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The 32nd Uncut Playlist Of 2012

John Mulvey
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The 32nd Uncut Playlist Of 2012

A few cool things to play and/or download on the playlist this week, kicking off with a couple of free new tunes from the characteristically profligate White Denim, which come highly recommended. Check out that Michael Chapman preview; Natch should be posting the whole thing any day now. In the meantime, you’ll note that Ben Chasny’s busy summer has fetched up the second Rangda; that I can finally admit to owning the excellent Grizzly Bear album; that Agitated are putting out the great Birds Of Maya (parent band of both Purling Hiss and Spacin’) jam; that the Cave soundtrack features, among other things, both Mark Lanegan and Ralph Stanley having cracks at “White Light/White Heat”; and that one of these 19 records stinks on ice… Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey 1 Rangda – Formerly Extinct (Drag City) 2 Birds Of Maya – Ready To Howl (Agitated) 3 Bat For Lashes – The Haunted Man (Parlophone) 4 Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Lawless: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Sony) 5 Bill Wilson – Ever Changing Minstrel (Tompkins Square) 6 Hiss Golden Messenger/Elephant Micah – My Cousin’s King/Balthazar (Paradise Of Bachelors) 7 Howlin Rain – Collage/When The Morning Comes (Agitated) 8 Michael Chapman & The Woodpiles – Natch 7 Preview (http://natchmusic.tumblr.com/post/28689236317/natch7video) 9 Michael Mayer – Mantasy (Kompakt) 10 White Denim – Darlene/Gas On F (http://soundcloud.com/whitedenim/sets) 11 Woods – Bend Beyond (Woodsist) 12 Kreidler – Den (Bureau B) 13 Spectre Folk – The Ancient Storm (Vampire Blues) 14 Six Organs Of Admittance – Ascent (Drag City) 15 Daphni – JIAOLONG (JIAOLONG) 16 The Eccentronic Research Council – 1612 Underture (Bird) 17 Grizzly Bear – Shields (Warp) 18 The Chris Robinson Brotherhood – The Magic Door (Silver Arrow) 19 Martha Wainwright – Come Home To Mama (Drowned In Sound/V2) Picture credit: Michael Hammett and Bobby Weiss

A few cool things to play and/or download on the playlist this week, kicking off with a couple of free new tunes from the characteristically profligate White Denim, which come highly recommended.

Check out that Michael Chapman preview; Natch should be posting the whole thing any day now. In the meantime, you’ll note that Ben Chasny’s busy summer has fetched up the second Rangda; that I can finally admit to owning the excellent Grizzly Bear album; that Agitated are putting out the great Birds Of Maya (parent band of both Purling Hiss and Spacin’) jam; that the Cave soundtrack features, among other things, both Mark Lanegan and Ralph Stanley having cracks at “White Light/White Heat”; and that one of these 19 records stinks on ice…

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

1 Rangda – Formerly Extinct (Drag City)

2 Birds Of Maya – Ready To Howl (Agitated)

3 Bat For Lashes – The Haunted Man (Parlophone)

4 Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Lawless: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Sony)

5 Bill Wilson – Ever Changing Minstrel (Tompkins Square)

6 Hiss Golden Messenger/Elephant Micah – My Cousin’s King/Balthazar (Paradise Of Bachelors)

7 Howlin Rain – Collage/When The Morning Comes (Agitated)

8 Michael Chapman & The Woodpiles – Natch 7 Preview (http://natchmusic.tumblr.com/post/28689236317/natch7video)

9 Michael Mayer – Mantasy (Kompakt)

10 White Denim – Darlene/Gas On F (http://soundcloud.com/whitedenim/sets)

11 Woods – Bend Beyond (Woodsist)

12 Kreidler – Den (Bureau B)

13 Spectre Folk – The Ancient Storm (Vampire Blues)

14 Six Organs Of Admittance – Ascent (Drag City)

15 Daphni – JIAOLONG (JIAOLONG)

16 The Eccentronic Research Council – 1612 Underture (Bird)

17 Grizzly Bear – Shields (Warp)

18 The Chris Robinson Brotherhood – The Magic Door (Silver Arrow)

19 Martha Wainwright – Come Home To Mama (Drowned In Sound/V2)

Picture credit: Michael Hammett and Bobby Weiss

Flaming Lips, Metallica, Iron Maiden to feature on new Deep Purple tribute album

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Flaming Lips, Metallica, Iron Maiden to feature on new Deep Purple tribute album

Metallica, Iron Maiden and The Flaming Lips have all signed up to contribute tracks to a new Deep Purple tribute album. The record, which is titled Re-Machined: A Tribute to Machine Head, will see a selection of acts covering each of the tracks on Deep Purple's classic 1972 album Machine Head. Also confirmed to appear are Black Label Society, guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana and rock supergroup Chickenfoot. As well as this, a series of one-off collaborators will join forces to record some of the tracks. Among the musicians set to take part are Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith, ex-Guns N' Roses men Matt Sorum and Duff MacKagan, Def Leppard's Joe Elliott and Steve Vai. The collection is being put out in honour of Deep Purple's Jon Lord, who died last month at the age of 71 after suffering a pulmonary embolism. Slash, Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler, Tom Morello, Jamie Cullum and Ewan McGregor were among those to pay tribute to Lord after he passed away. The tracklisting for 'Re-Machined: A Tribute to Machine Head' is as follows: Carlos Santana – 'Smoke On The Water' Chickenfoot – 'Highway Star' Glenn Hughes, Chad Smith and Luis Maldonado – 'Maybe I'm A Leo' Black Label Society – 'Pictures Of Home' Kings of Chaos (Joe Elliott, Steve Stevens, Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum, Arlan Schierbaum) – 'Never Before' The Flaming Lips – 'Smoke On The Water' Jimmy Barnes, Joe Bonamassa – 'Lazy' Iron Maiden - 'Space Truckin'' Metallica – 'When A Blind Man Cries' Glenn Hughes, Steve Vai, Chad Smith, Lachlan Doley – 'Highway Star'

Metallica, Iron Maiden and The Flaming Lips have all signed up to contribute tracks to a new Deep Purple tribute album.

The record, which is titled Re-Machined: A Tribute to Machine Head, will see a selection of acts covering each of the tracks on Deep Purple’s classic 1972 album Machine Head.

Also confirmed to appear are Black Label Society, guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana and rock supergroup Chickenfoot.

As well as this, a series of one-off collaborators will join forces to record some of the tracks. Among the musicians set to take part are Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith, ex-Guns N’ Roses men Matt Sorum and Duff MacKagan, Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott and Steve Vai.

The collection is being put out in honour of Deep Purple’s Jon Lord, who died last month at the age of 71 after suffering a pulmonary embolism.

Slash, Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler, Tom Morello, Jamie Cullum and Ewan McGregor were among those to pay tribute to Lord after he passed away.

