Claudia Elliott's 'Mod Grooves' feature in The Blues Magazine

The Mod Scene's very own Claudia Elliott has just had an excellent 3-page feature called 'Mod Grooves' published in the new edition of 'The Blues Magazine' (issue 3). The piece focuses on the importance of R&B to the developing Mod scene, predominantly in London, before the media got hold of it, and goes through early blues tracks included in the sets of the High Numbers, The Artwoods, The Kinks, Small Faces etc.Priced at £7.99, available in W H Smiths, and coming in a cardboard envelope with free CD, this issue also contains an interview with John Mayall, a feature on jazz legend Chris Barber (who is credited with bringing Blues to the UK in the first place) and a page on current scene band, The Get Go.

New Mojo focuses on The Jam

"THE JAM: Weller, Foxton & Buckler’s eclectic, soul-stirring swansong, The Gift, laid their divisions bare. In all-new interviews, they relive the tumult and heartbreak . “You can’t live a lie,” discovers John Harris."

"FREE CD! A MOVE ON UP. A modernist compendium featuring two rare Jam tracks and other gems from The Yardbirds, The Beat, Lee Dorsey, Dexys, Laurel Aitken, Curtis Mayfield, Bruce Foxton, Terry Callier, Paul Weller and more!"

Weller on One of Eight Covers to Celebrate NME's 60th Anniversary

NME celebrates 60 years this week with a bumper birthday issue.

They're celebrating with eight iconic covers featuring what they say are the biggest stars of music history – including Noel and Liam Gallagher, Arctic Monkeys, John Lydon, Manic Street Preachers, and Paul Weller.

Inside, all eight cover stars reflect on their relationship with NME over the last 60 years – the high times, low times and all the hilarious moments.

Plus – there's a free copy of the very first issue of NME from March 1952 as well as interviews with Kasabian, Green Day, Biffy Clyro and Beth Ditto talking through their favourite ever NME covers.

'Classic Mod Band' Supplements with 'Heavy Soul' Fanzine

The excellent 'Heavy Soul' fanzine now comes with a free 'Classic Mod Band' supplement with each issue.

Heavy Soul No. 13 came with a free supplement that put the spotlight on 80's Mod band, The Threads (a band close to my heart - yes, that's me in the middle!), while the new issue (No. 14) features Mods Mayday '79 stars, The Mods.

Well done to Heavy Soul supremo, Adam Cooper, for starting this great series and I can't wait to see who he features in the supplement with issue 15.

'The Gift' Box Set Gets 19th November Release Date

Many thanks to www.modculture.com for providing full details of the track listing for the super-deluxe box-set release of ‘The Gift’: - 

An outer box in original striped bag style cover – ‘The Jam – A Gift’

Hardback 72-page, full-colour book – including period and fan’s memorabilia, magazine cuttings (NME etc.), reviews, photos, new interviews (with Paul Weller and producer Peter Wilson)

Forward by Paul Weller and new essay by John Harris

Set of postcard prints

Replica 1982 tour programme

Four discs, in individual wallets:

All the track details are:

Disc One – Original album / Singles & B-Sides

1. Happy Together

2. Ghosts

3. Precious

4. Just Who Is The 5 O’clock Hero

5. ‘Trans-Global Express’

6. Running On The Spot

7. Circus

8. The Planner’s Dream Goes Wrong

9. Carnation

10. Town Called Malice

11. The Gift

12. Precious (12′)

13. The Great Depression

14. The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow)

15. Pity Poor Alfie / Fever

16. Pity Poor Alfie (swing version)

17. Beat Surrender

18. Shopping

19. Move On Up

20. Stoned Out Of My Mind

21. War

Disc Two ‘ Demos & alternate tracks

1. Skirt (demo) #

2. Get Yourself Together (demo) Originally released on ‘Extras’

3. Ghosts (instrumental demo) #

4. Just Who Is The 5 O’clock Hero (demo) #

5. Running On The Spot (demo) #

6. The Planner’s Dream Goes Wrong (demo) #

7. Carnation (instrumental demo) #

8. Precious (demo) Originally released on ‘Direction, Reaction, Creation’

9. The Bitterest Pill (demo) #

10. Alfie (demo ’2′) #

11. We’ve Only Started (‘old version’) #

12. Only Started (instrumental demo) #

13. Shopping (AKA ‘Paul’s demo’) #

14. Beat Surrender (demo) #

15. Solid Bond In Your Heart (demo) #

 # Previously unreleased

Disc Three – Live at Wembley (Dec. 3rd 1982)

