Led Zeppelin’s Golden God returns, with a new album of mystical roots manoeuvres. He regales us with classic tales and forthright views as we riffle through his record collection and he compiles us a killer CD. Also in the issue: Ozzy Osbourne – the inside story; Joni Mitchell’s incredible 1975; Spinal Tap’s second wind; Willie Nelson – Red Headed Stranger; Michael Kiwanuka gets unreasonable. Plus: Gary Numan; Van Morrison; The Police; Mike Taylor; Baxter Dury; Andrew Watt; Big Thief; Lucinda Williams; Swell Maps; Woody Guthrie; Springsteen; Communist jazz!
THIS MONTH’S COVERMOUNT CD is Higher Rock: A Robert Plant Compilation. Fifteen jewels from the Plant solo archive, from classics to curios. Raising Sand, Sensational Space Shifters, Band Of Joy, Strange Sensation, his brand new Saving Grace incarnation, and more!
HAVE MOJO 383 SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME
CONTENTS MOJO 383
COVER STORY: ROBERT PLANT Led Zeppelin’s Golden God has returned to his roots in England’s Midlands and emerged with a new band and a new album. Dazed and confused? Quite the opposite, he tells Keith Cameron. He’s seeing more clearly than ever.
OZZY OSBOURNE Beneath the performative excess, there was another side to the much-loved Black Sabbath icon, who made a stellar career running from penury, bullying and rejection.
JONI MITCHELL How the road meant heartache, but ultimately transcendence for folk’s former poster girl. And how both fed the strange wonder of ’75’s The Hissing Of Summer Lawns.
MICHAEL KIWANUKA Britain’s folk-soul searcher on the unseen struggles of record-making, and how a MOJO CD set him on his path: “It’s the best thing I’ve heard to this day…”
WILLIE NELSON Fifty years since Nelson dismayed Nashville and delighted the hippies with his “otherworldly” cowboy opus, Sylvie Simmons revisits Red Headed Stranger.
GARY NUMAN The man who piloted the overground explosion of electronic pop is still plagued by misgivings: “I said to myself, What the fuck have you done?”
BAXTER DURY Ian Dury’s lad is coming into his own, embracing his birthright, refracting synth pop through sleazy personae. But who ordered the “international f--k omelette”?
MIKE TAYLOR The British jazz genius you may never have heard of, and why that might be about to change. Andrew Male plumbs a tragic tale and some extraordinary music.
REVIEWED Big Thief / Swell Maps / Cate Le Bon / Suede / David Byrne / Wolf Alice / James Brown / Saint Etienne / Deep Purple / Margo Price / Jehnny Beth / Curtis Harding / John Prine / Orcutt Shelley Miller / Gruff Rhys / Popol Vuh / Gwenifer Raymond / Jonathan Richman / Michael Hurley / Yasmine Hamdan / Memphis Slim / The Divine Comedy / Sydney Minsky Sargeant / Elton John / Belinda Carlisle / CMAT / Osees / Joan Shelley / Rodney Crowell / Brad Mehldau / Mac DeMarco / Chameleons
PLUS Spinal Tap have a second wind / Lucinda Williams – at work on album 16 / What’s the deal with Andrew Watt? / Woody Guthrie’s lost tapes – found! / The Beths and Noura Mint Seymali are Rising / How To Buy… Van Morrison / Ernest Ranglin rangles on / Stuart Copeland’s life in Police custody / David Gedge – Present and correct / Fare thee well, Dave Cousins and Lalo Schifrin / Ronnie Spector’s Buried Treasure / Pricing Smiths rarities / All back to Al Jardine’s!