The tracklisting for ‘Re-Machined: A Tribute to Machine Head’ is as follows:

Carlos Santana – ‘Smoke On The Water’

Chickenfoot – ‘Highway Star’

Glenn Hughes, Chad Smith and Luis Maldonado – ‘Maybe I’m A Leo’

Black Label Society – ‘Pictures Of Home’

Kings of Chaos (Joe Elliott, Steve Stevens, Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum, Arlan Schierbaum) – ‘Never Before’

The Flaming Lips – ‘Smoke On The Water’

Jimmy Barnes, Joe Bonamassa – ‘Lazy’

Iron Maiden – ‘Space Truckin”

Metallica – ‘When A Blind Man Cries’

Glenn Hughes, Steve Vai, Chad Smith, Lachlan Doley – ‘Highway Star’

Pussy Riot: ‘The Russian political system is afraid of truth’

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Pussy Riot: ‘The Russian political system is afraid of truth’

The three detailed members of feminist punk band Pussy Riot told a court yesterday that is was the Russian government on trial, and not them. Their case, which has been seen as a watermark of the Vladimir Putin's desire to crack down on dissent in Russia, has attracted global attention, with Madonna throwing her weight behind the three women at her concert in Moscow this week, and a host of artists including Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos, Jarvis Cocker, St Vincent, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers backing their plight. Speaking at the final day of their nine-day trial, band member Nadia Tolokonikovoy said: "This is a trial of the whole government system of Russia, which so likes to show its harshness toward the individual, its indifference to his honour and dignity… If this political system throws itself against three girls… it shows this political system is afraid of truth," The Guardian reports. Tolokonikovoy is one of three members of the Russian punk collective – along with Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich - who have been in detention since their arrest in March following an impromptu gig at Moscow's Christ The Saviour Cathedral. The band sang a song called "Holy Shit" as a protest against the Orthodox Christian church's support for Russian president Vladimir Putin. The three women face up to seven years in jail on hooliganism charges. The judge at the trial, which has been dubbed by their lawyers as "one of the most shameful in modern Russia", set August 17 as the day she would deliver a verdict against the women. Prosecutors this week asked for a three-year sentence, arguing that the women were not carrying out a political protest, but set out to insult all of Russian Orthodoxy. Pussy Riot member Tolokonikovoy spoke out against the charges against them, calling them a "political order for repression" and denounced Putin's "totalitarian-authoritarian system". "Even though we are behind bars, we are freer than those people," she said, looking at the prosecution "We can say what we want, while they can only say what political censorship allows." She added: "Maybe they think it wouldn't be wrong to try us for speaking against Putin and his system, but they can't say that because it's been forbidden." Pussy Riot member Maria Alekhina later told the court: "I am not scared of you. I'm not scared of lies and fiction, or the badly formed deception that is the verdict of this so-called court. Because my words will live, thanks to openness… When thousands of people will read and watch this, this freedom will grow with every caring person who listens to us in this country."

The three detailed members of feminist punk band Pussy Riot told a court yesterday that is was the Russian government on trial, and not them.

Their case, which has been seen as a watermark of the Vladimir Putin‘s desire to crack down on dissent in Russia, has attracted global attention, with Madonna throwing her weight behind the three women at her concert in Moscow this week, and a host of artists including Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, Jarvis Cocker, St Vincent, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers backing their plight.

Speaking at the final day of their nine-day trial, band member Nadia Tolokonikovoy said: “This is a trial of the whole government system of Russia, which so likes to show its harshness toward the individual, its indifference to his honour and dignity… If this political system throws itself against three girls… it shows this political system is afraid of truth,” The Guardian reports.

Tolokonikovoy is one of three members of the Russian punk collective – along with Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich – who have been in detention since their arrest in March following an impromptu gig at Moscow’s Christ The Saviour Cathedral. The band sang a song called “Holy Shit” as a protest against the Orthodox Christian church’s support for Russian president Vladimir Putin. The three women face up to seven years in jail on hooliganism charges.

The judge at the trial, which has been dubbed by their lawyers as “one of the most shameful in modern Russia”, set August 17 as the day she would deliver a verdict against the women. Prosecutors this week asked for a three-year sentence, arguing that the women were not carrying out a political protest, but set out to insult all of Russian Orthodoxy.

Pussy Riot member Tolokonikovoy spoke out against the charges against them, calling them a “political order for repression” and denounced Putin’s “totalitarian-authoritarian system”. “Even though we are behind bars, we are freer than those people,” she said, looking at the prosecution “We can say what we want, while they can only say what political censorship allows.”

She added: “Maybe they think it wouldn’t be wrong to try us for speaking against Putin and his system, but they can’t say that because it’s been forbidden.”

Pussy Riot member Maria Alekhina later told the court: “I am not scared of you. I’m not scared of lies and fiction, or the badly formed deception that is the verdict of this so-called court. Because my words will live, thanks to openness… When thousands of people will read and watch this, this freedom will grow with every caring person who listens to us in this country.”

Michael Nesmith reunites with Monkees for Davy Jones tribute tour

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Michael Nesmith reunites with Monkees for Davy Jones tribute tour

The surviving members of The Monkees have announced that they will be reuniting for a new tour. The tour, which begins in November, will mark the band's first live dates since their frontman Davy Jones passed away in February and is their first full run of shows for over 15 years. The band's surviving members Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork will join with Michael Nesmith for the tour, who hasn't performed with the band since 1997. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Nesmith said when asked why he'd agreed to do the tour: "It is a part of my youth that is always active in my thought and part of my overall work as an artist. It stays in a special place, but like things in the past it fades in and out in relevance to activities that are current." He continued: "Getting together with old friends and acquaintances can be very stimulating and fun and even inspiring to me. We did some good work together and I am always interested in the right time and the right place to reconnect and play." Nesmith said the setlist will be focused around the band's third album Headquarters as well as including tracks from himself and Peter Tork which have never previously been performed in concert. Davy Jones passed away as a result of a heart attack on February 29 this year, he was 66 years old.

The surviving members of The Monkees have announced that they will be reuniting for a new tour.

The tour, which begins in November, will mark the band’s first live dates since their frontman Davy Jones passed away in February and is their first full run of shows for over 15 years.

The band’s surviving members Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork will join with Michael Nesmith for the tour, who hasn’t performed with the band since 1997.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Nesmith said when asked why he’d agreed to do the tour: “It is a part of my youth that is always active in my thought and part of my overall work as an artist. It stays in a special place, but like things in the past it fades in and out in relevance to activities that are current.”

He continued: “Getting together with old friends and acquaintances can be very stimulating and fun and even inspiring to me. We did some good work together and I am always interested in the right time and the right place to reconnect and play.”

Nesmith said the setlist will be focused around the band’s third album Headquarters as well as including tracks from himself and Peter Tork which have never previously been performed in concert.

Davy Jones passed away as a result of a heart attack on February 29 this year, he was 66 years old.

Elton John – 5 Classic Albums (1970 – 73)

Michael Bonner
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0
Elton John – 5 Classic Albums (1970 – 73)

