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First Look – Led Zeppelin’s Celebration Day

Michael Bonner
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First Look – Led Zeppelin’s Celebration Day

Here’s Jimmy Page, reminiscing about Led Zeppelin’s 2007 reunion show at the 02. “We wanted to go out there, stand up and be counted,” he said at a press conference held earlier today in London. “To show people who maybe didn’t know Led Zeppelin but had heard a lot about us why we were what we were. And not only that, we had had a really good time that night. We made a lot of people very happy.” We're in the swish conference hall of a high-end London hotel. Page – lightly tanned, dressed in black, his hair in ponytail and a slim, black scarf tied loosely round his neck – and his bandmates Robert Plant and John Paul Jones are here to launch Celebration Day, their concert film, Blu-ray/DVD and album commemorating the 02 show. (Forgive me, incidentally, if this blog slips between news report on the press conference and a kind of 'highlights' preview/review of Celebration Day itself.) Anyway, back to the press conference: why release it now? “Five years is five minutes in Zeppelin time,” said John Paul Jones, soberly dressed in a charcoal grey suit jacket, dark t-shirt and trousers. “I’m surprised we got it out so quickly.” Robert Plant, in a loose, blue shirt, spoke of how the show "was very rewarding for all of us." Plant's presence here today was arguably a surprise. He's the one who's moved on professionally the furthest from Zeppelin, and found himself blessed with a very successful second act career. Accordingly, he came across as the most mischievous of the three today. He talked about arriving at the 02 by boat, seeing visions of Arthur and Guenièvre emerging from the Thames, and later digressing into a yarn about having to get Jason Bonham out of bed on his wedding night to play with Zeppelin. "I struggle with lyrics from particular periods in time," Plant admitted at one point. "Maybe I'm still trying to work out what I'm taking about. I know every other fucker is." When asked about the possibility of more Zeppelin shows, the band were unsurprisingly evasive. A question about whether the 02 show had excited them enough to regroup once more, Page answered, "Can I just ask you all if you enjoyed the film?" When pushed for an answer, Plant replied, "That would be kiss and tell." Celebration Day “will be part of the legacy,” acknowledged Page. “It is what we managed to do for one day. However, what needs to be stressed here was that when we played the 02, the idea wasn’t to make a DVD or film. It just so happened that we had all this material going on behind us [on the screens], and some very fine production and camera work, so it made the utmost sense to record it. Don’t forget, we were only doing one show. We didn’t know whether we were going to have half a dozen train wrecks in it. But at least we could record it, even for our own collection and amusement.” Read into all this what you will. But certainly the journey from the 02 to Celebration Day has been as epic as you’d expect from a band with Zeppelin’s credentials. The statistics for the show itself briefly bear repeating: out of the 20 million people who applied for tickets to the 02, only 18,000 were lucky enough to see the band’s first headline show in 27 years. After Celebration Day gets a theatrical release on 1,500 screens in 40 countries, it will then be available across no less than six formats – from a 2 DVD/2 CD Deluxe Edition, including footage of the 02 rehearsals at Shepperton, to an old-school 3 LP set. Page is rumoured to have spent five years working on this. When he’s asked, however, whether there’s been any fixes to the sound, he replied: “If I say there might have been a handful of fixes, what I’m really saying is the minimum to what other people would do. The concert was what it was. There was very little that needed to be messed about with. Because we’d already done it well in the first place.” So, what do we get? Celebration Day is directed by Dick Carruthers, who’s worked on videos for the White Stripes, Oasis, McFly and Take That. Carruthers worked with Zeppelin previously on their 2003 DVD set. Regardless of whether or not Page and co had their eye on recording the show for a future commercial release or simply their own “amusement”, Carruthers has presented a commendably fit-for-purpose film. If you were one of the disappointed 19,982,000 people unlucky enough not to get a ticket to the show itself, you will be relieved to learn that Carruthers puts you in the thick of the action. You can see the white of Page’s plectrums, and you might notice that he’s scrubbed out certain letters on his Orange AD-30 amp so it spells ‘OR GE’. There are no gimmicks to speak of – apart from a handful of freeze-frames, or cuts to super 8 camera footage filmed in the audience, Carruthers presents the 02 show as it happens, his crew catching every one of Page’s grimaces as he wrings another solo from his guitar, or John Paul Jones’ unexpectedly hypnotic runs along the fretboard of his bass guitar. The band play in a tight formation, centred around Jason Bonham's drum kit, facing in and often playing to each other. The differences in performance style is enhanced by Carruthers' tight-up camerawork. There's Page, tearing through some ferocious slide guitar on "In My Time Of Dying", the sweat beginning to seep through is shirt, and opposite him is John Paul Jones, a more discreet presence, certainly, but completely in tune with Page's histrionics. A thrilling "Trampled Underfoot" finds Page and Jones - on piano - duelling solo against solo. Unlike, say, Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones' concert film Shine A Light, Celebration Day isn't looking to say anything profound or particularly meaningful about Led Zeppelin. Curruthers' proficient film is a testament to the physical endurance of these men, and a satisfying reminder of the brilliance of that show in 2007. Celebration Day is released in cinemas on October 17, and then on November 19 on these formats: Standard Editions – 1-DVD/2-CD set and 1-Blu-ray/2-CD set Deluxe Editions – 2-DVD/2-CD set and 1-Blu-ray/1-DVD/2-CD set featuring exclusive bonus video content including the Shepperton rehearsals, and BBC news footage Music Only CD Edition – 2-CD set Music Only Blu-ray Audio Edition – Blu-ray Audio release featuring high-resolution 48K 24 bit PCM stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound audio only, no video Vinyl Edition – 3 LPs, 180-gram, audiophile quality vinyl Digital Edition

Here’s Jimmy Page, reminiscing about Led Zeppelin’s 2007 reunion show at the 02. “We wanted to go out there, stand up and be counted,” he said at a press conference held earlier today in London. “To show people who maybe didn’t know Led Zeppelin but had heard a lot about us why we were what we were. And not only that, we had had a really good time that night. We made a lot of people very happy.”

We’re in the swish conference hall of a high-end London hotel. Page – lightly tanned, dressed in black, his hair in ponytail and a slim, black scarf tied loosely round his neck – and his bandmates Robert Plant and John Paul Jones are here to launch Celebration Day, their concert film, Blu-ray/DVD and album commemorating the 02 show. (Forgive me, incidentally, if this blog slips between news report on the press conference and a kind of ‘highlights’ preview/review of Celebration Day itself.)

Anyway, back to the press conference: why release it now?

“Five years is five minutes in Zeppelin time,” said John Paul Jones, soberly dressed in a charcoal grey suit jacket, dark t-shirt and trousers. “I’m surprised we got it out so quickly.”

Robert Plant, in a loose, blue shirt, spoke of how the show “was very rewarding for all of us.” Plant’s presence here today was arguably a surprise. He’s the one who’s moved on professionally the furthest from Zeppelin, and found himself blessed with a very successful second act career. Accordingly, he came across as the most mischievous of the three today. He talked about arriving at the 02 by boat, seeing visions of Arthur and Guenièvre emerging from the Thames, and later digressing into a yarn about having to get Jason Bonham out of bed on his wedding night to play with Zeppelin. “I struggle with lyrics from particular periods in time,” Plant admitted at one point. “Maybe I’m still trying to work out what I’m taking about. I know every other fucker is.”

When asked about the possibility of more Zeppelin shows, the band were unsurprisingly evasive. A question about whether the 02 show had excited them enough to regroup once more, Page answered, “Can I just ask you all if you enjoyed the film?”

When pushed for an answer, Plant replied, “That would be kiss and tell.”

Celebration Day “will be part of the legacy,” acknowledged Page. “It is what we managed to do for one day. However, what needs to be stressed here was that when we played the 02, the idea wasn’t to make a DVD or film. It just so happened that we had all this material going on behind us [on the screens], and some very fine production and camera work, so it made the utmost sense to record it. Don’t forget, we were only doing one show. We didn’t know whether we were going to have half a dozen train wrecks in it. But at least we could record it, even for our own collection and amusement.”

