Welcome…

These are challenging times.” So says Radiohead guitarist

The Long Live Vinyl team’s favourite Nick Cave

Simon was the bassist and keyboard player in the Cocteau

Your local record shop needs you!

Appeal for customers to support under-threat shops as Record Store Day is postponed until June and Coronavirus pandemic hits the high street

KELLY LEE OWENS

INNER SONG SMALLTOWN SUPERSOUND 1 MAY

Lost Shops

#11 DON CHRISTIE, BIRMINGHAM

Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere?

40 years after arriving in the UK, Nick Cave stands alone. An unimpeachable artist who refuses to repeat himself, presiding over an imperial back catalogue. From The Birthday Party to The Bad Seeds, and numerous collaborators, Daniel Dylan Wray speaks to those who helped the prince of darkness build his kingdom

THE ESSENTIAL

Few artists in the modern era have covered as much ground as Nick Cave. Dig Daniel Dylan Wray, dig!

THE CURE SEVENTEEN SECONDS

A shadowy gloom has haunted The Cure since the release of 1980’s Seventeen Seconds. Robert Smith curated an atmosphere that was otherworldly and unsettling, yet curiously comforting. Over the next 40 years, the band wrote some of the most effervescent pop songs ever recorded, yet the mood established here, as Dan Biggane discovers, is one they would ultimately return to again and again…

THE BALLAD OF BIG STAR

Despite a stellar back catalogue, Big Star will always be one of music’s great what-if stories. Huw Baines talks to band member Jody Stephens about what might have been

RUSH

Original copies of this sought-after debut surface once in a blue Moon. Glen Bushell is in a Rush to find one

ROBERT FISHER

After graduating, Robert Fisher worked his way up to Geffen Records, taking the role of art director. Giacomo Lee discovers the story behind his Nevermind sleeve and what it was really like working with Kurt Cobain

Winyl MANNINGTREE

After decades working in music retail and gaining experience of the wine industry, Steve Tattam combined his profession and his passion with the launch of Winyl. Christopher Barrett samples what’s in store

COUNTER CULTURE

The line between cool and uncool has been eroded. Del Day watches in confusion as waves of hipsters make for Union’s Heaven 17 section

PUNK 45s

You may not find cash in your attic, but there might be some valuable vinyl sitting on your shelves. Gary Tipp runs the rule over a bunch of snotty 7"s

Colombia

Known as the ‘land of a thousand rhythms’, Russ Slater samples some Colombian grooves

Simon says

Simon remembers the time he had the opportunity to produce a number of tracks on a posthumous album for one of his musical idols – Billy Mackenzie

The Completist

While most collectors fume at the sight of biro messages inscribed on sleeves, such scribbles can add to the value of a record in other ways

Vinyl’s reign continues…

Discogs report underlines format’s growing appeal, while CDs slump

15,000

The price (£) an original UK London stock copy of Darrell

PURE COMEDY

The Divine Comedy will celebrate their 30th anniversary

4 OF A KIND… Acronyms

LAMF

Coming Soon…

OUR PICK OF THE UPCOMING VINYL RELEASES

THE ART OF THE 12”

This month, Ian and The Beloved’s Jon Marsh take a deep dive into classic 12”s by The Human League, Joyce Sims and Imagination, before flying off on a remix album tangent

THE VINYLIST HARVEY SMITH

Prince. Led Zep. 80s hair metal… Harvey is living the dream

MOST VALUABLE VINYL

PABLO HONEY

Now Spinning

12 tracks we’re enjoying this month, along with a can of Arbor’s big daddy, the mighty Yakima Valley

Retelling stories

Charlatans reissue campaign on the way

CRAVEN FAULTS

The mystery producer has delivered a mesmerising debut album inspired by the post-industrial landscapes of northern Britain

CRATE DIGGING WITH… MR SCRUFF

With his 31-track DJ Kicks mix out on 27 March, the acclaimed producer and DJ rifles through his collection and picks 10 choice cuts

#36 Bob Dylan

THE FREEWHEELIN’ BOB DYLAN

THE TROGGS

Never the most fashionable band, even at the height

JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR

Joanne Shaw Taylor tells Felix Rowe how the late guitarist’s debut album gave her the blues and why he’s the reason she rarely plays a Fender Stratocaster

1O Questions For… BRENDAN BENSON

Felix Rowe catches up with the power-pop veteran and Raconteur about his new album, being a superhero and producing his idols

ANYONE CAN PLAY GUITAR

For 30 years, he’s been a six-string sonic architect in Radiohead, but it’s taken Ed O’Brien until now to find his own voice. His debut solo album as EOB was certainly worth the wait. Daniel Dylan Wray visits Earth

FRESH GHOST

Fed up of feeling “over-qualified and underpaid”, Ghostpoet left music after his last album to run a coffee shop in Margate. Life as a barista didn’t go to plan either, and he returned to music to pour his frustrations into his fifth album. As he tells John Earls: “I’m a glass-half-full guy…”

“ Sometimes I wake up with an empty beer can on my belly and a whole album’s written, and I think, ‘Holy shit! How did that happen?’”