From humble ivory-tickler to global sensation - the singer-songwriter's rise chronicled... For pianist Reginald Dwight of Pinner, the 1970s began with intermittent, uncredited session work. By the end of the decade, he’d changed his name legally to Elton Hercules John, bought a football club, rewritten glam-rock’s dress code to include full-body animal costumes, topped the American charts eleven times and signed the most lucrative recording contract the world had ever seen. As Greg Shaw wrote in 1975, “His songs are on every radio station, every hour of every day... While everyone was looking for the Next Big Thing, Elton quietly strolled in and took the throne.” ‘Quietly’ is the interesting word there. It might seem ill-chosen for a performer whose flamboyance rivalled Liberace’s. But although there’s the odd melodramatic outburst on this five-album boxset – Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across The Water, Honky Château and Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player – what these songs are primarily tailored for is personal space. It’s music of privacy, daydream and travel. Elton was not a self-analyst or a confess-all type like the Laurel Canyon songwriters (for one thing, he didn’t write his own lyrics), so he couldn’t quite touch raw nerves. But watch the “Tiny Dancer” scene in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous to see what Elton could do. Lost in their thoughts, the people on the bus listen in silence to the US hit from Madman Across The Water. Then one or two start joining in. Soon there’s a collective chorus: the blue-jeaned seamstress is in their emotional bloodstream. Some people find the scene excruciatingly sentimental. Think of it more as historical. It’s how Elton strolled in and took the throne. Elton John (1970), the first album in the boxset, was actually his second. (His debut, Empty Sky, has evidently slipped the compilers’ memory.) Straight away we’re into “Your Song”: rippling piano, discreetly plucked guitar, a surge of violins. Bernie Taupin, Elton’s lyricist, is intentionally tongue-tied (“but then again, no”) in the role of a hung-up secret admirer who’s hopeless at expressing his feelings. The song is both corny and pure, and, like the best McCartney, seems to glide effortlessly from first bar to last. The Elton John album was made by young men. Elton was 22, Taupin 19, guitarist Caleb Quaye 21 and musical arranger Paul Buckmaster 23. The precocity is impressive. Taupin is all about American mythology and old men’s regrets. Elton likes his harps and harpsichords. Together they gaze beyond England. “No Shoe Strings On Louise”, an enthusiastic C&W lollop, grasps for the language of an imagined time (“hoedown”, “boss man”), as if British dramatists had turned their hand to writing an episode of The Little House On The Prairie. Yet their narrative structures seem believable. Aretha Franklin would hardly have covered “Border Song” if she’d sensed any phoniness. Maybe their fandom shone through: on the rock gospel number “Take Me To The Pilot”, Elton and Taupin clearly have their hearts in the South. Elton would even adopt a Southern accent to better suit the locations. He and Suzie hold “hay-unds” in “Crocodile Rock” (Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player), while the shackled black men in “Slave” (Honky Château) have a “river running sweat through our lay-und.” Taupin was so passionate about American history that his vision of the Wild West dominated Tumbleweed Connection (1970). Here were 19th century frontiers painted in words by a movie buff from Lincolnshire. But his imagery is highly convincing – “the swallow and the sycamore” in the valley, the “fat stock” hiding in the east – and Elton, charged with setting Taupin’s sepia photos to music, brings epic dimensions to the album’s standout tracks (“Burn Down The Mission”, “Where To Now St. Peter?”). Melody and metaphor meet irresistibly in the latter’s opening and closing line (“I took myself a blue canoe”) – six words of ineffable freedom. Populated with men named Deacon Lee and Old Clay, not to mention blind gunslingers bent on settling arguments with bullets, Tumbleweed Connection naturally aspired to the antique charm of The Band’s brown album. But when’s all said and done, Tumbleweed Connection is a testament to the power of two imaginations working dynamically in tandem. Taupin remained committed to the idea of America as a land where a song could combine authenticity and fantasy. And of course he would overreach. There’s woodsmoke over the tepees in “Indian Sunset” (Madman Across The Water, 1971), where Yellow Dog’s tribesmen “run the gauntlet of the Sioux”. It doesn’t smack of personal experience somehow. “Holiday Inn”, on the same album, underreaches. Dully remarking on the facelessness of American hotels, Taupin’s boredom seems contagious: Elton’s humdrum chorus could have been composed in his sleep. Millions of songs like this were written in the ’70s, but Elton and Taupin had a unique problem. Unless Elton cast them in glittering melodies, Taupin’s tall tales had the taint of fakery. When they both got it right, they pulled off a heavyweight drama like Madman Across The Water’s title track. In this haunting piece, an inmate of an asylum, who’s just received a family visit, fixates on a broken boat that he can see from his window. The distracted, paranoid lyrics have been subjected to endless interpretation. There was even a popular theory that Taupin was writing about Richard Nixon – presumably having had a 1971 premonition of Watergate (!). Elton now had a full-time band – Davey Johnstone (guitar), Dee Murray (bass) and Nigel Olsson (drums) – who debuted as a recording unit on Honky Château (1972). The No 2 hit “Rocket Man” propelled Elton to the forefront of British pop – after two albums without a UK single – but his comprehensive glam makeover was still a year away. On the cover of Honky Château he’s very much a serious artist: bearded, glowering. He excels as a pianist, driving the buoyantly syncopated music forward like Dr John on Gumbo. There’s the taste of the South again. There’s a tragicomic suicide threat. There are several cats. Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player (1973), featuring the worldwide hits “Daniel” and “Crocodile Rock”, immersed itself in the ’50s. Something of a rock’n’roll pastiche, proceedings get a bit Bryclreemed and mindless in places. The absolute highlight is “Blues For My Baby And Me”, a story about two runaways where you’re never quite sure what fateful outcome Taupin has in mind. Like all the albums in this boxset, Don’t Shoot Me... is the same configuration (and master) as the 1995 Mercury editions (‘The Classic Years’ series), containing the same bonus tracks as before, including the nine-minute original version of “Madman Across The Water” (on Tumbleweed Connection) and the wonderful 1970 B-side “Grey Seal” (on Elton John). “Grey Seal” was later re-recorded for the hit-packed 1973 double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. And at that point, in a whirl of ermine, the throne was duly ascended. DAVID CAVANAGH

From humble ivory-tickler to global sensation – the singer-songwriter’s rise chronicled…

For pianist Reginald Dwight of Pinner, the 1970s began with intermittent, uncredited session work. By the end of the decade, he’d changed his name legally to Elton Hercules John, bought a football club, rewritten glam-rock’s dress code to include full-body animal costumes, topped the American charts eleven times and signed the most lucrative recording contract the world had ever seen. As Greg Shaw wrote in 1975, “His songs are on every radio station, every hour of every day… While everyone was looking for the Next Big Thing, Elton quietly strolled in and took the throne.”

‘Quietly’ is the interesting word there. It might seem ill-chosen for a performer whose flamboyance rivalled Liberace’s. But although there’s the odd melodramatic outburst on this five-album boxset – Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across The Water, Honky Château and Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player – what these songs are primarily tailored for is personal space. It’s music of privacy, daydream and travel. Elton was not a self-analyst or a confess-all type like the Laurel Canyon songwriters (for one thing, he didn’t write his own lyrics), so he couldn’t quite touch raw nerves. But watch the “Tiny Dancer” scene in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous to see what Elton could do. Lost in their thoughts, the people on the bus listen in silence to the US hit from Madman Across The Water. Then one or two start joining in. Soon there’s a collective chorus: the blue-jeaned seamstress is in their emotional bloodstream. Some people find the scene excruciatingly sentimental. Think of it more as historical. It’s how Elton strolled in and took the throne.

Elton John (1970), the first album in the boxset, was actually his second. (His debut, Empty Sky, has evidently slipped the compilers’ memory.) Straight away we’re into “Your Song”: rippling piano, discreetly plucked guitar, a surge of violins. Bernie Taupin, Elton’s lyricist, is intentionally tongue-tied (“but then again, no”) in the role of a hung-up secret admirer who’s hopeless at expressing his feelings. The song is both corny and pure, and, like the best McCartney, seems to glide effortlessly from first bar to last.