Read into all this what you will. But certainly the journey from the 02 to Celebration Day has been as epic as you’d expect from a band with Zeppelin’s credentials. The statistics for the show itself briefly bear repeating: out of the 20 million people who applied for tickets to the 02, only 18,000 were lucky enough to see the band’s first headline show in 27 years. After Celebration Day gets a theatrical release on 1,500 screens in 40 countries, it will then be available across no less than six formats – from a 2 DVD/2 CD Deluxe Edition, including footage of the 02 rehearsals at Shepperton, to an old-school 3 LP set.

Page is rumoured to have spent five years working on this. When he’s asked, however, whether there’s been any fixes to the sound, he replied: “If I say there might have been a handful of fixes, what I’m really saying is the minimum to what other people would do. The concert was what it was. There was very little that needed to be messed about with. Because we’d already done it well in the first place.”

So, what do we get? Celebration Day is directed by Dick Carruthers, who’s worked on videos for the White Stripes, Oasis, McFly and Take That. Carruthers worked with Zeppelin previously on their 2003 DVD set. Regardless of whether or not Page and co had their eye on recording the show for a future commercial release or simply their own “amusement”, Carruthers has presented a commendably fit-for-purpose film. If you were one of the disappointed 19,982,000 people unlucky enough not to get a ticket to the show itself, you will be relieved to learn that Carruthers puts you in the thick of the action. You can see the white of Page’s plectrums, and you might notice that he’s scrubbed out certain letters on his Orange AD-30 amp so it spells ‘OR GE’. There are no gimmicks to speak of – apart from a handful of freeze-frames, or cuts to super 8 camera footage filmed in the audience, Carruthers presents the 02 show as it happens, his crew catching every one of Page’s grimaces as he wrings another solo from his guitar, or John Paul Jones’ unexpectedly hypnotic runs along the fretboard of his bass guitar.

The band play in a tight formation, centred around Jason Bonham‘s drum kit, facing in and often playing to each other. The differences in performance style is enhanced by Carruthers’ tight-up camerawork. There’s Page, tearing through some ferocious slide guitar on “In My Time Of Dying”, the sweat beginning to seep through is shirt, and opposite him is John Paul Jones, a more discreet presence, certainly, but completely in tune with Page’s histrionics. A thrilling “Trampled Underfoot” finds Page and Jones – on piano – duelling solo against solo.

Unlike, say, Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Stones’ concert film Shine A Light, Celebration Day isn’t looking to say anything profound or particularly meaningful about Led Zeppelin. Curruthers’ proficient film is a testament to the physical endurance of these men, and a satisfying reminder of the brilliance of that show in 2007.

Celebration Day is released in cinemas on October 17, and then on November 19 on these formats:

Standard Editions – 1-DVD/2-CD set and 1-Blu-ray/2-CD set

Deluxe Editions – 2-DVD/2-CD set and 1-Blu-ray/1-DVD/2-CD set featuring exclusive bonus video content including the Shepperton rehearsals, and BBC news footage

Music Only CD Edition – 2-CD set

Music Only Blu-ray Audio Edition – Blu-ray Audio release featuring high-resolution 48K 24 bit PCM stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound audio only, no video

Vinyl Edition – 3 LPs, 180-gram, audiophile quality vinyl

Digital Edition

Led Zeppelin refuse to rule out further reunion shows

Uncut
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Led Zeppelin refuse to rule out further reunion shows

The surviving members of Led Zeppelin have refused to rule out another reunion. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones made a rare public appearance today (September 21) to launch their new Celebration Day concert film of their 2007 show at the London's 02 Arena. After a screening of the film at the Odeon West End, the bandmates answered questions from the assembled press. But when pressed on the possibility of coming together again for more shows, the band remained evasive. When asked if the 02 show had excited them enough to regroup once more, Jimmy Page answered, "Can I just ask you all if you enjoyed the film?" When the journalist in question retorted by asking if he could have his question answered, Robert Plant replied, "That would be kiss and tell." Elsewhere in the Q&A session, Plant declared that, "Mumford and Sons excite me." The DVD release comes five years after their legendary 02 performance, which saw them reunite to honour late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. The surviving members were joined by Jason Bonham - the son of their late drummer John Bonham, for a two-hour set, which included classics 'Whole Lotta Love,' 'Rock And Roll,' 'Kashmir,' and 'Stairway To Heaven'. As many as 20 million people applied for tickets to the gig - the band's first headline show in 27 years – but only 18,000 were lucky enough to win in the lottery. Celebration Day will screen in cinemas from October 17, following premieres on September 13. The film will then get a general DVD release on November 19. 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' Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant has previously ruled out another reunion of the band, saying in a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone: "I've gone so far somewhere else that I almost can't relate to it... It's a bit of a pain in the pisser to be honest. Who cares? I know people care, but think about it from my angle - soon, I'm going to need help crossing the street."

The surviving members of Led Zeppelin have refused to rule out another reunion.

Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones made a rare public appearance today (September 21) to launch their new Celebration Day concert film of their 2007 show at the London’s 02 Arena. After a screening of the film at the Odeon West End, the bandmates answered questions from the assembled press.

But when pressed on the possibility of coming together again for more shows, the band remained evasive. When asked if the 02 show had excited them enough to regroup once more, Jimmy Page answered, “Can I just ask you all if you enjoyed the film?”

When the journalist in question retorted by asking if he could have his question answered, Robert Plant replied, “That would be kiss and tell.”

Elsewhere in the Q&A session, Plant declared that, “Mumford and Sons excite me.”

The DVD release comes five years after their legendary 02 performance, which saw them reunite to honour late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. The surviving members were joined by Jason Bonham – the son of their late drummer John Bonham, for a two-hour set, which included classics ‘Whole Lotta Love,’ ‘Rock And Roll,’ ‘Kashmir,’ and ‘Stairway To Heaven’.

As many as 20 million people applied for tickets to the gig – the band’s first headline show in 27 years – but only 18,000 were lucky enough to win in the lottery.

Celebration Day will screen in cinemas from October 17, following premieres on September 13. The film will then get a general DVD release on November 19.

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’

Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant has previously ruled out another reunion of the band, saying in a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone: “I’ve gone so far somewhere else that I almost can’t relate to it… It’s a bit of a pain in the pisser to be honest. Who cares? I know people care, but think about it from my angle – soon, I’m going to need help crossing the street.”

Woods, “Bend Beyond”

John Mulvey
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Woods, “Bend Beyond”

The new Uncut, as discussed, is in the shops today with The Byrds on the cover, and a free CD of tracks inspired by that band. Woods are included on the comp, and their latest, “Bend Beyond”, is a record I’ve played a lot these past couple of months, but somehow neglected to write much about. “Bend Beyond” actually came out this week, rather inappropriately given that its woozy good vibes seem more suited to high summer rather than the cusp of autumn. If, in the past, Jeremy Earl’s band (and, indeed, his excellent label Woodsist) have appeared a little torn between frail indie-pop and something more freeform and psychedelic, many of the 12 songs here feel a good deal more substantial. Where once they were bashful and sketchy, “Bend Beyond” showcases a band whose good ideas have coalesced into genuinely memorable songs. From the start, and the title track, there feels like a new focus and confidence. “Bend Beyond” is, like many of the other tracks, a neatly compressed series of jams, punctuated with inventive solos. Earl’s quavering, reedy voice still marks out Woods as fundamentally indie kids, but the tangled riffing also puts them into a classic Californian tradition (even though they come from Brooklyn). That’s emphasised further by the next track, “Cali In A Cup”; dippy, marginally fried, immensely catchy folk-rock, with a harmonica line soaked in fuzztone in a really clever way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8SuI7BqKP0 Woods don’t sound a great deal like Teenage Fanclub – there are no harmonies to speak of, for a start – but there’s something comparable about ambling, ragged singalongs like “Cali In A Cup”, “Is It Honest” and “Lily”. It’s a sense, maybe, of a band so artfully absorbing their classic influences that they come out in a tumbling, jangling, loving way rather than a crippling one. So “Find Them Empty” is a terrific, wistful kind of Nuggety garage rock, built on churning organ and a spectacularly needling guitar line, while a bunch of stripped-back ballads mix well with another fine recent album I’ve neglected to write about - “Sic Alps” by Sic Alps, where previously haphazard skills are shaped into exquisite and blasted reveries in the vein of “Sister Lovers”. There’s still an endearingly random aspect to “Bend Beyond”: the instrumental “Cascade” is a spindly, tentative squiggle with the faintest hint of hi-life. Mostly, though, it feels like promise realised, never more so than on “Size Meets The Sound”, a brilliant and compact psych-rocker with a surging refrain oddly – and surely accidentally – redolent of The House Of Love’s “Shine On”. Cracking album. Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

The new Uncut, as discussed, is in the shops today with The Byrds on the cover, and a free CD of tracks inspired by that band. Woods are included on the comp, and their latest, “Bend Beyond”, is a record I’ve played a lot these past couple of months, but somehow neglected to write much about.

