MADNESS PRESENT PARADE UK TOUR SQUEEZE

WITH VERY SPEICAL GUESTS

Pulp

THERE’S A PROFOUND, SELF-DEPRECATING moment at the end

THIS MONTH'S CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE...

Tom Jackson Tom is a portrait and

ALL BACK TO MY PLACE

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

Theories, rants, etc.

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WHAT GOES ON!

THE HOT NEWS AND BIZARRE STORIES FROM PLANET MOJO

Back Where You Began

Nick Drake’s storied debut, replete with unheard material over four packed discs? Get ready for The Making Of Five Leaves Left .

48 YEARS AFTER THEIR FIRST, THE BLOCKHEADS RETURN TO THE STUDIO

Reasons to be cheerful: original Blockheads

ALSO WORKING

… COSEY FANNI TUTTI ’ s (right) 2t2

PETER MURPHY

Bauhaus’s undead idol talks new creation, goth, baldness and sick bats.

Miki Berenyi

The ex-Lush singer freaks over The Monkees’ Head (Colgem, 1968).

IRMA THOMAS JAMS OUT HER FIRST NEW ALBUM IN 17 YEARS

A galaxy of stars: Soul Queen Irma Thomas

STILL A WILD CARD, SINGER-SONGWRITER CHIP TAYLOR PLAYS IT COOL

Wheel of fortune: (main) Chip Taylor circa

VIAGRA BOYS, STOCKHOLM’S SUBVERSIVE PUNK TROGLODYTES, SHAPE UP!

Fredrik Bengtsson https://www.instagram.com/fredrikbengtsson/ High-rise: Viagra Boys (from

KASSI VALAZZA STAYS ON THE MOVE TO TRANSCEND AMERICANA

Street-smart: Kassi Valazza embraces the new. Kait

MOJO PLAYLIST

Harken to the month’s best folkrock, robo-jazz and curtain-closers.

From teenage fiddle prodigy to multi-Grammied ambassador of bluegrass, via O Brother, Robert Plant and Ringo, she’s always chased the next “high” of creation and communication. But why? “Everybody wants to be listened to,” says Alison Krauss.

Portrait by ALYSSE GAFKJEN I T’S BEEN

A LIFE IN PICTURES

Take a bow: Alison down the years.

BLUE HORIZONS

Three key Krauss kollections, by Mark Blake.

The King of New York

DAVID JOHANSEN 1950-2025

Personality Crises

The shapeshifting genius of David Johansen in 10 songs

MOJO PRESENTS

The loss of her father and an ugly, post-Glastonbury pile-on were big enough challenges for BILLY NOMATES . Then came an MS diagnosis. A third album of soul-baring post-punk pop proves she won’t be cowed, but she’s still baffled by the feedback. “People call me radical for my hair being a bit messy,” she tells JENNY BULLEY

WRITTEN ON THE WIND

In 1975, a songwriting genius mired in existential crisis, pushing pens in Motown's LA office, came out of early retirement with an album that invented a whole new genre of soul. Fifty years on, SMOKEY ROBINSON approaches UK shores with a live show based around the "languid intimacy" of A Quiet Storm. "I was like a prisoner in a cage of my own making,' he tells ANDREW MALE.

ON THE WINGS OF LOVE

Six classics in the 'QUIET STORM radio genre, 1975-1983. Your late-night DJ: Andrew Male

WHO'S CRAZY NOW?

IN STRAITENED TIMES FOR ROCK'N'ROLL, SPARKS ARE THRIVING, WITH A CANNY BUSINESS MODEL, BRAND-EXTENDING COLLABS AND RECORDS THAT KEEP HITTING THE SWEET SPOT OF FUNNY, CLEVER, CATCHY AND CAMP. THEIR LATEST MAY BE MAD!, BUT THE MAEL BROTHERS, IT TRANSPIRES, ARE ANYTHING BUT. "WE CAN'T THINK OF ANYBODY IN THE SAME BOAT," THEY TELL DAVE DIMARTINO.

