Jim Dickinson, keyboard genius and producer, has died.

Born in Arkansas and growing up in Memphis, Dickinson was a member of Atlantic Records' house band The Dixie Flyers. This group - wheeled in to beef up other people's tracks - positioned Dickinson behind the piano for some great works. It's his keyboards on Teenage Head by The Flaming Groovies; on Spirit In The Dark by Aretha Franklin and - crucially - on The Rolling Stones' Wild Horses. It's fair to say there wouldn't be a Wild Horses without Dickinson's involvement.

During the 1970s, he moved in to production, working with Mojo Nixon and Green On Red amongst others; he was the man sitting in the small glass room when Big Star made Third. In 1998, he returned to big name producing for Mudhoney's Tomorrow Hit Today - this just a few months after helping Dylan to a Grammy by playing on Time Out Of Mind. He continued working with bands from Memphis, as mentor and producer, up until he fell ill.

As a musician, he never really stopped working, either. His final solo album, Dinosaurs Run In Circles, was released in May.

Dickinson has been ill for some time - living a country where people would rather scream than have state support, Dickinson had been relying on friends and supporters to help pay his medical bills.

His wife told the Memphis Commercial Appeal that there are no plans for a public memorial. Jim Dickinson was 67.

You don't need me to talk this one up for you. Mudhoney. In the UK. In October.

09th - Edinburgh Studio 25
10th - Leeds TJ Woodhouse
11th - London Camden Koko Theatre

Picking up, quite quickly, some of the tracks that made the lower reaches of the Fifty:

39. Pixies - River Euphrates
Live, Brixton, 26th June 1991



Buy: Surfer Rosa / Come On Pilgrim

35. Stump - Charlton Heston



Buy: Stump Box Set

31. Mudhoney - Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More
Live in Chester, Cheshire, 1989



Buy: Superfuzz Big Muff

[Part of the 1988 Festive Fifty Weekend]

More to be excited about - once you get past the feeling very, very old of hearing that Mudhoney are celebrating their twentieth anniversary, that is. To mark the two-decade point, they're releasing a double-pack special birthday edition of Superfuzz Bigmuff.

DISC 1
1. Touch Me I'm Sick
2. Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More
3. Twenty Four
4. Need
5. Chain That Door
6. Mudride
7. No One Has
8. If I Think
9. In 'n' Out of Grace
10.The Rose
11.Hate the Police
12.You Got It (Keep It Outta My Face)
13.Burn It Clean
14.Halloween
15.Need (demo)
16.Mudride (demo)
17.In 'n' Out of Grace (demo)
DISC 2
1. No One Has (live in Berlin 10/10/88)
2. Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More (live in Berlin 10/10/88)
3. Need (live in Berlin 10/10/88)
4. Chain That Door (live in Berlin 10/10/88)
5. If I Think (live in Berlin 10/10/88)
6. Mudride (live in Berlin 10/10/88)
7. Here Comes Sickness (live in Berlin 10/10/88)
8. Touch Me I'm Sick (live in Berlin 10/10/88)
9. In 'n' Out of Grace (live in Berlin 10/10/88)
10.Mudride (live at KCSB 11/16/88)
11.Here Comes Sickness (live at KCSB 11/16/88)
12.No One Has (live at KCSB 11/16/88)
13.By Her Own Hand (live at KCSB 11/16/88)
14.Touch Me I'm Sick (live at KCSB 11/16/88)
15.Dead Love (live at KCSB 11/16/88)

The world, we realise, will fall into those that want every version possible of Touch Me I'm Sick, and those who can happily rub by without any whatsoever. If you're in the latter group, you probably won't be interested in this, from 2006:



This was from the Dour Festival in Belguim.