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Pentangle Reform For Sweet Child Anniversary

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Pentangle Reform For Sweet Child Anniversary

Pentangle have confirmed that they will reform to play a one-off anniversary gig at London's Royal Festival Hall next June. The original band comprising Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Jacqui McShee, Danny Thompson and Terry Cox are reuniting for their Sweet Child double album's 40th anniversary. The band has been enjoying somewhat of a resurgence since the release of a definitive four CD box set 'The Time Has Come' in March this year. You can read Uncut's extensive four-star rated review of the box set here. Pentangle also recieved a lifetime achievement award at the BBC Folk Awards this year. The one-off concert is to take place on June 29, 2008, exactly 40 years since Sweet Child's release. Go to www.southbankcentre.co.uk for more details and tickets.

Pentangle have confirmed that they will reform to play a one-off anniversary gig at London’s Royal Festival Hall next June.

The original band comprising Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Jacqui McShee, Danny Thompson and Terry Cox are reuniting for their Sweet Child double album’s 40th anniversary.

The band has been enjoying somewhat of a resurgence since the release of a definitive four CD box set ‘The Time Has Come‘ in March this year.

You can read Uncut’s extensive four-star rated review of the box set here.

Pentangle also recieved a lifetime achievement award at the BBC Folk Awards this year.

The one-off concert is to take place on June 29, 2008, exactly 40 years since Sweet Child’s release.

Go to www.southbankcentre.co.uk for more details and tickets.

The White Stripes Are Back In The Studio

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The White Stripes Are Back In The Studio

The White Stripes have posted a message to fans on their website www.whitestripes.com, to say that they have started working on their music again. They say they have recorded new songs, including a special collaboration, though they do not divulge whom with. The duo were forced to cancel their scheduled tour, which would have included the UK this winter, after Meg White began suffering from acute anxiety and was unable to travel. The message posted on the website is entitled 'Greetings from The White Stripes' and reads: "The White Stripes have just filmed an exciting new video and recorded three never-before-heard original songs (with a special collaboration) and one unique new version of a song from their latest album 'Icky Thump'. Stay tuned for more details about release dates of the songs and the premiere of the video". There is no news yet of any new tour dates in the near future. Go to the White Stripes official website here: www.whitestripes.com/news

The White Stripes have posted a message to fans on their website www.whitestripes.com, to say that they have started working on their music again.

They say they have recorded new songs, including a special collaboration, though they do not divulge whom with.

The duo were forced to cancel their scheduled tour, which would have included the UK this winter, after Meg White began suffering from acute anxiety and was unable to travel.

The message posted on the website is entitled ‘Greetings from The White Stripes’ and reads:

“The White Stripes have just filmed an exciting new video and recorded three never-before-heard original songs (with a special collaboration) and one unique new version of a song from their latest album ‘Icky Thump‘. Stay tuned for more details about release dates of the songs and the premiere of the video”.

There is no news yet of any new tour dates in the near future.

Go to the White Stripes official website here: www.whitestripes.com/news

Mod Gear! Jeremy Clarkson Joins The Who

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Mod Gear! Jeremy Clarkson Joins The Who

The Who's Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend last night (November 5) celebrated the release of their new feature-length documentary, Amazing Journey: The Story Of The Who, by participating in a Q&A session following the film’s premiere at London’s Kensington Odeon cinema. The capacity audience included members of Keith Moon and John Entwistle’s families as Daltrey and Townshend answered fan questions put to them by Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson. Also taking part in the Q&A session that was webcast to 16 countries worldwide, were Amazing Journey's director Paul Crowder and producer Nigel Sinclair, whose Spitfire Productions also worked on Martin Scorsese’s Bob Dylan doc, No Direction Home. The questions gave Daltrey and Townshend the opportunity to reminisce about the glory days of The Who, and also to look forward. Townshend admitted “We don’t really have any plans for the future. We’re faced with a load of things we could do. We could play Vegas, do a rock’n’roll tour, or an Unplugged-type event.” “It depends whether we feel we’ve got something to say,” added Daltrey. The pair also spoke fondly about their former bandmate Keith Moon’s attempts to play “My Generation” with cricket bats instead of drumsticks during a gig at London’s Oval cricket ground in 1971, and the “long, fringe thing” Daltrey wore on stage at the Isle of Wight festival in 1970 that had been made by a friend of his. “He used to make leather sofas and decided to make me a suit,” said Daltrey. “It was like a giant chamois leather.” The event itself was very relaxed, though Townshend conspicuously bristled when one question asked whether the band were planning to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Quadrophenia in 2009. “He means Tommy,” said Townshend. “But aren’t 40th anniversaries for people like TS Eliot? There were 20 years when The Who didn’t do anything, so anniversaries don’t work for us.” Townshend later became very passionate when asked what he thought of the Led Zeppelin reunion. He admitted he felt confused by what he perceived as criticism directed against Robert Plant for “having the audacity” to reform Zep after making “a classy album with Alison Krauss.” Read Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey talking about Amazing Journey, Tommy, Quadrophenia and more in an exclusive interview in this month’s edition of UNCUT, on sale now. Amazing Journey: The Story Of The Who is available on DVD now from Universal Studios Home Entertainment

The Who‘s Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend last night (November 5) celebrated the release of their new feature-length documentary, Amazing Journey: The Story Of The Who, by participating in a Q&A session following the film’s premiere at London’s Kensington Odeon cinema.

The capacity audience included members of Keith Moon and John Entwistle’s families as Daltrey and Townshend answered fan questions put to them by Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson.

Also taking part in the Q&A session that was webcast to 16 countries worldwide, were Amazing Journey’s director Paul Crowder and producer Nigel Sinclair, whose Spitfire Productions also worked on Martin Scorsese’s Bob Dylan doc, No Direction Home.

The questions gave Daltrey and Townshend the opportunity to reminisce about the glory days of The Who, and also to look forward. Townshend admitted “We don’t really have any plans for the future. We’re faced with a load of things we could do. We could play Vegas, do a rock’n’roll tour, or an Unplugged-type event.”

“It depends whether we feel we’ve got something to say,” added Daltrey.

The pair also spoke fondly about their former bandmate Keith Moon’s attempts to play “My Generation” with cricket bats instead of drumsticks during a gig at London’s Oval cricket ground in 1971, and the “long, fringe thing” Daltrey wore on stage at the Isle of Wight festival in 1970 that had been made by a friend of his. “He used to make leather sofas and decided to make me a suit,” said Daltrey. “It was like a giant chamois leather.”

The event itself was very relaxed, though Townshend conspicuously bristled when one question asked whether the band were planning to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Quadrophenia in 2009. “He means Tommy,” said Townshend. “But aren’t 40th anniversaries for people like TS Eliot? There were 20 years when The Who didn’t do anything, so anniversaries don’t work for us.”

Townshend later became very passionate when asked what he thought of the Led Zeppelin reunion. He admitted he felt confused by what he perceived as criticism directed against Robert Plant for “having the audacity” to reform Zep after making “a classy album with Alison Krauss.”

Read Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey talking about Amazing Journey, Tommy, Quadrophenia and more in an exclusive interview in this month’s edition of UNCUT, on sale now.