“Bend Beyond” actually came out this week, rather inappropriately given that its woozy good vibes seem more suited to high summer rather than the cusp of autumn. If, in the past, Jeremy Earl’s band (and, indeed, his excellent label Woodsist) have appeared a little torn between frail indie-pop and something more freeform and psychedelic, many of the 12 songs here feel a good deal more substantial. Where once they were bashful and sketchy, “Bend Beyond” showcases a band whose good ideas have coalesced into genuinely memorable songs.

From the start, and the title track, there feels like a new focus and confidence. “Bend Beyond” is, like many of the other tracks, a neatly compressed series of jams, punctuated with inventive solos. Earl’s quavering, reedy voice still marks out Woods as fundamentally indie kids, but the tangled riffing also puts them into a classic Californian tradition (even though they come from Brooklyn).

That’s emphasised further by the next track, “Cali In A Cup”; dippy, marginally fried, immensely catchy folk-rock, with a harmonica line soaked in fuzztone in a really clever way.

Woods don’t sound a great deal like Teenage Fanclub – there are no harmonies to speak of, for a start – but there’s something comparable about ambling, ragged singalongs like “Cali In A Cup”, “Is It Honest” and “Lily”. It’s a sense, maybe, of a band so artfully absorbing their classic influences that they come out in a tumbling, jangling, loving way rather than a crippling one.

So “Find Them Empty” is a terrific, wistful kind of Nuggety garage rock, built on churning organ and a spectacularly needling guitar line, while a bunch of stripped-back ballads mix well with another fine recent album I’ve neglected to write about – “Sic Alps” by Sic Alps, where previously haphazard skills are shaped into exquisite and blasted reveries in the vein of “Sister Lovers”. There’s still an endearingly random aspect to “Bend Beyond”: the instrumental “Cascade” is a spindly, tentative squiggle with the faintest hint of hi-life.

Mostly, though, it feels like promise realised, never more so than on “Size Meets The Sound”, a brilliant and compact psych-rocker with a surging refrain oddly – and surely accidentally – redolent of The House Of Love’s “Shine On”. Cracking album.

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

This month in Uncut!

Tom Pinnock
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0
This month in Uncut!

The new issue of Uncut, out today (September 21), features The Byrds, Neil Young, Siouxsie & The Banshees and LCD Soundsystem. The Byrds are on the cover, and inside, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Chris Hillman discuss the tumultuous, highly creative period leading up to their classic 1968 album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers. By its release, Crosby and Michael Clarke were gone, and the group had embarked on a whole new trip into cosmic Americana. The Byrds’ 20 greatest songs are also counted down, chosen by the likes of McGuinn, Hillman, Crosby, Bobby Gillespie, Emmylou Harris and Van Dyke Parks. Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s Psychedelic Pill is reviewed, Siouxsie & The Banshees’ wild, self-destructive time during the making of A Kiss In The Dreamhouse is examined, and James Murphy explains his career options now he’s broken up LCD Soundsystem. Elsewhere, Mark Eitzel takes us through the best of his own albums, Don McLean delves into the dark heart of “American Pie” in this month’s Making Of…, Steve Miller recalls the highs and lows of The Steve Miller Band, and Rickie Lee Jones answers your questions in An Audience With… The news section features Prince, Jah Wobble and Keith Levene, Cody ChesnuTT and the return of the Uncut Music Award. As well as Young, the 40-page reviews section puts the likes of Donald Fagen, ELO, Bat For Lashes, Van Morrison, The Velvet Underground, REM, Peter Gabriel and Johnny Cash to the test. The live section features reviews of Leonard Cohen, End Of The Road Festival and At The Drive-In, while the film and DVD section looks at The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour and On The Road, among others. Books reviewed this month include Peter Hook’s Joy Division book and Barney Hoskyns’ oral history of Led Zeppelin. The issue’s free CD features a host of artists inspired by The Byrds, including Beachwood Sparks, the Flamin’ Groovies and The Coral. The new Uncut (dated November 2012, Take 186) is out now.

The new issue of Uncut, out today (September 21), features The Byrds, Neil Young, Siouxsie & The Banshees and LCD Soundsystem.

The Byrds are on the cover, and inside, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Chris Hillman discuss the tumultuous, highly creative period leading up to their classic 1968 album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers.

By its release, Crosby and Michael Clarke were gone, and the group had embarked on a whole new trip into cosmic Americana. The Byrds’ 20 greatest songs are also counted down, chosen by the likes of McGuinn, Hillman, Crosby, Bobby Gillespie, Emmylou Harris and Van Dyke Parks.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s Psychedelic Pill is reviewed, Siouxsie & The Banshees’ wild, self-destructive time during the making of A Kiss In The Dreamhouse is examined, and James Murphy explains his career options now he’s broken up LCD Soundsystem.

Elsewhere, Mark Eitzel takes us through the best of his own albums, Don McLean delves into the dark heart of “American Pie” in this month’s Making Of…, Steve Miller recalls the highs and lows of The Steve Miller Band, and Rickie Lee Jones answers your questions in An Audience With…

The news section features Prince, Jah Wobble and Keith Levene, Cody ChesnuTT and the return of the Uncut Music Award.

As well as Young, the 40-page reviews section puts the likes of Donald Fagen, ELO, Bat For Lashes, Van Morrison, The Velvet Underground, REM, Peter Gabriel and Johnny Cash to the test.

The live section features reviews of Leonard Cohen, End Of The Road Festival and At The Drive-In, while the film and DVD section looks at The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour and On The Road, among others. Books reviewed this month include Peter Hook’s Joy Division book and Barney Hoskyns’ oral history of Led Zeppelin.

The issue’s free CD features a host of artists inspired by The Byrds, including Beachwood Sparks, the Flamin’ Groovies and The Coral.

The new Uncut (dated November 2012, Take 186) is out now.

Neil Young quits drugs and alcohol

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Neil Young quits drugs and alcohol
Neil Young has reportedly given up smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol to write his forthcoming memoir, Waging Heavy Peace. Speaking to the New York Times, Young said, "I did it for 40 years. Now I want to see what it's like to not do it. It's just a different perspective." Young, aged 66, said ...

Neil Young has reportedly given up smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol to write his forthcoming memoir, Waging Heavy Peace.

Speaking to the New York Times, Young said, “I did it for 40 years. Now I want to see what it’s like to not do it. It’s just a different perspective.”

Young, aged 66, said he has been sober for about a year.

According to another report on Rolling Stone, Young recalls in the book being arrested for drugs with Eric Clapton and Stephen Stills, and jokes about an incident involving CSN bandmate, David Crosby: “I still remember ‘the mighty Cros’ visiting the ranch in his van. That van was a rolling laboratory that made Jack Casady’s briefcase look like chicken feed. Forget I said that! Was my mike on?”

Waging Heavy Peace is published in the UK on October 4.

Bob Dylan second favourite to win Nobel Prize for Literature

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Bob Dylan second favourite to win Nobel Prize for Literature
Bob Dylan is now second favourite to win the Nobel prize for literature this autumn, thanks to a wave of bets on the singer. Dylan is now 10/1 to win the prestigious award, with Japanese writer Haruki Murakami topping the bookies poll with odds of 7/1, The Guardian reports. According to a spokes...

Bob Dylan is now second favourite to win the Nobel prize for literature this autumn, thanks to a wave of bets on the singer.

Dylan is now 10/1 to win the prestigious award, with Japanese writer Haruki Murakami topping the bookies poll with odds of 7/1, The Guardian reports.

According to a spokesperson for bookmakers Ladbrokes, Dylan has been “backed from 33/1 into 10/1 thanks to some decent £100-plus bets… One of the big bets comes from Norway, the others are UK-based”. The average stake on Dylan to bag the Nobel is around £40, they said.

Alongside his music, Dylan authored a collection of poetry and prose titled Tarantula in 1971 as well as his memoir Chronicles in 2004, which he recently revealed he working on a sequel for. However, this is unlikely to place him ahead of other literary big guns who have won the award before, including TS Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter and Doris Lessing.

