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The Rolling Stones to play two shows at London’s O2 Arena in November?

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The Rolling Stones to play two shows at London’s O2 Arena in November?
The Rolling Stones have been booked to play four shows later this year, including two nights at London's O2 Arena, according to US sources. US music industry magazine Billboard quotes a source this morning (August 30) who claims that the band will play four dates in November, two at London's O2 Ar...

The Rolling Stones have been booked to play four shows later this year, including two nights at London’s O2 Arena, according to US sources.

US music industry magazine Billboard quotes a source this morning (August 30) who claims that the band will play four dates in November, two at London’s O2 Arena and two at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The source also details that the gigs will be put on by British entrepreneur Richard Branson and Australian promoter Paul Dainty and reports that the band will be paid a cool $25 million (£15.8 million) for the four shows.

Earlier this week, it came to light that The Rolling Stones have been recording in a studio in Paris according to a tweet by the legendary band’s frontman, Mick Jagger.

Last week the rocker wrote that they had spent the week in a recording studio in France and also posted a picture of him holding a guitar. He said: “Had fun in the Paris studio this week!”

Earlier this summer Jagger confirmed that The Rolling Stones will play together this autumn.

The band celebrated the 50th anniversary of their first ever gig in July and when asked by the Evening Standard when the band would next perform live together Jagger replied: “This autumn…”.

Speaking at the opening of The Rolling Stones: 50 photography exhibition at London’s Somerset House – which closed today (August 27) – he added: “You will definitely be seeing us all together soon. It’s been great fun being back together and there are a lot of memories in here. I can’t believe it’s been 50 years. We’ve been hanging out together, seeing quite a bit of each other and we want to do some gigs.”

Berberian Sound Studio

Michael Bonner
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Berberian Sound Studio

This is one film that's stuck with me since I first saw it a month or so back. Principally, it's a spin on low-rent 70s Italian horror movies; a film that both celebrates and mimics the tropes of murky gialli from filmmakers like Dario Argento. It's also a fascinating exercise in sound design. The best film, sonically speaking, since David Fincher's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I'm thinking here, in particular, of Fincher's tremendous sound editing when Daniel Craig is being stalked round Stellan Skarsgaard's house. It's perhaps no surprise the film, and its British director Peter Strickland, are so pre-occupied with sound. In the early stages of his career, Strickland was a member of the Sonic Catering Band, a trio from Reading who made experimental music derived from the preparing and cooking of a meal. I suspect Strickland’s formative explorations into the sonic potential of celery have paid off handsomely for Berberian Sound System, a film in which watermelons, radishes and cabbages are routinely abused, and the inquiry, “Is there any fresh marrow?”, carries sinister connotations. The man smashing the legumes is tweedy Gilderoy (Toby Jones), a sound engineer from Dorking hired to create the effects for an Italian horror film. It is 1976, and the film in question – The Equestrian Vortex – is a violent, supernatural giallo, for which we only ever see the opening credits: hysterical, red-tinted images of churches, medieval woodcuts, animal skeletons, women screaming. We watch Gilderoy – and his brooding producer Francesco (Cosimo Fusco) – watching the film, the only clue to its grisly contents gleaned from scene synopses read aloud in English for Gilderoy’s benefit: “Teresa and Monica venture into the poultry tunnel underneath the Academy, unaware of the witches’ putrid corpses.” Following up his debut Katalin Varga, Strickland plays much of the first half of this film for laughs, as Gilderoy smashes fruit and boils pans full of oil to emulate torture, death and mutilation. Actresses are brought in to scream – and, memorably, one actor provides strange, gutteral utterances for a “dangerously aroused Goblin”. Jones is brilliant as a kind of Donald Pleasence figure, very much out of his comfort zone in all this phantasmagoria, unable to speak Italian and frustrated by the studio’s Kafkaesque bureaucracy, retreating into his room to read letters from his mother regarding the chaffinch nest in his garden shed. But the mood darkens, boosted by a creepy analogue score by Broadcast (due for release, I think, early next year, to coincide with the film's DVD release). As the violence becomes more specific and horrendous, Strickland floats the idea that Gilderoy is somehow complicit in whatever horrors are unfolding on screen. In a very Lynchian touch, a flashing neon red sign above the studio door reading “SILENZIO” suggests this might be an entry point to Hell itself. Berberian Sound Studio opens in the UK this Friday [August 31].

This is one film that’s stuck with me since I first saw it a month or so back. Principally, it’s a spin on low-rent 70s Italian horror movies; a film that both celebrates and mimics the tropes of murky gialli from filmmakers like Dario Argento.

It’s also a fascinating exercise in sound design. The best film, sonically speaking, since David Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I’m thinking here, in particular, of Fincher’s tremendous sound editing when Daniel Craig is being stalked round Stellan Skarsgaard’s house.

It’s perhaps no surprise the film, and its British director Peter Strickland, are so pre-occupied with sound. In the early stages of his career, Strickland was a member of the Sonic Catering Band, a trio from Reading who made experimental music derived from the preparing and cooking of a meal. I suspect Strickland’s formative explorations into the sonic potential of celery have paid off handsomely for Berberian Sound System, a film in which watermelons, radishes and cabbages are routinely abused, and the inquiry, “Is there any fresh marrow?”, carries sinister connotations.

The man smashing the legumes is tweedy Gilderoy (Toby Jones), a sound engineer from Dorking hired to create the effects for an Italian horror film. It is 1976, and the film in question – The Equestrian Vortex – is a violent, supernatural giallo, for which we only ever see the opening credits: hysterical, red-tinted images of churches, medieval woodcuts, animal skeletons, women screaming. We watch Gilderoy – and his brooding producer Francesco (Cosimo Fusco) – watching the film, the only clue to its grisly contents gleaned from scene synopses read aloud in English for Gilderoy’s benefit: “Teresa and Monica venture into the poultry tunnel underneath the Academy, unaware of the witches’ putrid corpses.”

Following up his debut Katalin Varga, Strickland plays much of the first half of this film for laughs, as Gilderoy smashes fruit and boils pans full of oil to emulate torture, death and mutilation. Actresses are brought in to scream – and, memorably, one actor provides strange, gutteral utterances for a “dangerously aroused Goblin”. Jones is brilliant as a kind of Donald Pleasence figure, very much out of his comfort zone in all this phantasmagoria, unable to speak Italian and frustrated by the studio’s Kafkaesque bureaucracy, retreating into his room to read letters from his mother regarding the chaffinch nest in his garden shed. But the mood darkens, boosted by a creepy analogue score by Broadcast (due for release, I think, early next year, to coincide with the film’s DVD release). As the violence becomes more specific and horrendous, Strickland floats the idea that Gilderoy is somehow complicit in whatever horrors are unfolding on screen. In a very Lynchian touch, a flashing neon red sign above the studio door reading “SILENZIO” suggests this might be an entry point to Hell itself.

Berberian Sound Studio opens in the UK this Friday [August 31].

