reviews BON IvER HSKER D shAron

MAvIS STAPLES morrissey Jones

th e past, pr es e nt an d f utu r e of g r eat m us ic

remembered

tom petty
Nothing is HoLGer
CZUKAy
ever really GrANt HArt
finished HArry DeAN
stANtoN
CHArLes
BrADLey
RobeRt

P l A n t On Zeppelin,
magic
and myth
neW interVieWs!

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AUTOMATIC FOR THE
PEOPLE REvISITED
the
ronettes

KING GIZZARD
CHARLOTTE
GAINSBOURG
BOOTSY COLLINS
PERFUME GENIUS
WILLIAM EGGLESTON
 BECK
COLORS

THE NEW ALBUM

 I built this ship, it is my making

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O
n the evening of October 2, as the world struggled to
countenance the horror of the terrorist attack on a
Las Vegas music festival, news channels began to report
that Tom Petty had died. Bob Dylan, no less, was quick to
articulate his condolences. Its shocking, crushing news,
he said. I thought the world of Tom. He was a great performer, full of the
light, a friend, and Ill never forget him.
In what became a live indictment of social media-era news, however, it
transpired that the obituaries were premature if only by what turned out
to be a few hours. Amidst the chaos and memorials on Twitter, Jack Whites
Third Man Records tried to make sense of how terrible events collided. Weve
lost music lovers & music makers today, they wrote. We dont know how to
cope, so we continue to work, with broken hearts, in the name of music.
It is easy to feel this way in 2017, assailed as we have been by tragedies both
vast and intimate. In this issue of Uncut, we remember Holger Czukay, Harry
Dean Stanton and Charles Bradley as well as Petty, while our album of the
month is the final astonishing testament from Sharon Jones. But theres still
plenty of room for heroes, new and old, whose unquenchable lust for life and
musical adventure remains an inspiration. So meet King Gizzard & The
Lizard Wizard, circumnavigate their excruciating name, and revel in the
psychedelic energy that drives them to try and make five albums in a single
year. And welcome back the indefatigable Robert Plant, who tells us,
I dont have a lot of time thinking about stuff, and I dont want to waste
time, because time doesnt last forever.
Its a calling to seize the moment; and if something turns out to endure,
to join some kind of sacred musical canon, then thats more happy
accident than grandiose calculation. When Tom Petty was inducted into
the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in June 2016, his speech captured a certain
unshowy devotion to his art. If no-one ever wrote another song, wed be
fine, he told the assembled great and good. Theres plenty of songs. But
I still do it. I love it, its a gift.
Take care, everybody,
John Mulvey, Editor. Follow me on Twitter @JohnRMulvey

contents

4 Instant Karma! 54 Smalltown punks 90 Bootsy Collins Album By Album

Bruce Springsteen, William Eggleston, Spirit of 77: we talk to the unsung trail-
The Professionals, Girl Ray blazers of Carlisle, Peterborough and more: 94 Live
Punks werent liked We stuck together! Bon Iver, Suzanne Vega
12 Charlotte Gainsbourg
An audience with the actress and singer 60 Robert Plant 107 Books
The Golden God pops down his local to Richard Lloyd, Peggy Seeger
16 New Albums discuss his new LP, John Bonham, and plans
Including: Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, for the 50th birthday of the mighty Zeppelin 108 Films
Morrissey, James Holden, Mavis Staples, Good Time, Suburbicon, Grace Jones
Gun Outfit, Peter Oren 72 King Gizzard & The
Wizard Lizard 110 DVD & Blu-ray
34 The Archive Seven psychedelic Aussies the new Mick Ronson, Bert Berns
Including: Hsker D, Tim Buckley, stars of progressive garage rock!
Davy Graham, Talk Talk, Chris Bell 112 Not Fade Away
80 Tom Petty RIP This months obituaries
48 REM The great man remembered, by
Twenty-five years after the release of Stephen Deusner and Bud Scoppa 116 Letters Plus the Uncut crossword
Automatic For The People, we track down
the major players to uncover the secrets 86 The Ronettes 118 My Life In Music
of an unlikely rock masterpiece The making of Be My Baby Perfume Genius

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DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 3

 This MoNThs REvElaTioNs fRoM ThE woRlD of UNCUT
fEaTURiNg... william Eggleston | The Professionals | girl Ray
And the wizards
play down on
Pinball Way
a new book reveals
Springsteens tilt at glory
I
t has taken Bruce Springsteen an
unusually long time to settle down into
regular work, a real job. this month, at
the 960-seat Walter Kerr theatre in New
York, the dauntless singer-songwriter
has begun clocking on every day, five nights
a week for five months, to perform a one-man
show called Springsteen On Broadway. this is
my first real job, I think, he told the New York
Times in September. thats the one thing Im
going into with a certain sense of faith.
frank stefanko
He may not have experienced the daily grind
before, but of course Springsteen has always
been a master at empathising with the working
man. Witness the unforced camaraderie as he
4 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
gathers with the E Street Band around the
pinball table at Shellows Luncheonette in East
Camden, New Jersey. these rare pictures date
from the winter of 1978, as local photographer
Frank Stefanko worked on shots for the cover of
Darkness On The Edge Of Town.
they figure in Bruce Springsteen: Further Up
The Road, a new book collating the work of
Stefanko with the Boss over 40 years. Franks
photographs were stark, Springsteen wrote in
his 2016 memoir Born To Run. His talent was
he managed to strip away your celebrity, your
Franks talent was
artifice, and get to the raw you. His photos had
a purity and a street poetry to them.
he managed to strip
away your celebrity
Bruce Springsteen: Further Up The Road is
published by Wall Of Sound Editions. For and get to the raw you
further information and a full list of stockists
visit www.wallofsoundgallery.com
BRUCE sPRiNgsTEEN
 on the edge of
town: Bruce
springsteen and
the E street Band
at shellows
luncheonette,
East Camden,
New Jersey, 1978

DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 5

 Whats
going ahn?
William Eggleston,
legendary
photographer,
embarks on a music
career, aged 78...
I
t is early morning in Memphis
and already the photographer
William Eggleston is planning
his next project. Ill be in Paris very
soon, he explains. I work with
people at Cartier. Right now, Im
working on a book of all their
commissions throughout the years,
which would be a 10- or 15-year
acquaintance between us. Im very
much looking forward to it. Itll be a
very fine book, Im sure.
this, it transpires, is a typical
conversation with Eggleston. At 78,
he has an international vision, his
dealings in many instances taking
place at the higher end of the artistic
spectrum. When he speaks, his
voice has a satisfyingly leathery
creak. His sentences unfold
impressively, with a courtesy that
underscores a Southern upbringing.
At present, Eggleston is at home in
his apartment in Memphis. I grew
up around 100 miles south of here,
where my family had for a long time
grown cotton, he explains. I
peter townshend
married a Memphis girl. I had
already spent a lot of time up here.
When youre from the country, this
was a big town to go to.
All this is a preamble to a
6 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
discussion about Egglestons latest
project an unexpected career
swerve in his eighth decade. the
photographer has long been on the
peripheries of music: he enjoyed a
lifelong friendship with Big Stars
Alex Chilton and his work has been
used by musicians as diverse as
Primal Scream and Joanna Newsom.
But this month, Eggleston releases
his debut album, Musik. I started
playing the piano when I was four
and never stopped, he explains. I
still do it, at night. the disc consists
of recordings Id done on the Korg,
with 88 keys, capable of a lot of
different sounds. I dont have any
tapes. I only have floppy discs.
Eggleston was born in 1939 and
went on to establish himself as a
Big Stars music
held little interest
to me. I was
interested in Bach
WilliaM EgglEsToN
pioneer of colour photography with a
series of extraordinary, vital pictures
of everyday life in the US South
during the 60s and 70s. I didnt
think that I was making a social
statement, he reflects. I was
interested in creating images of what
I saw growing up. thats how it
started out. It still goes on.
Among Egglestons friends were
a couple, a jazz musician Sidney
Chilton and his wife Mary, an art
dealer along with their son Alex.
We knew each other for a long,
long time and we always were
good friends until he died, he says.
We never really talked about music.
Big Stars music held little interest to
me. I was more interested in classical
music so Bach, Mozart, Chopin.
Nevertheless, their connection
eventually found its way onto Big
Stars records. Egglestons photo,
the Red Ceiling taken at a tGIs
restaurant in Memphis adorned
Big Stars Radio City album (I dont
even have a copy of that LP cover,
he admits) while Eggleston played
piano on the bands cover of Nat
King Coles Nature Boy. I think I
did a perfectly good job of it, he
notes. It was not one of Alexs best
days for singing; he may not have
even known the song, really. I knew
it quite well from growing up.
It wasnt all Memphians, though.
In New York, during the 1970s,
Eggleston witnessed first-hand
another celebrated photographer
Andy Warhol. I met him through a
young lady I was spending a lot of
time with who was in a lot of his
films, named Viva who is still
very close. Andy was a quite distant
person. I was not all that impressed.
Although Eggleston later shot the
likes of Dennis Hopper and Joe
Strummer, he remains sanguine
about his place in the counter-
cu
culture.
ultu
ure II was around but I felt
quite apart from it. I was a loner
among people who had created a
culture of their own. But I was doing
the same thing, though separately.
In the 1980s, Eggleston was
commissioned by Priscilla Presley to
photograph Graceland, leading to
another remarkable cache of
photographs that continue his
thematic interest in the forgotten
corners, empty spaces and
abstracted details. the place didnt
mean anything much to me, he
says. Its not architecturally
interesting. I tried to do the best I
could in quite a neutral way to depict
it in photographs. Why neutral?
there are a lot of things I looked at
within the house and outside it
that quite frequently I wanted to
avoid. I didnt want to make any of
the images evoke either negative or
positive feelings.
Encouragingly, Egglestons work
has continued to draw attention from
musicians, including Green On Red,
Silver Jews, Cat Power and Spoon.
Why do musicians continue to use
his work? I think they have good
taste, he says. michael bonner
Musik is released by Secretly
Canadian on October 20
 THE BRAND NEW ALBUM
OUT 27.10.17 ON LP, CD & DL
PLUS LIMITED EDITION
6xLP CAREER-SPANNING BOX SET

R e c o r d e d w i t h E d w y n C o l l i n s a t h i s C l a s h n a r r ow S t u d i o s , a n d at G r e e n D o o r S t u d i o
w i t h S t u Eva n s, P e r m o i s a n a l b u m of b o l d s te p s a n d s i m p l e g e s t u r e s .
T h e d e b u t a l b u m o u t N ove m b e r 10 t h - L P / C D / D L
Never mind the
Sex Pistols, heres
the bollocks!
Paul Cook and Steve Jones revive their
other old band, The Professionals, with
a little help from their friends
I
had to put my henry
Kissinger hat on, but it was
worth it, laughs Paul Cook,
as the former Sex Pistols drummer
explains how he recruited guest
guitarists duff McKagan, Mick Jones
and Billy duffy to help record What
In The World, the first album by The
Professionals since 1981. You just
have to keep chipping away. I was
persistent and I got them in the end.
The Professionals first incarnation
came in the immediate wake of the
Sex Pistols dissolution, when Cook
and Steve Jones were, he admits, a
bit lost following the bands
implosion. The duo released a series
of singles and one album, I Didnt See
It Coming, in 1981. Im amazed we got
an LP out at all, says Cook. It was
pretty chaotic, Steve was all over the
place, he had drug problems and
wasnt always around. he didnt want
to be the singer, but it was so hard to
find anybody else after working with
Johnny. Trying to get another
frontman was impossible and Steve
was never comfortable. I always
thought the LP sounded crap, but the
songs were good, they stand up.
8 UNCUT MONTH 2017
Cook reformed the band with
original bassist Paul Myers and
guitarist and singer Tom Spencer in
2015 to accompany the release of a
compilation, and soon found an urge
to go into the studio. To fill out the
sound, Cook got out his phone book
and recruited friends including Mick
Jones, Billy duffy, duff McKagan,
Phil Collen and Marco Pirroni.
Getting Mick Jones was a coup, as
Cook says hes often reluctant to
record, but Steve Jones was the key.
It takes a bit to get Steve going, hes a
bit lazy to be honest, says Cook of his
old friend. But we went over to La
and he gave us the nod of approval.
he was happy to pass the baton along
to Tom. We tried to get him to do some
vocals, but he didnt really fancy that,
but he done some good guitaring.
Billy duffy ended up playing on the
same three songs as Steve Jones. I got
a call from Steve and I was thinking,
Uh-oh maybe hes a bit mad Im
playing on hIS bands record, and
in reality he wanted to know if he
could join in, says the Cult guitarist.
Songs were written by Cook and
Spencer, and cover subjects from
homelessness to forgetfulness. Its
about where we are now, getting older
really, says Cook. Theres a song
called Rewind about losing your
memory. Its where were at in life.
On the subject of memory, the
otherwise affable Cook confesses hes
fed up being asked to rehash Pistols
stories and has no plans to become
the final member of the band, with
the exception of Sid, to write an
autobiography. I dont enjoy it at all,
he says. Its been documented so
much it bores me to death. I dont
know what else there is to say. I turn
them off when I see them on TV.
his focus instead is taking What In
The World on tour. Weve got a little
deal with america, so we want to get it
out then see how the land lies. Maybe
do a few shows at the
end of the year.
peter watts
What In The World
is out October 27
on Automaton
Records
Men in black: The
Professionals in
2017 (l-r) Tom
Spencer, Paul
Cook, Paul Myers
A qUIck
ck
k ONe
A quick reminder
that our none-more-
glam Bowie: A Life In
Pictures special is still
on sale, and that its
just been joined in the
shops by our upgraded
Ultimate Music Guide
to Tom Waits. Small
change welcome!
The startling polemical
spectacle of Roger
Waters Us + Them
tour finally makes it to
Europe next summer. UK
dates so far announced
find the veteran rabble-
rouser at Liverpool
Echo Arena (July 2),
Manchester Arena
(3), Hyde Park (6) and
Birmingham Arena (7).
A rock soap opera has
seemingly ended, with
New Order announcing
theyve reached a full
and final settlement
in the long-running
disputes with ex-bassist
Peter Hook. Says the
band: The disputes
were based upon
Hooks use of various
New Order and Joy
Division assets on
merchandising and in
the promotion of shows
by his new band, and
the amount of money he
receives from the use of
the name New Order by
his ex-colleagues since
2011. The Joy Division
and New Order names
mean a great deal to so
many of the fans, and
the band felt it important
to protect the legacy.
I dont think Id
necessarily want to tour
again, Matt Johnson
told us a few months
back, itd probably be a
one-off show. One-off
shows, it transpires, as
The Thes first live gigs
in 16 years are set for
next summer. Following
gAvIN cOcHrANE
a Danish warm-up, The
The play three nights at
various storied London
venues (June 5-7).
deCeMber 2017 UNCUT 8
newmusic
courtney barnett
& kurt vile
lotta sea lice
album of the month
st.vincent
masseducation beck
colors
out now
out now out now

t
robert plan
carry fire
out now

the smiths
the queen is dead:
deluxe edition
20/10/2017

gregory porter
the the nat king cole & me
radio cineola: trilogy 27/10/2017
20/10/2017

wretch 32
fr32
out now

michael head & the

red elastic band
adios senor pussycat
20/10/2017

lindstrm
its alright between
squeeze us as it is
the knowledge john carpenter 20/10/2017
anthology (movie
out now themes 19741998
)
20/10/2017
fopp stores
the fopp list bristol college green
cambridge sidney st
the get the lowdown on the best new music
in this months edition of the fopp list,
edinburgh rose st
glasgow union st & byres rd
fopp free magazine in-store now london covent garden
manchester brown st
list
while stocks last

nottingham broadmarsh
shopping centre
oxford gloucester green
 Girl Ray in Trafalgar
Square: (l-r) Poppy
Hankin, Iris McConnell
UNCUT PLAYLIST
and Sophie Moss On the stereo this month...

THE BREEDERS
Wait In The Car 4AD
Strategies for punks! The
perfect comeback single:
catchy, serrated, abrupt and
featuring sarcastic miaowing.

BRIGID MAE POWER

Dont Shut Me Up (Politely)
TOMPKINS SQUARE

Buccaneering teaser for the Irish singers

2018 album soaring kin to Ryley
Walkers The West Wind, possibly.

TY SEGALL
wERE Alta DRAG CITY
Fresh from their End Of The Road
NEw triumph, Ty and the Freedom Band
hERE bring one of their most crunching and
elaborate jams into the studio.

Girl Ray
drummer McConnell, things moved swiftly
once they did. 2016 debut single Trouble
came out not long after their a-level results,
with full-length album Earl Grey (note killer
Recommended this month: spoonerism) released this summer. stately and
splendid on Just like That and astrud Gilberto
the London teenagers beach flutter Monday Tuesday, Earl Grey is
with the exquisite tastes more than gap year meandering; shire horse-
paced shuffle Dont Go Back at Ten is the
of middle-aged record shangri-las merged with Kevin ayers, while the
shop workers 13-minute title suite finds Girl Ray stumbling
inadvertently into Caravan country doubly
ROBERT FINLEY
Goin Platinum!
EASY EYE SOUND/NONESUCh
A blind carpenter and army
vet is revealed, belatedly, to
be a herculean soulman. Dan
Auerbach and his all-star sessioners
provide the requisite vintage empathy.
BJRK The Gate ONE LITTLE INDIAN
In which the masked marvel learns
to love again after the traumas
documented on Vulnicura: My healed

U
sually when we talk to people my
parents age about our music we just
mumble until the subjects changed,
says bassist sophie Moss, struggling to put the
truculent splendour of Girl Ray into words.
The biggest thing to come out of Muswell Hills
Fortismere school since Rather Be hitmaker
Jess Glynne, the C86-literate three-piece Poppy
Hankin (vocals, guitar), Iris McConnell (drums)
and Moss (bass) are 19 going on 20, and combine
sleepy teenage with the music tastes of a middle-
aged record shop worker. Girl Ray dig Orange
Juice, The Pink Floyd, Mac DeMarco, the Marine
Girls, Father John Misty and afro-harp
queen Dorothy ashby, though the
comparison thrown their way most IM YOUR FAN
often is with melancholy Welsh
mystics Gorkys Zygotic Mynci.
We love Gorkys, says Moss.
My brother showed me Patio song
ELLIE CONNOR-PhILLIPS; POLLY ThOMAS/REX/ShuTTERSTOCK
impressive since Hankin and Moss have never chest wound/Transformed into a gate/
heard of them. Where I receive love from
a headlining tour this autumn is another push
into the big world, with Girl Ray (name cribbed ALVARIUS B
from avant-garde artist Man Ray) hoping to carry With A Beaker On The Burner
on adventuring. I was going to go to uni but I just And An Otter In The Oven ABDUCTION
withdrew the application, admits Moss. Im An epic compendium of the perverse,
going to put it on hold for a bit, slash, never go, with guitar chops, from the cantankerous
depending on how we feel. Alan Bishop of Sun City Girls.
It feels like, university, you can do that
whenever, but weve got this momentum and its ALDOUS HARDING Elation 4AD
so much fun being a band, Hankin explains. Another cobwebbed folk classic-in-
The trio are still living with their parents (they are the-making from one of 2017s most
babysitting when Uncut calls them compelling new voices.
Were getting paid in pizza, explains
Hankin), but are harbouring (modest) GORAN KAJFES
career ambitions as well as evident SUBTROPIC ARKESTRA
musical ones. at the moment, they are The Reason Why Volume
trying to hack together a Christmas 3 hEADSPIN
single: We want to get a child choir Swedish big band challenge

when I was 15 maybe, agrees Hankin. in, says Hankin. Were dead serious themselves to make jazz out of
and I just became obsessed with it. but we havent got a title yet. electronic nuggets from Panda Bear and
Hankins big brother, Mike What would success look like for Girl Caribou. An unlikely, swinging success.
lightning, had a pop career of his own Earl Grey has a Ray, then?
as a member of steve albini-produced freshness to it an american tour, answers Moss. THE FRIGHTNRS
clatter-merchants lets Wrestle, thats impossible and a real van! More To Say Versions DAPTONE
though she insists she is not of to fake, and If we could just do this as a job, how A fine dub repurposing of the NY reggae
thoroughbred indie stock: No, no sounds like incredible, because its the funnest job bands 2016 LP, rendered extra poignant
my dad writes computer software and theyve made ever, adds Hankin. God, I sound like in the wake of singer Dan Kleins death.
my mums a lecturer. a record for a real nerd. JIM WIRTH
fun. Totally
Quirky and friendless, Hankin
uncontrived. MICHAEL NAU
reached out for Moss at an after-school Good tunes, too Earl Grey is out now on Moshi The Load EP FULL TIME hOBBY
rock club in their first year at Euros Childs, Moshi. Girl Ray's UK tour begins Low-key Maryland singer-songwriter
secondary school, and though it took ex-Gorkys at Liverpool Heebie Jeebies on discreetly ups his game with a set of out-
a few years for them to rope in Zygotic Mynci October 30 takes. Significant help from Natalie Prass.

10 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017

12 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
 The worst thing is
boasting, especially
in this business
AN AUDIENCE WITh ChARloTTE gAINSBoURg
A
LTHouGH Charlotte
Gainsbourg has been living
in New York for the past
three years, she doesnt
miss Paris Not yet, she
says. I go back quite often. I know New
York, but not that well. You have a very
different experience when you start living
somewhere. Im still getting to know it
and I love it, its a wonderful city.
Gainsbourg was raised in Paris, the
daughter of English actress Jane
Birkin and French singer and
songwriter Serge Gainsbourg.
During a career that began in
her early teens, Gainsbourg has
pursued both disciplines. She
is an enthusiastic collaborator.
As an actress, she has worked
with directors such as Todd
Haynes and Michel Gondry,
appearing in independent
films that have often courted
controversy notably, her
collaborations with Lars Von
Trier. In a rare move into the
mainstream, her latest film,
The Snowman, is a high-profile studio
thriller co-starring Michael Fassbender.
Meanwhile, Gainsbourg is also
putting the finishing touches to
Rest, her first LP in seven years,
which features collaborations
with Paul McCartney and Daft
Punks Guy-Manuel de Homem-
Christo. It is, then, a busy time for
Gainsbourg. I love the fact that I
can go through one to another, from
music to film, she says. Its fun to not
have just one goal.
Rest is the first time youve
written lyrics. What prompted
that? Neil Hunter, London
I was touring with Connan
The actress and singer
discusses extreme scenes,
her famous parents, her
latest LP, and working with
Paul McCartney and Beck
Interview by michael bonner
Mockasin and he said, Lets get
in a room and you should try and
write lyrics. Ill play the guitar,
lets see what we come up with.
I felt quite liberated that way. So
we got together and I took bits and
pieces Id written in the past, put
them together to try and see if I
could make a song. Gradually, my
self-confidence grew. I realised I
wanted to make electronic music,
so I went to SebastiAn, a French
musician Ive known for some
years. Then I lost my sister, Kate,
and it became very obvious that the
New album only thing I could write about was
Rest (2017),
and Paul her. It became compulsive. I left for
McCartney New York, to try to grieve elsewhere,
and SebastiAn came. So we started on this
record nearly three years ago, SebastiAn
and me, in New York.
Is it true that as a child, your
parents would go out every night
after they put you to bed, then get
back home in time to take you to
school? Michelle Baker, Whitby
Well, they got back home when we left
for school they didnt take us to school!
Theres the nuance in that story. We had an
au pair who slept in our room and would
take care of us. My mother completely
changed when she and my father split
up. She was fed up of the nightlife and
she had a different life with her new lover.
We suddenly had family dinners. She
would stay in during the evenings. At the
weekend, I would go to my father and
have him all to myself. I really had three
different childhood experiences!
What qualities did Paul McCartney
bring to the sessions for Songbird
In A Cage? Tom, London
He gave me the demo over six years ago!
I asked if we could meet, he graciously
said hed have lunch with me, so I went to
London. I said, If by any chance you had
a song that you wouldnt like for yourself,
I would love to have it. Two weeks later,
he sent me this demo. I kept it in a drawer
until I was working with SebastiAn. I
showed him the demo and asked if we
could make it a part of this record. We had
to change the sound and style of it for it to
fit in, then he sent that new demo to Paul
and asked if hed come to New York, or we
would go to London, to play on the session.
He said yes again! He was in New York, so
we met at Electric Lady; he recorded bass
and some piano. It was just wonderful!
Are you still planning to turn your
Jesse Dittmar for the Washington Post via getty images
fathers house at Rue de Verneuil into
a museum? Kim Dixon, Aberdeen
Yes. Ive kept this house for 26 years and
maybe for 20 of those Ive battled to try to
get help. I knew I couldnt do it myself. I
went to see [businessman] Franois-Henri
Pinault and the architect Jean Nouvel
to work on the project together. Then so
many things started happening all at the
same time regarding my father. There was
a book of manuscripts, an exhibition, a
film by Joann Sfar on his life, so I decided
to shut down everything and just keep
the house to myself. At the moment, Im
working on a way that I can open a part
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 13

En famille: Kate Barry
(died 2013), Charlotte
Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin
and Serge Gainsbourg,
Paris, February 27, 1986
of the house to the public but Id also
keep one part secret so a few, last little
pieces of my father can remain private.
Theres a gap of 20 years between
your first and second albums. What
made you want to make music again
with 5:55?
Abigail Harper, Eastbourne
The first one was done completely by my
father. I only went in the studios for five
days, did two songs each day. He was in
charge, he wrote lyrics, wrote the music,
and you only had to sing. But it was so
magical, being able to sing with him,
that thats the only way I thought I could
do music. So when he died, I couldnt
listen to his music as it was too traumatic.
Gradually, I understood that I wanted to
make music again. I didnt know how, I
didnt know with whom. Then I got to meet
Air and suddenly it became obvious!
Youve appeared in some very
intense, often controversial films
The Cement Garden, Antichrist,
Nymphomaniac. How do you cope
with extreme scenes?
Marjorie Dunham, Cheam
No-ones ever asked me to go as far as Lars
Von Trier! I enjoy the fact that its tough,
anything that will make me go to different
places and forget about myself. I love the
intensity. But then, Independence Day was
a real thrill. I knew what I was doing when
I signed on, but I was astonished I had
never worked on such a huge scale. It was
like being in a video game. It was a new
way of working, but it was fun. And it was
great to work with Jeff Goldblum I adore
him! It was all so different from Lars films
PAT/GAmmA-RAPho viA GeTTy imAGes
or a little independent film. Its lovely to be
able to skip from one to another, though I
dont really feel that I have a space in those
huge films. It was exciting to try.
What do you find more rewarding,
making music or acting? Sean, Dublin
Its completely different! As an actor, the
point is to serve a director. Im not an
14 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
Cool collaboration:
with Beck in 2009
actress who knows
exactly what to do and where to
go and to be able to direct myself.
So the pleasure is getting lost in
a character. But an album is the
opposite. Im in command and I
choose to say what I want to say.
So it comes from a much more
personal place.
On IRM, you handed the
writing, arranging, and
producing over to Beck.
What was that like?
Stephen, Indiana
I met Beck with Nigel
Godrich in LA. Id never
have imagined he wanted
to work with me, but the
idea stuck in my head, so
I asked him. He suggested
we spent a few days in the
studio Lets see how it
works, maybe youll hate it,
maybe Ill hate it, lets just
see. We did three songs, so
we decided to keep going! It
The pleasure of acting is
to get lost in a character
Music comes from a much
more personal place
happened also because I had something
to propose. It sounds a bit strange, but
Id suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and
the sounds of the MRI scanner were
inspiring to me. I dont know what comes
first the trauma and then the obligation
to express yourself, or wanting to express
yourself and trying to find subjects that
are important and personal. But it was
a subject I wanted to talk about. I loved
Becks way of writing, thats what I wanted
to sing. I didnt want to sing my own words.
French pop or English pop?
Conor, Manchester
Pop is an English-language music. Its
very hard to be musical with French. Its
not rhythmical, it doesnt swing. When
I worked with Air, they told me that, for
them, words didnt have much value
other than a rhythmic importance, which
is why they used English, as the songs
wouldnt work in French. I understand
that. I avoided singing in French until now
because I was worried that if I did, Id be
compared to my father Id be the first
one to judge myself in that way, anyway.
When I asked Jarvis Cocker if hed write for
me, I told him I wanted to sing in English,
I didnt want to sing in French.
Whats the best advice your mother
gave you? Nathalie Georges, Paris
She didnt say it out loud, but she made it
so clear not to take myself too seriously.
I started very young, I was 12,
and my second song was a big
success in France. My parents
might have been scared that
Id suddenly become too sure
of myself. She also made me
understand that a film didnt
mean much that you could
have success one day, but not
the next. It made me insecure,
which wasnt her intention. I
was terrified Id never be able to
continue. But its a good piece
of advice anyway, because the
worst thing is people boasting,
especially in this business.
What are your favourite
records by your father?
Noah Anderson, New York
LHomme Tte De Chou and
Histoire De Melody Nelson. Ive
listened to his music since I was
a child. A lot of the songs I liked
then, I realise now werent the
best ones! Initially Bb was
one of my favourites. But now
Ive rediscovered all my mothers
albums, too. Shes just released
a new album of my fathers songs
recorded with a symphony orchestra. Its
wonderful. Because its my fathers songs
in a different style, it makes them seem
now. Its absolutely beautiful.
Rest is released on November 17
via Because Music; The Snowman
is in cinemas on October 13
 To be like Him is what I long to do

NEW
WAALBUMS
B
december 2017
Take 247
1 morrissey (p20)
2 mavis sTaples (p24)
3 jim whiTe (p26)
4 peTer oren (p32)

tHe uncut guide tO tHis mOntHs key releases

sharon jones
and The dap-kinGs
soul of a woman
dapTone

Her swansong, and a soul masterpiece. By Jason Anderson

O
f the many emotions identity, signified by both the loss of her hair
that will be elicited album and the dampening of energies. But Miss
by Sharon Jones final OF THE Sharon Jones! also stands as a testament to
recordings with the mONTH her determination, as she summons the will
Dap-Kings, a feeling
of gratitude may be the
9/10 astoshe get back onstage and slay em just as hard
always did.
strongest in a good many Choosing not to wear a wig, she performed
of us. After all, its extraordinary that she regained dozens more shows with the Dap-Kings between
the strength she exudes in nearly every moment of 2014 and 2016, travelling across the US, Europe,
Soul Of A Woman, in light of the battle with pancreatic Australia and South America. Sadly, shed miss the
cancer that began in 2013. Its hard to comprehend two last dates, being too ill from pneumonia to travel
how she found the power that pours out of her in the from her home in Georgia to play a SXSW showcase at
widescreen melodrama of These Tears (No Longer the White House in October, and then passing away
for You) or in the more tender-hearted Pass Me By, a few days before an all-star tribute to her idol James
though a church-going woman like herself wouldve Brown in Newark, NJ, in November. Producer and
had a confident answer to that question. Dap-Kings bandleader Gabriel Bosco Mann Roth
As documented to poignant said that Jones blamed Trump
effect in Barbara Kopples for the initial stroke she had
film Miss Sharon Jones, while watching the results
chemotherapy sapped Jones come in on that most woeful of
of the vitality that awed US election nights. She suffered
audiences again and again, a more debilitating one while in
after the former wedding singer the hospital. Though shed lost
and prison guard began her the ability to speak, she could
collaboration with the loose still sing for the bandmates
confederation of vintage soul whod gathered in her room to
JACOB BLICKENSTAFF

freaks and players that became play for her before she died on
the Dap-Kings 17 years ago. November 18.
Kopples film captures the Given the fraught
singers sorrow as she contends circumstances of the making of
with a profound crisis of Soul Of A Woman recorded on

16 UncUT december 2017

december 2017 UncUT 17
 new albums
an eight-track machine at Daptone Studios,
the band convening whenever Jones was
up for it the new album somehow doesnt
need to be great to attain the significance
and veneration itll undoubtedly be
accorded. The plain fact of its existence
will be enough for anyone whos ever been
wowed or moved by her. Yet from Jones
first cry of Oh yeah! Oh yeah! in the
opening track Matter Of Time through
to the long fade for the organ and her
extended final note in the gospel finale
Call On God, Soul Of A Woman proves
to be so much more than your average
swansong. It may even be the first work
to emerge from the Daptone school of
impeccably crafted but sometimes overly
studied retro-soul to truly rank with the
masterpieces that inspired them. Sly,
spirited and sublime, it packs a whole lot of
action into its 36 filler-free minutes.
Its also the groups most ambitious
album, thanks to the orchestral nature
of the music in its second half. Roth
and the group had been keen on that
kind of approach ever since the 2012
sessions for Give The People What They
Want yielded a set of songs that evoked
the sophisticated, moody vibe they
associated with favourites like Gladys
Knights pre-Motown singles, Tell Her
Youre Mine and It Hurts Me So Bad. character. Rumours tell me that youre no
A 2014 performance of Marvin Gayes
Whats Going On with John Legend and the
Los Angeles Philharmonic fuelled their
interest in creating a showcase for Jones
with the same kind of sweep and scope.
But the musicians also couldnthelpbut
note the gusto with which their revitalised
frontwoman attacked newer, rawer
additions to the Dap-Kings live repertoire,
like Sail On! and Just Give Me Your
Time. So Soul Of A Woman became an
opportunity to venture in both directions.
An original by guitarist Binky Griptite,
written and delivered in the hard-hitting
mode of Wilson Picketts Stax sessions,
Matter Of Time opens the albums more
aggressive front half with a satisfying
swagger. Sail On! immediately trumps
it, Jones tearing her way through the tale
of an indignant womans encounter with
the lover who once blew her off. On Just
Give Me Your Time and Come And Be A
Winner, she takes on a more conciliatory
Three ShArON JONeS eSSeNTiAlS
Motown-centric sophistication, R&B, funk, soul and heavy grooves
100 Days, 100 Nights
DaPToNE, 2007
After two albums that earned
her much love among retro-
soul connoisseurs and the
Dap-Kings boost in profile
JACOB BLICKENSTAFF
thanks to Amy Winehouse, Jones and her band
broke through to a wider audience with a
more sophisticated, more Motown-centric set
that hit just as hard as its rawer predecessors.
The title track remains one of Jones
quintessential performances.
18 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
SLEEVE NOTES
1. Matter Of Time
2. Sail On!
3. Just Give Me
Your Time
4. Come And Be
A Winner
5. Rumors
6. Pass Me By
7. Searching For
Jones and the A New Day
Dap-Kings: from 8. These Tears (No
raw swagger Longer For You)
to moody
sophistication 9. When I Saw
Your Face
10. Girl! (You Got
To Forgive Him)
tone. Penned by Dap-Kings guitarist with the singer for attention. Even when 11. Call On God
Joseph Crispiano, the latter combines a things swell to Shirley Bassey-worthy
pep talk Sometimes people will treat you proportions on Girl (You Got To Forgive Produced by:
like a worn-out shoe/But they dont know Him), Jones voice remains the focal Bosco Mann, aka
what you can do with an irresistible point, with her range uncompromised and Gabriel Roth
Latin-soul shuffle. Its Spanish Harlem her phrasing still right on the money. Recorded at:
feel extends into Rumors, a nimbly The gospel number that closes Soul Daptone Studios,
Brooklyn
funky tune that casts Jones as a woman Of A Woman is one of very few songs in
Personnel include:
with many reasons to doubt her mans the Dap-Kings canon credited to Jones Sharon Jones
herself another, Im Still Here, earned (vocals, piano),
good, baby, she sings, with some Dixie her an Oscar nomination thanks to its Joseph Crispiano
Cups-style backing provided via her own prominence in Miss Sharon Jones!. An (guitars),
overdubbed harmony vocals. (Elsewhere, ardent expression of grace, devotion, Cochemea
those duties go to her longtime backing warmth and courage, Call On God Gastelum (sax),
vocalists Saun & Starr, aka Saundra is the gut-wrenching, heart-crushing Binky Griptite
Williams and Starr Duncan Lowe.) moment that fans surely hoped to find on (gtr), Dave Guy
(trumpet, bass),
Like most of the songs here, Rumors Jones final album, but may exceed those
Bosco Mann
doesnt make any clear-cut references to expectations anyhow. Its here where she (bass, gtr, organ),
the singers real-life struggles. Yet its hard escapes that sorrow and looks beyond her Homer Steinweiss
not to hear intimations of graver matters sufferings in the present, secure in the (drums), Neal
when she sings of giving up a love thats knowledge that to be like Him is what I Sugarman (tenor
too painful to hang onto in Pass Me By, long to do and that the Almighty is there sax, piano),
or expressing her resilience in the face to carry you through. The swellings of an Fernando Velez
of hard times in Searching For A New eminently churchy-sounding organ and (percussion),
Day. Whats more, the general degree of the Universal Church Of God Choir from Saun & Starr (bk
vocals), Chris
poignancy increases dramatically in Soul the Jamaica, NY, congregation where she
Davis (trumpet,
Of A Womans orchestral closing suite, as was a member give ample support in piano), Brian
Jones pours her heart out and then some. musical terms, but Jones sounds like she Wolfe (drums),
Remarkably deft, the horn and string could carry it all on her own if she wanted Victor Axelrod
arrangements provide great richness to or needed to. The quiet that follows the (organ), Thomas
These Tears (No Longer For You) and songs last moments seems awfully quiet, Brenneck (gtr)
When I Saw Your Face, without ever as if you needed any more proof of the
allowing any single element to compete empty space she has left in the world.
how to buy...
I Learned The Hard Way Its a Holiday Soul Party
DaPToNE, 2010 DaPToNE, 2015
Avid students of nearly every The first Dap-Kings album
variation and era of soul and recorded after Jones began
R&B, the Dap-Kings many treatment (not that you can
songwriters took a while tell), this seasonal spectacular
for their reach to match their ambitions. But is as joyous as you could hope and way funkier
songs such as Better Things and Mama than it ought to be, especially when it takes the
Dont Like My Man demonstrate just how holiday-record genre in an atypically interfaith
far theyve come. Jones unparalleled voice direction on 8 Days Of Hannukah or brings
and the heavier, Muscle Shoals-style grooves overdue attention to Santas biggest headache
help, too. with Aint No Chimneys In The Projects.

Miss Jones: a live
act who worked
right up til the
end of her life
Q&a
neal sugarman &
Gabriel Roth: Key Dap-
Kings recall making
Sharon Jones final LP
How were Sharons health and
spirits during the recording?
Neal SugarmaN: This was of course
a hard record to make, because we
were working around a very unusual
situation. Not only were we trying to
find the right times to record because of
Sharons health, but also Sharon being
a live act who worked right up til the end
of her life was always very concerned
with making sure she was well rested
for whatever shows or tours she had
coming up. But the band loves the studio
and it has always been a place where we
can be loose, enjoy being together and
create. Whenever we were all playing
music together whether live or in the
studio things felt most normal. When
she had a microphone in her hand, she
was always bigger than life and seemed
invincible. As you can hear in the music,
things were flowing in the studio and
Sharon proceeded to sing her ass off,
as she always did. And this record
definitely didnt come out of any sense
of fear or sadness. I dont think any of us
ever took for granted one minute of the
opportunity to hang out and make music
together there was really no better hang
than Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings.
The original plan for Soul Of A
Woman was to do something
very orchestral in scale. That
ended up only being part of the
whole how come?
gabriel roth (aka boSco maNN):
Sharon was battling for her life and we
realised that those more sophisticated,
moody tunes with orchestral
arrangements that we initially recorded
did not really give her the kind of raw
meat that she liked to devour onstage.
With that in mind, we went back into the
studio with the idea of cutting some more
tunes with more of a live feel. In the last
few months of touring we did, she was
crushing some of these. At the end, we
looked at the songs we had and decided
to split the LP. The front half of the record
is more of the raw stuff and the back half
leans more orchestral. For me, it ended
up being a really coherent statement of
how deep we got in all directions.
Can you talk about Sharons
writing and recording of Call
on god? Was it always clear
that this song would have such
an emotional wallop?
Neal: This was a song that Sharon had
written long before she was with the
Dap-Kings. Sharon was very involved
with her church choir since the 70s.
We even reissued a seven-inch they
made in the late 70s as E L Fields Gospel
Wonders. Many of the people from that
record stayed with that choir and are
still there today. One of Sharons dreams
was to record more gospel music, and
whenever she sang those songs, yes, it
She sang her ass off.
This record definitely
didnt come from any
sense of fear or sadness
NEaL SUgaRMaN
new albums
always packed a wallop. One things that
added to the impact of that song was
that after a memorial service the pastor
had for Sharon at their church, the choir
came back to the studio in Bushwick and
recorded all the back-up vocals. It was a
very intense moment and there were a lot
of tears that you can feel in the track.
What was it like trying to
finish the album without
Sharon around?
gabriel: I read somewhere once that
Steve Cropper described mixing Sitting
On The Dock Of The Bay right after Otis
died in that plane crash as one of the
most difficult things hed ever done. I can
relate to that a little bit now. Having to go
to work every day and listen to voice of
my recently departed friend was pretty
tough, especially the little banter that
would be caught on the tape before and
after takes. It wasnt just that it made
me miss her so much that was rough.
But it was also that every word she
sang suddenly felt so precious, and the
pressure to pick the right takes and do
everything I could for this record became
the responsibility of hand-picking her
legacy. Every word cut or saved seemed
like such a heavy choice to make.
are there any plans to perform
these songs live?
gabriel: We would love to play these
songs again. There have been a few
suggestions about collaborating with
different singers to make it happen, but
in the end, its very hard for the band to
go through with that. It would have to be
a really particular situation and a special
singer to do that and have it feel good.
It must be unbelievably tough
to lose both Sharon and now
Charles Bradley over the
last year how is the Daptone
family coping?
gabriel: It has been devastating for
us. Not only losing Sharon and Charles,
but Dan Klein, the Frightnrs singer, and
Cliff Driver, the bandleader for Naomi
Shelton & The Gospel Queens. All of
them were not only huge parts of the
Daptone sound but also great friends of
ours. The loss of the past year has been
almost surreal in its scale. However,
I know that all of them would have
wanted us to keep going, and we plan
to. There is a real sense of the passing
of the old guard at Daptone. There are
some new artists that were very excited
about. Theyll never replace anybody
who has passed, just like a new baby
in the family doesnt undo the loss of
a loved one. It just makes it possible to
see a future for a family that has been
JACOB BLICKENSTAFF
ravaged. Knowing that we have so much
of their music to survive them is some
consolation. I know Ill never lose the
part of me I got from Sharon Jones.
INTERVIEW: JASON ANDERSON
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 19
 new albums

B
Y not dying young, Morrissey robbed

MORRISSEY the world of a great artist. One

tweet in the aftermath of the latest
outrage noting the failure of UKIP
Low In High School to elect Anne Marie Waters as leader
ETIENNE/BMG
captured the feeling of a generation
5/10 of betrayed fans. If only he had been
struck down, you sense the devout wish perhaps
Sham 69 meets David Icke! onstage with The Smiths in Newcastle in January 1986
The work of an artist on the Red Wedge tour, the Queen Is Dead already safely
in the can the legacy would be untarnished and he
in blinkered decline, might be fixed in the same iconic aspic as Ian Curtis.
concludes Stephen Trouss
SAM RAYneR

Truth is, Morrisseys career has been all about sailing

too close to the wind, a long, provocative courtship
of offence. From the very start he was putting a