Ladbrokes believes it’s highly unlikely the singer will ever win prize, but that’s not stopped his fans bidding on him again this year: “We’re happy to ‘fill the satchel’ in bookmaking terms as we expect the Dylan backers to part with their cash again this year.”

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Meat + Bone

Uncut
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The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Meat + Bone

It's now seven years since Damage, the last Blues Explosion album, a hiatus during which Jon Spencer got to indulge his psychotic rockabilly side with three albums with Heavy Trash, and also pursue a few other alternative musical endeavours with the likes of Andre Williams, Solex and Cristina Martinez. It was also a period during which the original punk-blues pioneers saw their influence put to more remunerative use not just by The White Stripes but by The Black Keys as well, as stripped-back roots riffage unaccountably became one of rock's more commercially potent modes. Their arena-rocking successes are a far cry from the Blues Explosion's courageous, marginal existence in earlier decades, when they were doing the spadework for rock's post-Britpop, post-Grunge, post-Glam-Metal, post-Thrash possibilities. Of course, they have on their side the kudos - the high aesthetic ground, so to speak - of being the innovators, acclaimed as the originators; but as the saying goes, fine words butter no parsnips. As Jon Spencer says in the mock acceptance speech that opens "Bottle Baby" from the band's comeback album Meat + Bone, "Standing up here at the podium holding this fabulous statuette, I feel like a god - but I still got a problem paying the rent". Whether Meat + Bone will alleviate the rent problems remains to be seen. It includes some great music, but it still has that hairy, unpredictable, somewhat demented aspect that gives the Blues Explosion its unique spark. Russell Simins' cymbals crash and splash around the mix; Spencer and Judah Bauer's guitars dart and snarl like wild animals forced against their will to take the leash; and Spencer howls and wails like a man possessed, a series of blurted phrases that rarely make for a radio-friendly hook, but which suit the general mood of musical hysteria just fine. And if things ever seem to be settling into too comfortable a groove, the mix is splattered with sped-up tape effects, rewinds, and a bricolage of aleatory noises that gives the impression things are only nominally "under control", like a truck skidding across an intersection. "Black Mold" opens proceedings like a bandwagon plummetting off a cliff, with shouts of the title phrase giving way, during a breakdown section, to a list of influential heroes the band would like to thank. It gives some insight into why the Blues Explosion have thus far managed to give mainstream success the swerve, featuring as it does the likes of "Art Blakey, Ornette Coleman and Milton Babbitt... Lonnie Smith and Graham Greene... the explosive Little Richard, Little Walter 'Shakey' Horton... rolling around, around, around". Whichever way you look at it, that's hardly a recipe to capture the imagination of teenage America - though it does make for a spicy, spiky sonic brew. As Spencer sings on "Bag Of Bones", the album's standout cut, "I need something weird, I want something strange!" It's the cross which the inveterate aural explorer with a taste for punkish atavism has to bear: the very craving for weirdness that gives the music potency is the same thing that scares off mainstream punters. Certainly, the weakest tracks here are those which seem the most controlled and predictable, like "Black Thoughts", where Spencer attempts to shake the black dog off his shoulder to what sounds like a raggedy uptempo Stones raunch riff; or "Unclear", where the slide guitar recalls "Freebird". But when the band push the fringes of coherency, in the punk thrash of "Danger" and the hurtling momentum of "Boot Cut", full of careering guitars of singular purpose and blurted expostulations, there's something indefinably thrilling about the Blues Explosion's racket. Highlights include "Ice Cream Killer", which opens like "Zig Zag Wanderer" and takes a sharp left turn; "Get Your Pants Off", a slower, greasier Memphis punk/rhythm & blues groove in which the spindly organ break is like a stiletto between the ribs; and best of all, "Bag Of Bones", a swaggering funk-blues bluesharp groove with the unstoppable momentum of a 16-wheeler, and Spencer bristling at the young pretenders pilfering the band's birthright. "Don't have to wait for Halloween to scream and wail!" he taunts. "I'm an old bag of bones, honey, you're just a clown." Andy Gill Q+A JON SPENCER What was it like working as The Blues Explosion again? We didn't fret too much, there wasn't much second-guessing: we approached it with a certain self-assurance. We've been doing this for a long time, and reviewing all our history for the reissues of our back catalogue in 2010 helped embolden us, strengthened us in some way. We did it all on our own, we didn't have any guest musicians, we didn't hire in an outside producer or remixer or anything. Do you get irritated when other bands are more commercially successful with the punk-blues style you pioneered? While we may have influenced some other bands, I don't think that they're very adventurous. They seem quite safe. It is hard for me to get into this without sounding like a curmudgeon, but I will say that I have always felt that what the JSBX does is very punk, very forward, adventurous, experimental, and a bit confrontational. Where did you record the new album? At the Key Club Studio in Benton Harbor, Michigan. They own the Flickinger console that was custom built for Sly Stone, the one that was used on There's A Riot Goin' On. It's a beautiful thing, all black, with the markings done in paint which glows under a black light. Apparently, it was in very bad shape when the new owners got it: when they opened it up, there were a lot of old roaches, and a lot of strange powder in there. And also, a lot of hair! INTERVIEW: ANDY GILL

It’s now seven years since Damage, the last Blues Explosion album, a hiatus during which Jon Spencer got to indulge his psychotic rockabilly side with three albums with Heavy Trash, and also pursue a few other alternative musical endeavours with the likes of Andre Williams, Solex and Cristina Martinez. It was also a period during which the original punk-blues pioneers saw their influence put to more remunerative use not just by The White Stripes but by The Black Keys as well, as stripped-back roots riffage unaccountably became one of rock’s more commercially potent modes.

Their arena-rocking successes are a far cry from the Blues Explosion’s courageous, marginal existence in earlier decades, when they were doing the spadework for rock’s post-Britpop, post-Grunge, post-Glam-Metal, post-Thrash possibilities. Of course, they have on their side the kudos – the high aesthetic ground, so to speak – of being the innovators, acclaimed as the originators; but as the saying goes, fine words butter no parsnips. As Jon Spencer says in the mock acceptance speech that opens “Bottle Baby” from the band’s comeback album Meat + Bone, “Standing up here at the podium holding this fabulous statuette, I feel like a god – but I still got a problem paying the rent”.

Whether Meat + Bone will alleviate the rent problems remains to be seen. It includes some great music, but it still has that hairy, unpredictable, somewhat demented aspect that gives the Blues Explosion its unique spark. Russell Simins‘ cymbals crash and splash around the mix; Spencer and Judah Bauer’s guitars dart and snarl like wild animals forced against their will to take the leash; and Spencer howls and wails like a man possessed, a series of blurted phrases that rarely make for a radio-friendly hook, but which suit the general mood of musical hysteria just fine. And if things ever seem to be settling into too comfortable a groove, the mix is splattered with sped-up tape effects, rewinds, and a bricolage of aleatory noises that gives the impression things are only nominally “under control”, like a truck skidding across an intersection.

“Black Mold” opens proceedings like a bandwagon plummetting off a cliff, with shouts of the title phrase giving way, during a breakdown section, to a list of influential heroes the band would like to thank. It gives some insight into why the Blues Explosion have thus far managed to give mainstream success the swerve, featuring as it does the likes of “Art Blakey, Ornette Coleman and Milton Babbitt… Lonnie Smith and Graham Greene… the explosive Little Richard, Little Walter ‘Shakey’ Horton… rolling around, around, around”. Whichever way you look at it, that’s hardly a recipe to capture the imagination of teenage America – though it does make for a spicy, spiky sonic brew. As Spencer sings on “Bag Of Bones”, the album’s standout cut, “I need something weird, I want something strange!” It’s the cross which the inveterate aural explorer with a taste for punkish atavism has to bear: the very craving for weirdness that gives the music potency is the same thing that scares off mainstream punters.

