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HMV to go into administration

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HMV to go into administration

High street music, DVD and computer games retailer HMV has confirmed that it is going into administration. A statement released to Music Week reads: "It is proposed that Nick Edwards, Neville Kahn and Rob Harding, partners of Deloitte LLP, will be appointed as the administrators of the Company and certain of its subsidiaries. The Company's ordinary shares will be suspended from trading on the London Stock Exchange with immediate effect." The Financial Times wrote that the chain's suppliers, including record labels, computer games makers and film companies, recently refused to give the business a £300 million loan to keep them afloat. The money would have gone to paying off the company's debt as well as to helping change the way the business is run. 4,000 jobs are now at risk. At the end of last year, HMV sold its live music assets to a the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group in a £7.3 million deal. HMV purchased MAMA Group in 2010 for £46 million but offloaded a number of venues - including the London establishments the Barfly and Jazz Café, the Manchester Ritz and Lovebox festival – to offload its debts. The sale also included the Great Escape and Global Gathering festivals and HMV's 50% interest in its Mean Fiddler joint venture with MAMA. HMV sold another of its live music ventures, the Hammersmith Apollo, in a £32 million deal in 2012.

High street music, DVD and computer games retailer HMV has confirmed that it is going into administration.

A statement released to Music Week reads:

“It is proposed that Nick Edwards, Neville Kahn and Rob Harding, partners of Deloitte LLP, will be appointed as the administrators of the Company and certain of its subsidiaries. The Company’s ordinary shares will be suspended from trading on the London Stock Exchange with immediate effect.”

The Financial Times wrote that the chain’s suppliers, including record labels, computer games makers and film companies, recently refused to give the business a £300 million loan to keep them afloat.

The money would have gone to paying off the company’s debt as well as to helping change the way the business is run.

4,000 jobs are now at risk.

At the end of last year, HMV sold its live music assets to a the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group in a £7.3 million deal.

HMV purchased MAMA Group in 2010 for £46 million but offloaded a number of venues – including the London establishments the Barfly and Jazz Café, the Manchester Ritz and Lovebox festival – to offload its debts.

The sale also included the Great Escape and Global Gathering festivals and HMV’s 50% interest in its Mean Fiddler joint venture with MAMA.

HMV sold another of its live music ventures, the Hammersmith Apollo, in a £32 million deal in 2012.

George Harrison’s widow blocks campaign to erect statue of late former Beatle

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George Harrison’s widow blocks campaign to erect statue of late former Beatle
George Harrison's widow Olivia has halted a campaign to erect a statue of the late Beatle near his Oxfordshire home. James Lambert, from Henley-on-Thames, where Harrisson lived until his death in 2001, wrote to Olivia Harrison about his campaign to erect a bronze statue in her late husband's honou...

George Harrison‘s widow Olivia has halted a campaign to erect a statue of the late Beatle near his Oxfordshire home.

James Lambert, from Henley-on-Thames, where Harrisson lived until his death in 2001, wrote to Olivia Harrison about his campaign to erect a bronze statue in her late husband’s honour. She replied stating that she would prefer a community project instead.

“The statue could create problems of different types of fans turning up, the unwanted fans,” Lambert told the BBC. “Gauging the pulse in terms of Henley residents I think there was a lot of support. This petition wasn’t tapping into the Beatles fanfare worldwide, it was much more to recognise George’s contribution to Henley and the affection Henley had for him.”

He added: “I think the danger was it wouldn’t just become a Henley acknowledgement of George’s work but would encourage more people to visit Henley… I think what she’s suggesting in terms of a community project would be great and it’ll be very exciting to see exactly how this transpires.”

Harrison moved to Henley-on-Thames in the 1970s when he bought a large stately home, Friar Park, saving it from demolition. The former Beatle died of cancer in 2001 aged 58.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs unveil brand new songs at California show

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Yeah Yeah Yeahs unveil brand new songs at California show
Yeah Yeah Yeahs debuted a clutch of new songs last night (January 11) at a show at the Glass House in Pomona, California. Arriving onstage in a glittery headband and zebra print cape over a red fringed jacket, frontwoman Karen O opened up the set with a brand new track which included the lyrics "it...

Yeah Yeah Yeahs debuted a clutch of new songs last night (January 11) at a show at the Glass House in Pomona, California.

Arriving onstage in a glittery headband and zebra print cape over a red fringed jacket, frontwoman Karen O opened up the set with a brand new track which included the lyrics “it’s good to sing/it’s good to cry”.

The band followed it with ‘Phenomena’ and then another new song, while the rowdy 14 track set also included one more slower-paced new number. All of the new songs are thought to be taken from the band’s upcoming fourth LP, which is slated for release this spring and follows their 2009 album It’s Blitz!.

The band’s set for the one-off gig also included ‘Heads Will Roll’, ‘Soft Shock’, ‘Gold Lion’ and ‘Zero’. Karen O – sporting a blonde bobbed hairstyle – kicked glitter bombs of Y-shaped confetti into the rowdy crowd throughout the performance, and handed her microphone to fans in the front rows so they could sing-along to ‘Cheated Hearts’.

“Thank you Pomona, we’re the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. You know that. We love you,” said Karen O before leaving the stage. Yeah Yeah Yeahs then returned to play a two song encore, made up of ‘Maps’ and ‘Tick’, with Karen O dedicating the former to the evening’s support band, Los Angeles punk duo The Bots. “This is a Yeah Yeah Yeahs love song,” she said before the track. “We’d like to dedicate this song to The Bots, who opened up and are cool as shit! Yeah Yeah Yeahs love The Bots!”

During their set, The Bots drummer Anaiah Lei explained that they had met Nick Zinner of the band in London last year, on Damon Albarn’s Africa Express train tour.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs played:

Untitled New Song

‘Phenomena’

Untitled New Song

‘Heads Will Roll’

‘Pin’

‘Down Boy’

Untitled New Song

‘Skeletons’

‘Soft Shock’

‘Gold Lion’

‘Zero’

‘Cheated Hearts

‘Maps’

‘Tick’

Stevie Nicks on Fleetwood Mac tour: ‘This is going to be very different’

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Stevie Nicks on Fleetwood Mac tour: ‘This is going to be very different’
Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks has promised that the legendary group won't just be going through the motions when they hit the road this year. The band are set to embark on a world tour, kicking off with a 34-date US tour in April, but have assured fans that, unlike last time around, they'll be seein...

Fleetwood Mac‘s Stevie Nicks has promised that the legendary group won’t just be going through the motions when they hit the road this year.

The band are set to embark on a world tour, kicking off with a 34-date US tour in April, but have assured fans that, unlike last time around, they’ll be seeing a group enjoying themselves onstage.

Stevie Nicks told The Guardian: “This is going to be a very different tour. The audience is going to see a very different Fleetwood Mac up there – we talked about how we really need to appreciate what we have and who we are and how far we’ve come.”

She continued: “I said to Lindsey: ‘I wish your mom and dad were still alive – they’d be just like: ‘Way to go, Lindsey Buckingham! Boy, damn we’re glad you dropped out of swimming, we’re so glad you stopped and went for rock’n’roll’.”

However, everything is far from perfect for Fleetwood Mac and Nicks admits that she misses having Christine McVie – who quit the band in 1998 – around in the band.

She said: “We all did everything we could do to try and talk her out of it. But you look in someone’s eyes and you can tell they’re finished. As Taylor Swift would say: ‘We are never ever getting back together ever!’ That’s what Chris was saying…But I’d beg, borrow and scrape together $5m and give it to her in cash if she would come back. That’s how much I miss her.”

Stevie Nicks recently told NME that she would “love to” headline Glastonbury when Fleetwood Mac come to the UK for their 2013 reunion tour.

Black Sabbath announce new album title

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Black Sabbath announce new album title
Black Sabbath have announced that their new album will be titled 13. The album, which is the first original band members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler have recorded together since 1978's Never Say Die!, will be released in June. The Birmingham rock legends made the album primarily in...

Black Sabbath have announced that their new album will be titled 13.

The album, which is the first original band members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler have recorded together since 1978’s Never Say Die!, will be released in June.

The Birmingham rock legends made the album primarily in Los Angeles with producer Rick Rubin and features Rage Against The Machine’s Brad Wilk, who replaces original sticksman Bill Ward on drums.