Amazing Journey: The Story Of The Who is available on DVD now from Universal Studios Home Entertainment

Jimmy Page Hints That Zeppelin Could Do More Shows

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Jimmy Page Hints That Zeppelin Could Do More Shows

Jimmy Page has today hinted in an interview that he would possibly consider playing some more Led Zeppelin reunion shows. The band are currently set to perform a highly anticipated one-off reunion concert at London's 02 Arena on December 10, as part of a tribute to the late Atlantic Records' founder Ahmet Ertegun. Page who's fractured finger has delayed the show by two weeks, told The Mirror newspaper: "At the moment, I'm told we're doing one gig. That's a bit unfortunate for all the people that would have liked to have seen us, but I can understand why some of the other members don't want to be touring." Page also spoke about the humbling demand for tickets, saying: "I knew there would be a demand for tickets but I hadn't expected that sort of overwhelming demand. It's wonderful that people hold Zeppelin in that sort of regard." Speaking about the band getting together for the first time in years, the guitarist said: "We had the first rehearsal in May or June just to get together and see how we got on and whether it would be a goer, and straight away it was boom!" Read Page's interview here.

Jimmy Page has today hinted in an interview that he would possibly consider playing some more Led Zeppelin reunion shows.

The band are currently set to perform a highly anticipated one-off reunion concert at London’s 02 Arena on December 10, as part of a tribute to the late Atlantic Records’ founder Ahmet Ertegun.

Page who’s fractured finger has delayed the show by two weeks, told The Mirror newspaper: “At the moment, I’m told we’re doing one gig. That’s a bit unfortunate for all the people that would have liked to have seen us, but I can understand why some of the other members don’t want to be touring.”

Page also spoke about the humbling demand for tickets, saying: “I knew there would be a demand for tickets but I hadn’t expected that sort of overwhelming demand. It’s wonderful that people hold Zeppelin in that sort of regard.”

Speaking about the band getting together for the first time in years, the guitarist said: “We had the first rehearsal in May or June just to get together and see how we got on and whether it would be a goer, and straight away it was boom!”

Read Page’s interview here.

Marianne Faithfull Up For Film Award

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Marianne Faithfull Up For Film Award

Marianne Faithfull has been nominated for a European Film Award for her role in 'Irina Palm'. The singer is up for the Best Actress Award for her leading role in director Sam Garbarski’s much acclaimed film. ‘Irina Palm’ premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February this year and was nominated for the Golden Berlin Bear as best film in the festival’s competition. Since then Faithfull has already won the Liv Ullman Prize at the Norwegian International Film Festival. The winners of the 20th European Film Awards – decided by the 1,800 members of the European Film Academy - will be announced on Saturday December 1st in Berlin. Faithfull’s is up against these actresses: Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) Carice van Houten (Black Book) Anamaria Marinca (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) Helen Mirren (The Queen) and Ksenia Rappoport (The Unknown)

Marianne Faithfull has been nominated for a European Film Award for her role in ‘Irina Palm’.

The singer is up for the Best Actress Award for her leading role in director Sam Garbarski’s much acclaimed film.

‘Irina Palm’ premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February this year and was nominated for the Golden Berlin Bear as best film in the festival’s competition.

Since then Faithfull has already won the Liv Ullman Prize at the Norwegian International Film Festival.

The winners of the 20th European Film Awards – decided by the 1,800 members of the European Film Academy – will be announced on Saturday December 1st in Berlin.

Faithfull’s is up against these actresses:

Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose)

Carice van Houten (Black Book)

Anamaria Marinca (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days)

Helen Mirren (The Queen)

and Ksenia Rappoport (The Unknown)

Bon Jovi Confirm Lost Highway UK Tour

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Bon Jovi Confirm Lost Highway UK Tour

Bon Jovi have confirmed that they will be bringing their 'Lost Highway' stadium tour to the UK next Summer. The rockers, who kicked off their world tour in the US last week, are to play six shows next June, kicking off at Southampton's St Marys on the 11th. Bon Jovi's 'Have A Nice Day' Tour in June 2006 saw the band play to over 500,000 fans across the UK in just over a week. Tickets for next year's shows, priced from £40, go on sale this Saturday (November 10) at 10am. The band will play: St. Mary’s, Southampton (June 11) Hampden Park, Glasgow (21) City of Manchester Stadium (22) Ricoh Arena, Coventry (24) Ashton Gate, Bristol (25) Twickenham Stadium, London (27) More worldwide tour dates are due to be announced soon - see www.bonjovi.com for more details. More than 90 concerts have already been scheduled in 16 countries – including Canada, Japan, the U.S., New Zealand, England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Holland, and Austria. The US leg of the tour started in their home state of New Jersey, in Newark, on October 25, with ten shows at the Prudential Center and will now call at the following venues: Newark Prudential Center (November 7,9,10) Montreal Bell Centre (14) Ottawa Scotiabank Bank Place (17) London (ON) John Labatt Centre (19) Toronto Air Canada Centre (December 6, 7) Winnipeg MTS Centre (9) Saskatoon Credit Union Centre (10) Edmonton Rexall Place (12) Calgary Pengrowth Saddledome (13) Vancouver GM Place (15,16) Nagoya Dome (January 11) Tokyo Dome (13,14) Osaka Kyocera Dome Osaka (16) Omaha Qwest Center (February 18) Detroit Palace of Auburn Hills (20) Milwaukee Bradley Center (21) Chicago United Center (23,24) Washington Verizon Center (28) Philadelphia Wachovia Center (March 2,3) Pittsburgh Mellon Arena (5) Toronto Air Canada Centre (10) St. Paul Xcel Energy Center (18) Dallas American Airlines Center (April 14) Oklahoma City FORD Center (15) Kansas City Sprint Center (20) Des Moines Wells Fargo Arena (22) Nashville Sommet Center (24) Ft. Lauderdale BankAtlantic Center (26) Tampa St. Pete Times Forum (27) Atlanta Philips Arena (30)

Bon Jovi have confirmed that they will be bringing their ‘Lost Highway’ stadium tour to the UK next Summer.

The rockers, who kicked off their world tour in the US last week, are to play six shows next June, kicking off at Southampton‘s St Marys on the 11th.

Bon Jovi’s ‘Have A Nice Day’ Tour in June 2006 saw the band play to over 500,000 fans across the UK in just over a week.

Tickets for next year’s shows, priced from £40, go on sale this Saturday (November 10) at 10am.

The band will play:

St. Mary’s, Southampton (June 11)

Hampden Park, Glasgow (21)

City of Manchester Stadium (22)

Ricoh Arena, Coventry (24)

Ashton Gate, Bristol (25)

Twickenham Stadium, London (27)

More worldwide tour dates are due to be announced soon – see www.bonjovi.com for more details.

More than 90 concerts have already been scheduled in 16 countries – including Canada, Japan, the U.S., New Zealand, England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Holland, and Austria.

