Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2019 i UNCUT

“I’m not really interested in celebrating yesterday. I’ve got other things to do” IT’S strange to be meeting Paul Simonon within a few steps of the Westway, the London flyover that looms so large in Clash lore. Coincidence – or maybe serendipity – has brought him back here, to Damon Albarn’s studio, where much of The Good, The Bad & The Queen’s new album Merrie Land was recorded. “In some ways it’s very familiar because I used to go to school round here, but the area’s changed quite a lot,” muses Simonon. “A lot of people have been priced out. This part [Latimer Road] is all right because it hasn’t really changed, but Ladbroke Grove, Portobello Road, I don’t recognise it, other than shapes of buildings and stuff. The personality…

THE 1975 A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships DIRTY HIT 7/10 Millennial experience gets eclectic treatment Success for the Manchester band has been as unlikely as it’s been mega. Last time out, they conquered the US and headlined festivals – extreme experiences that landed frontman Matty Healy in a Barbadian rehab centre making friends with a horse. They are, by far, the most intriguing contemporary “rock” band of their ilk, and A Brief Inquiry… is multidimensional. At times, it could be Ed Sheeran (“Be My Mistake”), Bon Iver (“How To Draw / Petrichor”) or even Jamie Cullum (“Mine”); and this rotating playlist of styles and sincerity will rankle with some – it’s very earnest about addiction, love and our internet selves – but rather that than banal conformity. GREG COCHRANE…

Kaia Kater searches for her cultural backstory Musically, Grenades is one of your most eclectic works… I started working with producer Erin Costelo and we knew immediately that our partnership was going to bring in varied influences that would differ significantly from Nine Pin . I wanted to hone my sound away from Appalachia and into a new dimension. I was really trying to show some versatility and showcase not only what the banjo and guitar can be, but what an artist can become. Had you been meaning to make an album like this for a while? I was aware of two intentions at the beginning of the process. The first was that I wanted to put forth an album of completely…

Julian Lynch talks ‘unperformable’ sounds, doctorates and Wire You and Real Estate don’t seem obvious bedfellows. How has playing with them affected your work? When I record solo, I can use anything at my disposal to make the sounds I want to make. Most of the music I’ve ever recorded is more or less unperformable live without having to find, like, 15 musicians to play with me. With Real Estate, there are only five of us, and each one has their own part to play. I played in bands when I was younger, but being in Real Estate has taught me a lot of more conventional concepts of how instruments “function” within a larger sound. Do you think of your music as complicated? When I first heard Wire, the notion…

Produced by: Cate Le Bon, Ben H Allen III, Ben Etter and Deerhunter Recorded at: Marfa Recording, Marfa, Sonic Ranch, Texas, Seahorse Sound, Los Angeles, Maze Studios, Atlanta, and the attic of Bradford Cox, Grant Park, Atlanta Personnel: Bradford Cox (vocals, guitar, keys, perc), Lockett Pundt (vocals, guitar), Moses Archuleta (drums), Josh McKay (bass, marimba, keys), Javier Morales (keys, sax), Cate Le Bon (vocals, harpsichord), Tim Presley (guitar), Ben H Allen III (synthetic bass), Ian Horrocks (contrabass)…

Lorena Quintanilla and Alberto González on shared connections and present-day psych-outs What music did you connect over when you first met? LORENA: We were both were in different local bands when we met in Guadalajara. We would regularly see each other at our shows and at other bands’ shows as well. ALBERTO: It wasn’t until a trip to LA to see My Bloody Valentine back in 2008 that our real journey began. Spectrum was the support and we caught A Place to Bury Strangers and Deerhoof on the same weekend. We were drawn by the interplay of volume, repetition and work ethics. What’s the key to making psychedelic music that still feels very contemporary? ALBERTO: It’s refreshing when genres are pushed into the future with new elements. Otherwise it could…

THE ADVERTS Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts BRIGHT, 1978 Roxy veterans The  Adverts had already released four singles before they recorded their debut LP, but they showed no signs of slowing down on this energetic debut. The band’s natural grasp of melody pointed the way towards the tidier world of power-pop, but The Adverts had witty and clever lyrics that distinguished them from their peers. 8/10 THE BOYS The Boys NEMS, 1977 Formed by former members of London SS and  Hollywood Brats, The Boys didn’t have the attention-grabbing gift of other leading punk bands. But they did have a go-getting attitude and a handful of great tunes – enough to fill a 14-track debut album. Highlights include the Hollywood Brats’ classic “Sick On You”, plus “I Don’t Care”…

