Morrissey has appeared to criticise his record label, Harvest Records, with the singer hinting at "public deception" in the music industry in an update posted on fansite True To You.
If you were a fan, you probably watched with horror, incredulity and fretful concern at the things Lou Reed put himself through in the '70s, especially after the critical and commercial rejection of Berlin hardened an already cynical disposition into an unsparing bitterness and what seemed like a headlong pursuit of self-obliteration. Even more than Keith Richards at the time, Lou seemed the rock star most likely to become a casualty of his addictions.
Here's what you might not find in Autobiography… wrestling matches with Vini Reilly! Ouija boards, sauna sessions and extravagant pastries! A secret love of Black Box’s “Ride On Time”!... 25 years on, in this week’s archive feature, from our September 2013 issue, Uncut takes a forensic look at Morrissey’s first acts as a solo artist: Viva Hate, Bona Drag, Kill Uncle, Your Arsenal and Vauxhall And I. The bandmates, songwriters and producers tell all. Story: Rob Hughes_______________VIVA HATE
Released: March 1988
Label: HMV
ARE WE ROLLING?
I was sorry to read in last month's Uncut that old-school country star Slim Whitman had died, news that had otherwise passed me by. Slim was a great favourite in our house when I was growing up, my father much enamoured of "Rose Marie", which Slim had taken to No 1 on the pop charts, where it stayed for 11 weeks in 1955.