20 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017


laugh track on a song about the Moors
Murderers, singing about molesting
students, celebrating 13-year-old cop
killers and lamenting the failure of the
IRA to assassinate Thatcher. There has
never been a righteous, right-on centrist
dad Morrissey you could comfortably
disassociate from the unhinged extremity.
The lurid paranoia, stifled desire, splenetic
resentment and hysterical vengefulness
fuel the fever-pitch romanticism and the
vile politics.
Listening to Low In High School, though,
his first record since he broke his own
landspeed record for alienating labels
with 2014s abortive World Peace Is None
Of Your Business, you wonder if the bilious
rhetoric becomes more emphatic as his
artistic power wanes. While that earlier LP
showed renewed gallows intensity, this is
in many ways his weakest since Kill Uncle.
Spent The Day In Bed is certainly
an inauspicious lead single. Though the
Roxyish keyboards are refreshing, the
chorus Stop watching the news! feels
symptomatically artless. Theres some
irony in the way that the refusenik of the
80s no videos! No synths! has become
the one indie artist to flourish in the 21st-
century clickbait torrent of pop, where
your impact can be calculated by your
thinkpiece pagecount. But too much of
LIHS could be summarised, without much
poetic loss, in a bullet list of talking points:
fake news; the world burns; but I have
discovered oral sex; and did I mention I
received the Freedom Of Tel Aviv?
Confusingly, the LP is often musically
splendid. After a decade in a chugging
rut, producer Joe Chiccarelli brought
new colour to the Moz soundworld on
World Peace, and here he impressively
marshals contributions from four
co-writers in the Morrissey band. The
album rumbles in with brassy swagger
on the Mando Lopez co-write My Love,
Id Do Anything For You, like The Sweet
chancing their arm at a Bond theme. It
feels like it should be a statement of intent
la Youre Gonna Need Someone On
Your Side. But instead of squaring up for a
scrap, Morrissey announces himself with
Teach your kids to recognise and despise
all the propaganda/Filtered down by the
dead echelons mainstream media. Less
rousing state-of-the-nation address, more
like Sham 69 hopped up on David Icke.
Again, I Wish You Lonely, courtesy of
Boz Boorer, sounds great, with curdled
synths and thudding bass like something
from the first Magazine album. And here at
least Moz attains some urgency, advising
you to eschew the dependencies of fealty,
romance and heroin and instead aim for
the existential heroism of the last tracked,
humpbacked whale, chased by gunships
from Bergen but never giving in!
But things go badly off the rails with I
Bury The Living. Morrissey has never
been shy about his Buffy Sainte-Marie
fandom, and here he pays fulsome tribute
by writing his own version of Universal
Soldier. While that tune is as pious
new albums
SLEEVE NOTES
AtoZ
as most protest songs, it does at least
implicate the listener in some collective
responsibility. I Bury The Living, by 1. My Love, Id
contrast, is witless thud and blunder, Do Anything
For You
bemoaning honour-mad cannon fodder
2. I Wish You
for seven and a half minutes. It capsizes
the album, which struggles to recover.
Lonely This month
3. Jackys Only
It is nevertheless an interesting way of Happy When P22 BAND OF HOLY jOY
leading into a second half that is largely Shes Up On
P23 jAMES HOLDEN
preoccupied with sexual frustration in The Stage
P24 MAvIS STAPLES
Israel. While on paper that sounds like 4. Home Is A
Question Mark P25 BOOTSY COLLINS
a promising combination, in practice
5. Spent The P26 jIM WHITE
it doesnt really get off the drawing
Day In Bed P30 LEON RUSSELL
board. In Your Lap is typical, using the
6. I Bury The P31 GUN OUTFIT
Arab Spring as little more than a cheap
Living P32 PETER OREN
backdrop, and for the meagre frisson of 7. In Your Lap
rhyming Wipe us straight off the map 8. The Girl From
with I want my head in your lap. The Tel-Aviv Who MATIAS AGUAYO &
Girl From Tel Aviv Who Wouldnt Kneel Wouldnt Kneel THE DESDEMONAS
is possibly even more facile, forgetting its 9. All The Young Sofarnopolis
protagonist almost immediately to take People Must CRAMMED DISCS
a breezy tour of the post-Iraq Middle East Fall In Love
7/10
10. When You
before glibly concluding What did you Berlin producers full-band
Open Your Legs
think all these armies were for?/The land new-wave project
11. Who Will
weeps oil. Who Will Save Us From The Protect Us From Chilean-born
Police? meanwhile, simply concludes on The Police? Matias Aguayo is a
a coda of VENEZUELA! VENEZUELA! 12. Israel restless soul whose
with all the subtlety of a Tory minister solo catalogue has
warning of the perils of social democracy. Produced by: snaked around the
In the midst of this, All The Young Joe Chiccarelli experimental end of
People Must Fall In Love is a cute piece of Recorded at: disco and house for two decades. For
Boz Boorer jugband light relief, advising La Fabrique this new ensemble offering, however,
Studios, France; he fronts a cosmopolitan band, The
romantic quietism and not worrying about
Forum Studios, Desdemonas, who indulge their new-
the government, even as the Presidents Rome wave fantasies Sofarnopolis is a
plot apocalypse. The final Israel, Personnel fictional location with a compelling
however, is just baffling. Its a portentous includes: set of light-industrial Krautrock.
dirge, accompanied by a familiar, Morrissey Playing with others makes this one
ludicrous litany of Catholic complaints, (vocals), Boz of Aguayos more stimulating
interspersed with a sighing chorus to the Boorer (guitar), projects. His slithery melodies are
Holy Land. It all feels weirdly reminiscent Jesse Tobias in place and he revels in his role as
of Julie Burchills latterday semitophilia. (guitar), Mando a crooner on the lovely Amiga
Lopez (bass), and Walk On By, but the bands
Is this what becomes of our one-time post-
Gustav Manzur muscular diversions on Nervous
punk provocateurs? Learning Hebrew, (keyboards), and Cold Fever force him from his
taking booze cruises to TLV and retiring Matt Walker comfort zone. Piers Martin
into indolent, blinkered decline? (drums)
Jackys Only Happy When Shes Up ED ASKEW
On The Stage, a scathing piece of self- ART AND LIFE
reflection disguised as character study, TIN ANGEL
suggests Moz is at least aware of his career 8/10
predicament. After sketching the narrative Freak-folk pioneer returns to the
arc to date (Scene 2: everyone who comes studio after five decades
must go/Scene 4: blacker than ever before/ Fted for 1968s
Scene 6: this country is making me sick) acid-folk treasure
he concludes, Exit! Exit!/Everybodys Ask The Unicorn,
heading for the exit! Whether hes turning Ed Askew has spent
his audience away with his views or with the intervening
records as weak as this, it looks like a self- years painting,
fulfilling prophecy. The Morrissey story writing poetry and releasing only
surely deserves a finer final act. home recordings. Modern studio
technology softens his edges, and
time has rendered his voice more
vulnerable, but one tenet remains
true, encapsulated by the title
Confusingly, the track:Everybody knows music is
the soul. If so, according to this
endearingly fragile collection
album is often wherehes assisted by Josephine
Foster and Mary Lattimore his
musically splendid is singularly tender. Hey Joe
and Clint Eastwood are like
rumbling in with lost Lambchop classics, while
Friends And Lovers combines
Daniel Johnstons innocence with
brassy swagger Van Dyke Parks sophistication.
WYnDHaM WaLLaCe
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 21
 new albums
revelations
BAND OF HOLY JOY
Johny Brown on keeping the faith with indie ideals
AND Of Holy Joy have
b been a heartwarming
beacon of DIY
bohemian values for over 30
years. This ramshackle London
collectives latest LP,
Funambulist I Love You, is
vintage on many levels, an
urban folk opera drunk on
dashed hopes and inflamed
passions. We vacillate
between a traditional indie
band and an art band,
explains singer, lyricist and sole
remaining founder member
Johny Brown. We keep the
faith with indie ideals but were
also quite experimental.
Brown left his native
Newcastle for London 35 years
ago, sharing a New Cross
squat with industrial noise-
punks Test Department and
LAURA BAIRD
I Wish I Were A Sparrow
BA DA BING
8/10
Appalachian folk songs ancient and
modern. Contains actual sparrows.
those who place
value in folk bona
fides should be
impressed by Laura
Bairds family tree:
her sister is Meg, the
spectral singer who also currently
jams in Heron Oblivion; her great-
great uncle, IG Greer, was a notable
song collector and singer in North
Carolina. the pleasures of I Wish I Were
A Sparrow are not, though, dependent
on ancestry. As keen listeners will
have spotted on three duo albums
with her sister (notably 2012s Until
You Find Your Green), Baird is a nimble
banjoist, and has one of those ethereal
KATOMON
folk voices that can sound at once
warm and uncanny. Its a tribute to her
songwriting, too, that new songs like
22 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
future comedy star Vic Reeves.
Signing to Rough Trade in the
late 1980s, BOHJ enjoyed indie
acclaim, but never quite
cracked the charts. We knew
we had something unique, but
it would have been a shock to
everyone to go on Top Of The
Pops, Brown admits. We
were maverick guys from a
South London squat, never set
up for mainstream success. I
couldnt sing anyway!
Band Of Holy Joy was once a
full-time job for Brown, keeping
eight people employed. Today,
he balances music with
playwriting projects, an online
radio show on Resonance FM
and a day job at Mencap. Im
a musical pauper, he laughs.
But I love it. Ive had a fantastic
life. STEPHEN DALTON
the fine opener, Wind Wind, are such
comfortable bedmates with trad picks
like Pretty saro and the Cuckoo.
One to file alongside recent sets by
House & Land and Nathan Bowles
in your Contemporary Appalachian
section. JOHN MULVEY
JULIEN BAkER
Turn Out the Lights MATADOR
8/10
Second set of soul-scarring tunes
from a Mid-South singer-songwriter
Julien Baker recorded
her second album
at Ardent studios
in her hometown of
Memphis, and those
historic environs
only increase the relentless, at times
even claustrophobic intimacy of her
songs. Her arrangements remain
aggressively minimalist, pairing her
soulful vocals with only a guitar or
a piano to underscore barbed lines
like, Youre all that I need and Im all
that you dread. Appointments and
sour Breath address Bakers own
depression with unflinching candour,
while Happy to Be Here sounds like
a break-up song with God. Lights
may be bleak, but that only makes
the moments of catharsis all the more
illuminating. STEPHEN DEUSNER
BAND OF HOLY JOY
Funambulist We Love You
TINY GLOBAL PRODUCTIONS
7/10
Further bohemian rhapsodies from
veteran gutter poets
After 30-plus years of
near-hits, wrong turns
and long sabbaticals,
Johny Browns
soulfully ramshackle
indie-rock collective
have proved unusually fertile since
reactivating in 2007, diversifying
into theatre, radio and multimedia
collaborations. Lyrically, Funambulist
We Love You references Donald trump
and current events, but musically
it sits firmly within the bands long-
established ragamuffin chanson
sound. there are shades of Nick Cave
and Marc Almond as Brown waxes
sardonically in his bruised, wobbly,
heartfelt vibrato on A Revivalist
Impulse and the song OfPassionate
Intensity. these Brechtian music-hall
torch songs may be baggy and creaky
in places, but Browns pound-shop
bohemia still has a certain absinthe-
soaked allure. STEPHEN DALTON
short musical phrases configured by a
BITCHIN BAJAS
BAJAS FRESH DRAG CITY
9/10
Levitating career high from Chicago
kosmische jockeys
Daft name
notwithstanding,
Cooper Crain and
his Chicago crew
have established
themselves as the
foremost neue-kosmische outfit
around. After various collaborations
(including a profile-raising one with
Will Oldham), their first full album in its spiritual home. JOHN MULVEY
three years is a testament to expanding
frontiers. Initially, Bajas Fresh remains
focused on rapturous psychedelic
electronica, albeit less dependent
on the usual reference points terry
Riley, tangerine Dream et al of
old. Gradually, though, it embraces
new textures: a vast drone piece
(Yonaguni); a foregrounding of free
jazz elements (2303, Chokayo, Be
Going) that, as on their 2015 set with
Natural Information society, manage
to be skittishly improvisational
without undermining the overall
serenity. A good time for your chakras
guaranteed. JOHN MULVEY
Bitchin Bajas
to go with it, though. NIGEL WILLIAMSON
kARL BLAU
Out Her Space BELLA UNION
8/10
Soul love from the Spacebomb stable
the last time we
heard from Blau, he
was singing lush,
Charlie Rich-style
country-soul covers
on the outstanding
Introducing. this follow-up sounds
like the work of an entirely different
artist. Following Blaus production
work on Matthew E Whites 2012
classic, Big Inner, White offered him
the spacebomb house band and studio
resources. the result, says Blau, is
a soul-funk cousin to Big Inner,
featuring a hefty dose of off-kilter Afro-
pop alongside jazz-rock freak-outs
(Where You Goin Papa) and the acid-
country of Blue As My Name, where
Blau claims to be drunk with wonder
again. He sounds it. GRAEME THOMSON
BROOkLYN RAGA
MASSIVE
Terry Riley In C NORTHERN SPY
8/10
A minimalist classic relocates
its Indian roots
Few musical pieces in
the modern classical
canon provide the
opportunity for a
communal freak-out
like terry Rileys In
C. Recent versions have seen its 53
Guitar Orchestra lead by Portisheads
Adrian Utley, and by an Africa Express
conclave in a Bamako youth club.
Given the key influence of Indian
music on Riley, its weird that no-ones
previously improvised on In C using
sitars, tablas and so on. thus Brooklyn
Raga Massives take is a logical and
satisfying one. Part of In Cs genius
is how no instrumentation sounds
anachronistic to it, but the gracefully
evolving systems lend themselves well
to the rich textures listen out for the
dragon mouth trumpet. A masterpiece
of social music may have finally found
MATTI BYE
This Forgotten Land
CONTROL FREAk kITTEN
6/10
Swedish composer expands palette
Long known for his
film compositions,
reviewers tend to
pontificate about
Byes visionary
cinematic scope.
This Forgotten Land lives up to such
clichs, as ambient traces of Debussy
and satie inform his piano on the
instrumentals Melt and Absencee.
A more futuristic impulse fuels the
Ligeti-inspired Piano street, while
the spooked, slow-motion circus-
mannerisms of Into the Haze conjure
a mad whirligig at the end of time. It
really needs someone to make a movie

JAMES HOLDEN &
THE ANIMAL SPIRITS
The Animal Spirits
BORDER COMMUNITY
8/10
Former trance kid turned modular synth wrangler discovers the power
of psychic communication. By Sam Richards
Its taken almost two
decades, but James
Holden has finally
reached a musical
domain where he
feels completely at
home. At the turn of
the millennium and barely out of his teens,
the skyscraping thump of his early tracks
Horizons and Nothing made him a
star on the trance and progressive house
scenes, where he rubbed shoulders with
sasha and tisto. But with a maths degree
from Oxford, Holden was always more of a
thinker than a raver. Gradually retreating
from the superclub sphere, he started his
own label Border Community, putting
out techno and electronica with a bucolic
feel. His own debut, 2006s The Idiots Are
Winning, introduced a strong element of
Aphex-style wibbliness to the equation.
It would be another seven years before
he followed it up, during which time he
abandoned the strictures of software
composition for the lure of the modular
synth, painstakingly constructing his own
Frankensteins monster of an electronic
music machine. 2013s The Inheritors
found him coaxing astonishing noises
from his new creation, although at 75
minutes, the LP was heavy going in places.
For all its pagan references, it still felt like
the work of a boffin rather than a shaman.
Holdens eureka moment came
when assembling a live band to tour
The Inheritors. He managed to recruit
two musicians hed admired for a long
time: tom Page, drummer with Neneh
new albums
Marcus Hamblett, percussionist Lascelle
Gordon and recorder player Liza Bec,
who obliterates all lingering memories of
school music lessons with her ferocious
approach to the humble instrument.
At the centre of it all, Holdens synth
plays a different role than before. It can
still gnaw, seethe and splutter like a
beast on a leash, but mostly it acts as the
harmonic anchor, allowing the other
instruments to cut loose and shred.
thunder Moon Gathering and the
Neverending feel unifying and majestic,
in contrast to the common urge in
experimental music to prod and provoke.
Pages live drums have transformed
Holdens approach, allowing for complex
rhythms that roll and sway in the manner
that programmed beats can rarely hope
to match. Pass through the Fire has
a lurching, swirling rhythm inspired
by Holdens 2014 trip to Morocco to
work with Gnawa musician Maalem
Mahmoud Guinia. Go Gladly Into the
Earth sounds like Kraftwerks Europe
Endless reimagined as a frantic folk
waltz. During the mesmeric spinning
Dance, whose time signature changes
every time you think youve found the
beat, you start to wonder if youre actually
being hypnotised for use in one of Holdens
future experiments. For an LP inspired by
free jazz and outsider folk, with no vocals
or lyrics to cling to, The Animal Spirits is
pretty approachable. Although it barely
Cherry and Four tet collaborators qualifies as electronica, much more than
SLEEVE NOTES RocketNumberNine, and Etienne Jaumet on The Inheritors you can hear Holdens
1. Incantation For of French synth duo Zombie Zombie, who dancefloor-pleasing past manifested in the
Inanimate Object also blows a mean jazz sax. way these tracks groove and flow.
2. Spinning Dance Holden also gave up DJing, so rather Ultimately it doesnt sound much like
3. Pass Through than spend his week sifting through Pharoah sanders. The Animal Spirits is
The Fire
hundreds of new releases to put together earthy and tactile, with an inescapably
4. Each Moment
a convincingly cutting-edge techno set, British and faintly mischievous air that
Like The First
5. The Beginning he started listening almost exclusively feels more like soft Machine jamming
& End Of The to the spiritual jazz of Don Cherry and with Mogwai or Fuck Buttons. Holden
World Pharoah sanders. this convinced him is a rationalist rather than a spiritualist,
6. Thunder that the only path to true musical nirvana applying science and logic to push his
Moon Gathering involved musicians vibing off each other music into strange, potentially mind-
7. The Animal in real time, and that even multitracking altering places. Even if you dont believe
Spirits was an evil capitalist construct. to in animal spirits, you can appreciate the
8. The
complete his new folk-jazz-trance alchemy of this albums creation and its
Neverending
band, he scoured Londons lively improv impressive dedication to spinning your
9. Go Gladly Into
The Earth scene to find trumpet and cornet player brain just slightly off its axis.
Produced by:
James Holden Q&A
Recorded at:
Sacred Walls, James Holden: The when people play together, complicated. But usually Id
London modern way of making everything each one does just show them a basic idea.
Personnel: James records is a capitalist affects the rest. So you cant With Tom and I, we dont
aberration!
Holden (synth, do it in takes, the traditional need to discuss things very
studio method. You all have much. He knows intuitively
programming),
Tom Page what made you want to hear and respond to where Im going. Its magic!
(drums), Etienne to form an improv band each other. The modern Music is like a conduit for
Jaumet (sax), after all these years of way of making records is psychic communication.
Marcus Hamblett being a solo producer? a capitalist aberration!
(trumpet, When I started playing live, I How did the state
cornet), Liza found how exciting it was to what instructions did of the world in 2017
Bec (recorder), play with people who liked to you give to everyone affect your approach?
Lascelle Gordon improvise. The structure of before you pressed In that I didnt want to make
my music worked with that record? For some of a closed record for a niche
(percussion)
anyway. Theres this Harvard the songs Id demoed little audience, one thats carried
LAURA LEWIS
physics guy, Holger Hennig, melodies. I did write a score by its funny noises, I wanted
who did a paper on human for The Beginning & The it to be carried by the songs
timing. He proved that End Of The World as its so beneath. INTERVIEW: SAM RICHARDS
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 23
 neW Albums
MAVIS
STAPLES
If All I Was
Was Black
ANTI-
8/10
The gospel queen teams
up with Jeff Tweedy for an
album of 21st-century
Civil Rights anthems.
By John Lewis
A decAde ago, Mavis
Staples recorded an
album with producer
Ry cooder in which
she performed soulful
cover versions of
1960s civil Rights
anthems. At the time, tracks like her
brooding blues version of the funereal
dirge In The Mississippi River or her
thrilling Southern-fried funk upgrade of
eyes On The Prize were presented as
historic pieces from a discrete period in US
history performances that were revisited
for reasons of aesthetics rather than out of
political urgency.
Flash forward to 2017 and, as they say,
shit got serious. As the current occupant of
the Oval Office claims that a rally of white
supremacists contains good people,
and blames both sides for the murder of
an anti-racist protestor, this collection of
original, 21st-century civil Rights songs
takes on a certain urgency.
The album is Staples third collaboration
with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, and the
first where, instead of tackling old and
new standards, Tweedy has written every
song. each is a nod to the kind of (vaguely)
political secular gospel anthems that R&B
artists started singing in the late 1960s
and early 70s, and its a compliment to
Tweedys songcraft to suggest that many
of these songs including the jangly disco
of the title track sound as if the Staple
Singers might have performed them in
their heyday.
However, where Mavis voice was once
a rangey, optimistic mezzo-soprano, her
register has dropped dramatically to an
CHRIS STRONG
emotionally rich, bassy contralto. It adds
a growling intensity to lyrics that are
dignified rather than angry maybe a
24 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
states and the red hotbeds of country
and heartland rock in the South and
the Midwest. Build A Bridge, where
Tweedys falsetto vocal is pitched an
octave higher than Staples growl, not only
reads like a hymn to unite a nation, but it
tries to do so musically, mixing a funky
undercarriage with country flourishes.
elsewhere, there are nods to other
offshoots of the secular gospel tradition in
R&B. The tinny drum machine that kicks
off opener Little Bit and Who Told You
That? recalls the Maestro Rhythm King
used by Sly Stone on Family Affair or
Timmy Thomas on Why cant We Live
Together. Another Sly & The Family Stone
track, everyday People, is invoked by
jangly tack piano on Aint No doubt About
It a bright and breezy duet for Staples
and Tweedy.
On other numbers, Tweedy goes out on
a limb. No Time For crying is a single-
chord groove based around a motorik
drumbeat and some percussive, one-note
guitar riffs. People are dying/Bullets
are flying, howls an emotional Staples.
No time for tears/Weve got work to do.
Its an extraordinary collision of gospel
harmonies and post-punk angularity.
Perhaps the most moving moments,
SLEEVE NOTES little too dignified. We go high/When they
go low/I know they dont know what theyre
however, hark back to pre-war blues.
Peaceful dream plays like a low-key,
1. Little Bit doing, she sings on the gospel ballad acoustic version of the Staple Singers
2. If All I Was
We Go High, ascribing her enemys Long Walk To dc, a humble hymn
Was Black
outrageous behaviour to ignorance rather based around a claw-hammer ragtime
3. Who Told
You That than wickedness. The heavy boogie of guitar pattern, sweetened by Hammond
4. Aint No Doubt Try Harder has a similarly forgiving organ, a bluesy electric guitar solo and
About It (feat. air. Theres evil in the world/And theres some heavenly harmonies. The same
Jeff Tweedy) evil in me, she prays, as if taking partial ragtime guitar re-emerges on the closing
5. Peaceful responsibility for a national tragedy. track All Over Again. Here Staples
Dream Perhaps it is part of Tweedys project to voice is unsweetened by any harmonies,
6. No Time For reconcile a divided nation. Performing croaking at the bottom of her vocal
Crying
most of the guitar, bass and backing register, quavering with emotion as she
7. Build A Bridge
vocals himself, he mixes Southern rock, sings words that fit her like her glove.
8. We Go High
9. Try Harder blues, country, gospel and soul in what The world gets cold/Sometimes I have
10. All Over Again could be seen as a symbolic attempt to regrets/But I aint done yet/Ill do it all
unitethe R&B-fixated blue coastal over again.
Produced by:
Jeff Tweedy
Recorded at:
Q&A
The Loft,
Chicago, 2017 Mavis Staples We Which of these songs with little Benjamin Booker
need more love! would you like Donald as well, that was a lot of fun.
Personnel: Mavis
Staples (vocals), Trump to hear? All this The main thing is, I feel like it
Jeff Tweedy Around the release of work Ive been doing, all keeps me young to be with
(guitar, bass, your last album, Livin these years, I feel that hes the hipsters! Im flattered
percussion, On A High Note, you bringing back all the things that they know who I am and
vocals), Spencer said you were looking weve fought against, the want to work with me. And
Tweedy, Stephen to contemporary bigotry and hate. I think the songs we all did were just
Hodges, Glenn songwriters for joyful it would fall on deaf ears, like Pops used to say If you
Kotche (drums, songs. Do you see but I would like him to hear want to write for the Staples,
Jeffs songs here as Build A Bridge, because we read the headlines.
percussion),
joyful? Yeah, I guess Im shouldnt be so divided.
Scott Ligon
(keyboards), Jeff back to the bad news and Are you looking forward
Turner (bass), making people cry with this How did you find the to the upcoming tour
Rick Holmstrom one! But its just too much, recent collaborations with Dylan, and will you
(guitar), Donny whats been going on, to not with Gorillaz and be collaborating? He
Gerrard, Vicki try to sing about it, and try to Arcade Fire? I had big, told me last year during the
Randle, Kelly inspire people to fix it. And big fun with all of them. Win tour that we were going to
Hogan, Akenya Im a loving person and I think and Tinkerbell [Rgine, from make a new record. Over the
Seymour that love does come through. Arcade Fire] had me over to years, every now and then
Anger can give the Devil a their house in New Orleans wed connect, but the tour
(backing vocals)
foothold, as they say, and to record, and Damon took last year was the best. We
I dont want that. So rather a train from New York to had a great time and talked a
than anger, I think we need Chicago for our session. I also lot, reminisced and had some
more love, more compassion. did a song called Witness laughs every day. JOHN LEWIS

JOHN CARPENTER
Anthology: Movie Themes
19741998 SACRED BONES
6/10
Spine-chilling synth scores, given
a full-band overhaul
In 2015, John carpenter
re-emerged in new
form, the esteemed
horror director
shedding his skin
and hitting the
festival circuit as a rocknroll synth
impresario, backed by live band. Two
albums for Sacred Bones, Lost Themes
and Lost Themes 2, were comprised of
brand-new tracks. Anthology, however,
finds carpenter remaking his back
catalogue with a splash of showy
pomp. Its not always an improvement:
takes on escape From New York
and Halloween cant top the cold
desolation of the originals. But Big
Trouble In Little Chinas Porkshop
express gets a neat, chugging
overhaul, and pretty much every
one of the albums 13 tracks confirm
carpenters skill for an eerie earworm.
LOUIS PATTISON
MARTIN CARR
New Shapes Of Life TAPETE
8/10
Former Boo Radleys songwriter
maintains his giant steps
Following 2014s
exuberant The Breaks,
carr returns with a
succinct, deceptively
simple half-hour
outing. Nodding subtly
to songwriters like Jimmy Webb The
Vans instrumental interludes, The
Main Mans bold, brassy arrangements
and key changes its frequently
contradictory, his bewildered lyrical
mood at odds with his confident
musical delivery. Apprehensive on the
gorgeously fluid title track, despairing
amid the lovely piano lines of waltz A
Mess Of everything, and confessional
on the upbeat Three Studies Of The
Male Back where amusingly he
admits to being stoned as a goose he
makes sweet music of amidlife crisis.
WYNDHAM WALLACE
EUROS CHILDS
House Arrest NATIONAL ELF
8/10
Gorkys frontmans curious
world of interiors
Latterly a master of
smiles that never
quite reach the eyes,
former Gorkys Zygotic
Mynci kingpin euros
childs taste for the
garishly quirky can mirror that of Go
Kart Mozart, but again behind the 70s
velvet curtains of his 13th solo record
the surface bonhomie masks deeper,
darker concerns. An all-you-can-eat
buffet takes a notably macabre turn on
crystal And Misty, and House Arrest
ends with three cheerily crushing
meditations on different stripes of
isolation (Shower, widowers lament
Turning Strange and the glassy Here
We Are), laying bare the tragedians
impulses that underpin the comics act.
Ha ha bonk. JIM WIRTH
BOOTSY COLLINS
World Wide Funk MASCOT
6/10
Return for P-Funk legend, with
intermittent sparks
Its the 50th
anniversary of P-Funk,
which is just about the
perfect time for bass
master Bootsy collins
to return with a wry,
spry album. Like its predecessor, 2011s
Funk Capital Of The World, this new
album is a bit of a mess at times, though
its scope is almost as impressively broad
as its top-loaded guestlist (chuck d,
Buckethead, Big daddy Kane, Stanley
clarke). The devils often in the details
with World Wide Funk the plasmic
bass that grounds Hi-Heels is as
hypnotically lustrous as it is dank;
Boomerangs rhythmic detail is
pointillist and pneumatic. JON DALE
LOREN CONNORS
Angels That Fall
FAMILY VINEYARD
8/10
The ghost in the wires: Lorens
Venusian blues
Now well into his fifth
decade of playing,
American guitarist
Loren connors has
reduced his style to
essence theres no
flash or flourish here, just the barest
outlines of melody, and great cutting
swathes of mood, mostly wrung from
six strings via lung-gusts of reverb and
fractious delay. On Angels That Fall, a
single, extended piece, connors often
sounds as though hes playing in the
next room, dropping pearl-like notes
into the echo chamber of a hallway;
when he moves to piano, briefly, at the
albums end, his phrasing is curt, blunt,
but heartbreaking. JON DALE
WILLIAM PATRICK
CORGAN
Ogilala MARTHAS MUSIC/BMG
6/10
Smashing Pumpkins mainman
returns; James Iha guests
Nothing signals an
artists desire to be
regarded as a serious
auteur quite like
formalising their old
name, and so it is with
corgan. For the follow-up to 2005s solo,
electro-shoegaze set, hes opted for
acoustic balladry recorded in live takes,
leaning heavily on piano and guitar,
featuring strings and Rick Rubins
impeccable, stripped-back production.
corgans pinched, rather nasal voice
has always been an acquired taste, but
the issue here is the sameness of his
songs, which blur into a sub-Ashcroft
mournful intensity, typified by
Aeronaut and The Mandarynne. two chords
neW
e Albums
bu
The Deep Dark
Woods: deep
and dark indeed
Strongest are the sunlit Amarinthe and a spent, whispered delivery for the
and Shiloh, which adds chimes to extended tension of All My Worlds.
its sweet, Glen campbell-like twang. WYNDHAM WALLACE
SHARON OCONNELL
THE DEEP DARK WOODS
ADRIAN CROWLEY Yarrow
Dark Eyed Messenger SIX SHOOTER
CHEMIKAL UNDERGROUND
8/10
8/10 Measured, painfully beautiful
Irish troubadour takes a walk Canadian folk noir
on the dark side Ryan Boldt has an
Recorded in four days ear for tragedy. Over
in New York with the last decade five
producer Thomas albums with his band,
Bartlett (Sufjan one solo covers record
Stevens, The Magnetic the Saskatoon-raised
Fields), crowleys singer/guitarist has established himself
eighth album pivots on the decision as a master of the mordant ballad.
to abandon his primary instrument, Yarrow is no departure, offering nine
the guitar, in favour of a starker achingly slow ruminations on flood
palette of strings, piano and cinematic (deep Flooding Waters), gin
atmospherics. His boho-lyricism and drinking (drifting On A Summers
rich baritone, with shades of Richard Night) and fixing to die (Roll Julia).
Hawley, Sam Lee and Mark eitzel, Boldts guitar offers flurries of Neil
ramp up the drama. Silver Birch Young-style electricity, but the songs
Tree and Valley Of Tears possess ooze ancient sorrows, as on the closer
the minimalist, thrumming tension The Winter Has Passed, which
of latter-day Nick cave & The Bad makes a pass at optimism before
Seeds, though theres room for pointed accepting the inevitable.
prettiness (Little Breath) and barbed ALASTAIR McKAY
humour (Halfway To Andaluca). A
finely crafted mood piece rewarding BAXTER DURY
deep immersion. GRAEME THOMSON Prince Of Tears
HEAVENLY
MLANIE DE BIASIO 7/10
Lilies
PIAS Ian Durys son continues to prove
a worthy heir
7/10
Five albums into an
Mysterious, moody triumph, intriguing career,
endorsed by Phil Selway Baxter dury has taken
In contrast to confident command
the drama of last of the family business
years 25-minute, a proprietor, like
experimental his father, of a profane, iconoclastic
Blackened cities strain of pop, half-sung, half-rapped
eP, Lilies is a succinct in a yard-wide essex accent. Prince Of
affair, albeit one of often similarly Tears is a suite unreliably narrated by a
unearthly pleasures. The chanteuse character called Miami, introduced on
impulses of de Biasios jazz background the eponymous opener: he has himself
are exchanged for an uneasy serenity, mixed up with someone smarter
and though the title track begins and more successful, and the
like a torch song, it dissolves album is a wittily wrought
into a soundscape of soundtrack of his delusions,
which Mark Hollis would from the sickly-sweet new
approve. Gold Junkies wave of Mungo to
ups the pace, hinting the dadaist deliriums
at but never of Letter Bomb.
delivering a climax Other highlights
worthy of Nina include cameos from
Simones See Line Rose elinor dougall on
Woman, and she even Porcelain and Sleaford
restricts herself to Mods Jason Williamson on
little more than Almond Milk.
Baxter Dury: ANDREW MUELLER
the young Lord
Upminster
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 25
 new albums
americana
Country, bluegrass, folk and more
JIM WhITE
Waffles, Triangles & Jesus
LOOSE
8/10
Uplifting communiqus from Georgia-based polymath
JIM White hasnt exactly been
idle in the five years since his
last solo release, Where It Hits
You. His striking visual collages
continue to gather in art
galleries across the States,
theres been production work for various roots
singers, and hes also won the Pushcart Prize
for Superwhite, a book of short fiction.
Sixth solo album Waffles, Triangles & Jesus
marks the welcome return of White the singer-
songwriter, unpacking reassuringly odd,
skewed narratives that offer a surrealists view
of Southern life. White has jokingly called it
the soundtrack for the end of the world, but
its noticeable that his songs have become
breezier as hes gotten older (hes now 60), as if
to gradually dispel the darkness that clouded
earlier, reputation-sealing works like No Such
Place. A group of players from his adopted
hometown of Athens lend their weight too,
notably old-time fiddlers Hog-Eyed Man, folk-
country duo Cicada Rhythm and Holly Golightly.
americana round-up
Among the big winners at the
annual americana awards,
held in Nashville last month,
was Uncut favourite sturgill
simpson (right) who made
off with the Album Of The
Year prize for A Sailors Guide
To Earth. Jason Isbells other
half, amanda shires, won Sturgill
the Emerging Artist award, Simpson
while the great John prine
was crowned Artist Of The
Year. Prine celebrated by performing with
iris dement, who took home the Trailblazer
gong. December is usually a thin month for
new releases, making the return of dan
michaelson all the more agreeable. First
Light, issued on The state51 Conspiracy, is
the successor to last years much-praised
Memory, though this time hes left behind his
26 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
The latter plays foil on the deliberately hokey
Ernest T Bass At Last Finds The Woman Of His
Dreams, a hillbilly duet that imagines a happy
ending for the psychotic mountain man from
The Andy Griffith Show. Silver Threads skips
ahead at pace too, armed with trumpets and
supple harmonies, as White wishes for a world
where troubles are rendered weightless with a
few simple stitches.
As ever, theres a bittersweet quality to many
of these songs. Rainfall acts as backdrop to
Reason To Cry, a string-band hymn about a
wailing woman in the woods that finds White
musing on the endless train of sorrows that life
seems to present. Meanwhile, the banjo-steered
Drift Away is a resigned, moody piece that
suggests its sometimes better to cast fate to the
tides than keep on struggling against them.
It all ends with Sweet Bird Of Mystery, a
moving tune written for his daughter 18 years ago
thats hitherto never made it to record. A simple
declaration of love and hope, it feels very much
like Whites own Forever Young. ROb HUgHES
usual band, The Coastguards.
The LP sees him experiment
with a full orchestra, overseen
by Austrian arranger Arnulf
Lindner. It marks their first
collaboration since Lindner
produced 2005 EP Donkey
Stock, by Michaelsons old
outfit, Absentee. On the live
front, Jason isbell, backed
by The 400 Unit, takes The
Nashville Sound out in late
October, beginning at Manchesters Albert
Hall and ending at the Symphony Hall in
Birmingham. Canadian aces The sadies
also play dates around the same time,
promoting the very fine Northern Passages,
and LA upstarts The americans bring their
boisterous rocknroll to Bristol, Manchester
and London in early November. ROb HUgHES
EERA
Reflection Of Youth
BIG DADA
7/10
Norwegian emigres powerful first
On her 2016 debut EP as
EERA, Anna Lena Bruland
mixed grungy alt.pop and
eddying, animist folk,
messaging her emotions
without making them
explicit. But her first full-length is a darker,
more revealing and fulsome record in every
way. It cuts unsettlingly vivid imagery
(splintered skin, carpets cut open) with
personal disclosure (Make me stand, make
me rise, help me feel alive, she demands on
the opener, Living) against a backdrop
of clanging guitars, reverbed vocals and
gloomily intoxicating keys. I Wanna Dance
is evidence of PJ Harveys influence and
there are hints of Cocteau Twins and Joanna
Newsom, but the air of doomed beauty is
Brulands own. SHARON OCONNELL
WILLIAM EGGLESTON
Musik
SECRETLY CANADIAN
7/10
Fabled US photographers synth tracks
Now 78, William Eggleston
is considered one of the
finest photographers of
the 20th century for his
documentation of American
life and use of colour. Acts
including Big Star, Primal Scream and
Joanna Newson have licensed his images
for their artwork. Less well known is that
hes also a keen musician who grew up
in Mississippi playing Bach, Handel and
gospel on piano and, in the 1980s, took to
composing rather grand, baroque pieces on
a Korg synthesiser in his Memphis home.
Transferred from floppy disk, 13 of these
improvisations including a cover of Gilbert
and Sullivans Tit Willow make up his
debut album Musik, an eccentric collection
that only adds to his mystique. PiERS MARtiN
ELECTRIC WIzARD
Wizard Bloody Wizard
SpINEfARM/WITChfINDER
6/10
More diabolically heavy doom rock
from the Dorset quartet
Some things never change.
On the opening track of
Electric Wizards ninth
album, a slow doom-blues
entitled See You In Hell,
Jus Osborn greets listeners
with a reminiscence about a buddy: Lucifer,
my only friend. Its matched by a title and
cover that verge on self-parody: a womans
torso with Wizard Bloody Wizard carved in
bloody letters into her flesh. As is traditional,
there will be those bemoaning the fact its
no Dopethrone, and The Reaper, over in
an uncharacteristically brief three minutes,
feels like a waste of a track. Still, Wizard
Bloody Wizard offers enormous pleasures:
the ferocious combination of Osborn and Liz
Buckinghams guitars on Hear The Sirens
Scream, or the acid trudge of Mourning Of
The Magicians, a track so single-minded in
its journey to the abyss it makes Saint Vitus
sound eclectic. MiCHAEL HANN

ESCApE-ISM
Introduction To Escape-ism
MERGE
6/10
Make-Up/Nation Of Ulysses
preacherman goes solo
Once one of the
great frontmen in
indie rock, in recent
years Ian Svenonius
has also emerged
as one of its great
conceptualists: see his 2013 book of
invented interviews, Supernatural
Strategies For Making A RocknRoll
Group. Logically, then, his debut
solo album should be a gem. Instead,
though, Introduction To Escape-ism
feels half-cocked. Stripped back to just
guitar and drum machine, Lonely
At The Top channels the murky
incantations of Suicides Alan Vega,
while the likes of Almost No One (Can
Have My Love) gestures towards the
hip-wiggling electro punk of early
Peaches. But the tracks are so sparse
and lo-fi as to feel half-finished, and
Svenonius smouldering delivery fails
to catch fire. LOUiS PAttiSON
BLA fLECK &
ABIGAIL WAShBURN
Echo In The Valley
ROUNDER
8/10
Duelling banjos and Appalachian
echoes from grammy-winning
husband-and-wife duo
After illustrious solo
careers, the worlds
premier banjo player
and his troubadour
wife recorded together
as a duo for the first
time in 2015, and the self-titled album
promptly won a Grammy as best
folk album. The follow-up is steeped
in a similarly intimate, back-porch
aesthetic on a set of stripped-down but
intense songs. The virtuosic interplay
of their two banjos is heard at its finest
on a medley of trad Appalachian
instrumental tunes, while on the
haunting rural blues of My Homes
Across The Blue Ridge Mountains
and Come All You Coal Miners, its
Washburns high, keening voice that
commands centre stage. Both are
equally exquisite. NigEL WiLLiAMSON
fOUR TET
New Energy
TEXT
8/10
Warm and intimate ninth album
from british electronicas MVP
Kieran Hebden
recently appeared
on Radio 3s Late
Junction to share some
of the inspirations
for this album. They
included music for santoor, Celtic
harp and African thumb piano, as
well as an Inuit kids chant. Hebdens
skill is to weave such ethnographic
curiosities into the fabric of his own
luminous electronica without it
feeling like a dry curatorial exercise.
The limpid prettiness of Lush and
You Are Loved harks back to his
early-noughties folktronica phase,
although theres something for the
ravers in the form of SW9 9SL, named
after the postcode of Brixton Academy,
where he hosts his annual all-nighters.
Hebden may think global, but he
usually acts local. SAM RiCHARDS
ChARLOTTE
GAINSBOURG
Rest
BECAUSE
8/10
Sumptuous, melancholy electronica
It would have been
absurd to expect
that Charlotte
Gainsbourg
daughter of Serge
Gainsbourg and Jane
were
new
here
EERA
Ms Bruland digs and delves
wrOTE my first song
i when I was about 15
years old, Anna Lena
Bruland remembers. I think I
wrote very folky songs back
then, and I always played with
a nylon-string guitar. My
inspiration was just boys, she
laughs. Very typical! shes on the brink of a new
As her debut album shows,
the Norwegian emigres
subject matter has matured
infinitely since then, but her
habit of mining emotion for
creativitys ends has only
intensified. when asked
why she digs so deep, she
says, I think its important
as an artist to be honest and
Birkin would ever trade in anything
but louche Euro-pop. It has been very
good louche Euro-pop, mind, and on
the more electronic Rest, Gainsbourg
(previously helped by the likes of Air,
Jarvis Cocker and Beck) has taken
greater charge of the writing, not
least as a means of grieving for her
half-sister, the late photographer Kate
Barry. Collaborators Owen Pallett,
Paul McCartney and Daft Punks
Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo
leave traces, but the voice is all
Gainsbourgs, in more senses than
one: the title track is an especially
exquisite confection. ANDREW MUELLER
pETER hAMMILL
from The Trees
fIE!
8/10
Van der graaf leader continues his
fine solo trip
to be true to yourself. And to
not be afraid of letting the
audience get to know you.
She admits, though, that using
an alias helps in a way, since
my songs are very personal.
And as to EErA, specifically?
I wanted to have a name that
felt strong and was also easy
to remember.
Bruland agrees that the title
Reflection Of Youth suggests
beginning. It definitely feels
like an end of a chapter, and
Ive learnt so much about
myself by writing this. It was
after I finished that I released
what it was actually about.
And now I can use that
knowledge to further develop
as a person and also as
an artist. SHARON OCONNELL
new albums
Aside from having
once appeared on
Play Away dressed
as King Arthur,
Peter Hammill has
resisted any urge to
water down his music over the last
50 years. As is his wont, he recorded
his 35th solo album alone in his home
studio, and its 10 tracks show that age
still hasnt tamed Hammills mighty,
stentorian voice or the existential rage
still burning at the centre of his songs.
On Deaf Ears conjures up a spectral
choir of Hammills, while opener My
Unintended, dissecting a poisonous
relationship and riven with hard
acoustic guitar, would have slotted
right into 1973s Chameleon In The
Shadow Of The Night.
tOM PiNNOCK
CURTIS hARDING
face Your fear ANTI-
7/10
Soul man plots his course
Curtis Hardings
2014 debut, Soul
Power, suggested a
talent not yet sure
of his direction. On
Face Your Focus, the
Atlantan soul man has worked out
where to go. Working with Danger
Mouse and Sam Cohen has polished
his sound, and the quality of the
songwriting matches the production.
The singles Wednesday Morning
Atonement and Need Your Love
take old forms and buff them up
with clever use of sound: the wailing
fuzz guitar in the background of
the former, the buzzing synth of
the latter. The strength of Face Your
Fear is that neither of those needed
to have been the lead singles: the
beautiful Ghost Of You sounds
destined for radio; the closer As I
Am sounds oddly like Pushin Too
Hard reinvented as deep soul. A bit
of a triumph.
MiCHAEL HANN
JOE hENRY
Thrum EAR MUSIC
7/10
A maverick game of musical chairs
After making last
years Shine A
Light Billy Bragg
collaboration on
the hoof in railway
terminal waiting
rooms, Henry takes another novel
approach on his 14th solo release.
Thrum finds him and his regular
cohorts playing as a live unit, with
engineer Ryan Freeland mixing the
performances in real time; the result
is a set of songs that twist, dip and
tease as if the wind keeps changing
direction. The method brings a filmic
vibe to the Waits-ian balladry of The
Glorious Dead and Blood Of The
Forgotten Song, and gives the effect
of the players strolling in and out of
ALICE rAINIS
earshot on the hymnal high-water
mark Now And Never.
tERRY StAUNtON
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 27
 new albums
Caption
MEGAN HENWOOD
River
DHARMA
7/10
Third expansive album from
alt.folk adventurer
If you had Henwood
marked down as a
dyed-in-the-wool
folkie, shes come
a considerable way
since winning the
BBC Young Folk Award in 2009. In
these dozen fluidly flowing songs,
her acoustic guitar frequently bursts
through to the surface. Yet to do so it
has to weave its way through layers
of understated electronica and on
album highlight Fresh Water the paper but rarely advisable in practice.
haunting, Chet Baker-ish trumpet of
Jonny Ensor. Opener Join The Dots
and Seventh hint at a rootsier, more
literate Dido, but thats really not to
criticise Heywood: this is sophisticated
contemporary singer-songwriting
on a par with Laura Marling.
NIGEL WILLIAMSON
HANNE HUKKELBERG
Trust
PROPELLER
7/10
Nordic singer-songwriter explores
her electronic side
Rooted in the
loosely conceptual
theme of human
empathy in an online
cyberworld, Hanne
Hukkelbergs fifth
album continues the welcome drift
into experimental electronica hinted at
on 2012s Featherbrain. The Norwegian
singer-songwriter makes particularly
striking use of technology to enrich
and manipulate her voice, expanding
and pitch-shifting it into a kind of
lustrous, woozy, self-harmonising
instrument on the swooning sci-fi
lullaby IRL and the syncopated
digi-funk of Embroidery. Inspired
by an iPhone alarm ringtone, Fall
has an infectiously sweet nursery-
SARAH FLYNN
rhyme simplicity, while the final track,
Duper, the only lyric in Norwegian,
is a gorgeous tangle of a cappella
28 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
vocals layered and intertwined using
a Roland VT-3 voicebox. Magical.
STEphEN DALTON
KING GIZZARD & THE
LIZARD WIZARD WITH
MILD HIGH CLUB
Sketches Of Brunswick East
HEAVENLY
7/10
Australian psychaholics take
welcome chill pill
This is King Gizzards
third album of 2017,
with another two in
the pipeline. Such
dazzling prolificacy
is impressive on
Thankfully, Sketches pulls back from
the bands usual high-concept hysteria
to salute their Melbourne locale with
a series of sunny jams influenced by
tropiclia and 70s soundtrack jazz.
Mild High Clubs Alex Brettin imbues
proceedings with a soft-focus calm
via his trademark wilting synths and
watery AOR licks. Yet even at its most
languid, this album retains a faintly
manic, frazzled quality that prevents
it from descending too far into retro
pastiche. SAM RIChARDS
LANKUM
Between The Earth And Sky
ROUGH TRADE
8/10
The Flaming horslips: moody
Dubliners weird up trad folk
Ian and Daragh
Lynch nominally
went straight when
their experimental
psych duo morphed
into raggle-taggle
four-piece Lankum (formerly
Lankum:
an Eire of
unease
Megan
Henwood:
immersed in
fluid alt.folk
Lynched), but their battery-acid sharp,
Dransfields harmonies and uilleann
pipe drones ensure their second
album is powerfully strange. Largely
trad but heavy on the arr, Between
The Earth And Sky casts its net wide;
Gavin Bryars minimalism colours
their stately The Townie Polka, The
Turkish Reveille puts Sweeneys Men
under heavy sedation, while their
anarcho-punk roots show through on
their takedown of modern Ireland,
Danta In ireann, every inch the
work of an Incredible Dog-On-A-String
Band. JIM WIRTh
SHANNON LAY
Living Water
WOODSIST/MARE
7/10
Spellbinding third from West
Coast songstress
Kevin Morby was
so enamoured of
Lays solo show
that he offered to
take her out on tour
and release Living
Water on his new Mare label. The
album explores another side of her
repertoire (shes also lead guitarist
for LA psych-punks Feels, whose
Ty Segall-produced debut landed
last year), delving into timeless
acoustic folk that marries the
autumnal ambience of Vashti
Bunyan with the stillness of Jessica
Pratt or Julie Byrne. Recorded by
Emmett Kelly at his home studio,
its a tender, beguiling affair, with
judicious use of strings and the
occasional electric jolt. ROb huGhES
LOST HORIZONS
Ojala
BELLA UNION
7/10
Former Cocteau Twins associates
get the best out of their guests
The gossamer spectre
of 4AD house band
This Mortal Coil
hangs over Lost
Horizons beguiling
debut, which is
not so surprising given the projects
large cast and the pedigrees of its
core partnership: former Cocteau
Twins bassist/keyboardist Simon
Raymonde and drummer Richie
Thomas of Dif Juz and the Cocteaus
touring lineup. Making excellent use
of his connections as Bella Unions
major domo, Raymonde elicits
gorgeous performances from guest
vocalists such as Marissa Nadler,
ex-Midlake frontman Tim Smith and
The Innocence Missions Karen Peris.
Even more welcome are the deviations
from the sumptuous dream-pop and
ethereal acid-folk modes youd expect
of Ojala, like the match of Raymondes
cascading piano figures and
Ghostpoets gruff but emotive delivery
on Reckless. JASON ANDERSON
DANIELE LUPPI &
PARQUET COURTS
Milano
30TH CENTURY
8/10
Italian composers new-wave
homage to 1980s Milan
Daniele Luppi last
surfaced alongside
Danger Mouse in
2011 with Rome,
their tribute to
that gilded era of
Cinecitt movies into which they
roped Jack White and Norah Jones.
Conceptually and musically, Milano
is more straightforward: drawing
parallels between mid-80s Milan and
no-wave New York, then ultra-stylish
dens of iniquity, Luppi recruits Big
Apple ambassadors Parquet Courts
and Karen O to romp through a set of
nimble post-punk and dissonant disco
about the Italian citys demi-monde.
The dubby funk of Lanza and
Caf Flesh suggest this is Parquet
Courts wildest set so far, while Karen
Os vivacious turns on Talisa and
Flush demand immediate attention.
pIERS MARTIN
DANNY MULHERN
Reflections On A Dead Sea
1631 RECORDINGS
6/10
Atmospheric cello-led miniatures
from the film and TV composer
Multi-instrumentalist
and producer Mulhern
is best known for his
soundtracks to TV
shows such as Silent
Witness and The
Natural World, but this LP features
music written for the soundtrack to
the award-winning 2016 short film The
Dead Sea, in which African refugees
make the perilous journey across
the Mediterranean and end up in a
Libyan detention centre. Mulherns
mournful cello, hymnal piano and
minimal strings all emphasise texture
over melody: exceptions include the
uplifting, tearjerking chord cycle
on In The Hands Of Strangers
and Libya (Instrumental), where
the sawing, swelling strings echo
the panicked breathing of the
protagonists. JOhN LEWIS
 new albums
bums
The late Leon Russell:
fleapit blues, cracked
ballads and nightclub
swingers
OCS
Memory Of A Cut-Off Head
CASTLE FACE
8/10
The continuing adventures of
John Dwyer
Mere months after
dropping Orc, John
Dwyer has called
time on Oh Sees and
re-emerged under
long-abandoned
pseudonym OCS, retaining one
member long-time collaborator
and vocal muse Brigid Dawson and
sacking off the gale-force psych
in favour of spry baroque folk. A
surprising mutation, for anyone only
familiar with Dwyer at full-tilt, but
Memory Of A Cut-Off Head proves
his magic straddles genres. Dawson
and Dwyer sing in close harmony,
their entwined tones recalling the
fey androgyny of Tyrannosaurus
Rex-era Marc Bolan, while lush
strings and horns courtesy of guests
Heather Lockie and Mikal Cronin lend
Neighbour To None and On And
On Corridor a fulsome orchestral
prettiness. LOUIS PATTISON
COURTNEy PiNE
Black Notes From The Deep
FREESTyLE
7/10
Brit-jazz titan, back on the tenor
sax, with guest singer Omar
After a string of
albums where he
switched to bass
clarinet and soprano
sax to explore
European folk themes,
reggae and the standards songbook,
Pine makes a welcome return to the
tenor. The four collaborations here
with Brit-soul star Omar are rather
dated pieces of junglist-tinted acid
jazz, but elsewhere Pines orthodox,
instrumental ballads are exquisite and
well-written. He recalls Stan Getz on
the brooding Rivers Of Blood, a flute-
playing Yusef Lateef on the waltz A
30 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
Change Is Sure To Come, and Coleman
Hawkins on the duet with guitarist
Chris Cobbson, The Morning After
The Night Before. Pine needs to record
a lot more like this. JOhN LewIS
PRiMUS
The Desaturating Seven
ATO
5/10
Reunited jazz-punk shredders
continue their exploration of sinister
childhood themes
With their knotty
tangles of bass-
heavy jazz-metal,
strangulated vocals
and psychedelic
weirdness, Primus
are a Marmite-intense experience,
abrasive and divisive but frequently
exhilarating. The first album in 22
years from the reunited classic lineup
of Les Claypool, Larry LaLonde and
Tim Alexander is inspired by The
Rainbow Goblins, a lavishly illustrated
1978 childrens book. From the lysergic
prog-punk shanty The Valley to the THRiLL JOCkEy
gnarly percussive shredding of The
Scheme, these seven tracks expand
on the twisted childhood innocence
that Primus mined on their 2014
reworking of the Willy Wonka & The
Chocolate Factory soundtrack, though
the arrangements here are thinner and
the longer pieces feel overstretched.
STePheN DALTON
PENNy RiMBAUD
What Passing Bells
ONE LiTTLE iNDiAN
7/10
Crass man recites wilfred Owens
poems, with cello and piano
OCS: Brigid Dawson
and John Dwyer
of Siiidaa or the zig-zagging scat
Given his life
commitment to
anarcho-pacifism,
Rimbaud is arguably
a natural for these
readings of works
by celebrated First World War poet
Owen, launched as a live improv
project with pianist Liam Noble and
cellist Kate Short in 2014, and carrying
through to 2018. As youd expect, its a
compellingly stark and sombre set, but
theres serenity here, too. Noble and
Short are expressively versatile foils
for Rimbaud, who conveys the terrible
beauty of Owens texts without over
dramatising, despite plenty of richly
rolled Rs. Most vivid is the stricken
The Sentry (eyeballs huge-bulged
like squids), most devastating as
regards those sacrificed, Anthem For
Doomed Youth. ShARON OCONNeLL
LEON RUSSELL
On A Distant Shore
PALMETTO
8/10
Touching posthumous album by
fulsomely bearded musical legend
Im waiting here for
my time to come,
sings Leon Russell
on the opening title
track of On A Distant
Shore, the album
Russell was working on before his
death in November 2016. Whether or
not he knew his death was imminent,
Russell was clearly fully committed
to the project, with sincere lyrics and
a strained, emotional vocal sustained
by luscious strings. Theres fleapit
blues (Black And Blue) and cracked
ballads (On The Waterfront), but the
prevailing mood is poised somewhere
between nightclub swing and James
Bond theme, as on the gorgeous
This Masquerade and the touching
swansong A Song For You.
PeTeR wATTS
SAiCOBAB
Sab Se Purani Bab
7/10
Boredoms vet amplifies impact
of new projects spiralling
grindcore raga
An improvisational
project for YoshimiO
of Boredoms and
OOIOO, and sitar
player Yoshida Daikiti
that first began in 2001
but has only now recorded its debut
with the help of bassist Akita Goldman
and frame drummer Hama, Saicobab
whip up a sonic maelstrom thats every
bit as intense as the shock tactics of
Boredoms early noise recordings or
the polyrhythmic psychedelia that
followed. Indeed, the frenzied ragas
and other Japanese/Indian musical
collisions on Sab Se Purani Bab elicit
some of the wildest sounds to ever
escape from YoshimiOs throat,
whether theyre the mutant bird calls
asking about my loved ones/My soul
singing of aMn nMn. JASON ANDeRSON
MiLES COOPER SEATON
Phases in Exile
TROVAROBATO/VAGGiMAL
5/10
Akron/Family members solo outing
Seaton has pulled
some hard yards in
his time, particularly
as a member of
Akron/Family, where
he developed an
ongoing working relationship with
Michael Gira of Swans and Angels Of
Light. Phases In Exile is Seatons first
since Akron/Family split in 2013. Its
a mixed bag of good intentions that
often fall flat due to some of the more
cloyingly performative aspects of
these languorous, amorphous songs.
Too often, Seatons delivery comes
across as the kind of earnest indie-folk
reflectiveness that makes the genre
such a chore. At its weakest, its just a
spooky Fleet Foxes. JON DALe
PHiLiP SELWAy
Let Me Go OST
BELLA UNiON
7/10
Radiohead drummers third solo
album and first soundtrack
Given the films
inspiration Austrian
woman uncovers her
mothers proud Nazi
past Philip Selways
soundtrack for Polly
Steeles second feature was never going
to be uplifting. Nonetheless, it offers a
brittle beauty on shorter instrumental
tracks, not least its bookends, two
versions of Helgas Theme, the
latter embellished with eerie musical
saw. Selway contributes pleasantly
timid vocals twice accompanied
by acoustic guitar on Wide Open,
and also on the grander, but still
understated, Let Me Go, the closest
he gets to his parent band but leaves
Lambs Lou Rhodes, on Walk, to
provide the albums most reassuringly
tender moment. wYNDhAM wALLACe
OMAR SOULEyMAN
To Syria, With Love
BECAUSE
7/10
exiled singers love letter home
Souleymans third
official Western LP
first came out in June
on Diplos Mad Decent
label in the hope that
the festival fave might
dent the US dance market following
2013s Four Tet-overseen Wenu Wenu.
This is a meaty-sounding affair, largely
as Souleymans keys mainstay Rizan
Said has been replaced by Hasan
Alo, who flattens the likes of Ya
Boul Habari and Ya Bnayya into
dabke techno. Souleyman has always
sounded melancholy, but here, with
his country in chaos, he addresses
the situation, singing, on Mawal:
Im tired of looking for home/And
is wounded. PIeRS MARTIN

