The Fat Angel Sings

After several mini-albums, the group exploded in popularity among the London underground, leading to a deal with 4AD, a label the group worshipped and took immense influence from (the band named themselves after a line a Siouxsie & The Banshees song). To kickstart the group’s notoriety stateside and in Japan, the label cobbled together all the mini-albums into one compilation.

In an interview with Melody Maker during their come-up, Lush‘s guitarist and vocalist Emma Anderson said, “I remember when I couldn’t play, I wasn’t in a band, didn’t know anyone else who could play, and now we’ve got a record out on 4AD. I sometimes find it impossible to come to terms with what’s happening.” This statement sums up the naivety and pure energy of Lush‘s first major release, “Gala”.

Lush’s greatest strength lies in the intermingling harmonies of lead singer Miki Berenyi and Anderson, which both complement and crash over one another like ocean waves. The Cocteau Twins influence is heavy here, with all the vocals becoming barely discernible in the mix, swallowed up by the colossal guitars and fat ’80s drum beats. The influence grew with their follow-up “Spooky”, produced by Cocteau’s Robin Guthrie, which divided fans. With more production power behind it, the band shines; however, Guthrie’s touch is heavy, getting scarily close to the Twins’ sound. For the original, untouched listen, start with “Gala”. 

Lush’s “Gala” was the band’s debut compilation album, comprising their earliest releases “Scar” (1989), “Mad Love” (1990), and “Sweetness and Light” (1990) in reverse chronological order, plus two additional tracks (a cover version of ABBA’s “Hey Hey Helen” and the extended Robin Guthrie mix of The Scar track “Scarlet”). It is considered one of the foundational works in the early shoegazing movement. The band’s line-up at the time was Miki Berenyi, Emma Anderson, Chris Acland, and Steve Rippon. Lush broke up in 1996, in part because of Acland’s suicide. They briefly reunited in 2015 and 2016 to tour and release the new EP, “Blind Spot“, before splitting again.

Originally released in 1990 as the band’s introduction to the US and Japanese markets, the compilation’s 35th anniversary is being celebrated with a 2025 reissue. Back in print for the first time since 1990, both the standard and deluxe editions are rounded out with 2025 Kevin Vanbergen remasters of the original tracklisting, deluxe edition artwork designed by Chris Bigg featuring original artwork by v23 (Vaughan Oliver and Chris Bigg), and a new biography written by Jenny Hval.

The “Gala” 35th Anniversary Edition follows the 2023 remasters of Lush’s three studio albums “Spooky”, “Split”, and “Lovelife”. Last year, Lush also partnered with the Criterion Channel on the release of A Far From Home Movie, a short film created by bassist Phil King and shared in memory of Chris Acland, which compiles candid Super8 footage taken by King during Lush’s tours from 1992-1996.

The reissue will be available as a deluxe box set, The box set will feature three coloured 12-inches and one 7-inch.as well as via regular vinyl, CD, and cassette reissues. All versions come out November 14th via 4AD Records.  4AD is also releasing some new limited edition Lush merchandise—including two T-shirts, pin badges, and posters—to go with the reissue.

Lael Neale The minimalist singer/songwriter released a new album, “Altogether Stranger”, in April via Sub Pop. This week she released a brand new single, “Some Bright Morning,” It’s the latest in a long line of great singles and Songs from Neale.

Neale co-directed the video with regular collaborator Guy Blakeslee. She had this to say about it in a press release: “My dad is a farmer, and as I watch him working, day in and day out, I realize being an artist is very similar. Both are tending to work that is never done, in service of a broader life-long vision. There’s always more to do, new approaches to take, and leaps to make in the midst of mundane everyday tasks. You have to be motivated by a belief in what you are doing without attachment to the results. There’s a quiet satisfaction in the daily steps.”

The song is described as an outtake from “Altogether Stranger”.

Lael Neale has summoned the likes of Cate Le Bon and Margo Guryan on her newest single, “Some Bright Morning,” a charming folk-pop track that chases a glimmer of optimism. A quick turnaround after her latest album, “Altogether Stranger”, which came out in May, Neale’s new song carries on many of the merits of her past work, particularly her effervescent production. As a sweeping snare and tambourine establish the pace of the song, a bright synthesizer floats to the surface, and a tinny guitar wails in a solo that pans from left to right. Neale questions in the verses whether the dawn she dreams of will ever come, and if it does, “Will I ever see the light?” But she’s steadfast in her resolution to “get it right some bright morning,” and her hope is galvanizing. She brushes off her woes with a series of “doo doo doo”s as the song rounds out, and if you listen carefully, you may just hear the twinkle of the sun rising.

