What would Murdoc make of it? Previously, Gorillaz live performances have seen the “real” musicians play anonymously behind a curtain. But not tonight. If anything, tonight’s show abandons the notion of Gorillaz as a “virtual band” altogether. It seems more about establishing Damon Albarn’s overdue re-emergence as a front man, after spending close to a decade in the background on a number of collaborative projects, from Mali Music to The Good, The Bad And The Queen and Gorillaz.
Slightly shorter playlist than usual this week, since I finally downloaded and began investigating the six and a half hours of astounding music that make up the “Honest Strings” Jack Rose tribute. Can’t recommend that one enough: I have a vague plan to write much more about it for my next column in the mag version of Uncut.
Something slightly uncomfortable about wondering how much music remains unreleased in the Jack Rose archives, following his passing at the end of last year. It’s scant consolation for his loved ones, I’m sure, that the rest of us are keen on getting unheard music from him for a while longer.
Big name week here, as you’ll see from some of the new arrivals on the playlist below. A couple of things worth flagging, though: the second Diskjokke album, which should work for those of you enamoured with Lindstrom and Prins Thomas; and one last Jack Rose EP, a rowdy electric session with a No Neck Blues Band spin-off. I’ll do the business on these soon.
Not exactly a Great Lost Column or anything, but here, as promised, is the piece on Sir Richard Bishop that fell out of the current issue of Uncut to make room for David Cavanagh's superb piece on Alex Chilton. Talking of the issue, by the way, thanks for your Great Lost Albums suggestions here; please keep them coming, and we'll feature as many as we can in a forthcoming issue of the mag.
