Editorial

“The world is turn in’/I hope it don’t

Rebirth of cagoule

Liam Gallagher and John Squire team up for aformidable Manchester mind-meld

“An explosion of energy”

Kristin Hersh, Giant Sand and The Dream Syndicate join forces to celebrate Fire Records ’ 40th anniversary

A Quick One

Our Ultimate Record Collection series enters the era

Back to the garden

Forty years on, Virginia Astley returns to the idyllic pastures of her cult debut

Edge of time

Anew book chronicles the original flowering of British jazz, record sleeve by rare record sleeve

Conchúr White

I’M NEW HERE

Uncut Playlist

On the stereo this month...

Deep Roots

Acelebration of Topic Records

SQUEEZE

Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook talk Deptford haunts, Cale and Cliff, and why some shows go better with a box of Maltesers

BRITTANY HOWARD

What Now EMI

GREAT BRITTANY

Three key markers along the path to What Now

GRANDADDY

Blu Wav DANGERBIRD 8/10

RIDING THE WAV

Jason Lytle’s finest albums so far

AtoZ

This month…

NADINE SHAH

Filthy Underneath EMI NORTH 9/10

THE SMILE

Wall Of Eyes XL 9/10

CORB LUND

A Album of the month

MGMT

“There’s not much irony and sarcasm this time”

AZIZA BRAHIM

Mawja GLITTERBEAT 8/10

RYAN DAVIS & THE ROADHOUSE BAND

Dancing On The Edge SOPHOMORE LOUNGE 9/10

MARY TIMONY

On the painful circumstances behind Untame The Tiger

SONIC YOUTH

Walls Have Ears GOOFIN’

THURSTON COMES ALIVE!

The finest Sonic live records

PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS

Band On The Run – “Underdubbed” Mixes Edition MPL/UME 10/10

A to Z

This month…

SCOTT FAGAN

South Atlantic Blues (reissue, 1968) EARTH

LOU REED

Hudson River Wind Meditations (reissue, 2007) LIGHT IN THE ATTIC

VARIOUS ARTISTS

ACE

SUBSCRIBE TODAY AND SAVE £52.65!*

“A giant, a singular genıus”

With his lyrical songwriting – full of humour, despair and hope – was an ardent chronicler of the human condition. Here, Spider Stacy, James Fearnley and Jem Finer share their memories of their former Pogues bandmate: “His gifts were incomparable,” hears Graeme Thomson. Meanwhile, on page 58 we revisit an encounter with MacGowan where he talks through the music that inspired him

AFAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK

The birth of aclassic

“We did the feedback with a banjo”

In late 1994, SHANE MacGOWAN sat down with Melody Maker in Filthy McNasty’s – his favourite north London pub – to be interviewed for the paper’s regular Rebellious Jukebox feature. Over several pints of iced white wine, he talked about the music that changed his life. “I just couldn’t pick 12 songs,” he agonised...

SACRED AND PROFANE

For five years, the American composer KALI MALONE has been releasing stirring minimalist compositions for organ. It’s been an uplifting journey to critical acclaim, taking the composer from the fringes of the Colorado death metal scene to Stockholm, to the religious buildings of the world, via conflict with the Christian right. “Some very weird things happen in the nervous system when I’m playing,” she tells John Robinson. “Some of these chords are just so physical.”

QUARRYMANIA!

As a new documentary prepares to roll back the years on JOHN LENNON’s pre-Fabs band, the surviving members of THE QUARRYMEN take us on a tour of their history-making Liverpool haunts. There is skiffle, scraps, “that scruff from Speke” and a chance meeting at St Peter’s Church Hall. As one ex-bandmember tells Rob Hughes, “John said, ‘Without The Quarrymen there would be no BEATLES.’”

Liam Hayes and Plush

Ornate pop recorded on a rooftop? The modern-day Nilsson goes his own way…

ANOTHER COUNTRY

Back with a brilliant new HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF album, Alynda Lee Segarra has made a reckoning with their past. In New Orleans, they tell Stephen Deusner about how life and loss have come back into focus in new, unexpected ways. “I feel like this album really saved me. I think each one does. They all come at just the right time.”

Please To See The King

Master guitarist and gifted interpreter MARTIN CARTHY on his enduring friendship with Blind Boy Grunt – aka Bob Dylan – making up with Paul Simon and life on the frontline of the Brit folk revival. “Songs are very powerful things,” he tells Tom Pinnock

TOP TROUBADOUR

How to buy Martin Carthy

There She Goes

How Lee Mavers’ chiming ’60s-tinted tune went through the mill before becoming a foundation stone of Britpop

“I’m deep inside myself, but I’ll get out somehow...”

Despairing and disconsolate, full of personal trauma and wider disillusion with the hippie dream – but all set to beautiful music – NEIL YOUNG’s 1974 album ON THE BEACH turns 50 this year. To mark the anniversary of Young’s masterpiece, Peter Watts rounds up key players and eyewitnesses to take us inside the album’s loose, out-there sessions. “The record was slow and dreamy, kind of underwater without bubbles.” Stand by for the honey slides!

SHORE THINGS

Aguide to other songs from the On The Beach era

MANHATTAN …BEACH

Neil at The Bottom Line

DALÍ! BALLARD! NIXON!

Exploring On The Beach’s cover art

PASS IT ’ROUND

The long, strange afterlife of On The Beach

SONIC ODYSSEY

Stellar fans of On The Beach discuss their favourite tracks, with contributions from Margo Price, Kurt Vile, Ethan Miller, JMascis and more

JOHNNY MARR

Aviva Studios, Manchester, December 7

SHABAKA HUTCHINGS

Hackney Church, London, December 8

As if Cocteau’s La Belle Et La Bête was a screwball comedy

Emma Stone embarks on a surreal steampunk odyssey; Jonathan Glazer’s unblinking death-camp drama; and more…

ALSO OUT...

The Boys In The Boat THE BOYS IN

SIMPLE MINDS

EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE PARAMOUNT+

BOOKS

Heavenly, 1990: (l–r) Peter Momtchiloff, Amelia Fletcher, Mathew

The best of the latest amplifiers

Love And Sockets

Not Fade Away

Fondly remembered this month...

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Allison Russell

The folk-roots queen on her formative musical experiences: “We did an interpretative dance performance to Sinéad O’Connor!”