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Elton John: ‘I used to get bullied even though I was famous’

Tom Goodwyn
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0
Elton John: ‘I used to get bullied even though I was famous’
Elton John has revealed that he used to get bullied after he became famous. In an interview with E! News, The Rocket Man admitted that even though he was an adult and had achieved worldwide success as a recording artist, he still received abuse from three "very important people" in his life who t...

Elton John has revealed that he used to get bullied after he became famous.

In an interview with E! News, The Rocket Man admitted that even though he was an adult and had achieved worldwide success as a recording artist, he still received abuse from three “very important people” in his life who took advantage of his shyness.

John, who opted not to name and shame the trio of bullies in question, said: “It was about control and them being able to keep me under their thumb. And I was the perfect candidate for it. Even though I was famous and a big deal, it doesn’t matter, it’s who you are underneath that, and I was always kind of shy and intimidated.”

He went on to add: “One was violent and the other two were mentally violent. They were very important people in my life. They were important people in my career and in my personal life.”

The singer will release a new album titled ‘The Diving Board’ this autumn. Speaking about the LP, which is the follow-up to his 2010 effort ‘The Union’, he claimed that the album was his “most exciting” for a long time and said he was “psyched” about the finished product.

Elton John is set to tour the UK this summer, with the singer recently announcing that he will become the first artist play a gig at Tower Festival Headland, a new seated venue near Blackpool Tower on the Lancashire town’s seafront, on June 16.

He will play:

Taunton Somerset Country Cricket Club (June 3)

Harrogate Great Yorkshire Showground (5)

Belfast Odyssey Arena (7)

Chesterfield B2NET Stadium (9)

Falkirk Stadium (10)

Newcastle Metro Radio Arena (13)

Birmingham LG Arena (15)

Blackpool Tower Festival Headland (16)

Primal Scream join The Pop Group’s Mark Stewart on stage

Tom Goodwyn
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0
Primal Scream join The Pop Group’s Mark Stewart on stage
Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes joined The Pop Group's Mark Stewart on stage at London's Scala last night (March 28). The 'Screamadelica' duo joined the vitriolic singer for their single, 'Autonomia', written about Carlo Giuliani, who was killed during a G8 protest in Genoa in 20...

Primal Scream‘s Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes joined The Pop Group’s Mark Stewart on stage at London’s Scala last night (March 28).

The ‘Screamadelica’ duo joined the vitriolic singer for their single, ‘Autonomia’, written about Carlo Giuliani, who was killed during a G8 protest in Genoa in 2001. The song is taken from Stewart’s new album ‘The Politics Of Envy’.

This was the first time Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes have appeared on stage together since Primal Scream’s New Year gig in Edinburgh. Incidentally, that show was also their last ever gig with bassist Mani, who left to re-join The Stone Roses.

Mark Stewart took to the stage in a blaze of referee whistles, as the stern, hulking figure tore through his arsenal of politically-motivated songs, including ‘Nothing Is Sacred’ and ‘Vanity Kills’.

Shortly into his hour and a quarter set, he invited Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes on stage to play the aforementioned ‘Autonomia’.

Finishing with ‘Hysteria’, the crowd wanted “one more song”. On his return to the stage, Stewart apologised for not having any songs left but offered up a return of Gillespie and Innes for one more run through of ‘Autonomia’.

However, during the song a fight broke out in the crowd and Stewart had to step in to intervene. Meanwhile, Gillespie held strong on stage and took over Stewart’s vocal duties while he sorted out the troublemaker.

Speaking about his collaboration with Gillespie, Mark Stewart told NME of plans to hook up again: “He’s like family to me. I’m going to be on the new Primal Scream album. He’s helped me out, so I’ve returned the gesture.”

Mark Stewart played:

‘Nothing Is Sacred’

‘Liberty City’

‘Vanity Kills’

‘Stereotype’

‘Autonomia’

‘Method To The Madness’

‘Codex’

‘Stranger Than Love’

‘Gustav Says’

‘Apocalypse Hotel’

‘Gang War’

‘Baby Bourgeois’

‘Hysteria’

‘Autonomia’

Photo: Chiara Meattelli

Big Brother & The Holding Company – Live At The Carousel Ballroom 1968

Michael Bonner
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0
Big Brother & The Holding Company – Live At The Carousel Ballroom 1968

Fly on the psychedelic wall: The Bear's sonic journals snag a masterpiece... Somewhere within the sonic depths of this extraordinary concert tape's opener, "Combination of the Two," as James Gurley's distorted guitar angles toward a kind of demented Coltrane-like climax, Janis Joplin gets off a series of whooping, exhortative screams — the kind borne of revelation or epiphany. It’s as if from the get-go she knew that Big Brother and the Holding Company — just two months from splintering into oblivion — was destined for immortality, on this night at least. It’s the tip of the iceberg for Live At The Carousel Ballroom 1968, a tour de force of such fervor and intensity that it places Big Brother in its rightful perch as, perhaps, psychedelic San Francisco’s fiercest lysergic combo. A combustible group whose expansive sound defied the straitjacket of the studio, Big Brother—in the dumbed-down, Time-Life version of history—were simply a backing group, random bystanders who happened to launch Joplin into superstardom. But deep in the mythology of San Francisco's psychedelic heyday, they were always a contender, an ensemble, capable of pushing all boundaries as rock grew burly in the late '60s. Fortunately for posterity, acid king Owsley "Bear" Stanley had the gumption to roll tape on June 23, 1968. Not just regular old tape, though. The Grateful Dead roadie and confidante had been running the mixing boards at the Carousel most of 1968, experimenting with the technology of best capturing the music via "sonic journals," recordings made to document the scene and fine-tune the club's sound. This tape, in storage and/or legal limbo for decades but finally produced and mixed by Bear himself prior to his untimely death in 2011, is almost pugilistic in presentation. Amplifying every nuance, every kaleidoscopic shade from the roar of the guitars, every electrifying scrap of back-and-forth among the musicians in crystal-clear, full-dimensional fashion, it's a transcendent, revelatory listen. The recording is so pure, so lively, in fact, that it virtually drops the listener into the Carousel on that summer night. Big Brother’s roots, in truth, ran deep into American music. Bassist Peter Albin cut his teeth on folk and bluegrass; drummer Dave Getz was an in-demand jazz player; songwriter/guitarist Sam Andrew was well-versed in blues and jazz, a frequent jamming partner with Jerry Garcia, and along with James Gurley, developed a formidable double-lead guitar assault. Only a year-plus into their brief reign, they had mongrelized their influences—twisting, stretching, and distorting R&B, blues, and folk motifs into a towering, multi-tentacled psychedelic monster. Adept at sustain and release, they were both sonic architects and masters of improv. Case in point is "I Need A Man To Love", which begins with Andrew and Gurley's guitars sneaking, curling around Joplin's yearning, stinging, openly sexual vocal, before threading into a spellbinding, extended bit of call-and-response guitar interplay—a high-wire act pitting inner turmoil against just out-of-reach catharsis. The aural carnage plays out repeatedly amid Joplin’s otherworldly vocals. Singing with all of hell’s fury, she pulls every last stitch of romantic desperation and deranged dejection out of the songs, pleading with herself, the cosmos, the audience, the coterie of cheats she’s been seeing, bending, torturing the words past literality into treams of pure emotion—exploding then crazily reassembling the blues paradigm. Their repertoire is fascinating: pop standards, tripped-out and barely recognizable (i.e., Gershwin's chestnut "Summertime"); ancient folk songs, like English ballad "Coo Coo," hotwired into a psychedelic wall of sound; and showstoppers "Ball & Chain," a smash at Monterey, and "Piece Of My Heart", their most straightforwardly pop number and biggest hit single. "Catch Me Daddy" is the most violent cut, souped-up psycho-rockabilly, while "Down on Me," amid jagged guitars, is a nod to folk/rock. "Light Is Faster than Sound," a Peter Albin showpiece from their debut album, is most allegiant to proto-psychedelia—dual guitars making like air-raid sirens, rising up from the scrum, screaming as they go by, only to submerge themselves again. When Joplin’s vocal fades, Gurley’s rampaging guitar emerges with a shattering solo, a marvel of controlled chaos. No one could’ve known it, but this was one of the last blinding flashes of the original psychedelic era. Ominous changes were afoot, “not better world a-comin’,” as critic Paul Nelson once opined. Like a tunnel into an alien world, Live at the Carousel offers a trenchant if temporary trip back. Luke Torn Q&A Big Brother's Sam Andrew What is your best memory of this show and the Carousel Ballroom? Of Bear? The Carousel was a large, cavernous space, dark, high ceilings and it seemed as if all my friends were there. Owsley Stanley was cavorting around the sound system and talking to me a mile a minute in a technical language that was quite beyond me. Bear was always an enthusiastic mix of the cerebral and the celebratory. How much of the Big Brother sound was improv? In Big Brother we began as pure improvisation and moved steadily toward a scripted music. That's how I think of it anyway. Janis was a very creative singer, and I can tell what night we are doing "Summertime", just because it is so different from another night. We took a lot of chances because, (a) that's who we were, and (b) we often didn't know any better. Big Brother broke up soon after this great show. What were y'all thinking?! We were not thinking. Janis was restless. She wanted to be a soul singer like Tina, Aretha, Gladys, and I was thinking about songwriting ALL the time. We had a lot of discussions about the band and she felt that on some nights, people weren't trying hard enough. I wish I would have tried harder to talk her out of leaving the band. INTERVIEW: LUKE TORN

Fly on the psychedelic wall: The Bear’s sonic journals snag a masterpiece…

Somewhere within the sonic depths of this extraordinary concert tape’s opener, “Combination of the Two,” as James Gurley’s distorted guitar angles toward a kind of demented Coltrane-like climax, Janis Joplin gets off a series of whooping, exhortative screams — the kind borne of revelation or epiphany. It’s as if from the get-go she knew that Big Brother and the Holding Company — just two months from splintering into oblivion — was destined for immortality, on this night at least.