The Kinks – The Kinks At The BBC

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The Kinks – The Kinks At The BBC

From the beginning the Kinks’ career was intimately entwined with the BBC. In the year following the August 1964 success of “You Really Got Me” the band were called in to record eight radio sessions, broadcast to the nation and around the world. When the BBC commissioned Ray Davies to write topical tunes for shows like The 11th Hour and Where Was Spring?, we got the first inkling of the Kinks’ future direction, somewhere between Dennis Potter and Lionel Bart. And it was the BBC’s banning of “Plastic Man” in 1969 (for the seditious use of the word “bum”) that was a crucial nail in the Kinks’ late 60s commercial coffin. The Kinks’ experience seems to exemplify the full Reithian spectrum of imperial arrogance, byzantine bureaucracy but, nevertheless, astonishing cultural benevolence. So it’s somehow fitting that the extensive, exhaustive Kinks reissue campaign of the last couple of years comes to a conclusion with this five-disc plus DVD trawl of the BBC archive. Essentially this new box is an expansion of the 2001 Kinks BBC Sessions 1964-1977, now incorporating more thorough selections from the early mid-60s sessions, the full live sets from Golders Green Hippodrome 1974 and Finsbury Park 1977, a handful of mid-90s Radio 1 appearances, plus a few performances that were wiped from the BBC archives but have been recovered from fan recordings. In a way, tracking the the five appearances here of “You Really Got Me” included here adds up to one of the most succinct biographies of the band. In the context of the spindly RnB and north London Merseybeat of the early sessions, the first appearance of the song, recorded at the Playhouse Theatre in September 1964, is still astonishing. By 1974, for the Hippodrome show, the song has been turbocharged for the Zeppelin era. By 1977 it’s the tired and emotional singalong finale to what was already in danger of becoming a nostalgia show. And, performed on the Emma Freud Radio 1 show in 1994, the final song of the collection, it’s part of a set that is already primed for the band’s BritPop revival. But it’s not clear that much of the new material adds a great deal to original two-disc package. From the early sets we now have further evidence of the Kinks’ not always convincing early RnB incarnation - including ragged takes on Chuck Berry’s “Little Queenie” and JD Miller’s “I’m A Lover Not A Fighter” (both available, like a lot of the material assembled here, on extra discs on last year’s deluxe editions). Elsewhere things paradoxically have been lost. “Did You See His Name?”, a wry commentary on a life of petty thievery and newspaper notoriety, was one of the songs Davies wrote for the satirical revue show The 11th Hour (where it was sung by Jeannie Lamb). This has now inexplicably vanished from the tracklist. In its place we get “Where Did My Spring Go?”, another relatively obscure slice of blackly comic exasperation, originally commissioned by Ned Sherrin for his tv revue Where Was Spring? (though again, previously available on the bonus disc of deluxe Village Green edition from 2004). Kinks kompletists will be intrigued to hear the handful of tracks previously thought lost, wiped from the archive before their value was realised, in particular the July 68 appearance on Colour Me Pop, the short-lived BBC2 spin-off from Late Night Line-Up. Disappointingly, the audio here is dismal, and apart from a brief rave up medley of “Dedicated Follower”/”Well Respected Man”/”Death of a Clown”, the other tracks are seemingly indistinguishable from the recorded versions. Surprisingly there is no appearance for the 1969 sessions from the Once More With Felix show which recently came to light on youtube. Nevertheless, for all its omissions and repetitions, the sheer scale of this archive still feels like an exemplary work of preservation. For the stilted interviews, from Brian Matthew through to Johnnie Walker, the fluffed introductions by Alan Freeman and Bob Harris, the electrifying early sessions, the beautifully eccentric later flowering, these discs present the sensibility of band and broadcaster chiming in charmingly wonky harmony. Indeed, these days, as one of the last beleagured British institutions standing in the age of austerity, you would think the BBC is surely a fitting subject for a concept album, or at least a wistful protest song, in Ray Davies’ ongoing Muswell Hill ring cycle. Stephen Troussé Q+A Ray Davies What are your abiding memories of those early BBC sessions? No abiding memories of the BBC other than the fact it was like being at school. All the engineers were like scientists, and that rigid atmosphere helped us in many respects, because it made us feel more anarchic. Working at the BBC helped us to be more rebellious. Did being on the BBC feel like a vindication? Did it impress your family? Vindication? We qualified as human beings by being accepted at the BBC. In fact we failed the BBC audition. Everybody had to take one, we are still waiting for the confirmation we actually passed to be on the BBC, daily, by the post box. But nothing has arrived yet. Do the sessions give a better sense of the Kinks as a band than the studio records? Because these sessions were done very quickly, in and out, inbetween doing concerts, we never had time to refine them. It gives a good sense of the roughness of the band. Most of these recordings are unpolished, which for people who enjoyed the band live gave it the energy you usually didn’t get on the studio recordings which tended to be more refined After all the deluxe editions and this new box, is there much more in the Kinks archive left to release? Ironically this is just the tip of the iceberg, we just haven’t had the time to go through the vaults. There is an amazing archive out there of cassette demos to multitrack recordings. I look forward to doing it but it is a lifetime's work. INTERVIEW: STEPHEN TROUSSE

From the beginning the Kinks’ career was intimately entwined with the BBC. In the year following the August 1964 success of “You Really Got Me” the band were called in to record eight radio sessions, broadcast to the nation and around the world. When the BBC commissioned Ray Davies to write topical tunes for shows like The 11th Hour and Where Was Spring?, we got the first inkling of the Kinks’ future direction, somewhere between Dennis Potter and Lionel Bart. And it was the BBC’s banning of “Plastic Man” in 1969 (for the seditious use of the word “bum”) that was a crucial nail in the Kinks’ late 60s commercial coffin. The Kinks’ experience seems to exemplify the full Reithian spectrum of imperial arrogance, byzantine bureaucracy but, nevertheless, astonishing cultural benevolence.

So it’s somehow fitting that the extensive, exhaustive Kinks reissue campaign of the last couple of years comes to a conclusion with this five-disc plus DVD trawl of the BBC archive. Essentially this new box is an expansion of the 2001 Kinks BBC Sessions 1964-1977, now incorporating more thorough selections from the early mid-60s sessions, the full live sets from Golders Green Hippodrome 1974 and Finsbury Park 1977, a handful of mid-90s Radio 1 appearances, plus a few performances that were wiped from the BBC archives but have been recovered from fan recordings.

In a way, tracking the the five appearances here of “You Really Got Me” included here adds up to one of the most succinct biographies of the band. In the context of the spindly RnB and north London Merseybeat of the early sessions, the first appearance of the song, recorded at the Playhouse Theatre in September 1964, is still astonishing. By 1974, for the Hippodrome show, the song has been turbocharged for the Zeppelin era. By 1977 it’s the tired and emotional singalong finale to what was already in danger of becoming a nostalgia show. And, performed on the Emma Freud Radio 1 show in 1994, the final song of the collection, it’s part of a set that is already primed for the band’s BritPop revival.

But it’s not clear that much of the new material adds a great deal to original two-disc package. From the early sets we now have further evidence of the Kinks’ not always convincing early RnB incarnation – including ragged takes on Chuck Berry’s “Little Queenie” and JD Miller’s “I’m A Lover Not A Fighter” (both available, like a lot of the material assembled here, on extra discs on last year’s deluxe editions).

Elsewhere things paradoxically have been lost. “Did You See His Name?”, a wry commentary on a life of petty thievery and newspaper notoriety, was one of the songs Davies wrote for the satirical revue show The 11th Hour (where it was sung by Jeannie Lamb). This has now inexplicably vanished from the tracklist. In its place we get “Where Did My Spring Go?”, another relatively obscure slice of blackly comic exasperation, originally commissioned by Ned Sherrin for his tv revue Where Was Spring? (though again, previously available on the bonus disc of deluxe Village Green edition from 2004).