The Elton John album was made by young men. Elton was 22, Taupin 19, guitarist Caleb Quaye 21 and musical arranger Paul Buckmaster 23. The precocity is impressive. Taupin is all about American mythology and old men’s regrets. Elton likes his harps and harpsichords. Together they gaze beyond England. “No Shoe Strings On Louise”, an enthusiastic C&W lollop, grasps for the language of an imagined time (“hoedown”, “boss man”), as if British dramatists had turned their hand to writing an episode of The Little House On The Prairie. Yet their narrative structures seem believable. Aretha Franklin would hardly have covered “Border Song” if she’d sensed any phoniness. Maybe their fandom shone through: on the rock gospel number “Take Me To The Pilot”, Elton and Taupin clearly have their hearts in the South. Elton would even adopt a Southern accent to better suit the locations. He and Suzie hold “hay-unds” in “Crocodile Rock” (Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player), while the shackled black men in “Slave” (Honky Château) have a “river running sweat through our lay-und.”

Taupin was so passionate about American history that his vision of the Wild West dominated Tumbleweed Connection (1970). Here were 19th century frontiers painted in words by a movie buff from Lincolnshire. But his imagery is highly convincing – “the swallow and the sycamore” in the valley, the “fat stock” hiding in the east – and Elton, charged with setting Taupin’s sepia photos to music, brings epic dimensions to the album’s standout tracks (“Burn Down The Mission”, “Where To Now St. Peter?”). Melody and metaphor meet irresistibly in the latter’s opening and closing line (“I took myself a blue canoe”) – six words of ineffable freedom. Populated with men named Deacon Lee and Old Clay, not to mention blind gunslingers bent on settling arguments with bullets, Tumbleweed Connection naturally aspired to the antique charm of The Band’s brown album. But when’s all said and done, Tumbleweed Connection is a testament to the power of two imaginations working dynamically in tandem.

Taupin remained committed to the idea of America as a land where a song could combine authenticity and fantasy. And of course he would overreach. There’s woodsmoke over the tepees in “Indian Sunset” (Madman Across The Water, 1971), where Yellow Dog’s tribesmen “run the gauntlet of the Sioux”. It doesn’t smack of personal experience somehow. “Holiday Inn”, on the same album, underreaches. Dully remarking on the facelessness of American hotels, Taupin’s boredom seems contagious: Elton’s humdrum chorus could have been composed in his sleep. Millions of songs like this were written in the ’70s, but Elton and Taupin had a unique problem. Unless Elton cast them in glittering melodies, Taupin’s tall tales had the taint of fakery. When they both got it right, they pulled off a heavyweight drama like Madman Across The Water’s title track. In this haunting piece, an inmate of an asylum, who’s just received a family visit, fixates on a broken boat that he can see from his window. The distracted, paranoid lyrics have been subjected to endless interpretation. There was even a popular theory that Taupin was writing about Richard Nixon – presumably having had a 1971 premonition of Watergate (!).

Elton now had a full-time band – Davey Johnstone (guitar), Dee Murray (bass) and Nigel Olsson (drums) – who debuted as a recording unit on Honky Château (1972). The No 2 hit “Rocket Man” propelled Elton to the forefront of British pop – after two albums without a UK single – but his comprehensive glam makeover was still a year away. On the cover of Honky Château he’s very much a serious artist: bearded, glowering. He excels as a pianist, driving the buoyantly syncopated music forward like Dr John on Gumbo. There’s the taste of the South again. There’s a tragicomic suicide threat. There are several cats. Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player (1973), featuring the worldwide hits “Daniel” and “Crocodile Rock”, immersed itself in the ’50s. Something of a rock’n’roll pastiche, proceedings get a bit Bryclreemed and mindless in places. The absolute highlight is “Blues For My Baby And Me”, a story about two runaways where you’re never quite sure what fateful outcome Taupin has in mind. Like all the albums in this boxset, Don’t Shoot Me… is the same configuration (and master) as the 1995 Mercury editions (‘The Classic Years’ series), containing the same bonus tracks as before, including the nine-minute original version of “Madman Across The Water” (on Tumbleweed Connection) and the wonderful 1970 B-side “Grey Seal” (on Elton John). “Grey Seal” was later re-recorded for the hit-packed 1973 double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. And at that point, in a whirl of ermine, the throne was duly ascended.

DAVID CAVANAGH

Charity set up in memory of Radiohead stage collapse victim

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Charity set up in memory of Radiohead stage collapse victim

The family of Radiohead drum technician Scott Johnson, who died after a stage collapse in Toronto, have set up a charity in his memory. The Scott Johnson Bursary will fund musical equipment in Johnson's hometown of Rotherham. Posting on the band's Facebook page today, Radiohead drummer Philip Selway announced the launch of the charity, writing: "Over the past couple of months, a number of people have asked if there is anything they can do in memory of Scott. Scott's parents have now created the Scott Johnson Bursary Fund for Young Musicians. This will fund musical equipment for young people in Rotherham in the UK, where Scott grew up." Johnson's parents have set up the page www.scottjohnsonbursary.com, writing: "It has been heart-warming to receive the kind wishes from you all. We have had many requests for donations in place of flowers and have set up an account that will be the Scott Johnson Bursary for Young Musicians. This will be managed by his friends locally as a fund primarily in Rotherham Schools." They add: "Frankly we cannot equate to the financial aspects but if it helps anyone to contribute in this way the account is established to ensure that no other fund is created in error. It may take a while, but we will keep you informed on how the money is spent in due course." For more information, and to donate, visit: www.scottjohnsonbursary.com. Radiohead paid a special tribute to Johnson last month (July 10) during their first gig since his death. The band, who were performing at the Les Arenes in Nimes, France, filled the screen with photos of Johnson as they played "Reckoner". It was their first rescheduled show since their drum tech died during a stage collapse in Toronto last month. A further three people were injured in the incident at Downsview Park, Toronto. The stage collapsed an hour before the gates opened to the public and queues were already forming outside the venue. The victims were all part of the team setting up equipment. Radiohead rescheduled seven shows following the tragedy after the accident also destroyed the band's unique lightshow and parts of their backline set-up. Please fill in our quick survey about Uncut – and you could win a 12-month subscription to the magazine. Click here to see the survey. Thanks!

The family of Radiohead drum technician Scott Johnson, who died after a stage collapse in Toronto, have set up a charity in his memory.

The Scott Johnson Bursary will fund musical equipment in Johnson’s hometown of Rotherham.

Posting on the band’s Facebook page today, Radiohead drummer Philip Selway announced the launch of the charity, writing: “Over the past couple of months, a number of people have asked if there is anything they can do in memory of Scott. Scott’s parents have now created the Scott Johnson Bursary Fund for Young Musicians. This will fund musical equipment for young people in Rotherham in the UK, where Scott grew up.”

Johnson’s parents have set up the page www.scottjohnsonbursary.com, writing: “It has been heart-warming to receive the kind wishes from you all. We have had many requests for donations in place of flowers and have set up an account that will be the Scott Johnson Bursary for Young Musicians. This will be managed by his friends locally as a fund primarily in Rotherham Schools.”

They add: “Frankly we cannot equate to the financial aspects but if it helps anyone to contribute in this way the account is established to ensure that no other fund is created in error. It may take a while, but we will keep you informed on how the money is spent in due course.”

For more information, and to donate, visit: www.scottjohnsonbursary.com.

Radiohead paid a special tribute to Johnson last month (July 10) during their first gig since his death. The band, who were performing at the Les Arenes in Nimes, France, filled the screen with photos of Johnson as they played “Reckoner“.

It was their first rescheduled show since their drum tech died during a stage collapse in Toronto last month. A further three people were injured in the incident at Downsview Park, Toronto.