In November, guitarist Toni Iommi revealed that the final album will consist of 15 tracks. The Guardian quoted the guitarist at the time saying: “We’ve written the 15 songs and we’ve played them all, but now at the moment we’re recording them. We’re about six tracks in at the moment.”

In advance of the new album, Black Sabbath will tour Australia, New Zealand and play a show at Ozzfest in Japan. Additional tour plans are expected to be announced in the coming months.

Black Sabbath’s initial tour dates are:

Auckland Vector Arena (April 20, 22)

Brisbane Entertainment Centre (25)

Sydney All Phones Arena (27)

Melbourne Rod Laver Arena (29, May 1)

Perth Arena (4)

Ozzfest, Tokyo (12)

David Bowie secures first UK Top 10 single in two decades

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David Bowie secures first UK Top 10 single in two decades
David Bowie has secured his first official UK Top 10 single in over two decades with "Where Are We Now?". The comeback track, which has finished the week at Number Six, is the first to be taken from his forthcoming new album The Next Day and sold 30,000 copies in the five day's since it's surprise ...

David Bowie has secured his first official UK Top 10 single in over two decades with “Where Are We Now?”.

The comeback track, which has finished the week at Number Six, is the first to be taken from his forthcoming new album The Next Day and sold 30,000 copies in the five day’s since it’s surprise release. It’s his first Top 10 hit since 1986’s “Absolute Beginners”, reports the Official Charts Company.

There had been reports that the track would not be eligible for chart placement as it is linked to an “instant grat” promotion where fans pre-ordering the album received the song as an immediate download – a UK music industry agreement prevents “instant grat” downloads from being counted.

However, the Official Charts Company were able to determine which downloads were purchased out-right by fans – and not part of a pre-order bundle – which allowed Bowie his first Top 10 chart placement in over 25 years.

Meanwhile, Britney Spears and Will.i.am are Number One with “Scream & Shout’, Taylor Swift’s ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ is at Number Two, James Arthur’s “Impossible” is down two places to Number Three and Rihanna’s “Stay” is at Number Four. Calvin Harris completes the Top 5 with “Drinking From The Bottle”.

New details of Shane Meadows’ Stone Roses documentary emerge

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New details of Shane Meadows’ Stone Roses documentary emerge

New details of the forthcoming documentary on 2012's Stone Roses reunion filmed and directed by acclaimed British filmmaker Shane Meadows have been revealed. Speaking exclusively to NME, producer Mark Herbert (This Is England) said that Meadows was currently in the process of editing more than 350 hours of footage covering the period from October 2011 when the band announced their comeback to August 2012 when they ceased touring. Herbert said: "I'm not allowed to say very much, but what I can say is that it feels like a Shane Meadows film as well as a music documentary. Imagine the amazing music of the Roses combined with all the qualities that Shane's films are known for." There's plenty of stuff that people haven't seen before – both past and present. Obviously there's live footage from the reunion gigs, but we've also got some never-seen-before archive footage.Herbert said that the producers are aiming for release in the middle of 2013. It was earlier reported that Meadows is treating the film as a labour of love, and shelved a "massive budget" film project to focus on the documentary. The Stone Roses are also set to play two shows at Finsbury Park in London and another at Glasgow Green in June next year. Support for the Glasgow show includes Primal Scream, Jake Bugg and The View. Support for the London shows will be announced shortly. They are also set to headline the Isle Of Wight festival.

New details of the forthcoming documentary on 2012’s Stone Roses reunion filmed and directed by acclaimed British filmmaker Shane Meadows have been revealed.

Speaking exclusively to NME, producer Mark Herbert (This Is England) said that Meadows was currently in the process of editing more than 350 hours of footage covering the period from October 2011 when the band announced their comeback to August 2012 when they ceased touring.

Herbert said: “I’m not allowed to say very much, but what I can say is that it feels like a Shane Meadows film as well as a music documentary. Imagine the amazing music of the Roses combined with all the qualities that Shane’s films are known for.”

There’s plenty of stuff that people haven’t seen before – both past and present. Obviously there’s live footage from the reunion gigs, but we’ve also got some never-seen-before archive footage.Herbert said that the producers are aiming for release in the middle of 2013.

It was earlier reported that Meadows is treating the film as a labour of love, and shelved a “massive budget” film project to focus on the documentary.

The Stone Roses are also set to play two shows at Finsbury Park in London and another at Glasgow Green in June next year. Support for the Glasgow show includes Primal Scream, Jake Bugg and The View. Support for the London shows will be announced shortly. They are also set to headline the Isle Of Wight festival.

William Tyler: “Impossible Truth”

John Mulvey
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William Tyler: “Impossible Truth”

I don’t have any tattoos, for many reasons, but one of the best I can think of is that I don’t trust my aesthetic tastes to remain constant. I don’t feel confident that the art I like now will all, necessarily, be the same things that I like a few years down the line. I was thinking about this the other day, reading a discussion on Twitter about the likelihood or otherwise of musical taste changing – “evolving” was a preferred choice of word – over time. Quite a few people were assertive about the consistency of their taste, but I’m not so confident, personally. One way, I think, that I can lose a degree of interest in certain kinds of music is if I overdose on them; that there’s a cycle of discovery, obsession, saturation and distraction. It doesn’t always mean that tastes change, exactly – though they always do, sometimes in barely-detectable ways – more that over-familiarity, fatigue and a subsequent shift in focus can occur. I’ve wondered, these past months, whether this might be happening with regard to the sort of post-Takoma guitar soli jams that have been a big part of my listening for a few years now. But then a record comes along like this new William Tyler album, “Impossible Truth”, on Merge, which doesn’t just feel like a really satisfying and beautiful set, but one which also stretches the edges, a little, of the scene to which it notionally belongs. Tyler, of course, has moved in wider circles than some of the Jack Rose associates usually caught up in this sound. He first came to light as a kind of discreet guitar prodigy in Lambchop, has backed up the likes of The Silver Jews and Will Oldham, and has ties with one of the people whose judgment on these sort of things I trust more than most, MC Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger (Taylor has written a characteristically neat biog of Tyler on the latter’s website, www.williamtyler.net, which is well worth a visit). He also runs an interesting label out of Nashville - www.sebastianspeaks.com – which, among other things, reissued Vernon Wray’s great “Wasted”. Anyhow, Tyler’s first solo album, “Behold The Spirit”, came out a couple of years ago on Tompkins Square and seemed pretty and skilful enough at the time, but was maybe one of those post-Takoma records that made me feel I wasn’t engaging with that sound quite as much as I had done. What really got to me was a version of one song from the album, “Oashpe”, that got reinvented as a crackling electric boogie for a seven-inch on Nashville’s Dead. Suddenly, it sounded like Tyler was taking his undoubted virtuosity to a wilder place; somewhere closer to the space inhabited by someone like Chris Forsyth, perhaps. “Impossible Truth” confirms as much, and more. It’s an expansive psychedelic folk record inspired, from evidence on Tyler’s website, by a bunch of books that mostly seem to analyse an evolving American landscape (though there’s Barney Hoskyns’ fine canyons book, Hotel California, in there as well); a small bit of research makes Tom Vanderbilt’s “Survival City” look especially interesting. If much comparable music feels somewhat introverted, meditative, Tyler’s work here feels correspondingly bigger; descriptive and dramatic, in an unostentatious way. Taylor says he “connects the dots between Sandy Bull, Richard Thompson, Bruce Langhorne and Reggie Young," but there’s also a little Basho in there, and some more contemporary analogues to the way Tyler and his co-producer (and Lambchop bandmate) Mark Nevers subtly flesh out the sound into a roots baroque; a tracking pedal steel here, some bass notes added by brass there. As the gorgeous first track, “Country Of Illusion”, opens out, the last record I can recall that moved similarly might be Jim O’Rourke’s “Bad Timing”, while there are other fleeting moments – on “Hotel Catatonia”, maybe, or “Last Residents Of Westfall” – that share the ornate, sacred chime of David Pajo’s longform transfiguration of “Turn, Turn, Turn”. In fact, a good part of this terrific record feels less like an exploratory folk session, more like a virtuoso guitarist and arranger using the tools of a folk musician to reconsider and deconstruct rock music: or maybe it’s just the spectral echoes of “Paint It, Black” on “Geography Of Nowhere”?... Have a listen to “Cadillac Desert”, anyway, and let me know what you think. Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey Picture: Will Holland

I don’t have any tattoos, for many reasons, but one of the best I can think of is that I don’t trust my aesthetic tastes to remain constant. I don’t feel confident that the art I like now will all, necessarily, be the same things that I like a few years down the line.