The US leg of the tour started in their home state of New Jersey, in Newark, on October 25, with ten shows at the Prudential Center and will now call at the following venues:

Newark Prudential Center (November 7,9,10)

Montreal Bell Centre (14)

Ottawa Scotiabank Bank Place (17)

London (ON) John Labatt Centre (19)

Toronto Air Canada Centre (December 6, 7)

Winnipeg MTS Centre (9)

Saskatoon Credit Union Centre (10)

Edmonton Rexall Place (12)

Calgary Pengrowth Saddledome (13)

Vancouver GM Place (15,16)

Nagoya Dome (January 11)

Tokyo Dome (13,14)

Osaka Kyocera Dome Osaka (16)

Omaha Qwest Center (February 18)

Detroit Palace of Auburn Hills (20)

Milwaukee Bradley Center (21)

Chicago United Center (23,24)

Washington Verizon Center (28)

Philadelphia Wachovia Center (March 2,3)

Pittsburgh Mellon Arena (5)

Toronto Air Canada Centre (10)

St. Paul Xcel Energy Center (18)

Dallas American Airlines Center (April 14)

Oklahoma City FORD Center (15)

Kansas City Sprint Center (20)

Des Moines Wells Fargo Arena (22)

Nashville Sommet Center (24)

Ft. Lauderdale BankAtlantic Center (26)

Tampa St. Pete Times Forum (27)

Atlanta Philips Arena (30)

Radiohead Albums Get Box Set Release

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Radiohead Albums Get Box Set Release

Radiohead's former record company EMI/Parlophone have announced that they will be releasing the band's entire back catalogue as a box set next month. The six studio albums, plus live album 'I Might Be Wrong' will be available a a physical box set as well as a digital bundle from December 10. The box set will feature all of the original artwork in exclusive digipack sleeves and is available for pre-order as of today from www.radioheadstore.com. Also released is a limited edition Radiohead USB Stick, the first to hold a major global artist’s entire back catalogue at CD-quality WAV files and digital artwork on a 4Gb memory stick. The highly collectable USB Stick is in the shape of the iconic Radiohead ‘bear’. The digital bundle of all seven albums, available as DRM-free 320kbps mp3 files is also available to order today. Miles Leonard, Managing Director Parlophone, said of the releases: "We are delighted to offer new and existing fans the chance to get Radiohead’s albums in a box set. We are particularly excited about the USB stick, which gives fans an easy and portable way to carry the box set and provides another way of bridging the world between on-line and off-line content.” As previously reported, Radiohead last week announced that they have signed a new record deal with British indie XL - also home to the White Stripes and Dizzee Rascal. Their seventh album 'In Rainbows' was released as a download-only through their own website. The vinyl box sets of this are beingt shipped out on December 10 also. The full box contents are: 'Pablo Honey’ (1993) ‘The Bends’ (1995) ‘OK Computer’ (1997) ‘Kid A’ (2000) ‘Amnesiac’ (2001)' ‘I Might Be Wrong - Live Recordings’ (2001) ‘Hail To The Thief’ (2003) www.radioheadstore.com

Radiohead‘s former record company EMI/Parlophone have announced that they will be releasing the band’s entire back catalogue as a box set next month.

The six studio albums, plus live album ‘I Might Be Wrong’ will be available a a physical box set as well as a digital bundle from December 10.

The box set will feature all of the original artwork in exclusive digipack sleeves and is available for pre-order as of today from www.radioheadstore.com.

Also released is a limited edition Radiohead USB Stick, the first to hold a major global artist’s entire back catalogue at CD-quality WAV files and digital artwork on a 4Gb memory stick. The highly collectable USB Stick is in the shape of the iconic Radiohead ‘bear’.

The digital bundle of all seven albums, available as DRM-free 320kbps mp3 files is also available to order today.

Miles Leonard, Managing Director Parlophone, said of the releases: “We are delighted to offer new and existing fans the chance to get Radiohead’s albums in a box set. We are particularly excited about the USB stick, which gives fans an easy and portable way to carry the box set and provides another way of bridging the world between on-line and off-line content.”

As previously reported, Radiohead last week announced that they have signed a new record deal with British indie XL – also home to the White Stripes and Dizzee Rascal.

Their seventh album ‘In Rainbows‘ was released as a download-only through their own website. The vinyl box sets of this are beingt shipped out on December 10 also.

The full box contents are:

‘Pablo Honey’ (1993)

‘The Bends’ (1995)

‘OK Computer’ (1997)

‘Kid A’ (2000)

‘Amnesiac’ (2001)’

‘I Might Be Wrong – Live Recordings’ (2001)

‘Hail To The Thief’ (2003)

www.radioheadstore.com

Led Zep To Project Symbols Across London Tonight

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Led Zep To Project Symbols Across London Tonight

Led Zeppelin are taking over some iconic London landmarks tonight (November 5) - with a special set of projected images. Getting ready for the landing of their new remastered Best of compilation 'Mothership' - the band will be projecting symbols onto London's buildings, starting with The Science Museum just after sunset at 4.45pm. Images of the four iconic Led Zeppelin ZoSo symbols will be projected onto buildings with a countdown clock, which will then show a 15” trailer – followed by a different video at each building with audio. Led Zep land at the following places today: The Science Museum - 4.45pm Gerrard Street, W1 - 6pm Covent Garden - 6.45pm Trafalgar Square - 7.30pm Truman Brewery - 9.30pm Led Zeppelin are set to reunite onstage at the O2 Arena in London for a Tribute Concert for Ahmet Ertegun, late Atlantic records founder. The show was due to take place on November 26, but has been postponed until December 10 after guitarist Jimmy Page broke his finger during rehearsals.

Led Zeppelin are taking over some iconic London landmarks tonight (November 5) – with a special set of projected images.

Getting ready for the landing of their new remastered Best of compilation ‘Mothership‘ – the band will be projecting symbols onto London’s buildings, starting with The Science Museum just after sunset at 4.45pm.

Images of the four iconic Led Zeppelin ZoSo symbols will be projected onto buildings with a countdown clock, which will then show a 15” trailer – followed by a different video at each building with audio.

Led Zep land at the following places today:

The Science Museum – 4.45pm

Gerrard Street, W1 – 6pm

Covent Garden – 6.45pm

Trafalgar Square – 7.30pm

Truman Brewery – 9.30pm

Led Zeppelin are set to reunite onstage at the O2 Arena in London for a Tribute Concert for Ahmet Ertegun, late Atlantic records founder.

The show was due to take place on November 26, but has been postponed until December 10 after guitarist Jimmy Page broke his finger during rehearsals.

Robert Plant / Alison Krauss – Raising Sand

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Robert Plant / Alison Krauss – Raising Sand

The pairing of the wily old tomcat and the classy country thrush turns out as magically in reality as it seemed unlikely on paper. Working with producer T Bone Burnett, whose impeccable taste in material (from Mel Tillis to Tom Waits) and players (from spry folkie Mike Seeger to axeman supremo Marc Ribot), guides these two inhabitants of different worlds toward a fertile common ground. The spacious, burnished settings – which rock, despite the subtlety of the performances – allow Plant to overwhelm without raising his voice above a near-whisper on an epic staging of Townes Van Zandt’s “Nothin’”. The partners’ close harmonies are especially ravishing – intimate as Gram & Emmylou on Gene Clark’s “Through The Morning, Through The Night”. This crew definitely needs to stick together. BUD SCOPPA

The pairing of the wily old tomcat and the classy country thrush turns out as magically in reality as it seemed unlikely on paper. Working with producer T Bone Burnett, whose impeccable taste in material (from Mel Tillis to Tom Waits) and players (from spry folkie Mike Seeger to axeman supremo Marc Ribot), guides these two inhabitants of different worlds toward a fertile common ground.

