Big Red Machine

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No less a judge of musical and cultural importance

On the record

John Grant’s fourth solo album is due soon, and it’s

Simon says

For most musicians and music lovers, permanent hearing loss is a mortifying prospect – but our columnist’s experience shows it doesn’t have to affect your career, or your life…

Work In Progress

For My Crimes, and I’m really looking forward to people

#16 Walls And Bridges

Written during the 18-month separation from Yoko Ono

On the Radar

Thrift shop synth leads to pop awakening for Indiana singer-songwriter

LINER NOTES

It’s that classic pub conversation that begins with: “What was the first record you bought?” I don’t know about yours, but I do know about Paul Weller’s and Neneh Cherry’s. And mine was bought quite by accident…

CRATE DIGGING WITH…

Graham Fellows is known best for creating comedy persona John Shuttleworth. But in 1978, as Jilted John, he had the whole of the UK chanting the bitter chorus: “Gordon is a moron”. We catch up with Fellows as he prepares to embark on Ere We Go 2… 3… 40, his October tour of the UK to celebrate Jilted John’s 40th anniversary…

STUDIO SNAPSHOT

EMI engineer Norman Smith had worked with The Beatles

GRAN DESIGNS

The mesmerising, idiosyncratic DIY pop of Let’s Eat Grandma’s 2016 debut heralded a major new talent. But with their follow-up, I’m All Ears, Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth have dreamt up a classic, says Sam Willis

LIFE OF RYLEY

His fifth album, Deafman Glance, arrived in May – and it’s the virtuoso Chicago-based guitarist’s best yet. Ryley Walker tells Laura Barton about making the album, life on the road, and how buying records brought him out into the world…

The whole of the moon

The latest reissue in BMG’s Art Of The Album series is a 50th anniversary revisit of The Small Faces masterpiece Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake. Steve Harnell goes looking for the other half of the moon with Happiness Stan. Are you all sitting comftybold two square on your botty? Then he’ll begin…

ROSA OH OH OHH ROSA

As 4AD releases a deluxe boxset to mark the 30th anniversary of Pixies’ Surfer Rosa, Gary Walker speaks to the chief protagonists behind one of indie music’s most influential and otherly classics. With contributions from Black Francis, Joey Santiago, Vaughan Oliver and Simon Larbalestier, Long Live Vinyl unravels the legacy of a stunningly dark debut…

THE STORY BEHIND THE SLEEVE

Vaughan Oliver and Simon Larbalestier tell Long Live Vinyl how they created the dark, surreal sleeve art to mirror the Pixies’ music

TOP GEAR

They’ve established a catalogue of stellar archive jazz recordings and contemporary releases, built a reputation for faultless vinyl remastering and even released their own turntable. Mike Gerber meets Darrel Sheinman, the man behind the Gearbox label

MICK ROCK

He documented the 1970s, working with some of the most famous artists on the planet, including David Bowie, Bob Marley, Queen and the Sex Pistols. Teri Saccone meets legendary photographer Mick Rock

POST-PUNK

Inspired by punk’s energy, but frustrated with the movement’s inability to expand beyond rock’s traditional three-chord clichés, the post-punk bands we cover here were committed to exploring new sonic territories. Gary Tipp goes on a voyage of discovery…

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Classic Album PULP

While their Britpop peers looked to laddism, The Beatles and The Kinks, in 1995 Pulp emerged with an album that was strident, stylish and contemporary – and eclipsed all those around them. Neil Crossley dives in…

AMOEBA MUSIC

In an extract from their book on America’s independent record stores, Rebecca Villaneda and Mike Spitz visit a California institution

RESIDENT MUSIC BRIGHTON

In a city not short of record shops, Resident Music’s owners have made theirs a home from home for customers. Wesley Doyle settles in…

AMSTERDAM

Mark Elliott’s record-shopping stamina is put to the sternest of tests in Amsterdam – undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest and most varied cratedigging destinations

TIME OF THE LAST PERSECUTION

Bill Fay’s introspective, biblically themed 1971 classic was all-but ignored on release – but its reputation and collectability have risen ever since