It’s the tip of the iceberg for Live At The Carousel Ballroom 1968, a tour de force of such fervor and intensity that it places Big Brother in its rightful perch as, perhaps, psychedelic San Francisco’s fiercest lysergic combo. A combustible group whose expansive sound defied the straitjacket of the studio, Big Brother—in the dumbed-down, Time-Life version of history—were simply a backing group, random bystanders who happened to launch Joplin into superstardom. But deep in the mythology of San Francisco’s psychedelic heyday, they were always a contender, an ensemble, capable of pushing all boundaries as rock grew burly in the late ’60s.

Fortunately for posterity, acid king Owsley “Bear” Stanley had the gumption to roll tape on June 23, 1968. Not just regular old tape, though. The Grateful Dead roadie and confidante had been running the mixing boards at the Carousel most of 1968, experimenting with the technology of best capturing the music via “sonic journals,” recordings made to document the scene and fine-tune the club’s sound.

This tape, in storage and/or legal limbo for decades but finally produced and mixed by Bear himself prior to his untimely death in 2011, is almost pugilistic in presentation. Amplifying every nuance, every kaleidoscopic shade from the roar of the guitars, every electrifying scrap of back-and-forth among the musicians in crystal-clear, full-dimensional fashion, it’s a transcendent, revelatory listen. The recording is so pure, so lively, in fact, that it virtually drops the listener into the Carousel on that summer night.

Big Brother’s roots, in truth, ran deep into American music. Bassist Peter Albin cut his teeth on folk and bluegrass; drummer Dave Getz was an in-demand jazz player; songwriter/guitarist Sam Andrew was well-versed in blues and jazz, a frequent jamming partner with Jerry Garcia, and along with James Gurley, developed a formidable double-lead guitar assault.

Only a year-plus into their brief reign, they had mongrelized their influences—twisting, stretching, and distorting R&B, blues, and folk motifs into a towering, multi-tentacled psychedelic monster. Adept at sustain and release, they were both sonic architects and masters of improv. Case in point is “I Need A Man To Love“, which begins with Andrew and Gurley’s guitars sneaking, curling around Joplin’s yearning, stinging, openly sexual vocal, before threading into a spellbinding, extended bit of call-and-response guitar interplay—a high-wire act pitting inner turmoil against just out-of-reach catharsis.

The aural carnage plays out repeatedly amid Joplin’s otherworldly vocals. Singing with all of hell’s fury, she pulls every last stitch of romantic desperation and deranged dejection out of the songs, pleading with herself, the cosmos, the audience, the coterie of cheats she’s been seeing, bending, torturing the words past literality into treams of pure emotion—exploding then crazily reassembling the blues paradigm.

Their repertoire is fascinating: pop standards, tripped-out and barely recognizable (i.e., Gershwin’s chestnut “Summertime”); ancient folk songs, like English ballad “Coo Coo,” hotwired into a psychedelic wall of sound; and showstoppers “Ball & Chain,” a smash at Monterey, and “Piece Of My Heart“, their most straightforwardly pop number and biggest hit single. “Catch Me Daddy” is the most violent cut, souped-up psycho-rockabilly, while “Down on Me,” amid jagged guitars, is a nod to folk/rock. “Light Is Faster than Sound,” a Peter Albin showpiece from their debut album, is most allegiant to proto-psychedelia—dual guitars making like air-raid sirens, rising up from the scrum, screaming as they go by, only to submerge themselves again. When Joplin’s vocal fades, Gurley’s rampaging guitar emerges with a shattering solo, a marvel of controlled chaos.

No one could’ve known it, but this was one of the last blinding flashes of the original psychedelic era. Ominous changes were afoot, “not better world a-comin’,” as critic Paul Nelson once opined. Like a tunnel into an alien world, Live at the Carousel offers a trenchant if temporary trip back.

Luke Torn

Q&A

Big Brother’s Sam Andrew

What is your best memory of this show and the Carousel Ballroom? Of Bear?

The Carousel was a large, cavernous space, dark, high ceilings and it seemed as if all my friends were there. Owsley Stanley was cavorting around the sound system and talking to me a mile a minute in a technical language that was quite beyond me. Bear was always an enthusiastic mix of the cerebral and the celebratory.

How much of the Big Brother sound was improv?

In Big Brother we began as pure improvisation and moved steadily toward a scripted music. That’s how I think of it anyway. Janis was a very creative singer, and I can tell what night we are doing “Summertime”, just because it is so different from another night. We took a lot of chances because, (a) that’s who we were, and (b) we often didn’t know any better.

Big Brother broke up soon after this great show. What were y’all thinking?!

We were not thinking. Janis was restless. She wanted to be a soul singer like Tina, Aretha, Gladys, and I was thinking about songwriting ALL the time. We had a lot of discussions about the band and she felt that on some nights, people weren’t trying hard enough. I wish I would have tried harder to talk her out of leaving the band.

INTERVIEW: LUKE TORN

Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s “Americana”: first listen

John Mulvey
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0
Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s “Americana”: first listen

It begins as you might imagine, with a guitarist who seems about to play a sputtering solo rather than start a song, a drummer trying to work out what time to keep and, gradually, a band lunging towards a tune: “Oh Susannah”. After a minute or so, you can hear Neil Young shout “Oh Susannah” away from his mic, prompting a choir to start chanting the title. It is at this point that Crazy Horse locate the dogged, heroic sense of purpose that has sustained them, on and off, for a good four decades. They’re moving a fraction faster than usual, in truth: as my colleague John Robinson points out, the call-and-response interplay between Young and the backing singers, aligned to the inexorable “good groove” (as Young calls it in the fade-out), make it all oddly resemble Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ “Dig Lazarus Dig”. This is the way “Americana” opens, the latest attempt by Neil Young to variously charm and confound his fans. For those of you who have become exasperated, one way or another, with the path Young has carved this past decade – quixotic, even by his standards – “Americana” may not be quite what you’re looking for. This is undoubtedly the Young who made “Living With War” and “Fork In The Road”, albeit backed by his most heroically truculent rhythm section; all of which is just fine with me. “Americana” does, of course, feature a reunited Crazy Horse – the first time the full quota have appeared with Young since 2002’s “Goin’ Home”, salvaged from the “Toast” sessions and the one saving grace of his worst album, “Are You Passionate?” (Poncho Sampedro sat out the following year’s “Greendale”). They sound as ragged and capricious and wonderful as ever, well warmed up by the "Horse Back" jam that recently streamed on neilyoung.com. If you haven’t picked up the backstory, "Americana" finds Young and Crazy Horse tackling a kind of Great American Songbook, gleefully claiming perennials like “This Land Is Your Land”, “Wayfarin’ Stranger” and “Clementine” as their own. As a study in how Neil Young’s musical character is strong enough to overwhelm the most familiar of songs, it’s remarkable. As a record in its own right, too, it works extremely well. “Americana” might have a subtext of roots-related national pride by virtue of the song selections (a spirited galumph through the doo-wop classic, “Get A Job”, is underpinned – though not remotely overburdened – with contemporary relevance) but the predominant vibe is one of goofy enjoyment. Essentially, it sounds very much like some old friends mucking about in the barn – and it’s pretty hard to think of any other bunch I’d rather hear mucking about. If there’s something it generally reminds me of in the Crazy Horse back catalogue, today at least, I keep thinking of “Ragged Glory” and the cover of “Farmer John”: “Tom Dula” and “Travel On”, in particular, have a comparable kind of whacked-out vigour, though here the bawled harmonies are propped up by a more orthodox choir, after a fashion (“Living With War” and “Greendale” are antecedents). Young’s solos are relatively brief, unfailingly beautiful. Several times, tracks end with the sound of distant studio laughter. “Jesus’ Chariot” (aka “She’ll Be Comin’ Round The Mountain”) improbably comes reinvented with a throbbing menace. The standout today, though, is a take on “High Flying Bird” that Young claims in his sleevenotes is based on the version he conceived with The Squires in 1964. Rather than surf-pop, it begins like a slow burn on “Hey Hey, My My” (“Sign Of Love” on “Le Noise” is another possible jump-off point) and turns out to be a gorgeous, wallowing take that illustrates yet again how Young and Crazy Horse can be simultaneously horny-handed yet elegiac. A lot of pleasure to be had with this one, I think, though even my indulgence has its limits: perhaps hit the stop button before they bludgeon a path through “God Save The Queen”… Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

It begins as you might imagine, with a guitarist who seems about to play a sputtering solo rather than start a song, a drummer trying to work out what time to keep and, gradually, a band lunging towards a tune: “Oh Susannah”.