GUN OUTFiT
Out Of Range
PARADiSE OF BACHELORS
8/10
Western expanse and Californian mythology explored on excellent fifth
from cosmic Americana five-piece. By Peter Watts
YOU might want to
pick up a guide to
ancient myths before
listening to the latest
Gun Outfit album,
which includes songs
about Orpheus and
Cybele as well as references to monads,
viridian, hierophants and syrinxes. 5. The 101
From Ancient Greece to contemporary
California, theres a fascination with myth
and legend on Out Of Range, due in part
to co-songwriter Dylan Sharps job as a
security guard in an art gallery, time that
allowed him to gaze upon visual art for six
hours a day, and also to contemplate ways
of incorporating what he self-mockingly
calls pretentious references into the
bands fifth LP of cosmic Americana.
Opening song Ontological Intercourse,
a rough-necked samba, is in part about
Orpheus, the Greek father of songs who
made rocks dance and worshipped only
the sun, a heresy that led to his death,
while Landscape Painter sees Sharp
celebrate the work of Brueghel. The myths
of drugs and California also feature, and by
closer Second Decade, hes exploring the
legend of the band itself. Were building
a labyrinth/And playing hide and seek,
he sings in a self-declared love song to the
band he has co-led for 10 years.
Gun Outfit were formed in Olympia when
Sharp and co-songwriter Carrie Keith
began playing as a duo around the citys
fertile hardcore scene. After expanding
to a four-piece and moderating their
punky vibe, Gun Outfit released a couple
of hard-to-find but well-received albums
and then moved to LA where they released
two more the driving Hard Coming Down
new albums
dislocation of Lift To Experience and the
more adventurous moments of Wilco.
Theres also a diversity that comes
from the contrasting styles of Sharp and
Keith. Loosely put, Sharp favours oblique
non-narrative lyrics with wry asides,
while Keith is more direct, both in terms of
delivery and content. Keith provides Out
Of Range with its sense of momentum,
moving things forward where Sharp
will circle his themes like a vulture. The
clearest example is The 101, an ode to the
road that took the band from Washington
to California. With Barnes playing
bouzouki and Keith accompanying her
vocal with fiddle, the song sounds ancient
even as it picks apart modern LA where
the first lesson you learn is how to project.
Californias a legend, she sings, on the
brink of destruction every day, arcing back
to Cybele, Sharps Ozymandian lament
about a lost ancient cult.
Keith is always on the move. Amid the
swirling Sally Rose she sings, not
gonna run, Im gonna fly Quitting all my
jobs is good for my career, while love
song Three Words has her threaten
and you know in a moment Ill be on my
way. Sharp, though, is more likely to be
chasing his own thoughts. On country
rattler Strange Insistence he starts by
contemplating the perceived outcomes
and looser, atmospheric Dream All Over. of taking different drugs Speed makes
SLEEVE NOTES They now play as a five-piece following you a genius/Cocaine will make you rich/
1. Ontological the addition of Henry Barnes, whose LSD shows you divinity/And everythings
Intercourse homemade instruments (the sibanjar, alright on opiates before exploring
2. Landscape the springocaster lap-slide) as well as related themes of authenticity and reality,
Painter
his mastery of the dulcimer and bouzouki, while on the crawl of Slow Realisation,
3. Cybele
4. Strange
adds to the sense of mystery that hangs he pauses to apologise for his own drift
Insistence over their music and which Gun Outfit towards abstraction: Pardon me for the
are so adept at exploiting in their more hippie talk
6. Slow Realisation abstract lyrics. Its Barnes who coined the On Second Decade he abandons that
7. Sally Rose phrase western expanse to describe the strategy to sing an unalloyed love song
8. Three Words bands sound, a label that hints at both for his band, directed at Keith: Oh my
9. Primacy Of Love geography and their sense of openness. Caroline/Can you believe how swiftly a
10. Background There are elements of folk and country decade has gone by?. In the process, he
Deal
in their music, but its also the sound of neatly captures the sonic atmosphere of
11. Second
Decade
the desert, the ocean, the prairie and the band A simple recollection of the
the loneliness of LA. Within this vibe, rhythm of waves but still finds time to
Produced by theres little space for the bands hardcore reference Samuel Beckett. Its a tricky thing
Gun Outfit origins. Instead theres the sardonic to pull off without sounding self-obsessed,
Recorded drawl of Silver Jews, the incandescent but it shows that Gun Outfit can sing from
at: Gaucho richness of Phosphorescent, the unsettling the heart as well as from the brain.
Electronics, LA
Q&A
Musicians:
Carrie Keith
(guitars, vocals,
violin), Dylan
Dylan Sharp & Carrie How do you describe
Sharp (guitar, keith: Were more your sound overall?
vocals, banjo, western than country DS: Western expanse is
bass), Henry something Henry came up
Barnes (guitar, Tell us about your with. Theres a C&W part,
dulcimer, sibanjar, different writing styles. but we are more western
springocaster DS: We try to balance things. than country, and we are
lap-slide, You can go down a hole if rooted in the western USA.
bouzouki, fiddle),
you have too many songs of We are more about vibe and
Adam Payne one kind. My songs are more atmosphere than melody,
(bass, guitar,
abstract and Carrie brings but the lyrics ground it.
drums), Daniel things back down to earth. child and I started to cry. The record is a bit more
Swire (drums, They asked why I was crying, conceptual than usual. We
perc, guitar), Chris what was it like hearing and I had to explain it was went back to certain themes
Cohen (keys), Joe second Decade for because I was happy. I was and eras of history. Theres
JOAnnE KIM
Denardo (Ebow) the first time? CK: Dylan very touched by it. Its also more focus we wanted to
(Sharp) sent me the demos fun to play live, because write a record rather than
and I was looking after a there is a lot of space there. collect songs. PETER WATTS
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 31
 new albums
discovered
PETER OREN
anthropocene
WESTERN VINYL
8/10
Poetic dispatches from the Midwest.
By Alastair McKay
ON a record
that turns
hopelessness
into hymn,
named after
a term for
ecological
disaster, its no surprise that things
should appear disordered. Still, it
is a little disquieting to get to the
end of Orens second solo LP 10
austere, poetic incantations and
find the scene-setting Welcome/
Goodbye. Its a slight thing, camp-
fire folk with sombre strings, and
it begins with the singer directly
addressing the listener. Hey there,
hello, he says in his half-spoken
Bill Callahan croon, can I talk
with you? The song proceeds in its
pretty, funereal way: I dont know
what to do/See, shit is fucked up/
Even Elon Musk seems to think the
coming storms could be too much.
That mention of the PayPal/Tesla
exec is a flash of dark humour, then
he refocuses. Wouldnt mind to be
proven wrong, but damn, its been
so long since I heard of anything
hopeful going on/So welcome to this
record, goodbye to this world, may a
new one soon be unfurled.
And then there is the title track.
The term, anthropocene, refers
32 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
Searching out the best albums new to Uncut
to the impact of humanity on the
earths ecology, with radiation
and fossil fuels taking their toll
on the planets natural order. Its
a big word to smuggle into a folk
tune, though Nick Cave almost
got there first with Anthrocene
on Skeleton Tree, which mixed
dark forces and corrupted nature.
Orens view isnt so different
hes awaiting catastrophe with
idle hands and you can almost
imagine Cave singing Orens bleak
half-chorus: How will we escape
this hell we made?/How will we
escape this hell? But you can also
see why Oren kept Welcome/
Goodbye to the end.
Its bleak stuff, but its not
unforgiving. The sound of
Anthropocene also marks a
progression from Orens 2016 solo
debut, and the band recordings he
made with Swales (still available
on Soundcloud). Recorded in
Nashville with Ken Coomer
(ex-Uncle Tupelo and Wilco
drummer) producing and former
Sturgill Simpson guitarist Laur
Joamets adding minimal country
flourishes, it goes some way to
understanding what to do with
Orens voice, a low, conversational
rumble which manages to disguise
the clipped poetry of his lyrics as
easy conversation. Falling Water
is a warmer tune, beautifully
sung, with a lazy la-de-dah
chorus, which almost masks the
autobiographical conflict clawing
at the singer. Oren mentions his
home town, Columbus, Indiana,
a place named after a killer and a
misnomer, but the after-taste of
the song is of resilience, and the
strength of nature; inspired by
memories of canoeing the rivers
of Indiana, and echoing Wendell
Berrys short poem The Real
Work, which concludes with the
line: The impeded stream is the
one that sings.
The album opens with Burden
Of Proof, which is the least
trucking trucker song ever. Instead
of lionising diesel smoke and
dangerous curves, Oren sings of
Q&A
Peter Oren: Im trying to
keep my chin up
what do you mean by
the anthropocene? The
anthropocene is what geologists
seem to agree the next epoch
should be. Its a geologic time period.
The name is intended to signify
the impact humans have had on
the composition of the planet. I
was living with a couple of garden
designers who had an interest in
ecological design and one of them
was constantly depressed and
wondered where the songs about
climate change are. I dont know if
its The Climate Change Song For A
Generation! I think Im probably not
done trying to write those songs.
sleeping in his car at a truck stop
(because where Im coming from
is a full tank of gas away) and
finding alienation in the roadside
billboards for Christian talk
radio: They turn bucket seats on
this highway to pews. Then, as
if to stress that recording in the
hoardings of the Bible Belt havent
altered his worldview, he notes
how country radio all rhymes with
Bud and Chevrolet.
Orens Nashville sound is not
the traditional one. The playing
is understated. The pining steel
guitar on Canary In A Coal Mine
lures the lugubrious phrasing into
an undertow of romance, even
though the lyric is suffused with
dread. Throw Down is bolder:
theres some heavy electricity and
a ghostly aura swirling around a
marching rhythm, while the words
offer encouragement to what
seems to be anarchist activism,
of Maalox and molotovs/Tonight
were taking a stand.
Its not all about politics, except
that it probably is. Picture From
Spain is almost a love song, and
is followed by River And Stone,
a pained commemoration of a
broken romance. But Orens mind
appears to be elsewhere, trapped
between his own discomfiture
and his fears for the planet. What
to do? On the spry New Gardens,
he dusts down the spirit of Woody
Guthrie and imagines a better
time, a new kind of industry. He
sounds like he almost believes
in this practical paradise, an
Eden of ecological hell averted,
while keeping open the option of
imminent epochal oblivion.
was bill Callahan an influence
on your vocal style? Its mostly
about what my voice can do. When
I was beginning to write songs, I was
living in a dorm room at the university
and I was singing in a hushed way.
But I realised this the other day
theres this singer songwriter who
passed away in 1983 at the age
of 33 named Stan Rogers. My dad
listened to him a lot growing up, and
he had this really deep baritone voice
with a lot of vibrato, and hed sing
about the fishermen and the Great
Lakes. Theres a hip-hop MC, goes
by Ka, who has a similar style lower,
conversational, this is just how it is, Im
not going to shout it at you. I certainly
admire that straightforward delivery.
interVieW: aLastair mcKaY

SPINNING COIN
Permo
DOMINO
8/10
Glasgow jangle from indie five-piece
Scottish rockers
Spinning Coin are
steeped in that
Glasgow indie
jangle that masks
introspection and
occasional melancholia with chipper
melodies. Recorded with Edwyn Collins
but sharing more in spirit with TFC and
Eugenius than Orange Juice, Permos
strength is the variety of voices provided
by rotating singers Rachel Taylor, Sean
Armstrong and Jack Mellin, which in
turn encourages and emphasises the
bands range. Theres a classic guitar
pop mood overall, but Taylor brings a
Sandy Denny vibe to opener Raining
On Hope Street, Magdalene is
delivered with a real crunch and
Floating With You is all lysergic swirls.
Peter Watts
SUMIE
Lost In Light
BELLa UNION
5/10
sophomore album from the
Japanese-swedish singer
On her second LP,
Gothenburgs Sandra
Sumie Nagano recites
her depressive, wintry
haikus in a soft, pure
voice over some rather
samey accompaniment. Nearly all are
minor-key ballads in 6/8, featuring
metrical clawhammer guitars or clunky
piano vamps. The best moments
elaborate on this simplicity: the tremolo
guitar and pedal steel flourishes add a
suitably heartbroken Nashville air to
Divine Wind and The Only Lady;
a gorgeous string orchestration adds a
touch of redemption to Leave Me. The
major-key closer Walk Away comes as
a blessed relief, as if being airlifted from
misery into an astral plane. John LeWis
THE THE
Radio Cinola
CINEOLa/LaZaRUS
6/10
three discs of spoken-word, ambient
collage and rebooted oldies
Matt Johnson is firmly
back in The The
business, with shows
announced for 2018,
a new doc, and this
handsome three-disc
box. Disc One features reinterpretations
of The The songs by 11 artists, including
Thomas Feiners jazzily glacial This
Is The Day, plus the bands fine
recent single, We Cant Stop Whats
Coming. The second has Johnson
narrating John Tottenhams epic poem,
The Inertia Variations against an
ambient backdrop, while the final disc
intercuts soundbites about social media,
multinationals and US foreign policy
with soundscapes from Johnsons Radio
Cinola broadcast earlier this year.
Ultimately, the atmospheric sprawl
is more curio than crucial, but theres
sufficient sustenance to satisfy fans
until the promised LP of new music
materialises. Graeme thomson
UUUU
UUUU
EDITIONS MEGO
6/10
Wire, spiritualized and raime heads
in consort
Another side-project
beaming from the
Wire mothership,
UUUU features Edvard
Graham Lewis, a
founding member
of said group, alongside recent-ish
recruit Matthew Simms, with Valentina
Magaletti (Raime, Vanishing Twin) and
Thighpaulsandra (Coil, Spiritualized)
rounding out the lineup. If recent
Wire albums have been impressively
streamlined, UUUU gives free rein to
Lewis and companys more freeform,
experimental tendencies; its remit
is impressively broad, from churchy
Krautrock stormers to murky pools
of simmering drone and crackling
rhythmic grids that almost shape into
song (Boots With Wings). Not perfect, ,
but risky, and often thrilling. Jon DaLe
revelations
UUUU
Edvard Graham Lewis on a strange experience
first met Thighpaulsandra
I when Wire were
recording Change
Becomes Us at Rockfield in
Wales, Edvard Graham Lewis
recalls, of the first encounter
that would gradually lead to
the formation of his latest
collaboration, the mutant rock/
electronics of UUUU. With Lewis
and Thighpaulsandra joined by
guitarist Matthew Simms, and
percussionist Valentina
Magaletti, the groups self-titled
debut album is a strong,
surprising collection of song
thoughts sculpted from
exploratory recording sessions.
With Thighpaulsandra playing
with Lewis and Simms when on
tour with Wire, and Magalettis
band Tomaga touring with Wire
in 2015, UUUUs constituent
JOZEf VaN WISSEM
Nobody Living Can Ever
Make Me Turn Back
CONSOULING SOUNDS
7/10
esoteric songcraft by last living lutist
There is no more
prominent modern
advocate for the
lute than Jozef Van
Wissem, a Dutch-
born, Brooklyn-based
composer whose artful, minimalist-
tinged compositions have seen him
score for Jim Jarmusch and soundtrack
The Sims Medieval. Now approximately
a dozen albums old, his music has
attained a singular, sombre gravity.
Baroque instrumentals like Golden
Bells Ring In The Ears strike a refined,
contemplative mood. But there is a
heaviness of spirit here, too. Virium
Illarum which adds Wissems
grumbling vocals and an occasional
beat that shakes dust from the rafters
feels more in line with the drone-doom
of Sunn O))) than any Renaissance Faire
re-enactment. LoUis Pattison
WILD ONES
Mirror Touch
TOPSHELf
6/10
track what Hank Williams has to say to
parts came together through
experiment and circumstance.
This has defined their practice
since, with the material on
UUUU varied in structure, but
joined by the collective voice
that has developed out of the
rough-housing improvisations
they worked from. Indeed,
reflecting on the recording of
UUUU, which took place over a
year, from late 2015, on into
2016, Lewis continues, after
the initial sessions, when we
listened bck, it was a strange
experience; we remembered
little of what had been
recorded through being totally
immersed in the process
Bizarrely we couldnt identify
the player of individual sounds,
such was the cohesion of the
playing. Jon DaLe
new albums
Portland synth-pop band lose their
cool and get sultry
The alternately wry
and wistful tone
preferred by Wild
Ones singer Danielle
Sullivan creates a
sense of reserve rather
than the abandon the Portland bands
name may suggest. That restraint can
make it hard for Wild Ones to stand out
from Americas plethora of synth-toting
indie-pop acts. But Mirror Touch has its
adventurous qualities, too, as evidenced
by the Aaliyah-like mix of spacey and
sultry in Invite Me In and by I Wanna
Be Your Man, a coy gender-reversal
fantasy that mightve pleased Prince.
Even better are the moments when
Sullivans demeanour is troubled by
lustier undercurrents as she coos in
Love And Loathing, infatuation is
so hard to hide. Jason anDerson
LEE aNN WOMaCk
The Lonely, the Lonesome
& The Gone
aTO
8/10
nashvilles finest vocalist
Lee Ann Womack
trekked down to
Houston to record
her ninth LP at
SugarHill Studio,
which has hosted
sessions by Lightnin Hopkins and
Lucinda Williams among others. The
Texas native more than holds her
own, gracefully balancing between
old-school country and new-fangled
Americana as she delivers 14 beautifully
broken-hearted tunes about just what
the album title says. Womacks favourite
subject is country music itself, whether
shes recasting Lefty Frizzells Long
Black Veil or wondering on the title
a generation raised on pop-country and
strip-mall honkytonks. stePhen DeUsner
WU-TaNG CLaN
The Saga Continues
36 CHaMBERS aLC/ ENTERTaINMENT ONE
7/10
Wus eighth flab-free return to
the 36 Chambers
Having created a
unique, mystical
backdrop for their
bleak project
narratives, these days
the real saga of the
Wu-Tang Clan is behind the scenes.
Personal drama, harsh words, periodic
reconciliations, never mind an album
available in an edition of one owned
by a pharmaceutical exec Wu are
less a group, more a dysfunctional
family. Still, even if the production
(by Mathematics, inventor of the W
symbol) pores over old memories,
when they fire on all cylinders
(particularly Pearl Harbor and
AnTonIo CURCETTI
People Say) the combination of their
best MCs creates more than a nostalgia
trip. In fact its more like the paranoid
discomfort that was, oddly, the sound of
their good old days. John robinson
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 33
 Do you remember? When you were our age?

DECEMBER
CE
EM R 22017
TakE
kE 247
2
1 TiM BUCklEy (p38)
2 Davy gRahaM (p41)
3 jaCkiE shaNE (p43)
4 Talk Talk (p44)
5 ChRis BEll (p46)

reissues | coMps | boxseTs | losT recordings

hskER D
savage young D
NUMERO gROUP

Minnesotan trios early days in 69 tracks. By Louis Pattison

T
he last two decades breath for more. But the promise of a hskers
have been open season reissue reunion was never entirely dispelled, and
for the band reunion, a OF THe the news in 2015 that Mould, hart and
phenomenon that has MONTH bassist Greg Norton had opened collective
seen all manner of broken
relationships and battered
8/10 ancommunications if only to sell T-shirts from
official website raised hopes anew.
egos salved by the prospect of Any lingering what if? was blotted out forever
lucrative comeback tours and a thriving reissue in September, when hart succumbed to a battle
market eager for new ways to package the past. For all with liver cancer. It is difficult to imagine hsker
this, there have been a few holdouts, groups for whom D lacking any of its three core members, but in
no cheque could paper over the cracks. The Smiths, particular, the dynamic between its two songwriters
for one. Talking heads, another. And of course is the fulcrum the band revolved on: Mould, intense
hsker D, the prolific Minnesota punk rock trio and buttoned down, his songs caustic and bitter; hart,
whose collapse on the road in 1988, after nine years hippyish and energetic, with a generous melodic
and six furious albums, amounted to one of the most sense and a taste for raw, confessional songwriting. If
acrimonious splits in rock. their relationship could sometimes feel competitive,
In the years hence, the trio continued with new it certainly worked in the service of the songs. You
projects most notably, Bob Moulds Sugar, a sleek, hear some live bootlegs, and Bob and I are working
commercially solvent update so hard to outshine each other
on the hsker D template, that it just lifts the whole thing
and a string of solo albums off the ground with peace and
Lisa Haun/MicHaeL OcHs arcHives/Getty iMaGes

from drummer and co-vocalist wonderfulness, hart told The

Grant hart that explored bold AV Club in 2000.
conceptual realms (2013s The Now comes Savage Young D.
Argument was inspired by A 69-track boxset collecting
Miltons Paradise Lost). There freshly remastered and
was the briefest of reunions in largely unheard music from
2004, when Mould and hart hsker Ds first five years,
came together at a benefit it captures the group in first
concert for Karl Mueller of Soul flush, evolving from green
Asylum, playing a couple of teenage punks rehearsing in
hsker D songs before telling the basement of St Paul record
the audience not to hold their store Northern Lights, into

34 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017

DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 35
 ARChIVE

a savagely tight and notoriously fast power And whats new?

trio, cutting a swathe through clubs across
North America. That Hsker D were real
road dogs is sometimes forgotten, but a
thorough hardcover book packaged with
the box lays out their hectic live schedule
through tour dates and a wealth of photos
and hand-written flyers countless
support slots at Minneapolis venues,
extensive sorties along the West Coast,
all the way down to Texas and all the way
up to Canada. Some hardcore bands were
strictly local heroes, but not Hsker D.
Like Black Flag before them, they were DIY
networkers, building their reputation and
honing their sound out there on the road.
So whats here? Of the familiar stuff,
we have the groups debut single,
Statues/Amusement, the A-side an
uncharacteristically slow post-punk lurk
with spiky Keith Levene-style guitars; a
newly mixed recording of second single
In A Free Land, warp-speed hardcore
with a thrilling anti-authority vocal from
Mould; and the groups debut studio
album Everything Falls Apart, a 12-track
charge that sometimes holds tight to the
hardcore template (Bricklayer, Afraid able to get this raga thing happening.
Of Being Wrong) but throws in some
wild cards along the way. The title track
buries a brilliant array of melodies amidst
its mopey, greyscale guitars, while a
surprising cover of Donovans Sunshine
Superman is played not for the hyucks,
but for the hooks. Careful remastering
throughout makes the melodies crisper
and the noise crunchier.
Primarily, theres a new
take on the groups 1981
live album Land Speed
Record. Like the original,
its taken straight from
the soundboard at
Minneapolis venue 7th SLEEVE NOTES
Street Entry. But this take CD DISC 1
1. Do You Remember?
was recorded a couple of 2. Sore Eyes
weeks later, with Hsker 3. Cant See You
D fresh from a tour that Anymore
speed king:
4. Picture Of You
saw them play bills with a Bob Mould at
5. The Truth Hurts
Minneapolis
stack of hardcore groups First Avenue 6. Do The Bee
club, sept, 87 7. Nuclear Nightmare
from up and down the 8. All Ive Got To
West Coast. Land Speed Lose Is You
Record was already fast, 9. Chinese Rocks
10. Uncle Ron
but here you can hear the trio pushing But probably the most thrilling material 11. Data Control
themselves further and further, faster and comes towards the boxs close. Live 12. Insects Rule
The World
faster, keeping it together even as they takes on Real World, Its Not Funny 13. Youre Too Obtuse
dare the songs to fall apart. There are Anymore, Out On A Limb and Harts 14. Outside
hints, too, of a musical scope reaching serial-killer fable Diane all of which 15. Sexual Economics
16. What Went Wrong
beyond that of their punk peers. Its like would appear on the bands debut release 17. Statues
free jazz, Hart says in the sleevenotes. for SST, Metal Church mark the band 18. Amusement
19. Writers Cramp
When you listen to the whole thing truly arriving at their signature sound: a 20. Lets Go Die
the gestalt of the thing theres Bengali raging tug-of-war between the fulsome 21. Walk With The
music, Indian music, because we were melodies and thematic broadness of Wounded
22. Industrial Grocery
classic rock, and the pent-up rage and Store
Elsewhere, there is valuable live and pedal-to-the-metal pacing of hardcore CD DISC 2
rehearsal material, much of it taken punk. There is the slight sense that Savage 1. Drug Party
2. Call On Me
from the archive of the bands live sound Young D cuts out just as things are getting 3. Termination
engineer, Terry Katzman. An early show good, but thats more than countered by 4. Im Tired Of Doing
Things
recorded at Jays Longhorn in Minneapolis the quantity of material here, and the 5. Stick It To Me
captures the group in vestigial form the promise of what else might be to come. 6. Wheels
Norton-sung Youre So Obtuse might When Ken Shipley at Numero Group first 7. All Tensed Up
8. Dont Try To Call
be considered new wave, if it wasnt for contacted Hart about piecing together 9. Im Not Interested
Harts chaotic drum batteries, while an Hsker D reissues back in 2010, the 10. Guns At My School
11. Push The Button
appropriately bug-eyed song called drummer was initially sceptical, but his 12. Gilligans Island
Insects Rule The World closes increasing enthusiasm for the project 13. MTC
with a great Hart public service proved crucial, even as his illness sapped 14. Dont Have A Life
15. Youre Naive
announcement: Were not his energy. When plans were made to 16. Strange Week
the most professional band fly out to the Museum Of Pop Culture in 17. Big Sky
in the Twin Cities We have Seattle to pore through his archives, he 18. Ultracore
19. Lets Go Die
fun though An early 1980 wanted to join, recalled Shipley. But 20. Wont Say A Word
session spawns a breathless when it came time to go, he suddenly 21. Dont Try It
22. Private Hell
take on Johnny Thunders cooled to the idea and withdrew from the 23. Diane
standard Chinese Rocks, project entirely. Can you get it out before 24. Sex Dolls
while lost Mould originals like I go? he asked. It was not to be, but CD DISC 3
1. In A Free Land
Stick It To Me show how they Savage Young D stands as some 2. What Do I Want?
were rehearsing pensive, introspective testament to his wild creativity, and the 3. MIC
4. Target
material, even as their live shows were protean energy of the band that first 5. Signals From Above
gaining in speed and intensity. brought his songs to the world. 6. From The Gut
7. Blah, Blah, Blah
how To bUy... 8. Punch Drunk
9. Bricklayer

ALL THE YOUNG DS

10. Afraid Of Being
Wrong
11. Sunshine
Superman
12. Signals From
More classics from the Hsker members Above
13. Everything
JIM STEINFELDT/MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES

HskER D NovA MoB sUgAR Falls Apart

14. Wheels
Zen Arcade The Last Days of Copper Blue 15. Target
ssT, 1984 Pompeii RykoDisC/CREATioN, 1992 16. Obnoxious
The punks go prog. RoUgH TRADE, 1991 It would be deceitful 17. Gravity
18. Do You Remember?
Mould and Hart Grant Harts love to call the debut LP 19. Travel In
pool their growing for a high concept by Bob Moulds Opposite Car
songwriting talents into a bold certainly survived the collapse of post-Hskers combo light, exactly. 20. Its Not Funny
70-minute concept album about Hsker D. The debut album by his On A Good Idea, a man drowns his Anymore
21. Real World
teenage alienation and finding new trio tackled a grand narrative lover, while The Slim recounts the
22. Out On A Limb
ones place in the world that takes in which the Nazi rocket scientist death of a friend from Aids. But the 23. Its Not Fair
in psychedelia, folk, wistful piano Wernher von Braun escapes World choruses stretch out a mile, and an EXTRA CIRCUS
suites, Hare Krishna chant and a War II by summoning Wotan, Nordic expanded instrumental palette see 1. Heavy Handed
2. You Think Im Scared
14-minute freakout closer titled God Of War, flies back in time in a V2 especially the harpsichord-assisted
3. Wont Change
Reoccurring Dreams. Unparalleled rocket, and witnesses the eruption of Hoover Dam means that each 4. Is Today The Day?
and unrepeatable. Mount Vesuvius. Good tunes, too. song gleams. 5. Standing At The Sea

36 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017


Q&A
Ken Shipley, Numero
Group How the early-
Hskers boxset was
pieced together
P
REsUMABLy the compiling
of Savage Young D
involved a certain amount
of diplomacy how was it
piecing it together, and what
did it involve to get everyone on
the same page?
I knew from the start it was going to
be a difficult process, and as a result
picked the person that Id been told
would be the most difficult to convince.
Grant certainly made it interesting
from the jump, testing knowledge,
connections, and chops. But once I
was in, it was more a matter of when
than if. Bob didnt take a phone call
from me for a year, choosing to defer
to his long-time adviser Josh Grier.
BMGs acquisition of Bug Music, their
publisher, only intensified competition
for the work, and nearly killed this box
entirely. The biggest factor was time
and patience. Savage Young D ended
up at Numero because we outlasted
every other suitor.
What was it like to work with
grant on this set?
Grant could be a bridge builder and
bomb maker, simultaneously. The
slides for the Metal Circus jacket
would show up in an unmarked
manilla envelope one week, and the
next hed want to change the tracklist
entirely. To be clear: he did not want to
do this set first. He felt that the albums
should be done in order, with the
demos and early material issued last.
Extenuating circumstances made that
impossible in the short term. In the
beginning he had very strong ideas
about the cover. First it was a painting,
Hsker D: (lr)
greg Norton, grant
Hart and Bob Mould
then he wanted a period colour photo
of the group. When we couldnt find a
cover-worthy photograph, he wanted
to colour it by hand. Seven years into
the process he was still trying to set
the thing on fire; at the last possible
moment he wanted to change the title
to Broken Promises!
Were Bob Mould or greg
Norton sitting on significant
material from this era?
Bob provided the initial second Land
Speed Record set tape, which framed
the direction of where the project
would go. Originally we were going
to do a 35th-anniversary edition of
Land Speed, but kept finding more
and more interesting material. Greg,
despite donating a bunch of stuff to the
Minneapolis Historical Society, had a
ton of flyers and crisp album jackets for
us to restore from.
Can you give an impression of
the scope of Terry katzmans
tape archive? Was it a surprise
to find the bands existence so
well documented?
Terry had been the bands sound guy
for these crucial years, and made a
habit of taping every show. Hes a bit
of a pack rat, but you need a guy like
this to even attempt a project so vast
in scale. I first got into his basement in
When you thought
they were Americas
greatest hardcore
band, they were busy
inventing alternative
ARChIVE
2012 while working
on Purple Snow and
was blown away by
the level of depth
in his archive. Its
not justHskerD,
theres scraps
from nearly ever
important or minor
Minneapolis combo
going back to the
mid-70s stacked up
in corners. He was
immensely valuable
to the entire project.
I dont know if I can
even put my finger
on the number of
tapes he has. 300?
400? We havent
even gotten past the
early-1983 tapes and
there are still another
couple hundred shows to digitise. We
settled on doing the earliest period
for three reasons: one, this material
was the most free and clear legally.
Two, we wanted to get legit versions
of the demos into the marketplace
to counteract the insane number of
bootlegs. Three, its easiest to tell a
story if you begin at the beginning.
Was there any non-Hskers
stuff in Terrys archive that
was particularly surprising
or promising?
The only Katzman tapes we had access
to were the Hskers. But buried in
their old attorneys storage space were
most of the Reflex Record masters,
including albums by Man Sized Action,
Rifle Sport, and others. No plans to do
anything with those right now, but
never say never.
Does Savage Young D reveal
anything new about the band,
do you think?
The set illustrates the bands first arc
in exacting detail. They start out as
almost a power-pop band, morph into a
blistering hardcore act, and by the end
of 1982 are writing material that would
end up on Zen Arcade. The progress
they made in such a short amount of
time is incredible. There are very few
acts that challenged themselves and
the audience more thanHsker D
did. Just when you thought they were
LISA HAUN/MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES
Americas greatest hardcore band, they
were too busy inventing alternative.
is the relationship with
Hsker D ongoing? Will there
be future archival releases
from later stages of the band,
and will these be on a similar
scale to Savage Young D?
Theres a lot more story to tell. I think
were just getting started.
INTERVIEW: LOUIS PATTISON
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 37
 ARCHIVE
TIM BUCKLEY
Venice Mating Call/
Greetings From
West Hollywood
MANIFESTO/EDSEL
8/10 / 8/10
More nuggets from two forward-
looking 1969 gigs. By David Cavanagh
S
ome live albums document
a tour. others are souvenirs
of a single, magnetic
performance. And then
there are others, like a
Tim Buckley album issued
in 1994 by the LA-based
manifesto label, that seem to chronicle
not so much an event as an essence.
Connecting us to the voice and vision
of a long-departed cult hero, Live At
The Troubadour 1969 shone a light on
two September evenings when Buckley
forged new directions in folk-jazz at a
West Hollywood nightclub. Receiving
38 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
some good reviews, the album joined
two prior live releases, Peel Sessions and
Dream Letter: Live In London 1968, in his
posthumous catalogue.
Buckley would have turned 70 this
year, a poignant anniversary that
evidently prompted manifesto run
by evan Cohen, a nephew of Buckleys
former manager Herb to have another
rummage in its archives. Venice Mating
Call and Greetings From West Hollywood
have been assembled from the same
shows as Live At The Troubadour, drawing
on five sets that Buckley performed over
two nights (four before an audience, one
a rehearsal) and repeating none of the
versions that made up the 1994 album.
Between them, Venice Mating Call and
Greetings From West Hollywood add about
two hours and 45 minutes of unreleased
material to whats out there.
Buckley, just 22 when these gigs took
place, was about to make his fourth and
final album for Jac Holzmans elektra
label. Launched as a folk-rocker in 1966,
he now viewed himself primarily as a
jazz singer, which may be one reason
why these albums often occupy a similar
meditative headspace to Astral Weeks;
rather than racing to the point, Buckley
turns single words and individual
syllables into lingering, probing ecstasies.
Indeed, hes transported within seconds
of strumming his first chord on Buzzin
Fly, the opening song on both albums,
and immediately can be heard humming
to himself, squealing, yelping, moaning
sensually and on Venice Mating Call
happily whistling.
The albums take somewhat different
routes, offering alternative views of
roughly the same setlist, before they
really start to cook around track five or
six. Venice Mating Call, a two-disc set,

Buckley: 1966s
folk-rocker
becomes 1969s
jazz singer
achieves take-off on Gypsy Woman,
from Buckleys then-current album
Happy Sad. Lee Underwood, his lead
guitarist, switches to electric piano
and a groove starts up. Rolling and
pulsing like Bitches Brew, it withdraws
into a long percussion-only section,
whereupon another groove gets going
and Underwood returns to his guitar.
Throughout all the changes, a delirious
Buckley seems hellbent on locating
every note in his four-octave range
in whichever order he sees fit. Its an
astounding feat of singing. Really, the
producers of The Voice should send
an mP3 of Gypsy Woman to every
applicant and tell them to try again
in 10 years.
A similar epiphany, meanwhile,
occurs in Nobody Walkin on
Greetings From West Hollywood.
After a discouraging start (Sounds
horrible, Buckley mutters), it soon
livens up (Yeah! All night long!) and
again Buckley rhapsodises and
free-associates while his band play
a Bitches Brew electric piano groove
for a head-nodding 12 minutes. This
is some pretty advanced stuff for the
Troubadour crowd. miles Davis had
recorded Bitches Brew in New York only
a fortnight earlier, and nobody outside
Columbia Records would hear any of it
until the following march.
Not every song on these sets will send
people scurrying to check the recording
dates of groundbreaking jazz-rock
records. A lot of Buckleys music is
easy to lie back and luxuriate in. No
mingus or Dolphy expertise is needed
to appreciate the sweet, swoony words
and serene tempo of Blue melody,
for instance. But its telling that, with
Happy Sad not even two months old,
Buckley was already previewing the
next album he would make (Lorca)
and the one after that (Blue Afternoon),
while pointedly ignoring the one that
had won him his plaudits in the first
place (Goodbye And Hello).
Spread across the second disc of
Venice Mating Call are the five songs
from Lorca a formidable, fanbase-
polarising step into the unknown
that even the avowedly pro-artist
Holzman found hard to swallow.
Its title track, not yet saturated in
that eerie pipe organ, is performed
on a marimba and lacks the scary
drama of the studio version.
other tracks, however, are fully
formed. Literally so in the case of
Driftin, which, give or take a bit
of eQing, is revealed to be the same
eight minutes of music that appears
on Lorcas second side. It gets a
great reception, too. How ironic to
hear Buckleys fans in 1969 warmly
applauding an album that would
alienate so many of them when it
came out in 1970.
Attractively presented and well
recorded, Venice Mating Call and
Greetings From West Hollywood will
be lapped up by Buckley completists
and should appeal to casual fans of
Happy Sad and Blue Afternoon. Issuing
this music as two separate 1CD and 2CD
packages does seem an unnecessarily
pedantic way of making it available,
though, especially as the sets duplicate
two songs (Blue melody and Chase
The Blues Away) and share identical
sleevenotes. Wouldnt an all-embracing
3CD release have been a more sensible
idea? But then, if everything in the
world made sense, Tim Buckley
would still be alive.
Extras: None.
A delirious Buckley
seems hellbent on
locating every note in
his four-octave range
Its an astounding feat
ARCHIVE
AtoZ
Track lisTs
GREEtInGs
FRom WEst
HollyWood
1. Buzzin Fly
2. Chase The
Blues Away
IAN DURY
3. I Had A Talk
New Boots And Panties!!
With My Woman
(reissue, 1977)
4. Blue Melody
EDSEL
5. Nobody Walkin
9/10
6. Venice Mating
Call Still partial to his abracadabra
7. I Dont Need It
Stiff Records quickly earned
To Rain
a reputation as a home
8. Driftin
for mavericks, but few fit
9. Gypsy Woman
the tag quite like the man
who gave the label its first
VEnICE
mAtInG CAll gold-certified album. Dury,
CD1 the art school student turned pub rocker,
1. Buzzin Fly barrelled up at the height of punk with a
2. Strange Feelin calling card that dabbled in jazz, music hall,
3. Blue Melody retro rocknroll and Kinks-ian character
4 Chase The studies. He could have been dismissed as
Blues Away a Dickensian cartoon, were it not for the
eloquence of his lyrics, his sly humour and the
5. Venice
formidable musical range of his partner Chaz
Mating Call
6. Gypsy Woman Jankel, whose playful arrangements brought
7. I Dont Need It depth and ballast to the odd-looking bloke at
To Rain the mic. Clevor Trevor is jazz-rap in all but
name, Wake Up And make Love With me
CD2 the only boudoir seduction to include a break
1. Driftin for tea and toast, and Sweet Gene Vincent
2. (I Wanna) knocks spots off most other paeans to a fallen
Testify idol. While others jumped ship, Dury stayed
with Stiff for a further two long-players,
3. Anonymous
although neither could match his debuts
Preposition
4. Lorca invention and charm.
5. I Had A Talk Extras: 8/10. Completing a no-stone-unturned
With My Woman 40th-anniversary four-disc set are period
6. Nobody Walkin non-LP singles, B-sides, Peel sessions, discs of
demos and a previously unavailable live gig
recorded for BBC Radio 1. TERRY STAUNTON
SERGE GAINSBOURG &
JEAN-CLAUDE VANNIER
Les Chemins De Katmandou
FINDERS KEEPERS
9/10
Unearthed Indo-funk soundtrack from
Melody Nelson team
Insanely productive
especially considering his
prodigious alcohol intake
Serge Gainsbourg recorded a
huge number of soundtracks
over the last 30 years of his
life. Almost all the best stuff from Nicos
version of Strip-Tease to the sublime, proto-
hip-hop Chanson De Slogan, recorded with
Jane Birkin is available, yet Gainsbourgs
complete soundtrack to 69 hippie trail flick
The Pleasure Pit (starring Birkin, Renaud
Verley and Gainsbourg) has remained
lost. This was something of a tragedy, as it
was recorded with Jean-Claude Vannier,
the arranger who helmed Slogan, the
Cannabis oST and the eternal Histoire De
Melody Nelson. Recently discovered in a
suitcase, however, the whole thing is now
being released, and it doesnt disappoint.
Theres Clavichord funk with tarry strings,
rock grooves, and some glorious mixes of
tabla, tanpura, strings and horns. Theres
only 27 minutes of material here, but it sounds
vital and, as a key to unlocking what both men
would do over the following few years, its
invaluable to the Serge enthusiast.
Extras None. TOM PINNOCK
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 39
 ARCHIVE
CHRIS GANTRY
At The House Of Cash
DRAG CITY
8/10
What you get when you factor in
peyote, Johnny Cash and Nashvilles
wildest cat
Of all the colorful
characters who kicked
around nashville
in the 60s and 70s,
few could match
Chris Gantry. Born
in Queens, the precociously talented
singer-songwriter signed his first
record deal at the age of 14. By 21 he was
in Music City, where hed pal around
with Kris Kristofferson and hit paydirt
by penning Dreams Of The everyday
housewife for Glen Campbell. But
after 10 years of shilling songs, he set
out to do something creative and
revolutionary, as the now 64-year-old
Gantry recounts in his notes for Drag
Citys album of the extraordinary
songs he cut in the studio of his friend
Johnny Cash in 1973. The effects of
Gantrys recent mind-expanding
peyote trip in Mexico are not hard to
discern on Drop, a spoken-word tale
about a raindrops odyssey set to a Sun
Ra soundscape, and the bluegrass
Beefheart of Oobablap. The more
sumptuous likes of Flower Of The
KOH HASEBE/SHINKO MuSIC/GETTY IMAGES
Mountain land closer to Jimmy Webb
at his weirdest. According to Gantry,
his iconic host had this to say about his
visitors handiwork: I listened to your
record last night and I dont think even
the drug people are gonna understand
it. A commercial release was not on
the cards. Forty-five years later, its
nearly as confounding, but damn fine
all the same.
Extras: none.
JASON ANDERSON
40 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
GERMAN OAK
Down In The Bunker
NOw-AGAIN
8/10
A 3CD compendium of Krautrocks
most controversial group
Since the 1972 release
of German Oak,
their only album,
this Dsseldorf trio
have been portrayed
as either nazi
sympathisers or Meinhof-ian political
revolutionaries seeking to exorcise
the horrors of World War II. In reality,
however, Wolfgang Caesar Czaika,
Ullrich Kallweit and harry Kallweit
claim that they were always apolitical,
their freeform, instrumental jams
inspired by hendrix, Ginger Baker,
Can and Amon Dl II rather than any
ideology. Unable to find a rehearsal
space, they settled for a damp former
wartime bunker, where they captured
their hawkwind-meets-Amon Dl
experiments on a portable cassette
recorder with in-built mic. however,
these recordings were then processed
and released by producer Manfred
Uhr a black-magic acolyte with a
Floridian
psych-folk
forebears
Pearls Before
Swine
human skeleton in his Lada who
gave them dubious titles such as Raid
Over Dusseldorf and 1945 Out Of
The Ashes. On a later bonus track, Uhr
even overdubbed a hitler speech over
one of the trios fetid jams. With hitler
now excised, the track titles altered and
tape-speed problems corrected, these
idiot-savant pieces finally released
with the bands involvement still
retain an eerie, claustrophobic charm;
at times, its as if the listener is really
locked in the shelter with the band and
their explosions of noise, galloping
rhythms and surf-like, nave guitar.
Extras: 7/10. Groovy bonus cuts,
some recorded outside the bunker
and previously unreleased, extended
versions of the original albums
tracks (Missile Song is particularly
incantatory) and band interviews.
TOM PINNOCK
METAllICA
Master Of Puppets
BlACKENED
9/10
Thrash metals greatest
achievement gets boxed
and expanded
Mid-80s Metallica
with Cliff Burton
(third left), who
died in a coach
crash while touring
Master Of Puppets
By the mid-80s
Metallica had
already established
themselves as a
commercial and
creative force in
metal, introducing their ragged
riff-heavy sound on 1983s Kill Em All
and honing their attack on 1984s Ride
The Lightning. eschewing singles and
videos, they signed to elektra and flew
to Copenhagen to work with producer
Flemming Rasmussen on their major-
label debut, Master Of Puppets. They
pare metal down to its flesh-stripped
bones, combining bass, drums, guitar
and howling vocals into a barrage that
is aggressive yet nuanced, mechanistic
yet nimble. Full of abrupt key changes,
convoluted chord progressions and
complicated time signatures, these
songs are ambitiously arranged,
peppered with flourishes like the
industrial blues riff on The Thing
That Should not Be and the late Cliff
Burtons intricately melodic bassline
on the instrumental Orion. Thirty
years later, the heaviness of these
songs has intensified rather than
abated. As James hetfield sings,
Powerhouse of energy, whipping up
a fury We create the battery!
Extras: 7/10. expanded edition
includes two CDs of rough demos and
live cuts; deluxe edition sprawls to eight
CDs and two DVDs. STEPHEN DEUSNER
PEARlS BEFORE SwINE
One Nation Underground
DRAG CITY
7/10
Acid-folk ur-text gets a much-
needed remastering
One suspects that, in
1967, there must have
been quite a few bands
like Pearls Before
Swine spattered across
America. Formed in
Florida by an antic high-schooler called
Tom Rapp, the young PBS vacillated
between Renaissance Faire whimsy
and wheezing electric protest-folk. At
times, both can seem a little gauche:
the solemn invocations of the amber
lady seated at her harpsichord in
velvet; some Dylan impersonations
(cf Playmate) in which, if nothing
else, Rapps nasal congestion sounds
authentic. So far, so generic. But
the way the two strains combine, in
haphazard ways, is what makes Rapps
first moves so appealing, and why
Pearls Before Swines music has been
so venerated in outsider psych circles.
Farfisas on the edge of breakdown,
finger cymbals and stray banjos give
a weird edge to garage workouts
that are closer to The Fugs than The
Band, the pranksterish dimension
compounded by the Morse Code signal
F-U-C-K being beeped out in Miss
Morse. Meanwhile, unsteady and
lovely reveries like Another Time
and Morning Song set a template for
later, more fully realised Rapp albums
like Use Of Ashes and for waves of
acid-folk over the ensuing decades.
Devendra Banhart fans take note; he
certainly did. Extras: none. JOHN MULVEY

