penned by my two predecessors for his Silver Season and Lifted albums – so it’s a pleasure to finally clear the decks to tell his story in full. Elsewhere in the issue, Valerie June’s excellent The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers deservedly snatches our Album Of The Month slot. “It is an unusual record,” writes Laura Barton. “One that draws together a diverse array of influences – guided meditation, Fela Kuti, Sun Ra, Memphis soul, racial oppression, pedal steel and Tony Visconti among them, and somehow weaves them into one of this year’s most exceptional offerings.” It’s early February as I write this, but I can’t help but be amazed at the high standard of music already coming out this year.

You’ll read about the best of it first, here in Uncut.

Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner

Uncut – April 2021

Tom Pinnock
-
0
Uncut – April 2021

CLICK HERE TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED DIRECT TO YOUR DOOR

The Who, New York Dolls, Fugazi, Peggy Seeger, Scritti Politti, Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, Serge Gainsbourg, Israel Nash and Valerie June all feature in the new Uncut, dated April 2021 and in UK shops from February 18 or available to buy online now. As always, the issue comes with a free CD, comprising 15 tracks of the month’s best new music.

THE WHO: In a candid new interview, Pete Townshend discusses the upcoming The Who Sell Out reissue, the possibility of a new album, Bowie, departed friends, art school, ageing, spirituality and much more. “I’m 75… shouldn’t I be slowing down?”

OUR FREE CD! THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: 15 fantastic tracks from the cream of the month’s releases, including songs by Valerie June, Arab Strap, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Bobby Lee, Hiss Golden Messenger, Peggy Seeger, Israel Nash, Nathan Salsburg and more.

This issue of Uncut is available to buy by clicking here – with FREE delivery to the UK and reduced delivery charges for the rest of the world.

Inside the issue, you’ll find:

NEW YORK DOLLS: David Johansen pays tribute to his late bandmate Sylvain Sylvain – “You’d go over to his apartment and there’d be a monkey loose…”

FUGAZI: Ian MacKaye takes us inside the band’s incredible, and loud, career, from Washington DC’s post-punk scene to backstage encounters with Ahmet Ertegun and more

PEGGY SEEGER: As the indomitable first lady of folk prepares to release what might be her last album, she shares her story

SCRITTI POLITTI: Green Gartside reflects on the full saga of his group, from anarchist squats to Top Of The Pops via Derrida and Miles Davis… “I need to start things… and I hate finishing things”

BOB DYLAN: Richard Williams reviews Dylan’s new 1970 archive release, with added George Harrison

MARVIN GAYE: A gem of a feature from Melody Maker, February 1981 – “There is a horrible conflict,” says the troubled, apocalypse-wary singer as he seeks refuge in Britain

SERGE GAINSBOURG: The making of “Melody”

ISRAEL NASH: From his ranch in remote Dripping Springs, Texas, Nash takes Allan Jones on a wild adventure through the hinterlands of cosmic Americana, psychedelic country, soul and funk

TOYAH WILLCOX: Your questions answered on Quadrophenia riots, a squat called Mayhem and living with Robert Fripp

CLICK HERE TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED DIRECT TO YOUR DOOR

In our expansive reviews section, we take a look at new records from Valerie June, Loretta Lynn, Esther Rose, Willie Nelson, Arab Strap, Four Tet, Ballaké Sissoko, Whitney K, Clark and more, and archival releases from Gang Of Four, Michael Chapman, Dusty Springfield, Stereolab, The Fall, Japan and others. We catch Americanafest UK live online; among the films, DVDs and TV programmes reviewed are Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliche, Malcolm & Marie and The Mauritanian; while in books there’s Cowboy Junkies, The Velvet Mafia and Ian Hunter.

Our front section, meanwhile, features The Flaming Lips, Nathan Salsburg, Graham Nash and Debbie Harry & Clem Burke, while, at the end of the magazine, Julien Temple reveals the records that have soundtracked his life. Also, Jackie DeShannon takes us through her finest albums.

You can pick up a copy of Uncut in the usual places, where open. But otherwise, readers all over the world can order a copy from here.

For more information on all the different ways to keep reading Uncut during lockdown, click here.

