The Fat Angel Sings

In a new interview for Uncut magazine, Tony Iommi launches a new box set which attempts to find some continuity in this era of the band, and explains some of what was going on in an era which was confusingly both post-Ozzy and post-Dio, but also post-Gillan, pre-Dio and pre-Ozzy.

Tony shares humbling tales of advertising in the local paper for a frontman, of regrouping with known heavy Midlands associates, and of playing in Russia to a crowd of rabid fans, but also to a decorously-seated collection of Soviet-era dignitaries. Tony Iommi was confident in the material and in what we didn’t then call the Black Sabbath brand. He also believed in his new singer: Tony Martin. “If you have a factory and someone leaves,” Iommi tells Peter Watts, “you don’t close the factory, you hire someone new.”

There’s a lot to unpack in Iommi’s analogy of Black Sabbath to a factory. But Sabbath certainly was for many years a leading British heavy industry; the awesome swing of the band given a engaging character in the person of Ozzy Osbourne, a soulboy and a Beatles fan transformed into a prince of darkness during a formative Cumbrian tour. Geezer Butler told me a few months ago how impressed he was and remains with Ozzy’s musicianship. As you read Ozzy’s own vivid intro to the magazine, or enjoy his interviews in these pages, you’ll salute that and much more besides. 

He certainly knows what’s what in Black Sabbath. “We’ve been friends, we’ve been enemies, said all sorts of things about each other,” he tells us, “but no-one can come up with them riffs like Tony Iommi. I don’t know how he does it. It’s scary, like “What?” Sometimes he would come in and say, “Ah, I’ve got nothing.” Then he’d be tuning up and this amazing fucking riff would come out. “Well, that sounded like something, Tone…”  

“The Correct Use of Soap” is the third studio album by Magazine, released by Virgin Records in 1980. . It contains some of Magazine’s best-known and most popular songs,

The Manchester, based UK post-punk band Magazine released their third album, ‘The Correct Use of Soap’, on Virgin Records; produced by Martin Hannett, it marked a return to the punkier riffs & faster rhythms of debut release ‘Real Life’ after the darker, more experimental ‘Secondhand Daylight’; it included the singles “A Song from Under the Floorboards” & “Sweetheart Contract”, as well as their cover of Sly & The Family Stone’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”; it would be their last album with original guitarist John McGeoch, who left the band after it’s recording to join Siouxsie & The Banshees;  it features the rhythm section of John Doyle and Barry Adamson at their taut, flexible best McGeoch is at his most cunningly percussive. Save for the called-for razzle-dazzle on “Sweetheart Contract,” keyboardist Dave Formula takes more of a back seat, using piano more frequently and no longer driving the songs to the point of detracting from the greatness of his mates,

A different version of this album was released in Canada on Polygram Records, titled ‘An Alternative Use of Soap’…

Magazine’s new album “The Correct Use Of Soap” was released by Virgin Records. It contains their last two singles, “Thank You(Falletin Be Mice Elf Agin)” and “A Song From Under The Floorboards”. New songs are “You Never Knew Me”, “Philadelphia”, “Sweetheart Contract”, “I Want To Burn You Again”, “Stuck”, “Because You’re Frightened”, “Model Worker” and “I’m A Party”.

Two songs on the album make reference to elements of works by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, namely “Philadelphia” (referring to Raskolnikov, the main character in Crime and Punishment) and “A Song from Under the Floorboards” (based on Notes from Underground).

Magazine got together in “77 after Howard Devoto quit The Buzzcocks. He’s not only the vocalist but writes all the lyrics tor the band’s material. Magazine is Howard Devoto on vocals, plus Barry Adamson on bass, John Doyle on drums and John McGeoch on guitar and sax.”

Little Feat have announced the upcoming release of a Deluxe Edition of their fourth studio album, “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now”. The expanded title from Rhino features rare and unreleased alternate versions and outtakes from the album sessions, along with a previously unreleased 1975 concert. The set arrives June 14th, 2024, to celebrate the 1974 original’s 50th anniversary. It joins the label’s growing list of Little Feat reissues, including 2023’s Deluxe Editions for “Sailin’ Shoes” and “Dixie Chicken” and 2022’s massive “Waiting for Columbus” boxed set.

The expanded “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” will be available on 3-CD and 2-LP in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here. Both versions include the studio album newly remastered from the original multi-track and two-track stereo tapes. A previously unreleased alternate version of “Spanish Moon” from the forthcoming set was made available on April 8th.

A wealth of unreleased music is included in the new Deluxe Edition, including alternate versions of album tracks (“Rock & Roll Doctor” and “Oh Atlanta”) and early versions of songs destined for future albums, including “Long Distance Love” (“The Last Record Album”) and an unfinished version of “Day at the Dog Races” from “Time Loves a Hero”.

The presence of any session recordings from “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” is a minor miracle. The studio where the band made the album, Blue Seas Recording Studio in Baltimore, was a converted barge that sank into the harbour in 1977. Until recently, the session tapes were believed to be lost.

The CD version of “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” (Deluxe Edition) includes a show recorded in Paris at L’Olympia in February 1975. The setlist leans heavily on songs from the album with “Skin It Back” and “Oh Atlanta,” while also weaving in earlier classics like “Willin’” and “Fat Man In the Bathtub.”

Originally released in August 1974, “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” was the band’s fourth album overall but only the second recorded by the classic line up of singer-guitarist Lowell George, drummer Richard Hayward, keyboard player Bill Payne, singer-guitarist Paul Barrere, bassist Kenny Gradney, and percussionist Sam Clayton. The album also features the R&B funk group Tower of Power on horns.