Certainly, the weakest tracks here are those which seem the most controlled and predictable, like “Black Thoughts”, where Spencer attempts to shake the black dog off his shoulder to what sounds like a raggedy uptempo Stones raunch riff; or “Unclear”, where the slide guitar recalls “Freebird”. But when the band push the fringes of coherency, in the punk thrash of “Danger” and the hurtling momentum of “Boot Cut”, full of careering guitars of singular purpose and blurted expostulations, there’s something indefinably thrilling about the Blues Explosion’s racket. Highlights include “Ice Cream Killer“, which opens like “Zig Zag Wanderer” and takes a sharp left turn; “Get Your Pants Off”, a slower, greasier Memphis punk/rhythm & blues groove in which the spindly organ break is like a stiletto between the ribs; and best of all, “Bag Of Bones”, a swaggering funk-blues bluesharp groove with the unstoppable momentum of a 16-wheeler, and Spencer bristling at the young pretenders pilfering the band’s birthright. “Don’t have to wait for Halloween to scream and wail!” he taunts. “I’m an old bag of bones, honey, you’re just a clown.”

Andy Gill

Q+A

JON SPENCER

What was it like working as The Blues Explosion again?

We didn’t fret too much, there wasn’t much second-guessing: we approached it with a certain self-assurance. We’ve been doing this for a long time, and reviewing all our history for the reissues of our back catalogue in 2010 helped embolden us, strengthened us in some way. We did it all on our own, we didn’t have any guest musicians, we didn’t hire in an outside producer or remixer or anything.

Do you get irritated when other bands are more commercially successful with the punk-blues style you pioneered?

While we may have influenced some other bands, I don’t think that they’re very adventurous. They seem quite safe. It is hard for me to get into this without sounding like a curmudgeon, but I will say that I have always felt that what the JSBX does is very punk, very forward, adventurous, experimental, and a bit confrontational.

Where did you record the new album?

At the Key Club Studio in Benton Harbor, Michigan. They own the Flickinger console that was custom built for Sly Stone, the one that was used on There’s A Riot Goin’ On. It’s a beautiful thing, all black, with the markings done in paint which glows under a black light. Apparently, it was in very bad shape when the new owners got it: when they opened it up, there were a lot of old roaches, and a lot of strange powder in there. And also, a lot of hair!

INTERVIEW: ANDY GILL

Yoko Ono to give John Lennon peace award to Pussy Riot

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Yoko Ono to give John Lennon peace award to Pussy Riot
Yoko Ono is set to give the biennial Lennonono Grant For Peace to five different activists and campaigners, including the partially imprisoned Russian punk collective, Pussy Riot. As well as Pussy Riot, the award will be presented posthumously to peace activist Rachel Corrie, who died in 2003, and ...

Yoko Ono is set to give the biennial Lennonono Grant For Peace to five different activists and campaigners, including the partially imprisoned Russian punk collective, Pussy Riot.

As well as Pussy Riot, the award will be presented posthumously to peace activist Rachel Corrie, who died in 2003, and to the late writer Christopher Hitchens. Author John Perkins will also receive the award, as well as a fifth, to-be-announced person.

The award ceremony will take place in Reykjavik, Iceland on October 9, which would have been John Lennon’s 72nd birthday. However, Pussy Riot’s grant will be given – with the backing of Amnesty International – on September 21 in New York “in the hope that they will be released as soon as possible”.

Three members of Pussy Riot have been jailed for the next two years. They received their sentences on August 17 after being found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. They were arrested in February after they staged a flashmob style performance at Moscow’s Church Of Christ The Saviour, protesting against the Orthodox Christian church’s support of president Vladimir Putin.

The Black Keys, The Flaming Lips, Iggy Pop to all feature on Ke$ha’s new album ‘Warrior’

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The Black Keys, The Flaming Lips, Iggy Pop to all feature on Ke$ha’s new album ‘Warrior’

The Black Keys' drummer Patrick Carney, The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and Iggy Pop will all feature on Ke$ha's new album, Warrior. The album, which is the follow-up to the eccentric pop singer's 2010 debut LP Animal, will be released on December 3 in the UK and December 4 in the US. 'Warrior' contains a star-studded list of guest writers, producers and collaborators, with the likes of Bonnie McKee, Fun's Nate Ruess, Ben Folds, Greg Kurstin, Ammo, Kojak, Max Martin, Billboard and Will.i.am all set to feature. The album has been overseen by songwriting supreme Dr Luke. The album will feature a total of 12 tracks on the standard edition and 16 tracks on the deluxe edition. A single titled "Die Young" will be released next Tuesday (September 25). Speaking about the record, Ke$ha said: "I've been working for a year on this new record and have collaborated with some of my idols. This process has been long and intense and I couldn't be more stoked to share this music. I hope with 'Warrior' my fans get to know me in a much more raw and vulnerable way." The singer had previously claimed that her second album will usher in the dawn of a new genre called "cock pop", saying: "Wailing on an epic track with Doctor Luke & Benny Blanco. This is the dawn of a new genre of music: COCK POP!!!" The tracklisting for Warrior is as follows: 'Warrior' 'Die Young' 'C'Mon' 'Thinking Of You' 'Crazy Kids' 'Wherever You Are' 'Dirty Love' 'Wonderland' 'Only Wanna Dance With You' 'Supernatural' 'Beautiful Life' 'Love Into The Light' 'Last Goodbye'* 'Gold Trans Am'* 'Out Alive'* 'Past Lives'* * = Deluxe Edition only

The Black Keys’ drummer Patrick Carney, The Flaming Lips‘ Wayne Coyne and Iggy Pop will all feature on Ke$ha’s new album, Warrior.

The album, which is the follow-up to the eccentric pop singer’s 2010 debut LP Animal, will be released on December 3 in the UK and December 4 in the US.

‘Warrior’ contains a star-studded list of guest writers, producers and collaborators, with the likes of Bonnie McKee, Fun’s Nate Ruess, Ben Folds, Greg Kurstin, Ammo, Kojak, Max Martin, Billboard and Will.i.am all set to feature. The album has been overseen by songwriting supreme Dr Luke.

The album will feature a total of 12 tracks on the standard edition and 16 tracks on the deluxe edition. A single titled “Die Young” will be released next Tuesday (September 25).

Speaking about the record, Ke$ha said: “I’ve been working for a year on this new record and have collaborated with some of my idols. This process has been long and intense and I couldn’t be more stoked to share this music. I hope with ‘Warrior’ my fans get to know me in a much more raw and vulnerable way.”

The singer had previously claimed that her second album will usher in the dawn of a new genre called “cock pop”, saying: “Wailing on an epic track with Doctor Luke & Benny Blanco. This is the dawn of a new genre of music: COCK POP!!!”

The tracklisting for Warrior is as follows:

‘Warrior’

‘Die Young’

‘C’Mon’

‘Thinking Of You’

‘Crazy Kids’

‘Wherever You Are’

‘Dirty Love’

‘Wonderland’

‘Only Wanna Dance With You’

‘Supernatural’

‘Beautiful Life’

‘Love Into The Light’

‘Last Goodbye’*

‘Gold Trans Am’*

‘Out Alive’*

‘Past Lives’*

* = Deluxe Edition only

The Beach Boys plan ‘rock and roll’ album for 2013

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The Beach Boys plan ‘rock and roll’ album for 2013
The Beach Boys have said that they hope to record another new album to follow 'That's Why God Made the Radio', which was released earlier this year. The current line-up of Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks were speaking towards the end of their 50th anniversary tou...

The Beach Boys have said that they hope to record another new album to follow ‘That’s Why God Made the Radio’, which was released earlier this year.

The current line-up of Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks were speaking towards the end of their 50th anniversary tour last night (September 18) at a special evening launching a Beach Boys exhibition at The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.

At the event, after an acoustic performance of “Surfer Girl”, “California Girls”, “Help Me, Rhonda” and “I Get Around”, Brian Wilson said – via Rolling Stone:

“I wouldn’t mind getting together with Mike and the guys and making an exciting rock and roll album… I’m sure by early next year we’ll be ready to rock.”

When asked if any solo projects might get in the way of the band making more new music together, Al Jardine added: “The Beach Boys is the real deal. I’m not interested in that other stuff.”

The band will play London’s Royal Albert Hall on September 27.

The show is the second London date of the band’s full European tour, which will also see them play London’s Wembley Arena on September 28.

The Beach Boys formed in 1961 and enjoyed huge success throughout the following decades. Brian Wilson last performed with The Beach Boys during the making of their 1996 album ‘Stars And Stripes Vol 1’, and has toured as a solo artist since. Two former founding members, Dennis and Carl Wilson, died in 1983 and 1998 respectively.

LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy: “I don’t have any plans, and it’s terrifying”

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LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy: “I don’t have any plans, and it’s terrifying”
James Murphy reveals what his life is like following the end of LCD Soundsystem, in the new issue of Uncut, out on Friday (September 21). The singer and producer also explains to Uncut why he decided to end his much-loved band after just three acclaimed albums. While new film, Shut Up And Play T...

James Murphy reveals what his life is like following the end of LCD Soundsystem, in the new issue of Uncut, out on Friday (September 21).

The singer and producer also explains to Uncut why he decided to end his much-loved band after just three acclaimed albums.

While new film, Shut Up And Play The Hits, marks the end of LCD, Murphy is still wondering what to do from now on.

“I don’t have any plans,” he tells Uncut, “and it’s terrifying.”

He does have a few ideas, though, including becoming an ultimate fighter, and opening a boutique store with his girlfriend.

Find out more about his ambitions in the new issue of Uncut (November 2012, Take 186), out on Friday (September 21).

The Rolling Stones’ Charlie Is My Darling documentary to get official release after 40 years

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The Rolling Stones’ Charlie Is My Darling documentary to get official release after 40 years

The 1965 The Rolling Stones documentary Charlie Is My Darling is set to be officially released for the first time. The 50-minute film was shot by Peter Whitehead in September 1965 when the Stones did a two-date tour of Ireland after "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" hit the charts. Although bootleg copies have been available, the film was never officially released. However, as part of the band's 50th anniversary celebrations, a new, restored version of the film will premier at the New York Film Festival on September 29, Billboard reports. It features the earliest known professionally recorded concert footage of the band, including "...Satisfaction", "Time Is On My Side" and "The Last Time", as well as documentary footage of the band backstage, writing new tracks and doing impressions of The Beatles and Elvis Presley. Showing the hysteria surrounding the band's early years, one track "I'm Alright", comes to an abrupt end as crowds swarm the stage and the band have to be rushed offstage by police. "We did some pretty serious science on this," director Mick Gochanour told Billboard about the restoration process. "It took eight months to synch up the [soundtrack] with the live performances…We realised during the middle that we had six complete performances from the two different cities, recorded on long-obsolete three-track tape." He added: "There were three tracks: the audience, Mick, and the band. The audience recording was slightly out-of-synch with the band, and when we aligned them, it gave unbelievable definition to the bass and drums." Charlie Is My Darling - Ireland 1965 will be released commercially on November 6. It will follow the release of another Rolling Stones documentary, Crossfire Hurricane, which is directed by Brett Morgen and follows the band from their early road trips and gigs in the 1960s right up to present day. Earlier this month, The Rolling Stones announced that they will be releasing a new greatest hits compilation, titled GRRR!, in November, which will feature two new tracks.

The 1965 The Rolling Stones documentary Charlie Is My Darling is set to be officially released for the first time.

The 50-minute film was shot by Peter Whitehead in September 1965 when the Stones did a two-date tour of Ireland after “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” hit the charts. Although bootleg copies have been available, the film was never officially released.

However, as part of the band’s 50th anniversary celebrations, a new, restored version of the film will premier at the New York Film Festival on September 29, Billboard reports. It features the earliest known professionally recorded concert footage of the band, including “…Satisfaction”, “Time Is On My Side” and “The Last Time”, as well as documentary footage of the band backstage, writing new tracks and doing impressions of The Beatles and Elvis Presley.

Showing the hysteria surrounding the band’s early years, one track “I’m Alright”, comes to an abrupt end as crowds swarm the stage and the band have to be rushed offstage by police.

“We did some pretty serious science on this,” director Mick Gochanour told Billboard about the restoration process. “It took eight months to synch up the [soundtrack] with the live performances…We realised during the middle that we had six complete performances from the two different cities, recorded on long-obsolete three-track tape.”

He added: “There were three tracks: the audience, Mick, and the band. The audience recording was slightly out-of-synch with the band, and when we aligned them, it gave unbelievable definition to the bass and drums.”

Charlie Is My Darling – Ireland 1965 will be released commercially on November 6. It will follow the release of another Rolling Stones documentary, Crossfire Hurricane, which is directed by Brett Morgen and follows the band from their early road trips and gigs in the 1960s right up to present day.

Earlier this month, The Rolling Stones announced that they will be releasing a new greatest hits compilation, titled GRRR!, in November, which will feature two new tracks.

Watch trailer for Jeff Buckley biopic, Greetings From Tim Buckley

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Watch trailer for Jeff Buckley biopic, Greetings From Tim Buckley

The trailer for the new Jeff Buckley biopic Greetings From Tim Buckley has been released online. Scroll down to watch it. The fim stars Gossip Girl actor Penn Badgley as the late singer and follows his early struggles to forge a recording career as he grapples with the overbearing legacy of his musician father. The trailer shows the development of Buckley's relationship with a character named Allie, a young woman who he meets while working at a concert, who is played by Imogen Poots. The promo also features a snippet of Kate Nash's small role in the film. There is no release date for the film as yet, but it received its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month. Last month, a video emerged of Badgley singing "Lilac Wine", a 1950s standard famously covered by Buckley for his 1994 album Grace. Badgley has also previously spoken about how he decided to play, explaining that he focused on capturing Buckley's unique "energy" rather than impersonating the singer to the letter. He said: "I wasn't going to augment my voice and sound like Michael Jackson the whole time, because Jeff had a very high speaking voice, a full octave higher than mine. I'm a little more muscular than he was, I wasn't quite as thin. My hair wasn't as long as it was at that time, but it also looked a little like the 'Grace' cover." Explaining how he tried to tap into Buckley's mindset, Badgley added: "I would meditate on words like "feline" and "feminine," because he's like a feral cat. What made him so beautiful is that he was a man, but he was so feminine, too. He was gentle, but he also had such rage. I had to take all of his energy in." An official biopic of Buckley is also currently in production, with Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark actor Reeve Carney playing the musician in that version. Jeff Buckley passed away in 1997 at the age of 30 after accidentally drowning in the Wolf River in Tennessee. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKVTI_cGg_8

The trailer for the new Jeff Buckley biopic Greetings From Tim Buckley has been released online. Scroll down to watch it.

The fim stars Gossip Girl actor Penn Badgley as the late singer and follows his early struggles to forge a recording career as he grapples with the overbearing legacy of his musician father.

The trailer shows the development of Buckley’s relationship with a character named Allie, a young woman who he meets while working at a concert, who is played by Imogen Poots. The promo also features a snippet of Kate Nash’s small role in the film.

There is no release date for the film as yet, but it received its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.

Last month, a video emerged of Badgley singing “Lilac Wine”, a 1950s standard famously covered by Buckley for his 1994 album Grace.

Badgley has also previously spoken about how he decided to play, explaining that he focused on capturing Buckley’s unique “energy” rather than impersonating the singer to the letter.

He said: “I wasn’t going to augment my voice and sound like Michael Jackson the whole time, because Jeff had a very high speaking voice, a full octave higher than mine. I’m a little more muscular than he was, I wasn’t quite as thin. My hair wasn’t as long as it was at that time, but it also looked a little like the ‘Grace’ cover.”

Explaining how he tried to tap into Buckley’s mindset, Badgley added: “I would meditate on words like “feline” and “feminine,” because he’s like a feral cat. What made him so beautiful is that he was a man, but he was so feminine, too. He was gentle, but he also had such rage. I had to take all of his energy in.”

An official biopic of Buckley is also currently in production, with Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark actor Reeve Carney playing the musician in that version.

Jeff Buckley passed away in 1997 at the age of 30 after accidentally drowning in the Wolf River in Tennessee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKVTI_cGg_8

Paul Weller opens up about anniversary reissue of The Jam’s last album The Gift

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Paul Weller opens up about anniversary reissue of The Jam’s last album The Gift
The Jam are set to reissue their 1982 album The Gift to celebrate its 30th anniversary. 'The Gift' was the trio's only Number One and the last before their split. It features classic tracks including "Town Called Malice", '"Running On The Spot" and "Carnation". "I don't remember any feeling at fi...

The Jam are set to reissue their 1982 album The Gift to celebrate its 30th anniversary.

‘The Gift’ was the trio’s only Number One and the last before their split. It features classic tracks including “Town Called Malice“, ‘”Running On The Spot” and “Carnation”.