I was thinking about this the other day, reading a discussion on Twitter about the likelihood or otherwise of musical taste changing – “evolving” was a preferred choice of word – over time. Quite a few people were assertive about the consistency of their taste, but I’m not so confident, personally. One way, I think, that I can lose a degree of interest in certain kinds of music is if I overdose on them; that there’s a cycle of discovery, obsession, saturation and distraction. It doesn’t always mean that tastes change, exactly – though they always do, sometimes in barely-detectable ways – more that over-familiarity, fatigue and a subsequent shift in focus can occur.

I’ve wondered, these past months, whether this might be happening with regard to the sort of post-Takoma guitar soli jams that have been a big part of my listening for a few years now. But then a record comes along like this new William Tyler album, “Impossible Truth”, on Merge, which doesn’t just feel like a really satisfying and beautiful set, but one which also stretches the edges, a little, of the scene to which it notionally belongs.

Tyler, of course, has moved in wider circles than some of the Jack Rose associates usually caught up in this sound. He first came to light as a kind of discreet guitar prodigy in Lambchop, has backed up the likes of The Silver Jews and Will Oldham, and has ties with one of the people whose judgment on these sort of things I trust more than most, MC Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger (Taylor has written a characteristically neat biog of Tyler on the latter’s website, www.williamtyler.net, which is well worth a visit). He also runs an interesting label out of Nashville – www.sebastianspeaks.com – which, among other things, reissued Vernon Wray’s great “Wasted”.

Anyhow, Tyler’s first solo album, “Behold The Spirit”, came out a couple of years ago on Tompkins Square and seemed pretty and skilful enough at the time, but was maybe one of those post-Takoma records that made me feel I wasn’t engaging with that sound quite as much as I had done. What really got to me was a version of one song from the album, “Oashpe”, that got reinvented as a crackling electric boogie for a seven-inch on Nashville’s Dead. Suddenly, it sounded like Tyler was taking his undoubted virtuosity to a wilder place; somewhere closer to the space inhabited by someone like Chris Forsyth, perhaps.

“Impossible Truth” confirms as much, and more. It’s an expansive psychedelic folk record inspired, from evidence on Tyler’s website, by a bunch of books that mostly seem to analyse an evolving American landscape (though there’s Barney Hoskyns’ fine canyons book, Hotel California, in there as well); a small bit of research makes Tom Vanderbilt’s “Survival City” look especially interesting.

If much comparable music feels somewhat introverted, meditative, Tyler’s work here feels correspondingly bigger; descriptive and dramatic, in an unostentatious way. Taylor says he “connects the dots between Sandy Bull, Richard Thompson, Bruce Langhorne and Reggie Young,” but there’s also a little Basho in there, and some more contemporary analogues to the way Tyler and his co-producer (and Lambchop bandmate) Mark Nevers subtly flesh out the sound into a roots baroque; a tracking pedal steel here, some bass notes added by brass there. As the gorgeous first track, “Country Of Illusion”, opens out, the last record I can recall that moved similarly might be Jim O’Rourke’s “Bad Timing”, while there are other fleeting moments – on “Hotel Catatonia”, maybe, or “Last Residents Of Westfall” – that share the ornate, sacred chime of David Pajo’s longform transfiguration of “Turn, Turn, Turn”.

In fact, a good part of this terrific record feels less like an exploratory folk session, more like a virtuoso guitarist and arranger using the tools of a folk musician to reconsider and deconstruct rock music: or maybe it’s just the spectral echoes of “Paint It, Black” on “Geography Of Nowhere”?… Have a listen to “Cadillac Desert”, anyway, and let me know what you think.

Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

Picture: Will Holland

Aaron Neville – My True Story

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Aaron Neville – My True Story

New Orleans soul prince revisits his doo-wop youth. Keith Richards and Don Was co-produce... The old adage about music offering a route out of poverty was never truer than for Aaron Neville. As a kid living on the breadline in 1950s New Orleans, Neville lived for music – he was in a group with his brothers at 15 – listening with particular obsession to the vocal harmony groups of New York, Chicago and other Northern cities. Though Neville is properly considered a ‘soul’ singer, something of doo-wop’s purring harmonies and tear-stained romanticism fed into his own music. “Tell It Like It Is”, his breakthrough hit from 1967, is a sobber redolent of doo-wop’s golden age, with Neville switching between tenor and falsetto in what would prove trademark style. After a career singing Crescent City funk and soul, dipping into gospel, country and MOR, at 71 Neville has turned back to the sounds that first shaped him, with help from assorted friends. Don Was, installed this year as President of Blue Note Records with a mission to regenerate the hallowed label, handed him a contract and his production talents, while Keith Richards brought his guitar skills to a band of stalwarts that included a quartet of backing singers drawn from original doo-wop groups like The Teenagers and the Del Vikings. The result, according to Richards, was “a dream session” that romped through a couple of dozen classic songs from the 1950s and early ‘60s – “the doo wop era” as Neville calls it, though numbers like “Work With Me Annie” belong as much to Rhythm and Blues. What’s in a genre? “Money Honey” has been variously delivered as R&B and rock and roll, by Clyde McPhatter (originally), Elvis Presley and Ry Cooder among others. The version that opens proceedings here has an easy swing that echoes its 1953 nascence, though Richards’ chops and solo bear a distinct Chuck Berry accent. Keith doesn’t have too many other standout moments, though as de facto bandleader his clipped chords and codas are always high in the mix. Everyone on board knows how this stuff should sound, and the playing is restrained but confident, while the Was production is clear but unglossed, in keeping with the era of mono vinyl. Neville sings everything with utter authenticity, and in his advancing years his voice retains its distinctive timbre and quaver. He shines brightest on the slower material. He wrings every drop of heartache from the Jive Five’s “My True Story”, climbing easily into its unearthly falsetto reaches for the ‘Cry Cry Cry’ hook originally sung by Eugene Pitt, who is one of the quartet of backing voices here. One can only imagine what Pitt felt as he heard Neville voice a song he wrote as a Brooklyn teenager in 1961. Neville was eleven years old when The Clovers’ “Ting A Ling” hit number one on the R&B charts (Buddy Holly, who gave the song a rockabilly makeover, was 15). By comparison to the intricate, semi-acoustic Clovers side, Neville’s update is muscular, though it preserves the chattering piano and smoky sax parts. The original records inevitably cast a long shadow over some of the remakes here. However sweetly Neville sings The Drifters’ “This Magic Moment” one misses Lieber/Stoller’s orchestral pomp, and The Crystals “Be My Baby” is likewise too defined by Phil Spector’s shimmering production to really work as a small group piece. Yet mostly, Was, Neville and band deliver on their own terms. The Impressions’ “Gypsy Woman”, Little Anthony’s “Tears On My Pillow”, and Jesse Belvin’s “Goodnight My Love” sweep by slowly and tenderly. On the uptempo side Thurston Harris “Little Bitty Pretty One”, The Drifters’ “Ruby Baby” and Hank Ballard’s “Work With Me Annie” are despatched with vigour, handclaps and storming massed vocals. The object of My True Story was clearly not to reproduce the originals – the band are too knowing and nuanced for a 1950s R&B outfit, Neville’s vocals too engrained by experience - but the album captures the spirit that first drew them and countless others to the flame. Neil Spencer Q & A AARON NEVILLE Where was the teenage Aaron and what was he wearing, when listening to the originals? I was living in the Calliope project, New Orleans, wearing jeans and t-shirt. The music of the Clovers and Spaniels and the rest was like candy to me, I couldn’t get enough, my teachers probably thought I had attention deficit disorder. You have worked with Keith and Don Was in the past…. The Neville Brothers supported the Stones back in the 1980s, and I knew Don from Was Not Was. We did “I Fall To Pieces” with Trisha Yearwoood, which won a Grammy, and I sang “Crazy Love” for the Phenomenon Soundtrack that he produced. The sessions sounded a lot of fun. Were they? You can hear the band smiling on the record. We did the whole thing in about five days, went in with 12 songs in mind and cut 23. This is just the start, there is going to be Doo-Wop parts 2, 3 and 4! St Jude is very important to you. How come? My mother turned me onto St Jude back in the days when I was wild and crazy. She took me to the shrine on Rampart Street. I think St Jude helped me achieve some miracles in my life – that’s why I wear the medallion in my left ear and never take it out. INTERVIEW: NEIL SPENCER

New Orleans soul prince revisits his doo-wop youth. Keith Richards and Don Was co-produce…

The old adage about music offering a route out of poverty was never truer than for Aaron Neville. As a kid living on the breadline in 1950s New Orleans, Neville lived for music – he was in a group with his brothers at 15 – listening with particular obsession to the vocal harmony groups of New York, Chicago and other Northern cities.