1. Start!

2. It’s Too Bad

3. Beat Surrender

4. Away From The Numbers

5. Ghosts

6. In The Crowd

7. Boy About Town

8. So Sad About Us

9. All Mod Cons

10. To Be Someone

11. Smithers-Jones

12. That’s Entertainment

13. The Great Depression

14. Precious

15. Move On Up

16. Circus

17. Down In The Tube Station At Midnight

18. David Watts

19. Mr Clean

20. Town Called Malice

21. But I’m Different Now

22. ‘Trans-Global Express’

23. In The City

Disc 4 - DVD

Part 1 ‘ Trans-Global Unity Express’

Live video from Birmingham March 1982

Part 2 ‘ The promo videos’

1. Town Called Malice

2. Precious

3. The Bitterest Pill

Part 3 – Danish TV special

The Jam play songs from the Gift album. Recorded live in Studio 3,

TV-Byen, Copenhagen April 19 1982, broadcast April 23 1982.

1. Running On The Spot

2. Circus

3. Happy Together

4. Ghosts

5. In The Crowd

6. Town Called Malice

7. Pity Poor Alfie / Fever

8. Precious

9. Just Who Is The 5 O’clock Hero

10. The Gift

11. Move On Up

12. Trans-Global Express

Part 4 ‘ Top Of The Pops

Recorded February 18 1982

1. Precious

2. Town Called Malice

19th November is the release date and it’s also available in a two-disc deluxe digi-pak format and a deluxe digital version, with a limited edition 10" Vinyl of Danish TV Concert recorded 23/4/82 also on the market.

Quadrophenia author, Alan Fletcher, to guest at Derby Youth Subculture Symposium

Alan Fletcher, author of the Quadrophenia novel and the Mod Crop Trilogy (and original 60s Mod) will be appearing as a special guest at the 'Ageing Within a Spectacular Youth Subculture' Symposium at the University of Derby on Friday 9th November. He will take part in an interview and a Q&A session during the second half of this academic conference. 

The University of Derby Symposium also includes a paper on ageing within the Mod scene, entitled 'A Teenage Dream or A Way of Life', by Paul Hooper-Keeley.

There will also be other papers on Northern Soul, Punk, Goth and Hip-Hop presented by some of the countries most eminent academic authorities within this field. 

Weller Uncut Special

If you need a new Weller fix, Uncut have just the thing for you - a special Ultimate Music Guide all about Paul's career.

As well as new articles covering the last 4 decades, the magazine delves into the archives of the NME and Melody Maker for timeless interviews with Weller and his bandmates down the years.

There are also brand new reviews of Paul's discography to date, including this year's number 1 'Sonik Kicks'.

NME themselves say, “Wake up the nation! Over the past 35 years, Paul Weller has asserted himself, time and time again, as one of the most potent figures in British music: impassioned, tireless, single-minded, brilliant. In the latest Uncut Ultimate Music Guide, we tell Weller's complete story, from the seismic arrival of The Jam, through the inventive subversions of The Style Council, and on to his rich and varied two decades as a solo artist.

For this impeccably turned-out special, we've dug deep into the NME and Melody Maker archives to find remarkable interviews with Weller and his bandmates, often unseen for years. We've commissioned in-depth new reviews of every one of his albums, from the Jam's debut to 2012's magisterial Sonik Kicks. And we've even hired Weller himself to write the introduction. "These songs take on a life of their own," he says. "It'll be interesting to see what people have got to say about them here..." It is, rest assured. Paul Weller: The Ultimate Music Guide. Now that's entertainment...”

'Heavy Soul' Issue 14 Out Now!!!

Issue 14 of 'Heavy Soul' is out now and has interviews with new bands THE KUMARI and FRENCH BOUTIK as well as Spanish songstress MIRI MAY and ace Scottish Hammond band BUTTON UP. Stuart Deabill also talks about the inspiration behind the THICK AS THIEVES book and there are also articles on Dutch band THE KIK, Belarussian beatsters THE STAMPLETONS, Scottish band THE BEAT MOVEMENT, Acid Jazz, the second part of the NOLAN PORTER interview, a review of BRIGHTON MOD WEEKENDER, THE GENTS and Paul Davis writes a few words about his introduction to Northern Soul.

