In this issue

John Mayall - An audience with the great Blues Breaker.

The Troubadour - How The Byrds, Joni Mitchell, Carole King,

The Creation…on freakbeat classic “Making Time” and more...

Is There Room To Improvise? Of Course. That's The Blues

JOHN MAYALL is an early riser. Despite the cold morning in his adopted home of California – where he has lived since the late 1960's – Mayall is already up and busy preparing for his forthcoming live shows when Uncut calls. Mayall, who is 83, is in sprightly form. “We do 100 shows every year all over the world,” he says. “It keeps us active!”

8 mins

Make It Triangular! Make It Primordial! Make It Hairy!

Caves full of bats and human trombones. Earthquake beats and microscopic sounds. Pagan poetry and scientific rigour… Thirty years on from the Sugarcubes’ “Birthday”, Björk remains a unique and brilliant creative force. To celebrate the anniversary, Graeme Thomson rounds up the elusive artist’s closest collaborators, and learns the secrets of her greatest albums. “It was like standing next to a volcano,” says Anohni. “I couldn’t keep up.”

10+ mins

The Magnetic Fields

Stephin Merritt has 50 identical sets of underwear and a latent ambition to be Walt Disney. He has written an album of 69 Love Songs and, now, 50 Song Memoir - one for each year of his life. Artpop genius? Conceptual prankster? “I am,” he admits, “a questionable narrator...”

10+ mins

Making Time

Inspired by a football chant, the freakbeat classic that pioneered the violin bow and feedback in rock:“No, no, this is how it’s supposed to be!”

10+ mins

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Uncut UK Magazine Description:

Published by Time Inc (UK). Uncut is the essential magazine about rock music, written by people who love that music as much as you do. Every month, it features the most comprehensive and trustworthy album reviews section in the world. There are in-depth interviews with the finest musicians of the past five decades, and with the exciting new artists who are following in their great tradition. Insightful, informative, passionate about extraordinary music – that’s Uncut.