The spacious, burnished settings – which rock, despite the subtlety of the performances – allow Plant to overwhelm without raising his voice above a near-whisper on an epic staging of Townes Van Zandt’s “Nothin’”. The partners’ close harmonies are especially ravishing – intimate as Gram & Emmylou on Gene Clark’s “Through The Morning, Through The Night”.

This crew definitely needs to stick together.

BUD SCOPPA

The Eagles Soar To Top Album Chart

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The Eagles Soar To Top Album Chart

The Eagles have beaten Britney Spears to the UK album chart top spot, with their first new studio album in 28 years. The album 'Long Road Out Of Eden' also marks the California rockers first UK number one in 33 years, since their debut 'On The Border' was a hit in 1974. The famously feuding band have played a couple of intimate shows to launch the album, one in Los Angeles and one in London last week. The Eagles success means that the week's other big comeback album, 'Blackout' from troubled pop princess Britney Spears went into the charts at number 2. Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant also scores a high new entry - for his collaboration with singer Alison Krauss. 'Raising Sand' entered the charts at number 4. To read Uncut's five-star rated review of the T-Bone Burnett produced Plant album, click here. Elsewhere in the UK album chart - Van Morrison hangs in the top 10, at number 8, after scoring his highest ever chart placing last week with 'Still On Top- The Greatest Hits'. The new 'Queen - Rock Montreal' live album has charted at number 20. This week's UK album chart Top 10 is: 1. Eagles - Long Road Out of Eden 2. Britney Spears - Blackout 3. Hoosiers - The Trick to Life 4. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand 5. Whitney Houston - The Ultimate Collection 6. Daniel O'Donnell & Mary Duff - Together Again 7. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black 8. Van Morrison - Still On Top - The Greatest Hits 9. Mark Ronson - Version 10. Sugababes - Change Source: BBC Radio One

The Eagles have beaten Britney Spears to the UK album chart top spot, with their first new studio album in 28 years.

The album ‘Long Road Out Of Eden’ also marks the California rockers first UK number one in 33 years, since their debut ‘On The Border’ was a hit in 1974.

The famously feuding band have played a couple of intimate shows to launch the album, one in Los Angeles and one in London last week.

The Eagles success means that the week’s other big comeback album, ‘Blackout’ from troubled pop princess Britney Spears went into the charts at number 2.

Led Zeppelin‘s Robert Plant also scores a high new entry – for his collaboration with singer Alison Krauss. ‘Raising Sand’ entered the charts at number 4.

To read Uncut’s five-star rated review of the T-Bone Burnett produced Plant album, click here.

Elsewhere in the UK album chart – Van Morrison hangs in the top 10, at number 8, after scoring his highest ever chart placing last week with ‘Still On Top- The Greatest Hits’.

The new ‘Queen – Rock Montreal‘ live album has charted at number 20.

This week’s UK album chart Top 10 is:

1. Eagles – Long Road Out of Eden

2. Britney Spears – Blackout

3. Hoosiers – The Trick to Life

4. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand

5. Whitney Houston – The Ultimate Collection

6. Daniel O’Donnell & Mary Duff – Together Again

7. Amy Winehouse – Back To Black

8. Van Morrison – Still On Top – The Greatest Hits

9. Mark Ronson – Version

10. Sugababes – Change

Source: BBC Radio One

Paul Rodgers Joins Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Bill

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Paul Rodgers Joins Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Bill

Paul Rodgers is the latest artist to be added to next month's Triburte to Ahmet Ertegun Concert at London's 02 Arena. Rodgers, who is currently writing and recording a new album with Queen, signed to Ertegun's Atlantic Records with his bands Bad Company and The Firm, the latter including Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page on guitar. Announcing the concert on his website, Rodgers said: "Ahmet had many gifts. His soulful freedom to love and lift others was just one. Now even in his passing he is still bringing people together and inspiring us." One of the most eagerly awaited concerts of the decade, the show on December 10 will be celebration of the life and work of Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records and mentor for several musicians. The concert is also set to feature Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, Foreigner and Paolo Nutini is being held to raise money to pay for education scholarships in the UK, US and Turkey. The concert is also set to feature Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, Foreigner and Paolo Nutini is being held to raise money to pay for education scholarships in the UK, US and Turkey. For more details about the concert - click here for the Led Zeppelin's official website:www.ledzeppelin.com

Paul Rodgers is the latest artist to be added to next month’s Triburte to Ahmet Ertegun Concert at London’s 02 Arena.

Rodgers, who is currently writing and recording a new album with Queen, signed to Ertegun’s Atlantic Records with his bands Bad Company and The Firm, the latter including Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page on guitar.

Announcing the concert on his website, Rodgers said: “Ahmet had many gifts. His soulful freedom to love and lift others was just one. Now even in his passing he is still bringing people together and inspiring us.”

One of the most eagerly awaited concerts of the decade, the show on December 10 will be celebration of the life and work of Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records and mentor for several musicians.

The concert is also set to feature Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, Foreigner and Paolo Nutini is being held to raise money to pay for education scholarships in the UK, US and Turkey.

The concert is also set to feature Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, Foreigner and Paolo Nutini is being held to raise money to pay for education scholarships in the UK, US and Turkey.

For more details about the concert – click here for the Led Zeppelin’s official website:www.ledzeppelin.com

Blitzen Trapper: Wild Mountain Nation

John Mulvey
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We've just been playing the excellent forthcoming Kelley Stoltz album to start the week (I'll write about it soon), which reminded me of another Sub Pop album I've liked in the past few weeks. This is "Wild Mountain Nation", the third - I think - album from a Portland, Oregon band called Blitzen Trapper. I first came across them maybe 18 months ago, when "Field Rexx" turned up in the UK and struck me as being one of the most successful attempts at catching the vibe of Pavement circa "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" that I'd heard in years. Blitzen Trapper had mastered that offhand, rogeuishly bent take on classic rock, particularly the sort of frayed country-rock songs like "Range Life". The keeper was called "Asleep For Years", if I remember right, and I played it to death for a few weeks and promptly forgot about the band. "Wild Mountain Nation" is a very forceful return, though - a fuller, more confident if no less fractious development of their schtick. There's a whole chunk of Beatlesy powerpop flung into the mix this time (check out "Miss Spiritual Tramp" if you can), but the skronk quotient has been upped, too, so that the opening "Devil's A-Go-Go" has some vaguely Beefheartish cranks to send it off on bloody-minded tangents, while still sticking fairly close to the trail. The Pavement thing is still pretty pronounced, and the crackly melodic sense marks them out as distinct fellow travellers to Stoltz: "Sci-Fi Kid" is a great little fuzzy pop song, insidious in a hip, self-effacing kind of way. But the band they remind me most of now is one of my favourite groups from that early '90s awkward indie-pop school, also by coincidence on Sub Pop, The Grifters. The Grifters had a superb, drunken roll to their songs, with a palpable love of the roots music which had informed their southern upbringing shining through the staggers and glitches which their detractors always mistook as incompetence. It's a nightmarish thing to try and articulate - mostly because writing about it makes you look as much of a dick as those hacks who call anything manly and a bit anguished as "Soulful" - but The Grifters were a fine band because they had a loose, slack-assed but infectious "feel" to everything they did. Blitzen Trapper have that, too. With the benefit of age and a much-expanded record collection, it's easier to see how those shakey bands from the early '90s US underground were wired into an American tradition, not just an indie one: we were playing The Grateful Dead's "Doing That Rag" the other day, and the Reviews Editor mentioned how it sounded exactly like Pavement. Back in the day, we were so busy parsing for Fall references and, I guess, scared of the Dead, that we had no idea. Now, though, this seems to be the best way of enjoying Blitzen Trapper; as a way of understanding that bands can have confounding, contradictory taste, too.

