Ramblers & gamblers

15 KEY VOICES FOR 2023

ALL BACK TO MY PLACE

THE STARS REVEAL THE SONIC DELIGHTS GUARANTEED TO GET THEM GOING...

REAL GONE

My Lord, What A Livin’ Harry Belafonte, who used

JUNE 1993 ... Prince changes his name to

At the sign of the swinging symbol: (anti-clockwise

Which band had the first logo?

Let us answer your rock’n’roll queries and bring enlightenment where there is doubt.

Tim Staffell and Smile

They came together in college in London. And when he split they got a guy called Freddie in and became Queen…

Theories, rants, etc.

MOJO welcomes correspondence for publication. Write to us at:

For The Black, White And Blues

THE HOT NEWS AND BIZARRE STORIES FROM PLANET MOJO

GANG OF FOUR RETURN? KING AND BURNHAM EXPLAIN ALL

Open wide: Gang Of Four (from left) Jon

Sparks

Ron and Russell talk Cate Blanchett, creative obstinacy and wanting to be sued.

Jenny Lewis

The indie-rock showbiz vet salutes De La Soul’s 3 Feet High And Rising (Tommy Boy, 1989).

INTRODUCING DAMIEN, ALAN SPARHAWK TALKS LIFE AFTER LOW

“D ANCEABLE FOR a group of northern Minnesota

EX-SUPERSTAR MAINMAN JOE McALINDEN GOES IT ALONE

A ’star is reborn: (clockwise from above) Joe

THE HISTORIC ALCHEMY OF ANGELINE MORRISON, BRINGING BLACK BRITAIN’S UNTOLD STORIES TO TRAD FOLK

Romancing the stones: Angeline Morrison integrates the darkness

MEET KASSA OVERALL: VIRTUOSO DRUMMER, RAP CONFESSOR, BACKPACK JAZZ PRODUCER!

KASSA OVERALL can pinpoint the exact moment he

MOJO PLAYLIST

Turn on! For the month’s best rock romance,

THE MOJO INTERVIEW

Fronting the ’60s’ most anomalous band, he was a choirboy among “pirates and brigands”. A Zombie and a gentleman in 2023, his remains a unique path through rock’n’roll. “The less I try, the more successful I am,” reckons Colin Blunstone.

THE REBEL ALLIANCE

ASSEMBLED FOR ONE LAST BLAG: STEVE JONES, PAUL COOK,

MOJO PRESENTS

Fifty years ago, the sound of liberation rang around southern Africa, as a generation of heavy, funky rock bands heralded a new political and musical era. At the forefront? Zambia’s WITCH, surviving turmoil and tragedy to become cratedigger superstars in the 21st century. “We want to keep the Zamrock fire burning,” they promise DAVID HUTCHEON

nick drake: the making of a genius

Far from the work of a cloistered savant nick drok0's subtle songs were shaped by myriad influences, from Bach to Bert Jansch, Mose Allison to Randy Newman. Mining his interviews for a brand new authorised biography richord morton jock tracks Drake's listening from cradle to tragic early grave and its impact on his art: "Nick was very conscious of what was happening."

THE TEARDROP EXPLODES ACCEPT THEIR REWARD

Careering out of Liverpool’s post-punk scene, The Teardrop Explodes and Orphic pin-up JULIAN COPE looked set for hugeness when existential piledriver Reward stormed the Top 10 in March 1981. Yet their fame-year of escape, adventure and psychedelic colours nosedived when heroic second LP Wilder tanked. “It was mad fun, and everyone was involved,” recall members and affiliates, of supporting Queen, playing Macca at pool and tripping on Top Of The Pops. And then? “Disaster.” Tom Sheehan

LOVE HURTS

Divine, deranged, divided: it’s taken 50 years and change for LOVE’s JOHNNY ECHOLS to make peace with his doomed band’s ageless legacy. In 2023. the Book of Love is reopening, but not before the guitarist confronts its more contentious passages.”1 won’t sugar-coat it.” he tells ANDREW PERRY. “There’s nothing to hide."

THAT TOUCH OF MINK

Pimp style, tough love, and the romance of New York, Paris and New Orleans infused the extraordinary rock, roots and soul of wily De Ville But as sylvie Simmans discovers, bad luck, hard drugs, and tragic deaths cast long shadows across his life and music. "I constantly have this kind of hunger," he confessed, "an emptiness."

THE JAZZ SINGER

As JONI MITCHELL preps for her landmark June 10 show, MOJO explores another key watershed: Court And Spark. Crazy chords, unreliable beaus, jazz cats and a drunk Lennon litter the path to her second great masterpiece, an intimate self-portrait and dissection of the LA scene’s Gatsby-ish bacchanal. “It’s an almost perfect record,” learns TOM DOYLE.

Reach out, touch faith

At once sublime and chilling, Simon’s latest act of devotion is a masterpiece

Westway to the world

With a little help from friends including Damon Albarn and Angie Stone, Mali’s brightest star pushes forward.

Altered estate

Quitting the dancefloor, Noel turns in his best post-Oasis album

JAZZ

Alex LoRe & Weirdear ★★★★ Evening Will Find

FOLK

Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay ★★★★ Jim Ghedi

Have guitar, will travel

The mystical Yorkshireman finds himself inside vast influences.

Walls come tumbling down

Joey Burns and John Convertino mark 20 years of blurring the boundaries

Twilight zone

Dylan’s other-worldly 2021 take on his back pages – yours, finally, to keep

It goes like this…

Carefully curated trawl of lesserspotted cuts from the first wave of hip-hop 45s

Green Machine

Black and white united in their enthusiasm for the olive/magenta label from Philly.

Libretto Blaster

This month’s sublime rediscovery: Tim Buckleycharged Italian prog-folk-jazz

Keith Jarrett

The great jazz pianist before and after Köln.

The big chill

The inside story of Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 masterpiece Nebraska.

The truth about selling out

They were the biggest rock band in the US. Then Richard Nixon got involved.