Though Neville is properly considered a ‘soul’ singer, something of doo-wop’s purring harmonies and tear-stained romanticism fed into his own music. “Tell It Like It Is”, his breakthrough hit from 1967, is a sobber redolent of doo-wop’s golden age, with Neville switching between tenor and falsetto in what would prove trademark style.

After a career singing Crescent City funk and soul, dipping into gospel, country and MOR, at 71 Neville has turned back to the sounds that first shaped him, with help from assorted friends. Don Was, installed this year as President of Blue Note Records with a mission to regenerate the hallowed label, handed him a contract and his production talents, while Keith Richards brought his guitar skills to a band of stalwarts that included a quartet of backing singers drawn from original doo-wop groups like The Teenagers and the Del Vikings.

The result, according to Richards, was “a dream session” that romped through a couple of dozen classic songs from the 1950s and early ‘60s – “the doo wop era” as Neville calls it, though numbers like “Work With Me Annie” belong as much to Rhythm and Blues. What’s in a genre? “Money Honey” has been variously delivered as R&B and rock and roll, by Clyde McPhatter (originally), Elvis Presley and Ry Cooder among others. The version that opens proceedings here has an easy swing that echoes its 1953 nascence, though Richards’ chops and solo bear a distinct Chuck Berry accent.

Keith doesn’t have too many other standout moments, though as de facto bandleader his clipped chords and codas are always high in the mix. Everyone on board knows how this stuff should sound, and the playing is restrained but confident, while the Was production is clear but unglossed, in keeping with the era of mono vinyl. Neville sings everything with utter authenticity, and in his advancing years his voice retains its distinctive timbre and quaver.

He shines brightest on the slower material. He wrings every drop of heartache from the Jive Five’s “My True Story”, climbing easily into its unearthly falsetto reaches for the ‘Cry Cry Cry’ hook originally sung by Eugene Pitt, who is one of the quartet of backing voices here. One can only imagine what Pitt felt as he heard Neville voice a song he wrote as a Brooklyn teenager in 1961.

Neville was eleven years old when The Clovers’ “Ting A Ling” hit number one on the R&B charts (Buddy Holly, who gave the song a rockabilly makeover, was 15). By comparison to the intricate, semi-acoustic Clovers side, Neville’s update is muscular, though it preserves the chattering piano and smoky sax parts.

The original records inevitably cast a long shadow over some of the remakes here. However sweetly Neville sings The Drifters’ “This Magic Moment” one misses Lieber/Stoller’s orchestral pomp, and The Crystals “Be My Baby” is likewise too defined by Phil Spector’s shimmering production to really work as a small group piece.

Yet mostly, Was, Neville and band deliver on their own terms. The Impressions’ “Gypsy Woman”, Little Anthony’s “Tears On My Pillow”, and Jesse Belvin’s “Goodnight My Love” sweep by slowly and tenderly. On the uptempo side Thurston Harris “Little Bitty Pretty One”, The Drifters’ “Ruby Baby” and Hank Ballard’s “Work With Me Annie” are despatched with vigour, handclaps and storming massed vocals. The object of My True Story was clearly not to reproduce the originals – the band are too knowing and nuanced for a 1950s R&B outfit, Neville’s vocals too engrained by experience – but the album captures the spirit that first drew them and countless others to the flame.

Neil Spencer

Q & A

AARON NEVILLE

Where was the teenage Aaron and what was he wearing, when listening to the originals?

I was living in the Calliope project, New Orleans, wearing jeans and t-shirt. The music of the Clovers and Spaniels and the rest was like candy to me, I couldn’t get enough, my teachers probably thought I had attention deficit disorder.

You have worked with Keith and Don Was in the past….

The Neville Brothers supported the Stones back in the 1980s, and I knew Don from Was Not Was. We did “I Fall To Pieces” with Trisha Yearwoood, which won a Grammy, and I sang “Crazy Love” for the Phenomenon Soundtrack that he produced.

The sessions sounded a lot of fun. Were they?

You can hear the band smiling on the record. We did the whole thing in about five days, went in with 12 songs in mind and cut 23. This is just the start, there is going to be Doo-Wop parts 2, 3 and 4!

St Jude is very important to you. How come?

My mother turned me onto St Jude back in the days when I was wild and crazy. She took me to the shrine on Rampart Street. I think St Jude helped me achieve some miracles in my life – that’s why I wear the medallion in my left ear and never take it out.

INTERVIEW: NEIL SPENCER

Arctic Monkeys to headline FIB Benicàssim 2013

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Arctic Monkeys to headline FIB Benicàssim 2013
Arctic Monkeys have been confirmed as the latest headliner for this year's Benicàssim festival. The Sheffield band join The Killers and Queens Of The Stone Age on the line-up after they were confirmed to appear late last year. The Sheffield band join The Killers and Queens Of The Stone Age on t...

Arctic Monkeys have been confirmed as the latest headliner for this year’s Benicàssim festival.

The Sheffield band join The Killers and Queens Of The Stone Age on the line-up after they were confirmed to appear late last year.

The Sheffield band join The Killers and Queens Of The Stone Age on the line-up after they were confirmed to appear late last year. The other acts confirmed to appear at the Spanish festival between Jul 18-21 today are Azealia Banks, Jake Bugg, Palma Violets, Echo Lake, Splashh and Swim Deep.

Early bird tickets for Benicàssim are now sold out. The next batch of 5,000 are now on sale, available at £145, and this price will remain either until March 30, 2013 or when the 5,000 tickets are sold out, when ticket prices will then increase. As well as weekend tickets, there are also VIP tickets on sale (£325) as well as the entrance to VillaCamp (£73). Both Weekend tickets and VIP tickets include eight days free camping in the Campfest camping area from 15 – 22 July.

“There’s a lot of rockers on there”: Earl Slick reveals new David Bowie album details

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“There’s a lot of rockers on there”: Earl Slick reveals new David Bowie album details
Earl Slick, David Bowie's guitarist, has revealed details of The Next Day, the artist's first album in ten years. Speaking to Ultimate Classic Rock, Slick explained, “I’ve had a gag on since last May. David got in touch with me out of the blue, and he said, ‘I’m ready to go back in. What ar...

Earl Slick, David Bowie’s guitarist, has revealed details of The Next Day, the artist’s first album in ten years.

Speaking to Ultimate Classic Rock, Slick explained, “I’ve had a gag on since last May. David got in touch with me out of the blue, and he said, ‘I’m ready to go back in. What are you doing? Are you around? Are you touring?’ I said, ‘No, just get me some dates.’ We started banging dates around — and he was already recording — and I went in and did all my stuff in July.”

Slick, who first played guitar with Bowie in 1974, also revealed that The Next Day will include contributions from regular Bowie personnel including bassists Gail Ann Dorsey and Tony Levin, drummers Sterling Campbell and Zachary Alford and guitarists Gerry Leonard and David Torn. The album has been produced by Bowie’s long-standing collaborator, Tony Visconti.

About the sound of the album itself, Slick explained that “there’s a lot of rockers on there. It’s quite a rock album, the rest of the songs. I mean, there’s a few kind of really cool mid-tempo ones in there as well, but I’m the go-to guy for the rock stuff with David. And that’s why I’m always there.”