We’ve just been playing the excellent forthcoming Kelley Stoltz album to start the week (I’ll write about it soon), which reminded me of another Sub Pop album I’ve liked in the past few weeks.

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Kurt Cobain, Lou Reed and the art of great baking – more from this year’s Vienna Film Festival

Michael Bonner
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Here's Stephen Dalton's final report from this year's Vienna Film Festival... Ah, Vienna. Welcome to Uncut’s final dispatch from this year’s extended Viennale, which finally closed on Friday with Vic Chesnutt howling grainy, ragged, alt-folk Americana to a packed house in the Austrian capital’s deluxe Gartenbau cinema. A splendidly soulful finale to Europe’s most elegant film festival. "The night before, Chesnutt and his band played the same venue alongside film-maker Jem Cohen. In a bespoke sound-and-vision collaboration, Cohen drew parallels between Austria’s declining Hapsburg monarchy of a century ago and the imperial USA of today. A fanciful conceit and an uneven show, but Chesnutt’s ghostly, half-screamed version of Johan Strauss’ "Radetsky March" was remarkable, like Hendrix torching "The Star Spangled Banner". There was plenty more music at the Viennale, on and off screen. The concert film of Lou Reed’s recent Berlin tour, directed by bad-boy artist turned filmmaker Julian Schnabel, is a fairly basic rock-doc which finds the old proto-punk buzzard on grand form. Looking ever more like Sydney Pollack with each passing year, a grizzled Reed duets with Antony Hegarty and augments his cult 1973 album with a smattering of Velvets tunes. Uncut also enjoyed Reclaim Your Brain, the latest revved-up black comedy from Austrian writer-director Hans Weingartner, whose previous film was The Edukators. This is the tale of a coke-snorting, self-loathing TV executive who rethinks his life following a drug-fuelled car crash, fighting back against the mindless trash on which he built his career. The after-screening party was a blast too, held in Vienna’s Planetarium beneath the iconic Prater big wheel, universally famous from The Third Man. A qualified thumbs-up for Joshua, creepy thriller about a wealthy New York couple and their sinister, emotionally blank son. Director George Ratliff clearly pays homage to Rosemary’s Baby and The Omen, although the ending feels fudged and illogical. Also fun is Reginald Harkema’s Canadian indie Monkey Warfare, about two former 1960s radicals who become involved with a fiery young eco-warrior. Any romantic comedy that ends with an instruction video for making Molotov cocktails has got to be worth a look. Documentaries were strongly represented at the Viennale too. One of the best was Laura Dunn’s The Unforeseen, a kind of small-scale An Inconvenient Truth about the rapid urban development of Austin, Texas and its effect on the local environment. Which may sound dry and worthy but this is actually a beautifully composed mix of human drama and political intrigue. Terrence Malick and Robert Redford co-produced the film, which features music by Sigur Ros. Another gripping documentary was Crossing The Line by the young British director Daniel Gordon. Narrated by Christian Slater, this is the amazing true story of four American GIs who defected to Communist North Korea in the 1960s and ended up acting in trashy political propaganda movies. Half tragedy, half farce. But the most haunting and unusual film Uncut saw at this year’s Viennale is an uncategorisable piece of celluloid polemic written and directed by Guy Debord, the French academic rebel whose theories and slogans helped inspire the 1968 Paris riots, the Sex Pistols and Factory Records. Made in 1978, In Girum Imus Nocte Et Consumimur Igni is a bracingly sour diatribe against consumer culture, celebrity radicals and cinema itself. It is maddeningly arrogant, occasionally brilliant, and very French. Debord committed suicide in 1994, making him the Kurt Cobain of punk intellectuals. Well, almost. That’s the great thing about the Viennale. You just don’t get this mix of great music, achingly pretentious cinema and delicious homemade cakes at any other film festival. Shame they only hold it once a year. STEPHEN DALTON

Here’s Stephen Dalton’s final report from this year’s Vienna Film Festival…

Ah, Vienna. Welcome to Uncut’s final dispatch from this year’s extended Viennale, which finally closed on Friday with Vic Chesnutt howling grainy, ragged, alt-folk Americana to a packed house in the Austrian capital’s deluxe Gartenbau cinema. A splendidly soulful finale to Europe’s most elegant film festival.

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Radiohead – In Rainbows

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Radiohead – In Rainbows

For their first release since the expiry of their contract with EMI, at a moment when they might have indulged their every splendid whim unconstrained by release schedules or media formats, there’s something beautifully perverse about the fact that Radiohead have made their most well-behaved, classically structured album since OK Computer. You suspect they might have even planned this out of anti-corporate spite, stockpiling their most radio-friendly moments for the moment after that final contractual obligation. Maybe the diverse solo projects and soundtracks have simply refocused Thom Yorke and co as a band, but there’s only a smattering of the fragmented, apocalyptic electronica that has characterised the last three records – in its place an uneasy, organic calm. After the skittish opening feint of “15 Steps” and the overdriven “Bodysnatchers, In Rainbows really settles into its groove with “Nude”, baleful, backward strings clearing like spent stormclouds to reveal a spare and eerie ballad. “Don’t get any big ideas” it warns, but the tender, if not sunny, mood is maintained across a beautiful suite of songs, from the scintillating guitars of “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” across “All I Need” – a creepy, vampiric prowl of a love song – to “Faust Arp”. The presiding spirits of the record seem to be the blues of Peter Green, the strings of Robert Kirby, the elegant dread of Massive Attack, the electronic pastoral of Ultramarine and Talk Talk… The heart of the album, though, is “House Of Cards”. It’s a gorgeous, flanged, oceanic ballad, midway between “Albatross” and “Song To The Siren”. “I don’t want to be your friend, I just want to be your lover” sings Yorke, remarkably, reclaiming that sweet ache of a voice you thought he’d abandoned forever to Chris Martin and his legion of Radio 2 heads. It’s a song about snatching at happiness, even if it means living in denial. And of course he’s quick to play down the possibility – the closing track, “Videotape”, is a locked groove hymn that hysterically alludes to Faustian damnation. But by entertaining this merest glimpse of light in their customary shade, Radiohead seem to have found fresh purpose and life. STEPHEN TROUSSÉ Check out Uncut's Track By Track for In Rainbows HERE.