After a minute or so, you can hear Neil Young shout “Oh Susannah” away from his mic, prompting a choir to start chanting the title. It is at this point that Crazy Horse locate the dogged, heroic sense of purpose that has sustained them, on and off, for a good four decades. They’re moving a fraction faster than usual, in truth: as my colleague John Robinson points out, the call-and-response interplay between Young and the backing singers, aligned to the inexorable “good groove” (as Young calls it in the fade-out), make it all oddly resemble Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ “Dig Lazarus Dig”.

This is the way “Americana” opens, the latest attempt by Neil Young to variously charm and confound his fans. For those of you who have become exasperated, one way or another, with the path Young has carved this past decade – quixotic, even by his standards – “Americana” may not be quite what you’re looking for. This is undoubtedly the Young who made “Living With War” and “Fork In The Road”, albeit backed by his most heroically truculent rhythm section; all of which is just fine with me.

“Americana” does, of course, feature a reunited Crazy Horse – the first time the full quota have appeared with Young since 2002’s “Goin’ Home”, salvaged from the “Toast” sessions and the one saving grace of his worst album, “Are You Passionate?” (Poncho Sampedro sat out the following year’s “Greendale”). They sound as ragged and capricious and wonderful as ever, well warmed up by the “Horse Back” jam that recently streamed on neilyoung.com.

If you haven’t picked up the backstory, “Americana” finds Young and Crazy Horse tackling a kind of Great American Songbook, gleefully claiming perennials like “This Land Is Your Land”, “Wayfarin’ Stranger” and “Clementine” as their own. As a study in how Neil Young’s musical character is strong enough to overwhelm the most familiar of songs, it’s remarkable.

As a record in its own right, too, it works extremely well. “Americana” might have a subtext of roots-related national pride by virtue of the song selections (a spirited galumph through the doo-wop classic, “Get A Job”, is underpinned – though not remotely overburdened – with contemporary relevance) but the predominant vibe is one of goofy enjoyment. Essentially, it sounds very much like some old friends mucking about in the barn – and it’s pretty hard to think of any other bunch I’d rather hear mucking about.

If there’s something it generally reminds me of in the Crazy Horse back catalogue, today at least, I keep thinking of “Ragged Glory” and the cover of “Farmer John”: “Tom Dula” and “Travel On”, in particular, have a comparable kind of whacked-out vigour, though here the bawled harmonies are propped up by a more orthodox choir, after a fashion (“Living With War” and “Greendale” are antecedents). Young’s solos are relatively brief, unfailingly beautiful. Several times, tracks end with the sound of distant studio laughter.

“Jesus’ Chariot” (aka “She’ll Be Comin’ Round The Mountain”) improbably comes reinvented with a throbbing menace. The standout today, though, is a take on “High Flying Bird” that Young claims in his sleevenotes is based on the version he conceived with The Squires in 1964. Rather than surf-pop, it begins like a slow burn on “Hey Hey, My My” (“Sign Of Love” on “Le Noise” is another possible jump-off point) and turns out to be a gorgeous, wallowing take that illustrates yet again how Young and Crazy Horse can be simultaneously horny-handed yet elegiac.

A lot of pleasure to be had with this one, I think, though even my indulgence has its limits: perhaps hit the stop button before they bludgeon a path through “God Save The Queen”…

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

Smashing Pumpkins to release new album ‘Oceania’ on June 18

Benjamin Hewitt
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0
Smashing Pumpkins to release new album ‘Oceania’ on June 18

The Smashing Pumpkins have confirmed that they will release their new album 'Oceania' on June 18. The LP, which will be the band's seventh studio record, has been produced by singer Billy Corgan and has been described as an "album within an album" as it is part of their 44-song cycle for 'Teargarden By Kaleidyscope'. It has also been announced that the album will be put out by EMI, after they inked a deal to release the record with Corgan's label Martha's Music. Speaking about the agreement, EMI Label Services's Mike Harris said: "We are thrilled to extend the long-term partnership between The Smashing Pumpkins and EMI with the release of 'Oceania'. Everybody at EMI is looking forward to working closely with Billy and the band to help them deliver their vision and their music to fans around the world." In December last year, Corgan insisted that 'Oceania' was the band's best album in over 15 years and their strongest offering since 1995's 'Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness'. The singer is set to have a busy 2012 – in addition to releasing 'Oceania', he also has plans to open a Chicago teahouse and continue work with his own professional wrestling company. The tracklisting for 'Oceania' is as follows: 'Quasar' 'Stella P And The People Mover' 'Panopticon' 'The Celestials' 'Violet Rays' 'My Love Is Winter' 'One Diamond, One Heart' 'Pinwheels' 'Oceania' 'Pale Horse' 'The Chimera' 'Glissandra' 'Inkless' 'Wildflower'

The Smashing Pumpkins have confirmed that they will release their new album ‘Oceania’ on June 18.

The LP, which will be the band’s seventh studio record, has been produced by singer Billy Corgan and has been described as an “album within an album” as it is part of their 44-song cycle for ‘Teargarden By Kaleidyscope’.

It has also been announced that the album will be put out by EMI, after they inked a deal to release the record with Corgan’s label Martha’s Music. Speaking about the agreement, EMI Label Services’s Mike Harris said: “We are thrilled to extend the long-term partnership between The Smashing Pumpkins and EMI with the release of ‘Oceania’. Everybody at EMI is looking forward to working closely with Billy and the band to help them deliver their vision and their music to fans around the world.”

In December last year, Corgan insisted that ‘Oceania’ was the band’s best album in over 15 years and their strongest offering since 1995’s ‘Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness’.

The singer is set to have a busy 2012 – in addition to releasing ‘Oceania’, he also has plans to open a Chicago teahouse and continue work with his own professional wrestling company.

The tracklisting for ‘Oceania’ is as follows:

‘Quasar’

‘Stella P And The People Mover’

‘Panopticon’

‘The Celestials’

‘Violet Rays’

‘My Love Is Winter’

‘One Diamond, One Heart’

‘Pinwheels’

‘Oceania’

‘Pale Horse’

‘The Chimera’

‘Glissandra’

‘Inkless’

‘Wildflower’

Blur’s Damon Albarn unveils video for new ‘Dr Dee’ single – watch

Benjamin Hewitt
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0
Blur’s Damon Albarn unveils video for new ‘Dr Dee’ single – watch
Damon Albarn has unveiled the first single from the studio album of material composed for his Dr Dee opera. The new track, 'The Marvelous Dream', is the first cut to be taken from the 'Dr Dee' album, which is released on May 7. You can watch the video for the track by scrolling down and clicking....

Damon Albarn has unveiled the first single from the studio album of material composed for his Dr Dee opera.

The new track, ‘The Marvelous Dream’, is the first cut to be taken from the ‘Dr Dee’ album, which is released on May 7. You can watch the video for the track by scrolling down and clicking.

The albums contains a total of 18 tracks and was recorded late last year at Albarn’s west London studio with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

Albarn has described the album, which is inspired by mathematician, polymath and advisor to Elizabeth I John Dee, as containing “strange pastoral folk” songs.

He’s set to perform the songs with singers and musicians featured on the album at Wiltshire event, OneFest, on April 14, following the premiere of the production at the Manchester International Festival last summer.

Speaking about the show, Albarn commented: “I’m really looking forward to the festival. Wiltshire in spring feels like a perfect setting for ‘Dr Dee’ songs. Some of my favourite musicians are playing with me, it will be special.”