In 2012, Brian Christinzio moved to Manchester. The trio of albums he’s made since as BC Camplight have vindicated that decision. He tells Jonathan Wright about songwriting, mental illness and beginning anew when you’ve nothing left to lose…

Johnny Cash

After almost 30 years on Columbia Records, country music legend Johnny Cash released his first album on Mercury Records. As John Earls witnesses, it wasn’t always a marriage made in heaven

Cocteau Twins

GARLANDS/VICTORIALAND

Prince

THE RAINBOW CHILDREN/ONE NITE ALONE…LIVE!/ ONE NITE ALONE… THE AFTERSHOW/ONE NITE ALONE…

Sam Cooke

AIN’T THAT GOOD NEWS/ AT THE COPA/KEEP MOVIN’ ON

The Human League

OCTOPUS

The Fall

REFORMATION POST TLC

Hawkwind

ROADHAWKS

Josef K

THE ONLY FUN IN TOWN

Cat Stevens

MATTHEW & SON/NEW MASTERS

Bon Iver

BLOOD BANK

Depeche Mode

VIOLATOR: THE 12" SINGLES

Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers

JONATHAN RICHMAN AND THE MODERN LOVERS

Various Artists

SCORCHA!

The Skatalites

THE SKATALITE!

The Upsetters

RETURN OF DJANGO

Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical

RANIL Y SU CONJUNTO TROPICAL

OXZ

ALONG AGO: 1981-1989

David Bowie

REALITY

Pole

POLE 1 2 3

Randy Newman

MARRIAGE STORY

Don Davis

THE MATRIX

Warren Ellis

THIS TRAIN I RIDE

Nate Heller

A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

The Strokes

After a prolonged hiatus, New York City fops The Strokes return with their first album for seven years. The break, as John Earls observes, has done them a world of good

Roger Eno & Brian Eno

MIXING COLOURS

Thundercat

IT IS WHAT IT IS

Little Dragon

NEW ME, SAME US

EOB

EARTH

The Lovely Eggs

I AM MORON

Gregory Porter

ALL RISE

Brendan Benson

DEAR LIFE

Tim Burgess

I LOVE THE NEW SKY

Pearl Jam

GIGATON

Jonathan Wilson

DIXIE BLUR

Roger O’Donnell

2 RAVENS

Jack Hues

PRIMITIF

GoGo Penguin

GOGO PENGUIN

Spector

NON-FICTION

Ron Sexsmith

HERMITAGE

The Necks

THREE

DMA’s

THE GLOW

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs

VISCERALS

Daniel Avery & Alessandro Cortini

ILLUSION OF TIME

Sufjan Stevens & Lowell Brams

APORIA

WHAT’S ON IN THE SHOP

JUMBO RECORDS

Basia Bulat

ARE YOU IN LOVE?

Nap Eyes

SNAPSHOT OF A BEGINNER

Dance Gavin Dance

AFTERBURNER

Cable Ties

FAR ENOUGH

MY NEW ALBUM

“I think music subconsciously, whether writing or listening

M Ward

MIGRATION STORIES

Jan Wagner

KAPITEL

Ren Harvieu

REVEL IN THE DRAMA

The Leaf Library

ABOUT MINERALS

Twisted Wheel

SATISFYING THE RITUAL

James Elkington

EVER-ROVING EYE

Tamikrest

TAMOTAÏT

Too Fast To Live…

ANDREW KRIVINE

Have A Bleedin Guess

PAUL HANLEY

Diamond Dogs

GLENN HENDLER

Kraftwerk: Future Music From Germany

UWE SCHÜTTE

Q & A

You interview your bandmates in the book, how reliable

MOON 81OLP

The Moon series from Simaudio offers high-end listening quality, and this stylish phono amplifier is no exception to the rule

BRISTOL HI-FI SHOW

New turntables may have been a little thin on the ground at one of the UK’s biggest hi-fishows, but there was still plenty of audiophile gear catching the ear in Bristol, as John Pickford reports

KEITH MONKS PRODIGY RECORD CLEANING MACHINE

A new stylish record cleaner has John Pickford dreaming of a life without crackle

KANTO TUK

Of particular interest if you have limited space, John Pickford is mightily impressed by a pair of fully featured powered speakers with a warm, impactful sound

STACK AUDIO SERENE LP12

Stack Audio has produced a suite of upgrade parts for the highly tweakable Linn Sondek turntable. Paul Rigby tackles the entire kit, known as the Serene

CLOSER

The Velvets’ second album dragged rock music to new places. Gary Tipp couldn’t hit it sideways