The Fat Angel Sings

The latest Record Collector, the one before the bumper Christmas one, is out this Thursday. Featuring the excellent Stevie Chick meeting Madness, the terrific Terry Staunton appraising the new Stones album, the venerable Joel McIver lightly grilling Paul Rodgers, everyone from 80s Scots popsters Friends Again to Frankie ‘Bigger Than Frank In The 50s’ Laine, Andrew Gold’s psych sortie, Rupert Holmes’ porn soundtrack foray… It’s a varied pre-Xmas treat!

“The last Beatles song. 2023 brings one of the most anticipated releases of their long and endlessly eventful history. “Now And Then,” written and sung by John Lennon, developed and worked on by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, is now finally finished by Paul and Ringo over four decades later. The track will be released worldwide on November 2nd at 2 p.m. by Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe. More details of the release plans emerged, On November 3rd, the day after the song’s streaming release, its brilliant music video, directed by Peter Jackson in his first foray into music video production, will premiere on The Beatles’ YouTube channel at 2 p.m.

Jackson admits he was reluctant to direct the video. “My lifelong love of The Beatles collided into a wall of sheer terror at the thought of letting everyone down,” he says. “I told Apple how the lack of suitable footage worried me. We’d need to use a lot of rare and unseen film, but there’s very little… Nothing at all seemed to exist showing Paul, George and Ringo working on ‘Now And Then’ in 1995… There’s not much footage of John in the mid-seventies when he wrote the demo.

“I found myself swept along as they quickly addressed my concerns. Paul and Ringo shot footage of themselves performing and sent that to me. Apple unearthed over 14 hours of long forgotten film shot during the 1995 recording sessions, including several hours of Paul, George and Ringo working on ‘Now And Then,’ and gave all that to me. Sean [Ono Lennon] and Olivia [Harrison] found some great unseen home movie footage and sent that. To cap things off, a few precious seconds of The Beatles performing in their leather suits, the earliest known film of The Beatles and never seen before, was kindly supplied by Pete Best.

Watching this footage completely changed the situation – I could see how a music video could be made. Actually, I found it far easier if I thought of it as making a short movie, so that’s what I did… My lack of confidence with music videos didn’t matter anymore if I wasn’t making one.

“I teamed up with Jabez Olssen, my Get Back editor, to try and figure ways the new film footage could be used. It was a very organic process, and we slowly started build little fragments, sliding pictures and music around in different ways until things began to click.

“Fortunately, Dhani Harrison happened to be visiting [New Zealand] at this time. I discussed the ending with him, and described one vague idea I’d been toying with. His eyes immediately filled with tears – so that is the way we went.”

The double A-side single cleverly pairs the last Beatles song with the first: the band’s 1962 debut U.K. single, “Love Me Do,” a truly fitting full-circle counterpart to “Now And Then.” The songs will be included in expanded editions of “The Beatles’ 1962-1966” (aka The Red Album) and “1967-1970” (The Blue Album) collections coming in various formats on November 10th.

Both “Now And Then” and “Love Me Do” are mixed in stereo and Dolby Atmos®, and the single release features original cover art by renowned artist Ed Ruscha. First, though, a 12-minute “Now And Then – The Last Beatles Song” documentary film, written and directed by Oliver Murray, will debut on November 1st. The short film tells the story behind the last Beatles song, with exclusive footage and commentary from Paul, Ringo, George, Sean Ono Lennon and Peter Jackson.

Borrowing from the sounds of the 60s with a unique spin on some classic sounds, Druid Fluids’ new album is out now. Druid Fluids is a psychedelic sonic adventure spearheaded by Jamie Andrew who recorded most of the album himself in his studio in Kaurna/Adelaide. The music draws heavily from the 60s, though Jamie pushes it to new worlds, using analogue equipment to shape and hone the sonic palette that makes up the new album “Then, Now, Again & Again”.

The concept of this album unravelled itself slowly, ending its spool right at the final stages of recording. I realised that each song served as a time capsule, though each spoke with a different narrator. Each was telling me that who we were, are & will be is ephemeral. These earlier versions of myself now often seem quite alien. A stunning debut effort from one of Australia’s brightest up-and-coming psych acts.

