4AD and Sub Pop Announce Record Store Day Releases Featuring Blonde Redhead, Gang Gang Dance, Dum Dum Girls and Soundgarden
Each year since 2008, music retailers have celebrated Record Store Day with special in-store performances and limited-edition releases from some of music’s biggest names. This year, Record Store Day will fall on April 17, and it’s shaping up to be a good one: we’ve already heard about Beach House’s Zebra EP and Deerhoof’s vinyl reissues.
Now, influential British label 4AD has jumped on board the Record Store Day bandwagon, announcing a new twelve-inch EP that compiles unheard songs from five artists on its roster. Entitled Fragments from a “Work in Progress, “it showcases unheard demos and teaser tracks from upcoming 4AD releases. This included new 4AD signings Ariel Pink and Gang Gang Dance, as well as Tune-Yards and the Big Pink.
Perhaps the most intriguing track on the EP is the Blonde Redhead demo “Not Getting There,” which is the first recording the eclectic outfit ever made.
This compilation is only one of many releases the Seattle-based label is preparing for Record Store Day. Sub Pop will also be issuing:
* CocoRosie’s “Lemonade” seven-inch, featuring a song from their upcoming album plus a cover of the Beach Boys’ 1963 classic “Surfer Girl.”
* The Album Leaf’s There Is a Wind twelve-inch, brining together two new songs with two alternate takes of songs from this year’s A Chorus of Storytellers.
* A split seven-inch with one song apiece from Dum Dum Girls and Male Bonding (both of whom will be playing at L.A.’s Origami Records).
* A seven-inch with two unreleased tracks by garage pop newcomers Happy Birthday.
* A reissue of Soundgarden’s 1987 debut single “Hunted Down”/”Nothing to Say” on translucent orange vinyl.
Additionally, two vinyl 7″ singles from the Peter Gabriel Scratch My Back project will be made available at retailers for Record Store Day on April 17. The first has Gabriel singing the Magnetic Field’s Book of Love backed with Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Field’s cover of Peter’s Not One of Us. The second will have Peter’s version of Bon Iver’s Flume while Iver covers Gabriel’s Come Talk to Me.
Perhaps the most intriguing of Sub Pop’s Record Store Day releases is the live compilation Casual Nostalgia Fest. In 2008, the label celebrated its 20th anniversary with SP20, a festival in Seattle featuring performances from Sub Pop bands past and present. Casual Nostalgia Fest collects 19 songs taped live at the festival, including joints from Iron & Wine, Green River, Low, Flight of the Conchords, the Vaselines, Wolf Parade, and Blitzen Trapper. Proceeds from the CD go to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. Check the tracklist below.
Casual Nostalgia Fest:
01 Green River: “Leech”
02 Wolf Parade: “Fine Young Cannibals”
03 The Vaselines: “Dying for It”
04 Obits: “Run”
05 Les Thugs: “Dirty White Race”
06 Eric’s Trip: “Smother”
07 Beachwood Sparks: “You Take the Gold”
08 Blitzen Trapper: “Furr”
09 Flight of the Conchords: “Carol Brown”
10 Iron & Wine: “Woman King”
11 Constantines: “Why I Didn’t Like August ‘93″
12 Seaweed “Baggage”
13 Grand Archives: “Dig That Crazy Grave”
14 Low: “Silver Rider”
15 The Helio Sequence: “Lately”
16 Kinski: “The Wives of Artie Shaw”
17 Pissed Jeans: “Caught Licking Leather”
18 Mudhoney: “The Open Mind”
19 Comets on Fire: “Dogwood Rust”
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Braid To Reissue First Two Albums On Vinyl
The emo godfathers in Braid are finally getting the reissue treatment they deserve. Polyvinyl Records has just announced the April 13 reissue of Braid’s first two albums on vinyl. The reissue campaign comes in celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of the release of their 1995 debut, the 26 song Frankie Welfare Boy Age Five, whose song titles each start with a different letter of the alphabet. Braid’s sophomore album, The Age of Octeen, as well as the posthumous two-volume odds-and-sods collection, Movie Music, will also be reissued. All of the releases will be available on black 180-gram vinyl as well as limited edition colored vinyl.