The first four seconds of “Life’s Work” feel like you’ve stumbled into the wrong movie theatre, a horror score leaking through the walls, before the finger-picked guitar seamlessly transforms into a delicate, twangy backdrop to Hannah Frances’ melodic gymnastics. Everything tilts, and tilts again: polyrhythms skitter, brass flares, and that central mantra—“learning to trust in spite of it is life’s work”—tightens like wire around the song’s spine. The melody slips sideways, the arrangement keeps layering more claws and teeth, until the whole thing feels like grief dressed up in vaudeville clothes: brutal, theatrical, a little absurd, melancholic in spite of itself. 

You can hear Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen’s collaboration in the architecture—careful, tensile layers rather than ornament—yet nothing blunts Frances’ voice, which cuts clear as glass through the din. There’s a mischief twining through the song, the melody unpredictable and cheeky, the words sitting light on her tongue, but no matter where the track turns, it can’t outrun the melancholy that seeps in—which is, of course, the point. Resilience isn’t stoicism; it’s motion, breath, re-entry. “Life’s Work” turns trust into labour, ritual, a spidery lattice, a grin stretching tight even as it trembles.

‘Life’s Work’ is a wonderful distillation of existential possibility. It is a riot of colour, trombone, acoustic and electric guitar, bass, cello, piano, and Hannah Frances’s remarkably expressive voice. When talking about the latest single to be taken from her forthcoming album, “Nested in Triangles” due out October the intuitive composer, vocalist, guitarist, and poet says:

“‘Life’s Work’ is a haywire and whimsical exploration of familial rupture and the impacts of growing up in a dysfunctional home. Featuring arrangements by Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear) and trombone by Andy Clausen, there’s a touch of theatrical gallows humour to this song as a musical juxtaposition to the interiority of pain that I am narrating. Learning to trust in spite of everything is our life’s work.”

‘Life’s Work’ is virtuosic. It is varied. It is vital. It is the sound of an artist both ahead and on top of their game. “Nested in Triangles” due out October 10th via Fire Talk

Lucy Kitchen’s latest single ‘In My Corner,’ which was released last Friday via her own Bohemia Rose Records and Make My Day Records.

Lucy Kitchen is a British folk singer-songwriter based in Romsey, Hampshire and is already forging a powerful reputation for herself as someone who musically is “exploring profound concepts of grief and loss, drawing inspiration from lyrical poets, nature, the seasons, and the art of creating beauty out of difficulty.”

Referencing conversations she had with her late husband Stephen, and talking about the new single, Lucy Kitchen says: : “We used to sit up and have these big life/death chats as we knew he didn’t have long to live at a certain point. I remember one night having a really big one about what I was going to do and me chucking out all these slightly crazy ideas and him just saying that he wanted me to really live my life and do whatever I wanted. A lot of this song comes out of that and has become one of my favourite tracks on the album.”

On this evidence alone, there is a raw, emotional honesty to Lucy Kitchen’s songwriting, a trait that is complemented by her assured self-possession and personal resilience. It is hard not to be moved by this song. 

Midlake have announced their sixth studio album “A Bridge To Far” due out November 7th via Bella Union Records.

Produced by Sam Evian (Big Thief, Hannah Cohen, Cass McCombs) at The Echo Lab in Midlake’s hometown of Denton, Texas, the album features guest vocals from Madison Cunningham, Hannah Cohen and Meg Lui.

“Everything felt effortless and authentic,” says Midlake singer and frontman Eric Pulido. “We didn’t overthink things.”

Says Pulido says: “I wrote ‘The Ghouls’ after a conversation within our camp about everyone’s respective goals. The temptation to demonize the realities or challenges that exist and yet to face them head on and create something extraordinary.” Lead singer Eric Pulido describes the record as a reminder that, regardless of circumstance, there is a place — “not made of stone” — where one can find solace and
strength. It’s a call to persevere, to “go bravely arm in arm and climb upon,” inviting listeners to transcend the darkness through connection and belief.

