THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE...

Barrie Wentzell Described by Yes/King Crimson drummer

THE COMPLETE UNKNOWNS

THE BEST OF GREENWICH VILLAGE 1950-1965

ALL BACK TO MY PLACE

THE STARS REVEAL THE SONIC DELIGHTS GUARANTEED TO GET THEM GOING

We Will All Go Together

Tom Lehrer, urbane pioneer of musical satire, left us on July 26.

All Shot Up

RARITIES! RECORD SHOPS! CRATEDIGGERS ASSEMBLE!

The Cramps

Get primitive, with Max Décharné.

Practical Mellotronics

This month’s dusted-off gem: loon pants prog, harmonies and jams rise above the hard luck.

Whose samples were the wackiest?

Let us answer your rock questions, and resolve nagging musical issues.

Hi-Fi Want You

Win! A Crosley C65 Record Player.

Derek Shulman and Gentle Giant

It began with an escape from pop into progressive new horizons. And ended when the writing was on the wall.

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

The Madcap Writes

THE HOT NEWS AND BIZARRE STORIES FROM PLANET MOJO

SOFT CELL GO BACK TO DIRTY OLD NYC WITH DANCETERIA

Studio nut: Soft Cell’s Marc Almond returns to

Neko Case

The flaming indie-country talent talks memoirs, real strings and a Thelma & Louise musical.

Phil Manzanera

Roxy Music’s guitar maestro on the world opened up by The Soft Machine’s debut (ABC, 1968).

WELCOME BACK, BELOVED WEIRDOS CHEAP TRICK AND THE RIFFS THAT WON’T QUIT!

“I ALWAYS SAY, Cheap Trick has never progressed,”

JOSH HADEN RETURNS TO THE BLUE MOODS OF SPAIN

Viva España!: Spain’s Josh Haden gets in the

FOLK RADICAL ANNAHSTASIA KNOWS, FINALLY, HOW IT FEELS TO BE FREE

“We’re watching the world’s corrupt systems begin to

STRAP IN! FOR THE FILM/LIBRARY MUSIC HYPER-TRIPS OF SVEN WUNDER

JOEL DANELL had a successful career writing music

MOJO PLAYLIST

Hey you! This month’s prime hot takes from veteran rebels and new cowboys in town…

THE MOJO INTERVIEW

From Cheshire village halls to LA Babylon, he’s the obsessive music fan who rode the Hammond grooves of The Charlatans through baggy, Britpop and beyond . But how has his band remained together through 37 years of chaos and tragedy as well as triumph? “We had to get used to heaviness,” says Tim Burgess .

Being There

For 10 years, from 1965 to 1975, snapper BARRIE WENTZELL was the all-seeing eye of the UK music scene. His new book, previewed here, captures the biggest stars at their least guarded. DANNY ECCLESTON is agog.

MOJO PRESENTS

For 35 years, the sonic scientists of TORTOISE have toiled to redefine the scope and possibilities of indie music. Their influence has been pervasive, but their methods and results remain unique. So don’t call them ‘post-rock’, OK? “Our genre is that there isn’t a genre,” they tell GRAYSON HAVER CURRIN .

SOME GUYS HAVE ALL THE LUCK

History decrees that TERRY REID missed the boat, to Led Zep legendhood, to solo riches. But, as he told BOB MEHR just two months before he passed, this great songwriter and supreme singer - loved and admired by superstars from Robert Plant and Graham Nash to Aretha Franklin and Dr Dre - didn't see it like that: "I've lived my life the way I wanted."

WHAT, ME WORRY?

Post-American Utopia, DAVID BYRNE is continuing to put a positive spin on the global omni-shambles. That includes engaging constructively with his Talking Heads legacy, but don't confuse it with looking backwards. "Even if something is going well and you know how to do this thing," he tells DAVID FRICKE , "I gotta leave it behind."

SHADOW OF THE MOON

As THE WHO hit the road, perhaps for the last time, after another drummer-oriented crisis, they reboot Who Are You – KEITH MOON' s arduous yet fascinating swan song. With punks at the gate, scraps in the studio and Townshend's demons flaring, it was already hard going. Then came their drummer's tragic implosion. "We all were traumatised," discovers TOM DOYLE .

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW BEGINS

It started on the London stage in 1973. Depicting squares Brad and Janet ending up in the laboratory of mad scientist/ trans alien Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Richard O’Brien’s comedy musical lovingly parodied sci-fi, Frankenstein and glam to packed houses. Then the 1975 movie version with Meat Loaf flopped… until gleeful audience participation turned it into a self-sustaining movie cult of global proportions. Fifty years on, its creators recall the notion, “this could run for a long time… maybe for ever.”

YOUNG BUT DAILY GROWING

BOB DYLAN ’ S 18th BOOTLEG SERIES INSTALMENT – THROUGH THE OPEN WINDOW – IS AN AUDIO ANALOGUE TO A COMPLETE UNKNOWN: AN UNFURLING DOCUMENT OF A SEARING YOUNG TALENT IN THE ACT OF BECOMING. BUT BECOMING WHAT? ROCKER? FOLKIE? LOVER? POET? POLITICIAN? DIGGING INTO PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED MUSIC FROM 1956 TO ’63, MOJO MARVELS AT DYLAN’S FIRST GREAT PHASE ALONG WITH ITS STILL-STUNNED EYEWITNESSES. “IT WAS EARTH-SHAKING,” THEY TELL DORIAN LYNSKEY .

Altogether now

Wilco dynamo’s fifth solo LP is a wildly eclectic triple that celebrates collective creativity and freedom.

FOLK

Benedicte Maurseth ★★★★ Mirra HUBRO. CD/DL/LP

AMERICANA

Dallas Burrow ★★★★ The Way The West

Rein supreme

The punk rock landmark that keeps on giving celebrates half a century with an expanded anniversary edition produced by bassist Tony Shanahan.

Top Cat

The ’60s pop star, ’70s troubadour and life-long spiritual seeker who can’t keep it in.

In the weeds

Extended 2021 documentary gets first physical release.