DAVY GRAHAM
Folk, Blues & Beyond (reissue, 1964)
large As life And Twice As Natural (reissue, 1968)
BREAD AND wINE
8/10 / 8/10
Two way stations on Grahams 60s journey, reissued. By John Robinson
When it was first
noticed in the 1990s
that a large talent
like Davy Graham
was keeping a very
low profile, one
assumption was that
he had gone on an
ultimate walkabout
some folk-based
factfinder to the ends
of the earth. he had
after all, been around
a bit in his time. As he
told his Decca producer Ray horricks for
the sleevenote of his second solo album,
Folk, Blues And Beyond, he had busked
in France, holed up in Malaga and, when
his money ran out, taken a job in a Tangier
restaurant specialising in hash cakes.
It possibly speaks to our literal natures
and appetite for biography that we
would prefer someone whose music flew
between maps and melded destinations
to have bought tickets to some of those
actual places. A bit like Sandy Bull, who
did something pretty similar in America
at about the same time, with many of
the same interests (and distractions),
Davy Graham travelled all over the globe
without often needing to leave the house.
Its a point supported by live tracks on
a reissue of his first album, 1963s The
Guitar Player, from a few years ago.
Amid an occasional mumble of chat,
coughs and rattling matchboxes,
ARCHIVE
Davy Graham: That was possibly the eureka moment
journeying that led to the second Davy Graham LP,
between
notes, genres Folk, Blues And Beyond. It doesnt turn him
and locations pop, exactly, but it at least nudges him in
the direction of a more comprehensible
presentation, accompanied by bass
and drums. Lead Belly surely never
conceived of his Leaving Blues as a
transcontinental rave-up, but that is what
it becomes here. It ushers in a selection
of prevailing traditional songs and
covers (Cocaine; Dylans Dont Think
Twice) in which Grahams guileless
voice (genuinely lovely on Ballad Of The
Sad Young Men) becomes a lodestar for
the songs amid the confusing magic often
being worked by his hands.
The poise and jazzy mood is immaculate
like Bert Jansch, Davy Grahams music
suggests a lifestyle that is aspirationally
down at heel though it perhaps carries
less cultural weight for a lack of original
compositions. his take on Bobby
Timmons Moanin, a balancing act
of precision and swing, shows the wires
sparking, while the frenetic Maajun,
inspired by Tangier, points the way ahead.
A contemporary rocker with an ear for the
exotic might have noted the unfamiliar
mode, the reverberating wordless vocal,
and been inspired to suggest a production
like happenings Ten Years Time Ago to
his group The Yardbirds.
Much as John Coltrane continued to
find something new to explore in My
Favorite Things, Davy Graham could
mine fortunes from popular song. 1968s
Graham plays his She Moved Thru The Large As Life duly finds the room for
SLEEVE NOTES Bizarre, a fleet chase sequence taking development in Joni Mitchells Both
FOLK, BLUES in north Africa, Bachs Germany and Sides now, opening an album where the
& BEYOND
India that we will soon know as White balance between folk-scene singer and
1. Leavin Blues
2. Cocaine Summer, by Jimmy Page. The tracks are wide-voyaging composer becomes more
3. Sally Free And Easy listed as live, and certainly theyre not heavily weighted to the latter.
4. Black Is The professionally recorded, but this doesnt Theres a lot of reaching here. But if his
Colour Of My True
Loves Hair
sound like a paying concert. This is clearly voice struggles to make it, the playing
5. Rock Me Baby more an event at which the observers never falters. Alongside Brit jazzers and top
6. Seven Gypsies are incidentally present, accidental sessioneers like Danny Thompson, John
7. Ballad Of The Sad witnesses to an interior trip. The deep, hiseman and Dick heckstall-Smith, Davy
Young Men
8. Moanin
searching runs, the suspension of time flies on Bad Boy Blues and on the grim
9. Skillet as Graham plays Misirlou, suggests but lovely Bruton Town, a song suggested
10. Aint Nobodys hes not bothered if anyone is there at all. to him by Shirley Collins. his composition
Business What I Do Today, that it was recorded at all feels Tristano in honour of jazz pianist Lenny
11. Maajun
12. I Cant Keep From miraculous. As Davy journeys between is impressive and intricate, but its his other
Cryin Sometimes the notes, genres and locations, were instrumentals Sunshine Raga, Jenra
13. Dont Think left to speculate about other sessions and Blue Raga that are the most
Twice, Its All Right
like these, between the studio dates, but head-turning; meditative pieces in which
14. My Babe
15. Goin Down Slow unrecorded, at which similar magic must something unique is unmistakeably being
16. Better Get Hit have happened. chased down.
In Yo Soul Thats not to say lightning didnt strike in Discreet talents like Davy Grahams
LARGE AS LIFE AND the studio. The album immediately before have a difficult narrative. Their arc isnt
TWICE AS NATURAL the first reissued here, 1964s essential aways the stuff of drama or tragedy, and
1. Both Sides Now Folk Roots, New Routes, recorded with they dont deliver something as easy
2. Bad Boy Blues
3. Tristano
Shirley Collins, is a magnificent example as a standout album. Rather, they offer
4. Babe, It Aint No Lie of Graham in captivity. here, the relative something like this, an engrossing ongoing
5. Bruton Town formality of the arrangements (traditional narrative, which is revealed in intriguing,
6. Sunshine Raga British and American, most selected by incomplete parts. Its about curiosity and
7. Freight Train Blues
8. Jenra Collins) find Graham weaving his exotic private conviction, and ultimately the
9. Electric Chair flourishes and curious swing into songs continued pursuit of something which
10. Good Morning with beginnings, middles and ends. might not be immediately obvious to
Blues the onlooker. To the artist, however, its
With Collins candid delivery, songs
11. Beautiful City
12. Blue Raga like Jane Jane even suggest an odd 60s completely clear: tantalisingly close, if
pop the work, possibly, of some infinitely frustratingly just out of reach.
hipper Petula Clark. Extras: none.
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 41
 ARCHIVE
rediscovered
Uncovering the underrated and overlooked
PETER HOWELL &
JOHN FERDiNANDO
A game For All Who Know: The H&F Recordings Box
gRAPEFRUiT
8/10
DIY pop-folk-psych magic from deepest Sussex
THE prologue to the liner
notes for A Game For All Who
Know, a boxset collection of
uber-rare private press psych-
folk from the UK, is subtitled
Joy In The Finding, which
just about sums up the thrill of encountering
limited-edition, self-released LPs: they often
show up in thrift stores or local flea markets,
and every discovery contributes to an
alternative history of modern music making,
where quiet DIY communities create music
for love, not money. Bunkering down in the
Home Counties, the songwriters at the heart
of H&F Recordings, Peter Howell and John
Ferdinando, werent exactly primed to become
a record collectors cult: theres something
unassuming about the songs they wrote
and recorded, as though they were created
for the sheer kick of the moment, all of the
players deep inside the melancholy moonlight
captured by the music.
However, the albums they self-released
across the late 1960s and 1970s Alice Through
The Looking Glass (1969), Tomorrow Come
Someday and Agincourts Fly Away (both
1970), Ithacas A Game For All Who Know
(1973) and the previously unreleased Friends
Fragile (1974) have ended up as private
press legends, against the odds. Part of
the charm is their utter guilelessness: the
players are all unknowns, the production
is somehow both potting-shed charm and
sophistication on a shoestring budget, and
the songs are often delightful and uncanny
in their warmth and emotional depth.
The first two sets are oddities,
community theatre and film soundtracks
respectively, with all the pros and cons
that entails, their relative lack of coherence
42 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
offset by brilliant moments of textural
invention, while tiny melodic cells glimmer
out of the murk. But the Agincourt and Ithaca
albums, in particular, are full of gorgeously
melancholic pop-folk, drawing from the astral
pastoralism of Pink Floyd, the opaque early
material by The Moody Blues and the everyday
surrealist pop of Kevin Ayers, while pointing
toward the home-spun folk of groups like The
Carousel and Red Chair Fadeaway. On Fragile,
whose songs are all written by Howell, you
can hear the music reaching outwards, with
songs like Take A Walk adopting a gentle,
bossa nova lilt, while Come Inside and
Once In A Winter Town are pure low-budget
Witchseason, as though Joe Boyd was ghosting
the home studio while producing a modern
Vashti Bunyan recording session.
Indeed, its interesting to consider how the
mood of these deeply personal H&R albums is
reflected in modern music, from Jane Weaver
to Saint Etienne separated by decades, they
share a nostalgia for a sometimes bucolic, often
haunted England, an Arcadia that one senses
they all feel is forever lost. No wonder Howell
ended up at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
Extras: 7/10. Excellent liner notes from David
Wells. JON DALE
Recording
the Agincourt
album in 1970
QUEEN
News Of The World (40th
Anniversary Super Deluxe)
UMC/ViRgiN
7/10
Weighty celebration of the We Will Rock
You years, with added fanbait
A shelf-threatening
3CD/vinyl/DVD box
extravaganza, this
heavyweight package is
aimed ruthlessly at the
bands hardcore cadre
of fans. Theres an argument that News Of
The World is Queens least consistent 70s
effort, and the contrast between the big
numbers (Champions, Get Down Make
Love) and flimsy filler (Who Needs You)
is clear to hear, especially crisply in this
Bob Ludwig 2011 master. The supporting
material is the sets selling point. The Raw
Sessions disc holds unheard, unreleased
jewels, with all the album cuts represented
in alternate, live or rough mixes, crowned by
some cute in-studio banter. Freddies vocal
take of Brian Mays All Dead, All Dead is
fascinating, but Roger Taylors contributions
are the pick. With its extended guitar intro
and different coda, Sheer Heart Attack
shimmers with trashy, thrashy brilliance,
while Fight From The Inside is presented
in intriguing demo form. The Bonus Tracks
CD is less relevatory, rounding up odd BBC
sessions and instrumental tracks. The
vinyl, though, is audiophile catnip: a pure
analogue recut, direct from the unmastered
analogue mix tapes.
Extras: 8/10. New one-hour documentary
Queen: The American Dream all-access
footage from the 77 US tour by Bob Harris
and crew. Plus! Three posters and 60-page
photo book. MARK BENTLEY
REM
Automatic For The People
(25th Anniversary Deluxe
Edition)
CRAFT
9/10
A benevolent rock masterpiece,
expanded with outtakes and live tracks
Conceived while Out Of
Time was still topping
the Billboard 200, REMs
eighth album forsook
triumphalism for spectral
ruminations on memory
and mortality. The self-lacerating starkness
of Drive still freezes the blood, while
at the other end of the emotional scale,
Nightswimming finds solace in snapshots
of a lost summer. Even as Stipes gestures
became necessarily bigger and simpler
the giant consoling hug of Everybody
Hurts, the sustained anti-Republican
rant of Ignoreland he still playfully
challenged you to forage for meaning among
lists of board games and discussions of
callphone etiquette.
Extras: 8/10. The big news is the inclusion of
the long-heralded Devil Rides Backwards
(also sometimes known as Big Talk),
a song as haunting as anything on the
main album. Mikes Pop Song is fun and
Eastern 983111 another intriguing road
not travelled, although tantalising titles
Cello Scud and Howler Monkey turn
out to be simply demo versions of Automatic
favourites. Disc Two is a crisp recording of

REMs only proper live show of 1992,
a Greenpeace benefit at the 40 Watt
Club in Athens, previously divvied
up for Monster-era B-sides. Theres
also a Blu-ray disc containing videos
and a new mix of the album by Scott
Litt in Dolby Atmos.
SAM RICHARDS
THE RESiDENTS
80 Aching Orphans: 45
Years Of The Residents
CHERRY RED
8/10
Eye tunes: San Francisco weirdies
4CD greatest misses
Once so enigmatic
that tinfoil-hatted
uber-fans posited
that they were The
Beatles in disguise,
The Residents grew
names in later decades, Randy,
Chuck and Bob conceding with
unexpected candour that they
were merely ageing hippies with
misguided fantasies on this
exhausting best ofs sardonic her adopted home of Toronto, even at
closer, Life Would Be Wonderful.
80 Aching Orphans thoroughly
documents their slow evolution via
the hideous eyeball headgear towards
a kind of wonky musical theatre,
but it is the creations of their putrid
70s pomp that define them. Second
changeover in the great avant-rock
4 x 100m, passing the baton from the
Silver Apples and Frank Zappa to
Pere Ubu and Devo, their primitive
electro-pop terrorism is showcased
by the Mickey Mouse free-jazz of
Eloise and the melted Beach Boys
gloop of Semolina. Meanwhile,
the Residents unforgiveable
desecration of The Rolling Stones
Satisfaction and Beatles cut-
and-paste Beyond The Valley Of
Eskimo
RALPH, 1979
An eerie crater-scape
of chants, low-blown
drones and arctic
ambience, Eskimo
was The Residents first serious step
sideways, a collection of long, slowly
evolving pieces loosely based around
indigenous American culture. Its
conceptually rigorous and politically
engaged, yet smartly, slyly playful. Chris
Cutler of Henry Cow and Don Preston of
The Mothers Of Invention guest.
8/10
The Commercial
Album
RALPH, 1980
It was one of The
Residents smartest
gambits: record an
album of one-minute songs and buy
advertising slots on San Francisco radio
ARCHIVE
A Day In The Life trumpet the
creepy collective as pioneering pop
postmodernists, carving out a path
for Throbbing Gristle, Negativland
and the Butthole Surfers to follow.
Fab foresight, all told.
Extras: 7/10. A slyly illuminating
booklet with plenty of gratuitous
eyeball photographs and sleevenotes
from long-term Cryptic Corporation
mouthpiece Homer Flynn.
JIM WIRTH
JACKiE SHANE
Any Other Way
NUMERO gROUP
7/10
Two-disc celebration of undersung
60s R&B/soul singer
A Nashville-born
singer acclaimed
by players on the
soul/R&B circuit and
who worked with the
likes of Joe Tex and
Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Jackie
Shane was little known outside of
her peak. This 25-track compilation,
overseen by Shane (now 77) and
featuring extensive, autobiographical
liner notes with archival photos, shines
a light on both an extraordinary life
gay and black, she started living as Jackie Shane with
a transgender woman when a young Frank Motleys
teen and a talent (which included Hitchhikers and
drumming) marginalised by history. (top) in 1967
It features all six of her singles,
including the title track, which was
a modest hit in 1962, plus live highlights
from 1967 sessions at Torontos
Sapphire Tavern, where Shane, backed The Dog, a light, sinewy take on highlights are Stand Up Straight
by Frank Motleys Hitchhikers was a Barrett Strongs Money (Thats What And Tall (Aretha fronting Booker T
regular. The songs are very much of I Want) and an insanely speedy & The MGs) and the irresistibly jiving,
their time, reflecting shifts in popular version of the Ray Charles hit Sticks R&B-pop of New Way Of Lovin.
taste and featuring numerous covers, And Stones (the flip of Any Other Extras: None.
including Rufus Thomas Walking Way). Of Shanes own material, SHARON OCONNELL
How to buy...
THe resideNTs
From political drones to emotional song-cycles
station KFRC to broadcast them all.
They rose, brilliantly, to their own
occasion with a set of 40 uneasy
miniatures; proof that The Residents
had a knack, however skewed, for
pop melody.
9/10
Animal Lover
MUTE, 2005
During the noughties,
The Residents
perfected their song-
cycle approach to
albums Animal Lover, about the
interaction of human and animal
worlds, is one of their strongest.
Mortality is another theme, and often
the emotional tenor of Animal Lover is
simply overwhelming: My Window, The Residents:
pupils of the
filled with deep mourning, is the most Zappa/Silver
devastating song they ever recorded. Apples school of
8/10 rock subversion
JON DALE
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 43
 ARCHIVE
VE
TALK TALK
The Partys Over/Its My Life (reissues, 1982, 1984)
PARLOPHONE
7/10, 8/10
Vinyl reissues showcase cult bands promising synth-pop origins.
By Wyndham Wallace
Given how often
their final, genre-
melting albums,
1988s Spirit Of Eden
and 1991s Laughing
Stock, are referenced
nowadays, its easy to
overlook Talk Talks
origins. 2012s Spirit
Of Talk Talk book
delivered praise
from artists as varied
as Karl Hyde, nils
Frahm and Robert
Plant, but this was almost exclusively
aimed at those brave but commercially
disastrous collections, with which its
undeniably difficult to reconcile their more
marketable, early-80s releases. The Thes
Matt Johnson compared their decade-long
evolution to The Beatles, and even if one
navigates the divide with 1986s The Colour
Of Spring, which became their biggest
album (but contained two of their most
abstract compositions), its true that these
contrasting epochs seem to be in more
than merely personnel terms the work
MICHAeL PuTLAND/GeTTY IMAGeS
of different Talk Talks. The roots of their
later genius, however, lie in these initial,
currently undervalued endeavours.
The band first formed in 1981 after ed
Hollis, whod enjoyed success with eddie
& The Hot Rods, encouraged his brother
Mark, with whom hed also played
under the name The Reaction, to record
44 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
The first Talk Talk
lineup: (lr) Simon
Brenner, Mark
Hollis, Lee Harris
and Paul Webb
SLEEVE NOTES some of his own songs with former
schoolmates Paul Webb and Lee Harris,
THE PARTYS OVER part of local reggae act eskalator. While
1. Talk Talk punk had fuelled all three, the bands
2. Its So Serious
future mastermind was just as likely to
3. Today
4. The Partys
share music by erik Satie and Ornette
Over Coleman with his new colleagues and,
1. Hate supplemented by keyboardist Simon
2. Have You Heard Brenner, they swiftly found common
The News creative ground.
3. Mirror Man An eMi deal followed, and though
4. Another Word 1982s The Partys Over and 1984s Its
5. Candy My Life may be best known for the
ITS MY LIFE polished, Duran Duran-chasing singles
1. Dum Dum Girl necessitated by a major label, Hollis
2. Such A Shame heart was elsewhere from the start.
3. Rene in truth, only two tracks from these
4. Its My Life
albums and both from The Partys
1. Tomorrow
Started
Over cracked the Top 40 at the time:
2. The Last Time Today, with its Mick Karn-esque
3. Call In The bassline, and Talk Talk, which
Night Boy prospered on the second attempt. The
4. Does Caroline latters debt to Duran Durans Planet
Know? earth was perhaps fortuitous, but
5. Its You definitely superficial: the songs cheerful
demeanour masked a contemptuous
lyric better suited to its former, fiercer
incarnation, recorded by The Reaction
for a Beggars Banquet compilation in
1977. Otherwise, chart triumphs eluded
them: 1984s its My Life would have to
wait until its second reissue, on the back
of a 1990 compilation, to peak at no 13,
with this overdue feat almost impolitely
eclipsed in their British homeland
by no Doubts garish 2003 cover. The
same year, Such A Shame and Dum
Dum Girl failed to capitalise on radio
support, scraping the Top 50 and Top
75 respectively, with audiences most
likely put off by the gloomy tone that now
makes them so persuasive.
its indeed in such melancholy that
the neglected appeal of both albums
is concealed. True, The Partys Over
remains victim to period technology
and claustrophobic click tracks, its new
Romantic reputation further justified
by the Rotodrums of luckless single
Another Word, and Hate, whose trite
arrangement stampeding rhythms,
stabbed synths, grunted chorus
distracts from its veiled sentiment.
Thats not to mention their painfully
thin debut single, Mirror Man.
Have You Heard The news echoes
Duran Durans Save A Prayer, too,
but many of these shortcomings are
down to eMis chosen producer, Colin
Thurston, fresh from helming Rio for Le
Bon and co, but chiefly approved by the
band for his work on Bowies Heroes.
nonetheless, the muted pleasures of
its So Serious, the majestic, Japan-
flavoured title track and the disconsolate
Candy all point to greater ambitions,
and Hollis lamenting, nasal vocal
and idiosyncratic phrasings help
compensate for the albums flaws.
Thurstons ousting in favour of Tim
Friese-Green whod soon become
a vital writing partner for Hollis
ensured Its My Life offered a more
cultivated sound, as did Brenners
departure. Hollis would later insist
both albums dominant synth flavours
were present only because the band
couldnt afford real instruments or
the musicians to play them, and here
Friese-Green allows more space for
acoustic instrumentation to begin its
creep to the fore: the trumpets piercing
the pleasingly languid Tomorrow
Started, the strummed acoustic guitars
interrupting the otherwise artificial
sounds of The Last Time.
The new Romantic tropes are still
there, of course, particularly in Paul
Webbs fretless bass playing, as well as
the memorable synth melodies of Such
A Shame and the deceptively joyous
title track, which actually addresses a
noncommittal partner and, live, would
take on a far more muscular form. But
Hollis vocals appear more confident,
at times adopting a Bryan Ferry swoon,
and the songwriting is stronger too, not
least on the plaintive Rene and Call
in The night Boys, whose sophisticated
groove and grandiose arrangements
hint at the progressive direction theyd
pursue on The Colour Of Spring.
neither The Partys Over nor Its My Life
is truly indicative of the radical stylistic
leaps that would eventually follow, but
both helped define the frontiers Hollis
would soon seek to hurdle. its in that
light that they deserve re-evaluation.
Extras: none.
 Cargo ColleCtive

the jazz butCher esCape-ism modern studies Cosey fanni tutti

the wasted years
fire reCords 4Cd box
the wasted years: 4 albums, many visions
released between 1983 to 1986 this 4Cd box set
includes bath of bacon, a scandal in bohemia,
sex and travel and distressed gentlefolk.
introduCtion to esCape-ism
merge lp / Cd
escape-ism is ian svenonius (the make-up,
Chain & the gang), a drum box, a guitar, a
cassette player, and a single, slobbering, sinful
voice singing out... for a way out.
swell to great
fire reCords lp / Cd
a debut of landscape pop stories from the sea and shore
with delicate harmonies & rich arrangements. these
are songs that see the mystical beyond the material,
abstracted folk ballads awash in memory ****mojo
time to tell (deluxe edition)
Cti 2lp
this deluxe special edition has been remastered
and edited from the original audio tapes. clear
vinyl, gatefold sleeve, 16 page full colour 12
booklet.

david west with teardrops peter oren gun outfit watter

Cherry on willow
tough love lp / Cd
pop-maverick david west (total Control, rat
Columns) is joined by teardrops (feat. mikey
young & members of grass widow). a glam-rock
underground pop would-be classic
anthropoCene
western vinyl lp / Cd
modern folk/americana with remarkable baritone
vocals. produced by ken Coomer (wilco). one of
2017s most incredible voices. nme wonderfully
rich songwriting. Clash
out of range
paradise of baChelors lp / Cd
like a stone eroded by years in the arroyo, gun
outfits enveloping western expanse aesthetic
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become gradually smoother.
history of the future
temporary residenCe ltd lp / Cd
the grails-slint supergroup returns with a richer,
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fans of Can, john Carpenter, goblin, grails, and
mogwai.

professor rhythm esmerine grooms lean year

bafana bafana
awesome tapes from afriCa lp / Cd
joyous mid-tempo kwaito/house from 1995
completes trio of south african dancefloor
releases from awesome tapes from africa this
year.
meChaniCs of dominion
Constellation lp / Cd
the acclaimed instrumental groups most dynamic
and compelling album to date; a
powerfully narrative musical arc traced through
post-classical, minimalism, neo-folk and psych-rock.
exit index
western vinyl lp / Cd
refined experimental rock r.i.y.l. blonde redhead,
polvo, sonic youth, et al. reminiscent of
broadcasts spooky psychedelia, unCut.
defiantly liberatedilluminating pitChfork
lean year
western vinyl lp / Cd
atmospheric folk featuring filmmaker rick
alverson, formerly of the band spokane, and
director of the Comedy. pitchfork says lean
year have managed an impressive debut.

Charles howl various artists autobahn proto idiot

my idol family
oh many reCords lp / Cd
enthralled by soundtracks and eclectic influences,
proper ornaments Charles howl mixes ambitious
storytelling with a dry wit, with themes ranging
from idol worship to the family unit.
diggin in the Carts the moral Crossing leisure opportunity
hyperdub lp / Cd tough love lp / Cd slovenly lp / Cd
a collection of pioneering japanese video game autobahns 2nd album is a wide-scope the screwball rocknroll equivalent of eddie
music. Cd / digital: 17th november, deluxe vinyl: update on the goth/industrial heritage of their murphys raw concert from 1987. if you like
february 2018. hometown, expanding their sound to incorporate that, then youll love this!
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 ARCHIVE

the specialist THROBBING GRISTLE

The Second Annual Report/
20 Jazz Funk Greats/The Taste
Of TG (reissues, 1977, 1979, 2004)
MUTE

6/10, 8/10, 7/10

Celebrating 40 years, on coloured vinyl
and double CD
Its hard to imagine theres
even one member of
TGs potentially curious
audience who doesnt yet
own the first two of these
LPs, especially since both
were reissued in 2011. But together they
launch Mutes slew of re-presentations
marking the 40th anniversary of the bands
debut. The Second Annual Report sets out
their stall with its queasy and lo-fi (the live
sound is frankly poor), dystopian collage
of fuzz-caked guitar, synthesiser scree,
muttered/howled vocals and treated field
recordings. Theres a quantum leap two
years later with 20 Jazz Funk Greats, which
ranges over horror/sci-fi soundtracks
(Beachy Head), minimal, Moroder-ish
disco tunes (Hot On The Heels Of Love) and

CHRIS BELL industrio-tribal incantation (What A Day).

Including the era-hopping The Taste Of TG
compilation this early on in the reissue series
The Complete Chris Bell seems odd, as it features three tracks from
OMNIVORE the other two LPs, but 1978 single United
(which clearly made quite an impact on
8/10 Warm Leatherette by Daniel Millers The
Normal, later the same year) is included.
Big Stars other auteur finally gets his close-up, And it does offer a succinct overview of these
four decades after his death post-psychedelic trash exponents, without
whom its impossible to imagine todays
electronic music landscape.
CHRIS Bell is the rocknroll Life Is Right and Try Again by Rock City, as Extras: 3/10. Almost A Kiss, from 2007s
equivalent of a posthumously well as Icewaters Badfinger-like Bell co-write Part Two: The Endless Not, has been added to
exalted painter who failed All I See Is You, were recorded primarily at The Taste Of TG. SHARON OCONNELL
to sell any canvases during Ardent, which was becoming ground zero for
his lifetime. Making matters local talent. VARIOUS ARTISTS
worse, Bells considerable Rhinos Cheryl Pawelski, Ardents Adam Hill Andina: The Sound Of The
contributions to Big Stars landmark debut and archivist Alec Paleo, who co-produced these Peruvian Andes 1968-1978
album, 1972s #1 Record, have long been archival projects, ramped up their joint labour TIGERSS MILk/STRUT
overshadowed by those of Alex Chilton, who of love after Pawelski co-founded Omnivore
7/10
joined Big Star months after Bell founded the Records, which has become the de facto home
band and went on to make two more revered Big of all things Big Star-related. In recent months, Fascinating, far-reaching anthology of
Star albums following Bells departure. Thus, Omnivore has released Big Stars 4CD Complete Peruvian folk; first of a three-part series
its been left to dedicated archivists to unearth Third, a further beefed-up Cosmos and the Tigers Milk co-founder
and piece together the music Bell put on tape Bell-focused Looking Forward: The Roots Of Martin Morales is a
before and after his time with Big Star into a Big Star. Pawelskis motives in putting out these committed evangelist
coherent narrative. The initial breakthrough sets was twofold the previous iterations were for Peruvian culture:
was Rykodiscs I Am The Cosmos, a compilation on the verge of going out of print, and she wanted an award-winning food
of Bells post-Big Star work that surrounded the to continue refreshing the Big Star familys writer, he also happens
majestic title song and the poignant body of work. to be something of a crate-digger. Like
You And Your Sister with 13 tracks The Complete Chris Bell serves as the some modern-day Alan Lomaxes, Morales,
cut during the same period. apotheosis of these efforts. The 6LP fellow label boss Duncan Ballantyne and DJ
The story became more detailed limited-edition set reshuffles the two Andres Tapia del Rio have spent five years
in 2009 with the expanded Rhino recent Bell compilations, devoting on a Peruvian cultural odyssey. Here, they
reissue of Cosmos, following a the first disc to Icewater, the second to unearth 17 eclectic examples of the disparate
thorough scouring of the Ardent Rock City and the third to the 12-song folk traditions of the Andean people, with
Records archives and tapes in the official Cosmos, with two discs of many cuts released commercially for the first
possession of Bells older brother post-Big Star bonus tracks and a time. On Andina, the infectious, irresistible
David for the labels 4CD Big Star sixth devoted primarily to the rhythms of traditional cumbia and gentle
anthology Keep Your Eye On The Sky. only previously unreleased harp-plucked Andean huayno are electrified
That archeological dig also yielded material, a 40-minute 1975 albeit not dramatically with the sound
a number of recordings cut between interview (though the and instrumentation of pop and rock, and
1969 and 71 by Big Star forerunners latter seems like a waste the results are satisfyingly homespun,
Icewater and Rock City, whose of good vinyl). With joyous and fresh-sounding. Cumbia En Los
moveable lineups of young, British- the Ardent and Bell Andes by Huiro Y Su Conjunto sounds like a
rock-obsessed Memphis musicians archives exhausted, musical mission statement; Los Brbaros Del
JOHN FRY, ARDENT MUSIC

included Bell as guitarist, backing barring the unlikely Centros Loca Loquita offers the two-step
vocalist and emerging songwriter/ unearthing of more bounce of the Caribbean. Alongside forays
lead singer. These recordings, undiscovered tapes, into European gypsy jazz, South American
which include early one wonders what carnaval and the celebratory drone of
versions of #1 Omnivore will do for African-style beats, youll find some more
Records My an encore. BUD SCOPPA obvious 60s touchpoints, articulated by

46 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017


the biting guitar on Los Sabios del
Ritmos delicious Cholita. A lot on
the menu, then, and the whole set
feels programmed to be the perfect
accompaniment to an excellent meal.
Which is entirely appropriate, as
Andina is also available as a cookbook.
Extras: None. MARk BENtLEy
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Even A Tree Can Shed
Tears: Japanese Folk
& Rock 1969-1973 LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
8/10
Sounds from Japans little-heard
acid-folk underground
Bob Dylans influence
on the artists collected
here is obvious well
before the sets final
track: Otokorashiitte
Wakarukai, an
adaptation of I Shall Be Released
by an Osaka duo named The Dylan II.
But like so many songs on Even A Tree
Can Shed Tears the inaugural release
in Light In The Attics Japan Archival
Series on the folk and rock of the late
60s and early 70s this rendition is
too rich to be mere mimicry. The same
could not be said of the Beatles and
Ventures knockoffs that dominated
the Group Sounds era of mid-60s
Japan. But by the decades end, many
of the same young musicians were
not only getting hip to Dylan and
The Band they were integrating the
western styles with modes from home.
Just consider the earthy synthesis
of kayokyoku balladry and Buffalo
Springfield on Natsu Nandesu by
Happy End, a leading light in the
new angora, short for underground.
Likewise, the shades of Donovan and
Joni Mitchell in songs by Kazuhiko
Kato and Sachiko Kanenobu are
just starting points for journeys that
encompass acid folk, sumptuous
pop and less familiar strains. That
this era of Japanese music is so little
known in the west is surprising given
cratediggers plundering of the garage
and psychedelia recorded by other
Group Sounds veterans. Discovering
all this mellow gold now is akin to
discovering Laurel Canyon was
actually on the other side of the Pacific.
Extras: 7/10. The initial 300-copy
run of the double-vinyl edition comes
in Weeping Sakura wax. Other CD
and LP editions feature an original
poster and a book with notes, artist
biographies, and lyrics in English
and Japanese.
JASON ANDERSON
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Take What You Need:
Uk Covers Of Bob Dylan
Songs 1964-69 ACE
8/10
Period enchantment over 22 tracks
Everybody has
their own list of fave
Dylan covers and
to be frank youre
unlikely to find
many of them here.
Yet these 22 covers are nevertheless
fascinating in what they tell us about
the elasticity of Dylans compositions
and his all-encompassing influence on
1960s pop music. Only a trio of tracks
Joe Cockers Just Like A Woman,
Fairport Conventions Ill Keep It
With Mine and Manfred Manns
If You Gotta Go Now qualify as
genuine classics. But theres endless
period enchantment, whether its
Sandie Shaws take on Lay Lady
Lay, Marianne Faithfulls pompously
overblown Blowin In The Wind,
Noel Harrisons Love Minus Zero
recited as if it was a Shakespearean
soliloquy, or a surprisingly brave
Visions Of Johanna by the duo of
Roger Edwards and Roger Hand, who
recorded as the now totally forgotten
Piccadilly Line. Oddest of all, perhaps,
is a countrified Dont Think Twice,
recorded in 1964 by a Colchester group
called The Fairies. Whod have thought
that a band that later added Pink to
their name to become the ultimate free-
festival acid warriors were unlikely
progenitors of country-rock, five years
before Nashville Skyline?
7/10. A 20-page booklet, superbly
researched and written by sometime
Uncut contributor Mick Houghton,
with evocative archive illustrations.
NIGEL WILLAMSON
WEIRD AL YANkOVIC
Squeezebox LEGACY
7/10
Pops premier parodist gets boxed
The eyes have it:
Dylan fan Sandie
Shaw and friend,
January 1969
When he emerged
in the late 1970s
via Dr Dementos
gleefully deranged
radio show, Weird Al
Yankovic wielded his
Roland accordion like a true punk. His
adolescent irreverence and gloriously
puerile puns about foodstuffs, boogers
and TV shows lent his parodies a
strange, subversive quality that
punctured the self-seriousness of so
much 70s rock. That he is still cracking
jokes more than 40 years later is
one of pops greatest surprises, and
Squeezebox, which collects 15 albums
in a box shaped like an accordion,
presents a skewed history of music
from The Knack (My Bologna) all
the way to Iggy Azalea (Handy).
Yankovic navigates certain trends
more successfully than others; the
90s alt.rock boom tripped him up, but
his more recent hip-hop parodies are
ingenious and obsessively detailed.
Even on his original compositions and
his anarchic polka medleys, he proves
an immensely witty arranger, using
armpit ffftttps as a rhythm section on
I Love Rocky Road and turning the
syrupy holiday strings on Christmas
At Ground Zero into apocalyptic air-
raid sirens.
Extras: 7/10. An exclusive album of
one-offs and oddities called Medium
Rarities, featuring early singles and
parodies of The Kinks, The Beatles and
Crash Test Dummies. StEPHEN DEUSNER
ARCHIVE
ComIng nExt
montH
jrk returns next time
B with her long-awaited
follow-up to Vulnicura
first single The Gate is a
spectral delight while Brian Eno
resurfaces, collaborating with
pianist tom Rogerson on Finding
Shore, harnessing the power of
the rarely used Moog PianoBar.
Meanwhile, Dan Auerbachs
production powerhouse
continues with the release of
Robert Finleys classy Goin
Platinum!, produced and
co-written by the Black Keys
man, while noel gallagher
promises some psych odysseys
courtesy of producer David
Holmes, and Zombie Zombie
return with the electro-Kraut of
Livity. In the world of archival
releases, the Rolling Stones are
set to release On Air, a comp of
their early radio cuts, while the
moody Blues Days Of Future
Passed gets a 50th-anniversay
deluxe edition. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Fever To Tell, which has
increased in stature over the
years since its release in 2003, is
also reissued in a fine deluxe
package, and comes wrapped
in red fishnet stockings. Most
expansive of all is King Crimsons
Sailors Tales, an exhaustive look
at the bands fertile 1970-72
period includes band auditions
for some, hopefully, rather
cringy moments.
TOm.PinnOck@Timeinc.cOm
SAVE
up to
45%
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gifT for
chriSTmaS
from juST 17.49*
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Or call 0330 333 1113
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DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 47
REM

What
to get
REM in Miami, 1992:
Bill Berry, Mike Mills,
Peter Buck and
MIchael Stipe

48 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017

if you tried
off, baby?
1992, and REM are on the cusp of superstardom. How will they
adapt to a world of new opportunities? By retreating to Athens,
disdaining live shows and interviews, and making a hushed,
mournful new album Automatic For The People. Twenty-five
years and 18 million copies later, TOM PINNOCK tracks down
the major players to uncover the secrets of an unlikely rock
masterpiece. You dont always have to make a high-energy
pop record for it to be good, says Mike Mills.
Photo by anton corbijn

DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 49

F
OR Peter Buck, success was a hard
quality to quantify. We were living in
the same houses, driving the same
cars, he says, thinking back to 1991,
the year Out Of Time broke REM. So
it didnt occur to us that things had changed
substantially and they hadnt, in a lot of ways.
Exhausted after 1989s intense Green World
Tour, the group decided not to perform live in
support of Out Of Time, and so were insulated
from the waves they were making. We were
walking away from the performing-in-big-
basketball-arenas side of our nature, the
guitarist adds. Instead Id get home and play
on the front porch.
With touring off the agenda, the four-piece now had a rare
luxury, time; to spend in Athens, Georgia, finessing songs for
their follow-up, hanging out with friends and family, and
visiting restaurants like soul food joint Weaver Ds. Although
some of Out Of Time hinted at a more baroque, sombre sound,
the next LP theyd create, Automatic For The People, would be
the darkest, deepest and most beautiful music REM would ever make.
Strangely, these explorations on mortality
and ageing stemmed from a supremely
happy, confident group; and even stranger,
they struck a chord with people around the
world, selling millions. Oh yeah, we were
Lawrence Lawry/photoshot/avaLon red
enjoying not being on the road, says bassist
and keyboardist Mike Mills today, making
great music. Thats the great thing abut
being in your hometown, youve got your
friends there who remind you that youre
still the same schmo you always were.
REMs eighth album, Automatic is being
reissued this November in a deluxe edition,
packaged with demos, a live set from their
only full performance of the period and
50 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
In 1991, releasing
Out Of Time, the
record that initiated
REMs imperial phase
a photobook assembled by Michael Stipe. Its a formidable
re-examination. Yet the story of Automatic For The People is not
just about the sounds collected there its also a story of Athens, of
a singer quitting the limelight for the shadows that he still seems to
prefer; and of the end of an era, for REM and for the music industry,
when a major label would nurture underground heroes, and when
a band didnt have to lay themselves bare on Twitter, Instagram and
YouTube to sell records. In REMs case, they didnt have to tour or, in
their singers case, even talk to the press, to catch the attention of
millions of listeners.
The whole point of signing with Warners was that there was not
going to be any pressure to do this, that or the other, says Mike Mills,
recalling their major-label run that began with 1988s Green. We
made our decisions based on what was best for the band and they
understood that. I think, from start to finish, Automatics probably
our most cohesive record.
Its one of my all-time favourite albums, says photographer Anton
Corbijn, who shot the group for the Automatic sleeve. Find The
River I like particularly very much. Its only later you realise how
amazing it is to be connected in some way to this.
Idyllic? says Peter Buck, thinking back to the writing process.
Yeah, it was, there was certainly not a lot of pressure. For the first
time in any of our adult lives, we didnt need
to get back on the road and pay our salaries
and our employees. We were in a very great,
creative place.
O
UT Of Time, released on March 12,
1991, initiated REMs imperial phase.
When Warner Brothers Jeremy Marsh
heard they were already at work on a follow-
up, he asked the bands lawyer, and later
manager, Bertis Downs if the group were
thinking of touring again.
I said, The bands not really decided,
theyre taking it a year at a time, when the spirit
moves, recalls Downs. And I remember

Jeremy saying, Well, I think they should do one of
two things. They should do the tour, or they should
make a really good record. As it turned out, that was
great advice.
Downs was one of the few who wasnt surprised to
see these four indie music geeks from Georgia become
one of the biggest bands in the world. As a second-
year law student, hed seen them at their first gig
under the name of REM, taking the stage at the Koffee
Klub in Athens at 1.45am on April 19, 1980. Before the
show was closed down by police, he was stunned by
the quality of their early songs. I told them that if the
artists I liked like the Allman Brothers, Springsteen
and Neil Young could make it big, then they could
too, because they were writing songs that were just
as good.
John Keane, who engineered a host of the bands
recordings throughout their career, including the
Automatic demos, also saw the group early on at
Tyrones, and was convinced they could cross
over. I felt like their songs were so catchy and
powerful and memorable that they had a shot at
being really big, he tells Uncut today. Once they
got on Warner Brothers, things really seemed to
take off for them.
We were living in Athens, we werent really
doing anything, says Peter Buck of the period
after Out Of Time made them international stars.
It was like, Well, well make another record.
While parts of Out Of Time, such as Shiny Happy
People and Near Wild Heaven were peppy and
upbeat, Low and Country Feedback had hinted
at a new subtlety. When the group reconvened for the
follow-up, they found their sound moving towards this
more nocturnal vein.
A lot of it had to do with Peter Buck becoming
interested in these acoustic instruments, says Keane.
They became the basis of the riffs that he came up
Coasting:
downtime in
Miami, 1992
REM
with, and he carried the rest of the band along with him.
They were moving away from the rocknroll guitar and
drum-heavy songs.
I dont think we intended it to sound as it did, says
Mike Mills. It took on a life of its own. Certainly the
context of not having to reproduce the songs live right
away gave us freedom to explore. We spend a little
more time being creative with it.
To demo the next album, Buck, Mills and drummer
Bill Berry as active a songwriter as the others
headed to Keanes studio in a turn-of-the-century
property in an old part of Athens to cut their ideas on
his new two-inch, 24-track tape machine.
Cobbham became a historic district shortly after
I built the studio in my house, says Keane. At one point
all the guys in REM, including Bertis and Jefferson [Holt,
the bands first manager], all had really beautiful old
houses in the same area.
Wed pedal our bikes or walk over to the studio four or
five days a week, remembers Buck. It gave us time to
experiment with a lot of different things it wasnt the
usual writing songs at soundchecks situation.
REMs approach to writing songs is sort of backwards
from the way most artists write songs, says Keane. The
band would come into the studio and record these tunes,
usually without a vocal. Sometimes Michael would
have a melodic idea where hed just hum into the
anton corbijn; arno bUrGi/aFp/Getty imaGes
microphone. But part of the reason for making these
demos was that I could give Michael a cassette that he
could take home, and then come up with lyrics or
melodies after the fact.
Bill switched around the bass and acoustic, Mike
played organ and piano, and we did the traditional
guitar, bass, drums, says Buck. Michael writes off of
inspiration, something will just strike him and hell
write quickly. Some days hed come in and, boom,
hed have [a song] in two minutes. Hed roll his eyes
when we were doing Arabic Feedback or whatever
shots of love
Leica rolling
stone
Photographer Anton Corbijn recalls
shooting the band, and particularly
Stipe, in Miami
I
First met them when i did pictures for
the sleeve of Losing my religion. For the
Automatic shoot, we were north of miami.
i stayed in a house where michael was staying, on
the beach. i was up really early, and the light was
beautiful, so i woke michael up and suggested we
try a few photos. he got in the water and i took some
shots. what i like about those pictures most is that the
horizon is not straight and it looks like hes surrounded
by waves. i shot maybe seven pictures with my bulky
hasselblad camera it was unusual for someone
to go into the water with a hasselblad! i was very
happy when i got back home and saw
the pictures of michael in the water. the
black and white one where his eyes
are closed is a really lucky shot, it seems
to sum up a state of mind all the parts
are moving. i didnt think my group shots
were strong enough. it was hard to get the
whole band together, and they werent
natural in front of the camera. but
i have fond memories of getting
a little bit into their world.
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 51
 REM
that was. But every now and again youd get something like Star Me
Kitten. I didnt think that one would be a vocal number.
We didnt write 12 or 13 songs and pick the right 10 any more; wed
have 25 or 30 pieces of music and whittle it down until we figured
out what the record was. Its a good way to work, but it also takes a
lot of time.
We loved working with John, says Mills. If you feel comfortable,
sometimes ideas come out with less pressure. At that point, I
couldnt walk past a guitar without sitting down and playing.
Other instruments the group couldnt walk past without picking
up included a bouzouki, which Buck used on Monty Got A Raw
Deal, a sitar, which, Keane admits, we werent able to get
anything useful out of, and a trombone, which Mills played on
B-side The Lion Sleeps Tonight. After a couple of weeks demoing,
the group had finished Drive, Try Not To Breathe,
Nightswimming and Sweetness Follows. Looking at those
four songs, says Buck, theres a pretty fair picture of where we
were heading and once you get to that point where the record
starts to appear to be what it is, youre free to either pick up things
that would fit or add a different side to those songs.
John Keane was particularly keen on Drive
the first time he heard it I thought that might
be a song that would end up being a lot of
peoples favourite over the years while Bertis
Downs has a vivid memory of first hearing the
elegiac Find The River. I remember in
particular driving around Athens with Michael,
he says. It was dusk, it was rainy, and we were
going by some of the houses on the main street of
Athens listening to the demo of Find The River,
as he was humming his part, humming what he
was coming up with. But all they had was this
incredible instrumental track that was just so sad
the minute you heard it, it made you mournful.
N
IRvANAS Nevermind had blown up the year
before, and Peter Buck recalls seeing and loving
Mudhoney early on; but REM had no interest yet
in stepping on the Big Muffs of grunge. It didnt seem
as if that was what we needed to be doing, he says.
Its just that difference in age.
Instead, Ignoreland and The Sidewinder Sleeps
Tonite aside, the songs that REM had concocted
were mostly mournful and slow, with the likes
of Try Not To Breathe and Star Me Kitten
folky and haunting. Sometimes you hit a place
and its the right place, muses Buck. The songs
dictated the way the record went Automatic
does sustain a mood.
Stipes lyrics were also of a piece, examining the
finite nature of mortality and existence. Downs
believes this dour mood may have been inspired
by Graham Swifts novel Waterland, set in the
Fenlands of East Anglia; the band were
approached to soundtrack an adaptation, but the
DAvID McgougH/DMI/THE LIFE PIcTuRE coLLEcTIoN/gETTy IMAgES
offer never came to fruition. Why was he writing
about those subjects at that time? says Downs.
That is a question Ive never asked him, just
because Ive never asked Michael anything about
the motivation behind his lyrics. Hes an artist
why was some famous painter painting those lilies at
God, this is a
that time, or that bridge? Hes an artist, and thats what
they do they get inspired, they write.
After they had demoed in Athens, the group
recorded the album at four different studios in
much stronger
opposite corners of America tracking was done at
Bearsville in Woodstock, Criteria in Miami and
record than I
Kingsway in New Orleans, and mixing at Bad Animals
in Seattle. We moved around a lot, remembers Buck.
remember
You get a different set of inspiration from being in pETER BUCk
completely different places like that three weeks,
52 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
Grammys
for AFTP,
1992
that was enough to get everything we were going to get out
of each place.
Recording found the group adding flesh to the bones of the
demos in the case of Sweetness Follows, Buck and his
black Rickenbacker contributed eerie feedback inspired by
his fondness for My Bloody valentine; on Monty Got A Raw
Deal, they made a cello strike sound like something hitting
a wall, as Mills puts it, while Find The River featured one
of the best uses of accordion in the rock canon.
Inspired by Led Zeppelins Kashmir, Buck
suggested recruiting John Paul Jones to arrange
strings for Drive, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite,
Everybody Hurts and Nightswimming. Theres
nothing saccharine about his arrangements, marvels
Mills. Thats why they work so well.
New Orleans Instrumental No 1 was the product
of some impromptu experimentation after the group
returned from dinner one night, and was included in the
running order as a palate cleanser. The final song to be
tackled was C To D Slide, originated by Berry. With the
rest of the album finished and mixed, Stipe had failed to
come up with any lyrics for the track, one of the groups
favourites. They mixed it as an instrumental anyway,
then departed for a short break. When they returned,
with eight days left in the studio, Stipe sang the lyrics hed
written and the track was mixed and finalised in a matter of
hours. C To D Slide was now called Man On The Moon.
Like many REM songs, you hear it as an instrumental and
its pretty good, says Bertis Downs, then you hear what
Michael adds to it and you mix it into a song and its even
better! They were at the top of their game, no question.
The final 12-track album was then submitted to Warner
Brothers who, to their credit, recognised the rare spell it cast.
You dont always have to make a high-energy pop record for
it to be good, points out Mills. We were making good
work, so there was nothing wrong with challenging
peoples expectations.
W
ITH the release date set for October 5, 1992,
the band just needed a name for their
album. This was becoming increasingly
difficult Out Of Time was so named because the band
ran out of time to think of a title. Finally, a consensus
was reached: their magnum opus would be called
Star. I was in a conference room at Warner Brothers
in Los Angeles and they had finally decided on the
title, remembers Bertis Downs. But there was some
murmuring in the room, and someone from Warners
 REM
said, Ah, there could be a problem with that. Uncut asks if Stipe took any kind of pleasure in the
A month before, Simply Red have a record coming speculation. Hes much more private than that.
out on Warners called Stars Within seconds, Peter Hes talked before about whats private and whats
Buck, bless his heart, said, OK, Automatic For The public and what should be out there. Its not really
People. I knew what that was, that was the slogan enjoyable, no I wouldnt put it in that category.
for Weaver Ds soul food restaurant in Athens.

