In the current issue of Uncut, I spoke to Bryan Ferry for our An Audience With… feature. Among the reader questions was one from Rob Emery, who asked ‘Why do you think Roxy Music got through so many bass players?’
If you've ever suspected that Brian Eno's enduring reputation as an avant-garde genius is more mythical than actual, his discography from the past few years makes for a satisfying read.
Neil Young took part in a Twitter Q&A session yesterday (October 24), in which he asked his fans "who is Bono?".
Young made the comment about the U2 frontman after he was asked what his opinion was of the band Foster The People. Young was asked by @akemi99 "what do you like about foster the people? #askneil btw, bono said he likes them, too... it is surprising two super stars like them..". Young replied: "who is Bono?".
Calexico’s new album, Algiers, is reviewed in the current issue of Uncut (October 2012, Take 185) – so we thought we’d take a trip back to April 2003 (Take 71), when Uncut’s John Mulvey flew out to Tucson, Arizona to discover more about the duo’s redrawing of the alt.country map.
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Anyway, with the release of Bob Dylan’s Tempest looming, I was thinking the other morning about a time when albums just, you know, came out. What seemed to happen was pretty straightforward. There’d be a story in Melody Maker announcing a new album by one of your favourite bands that usually gave the record a title, track listing and release date. The week the album came out, there’d be a review, maybe an interview and perhaps a full-page ad somewhere in MM, often with tour dates attached.
On the day the album came out, you went to your local record shop – in my case, Derek’s in Water Street in Port Talbot – and you bought it. How simple it all seemed.
Of course, when I actually started working for Melody Maker in 1974, I found there was a bit more to it, although not much more usually than a launch party. This was basically an excuse for the band, their mates and assorted journalists to have a bit of a piss-up and could hardly be described as an integral part of a carefully-plotted promotional campaign, unless you were Led Zeppelin and the party was a debauched affair in Chislehurst Caves involving naked nuns and the like, in which case the event would get a bit of a write-up in the red tops.
Jack White has released a teaser clip for his new video "Freedom At 21". Scroll down to watch it.
The "Freedom At 21" promo is White's first collaboration with video director Hype Williams, best known for his work with hip-hop artists like Missy Elliott and 2Pac. Williams's recent clips include Nicki Minaj's "Stupid Hoe" and Kanye West's "All Of The Lights".
