The Soft Struggles

OUR FREE CD! MADE TO LOVE MAGIC: To accompany this month’s Uncut cover story, a free 15-track CD of music in the spirit of Nick Drake comes with the issue. Inside, you will find tracks from the likes of Joan Shelley, Adrianne Lenker, Cass McCombs, Robyn Hitchcock and more!

This is an excellent Mahler Ninth. It does not feature the tortured anguish of Bernstein (Sony & DG), the elegant pain of Giulini (DG), or the stately gloom of Walter (Sony), but, like Libor Pesek (Virgin Classics), it successfully straddles more than a few fences. But "straddling fences" does not imply it's middle-of-the-road–it is, in fact, more middle-of-the-night. Dohnányi often makes inner voices turn disruptive, yet coaxes the strings to sound both sweet and eerie in their heavy use of portamento; and he is scrupulous in extracting just about every last meaningful detail in this monumental work.

If you've listened to Feeling The Space, Yoko Ono's personal-is-political 1973 album, it should come as no surprise that the once-reviled artist is inspiring a new generation of activists in 2017. On such songs as the righteous chant "Woman Power," the empathetic ballad "Angry Young Woman," the hilarious proto-grrrl "Potbelly Rocker," and the satirical "Men Men Men," Yoko sings in surprisingly straightforward fashion about the burdens carried by women and the mandate for feminism. Supported by such skilled studio vets as guitarist David Spinozza, sax player Michael Brecker, and drummer Jim Keltner, this is perhaps Yoko's most accessible album, and her most intimate. Feeling The Space was recorded during the time when the avant-garde visionary artist became estranged from her rock-star husband John Lennon.

Warner Records Goo Goo Dolls' 2019 album Miracle Pill is getting the deluxe reissue treatment next month. The album, due July 10, includes three previously unreleased tracks: "Just a Man," "Tonight, Together" and "The Right Track."