At an auction in Stockport, near Manchester on Saturday (September 8), a Bible which was given to Elvis Presley by his uncle Vester and aunt Clettes for his first Christmas at Graceland in 1957, fetched £59,000 after being sold to an unnamed American man based in the UK. The book was only expected to make £25,000.
It's the last day of summer, as Van Dyke Parks tells us, repeatedly. He's right, of course, but it's also true that there are still two days left of End Of The Road, pretty much the last festival of 2012.
50 years is a long time to wait for a book. In September 1956, Alan Garner started writing his debut novel, a children’s book set among the landscape and folklore he’d known all his life – Alderley Edge in Cheshire, 12 miles south of Manchester. First published in 1960, The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen followed the adventures of 12 year-old twins, Colin and Susan, on the Edge – “a long-backed hill… high and sombre and black.”
The first set of Zappa’s mammoth series of reissues is reviewed in the new issue of Uncut, dated October 2012, and in shops now. To accompany David Cavanagh’s in-depth, three-page examination of the dozen re-releases, here’s a feature from November 2010’s Uncut (Take 162), in which members of the guitarist and composer’s various bands recall the madness and precision that went into some of his most important works. Interviews: John Lewis
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ZZ Top are set to release 'La Futura', their first new album in nine years, on September 10.
The legendary guitar band's new album is their fifteenth studio LP, and has been produced by Rick Rubin and Billy Gibbons of the band. It is made up of 10 tracks and was recorded at Foam Box Recordings in Houston and at Shangri La Studios in Malibu.
Three members of Pussy Riot have been found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.
The verdict was delivered to Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29 at Moscow's Khamovnichesky Court today (August 17). Prosecutors had requested a three-year prison term in the event of a guilty verdict. The sentence is expected later today (August 17)
This month’s issue of Uncut (September 2012, Take 184) features Joe Strummer on the cover – inside is an in-depth exploration of his secret history, after The Clash split up to his redemption in the late ’90s. To complement this, our archive feature this week finds Strummer looking at the demise of The Clash – from their epic Sandinista! album to their bitter disintegration. This excerpt is taken from a longer piece in the September 1999 (Take 28) issue of Uncut. Words: Gavin Martin
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