THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE...

Jim Wirth An NME writer/shop assistant in

Beat SURRENDER!

15 Mod And Northern Soul Floorfillers

SAVE MONEY ON NEWSSTAND PRICES!

AND GET MORE FROM WITH A SUBSCRIPTION!

Great American Song Man

Hitmaker to the stars Richard Perry left us on December 24.

FEBRUARY 1968 …Rotary Connection’s prog-soul voyage commences

Magic roundabout: (clockwise from left) Rotary Connection (back

Who put songs in brackets?

Let us answer your rock-related questions and resolve musical argument.

Orange-y Boom

Win! Amps and headphones from the guv’nors of volume.

Guy Chadwick and The House Of Love

It began with hard-won experience and bracing indie lift-off. But when he lost heart, disappointment won out.

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

Coup De Grace

THE HOT NEWS AND BIZARRE STORIES FROM PLANET MOJO

WHAT NEXT FOR SOLO COLIN BLUNSTONE? PLUS, ARE THE ZOMBIES REALLY BURIED?

This will be his year: The Zombies’

KING JAMMY

The reggae producer and dub master talks King Tubby, dancehall rivalry and the Sleng Teng rhythm.

Sarah Cracknell

Saint Etienne’s singer hails Blondie’s Parallel Lines (Chrysalis, 1978)

MACCA-OLOGISTS DELIVER SECOND THUMPING BIBLE – BUT WHAT’S THE SCOOP?

“I NEVER KNEW what it actually meant to

PSYCH BERSERKERS TRÄD, GRÄS OCH STENAR SPROUT ANEW, AS TRÄDEN

Max tundra: (clockwise from above) Träd, Gräs Och

Red Dirt Boogie Brother

Unsung guitar hero Jesse Ed Davis is saluted in an exhibition and tribute show. But who was he? Famous friends tell all.

ALABAMA SHAKES AGAIN… TO THE UNDISTILLED BLUES OF EARLY JAMES

Raw deal: Early James brings his untamed style

FIGHTER PLANES? PARASITES? JACK WHITE? MEET GOTH HIGH-FLIER HEARTWORMS

H EARTWORMS RECENTLY supported Jack White in London,

MOJO PLAYLIST

Listen up! For the month’s best soul, braindance and balladry.

THE MOJO INTERVIEW

Indie pioneer with the effervescent Orange Juice, wrangler of words and caustic wit, he survived major-label meltdowns and near-fatal brain injury to rebuild himself as a songwriter. Amazingly, the fruits are still ripening. “The possibilities are endless!” insists Edwyn Collins

THE TRIPPING POINT

SIXTY YEARS AGO, A SONIC REVOLUTION WAS AFOOT, PALPABLE IN STRANGE NEW RECORDS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC, THE BEATLES AND THE WHO JOINED BY THE SYNDICATS AND THE SILKIE AS GUITAR FEEDBACK, DRUGGY FOLK AND SURGING SOUL BATTLED KEN DOO0 AND THE SEENERS FOR CULTURAL ASCENDANCY, ENJOY IT ALL IN MOJO'S LIST OF 20 SUBVERSIVE SINGLES FROM 1965. "WELCOME TO THE YEAR POP GOT WEIRD," SAYS JON SAVAGE

MOJO PRESENTS

Who else sounds like a mash-up of Hüsker Dü and Richard Thompson, and writes about their mother’s death with unexpected and discomfiting candour? Only THE TUBS – Britain’s fast-rising alt-rock “primitives”. But what rewards can they dream of in music’s Age Of Austerity? “Twelve grand a year,” is all they ask of JIM WIRTH

NEVER TEAR US APART

From unlikely, far-flung beginnings, INXS rose to conquer the world, enamouring Springsteen, the Stones and Chrissie Hynde before singer Michael Hutchence’s tragic demise. A reissue of their watershed Listen Like Thieves reveals a Swiss Army band, joined at the hip, but MOJO fifinds some wounds still raw. “We flfloundered for years,” they tell JOHN AIZLEWOOD .

STARR QUALITY

FOR SEVEN DECADES, THE WORLD HAS LOVED RINGO STARR. THE BEATLE WHO SEEMED BEMUSED YET UNALTERED BY MINDBLOWING FAME. A NEW ALBUM HAS SEEN HIM RECONNECT WITH THE MUSIC THAT STARTED IT ALL, IN A LIVERPOOL CINEMA IN THE 19495. TIME TO TALK COUNTRY. THE BEATLES' DEMISE, SOLO SUCCESS, AND A LIFELONG AFFINITY WITH AMERICA, "WHO KNEW IT WAS GOING TO BE SO HUGE?" HE ASKS TOM DOYLE

DONOVAN CATCHES THE WIND

Attuned to Aquarian frequencies and on a mission to marry jazz, blues, folk and pop with bardic poetry, DONOVAN LEITCH ’s late ’60s were golden. But after hits galore in Britain and America, encounters with the Fabs and the Maharishi, and a pre-ordained love affair, the dawning ’70s demanded a rethink. “The amount we did was phenomenal,” recall the singer and his merry band. “We’d done all we set out to do. We’d invaded pop culture.”

KEEP ON PUSHING

A 20-PAGE CELEBRATION

CONFESSIONS OF A SONGWRITER

Fifty great tunes, and then some, in every shape and size, and still there’s no rest for PAUL WELLER . On a break at the end of another solo album campaign and a tour that showcased Jam and Style Council classics, he reflects on the inspiration and obsession that power him forward. “It makes you think, Are you in control of this thing? Or is it in control of you?” he tells DANNY ECCLESTON .

MOJO FILTER

YOUR GUIDE TO THE MONTH'S BEST MUSIC

The good son

Former ’90s pop star turns Chacon the existentialist on third solo soul LP. Finding the sunbreaks on the darkest days: Andrew Male. Illustration by Borja

“I always want to strip things down to gløgg.”

Eddie Chacon speaks to Andrew Male.

New day rising

New Zealand singer-songwriter’s fourth album seeks illumination.

Horsegirl ★★★★

Phonetics On And On

Jumpin’ Jack Kerouac

Nouveau beatnik finds her killer outfit.

The last waltz

Iconic French octogenarian’s first new album in five years.

JAZZ

Alex Koo ★★★★ Blame It On My Chromosomes

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy ★★★★

The Purple Bird DOMINO/NO QUARTER. CD/DL/LP Made

WORLD

Wardruna ★★★★ Birna MUSIC FOR NATIONS/SONY. CD/DL/LP

Domestic science

Folk art visionary probes family dynamics

Cymande ★★★★

Born again: Cymande bring back the funk.

Spirits rejoice

Jeff Tweedy’s second straight masterpiece, from June 2004, celebrates its 20th anniversary with 9-CD and 2-LP box set variations.

“You want to discover something you didn’t know you could say.”

Jeff Tweedy speaks to Bob Mehr.

Time for a cool sharp harp

The future king of the kora arrives on the scene.

Small is beautiful

Limited runs of classic albums designed to be special.

Various ★★★★

Moon unit: Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh goes orbital.

I’m With Cupid

Freed from limbo: golden songs, mysticism and Ronnie Wood protesting “then my bottom dropped off”.

Various ★★★★

Va-va-venom: (clockwise) Cobra king Abe Epstein; Henry Peña;

Quincy Jones

Q, the music: his own albums and soundtracks

HOW TO BUY

1 Quincy Jones Walking In Space A&M,

Jazz warriors

The music of Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Max Roach – with Abbey Lincoln as the breakout star – in this African Cold War thriller.

Bang bang

The first instalment of Cheryl Sarkisian’s turbulent life story: the music years.