Aside from a handful of singles, we haven’t had much new music from Brooklyn power-pop group Charly Bliss in the last five years—but they are breaking their silence with a longingly painful heartbreak ballad. “Nineteen” is the first offering from the quartet’s upcoming record “Forever”, and the single swells with a gorgeous piano melody accompanying Eva Hendricks’ vocals as she sings, “C’mon honey break my heart / I could run forever, but I won’t get far.” The dramatic track explores how first loves linger and haunt your emotions for a long time.

The New York City band Charly Bliss delivered sugar-sweet power-pop/rock hooks on the acclaimed albums “Guppy” (2017) and “Young Enough” (2019).

Although “Nineteen” is a significant departure from the bubbly pop-punk the group has delivered to us in the past, the emotional depth of this new avenue promises an interesting and likely unmissable progression from Charly Bliss. 

This August, they’ll finally release their third LP, “Forever”, and the heartbreaking “Nineteen,” driven by emotive keyboards and frontwoman Eva Hendricks’ distinctive vocals, has got us excited to close the gap.

Includes newly recorded covers from Keith Richards, Maxim Ludwig and Angel Olsen, Rufus Wainwright, Rickie Lee Jones, Joan Jett, Mary Gauthier, Bobby Rush, Lucinda Williams, Automatic, The Afghan Whigs, and Rosanne Cash. Liner notes by Bill Bentley

Lou Reed told the whole truth for his entire life as a rock and roll pioneer. From the Velvet Underground’s debut in 1967 all the way to the end, the New York City wonder never thought about doing it any other way. Beginning with his earliest songs, that was Reed’s mission. He once said, “If you can do it in novels, films, plays, then you can do it in music.” What made the man from Brooklyn so unique was the way he did it. In 50 years, Lou Reed took life to the limit and beyond.

“The Power of the Heart” is a tribute to all those who Reed showed the freedom of expression when he began. Beginning with one of The Velvet Underground’s groundbreaking songs, the other ten tracks from Lou Reed’s majestic solo career are a glorious extension of adventure that always personified the Rock and Roll Animal’s soul. The way he could match brain-shaking lyrics with the absolute power of rock’s velocity was brand new when Lou Reed began, and was never really equaled as he kept pushing the borders outward until his passing in 2013. He was the ultimate uncompromiser, and never thought twice about taking chances on songs that span a half-century. 

Sarah Tudzin has had one hell of a year—most notably her engineering credit on boygenius’ “the Record” nabbing her a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album. But in 2023, Tudzin brought her Illuminati Hotties project back into our hearts with the standalone single “Truck”—her first release since 2022’s “Sandwich Sharer” and her best piece of music since her 2021 album “Let Me Do One More”.

Now, Tudzin has one-upped her own one-upping on “Can’t Be Still,” a song so delightfully infectious and catchy that it very well might be one of the best Illuminati Hotties releases to date. With a sharp, riffing guitar echoing a slice of whistling, a melody of ooos and Tudzin’s steadfast, sugar-sweet lead vocal in tow, “Can’t Be Still” is rock-solid and appraised, by me, with a high replay value—I’m going to be humming that “I can’t be alone now, show me how” line all week.

The new single is a bouncy and twangy indie-rock number that crunches like a freaking Crunch Bar and dances around Tudzin’s snarling vocals. “I find that something I have in common with most people that I talk to lately is the immense fear of and inability to be alone with ourselves,” the songwriter shared of the new recording. “Constant motion, avoidance, restlessness—anything to keep myself from stagnating have always been my coping mechanisms when my inner monologue starts to get loud.”

Linked to the Ziggy Stardust story, Mott’s rendition of ‘All The Young Dudes’ remains the definitive version of David’s masterpiece. The album proved inspirational & is still a record that excites & resonates decades later. Over the years, Mott The Hoople has been cited as an inspiration by Queen, The Clash, Kiss, Primal Scream, Motley Crue, Cheap Trick & Def Leppard, whose frontman Joe Elliott remains a devoted fan.

Mott The Hoople occupies a unique place in the annals of international rock music. Oozing style, attitude & unpredictability, the band recorded a peerless legacy of songs combining homage, honesty & killer hooks. As Mott’s focal point, lead singer Ian Hunter was also among one of the toughest & most inventive writers of the early Seventies.

‘All The Young Dudes’, Mott’s 5th studio album, remains a special & vital record. Released in the UK on 8th September 1972, the title track (penned by David Bowie) became their highest charting hit single. Also including a spritely, ‘definitive’ cover of Lou Reed’s classic ‘Sweet Jane’, the inventive & suggestive ‘Momma’s Little Jewel’, the Stones-styled ‘Jerkin’ Crocus’ & Mick Ralphs’ heartfelt ‘Ready For Love’, the album has been termed “the ultimate document of an era.

* 2LP In Gatefold Sleeve – LP1 Remastered Album / LP2 Rare Mixes & Session Tracks, includes *12″ Single, With Rare ‘Unlocked Cars’ Version Of ‘All The Young Dudes’ + ‘One Of The Boys’ (Us Single Version)

* 72- Page Hardback Book With Liner Notes By Mott The Hoople & Ian Hunter Biographer Campbell Devine. 2 Posters, 3 Art Prints, ‘Sea Divers’ Fan Club Card & An Individually Numbered Certificate

“Mott the Hoople was the greatest rock’n’roll band ever.” JOE ELLIOTT (DEF LEPPARD)

“Raw, fun, angry, glorious & jagged… Mott was everything.” BRIAN MAY (QUEEN)

“If it hadn’t been for Mott, there would be no us.” MICK JONES (THE CLASH)