 

Watch Peter Gabriel’s new version of “Biko”

Sam Richards
-
0
Watch Peter Gabriel’s new version of “Biko”

Peter Gabriel has recorded a new version of his 1980 protest anthem “Biko” as part of Playing For Change’s Song Around The World initiative.

It features 25 musicians from seven countries, including Angélique Kidjo, bassist Meshell Ndegeocello and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Watch below:

The new version of “Biko” was first aired at December’s Peace Through Music: A Global Event For Social Justice where it was introduced by Nkosinathi Biko, son of Steve Biko – the murdered anti-apartheid activist who inspired the song.

“Although the white minority government has gone in South Africa, the racism around the world that apartheid represented has not,” Gabriel told Rolling Stone. “Racism and nationalism are sadly on the rise. In India, Myanmar and Turkey, Israel and China, racism is being deliberately exploited for political gain. On the black/white front the Black Lives Matter movement has made it very clear how far we still have to go before we can hope to say we have escaped the dark shadow of racism.

“It was wonderful and quite emotional to watch the finished song, so many beautiful performances from so many different artists. It felt a bit like the Womad festival had settled on the song.”

Gabriel also provided a brief update on the progress of his new album: “There are now many new songs and some unreleased that I have played live but now have the recorded versions. I am also wanting to try the band playing together on some of these, which will probably have to wait until we are through Covid.”

The 3rd Uncut New Music Playlist Of 2021

Sam Richards
-
0
The 3rd Uncut New Music Playlist Of 2021

As lockdown rumbles on, we remain massively grateful for the steady stream of terrific new music that helps us feel connected, uplifted, transported and all the other stuff that’s otherwise in short supply right now.

Here are some of the tunes that have been brightening our corners this week, including a stunning sighter from Ryley Walker’s new album, the cheeringly swift return of Rose City Band, Hand Habits covering Neil Young, a breezy Hammond jam c/o Dr Lonnie Smith, twilight magic from Japan’s Richard Barbieri and another instalment of gleeful avant scampering from John Dwyer and friends.

Thanks to all the labels and musicians involved! You’ll be able to read about some of them in the new issue of Uncut, of which more news tomorrow…

ROSE CITY BAND
“Lonely Places”
(Thrill Jockey)

RYLEY WALKER
“Rang Dizzy”
(Husky Pants)

HAND HABITS
“I Believe In You”
(Saddle Creek)

ESTHER ROSE
“How Many Times”
(Full Time Hobby)

WILLIAM DOYLE
“Nothing At All”
(Tough Love)

MARK McGUIRE
“Marielle”
(Self-released)

ALTIN GÜN
“Kara Toprak”
(Glitterbeat)

RICHARD BARBIERI
“Serpentine”
(Kscope)

YASMIN WILLIAMS
“Urban Driftwood ft. Amadou Kouyate”
(Spinster)

DR LONNIE SMITH
“Bright Eyes”
(Blue Note)

JOHN DWYER, TED BYRNES, GREG COATES, TOM DOLAS, BRAD CAULKINS
“Vertical Infinity”
(Castle Face)

LEON VYNEHALL
“Ecce! Ego!”
(Ninja Tune)

MURCOF
“Underwater Lament”
(The Leaf Label)

ALEX SOMERS
“Sooner”
(Krunk)

Zappa

Rob Mitchum
-
0
Zappa

There aren’t many musicians harder to squeeze into documentary film format than Frank Zappa. With 62 albums released during his lifetime, plus dozens more after his 1993 death, and a musical style that combines compositional complexity with sophomoric humour, Zappa’s career is impervious to today’s playlist and streaming doc synopses.

In his film, director Alex Winter represents this impossible task by returning again and again to the Zappa archives, shelves stacked floor to ceiling with audio and video tape in the basement of his former home. But the 129-minute film largely punts on trying to wrap its arms around the voluminous output of Zappa’s short life, creating instead a character study of the singular, irascible and obsessively creative musician.

The musician who is driven to work at all personal costs is a hoary rock-pic cliché, but if anyone earned it, it’s Zappa. A majority of the archival footage finds the lanky Rasputin figure rehearsing his band, hunched over notation paper, or conducting live concerts – often with his middle finger. The film is cut like you’re inside his restless imagination, with brief flashes of monster movies, gas masks from his youth growing up next to an Army chemical plant and graphic claymation.

