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R.E.M – Document reissue

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R.E.M – Document reissue

25th anniversary reissue, accompanied by contemporaneous live show... “I don’t know if I have any commercial expectations for this one at all,” Peter Buck told Rolling Stone prior to the release of R.E.M.’s fifth album. “I don’t see this as the record that’s going to blast apart the chart. Although you never know. Weirder things have happened.” Indeed. If 1986’s Lifes Rich Pageant had marked the beginnings of R.E.M.’s emergence from their cocoon of indie diffidence, 1987’s Document was where they first properly reconciled themselves to their destiny as the only group of the 1980s American college-rock milieu to graduate to stadiums, and stay there. This remastered 25th anniversary double-CD edition of “Document” – also available in 180-gram vinyl – is packaged with a complete concert, recorded on the subsequent “Work” tour on September 14th, 1987, at Utrecht’s Musiekcentrum Vredenberg: the previously unreleased show just about triumphs over a tinny, clattering sound, amounting to a twenty-track Greatest Hits of R.E.M.’s pre-Warners period. The Dutch crowd, clearly still unfamiliar with the new work, don’t quite hit their cue on the “Leonard Bernstein!” exclamation, but are properly hushed for the mournful, half-paced closer of “So. Central Rain”. For all Buck’s pre-release expectation-lowering vis-a-vis Document, it is barely conceivable that the man who’d just recorded the guitars on “The One I Love”, which sounded like a Byrds song played by U2, was entirely astonished when Document went swiftly platinum (Buck would have had cause, however, to be baffled when “The One I Love” became a popular wedding tune, hopefully only among couples who hadn’t quite heard the bit about “A simple prop/To occupy my time”). Document was appropriately titled. It was, fairly straightforwardly – in conception if not execution – intended as R.E.M.’s state-of-the-nation address. Given that the nation whose state R.E.M. were addressing was the piously purse-lipped yet triumphally patriotic United States which had been dominated for seven years by Ronald Reagan, it does R.E.M. considerable credit – though the United States possibly less so – that Document has weathered a quarter century so well. Some of the praise for this should be directed towards producer Scott Litt, beginning a long association with the band. Litt disdained most of the defining sonic tropes of the late 1980s – although a suspicion that Mike Mills applies his thumb to the bass in the coda of “Finest Worksong” cannot be ruled out. Document mostly endures, however, because R.E.M. resisted the temptation which often overwhelms the youngish and politically agitated: at no point did Document seize by the lapels and rant, instead making its points with an obliqueness that verged on the Dada. The elegiac “Fireplace” reacted to the “Crazy crazy world” and these “crazy crazy times” by commanding “Clear the floor to dance”. Wire’s “Strange”, rendered even more fidgety and frenetic than the original, was recalibrated as the inchoate indignantion of someone slowly figuring out that the world isn’t fair (the line “There’s something going on that’s not quite right” could have been an alternative title of the album). “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” was (thirteen years early) a 21st century “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, a playful and deliriously jumbled portent of apocalypse. Even when Document was relatively obvious, the emphasis was firmly on the “relatively”. “Welcome To The Occupation” was a hazy survey of the same Central American frontlines previously depicted on “Flowers Of Guatemala” and “Green Grow The Rushes”. The jaunty “Exhuming McCarthy” – a template for the subsequent “Stand” and “Pop Song 89”, more of what Buck once defined as R.E.M.’s “vampire surf guitar funk” – invoked Senator Joe McCarthy, the demented Wisconsonian witchhunter of the 1950s, as the eternal bogeyman of R.E.M.’s fellow fretfully paranoid liberals. The sample of US Army counsel Joseph Welch’s famous rebuke to McCarthy – “Have you no sense of decency, Sir?” – was, in this context, another iteration of the question asked of America by generations of protest singers, in whose ranks R.E.M. had formally, if hesitantly, enlisted themselves. EXTRAS: Liner notes by David Daley, four postcards, and a complete concert. Andrew Mueller

25th anniversary reissue, accompanied by contemporaneous live show…

“I don’t know if I have any commercial expectations for this one at all,” Peter Buck told Rolling Stone prior to the release of R.E.M.’s fifth album. “I don’t see this as the record that’s going to blast apart the chart. Although you never know. Weirder things have happened.”

Indeed. If 1986’s Lifes Rich Pageant had marked the beginnings of R.E.M.’s emergence from their cocoon of indie diffidence, 1987’s Document was where they first properly reconciled themselves to their destiny as the only group of the 1980s American college-rock milieu to graduate to stadiums, and stay there. This remastered 25th anniversary double-CD edition of “Document” – also available in 180-gram vinyl – is packaged with a complete concert, recorded on the subsequent “Work” tour on September 14th, 1987, at Utrecht’s Musiekcentrum Vredenberg: the previously unreleased show just about triumphs over a tinny, clattering sound, amounting to a twenty-track Greatest Hits of R.E.M.’s pre-Warners period. The Dutch crowd, clearly still unfamiliar with the new work, don’t quite hit their cue on the “Leonard Bernstein!” exclamation, but are properly hushed for the mournful, half-paced closer of “So. Central Rain”.

For all Buck’s pre-release expectation-lowering vis-a-vis Document, it is barely conceivable that the man who’d just recorded the guitars on “The One I Love”, which sounded like a Byrds song played by U2, was entirely astonished when Document went swiftly platinum (Buck would have had cause, however, to be baffled when “The One I Love” became a popular wedding tune, hopefully only among couples who hadn’t quite heard the bit about “A simple prop/To occupy my time”).

Document was appropriately titled. It was, fairly straightforwardly – in conception if not execution – intended as R.E.M.’s state-of-the-nation address. Given that the nation whose state R.E.M. were addressing was the piously purse-lipped yet triumphally patriotic United States which had been dominated for seven years by Ronald Reagan, it does R.E.M. considerable credit – though the United States possibly less so – that Document has weathered a quarter century so well. Some of the praise for this should be directed towards producer Scott Litt, beginning a long association with the band. Litt disdained most of the defining sonic tropes of the late 1980s – although a suspicion that Mike Mills applies his thumb to the bass in the coda of “Finest Worksong” cannot be ruled out.

Document mostly endures, however, because R.E.M. resisted the temptation which often overwhelms the youngish and politically agitated: at no point did Document seize by the lapels and rant, instead making its points with an obliqueness that verged on the Dada. The elegiac “Fireplace” reacted to the “Crazy crazy world” and these “crazy crazy times” by commanding “Clear the floor to dance”. Wire’s “Strange”, rendered even more fidgety and frenetic than the original, was recalibrated as the inchoate indignantion of someone slowly figuring out that the world isn’t fair (the line “There’s something going on that’s not quite right” could have been an alternative title of the album). “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” was (thirteen years early) a 21st century “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, a playful and deliriously jumbled portent of apocalypse.

Even when Document was relatively obvious, the emphasis was firmly on the “relatively”. “Welcome To The Occupation” was a hazy survey of the same Central American frontlines previously depicted on “Flowers Of Guatemala” and “Green Grow The Rushes”. The jaunty “Exhuming McCarthy” – a template for the subsequent “Stand” and “Pop Song 89”, more of what Buck once defined as R.E.M.’s “vampire surf guitar funk” – invoked Senator Joe McCarthy, the demented Wisconsonian witchhunter of the 1950s, as the eternal bogeyman of R.E.M.’s fellow fretfully paranoid liberals. The sample of US Army counsel Joseph Welch’s famous rebuke to McCarthy – “Have you no sense of decency, Sir?” – was, in this context, another iteration of the question asked of America by generations of protest singers, in whose ranks R.E.M. had formally, if hesitantly, enlisted themselves.

EXTRAS: Liner notes by David Daley, four postcards, and a complete concert.

