Isn't there a non-thumbnail version of that cover available?

I've fixed Pete's post.

The latest Mojo 60s issue #8, out in the UK 12-2-16:

Anyone know how far they're going with these issues?

Finally, a good issue (to me anyway) and not rehash...



When the news broke of his death, on November 10 last year, we had just begun working on an Ultimate Music Guide to Leonard Cohen (on sale this Thursday, but available now from our online shop), emboldened by the brilliance of “You Want It Darker”.

Cohen’s passing should not have been a surprise, in the great scheme of things. Here, after all, was a man of 82 who had recently suggested to the New Yorker’s editor that he was operating in the proximity of death. There was work to complete, Cohen told David Remnick, but, he said, “I don’t think I’ll be able to finish those songs… Maybe I’ll get a second wind, I don’t know. But I don’t dare attach myself to a spiritual strategy. I’ve got some work to do. Take care of business. I am ready to die. I hope it’s not too uncomfortable. That’s about it for me.”

Cohen’s epical endurance, his talent for standing at a remove from the march of time, nevertheless meant that the announcement of his actual death still came as a kind of shock. For nearly 50 years, this uncommonly gracious man had confounded expectations of what a singer-songwriter might look and sound like, of what he might sing about. There is a clichéd expectation that certain feted musicians will choose a path of self-destruction, and Cohen undoubtedly had moments when he found himself on that trajectory. Writing about Songs Of Love And Hate in a new piece for this Ultimate Music Guide, David Cavanagh portrays, “A brilliant madman on the precipice of disaster… Maybe, if you told him he had 45 more years of life and work ahead of him, it would be no surprise if he buckled and shook until his laughter turned into a scream.”

There would be further traumatic episodes, among them a legendary – if not notably successful – spell in the company of Phil Spector. Mostly, though, the story of Leonard Cohen is one of a great artist ruefully trying to make some sense of the mysteries of life and love; trying to persevere on a quest towards transcendence, with caveats.

It’s this quest that our latest Ultimate Music Guide seeks to understand and illuminate. Within its pages, you’ll find many interviews from the archives of NME, Melody Maker and Uncut, notable for their unusual levels of perception and wit, plus in-depth new reviews of every Leonard Cohen album, book and volume of poetry. What emerges is a complete portrait of a man who started and finished his career as too old for this sort of thing, by most measures, but whose maturity and poetic insight enabled him to loom, benignly, over nearly every single one of his peers. He is, indefinitely, your man.

http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/introducing ... uide-98830

From Uncut:

For even the most obsessive fan, it can sometimes be tough to keep up with Neil Young. At 71, he remains more restless, unpredictable and hyper-productive than any other artist of a comparable age and reputation. Since 2000, The Rolling Stones have released two new albums, while Bob Dylan has managed seven (eight, I guess, if you count Triplicate). Bruce Springsteen has also produced seven; Tom Waits, a mere four.

In that time, Young has come up with two autobiographies, eight personally curated archive releases, one imaginatively conceptual live album, five films, an environmentally friendly car and a new audio format, plus the small matter of 14 new studio albums. It’s an eccentric and gripping, if not always magnanimously received, body of work that tells the tale of an artist driven to spontaneous creation, whim, rough-hewn experiments and rapid emotional responses that pay little heed to the expectations of his paymasters and, sometimes, his fans.

These are themes that run through the 148 pages of our deluxe, updated Ultimate Music Guide to Neil Young, out on Thursday in the UK available to buy here now (along with a load of our other Ultimate Music Guides). For this comprehensive attempt to make sense of Young’s sprawling catalogue, we’ve found a host of interviews from the NME, Melody Maker and Uncut archives that show how, among many things, he’s been consistent in his contrary single-mindedness, his imperturbable desire to keep moving forward. “I’ve never liked it, when they shout out for the old songs immediately after you’ve finished a new one,” he complains to MM’s Ray Coleman in 1976. “Kinda deflating… To hell with the old ones!”