The movie also lets Zappa himself – never shy in interviews – do most of the talking; it’s 20 minutes before you hear from anyone else. There’s good reason for that, as Zappa kept nearly everyone at arm’s length throughout his career. A lengthy roster of band members is introduced in concert footage, most with a very short timeline of collaboration noted beneath their name. Guitarist Steve Vai says Zappa saw his fellow musicians as “a tool for the composer”, while Zappa himself admits in one interview that he has no friends, only a family that he rarely sees between tours.

In the context of rock history, Zappa is also portrayed as a man apart. While The Mothers Of Invention had all the trappings of late-’60s hippiedom, their thorny music is laughably incongruous with the writhing dancers at the Whisky A Go Go. Zappa famously didn’t do drugs, carried a very severe political and artistic ethos at odds with the loosey-goosey vibes of the time and was more concerned with intricately scripted music and theatrical hijinks than jamming out.

The film honors this preferred identity, that of a 20th-century composer inspired by Varese and Stravinsky, who largely used the musical tools at hand to realise his vision: the electric guitar and whatever genre was currently popular, be it psych-rock, jazz fusion, prog, or new wave. One of the longest live clips included doesn’t feature Zappa at all, but the Kronos Quartet, performing a Zappa piece and comparing him to Ives, Partch and Sun Ra. At one point he flat out hires the London Symphony Orchestra to record some of his symphonic work, then throws shade on them to David Letterman.

That no-bullshit prickliness served Zappa well in his eternal battles with the record industry and his unlikely late-life roles as free-speech spokesman and musical ambassador to Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution. All these chapters are given considerable screen time – they’re easier to explain than the plot of 200 Motels or Joe’s Garage – and his media and Congressional hearing campaign against the pearl-clutching censors of the Parents Music Resource Center remains heroic even if you don’t care for his music.

And if you don’t, Zappa doesn’t make a very strong case for giving it another chance. Documentaries shouldn’t necessarily be commercials for their subjects, but the film never really sells why anyone unfamiliar with his heady concepts and absurd lyrics should reconsider; his songs are even more disorienting and impenetrable when cut up and combined with the rapid-fire visual editing. Apart from the unlikely novelty hits of “Dancin’ Fool” and “Valley Girl” – both of which Zappa dismisses, natch – there’s little to suggest why he earned progressively larger crowds and a devoted following.

But even at that remove, the film hits its emotional climax with Zappa’s final concert, conducting the Ensemble Modern in Germany. In the rehearsals leading up to the event and the performance itself, Zappa, fighting the prostate cancer that would kill him at only 52, finally appears satisfied (mostly) with the quality of the musicians reproducing the music in his head. Then he walks backstage and sits alone, while the crowd cheers on. It’s an oddly moving Mr Holland’s Opus ending for a subject even a sympathetic filmmaker has depicted as relentlessly cold and unsentimental.

“You must have been thrilled?” an interviewer asks about the 20-minute ovation at the final show.

“I was happier that they did that rather than throw things at the stage,” Zappa replies.

Zappa is available to watch now in the UK & Ireland by clicking here

The Weather Station – Ignorance

Richard Williams
-
0
The Weather Station – Ignorance

The first thought: wow, this is different. Through her first four albums as The Weather Station, the songs of Tamara Lindeman seemed like private musings, the sort of words we might find ourselves saying out loud to an absent friend, sibling, lover. The most intimate and honest thoughts, sometimes only half-formed and tentatively presented, finding a vehicle in songs that employed the conventional folk-based singer-songwriter mode as a flexible and unobstructive armature, edging into the realm of grunge-lite on her last studio recording, three years ago. She was moving through the music like a traveller through slowly changing landscapes.

Ignorance offers another kind of scenery. In collaboration with Marcus Paquin, a Montreal-based engineer and producer who worked on Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs and The National’s Trouble Will Find Me, she turns her attention to a sound more clearly defined by beats. Explaining the new direction, she offers conflicting quotes: “I realised how profound and emotional straight time could be, those eternal dance rhythms, how they affect you on a physical level,” and, “I saw how the less emotion there was in the rhythm, the more room there was for emotion in the rest of the music, the more freedom I had vocally.” As Walt Whitman said, do I contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself.

