THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE...

Peter Doggett Peter is a full-time author and

Up The Junction MOJO

15 SHARP TURNS

ALL BACK TO MY PLACE

THE STARS REVEAL THE SONIC DELIGHTS GUARANTEED TO GET THEM GOING

Where Angels Play

Stone Roses and Primal Scream bassist and positive force Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield left us on November 20.

Cassette Tape Mis-Shapes

RARITIES! RECORD SHOPS! CRATEDIGGERS ASSEMBLE!

The Isley Brothers

Your twisting and shouting guide, Jim Irvin.

Young Man Blues

This month’s dug-up screamer: as grunge waned, a North Carolina power trio channel Live At Leeds .

Who told the future in song?

Let us answer your musical queries and settle rock knowledge beefs.

Wild Stylus

Enhance vinyl enjoyment with a Nagaoka MP-200 Moving Magnet cartridge!

Andy Nicholson and Arctic Monkeys

They began as schoolfriends in Sheffield. Then it ended suddenly with the cruellest timing.

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

Grand Finale

THE HOT NEWS AND BIZARRE STORIES FROM PLANET MOJO

2026 THE ESSENTIAL PREVIEW ALBUMS

New year, new albums bonanza: expect records in

2026 THE ESSENTIAL PREVIEW REISSUES

Getty (4) WATERBOYS Title: Atlantic Rain Due: Summer

2026 THE ESSENTIAL PREVIEW FILMS

Embracing the elements: Earth, Wind & Fire (above)

2026 THE ESSENTIAL PREVIEW BOOKS

1 NO NEW YORK: A MEMOIR OF NO

PITCH PERFECT! THE GAME-CHANGING VOICE OF TYLER BALLGAME

A whole different Ballgame: Tyler is living the

YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! THE GNOMES LAUNCH THE NEW BEAT BOOM!

JAY MILLAR, the 19-year-old singer, lead guitarist and

MOJO PLAYLIST

It’s time! For bluesy struts, pop-punk and hypnotic bass.

BACK STREET LUV HITMAKERS CURVED AIR PROG ON

It was a gas: (left) Curved Air (from

THE MOJO INTERVIEW

Squeeze ’s songwriting duo are back in harness, toting a rock opera they wrote in the ’70s with an all-new album to come. Given their near-constant strife, it’s a miracle. But as they insist, “the thing that always brings us together is the songs…”

THE LOST BOY

DENNIS WILSON was The Beach Boys' drummer, pin-up, alcoholic and chaos agent. He may also have been the group's other genius. In this extract from his new book on the band, PETER DOGGETT explores Wilson's tragic decline, and the extraordinary miracle it contained: Pacific Ocean Blue.

MOJO PRESENTS

For over 50 years, BEVERLY GLENN-COPELAND has been a secret master of spiritual electronica, receiving inspiration from a “higher power” to provide healing songs for the disenfranchised. Now, he and his wife face long-deserved acclaim and grave new challenges with equanimity. “I can’t explain it, but I feel joyous,” he tells VICTORIA SEGAL .

SUITE SOUL MUSIC

SEVENTY YEARS AGO NEXT MONTH, HEARTBREAK HOTEL WAS THE SONG THAT MADE ELVIS PRESLEY A STAR AND LIT A SPARK IN A GENERATION OF FUTURE HEROES. BUT ITS STRANGELY GLOOMY CONTENT FLAGGED A TRAGIC BACK STORY, WHILE ELVIS'S RECORDING DISMAYED THE LABEL THAT HAD RISKED BIG MONEY TO SIGN HIM. JIM IRVIN GETS A ROOM.

SPIRIT OF ’56

TEN MORE KEY SINGLES FROM ROCK'N'ROLL'S BREAKTHROUGH YEAR.

THE RISE OF THE TRIFFIDS

Out of Perth, Western Australia, David McComb’s post-punk melancholics created intoxicating music of intense feeling. Now, four decades after their classic album Born Sandy Devotional , members and intimates remember high inspiration, heroin, a song on TV soap Neighbours, the wide open road and the world of late leader McComb. “Dave worked on his songwriting 24-7,” they recall. “It was the delightful adventure that we were all willing to go on…”

TALK OF THE TOWN

From the Sex Pistols to Sinatra, CHRISSIE HYNDE has spent 50 years moving between musical worlds. Now, as she releases a new album of diverse superstar duets, she confides in TOM DOYLE all about Debbie Harry, Kate Bush, Morrissey, forging Beatles signatures, having hysterics at a CSN gig, and how to deal with the most obsessive Pretenders fans... "Go fuck yourselves!"

HIGHER AND HIGHER

It was 1965 with bells on, the year the singles charts got wilder, heavier, druggier. Twelve months of traumas, transgressions and transvestism, experiments and explosions. How 20 revolutionary platters from 1966 revealed "the secrets of space and time". "Intensity was the keynote," says JON SAVAGE.

HIS GRACE UNDER PRESSURE

In the spring of 1974, DAVID BOWIE arrived in the United States by boat. By the time he left in the spring of 1976, his marriage was ending, his cocaine addiction was spiralling, and he'd become obsessed with Nazis. He'd also made another masterpiece: Station To Station. "We went days without sleeping," his valiant co-conspirators tell GRAYSON HAVER CURRIN. "Inhibitions were out the window."

MOJO FILTER

YOUR GUIDE TO THE MONTH'S BEST MUSIC

An affair to remember

London’s post-punk seismographers pick up more weird vibrations on their third album. By Victoria Segal. Illustration by Cold War Steve.

Band on fire

Cave and motley crew thrill on-stage in Europe.

The tell-tale heart

Nashville-based singer-songwriter gets subtly experimental on ninth album.

Exit planet dust

East Midlands firebrands watch the world burn.

EXPERIMENTAL

Pullman ★★★★ III WESTERN VINYL. DL/LP Post-rock folk

WORLD

Imarhan ★★★★ Essam CITY SLANG. CD/DL/LP Fourth album

EXTENDED PLAY

Fela Kuti Fear No Man AUDIBLE/HIGHER GROUND The

The good place

From the bayou to Woodstock and back – the easygoing adventures of Bobby Charles. By John Mulvey.

The fruit never falls far…

Revisiting a modern bossa nova classic from Brazilian royalty.

Chamber pops

A trio of releases rocking string quartets.

Under heavy manna

Enduring singer and writer recalls her life and losses in grief-scarred memoir.

Dream theatre

R Smith & Co’s ‘intimate’ 2024 album launch hits the big screen.