Andrew Mueller

Kraftwerk, Donna Summer, Public Enemy nominated for Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

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Kraftwerk, Donna Summer, Public Enemy nominated for Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

Donna Summer, Kraftwerk and Public Enemy are among the nominations for 2013's Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. The other hopefuls are Chic, Rush, Albert King, Heart, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Black Sabbath, The Marvellettes, The Meters, NWA, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Procul Harum and Randy Newman. Those with the most votes will be inducted on April 18, 2013 at the Nokia Theatre in LA and, for the first time, the public gets to vote alongside the artists, historians and music industry insiders of the Rock Hall voting committee. From now until December 5 you can vote via Rolling Stone. At the 2012 event, the chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominating committee had said he regretted that Donna Summer was never inducted prior to her death. Speaking to the New York Times, Jon Landau said: "There is absolutely no doubt that the extraordinary Donna Summer belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Regrettably, despite being nominated on a number of occasions, our voting group has failed to recognise her - an error I can only hope is finally and permanently rectified next year." Summer was born in Massachusetts in 1948 and began her career as a backing singer for 1970s trio Three Dog Night. She released her first solo album in 1974 and hit Number One in the UK in 1977 with the groundbreaking Giorgio Moroder-produced "I Feel Love". She died at the age of 63 in May 2012 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Donna Summer, Kraftwerk and Public Enemy are among the nominations for 2013’s Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.

The other hopefuls are Chic, Rush, Albert King, Heart, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Black Sabbath, The Marvellettes, The Meters, NWA, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Procul Harum and Randy Newman.

Those with the most votes will be inducted on April 18, 2013 at the Nokia Theatre in LA and, for the first time, the public gets to vote alongside the artists, historians and music industry insiders of the Rock Hall voting committee. From now until December 5 you can vote via Rolling Stone.

At the 2012 event, the chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominating committee had said he regretted that Donna Summer was never inducted prior to her death.

Speaking to the New York Times, Jon Landau said: “There is absolutely no doubt that the extraordinary Donna Summer belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Regrettably, despite being nominated on a number of occasions, our voting group has failed to recognise her – an error I can only hope is finally and permanently rectified next year.”

Summer was born in Massachusetts in 1948 and began her career as a backing singer for 1970s trio Three Dog Night. She released her first solo album in 1974 and hit Number One in the UK in 1977 with the groundbreaking Giorgio Moroder-produced “I Feel Love”. She died at the age of 63 in May 2012 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Bill Ward: “If there is some longevity with Black Sabbath, then I’d like to be part of it”

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Bill Ward: “If there is some longevity with Black Sabbath, then I’d like to be part of it”

Estranged Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward has spoken out after parting ways with the heavy metal titans over the summer. Speaking to Eagles Of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes in On The Road - Black Sabbath and the Birth of Heavy Metal - which you can view at Vice.com - Ward said that he hopes to make amends with the band, who recently played a number of comeback shows without him. Ward said: "If there is some longevity with Black Sabbath, then I'd like to be part of it". He added:" I wanna play hard rock music. I wanna play loud drums. I love playing with Terry [Geezer Butler, bass]. I love playing with Oz [Osbourne, vocals]. And I love playing with Tony [Iommi, guitar]. When Tony opens up with huge chords man, I still get the same shiver up my back than I did when we were eighteen year old kids." In May of this year, Ward issued a statement which explained that he would not be taking part in any of the Black Sabbath shows set for the summer, following on from previous claims he'd made that he had been unhappy with the contract he'd been offered to work on the band's new album and tour. Geezer Butler then claimed that estranged drummer Bill Ward's contract demands for the summer shows were "a joke". According to Blabbermouth, Butler said it was "sad to see the Sabbath reunion tour becoming a bit of a soap opera on the internet." Black Sabbath headlined Download Festival and also played a small show at Birmingham's O2 Academy and well as headlining Lollapalooza in Chicago in August, all with a replacement drummer.

Estranged Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward has spoken out after parting ways with the heavy metal titans over the summer.

Speaking to Eagles Of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes in On The Road – Black Sabbath and the Birth of Heavy Metal – which you can view at

Vice.com – Ward said that he hopes to make amends with the band, who recently played a number of comeback shows without him.

Ward said: “If there is some longevity with Black Sabbath, then I’d like to be part of it”. He added:” I wanna play hard rock music. I wanna play loud drums. I love playing with Terry [Geezer Butler, bass]. I love playing with Oz [Osbourne, vocals]. And I love playing with Tony [Iommi, guitar]. When Tony opens up with huge chords man, I still get the same shiver up my back than I did when we were eighteen year old kids.”

In May of this year, Ward issued a statement which explained that he would not be taking part in any of the Black Sabbath shows set for the summer, following on from previous claims he’d made that he had been unhappy with the contract he’d been offered to work on the band’s new album and tour.

Geezer Butler then claimed that estranged drummer Bill Ward’s contract demands for the summer shows were “a joke”. According to Blabbermouth, Butler said it was “sad to see the Sabbath reunion tour becoming a bit of a soap opera on the internet.”

Black Sabbath headlined Download Festival and also played a small show at Birmingham’s O2 Academy and well as headlining Lollapalooza in Chicago in August, all with a replacement drummer.

The Pogues announce 30th anniversary show

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The Pogues announce 30th anniversary show

The Pogues will celebrate their 30th anniversary with a one-off UK date this year. The band will play London's 02 Arena on December 20. The current line up is Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy, Jem Finer, James Fearnley, Andrew Ranken, Philip Chevron, Terry Woods and Darryl Hunt. Tickets are £45.00/£35.00/£32.50 and go on sale on Friday, October 5 at 9:30am. They're available from http://www.gigsandtours.com/Tour/THE-POGUES/. According to a listing on Amazon.fr, the band are also releasing a live DVD/Blu-ray/CD recorded last month in Paris. The Pogues in Paris – 30th Anniversary Concert Live At The Olympia is scheduled for release on November 12 through Universal.

The Pogues will celebrate their 30th anniversary with a one-off UK date this year.

The band will play London’s 02 Arena on December 20.

The current line up is Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy, Jem Finer, James Fearnley, Andrew Ranken, Philip Chevron, Terry Woods and Darryl Hunt.

Tickets are £45.00/£35.00/£32.50 and go on sale on Friday, October 5 at 9:30am. They’re available from http://www.gigsandtours.com/Tour/THE-POGUES/.

According to a listing on Amazon.fr, the band are also releasing a live DVD/Blu-ray/CD recorded last month in Paris. The Pogues in Paris – 30th Anniversary Concert Live At The Olympia is scheduled for release on November 12 through Universal.

Jack White’s Third Man outfit announce plans for “Rocktober”

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Jack White’s Third Man outfit announce plans for “Rocktober”

The Shins, The Kills and Seasick Steve are to record live albums at shows at Jack White's Third Man Records complex during "Rocktober". The Shins are to appear on October 6, while The Kills will perform on October 10, Olivia Watt on October 23 and Seasick Steve on October 26. The shows being recorded and released individually on the Third Man label. White's Third Man building incorporates a live venue, studio and shop. Undergoing renovations for much of the summer, the live events mark its grand reopening in what the Third Man website describe as “Rocktober”. Since opening in 2001, White’s studio has hosted acts including Wanda Jackson and White's own group The Dead Weather. On Saturday (September 29), Jack White angered fans at his show at Radio City, New York by ending his set after one hour. The former White Stripes man was playing the first of two nights at Manhattan's Radio City Music Hall when he abruptly cut his set short, walking off stage after playing for an hour less than a typical gig on his current tour. Jack White will return to the UK and Ireland next month when he brings his Blunderbuss tour back to Europe. The tour includes a show at Blackpool's Empress Ballroom, the venue where The White Stripes recorded their first live DVD Under Blackpool Lights. Jack White will play: O2 Arena Dublin (October 31) London Alexandra Palace (November 2, 3) Bridlington Spa (4) Blackpool Empress Ballroom (6) O2 Academy Birmingham (7) Edinburgh Usher Hall (8) Photo credit: Jo McCaughey

The Shins, The Kills and Seasick Steve are to record live albums at shows at Jack White’s Third Man Records complex during “Rocktober”.