All these songs were written, for the first time, at the piano. Their basic contours seem plainer, sturdier. Along with the last echoes of finger-picked acoustic guitars will vanish, one hopes, the final comparisons to Joni Mitchell, Lindeman’s fellow Canadian. Now her cool singing takes its energy from layered keyboards, subtle electronic shadings, the occasional clarinet or saxophone, and her own arrangements for a string quartet. Richer textures, but no luxury-studio sheen or indulgence: the expanded resources are deployed with the care and rigour that characterised her previous use of humbler tools.

Her voice is so distinctive and her writing so personal that a strutting backbeat and a flying hi-hat don’t affect the essential character of the music. When she talks about vocal freedom, she may mean the confidence to push her voice further towards the front of the mix: the confidences, these fragments of second thoughts, are no longer half-buried. Her background as an actor comes through even more clearly in the nuances of phrasing and timbre – never theatrical, always conversational.

Maybe there’s an even bigger difference. Whereas the songs on the earlier albums seemed person-to-person, the new ones use the same tone to address wider concerns. The “you” in these songs might be an individual, or might even be the singer herself, but there is a sense of a more general address. The sense of disquiet is no longer exclusively private.

“Robber”, the starter, obliquely addresses the forces taking control in the name of populism: “You never believed in the robber/You thought, a robber must hate you to want to take from you/The robber don’t hate you/He had permission, permission by words, permission of thanks, permission of laws, permission of banks/White tablecloth dinners, convention centres/It was all done real carefully.” Her delivery is as cool as ever, but the robber turns out to be wielding a knife.

The song’s instrumental interludes, featuring her distorted guitar and Brodie West’s insinuating tenor saxophone over a crescendo of strings and rhythm, are typical of the understated drama she and Paquin create. Elsewhere, flickering funky guitar figures provide impetus and commentary, playing off the tense beats as she sings of blood-red sunsets and soft grass, mismatched feelings and unmade calls.

In this album, too, Lindeman spends a lot of time watching the birds as they wheel above the fields and the water, meditating on where we’re heading, doubting it all. In “Parking Lot” – a song in which she attempts to soften the edges of disco, and succeeds – she stands outside a club, obscurely disabled by the flight and song of a small bird: “Is it all right that I don’t wanna sing tonight?” There are songs of ambivalence, disaffection, of turning away, of leaving, with titles like “Loss” and “Separated”.

Emotions are never straightforward, often shrouded in a mist, or on pause in the unheard half of a dialogue, waiting to emerge. But there is still joy to be found in the sound of these songs. “Tried To Tell You” has a proud lilt as seductively lovely as anything she has written, but it’s a song with a goodbye look: “You know, you break what you treasure/And no, it cannot be measured/Would it kill you to believe in your pleasure?” The harmonies behind the chorus of “Loss” are like a hand on a cheek. With “Heart” she creates emotional intensity by unspooling the repeated fragment of melody. The album ends with the sound of a foot releasing the piano’s sustain pedal. Perfect.

Neil Young unveils 1971 live album and concert film, Young Shakespeare

Sam Richards
-
0
Neil Young unveils 1971 live album and concert film, Young Shakespeare

To mark its 50th anniversary, Neil Young has announced that the live album and concert film of his 1971 solo show at The Shakespeare Theater, Stratford, Connecticut will be released via Reprise on March 26.

Young Shakespeare was recorded for presentation on German TV but was not publicly available until now. Filmed four months after the release of After The Gold Rush, it contains the earliest known live performance footage of solo Neil Young known to exist.

According to Young himself, Young Shakespeare is “a more calm performance, without the celebratory atmosphere of Massey Hall, captured live on 16mm. Young Shakespeare is a very special event. To my fans, I say this is the best ever… one of the most pure-sounding acoustic performances we have in the Archive.”

Listen to “Tell Me Why” and watch a trailer for Young Shakespeare below:

Young Shakespeare will be released on vinyl and CD, while the concert film will be released as a standalone DVD. All three formats will be packaged together as a Deluxe Box Set Edition. Everyone who orders any physical format from this link will also receive high-res audio files of the album.