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Neu! Catalog Collected in Vinyl Box Set
Michael Rother and the late Klaus Dinger formed the Düsseldorf duo Neu! in 1971, after both musicians left Kraftwerk.
On May 10, Gronland will release a limited edition Neu! vinyl box set, offering a retrospective of the band’s influential catalogue. The box includes all three of the duo’s studio albums– Neu!, Neu! 2, and Neu! ‘75– as well as the previously unreleased LP Neu! ‘86, originally recorded in 1985 and 1986 and recently reworked by Rother, augmented by Rother and Dinger’s most recent studio recordings. You’ll also get Neu! ‘72, a previously unreleased 18-minute live maxi-single. There will also be a download code, so you’ll get to listen to all this stuff on your morning commute.
A 36-page book includes Neu! photos from Anton Corbijn and Peter Lindbergh. And rounding out the package: A Neu! T-shirt and a stencil of the Neu! logo.
====================================== Abcess LP and Cover Art
California’s extreme death metal outfit, Abscess, have unleashed their latest spawn of punk infused metal, Dawn Of Inhumanity, in the US today, courtesy of Peaceville Records. Dawn Of Inhumanity is the band’s sixth full-length studio album, since recording their first demos in 1994.
“Bursting through the boundaries of brutality, Abscess surpasses all previous efforts and presents a death metal masterpiece filled with insanity, violence, and mind blowing savagery,” states Abscess drummer/vocalist, Chris Reifert.
Featuring former members of legendary bands Autopsy and Death, Abscess hail from Oakland California, joining together in 1994. They released their first studio album, Seminal Vampires And Maggot Men, in 1996.
Dawn Of Inhumanity was recorded at the famous Fantasy Studios, CA in October 2009, with experienced engineer Adam Munoz helping to produce this latest effort. The result is an unrivalled nightmare of raw experimental extremity. Including special guest vocal appearances by the Darkthrone duo, Nocturne Culto & Fenriz, this is twisted, dirty punk death without limits.
The cover art for Dawn Of Inhumanity was produced by top artist, Dennis Dread (Darkthrone, Autopsy), with booklet art courtesy of Abscess’s own Chris Reifert (drums, vocals).
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Vintage vinyl sale to help library
The Friends of the Tippecanoe County Public Library will hold an LP record sale Saturday and Sunday at the downtown branch, 627 South St. More than 10,000 LPs, some dating to 1908, will be on sale. Many of the record albums come from the collection of the late Frank Arganbright, a former music columnist for the Journal & Courier.
The sale is the largest LP sale ever held at the library. There will be no advance sale.
Proceeds will go to the library.
THE HOURS
The LP sale will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 1-6 p.m. Sunday.
SALE HIGHLIGHTS
LPs are sorted in three categories: Rock ‘n’ roll, classical and “everything else,” including big bands, jazz, children’s music, and country and western. Many albums have been cleaned and placed in protective sleeves.
About 3,000 of the vinyl records are in mint condition. There are more than 1,000 rock ‘n’ roll albums, including many from the ’60s. More than 3,000 classical records will be on sale. There also are about 1,000 45 rpm records and about 1,000 78 rpm albums.
Prices start at 50 cents. Most items are priced at $2 or less.
On Sunday, all records will be half-price.
SILENT AUCTION
On Saturday, a progressive silent auction will be held on selected records.
Noteworthy albums include an autographed Dizzy Gillespie LP, the first U.S. and first Capitol albums from the Beatles, and two rare Glenn Miller big band sets.
There also are two 78 rpm records of famous Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley from the 1910s.
Featured will be a Carnegie Hall Library Classical Music collection, which includes 150 LPs.
Sounds like a great time, if you live in the area, make a point of stopping by!
Valley-based Turn It Up! remains a successful outpost of old-school music-buying.
By Matthew Dube
He stole the entire Bob Dylan section.
The grizzled and affable gentleman—think Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart—in the oversized Celtics warm-up jacket was a fixture for several days in early 2001. He’d come into the Northampton Turn It Up! soon after I’d hung the Open sign and spend his mornings listening to music and chatting about everything from the weather to Kevin McHale to Fred Eaglesmith.