“I don’t remember any feeling at first of it being the last record, when we first went into it anyway,” Paul Weller tells NME. “It was done in two halves, we started it in ’81 before Christmas and we finished it off after Christmas. But I think it was alright, there were a lot of tunes written upfront and there was a pretty positive atmosphere amongst everyone.”

Speaking about the social commentary element of the record, demonstrated on tracks such as “Town Called Malice”, Weller says the political climate made him want to write a record that reflected the state of society: “I was thinking about the times we were living in. It wasn’t the height of Thatcherism but she was well into her stride by that time. The country was being depleted and the working classes were being shat on. It was a very desolate time. You couldn’t help but be touched by the politics of the time, you were either for or against it and I was reflecting what I saw around me.”

The album also marked a departure in sound for the band, veering towards a more Northern Soul influence: “I’d been listening to a lot of soul music,” Weller recalls. “So I was trying to incorporate some of that into what we were doing. The influence of soul music pointed in the direction of where I was going to go after that, but it was very much our sound, we were trying to expand it and do something else with the Jam sound.”

The gift box super-deluxe edition will feature a re-master of the original album with bonus tracks which include the band’s last singles “Great Depression”, “The Bitterest Pill”, and “Beat Surrender”. It will also include a previously unreleased Live At Wembley recording of The Jam’s last ever tour and a compilation DVD of live footage and TV appearances.

November 2012

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November 2012
When it comes out in the autumn of 1974, Gene Clark's No Other seems to me like an album everybody should hear, nothing short of a masterpiece. I beg for enough space to review it at appropriate length in what used to be Melody Maker, to a wholly unsympathetic response, people regarding me as someo...

When it comes out in the autumn of 1974, Gene Clark’s No Other seems to me like an album everybody should hear, nothing short of a masterpiece.

I beg for enough space to review it at appropriate length in what used to be Melody Maker, to a wholly unsympathetic response, people regarding me as someone who’s taken leave of their senses who should be approached with caution and a very big stick. I’m told to stop my infernal whining and write 100 words on the album, which I do, sulkily, most of them superlatives.

The extravagant claims I make on its behalf, however, bestirs few people enough to actually go out and buy the thing. Many more simply ignore the album altogether and it quickly sinks without trace, barely a copy sold.

It has been unfortunately thus for Clark since he quit The Byrds in 1966, his solo career to date not much more than a catalogue of commercial failure. Great music on albums like Gene Clark With The Gosdin Brothers, The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark, Through The Morning, Through The Night, White Light and Roadmaster has been routinely overlooked, leaving Clark often disheartened, solace found increasingly in hard liquor and drugs. No Other was meant to be the album that returned him to former glories and was lavishly financed by David Geffen’s Asylum Records; to the tune, some said, of $100,000. This is a lot of money for only eight completed tracks and an album that could only have sold more poorly if it had remained unreleased. When Clark announces to an appalled Geffen that for a follow-up he intends to record an album of “cosmic Motown”, he’s introduced to the wooden thing in the wall otherwise known as the door. Three years later, he’s on another label with a new album called Two Sides To Every Story that’s just come out when I interview him in London in May 1977.

Clark’s departure from The Byrds is blamed on his chronic fear of flying, which compromised the band’s touring and promotional schedules. Even the most naïve of fans, however, suspects there’s something more seriously askew, which turns out eventually to be Gene’s increasingly debilitating dependency on alcohol and narcotics, both of which he partakes in to the point of damaging excess. It’s certainly a shock meeting him, not least because my memory of him in The Byrds as their impeccably cool and imperious frontman is still so vivid. He cuts a shambling figure now as we are left in a room so full of furniture it might otherwise be used as a storeroom, somewhere things are dumped and possibly forgotten. There’s something worryingly astray about him, a puddled fretfulness, an inclination towards drift and vacancy. He seems like someone with a fragile sense of himself.

He’s a big man still, heavily bearded, with the lumbering momentum of a slow-moving tug on a sluggish current, a bulky craft with a possibly rusty hull. Unmentioned habits have clearly taken their toll, as well as the thudding blows of serial disappointment at the dismal turns his solo career has taken. When he speaks, his voice seems to come from a faraway place I’m concerned may be somewhere he these days spends too much time with only his worried self for muttering company.

He seems trim of neither body nor mind and I’m genuinely sorry when I ask him for a response to the colossal public indifference to No Other, which he has just told me he truly believed was his ticket back to the big time, as he so describes it. He becomes immediately agitated, struggles for the right words, can’t find them and so simply shrugs, waves a hand, stares out the window, increasingly estranged from the moment.
In the distant hum of office life, a telephone’s ringing and going unanswered, continues to ring and is still unanswered. “Do you think that’s for me?” he finally asks.
I tell him I have no idea.

“Neither do I,” he says, rising to go and then actually going, the interview, such as it has been, evidently over.
Enjoy the issue…

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Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore plays first gig with new band Chelsea Light Moving

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Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore plays first gig with new band Chelsea Light Moving

Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore played his first gig with new band Chelsea Light Moving last week. The four-piece, which consists of Moore along with Keith Wood on guitar, Samara Lubelski on bass and John Moloney on drums, played their debut show at Brooklyn's 285 Kent, Spin reports. They played an eight-song set, presumably made up of tracks from their forthcoming album, which they are currently recording and will be released on Matador. The band have previously unveiled two tracks – "Burroughs", inspired by the last words of beat poet William Burroughs and "Groovy & Linda", which draws inspiration from the late-'60s East Village hippie couple whose flower-power dreams ended in a double homicide. Earlier this month, it was announced that Sonic Youth would be releasing a new live album, recorded in August 1985 at Chicago’s Smart Bar. The album was recorded on a four-track tape recorder and will be released on November 14 via the band's label Goofin' Records. 'Hallowe'en' 'Death Valley ’69' 'Intro/Brave Men Run(In My Family)' 'I Love Her All The Time' 'Ghost Bitch' 'I’m Insane' 'Kat ‘N’ Hat' 'Brother James' 'Kill Yr Idols' 'Secret Girl' 'Flower' 'The Burning Spear' 'Expressway To Yr Skull' 'Making The Nature Scene'

Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore played his first gig with new band Chelsea Light Moving last week.

The four-piece, which consists of Moore along with Keith Wood on guitar, Samara Lubelski on bass and John Moloney on drums, played their debut show at Brooklyn’s 285 Kent, Spin reports.

They played an eight-song set, presumably made up of tracks from their forthcoming album, which they are currently recording and will be released on Matador.

The band have previously unveiled two tracks – “Burroughs”, inspired by the last words of beat poet William Burroughs and “Groovy & Linda”, which draws inspiration from the late-’60s East Village hippie couple whose flower-power dreams ended in a double homicide.

Earlier this month, it was announced that Sonic Youth would be releasing a new live album, recorded in August 1985 at Chicago’s Smart Bar. The album was recorded on a four-track tape recorder and will be released on November 14 via the band’s label Goofin’ Records.

‘Hallowe’en’

‘Death Valley ’69’

‘Intro/Brave Men Run(In My Family)’

‘I Love Her All The Time’

‘Ghost Bitch’

‘I’m Insane’

‘Kat ‘N’ Hat’

‘Brother James’

‘Kill Yr Idols’

‘Secret Girl’

‘Flower’

‘The Burning Spear’

‘Expressway To Yr Skull’

‘Making The Nature Scene’

Slash says he’s ’embarrassed’ after admitting he walked in on his mum naked with David Bowie

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Slash says he’s ’embarrassed’ after admitting he walked in on his mum naked with David Bowie

Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash has spoken about his recent revelation that he once discovered his mother naked with David Bowie. The legendary axeman, who released his second solo album Apocalyptic Love in May, revealed to Australian radio station Triple M that he walked in on his costume-designer mother Ola Hudson and Bowie in the nude together when he was just eight years old. The anecdote was widely reported, something that the guitarist now says he was "embarrassed" about and that the whole revelation was "very awkward". Speaking to US radio station 107.7 The Bone, Slash said: "That was a very casual conversation with somebody on the phone in Australia that I had no idea was going to get blown up. It became this big headline and it was very awkward. I'm embarrassed because I'm sure David didn’t appreciate it. And my mum, rest in peace, probably wouldn’t have dug it either." He continued: "All it was, they dated for a while, which is common knowledge. All I said was, there was one occasion where I happened to walk into the bedroom when they weren’t fully dressed. That was it – it wasn’t anything more lewd than that. End of story." Slash will tour the UK in October, with a run of shows that begins in Edinburgh at the city's Corn Exchange on October 7 and runs until October 15 when the guitarist and his band headline Newcastle's O2 Academy. The run of gigs also includes shows in Manchester, Birmingham and two nights at London's O2 Academy Brixton. Apocalyptic Love features 13 songs, all of which feature Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy on vocals. Kennedy is touring alongside Slash throughout the album's promotional world tour with his band Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators. Slash recently completed a full European tour, which included an appearance at this summer's Download Festival and a one-off show at London's HMV Hammersmith Apollo on June 6. Slash will play: Edinburgh Corn Exchange (October 7) O2 Apollo Manchester (8) Birmingham National Indoor Arena (9) O2 Academy Brixton (11, 12) O2 Academy Newcastle (15)

Former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash has spoken about his recent revelation that he once discovered his mother naked with David Bowie.