New Order announce Education Entertainment Recreation (Live At Alexandra Palace)

Sam Richards
-
0
New Order announce Education Entertainment Recreation (Live At Alexandra Palace)

New Order have announced that a live album and concert film of their November 2018 show at London’s Alexandra Palace will be released on May 7.

Education Entertainment Recreation (Live At Alexandra Palace) will be released in 2xCD audio, 3xLP and 2xCD + BluRay formats, plus as a limited edition box set featuring all formats with a book and art prints.

Check out the tracklisting and a video clip of “Sub-culture” below, and pre-order here.

1. Das Rheingold: Vorspiel (intro music)
2. Singularity
3. Regret
4. Love Vigilantes
5. Ultraviolence
6. Disorder
7. Crystal
8. Academic
9. Your Silent Face
10. Tutti Frutti
11. Sub-culture
12. Bizarre Love Triangle
13. Vanishing Point
14. Waiting for the Sirens Call
15. Plastic
16. The Perfect Kiss
17. True Faith
18. Blue Monday
19. Temptation
20. Atmosphere
21. Decades
22. Love Will Tear Us Apart

Jazz keyboardist Chick Corea has died, aged 79

Sam Richards
-
0
Jazz keyboardist Chick Corea has died, aged 79

Keyboardist Chick Corea, who featured on Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew and played a key role in the development of jazz fusion, has died aged 79.

According to a post on his official Facebook page, he passed away on Tuesday (February 9) “from a rare form of cancer which was only discovered very recently”.

Corea started out in the 1960s playing piano for the likes of Herbie Mann and Stan Getz. After three acclaimed solo albums, he joined Miles Davis’ band, his bold electric piano style on In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew and On The Corner helping to define the sound of jazz fusion.

After leaving Davis, Corea founded leading jazz fusion outfit Return To Forever and recorded a series of duet albums with vibraphonist Gary Burton. His extensive catalogue touched on everything from free jazz to funk-rock to contemporary classical, winning him 23 Grammy awards.

“God bless Chick Corea, one of the most innovative and inspired musicians I ever had the privilege to work with,” wrote Yusuf / Cat Stevens on Twitter. “His musical art and genius were an education, not just a performance. He has now truly returned to forever. May peace be his ultimate achievement.”

It is with great sadness we announce that on February 9th, Chick Corea passed away at the age of 79, from a rare form of…

Posted by Chick Corea on Thursday, February 11, 2021

Rhiannon Giddens announces new album with Francesco Turrisi

Sam Richards
-
0
Rhiannon Giddens announces new album with Francesco Turrisi

Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi have announced that their new album They’re Calling Me Home will be released by Nonesuch on April 9.

The album takes its title from a song by Alice Gerrard. “Some people just know how to tap into a tradition and an emotion so deep that it sounds like a song that has always been around,” says Giddens. “Alice Gerrard is one of those rarities. ‘Calling Me Home’ struck me forcefully and deeply the first time I heard it, and every time since. This song just wanted to be sung and so I listened.”

Watch a video for Giddens and Turrisi’s new version below:

They’re Calling Me Home features some of the first traditional songs that Giddens ever learned: “I Shall Not Be Moved”, “Black As Crow (Dearest Dear)” and “Waterbound”. The album also includes a new Giddens composition, “Avalon”, as well as an Italian lullaby, “Nenna Nenna”, that Turrisi used to sing to his infant daughter.

It was recorded at Hellfire, a small studio on a working farm outside of Dublin. The duo were joined on the record by Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu and Irish traditional musician Emer Mayock on flute, whistle, and pipes. It was engineered by Ben Rawlins and produced by Giddens and Turrisi themselves.

Peruse the tracklisting for They’re Calling Me Home below and pre-order here.

1. Calling Me Home
2. Avalon
3. Si Dolce È’l Tormento
4. I Shall Not Be Moved
5. Black as Crow
6. O Death
7. Niwel Goes to Town
8. When I Was In My Prime
9. Waterbound
10. Bully For You
11. Nenna Nenna
12. Amazing Grace

Neil Young producer Elliot Mazer has died, aged 79

Sam Richards
-
0
Neil Young producer Elliot Mazer has died, aged 79

Producer Elliot Mazer, who recorded Neil Young’s Harvest as well as records by The Band, Linda Ronstadt, Gordon Lightfoot, The Dream Syndicate and many more, has died aged 79.