Our reviews of every one of his albums provide a similarly compelling narrative, finding significant echoes and hidden treasures on even his most misunderstood and neglected ’80s records, right up to 2016’s Earth and Peace Trail. “You can’t worry about what people think. I never do. I never did, really,” Young told Uncut in 2012. And here’s the proof: one of rock’s greatest runs, anatomised and celebrated in all its weird, ragged glory…


Read more at http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/introducing ... Fl625VA.99

“Real music by real people”: that’s the quote on the cover of the new edition of The History Of Rock, positioned artfully next to a picture of The Smiths. Our encyclopaedic monthly mag has reached its 20th issue, and the year under the microscope is 1984. It should be arriving in the shops on Thursday, but you can order a copy of History Of Rock 1984 from our online shop now. Please remember, too, that if you’ve missed any previous issues the full History Of Rock range is now in stock there.

Lots to enjoy this issue: Nina Simone and Hüsker Dü; James Brown and ZZ Top; Wham! Making mincemeat of a Melody Maker journalist. Here, anyway, is John Robinson to roll out the big welcome to The History Of Rock 1984…

“The 20 years so far covered by History Of Rock have seen action and reaction, financial successes and grassroots revolution. This year, rock remains as engaged as it needs to be during the administration of Margaret Thatcher – with its cold war, nuclear threat and high unemployment – the movement which takes place this year is actually not aggressive in character.

“More than ever, artists put their money where their mouth is to change the world for the better. In September, Paul Weller – continuing a recent philanthropic streak – and Wham! play a benefit concert for striking miners, while at the end of the year the pair join Band Aid. A collective put together by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure after viewing a news report on the Ethiopian famine, their ad hoc group of pop stars ends the year at the top of the charts, raising millions for charity.

“Musically, meanwhile, the aggressive commerciality signalled by the rise of Duran Duran now meets its characterful reaction. The likes of REM, Lloyd Cole, Prefab Sprout and our cover stars The Smiths celebrate a renewal of guitar music. Under the radar, meanwhile, a kinship develops between Black Flag, Nick Cave and The Fall – whose work is seen as much as transgressive writing as it is music. In the US, Prince and Michael Jackson engage with huge audiences in different, but no less dramatic ways.

“This is the world of The History Of Rock, a monthly magazine which follows each turn of the rock revolution. Whether in sleazy dive or huge arena, passionate and increasingly stylish contemporary reporters were there to chronicle events. This publication reaps the benefits of their understanding for the reader decades later, one year at a time. Missed one? You can find out how to rectify that here.

“In the pages of this twentieth edition, dedicated to 1984, you will find verbatim articles from frontline staffers, filed from the thick of the action, wherever it may be. In a hotel room with Morrissey. Hearing Dave Lee Roth explain why Van Halen is like a tampon. And finding out that the way to George Michael’s heart is through an aggressive interview.

“’We didn’t want to talk to Melody Maker because your hypocrisy makes us sick,’ says George. ‘You use our name on the cover and then slag us off inside. We’re only talking to you because we fancied doing a juicy interview for a change…’”

http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/introducing ... 1984-99130

It's almost like the publisher of Uncut has been reading my blog, with recent Ultimate Music Guides on PJ Harvey, Neil Young, Van Morrison and The Beach Boys following the "complete albums" series I've written over the years. Their Bowie issue was essential for me when I did my series on his discography. I think they also did issues on Tom Waits and The Kinks after I wrote about them. As if they know I exist.

So Uncut, bring on the issues dedicated to Toto, Hall & Oates, Joni Mitchell and Alice Cooper.

With Neil, "in depth reviews of every album" is so subjective; he's more of a chameleon than Bowie was. I'll guarantee each of us likes & dislikes a number of differing NY albums.

This is just a revamp of the Neil Young one from a few years ago.

I have that one and won't get this new one just to read about 2 more albums.

I'd love your blog entries to enter the Uncut series (especially Sabbath and Echo & Bunnymen!) but the ones you have listed stand no chance, aside from Joni Mitchell who I don't like.

I think they basically stick to critic's darlings and obvious legends.

That being said, I can't believe they haven't done Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, The Police, The Pretenders, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, etc.