The legendary axeman, who released his second solo album Apocalyptic Love in May, revealed to Australian radio station Triple M that he walked in on his costume-designer mother Ola Hudson and Bowie in the nude together when he was just eight years old.

The anecdote was widely reported, something that the guitarist now says he was “embarrassed” about and that the whole revelation was “very awkward”.

Speaking to US radio station 107.7 The Bone, Slash said: “That was a very casual conversation with somebody on the phone in Australia that I had no idea was going to get blown up. It became this big headline and it was very awkward. I’m embarrassed because I’m sure David didn’t appreciate it. And my mum, rest in peace, probably wouldn’t have dug it either.”

He continued: “All it was, they dated for a while, which is common knowledge. All I said was, there was one occasion where I happened to walk into the bedroom when they weren’t fully dressed. That was it – it wasn’t anything more lewd than that. End of story.”

Slash will tour the UK in October, with a run of shows that begins in Edinburgh at the city’s Corn Exchange on October 7 and runs until October 15 when the guitarist and his band headline Newcastle’s O2 Academy. The run of gigs also includes shows in Manchester, Birmingham and two nights at London’s O2 Academy Brixton.

Apocalyptic Love features 13 songs, all of which feature Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy on vocals. Kennedy is touring alongside Slash throughout the album’s promotional world tour with his band Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators.

Slash recently completed a full European tour, which included an appearance at this summer’s Download Festival and a one-off show at London’s HMV Hammersmith Apollo on June 6.

Slash will play:

Edinburgh Corn Exchange (October 7)

O2 Apollo Manchester (8)

Birmingham National Indoor Arena (9)

O2 Academy Brixton (11, 12)

O2 Academy Newcastle (15)

Arctic Monkeys recording their fifth album

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Arctic Monkeys recording their fifth album
Matt Helders' mum has confirmed that Arctic Monkeys are in the desert recording the follow-up to Suck It And See. Responding to internet rumours suggesting that Arctic Monkeys are set to enter the studio for their fifth album soon and have already chosen the recording location, the drummer's mum - ...

Matt Helders‘ mum has confirmed that Arctic Monkeys are in the desert recording the follow-up to Suck It And See.

Responding to internet rumours suggesting that Arctic Monkeys are set to enter the studio for their fifth album soon and have already chosen the recording location, the drummer’s mum – Jill Helders tweeted: “I don’t know if it helps to clear things up but lads are in the desert!”

She added: “And now we start on 5th album titles!”.

According to unofficial fan Twitter account ArcticMonkeysUS, the four piece are recording the follow-up to 2011’s Suck It And See in the Joshua Tree desert in California, where they partially recorded 2009’s Humbug with co-producer Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age.

The speculation has led to #ArcticMonkeys5thAlbum trending in the UK this evening (September 17). Speaking about where the information came from, ArcticMonkeysUS tweeted: “info comes from the top. I won’ lose sleep if u dont believe it but you cant speak to my credibility. When have i been wrong?”

Earlier this year, the band’s frontman Alex Turner told Artrocker about their plans for their fifth album. He said: “I think we’re going to go the direction of those heavier tunes. We did ‘R U Mine?’, and I think that’s where it’s going to be at for us for the next record.”

Contrary to the Joshua Tree rumour, Turner then added that he hoped the band would record in their home city of Sheffield, saying: “It would be nice to record in Sheffield, which we haven’t done for a while. I was living in New York, and that’s where I wrote a lot of those [‘Suck It And See’] songs…”

Ryan Adams joins The Lemonheads on their new album

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Ryan Adams joins The Lemonheads on their new album
Ryan Adams has revealed that he will be drumming on and producing the next album from The Lemonheads. Adams took to Twitter to break the news, writing: Playing drums on the Lemonheads records too. Dream come true... Back to the punker sounds As well as drumming, he will also be producing the reco...

Ryan Adams has revealed that he will be drumming on and producing the next album from The Lemonheads.

Adams took to Twitter to break the news, writing:

Playing drums on the Lemonheads records too. Dream come true… Back to the punker sounds

As well as drumming, he will also be producing the record, which will feature Evan Dando alongside The Lemonheads’ founding member Ben Deily – who left the band in 1989 – and the band’s former bassist, Juliana Hatfield, who appeared on 1992’s It’s A Shame About Ray.

Adams wrote: “Looking forward to producing the new Lemonheads album this weekend with orig 2 songwriters Evan & Ben with@julianahatfield on bass.”

The Lemonheads’ last album of all-new material was 2006’s The Lemonheads, which Evan Dando followed with the 2009 covers record Varshons.

The 38th Uncut Playlist Of 2012

John Mulvey
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The 38th Uncut Playlist Of 2012

Lots of links to follow from this week’s playlist, although one should be treated with fairly obvious caution. Not many survivors from previous charts, either; seems we’ve hit a decent new wave here. Special props, anyhow, to Ryan Francesconi, Holly Herndon, Pelt, Koen Holtkamp, the Aussie boogie comp and, in particular, the collaborative album between Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never. Check this out… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn6zlGKI4SU Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey 1 Alfonso Lovo – La Gigantona (Numero Group) 2 Andy Roberts – Urban Cowboy (Fledg’ling) 3 Matthew E White – Big Inner (Hometapes) 4 Holly Herndon – Movement (RVNG INTL) 5 Marc Ribot/Ceramic Dog – Bread & Roses (www.marcribot.com/) 6 Pangaea – Release (Hessle Audio) 7 Natural Snow Buildings – Night Coercion Into The Company Of Witches (Ba Da Bing) 8 Daniel Bachmann – Seven Pines (Tompkins Square) 9 Graham Parker & The Rumour – Coathangers (Primary Wave/ Hear a track here) 10 Wendy James/James Williamson/Jim Sclavunos – You’re So Great/It’s Alright Ma (Proceed with caution http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiBiILqxWxs Hiss Golden Messenger – Live At Hopscotch (Stream or download here) 18 Koen Holtkamp – Battenkill (Hear a track here) 19 Ryan Francesconi And Mirabai Peart - Road To Palios (Bella Union)

Lots of links to follow from this week’s playlist, although one should be treated with fairly obvious caution. Not many survivors from previous charts, either; seems we’ve hit a decent new wave here.

Special props, anyhow, to Ryan Francesconi, Holly Herndon, Pelt, Koen Holtkamp, the Aussie boogie comp and, in particular, the collaborative album between Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never. Check this out…

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

1 Alfonso Lovo – La Gigantona (Numero Group)

2 Andy Roberts – Urban Cowboy (Fledg’ling)

3 Matthew E White – Big Inner (Hometapes)

4 Holly Herndon – Movement (RVNG INTL)

5 Marc Ribot/Ceramic Dog – Bread & Roses (www.marcribot.com/)

6 Pangaea – Release (Hessle Audio)

7 Natural Snow Buildings – Night Coercion Into The Company Of Witches (Ba Da Bing)

8 Daniel Bachmann – Seven Pines (Tompkins Square)

9 Graham Parker & The Rumour – Coathangers (Primary Wave/ Hear a track here)

10 Wendy James/James Williamson/Jim Sclavunos – You’re So Great/It’s Alright Ma (Proceed with caution

Hiss Golden Messenger – Live At Hopscotch (Stream or download here)

18 Koen Holtkamp – Battenkill (Hear a track here)

19 Ryan Francesconi And Mirabai Peart – Road To Palios (Bella Union)

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