Slick also told Ultimate Classic Rock about the sessions for the album. “What we’ll do is, we’ll sit down and we’ll listen to the stuff. And he’ll ask me how it hits me — how does this hit you, how does that hit you? Or he’ll go, ‘This one you gotta be on.’ And we’ll sit down, we’ll listen to the song — well, we’ll sit in the control room with a couple of acoustic guitars and then we just bang ideas around. I’ll go, ‘What do you think about this?’ He goes, ‘What do you think about that?’ He knows exactly what it is that I bring to the table, and that’s what he wants. It’s really casual. And that’s why it gets done quickly and efficiently, because it’s all done organically.”

When asked whether Bowie was likely to tour, Slick answered “We don’t know. Obviously, we want him to. But right now, that’s a big if. Like I said before, sometimes he shows up and sometimes he doesn’t. I could get a phone call tomorrow saying, ‘Hey, you know what? Here’s the setlist.’ I don’t know. I can’t speak for him or the organization. Obviously, the band would love to go out. Even if it’s not a huge tour, we would like to go out and do some gigs. But that’s yet to be seen.”

2013 Oscar nominations announced

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2013 Oscar nominations announced

The 2013 Academy Award nominations were announced today [January 10]. The full awards ceremony will take place on February 7. The nominations in the key categories are: BEST PICTURE Amour Argo Django Unchained Les Misérables Life Of Pi Lincoln Zero Dark Thirty Beasts Of The Southern Wild Silver Linings Playbook BEST DIRECTOR Amour - Michael Haneke Beasts Of The Southern Wild - Benh Zeitlin Life Of Pi - Ang Lee Lincoln - Steven Spielberg Silver Linings Playbook - David O. Russell BEST ACTOR Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln Hugh Jackman - Les Misérables Joaquin Phoenix - The Master Denzel Washington - Flight BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Alan Arkin - Argo Robert De Niro - Silver Linings Playbook Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained BEST ACTRESS Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook Emmanuelle Riva - Amour Quvenzhané Wallis - Beasts Of The Southern Wild Naomi Watts - The Impossible BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Amy Adams - The Master Sally Field - Lincoln Anne Hathaway - Les Misérables Helen Hunt - The Sessions Jacky Weaver - Silver Linings Playbook BEST ANIMATED FILM Brave Frankenweenie Paranorman The Pirates! In An Adventure WIth Scientists Wreck-it-Ralph BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Chris Terrio - Argo Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin - Beasts Of The Southern Wild David Magee - Life Of Pi Tony Kushner - Lincoln David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Michael Haneke - Amour Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained John Gatins - Flight Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola - Moonrise Kingdom Mark Boal - Zero Dark Thirty

The 2013 Academy Award nominations were announced today [January 10]. The full awards ceremony will take place on February 7.

The nominations in the key categories are:

BEST PICTURE

Amour

Argo

Django Unchained

Les Misérables

Life Of Pi

Lincoln

Zero Dark Thirty

Beasts Of The Southern Wild

Silver Linings Playbook

BEST DIRECTOR

Amour – Michael Haneke

Beasts Of The Southern Wild – Benh Zeitlin

Life Of Pi – Ang Lee

Lincoln – Steven Spielberg

Silver Linings Playbook – David O. Russell

BEST ACTOR

Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook

Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln

Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables

Joaquin Phoenix – The Master

Denzel Washington – Flight

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Alan Arkin – Argo

Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook

Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln

Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master

Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained

BEST ACTRESS

Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty

Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva – Amour

Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts Of The Southern Wild

Naomi Watts – The Impossible

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams – The Master

Sally Field – Lincoln

Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables

Helen Hunt – The Sessions

Jacky Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Brave

Frankenweenie

Paranorman

The Pirates! In An Adventure WIth Scientists

Wreck-it-Ralph

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Chris Terrio – Argo

Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin – Beasts Of The Southern Wild

David Magee – Life Of Pi

Tony Kushner – Lincoln

David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Michael Haneke – Amour

Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained

John Gatins – Flight

Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom

Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty

Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained

Michael Bonner
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Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained
Quentin Tarantino came to a crossroads in his career when he made Jackie Brown in 1997. Coming after the lary carnage of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, his third film, adapted from Elmore Leonard's novel Rum Punch, was an unexpectedly poignant and subtle account of middle-aged people doing whateve...

Quentin Tarantino came to a crossroads in his career when he made Jackie Brown in 1997. Coming after the lary carnage of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, his third film, adapted from Elmore Leonard’s novel Rum Punch, was an unexpectedly poignant and subtle account of middle-aged people doing whatever they have to do to survive. The guns, double-crosses and gangsters were there, of course – but there were other things, too: warmth, character and nuance.

Tarantino could have carried along this road, gradually refining his filmmaking skills and developing a weighty body of work. Instead, his movies since Jackie Brown have grown in budget and particularly length – but barely in maturity. In some respects, it feels like the now 49 year-old man is still 25 at heart, still replaying those b-movies he watched while working at The Video Archives in his pre-fame days.

Django Unchained opens in 1858, and follows Tarantino’s now familiar mix of spliced b-movie genres, vague taboo baiting, long speeches and cameos from actors whose body of work can best be described as ‘straight to video’. Nominally, it’s Tarantino’s attempt at a Spaghetti Western. We get Ennio Morricone over the opening credits, a cameo from Franco Nero – the star of Sergio Corbucci’s 1966 Django – and, when Tarantino remembers, some tight zooms. Elsewhere, it’s slow-motion shootouts cut to a booming hip hop soundtrack.

In the main, Django Unchained is mostly an exploitation/revenge film, about a slave who becomes a bounty hunter and goes after the plantation owner who owns his wife. There is good stuff: Christoph Waltz showboats as the charming, eloquent German bounty hunter Dr King Schultz who teams up with Django, while Leonardo diCaprio has great fun as the foppish Calvin Candie, the plantation owner with high falutin’ tastes and bad teeth. Between them, they dominate the film – Jamie Foxx, as Django, looks good in a hat, burgundy coat and round sunglasses, but struggles to make much impression. The first hour or so, as Django and Schultz traipse from Texas to Tennessee and Mississippi, has a loose, picaresque feel. It’s the best part of the film, bristling with a sharp wit and driven by Waltz’ baroque rhetoric and some beautiful cinematography from Bob Richardson – Django and Schultz riding through winter snows, the allusions to The Searchers and McCabe & Mrs Miller, which suggest tantalisingly that, if he really put his mind to it, Tarantino could make a terrific straight Western. Don Johnson, James Remar, James Russo, Bruce Dern and Jonah Hill cameo. There’s a great Klan joke, straight out of Blazing Saddles.

The second half is less successful. It’s not just that Kerry Washington’s Broomhilda, Django’s wife, feels barely drawn, although ample time is spent explicitly detailing the cruelties inflicted on her. It’s not just that Samuel L Jackson, as Candie’s “Uncle Tom” who runs the plantation on behalf of his master, is ham. It’s not just that the scam Schultz concocts to liberate Broomhilda is plainly stupid. Critically, it’s just not very interesting. A dinner table conversation crawls close to the hour mark before, finally, even Tarantino appears to lose interest in his own dialogue and unleashes the big shoot-out – Django’s revenge, blood and bodies everywhere. For a filmmaker who clearly sees himself as routinely crossing the line, mixing his shit up, it’s a remarkably predictable way out for this story: creatively, it finds him taking the path of least resistance.