The stage collapsed an hour before the gates opened to the public and queues were already forming outside the venue. The victims were all part of the team setting up equipment. Radiohead rescheduled seven shows following the tragedy after the accident also destroyed the band’s unique lightshow and parts of their backline set-up.

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Beck’s new ‘album’ to be released as unrecorded sheet music

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Beck’s new ‘album’ to be released as unrecorded sheet music
Beck is set to release his brand new album in the form of individual pieces of sheet music. Song Reader will be put out by publishers Faber and Faber in December and will consist of the notation for 20 unrecorded and unreleased songs. The sheet music will come with full colour art works for each s...

Beck is set to release his brand new album in the form of individual pieces of sheet music.

Song Reader will be put out by publishers Faber and Faber in December and will consist of the notation for 20 unrecorded and unreleased songs.

The sheet music will come with full colour art works for each song as well as a hardcover carrying case. Two of the 20 songs are instrumentals. The ‘album’ features the tracks “Do We? We Do” and “Don’t Act Like Your Heart Isn’t Hard”. The idea behind the release is for fans to play the songs and “bring them to life” themselves.

Song Reader is made up of 108 pages, featuring 20 individual song booklets. The illustrations come courtesy of Marcel Dzama, Leanne Shapton, Josh Cochran, Jessica Hische and more.

Of Song Reader, Faber & Faber’s Publishing Director, Lee Brackstone said: “Beck is one of the great maverick pop stars of this, or any age, and as soon as I saw Song Reader the relevance of the concept struck me. It is thrilling to welcome Beck onto a music list at Faber that is already home to Julian Cope, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Jarvis Cocker, Nicky Wire and others. Song Reader makes a radical statement about the value and importance of performed and recorded music at a time when these very things are under threat.”

Beck’s last, more traditional album release was 2008’s Modern Guilt.

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Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan: ‘The music industry operates on a dumbing down principle’

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Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan: ‘The music industry operates on a dumbing down principle’
Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has layed into the way the music industry works, saying it "operates on a dumbing down principle". The singer, whose band released their new studio album Oceania in June, has said that he believes few bands get to keep their intelligence if they want to be s...

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has layed into the way the music industry works, saying it “operates on a dumbing down principle”.

The singer, whose band released their new studio album Oceania in June, has said that he believes few bands get to keep their intelligence if they want to be successful, but did name Radiohead as a notable exception.

Speaking to GMA News, Corgan said: “It’s incredible to me how sophisticated people really are when you give them the opportunity to be sophisticated. The music business essentially operates on a dumbing down principle. How dumb do we have to go to sell this record to the most amount of people?”

Then asked if he knew of any exceptions to this, Corgan added: “There are very few bands who are able to keep their intelligence on record, Radiohead are a good example. They have a very high message and are still very popular. But for the most part the charts are dominated by music that’s essentially dumbed down in melody, style, tone, texture, and message because it reaches the most amount of people.”

He then added: “‘I think with where I am now I don’t want to be dumbed down. I just think that’s the worst thing for rock’n’roll.”

Oceania is the seventh album of the Smashing Pumpkins career and was released on June 18.

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MIA: ‘My new album will sound like Paul Simon on acid’

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MIA: ‘My new album will sound like Paul Simon on acid’
MIA has described her forthcoming new album as sounding like Paul Simon "on acid". The singer made the comment on Twitter, after telling fans she would answer 10 questions about the follow-up to 2010's Maya. She also explained that the record would be released in December, alongside a book, documen...

MIA has described her forthcoming new album as sounding like Paul Simon “on acid”.

The singer made the comment on Twitter, after telling fans she would answer 10 questions about the follow-up to 2010’s Maya. She also explained that the record would be released in December, alongside a book, documentary and art exhibition. Some of the tweets have subsequently been deleted.

When asked how many tracks would feature on the new album, she said: “its still in the making -could be 5 it could be 15 depends on what sounds good in my bros CAR.” She added that there would be no collaborations on the record and of the LP’s unknown producers she said it will be worked on with “ones that dont act like fame whore coloniser.”

She went on to Tweet one of her favourite lyrics on the record:

truth is like a rotten tooth u gottu spit it out!!!

In April, MIA released “Come Walk With Me”, following the instrumental soundtrack she wrote for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange‘s TV show The World Tomorrow.

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Cat Power announces north American tour dates

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Cat Power announces north American tour dates
Cat Power has announced a north American tour to coincide with the September release of her new album, Sun. She plays: Thursday, October 11 – Miami, Florida – Grand Central Saturday, 13 – Mexico City, Mexico – Corona Capital Music Festival Friday, 19 – Montreal, Quebec – Metropolis ...

Cat Power has announced a north American tour to coincide with the September release of her new album, Sun.

She plays:

Thursday, October 11 – Miami, Florida – Grand Central

Saturday, 13 – Mexico City, Mexico – Corona Capital Music Festival

Friday, 19 – Montreal, Quebec – Metropolis

Saturday, 20 – Toronto, Ontario – Kool Haus

Monday, 22 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club

Tuesday, 23 – New York, New York – Hammerstein Ballroom

Wednesday, 24 – Boston, Massachusetts – House Of Blues

Thursday, 25 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Electric Factory

Saturday, 27 – Detroit, Michigan – Royal Oak Music Theatre

Sunday, 28 – Chicago, Illinois – Riviera

Friday, November 02 – Vancouver, British Columbia – Vogue Theatre

Saturday, 03 – Seattle, Washington – Showbox SoDo

Sunday, 04 – Portland, Oregon – Crystal Ballroom

Tuesday, 06 – Oakland, California – Fox Theater

Thursday, 08 – Los Angeles, California – Hollywood Palladium

You can watch a promo clip for Sun below.

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Kate Bush to play Olympic closing ceremony?

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Kate Bush to play Olympic closing ceremony?

A remix of Kate Bush track "Running Up That Hill" which appeared on Amazon yesterday has sparked rumours that the singer may be performing at the Olympic closing ceremony. The page on Amazon, which has since been deleted, showed a 2012 remix of the track listed for Sunday [August 12] to coincide with the Olympic closing ceremony. You can see the artwork for the track above. 'A Symphony Of British Music: Music For The Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games', an album containing music performed on the final night, will be released digitally on August 12. A spokesperson for Kate Bush declined to comment on whether the track was part of this soundtrack. The singer has not toured since 1979, however has recently hinted at a live return: "Maybe I will do some shows some day. I'd like to think so before I get too ancient - turn up with me Zimmer frame," she said. The singer released her last album, 50 Words For Snow at the end of the last year. The record was her second release of 2011, following from Director's Cut. It is the tenth album of her career. While the line-up for the closing ceremony is a strictly guarded secret, Muse, Ed Sheeran and George Micheal have all announced that they will be performing, with rumours also circulating that the Spice Girls, Elbow, The Who and Madness will perform. Please fill in our quick survey about Uncut – and you could win a 12-month subscription to the magazine. Click here to see the survey. Thanks!

A remix of Kate Bush track “Running Up That Hill” which appeared on Amazon yesterday has sparked rumours that the singer may be performing at the Olympic closing ceremony.

The page on Amazon, which has since been deleted, showed a 2012 remix of the track listed for Sunday [August 12] to coincide with the Olympic closing ceremony. You can see the artwork for the track above.

‘A Symphony Of British Music: Music For The Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games’, an album containing music performed on the final night, will be released digitally on August 12. A spokesperson for Kate Bush declined to comment on whether the track was part of this soundtrack.

