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THE BALLAD OF WESFREED

Remembering the artist who gave the band their distinctive visual signature

IT’S GREAT TO BE LIVE!

How to buy… Drive- By Truckers live

TIME HAS TOLD

Richard Morton Jack’s new biography offers the deepest dive yet into Drake’s brief life.

BOOKS

“Little fuckers” The Beatles with Cassius Clay at

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CROSSWORD

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On the cover: Nick Drake © Julian Lloyd/

UNCUT

A sense of purpose MARK STEWART | 1960–2023

FEATURING... The Rolling Stones | Ryuichi Sakamoto | Ann-Margret

Brian storm!

“An embodiment of all our dreams”, “a cruel fucker”, or just “a very hurt little boy”? Nick Broomfield explodes the myth of Brian Jones

The wild one

Allhail Ann-Margret! Why the Harleyriding,Elvis-dating Tommy star is still rocking at 82

A QUICK ONE

It’s pretty good-looking, for a magazine! Celebrating the

“Art is long, life is short”

Ryuichi Sakamotolives lives on forever in his groundbreaking final work

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO (1952-2023)

Magic touch: Sakamoto in1987 RYUICHI Sakamoto started out

UNCUT PLAYLIST

Onthe stereo this month...

Damien

WE’RE NEW HERE

Made To Love Magic

15 tracks in the spirit of Nick Drake

Evan Dando

The wayward Lemonheads mainman talks severed tendons, Nirvana jam sessions, “killer” new songs and his ultimate life goal: “an acoustic tour of Spain on horseback”

CALIFONE Villagers JEALOUSBUTCHER

THE UNCUT GUIDE TO THIS MONTH’S KEY RELEASES

DISSONANCE AND DESERT NOIR

Highlights from 25 years of Califone dreaming

Q&A

Califone’s Tim Rutili on songs as people, fake psychics and a Spanish king’s “mushy face”

PAUL SIMON

Seven Psalms OWLRECORDS/LEGACY 8/10 Echoes of a stellar

AtoZ

This month… P22 BRIGID MAE POWER P24 COWBOY

BENCHASNY & RICK TOMLINSON

The experimental guitarists on their first collaboration B

LAURA CANTRELL

Just Like A Rose: The Anniversary Sessions PROPELLERSOUND

WARRINGTON-RUNCORN NEW TOWN DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Something out of nothing withGordon Chapman-Fox A lthough

AR KANE

AR Kive ROCKET GIRL

LISTEN UP!

The roots of AR Kane’s dream pop

Q&A

Tambalawith A R Kane live on day one

THE DREAM SYNDICATE

History Kinda Pales When It And You Are Aligned: The Days Of Wine And Roses 40th Anniversary Edition

“I can hear the band’s progression on this collection, getting more confident”

SLEEVE NOTES

Q&A

Steve Wynn on the band that you “love or hate”

MATT BERRY

Kill The Wolf (reissue, 2013) ACID JAZZ 7/10

SLEEVE NOTES

CD 1: Tanx Tracks 1-13 + bonus 45

REDISCOVERED

Uncovering the underrated and overlooked

DOUG McKECHNIE

McKechnie (right) withparticle physicistFrank Oppenheimerat the SanFrancisco Exploritorium,1969

COMING NEXT MONTH...

P J Harvey returns with her first album

“WE’RE ALL ON MUSHIES FROM NOW ON!”

Salvē, JULIAN COPE! Taking time out from creating

JULIAN CALENDAR

What else is going on in Cope’s world

Feed Your Head

Raised in a remote cabin in Arizona on a diet of West Coast classics, KASSI VALAZZA is busy expanding musical traditions in adventurous new ways. But how have a love of Game Of Thrones, the mentorship of Lavender Country’s Patrick Haggerty and assistance from the “Northwest Wrecking Crew” helped her overcome performance anxiety to find her own voice? “I don’t know how I got to do this,” she admits to Robert Ham in her hometown of Portland. “It is special.”

ONE WAY STREET

In 1970, STEPHEN STILLS escaped from his CSNY bandmates, moved to deepest Surrey and launched a lively solo career with a little help from his new mates. Stand by for jams with Hendrix, cameos from Ringo and Clapton, studio casualties and heavy scenes on the road. “It was a lucky streak,” Stills tells Michael Bonner

HEY, CHILDREN, WHAT’S THAT SOUND?

Five great Stephen Stills songs that aren’t “For What It’s Worth” or “Love The One You’re With”…

Weekender

Go out and have a good, good time

Lipstick Traces

From mascara-clad ingénue of the NEW YORK DOLLS to lounge lizard Buster Poindexter, DAVID JOHANSEN is one of the great survivors of the early-’70s New York music scene. As his life and times are documented by the city’s other great rock ’n’ roller, Martin Scorsese, the singer recalls high times at the heart of the Dolls’ colourful and outrageous prime. “It was a very groovy scene,” he tells Peter Watts

“IT BECAME A BIG SCANDAL”

When Malcolm McLaren made Dolls fans seered

DJ SELECTER

A buyers’ guide to David Johansen

DeLa Soul

Original D.A.I.S.Y Age hero Pos traces the recorded story of his hip-hop pioneers

HEATHEN CHEMISTRY

On stage at Athens, Georgia’s fabled 40 Watt Club, the DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS are in the thick of their annual Homecoming hootenany. A wild celebration of the community that has built up around Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley and their coconspirators, this year’s Homecoming is also a memorial to fallen comrades. Stephen Deusner hears how the band come to terms with ageing and loss – and what that may mean for their unique blend of Southern Americana. “A big chapter is wrapping up for sure,” says Hood. “But I don’t feel like we’re anywhere near done yet.”

PLACE TO BE

Forty-eight years on from his untimely death, the tragic myth of NICK DRAKE persists. But there is another Nick Drake: the spirited and untroubled young man, on the cusp of a bright future, who travelled to Europe and North Africa in pursuit of adventure and honed his skills along the way. Here, Drake’s school friends, fellow travellers and assorted eyewitnesses relive the freewheeling times — from playing folk clubs in Aix-en-Provence to an audience with the Stones in Marrakesh. “It was absolutely central to Nick becoming Nick Drake,” one close confidant tells Nick Hasted. “It opened his eyes to a lot of things…”

“WE WANTED THE SONGS TURNED INSIDE -OUT!”

An all-star covers album adds to Nick Drake’s legacy

PANDA BEAR & SONIC BOOM

Band On The Wall, Manchester, April 19

LIFETONES

Café Oto, London, April 15

Ari Aster’s cleverclever fever dream; a Brit murder-mystery to dye for; fig-picking teens in Tunisia…

Schlemiel deal: Joaquin Phoenix in BeauIs Afraid BEAU

REVIEWED THIS MONTH

BEAU IS AFRAID Directed by Ari Aster

ALSO OUT...

ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET MAY

MY NAME IS OTTILIE

IPLAYER 8/10

Not Fade Away

Fondly remembered this month…

Susanna Hoffs

The Bangles frontwoman on the records that lit her eternal flame: “I always think of music as my drug”

BLOOMSBURY CARAVEL

Animal Collective

CARGO RECORDS

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AGMP

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THE WONDER STUFF

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THE SOUND MACHINE

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