Then one day, as I was on the phone with another customer, he hurriedly disappeared up the stairs and onto the street. Instinctively I went and checked out the D section, as he’d previously been relaxing at one of the listening stations with a large pile of live Dylan CDs. Sure enough, it was empty. He’d ripped us off.
I sprinted out of the shop and found him—and the stack of Dylan—in the alleyway behind the store. Later I spoke with a policeman, recommended a few jazz CDs for someone’s birthday, bought three boxes of dusty LPs, and helped an elderly man call a cab.
Just a typical day in the wacky life of a record store employee…….
A comprehensive report about record conventions and record collecting, certainly worth the time to read:
Preamble / By Way of Introduction
This paper represents a component of my research into vinyl record fairs and vinyl record collecting, work that has been ongoing for close to three years now. I was first drawn to record fairs as a burgeoning collector, but my research interest in records has grown beyond the phenomenological aspects of the consumption and collecting of musical recordings. Indeed, the question “Why do people collect records?” I find to be unsatisfying, if not because the answers are simple then because there are simply too many of them to be useful for a broader understanding of the forces at work.
Instead, I’m interested in what we can learn about music recordings as commodities in contemporary Western society through the study of record circulation; that is, the buying, selling, and collecting of records. What types of value and capital inform the exchange of musical recordings? To what degree are these processes of exchange dependent upon the subjective lived experiences, emotional lives, and individual interactions of and between individuals? And finally, in what ways can these subjectivities inform responsible research into musical cultures and communities?
This morning I will focus specifically on the experiences of record dealers—the collectors concerned with finding that mythical “compilation of every good song ever done by anybody” alluded to by the band LCD Soundsystem will have to wait patiently for the next conference—and my proposal, drawing from anthropologist Arjun Appadurai’s concept of commodity value, is that the exchange of records at record fairs is structured and disciplined by a broad confluence of mutable values, which differ from record to record and from dealer to dealer depending on their individual circumstances, their expectations of their customers, and their business philosophies. My findings are based on ethnographic research at Chicago-area record fairs conducted over the last three years, a number of interviews with record fair dealers and organizers, and a survey of 30 vendors at a record fair in April, 2009.
Perched behind his old Apple laptop and a glass counter filled with stickers and buttons emblazoned with the names of punk bands, Scott Wishart is an anomaly. Lunchbox Records, the Central Avenue storefront he owns, is one of an ever-slimming number of truly independent record stores. As the posters for local shows and indie-label releases plastered on the windows of the shop can attest, Lunchbox isn’t the place to go to pick up the latest T-Pain or Taylor Swift CDs. But that’s precisely what drives Wishart’s business.
As a specialty shop, Lunchbox has been largely unaffected by the record industry’s catastrophic fall from grace that began around the turn of the millennium when a kid named Shawn Fanning developed a little computer program he called Napster. Internet file-sharing boomed, then gave way to digital music sales through services such as iTunes. All the while, CD sales busted with little help from the antagonizing efforts of the Recording Industry Association of America. Big box stores like Best Buy and Wal-Mart continually downsize the floor space devoted to music. At large, the future of recorded music looks dismal.
But at Lunchbox, business is just fine, thanks in no small part to the store’s unique and eclectic offerings—and helped along by a surprising resurgence in the popularity of the most outmoded of recording formats, vinyl records. Wishart, who has been in the music retail business since 1997, says, “I’ve always bought records, but when I first started, records were on the way out. Labels, especially big ones, weren’t even releasing them and it kind of continued that way until a few years ago.”
DEAR JERRY: Has anyone ever told you they keep a scrapbook of your columns? Well I do, and it is several hundred pages.
In one written about 10 years ago, you say that Billboard began using their Star Performer symbol (a.k.a., “bullet”) in mid-August 1958.
I raise the question because a book I read about Phil Spector states the first record to ever get a bullet, for strong upward movement on the chart, is “Hey Baby,” by Bruce Channel.
Since this is a 1962 hit, one of these accounts must be wrong, unless they refer to another chart.
Did Cash Box, for example, not begin using bullets until 1962?