This is MIDLAKE at their most inspired and intentional, weaving together mythic storytelling and
emotional clarity with the signature textures that have made them a touchstone in modern independent music.

Recorded in the band’s hometown of Denton, TX at The Echo Lab with acclaimed producer and mixer Sam Evian, “A Bridge To Far” captures the warmth and wildness of the band’s earliest recordings while pushing into luminous new territory. The first single, “The Ghouls,” arrives as a haunting and propulsive introduction to the record’s themes–equal parts spectral and cathartic.

 ‘Days Gone By.’ On the video that accompanies the song – the latest single from Midlake’s eagerly awaited sixth studio album the Emmy Award-nominated actor skips along the sidewalk and across the crosswalk in euphoric abandon.

It is then little wonder to know that Trent Crimm, the character that James Lance plays in the comedy-drama, Ted Lasso, sports a Midlake T-shirt in one of the episodes of this popular American TV series.

It is a beautiful song from a beautiful band and there will be ample opportunity to bag your very own Midlake T-shirt when the band from Denton, Texas come back over the Atlantic next year for a run of live dates in the UK and Europe.

Midlake’s A Bridge To Far is a cinematic and soulful return from the beloved Denton, TX band. Their sixth album, produced by Sam Evian, explores themes of hope, humility, and spiritual renewal. From the expansive “The Calling” to the introspective “Guardians,” which features Madison Cunningham, the record blends pastoral folk-rock with emotional clarity. Additional guest vocals from Hannah Cohen and Meg Lui add harmonic depth. Two decades in, Midlake continues to evolve, offering music that feels timeless, heartfelt, and deeply human.

 Midlake’s 6th studio album ‘A Bridge To Far’ out November 7th, 2025. on Bella Union Records

The last word on an American classic band The Beau Brummels includes 228 newly remastered tracks across eight jam-packed compact discs in replica sleeves. famed for its rock songs in the ’60s. The band was formed in 1964 by singer Sal Valentino in San Francisco. Sal rose as an upcoming artist, appearing on local stations for his amazing singing. After bagging a deal to play regularly at a local club, Sal saw it wise to form a band. He reached out to Ron Elliot, his childhood friend who helped him in recruiting the other members of the band. Thanks to the band’s promising music career, disk jockeys Bobby Mitchell and Tom Donahue recruited The Beau Brummels to Autumn Records.

With 24 unreleased cuts, with many titles new to the cd format and available for the first time in period mono or fresh stereo mixes. Included an 88 page booklet with detailed liner notes and rare photos and memorabilia from the band’s personal collections with their brilliant synthesis of folk and country, baroque and roll, San Francisco’s Beau Brummels made a major and lasting contribution to the lexicon of American popular music in the mid-1960s. ‘Turn Around: the Complete Recordings 1964-1970’ is the exhaustive overview of their legacy has so long deserved; presenting the band’s classic autumn and Warner Brothers recordings in definitive fashion.

Boasting the stellar songcraft of Ron Elliott and the unique voice of Sal Valentino, the Beau Brummels were amongst the first American units to respond to the sound of the British invasion with innovation rather than imitation.

The group remained popular and influential in the us long after their 1965 chart successes. The band’s first releases were produced by Sly Stone of Sly & The Family Stone. It didn’t take long for the band to be critically acclaimed in the United States. Their debut single “Laugh, Laugh” ushered the band to imminent glory, having it rise to number fifteen “Laugh, Laugh” was the debut hit. The song came at a time when the American bands were fighting dominance by the British acts in their motherland. Some of the greatest British bands to beat included The Beatles, The Animals, The Zombies, and The Rolling Stones. 

 and ‘Just A Little’, and once the act had devolved to the duo of Valentino and Elliott in 1967, The band’s debut album “Introducing the Beau Brummels” (1965) included both of the high charting songs. Another song “Ain’t That Loving You” is one of the popular songs from the album “Introducing The Beau Brummels” (1965). “Still in Love with You Baby” is one of the musical gems from “Introducing the Beau Brummels” (1965). The song was penned by Ron Elliot, having it allude to a guy showcasing his love for a lady. His major hope is that the lady realizes how much in love he is with her. The song is delivered in a catchy tune, making it quite a memorable song from the band’s debut album.