The timeline of this album was extensive. The inception of some of these songs came at the age of 16/17 years old; long before the intention of each song came to serve as a fragment of this demented mosaic. I was careful to preserve in the editing the person I was when I first started writing each song. I’ve felt and learned confidence in innocence and humility in reflection.

“Then, now, again & again”.

released October 27th, 2023

Is there anything King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard can’t do? These insanely prolific Aussie workaholics began as Oh Sees devotees but grew by leaps and bounds almost immediately, embracing prog, jazz, thrash metal, microtonal instruments and more. Now here they are with their second album of 2023 that has them putting their guitars and drums back in their cases and picking synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers. The band dabbled in this territory before on “Butterfly 3000”, but this time they are fully committed with only electronic instrumentation.

“We come at electronic music from an amateur angle,” says frontman Stu Mackenzie. “I play the Juno synthesizer like a guitar, I don’t really know how to play it. But I wanted to be at peace with being the rock band pretending to know how to use modular synthesizers. We’re in uncharted waters, we’re further out to sea, but leaning into it, and we got to a spot where we were really happy with what came out.”

King Gizzard may be electronic neophytes but they don’t sound like amateurs on “The Silver Cord” which proves they’re as good at bangers as they are rippers. There’s a wide variety of styles on the album, most of it from the ’90s: house, acid house, ambient house, jungle / drum-n-bass, and “electronica” are all represented. There are even a couple songs that go in a Technotronic / Inner City direction with Mackenzie having a (credible) go at rapping in that early-’90s house-pop style. But it’s still clearly made by King Gizzard and full of their trademarks, from frequent “WOOOOs” and growls that sound like a didgeridoo, to the clearly impressive musicianship.

“The Silver Cord” comes in two forms: the “regular version of the album” which clocks in at a mere 28 minutes (one of their shortest), and the “extended version” which stretches out all the songs to over 10 minutes each, totalling a whopping 1 hr, 28 minutes. The extended versions aren’t just longer in the way ’80s extended mixes were, these go in different directions and often have additional lyrics. “I love Donna Summer’s records with Giorgio Moroder,” Mackenzie says. “I’d never listen to the short versions now – I’m one of those people who wants to hear the whole thing. We’re testing the boundaries of people’s attention spans when it comes to listening to music, perhaps – but I’m heavily interested in destroying such concepts.”

Both the “short” and “extended” version of “The Silver Cord” have the songs segueing seamlessly into the next and while I do prefer some of the extended versions of songs, the shorter version of the album plays more like a DJ mix with better flow, while the long one has spacier transitions. They’re related but very different beasts and both are worth checking out (but start with the short one). Will they ever play this one live in full? I hope some electronic or psych festival gets them to do it. I also hope they make another electronic record. Meanwhile, I am down for whatever zig they zag next. Bring on the King Gizzard reggae album.

The Vaselines have long been celebrated by musicians and music enthusiasts across genres and across the globe, including super-fan Kurt Cobain. Emerging in the mid-eighties under the wing of The Pastels’s Stephen McRobbie, The Vaselines came to define the sly wit and irresistible pop hooks of the era’s Scottish indie scene. Sub Pop’s remastered reintroduction of “The Way of The Vaselines” is an opportunity for those already familiar with the Scottish band’s brief career to delve deeper into their body of work, while those new to their music can experience firsthand why so many hold them in such high regard. 

For me the most important thing about The Vaselines is that it was based on friendship. Eugene, Frances and I all enjoyed being together and as much as we loved getting drunk, taking acid and going out, there was a creative intent too. As we became friends I learnt that they had a few songs and a rough plan to start a group. I wanted to try to help them on their way as I knew there was something there, something out of the ordinary. They looked incredible together and although their playing wasn’t all that technical I loved it – their voices were magical, especially when they sang together. I hopefully suggested the name, The Vaselines, which they went along with. I booked a studio and roped in my partner, Aggi (Annabel), who was living in Brighton at the time. I remember vividly making that first record, “Son Of A Gun”, and my happiness in how it came out. I still love what we did – can’t quite believe it actually.