W
If you said to Dexter, Can I have a piece of HILE undoubtedly a landmark record,
cornbread? or whatever, his constant response was Automatic For The People also marked
always, Automatic. No matter what you said to some crucial shifts within REM. With
Weaver, hed reply Automatic. He must have said seven albums before it, and seven after, it pushed the
it a hundred times a day. I guess people thought it group into what would become the second half of
was funny, they liked it, so he put a sign up outside their career; theyd never sell as many records again,

PEOPLES
of the restaurant that said Weaver Ds Automatic
For The People
Its closed now, laments John Keane. The band ate
there quite a bit. Whenever I got the urge to eat some soul CHOICE
food fried chicken, macaroni and cheese Id go down to
The best of the
Weaver Ds. I think he got a lot of mileage out of his slogan!
I thought it was a really strong collection of songs, says
demos on CD3
Peter Buck. I thought maybe it was our best record. But PHOTOGRAPH
things like Man On The Moon, Everybody Hurts, theyre Athough almost finished, this
nostalgic, jangling piece was
both nearly six minutes long, Everybody Hurts is really
abandoned by the band for
slow. Are any of these really hit singles? Our assumption Automatic. Bertis Downs
was that wed sell less than the previous album. enjoyed the demo so much,
Dampening expectations even more, REM decided they however, that he pestered
would not only not tour the album, but that their lead REM to finish the song,
singer and focal point wouldnt speak to the press. My and it ended up on 1993s
NARAL benefit album, Born
memory of it, says Bertis Downs, is that Michael told me,
To Choose, recorded with
Natalie Merchant.
Automatic: PETERS NEW SONG
Weaver Ds, A riff Buck still plays at
Athens, Georgia home, this sprightly slice of
Byrds-ian arpeggios was
perhaps too reminiscent
of Sidewinder to be fully
developed. Nice chord
changes, says Buck. It has
that thing I was doing then
where Id throw in a bar of
2/4 for no reason. I know
Bertis loved it, but he realised
we were trying to shy away
from things that sounded
specifically like REM.
Ive said all I wanna say for a while, Ill just have a quiet ARABIC FEEDBACK
Perhaps a little too quirky
year, and Peter and Mike can handle the press. And thats
for its own good, Arabic
what happened. There certainly wasnt a big meeting Feedback found the
about it, Michael just opted out that time. Theyve always band mixing a funky
been a band whove operated on their own instincts, about backbeat with a plaintive
what was healthy. It was never a big master strategy. organ melody and some
Despite all this, Automatic For The People would go on to atmospheric feedback from
Peter Buck, still on his Kevin
sell 18 million copies to date, reaching the top spot in the
and every album they released after was destined to
be judged unfavourably against their 1992 effort. The bind
of their hometown was weakening, too; never again would
they all live in the city they had formed in.
Automatic was the last record they demoed in my
studio, says John Keane, and [1994s] Monster was made
about the time Peter moved to Seattle. So it really was the
end of that way of making records, where everybody
was in the same town. After that, it was more people
developing songs separately and then coming together
to finish them up. Monster was the polar opposite of
Automatic For The People.
By the time we started making Monster, it had been four
years since wed toured, explains Mike Mills. We were
ready to go back out there, so we made a touring record.
Sometimes you have to take your own temperature, realise
what you need to do and what you dont need to do.
Bill was really pushing for a live show that was pretty
loud and chaotic, says Peter Buck. That said, I have no
problem playing loud guitar, but I remember Bill saying,
Come on, weve gotta write some loud songs now. OK,
that sounds like a good idea.
While Monster arguably sounds of its time, channelling
the grunge influences theyd previously rejected, and Out
Of Time today seems like a mixed bag, Automatic For The
People still sounds like a masterpiece from start to finish
25 years on. The last three songs on Automatic are all
really strong, says Mike Mills. Id put them up against
any three songs we ever wrote. It takes all of us to finish a
song without everybody theres nothing, so it really was
a team effort.
A couple of weeks ago I was in Los Angeles while they
were doing the remaster, says Peter Buck, and then
remixing for this 13-speaker [Atmos] system. Its insane,
no-ones ever gonna hear it 10 years from now, when
everyone has 13 speakers, that record will be right up
there! But I was listening to it like, God, this is a much
stronger record than I remember. Even the songs which
didnt seem to mean a lot to me back then sounded
amazing. Im really proud of it.
SIg SIgwoRTH

Shields trip. Stipe never

UK and No 2 in the US. Stipes silence, however, percolated provided any lyrics.
through the lyrics of, say, Try Not To Breathe (I have The 25th-anniversary edition of Automatic For The
lived a full life/And these are the eyes that I want you to MICHAELS ORGAN People is released on November 10 on Craft Recordings
remember), leading to a host of rumours in the press that An early version
he was seriously ill, suffering from either cancer or AIDS. of Everybody
Hurts this
It wasnt really a surprise, says Mike Mills. Nature
subtle demo Remastering
abhors a vacuum and writers abhor lack of information, so maintains a Automatic
they speculate, they try to answer questions without For The
downbeat People, 2017
having any information. mood, never
Though hes since made clear that these were false lifting off into the
rumours, Stipe didnt respond at the time, and after initial heavier bridge
section of the
suggestions that he would indeed talk to Uncut for this
finished version.
piece, he eventually declined to contribute, leaving his Twenty-five years
mindset, lyrics and feelings during the Automatic time still on, it revitalises
something of a mystery. this sometimes
Michael can be very extroverted and very introverted, over-played
which I find a very appealing character quality, says song. Everybody
hurts, sometimes/
Anton Corbijn.
Even the singer
I dont think he enjoyed it, says Bertis Downs, when of this song
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 53
A RIOT OF
MY OWN
What was it like to be the only punk in the village? As a musical revolution
consumed Britains cities in 1977, how did it impact on the towns and suburbs
beyond the greenbelts? PETER WATTS talks to the punk trailblazers of
Peterborough, Carlisle and more, and discovers how a radical passion could
be nurtured in the face of local bafflement and hostility Punks werent liked.
We stuck together. Thats why some of us have never left punk.
Photo by ViRginiA TuRbETT

Damaged goods:
Fenland punks get a
rare chance to see
The Gang Of Four,
the Ruts and Misty In
Roots during a Rock
Against Racism gig
at the Cambridge
Corn Exchange,
March 17, 1979

54 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017


hortly after 2.30pm on Christmas
Eve, a tour bus rolled into
Peterborough, catching the eye of a
group of teenagers hanging around
outside a local chip shop. It was the
Sex Pistols, says Joe MacColl, the
drummer in Peterboroughs first
punk band, the Now. Sid Vicious
came out and told us they were
playing at Cromer at the links Pavilion and put
us on the guest list. Sid was very friendly. he said, I
didnt know there were any punks in Peterborough.
But there were punks in Peterborough. Not too
many in 1977, but enough to cause a stir in the town
centre with their strange appearance. Similar pockets
of punk were slowly breaking out in small towns,
villages and suburbs all over the country as teenagers
were drawn to the fashion and music, which allowed
them to distinguish themselves from the soul boys
and heavy metal fans who otherwise constituted
their peer group. With punk so london-centric, much
of it was parsed second hand from the weekly music
press, as well as via John Peels radio show and tony
Wilsons So It Goes tV show. this wasnt the case only
in Peterborough, but in places as different and distant
as the Surrey town of Walton, in touching distance of
the Kings road, and the isolated northern city of
Carlisle, where the london scene was little more than
rumour. Peterborough has a city centre, but you only
have to travel five miles in any direction and youre in
villages, recalls ex-punk Graham Gizz Butt. But in
smalltown punks
every one of those villages there were small groups of
punks spouting up.
So what was it like being the only punk in the
village? Uncut spoke to fans in south Wales and
north-west England, Surrey, Buckinghamshire and
East Anglia to get a picture of life growing up in towns
where straight-legged jeans and coloured hair would
turn heads. If you saw another punk in Swansea you
knew you had more in common than you didnt and
you knew that you were both viewed negatively by
most other people, explains Mitchell Edmond. that
was quite a bonding thing, being into something that
was laughed at or dismissed by parents, teachers and
national newspapers.
Punk developed more slowly outside the
metropolitan hothouses of london, Manchester and
liverpool, but it provided teenagers in the provinces
with a scene they could replicate wherever they lived.
Clothes could be homemade, anybody could form
a band and if you knocked on enough doors, youd
eventually find somebody who would let you stage
a gig, whether it was a student union, a West Indian
club, a community hall or a British rail warehouse.
In Carlisle and Swansea, where major bands rarely
travelled, teenagers received a crash course in
independence as they recreated the scene theyd read
about. It provided them with a social glue and an
ethic that many have never fully abandoned.
It was DIy on a social level, says Kevin tilbury in
Carlisle. there was nobody teaching us, so we had to
make it up as we went along. Punks werent liked.
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 55
 smalltown punks

Blame Jimmy
Unspeakable punk Purseys younger
degeneracy at brother: Paul
West Runton near Coombs in his
Cromer, Norfolk, bedroom in
March 20, 1979 Walton, Surrey

Kevin
Tilbury
(left) and
his band
There was a mental togetherness, we stuck
together. Thats one of the reasons some of
us have never left punk.

F
Or many provincial punks, their
interest began with stories in
Melody Maker, Sounds and NME
about a strange new scene in
London, the centre of the UKs musical
world. An early quote from Steve Jones
Were not into music, were into chaos
grabbed the attention of teenagers raised
on glam and Bowie, who began to follow
the adventures of the Sex Pistols. Through
age and geography, some were close to the
action. While Kevin Tilbury was stuck in
Carlisle and Mitchell edmond was stranded in
Swanseas suburbs, Peterboroughs Joe MacColl
had already started working for Thomas Cook in
central London. This access to the capital meant
he was in the right place as punk began to rumble
into existence, and his group of friends brought
punk back to Peterborough as early as 1976. We
went to charity shops and bought jackets and
then used stencils, he says. I remember buying
a pair of trousers and then splattering them
Jackson Pollock-style with black ink. We were the
first people to dress like that in Peterborough.
There were about 10 of us and we got a lot of stick.
MacColl and his friends formed a band, The Now.
The only place that let them rehearse was
Peterboroughs Marcus Garvey Club, run by a
West Indian association.
In the Surrey suburb of Walton, Paul Coombs
discovered punk when his best friend robbie
Pursey came to school with spiked hair, which he
called his ferret cut. It had been cut by robbies
older brother, Jimmy, who lived in nearby
hersham and swore one day hed be on Top Of The
Pops. Over in high Wycombe, Bowie fan Nigel
Martins search for extravagant clothes had taken
virginia turbett/redferns
We were looking
for any scrap of
information
MiTChEll EDMoND
Mitchell edmond lived in a village outside
Swansea. A voracious reader of the music press,
his interest in punk was originally informed
entirely by second-hand sources. It was a lot of
intriguing snippets of information in the papers,
and trying to find out any more was difficult,
he says. We were looking for any scrap of
information. In May 1977, The Clash played
Swansea. For the first time, this allowed
Swanseas disparate punk enclaves to gather
in one place to see a real London punk band.
It was an affirmation that the stuff wed heard
on John Peel or read about, now wed actually
Local scenes escalated as punk-savvy
friends from the same village or outlying
suburb merged to form bigger groups,
partly for security. In Swansea, they
met at Virgin records, while in
Peterborough it was a local bar, raffles.
Waltons punk contingent would meet
punks from egham, Staines and
Weybridge and take three buses to the
Kings road. Carlisle punks hung around
outside Top Shop. every scene had
pioneers like MacColl in Peterborough
and Martin in high Wycombe.
In Swansea, edmond recalls his first encounter
with a real punk, a woman with spiked hair and
a chain that went from nose to nipple. It was
outrageous enough to read about it, but we
couldnt believe there was somebody in Swansea
who actually looked like that, he says. I dont
know what it must have been like for those brave
few souls at first. People would gawp as they
walked down the street because they were literally
the only people in town who looked like that.
Carlisle was bypassed by touring bands and
that isolation forced a local scene to develop.
Bands such as the Skidmarx, No Support and The
Ironing Boards were up and running in 1977. It
was intensely localised, and Carlisle gigs were
rarely listed in NME. Kevin Tilbury, who played in
several Carlisle punk bands, is now archiving the
scene through his blog, carlislepunkbands.
wordpress.com. Carlisle is surrounded by
mountains, he explains. Theres nothing here
but farming and tourism. Theres no cultural
infrastructure. Bands would play Manchester,
Preston, Lancaster, then shoot up to Newcastle or
Glasgow and completely bypass this big area of

him from Kensington Market to Sex. When I
went back to high Wycombe in my rubber shirt
and blue hair, Id get laughed at, he says. People
would move their kids out the way as I walked
along the street. They were quite threatened but
that was the last thing I wanted.
seen it and realised it was clearly different,
says edmond. Seeing a 20-year-old urchin
dressing so differently to the stereotypical
rock star and playing aggressive and pretty
simple songs you realised maybe you could do
that. It hadnt occurred before, and it was both
inspiring and impressive.
hills and sheep. We had to do it ourselves
otherwise nothing would come our way.
even in Peterborough, an hour from London,
few bands came through in 1977. Local bands The
Dole and The Now were already gigging, and
Peterborough was close to Cambridge, Leicester
and the seaside resorts, where punk bands

56 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017

occasionally appeared. By 1979, Peterboroughs
Wirrina Stadium was hosting The Damned and
Buzzcocks, but that lack of direct contact with
live music cant be understated. Peterboroughs
only 100 miles from London but it could have
been a million miles, says one local, John
Church. The first bands began to play around
Peterborough in 78, but we were a year or two
behind London, who had seen these bands long
before we did.
T
here were always records, which were
relatively easy to find. Getting the right
clobber was tougher, but it was
important to look right. This was the
time of Grease and Saturday Night Fever, and
when you were surrounded by that in a town like
Peterborough you just wanted something else,
says Gizz Butt. My mates tried to be John Travolta
and I wanted to be Johnny rotten.
Few shops sold non-flared jeans or leather
jackets, let along bondage trousers and rubber
shirts, so punks had to travel or improvise.
Those with access to London could check out
Seditionaries and Boy before retiring to the
provinces to make their own versions. Otherwise,
mums had to be persuaded to take in trousers and
girlfriends asked to sew zips into T-shirts. Badges
and stencils were commonplace. When The
Boomtown rats played Carlisles Market hall in
1979 the first big punk(ish) band to venture into
Cumbria it was a sea of home-painted shirts.
edmond recalls with a mixture of amusement
and pride the
conniptions that
would take place
when a big band
arrived in Swansea.
People would be
scrabbling about
trying to look like a
punk, he says. One
lad might get his
school blazer and
chalk the anarchy
symbol on the back. Or
theyd have read
something in The Sun
and cut some holes on a
bin liner to wear as a
shirt. It might be getting
your trousers taken in,
or knitting a mohair
jumper so you can look
like Paul Simonon.
If DIY didnt work, there was always
the classifieds. Young punks would
send off for clothes, and then nervously
await their arrival. Youd see the
adverts in the back of Sounds and send
off for a pair of pink PVC trousers and a
Clash jacket, says Gizz Butt. The older
punks were much cooler, they had the
ramones look and were getting leather
from London. Those older punks like
MacColl frowned upon ordering
clothes. The ramones brought out
a single that came with a form you
could send off to get a T-shirt and
we saw that as the start of the
commercialisation of punk, he says.
record shops
Plastic
passion
Where punks would gather
e
arly understanding of punk came
entirely through the music press. Music
fans read all four music papers NME,
Melody Maker, Sounds and Record Mirror
to find out what was happening. Joe
MacColl, working in london, was able to
get hold of them a day before they arrived
in Peterborough, making him feel one step
ahead of his hometown peers.
every town seems to
have had a good record
shop. in Peterborough,
there was andys
records and Willis
records. Carlisle had
Punk Panther records.
for surrey punks, the
beggars banquet shop in
Kingston wasnt too far
away, while swansea
had a virgin in the town
centre. these shops
became focal points,
partly as they were one
of the few places punks
could gather in relative
security and meet like-minded people and
staff who could turn them on to the new
sounds. fans became adept at recognising
We liked the idea of DIY
clothes and putting on
our own gigs. That was
the ethic.
DIY hair was particularly
important. It had to be short,
it had to be spiky and ideally
it should be dyed. When
Paul Coombs got a job as a
messenger in the City, he
had to choose between his
pink hair or a career in
banking. his hair won. In
the days before hairspray,
working out how to spike
hair was a shared rite. We
all had spiky hair but it
kind of looked a bit shit, it
was still quite fluffy, says
Butt. We didnt know how to do
it. Did you use Brylcreem? Fairy
Liquid? Soap worked best. But
tight jeans and spiky hair meant
punks could be easily identified.
And that meant bovver.
V
IOLeNCe and punk
went hand-in-hand.
every town had its rival
tribe. In Peterborough
it was the local bikers or the
skinheads. In Carlisle it was the
heavies, heavy metal fans from
the outlying villages. In Swansea
it was football hooligans. Youd
hairstyles mingle
at Bruces record
store in Edinburgh,
october 13, 1979
a punk seven-inch
by typography, band
name or the simple
homemade design
ethic of the sleeve,
and even cash-in
records like Live At
The Roxy (above) had value as they gave
isolated punks a chance to hear second-
wave bands like Wire and X-ray spex.
walk around and get called a queer-looking
cunt, says Gizz Butt. The bikers all gathered in
Peterboroughs cathedral square and if you
walked past in your tartan bondages youd get
abused by somebody twice your age. Then there
was the skinhead thing that was a real drag.
You were always getting chased by skinheads
who were five or 10 years older. I remember
saying, Fucks sake, youre old enough to
be my dad.
everybody tells similar stories. When Nigel
Martin went on tour with his band, the Xtraverts,
he recalls the bristling sense of aggression on
the streets of places like Camberley and hemel.
As the Pistols were demonised in the press, it
became almost acceptable to attack local punks.
I look at it now and Id be horrified to think that
a 15-year-old kid could be walking down the
street, and a car would screech to a halt and
grown men would get out and chase you because
of what you looked like, says John Church, who
grew up in Peterborough. Thats what it was like.
If you took it up with the police they shrugged
their shoulders or started questioning us as if we
were at fault. After things like that, friends out in
the villages would avoid coming into the town
centre until it calmed down.
For the more bookish, music-obsessed punks,
this was both terrifying and depressing. In
Walton, Paul Coombs and his mates called
themselves the Walton punks to distinguish
themselves from the hersham skins who followed
Sham 69, while Mitchell edmond recalls the
feeling of trepidation every Friday night as he
anticipated the next days aggro. On a
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 57
 O
The Carnival
Against Racism, n a more positive note, punk
Potternewton encouraged kids to pick up
Park, Leeds,
July 4, 1981 instruments and play. The
DIY ethic was critical in places Crass turned us
far from London and Manchester if
there were no punk bands coming into on to the political
town, the kids had to form their own. In
Peterborough, The Dole and The now thing, marches
were followed by
younger bands gizz BUTT
The Exits and
The Blanks. Gizz like that, but fuck em, says MacColl. I told my
Butt worked his mum what had happened. She said if you are in a
way through the position to stand up against the nazis, you must
Peterborough do everything you could. Later, Gizz Butt became
punk scene until obsessed with Crass. That was a great revelation
he was playing as it turned us on to the political thing, going on
with the CnD marches in our donkey jackets and DMs and
Destructors. watching The War Game in community halls.
Later, he played not all punks were political by any means, but
with English for several interviewees punk provided a space
Dogs and was where curious teenagers could explore causes
a touring musician with Prodigy. The and beliefs with other like-minded individuals.

Saturday in Swansea in 1979 and 1980 it was
almost a local tradition for that small group
of blokes from every town who are looking for a
fight to come into Virgin to pick on some punks
Oi, you with the green hair, yeah, you fucking
twat, he says. There were multiple nasty fights
in that shop and by fight I mean one or two
people picking on somebody who wasnt
interested or able to defend themself. As
Church puts it, The Mail demonised us,
pretending punk was the end of the world We
were getting hammered in the street because
people believe that shit.
Mitchell Edmond found it all too much, and left
Swansea in 1980. It was almost like youd started
it by dressing in what was perceived as an
outrageous way, he says. Even the smallest
DAViD CoRio/ReDfeRnS
Destructors had an enormous following in
Peterborough and we could play three times
a week, he says. Wed get 200 people at
Kings Lynn and a lot of those East Anglian
towns and villages. But London was the big
thing, we were obsessed with London.
Bands gigged, but thanks to the punk ethic,
they also released records. The nows first single,
Development Corporations, was recorded in a
friends living room but was reviewed in Sounds
and played by John Peel. Exposure was always
possible, through the very avenues that led them
to punk in the first place. It could make you a
local hero. As MacColl puts it, Our egos kept us
to Peterborough. In London we were nobodies,
but we were the big boys in Peterborough.
The outspoken political nature of punk also
opened a few eyes. Edmond notes that people
did things and got interested in things through
their interest in the punk scene that they might
not have otherwise. Tilburys first response on
hearing Anarchy In The UK was to go to the
library in Carlisle and look up the meaning of the
F
OR a while, the punk identity was so
powerful that being a punk was more
important than which city you lived in.
Punk united rival cities Cardiff and
Swansea and the perennially warring towns and
villages in Cumbria. But over time, the movement
started to fracture. Oi! brought skinhead violence
to punk, forcing others to look elsewhere for that
combination of style and interesting music
goth, mod or new Romantics. But many ex-punks
still adhere to the original ethic of independence,
originality and outrageousness. Its best
summarised by Mitchell Edmond. He sees punk
as bringing a dash of colour and invention
directly into his local town rather than being
something to be passively observed on Top Of The
Pops. Everybody loved Slade, but glam didnt
spawn anything like the DIY culture of punk.
It was put about in the media that punk was
nihilistic, it was about destruction and being
outrageous for the sake of it, but I think we saw it
as very creative, he says. We did stuff. We made

thing would make people stop and stare.
However, this sense of persecution only
confirmed the feeling that punks were different.
We were different and we knew we were different,
and we revelled in that, says Paul Coombs.
word anarchy; within weeks, hed earned the
nickname Trotsky. The now played their first
gig for Peterborough Action Group Against
Racism, which drew the ire of Peterboroughs
national Front goon squad. The skins didnt
clothes, we published fanzines, we made records.
That required project management, organisation,
creativity, money-raising, selling we did it. And
that was the philosophy: do something, make
something. Because who is stopping you?

into the valleys

Everything was 18-24 months behind

W
hile punk began in
london in 1975, it
took a little longer
to filter into the provinces.
There was a timelag,
says Mitchell edmond. im
pretty sure that if id been
in london, not Swansea, id
have gone to the Roxy and
the Vortex, probably seen
the Pistols at least once and
Mod for it: The Urge the Clash multiple times
at The Coach & in 1976, and yet May 1977
Horses, Swansea, was the first time we saw
in early 1980 a punk band in Swansea.
The Clash gig was the
point where you saw people
your age dressed similarly and
became aware that there were
like-minded people at a different
school on the other side of
Swansea. everything was 18-24
months behind. it took another
year or so for people to go from
thinking they could do that to
actually buying a guitar, learning
chords, finding somebody with
a drumkit and getting ready to
do a gig. local bands that youd
class as punk playing regularly
in Swansea didnt really happen
until 1979, and by 1980 there
probably wasnt a week when
you couldnt see a local band.
edmond played in various
Swansea bands and acquired
several demo tapes of other acts
from that era. Along with Steve
haggis harris, a former Swansea
punk who later played with
The Cult, he is now issuing vinyl
records of these demos via Punk
house Records as a documented
archive of that time period. Were
imagining what these would have
looked like if theyd come out in
1979. www.facebook.com/
punkhouserecords

58 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017

 NICK LOWE
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robert plant

I didnt choose
to be the king of
cock rock.
I didnt choose to be Chest Of The Year in 1971.
These things are festooned upon one and you
have to live em down. At home in his local pub,
ROBERT PLANT has, as ever, much to say. About his
remarkable new album, Carry Fire, and his old friend
John Bonham. About mortality, The Guardian Of
The Whiteleafed Oak, blue Irish comedians, Malvern
folklore, and an encounter with Sonny Boy Williamson
in a Birmingham toilet. And about his plans for the
impending 50th anniversary of Led Zeppelin.
Lets hold hands and contact the living, he tells
MICHAEL BONNER. What else can you do, really?
Photo by MAdS perCh

Robert Plant in
an antiques
shop in Hay-
on-Wye on the
Welsh border,
June 2017

60 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017

DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 61
 he only reason I do
this create music,
that is is that I must
burn and smoulder
until the very end,
says Robert Plant, reflecting on a career
stretching back over five decades. Thats my
deal. I have to make it shudder within me.
It is a quiet Tuesday afternoon and Plant is
sitting in his local pub in a leafy north
London suburb. He has kept a home here
since the 1980s; a demure metropolitan
alternative to the wild and woolly Welsh Marches, his other base of
operations in the UK. Today, the landlord warmly greets Plant as he
wanders into the pub; there are further amiable halloos to a handful
of regulars positioned around the bar before we head downstairs
towards the pubs otherwise empty restaurant. I used to come down
here for the quiz night, Plant confides, sipping from a cup of tea and
honey. Today, he is dressed down in blue T-shirt, jeans and black
shoes; the only flash of colour comes from an ornate ring, mounted
with a pale blue stone, on his left hand. A token, he explains with a
wry smile, of reckless love.
A meeting with Robert Plant covers a lot of ground. Within five
minutes of being in his company, we have moved from Tom Jones
an old friend, it transpires to the brewing company set up by
Plants son, Logan, and the wellbeing of Arthur, Plants trusty
greyhound-bedlington, who recently turned nine. It is a model
Plant conversation: circuitous, beguiling, full of arcane information
Rambling on: Robert
and not a little modesty. Later on, for instance, he will answer plant and family (lr)
a question about the Birmingham music scene during the Karac (197277),
Maureen and Carmen
early 60s with a yarn that involves an unexpected encounter in a field near their
with Sonny Boy Williamson in the gents toilets at Birmingham home in Wales,
october 15, 1976
Town Hall, and ends up, several decades
later, with Plant stepping off a plane
with Jimmy Page in Marrakesh to
record the No Quarter album.
Travel comes up a lot with Plant. He
speaks fondly of trips to India and
Morocco in his Zeppelin days (with a
special mention to New Orleans), along
with more recent sojourns in Austin reconfiguration of Plants long-standing
and Louisiana. Linking these far-flung musical obsessions with R&B, North African
locations borderlands, in many cases blues and West Coast psychedelia.
is a deeply embedded connection to He explains that he intends to tour Carry Fire
the soil and the energy shifts of the well into 2018 a year that coincidentally also
natural world. In many of Plants includes two significant anniversaries. On
songs, figures ramble on through August 20, Plant turns 70. Next year also marks
richly delineated scenery; seasons the 50th anniversary of that magnificent
change, an idyllic past is often beast, Led Zeppelin. Although creatively Plant
recalled. The last time we met in the has long since escaped the long shadow cast by
Shropshire market town of Ludlow his old band, it can still creep up on him
Plant was about to release lullaby and sometimes when he least expects it. I found the
The Ceaseless Roar, a reflective and
deeply personal work, suffused with Im pleased working lyrics to Kashmir the other day, he divulges.
Along with some green satin flares, a Led Zeppelin
Albions landscapes of legend and
myth. His splendid new album, Carry and Im in backstage Knebworth T-shirt and some Woodstock
badges. Peace and music. Like, about 300 of them.
Fire, once again recorded in cahoots Although talking to Plant requires across-the-board
with his musical collaborators, the
Sensational Space Shifters, also
touch. I feel thinking, as ever he is obligingly open about all
aspects of his storied career. There are tales involving
addresses familiar themes of time
passing, romantic longing and distant,
good about sacred sites in the Malvern Hills, recording sessions at
Headley Grange and a surprising appearance on Top
misty mountains; sometimes all within
the same song. We might profitably
everything Of The Pops during the 1980s. He speaks touchingly
and at length, too, about his old friend John Bonham.
describe the music made on this album RoBERT plaNT Im on the road, he says, surveying his current
as heavy folk, based around a skilful condition. Im on the track. Im pleased and Im in

62 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017


NOW AND ZEN!
10 classic Plant solo tracks
IN THE MooD
The principle of
Moments, 1983
a stand-out track from his
second solo album, led by
airy synth lines and crisp
drum patterns (from phil
collins), proving that plant
had finally found his voice
outside Zeppelin.
SHIp oF FoolS
Now and Zen, 1988
although two guest spots
from Jimmy page on
north african rhythms
reinforced the varied
music tastes of its creators
and threw forward to
plants later explorations
plants fourth grabbed the with the Sensational
headlines, this gorgeous Space Shifters.
ballad, featuring an
artfully restrained vocal SoNG To
from plant, is a highlight. THE SIREN
Dreamland, 2002
CoME INTo MY lIFE nestled among covers
Fate of Nations, 1993 by Dylan (one more
Fate Of Nations was a cup of coffee), moby
back-to-basics affair grape (Skips Song) and
for plant, drawing on his Bonnie Dobson (morning
folkier influences. The Dew) was plants
slow-building come cover of Tim Buckleys
Into my Life features classic, full of breathy,
beautiful guitar from understated intimacy.
richard Thompson and
suitably haunting backing TIN paN VallEY
vocals from clannads Mighty Rearranger,
marie Brennan. 2005
plant takes his rock star
CITY DoNT CRY contemporaries to task:
No Quarter, 1994 My peers may flirt with
The fruits of page and cabaret/Some fake the
plants sessions in revel yell/Im moving up
morocco, this spicy mix to higher ground/I must
of acoustic folk and escape their hell.
xxxxxxxxxx
plEaSE REaD Buddy millers opaque
THE lETTER smears of feedback and
Raising Sand, 2007 plant and patty griffins
originally recorded for underplayed delivery.
Walking Into Clarksdale
it nearly didnt make Up oN THE
the cut, reveals plant he HolloW HIll
re-recorded it with alison (UNDERSTaNDING
Krauss as a poignant slice aRTHUR)
of deep, dark americana. lullaby and The
Ceaseless Roar, 2014
against Tuareg guitars
and pulsing electronic
rhythms, plant the shaman
Terence Spencer/The LIFe ImageS coLLecTIon/geTTy ImageS
salutes the legendary
British king, brilliantly
bringing together sounds
archaic and modern.
CaRRY FIRE
Carry Fire, 2017
The title track for plants
MoNKEY latest continues his
Band of Joy, 2010 globetrotting adventures,
among more established with a stunning north
covers Townes Van african groove overlaying
Zandt, richard Thompson, moody electronics. as
Los Lobos plant tackled with all of plants post-
two songs by Low on millennium output, it
Band Of Joy. monkey retains a commendably
is the best, thanks to low-key elegance.
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 63
 robert plant
touch. I feel good about everything, so I guess if you pull all those
things together you could call it happy. No holes in it. I dont have
a lot of time for thinking about stuff, and I dont want to waste time,
because time doesnt last forever. If youre an oak tree, its a bit easier.

Youre 70 next year. How do you plan to celebrate? When I was

60, I had a night of humour with my friends at the village pub. Frank
Carson and Tommy Mundon, the Black Country comedian, were the
stars. Neither of them are with us any longer, but everyone remembers
how they laughed. Frank was really, really funny and such a charming
guy. I called him up in Marbella, the day before my party. The phone
rang. Voice goes, Hello? I said, Frank? Its Robert Plant. Oh, Im
coming to see you tomorrow. Are you sure? Just a fucking minute.
Listen to this. He held the receiver up from his lounger by the pool.
Can you hear that fucking noise? Its children. Im on my way. I wont
need any makeup, just a bucket of ready mix. From the minute he got Meeting the flans:
off the plane until they took him back at one in the morning, he never Percy appears on
Tiswas with Frank
let it go. So, 70, is it important? No. Not as long as I can keep my brain Carson and Cozy
in shape and parts of my body, here and there. Powell in 1981

The other big anniversary next year is 50 years

of Zeppelin. How are you planning to mark that? Youre having a lot of fun at the moment with the
ITV/REX/ShuTTERSTock; MaIRo cInquETTI/PacIfIc PRESS/LIghTRockET VIa gETTy IMagES

Hold hands and contact the living. What else can you
do, really? On May 31, 2018, John Bonham would have
been 70. Hes three months older than me. That is When I ran
going to be a moment of recognition for his great gift
and how sad and fucked it was that he was taken from from the big
us. I spend a lot of time with his sister, Deborah; I saw
Zo, his daughter, two weeks ago. Because were from time in 1999,
the same place, I often speak about him in the present
tense. Ironically, Matthew who used to drive us in The I vowed Id
Band Of Joy and The Crawling King Snakes is still on
the scene. We were 16 when we started playing
together. By my calculations thats 53 years ago. So
never play east
thats a fucking hell of a long time to have somebody in
your life. Even though theyre gone theyre not gone.
of Offas Dyke
When Maureen and I had our accident in 75, John was
there. When we lost our boy in 77, John and Pat were with Maureen
and me so much. It was John who got me back into singing again. Id
been accepted to a teacher training college. So, yeah, we have to
remember all things and be aware of the weight of it all. But at the
same time, the flippance of it all. All these amazing moments that
come out of nowhere. Boom. Fantastic.
Sensational Space Shifters, arent you? Ive been
wrestling with the joys of contemporary recording
techniques recently. Cause and effect, bright ideas that
can be jettisoned at the drop of a hat. Because Im a
bit not impetuous, but if I have an idea I want to see it
through as far as it can go. I know the whole sacrosanct
way of analogue recording as we did with T-Bone
and Buddy Miller has its value. But to be able to kick
an idea around and give it neck if you dont want it,
thats great. So thats how I make music with these
guys. Yet, I guess, nothings ever really finished. I can
hear stuff from Physical Graffiti where I think, Shit,
why did I leave my vocal like that? There are bits and
pieces throughout my time where the vocals are out of
tune. But it doesnt matter, because the intentions are
there. This is not a Rembrandt. A three-minute piece of music, four-
minute piece of music, is supposed to have some expression in it as
well as the inane musicality of a former golden god.
A former golden god? Well, its like being a former striker for
Wolverhampton Wanderers and ending up playing for Huddersfield

Onstage with
Sensational Space
Shifters Liam Skin
Tyson (left) and
Justin Adams, 2016

64 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017

Town. Its a role you play. I didnt chose to be the King Of Cock Rock. xxxxxxxxxx
Or Chest Of The Year in 1971. These things are festooned upon one
and you have to live em down.

Chest Of The Year! Youre joking? No! I was voted so by Creem

magazine.

Do you to listen to your music when its finished? It comes

through the mail; you go the village pub and pick up the parcel, take
it home, rip it open and put it in the turntable and go, Ah! Yes! Or
not. Their birthright is there the very first time you hear it. After that,
you have to be careful how many times you play a song, especially She was
when youre my age. You cant get tired of your own stuff or youve got amazing: with
to monitor it so you put some life into it and make it live again. Dylan Alison Krauss
October 25, 2007
makes a job of Masters Of War every time he plays it; people just
dont know what song it is for about an hour. Nothing wrong with that.

lullaby and The Ceaseless Roar was about coming home. So

It was a step into the
unknown
youre back now. Youve taken stock. What have you found
out? Ive found out that there is no back! Everywhere is home and
everybody that I love, I love. With my kids having made their own
way into life now, my dad role has completely changed. I played Ten years on, Plant remembers the genesis of
tennis last night with my youngest kid, who was a county player Raising Sand the album with Alison Krauss that
about 10 years ago. Once I got the thumbs up, the communications redefined Plants post-millennial career
werent face to face, I could really kick ass. Ive always wanted to

I
spend time in Louisiana. So a few years ago, I went on a road trip with waS invited to play a Lead
CC Adcock from Lil Band O Gold. We went through the dancehalls, Belly tribute for the Rock
and Roll hall of fame in
fantastic music the zydeco, the black music, all the bon temps roule. november 2004. odetta, harry
Id always wanted to do it. Back in the Zeppelin days, New Orleans Belafonte and gatemouth Brown
was the place that we looked forward to the most, musically. Ahmet were also on the bill. Id been
Ertegun used to fix up so that Earl King would come along, The typecast as this other guy, the guy
Meters, Snooks Eaglin, Ernie K-Doe and Frankie Ford. It was that knows no end to Baby, baby,
amazing. Wed take a really old warehouse and proceed with parties. baby. So to be in the middle
of that with all those different
players, I thought, Ive gotta do
Does the song Carry Fire have a special meaning? Its all this! I called up the guys from Los
there. There are two or three stories in Carry Fire and you can take Lobos and said, would you like to
em any way you like. come and join me on this tribute
to Lead Belly, and well see what
What are they? No! I cant! I cant tell you, because otherwise I lose we can do. I contacted alison and
invited her to sing in it with me. I
the very issue of what Im trying to do. Its a slight wasnt sure I could
ambiguity, but its my life its about me. The do it. neither was
musicianship isnt. Thats about those guys. alison. It was a step
into the unknown for both of us.
Justin [Adams] and I worked
out some arrangements for the
songs I wanted to do in his garden
shed, where he had a studio. alison
came up to sing at rehearsals and
she was amazing. I was singing
for the first time ever with another
voice, learning about music Id
never even touched. Then T-Bone
rolled up, with his collection of
songs I bought the rockin songs
and he brought the gene clark
stuff and the Townes Van Zandt.
I dont take too kindly to being
produced. Its almost a bit late for
someone to tell me how to do it.
But when T-Bone tells everybody
in the room how to do it, everybody
listens. and I was going wild.

But both these last two records are very

personal, arent they? For sure. But look at what
happened before that. Band Of Joy was all covers but That was the beginning of what you get today. When we were
one. Raising Sand was all covers but one. Dreamland working on this album, I said to Justin, I want to find a
was all covers but one. Where do you go before that? sound and a mood and a melancholy that reaches towards
Walking Into Clarksdale? When I ran away from the Grecki, the sad symphonies. How can I match the pathos of
big time in 1999, 2000 and formed Priory Of Brion, that? He came back with this amazing progression, which is
I vowed I would never play east of Offas the backbone of Heaven Sent. What it asks for vocally is a
Dyke and I would die a crooning Celt place Ive never been so I went there. But by and large,
somewhere in Bishops Castle. Fuck it, Id everybodys contribution is crucial. Record to record, if you go
had enough! When the Priory Of Brion back to Mighty ReArranger, and to a degree Dreamland, you
imploded yet again, there were gigs to do can hear the personalities of the players. Its a kind of map of our
and they happened to be in Sweden, where madnesses. Its a diagram for the condition, I think. The bendir, the
the whole game had really begun in 1968 North African hand drum, has been there all the way through, from
I formed a band with the aid of Charlie Jones, Hey Joe on Dreamland to Embrace Another Fall and Rainbow
the bass player, who pointed me towards on Lullaby, and it comes out on May Queen on this album.
LIZ o. BayLEn/LoS angELES TIMES VIa gETTy IMagES

Clive Deamer and Johnny Baggott. Porl

Thompson joined us from The Cure. It was There are a handful of songs about current events
very quick and there was no time to write on the new album: New World, Carving Up The
anything. But we came alive really well in World Again and Bones Of Saints. What
Mighty ReArranger. Thats where this whole prompted those? Its just observations from the hill,
story begins for me. really. Theyre not political songs, but theres no way of
avoiding the insane realities of this time. Does a song that
Why do you think your working relationship touches on it make a difference to anybody? Probably not.
with those guys is so successful? When I first met But you cant avoid the mess. When we were recording
Justin [Adams], we were both playing the same music. Mighty ReArranger, the question of whether Blair should be
The Egyptian singer Om Kalsoum, a lot of the Berber held responsible for the Iraq War was in the air. So out came
music Id collected over the years, Raisse Damsiri. Takamba. You cant just sing about reckless love. Last

DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 65

 robert plant
year, I did a show for David Lynchs Foundation and
more recently the Red Cross. I played 11 shows for the
Lampedusa tour, bringing in funds for education in
refugee camps. I thought, Its time to do more and Let England
more stuff like that.
Shake is
Those three songs seem to address the cyclical
nature of events. New World is about todays folk
immigrants arriving in America; but it could be
a snapshot from any century. Yeah, its a real-world music. Its not
immigrant song. Its today. Its definitely going on right
now, and its been going on for 500 years. There was a
legation of Chinese military dignitaries in Washington
a dead art
a few years ago, discussing the continuity of war
around the planet. One of the Chinese guys said, But youve got a
war thats 500 years old and you havent even won it yet. And they
never will. When I lived in Texas, I followed Patty [Griffin] around
when she was writing American Kid. I spent time on the Mississippi
border south of Memphis. I was picking up all the signals when I was
there which if you were born into it, youd probably prefer not to
touch, because theres a huge yoke around all of our necks. New
generations are not always responsible for their fathers work.
Do you miss the more pointed social
commentary of the 1960s? If I had lived out there in
the Bay area in San Francisco, playing with some sort
of poor mans Jefferson Airplane, I would have got it
down years before. It was such a prolific time for a kind
of virile social commentary. But not so in the British
post-psychedelia and the new blues-rock movement
which was basically people singing like black kids did
in 62, 63. It was brilliant, but it was expressive rather
than lyrical. The finest guys who could play like
mothers surrounded me, but I didnt really have the
state of mind or the awareness or the cultural influx to
start talking about stuff.
Theres a quote from Aubrey Powell: Robert still believes we
come as one tribe from the heady 60s days Is that accurate?
Id like to think that. But sometimes you cant call people that you
care about because they dont take your calls any more. Its slightly
distressing to see where it all went. But I play these festivals in America
which are reflections of what it was when I first went there. So never
mind the 60s, how about just a general camaraderie, great vibe? The
creativity there, Im sure, is just as vibrant now.

Theres a lot of soil and seasons on this album. Theres

snow upon the hill, Our fields are filled with clover, the
magic of the land. It reminds me of Ramble On: The
autumn moon lights my way/For now I smell the rain
Leaves are falling all around, time I was on my way. I live in
the seasons. I live on the edge of the great industrial swirl of the
wondrous Black Country. But I can dive in there and enjoy the
greatest tribes of people on the planet or just head west. I can
actually meld, bit by bit, into what the physicality or the silence
or the bustle or the clutter offers me.

Town or country? Country is good, because theres nobody

else around. For me, that is quite important because theres a lot
of flurrying around for much of the time, so I really value the
singular moments I have. I was in Morocco just 48 hours ago, in
the Ourika Valley, in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. I took
With Buddy Miller and my little radio with me and found the local Berber radio station.
Emmylou at a Lampedusa
Concerts For Refugees, But there was nobody around, nobody, except for the birds and
Berklee, Boston, Oct 2016 the odd lizard. Then you walk through town and the farmers are
buying sheep to celebrate Ede. I came back, drove straight up to
the Black Country, and its all on again. [Drops into deep Black

I landed in St Louis, Country accent] All right, Robert? How you doin, mate? So, yes,
Im very, very lucky. My father taught me a lot. I have a lot of friends

Missouri at midnight who are immersed in the rural life and I learned a lot over the years.

I remember you telling me about your grandfathers

Ever restless, Plant fills us in on his recent involvement with the brass band. Youre from Dudley
extracurricular activities originally? Tipton and Dudley, basically. I had two cats when I first

I
n October 2016, Plant joined
a special 11-city Lampedusa
tour, which aimed to raise
awareness about the global
refugee crisis. Im not making a
political statement, said Plant at
the time. The organisation that is
receiving these funds is a religious
one, but this is a totally secular
mission. This appeal is trying to
help on the ground wherever it
can. The lineup also included
Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle,
Buddy Miller and Patty Griffin.
I landed in St Louis, Missouri,
PauL MarOTTa/GETTY IMaGES
It was a semicircle of mostly
acoustic songs performed by
some great singers. Steve Earles
performances are incredible. We
were playing the Town Hall in new
York and Joan Baez joined us. Id
danced the two-step with her a
few times when we used to play
Little Maggie on the last European
tour. Shes a real dynamo.
But it was fantastic to go from
playing, one night, no Place To
Go by Howlin Wolf with Juldeh
Camara, to singing back-up to
Emmylou and then shed back me
got my current home, 26 years ago, and I called them Tipton and
Dudley. They miaowed with a Black Country accent.
Growing up, were you aware of local traditional folk songs
like The Dudley Boys? Not really, though I used to play folk
clubs before I started singing. I played washboard and kazoo and
harmonica from 1963 onwards. I remember Ian Campbell the father
of the UB40 lads and the Birmingham folk groups, but I didnt
really know anything about Black Country songs. I know where to go
to find them. I keep bumping into Howlin Wolf.
This album opens with The May Queen. Youve always
woven folklore into your songs. Where does that come from?

at midnight, says Plant. I was
picked up by a strange bloke
in the nicest possible way
and woke up the next day in a
soundcheck with Emmylou Harris,
Steve Earle, the Milk Carton Kids
and Buddy Miller. We played 11
dates for the Lampedusa tour.
on Townes Van Zandts nothin. The perpetual cries of Britain; never ending. It comes from being
Sitting next to Emmylou, listening there. Im actually there. Im 25 miles from the Whiteleafed Oak,
to her, getting an idea and then which was the centre of a huge wheel of activity. The Guardian Of The
joining in and dropping harmonies
underneath stuff I wouldnt have
Whiteleafed Oak, shes very special. Do you know about the Perpetual
dared to do before I went and did Choirs Of Britain? There are people who still walk the great lines,
the Raising Sand project. So I didnt singing. It carried on into the Christian times; its still around Malvern
stop. I just changed cassette. now. Nine hundred years ago, the deal was when you passed a certain

66 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017

mark on the track, another bunch of people would
carry on singing. So it never ended. It was intended to
maintain a spell of peace across the land; it enriched
everybodys lives. Do you know the Poly-Olbion? Its a
spectacular book. It talks about everywhere we live,
but it gives it a picture and colour that has been
eradicated with the tempo of life. Its a reference to each
county and each river and the goddesses of each river.
But Ive been lucky. Ive met people who are on the
same path: Do you know about this? Come with me,
let me show you. Two hours later, youre staring at
some amazing topographical site. Once upon a time, it
was part of the warp and weft of our great, great, great-
grandfathers lives. Now we just whizz around getting
tickets for going too fast on the freeway.
Did you see that story in the news today about a
seven-year old girl who found a sword in a lake
in Cornwall? I think the French took a lot of poetic
licence. They messed Arthur about too much. He was
fine the way he really was, in all of our spirits.
The tower block on the back of Led Zep IV is in
Dudley, isnt it? No, its in Winson Green. There were
two towers blocks in Dudley and John Bonham lived in
one of them. It looked just like that. He made the
mistake of buying a second-hand Rolls-Royce and
parking it at the bottom of the council
tower block, so every morning
he came down it had been
keyed and keyed and keyed. I
said, Whats the odd thing out
in the whole of Dudley? Its your
pecking car! It was very funny.
You touched briefly on
Birminghams trad folk
scene. Im guessing it was
quite militant in its outlook:
the old way is the right way.
You were always against that,
werent you? I believe that music
grows and ebbs and flows all the
time. Its such a difficult thing or a
ridiculous thing to attempt to
classify music. But the songs the
miners sang and the songs of the bargees
making their way through the Black
Country, lying on the top of the barge as
they leg it through the tunnels, being
pulled by a horse, its all very well and all
very nice. But its as much folk music to
me as Talk Talk, The Colour Of Spring.
Traffic, Mr Fantasy. No Face, No Name,
No Number is as magical as you could
ever imagine. Let England Shake is
todays folk music. Its not a dead art. Its
got a long life expectancy.
What was the music scene like that
you entered in the early 60s? It was
very alluring. There was so much to
learn. There was literature, jazz, the
unaccompanied folk singer singing Heave
and weigh Santiana, and some off-duty
policeman from Ireland who would give you
a refrain. I remember when Lippmann and
Rau, the two German promoters, bought over
Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin Wolf, Skip
James and Son House, Bukka White and
Ransom Knowling, all those people, a young
The newly formed Led
Zeppelin lounge on John
Bonhams Jaguar in
London, December 1968
Muddy Waters, a young Hound Dog Taylor,
Otis Spann and Sister Rosetta Tharp, they
all came through. Meanwhile, in bohemia,
we were in the midst of the post-bebop
revolution. Bearded beatniks were
wondering around reading Sartre and
Albert Camus and listening to Roland Kirk,
Cannonball Adderley and A Love Supreme.
But it was also very selective and had its own
attitude and atmosphere. People would sit
outside the fountain by Birmingham Town Hall the whole weekend
with their sleeping bags rolled up but a lot of them would go
home about seven oclock at night. Weekend beatniks. There
were the beginnings of British rocknroll, too. As a 14, 15-year-old
kid, seeing Sleepy John Estes with Hammy Nixon was one of the
most amazing moments of my life.
Who else did you see? I remember being in a toilet in
Birmingham Town Hall and Sonny Boy Williamson came in to
take a leak. He had his grey and purple harlequin suit on, his
bowler hat and his umbrella and his briefcase. He was a very
DICK BarnaTT/rEDfErnS; MICHaEL OCHS arCHIVES/GETTY IMaGES; DaVID rEED/rEDfErnS
tall guy, much taller than me. I said, Mr Williamson, all my life,
ever since I heard you play, Ive been practising my harmonica
playing. Can I get your autograph? He looked at me, shook his
manhood and said, Fuck off, son. I said, Thank you. I knew
exactly where I stood in the great hall of musical legends,
because he was absolutely right. Fuck off, Planty. Who the fuck
are you? I saw these amazing characters come
through who were dazzled by the attention that they
got. Manchester Free Trade Hall, you could hear a pin
drop. So if I move to 1995, 96, Ive taken Jimmy to
Morocco to do No Quarter. We belched out of the plane
in Marrakesh with managers and cameramen and a
need to get on with it that just didnt work there. We
started off with local musicians. But they had to go to
a wedding Well see you another time! So by the
time we did get something together it was with
Sonny Boy
Williamson musicians who were pro and quite organised. But they
(above) and said to me later, We cant understand the British
Sleepy John
Estes (right) with audience. Our music in Egypt is a music of celebration.
Hammy Nixon Same with Sonny Boy Williamson, same with Bukka
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 67

White. All these artists were bemused by the
European response to their music. These earthy
musical forms had become intellectualised.
What did you make of London in the mid-
60s? Me and Bonzo used to come down here and
hover. Stay round the corner here at what was the
Holiday Inn. We went to the clubs and danced.
Wed stay up for hours upon hours upon hours
until everything ran out. Then on Thursday, wed
go to bed. I dont know much about London,
really. I didnt know much about it then; dont
know much about it now. Ive seen so many trends
and fads and centres of energy come and go, Im
better sitting on a hill watching it from a distance.
I had a better time in Dolgellau or Shrewsbury.
What were your first impressions of Jim? I first met him when he
and Chris Dreja and Peter Grant came up to have a look at me, to give
me a once over. I was playing at a teacher training college in
MADS PeRCh; JON LYONS/ReX/ShuTTeRSTOCk; RON hOWARD/ReDFeRNS/GeTTY IMAGeS
Birmingham. There was definitely a difference between us all. They
thought I was a roadie. The Yardbirds was a name not to be sneezed
at; still isnt a name to be sneezed at. There wasnt the whole furore
about the three great guitarists in those days Clapton, Page and
Beck but they were a working band. They had far
more presence in America than here. Later, Jimmy
told me they used to travel with the Dick Clark
Roadshow on the bus with the Shirelles, Gary
Puckett & The Union Gap. So he was coming from
a place where he already had the code. He was
eloquent. He knew more about some things, I
know more about other things, but musically we
were running virtually in parallel. We knew
about Bert Jansch, Davy Graham, Sandy Bull,
John Fahey. All that great guitar that had come in
some cases from North Africa and in some cases
from Creole and Georgia Sea Islands sources.
Where was Bonzo in all this? Bonzo wasnt
around at the time he was playing with Jim
68 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
Plant in
2017: Im Rose. Hed run away and left me. We went to see him play in some
furtive and club up Haverstock Hill and tried to lure him into rehearsals. He was
out and
about having none of it. Pat told him he could never play with me again,
because it was a losing game. He said, You cant be serious! I cant
come and work with you. Ill be divorced! I said, Is that good or
bad? But when we started playing, it was the place we needed to be
at that time in our lives. The interplay between the four of us quickly
became quite extraordinary.
Youre on the latest Fairport Convention album. Earlier this
year, Dave Pegg told me about a jam between the Fairports
and Zeppelin at the Troubadour in 1970. What do you recall
about that? I think we were playing Eddie Cochran songs. That
was quite something to see Dave Swarbrick playing a fiddle solo on
Summertime Blues. It was only shortly before that that Fairport
were more or less a psychedelic rock band, with Time Will Show The
Wiser. Richard [Thompson] was still with them then. Hes probably
one my top favourite guitarists of all time. His playing then he could
have been in the Airplane or Big Brother And The Holding Company.
The missing link between West Coast psychedelia and 60s
English folk-rock? Definitely. But Mike Herons stuff was more so
Smiling Men With Bad Reputations. Because the thing that The
Incredible String Band didnt have, didnt need, would have been
cursed by, was regular rhythm and timing. Everything else we
discuss is based on some kind of groove. The natural cards revolve
ever changing, you see? Thats what they said, and they were right.
But Swarbrick crazy, wonderful man. Sandy and I
its funny really. If wed had the time, we could have
sung and done some great stuff together. With my
memories of obscure early black R&B, with her voice,
its like with Alison Krauss getting her to sing Rich
Woman, shes got to get into that pocket. Sandy would
have been great in those places.
Bron-Yr-Aur, Headley Grange youve always
responded to open spaces, close to the land,
havent you? Bron-Yr-Aur was an experiment. It was
just two guys who travelled a lot and we wanted to
pluck the difficult third album. We were already on
the way with Ramble On and What Is And What
Should Never Be. We knew we could move on from
Babe Im Gonna Leave You, Your Time Is Gonna
Come, into another place. But what was that other
place? So the idea of going to Bron-Yr-Aur was to strip
away everything, including the electric light, and see
if we had anything. We pulled out some good ideas
Plant with and they went on to be developed more and they became a part of Led
Sandy Zeppelin III, which is a very important record. It combined Out On
Denny in
1970 and The Tiles and Immigrant Song with Thats The Way and Hats
(below) Off To Harper and all that stuff. All that stuff Ha!
with John
Bonham in
The Band What was the significance of Headley Grange? It was only a
Of Joy in
London, year or so on, but we were more mature and operating as a four-piece.
1968 Everyone brought stuff. Some of Jimmys guitar parts were virtually
complete. John Paul as well. Bonzo and I would glue
stuff on. Headley Grange had two proper mobiles the
Stones and Ronnie Lanes so stuff could be committed
to tape in a more or less complete performance to be
mixed later on. There were the impromptu moments,
like Trampled Underfoot, where you could actually
create something on the scene. There was a lot of
spontaneity as there is now, with what I do. But
Headley Grange was kind of tough, really. We tried
it a few times over the years, at Rockfield and other
residential studios. You expend so much emotion and
creativity, its like a marathon. Then everybodys
capacity for drawing a day to a close is a little bit different.
It wasnt unusual to hear Bonzo playing Wild Thing on
the guitar at four in the morning and me shouting down
the stairs, For Gods sake! Isnt it time now? I cant sleep!
 robert plant
When was that? 1983? So I was 34. If someone says, Youre in the
wrong place, my son... Well, I was in the wrong place. But I was
looking for glory! How can you have reckless love without glory?
They say, where I come from, Youve got to dip your bread.