DIGGING FOR VICTORY

Mark O’Shaughnessy recalls a record-collecting trip to New Jersey with a roomful of secrets that still gives him the night terrors

THEBIGREISSUE Optic Nerve

Chris Parkin talks to Ian Allcock, whose Preston-based Optic Nerve Recordings is a reissue label with a love for and inside-out knowledge of 80s and 90s indie-pop…

Pixies

COME ON PILGRIM… IT’S SURFER ROSA DELUXE EDITIO

The Band

Music critics are often guilty of bandying around hyperbolic

The Pretty Things

S.F. SORROW 50TH ANNIVERSARY

U2

ACHTUNG BABY, ZOOROPA, THE BEST OF 1980-1990

The Doors

WAITING FOR THE SUN 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Tim Buckley

I CAN’T SEE YOU 1966 DEMOS

The Beta Band

THE THREE E.P.’S – 20TH ANNIVERSARY REMASTER

Interpol

Following 2017’s 15th anniversary tour of sublime debut

The Lemon Twigs

GO TO SCHOOL

James

LIVING IN EXTRAORDINARY TIMES

Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood WITH ANIMALS

Gloomier in tone than 2013’s predecessor Black Pudding

Oh Sees

SMOTE REVERSER

Kamaal Williams

THE RETURN

The Internet

HIVE MIND

Anna Calvi

HUNTER

Her’s

INVITATION TO HER’S

IDLES

JOY AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE

The Proclaimers

ANGRY CYCLIST

Various Artists

A KALEIDOSCOPE OF SOUNDS – PSYCHEDELIC & FREAKBEAT MASTERPIECES

White Denim

PERFORMANCE

Neil & Liam Finn

LIGHTSLEEPER

Jah Wobble

DREAM WORLD

Hilang Child

YEARS

Tenderlonious Ft. The 22archestra

THE SHAKEDOWN

VARIOUS ARTISTS

CLUB CLASSICS: 50 YEARS OF NORTHERN SOU

Villagers

THE ART OF PRETENDING TO SWIM

Jonathan Jeremiah

GOOD DAY

John Butler

THE LOYAL SERPEN

BC Camplight

DEPORTATION BLUES

Big Red Machine

BIG RED MACHINE

Delgres

MO JODI

Tunng

SONGS YOU MAKE AT NIGHT

Resina

TRACES

Cosmic minimalism

Chris Parkin leaves the hypno-rock orbit of Spacemen 3 in search of undersea civilisations, narco-kosmische paradises and outlying planets with rarefied, droning atmospheres…

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HOW TO BUY MID-RANGE TURNTABLES

Ready to upgrade your turntable? offers some handy buying advice Paul Rigby in the mid-range realm, focusing on tried-and- trusted designs as well as quirky models

LITTLE EXTRAS UP TO £2,000

Turntables that bundle extra features into a value package

VENERABLE DESIGNS £700-£3,000

Older models that still pack a punch and provide value today

DESIGN INNOVATION £1,600-£3,300

Designs that combine quirky features and solid audiophile engineering

DREAM MACHINES

In our series showcasing high-end hi-fito die for, Paul Rigby checks out an integrated belt-drive turntable that’s ready and waiting to deliver superior sonics, straight off the shelf…

AVID DIVA II SP

Avid update their award-winning turntable model, adding an extra belt, an improved platter and more. But is this Diva ready to perform, or is she too high-maintenance? Paul Rigby finds out…

GOLD NOTE MEDITERRANEO HIGH-END TURNTABLE WITH B-7 CERAMIC TONEARM

Paul Rigby reviews a stylish Italian-made two-speed belt-driven turntable with a classy-looking aged Italian walnut lower plinth, designed to reduce turbulence and aid sonic stability… £6,008

AUDIO - TECHNICA ATH-ADX5000

John Pickford finds out whether these aerodynamically designed open-back ’phones heighten the listening experience

STEVE FLETCHER

Like many a “90s kid”, reader Steve Fletcher began collecting the black stuff in earnest in the 2000s – and has been making up for lost time ever since, expanding out from classic rock via explorations into grunge, US alt-rock and instrumental guitar…