Editor's Letters

I was just about to start this column by writing about what's in the new issue of Uncut, including the return of Fleet Foxes, who I interviewed recently in Seattle. My attention, however, has been claimed by the arrival in the office of copies of our most recent Ultimate Music Guide, a series in which we've so far covered the careers of U2, Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon and The Rolling Stones. The new Ultimate Music Guide is dedicated to The Who, all 40 and more years of them. There are, as ever, new looks at all their albums, from My Generation to Empty Wire, by Rob Young, David Cavanagh, Neil Spencer, Bud Scoppa, Garry Mulholland, Andrew Mueller, Graeme Thomson and David Quantick. John Robinson, Michael Bonner and Rob Young also look at Who-related film projects, including the movie versions of Tommy and Quadrophenia and The Kids Are Alright documentary. There's also a full guide to the many Who compilations and a round-up of the band's solo albums, collectable rarities, memorabilia and more.

As much as it may seem like blowing our own trumpet, these pieces are among the best things I've ever read on The Who. Just reading them now makes me do exactly what they are meant to do, put on the albums, the volume turned up loud enough to make your head explode, and be reminded once again of the band in all its resplendent glory and the times I saw them when they seemed unmatchable -- including in 1969 at the Albert Hall, on a double bill with Chuck Berry, just after the Stones had played in Hyde Park, and an appearance at Charlton football ground on the Who Put The Boot In tour, the band playing in often torrential rain, that's among the most amazing live shows I've ever seen.

Additionally, there's also a vast amount of archive material drawn from the pages of NME, Melody Maker and Uncut, classic interviews from the vaults, the earliest from 1965, a year into their career as The Who, after changing their name from The High Numbers. Taken as a whole, these revisited interviews are gobsmacking -- epic, revealing stuff that's been unread for years. Boy, could Townshend talk! He's also, by the way, written an exclusive introduction to the thing. “What would I have done differently?” he asks.

“I would never have joined a band...”

The Who -- The Ultimate Music Guide is on sale now.



Uncut magazine features

* FLEET FOXES
With their second LP set for release, an exclusive, confessional interview with Robin Pecknold and co. “This album cost me my health...”


* PLUS FREE CD! -- SUN IT RISES
15 tracks of folk and cosmic Americana classics, compiled exclusively for Uncut by Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold -- featuring Roy Harper, Mountain Man, Dungen, PG Six, Sandy Denny & The Strawbs and more


* JOHNNY THUNDERS
Uncut tells the tragic story of a singular guitarist and doomed junkie pin-up -- from New York Doll to Heartbreaker...


* GRAM PARSONS
The charming, rich young Elvis fan who reinvented US roots music: we talk to the cosmic cowboy's early bandmates


* IAN STEWART
The Rolling Stones' founding pianist and road manager is -- 25 years after his death -- still a major influence on the band. “The daddy of us all,” says Keef


* LOW
Weird dynamics, spiritual sounds: Uncut travels to Duluth, Minnesota to meet the far-from-ordinary rock band


* PAUL RODGERS
An audience with The Free and Bad Company singer who could have been frontman of Deep Purple or The Doors!


* RIDE
How the 1990 “Ride” EP helped make four Oxford teenagers the new darlings of British indie


* THE HUMAN LEAGUE
Album by album with Phil Oakey's synth-pop survivors


* WINGS OVER EUROPE
Photo special: all aboard the double-decker bus for Paul & Linda's magical '72 tour


* IN MUSIC
Paul Simon, TV On The Radio, Panda Bear, Emmylou Harris, Bill Callahan, Radiohead, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison The Kinks and many more


* IN FILM, DVD AND BOOKS
On Film: Lewd comic fantasy adventure Your Highness, plus Ken Loach's Route Irish, Source Code, She's A Punk Rocker -- a history of women in punk, and more
On DVD: John Cassavetes' cult favourite Minnie And Moskowitz, Treme Series 1
In Books: read And On Piano... Nicky Hopkins -- an absorbing biography of The Rolling Stones' session ace