At the time The Vaselines always played with my group, The Pastels – some people were into them but quite a few others were a bit snobby and thought it too basic or transient. I love that so many serious travellers have fallen by the wayside and that in 2023 The Vaselines have this incredible legacy and we can meet up to talk about reissue plans and what’s happening next. With The Vaselines nothing has ever seemed over-complicated, at least from my perspective. It was always spontaneous and fun – either worth doing or not. It was never strategically laid out – the triumph of the magically unplanned career plan.

Sub Pop’s remastered reintroduction of “The Way of The Vaselines” is an opportunity for those already familiar with the Scottish band’s brief career to delve deeper into their body of work, while those new to their music can experience firsthand why so many hold them in such high regard. Originally mastered from a cassette tape (and since remastered on much better equipment in the new millennium), “The Way of The Vaselines” compiles the band’s two EPs (Son of a Gun and Dying for It) and their sole LP release (Dum-Dum). This 2023 edition is the first ever vinyl release of “The Way of The Vaselines”, which originally came out on CD in 1992.

MJ Lenderman’s new single unfolds like a private joke, or some weird take on Chekhov’s gun: Mention a cover of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” in the first verse, and you must sing a line from it by the end. Over some rangy open chords on distorted electric guitar, Lenderman remembers golf legend and self-proclaimed “crazy man” John Daly’s version of Bob Dylan’s hit, which Daly sometimes performed live, often while wearing a stars-and-stripes jacket. In the song,

Lenderman’s universe is a familiar one—you could take the old Modest Mouse line “The malls are the soon-to-be ghost towns” and put it in the mouth of any character in his songs—but he moves through it with the grace and conviction of someone born into it. And when he reaches for that “Knockin’” quote, scaling up an octave to sing the song’s title hook, he touches the root note of all great American indie rock, where exalted feelings mingle with banal surroundings, where a shrug and scream suddenly become indistinguishable.

MJ Lenderman – guitar, bass, drums, vocals Xandy Chelmis – pedal steel, back-up vocals Ethan Baechtold – bass, piano

“Knockin (Single Version)” by MJ Lenderman out now on ANTI- Records

Summer’s all but gone, we thought the dust had died down – but Cory Hanson’s Western Cum album, released back in June, keeps coming back for more. With a now-familiar majestrial swoop, “Western Cum” b/w “I Can’t Keep My Eyes Open” tosses back another couple shots of the stuff that damn near hypnotized us this past season. 

A peerless mastery of melody played on and with guitars, and the boldness required to gun-sling at this level, is seared into both “sides” of this virtual non-album single — the legendary, absent album title song, plus a new entry in the trucking (and so tired) song — shimmering like the elusive all-American mirage.

Drag City Inc. Released on: 27th October 2023

The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, OK, USA. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, keyboards, bass, vocals), Derek Brown (keyboards, guitars, percussion), Matt Duckworth Kirksey (drums, percussion, keyboards) and Nicholas Ley (percussion, drums). With a career spanning over three decades and numerous critically acclaimed albums under their belt,

The Flaming Lips 2002 album “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots” was a huge album in the UK, selling over 300,000 units on its way to Platinum certification. The success was driven by 4 hit singles, including the title track and the Lip’s most popular song “Do You Realize??.”

The band frequently toured the UK during the album cycle, playing larger venues than previous tours, and were frequent guests on several radio shows. This release is a recording of the last show of the UK dates in January 2003 at London’s Forum Theatre. The 15-song show was broadcast nationally by the BBC. In addition to playing key songs from “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots”, the set list includes fan-favourites such as “She Don’t Use Jelly,” “Waitin’ For A Superman” and “Race For The Prize.”

“Live at The Forum”, London, UK, January 22, 2003 (BBC Radio Broadcast)’ featuring 15 tracks, which was originally broadcast nationally by BBC, is available now on a pink 2LP!

