Cuttings

REM MIKE MILLS What would be the best thing anybody could give you for Christmas? “There’s a record of my father doing Handel's 'Messiah' that I don't have. That would be a nice Christmas present." What’s the worst Christmas present you’ve ever been given? "My father gave me a Rush record once. It was 'Hemispheres'. That’s gotta rate up there with the worst." Bet you didn’t play it. "Oh, I played it! I knew I wasn’t a fan but I give everybody a chance!” What on earth made him give you that? "He was trying to be cool! I never looked at him as an old fart or anything like that. It's just that he shot and he missed! That’s the way it goes.” What do you think of Christmas? “I love it. Well, not so much any more because now it’s this obligatory round of present-buying which is really kind of a drag. But I’m still able to feel things about it. I’ll do things like on Christmas Eve - or pretty much any night of the week before Christmas - I’

THIS YOUNG WILL RUN AND RUN LOOKED LIKE WE'D LOST HIM FOR A WHILE BACK THERE, WHAT WITH THOSE RATHER ‘ODD’ ALBUMS AND THOSE CRANKY PRO-REAGAN SPEECHES. BUT NOW GOOD OL’ NEIL YOUNG IS BACK WITH A CRACKING NEW ALBUM AND PLANS FOR A 180-TRACK (!) COMPILATION. NICK KENT CAUGHT UP WITH HIM IN PARIS. NEIL YOUNG’S manager Elliot Roberts told me: “He’s doing interviews now because he’s got things he wants to say. There’s a lot of things going on in the world right now he wants to talk about.” But Neil Young thankfully kept his new supposed “caring humanitarian global” opinions to himself for this interview (“1 ain’t nobody’s ambassador of good will”). He looked awesomely tall, wearing an extraordinary long coat made from a multi-coloured horse-blanket that looked like Young had won it from a Red Indian wino in a card game. On anyone else, the effect would have looked disastrous, on Neil Young it looked ... well exactly how you would expect Neil Young to look. Overtly eccentric and very, v

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE Ragged Glory ( Reprise ) LIKE BOB DYLAN (HIS CLOSEST CREATIVE COUNTERPART) Neil Young likes to keep his audience on its toes. For every critically acclaimed ‘classic’ that is punched out he will usually follow it up with a more relaxed offering, a set of rough sketches that sound equally ingenious as his more full-blown projects such as ‘This Note’s For You’ and last year’s stunning ‘Freedom’. This LP is one of those... a rock ’n’ roll reunion with his old partners Crazy Horse, a band that he has worked with sporadically since the early days of his solo career. 1987’s ‘Life’ (the last record they worked on together) was, for many, a disappointment. It had its moments but somehow the natural flow of the players was bogged down with an ‘environmentally conscious’ concept that weighed heavily upon their collective shoulders. ‘Ragged Glory’ is thankfully free of all inhibitions with both Young and Crazy Horse enjoying each others’ company, content to simply hor

Without doubt, one of the finest albums of 1983 was R.E.M.’s debut ‘Murmur’. Surprisingly sucessful in their American homeland (going top 40), it eventually picked up some worthy attention here when the band visited these shores in November. With a name standing for Rapid Eye Movement (the effect of dreaming) it is not surprising to find their music warm and emotional, a trance-like collection of hidden moments and memories. Using the simplicity of jangling guitars,a bright piano and Michael Stripe’s almost Morrison-esque voice, R.E.M. managed to put together an album that grows on the listener like no other I’ve ever encountered - on first hearing it’s good, but by the fifty-first it’s a classic. Lucky enough to be witness to all three of their British performances (The Tube, Dingwalls and The Marquee), I became even more of a convert, and before R.E.M. returned home I found myself locked in an A&M office with Michael and guitarist Peter Buck (bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill B

ANOTHER GREEN WORLD 1988 saw REM leave their cult status behind, and home in on the airwaves and turntables of mainstream America. The critically lauded 'Green' album - third best 33 of the year in the NME festive chart! - consolidated the strengths and sublime songs of 'Document' whilst offering further evidence of Michael Stipe's unique lyricism. SEAN O'HAGAN probed the psyche of rock's most enigmatic songwriter. HORSES As a rule, the things people won’t talk about are usually the most interesting/ revealing aspects of their self. Today, Michael Stipe is reluctant to talk about his childhood. Were you a weird kid, Michael? "Erm. I wrote backwards right up until sixth grade. Perfect mirror image." That’s pretty weird... “It's quite common among left handers. This one teacher told me my brain would flip over if I didn't stop and learn to write properly" So you stopped? “Yeah. I had this recurring image of two fish inside my head, flip

TURNIPS HAVE FEELINGS TOO THE SMITHS Mick Middles ( Omnibus Press £3.95 ) THE CURE Jo-Anne Greene  (Bobcat £3.50) DEPECHE MODE  Dave Thomas  (Bobcat £3.50) DEAR GOD. What is the point of issuing 40-odd pages long biogs that only serve to alarm the reader over the amount of records that bands like The Cure and Depeche Mode have released?  You realise what a blessing Morrissey and his Performing Stigmata are - though to be fair to Greene and Thomas, there is a lot more to write about, especially when yours is an unauthorised biography. Stalwart Mancunian pop scribbler Mick Middles has produced an ambitious, conscientious and painstaking work, remaining compassionate throughout despite being 'waved aside without so much as an acknowledgement' when he first approached The Smiths for co-operation in this project. There should be nothing to upset Morrissey in this critique - but with Morrissey being a delicately-strung instrument you never know. Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke scarcely

Carl Flint Kevin Cummins 1983 09 Kevin Cummins

ODDS, SODS AND ODDS AND SODS Dear Ian Pye, in days of old, before the NME even contemplated becoming the bible of the naive young hypocrite, Ian Pye’s subservient interview attitude towards young Steven Morrissey would have been known as ‘advertising’. No matter, I have been guilty of the same crime recently thanks to the overwhelming power that is afforded to those with money. On a less cryptic front, I refer to the comments made about my Smiths book in mid-interview. Morrissey appears to have unwittingly grasped the idea behind the book, as such, his comments were both welcome and accurate. You, Ian, on the other hand have not only missed the point but have fallen for the parody. I can’t believe that you could be so gullible. To suggest that the book suffers from "...trainspotter mentality..." is not only absurd, it is the complete antithesis of the book in question. Or then again, perhaps you haven't really read it. Either way, in future I suppose that I'll have

Ooh I say! The lighter side of football violence. The death of pop music. Getting the urge for sex. Being racist. The TV star who is “a pig in a man’s body”. The loathsome comedian. The author who ought “to die in a hotel fire”. Morrissey’s views may seem a couple of bus-stops short of reason. “But that doesn’t mean I’m some great twit who lives in a hut and eats straw,” he reassures Adrian Deevoy. "Monsieur Morrissey?'’ puzzles the well-preserved concierge. “Eez a pop group, non?'" Upstairs in his room on the third floor of this cloyingly plush Parisien hotel. Monsieur Morrissey, pop group, has just taken delivery of the finished artwork for his new long player, Your Arsenal. Its cover is a live photograph of the singer, tongue out, shirt asunder (stomach scar courtesy Davyhulme Hospital) suggestively waggling his microphone at fly-height. Morrissey studies the sleeve intently, then holds it at arm's length and squints inscrutably - or could it be myopically