While on the subject, did Pete Wingfield’s “Eighteen with a Bullet” make it to No. 18 with a bullet on Cash Box, as it did on Billboard?
Of course I’ll add your responses to my scrapbook. —Julie Kenyon, Vincennes, Ind.
DEAR JULIE: How could you not, especially with you as a guest star this week?
For the week ending November 22, 1975, Joel Whitburn’s “Hot 100 Billboard Charts” has Pete Wingfield, after 14 weeks on the survey, moving up five spots, from No. 23 to No. 18.
That same week, Cash Box showed Wingfield as jumping from No. 22 to No. 18.
It is reasonable to suspect the record would end up at 18 with a bullet on everyone’s chart, that is if it were anywhere close to that number.
Of course dee jays enjoyed their only opportunity ever to say something like: this week “Eighteen with a Bullet” is really 18 with a bullet.
The following week “Eighteen with a Bullet” became 15 with a bullet, but that would be its peak position. Six weeks later it fell off the charts.
Examining the January and February 1962 charts, I find nothing unusual, bulletwise or otherwise, about “Hey Baby,” so I have no idea as to the meaning of what you read.
By then, both Billboard (August 1958) and Cash Box (February 1959) had used the bullet concept for three or more years, though neither magazine’s symbol actually resembled a bullet.
You say it’s a book about Phil Spector, but they must not have asked him about any of this. Surely he would recall the three consecutive weeks in November 1958, when his first hit, “To Know Him Is to Love Him” (Teddy Bears), had bullets on its way to No. 1.
I don’t recall anyone saying they keep a scrapbook, though I know many do clip and save columns of interest. Your lasting attentiveness to the feature is very much appreciated.
DEAR JERRY:Among the tens of thousands of 20th century recording artists, it seems that someone with the same family name as mine would have had a hit record.
Several famous performers with uncommon names — Garfunkel; Zacherle; Humperdinck; Zappa; Kostelanetz; etc. — come to mind, yet we can’t find even one successful Browning.
Is there one out there that we have overlooked? My family’s honor is at stake here. —Albert Browning, Towson, Md.
DEAR ALBERT: Life can be cruel.
Hopefully this confirmation of your worst fears, likely a devastating blow to Brownings everywhere, will be offset by knowing you have stumbled onto a great bar bet.
Even senior level musicologists would be shocked to learn that in 100 years no one named Browning ever had a hit record — in any of the mainstream fields of music.
If it’s any consolation, it is not for lack of effort.
Here are some of your namesake artists with non-charting records, and their time period: Betty (1964); Bill (1957-’60); Bill Zeke (1957-’61); Dot (1961); and Harry Robert (1980).
There is also a group known only as Browning (1970-;71), and another named the Browning Sisters (1950s).
There are even a few 21st century Brownings you might want to know about: Admiral (2009); Andy (2009); Angie (2007); Bruno (2010); John (2009); and Mark (2001).
IZ ZAT SO? Two hit records also come to mind today, neither by a Browning but both about one.
First is a parody of the Coasters’ “Charlie Brown,” titled “Charlie Browning.”
By the Young Men, this is about Charles Browning, a real-life football star at the University of Washington. It went to No. 1 in Seattle in December 1963.
Then there is Porter Wagoner’s “Carroll County Accident,” in which a fictitious Walter Browning is killed in an auto crash.
Issued in late 1968, this juicy tale with a twist reached No. 2 nationally (C&W).
Jerry Osborne answers as many questions as possible through this column.
Write Jerry at: Box 255, Port Townsend, WA 98368
E-mail: jpo@olympus.net
Visit his Web site: www.jerryosborne.com .
All values quoted in this column are for near-mint condition.
Copyright 2010 Osborne Enterprises- Reprinted By Permission
The Pipettes have confirmed the details of their comeback single and a spring UK tour. The girl-group will release ‘Stop The Music’ on CD, limited edition red vinyl and download on April 19 through Fortuna POP. In support of the release and forthcoming album Earth vs. Pipettes, the band will play a number of live dates in April and May. The current lineup of The Pipettes features Gwenno Saunders and her younger sister Ani.
