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Hear Joni Mitchell’s “Help Me” demo

Michael Bonner
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Hear Joni Mitchell’s “Help Me” demo

Joni Mitchell has shared a demo of “Help Me” from her upcoming Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975) box set.

Featuring a mix of previously unheard demos, early and alternate versions and live performances from the period covering 1972’s For The Roses, 1974’s Court And Spark, and 1975’s The Hissing Of Summer Lawns, the box set is released on October 6, 2023 by Rhino as 5xCD, Digital and 4xLP versions.

The tracklisting is:

CD ONE:
Graham Nash David Crosby Session
Wally Heider Studios, Hollywood, CA, December 13, 1971
01 “Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire”
02 “For The Roses”

For The Roses Demos
A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA, late 1971 / early 1972
03 “Banquet”
04 “Lesson In Survival”
05 “Like Veils Said Lorraine”
06 “See You Sometime”

Live At Carnegie Hall
New York City, NY, February 23, 1972
07 “This Flight Tonight”
08 “Electricity”
09 “Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire”
10 “Big Yellow Taxi”
11 “Blue”
12 “For Free”
13 “Banquet”
14 “All I Want”
15 “Intro to A Case Of You”
16 “A Case Of You”
17 “Intro To Carey”
18 “Carey”
19 “Lesson In Survival”
20 “Woodstock”
21 “Intro To You Turn Me On I’m A Radio”
22 “You Turn Me On I’m A Radio”
23 “Intro To For The Roses”
24 “For The Roses”

CD TWO:
Live At Carnegie Hall [continued]
New York City, NY, February 23, 1972
01 “Both Sides Now”
02 “My Old Man”
03 “Intro To The Circle Game”
04 “The Circle Game”

For The Roses Early Sessions
Wally Heider Studios, Hollywood, CA, April 16-21, 1972
05 “Medley: Bony Moronie/Summertime Blues/You Never Can Tell” (with James Taylor)
06 “Electricity” (with James Taylor)
07 “You Turn Me On I’m A Radio (with Neil Young & The Stray Gators)
08 “See You Sometime” (early version with bass & drums)
09 “You Turn Me On I’m A Radio” (early version with bass & drums)

Live At The Royal Festival Hall
London, England, May 5, 1972
10 “Intro To Judgement Of The Moon And Stars” (Ludwig’s Tune)
11 “Judgement Of The Moon And Stars” (Ludwig’s Tune)

For The Roses Sessions
A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA, July – August, 1972
12 “Blonde In The Bleachers” (alternate guitar mix)
13 “Let The Wind Carry Me” (piano/vocal mix)
14 “Barangrill” (guitar/vocal mix)
15 “Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire” (sax guide vocal)
16 “Sunrise Raga”
17 “Twisted” (early alternate version)

James Bay Benefit Concert
Paul Sauvé Arena, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, April 15, 1973
18 “Intro To Big Yellow Taxi”
19 “Big Yellow Taxi”

CD THREE:
Court And Spark Demos
A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA, Summer 1973
01 Piano Suite:
“Down To You”
“Court And Spark”
“Car On A Hill”
“Down To You”
02 “People’s Parties”
03 “Help Me”
04 “Just Like This Train”
05 “Raised On Robbery”
06 “Trouble Child”

Wild Tales [Graham Nash] Session
Rudy Records Studios, San Francisco, CA, August 25, 1973
07 “Raised On Robbery” (early working version)
08 “Raised On Robbery” (with Neil Young & The Santa Monica Flyers)

Court And Spark Sessions
A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA, September – October, 1973
09 “People’s Parties” (early alternate take)
10 “Trouble Child” (early alternate take)
11 “Car On A Hill” (early alternate take)
12 “Down To You” (alternate version)
13 “The Same Situation” (alt vocal/piano mix)
14 “Bonderia”

Live At Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Los Angeles, CA, March 3, 1974
15 “Introduction”
16 “This Flight Tonight” (with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express)
17 “You Turn Me On I’m A Radio” (with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express)
18 “Free Man In Paris” (with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express)
19 “The Same Situation” (with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express)
20 “Just Like This Train” (with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express)

CD FOUR:
Live At Dorothy Chandler Pavilion [cont.]
Los Angeles, CA, March 3, 1974
01 “Rainy Night House” (with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express)
02 “Woodstock” (with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express)
03 “Cactus Tree”
04 “Big Yellow Taxi”
05 “Intro To People’s Parties”
06 “People’s Parties”
07 “All I Want”
08 “A Case Of You”
09 “Intro To For The Roses”
10 “For The Roses”
11 “Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire” (with Tom Scott)
12 “Blue”
13 “For Free” (with Tom Scott)
14 “Trouble Child” (with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express)
15 “Help Me” (with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express)
16 “Car On A Hill” (with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express)

CD FIVE:
Live At New Victoria Theatre
London, England, April 22, 1974
01 “Intro To Jericho”
02 “Jericho”

Live At Wembley Stadium
London, England, September 14, 1974
03 “Woman Of Heart And Mind”

The Hissing Of Summer Lawns Demos
A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA, 1975
04 “In France They Kiss On Main Street”
05 “Edith And The Kingpin”
06 “Don’t Interrupt The Sorrow”
07 “Shades Of Scarlet Conquering”
08 “The Boho Dance”
09 “Harry’s House”
10 “Dreamland”

The Hissing Of Summer Lawns Sessions
A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA, 1975
11 “In France They Kiss On Main Street” (alternate version)
12 “The Jungle Line” (guitar/alternate vocal)
13 “Edith And The Kingpin” (alternate version)
14 “Don’t Interrupt The Sorrow” (alternate version)
15 “Shades Of Scarlet Conquering” (alternate version)
16 “The Boho Dance” (alternate version)
17 “Dreamland” (early alternate band version)

Rhiannon Giddens – You’re The One

Andrew Mueller
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Rhiannon Giddens – You’re The One

The cover of You’re The One is a pretty unmistakable statement of intent. It’s a close-up headshot of the artist, with a front cover tracklisting and bulbous, colourful typefaces. It is instantly evocative of a late 1960s or early 1970s release by Tammy Wynette, Aretha Franklin, Bobbie Gentry, Dolly Parton or Loretta Lynn – the old school of confessional singers who very much wanted the purchaser to know that they were buying a little piece of them.

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You’re The One is partially a homage to this period and this ilk of country and soul, but not entirely – it was always unlikely that an artist as versatile and restless as Rhiannon Giddens was going to be comfortable within the confines of a single genre. In the six years since her previous solo album, Freedom Highway, Giddens has been awarded a MacArthur “Genius” grant, won a Pulitzer Prize for her work on an opera about the enslaved West African theologian Omar Ibn Said, a Grammy for one of her albums with her partner, the Italian composer Francesco Turrisi, and worked on musical projects including, but not limited to, Our Native Daughters – the latter a banjo supergroup with Allison Russell, Leyla McCalla and Amythyst Kiah, whose sole album to date was a highlight of 2019. In between all of which and more, she starred in two seasons of high-gloss country soap Nashville and wrote a series of children’s books.

Giddens also wrote or co-wrote everything on You’re The One, with the exception of “Good Ol’ Cider”, a brief traditional bluegrass instrumental which closes the album with a zestful reminder of Giddens’ virtuosity on the banjo, and concludes an eventful musical journey at her musical roots. The trip begins with “Too Little, Too Late, Too Bad” – co-written, along with two other tracks, by Dirk Powell. It’s a partial introduction to what follows, in that it is a classic soul track with a classic country title, Giddens delivering this Franklin-via-Winehouse kiss-off to the faithless oaf who inspired it with the relish of a woman realising that a punchy brass section and sweetly shooping backing singers are better company anyway.

There is, indeed, about half a side here of an extremely niche concept album of soul songs with country titles. “Wrong Kind Of Right” is a starkly articulated – and beautifully sung – coming to terms with a lopsided relationship, acknowledging the reality while pledging, either stoically or foolishly, to sink still further costs (“But I wouldn’t change a thing/I’ll just dive into the fall”). “Hen In The Foxhouse” has a lyric of the kind of droll defiance patented by Loretta Lynn, set to a backing track, and delivered with a vocal more evocative of the strut and sass of Patti LaBelle. Giddens’ voice draws from the soul and country palettes with equal ease, blessed with the tremor and drama demanded by the former, the conversational warmth required for the latter – and, as she demonstrates on the exquisite “Who Are You Dreaming Of”, the combination of all of the above necessary to carry off the string-drenched Petula Clark-ish torch ballad.