What does an average day entail for you, when youre at

Tell me about India. That was, what, 1972? No, no, no. It was
before that. We went three times, Jimmy and I. Probably about 71. He
knows. Theres some bootlegs of Friends and Four Sticks, so that Jones, Plant
was 72. But wed been there already before that. We played in a club
with me on the drums and Jimmy playing guitar. I sang Whole Lotta
Love while playing the drums. There are people in India whove got
really remarkable positions now in the country who tell me about
that gig. Come on, that was bloody awful! Thats not a milestone.
Thats a millstone.
Talking of Jimmy Page, when did you last speak
to him? Ten days ago. I spoke to John Paul Jones at
that very same moment! I do five--
Dont leave us in suspense No, dont be silly!
Youre kidding, arent you? Johns getting ready to get
a-side on
his opera out.
Wednesday,
Do you ever worry about your own mortality?
Yeah I do. Well, not worry. Im not asking anybody to
tennis three
get into the groove of what we do, we just do it. And of
course Im gonna talk it up, but with self-respect,
times a week
because Im never going to be everybodys favourite.
I dont do it in the way everybody would probably like.
But does it matter if anybody likes what I do, so long as I do and the
guys, we like what we do? We cant curry favour beyond where its at.
I saw you on an episode of TOTP2 recently, performing
Big Log. How do you view that period of your career now?
home? When you have the measure of an entire place, you know
every nook and cranny. If you have a garden, you probably know
where the toads pass. I know exactly the course of hedgehogs and
toads. Im not in The Incredible String Band, but I know what the
fuck is going on around me. In a way, its a set piece. I know my
environment, so Im always looking over the wall. This thing about
me and the restless spirit. I have a friend in America, she tells me I
have a homeopathic condition which means I never stop. I said, Oh,
thats a blessing! She thought I needed help, you see. I think I just
need more fuel, really. The day? Im furtive and out and about. I used
September to read those interviews in the back of the Sunday supplements about
21, 2012: a writers day. Get up, have coffee. Read The Times. Check the Today
John Paul
programme. 9am, if its not Melvyn Bragg then Im going to read.
and Page at Then Ill pass wind, have some poached eggs and write a classic.
the launch of
Celebration I dont know about that.
Day, the DVD
of their 2007
reunion gig It gives their day a focus, I guess. Yeah, but that means, when you
get to 2pm, you have to turn it on. I just carry a book everywhere I go.
This is the new one. [Plant pulls a navy-blue A5 notebook from his bag
and reads from a page] Here it says, Clarence Ashley
banjo tunings. And here it says, Its never ending
and it hasnt even started yet.
How about that! Yeah. Keeping up with yourself.
Were talking about a new record and a new tour
with the most stunning group of musicians and
brothers that I could wish for. Keeping up with
oneself creatively is a tall order. I do five-a-side on
a Wednesday night and tennis three times a week.
Theres no room for fillers in any way, ever, in the
whole of your being. Otherwise do the meals-on-
wheels run. Work for Toc H. Seriously. Why not? Its
not over yet.
Carry Fire is available now on Nonesuch
over A track-by-track guide to this months CD, compiled
tHe by Robert Plant And The Sensational Space Shifters
paGe

location, location

House Of The Holy

Inside Headley Grange

T
he headley house
Of Industry, nestling
in a remote corner
of hampshire, was built
in 1795 as a poorhouse. It
was turned into a private
residence in 1870 and by
the 1960s had become
a hostel for students
from Farnham School
Of Art. eventually record
companies heard that
headley Grange was
The heating didnt work.
But it had one major
advantage. Other bands
had rehearsed there and
hadnt had any complaints.
Thats a major issue,
because you dont want
to go somewhere
and start locking
into the work
process and then
have to pull out.
The house also
IV famously, Plant
reportedly wrote the
lyrics to Stairway To
heaven in one evening
there. When not working,
the band would venture to
the corner shop on nearby
eddeys Lane to stock up
on cider. Other bands
who stayed there include
Bad Company, The Pretty
Things, elvis Costello and
Genesis, who recorded
The Lamb Lies Down
On Broadway
there in 1974.
Remembers
Phil Collins, We
were in the living
room, and there
onto our Nakamichi
cassette player.
The area had strong
music links: Richard
Bransons family came
from nearby Wishanger,
while in 1970, Fleetwood
Mac lived at Benifold on
nearby headley hill Road;
Mick Jaggers Stargroves
home was only an hour
across the county in east
Woodhay. Page revisited
DAve J hOGAN/GeTTY IMAGeS

available to rent and it came with a was another headley Grange for part
became a residential base labrador Sinbad room along the of the 2008 documentary
for bands to profitably get immortalised in hall where Peter It Might Get Loud. Such
it together in the country. Zeppelins Black had a piano, is the weight contained
Led Zeppelin arrived in Dog. While in and thats where in its bricks and mortar,
1970. headley Grange residence, the he worked a lot. an American blues-rock
was somewhat rundown, band recorded Wed improvise band took their name
Page told Uncut in 2009. Led Zeppelin and record from headley Grange.

DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 69

 robert plant
Golden
Gods compiled by
robert plant
& the sensationa l
s pac e s h i f t e r s
1 Buddy & Julie
Miller (with
roBert Plant)
What You Gonna Do Leroy
Chosen by Robert Plant
Our CD kicks off with this bawdy
roots-rocker from the Nashville-
based husband-and-wife duo,
featuring a cameo from Percy
himself. Taken from 2009s Written
In Chalk, the second and most recent
album by the duo, the song was
penned by veteran country writer
Mel Tillis.
Bert
Jansch
2 Bert Jansch
Go Your Way
My Love
Chosen by Robert Plant
Co-written with folk enigma
Anne Briggs, Go Your Way My
Love first appeared on Janschs
fourth album, Nicola. The full
record is a strange mix of
stripped-down folk and syrupy
orchestrations, but this pensive
lost gem finds Jansch alone with,
unusually, a 12-string guitar.
3 daniel lanois/
rocco deluca
Satie
Chosen by Robert Plant
If all-round polymath Lanois
has an instrument, its surely
the pedal steel, which he
cd cover photo: dick Barnatt/redferns
showcased so deftly on Brian
this page: mads perch; david mcclister
Enos Apollo: Atmospheres And
Soundtracks. On this track,
taken from last years Goodbye
To Language, he and Rocco
Deluca take the instrument far
from its usual country setting;
sure, it swoops and warps, but
the result is otherworldly and
supremely atmospheric.
70 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
4 Bada seck
Nguewel
Chosen by Dave Smith
One of the few tracks available here
by the Senegalese percussionist,
Nguewel first appeared on the
1999 compilation Streets Of Dakar:
Generation Boul Fal. Its frantic,
almost waltzing passion is at odds
with the meaning of the Senegalese
street slang, boul fal: never mind.
5 Patty Griffin
250,000 Miles
Chosen by Robert Plant
This ominous, wonderfully poised
slice of Americana is taken from
Griffins most recent album, 2015s
Servant Of Love. The Maine-born
singer-songwriter collaborated with
Patty
Griffin
Plant on the latters 2010 Band Of Joy,
and the pair lived together in Austin
for a few years after
that, working
together again
on Griffins
American
Kid (2013).
6 nick harPer
A Hundred Things
Chosen by Skin Tyson
Although not chosen by Plant
himself, theres a link going back
decades here, Nick of course being
the son of Roy Harper, acoustic
maven and Zeppelin touring mate.
Harper Jr has inherited his fathers
vocal prowess and is arguably an
even more impressive guitarist,
using undersea-cable strings as low
as a baritone guitar, demonstrated
on this track from his 1994 EP, Light
At The End Of The Kennel.
7 thee oh sees
The Axis
Chosen by Billy Fuller
The final track on John Dwyers
17th album with Thee Oh Sees,
2016s A Weird Exits, is a six-minute,
prog-punk epic. Over stately, Floyd-
like drums, Dwyer mans a giant,
churning organ of course, as
the song nears its conclusion,
he returns to guitar and
sabotages the splendour
with perhaps the wildest
noise solo of recent years.
8 konono no 1
Lufuala Ndonga
Chosen by Justin
Adams
This propulsive, nine-
and-a-half-minute
juggernaut is the
opener of the proper
debut album,
Congrotronics, by
this many-headed
group from Kinshasa,
capital of the
Democratic Republic
Of The Congo. Using
junkyard percussion, distorted
vocals and amplified likembs
(thumb pianos), their grooves are
relentlessly savage and thrilling.
AA
Bondy
9 aa Bondy
American Hearts
Chosen by Robert Plant
The first album by Scott Bondy,
2007s American Hearts, was
recorded in rural seclusion in New
York states Catskills; this cut, the
plaintive title track, captures a
vintage folk sound that wouldnt
have sounded out of place in the
coffeehouses of Greenwich Village
45 years before. If your God
makes war/Then hes no God I
know/Cause Christ would not send
boys to die, Bondy sings.
10 aBiGail washBurn
Bring Me My Queen
Chosen by Robert Plant
We close the CD with a 2011 track
from one of Americas finest
banjo players, who also records
with her husband Bla Fleck,
another banjo virtuoso. Mixing her
instrument with piano, subtle
drones and yearning harmonies,
the result combines the best of
classic Americana songwriting
with the textures of ambient or
modern classical.
 Expertly curated by the Uncut magazine team,
and illustrated with hundreds of rarely seen
photographs, History of Rock in the 1970s is an
essential collection of interviews and classic album
reviews harvested from the archives of NME and
Maker Covering the music and how it was
Melody Maker.
made, as well as the people behind it and what
made them, History of Rock in the 1970s is the
ultimate guide to an era of glamour, excess and
monstrous rock bands.

1972

Well show
Marc Bolan
a few tricks
The FACES continue their American campaign,
with an eye on the state of things back home.
Their unrehearsed approach continues to
yield results.

A
NG ON. ILL WAKE UP in a minute, says Ian McLagan for
the fourth time. Its 3.30 in the afternoon and Macs struggling
through an interview. As a rule, hes something of a talker, but right
now hes only been out of bed half an hour and his minds a little
foggy.
The night before, the Faces had been down at the studios, doing
nothing in particular, just trying out a few possible ideas for their
next album. In fact, it isnt due to be recorded until after the bands
next American tour, when theyll get down to making the finished
product in Los Angeles. But still McLagan thinks working on odd bits
and pieces is a valuable exercise.
Now though, this afternoon, his eyes spell hangover in big
letters. He blinks out of the kitchen door at the bright sunshine,
makes some coffee, takes some pills of a mildly rejuvenating nature
and tries to think clearly. We stick to fairly simple stuff.
The thing is, weve never rehearsed for recordings before, never
even considered it, he says, talking of the recent sessions in the Rod Stewart posing for a portrait
studios. Its bad really, cos when you think of it theyre more during a recording session for his
album Never A Dull Moment:
important than gigs, because theyre going to be confronting your May 15, 1972, Miami, Florida
ears the whole time. We thought wed go down to the studios with

102

1975 led zeppelin

ALBUM

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FEBRUARY 24

More variety and more vinyl from Zep.

Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti

NO OTHER TOP BAND in the world gets This is not just a collection of great tracks, but a perfectly balanced
as much stick as Led Zeppelin. Every time selection of music that weighs heavy rock with acoustic, ballad with
they bring out an album theres six months out-and-out rocker, in such a way that you can play the album non-
of carping because its not full of remakes stop day and night without ever needing to pause for a bit of peace.

Save
of Whole Lotta Love; followed by another
six months of moaning because they
havent played any live dates; finishing up
with six months of complaints about the
time its taken them to make the new one.
Not this time, though, I suspect. By allowing themselves the luxury
of a double album, theyve managed to cram in a bit of everything and
in enough quantity to keep that vocal minority of moaners at bay.
For once they will have to admit that the wait since Houses Of The
Holy has been worthwhile; some may even be moved enough to
recognise Physical Graffiti for what it is: a superbly performed mixture
of styles and influences that encompasses not only all aspects of Led
Zeps recording career so far, but also much of rock as a whole.
And for one of the worlds heaviest bands, thats some achievement.
Physical Graffiti has not just been worth the wait; it had to take
a long time to produce music of this calibre. Unlike so many bands
today, who hurl out albums like they were Frisbees in Hyde Park,
Led Zep can be bothered to take the time and trouble to make this
one even better than the last one.
They are, if you like, one of the few progressive bands left you
remember them, the groups who were always going to move forward
and keep exploring new avenues. Zeppelin have, and still are, doing
just that. They established their base with heavy blues-rock on Led
Zeppelin I, and have constantly sought to build on that, investigating
new fields, from the folky Battle Of Evermore to the reggae-
influenced DYer Maker. Now theyve taken electronic space rock

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Bonham in the background, 1975
Led Zeppelin in full flight at a Madison
Square Garden gig during a 1975 tour

183

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 king gizzard & the lizard wizard

IN THE COURT
Burak Cingi/redferns

Cook Craig, Eric Moore,

Stu Mackenzie and Michael
Cavanaugh of King Gizzard &
The Lizard Wizard, live on Day
2 of Reading Festival, 2016

72 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017

OF THE
GIZZARD KINGS h a manic workrate.
Seven psychedelic Australians witoos. A rapidly expanding
An army of fans with alligator tatt prog-psych Game Of
catalogue of albums regarded as a THE LIZARD WIZARD!
Thrones Meet KING GIZZARD & garage-rocks biggest
JASON ANDERSON joins up with l they keep their insane
new cult in Nashville and asks: wil 2017?
promise of releasing five albums in

DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 73

king Gizzard
in 2017: a weird
experiment
HE bandmates only travel about 30 feet from the
door of the venue before theyre spotted. Then
again, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are
not the most inconspicuous bunch. Here on a
scorching September afternoon in Nashville,
its hard to miss a mob of lanky, mid-
twentysomething, mostly long-haired Aussies in black
shorts and Blundstones. They are eight in number seven musicians
plus Jason Galea, the friend responsible for the bands artwork,
videos and trippy live projections.
Two fans call out and come over. We drove 11 hours to see you!
says one clutching an empty bottle of bleach for reasons unknown.
Hes thrilled to show the band a new addition to his pale forearm: a
freshly inked illustration of a green gator. The musicians convey their
approval without inspecting it too closely. The creature first appeared
in Galeas sleeve and animated video for The River, a single off the
bands 2015 LP Quarters. Though it migrated into a few T-shirt designs,
no-one in the Gizzard camp gave it much thought until fans started
showing off their badges of allegiance at Bonnaroo a few months on.
Since then, thereve been hundreds, says Galea in disbelief.
King Gizzards 26-year-old singer, guitarist, flautist and
ringleader Stu Mackenzie confesses that being the object of
such devotion has been kinda overwhelming. He remembers the
words that came to mind when he saw his first flesh gator: Damn
youre gonna regret that.
Such tributes are just another absurd development in a history
studded with them. Gradually, and largely by happenstance, a band
formed as an anarchic extracurricular for young friends otherwise
busy in other bands in Melbourne in 2010 has become one of the
most obsession-worthy groups on the planet. None of that was
supposed to happen, Mackenzie explains. This was just the
weird experiment, just us fucking around. The group didnt even
get a decent name. Instead, they got stuck with a last-minute
compromise between someones Doors-inspired suggestion of King
74 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
Lizard and Mackenzies arguably dafter choice of Gizzard Gizzard.
Yet what started as a joke definitely isnt one now. Later that night in
the sold-out Cannery Ballroom, a sweaty 1,000-strong throng of
Gizzheads mosh to the sound of Mackenzies apocalyptic sci-fi
songs about cyborgs and altered beasts. An improbable but reliably
thrilling stew of prog, surf, garage, Krautrock and psychedelia with
the occasional detour into folk, jazz and Tropiclia, too the bands
sonic barrage is powered by two drummers and delivered with
enough gusto to supply several more bands of comparable girth.
The whirlwind of activity they whip up onstage is matched by
their frenzied release schedule. Since 2012, theyve put out 10
extraordinary (and extraordinarily diverse) albums. Of the five that
were promised for 2017, three are already out. Even if they miss the
self-imposed deadline for the last two and time is running short
theyve already provided a ludicrous overabundance of stoner-
motorik magnificence.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are such an unlikely proposition
on so many counts, it seems oddly plausible for them to be
conquering America, too. Audience sizes swell with every visit and
new releases score high on Billboards vinyl and independent charts.
Its really exciting whats happening with the band, says Jon Salter,
who signed them to their American label ATO after his own
conversion experience at Bonnaroo in 2015. They have this army
We wanted to put
together a band where
no-one had to practise
sTU MaCkENziE
 king gizzard & the lizard wizard
thats mobilising and spreading one kid leaves the show freaking how to buy...
out then he tells 10 of his friends and they come back every time.
Not only are they so good, but they just make so much stuff, says
Courtney Barnett, a friend of the band since their paths intersected in
Melbourne seven years ago. Theyre a great example of getting on
King Gizzard &
with it, just doing it and not caring about what people say thats
really inspiring. The Lizard Wizard
Says Mackenzie, We definitely did have advice from people whod FloaT aloNG sunny psych-pop with a sometimes
tell us, If youre gonna tour, would you consider downsizing the - Fill YoUR manic edge, this flute-heavy set
group itll be a lot cheaper. Or why dont you just cut some material lUNGs belongs in the mellower end of the
FliGhTlEss, 2013 Gizzard canon alongside 2015s
out and just make one record instead of three? But weve just being
after one album Quarters and this years Brazilian-
driven by whatever we thought was the most fun thing to do. flavoured Sketches Of Brunswick
of gloriously messy garage rock
Nevertheless, strangeness abounds here at the centre of the Gizzard and another of western-inspired East. 8/10
universe, a realm thats rapidly expanding both in terms of its weirdness, the band launch into the
audiovisual splendours and its population of acolytes. At times, stratosphere with head on/Pill, NoNaGoN
Mackenzie cant help but feel perplexed. Four out of the 10 people I a shotgun blast of psych, nEU! and iNFiNiTY
talked to after the show last night in Chicago were Phish fans, he ac/Dc. 7/10 FliGhTlEss, 2016

says. I dont know what that means. a typically

iM iN YoUR cockamamie

O
MiND FUzz
NLY an hours drive away from the Bonnaroo site, Nashvilles FliGhTlEss, 2014
become a major Gizzard hotspot. Last year, the band sold out the fifth outing is
the Mercy Lounge, the smaller of the two clubs in a renovated the bands heaviest
red-brick flour mill just south of Nashvilles gleaming downtown. thus far both in terms of the
(Third Man Records is on the next block.) The fact that the band sold songs thunderous force and the
conceptual bent of mackenzies
out the larger Cannery Ballroom indicates Nashvilles ongoing shift lyrics, which depict a malevolent
toward wilder sounds than the kind that made it famous. As a club force out to control your brain.
staffer tells Uncut in a Tennessee twang, Psychedelic bands always Driven by Kenny-smiths harmonica
sell out here and metal bands. The country ones dont. and a ruthless rhythm section, the
Having arrived after an overnight drive from Chicago its the first four-song suite off the top previews
Gizzard scheme to arrange nine
songs into an infinite loop yields
one of the decades most
exhilarating albums. singles
Gamma Knife and People-
Vultures hurtle along
like hawkwind in hyperdrive.
9/10
MURDER oF
ThE UNivERsE
FliGhTlEss, 2017

time theyve rented a sleeper bus the bandmates have time to idle
along the 8th Avenue strip of restaurants, bars and shops near the
venue. At a stop in the Nashville Boot Co, drummer and manager Eric
Moore reels at the pungent aroma of rawhide while fellow drummer
Michael Cavs Cavanaugh ponders the purchase of a new Stetson
hat. Further down the block in Carter Vintage Guitars, Mackenzie is
excited to spot a six-string version of the Hagstrom 12 thats one of the
two guitars he uses on this tour. (The second is the custom-made
yellow guitar whose nickname inspired the title of Flying
Microtonal Banana, the first of this years Gizzard albums.)
A group discussion ensures over whether a coveted pedal
should be bought for Gizzard or The Murlocs the garage-
R&B act thats another creative outlet for keyboard and
harmonica player Ambrose Kenny-Smith and guitarist
Cook Craig. It is brought to an abrupt end when a silver-
haired senior in a green golf shirt picks up a guitar and
plays the intro of There She Goes note-perfect . Mackenzie
The quest for vegan fare leads the mob to a roomy caf with his
bar. Over grilled cheese sandwiches and salads, they custom
banana-
reminisce about the various teenage combos and cover yellow
bands they formed with each other growing up in Geelong guitar
and Torquay, two towns near Melbourne. After
they all met up in university in Melbourne
(guitarist Joey Walker is the only big-city lad),
more blues, garage and psych groups followed. It
was out of the ensuing gigs, parties and shared
houses that King Gizzard took shape.
We wanted to put together a band where no-one
had to practise, essentially, says Mackenzie. The
early music was so primal. Our first songs had a
maximum five words, three chords, preferably
the insanity of Nonagon Infinity. the most avidly
8/10 bonkers of Gizzards
2017 output, this concept album
PaPiER MCh sets mackenzies doomy fantasies
DREaM of mutated beasts, electric wizards
BallooN and confused cyborgs to another
FliGhTlEss, 2015 onslaught of high-velocity space
full of irresistibly rock. 8/10
out and making music together when the reality is that most
of them cant afford to leave or go too far for very long!
For the Gizzard crew, an early high/low point arrived
during an ill-advised dinner-hour gig before a particularly
unappreciative audience. Id broken five out of my six
guitar strings, which just seems so impossible, says
Mackenzie. We got a few boos when we ended the show.
Then this guy came up to the stage. I thought, Cool, this
guy is actually going to give us some encouraging feedback
thats nice! And he said, That was the worst show Ive
ever seen. You guys will never play a stadium.
Walker laughs. We probably wont still!
I never even envisioned us playing a stadium, says
Mackenzie. But he did spur us on without knowing it.
In fact, Mackenzies haphazard operation was soon
developing ideas beyond its initially humble station.
Though the first EPs and 2012s full-length debut 12-Bar
Bruise were steeped in the members shared love of big dumb
garage rock, 2013s cult western audio book Eyes Like The Sky
previewed the conceptual scope of LPs to come. A bludgeoning
15-minute epic from the same years Float Along Fill Your Lungs,
Head On/Pill cemented the admittedly bizarre but
Emma mcIntyrE/GEtty ImaGEs for coachElla

one then play it as loud as you can.
Singer-songwriter Fraser A Gorman, who
played in a high school band in Geelong with
Craig and Mackenzie, tells Uncut it was standard
practice for his peers to have 5 to 10 bands on the
go. There isnt the same vast touring opportunities
that are available in America or Europe, he notes.
So musicians from Australia and New Zealand seem
to congregate in Melbourneand stick together and
create a community. From the outside looking in, it
seems like a giant pool of great musicians just hanging
devastatingly effective double-drummer lineup.
In another leap forward in 2014, they won an AU$50,000
music grant and used it to finance their first trip to America.
When not attracting buzz in Brooklyn and recording part of
2015s Papier Mch Dream Balloon at Daptone Studios, they
holed up in a cabin in upstate New York, where Mackenzie
deftly avoided getting eaten by a bear.
Yet they really caught fire on last years Nonagon Infinity, a
collection of full-throttle space-rockers that are ingeniously
and maddeningly constructed as an infinite loop. That
record was hard to make in a lot of ways, says Mackenzie.

DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 75

 king gizzard & the lizard wizard
Were happy with how it turned out, but it kind of
made me go insane. Reflecting the songs fantastical
characters and settings, the videos for Gamma
Knife and People-Vultures enhanced the musics
crackpot appeal with no-budget homages to
Alejandro Jodorowsky and Japanese tokusatu. After
two years of relentless recording and touring, they
planned to have a breather. As usual, things didnt
turn out that way. Says McKenzie, I was like,
Damn, weve got so many good ideas weve got to
keep doing stuff. So thats where the idea of making
five albums came from.
You said four originally, adds Moore, who runs
the bands label Flightless out of the same Melbourne
warehouse that houses their studio. Why did you
then say five?
I was just taking the piss out of myself, Mackenzie
admits, sparking a round of laughter.
A deep dive into Mackenzies love of Turkish psych-
rocker Erkin Koray and non-Western modes,
Flying Microtonal Banana arrived in February.
Then came Murder Of The Universe, a heavy-duty
triptych of tales with narration by their friend
Leah Senior and a computer text-to-speech
program, in June. A mellower set of
collaborations with the American band Mild
High Club, Sketches Of Brunswick East came out
in August. As for the rest, well.
number four is not finished yet, says
Mackenzie. Its coming along, but it needs
another month. We might not get the fifth
finished. I hope we will but well see.
Moore says theyve been discussing a backup
AnDrew BenGe/reDfernS VIA GeTTy IMAGeS
scenario. Maybe itll be the very last minute of
the year and well put it out on Bandcamp.
It might come to that, says Mackenzie
sheepishly. Theyll likely be forgiven if they miss
the deadline. For Gorman, King Gizzards discipline
and creativity all demonstrate another advantage
that Australian bands derive from their isolation,
which is that you need to be really fucking good to
make the world notice. As he says, You gotta try
hard when you live in the middle of nowhere.
76 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
B
ACK in the parking lot of the Cannery Ballroom, band
and crew members set up inside while Mackenzie
chats with Uncut in the bus. As Mackenzie sits cross-
legged on the black vinyl sofa, a grinning Elton John looms
over his shoulder, a poster for Wonderful Crazy Night having
become a Gizzard fixation. (He looks like hes having the best
time.) Like his mates, Mackenzie is the epitome of chill when
not thrashing around onstage. At the same time, he exudes a
certain clarity of purpose. He got serious about music at the
age of 16 in the wake of a serious knee injury playing Aussie
rules football. I was home from school and couldnt walk
for weeks, he says. Basically all I did was play guitar I
really hadnt practiced before at all. But that was it for me.
At high school in Geelong, he connected with other
youngsters who shared his interests. Indeed, the social
opportunities created by music have long been a major
motivator. Even for a lot of the more introverted musicians,
its still a way for them to communicate with other people,
he says. When Im making music by myself for days, Im
always thinking, I cant wait to show someone this.
Though King Gizzard became his primary creative outlet,
its been just as valuable as a means for hanging with pals
and travelling overseas. Their eagerness to roam led to a growing
roster of new friends outside Melbourne, including the Oh Sees
John Dwyer, who released Im In Your Mind Fuzz and Quarters on
his Castle Face label. In 2015, they co-headlined an Australian
tour with mask-wearing Swedish band Goat, who became another
ally in this global wave of boundary-busting psych acts. One Goat
member (identity withheld as per the bands preference for
anonymity) tells Uncut they werent familiar with their hosts
before arriving on their turf. The first night in Melbourne, they
started the show and blew my mind, he says. I was so
impressed I started to regret wed gone all the way to Australia!
Since 2015, King Gizzard have also helped galvanise a new
generation of psych- and fuzz-loving Australian bands with an
annual festival, Gizzfest. That said, Mackenzie was wary of
getting tagged with the p-word. In the past, I was like, Ah,
thats annoying, since were not necessarily a psych band, he
says. But I guess when you have made music thats pretty
psychedelic, thats fair. And were a band thats hard to label.
Even that rather elastic category seems too confining for
King Gizzard. Variously likening his young charges to the
Allmans, Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, ATOs Jon
Salter hears the blues in there, too.
Theres not a lot of guys who are doing
Stu Mackenzie
crowd-surfing that sound with such a blues strain in it,
at the Scala in he says. It feels like such an infusion.
2015
They venture further than many peers
in conceptual terms as well. With its
stories of an entity that shoots lightning
from its fingertips and a cyborg who
longs for the ability to vomit, Murder Of
The Universe belongs in a whole other
dimension. Mackenzie considers the
album to be a full expression of his
inner sci-fi geek, with lyrics that
reflect his taste for the macabre and love
for fantasy, horror and sci-fi lit (hes
currently working through Stephen
Kings The Stand). Ive never been
super-interested in writing songs that I
feel already exist, he explains. Its
tempting to write songs about your own
experiences as its always to a degree
unique. But Im not going to write heaps
of love songs because I just feel like: a)
someone could probably do em better,
and b) no-one cares about my own shit.
And as these sinister images and
characters recur on different albums
(along with various musical motifs),
 And if anyone does piss you off, he adds, you can not talk to
them for 24 hours pretty easily you couldnt do that in a two-piece.

I
n the hours before the nashville set, Mackenzie tests his skills as
band director trying to execute yet another idea that seemed fun
at the time, but proves only slightly less challenging than the
whole five-albums-in-one-year thing. Thats removing the usual gap
between sets by having Gizzard join Mild High Club for an onstage
switchover in the middle of the opening acts last song.
no-one seems convinced its possible until it happens. The ensuing
performance has more curveballs. Whereas Gizzard sets from earlier
this year bounded along at breakneck velocity, theres more shifting
of gears tonight as the berserker mode of Nonagon Infinitys People-
King Gizzard
at Coachella, Vultures and Flying Microtonal Bananas Rattlesnake gives way
April 14, 2017 to the more relaxed likes of Quarters Lonely Steel Sheet Flyer and
new songs from Sketches Of Brunswick East. Conceivably, there
theres a growing impression what the band is could be two stripes of Gizzheads emerging, with some becoming
creating its own multi-verse. Judging by the just as rabid about the mellower songs. You notice it at the shows,
loonier Reddit threads, many fans regard the says Moore. People who want to chill just hang at the back.
Gizzard oeuvre as a prog-psych equivalent to That the audience cares not a jot about King Gizzards continual
Game Of Thrones already. Theres a bit of that creative detours is one indication of the latitude theyve created. A
going on but its looser than what George RR lot of bands would be lambasted for that, says Walker. But for us,
Martin does, says a bemused Mackenzie. Hes its a defining factor.
chuffed to see fans hash out theories about the People are annoyed with us if we make two records in a row that
interconnecting narrative threads, though to him, are kinda similar, quips Mackenzie. We probably will have to do
the number one thing is making sure Im super that at some point!
happy with the music. In the meantime, its been heartening for their peers to see the
Hes also happier just trying to keep his mob Gizzard universe expand the way it has. Theyre such a great
together. Mackenzie calls himself the band band, says Courtney Barnett, And its been really reassuring to
director the one who finds a way to fuse together see there are people who care about good music.
his mates various ideas into a workable whole. I cant understand how they can be so productive, keep such
Thankfully, theyre a remarkably amiable and a high quality and tour constantly, says Goats spokesman.
affable crew. Though the musics gonzo excess may We hope they can keep it up and know when they need a rest!
cause one to expect a tribe of grizzled acidheads, And rest is what they get after the show as various Gizzard
they come off more like mild-mannered Dungeons & members enjoy an 80s Schwarzenegger movie with beers and
Dragons players, what with their lack of evident await an early morning departure to Atlanta. Outside in the

frAzer HArrISon/GeTTy IMAGeS for CoACHellA; DAnny CoHen

enthusiasm for the usual vices of a band on the road.
Mackenzie says it didnt used to be like that. It was
like every single night was a party, he says of the
earlier Gizzard jaunts, but you also have more
stamina for that when youre 21.
They while away most of their day in nashville
eating ramen, playing pool, shooting darts and
watching crap movies on the giant TV in the
Cannery Ballrooms vast subterranean green room.
The only sign of intra-band rancour comes when
Galea is mocked for his resemblance to a bearded
homeless man they spot in Happy Gilmore. Says
Mackenzie, A band of seven could have a lot of interpersonal
dynamics and tensions. But I really like being in big band. We spend
so much time together, we all know how to look after each other.
parking lot, a few Gizzheads linger before dispersing into the
night. Therell be no more chances to get records signed or show
off tattoos. Perhaps thats for the best given the musicians
worries about what they might be encouraging. A young girl
recently asked two or three of us to sign her arm with a black
marker, says Mackenzie. We saw her six months later and
shed tattooed these huge signatures all over her forearm. Then
she said, Can I get the rest? We were all like, I dunno this
feels very irresponsible. She was like, Please just do it! So we all
signed and she got the rest tattooed on her arm.
He laughs. At least with the gator, Jase drew it and its a cool
character. These were just our shitty signatures. I thought, Youll
get it removed someday, but good on ya for enjoying it now!
Sketches Of Brunswick East is out now on Heavenly Recordings

flyiNg lizards
Bird-brained:

The Gizzard Vs The Vulture

on the set of
the People-
Vultures
video
Near-death on a video shoot!

O
f the many ludicrous ideas in the career
of King Gizzard, all Gizzheads have a
special love for the People-Vultures
video. To accompany this Hawkwind-at-
hyperdrive highlight of Nonagon Infinity, Jason
Galea and co-director Danny Cohen mounted
an elaborate parody of Japanese tokusatsu
shows like Ultraman. A huge undertaking,
Galea says, and a big step up production-wise.
Said production involved inserting all seven
bandmembers inside a giant vulture creature
that most definitely did not meet construction
safety codes. It was pretty absurd, recalls
Stu Mackenzie. That vulture had a pine frame
and 12 tiny wheels. The body was made of
cardboard and coated in feathers. I had a
backpack on, strapped to the head so Im
holding the whole weight of it it was heavy!
But it was when it all started moving downhill
that Galea really became concerned. So Im
standing at the top of this platform, he says.
And its, like, fucking high as this bus were
sitting in. I cant really see anything through this
vulture mouth and Im holding onto this frame
thats bending, and were going down a hill on
these tiny wheels. I was terrified I thought I
was going to die in this thing But I also thought
it would have been a good way to go out.
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 tom petty

fight
to be
free tom Petty | 1950-2017
A real musical hero, remembered by
STEPHEN DEUSNER and his admiring peers.
Plus: BUD SCOPPA recalls his long relationship
with the head Heartbreaker
I just like music done well, pretty much.
Photo by richard e aaron
RichaRd E. aaRon/REdfERns

80 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017

 Tom Petty
in New
York, 1976

DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 81

 tom petty
OM Petty made his finest album under
incredible duress. During the sessions for
1979s Damn The Torpedoes, he was suing
shelter Records and his friend/mentor/
producer Denny Cordell to secure a better
contract and to obtain publishing rights to his own
songs. some days he was in the studio with the
Heartbreakers, laying down vocal tracks; other
days he was in the courtroom with his lawyers,
testifying to the conditions of his record deal.
In a strategic measure, he and the other band
members declared bankruptcy, as it was decided the
meagre proceeds from their previous two albums
1976s self-titled debut and 1977s Youre Gonna Get It!
could not cover the expenses for their third. And it
wasnt far from the truth: Petty, his wife and their
young daughter were living in a rented house in
sherman Oaks, which was barely furnished, and
he had only just traded in his old jalopy Opel Gt for
a brand-new Camaro. As sessions for Damn The
Torpedoes were underway, producer Jimmy Iovine bought Petty
a new hi-fi stereo system, including turntable, speakers, and reel-
to-reel, so he would have a way to play back his own recordings.
Despite having a gold record and some buzz around Los Angeles,
the Heartbreakers were on the verge of splintering. Drummer
stan Lynch was fired and rehired multiple times, and Donald
Duck Dunn, of Booker t & the MGs fame, played on several
EBET RoBERTS/REDFERNS
tracks in the absence of the bands full-time bassist, Ron Blair.
After 70 takes of Refugee, guitarist and co-songwriter Mike
Campbell walked out of the sessions. On the other side of the
country, back in his hometown of Gainesville, Florida, Pettys
mother Kitty, sickly for most of his life, had taken a turn for
the worse. He would visit her once while on tour, and three
Backstage class:
tom petty in
January 1990
82 uncut deceMBer 2017
months later she would be dead. Petty did not attend her funeral.
somehow, despite all these distractions, the Heartbreakers
managed to distil their sound down to its leanest, meanest elements.
Damn The Torpedoes tightened up their attack, pushed their
strongest traits to the forefront, made fine use of Campbells guitar
and Benmont tenchs organ. Refugee sharpened Pettys
songwriting. Here Comes My Girl featured what are still some of
his most soulful vocal performances. even the Losers gave the
band a rousing rocknroll anthem. And those are the first three
songs. Drawing from the energy of punk and the tautness of new
wave, the album is streamlined, compact and succinct except for
the odd sound collages that preface one or two songs and that were
meant to recall the studio experiments of the Beatles. (One of which
features Campbells wife Marcie remarking on the clothes dryer: Its
just the normal noises in here!)
For years, the Heartbreakers had struggled to get anywhere in the
music business. their 1976 debut had been out more than a year and a
half before Breakdown finally invaded the top 40; American Girl
would have been a follow-up single if they didnt have a new LP lined
up. Gradually, the band had managed to build up some mystery and
therefore some hype in Los Angeles. Damn The Torpedoes was their
breakout moment, giving the band their first top 10 single (Dont Do
Me Like that) and sending them on their first Us headlining tour.
It stayed at No 2 on the albums chart for several weeks, blocked from
the top spot by Pink Floyds The Wall. After so much scrapping, the
albums success signalled a clear victory for the band.
O
N October 2, 2017, tom Petty was found at his Malibu home
in full cardiac arrest. He was rushed to UCLA santa Monica
Hospital, where doctors detected a pulse but no brain activity.
When doctors took him off life support, they did not expect him to live
long. As fans began to mourn on social media, posting tributes and
memorials, Petty clung to life for hours longer than anyone could
have expected, stubbornly refusing to
surrender this last fight. As Neko Case
posted on twitter, I hope tom Petty is not
actually dead and makes a full recovery to
see all the kind, sweet things you are are
[sic] saying about him. What a life. He
was pronounced dead at 8.40pm eastern
standard time.
Recounting that timeline might seem
morbid, but it signals something
essential about Petty and perhaps speaks
to his ability to attract so many lifelong fans
from so many different generations. tom
Petty was a fighter. Despite his hippie
demeanour the scarves, the top hat, the
tom petty And the
beard, the joints, the inscrutable grin, the Heartbreakers in lA,
look in his eyes that let you know he was still August 1977: (lr)
Stan lynch, Mike
grooving on being a rock star he was always campbell, petty, ron
pushing against someone or something, up Blair, Benmont tench
to and including death. For someone who

grew into what appeared to be a supremely
laidback hippie demeanour, he seemed to
thrive under pressure, a protagonist always in
search of an antagonist.
there was always someone to push against for Petty,
always someone who represented an authority to
which he found himself opposed. And like his peers,
that rebellion would not only fuel individual songs
but would inform a staunch belief in rocknroll as the
ultimate weapon in that fight. Nothing disarmed his
nemesis more effectively than a solid hook or a fierce
riff or a perfect rhyme. Well, I know whats right, I got
just one life, he sang on one of his most popular
tunes, I Wont Back Down. In a world that keeps on
pushin me around/Ill stand my ground.
the world keeps pushing. the fight hardens the
fighter. For Petty it always seemed a tragedy how
emotionally calloused you had to be just to live in the
world, just to survive. If you listen long enough, you
can hear my skin grow tough, he sang on Rhino skin,
off 1999s underrated Echo. Love is painful to the touch,
P
ettys first real antagonist was his father, earl,
who did little to disguise his disappointment in
his elder son. tom was besotted with pop culture
television and rocknroll, in particular. He grew his
hair long. He rejected the traditionally masculine
pursuits embraced his father and so many others in
central Florida: tom Petty didnt hunt, for one thing.
Wasnt too interested in fishing, either. earls abuse often
turned violent, which only reinforced Pettys rebellious
streak and strengthened his resolve to play rock music.
As Warren Zanes points out in his 2015 biography,
simply titled Petty, rocknroll bands became a substitute
for fathers and mothers and brothers. He was ready for a
new family even before the Beatles arrived. But through
the Beatles example, he was shown how to start one.
the sundowners would just be the first. From that
point on, nothing was ever going to mean more to him
There was than the band he was in. that didnt change even
when he started his own family.
always As a teenager he was already a professional
musician, gigging around the region first in the

someone to
must be made of stronger stuff. that unending sundowners and later in the epics. It was the era
struggle may be the great theme of his massive when rock bands wore suits as uniforms, got matching

push against
catalogue, as well as of the great rocknroll canon haircuts, and learned choreographed dance moves,
to which so many of his songs aspired and truly and Petty cut his teeth on covers of songs by James

for Petty
belonged. Its essential to the medium and its Brown, the Animals, Paul Revere & the Raiders. He
mythologies, and its what he shared with so many couldnt have known at the time that subsequent
of his heroes, his peers and his followers. generations would serve their rocknroll

major tom

Anything rocknrolls fine

How to buy tom Petty
SoutHern Full Moon songs here, like Its Good To Be
AccentS Fever (1989) King and You Dont Know How It
MICHAEl MoNTFoRT/MICHAEl oCHS ARCHIvES/GETTY IMAGES

(1985) His first solo Feels, arent meditations on fame,

dAMn tHe torpedoeS
(1979)
The Heartbreakers hard-won
victory: a rock album of startling
invention and vitality that finally
made them rock stars. It only
produced three singles, but almost
every song here would be a hit
retroactively, peppering classic
rock playlists for decades. 9/10
Pettys statement
about his Southern
roots, co-produced with Dave
Stewart. The single Dont
Come Around Here No More,
one of the bands weirder
creations with its accompanying
Alice In Wonderland-themed
video, may have been inspired
by their ambivalence about the
American South, but the title track
is a poignant country-soul ballad
celebrating the regions twang
and drawl, later covered by
Johnny Cash. 8/10
album without the
Heartbreakers, a wry
look back on the 80s and a weary
look ahead at the 90s. Free Fallin
was his ultimate ode to California,
but Yer So Bad is a clever parody
of post-hippie, post-yuppie, pre-
who-knows-what America. 9/10
WildFloWerS
(1994)
Petty considered this
his best album and it
might be, too, if it were
just a little more concise. The best
but ruminations on the midlife
crises Petty was enduring. 8/10
Hypnotic eye
(2014)
Pettys swansong
finds fresh inspiration
in the grimy, gritty
sounds that first motivated him
to pick up a guitar in the 1960s.
Balancing the nostalgia is the
bands loud, rowdy performances,
especially on the single American
Dream Plan B: I got a dream, Im
gonna fight till I get it! 8/10

deceMBer 2017 uncut 83

 friends for
life: live in
1981 with
Stevie Nicks

apprenticeships covering
his songs.
The teenage Pettys
general distrust of
adults shifted into the
twentysomething Pettys
suspicion of suits.
Mudcrutch, his third
band, signed with Shelter
Records, the label
founded by Cordell (a live at
producer known for his the Civic
auditorium,
work with The Moody Santa Cruz,
Blues, Procol Harum, and Ca, 1980
Joe Cocker) and Leon
Russell, still considered in the mid-1970s a towering resulted not only in 1981s Stop Draggin My Heart
rock star. The outfit lasted for only one single, a reggae Around (the bands biggest hit at the time), but in a
song called Depot Street that Petty dismissed as a lifelong friendship between Nicks and Petty. The two
novelty foisted on the band. Mudcrutch disintegrated performed together for the last time in July 2017, when
and re-formed as the Heartbreakers, and they would the Heartbreakers played in Hyde Park. She joined the
eventually settle out of court with Cordell and Shelter, band for their signature duet and told the crowd, You
a major triumph that allowed Petty to re-sign a more know that Tom Petty is my favourite rock star!
equitable deal with Backstreet, an imprint of MCA.

I
It only gave him a new set of antagonists against f theres a word that appears in Pettys
which to kick. Most labels at the time had a policy songwriting more frequently than fight, its
called superstar pricing, which meant they would probably free. That was the prize, the purse, the
add another dollar or so to the retail price of a record by promise of rocknoll. freedom. for Petty, it was a
a proven star. Damn The Torpedoes had sold for $8.98, post-hippie dream of freedom: not national freedom
and MCA intended to sell 81s Hard Promises for $9.98. (he was political but his music was not) nor social
Bristling at the exploitative practice, Petty said hed retitle freedom, but personal freedom from the cloistered
the new record The $8.98 Album. The label backed down. world of Gainesville, from the poverty of his
But these battles took a heavy toll on Petty and made childhood, from the abuse of his father, from the
him paranoid. When Stevie Nicks first expressed interest clauses in his contracts, from the exploitation of the
in working with the Heartbreakers, even saying she label, from the demands of the journalists. Petty
would join the band if asked, Petty was initially sceptical, spent the first 25 years of his life believing he could
believing she wanted to exploit the success they had achieve that freedom if he became a rock star, but
worked so hard to achieve. Their collaboration, however, the demands of that lifestyle only compounded his
LARRY HuLSt/MICHAEL oCHS ARCHIVES/gEttY IMAgES; gEoRgE RoSE/gEttY IMAgES

friends u
united
n ited

This is unbearable the summerlands, brother.

tom Petty remembered by his fellow musicians
BoB DylaN
Its shocking, crushing news. I
thought the world of tom. He was
a great performer, full of the light,
a friend, and Ill never forget him.
BRUCE SPRiNgSTEEN
Down here on E Street, were
devastated and heartbroken
over the death of tom Petty. our
hearts go out to his family and
bandmates. Ive always felt a
deep kinship with his music. A
great songwriter and performer,
whenever we saw each other
it was like running into a long-
lost brother.
BRiaN WilSoN
Im heartbroken to hear about
tom Petty. tom was a hell of a
songwriter and record-maker.
He will be missed by everyone
who loves music.
RyaN aDaMS
thank you for giving so much,
a lifetime of inspiration and love.
Your music has changed this world
for the better Safe passage to
aliCE CooPER
It is so rare to find someone who
commands such universal respect
in this business. He was a rockn-
roll lifer with music in his blood. this
man delivered a wealth of great
songs to his fans and to the world,
and that is something to celebrate.
He was an honest renegade, a
rebel, and a true original.
SHERyl CRoW
this is unbearable. Vegas and now
a great music hero has passed. You
brought us so much joy I feel like
today, the music truly died. Cant
go see/hear music and be safe,
and one of the greats just passed.
JEff lyNNE
tom Petty was the coolest guy
I ever knew.
BETTE MiDlER
the death of the great tom Petty
has come as yet another body
blow. A wonderful, American voice;
his music gave comfort and joy
to millions.
NEko CaSE
At a tom Petty show in Austin,
walking a full three-quarters of
a mile to the stage, every single
person was singing every word.
thats the kinda powerful love you
dont see everyday, but the kind we
all long for when we think about our
society and togetherness.

