The elephant in the room Before we get to Elephant’s Memory, let’s tackle the elephant in the room. Power To The People covers the period John Lennon and Yoko Ono moved to the US and recorded Some Time In New York City. Chronologically, it falls between Imagine and Mind Games, both of which have already received lavish boxsets. So why is Power To The People out of sync? In short, because of “Woman Is The N***** Of The World”. The song title was controversial enough in 1972 – indeed, that was the very point – but by the 2020s...
As The Moody Blues travelled across America during the late 1960s, they often encountered young men the same age as them at airports and bus stations, on their way home from Vietnam. These encounters inspired Justin Hayward to write “Question”, the single the band released in April 1970. While “Question” wasn’t an obvious candidate for a hit – subject matter aside, it lacked the richly orchestrated sound that The Moody Blues were known for since 1967’s “Nights In White Satin” – the single climbed to No 2, giving them their biggest chart success since “Go Now”. Later that year,...
The new December 2025 issue of Uncut comes with a very special free CD: The Gold Rush – The Songs Of Neil Young. The compilation features 15 of Young‘s classics and deep cuts reinterpreted exclusively for Uncut in tribute to Shakey’s 80th birthday. There’s some ragged, glorious rock from Kurt Vile & The Sadies, J Mascis, Alan Sparhawk‘s Tired Eyes and MJ Lenderman & The Wind; there are tender ballads from Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Joan Shelley & Nathan Salzburg, Drive By Truckers‘ Mike Cooley, and Sharon Van Otten & The Attachment Theory; and there are wilder, more experimental versions from Orcutt Shelley Miller...
King Inkie! The story of the young Nick Cave and his bands lends itself to lurid headlines. As you’ll read in this latest Ultimate Record Collection, though, behind the drugs, violence and withering disdain, there was a demented creativity and a powerful work ethic. Advertisement Today, one of the fruits of that is the adulation Cave enjoys in sold-out arenas, but it took a while for the world to come round to his way of thinking. London gave Rowland S Howard malnutrition, and the other members of Cave’s band The Birthday Party a healthy disrespect for what they saw...
Buzzcocks have announced details of a new studio album, Attitude Adjustment. It is released on January 30, 2026. Says Steve Diggle, “It’s punk rock with a Motown vibe! A new album should always have elements of surprise and create its own world, and this does. It avoids the cliché and expands the Buzzcocks’ magical journey.” Advertisement The tracklisting for Attitude Adjustment is: Queen of the SceneGamesSeeing DaylightPoetic Machine GunTear of a Golden GirlHeavy StreetsOne of the Universe (Part One)All Gone to WarOne of the Universe (Part Two)Jesus at the WheelJust a Dream I FollowedFeeling UptightBreak That Ball and ChainThe...
A tumultuous journey of self-discovery How to explain the nine years that have passed since In Search Of Harperfield, Emma Pollock’s self-acknowledged “best received” album in her 30 years as the vanguard of the Scottish underground? In her own words: “start at the beginning until you sing sunlight” – an oblique, poetic fragment that at its core captures the essence of a tumultuous journey of self-discovery, captured in all its light and shade on the songwriter’s fourth solo album. Recorded in the safe spaces around and after pandemic lockdowns, Begging The Night To Take Hold was shelved while The...
Yoko Ono: The word ‘imagine’ was a very important word between us. It’s very special because of John’s song “Imagine”, as well. I was there when he wrote it. We were in Ascot, in our bedroom upstairs. Because we were both artists, we showed each other everything. If I scribbled something I’d show it to John. He would scribble something and show it to me. That’s how he wrote his songs, too. He wasn’t one of those writers who’d write from ten until 12 in the morning. He used to think of an idea when we were in a...
The soil was practically falling over their heads As album titles go, These Were The Earlies was hardly one to inspire confidence; it was as if this Anglo-American collective were over before they’d begun. Indeed, with their debut’s songs selected from several years’ worth of limited, little-heard singles, the soil was practically falling over their heads. So who were The Earlies? The answer explains their predicament. They spanned two continents, with Christian Madden and Giles Hatton in Manchester, and John-Mark Lapham travelling between there and Texas, where Brandon Carr also lived. More confusingly, they’d double, even triple, their live...
We invited some of Neil Young’s most esteemed fans to cover his songs We knew we were onto something good on August 21 – at 3.44pm, to be precise. That’s when Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s version of “Cortez The Killer” landed in mine and Tom Pinnock’s inboxes accompanied by the briefest note: “Will this work for you guys?” Set over the merest shades of an acoustic guitar, it sounded like Will Oldham had recorded it on his front porch in Kentucky, with crickets chirping in the distance and the resonant tones of chime bells and the creak of a rocking...
EVERY PRINT EDITION OF OUR DECEMBER 2025 ISSUE COMES WITH A FREE, 15-TRACK CD — THE GOLD RUSH: THE SONGS OF NEIL YOUNG — FEATURING HIS FINEST SONGS REIMAGINED EXCLUSIVELY FOR UNCUT BY BONNIE “PRINCE” BILLY, J MASCIS, SHARON VAN ETTEN, KURT VILE & THE SADIES, JOAN SHELLEY, MARGO CILKER AND MORE! NEIL YOUNG To celebrate his upcoming 80th birthday, friends, collaborator and admirers — including Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, Emmylou Harris, Nils Lofgren, Thurston Moore, Micah Nelson and Margo Price — join Uncut to salute the many facets of a fearless, single minded artist. “He radically changes his mind...