Django Unchained is released in the UK on Friday, January 18

Uncut’s Top 50 of 2011; One Year On…

John Mulvey
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Uncut’s Top 50 of 2011; One Year On…

If you’re feeling withdrawal symptoms after the glut of end-of-year charts last month, I cooked this up for the latest edition of Uncut… Do end-of-year lists come out too early? Do they miss a lot of good albums released after votes have been submitted? And how much do our tastes change over time? To try and answer some of these – admittedly anal-retentive – questions, we decided to conduct an experiment. One year on, would our writers’ Top 50 of 2011 have changed much? Again, the Uncut team filed their votes, to produce a chart that we’ve placed alongside the original list below. As you can see, the Top Three remains the same, but there are big surges of support this time for Tom Waits and Kate Bush, whose albums hadn’t been heard by the entire electorate at time of voting. The Black Keys’ “El Camino” is a new entry (released December 5, 2011). The biggest loser, meanwhile, appears to be the Drive-By Truckers’ “Go-Go Boots”, dropping from Number 19 to nowhere, in a bout of Americana decks-shuffling. Fleet Foxes, Laura Marling and Josh Pearson plummeted, too. What does it all prove? Perhaps that, as a rule, our decisions about the best albums stay reasonably consistent, and that in an ideal world, with more flexible deadlines, we’d publish our lists later. Oh, and that there are few things music journalists enjoy more than compiling charts… THE ORIGINAL 2011 TOP 50 50. UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA Unknown Mortal Orchestra (TRUE PANTHER SOUNDS) 49. ARBOURETUM The Gathering (THRILL JOCKEY) 48. CORNERSHOP FEATURING BUBBLEY KAUR Cornershop And The Double O Groove Of (AMPLE PLAY) 47. THE CARETAKER An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (HISTORY ALWAYS FAVOURS THE WINNERS) 46. ICEAGE New Brigade (ABEANO) 45. MIKAL CRONIN Mikal Cronin (TROUBLE IN MIND) 44. TUNE-YARDS W H O K I L L (4AD) 43. ST VINCENT Strange Mercy (4AD) 42. JENNY HVAL Viscera (RUNE GRAMMOFON) 41. RAPHAEL SAADIQ Stone Rollin' (COLUMBIA) 40. KATE BUSH 50 Words For Snow (FISH PEOPLE/EMI) 39. DAWES Nothing Is Wrong (LOOSE) 38. HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER From Country Hai East Cotton (BLACKMAPS) 37. LITTLE DRAGON Ritual Union (PEACEFROG) 36. JONNY Jonny (ALSATIAN) 35. MY MORNING JACKET Circuital (V2) 34. FATOUMATA DIAWARA Fatou (WORLD CIRCUIT) 33. LOW C’Mon (SUB POP) 32. GIL SCOTT HERON & JAMIE XX We’re New Here (XL) 31. DESTROYER Kaputt (DEAD OCEANS) 30. TIM HECKER Ravedeath, 1972 (KRANKY) 29. PAUL SIMON So Beautiful Or So What (DECCA) 28. KING CREOSOTE & JON HOPKINS Diamond Mine (DOMINO) 27. BJÖRK Biophilia (ONE LITTLE INDIAN) 26. THE DECEMBERISTS The King Is Dead(ROUGH TRADE) 25. BILL CALLAHAN Apocalypse (DRAG CITY) 24. REAL ESTATE Days (DOMINO) 23. THURSTON MOORE Demolished Thoughts (MATADOR) 22. GANG GANG DANCE Eye Contact(4AD) 21. JAMES BLAKE James Blake (ATLAS) 20. RY COODER Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down (NONESUCH) 19. DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS Go-Go Boots (PLAY IT AGAIN SAM) 18. TINARIWEN Tassili (V2) 17. FEIST Metals (POLYDOR) 16. JONATHAN WILSON Gentle Spirit (BELLA UNION) 15. WILCO The Whole Love (DBPM/ANTI-) 14. KURT VILE Smoke Ring For My Halo(MATADOR) 13 TOM WAITS Bad As Me (ANTI-) 12. FLEET FOXES Helplessness Blues (BELLA UNION) 11. LAURA MARLING A Creature I Don't Know (VIRGIN) 10. THE WAR ON DRUGS Slave Ambient (SECRETLY CANADIAN) 9. BON IVER Bon Iver (4AD) 8. WILD BEASTS Smother (DOMINO) 7. RADIOHEAD The King Of Limbs (XL) 6. THE HORRORS Skying (XL) 5. JOSH T PEARSON Last Of The Country Gentlemen (MUTE) 4. WHITE DENIM D (DOWNTOWN) 3. METRONOMY The English Riviera (BECAUSE) 2. GILLIAN WELCH The Harrow & The Harvest (ACONY) 1. PJ HARVEY Let England Shake (ISLAND) 12 MONTHS ON - THE REVISED 2011 TOP 50 50. FUCKED UP – David Comes To Life (MATADOR) 49. RYAN ADAMS – Ashes And Fire (COLUMBIA) 48. A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN – A Winged Victory For The Sullen (ERASED TAPES) 47. FLEET FOXES Helplessness Blues (BELLA UNION) 46. ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER – Last Summer (MERGE) 45. PAUL SIMON So Beautiful Or So What (DECCA) 44. LITTLE DRAGON Ritual Union (PEACEFROG) 43. GRUFF RHYS – Hotel Shampoo (TURNSTILE) 42. OKKERVIL RIVER – I Am Very Far (JAGJAGUWAR) 41. IRON & WINE – Kiss Each Other Clean (4AD) 40. LAURA MARLING A Creature I Don't Know (VIRGIN) 39. FATOUMATA DIAWARA Fatou (WORLD CIRCUIT) 38. BJÖRK Biophilia (ONE LITTLE INDIAN) 37. ANNA CALVI – Anna Calvi (DOMINO) 36. ST VINCENT Strange Mercy (4AD) 35. KING CREOSOTE & JON HOPKINS Diamond Mine (DOMINO) 34. DESTROYER Kaputt (DEAD OCEANS) 33. THE LOW ANTHEM – Smart Flesh (BELLA UNION) 32. THE DECEMBERISTS The King Is Dead(ROUGH TRADE) 31. GANG GANG DANCE Eye Contact(4AD) 30. JONATHAN WILSON Gentle Spirit (BELLA UNION) 29. ICEAGE New Brigade (ABEANO) 28. JAMES BLAKE James Blake (ATLAS) 27. TIM HECKER Ravedeath, 1972 (KRANKY) 26. JAY-Z & KANYE WEST – Watch The Throne (DEF JAM) 25. ARBOURETUM The Gathering (THRILL JOCKEY) 24. TINARIWEN Tassili (V2) 23. LOW C’Mon (SUB POP) 22. JOSH T PEARSON Last Of The Country Gentlemen (MUTE) 21. RY COODER Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down (NONESUCH) 20. MIKAL CRONIN Mikal Cronin (TROUBLE IN MIND) 19. THE BLACK KEYS El Camino (NONESUCH) 18. FEIST Metals (POLYDOR) 17. WHITE DENIM D (DOWNTOWN) 16. LUKE HAINES - Nine and a Half Psychedelic Meditations On British Wrestling Of The 1970s And Early '80s (FANTASTIC PLASTIC) 15. REAL ESTATE Days (DOMINO) 14. THURSTON MOORE Demolished Thoughts (MATADOR) 13 WILD BEASTS Smother (DOMINO) 12. WILCO The Whole Love (DBPM/ANTI-) 11. THE HORRORS Skying (XL) 10. THE WAR ON DRUGS Slave Ambient (SECRETLY CANADIAN) 9. KURT VILE Smoke Ring For My Halo (MATADOR) 8. BON IVER Bon Iver (4AD) 7. BILL CALLAHAN Apocalypse (DRAG CITY) 6. KATE BUSH 50 Words For Snow (FISH PEOPLE/EMI) 5. RADIOHEAD The King Of Limbs (XL) 4. TOM WAITS Bad As Me (ANTI-) 3. METRONOMY The English Riviera (BECAUSE) 2. GILLIAN WELCH The Harrow & The Harvest (ACONY) 1. PJ HARVEY Let England Shake (ISLAND) # Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey Picture: Seamus Murphy

If you’re feeling withdrawal symptoms after the glut of end-of-year charts last month, I cooked this up for the latest edition of Uncut…

Do end-of-year lists come out too early? Do they miss a lot of good albums released after votes have been submitted? And how much do our tastes change over time? To try and answer some of these – admittedly anal-retentive – questions, we decided to conduct an experiment. One year on, would our writers’ Top 50 of 2011 have changed much? Again, the Uncut team filed their votes, to produce a chart that we’ve placed alongside the original list below.

As you can see, the Top Three remains the same, but there are big surges of support this time for Tom Waits and Kate Bush, whose albums hadn’t been heard by the entire electorate at time of voting. The Black Keys’ “El Camino” is a new entry (released December 5, 2011). The biggest loser, meanwhile, appears to be the Drive-By Truckers’ “Go-Go Boots”, dropping from Number 19 to nowhere, in a bout of Americana decks-shuffling. Fleet Foxes, Laura Marling and Josh Pearson plummeted, too.