In general, however, the countrier she keeps it, the better. “Yet To Be”, a stomping duet with Jason Isbell, is the tale of a Black woman and an Irish man, each running away from something and finding each other – and also a cautious celebration of the fact that this kind of happy ending is no longer as remarkable as it would have been until depressingly recently (“The here and now is better than it was back then”). “You Louisiana Man” sounds more or less exactly how you’d expect a song called “You Louisiana Man” to sound, all accordion and banjo and keening fiddle over crackling drums and humid electric piano. “If You Don’t Know How Sweet It Is”, co-written with Bhi Bhiman, throws back to the Dolly Parton/Loretta Lynn tradition of final warnings issued by women too long taken for granted (“You’re good, but I’ll find better.”) “Way Over Yonder”, co-written with Keb’ Mo’, is an exultant front-porch gospel stomper celebrating more earthly redemptions than the title suggests, specifically “a little bitty joint just out of town, got the best fried chicken for miles around”.

Giddens’ resume to date is the kind of thing which prompts awe not only at her range, but her time-management skills. It is difficult to know what she’ll do next. For the moment, however, there is ample reason to be glad she did this.

Pavement’s original drummer Gary Young has died, aged 70

Sam Richards
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Pavement’s original drummer Gary Young has died, aged 70

Pavement’s original drummer Gary Young has died, age 70. Frontman Stephen Malkmus announced the news on Twitter, writing “Gary Young passed on today. Gary’s pavement drums were ‘one take and hit record’… Nailed it so well. rip.”

Young had drummed for several bands around Stockton, California – including Fall Of Christianity and The Authorities – before Malkmus and Scott ‘Spiral Stairs’ Kannberg booked Young’s Louder Than You Think studio in 1989 to record their first EP, Slay Tracks 1933-1969.

Young suggested he play drums for the band, and subsequently appeared on all early Pavement releases, including debut album Slanted And Enchanted, which was also recorded at Louder Than You Think.

Young’s eccentric showmanship was a prominent feature of Pavement’s first tours. He was often to be seen performing handstands on-stage, or handing out fruit to the crowd.

He was replaced by Steve West following 1992’s Watery, Domestic EP, after which he released three solo albums backed by his band Hospital. Earlier this year, Young was the subject of a puppet-based documentary entitled Louder Than You Think.

“Garrit Allan Robertson Young put Pavement on the map,” wrote the band in an official statement. “He drummed very hard from a different planet… He was magnetic, he was magical, he was dangerous. We could think of him as an uncle, an older brother that none of us had… We all loved him and it was life changing to have a staggering weapon to play music with… Never fear. The Plant Man lives on every time Pavement steps on a stage and will continue to do so.”

DeYarmond Edison – Epoch

Stephen Deusner
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DeYarmond Edison – Epoch

On “Handwriting On The Wall”, an a cappella track recorded around the time he was dreaming up Bon Iver, Justin Vernon shouts his head off. He screams and yells and hollers, his performance knowingly too big and too loud for the song. But there’s a point to his histrionics: rather than attempt to convey depth of feeling, Vernon is trying to capture the unique grain of his voice when pushed to such an extreme. It fuzzes out around the edges, becoming unrecognisable as his or even as human. It’s akin to the way he would famously manipulate his voice on 2007’s For Emma, Forever Ago and especially on 2009’s “Blood Bank” EP, except on “Handwriting…” he’s doing it organically rather than digitally.

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There are many such moments on Epoch, an immense and admiring boxset that collects everything from Vernon’s early band DeYarmond Edison. In these songs can be found the DNA for Bon Iver, but also for nearly all of the roots-leaning indie rock of the past 15 years. DeYarmond Edison weren’t merely a band behind a singing/songwriting frontman, but something closer to the REM model: a democracy where each personality shone through. It’s a supergroup in reverse. In addition to Vernon, the band also included brothers Brad and Phil Cook and percussionist Joe Westerlund. Together, those three released three imaginative albums as Megafaun, including 2009’s excellent Gather Form & Fly. Separately, they’ve been busy as side players and producers, with Phil helming albums for Waxahatchee, Hiss Golden Messenger and Hurray For The Riff Raff, among others.

Listening to Epoch, it’s easy to pick out the origin points for these better-known projects, yet DeYarmond Edison was more than the sum of its players. Together, they created a separate identity, something that is not always present in their subsequent efforts. This set is no mere addendum to their later careers, but a testament to the unique spark between likeminded musicians engaging with – and in some cases reinvigorating – regional music traditions. Their story opens, appropriately, at HORDE Festival, the jam-band version of Lollapalooza, where the primary members first met in 1997. They started playing together during summer band camp, calling themselves Mount Vernon and then DeYarmond Edison (after Vernon’s middle names). In 2005, they moved from Eau Claire to North Carolina, a state where every strain of music, old and new, exists on the same continuum.

The band didn’t really take the Tri-Cities by storm, though. Instead, they were dismissed by some as too earnest, either too accessible or not accessible enough. Epoch doesn’t shy away from these criticisms: “We Can Look Up”, credited to Mount Vernon, presents a sentimental take on roots music, landing a little too close to the self-congratulatory rootsiness of Rusted Root. And on the live track “Set Me Free”, Vernon strains his voice to convey a very conventional – and not especially convincing – soulfulness. Those are the first and last songs on Epoch, which suggests that he and his bandmates were still maturing during this time, still growing into the artists they would become.

In that regard, this set has the trajectory of a thick American novel. It’s a coming-of-age story, as the members of DeYarmond Edison gradually find their footing as players and a command of their own influences. As early as 2002’s Silent Signs, they were pushing – sometimes gently, sometimes violently – at the edges of folk and blues, country and bluegrass, heartland rock and avant-garde drone, boisterous free jazz and beautifully harmonised hymns. The peak might be their five-month residency at the Bickett Gallery in Raleigh in early 2006. Mixing originals like “Phil’s Instrumental” with traditionals like “Step It Up & Go” (the unofficial state song of North Carolina), they deconstruct these styles with wit and imagination, and there’s a high-wire precariousness to the way they let the songs fall apart and then reassemble them in weird new shapes.

That residency serves as the climax of Epoch. DeYarmond Edison called it quits not long after, and Vernon returned to Wisconsin, sequestered himself in a remote cabin and recorded some exquisitely lonely songs. The other members stayed in Raleigh and made music as Megafaun for years before setting off on their own separate careers. There was little animosity between them, as evidenced by the frequency with which they’ve continued to collaborate: at least one of the Cook brothers has played on every Bon Iver album, and Epoch includes tracks from a 2014 reunion show. DeYarmond Edison continue in all but name, although this boxset serves as an exclamation point to their early years together.

Watch the videos for two brand new songs by The National

Sam Richards
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Watch the videos for two brand new songs by The National

The National have today posted videos for two brand new songs. “Space Invader” and “Alphabet City” didn’t appear on April’s First Two Pages Of Frankenstein album, but the former has been getting a live airing on the band’s current tour.

Both videos feature drawings and illustration from Bryce Dessner’s wife Pauline de Lassus AKA singer-songwriter (and regular National collaborator) Mina Tindle. Watch below:

The National tour Europe from September 21, starting with dates in Dublin, Leeds, Glasgow and London – full itinerary and ticket details here.

Hear a previously unreleased track from Brian Eno’s Top Boy OST

Sam Richards
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Hear a previously unreleased track from Brian Eno’s Top Boy OST

To coincide with the final season of Top Boy, which returns to Neflix on September 7, Brian Eno will issue his full soundtrack to the British gang drama in all formats.

Top Boy (Score From the Original Series) will be released digitally on September 1 with a CD and vinyl release following on September 29.

Below you can hear the previously unheard track “Cutting Room 1”, written by Eno for the series but never used:

“From the beginning of Top Boy, I was given the freedom to work in the way I prefer,” says Brian Eno, “making music and atmospheres and then giving it to the film makers to use as they saw fit. I try to absorb the idea of what a piece is about and from that I produce a lot of music, and say, ‘Here it is. Use it as you wish.’

