I reviewed The Velvet Underground: 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition for new issue of Uncut. It's a comprehensive, six-disc set compiling the band's third album in an assortment of mixes, plus 1969 demos and a live recording from The Matrix in San Francisco. Of course, it marks the first album the band recorded after John Cale had left, with Doug Yule assuming bass and (some) vocal duties. I was fortunate enough to speak to both Yule and Mo Tucker for a Q&A to accompany my review.
Tuesday night, I went to see the War On Drugs guy again. I mention this, in relation to Mark Kozelek and Sun Kil Moon's Hackney show, because Kozelek doesn't stop mentioning it himself for much of the two and a half hour show; a show which, by the by, is one of the very best and certainly most surprising I've ever seen him play.
Jeff Bridges has narrated a new short film about Bob Dylan and the Basement Tapes sessions at Big Pink.
Available exclusively on Bob Dylan's Official Facebook Page and BobDylan.com, From The Village To The Basement compresses more than 12,000+ photographs into an extended time-lapse tracking shot, opening on the sidewalk in front of the Washington Square Hotel in Greenwich Village, moving northward through upstate New York, and finally pulling into the driveway of Big Pink, where The Basement Tapes were recorded in 1967.
Hey, here are my 154 favourite albums of 2014. As usual, I haven't aimed for a fixed number; just listed everything, in a loose order, that I've enjoyed these past 12 months.