84 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017

 tom petty
problems. He moved from one prison to another. eyewitness!
Perhaps thats why he was able to enjoy so much
success in the late 80s and well into the 90s, especially
when his peers stumbled. The fights he launched and I just hit the wall,
the fights he sang about made him relatable to a new
generation of record-buyers the first American
generation that would not live better than the previous.
and broke my hand!
This was a generation being told it would have to fight Hanging out with Petty in the West Valley
just to maintain, which added resonance to songs like

I
free fallin and I Wont Back Down, both from his got to know tom Petty when he
first solo record, 1989s Full Moon Fever. was deep in his mid-80s trough.
Even at the height of his popularity, even after the Hed begin his return to form in
release of the album Petty long considered his best 1988 with the formation of the
traveling Wilburys, followed a
work 1994s Wildflowers, produced with Rick Rubin
few months later by the release of Full
Petty was still in the throes of heroin addiction and Moon Fever. But the hits were no longer
saw his family fall apart. He divorced his first wife in coming with great frequency when I
1996, ending their 20-year marriage. As he told Zanes talked to him during tour rehearsals with
for his biography, Using heroin went against my the reunited Heartbreakers in
grain. I didnt want to be enslaved to anything. So I was mid-85, coming up for air on
the heels of the arduous,
always trying to figure out how to do less, and then
interminable Southern
that wouldnt work. Tried to go cold turkey, and that Accents sessions. the
wouldnt work. Its an ugly fucking thing. Heartbreakers had spent
Remarkably, he didnt grow bitter unless you two years in limbo while
count 2002s The Last DJ, a curmudgeonly take on the Petty was holed up in the
changing industry. He credited his turnaround to his basement studio hed
installed in his rambling
second wife, Dana York, who helped him get clean and
one-storey house at 4626
reconcile with his family. As he did, he released two Encino Ave, perched on a
wise late-career LPs and began to reassess his notions hillside south of Ventura
of freedom as something that couldnt be sustained. It Blvd. When you build a
wasnt a rock stars life free of worry; rather, it was the studio at home, you go
freedom found in the smaller moments: the kick of a wild, he told me with
a self-effacing laugh. Rad hatter:
catchy melody, the raw power of an earworm hook, the
Southern Accents was June 23,
boundless possibilities of a guitar solo. That came the product of much 1985
through the 40th anniversary of the Heartbreakers angst and all-consuming
debut and found him locating new joy in old songs. sessions, which finally
took their toll on Petty.
In the end, it wasnt his own music that allowed him
that freedom. It was the music made by his heroes and the day it happened, We were always
his peers, by people like The Byrds and The Beatles, by
wed been in there
around the clock for a
glad to be one of
Elvis and James Brown, by Dylan and Springsteen. It week with two teams the bands. Thats
wasnt necessarily about creating, but playing in every of engineers, and I was
sense of the word, about living in the moment of the in the other room playin all you can do
song, in the measure and in the note. Being a lifelong the mixes on a ghetto
rocknroll fan granted him immensely more freedom blaster. And Im sayin, No, this isnt what I Never is one of the best-sounding records
pictured, and I was bummed. Walkin up
than being a rock star ever did. And thats why his
the stairwell, I just [throws his arm out to
death seemed so unfair, so untimely: there was still the side] hit the wall and broke my hand.
a lot of fight left in him. But it forced me to calm down a little bit.
greeting me at the front door of his
house nearly two years later, in the spring
of 1987, Petty was tanned and relaxed,
closer in appearance to the blond rock
star of the late 70s than the sallow studio
rat hed subsequently become. Petty and
the Heartbreakers had been on the road
with Dylan, an experience that had made
the band even tighter as a unit. Working
with Bob was good for us, cos it
gave us amazing communication
in the studio, Petty
explained. We only had
to set up and look at each
other. He showed me into
the rec room for a listen
to a freshly mastered
test pressing of Let Me Up
(Ive Had Enough). I love
playin it for people, he
said, lighting a Marlboro
Red and dropping the
tone arm on the rollicking
Dylan co-write Jammin
Me. the album yielded
no hits and few raves,
continuing the slump,
but its failure would
make Petty even more
determined to climb
back up. He pointed at
the vintage jukebox in
the corner of the room.
Im always changin the
records on there, he
said. I still listen to Elvis
a lot; even his later stuff
is amazing. Its Now or
ever on a jukebox. And Such A Night. I just
like music done well, pretty much. My kids
got Beatles For Sale on CD she plays it
over and over. No Reply into Im A Loser
that fucks me up. It didnt matter what
they did after that.
A few weeks later, an arsonist burned
the house down. But during our meeting,
on a balmy afternoon in the West Valley,
Petty was content with where he is in the
scheme of things: Youre in your band, you
know? thats the way we used to look at
it when we were in gainesville. there was
the top band, and the next top band, and
you gotta do better than this band. We
were always glad to be one of the bands.
thats all you can do.
there were times when it was really
touch-and-go; like, Is this band together
or not? he admitted and there would
be another fragmentation of the band
before the 80s ended. I wanted us to stay
together, for the reason that its so rare to
hear music now that has much personality
especially in the instruments. thats
what I like about Fleetwood Mac its all
EBEt RoBERtS/REDFERNS

those people and it makes that sound. this

album we made makes this sound. Were
The Traveling just tryin to hone it down whatever it is
Wilburys: (l-r) that we are. Its not a glitzy thing. Like Phil
Bob Dylan, Jeff
lynne, Petty, Everly says about this job: At least theres
Roy orbison, no heavy lifting. BUD SCOPPA
george Harrison

DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 85

 Be My
Baby How a visionary producer built his Wall Of Sound in an antiquated
studio with one special asset and created a landmark pop record
I
was still living at home, and
Phil spector came over for
a spaghetti dinner, recalls
Fremantlemedia ltd/reX/ShutterStock; tara Ziemba/Filmmagic;
Nino Tempo. we went into
the piano room after dinner
and he said, This is a song Im gonna
chriStopher logan/charleS norFleet photography
record. He played and sang it, and he
looked up and said, I know it doesnt
sound very good, but it will I said, It
sounds terrible with you doing it, but OK!
The song the producer had played was
Be My Baby, freshly penned by Jeff
Barry, Ellie Greenwich and spector, and
destined to be recorded in summer 1963 as
the Philles label debut by spanish Harlem
group The Ronettes. The wrecking Crew
cut the music, while backing vocals were
provided by The Blossoms (featuring
Darlene Love), Nino Tempo, Cher and
sonny Bono; but perhaps the most crucial
86 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
by The Ronettes
element was the lead vocals of Ronnie
Bennett, later Ronnie spector.
One day Phil calls, she recalls.
He says, You have to be in California
tomorrow. You have to sing the lead and
then I can send for the other two [Ronettes]
later. He met me at the airport, and the first
place he took me was to Jack Nitzsches
house, because Jack Nitzsche arranged
all of his songs. Once Jack heard my voice
he said, Oh my God I left and he started
arranging Be My Baby, and a day or two
after that I went in and recorded it.
The other two Ronettes, Estelle Bennett
and Nedra Talley, would never get the call,
however. Instead, Phil spector mastered
his wall Of sound production for the
track, utilising the echo chamber and
tape echo at santa Monica Boulevards
Gold star, his favourite studio. He was
Ronnie Spector (then
Veronica Bennett,
left) with sister
Estelle Bennett
and Nedra Talley
on thank Your Lucky
Stars, 1964
key players a brilliant, brilliant kid, says Tempo.
He had a sensitivity in those days for
what would be a hit song. You could play
10 songs for him, and they might all be
very good, but hed always go to the one
that had the best chance of being a hit. He
had a sense of it.
Released in august 1963, Be My Baby
hit No 2 in the Us and No 4 in the UK,
Ronnie Spector
entrancing the likes of The Beatles and
lead vocals
The Beach Boys with its pioneering, rich
production, indelible melody and Ronnie
spectors coquettish vocals. The Beatles
loved Be My Baby and John Lennon loved
my voice, recalls spector. I remember
we went to a nightclub one night and he
said, Ronnie, just sing me a little bit of
Be My Baby in my ear and I did, and I
Darlene Love
backing vocals looked over and he had pretend-fainted! It
was just so much fun, and so much energy
then. It was pure rocknroll and pure
everything. tom pinnock
RONNIE SPECTOR: The Peppermint
Lounge was where we got discovered. we
were standing in line with all the other
people in Manhattan waiting to get in,
Nino Tempo
backing vocals and the manager comes out and cos we
dressed alike on purpose he said, Get
in here, girls, youre late, youre late! My
sister starts to say, Oh no no no, we were
just standing in line with everyone else
I said, shut up! Lets just go, and we ran
into the Peppermint Lounge and they put
us right up on stage as dancers. we had
done bar mitzvahs and sock hops, but
thats all. Thats how it all started.
NINO TEMPO: I met Phil spector in
New York on July 5, 1960 we both had
appointments with Leiber and stoller.
From that point on, Phil and I became very
close friends. shortly after, I was back in
California and I was driving on wilshire
Boulevard and somebody blows a horn at
me. Lo and behold, its Phil spector. we
pulled over and he said, Im going to Gold
star to record tonight, why dont you come
down? I could use an extra pair of ears.
That night I went down and he said, Nino,
why dont you go out and play piano? I
said, I dont play that well, Phil. He said,
You dont have to play the bottom end,
al De Lory will play the upper end. we
had four guys on two pianos! Thats the
way he began to get the wall Of sound.
DARLENE LOVE: By the early 60s, The
Blossoms would do the background for
everybody, for all the Christmas stuff
Phil spector did, The Righteous Brothers
we were the background singers of
Hollywood at the time.
RONNIE SPECTOR: The Ronettes were
living in New York at the time, we always
lived in New York! But we had to go all the
way to California to do these records.
TEMPO: Gold star was the only place
Phil would record. as a studio Id give it
a seven out of 10, but they had an echo
chamber there, and they had an inability
to do much. They were working with
antiquated equipment. I dont know what
the hell it was, but youd sometimes get a
take that you couldnt get anywhere else.
and why, you didnt know but they had
an incredible echo chamber, which was
a room built below a garage, and thats
where the echo came from. It was the best.
Phil Spector was probably
the first to use overdubs.
We called it sweetening
DARLENE LOVE
That was the secret of the wall Of sound,
the echo chamber and the amount of echo.
Phil would think of these string lines and
Jack Nitzsche would write them out. It was
mostly Phil, he really was phenomenal
in those days. To be honest, though, I
dont think the songwriting was a straight
collaboration I think Jeff and Ellie
would write 100 per cent of the song, and
Phil would come in and change a word,
change a little something here and there,
which might or might not really improve
the song.
LOVE: The Blossoms learned our own
parts away from the musicians. we
had our own harmony, and wed sung
harmony all our lives. It was all cut
live, then Phil would bring in another
drummer, more percussion, maybe horns
and things like that. at that time we only
had two tracks to work with it wasnt like
it is today when you have over 100 tracks
you can use. Phil spector was probably
one of the first to use overdubs. we called
it sweetening back in the day, to make it
sound bigger, and with Phil it was bigger
than ever.
TEMPO: we were in the studio, and Be My
Baby is up. as theyre running it down, I
didnt like what I was hearing. I cant lie, I
cant hide my emotions, so Phil looked at
me and said, You dont like this what
dont you like? I said, I think the drum
part is boring, the drummers just playing
straight four. and Phil said, what would
you have him do? I said, I would have
him do this kick kick kick snare, kick
kick kick snare snare snare until we get to
the chorus, then go straight four. He said,
Tell Hal [Blaine] over the microphone.
so I did, and it worked fabulously! It still
does. I was very delighted. Hal was a very
talented guy, and it just sailed.
LOVE: The Blossoms were the well-known
background singers, but a lot of times
there were other singers with us, too.
sometimes, they would even throw sonny
Bono in, which we hated. why? Because
he couldnt sing! and we used to tease him
all the time in a lot of the playbacks you
would hear me saying, Hell, if you get
sonny out of here we could finish this. He
wasnt a back-up singer! But Phil didnt
care, that was his whole thing.
TEMPO: I had been dating Cher, and I was
introducing her to the recording industry.
she met Phil and sonny and all the rest
of the people at that session. Phil said,
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 87

The Ronettes with Phil
Spector recording at
Gold Star Studios,
Los Angeles, 1963
Brian Wilson played Be My
Baby a hundred times every
single day hes told me that
RONNiE SPECTOR
Hey, can you sing? Why dont you sing
with the group? I was already out there
singing the Be my baby background
part. But Phil was smart, he liked voices
which sounded non-professional. It just
worked beautifully.
LOVE: People try to make me remember
that Cher was there for Be My Baby,
and I dont.
TEMPO: Me, Sonny Bono, Cher and The
Blossoms there might have been one
other person, like the janitor. Anybody
who walked by, Phil would ask them to
come in and sing also didnt have to pay
them that way.
LOVE: Back in those days we had one mic
between us. If you couldnt blend, you
couldnt work. I remember times working
with Cher, and Phil had to tell her she was
too loud, he would push her back further
from the other singers.
SPECTOR: The Wrecking Crew were very
important. I never really met all of them,
but they did every record that I was on.
They were great guys! At various points
we had Harry Nilsson, Glen Campbell,
Earl Palmer Sometimes we had two
drummers on my songs, so it was quite
exciting times.
TEMPO: They liked recording for Phil.
They respected him greatly, and the hits
then came mostly from Phil you could
RAY AvERY/GETTY IMAGES
1957 Ronnie Spector eaRlY 1963 Having had
forms an early version little success with Colpix
of The Ronettes in Records, Ronnies sister
Washington Heights, NYC Estelle Bennett contacts
88 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
get the same Wrecking Crew on a record
where the song was a flop, and the same
Wrecking Crew couldnt make it a hit. Its
all about the song song first, production
second, singer third. Phil would record it
in stereo, but he would at the same time
record it with all the echo in monaural,
and invariably he would use the monaural
recording, because that was what was
best, certainly in those days. Hed bring
fact file the singer in at another time, cos then he
could just concentrate on them.
Written by:
SPECTOR: I remember so much about
Jeff Barry,
Ellie Greenwich, Be My Baby, especially when Hal Blaine
Phil Spector went boom boom boom bow and I came
Performers in: [sings] The night we met We did one
include: Ronnie song a day you can do two or three or
Spector (lead four now, but back then you didnt have
vocals), Darlene the equipment to do all that. It took a long
Love, Fanita time to do Be My Baby.
James, Gracia TEMPO: Ronnie was pretty consistent
Nitzsche, Nino
I think sometimes Phil went a little
Tempo, Cher,
Sonny Bono overboard with the vocals, because
(backing vocals), usually after three or four or five attempts,
Hal Blaine (drums), they had it.
Carol Kaye (bass), SPECTOR: All of the musicians said,
Al De Lory, Don Now, wow, thats a voice, you know, that today its a great song and Im glad to
Randi, Leon Russell can go with our stuff! And it just worked
(keyboards), Ray Id learn my songs in the hotel, cos they
Pohlman (bass), had a piano there, and then Id go over to
Bill Pitman,
Gold Star, and they went nuts.
Tommy Tedesco
(guitar) TEMPO: We always worked in the evening,
Produced by: and we often wouldnt finish until early
Phil Spector in the morning, thats the way it was. Phil
Recorded at: and I would often go to a deli or Pinks hot
Gold Star Studios, dog stand at three or four in the morning.
Los Angeles When Phil would mix, the sound would
Released: sometimes begin ringing back, there was
August 1963 so much echo, and thats the point where
Highest chart
most of the hits came from. You couldnt
positions: UK 4; US
separate anything, but you could control
it by how much echo youd put on this
time line
Phil Spector, the group JUlY 1963 Ronnie Spector
audition for him at NYCs and the Wrecking Crew
Mira Sound Studios, then record the song at Gold
sign to his Philles label Star Studios, Los Angeles
track or that track. Youd bury the horns
and make the drums louder. He also
controlled it by having tape echo, which
was very important to Phil tape echo
plus the echo chamber. One time we were
in the studio running it down and it went
from sounding great to terrible. What
happened? I said. And [engineer] Larry
Levine said, Oh, we ran out of tape on the
[echo] tape machine, Ill roll it back and
start the tape again, and the minute that
sounded, it became good again.
LOVE: How was Phil then? Well, it was a
whole lot normal in the studio for those
sessions, because The Blossoms would
not have stood for it. By the time Phil
got really crazy, we werent recording or
having anything to do with him. He went
to Europe after all the success and thats
when he became nuts. I could never
testify that I saw him with a gun. I went
to sessions and they said he had a gun,
so Id get in my car and go back home
I was there to record and sing, not to see
no fool with no gun.
TEMPO: Id always been a gun collector,
but sometimes youd get tired of it and see
another gun you liked more. So you sold
that one to somebody and bought another
one. Over the years, I wound up selling
several to Phil, so I would say Im probably
the source that most of his guns came
from. Im not happy about that, but how
could I know that he was going to use
them in the wrong way? Was Phil more
eccentric later on? Yes, but he was always
pretty eccentric.
SPECTOR: If youre a girl like I was, who
grew up with very humble beginnings,
to have a hit record and to get in your
car or go to a radio store and hear your
record, it was like, What?! Youre in
shock. It was the greatest time to have a hit
record. Wherever I went, whoever I saw,
everybody talked about Be My Baby.
TEMPO: At the end of the record, where
it broke down to the drumbeat and then
boom the band hit, I said, That is
fantastic! I knew it was gonna be a
smash. Of course, it still sounds great
have been a part of it.
SPECTOR: It was just the greatest fun time
I wish that I could bring back those days,
the early 60s where everybody was just so
excited to have a hit record, they were so
excited to be onstage. Brian Wilson played
Be My Baby a hundred times every
single day hes told me that. Brian wrote
Dont Worry Baby for me. I thought
that was the greatest follow-up to Be
My Baby, but of course I couldnt record
it, because other people wanted to write
all my songs so I didnt get to do that.
But I sing it in my show now.
AdditionAl interview by MichAel bonner
aUGUSt 1963 Be My
Baby is released, rising
high up the charts in the
UK and the US
ULTIMATE MUSIC GUIDES
ESSENTIAL GUIDES TO THE MOST INSPIRATIONAL ARTISTS OF OUR TIME

Availabletoorderonlineatwww.uncut.co.uk/store
ordownloaddigitallyatwww.uncut.co.uk/digital-edition
 Bootsy
Collins
Funks flamboyant bottom end from
the JBs to cosmic chaos and solo sobriety

I
M on it! yells Bootsy Collins down the line from
Cincinnati. He always has been. Starting out in
late-60s teen band The Pacemakers, Collins and
his bass have, as he puts it, been setting the controls
for the heart of the funk for almost half a century.
Following a military-style apprenticeship with
James Brown, he spent a decade alongside George
Clinton in Parliament-Funkadelic, a period that proved hugely productive
and influential despite many a chemical diversion along the way.
There was a lot going down, says Collins. We were either on the road
or in the studio and we were up all night, partying. I look back and think,
How in the world did we do all this? I cant tell you, I have no idea!
Since the 80s, Collins has released several solo albums. At the age of 65,
his latest, World Wide Funk, features everyone from Chuck D to Iggy Pop.
His view on his many achievements is disarmingly simple. When I look
back, it was a lot of work, but we didnt think of it as work, he says. It was Bootsy on bass with the
just what we did. Music was everything. Still is. JBs, between James
Brown (left) and Bobby
GraeMe THoMSon Byrd, in East Ham,
London, March 1971

JAMES BROWN
& THE JBS
SEX MACHINE
UNIVERSE, 1970
Collins and his brother Catfish join
the JBs in 1970. The same year,
they unleash a double set
recorded half in the studio,
half live including the legendary
11-minute title track.
James Brown
had had a
falling out with
his original
band at a gig
in Columbus,
Georgia, and
Bobby Byrd called us. Man, youre
talking mindblowing. It was crazy!
Sex Machine started life right after
a show. James didnt usually ride the
bus it was a plane or limo but he
got on the bus and said, Ive got
this song, lemme sing it to you. He
started messing with, Get up-ah,
get on up and all that. He wanted
to write it down. Someone had a
paper sandwich bag, and so thats
how that song started. Once we got
to the studio it was pretty much
what it sounds like [on the record].
Someone said, It sounds great, Mr
david redfern/redferns
with the band was already mixed.
He was a hard man, but I felt
privileged to be in his presence.
He had a soft spot for me, because
I was a young fool. The band would
put me up to stuff Id ask for him
for a raise, or extra rooms and hed
let me get away with it. Other people
felt he was a dictator and he could
be, I think he got off on that stuff
but me and my brother Catfish just
laughed at the whole thing. I was
just glad to be on the same stage as
the Godfather Of Soul.
FUNKADELIC
AMERICA EATS ITS
YOUNG
WESTBOUND, 1972
Having parted from Brown and
formed the House Guests, Collins
and Catfish join George Clintons
rainbow-coloured funk collective.
His first album with them is a
double, recorded in Toronto and
featuring Collins songwriting
debut, Philmore.
After James
Brown, we were
fed up being a
backing band.
We wanted to
didnt know who they were they
were playing colleges and we were
on the Chitlin Circuit but once Id
met George, it was funk at first bite!
I knew this was where the band
needed to be. George had rented a
big house on a lake in Canada. We
stayed there for a month or two. We
rehearsed, went fishing, and did all
the crazy stuff a band would do, and
we also worked on the album. That
was my first experience in the studio
with George and the rest of the
Funkadelics. It was pretty amazing.
With James, it was army-related,
that discipline. With George,
everyone anyone who walked in
was invited to the party. That spirit
fuelled everything. With George, the
music ran from A to whatever comes
after Z! Whatever you could bring to
the table, bring it. It was from one
extreme to the other, and a real
learning process. Wed just jam and
see what chemistry worked. George
was analysing all that stuff; we were
just having a good time playing. It
was much more fun than James
Brown. Everything about George at
that time was just fun.
PARLIAMENT
intergalactic opus concerning
pimps in space. Their first gold
album, and a landmark in proto-
rap, jazz and funk.
We were in
the Bermuda
Triangle when
the Mothership
landed. We
were fishing
and getting
high, and the whole concept came.
George would kick an idea, I would
kick an idea, Id get my guitar. Boom!
It was just an amazing time. The
space concept was definitely George
though I was definitely spaced out!
Concepts were Georges department.
He was so into books: [Erich Von
Dnikens cosmic 60s text] Chariots
Of The Gods?, we were reading that
stuff back in the 70s. Wed go fishing
and talk about these books, and how
to align that to what we were doing.
Tripping opened me up to a whole lot
of stuff I wouldnt normally have
got. I would hate to push that,
but it helped open up my mind.
I was really all about the music,
everything else I shut out, but when
George started talking about these
concepts, and I started reading

Brown. When are you going to mix
it? He said, Mix it? Its already
mixed, son! He was teaching us
how to be dynamic, with the ups,
the breakdowns, the hard and soft
parts. He felt that everything he did
do something
wild and crazy
up front. It was the tail end of the
hippie thing and everywhere we
went, people said, You look and
sound just like Funkadelic! We
MOTHERSHIP
CONNECTION
CASABLANCA, 1975
The arrival of Maceo Parker and
Fred Wesley from the JBs horn
section adds a soulful kick to an
about them myself, it all started to
relate. The more I understood, the
more he talked to me about it, and
the more trips we would take, and all
this stuff just started coming out. I
learned so much, as far as how to put

90 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017


what youre doing into something
bigger than yourself. Whats the
difference between the two groups?
Parliament were the original
singers that George had. It was more
JBs structured, on the grooves I
brought the one. Funkadelic was
always more about the whole band:
Eddie Hazel, Bernie [Worrell], Billy
[Nelson] They started it off.
BOOTSYS RUBBER
BAND
STRETCHIN OUT
IN BOOTSYS
RUBBER BAND
WARNER BROTHERS, 1976
Collins first solo vehicle is an
offshoot of the P-Funk family.
Produced by Clinton, who co-writes
all but one of the seven tracks, it
features a familiar cast of sounds
and players.
I said to George,
I need to do
this new song,
I feel like Im
stretching out.
He said, Yeah,
like a rubber
band! Thats the way things came.
We were recording everything at
the same time, it just came out in
different places at different times
and theres a lot of stuff that never
ever got released. While I was doing
Chocolate City [the 1975 Funkadelic
album] I was also recording
When I put them on,
I become Bootzilla:
Bootsy gets into
character, 1978
Stretchin Out. At that point,
everything was coming through my
head: a bassline, a guitar part, a
melody. I was young and a receptor.
I was receiving all this stuff and I
had no way of putting it down.
Luckily, George allowed me a way
of actually recording it. I remember
Georges talkback mic in the studio
was so loud it became annoying.
Hed be singing and hollering, he
didnt care how loud it was. He was
having the time of his life, and I was
having the time of my life. I guess we
didnt know how good they were. We
just went with it, we were having a
blast. The title track wasnt recorded
until after we had turned the album
in. We figured there was something
that wasnt on the album that
needed to be. We took the album
back so we could get it on there.
PARLIAMENT
THE CLONES OF
DR FUNKENSTEIN
CASABLANCA, 1976
Largely co-written by Collins and
Clinton, a further cosmic venture
With George Clinton, everyone
anyone who walked in was invited
to the party. That spirit fuelled
everything
into far-off alien galaxies from the
bizarre cover to the much-sampled
Do That Stuff and the wise maxim
that funk is its own reward.
Thats when
George really
locked in to
what he was
doing. He really
locked in. I had
never seen him
that focused. Once Mothership
was out and he saw that people
gravitated towards that whole
concept, he took it another step.
He was still getting loaded, but he
became all about the stuff he was
reading. There wasnt nobody
talking about that stuff at the time! I
was reading the books and keeping
up on where he was going and what
he was looking for. I knew what was
on his mind, so the ideas came
easily. It was a pure fit. People were
listening to the message, but the
music and sounds were so fresh,
obviously that was the first thing
that grabbed them. Then it was the
vocals, and what the vocals were
saying. Thats what captivated
people for the long haul: what in the
hell are they talking about? Thats
what got them hooked. You didnt
have the internet then, you had to
really research and start digging.
People got into that. They got into
what was being said and how you
could become a bigger and better
funkateer. It was kind of like the
Grateful Dead had the Deadheads.
Well, the ones who were exposed
to our music wanted to become
Funkateers. It was more than
dancing and having a good time.
Those were just perks!
BOOTSYS RUBBER
BAND
BOOTSY? PLAYER
OF THE YEAR
WARNER BROTHERS, 1978
Collins mints a new alter ego,
Bootzilla, heralded on the sleeve
by a jazzy pair of star-shaped
sunglasses. Features all the usual
suspects, and co-writes with
Clinton and Bernie Worrell.
Again,
Michael ochs archive/getty iMages
everything was
recorded at the
same time as
everything else.
I was searching
for a new look,
and I was looking for new glasses. I
told George, I want the title song to
be like a monster. George said,
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 91

Bootsy and George
Clinton (back, third
and fifth left) with
Funkadelic in 1975
Yeah, like Bootzilla. Thats
how things would come, I
would have one side of it and he
would have the other. I didnt
care about radio play, or selling
records all I cared about was
making a monster, creating
this character. George knew
that, and he didnt get in my
way. The glasses on the album
sleeve are the Bootzilla
glasses. When I put them on I
became Bootzilla; with the regular
ones, I was just Bootsy. I didnt
explain it, but people seemed to get
it at the time. So, the question mark
in the title was on purpose we were
kind of trying to mess with peoples
heads. I was branding before I knew
what branding was! Theyve got
names for that stuff now, but we
were doing it just because. There
was a whole lot of concepts going on
within the mothership.
FUNKADELIC
UNCUT ONE NATION
CLASSIC UNDER
A GROOVE
WARNER BROTHERS, 1978
Widely hailed as the greatest
Michael ochs archive/getty iMages; david carlo
funk album of all time, the
concept is as cosmically outr
as ever, parodying the recently
released Star Wars. In the Great
Funk Wars 1984 BC, funk has
been outlawed by Barft Vada, and
dastardly disco reigns supreme.
Only the P-Funk crew can save us
We got some fresh energy in, which
really helped pull that album over
the top. Junie Morrison came in from
the Ohio Players, he was an old
friend from back in the day. He
92 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
joined up and brought a fresh new
vibe with him. I think that sparked
everybody. Around that time, the
walls had started shaking, and
people started looking around and
making sure the walls didnt fall on
them. People were approaching a
lot of the artists offering solo deals.
The drug thing had started shaking.
Things were getting a little hectic.
The music is one thing. Everybody
loves the music, but this business is
so crazy, and everybody just kind of
went berserk and started blaming
George for everything. There was a
cycle of craziness. I had to live with
all the musicians, and I was very
close to George, so I heard
everything. I couldnt take no sides,
and I felt everybody was right in
their own way. Everyone else was
feeling gloom and doom, but Junie
came in and he just wanted to play. It
was all fresh, and immediately
things start happening.
George would hear stuff that
people would say in the audience,
or in the band, take it and make a
song out of it. He was so open to
the universe, he connected with
everybody. No matter how big he
got, he was always able to connect
to people, to drink with a wino
or sit down with the president.
Whatever you said might wind
up in a song. Id let him hear a
riff I was playing, and he would
throw in something hed heard
and make a song out of it. It
was genius, it really was. One
night in DC, some guy starts
shouting, One nation! One
nation! One nation under a
groove! When youve got fresh
musicians around you, you can
take that hookline and really
make something. Georges
thing was: It dont matter how
many hooks you put in. Dont
matter! Put them all in there.
So, on that song, youve got
one nation under a groove
feet dont fail me now, all that.
I think the longevity of
funk is being able to do
that, to make something
out of nothing. Thats what
we did with all those
records, and I think One
Nation is probably the
best of them all, as far as
Funkadelic of that era goes.
BOOTSY COLLINS
WHATS BOOTSY
DOIN?
COLUMBIA, 1988
Following a six-year hiatus,
largely induced by Collins
spiralling drug problems,
he returns, clean and clear,
with a strong new album
produced by Bill Laswell.
Music is the
most important
thing to me. It
had got me so
far, and then it
felt like I had
been dropped
off a cliff. Id had a motorcycle
accident. I fell off my bike, and they
told me I wouldnt be able to use my
right arm to play bass. I was laid up
in the hospital thinking about a lot
of stuff. Thats when I stopped doing
the cocaine. All of that
affected the record. I was
pretty much on my own
recording, and I wanted
to be on my own. People
started asking George,
Hey, whats Bootsy
doing? So, I said, Thats
the name of the album!
I pulled a George on
him. He didnt know I
was working on a new
album, but I got him
involved in a couple of
songs. I started getting
new breathing room to
create. I was working in
another studio, a little bit
outside of Detroit, in
Canton, Michigan. I was trying to get
away from the getting high thing,
and being surrounded by that. Not
that I didnt like it, but I needed to
get away from it to get back to being
focused on music. It wasnt about
having fun for me at that point, it
was about getting serious with what
I was doing. That album helped me.
It helped me a lot.
BOOTSY COLLINS
WORLD WIDE FUNK
MASCOT RECORDS, 2017
Collins first since 2012 features
a host of collaborators, from
relative unknowns to Doug E Fresh,
Chuck D and Iggy Pop who opens
the album with a remarkable
spoken-word intro. Contains a
tribute to P-Funk keys-man Bernie
Worrell, who died last year.
Losing Bernie,
I cant put into
words. It was
such a loss
like losing
three strings
on the bass.
But I wanted this record to be more
upbeat, more energetic. We always
had the funk down at a certain
tempo. We never thought about it, its
just that the funk felt that way.
I thought that this album needed to
not only be funky, but it had to have
the energy of dance: upbeat, happy,
a feelgood record. I wanted it to be
more uplifting, maybe because of
the times were at. I gathered around
people who were young and
energetic, and then went back and
got some of those guys who were
influential in hip-hop, and who
would fit into what I was trying to do.
I wanted to include famous people
and musicians that most people
might not know about, and
demonstrate that it could all work
together. With Iggy Pop oh man!
Bill Laswell was producing his last
record, and he wanted me to play
bass on a version of Purple Haze.
Then I started thinking, maybe
Iggyll do something for me, and he
said, sure. I didnt tell him what to
do, and he sent this spoken thing
back to me and said, What do
you think? I figured out I should
open the LP with it. My grandkids
crack up whenever they hear it!
I feel really good about the
album. It feels different,
but
buut at the same time its
sstill in the pocket
with what Ive done
in the past, and what
the possibilities are in
the
h ffuture.
u
World
ld Wide Funk is
released
a via Mascot
Records on October 27
Re
 new! from the makers of

with
sPeciaL
mirror-
BoarD
cover!

Photo mick rock 1972, 2017

DaviD Bowie: a Life in Pictures

a Lavish triBute to PoPs greatest chameLeon,
PackeD with rare anD reveLatory images.
on saLe now
BON IVER
Playhouse, Edinburgh,
September 27, 2017
What might have been lost...
Justin Vernon finally brings his complex
private dramas to the British stage
M
IDWay through
the first of
Bon Ivers two
Edinburgh shows,
Justin Vernon
finally speaks.
He recounts a trip
the previous day to John Lewis to procure
socks and undies, during which he
met a fan who professed astonishment
that Vernon performs such mundane
tasks for himself. Its a funny story,
but a moral is left hanging in the air
something to do, you suspect, with the
way success fatally warps even the most
humdrum human interaction.
Postponed from February, the brevity
of Bon Ivers idiosyncratic UK tour one
night in Blackpool; two in Edinburgh
seems to underline the reticence that
Vernon has expressed regarding his
measure of fame. The disorientating
textures of his latest album the lovely,
intriguing, determinedly bloody-minded
22, A Million also seemed designed to
alienate the casually curious, or at least
short-circuit easy accessibility.
The suspicion that Vernon might be
making us all suffer for his art is hardly
dispelled by his arrival tonight. a tall,
bearded, somewhat ungainly figure
dressed in shocking shirt and sensible
trousers think hipster Bill Bryson he
wanders on in near-total darkness, clamps
on a pair of chunky headphones, and
begins stabbing at his keyboard console,
sending distressed electronic beats and
twisted vocal samples into the air. It
suddenly feels like it might be a long night.
as soon as he starts singing the glitchy
22 (Over Sn), however, all defences becomes not just a series of songs but an
crumble. His voice is extraordinary; the
music both pleasingly confrontational
and breath-haltingly beautiful; the sound
mix exceptional. Behind his headphones,
Vernon is locked in, but somehow, we are
not shut out.
The first half of the show showcases
22, A Million, performed in sequence and
omitting only the final track, 00000
Million. In theory, the album seems
ill-designed for the stage, with its abrupt
sonic cut-ups, bastardised vocal samples,
synthetic textures and runic abstraction.
In practice, under the lights, it gains both
drama and a powerful immediacy.
94 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
Is anybody here on
some serious LSD?:
(lr) Justin Vernon,
Mikaela Davis and
Sean Carey
The recorded version of 29 #Stafford
apts seems embarrassed by its own
beauty, but tonight its played straight,
an intoxicating country shuffle, all click-
clacking drums and glissando guitar
lines. 666 , meanwhile, becomes
vast, the circling guitar riff foregrounded
as Vernon beats out the rhythm on his
chest. an elongated 21 Mn Water
builds on its blippy beats to an immense,
shuddering climax, reminiscent of aphex
Twins brutalism.
Placed unostentatiously stage right,
Vernon flits from guitar to keyboard to
piano, crouching to fiddle with pedals,
triggering samples, messing with his
vocal pitch and texture in real time. The
technical trickery rarely obscures the
emotion and craft at the heart of the music,
for which much credit goes to his two
accompanists, long-time Bon Iver cohort
Sean Carey (drums, keyboards, vocals)
and Michael Lewis (bass, saxophone,
vocals, keyboards). They surf the genre
sea-changes with low-key versatility. On
the slow, unearthly wash of 8 (circle), the
pair contribute to three-part harmonies,
half Beach Boys, half Swingle Singers.
There are moments of arresting theatre.
The distorted, galactic soul of 715
Crks is sung by Vernon from within
a harsh triangle of light, as though hes
preparing to ascend to an alien spacecraft.
____45____ a brief diversion on
SETLIST
the album becomes a full-blooded 1 22 (Over Sn)
exorcism, Vernon lost in rapture, his 2 10 d e a t h b r e a
st
falsetto hard and pure against Lewis sax 3 715 - Crks
as he relives the Northern night on fire. 4 33 God
a useful comparison is Van Morrison at 5 29 #Stafford
his performing peak, where a concert Apts
6 666 from revealing his shopping habits, theres
immersive journey, each piece a staging 7 21 Mn Water a recurring verbal riff about psychedelic
post on the road towards transcendence. 8 8 (circle) drugs. Is anybody here on some serious
9 ____45____
Having turned 22, A Million on its LSD? Vernon asks, laughing. LSD can
10 Babys
head, Vernon works backwards through 11 Perth
help Know what I mean? Later, he
previous incarnations of Bon Iver. It feels 12 Minnesota, WI takes a moment to mention Tom Waits.
like a shedding of skins. He sits at the 13 Take It With Me The Playhouse was the site of Waits most
piano for Babys, from the Blood Bank 14 Flume recent UK performance, in 2008. We
EP, which builds and flows around Lewis 15 Creature Fear heard this is the only room in the world
saxophone improvisations. Minnesota, ENCORE he likes to play, says Vernon, before
WI is pattering electro-funk, sharp 16 Woods performing Take It With Me, a ballad
and cold, while Perth rides a military 17 The Wolves (Act from Mule Variations. Its a stunning
I & II)
rhythm, overlaid with crunching guitar. SECOND ENCORE
moment, his voice for once pitched low
For all its nuance, this trio can kick up a 18 Skinny Love and hesitant, backed by rudimentary
fuss when the occasion demands it. piano and bass. Its got to be more than
audience interaction is minimal. aside flesh and bone, he sings. All that youve

Perth rides a military
rhythm, overlaid with
crunching guitar
loved is all you own. Waits simple
sentiment seems to make concrete all the
abstract spiritual longing Vernon strives to
articulate throughout the evening.
Things take a more organic turn. He
straps on an acoustic guitar, support act
Mikaela Davis drags her harp centre stage,
and they perform Flume as a stately
duet. Creature Fear is heavy, slow and
spare, peppered with Southern soul licks,
like a backwoods Purple Rain. Before
long Vernon is down among the pedals,
coaxing waves of sheer noise. It sounds
like some hulking piece of machinery
coming to life or crashing.
They leave to a standing ovation. Vernon
comes back alone to sing Woods, built When he leaves to another ovation,
entirely from a dizzying stack of layered
voices and ending in a sustained howl.
Lewis and Carey return to perform The
Wolves, which has a rough-hewn, bluesy
power. When Vernon sings your eyes are
L i VE
all painted Sinatra blue, the room turns
the appropriate colour, before the hushed,
circling coda What might have been
lost spirals into a primal roar.
Its a fitting end. The house lights go up.
No-one leaves. Eventually Vernon returns
alone with his acoustic guitar for Skinny
Love. His voice is ragged, cracking in
parts. He has next to nothing left to give,
CALUM BUCHAN PHOTOGRAPHY
but seems determined to give it anyway.
smiling and clutching his heart, he
looks both spent and transported. Fame
might be a hollow reward, but tonight Bon
Ivers music travelled about as deep as
its possible to go. GRAEME THOMSON
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 95

SUzaNNE VEga
The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester,
September 30, 2017
Solitude still standing. A quiet revolutionary
revisits the songs that made her
T
hIRTy years ago,
Suzanne Vega found
herself at pops head
table, largely due to the
unexpected success of
Luka, a song about
child abuse that became a
monster global hit. Parent album Solitude
Standing did platinum-selling business,
too, positing her as the commercial face of
neo-folk, the likes of Shawn Colvin, Edie
Brickell and Nanci Griffith in her wake.
Vega was a somewhat unlikely
candidate for stardom. Pale, unshowy and
bookish, Vega seemed to be the antithesis
of 80s flounce, a diarist of the vulnerable
and the damaged, loading her outsider
songs with poetic detail and a detached
wistfulness. A gift for observing life
through panes of glass was most famously,
and literally, illustrated by Toms Diner, spin a pretty good yarn. She prefaces
written while seated in a Broadway eaterie.
Its a testament to the understated
Robin LittLe/RedfeRns
quality of Vegas songs that they continue
to endure decades later. Over-familiarity
may have dulled the appeal of both the
aforementioned hits, but the lesser-
celebrated gems shine brighter. Tonight
shes toasting the Pearl anniversary of
96 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
Solitude Standing by playing the entire
thing in sequence, beginning with
the a cappella version of Toms Diner Horse (Caspar
and ending with the enthralling
Wooden horse (Caspar hausers Song), 11 Rock in this
which rushes to a close on an emphatic
drum rhythm.
With her is the albums original bassist,
Mike Visceglia, along with drummer
Doug yowell and, on guitar, the estimable
Gerry Leonard, best known for his work
with David Bowie from Heathen onwards.
Vega herself is in fine voice, her purity
and range unsullied by the years. The title
track is a particularly glorious moment,
her delicate acoustic guitar notes rising
and fading as Leonard picks out a rolling
electric motif. And while one or two
tunes stray towards the formless Night EncorE
Vision and Language she can still
23 Left of Centre
Gypsy, for instance, with a story about 24 Marlene on
falling for a fellow counsellor at summer
camp aged 18, the pair bonding over
Leonard Cohens back catalogue. When
its time to leave, she offers him the songs
lyrics, he gives her a bandana.
Since were marking occasions, the
second half of the show is given over to
Her understated
songs continue
to endure
decades later
SETLIST 99.9F, the album Vega released to much
less fuss 25 years ago. Issued not long after
1 toms diner English duo DNA remixed Toms Diner
(a cappella)
as a trip-hop anthem, the record seemed to
2 Luka
3 ironbound /
plug into the same desire for reinvention.
fancy Poultry
4 in the eye
Vegas transition from beatnik-ish
songwriter to industrial-folk composer
5 night Vision
6 solitude
is fascinating from this distance. Blood
Makes Noise is a dauntless piece of avant-
standing rock in which Leonard finally gets to play
7 Calypso
loose and dangerous. Intriguingly, it also
8 Language
hints at what might have been, had Vega
9 Gypsy
10 Wooden opted to pursue this more experimental
new direction in earnest.
Hausers song) Other numbers tentatively follow a
similar path, most notably Rock In
Pocket (song
This Pocket (Song Of David) and the
of david)
12 blood Makes textural triumph that is Song Of Sand.
noise Lyrically too, 99.9F is darker and more
13 in Liverpool disconsolate than Solitude Standing. Vega
14 99.9f tells how she hired a private detective to
15 blood sings find her biological father, who left home
16 fat Man And before she was two, as an introduction to
dancing Girl
Blood Sings, which was inspired by the
17 As A Child
18 bad Wisdom short, tragic life of her uncle.
19 When Heroes There are even some direct parallels
Go down between the thematic concerns of each
20 As Girls Go record. Bad Wisdom, a sensitive acoustic
21 song of sand ballad about unspoken childhood terrors,
feels like a companion to Luka. And,
22 toms diner
on a slightly lighter note, In Liverpool
(full band)
is a sequel to Gypsy, written in the
hometown of her counsellor beau in a
the Wall hotel room one miserable Sunday,
Vegas memories chilled by time. No
reason to even remember you now, she
sings, over atonal acoustic guitar. Not for
the first time tonight, its a song that lingers
long after its chords have subsided.
rob hughes
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 carGo collecTiVe

The weddinG presenT
GeorGe BesT 30
scopiTones lp / cd
a 30th anniversary re-imagining of the wedding
presents classic debut album on heavy-weight
Vinyl & cd. recorded by steve albini.
Godspeed You! Black emperor kaiTlYn aurelia smiTh Balmorhea
luciferian Towers The kid clear lanGuaGe
consTellaTion 2lp / cd wesTern VinYl lp / cd wesTern VinYl lp / cd
eyes up and filled with dreadful joy we aimed follow up to 2016 critically acclaimed album austin, TX-based Balmorheas first album of new
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amplified heavenward. we recorded it all in a and daring. mary anne hobbs says i kronos Quartet and rachels, while BBc finds
burning motorboat. absolutely love her work. similarities to stars of the lid.

sunnY & The sunliners The culTs The weaTher sTaTion hiss Golden messenGer
mr. Brown eYed soul offerinG The weaTher sTaTion halleluJah anYhow
BiG crown lp / cd sinderlYn lp / cd paradise of Bachelors lp / cd merGe records lp / cd
The definitive collection of sunny & The new Yorks cults return with their third album, her most sonically direct, emotionally candid The brand new album featuring domino (Time
sunliners greatest soul hits, deep album offering, an exciting collection of songs statement, a work of profound urgency and will Tell) and when the wall comes down. on
cuts, and rare 45 sides curated by Big crown bursting with heart, confidence, shimmering artistic generosity. is Tamara lindeman tour forever. uk dates early 2018.
records. melody and buzzing life. americanas best-kept secret? The observer
new review.

omni
mulTi-Task
TrouBle in mind lp / cd
atlanta trio omni are back with their second
album multi-task, a dizzyingly refreshing
amalgam of wiry post-punk jitters & a dash of
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Behind the shadow drops The GraniTe shore Various arTisTs
harmonic suspended second deeplY Vale fesTiVal
TemporarY residence lTd lp / cd occulTaTion lp / cd 40Th anniVersarY
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of Japanese experimental rock legends mono fury and anxiety at whats been done to this 12 hours of deeply Vale related acts including
is a feast of ambient, industrial, neoclassical, country over the last 18 months. system 7 , a 70s Gong Jam
and trip-hop collaborations with John mcentire with hillage miraudy howlett sharpstrings - plus
(Tortoise, Teenage fanclub, Yo la Tengo). sets from nik Turner, segs
from the ruts, - over 27 acts.

carGo collecTiVe: an amalGamaTion of record shops and laBels dedicaTed To BrinGinG You new music
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Television live at CBGBs,
NYC, 1975: (l-r) Richard
Hell, Tom Verlaine,
Richard Lloyd, Billy Ficca
I
suppose I wanted to
be God, writes Richard
Lloyd in Everything Is
Combustible, the Television
guitarists eccentric,
episodic memoir, which feels at times
like stumbling into an unmapped and
somewhat inhospitable foreign land.
Lloyds life has been scarred by mental
illness, drug abuse, alcoholism and
prostitution. I have a huge tolerance for
pain, he writes, not unreasonably, having
been hospitalised several times since his
teens, in places that made One Flew Over
The Cuckoos Nest look like kindergarten.
As a child, he takes refuge in sacred
silences and magical thinking, ROCK AND ROLL
bending reality to fit his will. It seems to
work. During an unanchored adolescence
he talks space dribble with Hendrix,
gets a guitar lesson from John Lee Hooker,
and projectile vomits in Buddy Guys
dressing room. He plays drums, until his
drums start speaking to him: You need to
play a melodic instrument, they say. He
sells drugs to raise $200 for a stratocaster,
and were away.
In scuzzy 70s NYC he enters the orbit
of Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell, and
forms Television. Verlaine is a stern,
abstemious musical director, Hell an
untutored agitator. Billy Ficca also
arrives, a stubborn drummer with a carrot
addiction so fierce it turns his skin orange.
Lloyd tries to find his place, as Television
make their debut at CBGBs in 1974, where
they help build the stage and the scene.
There are soft words for The Ramones
and Blondie, harder ones for patti smith.
Already a raging alcoholic, Lloyd gets
into heroin with Hell, who is gone long
before the majestic Marquee Moon lands
in 1977. He is befriended by Keith Richards
and Anita pallenberg, bonding over
REVIEwED pharmaceutical cocaine and a willing
THIS MONTH quack-doctor, whose uptown waiting
room at one point also contains Mick
Taylor and Felix pappalardi.
By Televisions second Lp, Adventure,
Lloyd has tired of Verlaines silly little
songs and dictatorial attitude. Now
a full blown junkie, in London hes
delivered to hospital DoA by peter perrett,
whod administered a dose of super-
strength heroin. electric shock treatment
saves his life. Following his first solo
EVERYTHING IS album, Alchemy A pop classic hes
COMBUSTIBLE: dropped by elektra and descends into
TELEVISION, the Great Depression of 1980-84. Later,
CBGBS AND
FIVE DECADES OF come periods of sobriety and relapse,
happy spells playing alongside Matthew
RICHARD LLOYD sweet, and far too much detail about his
BEECH HILL PUBLISHING torrential sexual appetites. (Im lucky
7/10
enough to have once had sex with a girl
who was a sword swallower. she loved to
swallow my sword)
Lloyds writing is like his soloing: utterly
individual, adventurous, tonally uneven:
at times disjointed; at others thrilling.
Recent events are covered in haste. In
2007 he leaves the reformed Television,
still cursing Verlaine. He never lost his
free-floating contempt for anything or
anybody that wasnt him He was an
FIRST TIME EVER: absolute embarrassment to be around.
A MEMOIR More happily, he writes of profound
PEGGY SEEGER
FABER & FABER encounters with the work of Gurdjieff
8/10 and Cynthia plastercaster, the mixture of
the sacred and profane summing up the
governing forces of a chaotic life.
peggy seegers poetic, unflinching
autobiography, First Time Ever, takes
its title from The First Time ever I saw
Your Face, the song ewan MacColl wrote
for her in the mid-50s at the start of their
love affair. Her 30-year relationship with
MacColl 20 years her senior, and already
a husband and father when they meet is
at the core of her book, though her 82 years
have hardly been short of further incident.
part of a large family raised by left-
leaning musicians Charlie and Dio,
seegers background is one of relaxed,
liberal privilege. At their Maryland
homestead, the arts prevail: Jackson
pollock and Alan Lomax are liable to pop
over; by her teens, her folk-guru older
brother pete is already a star.
she is wilful, clever, curious. seeger
arrives in england at Lomaxs behest in
March 1956. Banjo in hand, I tottered in
on high heels to meet my next 33 years.
What she actually meets is MacColl, who
sternly declares his love the following
day, overcome with sudden amorous
urges. seeger reciprocates, though she
doesnt always seem sure why. she writes
about his vociferous and hypocritical
purisms, his selfishness and cruelty, as
well as his power. His death in 1989 comes
shortly after the beginning of seegers
unexpected love affair with a woman,
Irene, who remains her life partner today.
she confronts the pain, guilt, wonder and
duplicity of this domestic rupture with
disarming honesty.
Her writing is a treat. MacColls
mother, Betsy, is the size of tuppence,
all tongue and temper, short on
tenderness. A young Albert Grossman
is ripe with entitled self-confidence
an unappetising man, fish mouth, little
pebble glasses, little pebble eyes. Music
flows through it all, natural and unforced.
Amid the personal detail, seeger tracks
RichaRd E. aaRon/REdfERns
the changing tides of the folk tradition
from the 50s to the present day. she
regards herself as a link in the chain of
oral tradition. Like my physical children,
[songs] form my core unlike my physical
children, they have grown towards me
rather than away. Graeme Thomson
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 107
Robert Pattinson is a
lost soul; Clooney helps
the Coens; Grace Jones