For their first release since the expiry of their contract with EMI, at a moment when they might have indulged their every splendid whim unconstrained by release schedules or media formats, there’s something beautifully perverse about the fact that Radiohead have made their most well-behaved, classically structured album since OK Computer.

You suspect they might have even planned this out of anti-corporate spite, stockpiling their most radio-friendly moments for the moment after that final contractual obligation. Maybe the diverse solo projects and soundtracks have simply refocused Thom Yorke and co as a band, but there’s only a smattering of the fragmented, apocalyptic electronica that has characterised the last three records – in its place an uneasy, organic calm.

After the skittish opening feint of “15 Steps” and the overdriven “Bodysnatchers, In Rainbows really settles into its groove with “Nude”, baleful, backward strings clearing like spent stormclouds to reveal a spare and eerie ballad. “Don’t get any big ideas” it warns, but the tender, if not sunny, mood is maintained across a beautiful suite of songs, from the scintillating guitars of “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” across “All I Need” – a creepy, vampiric prowl of a love song – to “Faust Arp”. The presiding spirits of the record seem to be the blues of Peter Green, the strings of Robert Kirby, the elegant dread of Massive Attack, the electronic pastoral of Ultramarine and Talk Talk…

The heart of the album, though, is “House Of Cards”. It’s a gorgeous, flanged, oceanic ballad, midway between “Albatross” and “Song To The Siren”. “I don’t want to be your friend, I just want to be your lover” sings Yorke, remarkably, reclaiming that sweet ache of a voice you thought he’d abandoned forever to Chris Martin and his legion of Radio 2 heads. It’s a song about snatching at happiness, even if it means living in denial.

And of course he’s quick to play down the possibility – the closing track, “Videotape”, is a locked groove hymn that hysterically alludes to Faustian damnation. But by entertaining this merest glimpse of light in their customary shade, Radiohead seem to have found fresh purpose and life.

STEPHEN TROUSSÉ

Check out Uncut’s Track By Track for In Rainbows HERE.

Amy Winehouse – Back To Black: The Deluxe Edition R2006

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Amy Winehouse – Back To Black: The Deluxe Edition R2006

It seems difficult to imagine now, but – only three years ago – Amy Winehouse’s pop career looked dead. Despite a Mercury nomination and some rave reviews, her debut album 'Frank' had underperformed, and none of its four singles had reached the UK Top 50. By March 2004 you could have seen her playing the Pizza Express Jazz Club on Dean Street, Soho in front of barely 50 people. By mid 2006, the teenager with the body of a Robert Crumb cartoon character had dropped four dress sizes, acquired several square feet of tattoos, and been packed off to New York by her producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi. They assembled a crack troupe of musicians called The Daptones, the same crowd who had recreated raw funk backing tracks for Sharon Jones and the Desco label. The dreary smooth jazz and confusing dancehall elements in 'Frank' were subtracted and replaced with a thrilling mix of Stax-y horns, dramatic Phil Spector timpani, tremolo-laden guitars and John Barry strings that perfectly fitted Amy’s remarkable voice and her amusingly mouthy lyrics (“what kind of fuckery is this?”). The resultant album has not been out of the UK Top Ten for the whole of 2007, has gone platinum in the US and shifted nearly 5 million units worldwide. A year on from its initial UK release, Universal has cobbled together a seven-track mini LP of B-sides for this deluxe edition, with an eye on the Christmas market. It contains a drummerless reading of The Zutons’ “Valerie” (slower and prettier than the one you’ll find on Mark Ronson’s 'Version'), a deliciously spartan take on Phil Spector’s “To Know Him Is To Love Him” (accompanied only by acoustic guitar), and a stripped down live version of “Some Unholy War”, which show that her sometimes overly-melismatic voice is better when tamed by her musicianly intellect. Best of all are a clutch of wonderfully ragged, Trojan-fried readings of ska standards: The Specials’ “Hey Little Rich Girl” and “You’re Wondering Now”, Sam Cooke’s “Cupid” and The Maytals’ “Monkey Man” – all parping horns and spidery, Ernest Ranglin guitars. It's unashamedly a package aimed at the Christmas market. But it's also a timely reminder that, beneath the tabloid hysteria, the dodgy husband, the tats and the bird's nest hair, there's an exceptional talent. JOHN LEWIS

It seems difficult to imagine now, but – only three years ago – Amy Winehouse’s pop career looked dead. Despite a Mercury nomination and some rave reviews, her debut album ‘Frank’ had underperformed, and none of its four singles had reached the UK Top 50. By March 2004 you could have seen her playing the Pizza Express Jazz Club on Dean Street, Soho in front of barely 50 people.

By mid 2006, the teenager with the body of a Robert Crumb cartoon character had dropped four dress sizes, acquired several square feet of tattoos, and been packed off to New York by her producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi. They assembled a crack troupe of musicians called The Daptones, the same crowd who had recreated raw funk backing tracks for Sharon Jones and the Desco label.

The dreary smooth jazz and confusing dancehall elements in ‘Frank’ were subtracted and replaced with a thrilling mix of Stax-y horns, dramatic Phil Spector timpani, tremolo-laden guitars and John Barry strings that perfectly fitted Amy’s remarkable voice and her amusingly mouthy lyrics (“what kind of fuckery is this?”). The resultant album has not been out of the UK Top Ten for the whole of 2007, has gone platinum in the US and shifted nearly 5 million units worldwide.

A year on from its initial UK release, Universal has cobbled together a seven-track mini LP of B-sides for this deluxe edition, with an eye on the Christmas market. It contains a drummerless reading of The Zutons’ “Valerie” (slower and prettier than the one you’ll find on Mark Ronson’s ‘Version’), a deliciously spartan take on Phil Spector’s “To Know Him Is To Love Him” (accompanied only by acoustic guitar), and a stripped down live version of “Some Unholy War”, which show that her sometimes overly-melismatic voice is better when tamed by her musicianly intellect. Best of all are a clutch of wonderfully ragged, Trojan-fried readings of ska standards: The Specials’ “Hey Little Rich Girl” and “You’re Wondering Now”, Sam Cooke’s “Cupid” and The Maytals’ “Monkey Man” – all parping horns and spidery, Ernest Ranglin guitars.

It’s unashamedly a package aimed at the Christmas market. But it’s also a timely reminder that, beneath the tabloid hysteria, the dodgy husband, the tats and the bird’s nest hair, there’s an exceptional talent.