If you love blues songs from the ’50s, you can probably tell that this song is not an original song by The Beau Brummels. The song is a cover of “Ain’t That Lovin’ You, Baby,” an upbeat hit by Jimmy Reed. Nevertheless, The Beau Brummels added glamour to the song with their performance thanks to the great instrumentation and musical arrangement.

Back in 1964, Bob Dylan released a song by the title “One Too Many Mornings” on his album “The Times They Are a-Changin“. The song was a treasure for Dylan and multiple artists who covered it. A while after Bob Dylan’s version, The Beau Brummels made a cover of the song. 

The band would soon release its sophomore album, “The Beau Brummels, Volume 2” (1965). Some of the greatest hits from the album included “You Tell Me Why” Ron Elliot penned the song’s lyrics. it was a massive success and “Don’t Take to Strangers.” is another great hit from the band’s sophomore studio album. Thanks to the song’s unique harmonies that it sounds quite inventive. However, some critics have compared the song’s harmonies style to songs by The Byrds. However, the band no longer featured rhythm guitarist and harmonica player Declan Mulligan. Mulligan engaged the band in a lawsuit in 1966, claiming that he was unjustly discharged from The Beau Brummels. However, his efforts bore no fruits having the lawsuit unsuccessful. “Sad Little Girl.” is quite a sad release having it tell of a heartbreak that left a girl sad. Its lyrics show how the girl was left by her fiancé, who didn’t even say goodbye. All she is left with are tears rolling down her cheeks, and sad memories about her past failed relationship.

The Beau Brummels hit “Doesn’t Matter.” The song is featured on the band’s album “The Beau Brummels, Volume 2″ (1965). “Doesn’t Matter” is quite a mid-tempo melodic song. The singing might feel a little sluggish when the lead singer takes on the mic. However, its true vibe is best felt when the backing vocals to the lead singer’s vocals. “Just A Little” become the band’s highest-charting hit on the Billboard Hot 100 The song feels more of a folk-rock ballad.

The band guitarist Ron Elliot’s health started dwindling, suffering seizures due to his diabetic condition. This saw him become a rare performer for the band. His positions would be filled by Don Irving intermittently.

The Beau Brummels moved to the forefront of Warner s’ late 1960s pop renaissance, Before The Beau Brummels’ third album release, the band had reached a recording deal with Warner Bros. Records. Unreleased songs in the scheduled third studio album would later be featured on “San Franc Sessions (2005), a compilation album.

“Good Time Music” is yet another of The Beau Brummels’ great cover songs. The song was initially released by the pop-rock act The Lovin’ Spoonful back in 1965. So instead, Warner Bros. Records suggested releasing an album featuring cover songs. The result was “Beau Brummels ’66″ (1966) 

With the albums ‘Triangle’ and ‘Bradley’s Barn’, the latter a visionary country-rock masterpiece. assembled, annotated and mastered by longtime Brummels’ aficionado Alec Palao, Tougher times for the band were ushered in after its bass guitarist Ron Meagher was called up for military service. Ever since, The Beau Brummels barely achieved stability, and its star stopped shining, leading to the band’s disbandment. 

This major refurbishment of the Beau Brummels’ catalogue leaves no stone unturned. the original stereo album masters are accompanied by a comprehensive assortment of outtakes, alternate mixes and 45 rpm versions, and are further enhanced by rarities and unreleased demos drawn from the band’s own archives. all the members of the Brummels also contribute to the instructive and heavilyillustrated history of the recordings, housed in a deluxe, handsomely appointed booklet.

Laura-Mary Carter, best known as one half of the UK alternative duo Blood Red Shoes, has returned with her awesome new single and video for ‘Four Letter Words‘. The track comes ahead of her debut solo album “Bye Bye Jackie”, out September 26th, and an extensive run of headline shows as well as support for Natalie Bergman across the UK and Europe this winter.

Shot in a farm shop in West Wales, “Four Letter Words” video shows Laura-Mary waiting for someone who never shows and turning the empty shop into her own private stage.

‘Four Letter Words’ sashays and sways but has a sting in the tale; Carter’s withering delivery laced with sweetness and skewering dry wit, threading this strutting, hooky song, it skilfully captures the contradictions at the heart of love, its beauty, absurdity, and volatility.