The 2019 release roster really hots up next month, with long-awaited returns from Beirut, Bob Mould, Rustin Man and The Specials. Meanwhile, singer-songwriters Cass McCombs, Jessica Pratt and Michael Chapman try out very different approaches, and Sleaford Mods get angry (of course) on Eton Alive . Archival releases include such treats as Michael Rother’s Solo box, two lesser-spotted reissues from Alex Chilton and the re-release of Prefab Sprout’s underrated I Trawl The Megahertz . TOM.PINNOCK@TI-MEDIA.COM…

MOVEMENT has long been regarded as New Order’s transitional album, a rebirth following the tragic end of Joy Division. Even its creators have mixed feelings about it almost 40 years later. Peter Hook calls Movement “Joy Division with New Order vocals”; Bernard Sumner, “the faltering steps of an infant”. But in its newly expanded boxset, Movement unquestionably gains in stature and significance. A raw demo version of the album, recorded at Cargo studios in Rochdale but never released before, captures some of the tougher punk edge the band was always pushing for against the wishes of producer Martin Hannett. “What was interesting to me was there’s another version of Movement which is just demos,” says Stephen…

THE first time we met was outside the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. Funnily enough, Malcolm McLaren introduced us. We went to the bar and had a chat and realised we got on – there was some magic between us, I guess. The next day we had a band rehearsal and away we went. We all plugged into one amp and a terrible beauty was born! In some ways we were very similar and in some ways we were opposites. If we were at school, I probably wouldn’t have hung around with him. But there was an automatic musical chemistry between us. The two buzzsaw guitars together… we never rehearsed things, it just happened. You could hear the band next door rehearsing the beginnings of a song and in that…

“MY father bought me the Hofner Super Solid V2 guitar for £50 from a music shop called Windows in Central Arcade in Newcastle. Fifty quid was two weeks’ wage at the time and it was my most precious possession. I even slept with it. It was a cheap Stratocaster copy and of course the other classic any rocker wants in his armoury is the Gibson Les Paul. “By the mid-’80s we’d had a fair bit of success and during any given show I was changing my guitar 20 times. I really wanted a guitar that united the best aspects of the Strat and the Gibson so I wouldn’t have to do so many changes. And so I walked into Rudy’s Music on 48th Street in New York because the guy…

ROMA Directed by Alfonso Cuarón Starring Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Opens Out now Cert 15 8/10 THE FAVOURITE Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos Starring Olivia Colman, Emma Stone Opens Jan 1 Cert 15 9/10 COLETTE Directed by Wash Westmoreland Starring Keira Knightley, Dominic West Opens January 11 Cert 15 7/10 STAN & OLLIE Directed by Jon S Baird Starring Steve Coogan, John C Reilly Opens January 11 Cert PG 7/10 DESTROYER Directed by Karyn Kusama Starring Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell Opens January 25 Cert 15 5/10…

TALK Talk fans have learned to be patient for news of activity by the band’s former members. Frontman Mark Hollis hasn’t broken cover since 1998’s self-titled solo LP, while bassist Paul Webb has been quiet since his first release as Rustin Man, 2002’s acclaimed Out Of Season, made with Portishead’s Beth Gibbons. But Webb’s finally back with a follow-up called Drift Code, on which he takes lead vocals for the first time – a situation that he’s still getting used to. “It’s weird me being the one talking,” he laughs. “I like work speaking for itself. It goes back to when I used to buy records as a kid on the cover alone. There’s a certain mystery about that, and when you found out about the band something died. Plus…

THE CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM South Of Reality ATO Gentlemen, we’re going over the top! Florid prog-psych with satirical bite, from the feverish imaginations of Sean Lennon and Primus’s Les Claypool. LAMBCHOP This (Is What I Wanted To Tell You) CITY SLANG Adding fluid funk basslines and Talk Talk atmospherics to the tender autotuned rambles first essayed on Flotus , Kurt Wagner delivers his most affecting album since Is A Woman . SLEAFORD MODS Eton Alive EXTREME EATING “ I’ve got two brown bins/Should I only have one? ” In the midst of Brexit meltdown, Jason Williamson cuts right to the heart of our self-inflicted malaise. Contains singing! PANDA BEAR Buoys DOMINO Noah Lennox’s acoustic troubadour album. Animal Collective fans can rest easy,…

