Uncut Magazine 299 (April 2022) Kate Bush

Uncut Magazine 299 (April 2022) Kate Bush

Kate Bush​​, Nick Drake, Ronnie Spector, Fontaines D.C., Television’s Tom Verlaine, John McLaughlin, Slint, Aldous Harding, Cowboy Junkies, The Coral and all feature in the new Uncut, dated April 2022 and in UK shops from February 17 or available to buy online now. This issue comes with an exclusive free CD, comprising 15 tracks of the month’s best new music.

KATE BUSH: Donkeys and didgeridoos. Celtic ballads and ethno-pop. Harry Houdini and the Star Wars Cantina theme. Heady experimentation and creative freedom. Welcome to The Dreaming: Kate Bush’s “she’s gone mad” album – and the record that ushered in her imperial phase. “‘Wuthering Heights’ gave Kate licence to do what she wanted,” one eyewitness tells Peter Watts. “With The Dreaming, she took it as far as she could possibly go.”

OUR FREE CD! BLACKWATERSIDE: SOUNDS OF THE WEIRD NEW ALBION: 15 tracks from the 15 best new folk visionaries, including songs by Michael Tanner, The Left Outsides, Cath & Phil Tyler, Henry Parker, Rob St John, Burd Ellen, Waterless Hills and more.

Inside the issue, you’ll find:

NICK DRAKE: Nick Drake’s Pink Moon is 50 this month. To celebrate, Uncut has assembled friends, peers and acolytes – including Richard Thompson, Vashti Bunyan, Mark Eitzel, Joan Shelley and Joe Boyd – to explore favourite songs from the visionary singer-songwriter’s starkly beautiful swansong. Which will you love the best..?

RONNIE SPECTOR: One of the most distinctive voices in pop music fell silent last month – a combination of street toughness and tenderness, a trademark vibrato and raw, unschooled energy. First, Stephen Troussé pays tribute to Ronnie Spector, then – in an unpublished archive interview – Ronnie herself holds forth on her peerless run of 45s, hanging with The Beatles, the Boss and the New York punks and more. Finally, Nedra Talley-Ross, the last surviving Ronette, celebrates the life of her bandmate and cousin: “She was my breath.”

FONTAINES D.C.: From valiant outsiders to rock’n’roll heroes, Fontaines D.C. have learned to be true to themselves. But how will a move away from Dublin, their home city, impact on their long-held camaraderie? “We’re there in the corner, not really fitting in,” they tell Laura Barton.

TOM VERLAINE: Forty-five years on, Marquee Moon remains an unassailable classic. But what of Television’s guiding light, the elusive Tom Verlaine? Drawing on memories of exacting working methods, Froggy The Gremlin and Television’s unfinished fourth studio album, collaborators and bandmates separate fact from friction. “He’s remained true to himself over all the years,” hears Rob Hughes, “He’s following his instincts.”

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN: A virtuoso visionary, John McLaughlin has steered his music into some very heavy places. He gave lessons to Jimmy Page, helped Miles Davis go electric, communed with Alice Coltrane and pioneered a monumental new sound with his own Mahavishnu Orchestra. But what lies behind his tireless quest for transcendence? “I wanted to make music that takes you into the stratosphere,” he tells John Lewis.

SLINT: The making of “Good Morning Captain”.

AMON DÜÜL II: Album by album with the German rock band.

ALDOUS HARDING: A hard act to follow: outsider artist forces the doors of perception.

In our expansive reviews section, we take a look at new records from Midlake, Judy Collins, Carson McHone, The Weather Station, Andy Bell, Binker & Moses, Duncan Marquiss, and more, and archival releases from Son House, The Coral, Tinariwen, Irma Thomas, Ornette Coleman and others. We catch IDLES and The Smile live; among the films, DVDs and TV programmes reviewed are Paris, 13th District, Flee, The Real Charlie Chaplin, Red Rocket and The Duke; while in books there’s David Bowie and Fat White Family.

Our front section, meanwhile, features Shane MacGowan, Loney Hutchins, Sarah Records, Ano Nobo Quartet and Jeremy Ivey, while, at the end of the magazine, Judy Collins reveals the records that have soundtracked her life.