THIS MONTH'S CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE…

James McNair Often misty-eyed when watching old Thin

A Man Of Wealth And Taste

THE BRIAN JONES COMPANION

ALL BACK TO MY PLACE

THE STARS REVEAL THE SONIC DELIGHTS GUARANTEED TO GET THEM GOING...

MEET BROOKE COMBE, NORTHERN SOUL REBEL FROM THE CORAL’S CAMP

SITTING IN her mother’s Edinburgh sitting room, Brooke

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 Return Of Ringo

2025 THE ESSENTIAL PREVIEW ALBUMS

LANA DEL REY, OFF TO THE COUNTRY CLUB FOR LP 10?

Give her enough rope: Lana Del Rey ponders

COMING SOON – THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND BOX YOU ALWAYS WANTED

Radical thinkers: The Incredible String Band, 1969 (from

COULD IT BE FAREWELL, ELO? JEFF LYNNE EXPLAINS

Turning off the light: ELO’s Jeff Lynne prepares

OASIS AND THE BRITPOP BOUNCE

Brothers beyond: Liam and Noel, going all around

A MAJOR NEW ALICE COLTRANE BIOGRAPHY ACHIEVES ILLUMINATION

Spiritual re-awakenings: a celebration of Alice Coltrane’s remarkable

U.K. SUBS’ PUNK PERENNIAL CHARLIE HARPER IS 80 NOT OUT

Charlie Harper at Queens Hall, Leeds, 1981, and

TV ON THE RADIO’S TUNDE ADEBIMPE RETUNES TO A NEW SOLO CAREER

“Storm clouds amass, then lightning tears out of

THE MOJO INTERVIEW

Homophobia, self-hate and obscurity were his foes until Queen Of Denmark raised him up. A fêted oeuvre of psychic unburdening has since flowered, but success has proved no panacea: “It’s a very distorted view of reality,” says John Grant.

A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man

A collection of early Phil Lynott demos, newly embroidered by original Thin Lizzy guitarist Eric Bell, brings a new focus to the Rocker's early years. Friends and bandmates remember a wounded romantic and frustrated writer, slowly donning the armour of the rock'n'roll hero. "He had the potential to be a great Irish poet," they tell James McNair

MOJO PRESENTS

In ’70s Nigeria, the an anomaly – independent singer-songwriters standing up to a corrupt government and chauvinist musos. Now their visionary grooves are being rediscovered and, reports celebrated at last. “We were ahead of everybody LIJADU SISTERS were DAVID HUTCHEON, rightly and we were women,” says TAIWO LIJADU.

A CURSE AGAINST ELEGIES

MANIC STREET PREACHERS have survived tragic loss, cultural upheaval and relentless self-scrutiny to arrive at a fifteenth album that acknowledges their precarious place in the world. Other rock bands wouldn’t be as exacting, but they are not other rock bands. “We’ve never, ever allowed ourselves to be deluded,” they tell DORIAN LYNSKEY

MY EYES HAVE SEEN YOU

Celebrating 60 years since their formation, THE DOORS unveil Night Divides The Day, a whopping 344-page slab of text and photographs, many unseen, reflecting every stage of their career. Affording MOJO a sneak peek, John Densmore and Robby Krieger offer their thoughts. “We want people to feel how it really was,” they tell DANNY ECCLESTON.

AMERICA RIDE A HORSE WITH NO NAME

US army brats loose in London’s late-1960s underground, America practised CSN-style harmonies in a Morris Minor and pined for the desert. When they cut their hypnotic signature song – was it about smack? – they were off, with a UK Number 3 and a US Number 1. Then a deal with Neil Young’s management ended the band’s British idyll. “We were three guys with acoustic guitars,” say the band and associates, “[but] the biggest plane in the airport swooped in and picked us up…”

THE FUTURE, C'EST MOI

It's been a busy année for JEAN-MICHEL JARRE. winning Olympic laurels and ending with an anniversary reboot for his pioneering Zoolook LP. But, as usual, electronica's Oxygène auteur is looking not back, but forward to music innovation driven by VR and Al. "That's what I'llke about this moment," he tells MARK BLAKE, "because we don't know what's coming next."

