The Heartbreakers’ Benmont Tench is about to release a solo album, You Should Be So Lucky, produced by the legendary Glyn Johns. In this star-studded archive piece from Uncut’s December 2011 issue (Take 175), Johns takes us through producing and engineering The Beatles, the Stones, The Who, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and more – not a bad CV, you could say… Interview: Graeme Thomson
It’s recently been announced that a rare live recording of Syd Barrett guesting on guitar with The Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band in Cambridge in July 1972 is to be released – so now seems like a perfect time to revisit the extensive tribute we published in Uncut just after Barrett’s death in July 2006 (Take 112, September 2006). As well as a fantastic piece written by David Cavanagh, we hear from Syd’s friends, collaborators and admirers, including David Bowie, David Gilmour, Mick Rock, Peter Jenner, Damon Albarn, Julian Cope and Kevin Ayers. Shine on…
The new issue of Uncut has just gone on sale. The Kinks are on the cover and inside we have exclusive interviews with Ray and Dave Davies, who tell us what it will take for them to get back together to celebrate the band’s 50th anniversary in 2014, so we’ve titled this month’s free CD after one of their early hits.
A new Wes Anderson tribute album is set for release next year.
I Saved Latin! is a two-CD collection of songs taken from director Anderson's films, including tracks by bands such as The Rolling Stones, John Lennon, David Bowie and The Velvet Underground. Artists contributing covers include Black Francis and Kristin Hersh.
All of the songs included on the album are taken from the soundtracks to Anderson’s films: The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr Fox and Bottle Rocket.
Celebrating anniversaries has, I guess, become second nature in the music industry now. A quick pass through the reviews pages in the last couple of issues of Uncut reveal anniversary reissues and special editions for Nirvana, Billy Bragg, Tears For Fears, R.E.M, Four Tet and Bob Marley.
We’re all still reeling from the shocking news of Lou Reed’s death on Sunday. Reading through the tributes that have poured in over the last few days, the one that’s resonated most with me came from John Cale, who in his wise and moving testimonial to his old sparring partner, wrote: “we have the best of our fury laid out on vinyl, for the world to catch a glimpse”. We’ll be running out own full tribute to Lou in a future issue of Uncut.
I spent a chunk of the weekend reading Bad Monkey, the new novel by Carl Hiaasen - one America's great crime writers. After a rather fallow period recently, the book feels very much like Hiaasen is back to full strength.
First of all this week, let me quickly plug our most recent Ultimate Music Guide, which is dedicated to Depeche Mode. As with previous specials in the Ultimate Music Guide series on David Bowie, the Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul Weller, The Clash, Nick Cave, The Kinks, U2, REM and The Smiths – all of which you can order online at www.uncut.co.uk/store or order digitally at www.uncut.co.uk/download – Depeche Mode – The Ultimate Music Guide features brand new reviews of all Depeche’s albums, written by a stellar team of Uncut scribes, plus a ton of vintage interviews from the archives of Melody Maker and NME, reprinted for the first time in years and covering the whole of the band’s career from their first stirrings in deepest Basildon in the early 80s.
Depeche Mode – The Ultimate Music Guide is on sale now.