Kinks kompletists will be intrigued to hear the handful of tracks previously thought lost, wiped from the archive before their value was realised, in particular the July 68 appearance on Colour Me Pop, the short-lived BBC2 spin-off from Late Night Line-Up. Disappointingly, the audio here is dismal, and apart from a brief rave up medley of “Dedicated Follower”/”Well Respected Man”/”Death of a Clown”, the other tracks are seemingly indistinguishable from the recorded versions. Surprisingly there is no appearance for the 1969 sessions from the Once More With Felix show which recently came to light on youtube.

Nevertheless, for all its omissions and repetitions, the sheer scale of this archive still feels like an exemplary work of preservation. For the stilted interviews, from Brian Matthew through to Johnnie Walker, the fluffed introductions by Alan Freeman and Bob Harris, the electrifying early sessions, the beautifully eccentric later flowering, these discs present the sensibility of band and broadcaster chiming in charmingly wonky harmony. Indeed, these days, as one of the last beleagured British institutions standing in the age of austerity, you would think the BBC is surely a fitting subject for a concept album, or at least a wistful protest song, in Ray Davies’ ongoing Muswell Hill ring cycle.

Stephen Troussé

Q+A

Ray Davies

What are your abiding memories of those early BBC sessions?

No abiding memories of the BBC other than the fact it was like being at school. All the engineers were like scientists, and that rigid atmosphere helped us in many respects, because it made us feel more anarchic. Working at the BBC helped us to be more rebellious.

Did being on the BBC feel like a vindication? Did it impress your family?

Vindication? We qualified as human beings by being accepted at the BBC. In fact we failed the BBC audition. Everybody had to take one, we are still waiting for the confirmation we actually passed to be on the BBC, daily, by the post box. But nothing has arrived yet.

Do the sessions give a better sense of the Kinks as a band than the studio records?

Because these sessions were done very quickly, in and out, inbetween doing concerts, we never had time to refine them. It gives a good sense of the roughness of the band. Most of these recordings are unpolished, which for people who enjoyed the band live gave it the energy you usually didn’t get on the studio recordings which tended to be more refined

After all the deluxe editions and this new box, is there much more in the Kinks archive left to release?

Ironically this is just the tip of the iceberg, we just haven’t had the time to go through the vaults. There is an amazing archive out there of cassette demos to multitrack recordings. I look forward to doing it but it is a lifetime’s work.

INTERVIEW: STEPHEN TROUSSE

The 35th Uncut Playlist Of 2012

John Mulvey
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The 35th Uncut Playlist Of 2012

A good week, in that I wrote a couple of new blogs about the Allah-Las and Dan Deacon albums, finally tracked down a copy of “Meet “Mississippi” Charles Bevel”, and heard the Baird Sisters’ beautiful record (one of them is Meg Baird from Espers) and Four Tet’s “Pink” comp. I’ll try and write something about those last two records in the next few days. In the meantime, here’s the list… Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey 1 Bob Dylan – Duquesne Whistle (Columbia) 2 Allah-Las – Allah-Las (Innovative Leisure) 3 Laurie Spiegel – The Expanding Universe (Unseen Worlds) 4 Moon Duo – Circles (Souterrain Transmissions) 5 Sarin Smoke – Vent (MIE Music) 6 7 Charles Bevel – Meet “Mississippi” Charles Bevel (A&M) 8 Skyblazer – Album (Infinity Cat) 9 Oren Ambarchi & Robin Fox – Connected (Kranky) 10 Ty Segall - Live in Aisle Five (Southpaw) 11 The Baird Sisters – Until You Find Your Green (Grapefruit) 12 Jah Wobble & Keith Levene – Yin & Yang (Cherry Red) 13 Dan Deacon – America (Domino) 14 Four Tet – Pink (Text) 15 Loscil – Sketches From New Brighton (Kranky) Baird Sisters photo: Allen Crawford

A good week, in that I wrote a couple of new blogs about the Allah-Las and Dan Deacon albums, finally tracked down a copy of “Meet “Mississippi” Charles Bevel”, and heard the Baird Sisters’ beautiful record (one of them is Meg Baird from Espers) and Four Tet’s “Pink” comp.

I’ll try and write something about those last two records in the next few days. In the meantime, here’s the list…

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

1 Bob Dylan – Duquesne Whistle (Columbia)

2 Allah-Las – Allah-Las (Innovative Leisure)

3 Laurie Spiegel – The Expanding Universe (Unseen Worlds)

4 Moon Duo – Circles (Souterrain Transmissions)

5 Sarin Smoke – Vent (MIE Music)

6

7 Charles Bevel – Meet “Mississippi” Charles Bevel (A&M)

8 Skyblazer – Album (Infinity Cat)

9 Oren Ambarchi & Robin Fox – Connected (Kranky)

10 Ty Segall – Live in Aisle Five (Southpaw)

11 The Baird Sisters – Until You Find Your Green (Grapefruit)

12 Jah Wobble & Keith Levene – Yin & Yang (Cherry Red)

13 Dan Deacon – America (Domino)

14 Four Tet – Pink (Text)

15 Loscil – Sketches From New Brighton (Kranky)

Baird Sisters photo: Allen Crawford

Pussy Riot appeal against their two-year jail sentence

Tom Goodwyn
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Pussy Riot appeal against their two-year jail sentence

Three members of Pussy Riot have appealed against their jail sentence. The trio of the feminist punk group received two-year prison 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 main cathedral, protesting against the Orthodox Christian church's support of president Vladimir Putin. Lawyer Violetta Volkova said an appeal had been lodged to the Khamovniki district court yesterday (August 27) reports Billboard. A decision is expected within 10 days. Meanwhile, the band has said that at least two of its members have fled Russia to avoid arrest. Orthodox Church leaders also condemned the chopping down of wooden crosses in Russia and neighbouring Ukraine by people claiming to support the band. Four crosses were cut down in the northern Russian region of Archangelsk and the Urals region of Chelyabinsk over the weekend. A raft of musicians, from Paul McCartney to Bjork and Franz Ferdinand, have spoken out in support of Pussy Riot. After they received guilty verdicts earlier this month (August), Madonna branded the decision to imprison the women "inhumane".

Three members of Pussy Riot have appealed against their jail sentence.

The trio of the feminist punk group received two-year prison 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 main cathedral, protesting against the Orthodox Christian church’s support of president Vladimir Putin.

Lawyer Violetta Volkova said an appeal had been lodged to the Khamovniki district court yesterday (August 27) reports Billboard.

A decision is expected within 10 days. Meanwhile, the band has said that at least two of its members have fled Russia to avoid arrest.

Orthodox Church leaders also condemned the chopping down of wooden crosses in Russia and neighbouring Ukraine by people claiming to support the band. Four crosses were cut down in the northern Russian region of Archangelsk and the Urals region of Chelyabinsk over the weekend.

A raft of musicians, from Paul McCartney to Bjork and Franz Ferdinand, have spoken out in support of Pussy Riot. After they received guilty verdicts earlier this month (August), Madonna branded the decision to imprison the women “inhumane”.

