Animals was always something of a runt in Pink Floyd’s 1970s litter, which is appropriate for an album obsessed with beastly metaphors. Conceived as a vicious commentary on Britain’s social decay, it never fitted comfortably in the Floyd’s timeline, lacking the humanising warmth of Wish You Were Here without quite achieving the furious grandeur promised by that marvellous cover or later attained by The Wall. That could be down to the circumstances of its creation. The first Pink Floyd album recorded at Britannia Row, it was almost entirely the work of Roger Waters, whose domination was starting to exacerbate...
Presenting our latest online exclusive: The Greatest Albums Of The 1960s, The greatest music of the decade, as voted for by Uncut, 500 albums reviewed! Get inside the music, with our selection of archive interviews. Buy a copy here!
Axl Rose! Cat Stevens! Songs to sing at funerals! As a 20th-anniversary boxset expands the technicolour universe of THE FLAMING LIPS’ Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, WAYNE COYNE reveals the real story of how his band of freaks inherited the Earth. “We just embraced it all, and did it our way,” learns Sam Richards, in the latest issue of Uncut magazine – in UK shops from Thursday, October 13 and available to buy from our online store. When Wayne Coyne answers our FaceTime call, he’s just leaving his local hardware store. Presumably he’s a valued customer – down the years,...
“We’ve learnt a new song to drive sorrows away”, declare The Unthanks on the epic title track of their latest album. It’s a simple enough sentiment, yet one loaded with profound meaning. For a band who draw strength and inspiration from the act of communal togetherness, the past couple of years have been especially tough. Not only did the enforced lockdown prevent them from playing live, but it put a stopper in the residential workshops and weekends that have been such a crucial part of The Unthanks’ MO for a decade or so. ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan is on...
Looking back 20 years later, it seems clearer now that Joe Strummer’s final three albums were each made under very different circumstances, for very different reasons; listening to them, it seems all the more remarkable how cohesive they sound, all shouting from the same street. ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan is on the cover of the latest issue of Uncut The group Strummer dubbed the Mescaleros began as a band in name only, but then rapidly evolved into the real deal, only to be stopped in their tracks in the worst way, just as things had started to fly. The...
Increasingly bold in saying his cosmic quiet bits out loud, Bill Callahan drifts into reverie on the woozy “Planets” – one of the many spaced-out songs on his new LP – after having stared “at the sky so long I forgot how to talk”. As trumpeter Derek Phelps and regular guitarist Matt Kinsey whip up a suitably galactic storm, the one-time Smog man hears the spheres singing something “vaguely Hawaiian”. “Kilakila Malu”, they chorus. “Kilakila Malu”. ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan is on the cover of the latest issue of Uncut The one-time deadpan king of dysfunction is continuing to follow...
The first public taste of FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE could hardly have transpired in more extraordinary circumstances. As Brian Eno sang menacingly of “rock and fire” and “gas and dust” amid an ominously swelling storm of distorted synths, smoke lingered in the nighttime air and ash rained down from the heavens. He was standing on the ancient stage of Athens’ Odeon of Herodes Atticus, in the shadow of the Acropolis, and these were not special effects. Wildfires were ravaging the Greek countryside, and when he cautioned that “these billion years will end”, his voice dropped in a potent mix of angry admonition...
HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME Bob Dylan, Robyn Hitchcock, Flaming Lips, Davy Graham, L7, Weyes Blood, Alan Parsons, Misty In Roots, Alabaster DePlume, Peter Frampton and Willy DeVille all feature in the new Uncut, dated December 2022 and in UK shops from October 13 or available to buy online now. This issue comes with an exclusive free 15-track CD of the month’s best new music. BOB DYLAN: As Bob Dylan live fever reaches its peak, Uncut travels to Stockholm to experience the Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour up close. First, though, Uncut’s writers – and some close...
As the band reform for a 50th-anniversary celebration, the deluxe – well, what else? – Ultimate Music Guide to Roxy Music. The full story, from “inspired amateurism” to smooth sophistication – and the occasional stylish reformation. Also, an exclusive new interview with the band on the road and Bryan Ferry’s own guide to their classic studio albums. “Well I’m here looking through an old picture frame / Just waiting for the perfect view…” Buy a copy of the magazine here. Missed one in the series? Bundles are available at the same location…
Can there really be a Buzzcocks without Pete Shelley? The singer-songwriter, who died in 2018, fronted the band for 41 years, writing or co-writing hundreds of songs including such copper-bottomed classics as “What Do I Get?” and “Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’tve)”. His death leaves a massive hole. And yet, lest we forget, Shelley himself stepped into a similar space when original singer Howard Devoto left in 1977, leaving the lead guitarist to transition to singer-guitarist, main songwriter and frontman. ORDER NOW: Björk is on the cover of the latest issue of Uncut The rest is history,...