The Shins are to appear on October 6, while The Kills will perform on October 10, Olivia Watt on October 23 and Seasick Steve on October 26. The shows being recorded and released individually on the Third Man label.

White’s Third Man building incorporates a live venue, studio and shop. Undergoing renovations for much of the summer, the live events mark its grand reopening in what the Third Man website describe as “Rocktober”. Since opening in 2001, White’s studio has hosted acts including Wanda Jackson and White’s own group The Dead Weather.

On Saturday (September 29), Jack White angered fans at his show at Radio City, New York by ending his set after one hour. The former White Stripes man was playing the first of two nights at Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall when he abruptly cut his set short, walking off stage after playing for an hour less than a typical gig on his current tour.

Jack White will return to the UK and Ireland next month when he brings his Blunderbuss tour back to Europe. The tour includes a show at Blackpool’s Empress Ballroom, the venue where The White Stripes recorded their first live DVD Under Blackpool Lights.

Jack White will play:

O2 Arena Dublin (October 31)

London Alexandra Palace (November 2, 3)

Bridlington Spa (4)

Blackpool Empress Ballroom (6)

O2 Academy Birmingham (7)

Edinburgh Usher Hall (8)

Photo credit: Jo McCaughey

The 40th Uncut Playlist Of 2012

John Mulvey
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The 40th Uncut Playlist Of 2012

I’ve not always had much time for the cult of Brian Eno, and for a lot of the music he’s been involved with in the last 20 or 30 years (I used this piece about Blues Control & Laraaji’s wonderful record to take a few swipes). As I type this morning, though, I’m once again deep into “Lux”, a straight-up ambient jam that lasts for 75 minutes and is the first Eno record I’ve really engaged with in a long time. This week’s playlist bears witness, too, to the fact I’ve revisited “Neroli” for the first time in ages: Eno cites it as a “Thinking Music” precursor of “Lux”, though the former sounds a good deal more sinister to me. Longish review coming in the next issue of Uncut (one excuse for why I haven’t blogged yet this week). Other notable arrivals here, anyhow: the Arbouretum, and the first Fontanelle album in about a decade, which is basically a bunch of Sunn O))) outriders doing an uncanny homage to early ‘70s Miles Davis. Oh, and this week’s new Hiss Golden Messenger thing, of course. Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey 1 Brian Eno – Lux (Warp) 2 Arbouretum – Coming Out Of The Fog (Thrill Jockey) 3 Fontanelle – Vitamin F (Southern Lord) 4 Allah-Las – Busman’s Holiday (Innovative Leisure) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpRh5bChBSM 5 Bee Mask – Vaporware/Scanops (Room 40) 6 Hiss Golden Messenger – Lord I Love The Rain (Jellyfant) 7 Matthew E White – Big Inner (Hometapes) 8 Aztec Camera – High Land Hard Rain: Expanded Edition (Edsel) 9 Brian Eno – Neroli (All Saints) 10 Zombie Zombie – Rituels D’Un Nouveau Monde (Versatile) 11 The Cairo Gang – The Corner Man (Empty Cellar) 12 Pelt – Effigy (MIE) 13 Stonewall – Outer Spaced (www.noisey.vice.com) 14 Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin – Instrumental Tourist (Software)

I’ve not always had much time for the cult of Brian Eno, and for a lot of the music he’s been involved with in the last 20 or 30 years (I used this piece about Blues Control & Laraaji’s wonderful record to take a few swipes).

As I type this morning, though, I’m once again deep into “Lux”, a straight-up ambient jam that lasts for 75 minutes and is the first Eno record I’ve really engaged with in a long time. This week’s playlist bears witness, too, to the fact I’ve revisited “Neroli” for the first time in ages: Eno cites it as a “Thinking Music” precursor of “Lux”, though the former sounds a good deal more sinister to me. Longish review coming in the next issue of Uncut (one excuse for why I haven’t blogged yet this week).

Other notable arrivals here, anyhow: the Arbouretum, and the first Fontanelle album in about a decade, which is basically a bunch of Sunn O))) outriders doing an uncanny homage to early ‘70s Miles Davis. Oh, and this week’s new Hiss Golden Messenger thing, of course.

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

1 Brian Eno – Lux (Warp)

2 Arbouretum – Coming Out Of The Fog (Thrill Jockey)

3 Fontanelle – Vitamin F (Southern Lord)

4 Allah-Las – Busman’s Holiday (Innovative Leisure)

5 Bee Mask – Vaporware/Scanops (Room 40)

6 Hiss Golden Messenger – Lord I Love The Rain (Jellyfant)

7 Matthew E White – Big Inner (Hometapes)

8 Aztec Camera – High Land Hard Rain: Expanded Edition (Edsel)

9 Brian Eno – Neroli (All Saints)

10 Zombie Zombie – Rituels D’Un Nouveau Monde (Versatile)

11 The Cairo Gang – The Corner Man (Empty Cellar)

12 Pelt – Effigy (MIE)

13 Stonewall – Outer Spaced (www.noisey.vice.com)

14 Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin – Instrumental Tourist (Software)

Dave Grohl confirms Foo Fighters hiatus

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Dave Grohl confirms Foo Fighters hiatus
Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has released a statement concerning rumours that the rock titans were to split. On Saturday (September 30), during the band's set at the Global Citizen Festival in New York's Central Park, Grohl told the 60,000 strong crowd: "This is it, man. We don't have any [show...

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has released a statement concerning rumours that the rock titans were to split.

On Saturday (September 30), during the band’s set at the Global Citizen Festival in New York’s Central Park, Grohl told the 60,000 strong crowd: “This is it, man. We don’t have any [shows] after this.”

However, yesterday a spokesperson for the band told MTV that that Foo Fighters are “definitely not breaking up”. Now Grohl has pitched in with comments of his own, securing a safe future for the band. The former Nirvana drummer said: There were times when I didn’t think the band would survive. There were times when I wanted to give up. But… I can’t give up this band. And I never will. Because it’s not just a band to me. It’s my life. It’s my family. It’s my world.

He opened the statement – via MTV News – by writing:

“Dave here. Just wanted to write and thank you all again from the bottom of my heart for another incredible year. We truly never could have done any of this without you… Never in my wildest dreams did I think Foo Fighters would make it this far. I never thought we COULD make it this far, to be honest.”

He added that he was being serious however, when he said the band would not be playing any live shows for some time. “I’m not sure when the Foo Fighters are going to play again,” he said.

He continued: “It feels strange to say that, but it’s a good thing for all of us to go away for a while. It’s one of the reasons we’re still here. Make sense? I never want to NOT be in this band. So, sometimes it’s good to just… put it back in the garage for a while… But, no gold watches or vacations just yet.”

Damon Albarn plays secret show with Bobby Womack

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Damon Albarn plays secret show with Bobby Womack
Damon Albarn last night [October 1] performed a secret, last-minute show with soul singer Bobby Womack at the Notting Hill Arts Club. The impromptu gig was announced via the XL Recordings Twitter account on Friday evening [October 29], and followers were invited to email for the chance to win tick...

Damon Albarn last night [October 1] performed a secret, last-minute show with soul singer Bobby Womack at the Notting Hill Arts Club.

The impromptu gig was announced via the XL Recordings Twitter account on Friday evening [October 29], and followers were invited to email for the chance to win tickets.

Albarn and Womack, who released his 2012 album The Bravest Man In The Universe earlier this year, were joined by Richard Russell, the owner of XL, on drum machines, producer Kwes on keyboards, TV On The Radio’s Jaleel Bunton on bass and Remi Kabaka on percussion.

Womack began with an instrumental version of “Dayglo Reflection” before launching into “Deep River”, which he dedicated to XL, calling the label “the best family I’ve ever been in”. After singing “Please Forgive My Heart” and “The Bravest Man In the Universe”, Womack ended the performance with “Jubilee”. The set was taken entirely from his latest album, except from a version of “If You Don’t Want My Love (Give It Back)” from his 1971 album “Communication”.