Ringo Starr named as world’s richest drummer above Phil Collins and Dave Grohl

Tom Goodwyn
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Ringo Starr named as world’s richest drummer above Phil Collins and Dave Grohl
The Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr is the richest drummer in the world, according to a new report. The 72-year-old, who released his 16th solo album 'Ringo 2012' in January, is worth a cool $300 million (£190 million), according to wealth-calculation website Celebritynetworth.com. This puts him ...

The Beatles‘ drummer Ringo Starr is the richest drummer in the world, according to a new report.

The 72-year-old, who released his 16th solo album ‘Ringo 2012’ in January, is worth a cool $300 million (£190 million), according to wealth-calculation website Celebritynetworth.com.

This puts him well ahead of former Genesis man Phil Collins, who comes in second place with a reported worth of around $250 million (£158 million). Dave Grohl, worth $225 million (£143 million), is third.

The Eagles‘ Don Henley is fourth with a fortune of $200 million (£127 million) followed by Metallica’s Lars Ulrich with $175 million (£111 million). Close behind them are The Rolling Stones’ Charlie Watts, U2’s Larry Mullen, Queen’s Roger Taylor, Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer and Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith, who is worth $90 million (£57 million).

Further down the list, Blink-182‘s Travis Barker is worth $85 million (£54 million), Tommy Lee has $70 million (£48 million) and Green Day‘s Tre Cool has $45 million (£28.5 million).

Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins, Rush’s Neil Peart and Tool’s Danny Carey also feature lower down the list.

Neil Young, First Man On The Moon?

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Neil Young, First Man On The Moon?

How many fans were aghast over the weekend to hear via the American broadcaster NBC that Neil Young had just died and unknown to many of them had also been the first man to set foot on the moon? Neil has been many things down the years, of course, but his secret history as an astronaut would have been news to everyone, including him. The first man on the moon, of course, was Neil Armstrong, in 1969, unless you subscribe to the view that the 1969 moon landing was an elaborate fabrication. But in their rush to break the news of his death, someone at NBC clearly had a rush of blood to the head and confused the two Neils, Armstrong and Young, and it was thus announced that the latter had passed away, briefly causing alarm in the Young community, even as they were looking forward to the release next month of Neil’s second album of 2012. It’s called Psychedelic Pill, apparently, and like the recent Americana finds him again butting heads with Crazy Horse, on their first full outing together on an album of new material since Broken Arrow in 1996. John’s recently tracked down a terrific bootleg of a recent Neil and Crazy Horse show in Red Rocks that he’s been playing a lot in the office and six of the songs from the set are evidently on the new album, including the epic Walk Like A Giant”, which clocks in at the far end of 25 minutes, and the similarly expansive “Ramada Inn”, which runs to a slightly more modest 15 minutes. We don’t have an actual release date yet for Psychedelic Pill, but as you may have heard it’ll be available as a double CD or triple vinyl album and will, like America, be preceded by online previews of full length videos for each of the tracks. With Dylan’s Tempest out on September 10 and Psychedelic Pill following pretty quickly, music fans of a certain age and disposition must be counting their blessings. Sorry to be so brief, but I’m being beckoned even as I write this and will have to as they say dash. Have a good week! Allan

How many fans were aghast over the weekend to hear via the American broadcaster NBC that Neil Young had just died and unknown to many of them had also been the first man to set foot on the moon? Neil has been many things down the years, of course, but his secret history as an astronaut would have been news to everyone, including him.

The first man on the moon, of course, was Neil Armstrong, in 1969, unless you subscribe to the view that the 1969 moon landing was an elaborate fabrication. But in their rush to break the news of his death, someone at NBC clearly had a rush of blood to the head and confused the two Neils, Armstrong and Young, and it was thus announced that the latter had passed away, briefly causing alarm in the Young community, even as they were looking forward to the release next month of Neil’s second album of 2012.

It’s called Psychedelic Pill, apparently, and like the recent Americana finds him again butting heads with Crazy Horse, on their first full outing together on an album of new material since Broken Arrow in 1996. John’s recently tracked down a terrific bootleg of a recent Neil and Crazy Horse show in Red Rocks that he’s been playing a lot in the office and six of the songs from the set are evidently on the new album, including the epic Walk Like A Giant”, which clocks in at the far end of 25 minutes, and the similarly expansive “Ramada Inn”, which runs to a slightly more modest 15 minutes.

We don’t have an actual release date yet for Psychedelic Pill, but as you may have heard it’ll be available as a double CD or triple vinyl album and will, like America, be preceded by online previews of full length videos for each of the tracks. With Dylan’s Tempest out on September 10 and Psychedelic Pill following pretty quickly, music fans of a certain age and disposition must be counting their blessings.

Sorry to be so brief, but I’m being beckoned even as I write this and will have to as they say dash. Have a good week!

Allan

The National to play campaign rally for President Barack Obama

Tom Goodwyn
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The National to play campaign rally for President Barack Obama
The National are set to open up a Democratic campaign rally for incumbent US President Barack Obama. The event will take place this Saturday (September 1) in Des Moines, Iowa. The Brooklyn based indie band announced the news on Twitter, writing: "Proud to support Barack Obama again in 2012. We'll...

The National are set to open up a Democratic campaign rally for incumbent US President Barack Obama.

The event will take place this Saturday (September 1) in Des Moines, Iowa. The Brooklyn based indie band announced the news on Twitter, writing: “Proud to support Barack Obama again in 2012. We’ll be opening for him in Des Moines on Sept 1. ”

The band previously played at an Obama rally in 2010. This show marks one of only two appearances for The National for the rest of 2012, the other being a headline appearance at their own All Tomorrow’s Parties event in December in the UK.

The three-day festival will return to its original venue, Pontins in Camber Sands, after Butlins in Minehead ended its contract with the festival. The National will host the event on December 7-9.

The line-up also includes Kronos Quartet, The Antlers, Owen Pallett, Boris, Tim Hecker, Sharon Van Etten, My Brightest Diamond, Wye Oak, Lower Dens, Megafaun, Suuns, Local Natives, Kurt Vile & The Violators, Michael Rother presents the music of Neu! & Harmonia, Deerhoof, Menomena, Nico Muhly, Stars Of The Lid, Youth Lagoon, Perfume Genius, Bear In Heaven, Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire), Mark Mulcahy (Miracle Legion), Kathleen Edwards, Hauschka, This Is The Kit, So Percussion and Hayden.

For a full line-up and more information see ATPfestival.com.

Elvis’ stained underwear goes up for auction

Tom Goodwyn
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Elvis’ stained underwear goes up for auction

A pair of Elvis Presley's stained underpants are set to go up for auction in Manchester next month. The light blue briefs, which were worn by Presley underneath one of his jumpsuits during a performance in 1977, haven't been washed since Elvis took them off, and feature a suspicious yellow stain on the front of the crotch. BBC News reports that the pants are expected to make around £10,000 when they go under the hammer on September 8 at the auction of Elvis memorabilia in Stockport. The underwear came from the estate of Vernon Presley – Elvis' father. Also up for sale is Elvis' Bible, which has been annotated by the iconic performer. The Bible is expected to make £25,000. Priscilla Presley's home movies are up for grabs too. They feature footage of the couple's wedding, as well as of Christmas at Graceland, family holidays and of Elvis and Priscilla bringing their daughter Lisa-Marie home from hospital to Graceland. The 35th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley was recently marked by a candlelit vigil at Graceland in Memphis. It was attended by an estimated 75,000 fans.

