MOJO 281 / April 2017
MOJO 281 delivers the surprise story of the moment: U2’s decision to take The Joshua Tree on the road, 30 years since their 5th studio album conquered the world. Bono, Larry, Edge and Adam remember the death threats and tequila madness, and explore the dark parallels between 1987 and 2017, while our 15-track FREE CD, featuring Julie Byrne, The Gun Club, Meat Puppets, Lift To Experience and more, is the soundtrack to the ultimate American road trip. Also inside: The Byrds’ Roger McGuinn sings like a canary, Woody Woodmansey relives Ziggy Mania, The Last Poets shoot it out with the KKK and Hurray For The Riff Raff hit a peak. Plus! How Jim Dickinson took the Rolling Stones downhome, when Wilson Pickett went bananas… and 147 reviews.
CONTENTS MOJO 281
COVER STORY / U2 Exclusive! Why they’re taking The Joshua Tree back on the road and how they made it, 30 years ago. Cue: mythic landscapes and stark reality, death threats and self-harm, Wacko Jacko and Ol’ Blue Eyes, and why 2017 feels like 1987 all over again.
FREE CD! DESERT SONGS 15 tracks of cosmic roots music, the perfect companion to a drive out to Joshua Tree in search of the American Dream. Stars The Gun Club, Meat Puppets, Howe Gelb, Victoria Williams, Lift To Experience and more.
ZIGGY STARDUST A new insight into David Bowie’s key reinvention. Woody Woodmansey, the last Spider, on the journey from “folky and twinkly” to bitter and twisted via alien future-rock fireworks.
ROGER McGUINN Religion, recreationals and regrets regarding “chick magnet” Gene Clark, the Byrds’ Group Captain submits to the MOJO Interview.
THE ROLLING STONES It’s 1969, Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and Jim Dickinson’s been tapped up to add some Southern grit to a Stones session. The results will be magical, but first – some subterfuge…
HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF Americana’s Puerto Rican songbird just made her best album. Read how freight-hopping, Judy Garland and a Latino awakening inspired the “feminist Woody Guthrie”.
THE LAST POETS How hip-hop’s shock troops battled Nixon, crack and the KKK to preach black revolution. And if that wasn’t gnarly enough, now they have Rita Ora to contend with…
REVIEWED The Shins / Laura Marling / Jessi Colter / Nadia Reid / Real Estate / The Jesus And Mary Chain / The Magnetic Fields / Depeche Mode / Spoon / Julian Cope / Conor Oberst / The Moonlandingz / Valerie June / Elliott Smith / Guy Clark / Paul McCartney / Gene Clark / The Creation / The Doors / Steve Hillage / George Harrison / Lambchop / Haley Bonar
PLUS Klaus Voormann redraws his Revolver / John Lydon unbuckles his armour / The Residents blow our minds / Harvey Mandel checks in to the Memory Motel / Bill Callahan’s best works ranked / Metallica on the Great Wall Of China / Jaki Liebezeit, Overend Watts, Maggie Roche, Bill Price, John Wetton and Mike Kellie remembered / All back to Karen Elson’s / And why you always needed to keep an eye out for Wilson Pickett…