The tracklisting of ‘Dr Dee’ is as follows:

‘The Golden Dawn

‘Apple Carts’

‘Oh Spirit Animate Us’

‘The Moon Exalted’

‘A Man of England’

‘Saturn’

‘Coronation’

‘The Marvelous Dream’

‘A Prayer’

‘Edward Kelley’

‘Preparation’

‘9 Point Star’

‘Temptation Comes In The Afternoon’

‘Watching the Fire That Waltzed Away’

‘Moon (Interlude)’

‘Cathedrals’

‘Tree Of Life’

‘The Dancing King’

Plan B, Primal Scream, Beady Eye to support The Stone Roses at Heaton Park

Benjamin Hewitt
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0
Plan B, Primal Scream, Beady Eye to support The Stone Roses at Heaton Park
The Stone Roses have revealed full details of their Heaton Park reunion shows later this summer, with Primal Scream, Beady Eye and Plan B heading up the support bills on each of the three nights. Bob Marley's backing group The Wailers will play third on the bill on each of the three nights, as pa...

The Stone Roses have revealed full details of their Heaton Park reunion shows later this summer, with Primal Scream, Beady Eye and Plan B heading up the support bills on each of the three nights.

Bob Marley‘s backing group The Wailers will play third on the bill on each of the three nights, as part of a bill The Stone Roses have described as a “mix of the legendary and the new”.

Primal Scream will be joined by The Vaccines and Kid British on the opening night, while Saturday’s bill sees Professor Green and Hollie Cook slated to perform before Beady Eye.

Plan B will play on the closing night after The Justice Tonight Band – which comprises The Clash’s Mick Jones, Pete Wylie and The Farm – and Dirty North. The latter, a dub-influenced band from Manchester district Wythenshawe, were namechecked as a new name to watch by Stone Roses drummer Reni during the band’s reunion press conference in October – scroll down and click below to NME‘s video to watch the action unfold again.

The support bills for The Stone Roses’ Heaton Park gigs are as follows:

June 29

Primal Scream

The Wailers

The Vaccines

Kid British

June 30

Beady Eye

The Wailers

Professor Green

Hollie Cook

July 1

Plan B

The Wailers

The Justice Tonight Band (feat. Mick Jones, Pete Wylie & The Farm)

Dirty North

A number of the band’s fans and peers spoke to NME recently as the excitement builds towards the huge homecoming gigs.

Noel Gallagher said the group will have no problem living up to expectations as “they’re great musicians, with great songs and them coming back is going to be mega”. This was a sentiment shared by The Smiths‘ Johnny Marr who said the band won’t disappoint as “they’re not the sort of band who will ever let their audience down”.

Meanwhile, Happy Mondays‘ Bez said he had spoken to The Stone Roses’ Mani who told him he was ” really buzzing” for the shows. He added: “I haven’t heard any of their new stuff but I’m sure we will very soon. I wouldn’t miss those Heaton Park gigs for the world.”

The Stone Roses will also appear at a number of festivals this summer in addition to the Heaton Park shows, including slots at V Festival, T In The Park, Optimus Alive, Benicassim, Fuji Rock, Tennent’s Vital, NorthSide and Hultsfred.

Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan collaborates with Soulsavers on ‘Longest Day’ – listen

Benjamin Hewitt
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0
Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan collaborates with Soulsavers on ‘Longest Day’ – listen
Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan has contributed vocals to Soulsavers' new single 'Longest Day', which will be released next month. The track will be released as a single on April 2 and re-released on special edition 7'' vinyl as part of this year's Record Store Day. You can hear the song by scro...

Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan has contributed vocals to Soulsavers‘ new single ‘Longest Day’, which will be released next month.

The track will be released as a single on April 2 and re-released on special edition 7” vinyl as part of this year’s Record Store Day. You can hear the song by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking.

The song is taken from Soulsavers‘ fourth album ‘The Light The Dead See’, which is due for release on May 21 and features Gahan on vocals throughout.

The band’s first album ‘Tough Guys Don’t Dance’ featured Spain vocalist Josh Haden on vocals, while the band’s last two efforts have featured Screaming Trees‘ man Mark Lanegan singing.

The Depeche Mode frontman has indicated that he hopes to record another album with the band and also hopes to tour with the dance duo.

Gahan has previously said that Depeche Mode have 20 songs lined up for their next album, with the singer stating that the band will be hitting the studio in April to lay down tracks for their first LP since 2009’s ‘Sounds Of The Universe’.

The tracklisting for ‘The Light The Dead See’ is as follows:

‘La Ribera’

‘In The Morning’

‘Longest Day’

‘Presence of God’

‘Just Try’

‘Gone Too Far’

‘Point Sur Pt.1’

‘Take Me Back Home’

‘Bitterman’

‘I Can’t Stay’

‘Take’

‘Tonight’

The Flaming Lips unveil Bon Iver collaboration ‘Ashes In The Air’ – listen

Benjamin Hewitt
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0
The Flaming Lips unveil Bon Iver collaboration ‘Ashes In The Air’ – listen
The Flaming Lips have unveiled their collaboration with Bon Iver, which is titled 'Ashes In The Air' – scroll down to the bottom of the page and click to listen. The track, which sees the Oklahoman troupe team up with Justin Vernon, will feature on the band's forthcoming Record Store Day releas...

The Flaming Lips have unveiled their collaboration with Bon Iver, which is titled ‘Ashes In The Air’ – scroll down to the bottom of the page and click to listen.

The track, which sees the Oklahoman troupe team up with Justin Vernon, will feature on the band’s forthcoming Record Store Day release ‘The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends’.

Yesterday (March 27), the band’s singer Wayne Coyne revealed that they will be using the blood of some of the star-studded contributors to the project in a limited-edition run of packaging. The list of collaborators on the record includes Nick Cave, Ke$ha, Neon Indian and Erykah Badu.

Speaking about his plans, Coyne said: “What I’m going to try to do – and I’m collecting stuff for it as we speak – is I’m going to try to make a record that has every person’s blood in the record.

“I don’t have everybody’s blood just yet, but I collected quite a few vials of blood and it’s actually sitting in my refrigerator as we speak… I’m going to try to take that same concept and put little bits of everybody’s blood in the middle of this record. Like a glass specimen thing.”

Apparently Coyne has so far collected blood from Neon Indian, Prefuse 73 and Ke$ha. Only five or six blood discs will be made and, says the singer, will likely be bought by “interested rich Flaming Lips people”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JqabiTTVh4

The 13th Uncut Playlist Of 2012

John Mulvey
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0
The 13th Uncut Playlist Of 2012

Hopefully those of you who subscribe to Uncut will be starting to receive your copies of the new issue this morning (For the rest of you, it should be on sale tomorrow). My Jack White interview is on the cover, and among the other stuff highlighted elsewhere, I’d especially like to flag up David Cavanagh’s feature on Alex Chilton, interviews with Ty Segall and the lesser-spotted Nic Jones, and John Robinson on that superb Dr John record I keep meaning to blog about. As ever, please let me know your thoughts on this, the second issue since our redesign (Twitter maybe?: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey). In the meantime, I have a new office playlist here. Notable inclusions this week: the “Dr Dee” and Hot Chip albums that get better with every play; our very own “Jack White’s Blues” comp (Little Willie John!); Rumer’s weird, uncannily Carpenterish take on “A Man Needs A Maid”; the My Bloody Valentine reissues, of course (thrilled to find “Instrumental 2”, from the “Isn’t Anything” bonus seven-inch, included on the “EPs” comp); and, just arrived, the new one from Blues Control, whose collaboration with Laraaji has been my default jam for the past few months, and which seems to get even better with the coming of spring. 1 Damon Albarn – Dr Dee (Parlophone) 2 A Mystery Album 3 Death Grips – The Money Store (Epic) 4 Brewer & Shipley – Down In LA (Now Sounds) 5 Various Artists – Jack White’s Blues (free with this month’s Uncut) 6 Rumer – Boys Don’t Cry (Atlantic) 7 Hot Chip – In Our Heads (Domino) 8 Sigur Ros – Valtari (Parlophone) 9 Terry Riley – A Rainbow In Curved Air (Esoteric) 10 Dave Nuss, Rahdunes, Stellar Om Source & Aswara. – natch 0 (http://natchmusic.tumblr.com/) 11 My Bloody Valentine – EPs 1988-91 (Sony) 12 Lee Hazlewood – The LHI Years: Singles, Nudes & Backsides (1968-71) (Light In The Attic) 13 The Pre New – Music For People Who Hate Themselves (Pre War Black Ghetto) 14 Blues Control – Valley Tangents (Drag City) 15 My Bloody Valentine – Loveless (Sony) Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

Hopefully those of you who subscribe to Uncut will be starting to receive your copies of the new issue this morning (For the rest of you, it should be on sale tomorrow).

My Jack White interview is on the cover, and among the other stuff highlighted elsewhere, I’d especially like to flag up David Cavanagh’s feature on Alex Chilton, interviews with Ty Segall and the lesser-spotted Nic Jones, and John Robinson on that superb Dr John record I keep meaning to blog about.