The singer has not toured since 1979, however has recently hinted at a live return: “Maybe I will do some shows some day. I’d like to think so before I get too ancient – turn up with me Zimmer frame,” she said.

The singer released her last album, 50 Words For Snow at the end of the last year. The record was her second release of 2011, following from Director’s Cut. It is the tenth album of her career.

While the line-up for the closing ceremony is a strictly guarded secret, Muse, Ed Sheeran and George Micheal have all announced that they will be performing, with rumours also circulating that the Spice Girls, Elbow, The Who and Madness will perform.

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Bon Iver announce fan remix project

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Bon Iver announce fan remix project
Bon Iver is releasing the stems of his songs for fans to remix, according to a report on music-news.com. The Bon Iver: Stems Project will see Justin Vernon release the original instrumental stems for all ten songs on his self-titled album. These will be available via http://www.indabamusic.com/. ...

Bon Iver is releasing the stems of his songs for fans to remix, according to a report on music-news.com.

The Bon Iver: Stems Project will see Justin Vernon release the original instrumental stems for all ten songs on his self-titled album.

These will be available via http://www.indabamusic.com/. All you need to do is sign up to Indaba Music, download the stems, do your remix and upload them by August 29.

The remixes will be voted on by members of the Indaba Music community and the winners will then be announced in the third week of September.

The prize money is $1,000 per song.

The winning remixes will get the cash and also appear on the official Bon Iver: Stems Project remix album on Spotify.

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Beck and Philip Glass remix album due for October release

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Beck and Philip Glass remix album due for October release

Composer Philip Glass - who turns 75 this year - is to be the subject of a remix album, inspired by a conversation between Glass and Beck. The album, called Rework: Philip Glass Remixed, is due for release in October. It includes reworks of original Glass compositions from Beck himself, Tyondai Braxton (ex-Battles), Amon Tobin, Memory Tapes, Dan Deacon, and more. Full tracklist for Rework: Disc One 1. My Great Ghost – "Music in Twelve Parts, Part 1" 2. Tyondai Braxton – "Rubric (Remix)" 3. Nosaj Thing – "Knee 1 (Remix)" 4. Dan Deacon – "Alight Spiral Ship (Philip Glass Remix)" 5. Amon Tobin – "Warda's Whorehouse Inside Out Version" 6. Silver Alert – "Etoile Polaire: Little Dipper" 7. Memory Tapes – "Floe '87 (Remix)" 8. Cornelius 3 – "Opening From Glassworks" Disc Two 1. Beck – "NYC: 73-78" 2. Jóhann Jóhannsson – "Protest (Remix)" 3. Pantha du Prince – "Mad Rush Organ (Remix)" 4. Peter Broderick – "Island (Remix)" Please fill in our quick survey about Uncut – and you could win a 12-month subscription to the magazine. Click here to see the survey. Thanks!

Composer Philip Glass – who turns 75 this year – is to be the subject of a remix album, inspired by a conversation between Glass and Beck.

The album, called Rework: Philip Glass Remixed, is due for release in October. It includes reworks of original Glass compositions from Beck himself, Tyondai Braxton (ex-Battles), Amon Tobin, Memory Tapes, Dan Deacon, and more.

Full tracklist for Rework:

Disc One

1. My Great Ghost – “Music in Twelve Parts, Part 1”

2. Tyondai Braxton – “Rubric (Remix)”

3. Nosaj Thing – “Knee 1 (Remix)”

4. Dan Deacon – “Alight Spiral Ship (Philip Glass Remix)”

5. Amon Tobin – “Warda’s Whorehouse Inside Out Version”

6. Silver Alert – “Etoile Polaire: Little Dipper”

7. Memory Tapes – “Floe ’87 (Remix)”

8. Cornelius 3 – “Opening From Glassworks”

Disc Two

1. Beck – “NYC: 73-78”

2. Jóhann Jóhannsson – “Protest (Remix)”

3. Pantha du Prince – “Mad Rush Organ (Remix)”

4. Peter Broderick – “Island (Remix)”

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The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion unveil trailer for new album ‘Meat And Bone’

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The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion unveil trailer for new album ‘Meat And Bone’
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion have unveiled the trailer for their new album Meat And Bone – watch it above. Meat And Bone is the band's first album of new material in eight years and will be released on September 17. It follows 2004's Damage – which was released under the shortened name of...

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion have unveiled the trailer for their new album Meat And Bone – watch it above.

Meat And Bone is the band’s first album of new material in eight years and will be released on September 17.

It follows 2004’s Damage – which was released under the shortened name of Blues Explosion. It features 12 tracks, and will be the band’s ninth LP. Scroll down to listen to the album’s opening track Black Mold.

Recorded at the Key Club Recording Studio in Benton Harbor, Michigan, the album was then mixed in New York. Speaking about the album previously, Jon Spencer said: We still have that psychic glue that allows us to create music together. Over the course of a year touring and writing new songs and recording, we rediscovered our shared history as a band. We circled the wagons, and went back to our roots. In a way this is almost like another first album.

The band released their debut, self-titled record in 1992.

The Meat And Bone tracklisting is:

‘Black Mold’

‘Bag Of Bones’

‘Boot Cut’

‘Get Your Pants Off’

‘Ice Cream Killer’

‘Strange Baby’

‘Bottle Baby’

‘Danger’

‘Black Thoughts’

‘Unclear’

‘Bear Trap’

‘Zimgar’

The band have also announced a European tour for Autumn, playing London’s Electric Ballroom on December 3.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion will play:

Lyon Epicerie Moderne (France) (November 29)

Clermont Ferrand Le Coop De Mai (France) (30)

Nantes Stereolux (France) (December 1)

Lille Aeronef (France) (2)

Paris Le Bataclan (France) (4)

Strasbourg La Laiterie (France) (5)

La Chaux De Fonds (Switzerland) (6)

Zurich Kilbi Winter Festival (Switzerland) (7)

Prague Akropolis (Czech Republic) (8)

De Berlin Festaal (Germany) (9)

De Koln Gebaude 9 (Germany) (10)

Be Brussels Ancienne Belgique (Belgium) (11)

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Elizabeth Fraser, Royal Festival Hall, London, August 7 2012

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Elizabeth Fraser, Royal Festival Hall, London, August 7 2012