“If you’d been scoring it in the conventional Hollywood way, the temptation would be to up the excitement factor, up the danger factor, all the time. But Top Boy is really about children in a pretty bad situation. So I explored the internal world of the children, not just what’s happening to them in the external world. Quite a lot of the music was deliberately naive, it was sort of simple. The melodies were simple, not really sophisticated, or grown-up.”

Pre-order or pre-save the album here.

Hear Beth Gibbons cover Joy Division and David Bowie

Michael Bonner
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Hear Beth Gibbons cover Joy Division and David Bowie

Beth Gibbons has joined with The Miraculous Love Kids to mark the 2 year anniversary of the Taliban regaining control of Afghanistan.

They have recorded “Atmosphere/Heroes”, combining Joy Division’s “Atmosphere” with David Bowie’s “Heroes”, which you can hear below.

The Miraculous Love Kids are a group of Afghan girls who sing, play guitar and record music and who, along with their families, were able to take the journey from Kabul, Afghanistan to Pakistan, Islamabad to escape the Taliban. You can read more about them by clicking here.

Credit: Lenny Cordola

The group was founded by American musician and activist Lanny Cordola.

“I was so honoured to guest on the Miraculous Love Kids’ reconstructed cover track ‘Atmosphere / Heroes’ and to be a voice next to these brave and beautiful girls of Afghanistan,” says Gibbons.

Credits for the song are:

Produced by Lanny Cordola and Sarmad Ghafoor
Engineered and mixed by Sarmad Ghafoor
Drums: Joel Taylor
Bass: William Dagsher
Guitars and Vocals: The Miraculous Love Kids
Guitar: Lanny Cordola
Lead Vocals: Beth Gibbons

Hear Sufjan Stevens’ new track, “So You Are Tired”

Michael Bonner
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Hear Sufjan Stevens’ new track, “So You Are Tired”

Sufjan Stevens has released details of his new studio album, Javelin. To accompany this announcement, he’s shared a new track, “So You Are Tired“, which you can hear below.

Javelin is released on October 6 via Asthmatic Kitty Records. Javelin marks Stevens’ first solo album of songs since 2020’s The Ascension, and his first in full singer-songwriter mode since 2015’s Carrie & Lowell.

Collaborators on the new album include adrienne maree brown, Hannah Cohen, Pauline Delassus, Megan Lui, Nedelle Torrisi and Bryce Dessner. The album closes with a cover of Neil Young‘s “There’s A World”.

The album will also be accompanied by a 48-page book of art and essays created by Stevens.

You can pre-order Javelin here.

Javelin tracklist:

Goodbye Evergreen
A Running Start
Will Anybody Ever Love Me?
Everything That Rises
Genuflecting Ghost
My Red Little Fox
So You Are Tired
Javelin (To Have And To Hold)
Shit Talk
There’s A World

Sun Ra Arkestra, The Forge, London (11/08/23)

Sam Richards
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Sun Ra Arkestra, The Forge, London (11/08/23)

For all his soothsaying abilities, even the great Sun Ra himself might be surprised to see how the Arkestra he founded in the mid-1950s continues to thrive, some 30 years after his death. The group are now colourful festival fixtures and have in recent years been revived as a recording entity under the stewardship of the remarkable Marshall Allen, who’s been with them almost since the beginning.

Allen has not made the trip this time – he is 99, after all – but it’s good to see that there are already plans in place for his succession. In his absence, the Arkestra are conducted by saxophonist Knoel Scott (purple shirt, gold cape, occasional fez), a mere 67. Not that Scott really has to do much conducting, bar the occasional nod of the head towards his fellow musicians. Perhaps it’s Sun Ra’s omnipotent presence, but they move in unspoken harmony, as if guided by a serene, invisible hand.

At certain points in their history, the Arkestra have baffled audiences with their avant-garde approach; at others, they’ve seemed like a curious throwback. But today they sound fairly contemporary, even when playing tunes that date back half a century or more. Partly this is due to a new generation of jazz acts such as Kamasi Washington and Kokoroko taking the Arkestra’s cosmic big band sound as a template, but they have also sensibly chosen to keep the rhythms swinging and the melodies prominent.

The powerfully smooth vocals of Tara Middleton, present on almost every number they play, lend the music a warm neo-soul quality. The Arkestra may be travelling the spaceways and moving to celestial rhythms, but they do so calmly and beatifically – a spinning satellite rather than a burning comet.

There is plenty of fire, however, in their individual solos. From the back of the room, it’s impossible to see the full extent of the Arkestra, clustered together on The Forge’s small stage, so it’s a thrill when Cecil Brooks (red robes, trumpet) or Dave Hotep (sparkling knitted hat, red semi-hollow guitar) pop up from behind Scott’s head to put their own singular spin on things. Newest member Chris Hemingway (purple trilby, soprano sax) is the most mesmerising to watch, twisting in ever-tightening loops, while James Stewart (blue velvet crown, tenor sax and flute) brings a regal grace to proceedings.

A lively “Love In Outer Space” concludes with a percussive flurry and the ritual banging of a gong. “The World Is Not My Home” is a raucous finale, powered by parping trombones and deep baritone saxes, with Scott and Middleton rapping the lyrics back and forth: “I know I’m a member of the angel race / My home is somewhere else in outer space”.

They may be the earthly apostles of a dense Afrofuturist philosophy, but at heart the Arkestra are also a simple good-time band, determined to keep the party going in the cantina at the end of the universe. “We are Sun Ra’s band,” says Scott at the end, acknowledging their almighty creator. “We came from outer space to entertain you, I hope we’ve done so.” They have indeed – and they’ll probably still be doing so long after every mortal in this room is nothing but space dust.

Squaring The Circle – The Story Of Hipgnosis

Peter Watts
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Squaring The Circle – The Story Of Hipgnosis

Following Mark Blake’s authorised biography of Hipgnosis comes Anton Corbijn’s documentary about the pioneering art studio, the relationship between co-founders Aubrey “Po” Powell and Storm Thorgerson and their remarkable body of work for Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, 10CC, Peter Gabriel, Wings and more. This is Corbijn’s first feature documentary and as you’d expect given director and subject matter, he provides excellent pace and a strong visual identity, especially in the arty black-and-white set-pieces that bookend the film.

In the absence of Thorgerson – who died in 2013 – Po is the film’s main narrator. Typically garrulous, Po’s recollections are bolstered by archive interviews and footage, but Corbijn’s trump card is the group of rock heavyweights who deliver thoughtful and occasionally self-effacing reflections. Corbijn coaxes a Royal Flush of contributors: all three surviving members of Floyd, Page and Plant, Peter Gabriel and Paul McCartney.

Alongside these are several Hipgnosis photographers and designers plus assorted members of the Hipgnosis/Floyd set in both Cambridge and London – some familiar from another recent documentary, Have You Got It Yet? The Story Of Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd. Elsewhere, Peter Saville explores Hipgnosis’s work from a designer’s standpoint, while Noel Gallagher – an odd choice, perhaps – explains the importance of album art from a fan and aspiring musician’s perspective. These luminaries deliver a well-drilled run through the greatest hits of Hipgnosis anecdotage, from red footballs in the Sahara Desert to flying pigs at Battersea Power Station. These fabulous yarns are told with pace, so it’s impossible to get bored even if it’s the hundredth time you have heard how Hipgnosis set a man on fire for Wish You Were Here, rebuilt a New Orleans speakeasy for In Through The Out Door or flew a valuable art deco statue halfway up the Alps for a Wings greatest hit collection. It would have been interesting to hear a little more about Hipgnosis’s style from other artists and designers – including Corbijn himself given the stark differences and occasional similarities with his own work.

During this journey, we learn much about Storm and Po’s volatile relationship, both with each other and – in the case of Storm – with their clients. One of the best sequences is a super-cut featuring every interviewee giving their impressions of Thorgerson, which basically constitutes the various ways it is possible to say: “He was the rudest man I have ever met.” This slowly gives way to an outpouring of admiration and affection, led, somewhat surprisingly by Roger Waters, who fell out bitterly with his old friend and squash partner but, it seems, never stopped loving him. Make of that what you will.

