Plus: Neko Case on songwriting, survival – and her mother’s faked death
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Picks of the week
Marianne Faithfull was a towering artist, not just the muse she was painted as
Marianne Faithfull was a towering artist, not just the muse she was painted as
Alexis Petridis
The late singer made her share of bad decisions – but someone this artistically adventurous and unafraid was never going to have an ordinary life
‘Women’s rage is real. Mostly we turn it on ourselves’  
Neko Case on songwriting, survival – and her mother’s faked death
Don’t look back: after decades of apathy, A Complete Unknown has turned me into a Dylan nut
Laura Snapes
Festivals  
Staff working in ‘brutal’ conditions at some of UK’s biggest festivals, union says
Reviews
Alexis Petridis's album of the week  
Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory album – going goth to confront our grim world
Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory album – going goth to confront our grim world
Folk album of the month  
Cynefin: Shimli – this Welsh folk music is a quietly political antidote to the modern age
Manic Street Preachers  
Critical Thinking – older and wiser
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy  
The Purple Bird – Will Oldham goes country, but darkly
Mike  
Showbiz! – a master rap craftsman building his own world
Film  
Luther: Never Too Much – the mystery and brilliance of ‘love doctor’ Vandross
Spotlight
What will – and should – win at the 2025 Grammys?
Chappell, chaps, Brat or rap spats  
What will – and should – win at the 2025 Grammys?
It’s tough to call the quality-stacked top categories, featuring Academy darlings such as Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift alongside pop’s new tyros
Classical
Album review  
Khachaturian: Piano Concerto – giant Technicolor works given the big-screen treatment
Khachaturian: Piano Concerto – giant Technicolor works given the big-screen treatment
Album review  
Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem – humanist masterpiece remains earthbound
Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem – humanist masterpiece remains earthbound
Live review  
LSO/Pascal – less is more with brand new Boulez homages
LSO/Pascal – less is more with brand new Boulez homages
Add to playlist
Soul, sermonising and wrestling Satan  
James Brown’s 20 best albums – ranked!
James Brown’s 20 best albums – ranked!
You may have missed
Manic Street Preachers, Sleaford Mods, KT Tunstall and more pick their favourite small gig venues
‘It was carnage – in the best way!’  
Manic Street Preachers, Sleaford Mods, KT Tunstall and more pick their favourite small gig venues
The drinks are thrown, the crowds are feral – and the bands are right in your face. On independent venue week, musicians talk about their most cherished concert sweatboxes
‘He said if I divorced him, he’d kill us all’  
Candi Staton on abuse, alcohol and the story of Young Hearts Run Free
A star at 11, and still going strong 73 years later, the Queen of Southern Soul looks back on a life of hits, hurt and endless reinvention
‘It was triggered by a Fellini-esque woman who pulled a knife on someone’  
How the Only Ones made Another Girl, Another Planet
‘It wasn’t a hit at the time, but when it was later used in an advert, I got paid 100 grand. I was still using drugs and the money was gone in a year’
‘My job was making hits’  
Clive Langer on taking Bowie, Dexys and Madness to No 1 – and why he turned Madonna down
He skied with Bowie, boozed with Madness and recorded the Teardrop Explodes on acid. But does he regret blowing it with Dave Grohl? The great producer relives his smashes, parties and 11am vodkas
Live music this week
Trivium and Bullet for My Valentine  
Glorious exchange of skull-crushing riffs and deafening roars
Glorious exchange of skull-crushing riffs and deafening roars
Lady Blackbird  
Flamboyance and nuance from late-blossoming jazz-soul star
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