From: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org (seven-seas-moderated-digest) To: seven-seas-moderated-digest@smoe.org Subject: seven-seas-moderated-digest V2 #98 Reply-To: seven-seas@smoe.org Sender: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org Precedence: bulk seven-seas-moderated-digest Wednesday, April 16 2003 Volume 02 : Number 098 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2003 19:47:01 +0100 From: "Barry Whiting" Subject: seven-seas-moderated UNCUT Magazine : Slideling Review Review from Uncut which also has a copy of 'High Wires' on its cover CD (which is excellent -- the song and the cover CD, I mean) Also reported that 'Baby Hold On' has been re-recorded with Jane Birkin of Je T'Aime fame. === TRANSFORMER GLORIES === Coldplay join Echo &The Bunnymen singer on first solo outing since 1992 Ian McCulloch SLIDELING COOKING VINYL **** IAN McCULLOCH AND WILL SERGEANT are without doubt one of the great partnerships of the post-punk era. And, in theory, Sergeant could drop a sparkling psychedelic lick upon each of Slideling's 11 tracks and we'd be looking at the follow-up to 2001's Flowers. But he hasn't, and we're not. And yet the absence of Sergeant's riffing is pretty much all that really distinguishes the sound of the Bunnymen from solo McCulloch. Either way, and with no disrespect to his sparring partner, Slideling is the best album McCulloch's had a hand in since 1984's Ocean Rain. Unlike 1989's deeply personal Candleland and 1992's disappointing Mysterio, both recorded in post-split/pre-reformation acrimony, this time he's just moonlighting from Bunnyland. All the same, it's a busman's holiday. "Stake Your Claim" and the gorgeous "Sliding" are as heart-skippingly splendid as "Bring On The Dancing Horses"; the chorus of "Arthur" as deliciously romantic as "Nothing Lasts Forever" and the dazzling "Kansas" finds Mac up to his shades in heaven, hell and hopes writ large in the stars. That said, here McCulloch is freer to scratch his Lou Reed itch, obvious from the opening chug of "Love In Veins" through to "High Wires" (with its "some kinda love" chorus) and most blatantly "Baby Hold On; which unblinkingly robs "Walk On The Wild Side" of its sliding bass sound. He's also more sentimental on his own, such as on the Beatlesy "Playgrounds And City Parks"; which is too sappy for your average Bunnymen LP perhaps but more than welcome here. Slideling is an intense, uplifting rush of blood to the head (no pun intended -Coldplay's Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland feature on "Sliding" and "Arthur"). Smashing stuff, Mac - but for the love of trenchcoats and camo', don't go giving up the day job just yet. SIMON GODDARD Ian McCulloch on his celebrity muckers UNCUT: So Coldplay are big fans of yours? IAN: WeII, Chris [Martin] was going to duet with me on this album but he decided to do backing vocals instead because he said I had the best voice in the world. Then I saw Coldplay live last October and I said to him he was joint best singer in the world. Well, it was after the gig, you've gotta say something, haven't you? Chris is very focused, he uses his time like every second counts. I've never seen anyone work that way. Mind you, I've been hanging round with Scousers all me life. You also got actor John Simm in to play guitar? Yeah, but I'm not sure you can hear it. When he got a copy he said, "Bloody 'ell, where's my guitar?" I mean, it's in there somewhere I'm sure - John's there in spirit! Are you still mates with The Sopranos' Michael Imperioli ? I'm seeing him next week in New York as it happens. He's great. When we met he knew more about the Bunnymen than I did, he's a real fan of Will's guitar playing. He also told me that Bono wore "a piece" : At first I thought he meant a gun, but it turned out he meant his hair. - -- Barry Whiting barry@urquell.freeserve.co.uk ====================================== The Official Seven-Seas Web Page. www.bunnymenlist.com ====================================== ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2003 19:47:38 +0100 From: "Barry Whiting" Subject: seven-seas-moderated UNCUT Magazine : A Record That Changed My Life A Record That Changed My Life Ian McCulloch The Bunnymen leader and solo artist on everybody's favourite miserable minstrel "If you'd asked me this years ago, I probably would've pretended me first introduction to Leonard Cohen was something like Songs Of Love And Hate, but it wasn't, it was Greatest Hits, also known as The Best Of. I'd seen a clip from his Bird On A Wire documentary on The Old Grey Whistle Test when I was about 15. In those days I could only afford one album every three months, but I decided to risk this best-of. The voice, the religious imagery, the lyrics, it blew me head off. "Soon after, I got a part-time 'bodyguard' job, shadowing this feller collecting money from the mean streets of Liverpool. The theory was that two blokes were less likely to get battered than one. There were a few dose scrapes, but I never got hurt and it meant I had money to buy Cohen's proper albums, the ones Greatest Hits was compiled from. So that's what funded me Cohen collection - protection money! Saying that, I still think Greatest Hits is the best. On those original albums there's one or two songs that aren't right, but Greatest Hits is flawless. I'll always love it cos it's the first Cohen LP I bought. "He was such a dude, too, the way he looked with the ciggie, his whole clobber. He went out with Nico as well didn't he? Mind you, all that lot in New York in the '60s were practically throwing their soddin' keys in the middle of the table. Lou dipped his wick. Then you had Joplin shagging everyone, Joni Mitchell at it, Nico doing Jim Morrison, and then Dylan. I think he was like The Don - when Dylan was in town, he'd be the one shagging Nico, heh, heh! But Leonard, I've met him a few times and he's such a gent. I think he's still my number one to be honest, because he's cool and suave. Whereas Lou Reed used to be cool, but now he's neither cool nor suave, just reptilian. In fact, Len's still the only bloke who I'll say that I've met him. All the others, even Bowie, I say that they met me." INTERVIEW BY SIMON GODDARD ====================================== The Official Seven-Seas Web Page. www.bunnymenlist.com ====================================== ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2003 19:47:55 +0100 From: "Barry Whiting" Subject: seven-seas-moderated UNCUT Magazine : Weird As Fish Review Will Sergeant WEIRD AS FISH OCHRE * * * Bunnymen guitarist's experimental 1978 demo Before he joined forces with Ian McCulloch and a drum machine called Echo, the young Will Sergeant was making his own two-track instrumental recordings at home. And here they are - rough around the edges, often evocative of Bowie's Low but pretty bloody ahead of their time for the late '70s (even today they sound like the radical calling cards of a guitar innovator aching to join a truly great band). As an extra we've also Sergeant's spooky, Doors-like soundtrack to the 1982 Bunnymen tour film Le Via Luonge. Visit www.ochre.co.uk for mail order. SIMON GODDARD ====================================== The Official Seven-Seas Web Page. www.bunnymenlist.com ====================================== ------------------------------ End of seven-seas-moderated-digest V2 #98 *****************************************