BLOOD BROTHERS?

In 1969, a founder member and the ’60s, notoriously, lost its innocence. But as the band’s reputation grew darker, and the bonds between them were tested by infidelity and ambition, their music hit new heights of soulful power – sped by the recruitment of a next-level guitarist, and encapsulated on THE ROLLING STONES lost Let It Bleed. “That was the period when the player was as big as the song,” discovers by MARK PAY TRESS

88s AND HEARTBREAK

From Let It Bleed’s Monkey Man to Lennon’s Jealous Guy and beyond, magical keysman lifelong illness to blend the blues with the baroque. As a new film explores his life and work, his famous fans offer thanks and praise. NICK Y HOPKINS battled “We’re talking about a genius here,” they tell MARK PAYTRESS

ANGELIC UPSTART

He looked like butter wouldn’t melt, but when the Stones in mid-’69, he was already a guitarist of rare style, scope and confidence, writes MICK TAYLOR joined MARK BLAKE.

Mortal combat

Eco-friendly auteur documents her journey back from the frayed edge. By Jim Wirth. Illustration by Jane Sanders.

“I don’t do music for escapism.”

Tamara Lindeman speaks to Jim Wirth.

FILTER ALBUMS

Saint Etienne ★★★★ The Night HEAVENLY. CD/DL/LP

Ex induction hour

A bracing grunge-pop classic from The Tubs’ twin band.

Decius

Disco inferno: Decius (from left) Luke May, Meat

Roots manoeuvre

The Saharan blues get Mali’s best rock band back on track.

Read & burn

Mogwai’s graceful eleventh album, forged in hellish circumstance.

FOLK

Sam Amidon ★★★★ Salt River RIVER LEA.

Franz Ferdinand

Fright club: a re-invigorated Franz Ferdinand come

EXPERIMETAL

Water Damage ★★★★ Reel LE LONGFORM EDITIONS.

Rhyme and reason

Abiodun Oyewole and Umar Bin Hassan re-imagine their proto-rap landmarks alongside Tony Allen, Courtney Pine and more.

Dilettante

Party hard: Dilettante, AKA Francesca Pidgeon, conjures a

Never enough

Nineteen discs of the New York singer-songwriter showcase her embarrassment of riches.

FILTER REISSUES

Ananda Shankar ★★★★ Ananda Shankar And His

Tom Waits

★★★★ The Heart Of Saturday Night ANTI-.

Blackbeard magic

Rare dubs, roots and lovers rock from the British reggae legend

The Lemonheads

★★★★ Car Button Cloth FIRE. LP Deluxe

More cowbell!

Frequent use of Latin percussion, harmonica and light-hearted lyrics meant War had broken out.

Sorrow

Rose McDowall: a maid of constant Sorrow.

Another Country

This month’s rediscovered jewel: a honky-tonk hipster classic, now with a second life.

Charles Mingus

The great jazz bassist and anarchic genius.

How great thou art

The stories of Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup, Big Mama Thornton and more move Danny Eccleston

FILTER BOOKS

Sideways Through Time: An Oral History Of Hawkwind

Expecting to fly

Long-overdue documentary on the extraordinary life and art of the late singer-songwriter.

REAL GONE

Right on Q: Quincy Jones, who “put together

JANUARY 1979 …Earth, Wind & Fire celebrate September

Elemental as anything: Earth, Wind & Fire (Maurice

What were the strangest lyric rewrites?

Let us solve rock conundrums and join the dots of musical obscuria.

’Phones Free

Win! Fine IO-8 headphones from DALI.

Billy J Kramer and The Dakotas

It began as business. After transatlantic fame in the early ’60s, it ended before it could get physical.