“Well the highway’s alive tonight /But nobody’s kidding nobody about where it goes” BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Springsteen On Broadway COLUMBIA Bruce bares his soul in this film and soundtrack documenting one night of his 14-month Broadway run. By Peter Watts ALBUM OF THE MONTH 9/10 BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN can’t help himself. Epic is in his blood. When he began his run of solo shows on Broadway in October 2017, he said he wanted to do something as “personal and as intimate as possible”. But personal and intimate doesn’t preclude ambitious and exhausting, so what started as a 40-date run was twice extended, until he ended up performing 236 shows, working five days a week for 14 months. Springsteen On Broadway has also been filmed and recorded for a soundtrack album,…

1 Alpine Star 2 Fail Safe 3 Not In Our Stars 4 Call Me When I’m Breathing Again 5 Eventual Surrender 6 Rebecca 7 Venus In Aquarius 8 Virginia Is For Loners 9 Man In A Hurry 10 Our Lady Of The Desert Produced by: Bradley Cook and Tucker Martine Recorded at: Flora Recording And Playback, Portland Personnel: William Tyler (acoustic guitar), Bradley Cook (bass, synths, piano, Omnichord, vibraphone, mandolin), Griffin Goldsmith (drums, percussion), Meg Duffy (electric guitar, loops), James Anthony Wallace (pianos, organ, vibraphone), Bill Frisell (electric guitar on “Our Lady Of The Desert”)…

THIRD EAR BAND Elements 1970–1971 / Music From Macbeth CHERRY RED REISSUE OF THE MONTH 9/10,8/10 Strange sounds from the British psych underground. By Tom Pinnock WHEN World War II veteran Glen Sweeney was living in Richmond’s Royal Star & Garter hospital for former servicemen, you wonder what his straighter fellow patients made of his life. This was a man, after all, who had been the charismatic leader and percussionist of the otherworldly Third Ear Band, a ‘longhair’ with a shaved head who had hung out at London’s UFO club in his forties, accompanied druidic rituals on top of Glastonbury Tor, soundtracked a Roman Polanski movie and even backed a young Cheggers in the process. His war stories were no less incredible. “My favourite, which might be completely…

David Attenborough on carrot-sized batteries and sceptical drummers It must have been amazing to hear these recordings after so long. Some of them have surprised me, some I remember well. What I’m most pleased about is that people who know about sound say,  “Yes, they’re good quality”, because it was a pretty primitive piece of apparatus, with a large handheld microphone. That I managed to put it in the right position at certain times pleases me no end. The EMI L2 tape recorder sounds quite the gadget… It was about 14 inches long, 8 inches high and took 12 U2 batteries, the size of a carrot, so quite big. It had a hand rewind, and that was all. It was the only tape recorder at the time that didn’t need…

THE SPECIALS Title: Encore Released: February First new album in 37 years from the elder statesmen of ska, featuring Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter HORACE PANTER: When we first got The Specials back together in late 2008 I thought, ‘Right, let’s do all this for a year, play these amazing shows, pay off the mortgage, then I’ll go back to being a schoolteacher.’ There was never a long-term plan. But it developed legs and we just carried on. We’d been thinking about recording some new stuff for a while and finally we started doing it in 2014 – Lynval, myself and Brad [drummer John Bradbury]. We demoed some songs and ideas, but then Brad died [December 2015], which put everything out of kilter. But we managed to pick…

A LEGENDARY figure in New York post-punk circles, Ruth Polsky was crucial to New Order’s early American breakthrough around the release of Movement . “She was vital, absolutely vital,” says Peter Hook. “Her vision, her love for English indie music, is the reason we’re all still big in America today. It was her that championed English music in New York, and that gateway opened up the whole of America. Not just us. A lot of bands from that period, their first taste of America came via Ruth Polsky.” A sometime music journalist and band manager, Polsky booked bands for Manhattan nightclubs Hurrah and Danceteria between 1979 and 1986. Besides New Order she also secured early American breaks for The Smiths, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Psychedelic…

