Theories, rants, etc.

THIS MONTH'S CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE...

Andrew Cotterill Andy has shot for MOJO since

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TIME MACHINE

It’s a givin’ thing (clockwise from main): motivator

Take me to your louder

Win! A set of fine Esprit Titus EZ speakers from Triangle

ALL BACK TO MY PLACE

THE STARS REVEAL THE SONIC DELIGHTS GUARANTEED TO GET THEM GOING

The Rhythm Killer

Jamaican bass supremo Robbie Shakespeare left us on December 8

Who taped on the tourbus?

Time to sort those nagging posers, disputed facts and great unknowns

Maddy Prior and Steeleye Span

They began at the dawn of British folk rock, but had to split to get some rest from the road

Everybody Digs Mal Evans

THE HOT NEWS AND BIZARRE STORIES FROM PLANET MOJO

THE LOST TAPES OF MANC-PUNK NEXUS THE ELECTRIC CIRCUS, FOUND AT LAST?

Bingo master-tapes break-out!: The Fall (from left) Mark

INTERPOL TURN TO THE LIGHT ON LP SEVEN. PLUS, PROG?

’Pol position: (below, from left) Daniel Kessler, Paul

SOFT CELL

The original UK synth duo discuss comebacks, anxiety and angst, and how notoriety lasts

Britt Daniel

Spoon’s frontman genuflects before The Modern Lovers (Beserkley, 1976)

JANIS IAN’S ANNOUNCED HER DEFIANT FAREWELL LP. BUT IS IT REALLY GOODBYE?

NEW JERSEY-BORN veteran singer-songwriter Janis Ian is on

TOKYO HEAVY MOB BORIS CELEBRATE 30 YEARS OF NOISE

The story sofa: ready to feel the vibes,

Birth Of The Kool

Collected! Sophie Bramly’s photos of rap’s early dawn

LIGHTEN UP! MEET ERIN RAE, EASY-GOING MODERN WOMAN OF TRIPPY AMERICANA .

Southern comfort: Erin Rae takes it nice and

OUT OF THE LONDON MELTING POT: THE PAN-GLOBAL “ZING-ZANG” TWANG OF LOS BITCHOS!

Going global: Los Bitchos (from left) Nic Crawshaw,

MOJO PLAYLIST

Into the future! With helium-bossa, dronepunk and the blues

THE MOJO INTERVIEW

Transcending grunge, Pearl Jam’s brooding baritone has fought his demons, the ticket agents, and his President. Today, he takes each day as a challenge to his devotion to “all that’s sacred”. “ The bar keeps rising,” insists Eddie Vedder

Hi PRIEST Of SOUL

In Januar y 1972 came the album that defined AL GREEN’ s unique mix of sex and spirituality, plus the sophisticated sound of producer Willie Mitchell and his Hi Rhythm Section band. But before Let’s Stay Together could work its magic, writes BOB MEHR , its creators struck out on a voyage of discover y: “We had to find ourselves before we could really make that music.”

MOJO PRESENTS

When her A mericana musical, Hadestown, exploded on Broadway, songwriting took a back row seat. Now ANAÏS MITCHELL is re-finding her muse, her childhood self, and a bagful of tunes in backwoods Vermont. “It’s not that cool,” she tells GRAYSON HAVER CURRIN, “but I don’t have the energy to be cool any more.”

Reflected Glory

When PlNK FLOYD perfected Echoes in late 1971, it was atransformational epiphany-an emerging Vision ofasuccessful futureforthe band. Fiftyyears andsomeserious woodshedding later, NICK MASON’S i SAUCERFUL OFSECRETS are taking itonthe road.Timefor MOJO to dive intotheelaborate creation, and re-creationrof * a masterpiece. "It's fucking long," discovers TOM DOYL! . "Itgoes on I forever, mate."

ROCK ACTION!

The snapper who mixed glam with the dark stuff sashayed off this mortal coil last November, but left us with hundreds of images that brought music and its makers to life. A new book collects some of MICK ROCK’ s best and most surprising shots of Iggy, Lou, Syd, Bowie and more, and MOJO is proud to preview a stunning selection. Rock on!

VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR REACH ENDGAME WITH PAWN HEARTS

No-quarter prog heretics Van der Graaf Generator had nothing to lose when they made their third album in 1971, and divined new extremes of psychic trauma and existential crisis via hallucinogens, bloody-mindedness and ghostly visitations. Then they went to Italy, where they suffered huge rock stardom, riots, and terminal burn out. “We decided, fuck it, fuck everything,” they recall. “It had got completely out of control…”

The Cat In The Hat

In The Monkees, Michael Nesmith was the still, cool eye of the hurricane, holding a torch for real music amid the wacky fabrications. But as Micky Dolenz and others reveal to MOJO, he died understanding the joy the band gave to millions. “It was fantasy becoming reality, art becoming life,” they tell David Fricke

Blue Planet

New Orleans wanderer goes into their head to make sense of the world.

“There’s powerful plant life in New Orleans.”

Hurray For The Riff Raff’s Alynda Segarra: channelling

Game of poems

Close-knit Brooklynites return with renewed ambition after three members made solo albums in 2020.

It’s only rock’n’roll?

Algerian Tuaregs’ third album adds to the sweep of an epic history lesson, reckons David Hutcheon

Insect royalty

On the right track: Black Country, New Road

ELECTRONIC

GAS ★★★★ Der Lange Marsch KOMPAKT. CD/DL/LP Cologne’s

JAZZ

Mark Lockheart ★★★★ Dreamers EDITION. CD/DL/LP Quartet set

EXTENDED PLAY

Shadow play: Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold in winter

Dwellers on the threshold

Two albums (and one mini album) that capture Birmingham’s much-missed magi of occult psych-pop at their experimental and emotional ex tremes. Andrew Male is bewitched

Shades of glory

The lost boys of the Paisley Underground get their day in the sun

Black Forest Chateau

Some of the biggest names in jazz found their sound in a villa in the heart of Germany.

Pudding too hard

This month’s rediscovered delicacy: an acid girl group plays baroque R&B

Dusty Springfield

Who’s a 1960s pop genius? Dusty… definitely

Urban legends

Tower blocks, art rock and the temptations of stadium-filling Big Music: Simple Minds re-examined.