So do blogs on them and make Uncut listen ha ha!

I was just kidding about Toto, Hall & Oates and Alice Cooper but any of those would be a very pleasant surprise. As for the other artists you mentioned, I already did series on Talking Heads and Paul Simon about 5-6 years ago so Uncut is way behind. I've considered all of the others and hope to eventually get to them, once my house renovations are done later this year and I get my music room back.

I'm a huge Joni fan

I picked up the Leonard Cohen issue yesterday, and it looks like one of the better ones.

And finally, a look at a Prog band!

One of my Top 5 bands ever, and I am thrilled this isn't just another Alt Rock hero or singer/songwriter.

I will be getting this when it shows up in the US about a month or two from now.




Summer 1978. Genesis have survived the departures of Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett. They have, in fact, just played a mammoth gig in the grounds of Knebworth House to 100,000 people. Phil Collins, though, still feels he has to defend the evolutions of his remarkable band. “You can’t expect us to stay neat and tidy,” he tells the man from the Melody Maker. “We’re not a neat, tidy band. We have to take chances.”

Uncut’s latest Ultimate Music Guide is dedicated to that remarkably untidy band: an ambitious survey of the entire, brilliant career of Genesis – from prog shapeshifters to stadium gods. It’s on sale in the UK on Thursday, but you can order a copy of the Ultimate Music Guide: Genesis from our online shop now. Within its pages, an epic musical saga unfolds, over multiple chapters, in which outlandish, seemingly disjointed ideas are propelled along with virtuosity, gusto and a heroic disregard for normal rock’n’roll practice. That could also be a description of any number of individual Genesis tracks, of course, but it works pretty neatly as a summary of their storied career. The adventure begins within the rarefied environs of Charterhouse School, some 50 years ago, and ends, at least for now, in a New York hotel suite.

DEAL OF THE DAY! Save 50% on your Uncut subscription! Click here for more details…

It is there, in September 2014, that Uncut encounters Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford, contemplating the history of their band on the occasion of a suitably expansive boxset, R-Kive, being released. “When I joined the band in 1970, Genesis was a band of songwriters desperate to write hits as well as good songs,” Collins tells Uncut’s Michael Bonner. “They weren’t going to sell out to do it. There is a huge jump from ‘Supper’s Ready’ to ‘Illegal Alien’, yeah. But I think of it in simple terms. Look at what you read when you’re 20 – like The Hobbit – then look at the books you’re reading 20 years later, or what kind of music you listen to, or what kind of clothes you wear. Because there’s a change. You grow up, that’s part of it.”

The Ultimate Music Guide: Genesis, then, seeks to explain the whole shapeshifting brilliance of the band. We’ve delved deep into the archives of NME and Melody Maker, finding interviews with the members that have languished unseen for decades. You’ll see characters emerging and plans being formulated, key figures stepping in and out of the spotlight. A career path being mapped out that does not always appear obvious, but which incrementally builds Genesis into one of the biggest bands of their era.

Alongside all these revelatory interviews, we’ve written in-depth new reviews of every single Genesis album, from their 1969 debut right up until 1997’s Calling All Stations, stopping off at all auspicious points in between. We’ve also investigated the significant solo careers: not just of Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins, but of Steve Hackett, Anthony Phillips, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks, too. It’s a tricky tale, but an endlessly rewarding one.

“If our present success continues, we’ll be in the situation where we can realize most of our ambitions in music,” Peter Gabriel tells Melody Maker in 1973. “I hope what we do will be completely new.”

Supper’s ready: here’s the main course…


Read more at http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/introducing ... 16YbW7V.99

I'll be getting this! I'll keep my eye for it when I visit B&N.

Rick A.

Mojo 60s: #9, #9, #9... Out in the UK 3-7-17, in about 5 weeks at your fave B&N...

(and featuring an article on the making of Dusty in Memphis !!)

I was happy to pick up the Genesis edition at B&N today.

There is literally nothing they can add to this updated edition so I will stick with my original.

The year I graduated High School...

Ah, Joni. Out in the UK on 5-11-17, 5 wks later at B&N...