As ever, please let me know your thoughts on this, the second issue since our redesign (Twitter maybe?: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey). In the meantime, I have a new office playlist here. Notable inclusions this week: the “Dr Dee” and Hot Chip albums that get better with every play; our very own “Jack White’s Blues” comp (Little Willie John!); Rumer’s weird, uncannily Carpenterish take on “A Man Needs A Maid”; the My Bloody Valentine reissues, of course (thrilled to find “Instrumental 2”, from the “Isn’t Anything” bonus seven-inch, included on the “EPs” comp); and, just arrived, the new one from Blues Control, whose collaboration with Laraaji has been my default jam for the past few months, and which seems to get even better with the coming of spring.

1 Damon Albarn – Dr Dee (Parlophone)

2 A Mystery Album

3 Death Grips – The Money Store (Epic)

4 Brewer & Shipley – Down In LA (Now Sounds)

5 Various Artists – Jack White’s Blues (free with this month’s Uncut)

6 Rumer – Boys Don’t Cry (Atlantic)

7 Hot Chip – In Our Heads (Domino)

8 Sigur Ros – Valtari (Parlophone)

9 Terry Riley – A Rainbow In Curved Air (Esoteric)

10 Dave Nuss, Rahdunes, Stellar Om Source & Aswara. – natch 0 (http://natchmusic.tumblr.com/)

11 My Bloody Valentine – EPs 1988-91 (Sony)

12 Lee Hazlewood – The LHI Years: Singles, Nudes & Backsides (1968-71) (Light In The Attic)

13 The Pre New – Music For People Who Hate Themselves (Pre War Black Ghetto)

14 Blues Control – Valley Tangents (Drag City)

15 My Bloody Valentine – Loveless (Sony)

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

Lee Ranaldo – Between The Times And The Tides

Michael Bonner
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0
Lee Ranaldo – Between The Times And The Tides

Sonic Youth guitarist makes his 'proper song' debut... Solo Sonic Youth albums often act like a colour filter that reveals hidden patterns in a picture by blocking out certain aspects of the spectrum. Separated from the host group, individual elements of the maelstrom can be heard with less interference. Sadly, following the recent breakup of Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore’s marriage, individual albums may be the only way we’ll be hearing from from the group from now on. Still, on guitarist Lee Ranaldo’s opening salvo of this year – his ninth solo LP proper, not counting scores of collaborative works – there are plenty of continuities. Sonic Youth partner Steve Shelley is principal drummer, and Bob Bert, briefly the band’s skinsman in the early 80s, crops up on percussion. There are contributions from old friend Alan Licht and Ranaldo’s wife Leah Singer, plus surprising addition of Jim Medeski on keyboards. Unlikely as it seems, his spit-roasted organ sounds so right in this company, providing a gurgling underlay for the songs to bed down upon. Even former SY alumnus Jim O’Rourke comes out of hiding in Tokyo to punch in some bass pulses on “Tomorrow Never Comes”. But the instrumental man of this match has to be Nels Cline, the avant guitarist (currently a regular member of Wilco), who takes the majority of the LP’s stunning solos. Lee Ranaldo’s authorship was always recognisable amid Sonic Youth’s copious songbook– his contributions were usually in a rapturous register that confirmed his immersion in Beat writing, hipster poetics and a range of literary references transcendental and apocalyptic. (Salt Press are due to release his colected writings later this year.) Where Thurston Moore frequently injected pop art trash or goof-off humour, Ranaldo came across as the dark horse, whose songs – “Eric’s Trip”, “Wish Fulfillment”, “NYC Ghosts And Flowers”, to name three – were the ones that sounded genuinely angry, mournful and engaged with the tactile, visible world. A couple of tracks here – “Waiting On A Dream”, “Off The Wall” – cold have been minted in the same forge as recent rocky SY albums like Rather Ripped or The Eternal. But the rest has the recognisable Ranaldo imprint. The notable set pieces on Between The Times… are “Xtina As I Knew Her”, which sets its oblique story of a cosmopolitan lost soul, “shaky in these times uncertain”, among primal tom-tom drum patterns cushioned in the acid bath of Ranaldo’s guitar. Ranaldo and Cline’s dual solo is configured at the tipping point between Verlaine-chime and “Dark Star” meandering overload. The multi-part “Fire Island (Phases)” – personalised enough to namecheck his son Sage – dips into Byrdsian country rock mode and ends with a short section of upbeat sunshine-pop. Voices from Occupy Wall Street – taped at Zucotti Park, round the corner from Ranaldo’s apartment – illustrate “Shouts”, while Bob Mould could have written “Lost”, a straightahead power-pop cut whose edges are a shade too smooth. He gears down to an open-tuned acoustic on “Stranded” and “Hammer Blows”, which includes a vocal impersonation of a wah-wah and fateful knocks on the hollow-body. Closer “Tomorrow Never Comes” does seem to be as much of a distant cousin to “Tomorrow Never Knows” as its title suggests – same drum riff and drone, but containing its own innate melodic skylights and airshafts. Ranaldo, who already enjoys a prolific parallel career in experimental and improvised music as well as numerous art and film projects, has easily earned the right to produce an album such as this, so perfectly pitched at the watershed of alternative and mainstream rock. In Ranaldo’s hands, though, he steers clear of any dampening compromise; in some ways this must be the best the US underground can offer in this moment: a mature album that’s abrasive but not ‘freaky’ or ‘weird’, that enjoys its moments of harmony when it finds them, and is as serious-minded as the times demand. Rob Young Q&A Lee Ranaldo Your previous solo LPs have often been more abstract/experimental. Why a song album, now? At the moment, I'm much more invested in song-form exploration than I've been in quite a while. With Sonic Youth working less over the last few years, I found I missed having a ‘song forum’, and songs started coming out and haven't stopped. I want to tie this record into the whole history of my music-listening and what it meant to me as I grew up, even if those standards and forms/formats don't really exist anymore. Hence I've got ‘side one’ and ‘side two’, even on the CD. “Shouts” is clearly motivated by the Occupy protests… The song was finished before all that started in the USA, and inspiration came from one actual event in Vancouver – the ‘riot/kiss’ picture – and from all the 'Arab Spring' hopefulness and defiance. The rising tide of protest and defiance that began in Tahrir Square has been deeply inspiring on many levels. It feels like the first real flowering of 'the left' since I was so much younger, in the 60s/70s. What’s the current assessment of Sonic Youth’s future at this point? We are ‘on hiatus’. I prefer to leave it at that. Sonic Youth was not working much over the last few years, by our choice – we were just simply in a relaxed and slow period, and I found I was missing an outlet for song-based work. No matter what happens from here, 30 years has been a pretty good run. INTERVIEW: ROB YOUNG

Sonic Youth guitarist makes his ‘proper song’ debut…

Solo Sonic Youth albums often act like a colour filter that reveals hidden patterns in a picture by blocking out certain aspects of the spectrum. Separated from the host group, individual elements of the maelstrom can be heard with less interference. Sadly, following the recent breakup of Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore’s marriage, individual albums may be the only way we’ll be hearing from from the group from now on.

Still, on guitarist Lee Ranaldo’s opening salvo of this year – his ninth solo LP proper, not counting scores of collaborative works – there are plenty of continuities. Sonic Youth partner Steve Shelley is principal drummer, and Bob Bert, briefly the band’s skinsman in the early 80s, crops up on percussion. There are contributions from old friend Alan Licht and Ranaldo’s wife Leah Singer, plus surprising addition of Jim Medeski on keyboards. Unlikely as it seems, his spit-roasted organ sounds so right in this company, providing a gurgling underlay for the songs to bed down upon. Even former SY alumnus Jim O’Rourke comes out of hiding in Tokyo to punch in some bass pulses on “Tomorrow Never Comes”. But the instrumental man of this match has to be Nels Cline, the avant guitarist (currently a regular member of Wilco), who takes the majority of the LP’s stunning solos.

Lee Ranaldo’s authorship was always recognisable amid Sonic Youth’s copious songbook– his contributions were usually in a rapturous register that confirmed his immersion in Beat writing, hipster poetics and a range of literary references transcendental and apocalyptic. (Salt Press are due to release his colected writings later this year.) Where Thurston Moore frequently injected pop art trash or goof-off humour, Ranaldo came across as the dark horse, whose songs – “Eric’s Trip”, “Wish Fulfillment”, “NYC Ghosts And Flowers”, to name three – were the ones that sounded genuinely angry, mournful and engaged with the tactile, visible world.

A couple of tracks here – “Waiting On A Dream”, “Off The Wall” – cold have been minted in the same forge as recent rocky SY albums like Rather Ripped or The Eternal. But the rest has the recognisable Ranaldo imprint. The notable set pieces on Between The Times… are “Xtina As I Knew Her”, which sets its oblique story of a cosmopolitan lost soul, “shaky in these times uncertain”, among primal tom-tom drum patterns cushioned in the acid bath of Ranaldo’s guitar. Ranaldo and Cline’s dual solo is configured at the tipping point between Verlaine-chime and “Dark Star” meandering overload. The multi-part “Fire Island (Phases)” – personalised enough to namecheck his son Sage – dips into Byrdsian country rock mode and ends with a short section of upbeat sunshine-pop.

