MOJO Issue 228 / November 2012

FREE CD! A MOVE ON UP. A modernist compendium featuring two rare Jam tracks and other gems from The Yardbirds, The Beat, Lee Dorsey, Dexys, Laurel Aitken, Curtis Mayfield, Bruce Foxton, Terry Callier, Paul Weller and more! THE JAM: Weller, Foxton & Buckler’s eclectic, soul-stirring swansong, The Gift, laid their divisions bare. In all-new interviews, they relive the tumult and heartbreak . “You can’t live a lie,” discovers John Harris.

CAT POWER: A tear-arse upbringing and tragedy-strewn adulthood have fed into Chan Marshall’s raw songworld. But at 40, is she finally making peace with her demons?

ZZ TOP: Back with their gnarliest music for decades, the Texan trio spill the beans. Acid-rock, heroin withdrawal and OMD fandom add spice. Plus – that car and those videos.

ELO: Jeff Lynne’s sparkling, string-laden pop baubles shifted 50 million albums in the ’70s. Now he’s remaking them for 2012. So why is the glass only half full for Mr Blue Sky?

MIKE NESMITH: Too much Monkee business, said the Prefab Four’s font of cool. Outrage, derision, pioneering country-rock and barmy synth operas ensued. “I endorse the new,” he instructs MOJO.

VAN MORRISON: Grumpy sod or scarred realist? Jobbing singer or visionary seer? Van The Man puts us right before patting us on the back: “Why would you talk about your private life? Does a plumber?”

REVIEWED: Bat For Lashes / John Cale / Flying Lotus / Tame Impala / Muse/ ZZ Top / Madness / Beth Orton /Bob Mould / The Velvet Underground / B.B. King / ELO / Pharaoh Sanders / Kirsty MacColl / Frank Zappa / Marvin Gaye/ Leonard Cohen / Pete Townshend / David Byrne / Free / John Taylor / Arizona Dranes / Cockney Rejects / Magical Mystery Tour / The Doors and many more!

PLUS! Carly Simon / Phil Oakey / Biffy Clyro / Steve Miller / The Wallflowers / Mark Lanegan / Mick Taylor / Lady Starlight / Taken By Trees / Alice Cooper, Keith Moon, Marc Bolan, Donovan and Harry Nilsson.