IN OUR LAVISH REVIEW-OF-THE-YEAR issue, we join the Charlie-less Stones on tour in the US, and ask what’s next for Mick, Keith & Co? We run down the 75 BEST NEW ALBUMS OF 2021, best reissues, films and books, with pauses to interview The Beach Boys, St. Vincent, Warren Ellis, Questlove, The Weather Station and more. Also in the issue: the magic of Laura Nyro; the madness of Zappa’s 200 Motels; Lennon Vs The Mob; Will Oldham Vs Bill Callahan; Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce; Neil Young’s new album. Plus: Abba; Bowie; Peter Hammill; Black Country, New Road; Geno Washington; Wet Leg; Weller; The Croz; Dylan books; and all back to Susannah Hoffs’s!
THIS MONTH’S COVERMOUNT CD is our blockbusting Best Of 2021, featuring St. Vincent, Plant & Krauss, Yola, Low, The Coral, Chrissie Hynde, Endless Boogie and more!
HAVE MOJO 338 SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME
CONTENTS MOJO 338
COVER STORY: THE ROLLING STONES MOJO’s man in the South checks in on the relaunched No Filter tour, forging on in spite of Charlie Watts’s passing, to ask, Is this still viable? Plus: Mick, Keith, Glyn Johns and Chris Kimsey on the Tao of Charlie.
THE BEST OF 2021 All the year’s best new records, reissues, films and books in one handy guide. Plus: The Weather Station shine on; Rickie Lee Jones reassesses; Warren Ellis – back to live; St. Vincent – what a performance!; Questlove; The Beach Boys. And: Paul Weller, David Crosby, Yola, Chrissie Hynde and more on the best thing they’ve heard all year.
LAURA NYRO Weaving poetry, R&B and Broadway, her songs bemused and beguiled, while she fought the niche the biz alloted her. Friends and collaborators hymn a truly unique talent.
JASON PIERCE Spiritualized’s seeker after transcendence on obsession, illness, “corrupting cliché” and the sonic secrets of hospitals. Plus: words of praise from Iggy Pop!
ZAPPA’S 200 MOTELS All it took was $679,000, Ringo Starr and “frequent use of the word penis”. The maddest rock film ever, relived by the people it sent insane: “Of course, it was chaos.”
REVIEWED Neil Young / David Bowie / Lana Del Rey / Paul McCartney’s lyrics / Brian Wilson / The Waterboys / Willie Nelson / Sting / Can / Nils Frahm / Elvis Presley / Dave Gahan / Nirvana / Popol Vuh / Makaya McCraven / Abba / Colin Blunstone / Bruce Springsteen / Redskins / Jason Isbell / Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry / Beverly Glenn-Copeland / Grace Cummings / The Professionals
PLUS Lennon Vs The Mob: The Lawyer Speaks! / Will Oldham and Bill Callahan interview each other / Peter Hammill’s free jazz epiphany / Wet Leg and Dialect are rising / Black Country, New Road on cuteness and Warhammer / The The’s Matt Johnson confesses / farewell, The Chieftains’ Paddy Moloney / Geno Washington and Irmin Schmidt check in / the Top 10 best Bob Dylan books / all back to Susannah Hoffs’s!