A pair of Elvis Presley‘s stained underpants are set to go up for auction in Manchester next month.

The light blue briefs, which were worn by Presley underneath one of his jumpsuits during a performance in 1977, haven’t been washed since Elvis took them off, and feature a suspicious yellow stain on the front of the crotch.

BBC News reports that the pants are expected to make around £10,000 when they go under the hammer on September 8 at the auction of Elvis memorabilia in Stockport.

The underwear came from the estate of Vernon Presley – Elvis’ father. Also up for sale is Elvis’ Bible, which has been annotated by the iconic performer. The Bible is expected to make £25,000. Priscilla Presley’s home movies are up for grabs too. They feature footage of the couple’s wedding, as well as of Christmas at Graceland, family holidays and of Elvis and Priscilla bringing their daughter Lisa-Marie home from hospital to Graceland.

The 35th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley was recently marked by a candlelit vigil at Graceland in Memphis. It was attended by an estimated 75,000 fans.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse to release second album of 2012

Tom Goodwyn
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0
Neil Young and Crazy Horse to release second album of 2012
Neil Young and Crazy Horse are to release their second album of this year. Following the covers LP 'Americana' – which came out in June - Young and his band will put out 'Psychedelic Pill' in October. The record is Young's first album of all new material with Crazy Horse since 2003 and will fe...

Neil Young and Crazy Horse are to release their second album of this year.

Following the covers LP ‘Americana’ – which came out in June – Young and his band will put out ‘Psychedelic Pill’ in October.

The record is Young’s first album of all new material with Crazy Horse since 2003 and will feature the full Crazy Horse line-up of Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina and Frank Sampedro.

The Neil Young Times states that the album was recorded straight after the band finished their ‘Americana’ sessions at the Audio Casa Blanca studios.

The album will be available on double CD and triple vinyl and full length videos for each of the LP’s tracks will be previewed online.

After playing a number of Stateside shows earlier this month, Neil Young and Crazy Horse will head off on a full tour in the US and Canada in October and November, including an appearance at the Austin City Limits festival. As of yet, no plans for a UK or European tour have been announced.

Paul Weller: ‘Bands reforming drives me potty’

Tom Goodwyn
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0
Paul Weller: ‘Bands reforming drives me potty’
Paul Weller has bemoaned the recent spate of band reunions. Groups such as Blur, Pulp and Primal Scream have reformed this summer (2012) for comeback shows. Earlier this month (August 6), Weller attended a secret gig in London by the The Stone Roses, the band behind this year's most high-profile ...

Paul Weller has bemoaned the recent spate of band reunions.

Groups such as Blur, Pulp and Primal Scream have reformed this summer (2012) for comeback shows. Earlier this month (August 6), Weller attended a secret gig in London by the The Stone Roses, the band behind this year’s most high-profile reunion.

However, the singer insists that he has no plans to reform his own bands, The Jam and The Style Council, and poured scorn on the trend. He told The Mirror: “It drives me potty to be honest and I am sick of seeing it. It is big business at the moment and I find it really disappointing and I think all the time that is spent on bands reforming and nostalgia. What about the new bands, or young bands, coming in which don’t get a look in?”

He also suggested that band reunions reflect a lack of creative inspiration, adding: “I don’t know what the reason is. Why is it so prevalent? Is it because people stick to what they know or what they are comfortable or safe with? But I think I come from a time when all the artists I grew up with and I loved always used to try and push the boundaries and there doesn’t seem so much of that really. It is the same sort of thing, and I find it disappointing.”

Weller, 54, released his eleventh album as a solo artist in March (2012). Titled ‘Sonik Kicks’, it debuted at Number One on the UK charts. Earlier this month (August 1), he played an intimate gig at London’s 100 Club and he has dates lined up in the US and Japan this October (2012).

Allah-Las, “Allah-Las”

John Mulvey
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0
Allah-Las, “Allah-Las”

On www.allah-las.com, the Los Angeles band of the same name have posted a bunch of unusually excellent mixtapes. The latest, “Reverberation #25”, is pretty typical, taking in the likes of Jim Sullivan and Tim Hardin as well as the group’s backwards-facing contemporaries: White Fence, Sonny & The Sunsets and another bunch out of what always seems to be an unbelievably small and cliquey LA indie scene, The Beachwood Sparks. There’s a reasonable chance that the Allah-Las might have played a pivotal if discreet role in that scene, since it seems that the band were formed while they were all working at the excellent branch of Amoeba in Hollywood, presumably dealing rare records to their peers. As you’d perhaps imagine, then, the Allah-Las’ do not make notably gleaming and 2012-ready music. Even by the standards of other notionally retro bands, their self-titled debut album is uncannily and magnificently dated, down to every fuzzy chime of the guitars. Beautifully produced by someone I’ve never heard of, described in the notes as “cult new wave R&B wunderkind Nick Waterhouse”, “Allah-Las” seems located right at the point in the mid-‘60s when American garage bands started processing and responding to the British invasion. Obviously, there’s a lot of “Nuggets” love here (“Busman’s Holiday” mixes the Stones with what first seems like a little Dylan, though it’s possibly more likely to be influenced by Mouse & The Traps), but the Allah-Las are more elegant than raucous, a suaver proposition than fellow travellers like The People’s Temple (I wrote about their fine “Sons Of Stone” here). Sometimes, on lovely instrumentals like “Sacred Sands”, the ghostly, lonely surfer draw of The Ventures is stronger than that of The Animals. At other times, you’re lead to suspect that they believe the Stones peaked with “Stupid Girl” (exhibit A: “Tell Me (What’s On Your Mind)”) and that The Byrds were never quite as good as The Beefeaters. Oddly, the most advanced musical echo occurs on “Vis-à-Vis”, when after the jangling intro (cf “She Don’t Care About Time”) they hurtle forward in time to the mid-‘80s, and the kind of, well, Byrds-rich indie promulgated by The June Brides or, for a couple of singles, Primal Scream. It is hard, evidently, to write about the Allah-Las without acknowledging a certain ridiculousness: check the video for “Tell Me” for further proof… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiJYecS0vU0 Truth is, though, I’ve enjoyed “Allah-Las” these past few days more than any record in a while: not just for the diligence and love with which they approach this music, but also the quality of the songs underneath the vintage packaging (On “Ela Naveda”, they sound like ‘60s prep boys tentatively becoming bohemian through close study of half a dozen Bossa Nova sides). All very engaging, though it seems as if the band might be evolving towards the late ‘60s next, given that they’re currently in the studio with another noted moderniser, Jonathan Wilson. Promising… Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

On www.allah-las.com, the Los Angeles band of the same name have posted a bunch of unusually excellent mixtapes. The latest, “Reverberation #25”, is pretty typical, taking in the likes of Jim Sullivan and Tim Hardin as well as the group’s backwards-facing contemporaries: White Fence, Sonny & The Sunsets and another bunch out of what always seems to be an unbelievably small and cliquey LA indie scene, The Beachwood

Sparks.

There’s a reasonable chance that the Allah-Las might have played a pivotal if discreet role in that scene, since it seems that the band were formed while they were all working at the excellent branch of Amoeba in Hollywood, presumably dealing rare records to their peers. As you’d perhaps imagine, then, the Allah-Las’ do not make notably gleaming and 2012-ready music. Even by the standards of other notionally retro bands, their self-titled debut album is uncannily and magnificently dated, down to every fuzzy chime of the guitars.