The broader theme is that Hipgnosis were as rock and roll as the bands they worked with, having coming from the same place – both literally in the case of Floyd, but also politically and artistically. Hipgnosis’s rule-breaking attitude complemented the anti-establishment ethos of their bands, particularly after they left the acid-saturated London counterculture behind and wallowed in the endless possibilities presented by 70s mega-stardom. Hipgnosis even dissolved in rancour as egos and sheer exhaustion took hold, much as you’d expect from any great band. But with a back catalogue that includes Dark Side Of The Moon and Houses Of The Holy, they left an era-defining legacy.

Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You

Sharon O'Connell
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Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You

“Change is a constant and so I am constantly changing,” sings Will Oldham on the first track of his new album. It’s an existential truism that also works as a reminder to listeners – don’t expect any repeat performances. However securely coupled to country, folk and Southern Americana his music may be, Oldham, who adopted the Bonnie “Prince” Billy alias in 1998, is a protean modernist. So, alongside the album of Merle Haggard covers and multiple recordings with Emmett Kelly’s Cairo Gang, his résumé includes two shapeshifting LPs made with fellow “wolf” Matt Sweeney and last year’s collaboration with Bill Callahan on Blind Date Party, a spirited double that includes such unlikely covers as “Deacon Blue” and Billie Eilish’s “Wish You Were Gay”. Hook-ups with Tortoise, Baby Dee, Royal Trux and Björk also figure.

Those wanderings are as much about Oldham’s practice as his expression, though clearly the two are connected. That is, the idea of community, of collaborative music-making as a way of reaching out if you are, as he once said of himself, “constantly battling a tendency towards isolation”. To that effect, for Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You, he gathered together a bunch of local Louisville musicians for an in-the-room set that took around six weeks to record and must have been a joy after the pandemic-imposed remoteness of Blind Date Party. Initial sessions were recorded with bass and drums but those takes were scrapped, with the result that the songs have a more traditional feel (it may be worth remembering that drums are rare in Appalachian music). A rhythm section most likely seemed over-emphatic, given the songs’ fine bones and at times stately bearing. At their core is the musical heritage of Oldham’s home state and by extension, the Child ballads, but those are inspirations, not stone tablets; there’s communion with the usual crew of Cohen, Cash, Prine and David Berman, plus some pleasingly out-of-context flourishes.

It’s an intimate set suffused with love, understanding and skittish dark humour, that addresses on both universal and personal levels what it means to be alive in the 21st century. Though mortality and Earth’s devastation cast an apocalyptic shadow, Oldham is never morbid – his singular lyricism lightens the philosophical load and sweet melodies abound. “Like It Or Not” is the dulcet, Sunday school-ish opener, a reflection on purpose, the constancy of change and the levelling effect of our shared fate. Simple guitar chords and Oldham’s lilting, close-mic’d voice are matched with minimal mandolin and a soft backing vocal: “Everyone dies in the end so there’s nothing to hide,” he sings almost cheerfully, in an echo of the album’s title. “Like it or not, I’m singing destruction!/ Like it or not, I’m happy today!/Rise up and remember your golden instruction!/The end of the world isn’t going away.” It’s followed by “Behold! Be Held!”, which begins with what reads like a memo to his music-industry masters (“I want to make music all the time, not just in fits and skirmishes”) but unfolds as a(nother) relaxed reminder of “that gruelling death bell”, adding keyboards and some raffish saxophone. “Bananas” is a rapturous declaration of love that nods to Neil Young’s “Comes A Time” and features the operatically pure pipes of Dane Waters as well as a perfectly placed “shit”.

There’s a change of mood for “Blood Of The Wine”, which shifts between a canter and a slow waltz and features powerfully underplayed mandolin and strings. More dramatic is “Trees Of Hell”, a vivid and foreboding, gothic-country portrait of ecological destruction, collective culpability and nature’s revenge. Lightness returns with “Rise And Rule (She Was Born In Honolulu)”, a finger-picked number in the English traditional style that ruminates on ancestry and keeping the names of those we’ve lost alive, and closer “Good Morning, Popocatépetl”. Here, over gently lapping guitar and murmurous keys, Oldham harmonises with himself, vowing revenge for any wrong done to his friends. Taking his lyrics at face value is, of course, as unwise now as it ever was.

As the title suggests, Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You is an open, compassionate record with a fierce spirit, though it’s nothing like a guts spiller – that’s never been Oldham’s way. But it does have a purpose that goes beyond self-expression, which is maybe why it lands with such resounding sincerity and winning charm. As he writes on his Bandcamp page, “its songs and music are by and for people together. For listening together. Before it gets too late.”

Keith Richards on Tom Waits: “He’s a great bunch of guys!”

Michael Bonner
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Keith Richards on Tom Waits: “He’s a great bunch of guys!”

Keith Richards talks exclusively about his long friendship with Tom Waits in the new issue of Uncut – on sale now.

A happy accident waiting to happen, the relationship between Tom Waits and Keith Richards began when Richards accepted a “flippant” suggestion by Waits to his record company that they invite Keith to play on Rain Dogs in 1985. “I said, ‘What about Keith Richards?’” Waits later recalled. “I was just joking, but somebody went ahead and called him, and he said, ‘Yeah’. I said, ‘Now we’re really in trouble…’” Richards came in to the studio in New York, drank some Cutty Sark, and played on “Blind Love”, “Union Square” and “Big Black Mariah”. Waits standard line was that the Stones guitarist was working off a cash debt.

Since then, the pair have regularly collaborated and convened, notably on Waits’ Bone Machine, featuring their co-write “That Feel”, and Bad As Me. Their musical bond stems from a genuine and warm personal connection. Richards calls Waits “a real rhythm man”, while Waits sums up Richards in typically idiosyncratic style, likening him to “a frying pan made from one piece of metal. He can heat it up really high and it won’t crack, it just changes colour.”

In this extract, Richards recalls Waits’ unconventional studio techniques, how they write together and how Waits almost made a rare appearance at Willie Nelson‘s birthday concert earlier this year…

“[For Bone Machine], we somehow ended up in Tom’s studio/playroom in California, somewhere near Monterey. We played around and fooled around. We sort of fell into each other and started to strum along. I was impressed by the amount of weirdo instruments he had hanging around. It’s an amazing collection. I thought, ‘Hello!’ He had a Mellotron, like an early version of the synthesiser, which was loaded entirely with train noises. He had so many drums and a lot of percussion. I realised listening to his stuff that he had a lot of rhythms going on in his head and in his body, and when I saw the drums that made sense. I understood more about his music. He’s an African rhythm man, basically. It is all about the groove, and the groove is another word for the Grail. People search for it everywhere, and when you find it you hang on to it.

“How do you write with Tom? You actually sit back and say, ‘That’s good, Tom! And that’s good, too!’ Then you throw in an idea here and there. It’s fun to watch him work, and he’s very relaxed about it. The sessions I do with him, it’ s just him and me. He has a unique angle on just about everything, and it’s refreshing to hang around with him and join in. We kick around every subject under the sun and then we get in front of the microphone and do something.

“Tom’s music is so American. Probably more folk-American than anything, but somehow modern. He’s a weird mixture of stuff; a great bunch of guys!

“I spoke to him a couple of months ago. There was a point where he was going to be at the Willie Nelson birthday party concert [at Hollywood Bowl, in April]. I was looking forward to that, but it didn’t happen. We’re in touch. I have letters from him in his beautiful writing hanging on the wall…”

Read the full interview – plus our deep dive into the making of Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs and Franks Wild Years – in the new issue of Uncut

Wilco, Pretenders, Sparklehorse, Jaimie Branch, PG Six and more: welcome to this month’s free Uncut CD

Michael Bonner
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Wilco, Pretenders, Sparklehorse, Jaimie Branch, PG Six and more: welcome to this month’s free Uncut CD

HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

All copies of the October issue of Uncut magazine come with a free, 12-track CD – Now Playing – that showcases the wealth of great new music on offer this month, from returning heroes such as Wilco, the Handsome Family and the Pretenders to PG Six, Jaimie Branch and Luluc. The full albums are all covered in our reviews section and many of them include Q&As with the artists shedding light on the recording, their creative process and, in one case, staying in the house where Neil Young wrote After The Gold Rush. There’s rock, weird folk, country, jazz, electronics and more – best to just stick the CD on and immerse yourself.