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Dan Deacon to Release Remix EP
Last year, Dan Deacon released the heady album called Bromst, a stark departure from the day-glo raveups he’d made in the past. Next month, a new EP will include remixes of a few tracks from Bromst.
On April 19, the British label Amazing Sounds will release the extremely limited Woof Woof EP– just 500 vinyl copies are being pressed up worldwide
The EP will also include remixes from Allez-Allez and Luke Abbot. That’s the cover art up there, and you can see the tracklist below.
Woof Woof:
The Grascals, one of bluegrass music’s most highly awarded and acclaimed bands, will release their brand new CD, The Famous Lefty Flynn’s, on Rounder Records March 30, just a few days before the band hits the road as a part of Hank Williams Jr.’s Rowdy Friends Tour, an opportunity that will showcase bluegrass music to tens of thousands of music fans. As a guest on the CD, Williams also joins the band for a quintessential country/bluegrass version of “I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome,” written by his dad, Hank Williams, and the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe.
Known for their seamless harmonies, soaring trios and stellar instrumental talents, The Grascals rose to critical acclaim in 2005 when they won Emerging Artist of the Year at the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards. This was only the beginning as they catapulted to the top of their genre, being named 2006 and 2007 Entertainers of the Year the following two years. The Boston Globe said, “DJs rhapsodize about The Grascals as though they were the second coming of Bill Monroe. The hype machine is at full throttle, but the Grascals justify every scrap of it… astonishing instrumentalists.”
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Acid Tiger (members of Converge, Thursday) detail debut LP
More details have been announced regarding the upcoming debut from Acid Tiger. The band, which features Ben Koller (Converge, United Nations) and Lukas Previn (Thursday, The A.K.A.s, United Nations), will release their eponymous debut on April 27, 2010 through Deathwish Inc.
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Band of Horses Album to be released on May 18th by Brown Records/Fat Possum Records/Columbia Records
PRNewswire/ — Band of Horses, the Low Country’s premier rock n’ roll outfit, will release their third full length LP, entitled Infinite Arms, on May 18th through Brown Records/Fat Possum Records/Columbia Records.
The album package will feature the photography of the band’s long time collaborator Christopher Wilson.
Produced by Band of Horses with additional production from Phil Ek, mixed by Dave Sardy, and recorded over a 16-month period, the songs on Infinite Arms project the essence of the different locales across America that became the setting for the recording and songwriting process behind the album. The rich musical heritage of Muscle Shoals, AL, the sublime beauty of Asheville’s Blue Ridge Mountains, the glamorous Hollywood Hills and the vast Mojave desert all influenced the sounds on Infinite Arms and helped yield the group’s most focused and dynamic recordings to date. The serene woods of Northern Minnesota and the band’s native Carolinas inspired the songwriting, lending the compositions an air of comfort and familiarity.
Band of Horses are Ben Bridwell, Creighton Barrett, Ryan Monroe, Tyler Ramsey and Bill Reynolds. Long time touring members of the group, Infinite Arms marks the recording debut of Ramsey and Reynolds, while Barrett and Monroe graced the last album, Cease to Begin. Through touring together in support of Cease to Begin and during breaks in the Infinite Arms recording process, the band have become a cohesive force with all members making invaluable contributions to the unmistakable sound that founder Bridwell has crafted since the band’s inception. As Bridwell himself concedes, “in many ways, this is the first Band of Horses record.”
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Artwork For Special Edition Of 1349’s DEMONIOR Revealed
Norwegian black metal act 1349 have unveiled the cover art for the North American and European special edition of their upcoming album, “DEMONIOR.” The album will be released by Indie Recordings throughout Europe on April 26, and by Prosthetic Records in North America on April 27.
For the band’s fifth full-length release, 1349 decided to suck out the fiercest and most potent energies from every single member and surroundings, channeling it into songs that are pulsating with uncanny atmospheres, rawness and nerve shattering intensity. The whole process of getting the material on record was like one long, exhausting black magic summoning that could not be allowed to go wrong.
“DEMONOIR” is without a shadow of a doubt 1349’s darkest, most sinister and brutal work to date, and in this case it comes to mean that the band has gone from the utterly extreme to the genre-expanding and mindboggling. Black Metal cannot, and will never be the same.
