Squeeze ’s songwriting duo are back in harness, toting a rock opera they wrote in the ’70s with an all-new album to come. Given their near-constant strife, it’s a miracle. But as they insist, “the thing that always brings us together is the songs…”

Fifty years on from their first successes, Roger McGuinn, the 12-string architect of THE BYRDS , tells Uncut about their exceptional first 18 months – and his relationship with Gene Clark. As the young group make their jet-powered escape from the folk think tank, we hear about making the scene on the Strip, outraging Iowa and a muted response in the United Kingdom. But ultimately how “Eight Miles High” became the spectacular conclusion of the band’s first era. “I almost left The Byrds entirely to go and be in this space band With Dino Valente,” McGuinn tells John Robinson

Out of Perth, Western Australia, David McComb’s post-punk melancholics created intoxicating music of intense feeling. Now, four decades after their classic album Born Sandy Devotional , members and intimates remember high inspiration, heroin, a song on TV soap Neighbours, the wide open road and the world of late leader McComb. “Dave worked on his songwriting 24-7,” they recall. “It was the delightful adventure that we were all willing to go on…”

Black And Blue UMC/POLYDOR

From the bayou to Woodstock and back – the easygoing adventures of Bobby Charles. By John Mulvey.

From The Bottom Of An Old Grandfather Clock (reissue, 2004) DEAD OCEANS