Here, then, is your guide to Now Playing…

1 The Handsome Family
Two Black Shoes
Brett and Rennie Sparks’ new record, Hollow, their 11th LP and first since 2016’s Unseen, is another excellent staging post on the journey of this most reliably gothic duo. The tempo is slow, the guitars glitter, strange things are happening in the background and the tale is dark – business as usual, then, in the best way.

2 Pretenders
A Love
Chrissie Hynde is on fine form on Relentless, perhaps the best Pretenders album for a few decades or so. She’s taking stock, looking back at the past and regrets and mistakes, but still with a fire raging inside. It’s no surprise that she’s worked with Johnny Marr – most recently at this year’s Glastonbury – as “A Love” glimmers with a Smiths-y college-rock jangle. The lead review is on page 22.

3 Wilco
Evicted
Cousin is Wilco’s ‘art-pop’ album side-lined by last year’s rootsier Cruel Country, but it’s well worth the wait. Cate Le Bon produces and brings a dry, crisp experimentalism to these 10 songs, at once classic and adventurous, as shown by “Evicted”’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot chug. The album is reviewed on page 24.

4 Luluc
The Sky
Brooklyn-based Australians Zoe Randell and Steve Hassett have crafted another fantastic record of dreamy, restrained folk-pop with Diamonds – comparisons with Low are inevitable, but they do neither outfit a disservice. Check out “The Sky”’s beguiling drift while you read our chat with the band on page 31.

5 Devendra Banhart
Twin
The second track on this month’s CD produced by Cate Le Bon, “Twin” is a welcome introduction to Banhart’s new album, Flying Wig, his first in four years. Carrying on his move away from mystical folk begun with 2016’s Ape In Pink Marble, the Banhart of today croons over synth drones, drum machines and chorused electric guitars. It suits him. Check out our conversation with DB on page 25.

6 Teenage Fanclub
Tired Of Being Alone
Two years on from Endless Arcade – their shortest time away since the ’90s – the Fannies are back with the 10-track Nothing Lasts Forever. We know what to expect by now, and the group don’t deviate from their signature style, but that doesn’t make their work any less potent, as this Raymond McGinley track shows.

7 Slowdive
Skin In The Game
Everything Is Alive is our Album Of The Month, a triumphant return for this group who were forgotten and derided in the ’90s as grunge and Britpop conquered the land. Today they’re big around the world, beloved by a new generation, and they’re facing the future with electronic, Cure-esque gems such as this. Check out the four-page review and Q&A on page 18.

8 PG Six
I Don’t Want To Be Free
Patrick Gubler has been making music as PG Six for a while now, but Murmurs & Whispers is his first to concentrate so deeply on the Celtic harp. There’s a folk influence, of course, but as is Gubler’s métier, there’s much more going on here. When “I Don’t Want To Be Free” blossoms into jazz saxophone and field recordings of the ocean, that’s undeniable.

9 Jaimie Branch
Bolinko Bass
A modern jazz master, Branch passed away last year aged just 39. Now her final album, Fly Or Die Fly Or Die Fly Or Die ((World War)), is coming out, and it’s a fitting farewell. More traditional, acoustic and groove-based than the work of some of her contemporaries, it also shines a light on Branch’s rapidly developing voice and compositions. Read more on page 30.

10 Sparklehorse
Listening To The Higsons
This cover of Robyn Hitchcock’s 1981 track appears on Bird Machine, a posthumous record which Mark Linkous was working on when he died in 2010. Thanks to his copious notes and tape archive, his brother and sister-in-law have been able to complete the set, and it’s our Archive Album Of The Month on page 38.

11 Buddy & Julie Miller
Don’t Make Her Cry
A co-write with a certain Bob Dylan, this is a highlight of the Millers’ latest album, In The Throes, a stately, deep slice of country-folk. “What’s done in the dark comes to the light,” sings Buddy Miller, “so stay out of the shadows and do what’s right.” It’s our Americana Album Of The Month on page 28.

12 Allison Russell
Stay Right Here
Russell is known for her folky Americana, as on 2021 debut Outside Child, but she has broad horizons and a healthy disregard for genre. For this track from her new album The Returner – the title a reference to Joni Mitchell’s second act – she pours her defiance and passion into a soulful disco groove punctuated by flashes of strings. It’s reviewed on page 27.

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Robbie Robertson remembered: “I don’t think about unfinished business”

Michael Bonner
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Robbie Robertson remembered: “I don’t think about unfinished business”

As a tribute to Robbie Robinson, who has died aged 80, Uncut revisits our final interview with him, from our October 2019 issue.

In 2019, Nick Hasted interviewed Robbie Robertson for Uncut about Sinematic – his first solo album in eight years. Also up for discussion were his upcoming soundtrack for his old friend Martin Scorsese’s new film The Irishman and two Band projects: a reissue of their second album and the documentary, Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson And The Band. Now read on…

Robertson is in the process of addressing the weird logistics in his current workload. There is a new solo album, Sinematic – his first since 2011’s How To Become Clairvoyant – as well as a score for The Irishman, the forthcoming gangster film directed by Robertson’s old housemate, Martin Scorsese. But despite such exciting current projects, the past is never too far away. The Band story continues to beguile. First, a new documentary, Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson And The Band – based on Robertson’s 2016 memoir, Testimony – opens the Toronto International Film Festival on September 5. A 50th anniversary boxset of The Band’s second album arrives a few months later, in November. Fortuitously, Robertson is not only at ease managing these multiple career strands simultaneously – he is, it transpires, equally comfortable sharing candid memories from his earlier life. A wide-ranging conversation with Robertson will cover his role in the collapse of The Band – “I stopped herding cats” – and heavy times living on Mulholland Drive with Scorsese – “We crossed the line.” But Robertson will also acknowledge the magic at work in the music he has been making for more than 50 years – and the deep friendships forged along the way. “I love Dylan like a brother,” he acknowledges. Indeed, Robertson reveals that a new collaboration with Dylan may soon be added to the slate. There are other long-standing
conspirators, too – Van Morrison, who duets with Robertson on Sinematic’s opening track, “I Hear You Paint Houses”, is “hilarious – he cracks me up”. Meanwhile, Robertson attests that his creative relationship with Scorsese is “right up there” with Dylan and The Band.
Talking of Scorsese, Testimony concluded with The Last Waltz – the director’s film of The Band’s final concert at Winterland Ballroom in November 1976. Robertson reveals that a follow-up volume is imminent. “This next book is heading into the fog,” he promises. “I go into great detail on the destruction and magic that went together during that [late-’70s] period. There was a long time when I didn’t want to talk about it. I could only see gloom. I didn’t understand why people would be the way they were.”

“When The Band separated in 1976, it was supposed to be a time for healing,” he continues. “For each of us to look in the mirror and say, ‘I’ve got to have respect for this extraordinary experience and this wonderful music that we’ve been able to make together.’ We created something that changed the course of popular music. Some of what happened
afterwards was just part of a natural evolution. Individuals have different dreams, and you separate off to follow them. Now when I can look back and write about it, it’s so much easier to acknowledge the necessities of what happened.”
Although his bittersweet glory days with The Band are taking up much of his time in 2019, Robertson seems not to mind. “It was something that was so strong. I’m completely satisfied with it,” he says of his old group. “And with the documentary Once Were Brothers, you know from the title that it’s not just to do with The Band. It’s a lot to do with Dylan. It’s joyous and moving. It is from the heart. So I’m feeling very good about that. I’m feeling very good about Sinematic. I’m feeling very good about The Irishman, and the 50th anniversary of The Band album. So, no, I don’t think about unfinished business.”