Voices from Occupy Wall Street – taped at Zucotti Park, round the corner from Ranaldo’s apartment – illustrate “Shouts”, while Bob Mould could have written “Lost”, a straightahead power-pop cut whose edges are a shade too smooth. He gears down to an open-tuned acoustic on “Stranded” and “Hammer Blows”, which includes a vocal impersonation of a wah-wah and fateful knocks on the hollow-body. Closer “Tomorrow Never Comes” does seem to be as much of a distant cousin to “Tomorrow Never Knows” as its title suggests – same drum riff and drone, but containing its own innate melodic skylights and airshafts.

Ranaldo, who already enjoys a prolific parallel career in experimental and improvised music as well as numerous art and film projects, has easily earned the right to produce an album such as this, so perfectly pitched at the watershed of alternative and mainstream rock. In Ranaldo’s hands, though, he steers clear of any dampening compromise; in some ways this must be the best the US underground can offer in this moment: a mature album that’s abrasive but not ‘freaky’ or ‘weird’, that enjoys its moments of harmony when it finds them, and is as serious-minded as the times demand.

Rob Young

Q&A

Lee Ranaldo

Your previous solo LPs have often been more abstract/experimental. Why a song album, now?

At the moment, I’m much more invested in song-form exploration than I’ve been in quite a while. With Sonic Youth working less over the last few years, I found I missed having a ‘song forum’, and songs started coming out and haven’t stopped. I want to tie this record into the whole history of my music-listening and what it meant to me as I grew up, even if those standards and forms/formats don’t really exist anymore. Hence I’ve got ‘side one’ and ‘side two’, even on the CD.

“Shouts” is clearly motivated by the Occupy protests…

The song was finished before all that started in the USA, and inspiration came from one actual event in Vancouver – the ‘riot/kiss’ picture – and from all the ‘Arab Spring’ hopefulness and defiance. The rising tide of protest and defiance that began in Tahrir Square has been deeply inspiring on many levels. It feels like the first real flowering of ‘the left’ since I was so much younger, in the 60s/70s.

What’s the current assessment of Sonic Youth’s future at this point?

We are ‘on hiatus’. I prefer to leave it at that. Sonic Youth was not working much over the last few years, by our choice – we were just simply in a relaxed and slow period, and I found I was missing an outlet for song-based work. No matter what happens from here, 30 years has been a pretty good run.

INTERVIEW: ROB YOUNG

This month in Uncut!

Tom Pinnock
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0
This month in Uncut!

The new issue of Uncut, which hits shelves on March 29, features Jack White, The Rolling Stones, Alex Chilton, Bruce Springsteen and more. White is on the cover, talking about his solo debut Blunderbuss, notions of authenticity in rock and The White Stripes’ split. Elsewhere in the issue, The Rolling Stones’ infamous night at Altamont is recalled in an excerpt from a new edition of Stanley Booth’s book The True Adventures Of The Rolling Stones, and Alex Chilton’s strange life after Big Star is examined. New pictures from the shoot for Springsteen’s Born To Run feature in our Instant Karma section, and Pete Townshend talks about The Who, Lifehouse and his own solo albums in this month’s Album By Album. Gregg Allman features in An Audience With… and new albums and reissues from Dr John, Spiritualized, Graham Coxon, T.Rex and Jerry Lee Lewis are reviewed – alongside the latest movies and DVDs. The new issue is available in shops from March 29.

The new issue of Uncut, which hits shelves on March 29, features Jack White, The Rolling Stones, Alex Chilton, Bruce Springsteen and more.

White is on the cover, talking about his solo debut Blunderbuss, notions of authenticity in rock and The White Stripes’ split.

Elsewhere in the issue, The Rolling Stones’ infamous night at Altamont is recalled in an excerpt from a new edition of Stanley Booth’s book The True Adventures Of The Rolling Stones, and Alex Chilton’s strange life after Big Star is examined.

New pictures from the shoot for Springsteen’s Born To Run feature in our Instant Karma section, and Pete Townshend talks about The Who, Lifehouse and his own solo albums in this month’s Album By Album.

Gregg Allman features in An Audience With… and new albums and reissues from Dr John, Spiritualized, Graham Coxon, T.Rex and Jerry Lee Lewis are reviewed – alongside the latest movies and DVDs.

The new issue is available in shops from March 29.

May 2012

Ipclee
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0
May 2012
"It was madness," is how Gregg Allman describes his brief but spectacularly stormy marriage to Cher in this month's issue, sounding similarly horrified by what he remembers of the album he recorded with her, 1977's pretty lamentable Allman And Woman: Two The Hard Way. I interviewed the pair when th...

“It was madness,” is how Gregg Allman describes his brief but spectacularly stormy marriage to Cher in this month’s issue, sounding similarly horrified by what he remembers of the album he recorded with her, 1977’s pretty lamentable Allman And Woman: Two The Hard Way.

I interviewed the pair when they were in London that November to promote the record. I was shown into a lavish suite at the Inn On The Park with spectacular views of Hyde Park. Across the room, Gregg was slouched on a couch. His head was sunk between his shoulders, the rest of him hair, buckskin and denim. I wasn’t sure if he was awake.

Anyway, about now Cher stalked into the room, looking like something you might find carved on the prow of a pirate ship, imperious and menacing. She gave Gregg a slap on the shoulder and he hauled himself over on the couch to make room for her. I asked Gregg why the LP had taken a year to make, a question followed by a long silence. “Gregg,” Cher said eventually, “answer the question, why dontcha?”

About now there was a rumble in the room. Something unspecific but seismic, the kind of noise that in some parts of the world would be indicative of an earthquake or something similar, involving tremors, collapsing buildings, giant waves to follow.

It was Gregg, talking about how he and Cher had split up two, three, maybe four times during the recording. His voice was deep and furry, muffled, like someone trapped in a car, talking to rescue workers through an air bag. He was also at the time trying to get off drugs, he added, multiple addictions to heroin, cocaine and anything you could pour out of a bottle into a glass, apparently the hardest thing he’d had to do in his life.

It must’ve been tough for Cher, too, I offered gallantly, getting a plucky little smile from her.
“No, it wasn’t,” Gregg said, surprisingly sharply. “I don’t think it was as painful for her as it was for me. No sir.”
Was it Cher’s idea for you to get treatment for your addictions?
“No…uh-uh,” Greg said, fumbling for a Marlboro.
“Yes, actually,” Cher said snappily. “It was.” She sounded pretty clear about this. Gregg heaved, as they say, a somewhat heavy sigh.
“In the beginning, maybe,” Gregg said, sucking so hard on his cigarette his head disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
“I prefer him when he’s not on drugs,” Cher added. “He’s a different person.”
“We have to go through this now?” Gregg said, getting cranky.
“I was just saying…” Cher said, sounding stern.
“Well, don’t…!”

Enjoy the issue and any thoughts you have on it, let me know, as ever, at: allan_jones@ipcmedia.com

Get Uncut on your iPad, laptop or home computer

Cosmopolis trailer revealed

Michael Bonner
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0
Cosmopolis trailer revealed

Movie news feeds have been preoccupied over the last couple of weeks with news of two of the year’s bigger films – Prometheus and The Hunger Games. Meanwhile, the trailer for what looks to be one of the year’s more interesting films has snuck out almost unnoticed. This is Cosmopolis, based on Don DeLillo’s novel, which has been adapted by David Cronenberg and stars Robert Pattinson, in what will be one of his post-Twilight roles. DeLillo, Cronenberg and Pattinson seems a pretty intriguing combination to me. I read the book when it came out – it’s very slim, but as you’d expect from a writer like Don DeLillo, it felt like every word counted. It’s set over one day, and most of the action takes place in the back of a limo as a billionaire asset-manager heads across Manhattan to get a haircut. Of course, it’s not quite as simple as it sounds. I’ll be fascinated to see what Croneberg makes of it. I didn’t mind A Dangerous Method – it was fun to see Cronenberg play around with the tropes of costume dramas – but I’m very vibed at the idea of the director doing what from the trailer looks to be a pretty slick, unsettling contemporary drama. And there's cars, right? Remember the last time Cronenberg did stuff with cars… It’s going to be interesting, too, to see how Pattinson fares, outside his Twilight comfort zone. He wasn’t really pushed in Bel Ami, and I’ve yet to really see whether or not he’s got the chops for a lasting career. You'd think, one way or another, Cronenberg would be the making of him. Anyway, I suspect it'll be in this year's Cannes Film Festival - it's scheduled to open in France at the end of May - so let's hope it gets over to UK cinemas soon after.