The concert was attended by an audience of 100, including Lizzie Jagger, Mark Ronson and Ronson’s French actress wife Josephine De La Baume. Ronson and Oneman DJ-ed.

Womack’s band played:

‘Dayglo Reflection (instrumental)’

‘Deep River’

‘If You Don’t Want My love’

‘Please Forgive My Heart’

‘The Bravest Man In The Universe’

‘Jubilee’

Metallica: ‘Our new album’s happening soon’

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Metallica: ‘Our new album’s happening soon’
Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett has confirmed that the metallers will start work on their new album "soon". The band, who are currently working on a 3D film project, which is helmed by Predators director Nimród Antal, will start work on the follow-up to 2008's Death Magnetic soon, Hammett told R...

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett has confirmed that the metallers will start work on their new album “soon”.

The band, who are currently working on a 3D film project, which is helmed by Predators director Nimród Antal, will start work on the follow-up to 2008’s Death Magnetic soon, Hammett told Rolling Stone.

Following drummer Lars Ulrich’s comments that the band already had “tons of ideas sitting around”, he said:

“Right now, we’re kind of preoccupied with dealing with this 3D movie that we shot up in Canada last month. So that’s kind of taking our time right now – that’s the priority, to deal with that. But once we’re done with that, we’re going to start hunkering down and putting riffs together. That’s all going to happen soon.”

When asked whether Rick Rubin would be on production duties again, he said: “I really don’t have an answer about Rick Rubin, although his name certainly comes up.”

Hammett also reminisced about his memories of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain. When asked if “Whiplash” was Cobain’s favourite Metallica track, he said: “Absolutely. He told me that himself. He came to one of our shows in Seattle, on the ‘Black Album’ tour. I remember at one point, we were playing “Whiplash,” and he looked at me and kept punching the air with his fist, and gave me a big thumbs-up sign. I was like, ‘Cool. Kurt, I know you love this song. This one’s for you!'”

He added: “I knew Kurt kind of well, and I hung out with him quite a bit. He was a pretty big Metallica fan – I was surprised at how much of a Metallica fan he was. He loved Ride the Lightning. He loved that album.”

Hammett is due to publish a new coffee-table book Too Much Horror Business: The Kirk Hammett Collection featuring images of his most prized possessions from his horror film memorabilia collection.

The Smiths reunion denied by Johnny Marr’s manager

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The Smiths reunion denied by Johnny Marr’s manager
Johnny Marr's manager, Joe Moss, has flatly denied any truth in the latest Smiths reunion rumours, telling NME: "It isn't happening. We are fully focused on preparing Johnny's new album for release and booking shows for 2013." Yesterday (October 1), celebrity gossip site Holy Moly created an onlin...

Johnny Marr‘s manager, Joe Moss, has flatly denied any truth in the latest Smiths reunion rumours, telling NME: “It isn’t happening. We are fully focused on preparing Johnny’s new album for release and booking shows for 2013.”

Yesterday (October 1), celebrity gossip site Holy Moly created an online buzz by posting an article claiming “several credible sources” had confirmed that The Smiths would reform for four 2013 shows, including Glastonbury Festival.

They reported that the reunion was a “done deal” but had conflicting reports on who was reuniting. One of their sources claimed all four members would returns to the fold, while another said Mike Joyce would not be re-joining the legendary Manchester band.

The rumour was given extra leverage when, in a recent interview with Australia’s Courier Mail, lead singer Morrissey claimed that, following his 2009 solo appearance, agents for California’s Coachella festival offered to stage a 100 percent vegetarian event if he agreed to headline with Johnny Marr as the Smiths.

Back in February, Marr told NME that he would reform The Smiths if the current coalition government steps down, commenting: “We won’t be reforming this week. Maybe if the government stepped down. If this government stepped down, I’ll reform the band. How’s that? That’s a fair trade, isn’t it? I think the country would be better off, don’t you? I’ll do it if the coalition steps down.”

The Beatles, Magical Mystery Tour And The Ghosts Of Christmas Past

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The Beatles, Magical Mystery Tour And The Ghosts Of Christmas Past

Boxing Day, 1967, and The Beatles’ new film, something called Magical Mystery Tour, is about to be shown for the first time, broadcast by the BBC, fans looking forward to what surely will be a highlight of the Christmas television schedules, a welcome respite to those of a certain age from the usual seasonal fare of old movies and light entertainment, all that stuff that they usually show to keep the old folks happy over the holidays. As usual, our house has been full all day, following the boisterous afternoon arrival of relatives, an uncommonly merry throng, who are quickly knocking back every drink they can lay their hands on and thus by mid-evening are mostly pretty plastered and given therefore to much raucous playfulness and bouts of singing, a regrettable noise for the most part, led by my Uncle Ken in a party hat. He first of all commands the floor with a fearfully raucous version of Ken Dodd’s “Happiness”. When his jocular mood turns suddenly maudlin, as it usually does at such gatherings, a spectacularly tearful interpretation follows of “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?”, that makes him sob quite uncontrollably, like someone who’s lost everything in disastrous circumstances that have left him wholly bereft, the end of the world itself unlikely to make him more distraught. Everyone shouts at him to stop what’s by now become an unearthly caterwauling, the keening wails of the recently bereaved, his wife, my Auntie Jenny, to whom his spectacularly lachrymose performance has been presumably directed, chief among those threatening him with violence if he doesn’t shape up and pull himself together. At the high point of his wretched blubbing, she fetches him what from where I’m sitting in front of the TV appears to be a rather brutal thwack between his heaving shoulder blades with her handbag, which she wields with enough force to knock down a small wall, a well-practised swing it looks like to me. In an earlier tantrum I had insisted in a fit of the foot-stamping histrionics that I was expert at that whatever else was on Boxing night TV, we had to watch this Beatles film, Magical Mystery Tour, and bugger the relatives, who would just have to sit through it, and hopefully without noisy complaint, witless comment, muttering disparagement or elsewhere any evidence of the teeth-sucking disdain in which pop music in any manifestation was held by them. It helped a little that we’d be watching The Beatles, who by virtue of a certain cheeky mop-top wholesomeness were not quite seen to be allied to the forces of an appalling darkness that most pop groups of the era were taken to be. The Rolling Stones, particularly, were, in the collective opinion of these disapproving elders, mere degenerates, obnoxious, vile and fit for not much more than a public whipping. There were people here who would probably rather set the TV on fire than watch the Stones on it, even if it meant the house burning down. So there anyway we all were, the family gathered around in what by then was something less than yuletide harmony with clucking aunts, boozy uncles, snotty wheedling cousins. From the latter’s collective disinterested slouch you could tell they’d been dragged from their own homes under the promise of unavoidable punishment if they dared misbehave. They sat therefore in sullen misery, all the woes of the world as nothing compared to their current sulking distress. When the programme starts, I make clear with a glare that, you know, I’d like the next 60 minutes or so to pass without disruptive intervention, distracting chat or, God forbid, any singing. Uncle Ken is thankfully very quickly asleep, party hat askew on his head. For about 10 minutes, everyone else assumes a stoic sort of silence, baffled by the lysergic whimsy on screen, The Beatles on their charabanc going who knows where with no great apparent purpose. The film’s fairly free form aimlessness soon becomes, however, a sore test of their patience, which you can almost hear being scraped to the bone. The longer it goes on, the more uncomfortable everyone gets, no one terribly amused, entertained or otherwise engaged by what they’re watching, which even I have to admit is beginning to feel like a bit of a let down, although torture wouldn’t have made me confess to even the most fleeting disappointment. As Magical Mystery Tour ends, though, the rest of the family, and all those uncles and aunts and cousins, are grim-faced, their own glum assessment of what they’ve sat through echoed loudly the next day when the critics rip into the film, which they all seem to think has been a disaster. I couldn’t quite muster up the enthusiasm to watch it again, when it was repeated a few nights later on BBC2, and haven’t seen it since. It’s only been shown once more on TV, in 1979, which I hadn’t realised until this morning when it was announced that on Saturday [October 6], a digitally re-mastered version will be screened on BBC2, following a new Arena documentary on its making. I’ll no doubt have another look, hopefully more hip to things I missed that Christmas, 45 years ago, when as soon as it was over, Uncle Ken, waking from his brief stupor was soon singing again, to everyone’s groaning dismay. Have a good week. Pic: (C) Apple Films Ltd

Boxing Day, 1967, and The Beatles’ new film, something called Magical Mystery Tour, is about to be shown for the first time, broadcast by the BBC, fans looking forward to what surely will be a highlight of the Christmas television schedules, a welcome respite to those of a certain age from the usual seasonal fare of old movies and light entertainment, all that stuff that they usually show to keep the old folks happy over the holidays.

