THIS MONTH'S CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE...

Pat Gilbert A MOJO veteran of 28 years,

FUTURE LEGENDS 15 TRACKS OF DYSTOPIAN SCI-FI ROCK

MOJO

Four Strings Good

Bass master and session legend Herbie Flowers left us on September 5.

NOVEMBER 1974 …the state wages war on Fela Kuti

King of the Afrobeat: (clockwise from above) Fela

Who came on stage riding what?

Lynn Goldsmith/Getty, Avalon, Getty (3) Come with us

Jakko Jakszyk and King Crimson

It began with a blown mind in Watford, and faded to silence in Tokyo.

Theories, rants, etc.

MOJO welcomes correspondence for publication. Write to us at: MOJO, H Bauer Publishing, The Lantern, 75 Hampstead Road, London, NW1 2PL. E-mail to: mojoreaders@bauermedia.co.uk

Lonely Planet Boy

THE HOT NEWS AND BIZARRE STORIES FROM PLANET MOJO

NEW BOOK LOGO RHYTHM CHRONICLES THE BAND EMBLEM

Alamy “I T FELT LIKE we had to

THE MANICS GET FREE ON ALBUM 15

Staying free: James Dean Bradfield gets inspired by

ALSO WORKING

…after STEVIE WONDER’s (right) September single Can We

Joe Talbot

Idles’ front-dynamo talks love, lyric-writing and liking Chris Martin. And he’s not scared, right?

Elkie Brooks

The Grand Dame of blues, rock and jazz hails Dino & Sembello’s Pearl’s A Singer (A&M, 1974).

PINK LABEL AND ALL, PYE RECORDS IS BACK FROM THE DEAD – BUT HOW?

KNOWN FOR years as a voice on Scottish

45 YEARS IN, PUNK-POP BELIEVERS REDD KROSS POWER ONWARDS

In pole position: Redd Kross Jeff McDonald, Steve

ARE LONDON AGE NTS OF CHAOS WARMDUSCHER TOO HOT TO HANDLE?

Take a shower: Warmduscher Bleu Ottis, Adam J

DIG THIS! SHOVEL DANCE COLLECTIVE’S ANARCHIC NEW TAKE ON FOLK

STEELEYE SPAN meets Henry Cow meets the Wu-Tang

MOJO PLAYLIST

Listen up for the month’s freedom songs, indie-grot and bluegrass.

TROUBLED SOUL

DAVID BOWIE’s 1974 beggars belief. Two genius albums – Diamond Dogs and Young Americans – completed. Multiple shifts in music and iconography undertaken. All in the midst of personality crisis and management meltdown. Fifty years on, bandmates and associates relive a rollercoaster ride. “There were so many drugs,” they tell MARK PAYTRESS. “Even John Lennon hadn’t seen so much cocaine.”

JACKBOOT STOMPIN’

Bowie’s plans for George Orwell’s 1984 were thwarted, but his dystopian visions of chaos and tyranny lived on in Diamond Dogs and beyond, writes DORIAN LYNSKEY.

SIGMA SOUNDS

The best of the Philly soul that blew Bowie’s mind, 1971-74. By LOIS WILSON.

The percussive force of the Faces, Small Faces, The Who and more on “cuddly” Don Arden, plans with Rod and Ron, and the tragic roll call of fallen comrades. “Too young… too young,” laments Kenney Jones.