The shouts begin in earnest around the first encore – most of them are calls for specific songs, accompanied by a smattering of “We love you”s, but the one that raises the biggest cheer is simply: “Where have you been?” It’s a good question. Since the Cocteau Twins’ last studio album – 1996’s Milk And Kisses – Liz Fraser has become an elusive and enigmatic presence. There’s been occasional cameos (notably with Massive Attack in 1998) but her own solo output is limited to a white label, “Underwater”, in 2000 and a single, Moses”, in 2009. Her reluctance to return to music, and particularly live performance, is understandable – one former colleague of mine remarked recently that watching a Cocteau Twins’ gig was like watching the Crucifixion, it was so painful to see Fraser struggle to make her voice heard through the band’s dense sound. I remember seeing her join Massive Attack at Hyde Park in 2006 to sing “Teardrop”, and literally fleeing into the wings after she’d finished. Her return to active service for two shows, then, forms the centrepiece of Antony Hegarty’s Meltdown festival. The result is occasionally breathtaking, occasionally not. Fraser’s voice is, predictably, the sell here. Warmer and lighter, though no less remarkable, than in her Cocteau’s days, it flutters and glides across the songs – a mix of delicately retooled Cocteaus songs and new material, presumably from her slowly-gestating solo album. Of the new material, the best has an incidental music from Twin Peaks vibe to it, classy and slightly off-kilter; alas, there are also moments where her band slip into a polite but torpid groove. Close your eyes, and it could almost be a Bryan Ferry solo show. The set is sparse. There's DJ in the corner, who I think is playing loops and weird, ambient passages between the songs. Fraser is accompanied by eight people on stage, the bulk of her band comprised of former Spiritualised members, drummer Damon Reece (also Fraser’s partner), bassist Sean Cook, guitarist Martin Shellard and – resplendent in a sequined jacket with industrial sized shoulderpads, looking like Grant Morrison’s King Mob from The Invisibles – Tim Lewis, aka Julian Cope henchman, Thighpaulsandra. Two backing singers do much of the heavy lifting here on the high notes. Fraser, wearing pristine white, consults an iPad attached to a music stand. Everyone is dressed in black or white, the lighting palette mostly soft greys and whites, with bursts of blue neon. Occasionally, there are strobes. Steve Hackett guests, his acoustic guitar perfectly complimenting Fraser’s voice; an unusual pairing considering we’re more used to hearing Fraser up against Robin Guthrie’s harsh cascading chords, but perhaps this is a sign of more music to come. There are certainly highlights. As you’d expect, the Cocteaus material is greeted emotionally – the pared-back readings of “Donimo” and “Pearly Dew Drops Drop” are tremendous, lower lip-trembling stuff. Elsewhere, the hushed, intimate version of “Song To The Siren” that closes the show is properly moving. But, in truth, Fraser could fart her way through the national anthems of Europe and she'd get still three standing ovations. As it is, whatever the weak points, it's a pleasure to welcome her back. Set list: Bushey Bluebell Knoll Suckling The Mender Pirate Home Cherry Coloured Funk Blue Song Oomingmack Make Lovely Enoesque Donimo Pitch The Baby Metal Atholl Brose Frou Frou Foxes In Midsummer Fires Golden Air Underwater Pearly Dew Drops Drop Song To The Siren Pic credit: Matt Kent/Redferns via Getty Images

The shouts begin in earnest around the first encore – most of them are calls for specific songs, accompanied by a smattering of “We love you”s, but the one that raises the biggest cheer is simply: “Where have you been?”

It’s a good question. Since the Cocteau Twins’ last studio album – 1996’s Milk And Kisses – Liz Fraser has become an elusive and enigmatic presence. There’s been occasional cameos (notably with Massive Attack in 1998) but her own solo output is limited to a white label, “Underwater”, in 2000 and a single, Moses”, in 2009. Her reluctance to return to music, and particularly live performance, is understandable – one former colleague of mine remarked recently that watching a Cocteau Twins’ gig was like watching the Crucifixion, it was so painful to see Fraser struggle to make her voice heard through the band’s dense sound. I remember seeing her join Massive Attack at Hyde Park in 2006 to sing “Teardrop”, and literally fleeing into the wings after she’d finished.

Her return to active service for two shows, then, forms the centrepiece of Antony Hegarty’s Meltdown festival. The result is occasionally breathtaking, occasionally not. Fraser’s voice is, predictably, the sell here. Warmer and lighter, though no less remarkable, than in her Cocteau’s days, it flutters and glides across the songs – a mix of delicately retooled Cocteaus songs and new material, presumably from her slowly-gestating solo album. Of the new material, the best has an incidental music from Twin Peaks vibe to it, classy and slightly off-kilter; alas, there are also moments where her band slip into a polite but torpid groove. Close your eyes, and it could almost be a Bryan Ferry solo show.

The set is sparse. There’s DJ in the corner, who I think is playing loops and weird, ambient passages between the songs. Fraser is accompanied by eight people on stage, the bulk of her band comprised of former Spiritualised members, drummer Damon Reece (also Fraser’s partner), bassist Sean Cook, guitarist Martin Shellard and – resplendent in a sequined jacket with industrial sized shoulderpads, looking like Grant Morrison’s King Mob from The Invisibles – Tim Lewis, aka Julian Cope henchman, Thighpaulsandra. Two backing singers do much of the heavy lifting here on the high notes. Fraser, wearing pristine white, consults an iPad attached to a music stand. Everyone is dressed in black or white, the lighting palette mostly soft greys and whites, with bursts of blue neon. Occasionally, there are strobes. Steve Hackett guests, his acoustic guitar perfectly complimenting Fraser’s voice; an unusual pairing considering we’re more used to hearing Fraser up against Robin Guthrie’s harsh cascading chords, but perhaps this is a sign of more music to come.

There are certainly highlights. As you’d expect, the Cocteaus material is greeted emotionally – the pared-back readings of “Donimo” and “Pearly Dew Drops Drop” are tremendous, lower lip-trembling stuff. Elsewhere, the hushed, intimate version of “Song To The Siren” that closes the show is properly moving. But, in truth, Fraser could fart her way through the national anthems of Europe and she’d get still three standing ovations. As it is, whatever the weak points, it’s a pleasure to welcome her back.

Set list:

Bushey

Bluebell Knoll

Suckling The Mender

Pirate Home

Cherry Coloured Funk

Blue Song

Oomingmack

Make Lovely

Enoesque

Donimo

Pitch The Baby

Metal

Atholl Brose

Frou Frou Foxes In Midsummer Fires

Golden Air

Underwater

Pearly Dew Drops Drop

Song To The Siren

Pic credit: Matt Kent/Redferns via Getty Images

Watch Tom Waits’ new video for “Hell Broke Luce”

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Watch Tom Waits’ new video for “Hell Broke Luce”

After a week of speculation that he might be about to announce tour dates, Tom Waits has instead released a new video. It's for the track, "Hell Broke Luce", which appears on Waits' 2011 album, Bad As Me. It's been directed by Matt Mahurin. In a statement accompanying the announcement, Waits wrote: "As most of you guessed, it’s a tour…a tour de force! “Matt Mahurin has created an apocalyptic war dream to accompany the song 'HELL BROKE LUCE.' Kathleen and I envisioned it as an enlightened drill sergeant yelling the hard truths of war to a brand new batch of recruits. The video grew from the gnawing image of a soldier pulling his home, through a battlefield, at the end of a rope. “I think you will agree, it's uplifting and fun." "Hell Broke Luce" features Keith Richards on guitar, with Flea on bass. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fju9o8BVJ8 Please fill in our quick survey about Uncut – and you could win a 12-month subscription to the magazine. Click here to see the survey. Thanks!

After a week of speculation that he might be about to announce tour dates, Tom Waits has instead released a new video.

It’s for the track, “Hell Broke Luce“, which appears on Waits’ 2011 album, Bad As Me. It’s been directed by Matt Mahurin.

In a statement accompanying the announcement, Waits wrote:

“As most of you guessed, it’s a tour…a tour de force!

“Matt Mahurin has created an apocalyptic war dream to accompany the song ‘HELL BROKE LUCE.’ Kathleen and I envisioned it as an enlightened drill sergeant yelling the hard truths of war to a brand new batch of recruits. The video grew from the gnawing image of a soldier pulling his home, through a battlefield, at the end of a rope.

“I think you will agree, it’s uplifting and fun.”

“Hell Broke Luce” features Keith Richards on guitar, with Flea on bass.