Beautifully produced by someone I’ve never heard of, described in the notes as “cult new wave R&B wunderkind Nick Waterhouse”, “Allah-Las” seems located right at the point in the mid-‘60s when American garage bands started processing and responding to the British invasion. Obviously, there’s a lot of “Nuggets” love here (“Busman’s Holiday” mixes the Stones with what first seems like a little Dylan, though it’s possibly more likely to be influenced by Mouse & The Traps), but the Allah-Las are more elegant than raucous, a suaver proposition than fellow travellers like The People’s Temple (I wrote about their fine “Sons Of Stone” here).

Sometimes, on lovely instrumentals like “Sacred Sands”, the ghostly, lonely surfer draw of The Ventures is stronger than that of The Animals. At other times, you’re lead to suspect that they believe the Stones peaked with “Stupid Girl” (exhibit A: “Tell Me (What’s On Your Mind)”) and that The Byrds were never quite as good as The Beefeaters. Oddly, the most advanced musical echo occurs on “Vis-à-Vis”, when after the jangling intro (cf “She Don’t Care About Time”) they hurtle forward in time to the mid-‘80s, and the kind of, well, Byrds-rich indie promulgated by The June Brides or, for a couple of singles, Primal Scream.

It is hard, evidently, to write about the Allah-Las without acknowledging a certain ridiculousness: check the video for “Tell Me” for further proof…

Truth is, though, I’ve enjoyed “Allah-Las” these past few days more than any record in a while: not just for the diligence and love with which they approach this music, but also the quality of the songs underneath the vintage packaging (On “Ela Naveda”, they sound like ‘60s prep boys tentatively becoming bohemian through close study of half a dozen Bossa Nova sides). All very engaging, though it seems as if the band might be evolving towards the late ‘60s next, given that they’re currently in the studio with another noted moderniser, Jonathan Wilson. Promising…

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

Dan Deacon, “America”

John Mulvey
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0
Dan Deacon, “America”

To be honest, I’ve not previously had much time for the music of Dan Deacon; for what struck me, perhaps erroneously, as an odd but not quite combustible mix of process, theory, audience participation, electronica and a certain imperishable indie tweeness. Persistent exposure to “America” in my house has, however, provoked a bit of a rethink. “America” still has a writhing, fidgety aesthetic but, more than at least I’ve noticed in the past, there’s a dynamic coherence, too, a melodic force and clarity that emerges out of the glitchstorms as something approaching grandeur. The start might be akin to a 2012 upgrade of Kid 606, but soon enough “True Thrush” spins out, an impressively nagging surge of a song that’s part nursery rhyme and part psychedelic carnival stampede, a juggling of the tropes that have proved so appealing on Animal Collective records, but don’t (to my mind, anyhow) coalesce in quite such a satisfying way on “Centipede Hz”. It’s on Track 4, though, that the greatest strengths of “America” start to emerge, with Deacon’s more formal compositional skills being knitted into an uncommonly exciting soundtrack for his majestic, confusing homeland. “Prettyboy” unveils a sort of vibrating, orchestrated sound that eventually accelerates into the pounding “Crash Jam”, acting as a prelude for the suite which takes up the second half of this increasingly striking record. The first part “USA 1: Is A Monster” alone manages to incorporate symphonic heft, braindance glitch, tribal drumming, choirs and an overall vaulting ambition and nerve which ensures that the results are spectacular rather than an over-reaching mess. It’s the sort of music that, when you’re listening on the move, noticeably increases the length and confidence of your stride and, less viscerally, prompts a scree of potential reference points. Deacon, then, can just about plausibly be recast as a millennial Aaron Copland, albeit one who’s listened to a fair bit of Squarepusher records like “Go Plastic” as well, maybe, as conceptual electronic pranksters like Dat Politics. There are passages towards the end of “USA II: The Great American Desert” which begin like gamelan and proceed, perhaps inevitably, into straight-up Glass systems when that track folds into “USA III: Rail”. Mention of Glass reminds me, too, of Deacon’s similarities with Sufjan Stevens: another notionally indie figure with a passion for incorporating electronica, modern classical composition and an expansive evocation of the USA into his music. While “Rail”’s systems ebb and flow is a neat parallel to passages from “Illinois”, however, many of Deacon’s attempts to build digital noise into his constructs are much more successful than Stevens’ attempts to do something like that on “The Age Of Adz” (maybe closer, now I think of it, to the underrated “BQE” project). What else? A weird echo of Donna Summer’s “State Of Independence” on “USA IV: Manifest”, and a lot that makes me think of a long-forgotten classical/techno hybrid I came across and liked very much in the ‘90s: Todd Levin’s “Deluxe” (I should check out what happened to him, I guess). Finally, plenty of it reminds me of one of the best things I’ve seen and heard this summer, the Olympics Opening Ceremony: specifically the way Underworld and Danny Boyle grasped that electronic music could invoke nobility and epic feats much more effectively than the Coldplay-style anthemic rock that you’d imagine would have been most directors’ default choice as soundtrack. There are endless massed drums, then, elegantly-wrought bombast, and a load of music that could have fitted pretty neatly onto the last album by those unlikely soundtrackers of the athletes’ parade, Fuck Buttons. I should say that The Guardian have a stream of “America” here, and a lot of commenters that seem more preoccupied with Deacon’s facial hair than the excellence of his work. Maybe I’m missing something… Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

To be honest, I’ve not previously had much time for the music of Dan Deacon; for what struck me, perhaps erroneously, as an odd but not quite combustible mix of process, theory, audience participation, electronica and a certain imperishable indie tweeness.

Persistent exposure to “America” in my house has, however, provoked a bit of a rethink. “America” still has a writhing, fidgety aesthetic but, more than at least I’ve noticed in the past, there’s a dynamic coherence, too, a melodic force and clarity that emerges out of the glitchstorms as something approaching grandeur. The start might be akin to a 2012 upgrade of Kid 606, but soon enough “True Thrush” spins out, an impressively nagging surge of a song that’s part nursery rhyme and part psychedelic carnival stampede, a juggling of the tropes that have proved so appealing on Animal Collective records, but don’t (to my mind, anyhow) coalesce in quite such a satisfying way on “Centipede Hz”.

It’s on Track 4, though, that the greatest strengths of “America” start to emerge, with Deacon’s more formal compositional skills being knitted into an uncommonly exciting soundtrack for his majestic, confusing homeland. “Prettyboy” unveils a sort of vibrating, orchestrated sound that eventually accelerates into the pounding “Crash Jam”, acting as a prelude for the suite which takes up the second half of this increasingly striking record.

The first part “USA 1: Is A Monster” alone manages to incorporate symphonic heft, braindance glitch, tribal drumming, choirs and an overall vaulting ambition and nerve which ensures that the results are spectacular rather than an over-reaching mess. It’s the sort of music that, when you’re listening on the move, noticeably increases the length and confidence of your stride and, less viscerally, prompts a scree of potential reference points.

Deacon, then, can just about plausibly be recast as a millennial Aaron Copland, albeit one who’s listened to a fair bit of Squarepusher records like “Go Plastic” as well, maybe, as conceptual electronic pranksters like Dat Politics. There are passages towards the end of “USA II: The Great American Desert” which begin like gamelan and proceed, perhaps inevitably, into straight-up Glass systems when that track folds into “USA III: Rail”.