Movie news feeds have been preoccupied over the last couple of weeks with news of two of the year’s bigger films – Prometheus and The Hunger Games.

Meanwhile, the trailer for what looks to be one of the year’s more interesting films has snuck out almost unnoticed. This is Cosmopolis, based on Don DeLillo’s novel, which has been adapted by David Cronenberg and stars Robert Pattinson, in what will be one of his post-Twilight roles.

DeLillo, Cronenberg and Pattinson seems a pretty intriguing combination to me. I read the book when it came out – it’s very slim, but as you’d expect from a writer like Don DeLillo, it felt like every word counted. It’s set over one day, and most of the action takes place in the back of a limo as a billionaire asset-manager heads across Manhattan to get a haircut.

Of course, it’s not quite as simple as it sounds. I’ll be fascinated to see what Croneberg makes of it. I didn’t mind A Dangerous Method – it was fun to see Cronenberg play around with the tropes of costume dramas – but I’m very vibed at the idea of the director doing what from the trailer looks to be a pretty slick, unsettling contemporary drama. And there’s cars, right? Remember the last time Cronenberg did stuff with cars…

It’s going to be interesting, too, to see how Pattinson fares, outside his Twilight comfort zone. He wasn’t really pushed in Bel Ami, and I’ve yet to really see whether or not he’s got the chops for a lasting career. You’d think, one way or another, Cronenberg would be the making of him.

Anyway, I suspect it’ll be in this year’s Cannes Film Festival – it’s scheduled to open in France at the end of May – so let’s hope it gets over to UK cinemas soon after.

Bob Dylan, Suede, Peter Gabriel to headline Hop Farm Festival 2012 – ticket details

Tom Goodwyn
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0
Bob Dylan, Suede, Peter Gabriel to headline Hop Farm Festival 2012 – ticket details
Bob Dylan, Suede and Peter Gabriel will headline this year's Hop Farm Festival. The show will be Bob Dylan's only UK appearance of the year, while Suede and Peter Gabriel will make their only UK festival appearances of 2012 at the Kent event. The festival, which takes place in Paddock Wood in ...

Bob Dylan, Suede and Peter Gabriel will headline this year’s Hop Farm Festival.

The show will be Bob Dylan’s only UK appearance of the year, while Suede and Peter Gabriel will make their only UK festival appearances of 2012 at the Kent event.

The festival, which takes place in Paddock Wood in Kent from June 29 – July 1, has also confirmed over 30 acts in its first announcement.

Also confirmed are Primal Scream, Damien Rice, My Morning Jacket, Maximo Park, Patti Smith And Her Band, The Stranglers, Slow Club, Frightened Rabbit, Tom Vek and a host of others.

For more information go to Hop Farm Festival. More acts will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

The line-up for year’s Hop Farm Festival so far is as follows:

Bob Dylan

Peter Gabriel And The New Blood Orchestra

Suede

Damien Rice

Primal Scream

My Morning Jacket

Maximo Park

Patti Smith And Her Band

The Stranglers

Dr John And The Lower 911

Joan Armatrading

Billy Ocean

The Psychedelic Furs

Lianne La Havas

The Jezabels

Slow Club

Benjamin Francis Leftwich

Frightened Rabbit

Tom Vek

White Denim

Ben Kweller

Lucy Rose

Fin

Dog Is Dead

Race Horses

Steve Smyth

Sian Sanderson

Ligers

Leonard Cohen announces 2012 tour dates

Tom Goodwyn
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0
Leonard Cohen announces 2012 tour dates
Leonard Cohen has revealed that he will be touring his latest album, 'Old Ideas', later in the year. Cohen will play shows in Europe and then North America in the autumn, but so far only the European dates have been revealed, reports Rolling Stone. As yet, no plans for UK shows have been announce...

Leonard Cohen has revealed that he will be touring his latest album, ‘Old Ideas’, later in the year.

Cohen will play shows in Europe and then North America in the autumn, but so far only the European dates have been revealed, reports Rolling Stone. As yet, no plans for UK shows have been announced.

The European leg of the tour kicks off on August 12 in Ghent, Belgium before shows in Ireland, France, Italy, Denmark and Spain, finishing up on October 7 in Lisbon, Portugal. The tour includes two shows at Dublin’s Imma on September 11 and 12.

Leonard Cohen released ‘Old Ideas’ in January of this year. It followed 2004’s ‘Dear Heather’, and is his 12th studio album since 1967.

Leonard Cohen will play:

Ghent St. Peter’s Square (August 12, 14)

Copenhagen Rosenborg Castle (25)

Aalborg Molleparken (26)

Bergen Bergenhus Festning-Koengen (28)

Gothenberg Tradgardsforeningen (31)

Helsinki Sonera Stadium (September 2)

Berlin Wuhlheide (5)

Monchengladbach Hockey Field (6)

Dublin Imma (11, 12)

Verona Arena (25)

Paris Olympia (28, 29, 30)

Barcelona St. Jordi (October 3)

Madrid Palais Desportes (5)

Lisbon Pavilhao Atlantico (7)

Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi: ‘We’ve written some great new tracks’

Tom Goodwyn
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Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi: ‘We’ve written some great new tracks’
Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has revealed that despite his ongoing cancer treatment, the band have continued to work on their new album and have written "some great new tracks". Iommi was diagnosed with lymphoma earlier this year and, as a result, the reunited metal legends moved the writin...

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has revealed that despite his ongoing cancer treatment, the band have continued to work on their new album and have written “some great new tracks”.

Iommi was diagnosed with lymphoma earlier this year and, as a result, the reunited metal legends moved the writing and recording of their new album from the US over to the UK so the guitarist could receive treatment and continue to work on new music.

The guitarist posted an update on his official website Iommi.com, which reads as follows: “I’ve had the last dose of chemotherapy so hopefully my body will start to get back to normal soon, the steroids were the worse. I’ve now got three weeks of radiotherapy coming up which I’m told can be very tiring, so we’ll see.”

He continued: “A big thanks to Ozzy and Geezer for coming over to England, it was a big incentive for me, we managed to work most days and have some great new tracks. And, importantly thanks again for your kind messages, hope to be seeing you soon.”

Earlier this year, Black Sabbath were forced to rework their summer reunion gig schedule to cope with Iommi’s treatment. The metal legends will still headline Download festival on June 10, but have replaced many of their previously announced European festival dates with Ozzy & Friends gigs.

The shows will see frontman Ozzy Osbourne joined by special guests including former Guns ‘N Roses guitarist Slash, Geezer Butler and Zakk Wylde.

The band’s estranged drummer Bill Ward is missing from Iommi’s update, indicating that he has not reconciled with his former bandmates as yet.

The drummer had previously revealed he was unhappy with the contract for the band’s new album and world tour and claimed he would not take part in the new album sessions and shows if a ‘fair agreement’ was not met. As a result of this, the remaining members of the band vowed to carry on without him.

The new Uncut, Jack White, the Stones, Pete Townshend

Uncut
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The new Uncut, Jack White, the Stones, Pete Townshend

The new Uncut isn't on sale until Thursday, which is March 29. But here’s a quick run-down on what’s in it, which is a lot, so you may want to pull up a chair. Jack White’s on the cover, to coincide with the release of his first solo album, Blunderbuss, which is a good thing to call an album that finds Jack firing, as they say, on all cylinders, on the kind of record fans of The White Stripes will be thrilled to hear following the diversionary turns his career since Icky Thump has taken with The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather. Our interview took place in New York, a few weeks ago, when White was in town to debut his two new bands – one all-male, the other all-female – on Saturday Night Live. It was, as you’ll see come Thursday, a lively encounter, Uncut’s John Mulvey, an early champion of The White Stripes in a former incarnation as a writer on NME, meeting White for the first time in quite a few years. The pair squared up for a couple of what John’s described as “a couple of pretty intense one-on-ones, the first of which became a fairly epic grapple of sorts”. John’s previewed Blunderbuss in his Wild Mercury Sound blog on www.uncut.co.uk, which you can read here. In 1969, the Rolling Stones made their live comeback in America with a tour that ended notoriously at Altamont, when a free festival intended to celebrate their return and also everything that was supposed to be so wonderful about the 60s counter-culture and the hippy utopianism of that far away era turned into a bloody tragedy, far removed from the largely blissful vibes of Woodstock, which had been held only four months earlier. The young American writer Stanley Booth was with the Stones on that eventful tour and wrote about it in his brilliant book, The True Adventures Of the Rolling Stones. It’s been out of print, scandalously, for over a decade, but is being re-published in a new edition next month. Booth’s truly scary description of the violent chaos of Altamont and the havoc wrought there by the Hell’s Angels, is the dramatic centre-piece of his book and we have a major extract from it in the new issue. You can remind yourself of the seething pandemonium that attended the event in this clip of the band struggling through “Sympathy For The Devil” which you can see here. Elsewhere in the issue, we have an Album By Album special with Pete Townshend, David Cavanagh looks at the post-Big Star career of Alex Chilton, Graeme Thomson recalls the seismic impact of Public Enemy’s debut UK tour. There’s also An Audience With Gregg Allman, unpublished pictures of Bruce Springsteen from the Born To Run album cover shoot, Brian Fallon introduces the new Gaslight Anthem album, the return of fabled folk singer Nic Jones and plenty more. In our new expanded reviews section, meanwhile, we look at new releases from Dr John, Graham Coxon, Jack White, M Ward, Alabama Shakes, Spiritualized and Simone Felice. There’s also a great new Dr Feelgood box set, a deluxe edition of T Rex’s Electric Warrior, a reissue of Morrissey’s solo debut, Viva Hate, and a handsome four-disc Jerry Lee Lewis collection. And if that isn’t enough reading for one month, you may also want to get hold of a copy of our latest Ultimate Music Guide, this one dedicated to REM, which is on sale now and also available online from www.uncut.co.uk/store. Look out too for the iPad edition of our Ultimate Music Guide to David Bowie, which will shortly be joined by an equally nifty iPad edition of our Bruce Springsteen Ultimate Music Guide, which is coming soon to iTunes. Have a good week. Allan