UNCUT: Sinematic covers a lot of deep ground. Did working on Testimony and Once Were Brothers put you in reflective mood?
ROBBIE ROBERTSON: I think there was a sense of freedom after Testimony. It made me feel more comfortable about reliving some stuff. Also working on The Irishman and then Once Were Brothers came together in a nice gumbo. For this record, I felt a freedom to let everything come together. Do you try to keep all these projects separate, or does one
naturally inform another? I’m drawn to it. A prime example of these things bleeding into one another is “I Hear You Paint Houses” – which is the name of the book The Irishman is based on, I Heard You Paint Houses. It’s a strange expression. It means, “I hear you kill people” – to paint houses is the splattering of blood. Van Morrison was in Los Angeles, and we usually get together when he’s in town; he’s a dear old friend. I went back to my studio and played the song for him. The next thing I knew, he had a microphone in front
of him, I showed him the words. He just nodded and said, “All right. Let’s go!” So we sang a duet. It was a fun, instant, crazy collaboration. You get them sometimes, but not often enough.

Has Van changed much since you first met him in the ’60s?
I don’t know… I do know that he pulls no punches when talking about something or somebody. He’s very deliberate and honest in his opinions. But to me it’s wonderful, his nature. I’ve just known it so long and I embrace it. It’s just edgy. I find Van hilarious – he cracks me up!

On “Let Love Reign”, you sing about “this beautiful broken world” – though the overriding message seems to be one of peace and optimism. Is that a throwback to the spirit of the ’60s?
It was inspired by John Lennon’s call for peace. People say that dream completely died and fell apart inside. But, no, I don’t believe it did. It’s the basis for the best of things. That generation, who came of age during the late ’60s and early ’70s, stood up and helped stop a war. Love won. Peace won. We hope that that will continue. I was driving in LA one day and “All You Need Is Love” came on the radio. I know it’s a naïve thing, but I thought, ‘You know what? That’s going to live forever.’ This other shit is going to be here and gone.

“Dead End Kid” seems to address a fundamental part of your life with the line: “I remember where I started from.” Is that the case?
“Dead End Kid” was an expression that was around when I was growing up for someone who gets in trouble all the time. Part of my family came from the Indian Six Nations Reserve. It was really tough to get anywhere if that was your background. On the other side, there were mostly Jewish gangsters. Even when I joined Ronnie Hawkins when I was 16, I clearly remember him telling me, “You’d be doing time if I hadn’t hired you.” I’d laugh and go, “Oh, no, no.” But there was definitely a good chance that I could have just gone down the wrong street one night.

With that background, did you feel like an outsider?
I don’t know. Because when I stumbled into music, that happened on the Indian reserve. All my relatives, cousins and uncles and aunts seemed to play instruments. But I was drawn to the guitar because of cowboy movies. When my parents got me my first guitar, it had a picture of a cowboy on it. It was the Indians on the reserve who taught me how to play.

So the Six Nations Reserve was critical in developing your early musical life?
First of all, when I was very young, and we would go from the city, Toronto, to visit the relatives, I thought, ‘These people, they’ve got it made. They know how to live.’ Because they had this connection with the wilderness and the earth. They know how to grow things and make a weapon in a minute, and they all carry knives. Everybody played music, and knew how to run into the fields and pick wild strawberries. There was a beauty to that, and to the waterways that they swam. So I grew up thinking they had it made. It wasn’t ’til years later when I heard people say, “Oh, it’s really too sad about the Indians.” I slept with all of my cousins in their rooms. I was an only child, and they’re all together, and I’m thinking, ‘This is fantastic. You don’t have to feel like you’re alone.’ There was that part of it. There was the music it afforded me. There was a sense of my own heritage in my mum, which I carry with me.

“Beautiful Madness” touches on your time living with Scorsese in the late ’70s. The lyric refers to Nic Ray’s film Bigger Than Life, about a man whose life spins out of control after he becomes addicted to a drug. Was James Mason’s character in that film someone you identified with back then?
[Laughs] Perhaps! I was watching it with an eye like, ‘Jesus, that guy’s crazy!’ At the same time, you’re right – it probably was me saying, “I know how he feels!” In the ’60s and ’70s, there was a definite madness in the air. At that time, Martin Scorsese and I would watch movies all the time. Bigger Than Life was one of them. I thought, ‘I like riding close to the edge. But I don’t want to go over.’

During that period, you and Scorsese were bachelor coke fiends living in an unfurnished apartment with blackedout windows. The song sees this period as a critical stage in your relationship…
Yep, that’s very true. Earlier on, I might have thought, ‘Holy shit, man – we’re lucky we’re still alive.’ I could have dwelt on that. But now, when Marty and I talk about this, it’s with a certain amount of joy. We know it got dark. But most of the time when we revisit this in our memories, it’s with a bit of a smirk. ‘That was dangerous. But, boy… that was fun!’

How does your 40-year creative partnership with Scorsese compare with your other significant relationships – with Dylan and The Band?
It’s right up there. Sometimes Marty will say, “I have no idea of what music we should have with this.” Then with another movie, he’ll go, “I have one idea that I think might work.” It circles us with possibilities, the circle gets narrower, and then I’ll experiment and I’ll send him some ideas. Sometimes, I’ll send him music that already exists, that goes completely against the grain of the movie, and it works like magic. Sometimes, I’ll write a new piece. Marty says, “So long as it doesn’t sound like movie music.” That’s rule No 1. I sent him the last piece of music for the film last Friday. There was a scene that reminded us of some French gangster movies. So I worked with an amazing harmonica player from France, Frédéric Yonnet. The music’s a particular thing that’s hard to describe, even when you see and hear it. People around Marty said, “God, this music’s incredible, but I don’t know what it is.” And I’m like, “Good.”

You’ve also got the 50th anniversary of The Band album coming up. You recorded that in Hollywood. How much did the setting – the heat and sunlight – impact on the sessions?
We went there because the weather in Woodstock was getting in the way of the work. It was a survival instinct – we’ve gotta get out of this ice storm! So the decision to go to Hollywood was born of convenience. Once there, we created a world in Sammy Davis Jr’s poolhouse – it was like going into another dimension. The music we made was almost the opposite of our surroundings. I don’t know how much impact Hollywood had – although some of these songs were like little movies in themselves. I’d always had an addiction to movies.

Listening to The Band now, the balance between the five of you seems so effortless. Did the writing and recording flow just as naturally?
It wasn’t a breeze at all. We had to work hard to get to a place where we were satisfied with the stories we were telling, and staying true to the music that accompanied them. We tried things that didn’t work at all, and had to stop. But the process was that we would head into the pool-house around noon, and I would play the guys a new song on the guitar or piano. With the guys, we were always looking for a clue, a starting place. Nobody wanted a jam session that turned into a song. I wanted it to feel like it was growing out of the ground. So I would teach the guys the song. Everybody would learn the chord progression and we’d mess around with the tempo, trying and suggesting different things to one another. Then we would have dinner up at the house, where my mum did some of the cooking. Later, we’d come back down and start recording. We’d usually get the song to a place that we knew it. Then, after sleeping on it, we’d nail it. It was a process of learning, digesting, imagining – a ritual that led to this kind of musicality.

Is that album still a career highpoint for you?
You know, everything changed… Some of the guys in The Band started experimenting with heroin. Heroin separates you. Without that particular togetherness in this group, it wasn’t possible to stay in the same huddle. By the time we made Stage Fright, it had a few of the best things I wrote. But it was extremely difficult after that. So things go. When I look back on it, it was part of the journey. We were on a path, and we found something extraordinary, as much as any group in history. I’ve put together this 50th-anniversary package to commemorate The Band. It is a toast.