THEY THINK IT'S ALL LAVA

Despite power cuts, destroyed film, and the group's initial indifference, PINK FLOYD AT POMPEII has grown into a crucial document of the band at a crossroads. In 2025 - restored and remixed - it looks and sounds better than ever. Even NICK MASON thinks so. "We had no concept of how good It was," he tells JIM IRVIN, "or what kind of impact it was having."

"IT'S ALMOST LIKE WATCHING A DREAM"

Floyd "superfan" STEVEN WILSON on a lifetime of loving At Pompeii, and his new mix

THE RISE AND FALL OF READY STEADY GO!

Pop music was boiling over in 1963. But where could the hip viewer see it on British television? Enter revolutionary show Ready Steady Go! , where the sounds, fashions and attitudes of the mid-’60s tumult went nationwide with help from the Fabs, Motown, Stones, Who and more. Then Top Of The Pops stole their thunder. “We booked who we liked,” say the movers and scenesters. “It was like, ‘Hey wow, we’re on TV!’” On your marks… The Weekend Starts Here.

Uncommon People

Thirty years since their Glastonbury '95 apotheosis, and 24 since their last album appeared to call time on their recording career, PULP have a new album and a new lease of life. An art pop anomaly in thrift store drape, with an original take on the human comedy, they survived obscurity, fame and disillusionment to enjoy arena-filling vindication. Now it's clearer than ever: there's nothing like them and there never will be. "Pulp has always mutated and now it's mutated again," they tell IAN HARRISON.

Cocker Conspiracies

Ian Harrison enjoys Pulp's long, strange journey on LP

Separations

Two key Pulp People who've missed out on this reunion, by Ian Harrison

Unhappy ever after

Radiohead singer and electronic producer collaborate to spin bleak yarns for the modern age.

The Low country

A bereaved singer finds community in folk

Some journey

Vega’s tenth album veers from rage to panic to transcendence.

Higher learning

Will Toledo’s audacious rock opera.

Shine on

The former kingpin of African music offers a reminder that he is still out there, still relevant.

JAZZ

Cole Pulice ★★★★ Land’s End Eternal LEAVING.

ALSO RELEASED

Crispell/Andersson/ Østergaard ★★★★ The Cave ILK MUSIC.

FOLK

Varo ★★★★ The World That I Knew

ALSO RELEASED

Milkweed ★★★★ Remscéla BROADSIDE HACKS. DL/LP/MC

Industrial, complex

One of the first albums to be digitally recorded, mixed and mastered is back for a 40th anniversary. There’s soul beneath the sheen, discovers Keith Cameron.

The charm before the storm

Stones muse’s groovy juvenilia in a six-disc anthology.

The owls are not what they seem

Two-CD collection of cinematic collaborations with Messrs Lynch and Badalamenti

Lazy send-off

The Small Faces’ last word was fumbled first time around but has, 56 years on, been generously overhauled, thanks to their drummer.

Monster Fun

Rescued from music’s cut-out bin, shifting-tempo horns-rock, with fangs.

Drone

Getting good vibrations, Andrew Male.

On your Marx

Clear-sighted memoir from the GO4 singer.

Neat Neat Neat

Punk prime mover and Damned guitarist Brian James left us on March 6.

Sunshine Man

Roy Ayers, vibes trailblazer who cross-pollinated jazz with soul and funk, left us on March 4.

MAY 1983 … Malcolm McLaren startles with Duck Rock

Going round the outside: Malcolm McLaren (centre) with

Who could have been in the Fabs?

Got a nagging question? Let us resolve the music-related inquiries that irk you.

This Is Hardcover

Win! Visual history I’m With Pulp, Are You?, plus signed Pulp vinyl!

Bob Mould and Hüsker Dü

It began with Pere Ubu at Cheapo Records. And ended when dynamics and drugs changed things.