ON THIS MONTH’S CD

SPRING 2025

Franz Ferdinand THE HUMAN FEAR Ela

“They all had kind hearts”

Bridget St John ’s new mini-album celebrates her lost ‘brothers’: Nick Drake , John Martyn , Kevin Ayers and Michael Chapman

COMING UP

Thumbnail impressions of The Bends , track by track

LIVING IN ANOTHER WORLD

From their base in the Essex hinterlands, sonic mystics THESE NEW PURITANS have created a singular body of work that has evolved beyond its nervy post-punk roots to encompass English classicism, visionary pop and taut, experimental music. Sam Richards meets the Puritans’ twin masterminds Jack and George Barnett over cockles, anchovies and rollmops to explore the Arcadian dreams behind their quiet revolution. “We’ve always liked the idea of doing music that you can’t place in any particular time – you don’t quite know whether it’s ancient or from the future.”

HIDDEN GEMS

How to buy These New Puritans

REEL TO REEL CACOPHONY

In 1975, LOU REED unleashed Metal Machine Music – four sides of tones, feedback and sonic manipulation that almost destroyed his career. But was it a drug-crazed act of self-sabotage, a venomous rebuke to a record label expecting “Walk On The Wild Side” part two… or was it instead the latest in a long line of experimental projects Reed had pursued since his earliest musical forays? “He was trying to bring beauty into the world,” one confidant tells Alastair McKay. “Not fuck with everybody.”

HOW TO MAKE METAL MACHINE MUSIC… AT HOME!

Guitar tech Stewart Hurwood now performs installations of Lou Reed Drones, inspired by Metal Machine Music , having worked with Reed to recreate the effect at shows by the Metal Machine Trio. He offers

AFTERGLOW

For SMALL FACES , 1968 was a year of extremes, from hit singles and a career-defining album to a final, onstage bust-up. But while the bonds between them were strained by internal tensions and external dramas, the music they made in their last months together pointed tantalisingly in bold new directions. As an expanded version of their posthumous The Autumn Stone set reveals fresh treasures, Rob Hughes discovers what really transpired during the band’s final, tumultuous 12 months. “We were splitting up,” says Kenney Jones. “But we sounded so great.”

THE JOURNEY

A Small Faces timeline

A NEW LEAF

Photographer and sleeve designer Gered Mankowitz on revisiting The Autumn Stone

“I WAS ENVIOUS!”

Pete Townshend recalls the Small Faces’ fun factor

THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE

There’s a lot more to come from the label’s catalogue…

Richard Burton’s early days revisited; Mammies go wild in Ireland; internet satire; and more...

M R BURTON “Do you have everything

ALSO OUT...

Time Travel Is Dangerous TIME TRAVEL IS

PINK FLOYD AT POMPEII MCMLXXII

Amazing pudding! Adrian Maben’s sumptuous Floyd live/studio/ canteen film, remastered.

ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO

Electrifying portrait of the couple's early years in New York.

NEIL YOUNG COASTAL IN CINEMAS

Life after lockdown: a reflective Young hits the road.

BOOKS

T H ERE is a moment in Mike

HI-FI

Wireless for sound

Not Fade Away

Fondly remembered this month...

Feedback

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Crossword

£50 of Rough Trade vouchers!

Peter Capaldi

The post-punk Time Lord on the albums that shaped his universe: “Heard once, it stays forever”

“My love is in and around you, hey/I bless the day that I found you”

On the cover: Small Faces by Chris Walter/

‘‘He was there first’’

DAVID JOHANSEN 1950-2025

Flame on!

As Slade In Flame turns 50, Noddy Holder and director Richard Loncraine look back at the chaotic making of a future cult classic

A Quick One

CHRISTY ST. JOHN; BRIAN COOKE REDFERNS; MICHAEL PUTLAND

I just wanna fly

A month before the release of Definitely Maybe, Oasis made their first trip across the Atlantic. Photographer Tom Sheehan was with them

Köln you dig it?

How do you make a film about Keith Jarrett ’s legendary 1975 concert without access to any of his music?

Florist

WE’RE NEW HERE

Uncut Playlist

On the stereo this month...