As usual, our house has been full all day, following the boisterous afternoon arrival of relatives, an uncommonly merry throng, who are quickly knocking back every drink they can lay their hands on and thus by mid-evening are mostly pretty plastered and given therefore to much raucous playfulness and bouts of singing, a regrettable noise for the most part, led by my Uncle Ken in a party hat. He first of all commands the floor with a fearfully raucous version of Ken Dodd’s “Happiness”. When his jocular mood turns suddenly maudlin, as it usually does at such gatherings, a spectacularly tearful interpretation follows of “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?”, that makes him sob quite uncontrollably, like someone who’s lost everything in disastrous circumstances that have left him wholly bereft, the end of the world itself unlikely to make him more distraught.

Everyone shouts at him to stop what’s by now become an unearthly caterwauling, the keening wails of the recently bereaved, his wife, my Auntie Jenny, to whom his spectacularly lachrymose performance has been presumably directed, chief among those threatening him with violence if he doesn’t shape up and pull himself together. At the high point of his wretched blubbing, she fetches him what from where I’m sitting in front of the TV appears to be a rather brutal thwack between his heaving shoulder blades with her handbag, which she wields with enough force to knock down a small wall, a well-practised swing it looks like to me.

In an earlier tantrum I had insisted in a fit of the foot-stamping histrionics that I was expert at that whatever else was on Boxing night TV, we had to watch this Beatles film, Magical Mystery Tour, and bugger the relatives, who would just have to sit through it, and hopefully without noisy complaint, witless comment, muttering disparagement or elsewhere any evidence of the teeth-sucking disdain in which pop music in any manifestation was held by them. It helped a little that we’d be watching The Beatles, who by virtue of a certain cheeky mop-top wholesomeness were not quite seen to be allied to the forces of an appalling darkness that most pop groups of the era were taken to be. The Rolling Stones, particularly, were, in the collective opinion of these disapproving elders, mere degenerates, obnoxious, vile and fit for not much more than a public whipping. There were people here who would probably rather set the TV on fire than watch the Stones on it, even if it meant the house burning down.

So there anyway we all were, the family gathered around in what by then was something less than yuletide harmony with clucking aunts, boozy uncles, snotty wheedling cousins. From the latter’s collective disinterested slouch you could tell they’d been dragged from their own homes under the promise of unavoidable punishment if they dared misbehave. They sat therefore in sullen misery, all the woes of the world as nothing compared to their current sulking distress.

When the programme starts, I make clear with a glare that, you know, I’d like the next 60 minutes or so to pass without disruptive intervention, distracting chat or, God forbid, any singing. Uncle Ken is thankfully very quickly asleep, party hat askew on his head. For about 10 minutes, everyone else assumes a stoic sort of silence, baffled by the lysergic whimsy on screen, The Beatles on their charabanc going who knows where with no great apparent purpose. The film’s fairly free form aimlessness soon becomes, however, a sore test of their patience, which you can almost hear being scraped to the bone. The longer it goes on, the more uncomfortable everyone gets, no one terribly amused, entertained or otherwise engaged by what they’re watching, which even I have to admit is beginning to feel like a bit of a let down, although torture wouldn’t have made me confess to even the most fleeting disappointment.

As Magical Mystery Tour ends, though, the rest of the family, and all those uncles and aunts and cousins, are grim-faced, their own glum assessment of what they’ve sat through echoed loudly the next day when the critics rip into the film, which they all seem to think has been a disaster. I couldn’t quite muster up the enthusiasm to watch it again, when it was repeated a few nights later on BBC2, and haven’t seen it since. It’s only been shown once more on TV, in 1979, which I hadn’t realised until this morning when it was announced that on Saturday [October 6], a digitally re-mastered version will be screened on BBC2, following a new Arena documentary on its making. I’ll no doubt have another look, hopefully more hip to things I missed that Christmas, 45 years ago, when as soon as it was over, Uncle Ken, waking from his brief stupor was soon singing again, to everyone’s groaning dismay.

Have a good week.

Pic: (C) Apple Films Ltd

James Murphy and Shut Up And Play The Hits

Michael Bonner
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0
James Murphy and Shut Up And Play The Hits

I interviewed James Murphy in late 2006, for a preview piece about The Sound Of Silver, the second album by his band, LCD Soundsystem. What was originally intended to be a brisk, 10 minute interview ended up spilling out over the half hour mark. James was, to put it mildly, chatty. At one point, we talked about the track "All My Friends", which I mentioned we'd thought sounded rather like Steve Reich jamming with New Order, if such a thing was possible. James paused for a minute, then said, "Sure, but let's imagine what Steve Reich jamming with New Order would actually sound like..." And he was off, into another superbly entertaining digression. LCD Soundsystem have been Murphy's creative outlet for the last 10 years. A fabulous opportunity for a latecomer to work out all his theories and obsessions about music. Murphy called time on LCD Soundsystem in April last year, with a show at New York's Madison Square Garden. Shut Up And Play The Hits is partly a record of that show, but also a what happens next for a "moderately successful rocker" who suddenly finds himself with a lot of time on his hands to ponder his decision to fold his band. In the days following the Madison Square Garden show, we see Murphy shuffle around his apartment in his pyjamas, shave, make coffee, walk his dog, travel on the subway, visit his manager - Keith Wood, an expat with a Professor Yaffle-ish demeanor and a dry, English wit. There are, literally, hours to fill. Now all the chat show banter about "walking away form rock" is done and the final gigs played, this is Murphy's quiet comedown. Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern's film becomes a portrait of a man who has successfully liberated himself from his career but is without any clear plan of what to do next. Murphy displays his great ability to talk: filmed being interviewed by New York-based writer Chuck Klosterman, he is smart and self-aware. He says he called time on LCD Soundsystem because "I want to have a life." Now 42, Murphy formed the band when he was 31 - an age when many musicians are already managing a career in decline. Watching the amiably rumpled Murphy endlessly dissect the nature of fame, and his decision to walk away form it, makes me think of a hipster Larry David, mulling over his post-Seinfeld career options. A sitcom featuring Murphy and Keith Wood, it must be said, wouldn't be the worst idea anyone's ever had. You can read Stephen Trousse's interview with James Murphy in the current issue of Uncut; Shut Up And Play The Hits is released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 8 by Pulse Films

I interviewed James Murphy in late 2006, for a preview piece about The Sound Of Silver, the second album by his band, LCD Soundsystem.

What was originally intended to be a brisk, 10 minute interview ended up spilling out over the half hour mark. James was, to put it mildly, chatty. At one point, we talked about the track “All My Friends“, which I mentioned we’d thought sounded rather like Steve Reich jamming with New Order, if such a thing was possible. James paused for a minute, then said, “Sure, but let’s imagine what Steve Reich jamming with New Order would actually sound like…” And he was off, into another superbly entertaining digression.

LCD Soundsystem have been Murphy’s creative outlet for the last 10 years. A fabulous opportunity for a latecomer to work out all his theories and obsessions about music. Murphy called time on LCD Soundsystem in April last year, with a show at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Shut Up And Play The Hits is partly a record of that show, but also a what happens next for a “moderately successful rocker” who suddenly finds himself with a lot of time on his hands to ponder his decision to fold his band.