Mention of Glass reminds me, too, of Deacon’s similarities with Sufjan Stevens: another notionally indie figure with a passion for incorporating electronica, modern classical composition and an expansive evocation of the USA into his music. While “Rail”’s systems ebb and flow is a neat parallel to passages from “Illinois”, however, many of Deacon’s attempts to build digital noise into his constructs are much more successful than Stevens’ attempts to do something like that on “The Age Of Adz” (maybe closer, now I think of it, to the underrated “BQE” project).

What else? A weird echo of Donna Summer’s “State Of Independence” on “USA IV: Manifest”, and a lot that makes me think of a long-forgotten classical/techno hybrid I came across and liked very much in the ‘90s: Todd Levin’s “Deluxe” (I should check out what happened to him, I guess). Finally, plenty of it reminds me of one of the best things I’ve seen and heard this summer, the Olympics Opening Ceremony: specifically the way Underworld and Danny Boyle grasped that electronic music could invoke nobility and epic feats much more effectively than the Coldplay-style anthemic rock that you’d imagine would have been most directors’ default choice as soundtrack.

There are endless massed drums, then, elegantly-wrought bombast, and a load of music that could have fitted pretty neatly onto the last album by those unlikely soundtrackers of the athletes’ parade, Fuck Buttons. I should say that The Guardian have a stream of “America” here, and a lot of commenters that seem more preoccupied with Deacon’s facial hair than the excellence of his work. Maybe I’m missing something…

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

We want your questions for Rickie Lee Jones

Tom Pinnock
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0
We want your questions for Rickie Lee Jones

As she releases her new album, The Devil You Know, singular LA singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones is set to answer your questions in Uncut as part of our regular Audience With… feature. So is there anything you’ve always wanted to ask her? What was it like working with musicians as diverse as Dr John and Mike Watt? Just how hard was the protracted writing and recording of Pirates? What happened to all those berets and spandex suits? Send your questions to us by noon, Wednesday August 29 to uncutaudiencewith@ipcmedia.com. The best questions, and Rickie's answers, will be published in a future edition of Uncut magazine. Please include your name and location with your question.

As she releases her new album, The Devil You Know, singular LA singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones is set to answer your questions in Uncut as part of our regular Audience With… feature.

So is there anything you’ve always wanted to ask her?

What was it like working with musicians as diverse as Dr John and Mike Watt?

Just how hard was the protracted writing and recording of Pirates?

What happened to all those berets and spandex suits?

Send your questions to us by noon, Wednesday August 29 to uncutaudiencewith@ipcmedia.com.

The best questions, and Rickie’s answers, will be published in a future edition of Uncut magazine.

Please include your name and location with your question.

Afrika Bambaataa plans hip-hop museum in New York

Tom Pinnock
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0
Afrika Bambaataa plans hip-hop museum in New York
Afrika Bambaataa has stated that he plans to open a museum dedicated to hip-hop. The musical legend has said that he wants the museum to open in the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx borough of New York City. Vintage Vinyl News reports that Bambaataa has signed a letter-of-intent to help create the ...

Afrika Bambaataa has stated that he plans to open a museum dedicated to hip-hop.

The musical legend has said that he wants the museum to open in the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx borough of New York City.

Vintage Vinyl News reports that Bambaataa has signed a letter-of-intent to help create the National Museum Of Hip-Hop – however, the museum’s future rests on the redevelopment of the former military site with a winning bid from the Youngwood and Associates developers.

Bambaataa is apparently seeking support from fellow hip-hop kingpins and is planning to meet Ruben Diaz, Jr, the Bronx borough President, in order to push the project onwards.

Bronx native Afrika Bambaataa was one of the pioneers of hip-hop and is often credited with naming the genre. A DJ and producer, his 1982 track ‘Planet Rock’ – made with the Soulsonic Force – was instrumental in founding the roots of hip-hop as well as electro.

In 2007 Bambaataa was nominated for induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

Clinic announce release of new album, Free Reign

Tom Pinnock
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0
Clinic announce release of new album, Free Reign
Clinic will release their brand new album, Free Reign, on November 12. Free Reign is the band's seventh album and has been produced in the group's hometown of Liverpool, by the band themselves alongside Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never). The album follows their last LP, 2010's Bubblegum and w...

Clinic will release their brand new album, Free Reign, on November 12.

Free Reign is the band’s seventh album and has been produced in the group’s hometown of Liverpool, by the band themselves alongside Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never).

The album follows their last LP, 2010’s Bubblegum and will be put out by Domino on CD, LP and digital download, as well as on a limited edition UFO format, which is a glow-in-the-dark, “cosmic flying disc” which comes along with a download code for the record.

Clinic – who released their debut album, Internal Wrangler, in 2000 – are set to announce a run of UK live dates soon.

The tracklisting for Free Reign is:

‘Misty’

‘See Saw’

‘Seamless Boogie Woogie BBC2 10pm (rpt)’

‘Cosmic Radiation’

‘Miss You’

‘For The Season’

‘King Kong’

‘You’

‘Sun And The Moon’

John Lennon’s killer Mark Chapman denied parole for the seventh time

Tom Pinnock
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0
John Lennon’s killer Mark Chapman denied parole for the seventh time
John Lennon's killer Mark Chapman has been denied parole for a seventh time. The 57-year-old, who shot Lennon in New York in December 1980, had applied for parole again this year, but was denied following a meeting of the New York State Board Of Parole, reports BBC News. Sally Thompson, the New Yo...

John Lennon‘s killer Mark Chapman has been denied parole for a seventh time.

The 57-year-old, who shot Lennon in New York in December 1980, had applied for parole again this year, but was denied following a meeting of the New York State Board Of Parole, reports BBC News.

Sally Thompson, the New York State Board Of Parole’s ‘deciding board member’, wrote to Chapman to tell him of their decision and said that they had decided not to release him as they believed it would “undermine respect for the law and tend to trivialise the tragic loss of life”.

The New York State Board Of Parole said in its decision: “Despite your positive efforts while incarcerated, your release at this time would greatly undermine respect for the law and tend to trivialise the tragic loss of life which you caused as a result of this heinous, unprovoked, violent, cold and calculated crime.”

Chapman, a former security guard, was transferred to the maximum security Wende Correctional Facility in western New York state earlier this year.

He is next eligible for a parole hearing in August 2014.

Picture credit: Iain MacMillan

This month in Uncut!

Tom Pinnock
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0
This month in Uncut!