JOHN LEWIS

Ray Davies – Working Man’s Café

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Ray Davies – Working Man’s Café

You only have to listen to “Waterloo Sunset” to realise that Ray Davies has always had a tendency to wrap his disillusionment in the flag of nostalgia. He hankers for the past on this new album too, but with a brusqueness which would have embarrassed his younger self – before finally dragging himself back towards something approaching contentment. 'Working Man's Café' captures Davies's revulsion with Blair's Britain, his relocation to New Orleans, and the reflections on mortality which followed his shooting in the Crescent City (after chasing a mugger). Some of the material is mined directly from his experience. “Morphine Song” is a soap opera observed from his hospital bed, held together by a chorus of “listen to my heartbeat”, while the anthemic “Peace in Our Time” has him pining for peace of mind in a troubled world. Musically, the transatlantic travel hasn’t been entirely beneficial. There are times when the playing of the session band is slick to the point of blandness, and the production (by Davies and Ray Kennedy) is crisply tasteful when the songs cry out for dissonance. Given the obvious influence of Davies on Pete Doherty, it’s tempting, in the more placid passages, to imagine what Mick Jones might have done with these songs. And it’s alarming, on the Victor Meldrewish “In A Moment”, to realise that Davies - that scion of Englishness - is singing in an American accent. But when it works, it works. The beautifully sung closer, “The Real World”, isn’t strictly autobiographical, but it does explore the wanderlust which took Davies to Louisiana, before concluding that travel doesn’t necessarily cure a lost soul. Best of all is the pensive title track, with an Estuary-accented Davies complaining about the creeping Americanisation of England, loans, equity relief, mortgages and internet cafes, before locating his identity in a working man’s café. “In case you forgot who I am,” he sings, “I’m a kid with a greasy spoon firmly held in my hand.” Welcome home, Ray. ALASTAIR McKAY

You only have to listen to “Waterloo Sunset” to realise that Ray Davies has always had a tendency to wrap his disillusionment in the flag of nostalgia. He hankers for the past on this new album too, but with a brusqueness which would have embarrassed his younger self – before finally dragging himself back towards something approaching contentment.

‘Working Man’s Café’ captures Davies’s revulsion with Blair’s Britain, his relocation to New Orleans, and the reflections on mortality which followed his shooting in the Crescent City (after chasing a mugger). Some of the material is mined directly from his experience. “Morphine Song” is a soap opera observed from his hospital bed, held together by a chorus of “listen to my heartbeat”, while the anthemic “Peace in Our Time” has him pining for peace of mind in a troubled world.

Musically, the transatlantic travel hasn’t been entirely beneficial. There are times when the playing of the session band is slick to the point of blandness, and the production (by Davies and Ray Kennedy) is crisply tasteful when the songs cry out for dissonance. Given the obvious influence of Davies on Pete Doherty, it’s tempting, in the more placid passages, to imagine what Mick Jones might have done with these songs. And it’s alarming, on the Victor Meldrewish “In A Moment”, to realise that Davies – that scion of Englishness – is singing in an American accent.

But when it works, it works. The beautifully sung closer, “The Real World”, isn’t strictly autobiographical, but it does explore the wanderlust which took Davies to Louisiana, before concluding that travel doesn’t necessarily cure a lost soul. Best of all is the pensive title track, with an Estuary-accented Davies complaining about the creeping Americanisation of England, loans, equity relief, mortgages and internet cafes, before locating his identity in a working man’s café. “In case you forgot who I am,” he sings, “I’m a kid with a greasy spoon firmly held in my hand.” Welcome home, Ray.

ALASTAIR McKAY

Paul Weller – Wild Wood – R1993

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Paul Weller – Wild Wood – R1993

“Knowing, just where you’re going?” It’s not always that easy. In 1993 British rock was at a particularly unattractive crossroads. With grunge motoring in from the West and techno building a whole new autobahn for the pop nation to travel down, the demand for sharply dressed young men with guitars was at an all time low. The NME even dedicated an entire issue to what music might sound like in 2003 –a nightmarish vision where people in Tibetan headwear enjoyed virtual sex to Banco De Gaia. Paul Weller, however, had other ideas for pop’s future. Buoyed by the critical reaction to his solo debut, he repaired to the Manor studio’s in Oxfordshire in April ’93 with plans to summon up the bucolic spirit of Traffic, John Martyn and Neil Young. Risky move, then. But Weller had several aces up his sleeve. With the jazz-funk noodlings cut to a minimum (“Instrumental One”), Weller delivered a set of pithy pop songs stripped of all unneccessary clutter, ably assisted by newly recruited sidemen, Ocean Colour Scene’s Steve Cradock and Damon Minchella. If the shaggy fuzz-rock of “Has My Fire Really Gone Out?” and “The Weaver” were reminders of his contrary spirit -not least the latter, where he barks “I put paid to the Rocket Man!”, the nostalgic mood hit a nerve with both lapsed Jam fans and young upstarts Blur and Oasis. More than a decade on, Wild Wood (accompanied here by a second CD of typically focused demos) still smells as fresh as newly cut pine. “Country” steals redemption from despair in under there minutes; “Foot Of The Mountain” still kicks-in like a Camberwell carrot on a hot afternoon. Above all, however, it’s Weller’s unshakeable self-belief which marks Wild Wood out as a landmark in British rock. Within a year of it’s release in Spetember ’93 grunge would be over, Britpop would be in full swing, and fears of rock’s demise dismissed as a bad dream. Weller would even have acquired a new nickname. PAUL MOODY UNCUT Q&A WITH PAUL WELLER: UNCUT: How did you formulate your ideas for Wild Wood? “When I finished recording my first solo album I still had quite a few songs left over, they were just flowing out of me. I remember going into Black Barn studios and recording demos of ten or twelve tracks. Straight away I knew I was onto something.” What were you listening to at the time? “I’d started really getting into Traffic. The second album, particularly. Also John Martyn. For the first time it felt like I didn’t have this weight of expectation on me to write sionge in a certain style, which was always there with The Jam and The Style Council. How do you rate it? ”It’s a special album for me. From being an anachronism, suddenly it felt like everyone was coming around to my way of thinking. Not that I can take any credit for it -there was just something in the air. Why the dig at Elton (“I put paid to the Rocket man”) in ‘The Weaver’? “I was just having fun. It was never really a dig at him, bless his cotton socks. “ INTERVIEW: PAUL MOODY

“Knowing, just where you’re going?” It’s not always that easy. In 1993 British rock was at a particularly unattractive crossroads. With grunge motoring in from the West and techno building a whole new autobahn for the pop nation to travel down, the demand for sharply dressed young men with guitars was at an all time low. The NME even dedicated an entire issue to what music might sound like in 2003 –a nightmarish vision where people in Tibetan headwear enjoyed virtual sex to Banco De Gaia.

Paul Weller, however, had other ideas for pop’s future. Buoyed by the critical reaction to his solo debut, he repaired to the Manor studio’s in Oxfordshire in April ’93 with plans to summon up the bucolic spirit of Traffic, John Martyn and Neil Young.

Risky move, then. But Weller had several aces up his sleeve. With the jazz-funk noodlings cut to a minimum (“Instrumental One”), Weller delivered a set of pithy pop songs stripped of all unneccessary clutter, ably assisted by newly recruited sidemen, Ocean Colour Scene’s Steve Cradock and Damon Minchella. If the shaggy fuzz-rock of “Has My Fire Really Gone Out?” and “The Weaver” were reminders of his contrary spirit -not least the latter, where he barks “I put paid to the Rocket Man!”, the nostalgic mood hit a nerve with both lapsed Jam fans and young upstarts Blur and Oasis.