In the days following the Madison Square Garden show, we see Murphy shuffle around his apartment in his pyjamas, shave, make coffee, walk his dog, travel on the subway, visit his manager – Keith Wood, an expat with a Professor Yaffle-ish demeanor and a dry, English wit. There are, literally, hours to fill. Now all the chat show banter about “walking away form rock” is done and the final gigs played, this is Murphy’s quiet comedown. Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern’s film becomes a portrait of a man who has successfully liberated himself from his career but is without any clear plan of what to do next.

Murphy displays his great ability to talk: filmed being interviewed by New York-based writer Chuck Klosterman, he is smart and self-aware. He says he called time on LCD Soundsystem because “I want to have a life.” Now 42, Murphy formed the band when he was 31 – an age when many musicians are already managing a career in decline. Watching the amiably rumpled Murphy endlessly dissect the nature of fame, and his decision to walk away form it, makes me think of a hipster Larry David, mulling over his post-Seinfeld career options. A sitcom featuring Murphy and Keith Wood, it must be said, wouldn’t be the worst idea anyone’s ever had.

You can read Stephen Trousse’s interview with James Murphy in the current issue of Uncut; Shut Up And Play The Hits is released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 8 by Pulse Films

New footage of The Beatles making the Magical Mystery Tour film emerges

Uncut
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New footage of The Beatles making the Magical Mystery Tour film emerges

With The Beatles set to reissue their 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour, previously unseen footage of the band making the film is being shown online. Released in the wake of the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour was The Beatles' third film and documents a coach trip to the seaside. It was first broadcast on Boxing Day in 1967 by the BBC. It was not well received. It has only been shown once since, in 1979. A digitally remastered version of the film is due to be screened this Saturday [October 6] on BBC2, after a new documentary on the story of the film produced by the BBC's Arena documentary strand. From today [October 2], a first glimpse of previously unseen footage is available from thespace.org. The short clip shows The Beatles on a coach trip to a fish and chip shop shop en route to Newquay – the final destination of the Magical Mystery Tour. Arena Editor, Anthony Wall says, "Few people have seen Magical Mystery Tour in its entirety and the material in the chip shop has never been shown anywhere. It captures perfectly the fabulous world of The Beatles at this time." He added: "They’re happily sharing a simple meal with the other passengers on the coach as the astonished residents of Taunton gather outside and at the same time creating an extraordinarily avant garde film, which of course would soon be broadcast by the BBC to a dumbstruck nation." The fully restored edition of the film will be released on October 9 with a remixed soundtrack and special features, including other scenes that were cut from the original, as well as interviews with the band and cast. Photo credit: © Apple Films Ltd

With The Beatles set to reissue their 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour, previously unseen footage of the band making the film is being shown online.

Released in the wake of the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour was The Beatles’ third film and documents a coach trip to the seaside. It was first broadcast on Boxing Day in 1967 by the BBC. It was not well received. It has only been shown once since, in 1979. A digitally remastered version of the film is due to be screened this Saturday [October 6] on BBC2, after a new documentary on the story of the film produced by the BBC’s Arena documentary strand.

From today [October 2], a first glimpse of previously unseen footage is available from thespace.org. The short clip shows The Beatles on a coach trip to a fish and chip shop shop en route to Newquay – the final destination of the Magical Mystery Tour.

Arena Editor, Anthony Wall says, “Few people have seen Magical Mystery Tour in its entirety and the material in the chip shop has never been shown anywhere. It captures perfectly the fabulous world of The Beatles at this time.”

He added: “They’re happily sharing a simple meal with the other passengers on the coach as the astonished residents of Taunton gather outside and at the same time creating an extraordinarily avant garde film, which of course would soon be broadcast by the BBC to a dumbstruck nation.”

The fully restored edition of the film will be released on October 9 with a remixed soundtrack and special features, including other scenes that were cut from the original, as well as interviews with the band and cast.

Photo credit: © Apple Films Ltd

Patterson Hood – Heat Lightning Rumbles In The Distance

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Patterson Hood – Heat Lightning Rumbles In The Distance

Drive-By Trucker lifts the lid on his crisis years... Seems like Patterson Hood’s been dusting down a lot of old memories of late. His last solo LP, 2009’s Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs), saw the Drive-By Truckers leader revisit a turbulent period in his life from the mid ‘90s. Heat Lightning Rumbles In The Distance peels the clock back a little further to around 1991, when the then 27-year-old had just left his Alabama hometown for Memphis in the wake of a messy divorce and the break-up of his pre-Truckers band, Adam’s House Cat. It was, he explains, an emotionally intense time, during which he contemplated suicide. All of this might suggest a sombre procession of self-pitying songs wracked by visions of death and apocalypse, but, thankfully, Heat Lightning… turns out to be nothing of the sort. Instead the tone is hopeful, the dark corners of Hood’s past softly lit by his current life as a successful musician, father and family man. Most of the Truckers are here, alongside father and Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section bassist David Hood, Texan band Centro-matic and singer Kelly Hogan. The latter’s co-write “Come Back Little Star” is an undoubted highlight, a piano-led requiem for late departed friend Vic Chesnutt, with John Neff’s pedal steel adding an extra shiver of longing. Many of the other tunes deal with the fallout from his early marriage, from the last goodbye in a rain-splattered parking lot – “(untold pretties”) – to winter funerals in Northern Alabama and the desperation of the title track, its protagonist holding himself together “somewhere between anguish and acceptance”. The whole thing is beautifully shaded by pianos, banjo, steel and festering guitar figures. There’s even a dash of very Southern skiffle on the wonderful “Better Than The Truth” and the closing “Fifteen Days”, which finds Hood back in the present, dreaming of returning to his family after months on the road. An affecting, lyrical record that makes you feel blessed for not having lived through it, but wiser so grateful for the ride. Rob Hughes

Drive-By Trucker lifts the lid on his crisis years…

Seems like Patterson Hood’s been dusting down a lot of old memories of late. His last solo LP, 2009’s Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs), saw the Drive-By Truckers leader revisit a turbulent period in his life from the mid ‘90s. Heat Lightning Rumbles In The Distance peels the clock back a little further to around 1991, when the then 27-year-old had just left his Alabama hometown for Memphis in the wake of a messy divorce and the break-up of his pre-Truckers band, Adam’s House Cat. It was, he explains, an emotionally intense time, during which he contemplated suicide.

All of this might suggest a sombre procession of self-pitying songs wracked by visions of death and apocalypse, but, thankfully, Heat Lightning… turns out to be nothing of the sort. Instead the tone is hopeful, the dark corners of Hood’s past softly lit by his current life as a successful musician, father and family man.

Most of the Truckers are here, alongside father and Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section bassist David Hood, Texan band Centro-matic and singer Kelly Hogan. The latter’s co-write “Come Back Little Star” is an undoubted highlight, a piano-led requiem for late departed friend Vic Chesnutt, with John Neff’s pedal steel adding an extra shiver of longing. Many of the other tunes deal with the fallout from his early marriage, from the last goodbye in a rain-splattered parking lot – “(untold pretties”) – to winter funerals in Northern Alabama and the desperation of the title track, its protagonist holding himself together “somewhere between anguish and acceptance”.

The whole thing is beautifully shaded by pianos, banjo, steel and festering guitar figures. There’s even a dash of very Southern skiffle on the wonderful “Better Than The Truth” and the closing “Fifteen Days”, which finds Hood back in the present, dreaming of returning to his family after months on the road. An affecting, lyrical record that makes you feel blessed for not having lived through it, but wiser so grateful for the ride.

Rob Hughes

Led Zeppelin announce ‘Celebration Day’ film premieres

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Led Zeppelin announce ‘Celebration Day’ film premieres
Led Zeppelin have announced four film premieres for their Celebration Day concert film. The film, which documents the band's 2007 reunion show at London's O2 Arena, will make its cinema debut at the Ziegfield Theater in New York on October 9 before similar premieres in London, Berlin and Tokyo. P...