The new Uncut isn’t on sale until Thursday, which is March 29. But here’s a quick run-down on what’s in it, which is a lot, so you may want to pull up a chair.

Jack White’s on the cover, to coincide with the release of his first solo album, Blunderbuss, which is a good thing to call an album that finds Jack firing, as they say, on all cylinders, on the kind of record fans of The White Stripes will be thrilled to hear following the diversionary turns his career since Icky Thump has taken with The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather.

Our interview took place in New York, a few weeks ago, when White was in town to debut his two new bands – one all-male, the other all-female – on Saturday Night Live. It was, as you’ll see come Thursday, a lively encounter, Uncut’s John Mulvey, an early champion of The White Stripes in a former incarnation as a writer on NME, meeting White for the first time in quite a few years. The pair squared up for a couple of what John’s described as “a couple of pretty intense one-on-ones, the first of which became a fairly epic grapple of sorts”.

John’s previewed Blunderbuss in his Wild Mercury Sound blog on www.uncut.co.uk, which you can read here.

In 1969, the Rolling Stones made their live comeback in America with a tour that ended notoriously at Altamont, when a free festival intended to celebrate their return and also everything that was supposed to be so wonderful about the 60s counter-culture and the hippy utopianism of that far away era turned into a bloody tragedy, far removed from the largely blissful vibes of Woodstock, which had been held only four months earlier.

The young American writer Stanley Booth was with the Stones on that eventful tour and wrote about it in his brilliant book, The True Adventures Of the Rolling Stones. It’s been out of print, scandalously, for over a decade, but is being re-published in a new edition next month. Booth’s truly scary description of the violent chaos of Altamont and the havoc wrought there by the Hell’s Angels, is the dramatic centre-piece of his book and we have a major extract from it in the new issue. You can remind yourself of the seething pandemonium that attended the event in this clip of the band struggling through “Sympathy For The Devil” which you can see here.

Elsewhere in the issue, we have an Album By Album special with Pete Townshend, David Cavanagh looks at the post-Big Star career of Alex Chilton, Graeme Thomson recalls the seismic impact of Public Enemy’s debut UK tour. There’s also An Audience With Gregg Allman, unpublished pictures of Bruce Springsteen from the Born To Run album cover shoot, Brian Fallon introduces the new Gaslight Anthem album, the return of fabled folk singer Nic Jones and plenty more.

In our new expanded reviews section, meanwhile, we look at new releases from Dr John, Graham Coxon, Jack White, M Ward, Alabama Shakes, Spiritualized and Simone Felice. There’s also a great new Dr Feelgood box set, a deluxe edition of T Rex’s Electric Warrior, a reissue of Morrissey’s solo debut, Viva Hate, and a handsome four-disc Jerry Lee Lewis collection.

And if that isn’t enough reading for one month, you may also want to get hold of a copy of our latest Ultimate Music Guide, this one dedicated to REM, which is on sale now and also available online from www.uncut.co.uk/store. Look out too for the iPad edition of our Ultimate Music Guide to David Bowie, which will shortly be joined by an equally nifty iPad edition of our Bruce Springsteen Ultimate Music Guide, which is coming soon to iTunes.

Have a good week.

Allan

Blur’s Damon Albarn reveals he almost recorded an album with David Bowie and Ray Davies

Tom Goodwyn
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Blur’s Damon Albarn reveals he almost recorded an album with David Bowie and Ray Davies
Blur frontman Damon Albarn has revealed that he almost recorded an album with David Bowie and The Kinks' mainman Ray Davies. The singer, who is currently preparing for the release of the studio album version of his opera Doctor Dee, revealed that for precisely 24 hours he was set to make a record...

Blur frontman Damon Albarn has revealed that he almost recorded an album with David Bowie and The Kinks‘ mainman Ray Davies.

The singer, who is currently preparing for the release of the studio album version of his opera Doctor Dee, revealed that for precisely 24 hours he was set to make a record with the Thin White Duke and The Kinks man.

Asked how much he enjoyed collaborating with other musicians, Albarn said: “I do genuinely like working with people but at the same time I don’t expect it to work, and there have been a lot of people who a lot of things don’t happen. I mean, for about 24 hours, many years ago, I was making a record with David Bowie and Ray Davies. But that only lasted 24 hours.”

Albarn also spoke about ‘Under The Westway’, a new song he has written for Blur, which the band premiered earlier this year during a gig at London’s O2 Shepherds Bush Empire and which bassist Alex James has heavily hinted that they will be performing at their Hyde Park show this summer.

Speaking about ‘Under The Westway’, he said: “I’ve done a new tune for Blur, it’s really traditional. It’s something I’ve had knocking about for years and didn’t know what to do with it. Initially I wrote it as a slightly wistful national anthem for my house, I had this idea of getting it made into an old 78 record and making a flag and then just playing it – just being really silly. But I had these chords and I ended up writing this tune around it.”

He then went on to say that he feels it might be the last song he ever writes for Blur. He told The Quietus: “I don’t really do anything with Blur any more – there’s this concert this year but its not a full-time thing at all. Maybe this tune’s a last little coda to the whole story.”

Blur announced last month that they will return to Hyde Park, the scene of two of their reunion shows of 2009, for a gig which will also feature The Specials and New Order. The show will take place on August 12 to mark the end of the 2012 Olympics.

Along with playing at Hyde Park, Blur are also scheduled to headline Sweden’s Way Out West festival in August.

Queen’s Brian May: ‘I would have liked to have been in AC/DC’

Tom Goodwyn
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Queen’s Brian May: ‘I would have liked to have been in AC/DC’
Queen's Brian May has revealed that he would have liked to have joined AC/DC. Speaking to the Independent, the guitarist said that he would have fancied a stint with the Australian rockers if it hadn't been for his business with Freddie Mercury and co, but also said he wouldn't have fitted in wit...

Queen‘s Brian May has revealed that he would have liked to have joined AC/DC.

Speaking to the Independent, the guitarist said that he would have fancied a stint with the Australian rockers if it hadn’t been for his business with Freddie Mercury and co, but also said he wouldn’t have fitted in with the band as he was the “wrong sort of size and shape”.

He said: “I’d have probably liked to be in AC/DC [if Queen hadn’t existed]. But I’m the wrong sort of size and shape, unfortunately.”

He went on to add: “Because it’s different from Queen. Queen were very eclectic – that’s the word isn’t it? – and we just trampled over every boundary that there was. But AC/DC are in a sense the opposite. They know their style and it’s incredibly pure and I have a great respect for that. And every single note they play is AC/DC completely.”

Brian May is set to have his time filled with Queen this summer, with the iconic rock band set to play live with American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert taking Mercury’s place as the band’s frontman.

With the band confirmed as headliners for this summer’s Sonisphere festival, topping a bill that includes Kiss, Faith No More, Evanescence, Incubus, The Darkness, Mastodon and Refused, May claimed that Mercury would have approved of their plans with Lambert.

Lambert himself, meanwhile, has insisted that he is unfazed at any potential backlash he may face when he hooks up with the band this summer. Asked about comparisons with Mercury, he told NME: “The way I look at it is I’m not trying to imitate or outdo him or compete in any way, that’s not even in my mind at all, I think it’s really an honour to be asked to sing the music that he and the band wrote and get up there and put on a good show. If people are too busy trying to compare, they’re not going to enjoy the music.”

See Sonispherefestivals.com for more information about the event.

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