Theories, rants, etc.

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REFLECTION IS NOT WHAT YOU GENERALLY associate with a Liam Gallagher interview. But there are moments in Keith Cameron’s insightful piece on the Oasis veteran this month when a certain poignancy jostles for space with the wit and bullishness; when thoughtfulness and attitude reach a kind of unlikely entente. “I think the rock’n’roll gods were going, ‘Man, we need him back in the zone,’” Gallagher says of himself. “‘He’s ser ved us well over the last 20 years: he’s been a good ambassador for rock’n’roll – we’ll give him another roll of the dice.’”

Ambassador For Rock’n’Roll. It’s a daunting honorific, but one which would also suit another key player in this latest MOJO – Ron Wood, whose tireless bonhomie masks a profound understanding of his craft and its history. Such a post might suggest a taste for excess, but it would also require a lifelong love of music: sometimes instinctual; sometimes remarkably scholarly. Who sang backing vocals on Chuck Berry’s Betty Jean? asks Wood. “Keith says it’s Marvin Gaye and Etta James – although Mick Jagger reckons it’s Harvey from Harvey & The Moonglows…”