BATTLING a truculent PA and trying to hold his own under a hail of beer at a Leeds Polytechnic show on September 25, 1977, Pete Shelley’s good humour finally cracked. “Oh my God, you’re so boring,” the 22-year-old yelps in a grimly comical sequence captured on the celebrated Razor Cuts bootleg. While Buzzcocks stoutly Lancastrian bassist Garth Smith was busy trying to pick a fight with the audience (“I’ve no time for you White Rose cunts”), Shelley was doubtless despairing at how quickly punk’s utopian ethos had descended into ugly confrontations, two-bit local hard men eager to play up to the tabloid conception of punks as mindless hooligans. Promoted to front the new wave’s northern powerhouse after original singer Howard Devoto quit to finish his degree, the diminutive Shelley was…

BUZZCOCKS were the reason I wanted to be in a band. I was an obsessive. I once found out where Pete lived in Gorton and knocked on his door. A bloke answered – a friend, lover, no idea. But he was pretty furious and told us to piss off! Finally getting the opportunity to play with them [ in 1990 ] was unbelievable. From the off, Pete was such a loving, thoughtful bloke. He was a serious man, Pete – a real thinker. That might not come cross if you’d met him for 10 minutes as he was very affable and lovely, but he was quite a complicated man inside, philosophical and intense. He was determined but in a quiet, understated way, and he always had…

1967: 18-year-old Glasgow folk singer Iain McGeachy moves to London. He changes his name to John Martyn and signs to Island Records 1970: Martyn releases two records with his wife, Beverley Martyn: Stormbringer! and The Road To Ruin May 1971: Martyn works with Danny Thompson for the first time, recording his third solo record, Bless The Weather Autumn 1972: Work begins on Solid Air at Sound Techniques. John Wood injures his ankle and the sessions are put on hold, moving to Basing Street in November/ December 1972, where the album is completed February 1, 1973: Solid Air is released, opening with the title track November 25, 1974: Nick Drake dies aged 26…

THE LAST MOVIE OPENED DECEMBER 14 Dennis Hopper’s rarely seen, psychedelic road movie, back on the big screen. Such scenes! PAPILLON OPENS DECEMBER 21 Remake of the 1973 film, though Charlie Hunnan ain’t no Steve McQueen. BUMBLEBEE OPENS DECEMBER 26 Transformers spin-off, if we needed one, about a plucky little Autobot making its way in the world. HOLMES AND WATSON OPENS DECEMBER 26 Will Ferrell and John C Reilly do Conan Doyle. Hilarity, possibly, ensues. WELCOME TO MARWEN OPENS JANUARY 1 Real life story with Steve Carell building a WWII village as therapy. Robert Zemeckis directs. THE 12TH MAN OPENS JANUARY 4 WWII drama about a Norwegian resistance fighter fleeing from the Nazis across Scandinavia. THE PASSENGER OPENS JANUARY 4 Antonioni’s picaresque 1975 travelogue with a baked Jack…

In shops now, Uncut’s latest Ultimate Genre Guide celebrates the art of the Singer–Songwriter. It comprises archive features and new insightful reviews of landmark albums by Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, CSNY, James Taylor, Nick Drake and more, plus a Laurel Canyon tour guide… Providing a welcome antidote to festive fatigue, The Best Of NME 1975-1979 is also out now, featuring encounters with Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Tom Waits and Kate Bush. The punk revolution is also well covered, with brand-new words from Paul Simonon, PiL and Joy Division…  Also out now is our fully remastered Deluxe Ultimate Music Guide to The Cure, with an all-new Roxy Music edition to follow on January 10… Lucinda Williams and Richard Thompson (the latter playing a solo acoustic set) head…

1 JULIANA HATFIELD All Right, Yeah “All I can say is that I know I’m gonna get free,” sings Hatfield on this gorgeously trashy highlight from her Weird LP. Her effortlessly cool delivery is abetted by fuzz organ, brutal guitar and some wonderfully lo-fi drums. 2 LIAM HAYES Herr Garage The reclusive Hayes returns with a cassette-only new album, and this piece of acoustic pop showcases his sprightlier side, complete with Kinks-ian riffs, harmonica and kazoo. “He said go tell your little sister, ‘Hmmm hmm hmmm hmm…’” Enigmatic as always, then. 3 WILLIAM TYLER Call Me When I’m Breathing Again The master guitarist’s new album, Goes West, finds him concentrating purely on acoustic guitar. This slice of tender picking evokes early John Martyn and, in its courtly chord changes and…

LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY COLUMBIA, 2001 The E-Street reunion tour ended with 10 shows in New York City, with two filmed for an HBO special. Triumphant and celebratory, it climaxes with the powerful political one-two of “Land Of Hope And Dreams” and “American Skin (41 Shots)”. 9/10 THE CHRISTIC SHOWS LIVE.BRUCESPRINGSTEEN.NET , 2016 In 1990, Springsteen performed his first solo shows since 1972. In an acoustic set of spoken word and music, he talked about his parents and fatherhood, and showcased half a dozen new songs. Hugely emotional, it was finally released via his website in 2016. 9/10 ST ROSE OF LIMA GYMNASIUM, FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY LIVE.BRUCESPRINGSTEEN.NET , 2016 Also available on Springsteen’s website, this 1996 show on the Tom Joad tour sees…

How did moving to LA impact on the new songs? There’s a different kind of hope and energy in California that still seems remarkably foreign to someone like me who has only ever lived in the South. I think in terms of a different locale and landscape, I just started hearing new melodies, so to speak – a different kind of expanse out here than back home. Have you come to love the Californian landscape? There’s a certain sense of scale and distance to the West that is just so specific and different: everything is bigger, everything is farther apart. Even in Los Angeles you are only a half-hour’s drive away from mountain ranges where there’s no cellphone service and very few people. I definitely love it, but it scares…

1 New Colossus 2 Heavenly Track 3 Canyonland 4 (Power! Power! Power!) 5 La Misere 6 Meridian Ground 7 Starry Day 8 (Death of a Dream) 9 Grenades 10 Hydrants 11 Everly 12 The Right One 13 (Off The Plane) 14 Poets Be Buried Produced by: Erin Costelo Recorded at: Baldwin Street Sound, Toronto Personnel includes: Kaia Kater (vocals, guitar, banjo), Christine Bougie (guitar, lap steel), Andrew Ryan (upright bass), Anna Ruddick (bass), Brad Kilpatrick (drums), Andrew Jackson (trombone), David Parker (French horn), Erin Costelo (organ, percussion, backing vocals), Lydia Persaud (backing vocals), Meg Contini (backing vocals), Jill Harris (backing vocals), Deno Hurst (narrative interludes)…

The new releases are already stacking up for next year. On the back of a pair of ‘80s reissues – State Of Our Union and Two Fisted Tales – The Long Ryders unveil their first studio album in 30 years. Psychedelic Country Soul CHERRY RED is out in mid-February, produced by Ed Stasium and featuring the songs, including a cover of Tom Petty’s “Walls”. February also marks the return of Indiana sister duo Lily & Madeleine, whose Canterbury Girls is due on NEW WEST. Recorded in Nashville with Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk, the producers responsible for Kacey Musgraves’ Golden classic lineup of Sid Griffin, Stephen McCarthy, Tom Stevens…

Bradford Cox on the late Jo Cox and Nic Roeg… How do you feel about this record? Oh, it’s very unpleasant. It’s very bleak. There are plenty of marijuana-scented albums of middling indie rock available for purchase on Apple or Spotify or whatever. Go for it. We don’t provide that entertainment. We provide entertainment for people that want something less obvious. “No One’s Sleeping” deals with the 2016 murder of the British MP Jo Cox. I think it’s important for the English to realise they don’t live on a cultural island and that the death of Jo Cox had a profound human impact on me as if it happened in my own country. It’s representative of the ills of our culture, it’s representative of that mania, of nationalism. It’s madness…

Liam Hayes discusses improvisation, industry vampires and the freedom of sad songs… Can you tell me about the making of Mirage Garage ? Mirage Garage was done in the same kind of spirit as the four-track recordings I did in high school; no adults around. Just you and a friend playing all the instruments… making it up as you go. What are you grappling with in the songs on Mirage Garage ? The lyric on “In Me/Again”, ‘ once I found a little baby... ’, points back to your early days, then there’s the modern info-tech nightmare of “Here In Hell”… “ Once I found a little baby” , that’s where it all started for me, at least…

NICO The Marble Index ELEKTRA, 1968 Nico’s first self-penned album  remains a terrifying collision of European folk and the avant-garde, with the singer conjuring the elements like Macbeth’s witches on “Evening Of Light” and “Facing The Wind”. John Cale’s viola is almost proto-Third Ear at times, while Nico’s woozy harmonium provides a grimy, gritty Dark Ages feel. 10/10 SHIRLEY & DOLLY COLLINS Anthems In Eden HARVEST, 1969 Joining forces with David Munrow’s Early Music Consort Of London, the Collins sisters presented a folk song-cycle. Shirley’s voice was as unadorned and natural as ever, perfectly accompanied by the harsh textures of the rebec, sackbut, crumhorn and, of course, Dolly Collins’ portative organ. 9/10 COB Moyshe McStiff And The Tartan Lancers Of The Sacred Heart POLYDOR, 1972 Clive Palmer’s second LP with…

