MOJO 258 / May 2015
On sale from Tuesday March 24, the latest MOJO magazine is a Blur bonanza, with exclusive interviews with the group and their inner circle detailing their tormented and tempestuous 25-year path to surprise reunion album The Magic Whip. Meanwhile, our mind-blowing free CD, Modern Life Is Rubbish, celebrates Blur’s angsty British vibe with 15 stonking new tracks by The Pop Group, Sleaford Mods, Young Fathers, Half Man Half Biscuit, Kate Tempest, Ghostpoet, Fat White Family, Carl Barât And The Jackals, Kode9 & The Spaceape, and more. Elsewhere in the issue: the story of The Beach Boys’ incredible ’70s rebirth; Sandy Denny’s traumatic farewell to Fairport Convention; Jerry Dammers talks about 2 Tone, Nelson Mandela and being “betrayed” by The Specials; Mark Knopfler waxes lyrical about his hard-grafting northern roots; and producer Giorgio Moroder looks back at his revolutionary disco beats. PLUS Gaz Coombes, Townes Van Zandt, Franz Ferdinand & Sparks, Ringo Starr, Young Fathers, Leadbelly, The Prodigy, a sad adieu to Gong’s Daevid Allen – and much more.
CONTENTS / MOJO 258
FREE CD! MODERN LIFE IS RUBBISH 15 tracks of everyday British angst, starring The Pop Group, Sleaford Mods, Young Fathers, Half Man Half Biscuit, Kate Tempest, Ghostpoet, Fat White Family, Carl Barât And The Jackals, Kode9 & The Spaceape and more…
BLUR FIVE YEARS ON from their emotional peace agreement, it seemed the reunited Blur couldn’t deliver a new album. Now the Britpop survivors tell Keith Cameron how they escaped their glorious but choppy past and made The Magic Whip, while collaborators including producers Stephen Street and XTC’s Andy Patridge provide insights into working with a band perennially at odds with itself.
THE BEACH BOYS AFTER THE BAND’S chief songwriter, Brian Wilson, retreated to his room in the late ’60s, California’s harmony nabobs looked finished. Instead, they regrouped for a remarkable run of ’70s albums. Plus MOJO meets Brian Wilson to hear about a new biopic.
JERRY DAMMERS THE SPECIALS’ dapper director, 2 Tone ska architect and Spatial AKA Orchestra leader talks inspiration, revolution and betrayal with Lois Wilson.
SANDY DENNY HOW FAIRPORT CONVENTION’S masterpiece, Liege & Lief, became Sandy Denny’s painful valediction. By her biographer Mick Houghton.
GIORGIO MORODER THE MAN-MACHINE OVERLORD of ’70s Euro disco looks back with Dorian Lynskey on his remarkable, revolutionary career.
MARK KNOPFLER THE FORMER DIRE STRAITS frontman tells Andrew Male how a Northern work ethic and the bohemian demi-monde made him the songwriter he is today.
DAEVID ALLEN MOJO editor Phil Alexander pays tribute to the life and work of the singular Gong father, who sadly left us in March.
REVIEWED NEW ALBUMS… Young Fathers / Blur / Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba / The Prodigy / Ringo Starr / Boz Scaggs / Todd Rundgren / The Sonics / Alabama Shakes / East India Youth / The Proclaimers / The Prodigy / The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion / and many more / REISSUES… Adrian Sherwood At The Controls / Lead Belly / Northern Soul 8-CD Box / Section 25 / Bee Gees / Tav Falco & Panther Burns / Roxy Music / The Special / and many more
PLUS! All back to Viggo Mortensen’s gaff to listen to Al Green / Franz Ferdinand and Sparks combine to form brand-new group FFS / Tracey Thorn provides an intimate self-portrait / Australian singer-as-diarist Courtney Barnett arises / David Holmes reveals the tunes that blew his mind / Dave Clark revisits his Cliff Richard-propelled 1986 musical Time / We hop on Gaz Coombes' tour bus en route to Paris / Peter Daltrey says hello and goodbye to psychedelic wonders Kaleidoscope