“‘Don’t be late’ sets the stage, though in truth I am rarely on time myself,” Carter explains. “What follows is a sharp-eyed tale of affection’s push and pull, where the four-letter word could be anything, you decide what it is, with a knowing eye-roll at the chaos of caring for someone who drives you round the bend. It’s irony wrapped in melody, humour folded into heartbreak, all carried by a beat that refuses to stand still.”

The single follows on from ‘June Gloom‘, Carter’s atmospheric first offering from “Bye Bye Jackie”, which featured a stormy guitar contribution from Lee Kiernan (IDLES) and earned praise for its raw honesty and emotional immediacy. Together, the two tracks set the tone for an album that balances heartbreak with humour, intimacy with intensity.

For four decades, Farm Aid has stood as both a concert and a cause. Founded in 1985 at the height of the farming crisis, the benefit has helped support America’s family farmers through recessions, droughts, and floods, reminding us year after year that music is not just entertainment but a catalyst for solidarity and social change. On Saturday, that legacy was renewed as 37,000 fans filled Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis for Farm Aid’s 40th Anniversary. The milestone has arrived at a critical moment, as U.S. farmers once again face mounting economic challenges. With crop prices falling and bankruptcies on the rise, the sense of crisis is eerily similar to the conditions that first inspired Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp to launch Farm Aid.

This years all-star line up reflected Farm Aid’s balance of tradition and progress, featuring co-founders Nelson, Young, and Mellencamp alongside fellow board members Dave Matthews and Margo Price, the youngest addition to the organization’s leadership. They were joined by a diverse roster including Bob Dylan, Billy Strings, Kenny Chesney, Steve Earle, Lukas Nelson, Wynonna Judd, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Trampled by Turtles, Waxahatchee, Eric Burton of Black Pumas, Jesse Welles, and Madeline Edwards.

Throughout the day, collaborations amplified the event’s spirit of solidarity. Lukas Nelson teamed up with Dave Matthews on Daniel Lanois’ “The Maker” and welcomed Sierra Ferrell for a string of duets including Neil Young’s “Unknown Legend”. 

Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds enlisted fiddler Jake Simpson from Lukas Nelson’s band, while Billy Strings and Jesse Welles joined Price for a fiery take on a cover of Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm”.

Welles and fellow newcomer Madeline Edwards, at 32 and 29 respectively, underscored Farm Aid’s generational reach. Edwards impressed early in the afternoon with a soulful set that positioned her as one of the day’s breakout stars. Welles’ set, meanwhile, cut sharp with commentary-laced originals like “The Poor” and “Red”. He cheekily dedicated his song “Philanthropist” to Bill Gates “and the millions of acres of farm land that he’s stolen from the good people of America,” before closing on a lighter note with “Bugs”.

Price, who received her introduction from Sen. Amy Klobuchar, opened with the defiant anthem “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down”, the last song performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! before the host’s controversial suspension.  Steve Earle, newly inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, bookended Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats with two appearances, cementing his role as elder statesman, while Wynonna Judd, Eric Burton, Trampled by Turtles, and Waxahatchee each brought their distinct flavours to the nearly 12-hour program.

As always, the concert’s final moments carried the greatest weight. Nelson, Young, Mellencamp, Matthews, Price, and the entire Farm Aid family (save for Dylan) gathered for a heartfelt finale of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?”, “It’s Hard to Be Humble”, and “I Saw the Light”. Gov. Tim Walz introduced Nelson by praising him as “a man who truly embodies the American spirit—fiercely independent, generous, kind, irreverent, decent, and a bit of a hell-raiser.”

Forty years on, that spirit remains intact, and so does Farm Aid’s mission. “Don’t believe it when they tell you we ain’t in it together,” Dave Matthews told the crowd, reminding them that the challenges facing farmers are shared struggles. As Neil Young indicated during a press conference where he argued Minnesota-based Cargill and other corporations “need to pay a conscience tax to the farmers of America,” the fight is far from over. Yet for one night in Minneapolis, thousands proved that through music, community, and conviction, the circle indeed remains unbroken.