Mazer suffered a fatal heart attack at his San Francisco home on Sunday (February 7) after years of battling with dementia.

“Elliot loved music,” his sister Bonnie Murray told Rolling Stone. “He loved what he did; he was a perfectionist. Everybody has so much respect for him, and he’s been suffering for a couple years.”

Mazer started out working for jazz label Prestige in the early 1960s. After moving to Nashville, he worked on recordings by the likes of Richie Havens, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Gordon Lightfoot and Linda Ronstadt, before helping to build Quadrofonic studios where Harvest was recorded with Mazer as producer.

Mazer went on to produce Young’s 1973 live album Time Fades Away, his lost 1975 album Homegrown — which was finally released last year — as well as 1983’s Everybody’s Rockin’ and 1985’s Old Ways.

He also engineered The Band’s 1978 live album The Last Waltz, and produced The Dead Kennedys and The Dream Syndicate.

“We’re very sad today to hear about the passing of our friend Elliot Mazer,” wrote The Dream Syndicate on Facebook. “We’ll never forget the sight and rocket fuel inspiration of Elliot getting right in the studio with us, dancing and conducting and going wild as he worked to cajole the best possible takes. He made us laugh and then buckle down even harder to match his enthusiasm… He was one of a kind and we’ll miss him.”

Watch a video for Liz Phair’s new single, “Hey Lou”

Sam Richards
-
0
Watch a video for Liz Phair’s new single, “Hey Lou”

As Liz Phair gears up for the release of Soberish, her first album in over a decade, she’s shared a video for latest single “Hey Lou”.

Produced by longstanding collaborator Brad Wood, the song is described as “an ode to the romance of geniuses, specifically Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson.”

Says Phair: “Have you ever wondered what love looks like for your favourite celebrity couple behind closed doors? ‘Hey Lou’ imagines a day in the life of two music legends, whose union was an inspiration for rock bands and a source of curiosity for die hard romantics.” Watch the video below:

In addition to the release of “Hey Lou”, Phair has also announced a ticketed livestreaming event taking place on March 3. She’ll be joined by Brad Wood to perform new and old tracks, as well as “discussing the intricacies and their memories of creating music together”. Tickets are on sale here.

Mary Wilson: “We were just in it to make music”

Tom Pinnock
-
0
Mary Wilson: “We were just in it to make music”

Originally published in Uncut in 2015

Marvin Gaye
What’s Going On
TAMLA, 1971

Mary Wilson: The LP cover captures him in all his beauty as a man and as a thinker, and the songs take us into the new generation that was at hand. They touch me in my very core. I could feel the pain in the words and realised I was not the only one who felt the heaviness of what was going on in the world. Marvin’s was not a common trait found in the industry – he was a philosopher trapped in his own beliefs about the world and life. It should be rated as the greatest album of the 20th Century.

Booker T & The MG’s
Green Onions
STAX, 1962

After graduating high school in Detroit, I got a job at a record shop on the east side, not far from Motown. When “Green Onions” came out, it was the only record selling. People were lining up around the block. I’d never thought about our group making money. We were just in it to make music. This opened my eyes to what was to come if we got a hit, if it was possible the ‘no hit Supremes’ could make money just doing what we did naturally.

Doris Day
Qué Será, Será (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)
COLUMBIA, 1959

I loved her movies, but fell more in love with her when she came out with this. That was the year that The Primettes [early Supremes] started singing. This has been my favourite song whenever I burst out singing, even today. I would put my younger cousins to sleep with this song. For me, it was a lullaby. I was one of the first black women to start wearing a blonde wig, before Tina Turner even, and that was because of Ms Day.

LaVern Baker
Jim Dandy
ATLANTIC, 1957

I grew up loving this lady. This was one of the first rock’n’ roll records I ever heard, I sang it every day. It was my first introduction to rock’n’roll. I got the chance to meet her when we were on tour, around ’65. We were doing a lot of shows in army bases in Asia, and someone said, “LaVern Baker is in the audience and she wants to see you.” And I’m like, “The LaVern Baker?!” She came backstage and she and I became friends.