“DEMONOIR” will be available in North America as a digipack CD and a limited edition 12″ picture disc LP.
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An email to my inbox: The greatest political songs of all time
We’d love their opinions on what is worthy, or unworthy, of canonisation.
A top 20 will be chosen by PSA members and a judging panel later in the month.
To mark its sixtieth birthday, the Political Studies Association is compiling a list of the greatest ever political songs. As you can see below, their longlist is a varied beast, ranging from Verdi’s opera Aida, to the righteous Afrobeat of Fela Kuti, to Woody Guthrie’s folky “This Land is Your Land” — the latter a favourite of US progressives in the 1950s and 1960s that had a brief resurgence in 2009 when it was performed (including the “communist” verses) at Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony.
Annie Lennox & Aretha Franklin - “Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves”
Anon. - “Bella Ciao”
Barry McGuire - “Eve of Destruction”
Billie Holiday - “Strange Fruit”
Billy Bragg - “Which Side Are You on?”
Bob Dylan - “The Times They Are a-Changin’”
Bob Marley - “Redemption Song”
Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA
Carl Bean - “I Was Born This Way”
Cecil A Spring-Rice - “I vow to thee my country”
Charles A Tindley - “We Shall Overcome”
Charly García - “Nos siguen pegando abajo”
Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle - “Le Marseillaise”
Donovan - “Universal Soldier”
Edwin Starr - “War”
Elvis Costello - “Tramp the Dirt Down”
Enoch Sontonga - “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika”
Eugène Pottier - “The Internationale”
Fela Kuti - “Zombie”
Gil Scott Heron - “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”
Horst Wessel - “Die Fahne hoch”
Jim Connell - “The Red Flag”
John Lennon - “Imagine”
Joni Mitchell - “Big Yellow Taxi”
Leornard Cohen - “The Partisan”
Li Youyuan - “The East is Red (???)”
Marvin Gaye - “What’s Going on?”
Midnight Oil - “Beds Are Burning”
Nena - “99 Luftballons”
Nina Simone - “Mississippi Goddam”
Pete Seeger - “Where have all the flowers gone?”
Peter Gabriel - “Biko”
Plastic Ono Band - “Give Peace a Chance”
Public Enemy - “Fight the Power”
Randy Newman - “Political Science”
Rage Against the Machine - “Killing in the Name”
Robert Wyatt - “Shipbuilding”
Rolling Stones - “Gimme Shelter”
Sex Pistols - “God Save the Queen”
The Beatles - “Revolution”
The Clash - “Know Your Rights”
The Cranberries - “Zombie”
The Jam - “Eton Rifles”
The Police - “Invisible Sun”
The Special AKA - “Free Nelson Mandela”
The Strawbs - “Part of the Union”
Tracy Chapman - “Talkin’ ’bout a Revolution”
U2 - “Sunday Bloody Sunday”
UB40 - “1 in 10″
Verdi - “Chorus of Hebrew Slaves”
Victor Jara - “Te Recuerdo Amanda”
William Blake - “Jerusalem”
Woody Guthrie - “This Land Is Your Land”
Stop by the site and add your own two-cents worth, there are many songs that can and should be included.
Younger brother of The Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, died in 1988. His death from myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) followed a long battle with cocaine addiction, which had weakened his heart.
American rhythm and blues singer Lavern Baker died from coronary complications in 1997 (age 57).
Danny Joe Brown, lead singer of Molly Hatchet, died of complications from diabetes at his home in Davie, FL in 2005. The 53 year-old singer joined Molly Hatchet in ’75. Three years later the group’s self-titled album went platinum.
History:
In 1956, RCA Records placed a half page ad in Billboard Magazine claiming that Elvis Presley was ‘the new singing rage.’ They were right.
Bruce Channel started a three week run at #1 on the US singles chart in 1962 with “Hey! Baby.”
The Monkees held the #1 position on the US album chart in 1967 with ‘More Of The Monkees.’
Cream played San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom in 1968. During the show they uncorked Robert Johnson’s Blues classic “Crossroads.” This version lands on the group’s studio/live “Wheels Of Fire” album. With vocals (and guitar) by Eric Clapton it is one of his signature songs.