More than a decade on, Wild Wood (accompanied here by a second CD of typically focused demos) still smells as fresh as newly cut pine. “Country” steals redemption from despair in under there minutes; “Foot Of The Mountain” still kicks-in like a Camberwell carrot on a hot afternoon. Above all, however, it’s Weller’s unshakeable self-belief which marks Wild Wood out as a landmark in British rock. Within a year of it’s release in Spetember ’93 grunge would be over, Britpop would be in full swing, and fears of rock’s demise dismissed as a bad dream. Weller would even have acquired a new nickname.

PAUL MOODY

UNCUT Q&A WITH PAUL WELLER:

UNCUT: How did you formulate your ideas for Wild Wood?

“When I finished recording my first solo album I still had quite a few songs left over, they were just flowing out of me. I remember going into Black Barn studios and recording demos of ten or twelve tracks. Straight away I knew I was onto something.”

What were you listening to at the time?

“I’d started really getting into Traffic. The second album, particularly. Also John Martyn. For the first time it felt like I didn’t have this weight of expectation on me to write sionge in a certain style, which was always there with The Jam and The Style Council.

How do you rate it?

”It’s a special album for me. From being an anachronism, suddenly it felt like everyone was coming around to my way of thinking. Not that I can take any credit for it -there was just something in the air.

Why the dig at Elton (“I put paid to the Rocket man”) in ‘The Weaver’?

“I was just having fun. It was never really a dig at him, bless his cotton socks. “

INTERVIEW: PAUL MOODY

Planet Terror

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Planet Terror

DIR: ROBERT RODRIGUEZ | ST: FREDDY RODRIGUEZ, ROSE McGOWAN The recent stalling of Quentin Tarantino’s pseudo-slasher movie Death Proof at the UK box office doesn’t bode well for Rodriguez’s zombie apocalypse flick, which originally opened the ill-fated Grindhouse compendium in the US. And that’s a shame, because Planet Terror is the film that sets out the pair’s sleazy stall, evoking the sticky seats of yesterday’s shitty cinemas right from the opening trailer. Like John Carpenter’s best, the action takes place in an endless night, in a town where the dead are coming back to life. But there’s nothing supernatural here: a local scientist is holding a mutant virus to ransom. When it escapes into the atmosphere, the townsfolk are split into the infected and the not, with the mysterious El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez) heading the counter charge against the psychotic and pustulent undead. Planet Terror works simply as a dumb, gory horror film, with pace that, ironically, often outstrips Tarantino’s ‘carmaggedon’ by a good few hundred mph. DAMON WISE

DIR: ROBERT RODRIGUEZ | ST: FREDDY RODRIGUEZ, ROSE McGOWAN

The recent stalling of Quentin Tarantino’s pseudo-slasher movie Death Proof at the UK box office doesn’t bode well for Rodriguez’s zombie apocalypse flick, which originally opened the ill-fated Grindhouse compendium in the US.

And that’s a shame, because Planet Terror is the film that sets out the pair’s sleazy stall, evoking the sticky seats of yesterday’s shitty cinemas right from the opening trailer.

Like John Carpenter’s best, the action takes place in an endless night, in a town where the dead are coming back to life. But there’s nothing supernatural here: a local scientist is holding a mutant virus to ransom. When it escapes into the atmosphere, the townsfolk are split into the infected and the not, with the mysterious El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez) heading the counter charge against the psychotic and pustulent undead.

Planet Terror works simply as a dumb, gory horror film, with pace that, ironically, often outstrips Tarantino’s ‘carmaggedon’ by a good few hundred mph.

DAMON WISE

In The Shadow Of The Moon

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In The Shadow Of The Moon

DIR: David Sington | ST: Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean This is an exemplar of the simple idea executed brilliantly. Very possibly inspired by Andrew Smith’s wonderful 2005 book, Moondust, which undertook a similar task, In The Shadow Of The Moon goes searching for that select crew who have stood on another world and looked at ours: the surviving Apollo astronauts. In humble recognition of the fact that this is, obviously, one of the very greatest stories ever told, the astronauts (the reclusive Neil Armstrong an inevitable exception) are left to get on with relating it, their ageing, lively faces filling the screen in between amazing archive footage: pre-computer age boffins calibrating spaceflight with slide rules; Armstrong’s narrow escape from a practice landing; President Nixon’s speech to be broadcast in the event of a malfunctiong Eagle lander condemning Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to death. This excellent doc is marred only by the fact that it’s about 12 hours too short. Like the Apollo programme itself, it’s a beautiful and irresistible hymn to human possibility. ANDREW MUELLER

DIR: David Sington | ST: Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean

This is an exemplar of the simple idea executed brilliantly. Very possibly inspired by Andrew Smith’s wonderful 2005 book, Moondust, which undertook a similar task, In The Shadow Of The Moon goes searching for that select crew who have stood on another world and looked at ours: the surviving Apollo astronauts.

In humble recognition of the fact that this is, obviously, one of the very greatest stories ever told, the astronauts (the reclusive Neil Armstrong an inevitable exception) are left to get on with relating it, their ageing, lively faces filling the screen in between amazing archive footage: pre-computer age boffins calibrating spaceflight with slide rules; Armstrong’s narrow escape from a practice landing; President Nixon’s speech to be broadcast in the event of a malfunctiong Eagle lander condemning Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to death.

This excellent doc is marred only by the fact that it’s about 12 hours too short. Like the Apollo programme itself, it’s a beautiful and irresistible hymn to human possibility.

ANDREW MUELLER

Kasabian To Headline Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Party

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Kasabian To Headline Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Party

Kasabian have been announced as headliners for this year's Hogmanay at Edinburgh's Concert In The Gardens on New Year's Eve. Idlewild have already been confirmed as one of the support acts at the party in Princes Street Gardens in the city. Kasabian front man Tom Meighan declared: "It is an honour to be asked to play Hogmanay this year. Scotland is always a special place to play and New Year's Eve will be even more special. We promise." Edinburgh Hogmanay's director of events Pete Irvine said: "We're delighted we've got another strong line-up for the Concert In The Gardens. Although we've altered the formula a bit from previous years, there's no question the Gardens will rock." More artists for the concert are due to be revealed in the next few days. Edinburgh's Hogmanay this year is a four-day festival, including street parties, candle lighting as well as a Viking Torch procession. Tickets for the December 31 concert are £37.50 and will go on sale on Saturady November 3 at 9am. Further information and tickets will be available from the event's website here www.edinburghshogmanay.org/.

Kasabian have been announced as headliners for this year’s Hogmanay at Edinburgh’s Concert In The Gardens on New Year’s Eve.

Idlewild have already been confirmed as one of the support acts at the party in Princes Street Gardens in the city.

Kasabian front man Tom Meighan declared: “It is an honour to be asked to play Hogmanay this year. Scotland is always a special place to play and New Year’s Eve will be even more special. We promise.”

Edinburgh Hogmanay’s director of events Pete Irvine said: “We’re delighted we’ve got another strong line-up for the Concert In The Gardens.

Although we’ve altered the formula a bit from previous years, there’s no question the Gardens will rock.”

More artists for the concert are due to be revealed in the next few days.

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay this year is a four-day festival, including street parties, candle lighting as well as a Viking Torch procession.

Tickets for the December 31 concert are £37.50 and will go on sale on Saturady November 3 at 9am.

Further information and tickets will be available from the event’s website here www.edinburghshogmanay.org/.

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