What does it all prove? Perhaps that, as a rule, our decisions about the best albums stay reasonably consistent, and that in an ideal world, with more flexible deadlines, we’d publish our lists later. Oh, and that there are few things music journalists enjoy more than compiling charts…

THE ORIGINAL 2011 TOP 50

50. UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA Unknown Mortal Orchestra (TRUE PANTHER SOUNDS)

49. ARBOURETUM The Gathering (THRILL JOCKEY)

48. CORNERSHOP FEATURING BUBBLEY KAUR Cornershop And The Double O Groove Of (AMPLE PLAY)

47. THE CARETAKER An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (HISTORY ALWAYS FAVOURS THE WINNERS)

46. ICEAGE New Brigade (ABEANO)

45. MIKAL CRONIN Mikal Cronin (TROUBLE IN MIND)

44. TUNE-YARDS W H O K I L L (4AD)

43. ST VINCENT Strange Mercy (4AD)

42. JENNY HVAL Viscera (RUNE GRAMMOFON)

41. RAPHAEL SAADIQ Stone Rollin’ (COLUMBIA)

40. KATE BUSH 50 Words For Snow (FISH PEOPLE/EMI)

39. DAWES Nothing Is Wrong (LOOSE)

38. HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER From Country Hai East Cotton (BLACKMAPS)

37. LITTLE DRAGON Ritual Union (PEACEFROG)

36. JONNY Jonny (ALSATIAN)

35. MY MORNING JACKET Circuital (V2)

34. FATOUMATA DIAWARA Fatou (WORLD CIRCUIT)

33. LOW C’Mon (SUB POP)

32. GIL SCOTT HERON & JAMIE XX We’re New Here (XL)

31. DESTROYER Kaputt (DEAD OCEANS)

30. TIM HECKER Ravedeath, 1972 (KRANKY)

29. PAUL SIMON So Beautiful Or So What (DECCA)

28. KING CREOSOTE & JON HOPKINS Diamond Mine (DOMINO)

27. BJÖRK Biophilia (ONE LITTLE INDIAN)

26. THE DECEMBERISTS The King Is Dead(ROUGH TRADE)

25. BILL CALLAHAN Apocalypse (DRAG CITY)

24. REAL ESTATE Days (DOMINO)

23. THURSTON MOORE Demolished Thoughts (MATADOR)

22. GANG GANG DANCE Eye Contact(4AD)

21. JAMES BLAKE James Blake (ATLAS)

20. RY COODER Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down (NONESUCH)

19. DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS Go-Go Boots (PLAY IT AGAIN SAM)

18. TINARIWEN Tassili (V2)

17. FEIST Metals (POLYDOR)

16. JONATHAN WILSON Gentle Spirit (BELLA UNION)

15. WILCO The Whole Love (DBPM/ANTI-)

14. KURT VILE Smoke Ring For My Halo(MATADOR)

13 TOM WAITS Bad As Me (ANTI-)

12. FLEET FOXES Helplessness Blues (BELLA UNION)

11. LAURA MARLING A Creature I Don’t Know

(VIRGIN)

10. THE WAR ON DRUGS Slave Ambient (SECRETLY CANADIAN)

9. BON IVER Bon Iver (4AD)

8. WILD BEASTS Smother (DOMINO)

7. RADIOHEAD The King Of Limbs (XL)

6. THE HORRORS Skying (XL)

5. JOSH T PEARSON Last Of The Country Gentlemen (MUTE)

4. WHITE DENIM D (DOWNTOWN)

3. METRONOMY The English Riviera (BECAUSE)

2. GILLIAN WELCH The Harrow & The Harvest (ACONY)

1. PJ HARVEY Let England Shake (ISLAND)

12 MONTHS ON – THE REVISED 2011 TOP 50

50. FUCKED UP – David Comes To Life (MATADOR)

49. RYAN ADAMS – Ashes And Fire (COLUMBIA)

48. A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN – A Winged Victory For The Sullen (ERASED TAPES)

47. FLEET FOXES Helplessness Blues (BELLA UNION)

46. ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER – Last Summer (MERGE)

45. PAUL SIMON So Beautiful Or So What (DECCA)

44. LITTLE DRAGON Ritual Union (PEACEFROG)

43. GRUFF RHYS – Hotel Shampoo (TURNSTILE)

42. OKKERVIL RIVER – I Am Very Far (JAGJAGUWAR)

41. IRON & WINE – Kiss Each Other Clean (4AD)

40. LAURA MARLING A Creature I Don’t Know (VIRGIN)

39. FATOUMATA DIAWARA Fatou (WORLD CIRCUIT)

38. BJÖRK Biophilia (ONE LITTLE INDIAN)

37. ANNA CALVI – Anna Calvi (DOMINO)

36. ST VINCENT Strange Mercy (4AD)

35. KING CREOSOTE & JON HOPKINS Diamond Mine (DOMINO)

34. DESTROYER Kaputt (DEAD OCEANS)

33. THE LOW ANTHEM – Smart Flesh (BELLA UNION)

32. THE DECEMBERISTS The King Is Dead(ROUGH TRADE)

31. GANG GANG DANCE Eye Contact(4AD)

30. JONATHAN WILSON Gentle Spirit (BELLA UNION)

29. ICEAGE New Brigade (ABEANO)

28. JAMES BLAKE James Blake (ATLAS)

27. TIM HECKER Ravedeath, 1972 (KRANKY)

26. JAY-Z & KANYE WEST – Watch The Throne (DEF JAM)

25. ARBOURETUM The Gathering (THRILL JOCKEY)

24. TINARIWEN Tassili (V2)

23. LOW C’Mon (SUB POP)

22. JOSH T PEARSON Last Of The Country Gentlemen (MUTE)

21. RY COODER Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down (NONESUCH)

20. MIKAL CRONIN Mikal Cronin (TROUBLE IN MIND)

19. THE BLACK KEYS El Camino (NONESUCH)

18. FEIST Metals (POLYDOR)

17. WHITE DENIM D (DOWNTOWN)

16. LUKE HAINES – Nine and a Half Psychedelic Meditations On British Wrestling Of The 1970s And Early ’80s (FANTASTIC PLASTIC)

15. REAL ESTATE Days (DOMINO)

14. THURSTON MOORE Demolished Thoughts (MATADOR)

13 WILD BEASTS Smother (DOMINO)

12. WILCO The Whole Love (DBPM/ANTI-)

11. THE HORRORS Skying (XL)

10. THE WAR ON DRUGS Slave Ambient (SECRETLY CANADIAN)

9. KURT VILE Smoke Ring For My Halo (MATADOR)

8. BON IVER Bon Iver (4AD)

7. BILL CALLAHAN Apocalypse (DRAG CITY)

6. KATE BUSH 50 Words For Snow (FISH PEOPLE/EMI)

5. RADIOHEAD The King Of Limbs (XL)

4. TOM WAITS Bad As Me (ANTI-)

3. METRONOMY The English Riviera (BECAUSE)

2. GILLIAN WELCH The Harrow & The Harvest (ACONY)

1. PJ HARVEY Let England Shake (ISLAND)

#

Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

Picture: Seamus Murphy

Devendra Banhart reveals details of new album Mala

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Devendra Banhart reveals details of new album Mala
Devendra Banhart has revealed the tracklisting and release date for his new album, Mala. His eighth studio album will come out on March 11. Recorded in Los Angeles, Mala will be supported by a tour, details of which will be announced shortly. Banhart has said that the follow-up to 2009's What Will...

Devendra Banhart has revealed the tracklisting and release date for his new album, Mala.

His eighth studio album will come out on March 11. Recorded in Los Angeles, Mala will be supported by a tour, details of which will be announced shortly.

Banhart has said that the follow-up to 2009’s What Will We Be, was made using borrowed equipment and on a vintage Tascam recorder bought in a pawn shop.

He explained: “A lot of early hip-hop had been made on [the Tascam]. And knowing my songs are not hip-hop whatsoever, we thought it would be interesting to see how these kinds of songs would sound on equipment that was used to record our favorite rap. Let’s see how this technology would work for us.”

Banhart said that this approach, taken by him and collaborator and co-producer Noah Georgeson, was different to the ways in which they have previously worked. “In the past we were more like, let’s use the oldest equipment we could find,” he said.