John Coltrane
A Love Supreme
IMPULSE, 1965

The liner notes written by Mr Coltrane are a testament to God. He wrote that he had experienced a spiritual awakening, which led him to a richer, fuller, more productive life. This album is a humble offering to God. For all of us listeners, it is a beautiful musical experience of a man touched by God. When I first heard it, I fell in love with its melody and the truth of his motives to give to the world this music.

Stevie Wonder
Innervisions
TAMLA, 1973

I remember when Stevie came for his audition at Motown when he was nine, something like that. Mr Berry Gordy said, “I have some young genius coming to audition today.” We were just 16 or 17. But anyway, we never met a genius that we knew of, so we stayed and we waited. Stevie arrived, went in Studio 8, jumped on every instrument and started playing it! He taught me what a genius really was. Years later, when this LP came out, it was phenomenal. I listen to it a lot now.

Nancy Wilson
Guess Who I Saw Today
CAPITOL, 1960

This was one of the first jazz songs that I really got into. I heard it once and I memorised every single line from just hearing it that one time. And I would sing this song all the time. She and I met later and became like sisters because of the Wilson thing, and I still call her, even now she’s retired. I loved her interpretation of it. A lot of people have sung this, but no-one does it like Nancy Wilson. Her version was perfect.

The Four Tops
Four Tops Live!
TAMLA MOTOWN, 1966

People don’t think of singers as groupies of other singers, but I’m a groupie of The Four Tops. If you look at the photo on the flipside to this album, The Four Tops are onstage and you see me jumping up to join them! It shows that I am a groupie of theirs. I just love their harmonies – “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)”, “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)” and “7 Rooms Of Gloom” are my favourites of their songs.

Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy announce new Superwolves album

Sam Richards
-
0
Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy announce new Superwolves album

Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy have announced a follow-up to their 2005 collaborative album, Superwolf.

Superwolves is out digitally via Domino on April 30, with a vinyl release to follow on June 18. Watch a video for new single “Hall Of Death” below.

Matt Sweeney and Will Oldham (aka Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy) wrote “Hall Of Death” with Tuareg guitarist and producer Ahmoudou Madassane. The song features Madassane on rhythm electric guitar, Mdou Moctar on lead guitar, Mike Coltun on electric bass and Souleyman Ibrahim on drums. The video was directed by Sai Selvarajan and Jeff Bednarz.

“I love the challenge to write melodies for Will to sing,” says Matt Sweeney. “Struggle with that challenge too. Knowing that Will’s voice will elevate the melody makes me reach higher and dig deeper for the tune. Makes me want to match it with a guitar part that holds his voice like a chalice holds wine (or blood, or whatever is needed to live the best life). I also love singing harmonies and responses to this voice of his.”

Adds Will Oldham: “The chemistry comes from lives, lived separately, in which music is crucial sustenance. We listen with gratitude and awe, knowing that we belong in there. We construct our dream selves with the faith that these selves will have their chance at life. We know what we are capable of doing and just need each other’s support to bring the imagined languages to life.”

Check out the tracklisting for Superwolves below and pre-order here.

1. Make Worry For Me
2. Good To My Girls
3. God Is Waiting
4. Hall of Death
5. Shorty’s Ark
6. I Am A Youth Inclined to Ramble
7. My Popsicle
8. Watch What Happens
9. Resist the Urge
10. There Must Be a Someone
11. My Blue Suit
12. My Body is My Own
13. You Can Regret What You Have Done
14. Not Fooling

Bob Marley – Deluxe Ultimate Music Guide

Uncut
-
0
Bob Marley – Deluxe Ultimate Music Guide

Continuing his 75th birthday celebrations, we present the deluxe expanded Ultimate Music Guide to Bob Marley. Following the artist from his early collaborations with Lee Perry, to his breakthrough and global stardom, it’s the definitive guide to the legend and his music. Get up, stand up!

Buy a copy here, with free P&P to the UK

1...140141142...1,254Page 141 of 1,254

SHOP UNCUT

Advertisement

Subscribe to Uncut today and never miss an issue.

Save up to 26% when you subscribe online

Learn More