G
hula hoops in a corset...
ood time It is certainly
a good time to be Robert
Pattinson. Its hard to
think of another young
actor who has moved
so far and at such
velocity away from the
long shadow cast by a breakthrough role. By
now, Pattinson is a long way from Twilights
Edward Cullen. There have been two fruitful
collaborations with David Cronenberg
Cosmopolis and Maps To The Stars and
more recently he was good in enterprising
supporting roles for Brady Corbet (The
Childhood Of A Leader) and James Gray
(The Lost City Of Z, where he was almost
unrecognisable beneath a Garth Hudson-
style beard). There is also High Life, for Claire
Denis, to come. For Good Time, Pattinson
has hooked up with Josh and Bennie Safdie,
brothers who have spent a decade making
scrappy, low-budget movies on the streets of
New York freewheeling, urban stories, in Shooting Denis Villeneuves vision of tomorrow balances with the more sorrowful Tess. But
other words, that hark back to an earlier era star: Robert is visually staggering, strafed by neon, the film belongs to 86-year-old Smith, borne
Pattinson in
of filmmaking. A good primer to the Safdies Good Time Marjorie Prime is a less hyperbolic affair back ceaselessly into the past on a wave of
work is 2009s Daddy Longlegs, a semi- with not even so much as a hovercar in sight. faded, unreliable memories. It is a smart film,
autobiographical piece about a manic father This is a sci-fi chamber piece, set in the near and one that bears close scrutiny: there are
and his relationship with his two children. future, where a service allows people to subtle shifts in the characterisations, and
In Good Time, Pattinson plays Constantine generate a hologram of a deceased person rather like the Replicants hunted in Blade
Connie Nikas, a bright, resourceful petty a Prime. This is how we meet Marjorie (Lois Runner, we are required to ask: what makes
crook who falls into a night-long churn of Smith), who has chosen to resurrect, in a us human? The misty score by Mica Levi,
violence and exploitation, redeemed only by 3D facsimile, her late husband Walter (Jon who worked on Under The Skin, is full of
the unshakeable love he holds for his brother, Hamm). It might seem a ghoulish business low-key, electronic pulses.
Nick (Benny Safdie). The Safdies shoot in to Marjories daughter Tess (Geena Davis),
tight close-ups or restless tracking shots that but it brings Marjorie some joy in her ailing, the meYerowitZ stories (new And
weave round or occasionally lurch towards final years. Meanwhile, Tess husband Jon seLeCted) Noah Baumbachs latest takes
their protagonists. A heist goes wrong, (Tim Robbins) feeds Walter memories and place in a faded corner of Greenwich Village.
a breakout is spectacularly botched and observations to help build his character. But There, we meet the Meyerowitz, a once-
Connie finds himself hunting round a theme how reliable is he? Did Walter propose to storied intellectual family in decline. On
park in the dead of night for a valuable bottle Marjorie after they saw Casablanca? Or was it paper, at least, Noah Baumbachs latest
of liquid LSD in the company of Ray (Buddy My Best Friends Wedding? Who really knows project available now on Netflix recalls
Duress), another nocturnal chancer. Jennifer for sure? Game appearances in Black Mirror the filmmakers breakthrough film, 2005s
Jason Leigh co-stars, drawing the film back or Toast Of London aside, Hamm has long The Squid And The Whale. Instead of Jeff
to Last Exit To Brooklyn or Rush; other films struggled to find a shape to his career post- Daniels pompous novelist, we have Dustin
about lost souls out on the fringes. Mad Men the tiresome Baby Driver, earlier Hoffman as a prickly sculptor. While
this year, was certainly a step backwards. Baumbachs earlier film focused on a callow
mArJorie Prime Themes of identity and He is excellent here, though, as the curious, 16-year-old and his precocious younger
artificial memory are hot currency right now empathic hologram. Robbins and Davis brother, this new film is filtered through the
thanks to Blade Runner 2049. But if director are terrific Jon has a hangdog charm that experiences of older siblings: the likeable,

reviewed this month

Good time mArJorie the sUBUrBiCon GrACe
directed by: Prime meYerowitZ directed by: Jones:
Josh and directed by: stories George BLoodLiGht
Benny Safdie michael (new And Clooney And BAmi
starring: almereyda seLeCted) starring: directed by:
robert starring: directed by: matt damon, Sophie Fiennes
Pattinson, lois Smith, noah Julianne starring:
Buddy duress Jon Hamm Baumbach moore Grace Jones,
opens: opens: starring: opens: Jean-Paul
november 3 november 3 adam Sandler, november 24 Goude
Cert: 15 Cert: 12a Ben Stiller Cert: 15 opens:
8/10 8/10 opened: oct 13 7/10 october 27
Cert: 15 Cert: 15
8/10 7/10

108 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017


Pattinson is
now a long
way from
Twilights
Edward Cullen
underachieving musician Danny (Adam
Sandler) and the unlikeable, overachieving
accountant Matthew (Ben Stiller). This time,
there is a sister, Jean (Elizabeth Marvel),
whose own traumas are not revealed until
late in the game. Regular followers of
Baumbachs film will also spot assorted
themes that recur throughout his crisp body
of work, from quarrelling siblings (The Squid
And The Whale, Margot At The Wedding) to
high-end literary chat (Mistress America).
There are broader comparisons, too to JD
Salingers Glass stories, Jonathan Franzens
The Corrections (Baumbach worked on an
HBO pilot) and Wes Andersons The Royal
Tenenbaums. For all its familiar strokes,
The Meyerowitz Stories (New And Selected)
is one of Baumbachs best, partly because
the acting is so good. Stiller on his third
film with Baumbach finds ways to subtly
endear us to Matthew. Sandler, meanwhile,
is superb as both fretful son and doting
father, delivering a performance of comic
precision thats arguably his best work since
Punch Drunk Love. Hoffman, meanwhile, is
as terrific as youd expect as the rambling,
cantankerous pater familias. There is strong
work from Marvel and in an amazing piece
of casting Emma Thompson as Harolds
florid current wife. Cameos abound Adam
Driver, Candice Bergen, Rebecca Miller and
Judd Hirsch though it is the three male
leads who dominate, particularly Sandler.
sUBUrBiCon When the history of the Coen
Brothers is finally written it is unlikely there
will be much room for Crimewave, Gambit or
Unbroken: projects the Coens have scripted
but not brought their distinctive directorial
touch to. Suburbicon is another entry in
this shadow history of the Coens. Dating
from the late 80s, it has languished on the
shelf until 2005, when it was first rumoured
that George Clooney would star and direct.
Clooney retains his director chair, but his
wingman, Matt Damon, now takes the lead,
toplining an impressive cast that includes
Julianne Moore (in two roles) and Oscar
Isaac. The story takes place in the late 50s
amid the picket fences and manicured lawns
of Suburbicon, a perfect post-war town with
its own choir and hospital. The friendly,
good-natured residents show an altogether
uglier side when Mr and Mrs Meyers and the
young son, Andy, move in: they are black,
and unwelcome here. Clooney evidently
sees parallels between the 50s and the
present day, offering up a commentary about
racism and hypocrisy in middle-class white
America. Its unclear, incidentally, how much
work Clooney and his regular screenwriting
partner Grant Heslov have done to the Coens
original story; some elements have been
incorporated from another project Clooney
was involved with, about a true-life crime
in Pennsylvania. Indeed, in parallel with
the storyline about racial victimisation runs
another, involving Damons police chief,
Gardner Lodge. In Coen-esque fashion, there
is murder, conspiracy and insurance scams
remember, this was written just after Blood
Simple and the darker Lodges storyline
becomes, the funnier it gets.
GrACe Jones: BLoodLiGht And BAmi
Over the opening credits, director Sophie
Fiennes films Grace Jones performing Slave
To The Rhythm in concert. We see Jones
first in a billowing purple robes with her
face obscured by a golden skull mask. Next,
shes hula hooping in a corset. The sequence
becomes a tribute to Jones remarkable
physicality Mick Jagger aside, its hard
to think of another artist who palpably
concentrates on their performance quite
this hard. Indeed, when one thinks of Jones
colourful artistic turns musician, fashion
muse, actress, socialite it is possible
to view her entire career as an ongoing
performance-art statement, with a sideline in
fancy hats. Filmed over five years in suitably
glamorous locations ranging from Jamaica
and Moscow to Tokyo and NYC, Fiennes doc
does much to upholster Jones well-heeled
myth. There are champagne breakfasts,
strops at hapless TV producers, and dramas
over unpaid hotel bills. But the other side
is Jones, the sixtysomething grandmother,
who Fiennes only ever tantalisingly exposes.
A family get-together in Jamaica goes some
way to illuminating Jones backstory. In
conversation with her former partner, Jean-
Paul Goude, she discusses loneliness and her
fathers death but Jones, wise to Fiennes
camera, switches topics before getting too
deep. Its colourful stuff, and Fiennes does
a staunch job, but this is all very much on
Jones terms. The performer out there
takes the risk, she says, expounding on her
methodology. If the lights should go out,
if the roof, the electricity, the sound fails,
I can still perform and hold the audience
in the dark without any trimmings. Its a
fascinating, lonely place. MICHAEL BONNER
ALso oUt...
FerrAri: rACe to immortALitY
OPENS NOvEMBER 3
doc about the early years of the Ferrari
racing team during the first decade of
the Formula one World Championship.
mUrder on the orient
eXPress OPENS NOvEMBER 3
Kenneth Branaghs Hercule Poirot
investigates murder most foul
thesps include Jacobi, dench,
Pfeiffer, depp, etc.
the KiLLinG oF A sACred deer
OPENS NOvEMBER 3
a strong year for nicole Kidman
continues with yorgos lanthimos
idiosyncratic dark comedy. Co-
starring Colin Farrell.
sorCerer OPENS NOvEMBER 3
Friedkins thriller back on the big
screen, with roy Scheider transporting
nitroglycerin across South america.
Arnold
Schwarzenegger
in Predator
PredAtor OPENS NOvEMBER 9
thirtieth-anniversary reissue. arnie
takes on an extraterrestrial warrior in
the Central american jungles. Whats
not to love?
KALeidosCoPe
OPENS NOvEMBER 10
reviewed last issue. Psychological
drama with toby Jones unraveling
on a council estate.
PAddinGton 2
OPENS NOvEMBER 10
this time its personal. the bear is back:
marmalade sandwiches all round!
FiLm stArs dont die in
LiverPooL OPENS NOvEMBER 17
annette Bening falls for Jamie Bell in
this true-life tale of Hollywood glamour
on the mersey.
SunSet Boulevard/CorBiS via Getty imaGeS
JUstiCe LeAGUe
OPENS NOvEMBER 17
dCs superhero ensemble: hoping
this is more Wonder Woman and less
Batman Vs Superman.
BrAKes OPENS NOvEMBER 24
micro-budget Brit comedy with noel
Fielding and Julian Barratt united for
the first time since The Mighty Boosh.
Paul mcGann and Julia davis co-star.
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 109

BEsiDE BowiE: ThE
MiCk RoNsoN sToRy
MVD
8/10
Giving a rocknroll alchemist his due. By Mark Bentley
Does Mick Ronson need
critical rehabilitation?
The contention of this
slick, single-issue
documentary is
that down-to-earth,
unassuming Ronno
never received his
due, and that his contribution to Bowies
rise and rise has languished in the words
of the films PR messaging virtually
uncelebrated. Sure, he was a genius
guitarist, but thats underselling matters.
Mick Ronson should instead be viewed
as Bowies multi-skilled creative director,
the man who designed and built Ziggys
architecture, transformed Lou Reeds
Transformer, and alchemised his boss
impossible vision into rocknroll gold. And
all for 50 a week.
The case is presented skilfully by music
industry insider/film director Jon Brewer,
who worked with the Bowie camp in the 70s
(alongside 10 Years After, Gene Clark, Yes
and Gerry Rafferty) and is the man behind
reX/shutterstOck
multiple rock docs, including the Classic
Artists Series, and an acclaimed life of BB
King. His little black book has been thumbed
extensively for this 102-minute essay, which
features new interviews with Tony Visconti,
110 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
starmen: Angie Bowie, Ian Hunter, Rick Wakeman,
Bowie and Earl Slick, Micks wife Suzi and sister Maggi,
Ronson on
Granada Dana Gillespie, Def Leppards Joe Elliott and
TVs Lift Off more. Its blue chip, certainly: theres an
With Ayshea
in 1972 eerie, oddly stilted voiceover from Bowie,
interviews with Lou Reed, and archive chats
with Ronno himself.
Told in an uncomplicated chronological
arc, the film traces Micks first encounters
with Bowie, via mutual acquaintance,
Rats/Hype drummer John Cambridge.
Theres insiderist analysis into their John
Peel session, with less than two hours
rehearsal, when Bowie hires a clearly
nonplussed Mick live on air. There are
sweet moments, too, from future wife Suzi
Ronson who cut Davids mums hair in a
Beckenham salon and crashing out at the
crumbling Bowie HQ, Haddon Hall. Ronsons
uncomplicated Hullishness is highlighted
throughout. Id never seen rooms that
big before, recalls Ronson, in an archive
spot. We hear about the night Mick partied
at Andy Warhols apartment, enjoying a
surprisingly traditional spread of wine,
cheese and crackers. We step aboard the
frighteningly fast Bowie fame train, from
the world premire of Hunky Dory at Friars,
in Aylesbury (entrance: 50p), to Top Of The
Pops, a chaotic US tour and Hammersmiths
last show well ever do
shenanigans. The best sections
here are those that take you
inside the circus of 72-74, and
articulate more fully the films
central assertion. Tour manager
Tony Zanetta is brilliantly
candid on the insanity of
Bowies first steps Stateside.
Pianist Mike Garson whose
plangent, jazzist keys brought
a new palette to the Bowie
sound offers the musicians
perspective, and privileges
Ronsons contribution over
Bowies. Who was the guy
with the headphones, giving
me the chord charts and telling
me Thats a B-Minor? That
was Ronno. In a nice touch,
Garson performs an improvised
solo tribute to Ronson, which
soundtracks the film credits.
Visconti, too, is a great
inclusion: 40 years on, hes
still almost incredulous at
Ronsons musicality, workrate
and technical capabilities.
It was Visconti who taught
the guitarist the rudiments
of scoring and orchestration, and within
weeks Ronson was creating the sweeping,
multi-tonal opulence that would characterise
Moonage Daydream et al. Wakeman takes
you inside the chord arrangements of Life
On Mars, and Lou Reed, in the studio, pulls
down the faders so Ronsons baroque string
arrangements can be heard in isolation. Boy,
Ronson is good, he remarks, in some awe.
Money or lack of it is a recurring theme
here. With Bowie in thrall to hardball
manager Tony Defries (not interviewed here,
unsurprisingly) and his MainMan machine,
we are told how Mick and his fellow Spiders
were essentially accused of treason for
asking for more cash and this despite the
fact that Garson and other touring musicians
were on a significantly better weekly wage.
Recognising Ronsons huge value, Defries
tried to set him up as a solo artist. But Mick
was the lieutenant, not the general, and by
this time, were an hour and 10 minutes in.
Slaughter On 10th Avenue and Micks other
solo output and his on-off work with Mott
The Hoople is dealt with in perfunctory
haste. Money colours this section too.
His post-Bowie income was erratic,
unpredictable and often negligible; the cash
from Ronsons producer role on Morrisseys
Your Arsenal in 1992 was spent first on the
heating bill. The film is bookended by his
contribution to the Freddie Mercury Tribute
Concert, Ronno back onstage with Bowie, a
last hurrah before his death from liver cancer
in 1993, aged just 46.
Beside Bowie is intriguing rather than
revelatory, thought-provoking rather than
endlessly fascinating. It keeps its electric eye
unwaveringly on that central message and
somehow without making Bowie out to be
the bad guy.
ThE BEATLEs
how ThE BEATLEs ChANGED
ThE woRLD
Vision FilMs
8/10
A much-told tale refreshed with rare
archive footage
Drawing on footage from
the archives of ITN much
of it in black-and-white,
and seldom seen since its
original transmission in
the 1960s this visually
stimulating film tells a
familiar story with a smart
twist, by vividly setting
the musical narrative in the cultural, social
and political context of the time. The archive
material is complemented by an erudite
commentary and incisive observations
from a team of well-chosen talking heads,
including former close Beatles associates
Barry Miles and John Dunbar.
Extras: None.
NIGEL WILLIAMSON
DUDEs
sHoUT FACToRY
6/10
Penelope Spheeris turns punks
into cowboys
Dudes was one of
three indie features
Spheeris made in
between the first two
parts of The Decline Of
Western Civilization.
It is a genre mash-up
that was too odd for
its time: an action-
western-comedy featuring John Cryer and
Daniel Roebuck as New York punks who
tangle with desperados in the American
west. Unsurprisingly, several musician pals
serve as actors here, including Flea as a
fellow punk and Fear frontman Lee Ving as
the villain. John Densmore appears briefly as
an unlucky deputy.
Extras: 8/10. Featurettes and new interviews
with Spheeris, cast members and other
collaborators. JASON ANDERSON
EVERy PiCTURE TELLs A
sToRy ThE ART FiLMs oF
JAMEs sCoTT
BFi
7/10
The art of experimental art exposed
The title film is Scotts
fond, narrative 1984
documentary about his
artist father Williams
childhood. While
sensitively realised, its of
less interest than Scotts
collaborative art shorts.
Claus Oldenburg gets the
kaleidoscope treatment with a two-parter,
designed to be viewed simultaneously
through dual projectors, but the David
Hockney film is more instructive. RB Kitaj
reveals a nagging social conscience,
Richard Hamilton dismisses art films, and an
unrepentant Jamie Reid glories in the rip-off.
Extras: 7/10. BFI introduction/Q&A,
interview, essays. ALASTAIR McKAY
New york hitmakers:
(l-r) Neil Diamond,
Ellie Greenwich,
Bert Berns and Jeff
Barry, circa 1966
BANG! ThE BERT
BERNs sToRy
RAVin FilMs
JEFF LyNNEs ELo
8/10
wEMBLEy oR BUsT Colourful take on the short life of the
sonY/ColUMBiA classic songwriter and BANG! Records
8/10 supremo. By Graeme Thomson
Mega blowout from this summers Alone
In The Universe tour Bert Berns was a triple threat: writer, producer
In the commentary and, according to Exciters singer Brenda
to this weighty Reid, white soul brother. A swaggering,
live set, Jeff Lynne charismatic Bronx boy who wrote dozens of
calls the Wembley classics Piece Of My Heart, Under The
Stadium gig the Boardwalk, Here Comes The Night and
most ambitious Twist And Shout among them Berns
thing Ive ever was one of the greatest songwriters of all
done. Paul bloody time, according to Keith Richards,
Dugdales film one of several stellar interviewees in a film narrated, with full
basically follows the same format as 2015s Noo Yawk brio, by Stevie Van Zandt. Its a colourful tale, mostly
spectacular Live In Hyde Park, ELO rolling pieced together by wiseacre Brill Building types talking out of
out the hits with sparkle and panache. This the sides of their mouths. Mobsters pepper the narrative and tall
time, however, backstage interviews with tales abound. When 35-year-old Berns marries Ilena, a 22-year-
bandmembers lift the lid on Lynnes working old Jewish go-go dancer, his mother warns him her youthful
methods, revealing a humble genius with a beauty will prove fatal to a heart weakened by a childhood bout
perfectionists ear. of rheumatic fever. Aware that his time on earth was likely to be
Extras: 7/10. Accompanying 2CD set, limited, Berns lived life to the full, but an underlying sadness
climaxing with Mr Blue Sky and Roll played out in his songs. They were complex and neurotic
Over Beethoven. pieces, says his biographer, masquerading as teenage records.
ROb HUGHES His love of Cuba he claimed to have run guns and drugs
for the revolution can be heard in his early hits for Atlantic,
LiFE is swEET including Solomon Burkes Cry To Me and The Exciters Tell
BFi Him, which introduced Afro-Cuban rhythms to rocknroll and
8/10 R&B. After The Beatles covered Twist And Shout and The
Rolling Stones recorded Everybody Needs Somebody To Love,
Mike Leighs Enfield MasterChef Berns travelled to London to scout talent, working briefly with
Theres a grotesque Them. Van Morrison pops up in Ray-Bans and Barbour jacket,
fascination to Timothy in unusually gracious form. The guy was a genius, he says.
Spalls turn as Aubrey, A brilliant songwriter with a lot of soul.
the restaurateur whose Later, Berns formed BANG! Records and made Brown Eyed
meltdown is framed Girl with Morrison, as well as launching the career of Neil
within an apparently Diamond. By now, he has money coming out the yin-yang
amiable suburban and is bosom buddies with Tommy Eboli, head of the Genovese
comedy, but the films crime family, a knee-buster and leg-breaker of the first order.
desperation is masked by When things go awry, Diamond is threatened and his manager
Michael Ochs archives/Getty iMaGes
nuanced comic turns from Alison Steadman, mugged. Morrison goes through similar torture. A spectacular
Jim Broadbent and Jane Horrocks (who feud with Jerry Wexler, Berns mentor and business partner,
explains Leighs process in the extras). ends with Goodfellas levels of intimidation. His desk is loaded
Extras: 7/10. Leighs 36-minute short, A with pill bottles and a revolver, and he seemed stressed all the
Running Jump, made for the 2012 Cultural time which coming from Van Morrison is saying something.
Olympiad. The sporting theme is loosely Berns fragile heart finally failed on December 30, 1967,
applied. Theres a bit of yoga, and Eddie aged 38. I dont know where hes buried, but if I did Id piss
Marsans dodgy car salesman runs around a on his grave, was Wexlers eulogy. This vibrant film while
lot. Its beautifully observed, if inconclusive. acknowledging the dark stuff offers a more generous
Plus: interviews, audio commentary. assessment of a man who, says Paul McCartney, deserves
ALASTAIR MCKAY to be elevated to his rightful place.
DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 111

HOLGER
CZUKAY
Co-founder of Can
(1938-2017)
T
he turning point in holger
Czukays creative life came in
1968, while he was employed as
a music teacher in Switzerland.
One of his students, 19-year-old
Michael Karoli, started playing I Am The
Walrus on guitar. Primarily a jazz fan and
a former pupil of minimalist composer
Karlheinz Stockhausen, Czukay suddenly
saw new possibilities. It was really
something, he recalled to this writer in 2011.
The Beatles had taken what Stockhausen
BrIan rasIc/Getty IMaGes
had done in a serious way and made it much
more playful in a pop music way. I thought it
was fantastic, so unusual.
This discovery, in turn, ignited his interest
in the non-linear works of Frank Zappa and
The Velvet Underground. A short time later
112 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
He saw Cans Inner
Space studio as a
temple, like a church
he co-founded Can, initially called Inner
Space, with Karoli, drummer Jaki Liebezeit,
flautist David C Johnson and another ex-
Stockhausen pupil, Irmin Schmidt. Czukay
quickly established himself as the bands
sound engineer, augmenting his duties as
bass player by experimenting with drum
machines, shortwave radios and sine-wave
generators in their rehearsal space outside
Cologne. hed then splice together the best
bits from hours of improvised recordings, a
process he likened to filmmaking. When
Czukay:
bubbling the day was over, I took my tape recorder
basslines home and edited those first-generation
and brilliant
musical tapes, he explained. Then Id bring them
collages in the next day and say, Thats it. Thats
the song. As Schmidt once marvelled:
holger was able to create in the most
improvisational way, to edit forms which
didnt exist before.
This approach fed directly into Cans
anything-goes philosophy, as they twisted
jazz, rock and avant-garde elements into
innovative new forms. The musics steady
pulse, meanwhile, was provided by
Czukays bubbling basslines and Liebezeits
uncanny rhythmic precision. Relocating
to the village of Weilerswist in 1971, Can
converted an old movie theatre into their
own Inner Space studio, which Czukay
saw as a temple, like a church It was the
beginning of sampling, you can say.
Following the departure of original
frontman Malcolm Mooney, Czukay was
also instrumental in finding a replacement.
he and Liebezeit were sitting outside a caf
in Munich when they spied Japanese busker
Damo Suzuki, chanting his way across
the street. Czukay turned to his bandmate
and said, This is our new singer, before
introducing himself and inviting Suzuki to
join them onstage that night.
Can shifted towards more ambient music
after Suzuki quit in 1973. Two years later they
signed to Richard Bransons Virgin label,
gaining access to state-of-the-art multi-track
mixers. But Czukay became disillusioned
with Cans smoother, less organic strategies,
calling it the beginning of the end. Feeling
himself increasingly sidelined by new
technology, along with the arrival of bassist
Rosko Gee and percussionist Rebop Kwaku
Baah (both formerly of Traffic), he left the
band after 1977s Saw Delight.
his solo career began with 1979s Movies,
a brilliantly idiosyncratic work that found
him goofing around on Cool In The Pool
and continuing his collage experiments with
epics like hollywood Symphony. Czukays
ongoing pursuit of sampling, integrating
audio clips and using
shortwave radio as a live
instrument, led him to
describe his working
method as radio
painting. Aside from his
solo albums, the last of
which was 2015s Eleven
Years Innerspace, Czukay
worked with a number
of free-thinkers over the
decades, from Brian eno, Jah Wobble and
David Sylvian, to his wife Ursula Kloss, better
known as U-She. Kloss, who passed away in
July, had begun rebuilding Czukays beloved
Inner Space studio for him in 2004. It was
there, less than six weeks after her death, that
his body was found. At the time of writing,
the cause of his death was unknown.
My wife made this studio so
extraordinary, Czukay said of Inner Space
in 2011. I dont think theres anywhere in
the world that can compete with it. A friend
of mine came here and said, I dont want to
leave. Its like entering the palace of the King
Of Morocco. he couldnt believe it. Its always
been a very magical place. ROB HUGHES
JACK GOOD
TV pop show producer
(1931-2017)
Attending a screening of Rock
Around The Clock gave producer Jack
Good the idea for Six-Five Special.
Struck by the sight of cinema-goers
dancing in the aisles, Good devised
a live rocknroll show that allowed
the teenage audience to mingle
freely with the performers. It was a
Cliff Richard, Billy Fury and Marty their way up
Wilde, with the latter going on to through the
present another Good vehicle, Boy tough local bar
Meets Girls. After 1960s short-lived scene. hlubek
Wham!, Good felt rocknroll had run co-wrote much
its course, the producer resurfacing of their material,
Virgil Howe
four years later on American TV with including with Little
the successful pop show Shindig!. 1979s signature Barrie, 2012
song, Flirtin
DAve HlubeK With Disaster, before his growing latest tour. hed joined the trio in
Molly Hatchet founder dependency on cocaine led to him 2008, having previously
(1951-2017) quitting Molly hatchet in 1987. he been a member of The Dirty Feel

loose format, first aired on the BBC in
February 1957, that swiftly became
a template for teen TV. Despite
viewing figures of 12 million, his
paymasters refused to give him a
raise, upon which Good left for ITV
and unveiled the equally popular
Oh Boy! in the summer of 58. The
programme helped make stars of
As lead guitarist and founder
member of Molly hatchet, Dave
hlubek helped bridge the gap
between Southern rock and heavy
metal. he formed the band in 1971
in Jacksonville, Florida, where,
alongside neighbours Lynyrd
Skynyrd, they steadily worked
rejoined the group in 2005.
virGil HOwe
Musician son of Steve Howe
(1975-2017)
The sudden and unexpected death
of drummer Virgil howe came just
before embarking on Little Barries
andrew Maccoll/reX/shutterstock
and The Killer Meters, while his
numerous collaborations with
father Steve howe, guitarist for
Yes, included keyboard duties on
1993s The Grand Scheme Of Things
and Spectrum (2005). Virgil also
produced Yes Remixes in 2003 and
recorded a joint album with Steve,
Nexus, due in November.

GRANT HART Hart:

barefoot
drummer
his creative energies continued into
1985s New Day Rising, featuring The
Girl Who Lives On heaven hill and the
to counter that only one of three drug-
abusing people was crucified about it.
Post-hsker D, he formed short-lived
Hsker D drummer who brought
a melodic
and co-songwriter infectious Books About UFOs, and on combo The Swallows, before founding
edge to
Hsker D through the more pop-friendly Flip Your another noise-trio, Nova Mob, this time
(1961-2017)

S
PeAKING to Uncut three years
ago, Bob Mould acknowledged
the power struggle at the creative
centre of hsker D, the band he
formed with Grant hart and
Greg Norton in 1979. Co-pilots are great,
and we swapped chairs for eight years,
Wig (Green eyes, Flexible Flyer, Keep
hanging On). Both singles from Warner
Bros debut Candy Apple Grey were hart
compositions: Dont Want To Know If You
Are Lonely and Sorry Somehow.
By 1987s Warehouse: Songs And Stories,
his relationship with Mould, who hed first
met nine years earlier, at a record store
playing guitar. The group lasted until 1994,
upon which he embarked on a solo career
that yielded four studio albums, the last
being 2013s The Argument, based around
Miltons Paradise Lost. That same year, US
filmmaker Gorman Bechard released a
documentary, Every Everything: The Music,
Life & Times Of Grant Hart.

Martyn Goodacre/Getty IMaGes

he said of his working relationship with in harts native St Paul, Minnesota, had On hearing of harts death from liver
fellow songwriter hart. But I like flying the deteriorated to the point of collapse. The cancer, Mould paid tribute on Facebook,
plane and I think he does too. It was a win- tipping point came on the eve of a tour calling him a frighteningly talented
win when it ended. to promote the album, when manager musician and addressing their time in
hart himself felt that this tension David Savoy committed suicide. harts hsker D. When we fought about the
served as a catalyst, spurring both men substance addiction was also cited by details, it was because we both cared,
on to greater heights. You hear some live certain members of the press as a factor in he wrote. The band was our life.
bootlegs, he told The AV Club in 2000, hsker Ds demise, though he was quick ROB HUGHES
and Bob and I are working so hard to
outshine each other that it just lifts the
whole thing off the ground
On a songwriting level, it seemed an
ideal pairing Mould the scowling cynic,
ripping through songs with brusque
urgency; hart the beaming romantic, all
psychedelic flash and bolder melodies.
Mould played pasty-faced punk to harts
long-haired hippie, drumming barefoot
and flailing like a dervish over his kit.
And while he ceded the lions share of
the songwriting on 1983 debut Everything
Falls Apart, hart emerged as a vital force
on the following years post-hardcore
classic, Zen Arcade. Standing By The Sea,
Turn On The News and the exquisite
Pink Turns To Blue were prime examples
of his quickening talent, though the
latter tracks bleak subject matter drug
addiction was something that hart would
experience first-hand as he became hooked
on heroin.

DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 113

 Just play yourself:
Harry Dean Stanton
outside his LA home,
February 23, 2015
HARRY DEAN
STANTON
American actor and musician
(1926-2017)
I
N one of his later screen roles, Harry Dean
Stanton played a security guard in Marvels
superhero ensemble, The Avengers. Hes
there when Mark Ruffalos Hulk crashes into
a building from space. Are you an alien?
he asks, admirably nonplussed as he passes the
superhero a fresh pair of trousers. Well then, son.
Youve got a condition.
Stantons cameo was a warm, analogue
presence in a robustly digital-age product; no
amount of CGI could ever replicate those craggy,
gaunt features. It was a typically idiosyncratic
twist in a career spanning over 50 years and
Stanton didnt stop there. Two years after his
appearance in The Avengers, aged 87, he released
his debut album.
I sang when I was a kid, he told Uncut in 2014.
When people would leave the house, I would get
up on a stool and sing a song by Woody Guthrie,
or before him, The Singing Brakeman, Jimmie
Rodgers. When not making films, Stanton ran
a parallel career as a musician, playing pick-up
gigs in LA venues like his favourite bar-restaurant,
Dan Tanas. He confided to Uncut that he once
recorded a Mexican song with Bob Dylan. We
Giles clarke/Getty iMaGes
made a tape together. He asked me, did I want
a copy? I said no. What an idiot! Among his
many musical friends, Stanton described Tom
Waits as gnarly, a fine poet. James Taylors song
Hey Mister, Thats Me Up On The Jukebox? He
borrowed my guitar to compose that song.
Stanton was born in Kentucky in 1926. He served
114 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017
in the navy during World War II, where he fought
in the battle of Okinawa. In high school he played
Arthur Doolittle with a cockney accent, and in
1949 he quit college and enrolled at the Pasadena
Playhouse. He picked up regular TV work during
the 1950s and 60s on westerns like Gunsmoke,
The Rifleman, Laramie and Bonanza. He moved
into film as the 1960s wore on, his credits
including Monte Hellmans Ride The Whirlwind,
written by Jack Nicholson. Jack said, Harry, I
want you to do this part, but I dont want you to
do anything. Let the wardrobe do the character,
just play yourself. That was the beginning of
my whole approach to acting. Stanton was
especially close to Nicholson: I was best man
at his first wedding and at his divorce, he told
Uncut. We lived together for about two-and-a-
half years, during that time he did Easy Rider. We
had our differences, always have
had, but thats the way it is with
all relationships, right? Were still
close. Hes been a loyal friend to
me for many years
Everything
Stanton fell in with the
emerging New Hollywood crowd,
just happens,
appearing in Hellmans Two Lane
Blacktop and Cockfighter, Sam
nobodys in
Peckinpahs Pat Garrett And Billy
The Kid, John Milius Dillinger
charge
and alongside his friends Marlon
Brando and Nicholson in Missouri Breaks.
During the 80s, Stanton worked with a new
generation of filmmakers: Alex Cox (Repo Man),
Ridley Scott (Alien), Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas),
John Carpenter (Escape From New York) and
John Hughes (Pretty In Pink). Theyre all superb
performances but its the weatherbeaten, no answer. Everything just happens. Nobodys
near-mute Travis in Wenders film that gave
Stanton his most famous role.
I was in Albuquerque, I think, with Sam
Shepard, he told Uncut. We were drinking and
listening to a Mexican band. I said Id like to get
a part with some sensitivity and intelligence to it.
I wasnt asking for a part or anything. I was just
free-associating, talking, right? I got back to LA
and Sam called me and said, Do you want to do a
lead in my next film, Paris, Texas? Wim Wenders
thought I was too old. He came to see me and
finally he agreed to it after a couple of meetings.
I just played myself.
The 90s opened with Wild At Heart although
David Lynch had originally offered Stanton the
role of Frank Booth in Blue Velvet. Because I
play myself as much as I can, I didnt want to
go there emotionally, I guess, he explained.
Killing people and stuff. I told him to get Dennis
[Hopper]. Wild At Heart initiated a fruitful
relationship with
Lynch, which included
roles in Twin Peaks:
Fire Walk With Me, The
Straight Story and Inland
Empire. There was little
in Lynchs canon of
unsettling eccentricities,
it seemed, to faze the
inscrutable Stanton. In
one of Stantons final
roles, he recapped his
role as a trailer park owner for Lynchs new Twin
Peaks TV series. His final film, Lucky, screens as
part of this years London Film Festival.
Everything just evolves, the philosopher poet of
character acting told us, as he sought to categorise
his long, meandering career. Ultimately, theres
in charge. Its just an inexplicable unfolding
of events. MICHAEL BONNER
CHARLES
BRADLEY
Late-blooming soul singer
(1948-2017)

C
HARLES BRADLEY drew from
a lifetime of experience for his
full recording debut in 2011.
Then aged 62, the self-styled
Screaming Eagle Of Soul
had survived abandonment, poverty
and homelessness in a journey that had
taken him back and forth across the US
and Canada. When Daptone Records boss
Gabriel Roth eventually got to know him,
having discovered Bradley performing as
a James Brown tribute act in Brooklyn, he
observed one of the meekest and strongest Soon after, Bradley left the penury of It was only in 1996, when he returned to
people Ive ever known. His pain was a cry home, spending the next two years on the Brooklyn to care for his ailing mother, whod
for universal love and humanity. streets and sleeping on subways. He finally left him to be raised by his grandmother
Despite suffering from stage fright in found vocational work through Jobs Corps, at eight months old, that Bradley started
his earlier years, Bradley grew into a becoming a chef in Bar Harbour, Maine. I working as a James Brown impersonator
spectacular showman, loading his gigs with was very shocked when a guy there told me under the alias Black Velvet. His encounter
the same kind of feverish passion that Brown I looked like James Brown, Bradley told with Roth led him to Daptone producer Tom
had trademarked in the 60s, often leaving the Chicago Tribune. He asked me if I could Brenneck, who enlisted the Menahan Street
the stage to embrace people in the audience. sing and I told him no. I was ashamed. I was Band to back him on a series of powerful
He was ideally suited to the festival circuit, scared to sing. He reluctantly agreed to front funk-soul recordings that became 2011s No
following up his breakout gig at SXSW with an R&B group for a handful of local dates, but Time For Dreaming. One of its most affecting
appearances at Glastonbury and Coachella. his budding music career was curtailed when songs was Heartaches And Pain, written
He was also able to realise an ambition by his bandmates were drafted to Vietnam. for Bradleys murdered brother, Joe.
headlining Harlems Apollo Theatre, the Bradley
Bradley spent 10 years as a cook, As Bradleys star rose, two more albums

scene of an epiphanal moment as a young
teenager in 1962, when Bradleys sister took
him to see Brown up close. He had those
strobe lights and effects lights on him, he
recalled to NPR in 2011. And I said, Oh my
God, I want to be like that!
Gary Miller/WireiMaGe
performing latterly serving food at a New York mental followed in quick succession Victim Of
at the institution, before hitchhiking through Love (2013) and last years Changes, by which
Bonnaroo
Music & Arts Washington, Canada, Alaska and time hed been diagnosed with cancer. It
Festival in California, where he remained for two took 62 years for somebody to find me, but I
Manchester,
Tennessee, decades. He supplemented his income as a thank God, he said, without any bitterness.
June 9, 2012 handyman by securing small club shows. Some people never get found. ROB HUGHES

DON WILLIAMS
Country singer-songwriter
(1939-2017)
The easygoing baritone of Don
Williams, allied to his physical
stature, earned him the nickname
The Gentle Giant in Nashville
music circles. His impressive run of
consecutive country hits lasted from
1974s I Wouldnt Want To Live If You
Didnt Love Me to Lord Have Mercy
Gentle Giants: The Songs Of Don
Williams, was released this year.
BILLy HAttON
Merseybeat bassist/singer
(1941-2017)
The Fourmost joined Brian Epsteins
growing stable of Liverpool-rooted
artists in June 1963, after which they
auditioned for George Martin and
signed to Parlophone. The quartets
music business when hed joined
The Four Jays in the late 50s. Having
morphed into The Fourmost, they
regularly toured as support to The
Beatles. John Lennon wrote their first
two hits Hello Little Girl and Im (1945-2017)
In Love, both in the latter half of 63
before Russ Alquist provided them
with another major success, A Little
Loving, a year later.
tONy COHeN
To Eternity (1984) to 2001s No More
Shall We Part.
JOHNNy SANDLIN
Allmans producer
Among the in-house players at
Muscle Shoals FAME studios in
the 60s was multi-instrumentalist
Johnny Sandlin. Teaming up with
fellow sessioneer Eddie Hinton,
Hulton-DeutscH collection/corBis/corBis via Getty iMaGes

On A Country Boy in 1991, with
only three singles failing to make the
Top 10. He also enjoyed UK success
during the 70s with Youre My
Best Friend and I Recall A Gypsy
Woman. Much of this popular
appeal lay in his simple approach,
the smooth certitude of his voice
backed by guitar and tasteful
arrangements. Williams started out
in 1964 as a member of folk trio The
Pozo-Seco Singers, who issued three
LPs on Columbia, before he decided
to go solo in 1971. He retired in 2016,
although an all-star tribute album,
bassist/singer Billy Hatton had Nick Cave producer
followed his best friend Ronnie (1957-2017)
Wycherley (aka Billy Fury) into the
Australian engineer-producer
Tony Cohen worked with The Go-
Betweens, Dave Graney and The
Blackeyed Susans. But hes best
known for his association with Nick
Cave, beginning with The Boys Next
Doors 1979 debut, Door, Door, and
following their transition into The
Birthday Party. His love of studio
Don experimentation was key to his
Williams
with Eric involvement with Nick Cave And
Clapton The Bad Seeds, spanning From Her
he formed The Five Men-Its,
before linking up with Duane
and Gregg Allman in Hour Glass.
After drumming on the bands
two unsuccessful studio albums,
Sandlin was hired by the Georgia-
based Capricorn label in 1969.
The post enabled him to continue
his working relationship with the
Allmans, producing 1973s huge-
selling Eat A Peach and its follow-up,
Win, Lose Or Draw. He also worked
with the likes of Elvin Bishop, Bonnie
Bramlett, Widespread Panic and
Delbert McClinton. ROB HUGHES

DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 115

 feedBack
Email uncut_feedback@timeinc.com or write to: Uncut Feedback, Basement 2, Blue Fin Building,
110 Southwark Street, london SE1 0SU. Or tweet us at twitter.com/uncutmagazine

FROM OUR
HEARTBROKEN Rickenbacker glory;
Tom petty & The
CORRESpONDENTS Heartbreakers play
I saw Tom Petty play live with either the Verizon Wireless
Amphitheater in
The Heartbreakers or Mudcrutch in Kansas, July 10, 2005
the neighbourhood of 50 times.
Best live performer Ive seen a
true musician. Of all the memorable
shows, the 2005 Indianapolis one
will always stand out. During
Refugee, lightning struck near
the stage and knocked the power
out. Everything went dead. The
audience kept singing the song
and, after around 10 to 15 seconds,
the power kicked back in. Tom and
the band jumped right back in to
where the audience was singing
truly amazing. The following
summer, in 2006, he returned to
Indy to play again. He commented
during the show that hed spent the
past year telling people that story
and what a cool moment it was.
Indeed. He was the best.
Elliot Bloom, West Lafayette,
Indiana

As my glory days at university

ended in 1999, my best mate and I
were lucky enough to see Tom Petty
And The Heartbreakers at the
Shepherds Bush Empire around
the time the much-underrated Echo
album was released, and he was
terrific. It was a two-and-a-half-
hour epic where the unshowy
master musicians solely focused on
great songs via a cross-section of
their own career and some well-
chosen covers detailing their
inspiration (Chuck Berry, JJ Cale,
Them). We got told off for dancing
on the balcony. Quite right, too.
Fast-forward to Hyde Park this
summer, where the same great
mate and I found ourselves almost
double the age we were the last
time we saw him but the only
thing about Tom that seemed to
have changed was hed grown a
beard. Still absolutely at the top of
his game, and I fulfilled the dream
of seeing him not only duet with
Stevie Nicks, but also go on to
perform five songs from the
impeccable Wildflowers. The
soundtrack to good times, great
friendship and just someone whose
Jason squires/Wireimage
another bedrock of American
music, Tom Petty, just months after
Chuck Berry. If you can find a better
symbol of the free fallin of the
American spirit in 2017, I dare you
to name it.
Stephen Conn, Las Cruces,
New Mexico
THE MANS A
COMplETE ASSHAT,
BUT
I read with great amusement the
snide, condescending letter from
a Liz Tray of London [Uncut,
November 2017]. She does know
that plenty of Jews, LGBT people
and people of colour voted for
Trump, right? We can all agree the
mans a complete asshat, but some
Jeff Hyatt was right to be irritated.
Your average Uncut interviewee
can definitely carry a tune, but
their views are about as politically
sophisticated as a sixth-form
student in a Che Guevara T-shirt.
Oh yeah, and if all these protest
singers are as bothered by racist,
misogynist, antisemitic,
homophobic, transphobic idiots
as Liz Tray seems to be, can we
expect a concept album about the
evils of Islamic fundamentalism
anytime soon? I wouldnt hold
my breath.
Marlon Aransibia, Essex
ANOTHER BlAST
FROM THE pAST
The letter in your last issue [Uncut,
Angeles music scene that brought
us X, The Blasters, Los Lobos, The
Minutemen and The Gun Club.
Ive written and asked before, so if
I sound like Im pimping, I am. Not
only will I put Xs first four albums
up against any other band except
the you-know-whos, but also their
first live album that was recorded
at the Whisky A Go Go when it still
meant something to play there.
And in case you all forgot
(because Im sure Dwight Yoakam
never has), it was Dave Alvin who
wrote Yoakams huge hit, Long
White Cadillac. Come on, fellas.
Get with it. Remind me and the
rest of your readers why Uncut is
the best of its genre.
David Dale, Sonoma Valley, CA

musical quality you knew you
could rely on. We got lucky.
Ollie Carlisle, via email
A fascist, racist president, record-
setting hurricanes and shooting
massacre, and now the death of
of the things hes being accused
of are ridiculous. Yes, shes right
artists generally move in liberal
worlds, but living in that bubble is
why so many of them arrogantly
dismiss all Trump supporters as
sexist, racist, blah blah blah.
November 2017] about what a drag
Neil Young and his ilk (Roger
Waters etc, etc) have become, while
the likes of Dave Alvin remain
marginalised, reminded me that it
was once again time to plead for
Uncut to do an article on the Los
GWENT HART
REMEMBERED
In Springsteens autobiography
he writes that people attend rock
shows chasing a gut experience
where one and one make three.

116 UNCUT DECEMBER 2017

 CROSSWORD
Win one of two copies of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Soul Of A Woman on CD

Many people in Newport during
the 80s were chasing that strange
equation, and Hsker D provided
that gut reaction. I was so sorry to
hear of Grant Harts death. He was
a lovely man.
Travelling around to all their
shows, some mates and I
transformed into The Three
Welshmen for guestlist purposes.
I treasure happy memories of Mars
Bar wrappers subsidising bus
travel, something Grant found
hysterical and never forgot,
reminiscing at a Cardiff show he
did a couple of years ago. Mr Hart
furnished hotel floors for us when
we had nowhere else to sleep and
Glastonbury guestlists where we
were in and out of the despised
sprawl in three hours, having seen
the D. In Paris, Sonic Youth
looked on appalled as a mate threw
up in the Hskers backstage
shower room while Grant laughed
like a drain.
With Hsker D, one and one
made three, and Grant, we
remember you and miss you.
Pete French. Newport, Gwent
GIVE THE DRUMMERS
SOME
That is spoons-virtuoso,
percussionist and occasional
drummer Noel Crombie pictured
with Tim and Neil Finn on
page 86 [Uncut, November 2017].
Not Phil Judd. Great article on the
work of the brilliant Neil Finn
though thanks.
William Allen, Buxton, Derbyshire
Now I yield to no-one in my love
and admiration for The Icicle Works
[Uncut, November 2017], and good
luck to the current incarnation as
they head out on tour. But could
you really not be arsed to even
look up the names of the other
two for the photo of the definitive
lineup on page 8 of the November
issue? To save them the trouble,
they are bass player Chris Layhe
and the best British drummer since
Keith Moon Chris Sharrock. He
has gone on to work with the
Lightning Seeds, World Party, Del
Amitri, Oasis and er, yes, Robbie
Williams, among others. Credit
where credit is due, please!
Buddy Ascott, via email
MORE DANDElION
WINE?
According to Billy Childish
[Uncut, November 2017], The
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DECEMBER 2017 UNCUT 117

 Perfume Genius
Mike Hadreas favourite records, with the stress on teen angst: Id
wander around my weird suburb with headphones on, crying!
ellioTT SmiTh
either/or 1997
I must have got into this when I was about
16. Those are dark days I dont trust
anyone who was a teenager in high school
and wasnt fully depressed [laughs]. So this
was a good companion to that maybe the
experiences are different, but the feeling is
the same. You want to hear that sadness and
that melancholy and that angst it makes you feel less lonely in that dark
time. Elliott Smith gives direction to all that feeling and makes something
beautiful, instead of it being this aimless, wandering sadness.
PJ harvey
To bring you my love 1995
I was 12 or 13 when I heard this. What I loved
is how scary and audacious it all was: her
makeup She would have this manic wide
smile when shed play the songs, too
singing about walking with darkness or
laying with the devil. She was reaching into
some ancient thing I dont know if she
would want to put it that dramatically, but thats how it feels to me. When
I was younger I liked the pretty ballad ones, like The Dancer, but as Ive
got older I like the legit loud ones, like Meet Ze Monsta. Shes the best.
Talk Talk
Spirit of eden 1988
Since I started making my own music I dont
really listen to music in the same way, but
this is one of the only albums as an adult
where Ive had that obsessive listening
thing I had when I was younger. After I
made my third album, some people asked
me if I was influenced by Talk Talk so I
listened to them, and now I consider them to be an influence [laughs]. I
listened to this every day for like a week before it clicked, then suddenly it
was the most beautiful thing Id ever heard.
The amPS
Pacer 1995
Hardly anyone ever mentions this record,
thats kind of why I put it on my list. Im a big
Breeders fan, and I could easily have chosen
one of their albums too, but I think I listened
to this Amps album a lot more and for a lot
longer. I heard this when I had first moved
out on my own I was going to art school
and played this pretty obsessively. Its really good from start to finish. The
Breeders last few albums are underrated, too Mountain Battles and Title
INTERVIEW: TOM PINNOCK
TK were really good. Not that they need my support, but Im such a big fan!
Perfume Genius tours the UK in November. No Shape is out now on Matador
118 UNCUT deCember 2017
big STar
Third/Sister lovers 1978
I got into this after Id already been making
my own music. I feel a weird kinship with
Alex Chilton, I think because he has a kind
of nasal voice like me, and so when I would
sing along with his songs I could sing along
perfectly, which isnt always the case. He
seems like a weirdo nothing here is super-
experimental, but it has this thread of weirdness even though some of the
songs are light and even jokey. But theres something fucked up about all of
them, and I can identify with that.
bJrk
homogenic 1997
I basically only listened to this and Either/
Or for like a year, and when youre 16, thats
a really long time. Elliott was more like the
real, everyday shit and Bjrk was more like
eventually Ill be able to turn all these
things Im thinking about into something
magical or beautiful. She was my ultimate
idol. When I was 12 or 13, I had a Bjrk website dedicated to her with
pictures and typed-out lyrics. She was like my one I used to draw her all
the time and shade her hair.
NiNa SimoNe
Wild is The Wind 1966
I picked this because it has a few of my
favourite songs on it, like Four Women
and Wild Is The Wind. She was classically
trained, and her music sounds to me even
more like classical than jazz I think she
resented having to be a jazz musician in
some ways. I love how nearly every one of
her songs is a form of protest: because her voice is incredibly beautiful and
shes such a great player, she easily could have written songs that would
have pleased everyone, but she never did that. She was such a badass.
loW
Things We lost in The Fire 2001
I feel like everything Ive chosen is based
around my teenage depression, where
Id wander around my weird suburb with
headphones on, crying! Low were kind of
like a kinder version of all that sadness,
there was always something warm about
them maybe because I knew they were
married and religious. It was the limit of sadness, it never tipped over into
depression, which is just a void. Theres not many elements, but it always
feels so full maybe because Mimis voice is so crystal clear.
 FROM THE MAKERS OF

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