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Mike Oldfield: ‘I’d never heard of Arctic Monkeys before the Olympics’

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Mike Oldfield: ‘I’d never heard of Arctic Monkeys before the Olympics’

"Tubular Bells" composer Mike Oldfield has admitted he had never heard of Arctic Monkeys or Dizzee Rascal before he performed with them at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in London last week (July 27). Speaking to NME, the musician, who performed 1973's "Tubular Bells" alongside a fantasy scene involving famous characters from cinema, confessed that he "doesn't know anything that's currently happening in the music scene". "I'd never heard of Arctic Monkeys or Dizzee… Obviously I've heard of Paul McCartney, and Emeli Sande was great although I'd never heard of her either," he said. Speaking about his performance at the ceremony, he said: "My part was quite peaceful but by the time Arctic Monkeys came on it was pretty loud. The whole thing in its entirety was a triumph though, it was a great success worldwide and you can't take that away from it." Mike Oldfield's greatest hits collection, Two Sides: The Very Best Of Mike Oldfield, has seen a 757 per cent increase in sales since his Olympic performance. The compilation of all the music featured in the Opening Ceremony went on sale digitally shortly after the show came to an end in the early hours of Saturday, with more than 10,000 copies being sold immediately afterwards. After being on sale for 24 hours the album reached Number Five on the Official Charts Company’s list of top-selling compilation albums of 2012. Please fill in our quick survey about Uncut – and you could win a 12-month subscription to the magazine. Click here to see the survey. Thanks!

“Tubular Bells” composer Mike Oldfield has admitted he had never heard of Arctic Monkeys or Dizzee Rascal before he performed with them at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in London last week (July 27).

Speaking to NME, the musician, who performed 1973’s “Tubular Bells” alongside a fantasy scene involving famous characters from cinema, confessed that he “doesn’t know anything that’s currently happening in the music scene”.

“I’d never heard of Arctic Monkeys or Dizzee… Obviously I’ve heard of Paul McCartney, and Emeli Sande was great although I’d never heard of her either,” he said.

Speaking about his performance at the ceremony, he said: “My part was quite peaceful but by the time Arctic Monkeys came on it was pretty loud. The whole thing in its entirety was a triumph though, it was a great success worldwide and you can’t take that away from it.”

Mike Oldfield’s greatest hits collection, Two Sides: The Very Best Of Mike Oldfield, has seen a 757 per cent increase in sales since his Olympic performance.

The compilation of all the music featured in the Opening Ceremony went on sale digitally shortly after the show came to an end in the early hours of Saturday, with more than 10,000 copies being sold immediately afterwards. After being on sale for 24 hours the album reached Number Five on the Official Charts Company’s list of top-selling compilation albums of 2012.

Please fill in our quick survey about Uncut – and you could win a 12-month subscription to the magazine. Click here to see the survey. Thanks!

R.E.M. announce release of Document 25th Anniversary Edition

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R.E.M. announce release of Document 25th Anniversary Edition
R.E.M. has announced the September 24th release of an expanded 25th Anniversary Edition of the band’s 1987 album, Document. The new edition features the digitally remastered original album, plus a previously unreleased 1987 concert from R.E.M.’s “Work” tour. The commemorative release also ...

R.E.M. has announced the September 24th release of an expanded 25th Anniversary Edition of the band’s 1987 album, Document.

The new edition features the digitally remastered original album, plus a previously unreleased 1987 concert from R.E.M.’s “Work” tour. The commemorative release also adds new liner notes, with the 2CD package presented in a lift-top box with four postcards. On the same date, the remastered original album will be reissued by Mobile Fidelity on 180-gram vinyl.

The tracklisting for R.E.M.: Document (25th Anniversary Edition) is:

CD 1 (digitally remastered original album)

1. Finest Worksong

2. Welcome To The Occupation

3. Exhuming McCarthy

4. Disturbance At The Heron House

5. Strange

6. Its The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

7. The One I Love

8. Fireplace

9. Lightnin’ Hopkins

10. King Of Birds

11. Oddfellows Local 151

CD 2 (previously unreleased “Work” tour concert, recorded live in Utrecht, Holland – September 14, 1987)

1. Finest Worksong (4.20)

2. These Days (3.36)

3. Lightnin’ Hopkins (3.43)

4. Welcome To The Occupation (2.52)

5. Driver 8 (4.15)

6. Feeling Gravitys Pull (5.00)

7. I Believe (4.28)

8. The One I Love (4.38)

9. Exhuming McCarthy (3.23)

10. Wolves, Lower (4.23)

11. Fall On Me (3.05)

12. Just A Touch (3.12)

13. Oddfellows Local 151 (5.34)

14. Little America (2.50)

15. Its the End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) (4.01)

16. Begin The Begin (4.32)

17. Disturbance At The Heron House (3.42)

18. Moral Kiosk (3.02)

19. Life And How To Live It (4.59)

20. So. Central Rain (5.35)

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The xx unveil new tracks ‘Sunset’ and ‘Reunion’ at Hollywood show

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The xx unveil new tracks ‘Sunset’ and ‘Reunion’ at Hollywood show
The xx have played two new tracks from their forthcoming second album – scroll down to listen. Titled "Sunset" and "Reunion", they are the latest songs the band have played live from their forthcoming album Coexist, which is due for release on September 10. You can hear them both below. Last we...

The xx have played two new tracks from their forthcoming second album – scroll down to listen.

Titled “Sunset” and “Reunion”, they are the latest songs the band have played live from their forthcoming album Coexist, which is due for release on September 10. You can hear them both below.

Last week the band debuted a new dance-indebted track “Swept Away” at a show in LA. Previously, the band unveiled “Angels” – the first track from Coexist.

The London band have also announced a trio of intimate UK shows for September. They will take to the stage at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on September 10 – the release date for Coexist, followed by gigs at The Coal Exchange in Cardiff on September 11 and Edinburgh’s Usher Hall on September 12. They will also play Bestival in the Isle of Wight on September 7.

Speaking about the making of Coexist, the band revealed that they have “gained confidence” since the release of their debut album, xx. “It’s nice not feeling cripplingly shy,” Romy Madley Croft said.

The tracklisting for ‘Coexist’ is as follows:

‘Angels’

‘Chained’

‘Fiction’

‘Try’

‘Reunion’

‘Sunset’

‘Missing’

‘Tides’

‘Unfold’

‘Swept Away’

‘Our Song’

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Dr Dre developing music industry crime drama for US network FX

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Dr Dre developing music industry crime drama for US network FX
Dr. Dre has signed up to develop and act as an executive producer on a new crime drama series for American television network FX. According to Deadline, the rap mogul will oversee the production of the series, which will be written by Sidney Quashie and will focus on both the music industry and the...

Dr. Dre has signed up to develop and act as an executive producer on a new crime drama series for American television network FX.

According to Deadline, the rap mogul will oversee the production of the series, which will be written by Sidney Quashie and will focus on both the music industry and the criminal underworld of Los Angeles.

Quashie will executive produce alongside Dr Dre, with Daniel Schnider from the producer’s company Crucial TV and Brad Bertner also signed up executive produce the show. A one-hour pilot has initially been commissioned.

Dre is still working on his long-awaited new album Detox, which his first album since his 1999 LP 2001, and the rapper has previously indicated it will be his last full studio record.

Two singles have been released so far: “Kush” in November 2010 and “I Need A Doctor”, which featured Eminem and Skylar Grey, in February 2011. There is no confirmed tracklisting or release date as yet.

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