For years, you were cast in the McCartney role: your bandmates resented you for it and then blamed you for splitting the group. Those accusations must have hurt you.
That I split the band up? That wasn’t the plan. There was a specific occasion when we were going to move forward. I showed up, but none of the other guys showed up. OK. I get the picture. At that point, I stopped trying to force something to happen. The idea was that everyone was going to do their own records, then we were all going to come back together. Hopefully, everyone was going to get a little healthier too. You could see that The Band was a wounded animal, it needed to heal. During that period, it wasn’t happening. I have to be creative, and work, so I went on my mission, doing what came naturally to me. We were in touch, all of the guys, but there was a distance.
Rick [Danko, bassist/singer] called me, “Listen, all of the guys wanna go and play gigs and make some money.” But I knew nothing had changed. I said, “I can’t do it. I’m afraid something bad is going to happen out on the road.” Sure enough, Richard [Manuel, singer/pianist] died. Then some years later, Rick died

There’s a line in the song “Once Were Brothers”: “We already had it out between the North and the South/ When we heard all the lies coming out of your mouth.” Does that refer to the accusations Levon Helm made about you in his memoir, This Wheel’s On Fire?
Levon’s story wasn’t going the way he thought it was going to go. He used to blame Albert Grossman, accountants and lawyers. It was always somebody else’s fault when something happened he didn’t like. Finally they were all gone and it was me. I wasn’t surprised. To say it wasn’t hurtful wouldn’t be true. I knew some of the things he was saying were made up and ridiculous. I never responded. At that point, I felt like the brotherhood didn’t have hope. The guys were dying; it was just heartbreaking to me. When Levon died – and I got there before he died – it tore me in half. He was the closest thing I ever had in my life to a brother. I didn’t need anything from him. I had what I needed years earlier. I was never angry with Levon. So like you were saying, part of that is in the “Once Were Brothers” track. It was just a way of me expressing how much I miss the brotherhood.

Do you think much about Rich and Richard?
Yeah. I think about the guys all the time. We spent a lot of time together, and made a lot of magic. Garth [Hudson, keyboardist] has his health problems, and so does his wife. I’m afraid about Garth. I just want him to be OK. I love him. The story of The Band is incredibly uplifting on some levels, incredibly sad on others. But that’s the way The Band’s music is, too.

When did you last see Garth?
The last time Garth and I met was when The Band were inducted onto the Walk of Fame in Toronto. I’d like to see him again, but he’s a bit of a recluse. He’s not just hanging out. I’ve got to plan a good occasion to go visit him. I’ve spoken to him on the phone since. We don’t talk about stuff from long ago. We talk about now. He had moved into a new place, still up in the Woodstock area. I was asking him about the new pad and he was telling me about some new equipment things he was working on, and just how he was doing. But Garth’s getting up there in years. We all are, and I hope he’s going to be OK.

Dylan was there at the start of The Band – and the end, too. When were you last in touch with him?
Last week! Bob saw the documentary, and he called me and told me that he loved it. And then we talked about some new songwriting that we might work on together. I was leaving the day after he called. So I said, “I’ll give you a shout as soon as I get back, and we’ll take it from there.” We’ll see. You couldn’t make up the story of the experience that I’ve had with Bob over the years. It is priceless. I hope we get to cause more trouble together.

How do you balance maintaining The Band’s legacy and the need to move forward with new work?
I don’t take up a lot of time on yesterday. I’m in the moment, the challenges of the work I want to do keep me occupied, and there are so many discoveries going on. To accept the challenge that’s on next really keeps the blood moving. I’m just not bogged down in the past. •

Jamie Reid dies aged 76

Michael Bonner
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Jamie Reid dies aged 76

The artist Jamie Reid has died aged 76.

According to The Guardian, his gallerist John Marchant confirmed his death alongside Reid’s family. In a statement he was described as an “artist, iconoclast, anarchist, punk, hippie, rebel and romantic. Jamie leaves behind a beloved daughter Rowan, a granddaughter Rose, and an enormous legacy.”

Arguably best known for his artwork for the Sex Pistols, Reid’s work helped define the punk aesthetic.

Paying tribute to Reid online, historian and author Jon Savage, who worked alongside Reid on the 1987 book, Jamie Reid & Jon Savage – Up They Rise: The Incomplete Works Of Jamie Reid, said: “RIP Jamie Reid, best known as the designer for the classic Sex Pistols era 1976-79.

“His ability to render complex ideas in eye catching visuals was their perfect accompaniment. He and I did a book together in 1987: it’s a good one.”

More recently, Reid collaborated with Shepard Fairey.

Ultimate Music Guide – Steely Dan

John Robinson
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Ultimate Music Guide – Steely Dan

Even for this wryest of bands, it must be a moment of delightful irony for Steely Dan – that they, the most notorious of all studio perfectionists, should return to the public imagination by virtue of a song which doesn’t appear on any of their albums, and which exists only as a cassette rough mix.

That, however, is the state of play in 2023. Six years after Walter Becker’s death, the Lazarene reappearance of “The Second Arrangement” – a track accidentally erased during the overdub sessions for their Gaucho album from 1980 – has served to remind, or perhaps even notify, a wider audience of Steely Dan’s enduring greatness.

“The Second Arrangement” is just one of the topics you’ll be able to read about in this expanded and updated deluxe edition of our Ultimate Music Guide to Steely Dan. In these pages there’s a dive into this and 19 other Dan deep cuts, a new interview with producer/engineer Elliot Scheiner, and insights into the band’s genius from contemporaries including the late David Crosby, who gave one of his last interviews to us about Steely Dan – this having been one of his favourite subjects.

With what you might observe as a customary smoothness, ‘Dan momentum has been steadily mounting. While “The Second Arrangement” has supplied a story, it has only fleshed out the feelings of intrigue, entertainment and arched goodwill building on Twitter (inside we catch up with Alex, curator of Twitter’s bodacious aggregation @baddantakes) and elsewhere online. It’s a story with the depth of a limited event streaming series: with many players, some deep intrigue, but only two chief architects.

Their full story is in to be found in the following pages. We have selected the best Steely Dan interviews from the archives of NME, Melody Maker and Uncut. Alongside them, we present the kind of coverage that these perfectionists deserve: our in-depth reviews of every album by Steely Dan, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker.

Notoriously, the band quit the stage in 1974, in order to concentrate more fully on their recording process. Over the past decade, though, that decision has been walked back somewhat, with Steely Dan – both before Walter Becker’s death and since – stepping back out in front of their public. As Peter Watts discovers in an exclusive new feature, catching up with the band as they prepare for their extensive upcoming tour with former sparring partners The Eagles, things have changed. They have embraced residencies – notably at the Beacon Theatre in New York – full album shows, even rarities nights (playing “The Second Arrangement”, of course…). They may even have come to relax a little.

“I’ve read since about how particular Donald and Walter were and how much they hated playing live because you couldn’t get the same standard of performance,” one player tells us. “Over time, it seems they started to accept the imperfections and enjoy the fact they were playing in front of audience who want to see them, and love them.”

Enjoy the magazine. It’s out next Thursday but you can pre-order it here.

John Robinson

The Replacements to reissue Tim with previously unreleased Alex Chilton sessions

Michael Bonner
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The Replacements to reissue Tim with previously unreleased Alex Chilton sessions

The Replacements‘ 1985 album Tim is being reissued with 50 previously unheard tracks and a concert from 1986. Tim: Let It Bleed Edition is coming as a 4CD/1LP box set from Rhino on September 22.

The 4CD/1LP deluxe boxed set is built around a new mix of Tim by producer/engineer Ed Stasium. Also included is a new and improved mastering of Tommy Erdelyi’s original 1985 mix of the album.

This deluxe edition also includes a disc of unreleased recordings – including the band’s January 1985 session produced by Big Star’s Alex Chilton – as well as The Replacements’ entire January 11, 1986, show at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago.

Presented in a 12 x 12 hardcover book – loaded with dozens of previously unseen photos – the set features a detailed history of the Tim era written by Bob Mehr, who produced the box with Rhino’s Jason Jones.