The Mala tracklisting is:

‘Golden Girls’

‘Daniel’

‘Für Hildegard von Bingen’

‘Never Seen Such Good Things’

‘Mi Negrita’

‘Your Fine Petting Duck’

‘The Ballad of Keenan Milton’

‘A Gain’

‘Won’t You Come Over?’

‘Cristobal’

‘Hatchet Wound’

‘Mala’

‘Won’t You Come Home’

‘Taurobolium’

Mala can be pre-ordered now. Pre-orders come with a limited-edition, autographed print and an instant download of ‘Für Hildegard von Bingen’.

Wilko Johnson diagnosed with terminal cancer

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Wilko Johnson diagnosed with terminal cancer
Wilko Johnson has revealed that he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. His manager Robert Hoy used the Wilko Johnson Facebook page to make the announcement earlier today, confirming that the musician has decided not to seek treatment. He wrote: "I am very sad to announce that Wilko has recent...

Wilko Johnson has revealed that he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

His manager Robert Hoy used the Wilko Johnson Facebook page to make the announcement earlier today, confirming that the musician has decided not to seek treatment.

He wrote: “I am very sad to announce that Wilko has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer of the pancreas. He has chosen not to receive any chemotherapy. He is currently in good spirits, is not yet suffering any physical effects and can expect to enjoy at least another few months of reasonable health and activity.”

Continuing, the manager confirmed that Johnson plans to maintain an active work schedule. Hoy added: “He has just set off on a trip to Japan; on his return we plan to complete a new CD, make a short tour of France, then give a series of farewell gigs in the UK. There is also a live DVD in the pipeline, filmed on the last UK tour.”

Johnson, 65, played lead guitar with Dr Feelgood from the band’s formation in 1971 until he left in 1977. During his stint, the band scored a Number One album with their 1976 live LP ‘Stupidity’. After departing, Johnson played with The Blockheads for a brief spell in 1980 and released a succession of albums with The Wilko Johnson Band. His autobiography Looking Back At Me was published in June 2012.

Photo credit: Jerry Tremaine

Members of Fleetwood Mac, Nirvana, Foo Fighters for Dave Grohl’s Sound City supergroup

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Members of Fleetwood Mac, Nirvana, Foo Fighters for Dave Grohl’s Sound City supergroup
Dave Grohl's Sound City Players supergroup have revealed their all-star line-up. As well as Grohl, the band will comprise Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks, Nirvana's Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear, Creedence Clearwater Revival's John Fogerty, Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel and Chris Shiflett,...

Dave Grohl‘s Sound City Players supergroup have revealed their all-star line-up.

As well as Grohl, the band will comprise Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks, Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s John Fogerty, Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel and Chris Shiflett, Alain Johannes, Chris Goss, Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen, Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk and more.

The band will perform at this year’s Sundance Film Festival on January 18, with Grohl taking to the stage with musicians featured in his documentary on the Sound City recording studios in Van Nuys, California, which will premiere at the annual film festival in Park City, Utah.

The film also features Paul McCartney, who teamed up with Grohl to front a band comprising the former members of Nirvana at the 12-12-12 Sandy benefit concert in New York on December 12.

A studio recording of “Cut Me Some Slack”, the song the short-lived supergroup recorded for the film, was put online on December 17. Nirvana recorded their ‘Nevermind’ album at Sound City in 1991.

2013 promises to be a busy year for Grohl. He’ll be delivering the keynote speech at this year’s South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas on March 14, as well as drumming on the forthcoming Queens Of The Stone Age album.

U2’s The Edge launches Hurricane Sandy relief fund

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U2’s The Edge launches Hurricane Sandy relief fund

U2's The Edge has announced that his Music Rising charity has launched a Hurricane Sandy relief fund. The guitarist founded the group, alongside Gibson Guitar CEO Henry Juszkiewicz and producer Bob Ezri, to provide musical equipment and financial support to musicians, schools and community organisations affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The group has now shifted its attention to those who have been worst affected by Hurricane Sandy, which destroyed lives across the tri-state area of the United States of America in October 2012. Music Rising have donated an initial $250,000 to help rebuild school music programmes in the area affected and have asked for more donations to help other projects. For more information on Music Rising or to make a donation go to musicrising.org. The Edge joins a long-list of musicians who have helped raise money for those affected by Hurricane Sandy. Lady Gaga donated $1 million (£625,900) to the American Red Cross, while Rihanna donated $100,000 to the Food Bank of New York and raised funds at her album launch party. Meanwhile, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, The Who, Eric Clapton, Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Kanye West, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Coldplay's Chris Martin played the Hurricane Sandy relief concert in New York on December 12. Pic credit: Hamish Brown/NME/IPC+Syndication

U2’s The Edge has announced that his Music Rising charity has launched a Hurricane Sandy relief fund.

The guitarist founded the group, alongside Gibson Guitar CEO Henry Juszkiewicz and producer Bob Ezri, to provide musical equipment and financial support to musicians, schools and community organisations affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The group has now shifted its attention to those who have been worst affected by Hurricane Sandy, which destroyed lives across the tri-state area of the United States of America in October 2012.

Music Rising have donated an initial $250,000 to help rebuild school music programmes in the area affected and have asked for more donations to help other projects. For more information on Music Rising or to make a donation go to musicrising.org.

The Edge joins a long-list of musicians who have helped raise money for those affected by Hurricane Sandy. Lady Gaga donated $1 million (£625,900) to the American Red Cross, while Rihanna donated $100,000 to the Food Bank of New York and raised funds at her album launch party.

Meanwhile, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, The Who, Eric Clapton, Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Kanye West, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Coldplay’s Chris Martin played the Hurricane Sandy relief concert in New York on December 12.

Pic credit: Hamish Brown/NME/IPC+Syndication

Watch Morrissey perform live on the Late Show With David Letterman

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Watch Morrissey perform live on the Late Show With David Letterman
Morrissey performed live on The Late Show With David Letterman last night [January 8]. The singer and his band played "Action Is My Middle Name". Scroll down to watch the performance. Morrissey's appearance on Letterman came ahead of his rescheduled North American tour dates. He was originally sc...

Morrissey performed live on The Late Show With David Letterman last night [January 8].

The singer and his band played “Action Is My Middle Name“. Scroll down to watch the performance.

Morrissey’s appearance on Letterman came ahead of his rescheduled North American tour dates. He was originally scheduled to play a handful of shows last October, but postponed them after his mother fell ill.

Morrissey’s current run of American shows begins tonight [January 9] at Tilles Center for Performing Arts in Brookville, New York.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQAKetuk_Yc

Pic credit: Travis Shinn

Suede unveil video for new track ‘Barriers’ – watch

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Suede unveil video for new track ‘Barriers’ – watch
Suede have unveiled a video for their new track 'Barriers' - scroll down and click 'play' to watch it. The low-key video, shot in black and white, shows the band performing the song in a rehearsal room. 'Barriers', given away as a free download yesterday (January 7), is the first track to be heard ...

Suede have unveiled a video for their new track ‘Barriers’ – scroll down and click ‘play’ to watch it.

The low-key video, shot in black and white, shows the band performing the song in a rehearsal room. ‘Barriers’, given away as a free download yesterday (January 7), is the first track to be heard from the band’s new album Bloodsports, which is due in March. An official single, titled ‘It Starts And Ends With You’, will precede the album in February.

Speaking about ‘Barriers‘ recently, frontman Brett Anderson told NME: “After a year of sweating and bleeding over the record it’s finally finished so we wanted to get some music out there as soon as we could. ‘Barriers’ isn’t the first single but we are proud enough of it to just chuck it out there and thought that its pulsing, romantic swell somehow summed up the feel of the album quite nicely.”

Discussing the album, the band’s first in 11 years, Anderson added: “[It’s] called Bloodsports. It’s about lust, it’s about the chase, it’s about the endless carnal game of love. It was possibly the hardest we ever made but certainly is the most satisfying. It’s 10 furious songs have reclaimed for me what Suede was always about: drama, melody and noise.”

To coincide with the release of the album, Suede have announced a huge London show at Alexandra Palace. The band will headline at the prestigious venue on Saturday, March 30. Tickets are available now.

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