“I’m working on music all the time,” says Booker T Jones, having just stepped away from the piano at his home in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. “That’s who I am and what I do, from the first time I can remember.” Jones is currently putting the finishing touches to an LP of reworkings of songs from his formidable back catalog, to accompany his new autobiography Time Is Tight. For instance, “’ Cause I Love You” has been re-recorded with Joshua Ledet and Evvie McKinney taking the place of Rufus & Carla Thomas. “It was the first record I ever played on,” remembers Jones. “I was maybe 15 years old, and David Porter came and got me out of an algebra class. He’d been associated with the people over on McLemore [Avenue, home of what was soon to become Stax Records] and he knew they wanted a little sax on the track, so he borrowed the band director’s car and came and got me out of my class. I ended up playing the opening horn riff.”
The story opens Time Is Tight, which is rare among rock-star memoirs in that it’s more than just the usual litany of score-settling and bawdy on-the-road anecdotes (although there are still plenty of the latter). In his easy, engaging prose, Jones actually illuminates how music works for him – both the theory and the magic – describing in vivid detail all the sounds he absorbed growing up in Memphis, from WC Handy to Dvorak, from the negro spirituals at his grandmother’s funeral to the melodic call of the local tamale man. “Some of the things I’ve never put into words, this was an opportunity to put it down on paper,” says Jones. “At the time, we just did the music – we didn’t think about it too much. Looking back, it’s amazing that I was able to have access to those people and that studio within walking distance of where I lived.”
Bu hikaye Uncut UK dergisinin December 2019 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Uncut UK dergisinin December 2019 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Kim Gordon: La Ghosts & Flowers
As KIM GORDON prepares to release No Home Record – her brilliant debut solo album – she takes stock of her consistently adventurous career so far. To discuss: her early days in New York’s Downtown, cooking with Neil Young and the perils of gentrification. “Life is unexpected,” she tells Tom Pinnock
Tinariwen: Even Nomads Get The Blues
A lot has changed for TINARIWEN since they became superstars of desert rock’n’roll. But their Saharan homeland remains as troubled as ever. We track the band down in Morocco, where Michael Bonner hears tales of exile, insurgency and belonging. “As long as people are oppressed, there will be room for protest music,” they explain
Angel Olsen: Her Bright Materials
Welcome to Asheville, North Carolina, where ANGEL OLSEN is poised to release her new album, All Mirrors. Erin Osmon joins the singer-songwriter at home to discuss heartbreak, fantasy property deals and her latest bold pop experiment. “Sometimes your dreams are not what they seem,” she says
“I Was Insatiable!”
From a back garden in Epsom to the stage of the O2 – via Bombay, New York, Marrakesh and Beijing – join us as JIMMY PAGE guides us through 60 years’ worth of his marvellous adventures. CliffRichard! Exorcisms! “A cauldron of inspiration”! There are road trips with The Yardbirds, magical recording sessions at Headley Grange, his ongoing relationship with Robert Plant and the vast musical legacy of Led Zeppelin to consider. “I was dealt a very good hand,” Page tells Michael Odell. “And I like to think I played it well.”
'I Was Pretty Bad At Being A Pop Star'
Riding high on the back of Bon Iver’s endorsement and his finest album in years, the piano master discusses the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, cryogenics and appearing in “some of the worst videos ever made”
The Go-Betweens - G Stands For Go-Betweens: Volume 2 – 1985–1989 Domino
Australian indie ambassadors’ golden age showcased in opulent style.
It's Too Late To Stop Now
Has VAN MORRISON mellowed at last? After yet another remarkable period in his ongoing creative renaissance, the Celtic soul warrior is on good form as he talks R&B, transcendence and mythical bootlegs with Graeme Thomson. “I didn’t know what the hell I was doing for quite a while,” he reveals
Robert Plant - Digging Deep
ESPARANZA 7/10 Percy on 45! A boxset of 7”s traces Plant’s post-Zep progress. By Michael Bonner
Leonard Cohen - Thanks For The Dance
The poet’s intimate musical postscript.
'I'll Tell You The Full Story…'
During the past 12 months, a series of lavish boxsets have tracked DAVID BOWIE’s early development throughout 1968 and 1969. As this comprehensive archeological survey concludes with Conversation Piece, long-serving producer TONY VISCONTI relives the highs and lows of Bowie’s breakthrough. There are ham sandwiches, Marc Bolan impressions, the peerless “Space Oddity”, and tearful studio interludes… but, most importantly, we learn how the music made during this brief but pivotal period critically influenced one superstar in the making: David Bowie himself…