Led Zeppelin have announced four film premieres for their Celebration Day concert film.

The film, which documents the band’s 2007 reunion show at London’s O2 Arena, will make its cinema debut at the Ziegfield Theater in New York on October 9 before similar premieres in London, Berlin and Tokyo.

Prior to the New York premiere, founding members Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones will be joined by Jason Bonham, the son of the late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, at a press conference at New York’s Museum of Art.

Celebration Day will then hold a premiere at London’s Hammersmith Apollo on October 12, where Jones, Page and Plant will be in attendance. Events will subsequently be held in Berlin on October 15, which Jones will attend, and Tokyo on October 16, which has confirmed Page in attendance.

Tickets for the London premiere are limited and cost £20. You can purchase tickets and read more information via this link.

Celebration Day will screen in cinemas from October 17. The film will then get a general DVD release on November 19. A deluxe edition will also include footage of the Shepperton rehearsals, as well as BBC news footage.

The tracklisting for Celebration Day is as follows:

‘Good Times Bad Times’

‘Ramble On’

‘Black Dog’

‘In My Time Of Dying’

‘For Your Life’

‘Trampled Under Foot’

‘Nobody’s Fault But Mine’

‘No Quarter’

‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’

‘Dazed And Confused’

‘Stairway To Heaven’

‘The Song Remains The Same’

‘Misty Mountain Hop’

‘Kashmir’

‘Whole Lotta Love’

‘Rock And Roll’

Black Keys: “A new album’s definitely gonna happen in 2013”

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Black Keys: “A new album’s definitely gonna happen in 2013”
The Black Keys have confirmed that a new album is "definitely gonna happen next year". The duo will start work on the follow up their eigth album, 2011's El Camino, early next year. In an interview with CBS Local, drummer Patrick Carney, who recently married his long-term girlfriend, said: "It [a...

The Black Keys have confirmed that a new album is “definitely gonna happen next year”.

The duo will start work on the follow up their eigth album, 2011’s El Camino, early next year.

In an interview with CBS Local, drummer Patrick Carney, who recently married his long-term girlfriend, said: “It [an album] is definitely gonna happen in 2013. It’s just a matter of how long it takes us to make the album and deciding when we want to get back on the road.”

He added: “We’re going to start making a new album in January and we’re going to tour a little more in the spring. Our plan is the have the new album done by the end of spring or earlier, then hopefully take a few months off to do normal things like go to bed early and wake up early, walk the dog, that kind of stuff. Then we’ll probably be back on the road starting next fall.”

The Black Keys will return to the UK later this year for a full arena tour. They will kick off their six-date trek at Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena on December 7, before playing Glasgow’s SECC on November 8, Birmingham’s NIA on December 9 and the Manchester Arena on December 11. The tour will conclude at London’s O2 Arena on December 12 and 13.

Bill Wilson – Ever Changing Minstrel

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Bill Wilson – Ever Changing Minstrel

Back from the bargain bin, a lost piece of southern-soul-baring... If you want to make a great record, go to the top. That was what Bill Wilson figured anyway, which is why the 26 year old was knocking on the front door of Bob Johnston’s home in Austin. The feted producer of Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and Leonard Cohen had recently relocated to the Texan music town after falling out with Columbia records, from whom, he claimed, he had received no royalties for the stellar abums he had delivered. Wilson had been kicking around Austin since being discharged from the U.S. Airforce three years earlier. Born in small town Indiana, Wilson had served in Vietnam before completing his duty to Uncle Sam at Austin’s airbase (these days a civilian aiport). As an aspiring musician he had tasted a little success, singing on a 1970 album by local psych-bluesers Mariani, who featured a 16 year old guitarist - and future star - Eric Johnson. After that Wilson had returned to Indiana to play dobro with an outfit called Pleasant Street. Still, Wilson had never lost faith in his talent. He had a bunch of fine songs and Bob Johnston was surely the man to turn them into a record. Johnston had other ideas. “You came to the wrong house,” he snapped. “You can’t just show up and make a fucking record.” “Will you listen to one song?” wheedled Wilson. In his parlour, Johnson listened to a dozen. Impressed, he decided to cut an album that very night. He summoned a slew of top session players: guitarists Charlie Daniels and Pete Drake, pianist Bob Wilson, drummer Kenny Buttrey, steel guitarist Pete Drake – pretty much the Nashville crew he had used on Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde sessions, with singer Cissy Houston as a bonus. Then they went to work. The resulting album was released in late 1973 on Windfall Records, a label distributed by CBS, though not, it transpired, with much ardour. Its hideous packaging likely didn’t help. Ever Changing Minstrel sank without trace. Its current re-emergence is down to happenstance, after Tompkins Square founder Josh Rosenthal found a copy for 25 cents in a Berkeley record store and noticed Johnston’s credit. Both Rosenthal and Johnston had sound instincts. Ever Changing Minstrel is a collection of tough and tender pieces, the best of which bear the imprint of the early Seventies Austin scene of Guy Clark, and Townes Van Zandt. Wilson turns his rich tenor voice in various directions. “Black Cat Blues” has a southern, swampy feel akin to Tony Joe White’s “Polk Salad Annie” while “Ballad of Cody” is a cameo of a lonesome guitar picker along the rain-soaked streets of San Antone. “Rainy Day Resolution” and “To Rebecca” are brighter pieces that walk singer-songwriterdom’s well-trodden avenues, with “Ever Changing Minstrel” crossing the line into a John Denveresque world of sleepy-eyed women, dripping rainbows, and bright meadows. It’s the only track set solely to picked acoustic guitar. Elsewhere those famous session men cut their stuff. “Long Gone Lady” – testament to Wilson’s fragile marriage - has some purring steel, “Good Ship Society” builds to a Band-esque ensemble piece, and “Following My Lord” and “Father Let Your Light Shine Down” come gospel-soaked, with hammered piano and female backing vocals. Religion clearly had its hold, though when Wilson starts a line “Caught between the devil” you don’t expect him to conclude “and the galaxy”. These were still hippie times. If the album doesn’t add to more than the sum of its parts, there’s an engaging spirit to the session. Presented with his shot at the brass ring, Wilson didn’t fluff his lines or his notes. It must have hurt to see his album vanish into the corporate machinery. Vanish it did – Rosenthal could find no mention of the sessions or personnel in the archives, though Johnston recalls making it well enough. Wilson returned to Indiana and local hero status, gigging and recording until his death at 46, though Johnston never saw him again. The producer handed him a nice epitaph, though: “The fucker could really write”. Neil Spencer

Back from the bargain bin, a lost piece of southern-soul-baring…

If you want to make a great record, go to the top. That was what Bill Wilson figured anyway, which is why the 26 year old was knocking on the front door of Bob Johnston’s home in Austin. The feted producer of Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and Leonard Cohen had recently relocated to the Texan music town after falling out with Columbia records, from whom, he claimed, he had received no royalties for the stellar abums he had delivered.

Wilson had been kicking around Austin since being discharged from the U.S. Airforce three years earlier. Born in small town Indiana, Wilson had served in Vietnam before completing his duty to Uncle Sam at Austin’s airbase (these days a civilian aiport). As an aspiring musician he had tasted a little success, singing on a 1970 album by local psych-bluesers Mariani, who featured a 16 year old guitarist – and future star – Eric Johnson. After that Wilson had returned to Indiana to play dobro with an outfit called Pleasant Street.

Still, Wilson had never lost faith in his talent. He had a bunch of fine songs and Bob Johnston was surely the man to turn them into a record. Johnston had other ideas. “You came to the wrong house,” he snapped. “You can’t just show up and make a fucking record.”

“Will you listen to one song?” wheedled Wilson.

In his parlour, Johnson listened to a dozen. Impressed, he decided to cut an album that very night. He summoned a slew of top session players: guitarists Charlie Daniels and Pete Drake, pianist Bob Wilson, drummer Kenny Buttrey, steel guitarist Pete Drake – pretty much the Nashville crew he had used on Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde sessions, with singer Cissy Houston as a bonus. Then they went to work.