There is also the two eight page supplements; one on legendary '79 Mod Revival band THE MODS who appeared on the Mods Mayday '79 LP and issue four of the West Indian Music Appreciation Society newsletter as well as the 20 track Club Sounds CD that this issue features artists like Gil Scott-Heron, Pete Rodriguez, Lonny Lester, Marjorie Black, Nolan Chance, The Supremes, Booker T, Jimmy McGriff, Slim Harpo and many more

There are two ways of buying this issue; the standard way and also the special version that comes with the new EP by button up; the Covered E.P. featuring versions of If I Could Only Be Sure, I Spy For The F.B.I., I Got A Line On You and Bert's Apple Crumble...

'Mods: The New Religion' book by Paul 'Smiler' Anderson available to pre-order now

Paul 'Smiler' Anderson's book, 'Mods: The New Religion', that is scheduled for a February 2013 release, is now available to pre-order at Amazon and W H Smith for £24.95.

The write-up says, "Mod may have been born in the ballrooms and nightclubs around London but it soon rampaged throughout the country. Young kids soon found a passion for sharp clothes, music and dancing, but for some it was pills, thrills and violence. The original Mod generation tell it exactly how it was, in their very own words. First hand accounts of the times from the people who were actually on the scene. Top faces, scooterboys, DJs, promoters and musicians build up a vivid, exciting snapshot of what it was really like to be with the in-crowd. Packed with rare pictures, ephemera, art and graphics of the era. Featuring interviews with Eddie Floyd, Martha Reeves, Ian McLagan, Chris Farlowe and many more."


All you need to know, following Paul's excellent 'Expo' at Reading and previous book, is that this will be a 'must have' book for your Mod library. It's great to have a Mod book written by a Mod for a change, rather than those from outside of the scene who tend to have limited knowledge or their own view on things (and so, quite often, completely miss the point).

My copy is pre-ordered already - looking forward to February 2013. What are you waiting for???

Secret Affair - New Studio Album Out Now

The new studio album by Secret Affair, 'Soho Dreams', is out now on the I-Spy label.

30 years after 'Business As Usual', the new album contains 11 songs and is available from Amazon, HMV etc.

Meanwhile, Secret Affair are currently undertaking a full UK tour to support the release throughout September, October and November.

The full track listing is as follows: -

1) Soho Dreams
2) Turn Me On
3) Walk Away
4) Soul Of The City
5) I Don't Need No Doctor
6) Land Of Hope
7) Love's Unkind
8) Lotus Dream
9) All The Rage
10) In Our Time
11) Ride

Mod Comedian in Lichfield on 16th September

Mod comedian, Ian Moore, will be appearing at the Guild Hall in Lichfield on Sunday 16th September in the 'Comedy With Cake' show. The show starts at 3pm and also features Simon Bligh and Debra-Jane Appleby. Tickets are £10 and can be booked online via the Facebook page, 'Comedy With Cake'

GARRY BUSHELL'S ESSAYS ON THE MOD REVIVAL FROM THE ‘79 FRONTLINE.

The Mod Revival of 1979-80 put life and laughs into an increasingly grim post-punk UK scene. Snobby music press hacks tried to write it off as a hype manufactured by the film industry to plug Quadrophenia.

Not true. The roots of "New Mod" were actually in The Jam and their All Mod Cons album which inspired a generation of teenagers to embrace the joys of Fred Perrys, Harrington jackets, Vespas - and powerful songs with great tunes.

Garry Bushell was the first rock writer to cover the scene, reviewing the Purple Hearts, the Jolt, the Chords and Secret Affair in rapid succession between 1978 and 1980. He was also the only one who gave the young backstreet bands a fair hearing.

This is his funny, informative and affectionate history of the rise and fall, rebirth and lasting influence of the Mod Revival as it happened. Including all the major bands and most of the minor ones.

Available for the first time ever in book form, includes never before seen photographs.

200 pages with unseen photographs of  The Chords, The Jam, The Purple Hearts and Secret Affair.

Released early September 2012. First 1,000 copies numbered.

Issue 272 of Blues & Rhythm Magazine Out Now

Blues & Rhythm Issue 272 is out now.

The main cover feature is ‘Post War Blues - The Sam Charters Story Part One’ by Hasse Andreasson and Hans Schweitz. Also featured is ‘Buddy Guy – A New Biography’ reviewed by Neil Slaven.

You’ll also find a ‘Blues History of Albert King’ by Ray Templeton and a spotlight on Vocal Harmony Groups where Tony Watson looks at the New Bear Family Series.

There’s a ‘Post War R&B - Atomic Boogie’ piece by Dan Kochakian plus: Words Words Words, Chris' Curiosities, Chicago Blues Festival, Harrison Calloway, Johnny Otis, Bentonia Blues, Robert Cray.