The magic of Ritchie and Ronnie, spread across nine CDs.

In 1966, BOB DYLAN hit his wildest white-hot creative peak yet, recording one of his most iconic albums, Blonde On Blonde , and blazing new ground with his controversial electric tour with The Hawks. As the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa prepares a major new exhibition exploring this tumultuous year, Uncut is offered an exclusive preview of what they have in store. Meanwhile, we go behind the scenes of Blonde On Blonde and reconstruct Tour ’66, as eyewitnesses share new tales of late nights, cold mornings and chance encounters. “It’s Dylan as spectacle, in a very combative way,” learns Damien Love. “This is me – deal with it .”

In 2001, the suicide of Big Country ’s Stuart Adamson shocked music fans all over the world. How had the man once lauded by DJ John Peel as ‘Scotland’s answer to Jimi Hendrix’ ended up taking his own life? In an exclusive extract from a new book, we look at the inside story of their debut album The Crossing .

Metallica ’s 1984 began with a gear heist and a cancelled UK tour; it ended with them being heavy metal’s Next Big Thing. Then came Master Of Puppets. This is the inside story of the making of that album and the two year whirlwind that took four “alcoholica” outcasts from the El Cerrito garage to the big time.

California’s sleaziest exports were always gloriously out of step with the times. Here are the cherries on their catalogue cake.

THE ESSENTIAL NEW ROCK TRACKS YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS MONTH AND THE BANDS TO HAVE ON YOUR RADAR