The new issue of Uncut, which hits shelves today (August 24), features Nick Cave, David Byrne, Bob Dylan and Viv Stanshall. Cave is on the cover, and inside there’s an exclusive, extended interview with the songwriter about the screenplay and soundtrack for new film Lawless, the future of the Bad Seeds and his exceedingly short-lived acting career. David Byrne and St Vincent talk about their hyperactive collaborative album, Love This Giant, out September 10, Bob Dylan’s new album Tempest is reviewed by Uncut editor Allan Jones, and Viv Stanshall’s wilderness years of drunkenness, japes and genius are examined. Elsewhere, we look at the making of John Cooper Clarke’s “Beasley Street”, the Grateful Dead’s cosmic journey is chronicled through their live albums, and the revolutionary tale of The Dubliners is told. The news section includes chats with John Paul Jones, Grandaddy and First Aid Kit. As well as Dylan, the huge 38-page reviews section dissects albums from Grizzly Bear, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Calexico, The xx, Animal Collective, Frank Zappa and the Sex Pistols. Films including Lawless and Looper, DVDs such as The Monk and Produced By George Martin, and books including Mike Scott’s Adventures Of A Waterboy, are also reviewed. The live section features Elizabeth Fraser, the Ty Segall Band and Robert Plant, and the issue’s free CD boasts some stunning songs from the likes of Calexico, Patterson Hood, Dinosaur Jr and Mark Eitzel. The new issue is out now.

The new issue of Uncut, which hits shelves today (August 24), features Nick Cave, David Byrne, Bob Dylan and Viv Stanshall.

Cave is on the cover, and inside there’s an exclusive, extended interview with the songwriter about the screenplay and soundtrack for new film Lawless, the future of the Bad Seeds and his exceedingly short-lived acting career.

David Byrne and St Vincent talk about their hyperactive collaborative album, Love This Giant, out September 10, Bob Dylan’s new album Tempest is reviewed by Uncut editor Allan Jones, and Viv Stanshall’s wilderness years of drunkenness, japes and genius are examined.

Elsewhere, we look at the making of John Cooper Clarke’s “Beasley Street”, the Grateful Dead’s cosmic journey is chronicled through their live albums, and the revolutionary tale of The Dubliners is told.

The news section includes chats with John Paul Jones, Grandaddy and First Aid Kit.

As well as Dylan, the huge 38-page reviews section dissects albums from Grizzly Bear, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Calexico, The xx, Animal Collective, Frank Zappa and the Sex Pistols.

Films including Lawless and Looper, DVDs such as The Monk and Produced By George Martin, and books including Mike Scott’s Adventures Of A Waterboy, are also reviewed.

The live section features Elizabeth Fraser, the Ty Segall Band and Robert Plant, and the issue’s free CD boasts some stunning songs from the likes of Calexico, Patterson Hood, Dinosaur Jr and Mark Eitzel.

The new issue is out now.

Lynyrd Skynyrd: “We wanted to be America’s Rolling Stones”

Rob Hughes
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0
Lynyrd Skynyrd: “We wanted to be America’s Rolling Stones”
In this archive feature from the May 2006 (Take 108) issue of Uncut, the whole story of the ill-fated Southern rockers is told – from their days “acting crazy” and losing teeth, to their devastating, fatal plane crash. Words: Rob Hughes ______________________ Lord knows, Lynyrd Skynyrd had s...

Van Zant was the undisputed leader of the band. But there was a dark side to his presidency. “Ronnie would give the shirt off his back for anyone,” recalls Powell. “But he could also get pretty damn mean when he was drinking – the Jekyll & Hyde syndrome. I remember arguing with him once, after a few whiskeys, about Allen Collins’ volume and tuning up onstage. Next thing I know, I got my teeth knocked out. That’s how he led the band. But at the same time, if there was trouble from outside, he’d fight for us. He went to jail for us a few times. And when it came down to business, he was always right. We could always trust him.”

Rossington learnt to roll with the punches, too. Touring Hamburg’s notorious Reeperbahn, they got drunk on Schnapps. “Somehow, a bottle got broke and I ended up with slashes across my hands and wrists. But the next day, we were the best of friends again. That’s how it was, like a family.”

Kin or not, by ’75 the touring was too much for some. Ed King slipped away in the dead of a Pittsburgh night. “It became violent,” he admits. “Pretty much every day was traumatic. But I just had a bad premonition and felt I should obey the urge to get out when I did.”

By ’77, though, with four studio albums and a live double under their belts, Skynyrd had hooked up with young guitarist Steve Gaines and recorded the blistering Street Survivors. “Steve brought a whole new style of guitar playing,” says Powell. “And he was an extremely gifted songwriter, who brought a multitude of new ideas. But just as he was getting started, he had the rug pulled from under him in the rudest way imaginable.”

And so to October 20, 1977. A fatal miscalculation of fuel, allied to an already spasmodic right engine, led to Skynyrd’s Convair 240 plummeting into a wooded Mississippi swamp. Van Zant, Gaines, road manager Dean Kilpatrick and Gaines’ sister Cassie were all killed instantly, as were both pilots. The horror was graphic. Terrified drummer Artimus Pyle, clambering through the shredded roof, recalled seeing the co-pilot decapitated in a tree and Kilpatrick face down with the fuselage wedged in his back.

“I remember coming round and hearing people screaming,” recalls Rossington today. “There were helicopters up there with searchlights and I was hurting real bad, screaming. I had a lot of broken bones. Then, of course, it broke our hearts and freaked us all out when we found out some of us were dead.”

“We were approaching the peak of our career,” says Powell. “Then all of a sudden, due to gross negligence and pilot error, we were down to nothing. We were very bitter about what happened. I dove into a bottle for a while. I didn’t find any answers, but it numbed the pain. It had a major psychological effect on all of us.”

Indeed, the disaster has haunted the survivors down the decades. In January 1986, Allen Collins crashed his car in Jacksonville, killing his girlfriend and paralysing himself from the waist down. He pled no contest to a drink-drive manslaughter charge. Four years later, after prolonged alcohol abuse, he died of pneumonia. Bassist Leon Wilkeson was jailed for beating up his girlfriend in 1993. He died in a Florida hotel room in 2001, after years of toxic indulgence. In 1992, Pyle was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a four-year-old girl, although he was later cleared. The following year, however, he was given eight years’ probation for molesting two sisters after pleading guilty to attempted capital battery and lewd and lascivious assault. In September ’96, Powell was charged with domestic violence after allegedly attacking his wife at their Jacksonville home. He, too, was cleared.

With death, illness, lawsuits and disagreements stalking their post-crash history, some have suggested Lynyrd Skynyrd are hexed. But the band – reformed in 1987 after much soul-searching, with Rossington, Powell and Van Zant’s brother Johnny at its heart – seem imbued with an indomitable spirit. And in March 2006, Skynyrd were finally inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in New York.

“It would have been a sin not to carry the music on,” says Powell. “We’re gonna go as long as we can.”

Rossington is in no doubt, either: “After all we’ve been through, we’ve gotten stronger over the years. To have Johnny there now is like having part of Ronnie there. You feel his spirit is onstage with us every night.”

The Beatles to reissue Magical Mystery Tour film

Tom Pinnock
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0
The Beatles to reissue Magical Mystery Tour film
The Beatles are set to reissue their 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour. 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 psychedelic coach trip to the seaside. Previously out of print, a fully restored editi...

The Beatles are set to reissue their 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour.

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 psychedelic coach trip to the seaside.

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

A special boxed deluxe edition will also include both the DVD and Blu-ray version of the film, as well as a 60-page book and 7″ vinyl EP of the film’s six new Beatles songs, which were originally issued in the UK to complement the film’s 1967 release.

The film features a supporting cast including Ivor Cutler, comedy actors Victor Spinetti, Jessie Robins, Nat Jackley, Derek Royle and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

Magical Mystery Tour will also be released for the big screen, showing in cinemas from September 27. The British Film Institute have also announced a special screening at London’s BFI Southbank on October 2.

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