1 Jitterbug Waltz 2 Music Matador 3 Love Me 4 Alone Together 5 Muses For Richard Davis (previously unissued 1) 6 Muses For Richard Davis (previously unissued 2) 7 Mandrake 8 Come Sunday 9 Burning Spear 10 Ode To Charlie Parker 11 A Personal Statement 12 Iron Man 13 Music Matador (alternate take) 13 Love Me (alternate take 1) 14 Love Me (alternate take 2) 15 Alone Together (alternate take) 16 Jitterbug Waltz (alternate take) 17 Mandrake (alternate take) 18 Burning Spear (alternate take) Recorded: July 1 & 3, 1963, New York Personnel: Eric Dolphy (alto sax, bass clarinet, flute), Sonny Simmons (alto sax), Clifford Jordan (soprano sax), Prince Lasha (flute), Woody Shaw (trumpet), Bobby Hutcherson (vibraphone), Richard Davis, Eddie Kahn, Ron Brooks (double bass), Bob James (piano), JC Moses,…

“WHY was packaging important to us?” Factory Records boss Tony Wilson once mused. “Because the job was a sacred one.” Peter Saville’s classic sleeve design for New Order’s Movement album, much like the music within, marked the band’s shift from monochrome to colour. It is closely based on a 1932 exhibition poster by the Italian Futurist artist Fortunato Depero, who specialised in vivid kinetic typography. Saville created a range of related designs for New Order’s “Ceremony” and “Procession” singles, also released in 1981. Launched by poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti with a 1909 manifesto, the multimedia Futurist movement celebrated speed, technology, transport, urbanism and modernity, often with an undercurrent of violence. Initially avant-garde and progressive, it was later tainted by Marinetti’s embrace of Mussolini and fascism. Saville…

LOVE YOU MORE (1978) The terrifying rush of young love condensed into 1.45; anything but a “nine-day wonder” . I DON’T MIND (1978) Shelley’s most romantic work is full of disarming twists, but none shimmy quite like this. MOVING AWAY FROM THE PULSEBEAT (1978) The debut album’s Cubist closer, enlivened by rhythmic genius of John Maher – punk’s Buddy Rich. NOSTALGIA (1978) The weary Love Bites’ saving grace, Penetration covered Shelley’s cosmic revelation almost immediately. LIPSTICK (1978) Thrilling “Promises” B-side, featuring the same tune Devoto used for Magazine’s “Shot By Both Sides”. WHY CAN’T I TOUCH IT? (1979) Funky flip to “Everybody’s Happy Nowadays”; think Damo Suzuki in a playful mood. I BELIEVE (1979) Shelley’s acid revelation; a delirious seven-minute voyage through a…

IT’S just after lunch and Mark Knopfler is patting his stomach in playful mood. In fact, for very a limited period, he is offering to be two rock stars for the price of one. “Aw reet, fella,” he offers. “I’m feeling better after me bacon roll and Capstan Full Strength, like.” It transpires that this is a spot-on impression of fellow Geordie Brian Johnson. Knopfler is a close friend of the AC/DC frontman, but that doesn’t stop his impression lurching into panto excess. “You sorta have to squeeze the accent out ya neck,” he advises. As for the bacon roll, Knopfler enjoys nothing better than this esteemed working man’s snack. There’s even a song called “My Bacon Roll” on his new album Down The Road Wherever . “It’s all a…

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE Are You Experienced TRACK, 1967 I was living at home and my father didn’t allow a record player, so I was going out to listen to records with friends. Are You Experienced came through and I just loved it – Hendrix got his guitar to talk, and it was so very different. The way he sang, and what he sang about, captivated me. I never thought of the connection between my guitar-playing and Hendrix until recently – [he showed] you can use a guitar as an extension of your body and an emotional outlet. And it was sexy as hell. LOVE Forever Changes ELEKTRA, 1967 Whereas Hendrix was about an awakening, to music and my sexuality, this was about love for me. I was deeply in love…