UNCUT: 30 plus pages on Ziggy-era Bowie - you all owe it to yourself to buy it now !!

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not as good as their *fantastic* berlin-era piece 2 yrs back, and
obviously an age-old tale, but sooooooo great to hear it again.
things i didn't know : 'hunky dory' + 'ziggy...' were released only
6 months apart (!), 'it aint easy' was recorded for one and ended up
on the other, iggy and lou reed were going nowhere till bowie stepped
up. and so on and so on.

now where's that eyeshadow ..?

― piscesboy, Friday, 7 February 2003 11:45 (twenty-three years ago)

I saw that in the newsagents, and was wondering if this might mean bad luck would be coming Mr Bowie's way. Regard the fact that the last two covers of that magazine featured Pete Townsend/The Who and Joe Strummer/The Clash, prior to unforunate events befalling each one!

― M Carty (mj_c), Friday, 7 February 2003 11:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Have you listened to the CD yet? Great Edwyn Collins version of 'The Gospel According to Tony Day' (a song so obscure I'd forgotten I'd heard it until I heard it if you see what I mean). Several clunkers on there, though.

― James Ball (James Ball), Friday, 7 February 2003 11:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Anyone spot the letter about Joe Strummer from Jon Cannon? It was exactly like his ILM posts!

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Friday, 7 February 2003 12:11 (twenty-three years ago)

Yet another Bowie cover. another repackaged bit of history.

no thanks!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 7 February 2003 12:28 (twenty-three years ago)

And Lou Reed misposted his opinions on rock journalists to Uncut instead of the ilxor Christgau thread.

"trying to write with the rhythm of rock.......they were just doing it because they couldn't be in band"

Q: And did you look down on them because of that?

"I would look down on a journalist whether he wanted to be in a band or not, just because of their occupation."

Ensuing reviews of "The Raven" should be interesting......

― ArfArf, Friday, 7 February 2003 12:52 (twenty-three years ago)

but next month it's boring Brucie Springsteen again ! December 2000, September 2002 and April 2003

No wonder Paul Lester is chucking the towel in ! [Uncut have advertised for a Deputy Editor, last week in The Guardian]

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Friday, 7 February 2003 13:33 (twenty-three years ago)

Lou Reed is only making explicit what all rock stars and all critics believe about the pecking order of their respective professions. (It's born out by the different amounts of money you get for the different jobs too -- apparently the social worth of a rock star is just a lot higher, if money is any measure.) Christgau says on his website:

'I recently did a phoner with some radio ham who was just old enough to be pleased that the Stones were touring again (which I'm not) and wanted me to tell him that 60 wasn't old. I laughed in his earpiece. It is old, three quarters or two thirds of most people's effective lives if not much more (two of my best friends died at 65 and 60), and Jagger hasn't handled it very well. But Dylan and Lou Reed and many others have, brilliantly if not always consistently. And so have some critics, myself included--it's easier for us, of course, because criticism requires second-level creativity while making music is first-level.'

― Momus (Momus), Friday, 7 February 2003 13:39 (twenty-three years ago)

It depends on the journalist, I say. Does Lou Reed really believe he's better than Dickens or HL Mencken?

Also rock stars are perfectly happy to befriend critics/journalists when it suits them, usually on the way up when there's less difference between earnings.

― suzy (suzy), Friday, 7 February 2003 13:43 (twenty-three years ago)

...and also I judge people by their ability to maintain friendships with people from right across the spectrum of income, provided those people are interesting.

― suzy (suzy), Friday, 7 February 2003 13:46 (twenty-three years ago)

Does Lou Reed really believe he's better than Dickens or HL Mencken?

FITE!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 7 February 2003 14:09 (twenty-three years ago)

(Though I'm on Suzy's side here.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 7 February 2003 14:10 (twenty-three years ago)

Paul L's departure had long been on the cards, so to me it's no surprise but still a bit of a blow. I wonder whether there will be any room left for my angle on music in future Uncuts, or whether whoever takes over decides to solidify the mag even further into sub-Mojo retro and tequila-soaked barbed wire blah blah. I might have to go and try writing for another mag/journal (which I will need to do anyway). It's worrying.

― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 7 February 2003 14:14 (twenty-three years ago)

thanks for the warning

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 7 February 2003 15:01 (twenty-three years ago)

well...'word' is the big new one coming out isn't it ?
Q magazine is painful. didn't used to be.

― piscesboy, Friday, 7 February 2003 15:06 (twenty-three years ago)

It looks boring:

Word
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Friday, 7 February 2003 15:13 (twenty-three years ago)

It's awful. All the Emap pensioners ran away to Neverland together and it says No Gurls Allowed on their clubhouse.

― suzy (suzy), Friday, 7 February 2003 15:55 (twenty-three years ago)

I very much hope they keep you on, Marcello. And give you a few longer features to do alongside the reviews.

― James Ball (James Ball), Friday, 7 February 2003 16:13 (twenty-three years ago)

Just spoken with Paul L - false alarm, he's staying put at Uncut for now, the mag just needs an extra pair of hands. HURRAH!

― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 7 February 2003 16:55 (twenty-three years ago)

hooray ! Lester/ Carlin fite off the dull Americana/Alt.Country/Trad Rock Bores

[I notice that Paul Lester's job is Associate editor (music) - I just thought that as Marcello mentioned he may be gong a couple of months ago that this new position was an enhanced replacement]

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Friday, 7 February 2003 17:03 (twenty-three years ago)

(Guardian/IPC mole alert. No Uncut jobs in the paper next Monday, but if you want to be a Picture Researcher on Mizz, you're in luck.)

― James Ball (James Ball), Friday, 7 February 2003 17:22 (twenty-three years ago)

does anyone have anything 2 say about that new «Bang!» magazine that's coming out next April? heard that Simon Price's the Features Editor. or something like that.

― JML, Friday, 7 February 2003 19:35 (twenty-three years ago)

We have done BANG !
Bang! (Another new music mag thread)

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Friday, 7 February 2003 19:39 (twenty-three years ago)

I pray that whoever's in charge in Uncut doesn't come up with new ways to print even smaller, uniform size reviews by the time of the next redesign, sometime in 2004. And uncredited, microscopic album reviews - that's the worst thing, a fucking insult. (And I really wished there was way more room 4 Carlin-Reynolds-Lester-Roberts-Stubbs-Morley-Penman-all-the-good-guys-and-er-girls.)
Any comments on Bob Stanley's article in The Times (I think), where he said that Sacred Cows was out of the magazine because it was bad 4 advertising?

― JML, Friday, 7 February 2003 19:47 (twenty-three years ago)

"it says No Gurls Allowed on their clubhouse."

Oh, come now. They did let Miranda Sawyer write a piece on Mel C.

TMFTML
http://intonation.blogspot.com

― TMFTML (TMFTML), Friday, 7 February 2003 21:05 (twenty-three years ago)

Marcello do you have any reviews in this issue or the next?

Sacred Cows is gone because the Reaper ran afoul of a disgruntled Clash fan! (See Ed Hamell's very odd sidebar on page 54 in the last issue...)

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 7 February 2003 22:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Yet another Bowie cover. another repackaged bit of history.

Yes, please! And next month it's Bruce Springsteen! YAY!!!

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 7 February 2003 22:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh yes Justyn, plenty of reviews by me in this month's ish and the next!

― Marcello Carlin, Saturday, 8 February 2003 10:15 (twenty-three years ago)

Chris Roberts appears to be all over Uncut this month. Which is fair enough. Nice cover too. Haven't read any of it yet 'cept the Ed Harcourt review. I'll give it a miss next month - I never managed to read all the tedious Springsteen interview from last time.

I just wish that for once, just for once, they would feature an act that have appeared at least in the last ten years on the cover/main feature.

― DavidM (DavidM), Saturday, 8 February 2003 11:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Excellent stuff, I've been recording my Bowie albums onto minidisc and almost cheered in the newsagents when I saw Uncut. I missed that Berlin article so thanks for mentioning it - it's here if anyone's interested. The CD's a bit reverential but the Edwyn Collins one is great, as is The Associates' take on "Boys Keep Swinging". The Langley Schools Music Project's "Space Oddity" is frankly scary though. I don't know much about Bowie's 60s stuff, "The Laughing Gnome" has always put me off, but "The Gospel According To Tony Day" is making me think this might be a mistake - any pointers, anyone?

Marcello, your review of The Faint's LP convinced me to put it on my shopping list. I will be back to berate you if it's rubbish.

― Mike (mratford), Sunday, 9 February 2003 15:31 (twenty-three years ago)

The Faint are great and Marcello is OTM with praise of them. Chaki may disagree though. ;-)

If you want the basic overview of all the sixties stuff pre-Space Oddity [or rather the album eventually called that], all you need are two comps. Early On was put out by Rhino in 1991 and covers 1964 to 1966 -- mostly very derivative blues/mod/pop/rock stuff, but it's fun to hear his enthusiasm and some of the demos are hilariously off. Then there's The Complete Deram Anthology or something like that, which consists of his first full self-titled album from 1967 plus all the associated singles and B-sides and some cuts straight from the Love You Till Tuesday promo film in 1968. You get "The Laughing Gnome," like it or not, but you'll also get "The Gospel According to Tony Day," "The London Boys" and some other in-retrospect choice winners. This whole phase was way more Anthony Newley than Scott Walker, though, that's for sure.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 9 February 2003 17:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Search: The London Boys, Let Me Sleep Beside You, and In The Heat of the Morning. And yeah, I'll take 30 plus pages on Ziggy-era Bowie! I do admit that the constant recycling of history can be a bit boring, but for Ziggy I'll make an exception.

― Sean (Sean), Sunday, 9 February 2003 22:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Thanks Ned and Sean, much appreciated. I'll add the Deram compilation to my shopping list.

― Mike (mratford), Monday, 10 February 2003 03:50 (twenty-three years ago)

Doesn't "Let Me Sleep Beside You" sound really Neil Diamond-influenced? "Child, your a woman now, your heart and soul are free"? "The Karma Man" is also terrific.

You should get Early On for the groovy organ-driven beatnik/slacker anthem "I Dig Everything". It's so happy-go-lucky. It reminds me of the more upbeat Kinks songs, only dopier.

― Arthur (Arthur), Monday, 10 February 2003 05:10 (twenty-three years ago)

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