Dire Straits are being celebrated with “Live 1978-1992”, a box set of concert recordings to coincide with the 40th anniversary of their 1983 show at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, immortalized in the live album “Alchemy”. The collection, on 8-CDs or 12-LPs, offers many other previously unreleased concert performances. It arrives in the U.K. on November 3rd, 2023, via Universal’s Mercury label and in the U.S. on January 19th, 2024, on Rhino.

From the announcement: The set features newly remastered versions of “Alchemy” and “On the Night”, plus an expanded version of Alchemy that includes the unreleased songs from the performance, “Industrial Disease” and “Twisting By the Pool,” as well as an expanded version of “On the Night” including tracks performed during the tour which have never been released. These multitrack recordings of Dire Straits shows in Nimes, Rotterdam and Paris include “Tunnel of Love,” “Telegraph Road,” “Sultans of Swing,” and more. Also included are the EP “Encores” (remastered for Black Friday 2021); a 1995 collection “Live at the BBC“; an unreleased Live from the Rainbow Theatre show from 1979, mixed by Guy Fletcher, and featuring guest performances from Phil Lynott and Tony de Meur.

The set includes a booklet featuring a new essay by journalist Paul Sexton titled Making Milestones: The Momentous Road Years of Dire Straits.

As Mark Knopfler told him, “I enjoyed writing the songs, I enjoyed recording them, so I’m going to enjoy playing them. I don’t play anything I don’t want to play, so if I get up there and play ‘Romeo And Juliet’ or ‘Brothers In Arms,’ it’s because I want to play them. It’s important to me that it’s important to people, that you’ve created milestones in people’s lives.”

“And Still” is the eleventh song to be released from “i/o”. This is the Dark-Side Mix, by Tchad Blake.

Written and produced by Peter Gabriel, “And Still” is arguably one of the most skin-prickingly personal songs that Peter Gabriel has ever written. It is not just an elegy, it’s also an exploration of the nature of memory: how it tethers us, how it secures us.

‘I wrote a song for my dad a number of years back, which I was actually able to play him, which was ‘Father, Son’. When my mum died, I wanted to do something for her, but it’s taken a while before I felt comfortable and distant enough to be able to write something.

‘I was trying also to write a little bit in the style of the music that my parents responded to, so I think there is some music from the 40s probably that had an influence on the song. In the middle I wanted to write my mum a beautiful melody. She loved classical music, so we have a beautiful cello playing there. It took a while to get that right, it can’t be too emotional or too underplayed, but I think we got there in the end.’

“And Still” has been a stand-out moment in the recent i/o tour, with the cello part played by Ayanna Witter-Johnson, but in the studio recording the solo cello comes courtesy of the New Blood Orchestra’s Ian Burdge.

The release comes with artwork from the artist Megan Rooney and one of her trademark large-scale paintings ‘And Still (Time).’

‘The art this month is from one of my favourites, an artist called Megan Rooney.

I first came across her when she was doing these very fast faces. She’d do one a day and they had so much character, I fell in love with those. Megan was the first person that was approached about this project and she showed me some of the abstract work that she’d been doing, which I thought was beautiful.

There was one piece that I think we both thought felt right for the song, for the mood. Then, in fact, Megan said, “I really want to create something new for this,” and she started it, but just like with my creative process she got to a point where she didn’t think she had quite nailed it. I know from my own work that sometimes I have to leave it and come back to it to find the right path.

In the end Megan suggested “maybe we should use this existing one, instead,” which is what we have done. I’m still hoping that we’ll get to the end with the other one, but this is a beautiful piece.

Megan Rooney, adds:
‘First only working from the memory of Peter’s song so that I could find my way into the world he had created. And slowly, as I started to listen to sections of the song, a feeling of longing grasped hold of me and I was transported back to my mother’s garden. I typically paint in rapid, concentrated bursts and Peter’s song has a slow, undulating pace to it. The song really cradles you in its arms as much as it lets you soar, so I had to be patient to find a way to respond.’

“And Still” comes with differing mix approaches from Tchad Blake (Dark-Side Mix), here and also Mark ‘Spike’ Stent (Bright-Side Mix) and Hans-Martin Buff’s Atmos mix (In-Side Mix), released in mid-November on the next new moon. 

released October 28th, 2023
Words and Music: Peter Gabriel