TIM: LET IT BLEED EDITION
Track Listing

CD 1: Tim (Ed Stasium Mix)
Hold My Life
I’ll Buy
Kiss Me On The Bus
Dose Of Thunder
Waitress In The Sky
Swingin Party
Bastard Of Young
Lay It Down Clown
Left Of The Dial
Little Mascara
Here Comes A Stranger

CD 2: Tim (2023 Remaster)
Hold My Life
I’ll Buy
Kiss Me On The Bus
Dose Of Thunder
Waitress In The Sky
Swingin Party
Bastard Of Young
Lay It Down Clown
Left Of The Dial
Little Mascara
Here Comes A Regular

CD 3: Sons of No One: Rare & Unreleased
Can’t Hardly Wait (Acoustic Demo)
Nowhere Is My Home (Alternate Mix)*
Can’t Hardly Wait (Electric Demo) [Alternate Mix]*
Left Of The Dial (Alternate Version)*
Nowhere Is My Home (Alternate Version)*
Can’t Hardly Wait (Cello Version)*
Kiss Me On The Bus (Studio Demo)
Little Mascara (Studio Demo)*
Bastards Of Young (Alternate Version)*
Hold My Life (Alternate Version)*
Having Fun*
Waitress In The Sky (Alternate Version)
Can’t Hardly Wait (The “Tim” Version) [Alternate Mix]*
Swingin Party (Alternate Version)*
Here Comes A Regular (Alternate Version)

CD 4: Not Ready For Prime Time
Live at the Cabaret Metro, Chicago, IL, January 11, 1986
Gary’s Got A Boner*
Love You ‘Till Friday*
Bastards Of Young*
Can’t Hardly Wait*
Answering Machine*
Little Mascara*
Color Me Impressed*
Kiss Me On The Bus*
Favorite Thing*
Mr. Whirly*
Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out*
I Will Dare*
Johnny’s Gonna Die*
Dose Of Thunder*
Takin’ A Ride*
Hitchin’ A Ride*
Trouble Boys*
Unsatisfied*
Black Diamond*
Jumpin’ Jack Flash*
Customer*
Borstal Breakout*
Take Me Down To The Hospital*
Kids Don’t Follow*
Nowhere Man*
The Crusher*
I’m In Trouble*
Go*

LP: Ed Stasium Mix
Side A
Hold My Life
I’ll Buy
Kiss Me On The Bus
Dose Of Thunder
Waitress In The Sky
Swingin Party

Side B
Bastards Of Young
Lay It Down Clown
Left Of The Dial
Little Mascara
Here Comes A Regular

*Previously Unreleased

Introducing the new Uncut: Tom Waits by Keith Richards, Sinéad O’Connor, Bowie, the Breeders, The Coral and more

Michael Bonner
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Introducing the new Uncut: Tom Waits by Keith Richards, Sinéad O’Connor, Bowie, the Breeders, The Coral and more

The stories of Tom Waits’ unusual studio antics are legendary, but I don’t think I’ve heard this one before. “I was impressed by the amount of weirdo instruments he had hanging around. It’s an amazing collection. I thought, ‘Hello!’ He had a Mellotron, like an early version of the synthesiser, which was loaded entirely with train noises.”

This revelation, incidentally, is shared with us by none other than Keith Richards, who tells Uncut about his long, predictably colourful friendship with Waits as part of our cover story – from one old devil to another. Besides Richards’ warm and insightful recollections, there’s a deep dive into Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs and Franks Wild Years – an extraordinary trio of albums that recast Waits as a master of creative daring. “I asked Tom if there was anything he was looking for,” one collaborator tells Graeme Thomson. “He put his hands up to his mouth and stretched them out in front of himself, and said, ‘I need more…’ and made a long whooshing sound.”

There are, I hope, a lot of other creatively daring artists to be found in this issue of Uncut – but I’d quickly like to draw your attention to Tom Pinnock’s Album By Album interview with the great saxophonist Charles Lloyd. It’s no bad thing when an interviewee starts off quoting advice he was given by Duke Ellington… Among other jewels, there’s Peter Watts’ piece on David Bowie’s final Ziggy gig – an oral history from the fans’ perspective that reads more like social history than a music magazine feature.

As well as our regular CD, print subscribers should receive a second CD with this issue. It’s an exclusive five-track Margo Cilker CD, bringing together some tracks from Margo’s singular career so far, along with an exclusive track, “Here In Baker”.

I’m also pleased – if that’s the right word – that we could turn round a tribute to the fiercely talented Sinéad O’Connor, who died less than 24 hours before this issue went to the printers. I interviewed her for an Album By Album piece some years ago and she was brilliant:funny, intelligent and happy to talk in depth about her career. “It’s so nice just to talk about music,” she told me.

Which, I hope, is something we do here every month.

Uncut – October 2023

Michael Bonner
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Uncut – October 2023

HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

Tom Waits, David Bowie, Sinéad O’Connor, Neil Young, The Breeders, The Coral, Warren Zevon, Margo Cilker and more all feature in the new Uncut, dated October 2023 and in UK shops from August 10 or available to buy online now.

All copies come with a free, 12-track CD of the month’s best new music including tracks from Wilco, Teenage Fanclub, Jaimie Branch, PG Six , Buddy & Julie Miller, Slowdive and more.

INSIDE THIS MONTH’S UNCUT

TOM WAITS: Step right up for a Tom Waits extravaganza! First up, Keith Richards, shares memories of his close friend and occasional partner-in-crime – “When Tom and I met it was like falling off a log…” Then, we dig deep into Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs and Frank’s Wild Years – a groundbreaking trio of albums, full of devilled blues, crepuscular weirdness and moonstruck laments – in the company of Waits’ closest collaborators to discover the untold stories behind this audacious artistic year zero.

DAVID BOWIE: When David Bowie took the Ziggy Stardust tour to Hammersmith Odeon for the final time on July 3 1973, the fans came in their thousands. Fifty years after the gig, and with a new version of DA Pennebaker’s film in cinemas, we speak to fans, Spiders, Bowie’s friends and future punks about one of rock’n’roll’s most famous shows.

THE BREEDERS: The Ohio originals are celebrating 30 years of the still-thrilling Last Splash with a top-spec vinyl reissue and American tour. Here, the band and their peers establish why “Cannonball” and “Divine Hammer” remain such potent weapons – and why, despite Kim Deal’s upcoming solo album, the ‘classic’ Breeders line-up that made them are stronger than ever.

THE CORAL: Poised to release their 12th and 13th albums on the same day, the Mersey maverick explain how Cillian Murphy, John Simm and a 1948 Fender tweed amplifier joined the cast of their latest double feature. As frontman James Skelly observes, “you can go anywhere, in your mind…”

WARREN ZEVON: In this unpublished interview from 1990, Zevon talks frankly about the mingling of chaos in art and life, to writing rock ‘n’ roll, and the attraction of songs about mercenaries – however select the audience for that may be. “When people say to me, ‘Don’t you wish you were popular with more people?’”, says Zevon, “I say no.”

MARGO CILKER: At 30, Margo Cilker has already lived several lives, documenting them engagingly in her crisp country-rock songs. From her childhood home in Santa Clara, California – the of her new album title – via Cornwall, Bilbao and Carolina, she seems to have found some semblance of stability on a horse farm in the Pacific Northwest. But for how long?

AN AUDIENCE WITH… TERRY REID: He helped assemble Led Zeppelin, got loaded with Bowie, and Chuck Berry stole his amp – Superlungs has seen it all…

THE MAKING OF “ON WAY GLASS” BY MANFRED MANN’S CHAPTER THREE: ’60s hitmakers turn their back on pop and summon a colossal, brassy groove.

ALBUM BY ALBUM WITH CHARLES LLOYD: The pioneering saxophonist’s long musical journey: “I don’t live in the past”.

MY LIFE IN MUSIC WITH THE WALKMEN: Frontman Hamilton Leithauser on his earliest musical gurus: “I’ll defend Jim Morrison to the death.”

CLICK TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR

REVIEWED Slowdive, Pretenders, Wilco, Allison Russell, Jamie Branch, Buck Meek, PG Six, Sparklehorse, Cardiacs, The Runways, Neil Young, Pulp, Echo & The Bunnymen, T.Rex and more

PLUS Sinéad O’Connor, Twink, End Of The Road Festival preview, Tymon Dogg and introducing former Youth Poet Laureate, Kara Jackson.

CLICK TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR

Watch Bruce Springsteen’s video highlights from his European tour

Michael Bonner
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Watch Bruce Springsteen’s video highlights from his European tour

Bruce Springsteen has released a video recap of his recent European tour, which ran from April 28 to July 5.

You can watch the 2 minute video below.

The 14-country tour included multi-night stands in each of Barcelona, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Gothenburg, Oslo, London and Copenhagen before climaxing with a show to more than 70,000 fans in Monza, Italy.

The tour continues back in America with 31 more shows before the end of the year, beginning with two nights at Chicago’s Wrigley Field on August 9 and 11 and finishing at San Francisco’s Chase Center on December 10 and 12.

Hopefully, he’ll be back in Europe soon…

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