CATEGORIES

NO LESS THAN HERO

To mark the release of Seven Psalms, an astonishing meditation on spirituality and mortality and his first album of new material in seven years, Paul Simon a giant of postwar American popular song matched only by Dylan - takes to Zoom for an RC exclusive to talk about (his) music with fan, friend and fellow master songwriter, Elvis Costello. Listening in: Terry Staunton.

Oh, Sit Down!

We will if you stop playing those infectious big-venue anthems to alienation and belonging. But James can't help themselves, and they never could, whether in their early indie phase, during Madchester, with Eno, or any time since. Still on their singular path and in pursuit of the new, they're releasing an orchestral retrospective album, Be Opened By The Wonderful. Tim Booth, Saul Davies and Jim Glennie tell Kevin Harley about their choppy journey as perennial outsiders and the value of an open mind.

The days of his life

Freddie Mercury's unseen personal collection set to be exhibited and auctioned, darlings!

NINE-TIME M.V.P.

NINE TIMES NUNO BETTENCOURT PROVED TO BE GUITAR'S M.V.P.

RIK EMMETT

The former Triumph guitarist discusses everything from those pesky Rush comparisons, the advantages of jumpsuits and the uphill battle of cracking the U.S. market

San Diego United States

Jeremy Pound enjoys the great outdoors as the sun sets to Debussy and Mahler at the southern Californian city's eye-catching new venue

Gustav Mahler

Forthright and bold as Mahler's symphonies may appear, they are also works of remarkable subtlety and ambiguity

TRANSFORMER

Sure, he made a massive imprint on David Bowie's classic early Seventies albums. But Mick Ronson also worked with Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Elton John, Roger McGuinn, Morrissey, Ian Hunter and many others. GW profiles the post-Bowie career of rock 'n' roll's most quietly spoken guitar hero. Starring Def Leppard's Joe Elliott, Slaughter and the Dogs' Mick Rossi and the Cult's Billy Duffy

Full Spedding Ahead

BRITISH SESSION ACE CHRIS SPEDDING ON BEING ASKED TO AUDITION FOR THE ROLLING STONES, PRODUCING THE SEX PISTOLS' EARLY DEMOS AND RECORDING HIS FINAL ALBUM WITH ROBERT GORDON

FIVE QUESTIONS: MCKINLEY JAMES

THE SOUL / BLUES / ROCK ’N’ ROLL AFICIONADO ON HOW HE FILLS OUT A DUO — AND WHY YOU’LL PROBABLY NEVER SEE HIM FEATURED IN OUR “MY PEDALBOARD” SECTION

Covet

YVETTE YOUNG MIGHT CALL IT A NEW BEGINNING, BUT HER PLAYING ON CATHARSIS IS AS BLINDING AS EVER

The fight to be heard

Exiled from their homeland by the Taliban, Afghan musicians are striving to promote a rich musical heritage

Hidden treasures

After spending two decades searching the archives for neglected operas, conductor Charles Peebles recalls the risks and challenges of bringing them to the stage

Making Tracks

Composer, and Radio 3 presenter, Hannah Peel is forging a multi-faceted career while also giving crucial breaks to fellow musicians, as she tells Tom Stewart

BETTENCOURT OF PUBLIC ΟΡΙΝΙΟΝ

BRIAN MAY, ZAKK WYLDE, STEVE VAI, TOM MORELLO AND MORE EXPLAIN WHY NUNO AIN'T YOUR TYPICAL GUITAR HERO

RISE AND SHINE

NUNO BETTENCOURT ON THE FINER POINTS OF HIS \"RISE\" GUITAR SOLO - AND THE FIRESTORM IT HAS SPARKED IN GUITAR LAND

THE RISING SON

BACK IN MARCH, EXTREME RELEASED A NEW SONG AND MUSIC VIDEO CALLED \"RISE\" (COMPLETE WITH A FREAKIN' PHENOMENAL NUNO BETTENCOURT GUITAR SOLO). THE GUITAR-PLAYING COMMUNITY HASN'T QUITE BEEN THE SAME SINCE

Two Dog Knights

CATCHING UP WITH WINERY DOGS RICHIE KOTZEN AND BILLY SHEEHAN

DevilDriver

LIKE ITS PREDECESSOR, DEALING WITH DEMONS VOL. II IS AN ALL-OUT WAR OF GUN-TURRET TREMOLO PICKING AND DARKLY ANTHEMIC CHORUSES

A titan without ego

For many, conductor Otto Klemperer will be remembered as the steady and reliable champion of classic repertoire, but in his youth the German was a dashing advocate of the new

Once a Prom a time...

From Horrible Histories to Doctor Who, Clare Stevens takes a whistlestop tour of children's Proms through the last 30 years

Eric Whitacre

It's not really the done thing to go into fan mode during an interview

The Flaming Lips – "We like Sex Pistols and Pink Floyd"

Across four decades and countless madcap ideas, The Flaming Lips have evolved from indie noiseniks to purveyors of Disneyesque symphonia to multi-media art ensemble, each new album expanding the group's sonic world and conceptual ambitions. Accidental hits (She Don't Use Jelly; Do You Realize??) have pulled them into the mainstream on occasion, and yet the Lips have consistently refused to court commercial success and often seemed to actively shun it, with a string of extra-curricular projects, including a homemade sci-fi movie and a line in deconstructive covers albums, defying even the most hardened Lips fan to make sense of it all. Frontman Wayne Coyne tells Jason Draper why the extreme-embracing unit will always remain a "weirdo studio band".

MO' BETTER BLUES! Bonamassa & Friends

Andy Saphir offers up a blues-rock fest in the style of vintage guitar-wielding blues legend, Joe Bonamassa and his contemporary friends and musical collaborators.

IMPROVE YOUR ARPEGGIOS PT 2

Following on from last month where he looked at rhythm guitar arpeggios, here Simon Barnard shows how they can improve your solos, too.

TASTY SOLOING

This month Andy G Jones from London’s LCCM investigates the style of one of the great blues, rock and jazz session greats, Larry Carlton.

LÉO DELIBES Pizzicato (from Sylvia)

This month Declan Zapala reduces an orchestra to just six strings with his arrangement of this quirky and chirpy pizzicato movement from Delibes’ ballet masterpiece.

CHRIS REA

This month Phil Short takes a trip down memory lane exploring the slide guitar stylings of Middlesborough’s finest pop-blues crooner.

JARED JAMES NICHOLS

A minute's all it takes to discover what makes a great guitarist tick. Before he jumped into his limo for the airport, we grabbed a quick chat with amodern American blues-rock tour-de-force.

JARED JAMES NICHOLS Six Rock Licks

This young but very old-school rock master took time out of his busy schedule to record six, red-hot blues-rock licks for you, all in the key of A. Jon Bishop is your guide.