Dylan who have recently finished the Outlaw Festival Tour with Nelson, played: Dylan was accompanied by his current touring band:

All Along The Watchtower
I Can Tell [Bo Diddley cover]
To Ramona
Highway 61 Revisited
Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, meanwhile, played:

Big Crime
Rockin’ In The Free World
Long Walk Home
Be The Rain
Southern Man
Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)
Old Man

Since the release of their 2023 debut LP ‘Good Time’, Austin TX outfit DAIISTAR have spent the last couple of years touring relentlessly and spreading their baggy noise-pop good times across North America and Europe – be that headline runs of their own or tours supporting the likes of Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Black Angels, The Dandy Warhols and LA Witch. When over in the UK in September 2024, they holed up at London’s Lightship 95 studio – a floating studio on the Thames – to record this Fuzz Club Session LP, which is set to be released digitally and on limited coloured vinyl on September 26th 2025, alongside a series of videos from the session.

DAIISTAR’s ten-track Fuzz Club Session LP – number 21 in the series – perfectly captures the band’s road-hardened blend of shoegaze, neo-psychedelia and Madchester-inspired grooves, featuring standout tracks from ‘Good Time’ such as ‘Star Starter’, ‘Tracemaker’, ‘Parallel’ and ‘Repeater’.

It also includes their euphoric single ‘Clear’, a ‘Good Time’ outtake released on a limited 7″ last year, as well as their cover of Primal Scream’s ‘Burning Wheel’ which is now available on vinyl for the very first time.

released September 26th, 2025

Patti Smith had been kicking around the New York art scene since the late 60s doing everything from painting to acting to journalism to poetry. After co writing several songs for Blue Oyster Cult, with then boyfriend Allan Lanier, fronting a rock band seemed the next logical step. Her debut album was recorded in 1975 with John Cale as producer. The music owes much to garage bands of the 60s while being in step with the emerging punk bands who frequented the famous CBGBs where her earliest shows occurred. Where Smith stands out is in her dramatic often spoken delivery with the end results often described as art punk.

The album opens with Smith singing, “Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine”. This line encapsulates Smith’s personality perfectly. This intro is actually from the beginning of her cover of Van Morrison’s Gloria. “Redando Beach” follows with a punk reggae sound that pre dated the ska revival by a couple years. “Free Money” is a flat out rocker and deserved to be a single.

“Kimberly” is a more commercial song which plays like a decadently dark version of Fleetwood Mac. The album’s highlight is the nearly 10 minute “Land” suite which couples a cover of “Land Of 1000 Dances” with Smith’s own “Horses”. Smith builds tension throughout the tune whipping herself into a frenzy

What makes the “Horses” album so great is the overall energy and looseness of the songs. The arrangements sound more like a live show would as opposed to being recorded in a sterile studio. Although the album was only a moderate seller at the time of release (#47), it would eventually go gold in many countries.

1975, “Horses”, then. A record that ends the year by popping up like a slap in the face. An impeccably black and white, impeccably sober cover, which by its aesthetic alone — a bit like Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run”, and shortly preceding the first Ramones — threw to the dump the airbrushed exuberances, the winged dragons, the neon titles and the dripping colors of Yes, Genesis, Uriah Heep and so on. But this graphic manifesto was not only one. Patti Smith’s entire artistic and poetic approach was screaming the end of the world before.

New York, then, was bankrupt. The city is dark, public services are creaking. On 42nd Street, the facades are crumbling under the signs of peep shows and the neon lights of sex shops, the sidewalks are teeming with prostitution, dealers are on the pavement. “The streets smelled of gasoline, sweat and heroin,” wrote journalist Pete Hamill. Times Square has become a dumping ground: collapsed junkies, corrupt cops, violence on every street corner. The Bowery is just a succession of seedy hotels, squats, lost silhouettes. But in this chaos, poisonous flowers grow, a scene is invented at CBGB’s: Television, Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Richard Hell — a nickname chosen in direct homage to “A Season in Hell”. And Patti Smith in the centre, crazy about Rimbaud, falling in love with Verlaine, Tom.

With “Horses”, Patti Smith brings rock back to the urgency: it’s not a question of virtuosity, there, but of incantations, visions, poetry mounted on electricity. “Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine”: a whole world cracked in a single sentence. The music has just changed. More than a record, then. “Horses” becomes the standard bearer of a generation that refuses the spectacle for the naked truth. Ditch the Afghan vests for the Perfecto. A shady, poetic, electric, cultured scene: punk. And its echo would cross the Atlantic, influencing and educating London, from the Sex Pistols to the Clash, and then all of old Europe. Fair return.