end of the road

The band set to close BBC Electric Proms festival

'The Hustler' has lost his battle with cancer, aged 83

There’s a story about Steve McQueen being offered the role of architect Doug Roberts in The Towering Inferno. McQueen turned it down, asking instead to play fire chief Michael O’Hallorhan, claiming that there’s no way an audience would find him believable in any role other than a straight-ahead man of action. The part of Roberts, instead, went to Paul Newman. At that point, in 1974, Newman’s most successful roles had been as outlaws, con-men and rebels – characters arguably not that far removed from the kind of people who peppered McQueen’s own CV. But it says a lot, perhaps, about how cinema audiences were prepared to accept him, that despite the succession of outsiders and wild ones he’d played, there was something inherently likeable and appealing about Newman.

The Beatle plays Tel Aviv 43 years after the Fabs were banned

As you may have heard, we've just launched the Uncut Music Award, to find the most inspiring and richly rewarding album of the last 12 months. We'll be posting all the latest news about the award here, but first we should explain the details.

25 albums from the past 12 months vie for the prize chosen by 10 judges including Peter Hook and Edwyn Collins

Psych-pop faerie kings fire up the randomiser

In the next few months, Domino are planning a big reissue series of the Robert Wyatt back catalogue, and the arrival of the first batch the other week compelled me to dust down this interview transcript from the summer of 2007. I visited Wyatt at home in Louth, a little before the marvellous “Comicopera” was released. An edited version of the interview appeared in Uncut last year but, if you’ll excuse my indulgence, I thought the whole thing was worth putting out there. An incredible man, I think.

Click on the link for Part One of the interview. You recorded with Syd Barrett. Well he asked us. I was really surprised, but we [Soft Machine and The Pink Floyd] were two bands that played in the same places that weren’t playing “In The Midnight Hour” and stuff – because neither of us could play it very well, probably.

Click on the links for Part One and Part Two of the interview. That “Rock Bottom” was partially written before accident is fascinating, because it’s so often stereotyped as a post-traumatic record. It’s a funny thing, I always feel embarrassed to say this, but I don’t mind being in a wheelchair.