The resulting album was released in late 1973 on Windfall Records, a label distributed by CBS, though not, it transpired, with much ardour. Its hideous packaging likely didn’t help. Ever Changing Minstrel sank without trace. Its current re-emergence is down to happenstance, after Tompkins Square founder Josh Rosenthal found a copy for 25 cents in a Berkeley record store and noticed Johnston’s credit.

Both Rosenthal and Johnston had sound instincts. Ever Changing Minstrel is a collection of tough and tender pieces, the best of which bear the imprint of the early Seventies Austin scene of Guy Clark, and Townes Van Zandt. Wilson turns his rich tenor voice in various directions. “Black Cat Blues” has a southern, swampy feel akin to Tony Joe White’s “Polk Salad Annie” while “Ballad of Cody” is a cameo of a lonesome guitar picker along the rain-soaked streets of San Antone.

“Rainy Day Resolution” and “To Rebecca” are brighter pieces that walk singer-songwriterdom’s well-trodden avenues, with “Ever Changing Minstrel” crossing the line into a John Denveresque world of sleepy-eyed women, dripping rainbows, and bright meadows. It’s the only track set solely to picked acoustic guitar. Elsewhere those famous session men cut their stuff. “Long Gone Lady” – testament to Wilson’s fragile marriage – has some purring steel, “Good Ship Society” builds to a Band-esque ensemble piece, and “Following My Lord” and “Father Let Your Light Shine Down” come gospel-soaked, with hammered piano and female backing vocals. Religion clearly had its hold, though when Wilson starts a line “Caught between the devil” you don’t expect him to conclude “and the galaxy”. These were still hippie times.

If the album doesn’t add to more than the sum of its parts, there’s an engaging spirit to the session. Presented with his shot at the brass ring, Wilson didn’t fluff his lines or his notes. It must have hurt to see his album vanish into the corporate machinery. Vanish it did – Rosenthal could find no mention of the sessions or personnel in the archives, though Johnston recalls making it well enough. Wilson returned to Indiana and local hero status, gigging and recording until his death at 46, though Johnston never saw him again. The producer handed him a nice epitaph, though: “The fucker could really write”.

Neil Spencer

Jack White angers fans with short New York gig

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Jack White angers fans with short New York gig
Jack White angered fans at his show at Radio City, New York last night (September 29) by ending his set after 1 hour. The former White Stripes man was playing the first of two nights at Manhattan's Radio City Music Hall when he abruptly cut his set short, walking off stage an hour before his gigs h...

Jack White angered fans at his show at Radio City, New York last night (September 29) by ending his set after 1 hour.

The former White Stripes man was playing the first of two nights at Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall when he abruptly cut his set short, walking off stage an hour before his gigs have usually finished on his current tour.

According to Buzzfeed, once fans realised White was not just talking an extra-long break before an encore set, the scene at the venue turned “ugly” and fans took to Twitter to vent their anger towards the singer.

Hunter Walker, a politics reporter for the New York Observer, who was at the show, tweeted: “Mystery solved. Security guy @ Radio City said Jack White ‘wasn’t happy with the sound, I don’t know why he pulled that’.”

Jack White will return to the UK and Ireland next month when he brings his Blunderbuss tour back to Europe. The tour includes a show at Blackpool’s Empress Ballroom, the venue where The White Stripes recorded their first live DVD, Under Blackpool Lights.

Jack White will play:

O2 Arena Dublin (October 31)

London Alexandra Palace (November 2, 3)

Bridlington Spa (4)

Blackpool Empress Ballroom (6)

O2 Academy Birmingham (7)

Edinburgh Usher Hall (8)

Watch Foo Fighters, The Black Keys join Neil Young on stage in New York

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Watch Foo Fighters, The Black Keys join Neil Young on stage in New York

Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl and The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach joined Neil Young on stage on Saturday [September 29] at a free concert in New York. The Global Citizen Festival, which took place in Central Park, was a five-hour concert featuring performances from Foo Fighters, The Black Keys, Band Of Horses and K'naan, with Neil Young & Crazy Horse capping off the evening. As Neil Young's set came to a climax, Grohl and Auerbach joined Young & Crazy Horse for an extended version of "Rockin' In The Free World" – you can watch a video of the performance below. Singer-songwriter John Legend made a surprise appearance at the festival, playing John Lennon's "Imagine" just a short walk from where the former Beatle was murdered. The concert was scheduled around a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York next month and organisers used an innovative approach to ticket distribution. Any fans wanting a free ticket had to sign up to globalcitizen.org and earn points by watching videos about poverty, malaria, child mortality and other global problems. Organisers said more than 71,000 people had signed up to the website, resulting in over 3.5million page views. It is reported 60,000 fans were given tickets to the free event in New York's Central Park. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEdBA-wxIdY

Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl and The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach joined Neil Young on stage on Saturday [September 29] at a free concert in New York.

The Global Citizen Festival, which took place in Central Park, was a five-hour concert featuring performances from Foo Fighters, The Black Keys, Band Of Horses and K’naan, with Neil Young & Crazy Horse capping off the evening.

As Neil Young’s set came to a climax, Grohl and Auerbach joined Young & Crazy Horse for an extended version of “Rockin’ In The Free World” – you can watch a video of the performance below.

Singer-songwriter John Legend made a surprise appearance at the festival, playing John Lennon’s “Imagine” just a short walk from where the former Beatle was murdered.

The concert was scheduled around a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York next month and organisers used an innovative approach to ticket distribution. Any fans wanting a free ticket had to sign up to globalcitizen.org and earn points by watching videos about poverty, malaria, child mortality and other global problems.

Organisers said more than 71,000 people had signed up to the website, resulting in over 3.5million page views. It is reported 60,000 fans were given tickets to the free event in New York’s Central Park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEdBA-wxIdY

Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme debuts new track ‘ Nobody To Love’ – listen

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Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme debuts new track ‘ Nobody To Love’ – listen

A new track from Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, titled 'Nobody To Love', has hit the internet – scroll down to the bottom of the page and click to listen. The song, which was co-written by composer and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds producer Dave Sardy, is featured in the new film End Of Watch featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, but has now also surfaced on YouTube. Recently, Homme has been locked in a legal dispute with members of his former band Kyuss. Singer John Garcia and drummer Brant Bjork took a reincarnated incarnation of the band called Kyuss Lives! on the road last year and spoke about the possibility of recording a new studio album. In March of this year, however, they were sued by the Queens Of The Stone Age singer and another former Kyuss member, Scott Reeder, for alleged "trademark infringement, misrepresentation [and] false designation". Josh Homme was the original guitarist in Kyuss until their split in 1995. In December last year, Homme said that Queens Of The Stone Age were "locked away in the desert" working on a new album and claimed that the new material sounded "killer". The LP, which will be their sixth studio record and the follow-up to 2007's 'Era Vulgaris', was originally expected to be released later this year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZEH1FJN6JU

A new track from Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, titled ‘Nobody To Love’, has hit the internet – scroll down to the bottom of the page and click to listen.

The song, which was co-written by composer and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds producer Dave Sardy, is featured in the new film End Of Watch featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, but has now also surfaced on YouTube.

Recently, Homme has been locked in a legal dispute with members of his former band Kyuss. Singer John Garcia and drummer Brant Bjork took a reincarnated incarnation of the band called Kyuss Lives! on the road last year and spoke about the possibility of recording a new studio album.

In March of this year, however, they were sued by the Queens Of The Stone Age singer and another former Kyuss member, Scott Reeder, for alleged “trademark infringement, misrepresentation [and] false designation”.

Josh Homme was the original guitarist in Kyuss until their split in 1995. In December last year, Homme said that Queens Of The Stone Age were “locked away in the desert” working on a new album and claimed that the new material sounded “killer”. The LP, which will be their sixth studio record and the follow-up to 2007’s ‘Era Vulgaris’, was originally expected to be released later this year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZEH1FJN6JU

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