INTERVIEW

PRIMITIVE COOL

PRE-EMPTING PUNK IN A MUSICAL WILDERNESS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GLOBE, THE SAINTS MADE MUSIC THAT WAS SAVAGE AND EXHILARATING. BAD LUCK, BAD VIBES AND WUTHERING HEIGHTS SPELT THEIR DEMISE, BUT AS A NEW BOX SET UNDERLINES, THEY'VE REMAINED A BEACON FOR ARTISTS INCLUDING NICK CAVE, MUDHONEY, EVEN SPRINGSTEEN. "IT WAS A QUEST TO MAKE OUR OWN CULTURE," THEY TELL ANDREW PERRY

HALLOWED GROUND

BEYOND (I'M) STRANDED -10 MORE TOP-DRAWER SAINTS AND RELATED TUNES

The Art Of The Steal

TAKE A SONGWRITING ODD COUPLE, ZIGGY'S PRODUCER AND A PLATE OF . HASH CAKES:.. 50 YEARS AGO, SUPERTRAMP'S CRIME OF THE CENTURY CAME FROM NOWHERE TO RANK AMONG THE DECADE'S BIGGEST ALBUMS. BUT IT WASN'T JUST THE FANS, OR CRITICS, WHO WERE AMAZED. "WHEN WE HEARD IT, OUR MINDS WERE BLOWN,"THE BAND TELL PHIL ALEXANDER

Winning last year’s Mercury Prize was a boon for EZRA COLLECTIVE and a landmark for British jazz. But with inspirations as diverse as Cannonball Adderley and Damon Albarn, they’re already moving on, with a new album that updates yet exalts the spontaneous spirit of their genre. “It’s as real as music gets,” they tell MAT SNOW.

PRESENTS

LET JOY BE UNCONFINED

The best of the Ezras (and family) so far

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

IN 1982 TOM PETTY WAS A STAR AND THE HEARTBREAKERS ONE OF THE HOTTEST BANDS AROUND. BUT FAME, DRUGS, DOUBT AND INTERNAL DIVISIONS WERE TAKING A TOLL. IN 2024 A REISSUE OF LONG AFTER DARK AND A LONG-LOST CAMERON CROWE DOCUMENTARY REVEAL A GROUP WALKING A TIGHTROPE, THRASHING AROUND FOR WAYS TO SURVIVE, LET ALONE SUCCEED. "THERE WAS A LOT OF CRUELTY IN THE ROOM SOMETIMES, UNNECESSARILY," THEY TELL GRAYSON HAVER CURRIN

THE CULT CRACK AMERICA

Riding the success of 1985’s Love LP, THE CULT looked West, plugging into hard rock and hip-hop for Electric and West Coast vibrations for Sonic Temple, a US smash in 1989. Forty years since their transition from Death Cult into the band they resemble today, they relive the creative ferment, emotional turmoil and on-the-road chaos. “That was such an intense period,” they say. “It’s amazing that we survived.”

Raw Deal

Breeders founder’s solo debut synthesises loss, grief and pain into glorious, life-affirming pop. By Stevie Chick.

“The songs put themselves in a sorting hat.”

Kim Deal speaks to Stevie Chick.

Little wonder

First-rate songwriting, hypnotic beats and empathetic emotions on north Londoner’s fourth.

Never mind the bollocks!

Melbourne punks’ smart, funny and emotionally nuanced return floors Pat Gilbert.

Still the one

Perrett makes a fresh start, again. By Victoria Segal.

JAZZ

Sam Gendel, Benny Bock, Hans Kjorstad ★★★★ Dream

Love is the message

Bobby Gillespie and co deliver a Philly disco-influenced mid-career high

FOLK

Stick In The Wheel ★★★★ A Thousand

First in line

Time to give the crown another polish: Queen’s debut album rebuilt and extensively revisited over multiple formats that restore the originally intended running order. Plus demos, live tracks and a new stereo mix

“We were always precocious boys.”

Brian May speaks to James McNair.

Love me dudes

A vinyl box set of The Beatles’ first six American studio LPs in mono.

Unsettle down

Left to his own devices, John Cale took a while to figure out where he lived.

Surprise, Surprise

This month’s rediscovered jewel: an abstract painting in folk-rock clothing.

Tina Turner/Ike & Tina

The soul star whose story you just couldn’t make up.

Revlon in the head

The trailblazing proto-punks get the raucous history they deserve.

Soul driver

Measured explication of veteran band’s global joust with mortality, written and produced by The Boss himself.