SUZANNE VEGA

The quintessential New York singer-songwriter on rats, remixes, “Luka” and Lou Reed’s softer side

KASSI VALAZZA

From Newman Street

LITTLE DOVES AND WILDEGEESES

Two albums and a crucial EP by the New Orleans-via-Portland singer-songwriter

Q&A

Kassi Valazza: “It’s hard to write when you’re not feeling grounded”

WILLIAM TYLER

Time Indefinite PSYCHIC HOTLINE

Q&A

William Tyler : “I mainly listen to classical music now”

A to Z

This month…

BENMONT TENCH

The Melancholy Season DARK HORSE

Q & A

Benmont Tench: “My entire life had been the

HAWKWIND

Watch this space: Dave Brock (left) with Hawkwind’s

JERRY DAVID DECICCA

Cardiac Country SOPHOMORE LOUNGE 8/10

BON IVER

Sable, Fable JAGJAGUWAR

EVAN PARKER

The sax legend on improv, the Oscars and

SALIF KEITA

So Kono NO FORMAT!

Q & A

Salif Keita: “For the first time, I allowed

MÀIRI MORRISON & ALASDAIR ROBERTS WITH PETE JOHNSTON & FRIENDS

Remembered In Exile: Songs And Ballads From Nova Scotia DRAG CITY

Q & A

Màiri Morrison and Alasdair Roberts: “The connection we

THE BLASTERS

An American Music Story: The Complete Studio Recordings 1979–1985 LIBERATION HALL

BLASTERS FROM THE PAST

The best records the members made after their split

Q&A

Dave Alvin on early influences, fights and regrets

LONNIE LISTON SMITH AND THE COSMIC ECHOES

Expansions (reissue, 1975) ACE 9/10

Q&A

Lonnie Liston Smith: “Everything just flowed…”

A to Z

This month…

JEFF BRIDGES

The Dude talks Slow Magic, recordings he made in the late 1970s

REDISCOVERED

Uncovering the underrated and overlooked

JULEE CRUISE

Fall Float Love (Works 1989–1993)

THE SPECIALIST

VARIOUS ARTISTS

“I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE DIFFERENT... I STILL DO!”

Seventy-three years young, the irrepressible BOOTSY COLLINS is still the No 1 Funkateer, full of tales about the glory days aboard the Mothership, life lessons from James Brown and misadventures in the Bermuda Triangle. With his first new album in five years, P-Funk’s talismanic showman is bringing a message of hope to a new generation. “Whatever we’re living in,” he tells Nick Hasted, “I’m embracing it.”

Feed The Tree”

Misheard lyrics, a Pixies tour and a studio “taskmaster” contribute to the genesis of an early-’90s indie-pop gem

THIS IS MY MUSIC

As a recent compilation of rarities by his former band Galaxie 500 reminds us, DEAN WAREHAM has been making quietly influential indie-rock for almost 40 years now. But that’s only part of a story that runs from New Zealand to Harvard, from supporting The Velvet Underground to a parallel career in film. Meanwhile, a new solo album offers new possibilities. “I wanted to be more in control of my life,” he tells Tom Pinnock. “At a certain point, being in a band and voting on everything… it’s different at 60 than it is at 30.”

The Pogues

Their riotous repurposing of Irish folk captivated a generation, but the good times couldn’t last…

MEETING PEOPLE IS EASY

Thirty years ago, RADIOHEAD released The Bends – both a prickly, restless reaction to the sudden fame thrust upon them by “Creep” and their first experimental art-rock blockbuster. On assignment for Melody Maker , Andrew Mueller joined Radiohead on tour in America with REM, where Thom Yorke and co defied backstage pranks and on-the-road ennui to make sense of their place at music’s top table. “The thing that’s really freaked me out,” Thom Yorke revealed, “is seeing how being so famous can change the way everybody behaves towards you.”

LINE OF BEAUTY

Mapping Lou’s drone journey

JONATHAN RICHMAN

Buskirk-Chumley Theater, Bloomington, Indiana, February 26

STURGILL SIMPSON

Barrowland, Glasgow, February 26

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