Grand Funk Railroad recorded “Closer To Home” in 1970.
The Pink Floyd album ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ was released in America in 1973, where it spent over 740 weeks on the chart over a 14-year period.
Pink Floyd’s “Animals” goes platinum in 1977.
Gloria Gaynor started a three week run at #1 on the US singles chart in 1979 with “I Will Survive.” The song was originally released as the B-side to a song first recorded by The Righteous Brothers called “Substitute.”
At the invitation of country star Porter Wagoner, James Brown performed at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville in 1979, singing “Your Cheatin’ Heart”, “Tennessee Waltz” and “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag.”
Van Halen held the #1 position on the US singles chart in 1984 with “Jump.”
In 1996, Alanis Morissette won Best Album for ‘Jagged Little Pill’, Best Female singer, Best Rock Album, Best songwriter and best single at the 25th Juno Awards held in Hamilton, Canada.
In 2000, Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde was arrested for leading an animal rights protest against the clothing firm Gap, who were accused of using leather from cows slaughtered ‘illegally and cruelly’. The protest took place in a store in Manhattan. Oh, have a hamburger and shut up!
Also in 2000, The Daily Mail published pictures of Paul McCartney dancing with a cowgirl on the bar of a New York club. McCartney sang along to “Whole Lotta Shakin” through a megaphone and mimicked a strip tease in front of 100 onlookers.
Alanis Morissette went to #1 on the US album chart in 2002 with ‘Under Rug Swept.’
In 2005, a survey carried out by Music Choice concluded that “Angels” by Robbie Williams was the song Britons would most like played at their funeral. Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” was second and Monty Python’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” was voted into third place.
Also in 2005, Michael Jackson arrived in court an hour late dressed in his pyjamas after being treated for a back injury. Jackson was attending the Santa Moria court for his child abuse trial.
In 2006, U2 heads Rolling Stone’s list of Rock’s Top 30 Moneymakers after bringing in an estimated $154.2 million during ‘05. The Rolling Stones ($92.5 million), the Eagles ($63.2 million), Paul McCartney ($56 million), Elton John ($48.9 million) round out the Top 5. Earnings are tabulated from concerts, recording sales and other income sources.
Billy Joel inducted John Mellencamp into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame in New York in 2008. “I was fortunate enough to write a couple of songs that connected with people,” says the heartland singer. “People thought the songs were about them, and I want to thank those people.” The Ventures, Dave Clark Five and Madonna (?) are also inducted. Mellencamp joins Joan Jett, John Fogerty and Joel in a tribute to the DC5.
In 2009, Tickets for a one-off gig by Sir Paul McCartney in Las Vegas sold out seven seconds after going on sale. The former Beatle was booked to perform at the opening of the New Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on 19 April 2009 in-front of 4,000 fans.
The Runaways, based on the ‘70s female Punk band, is in theaters in 2010. Directed by Floria Sigismondi, the film stars Twilight’s Kristen Stewart as guitarist Joan Jett, and Dakota Fanning as frontwoman Cherie Currie.
1986 - Everybody Is Whatever I Think They Are
Abscess – Dawn of Inhumanity
Acrassicauda – Only the Dead See the End of the War (EP)
Al Stewart - Uncorked: Al Stewart Live
Alan Charing – Stitch
Alberta Cross - Broken Side of Time (vinyl)
Aloha - Home Acres (2-LP vinyl)
Ambrosia - Biggest Part of Me: Greatest Hits Live
Anais Mitchell - Hadestown
Andrew Graham & Swarming Bunch – Andrew Graham’s Good Word (vinyl version, limited to 500 copies)
Andy Williams - Unchained Melody (2 CDs)
Ashton, Gardner & Dyke - The Best Of
Before Their Eyes - Untouchable
Ben Harper - Live From the Montreal International Jazz Festival (CD & DVD)
Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Beat the Devil’s Tattoo (vinyl)
Bo Diddley - Who Do You Love
Bobby Darin - Original Album Series (5 CDs)
Breathing Process – Odyssey: (Un)Dead
Brenda Lee - Sweet Nothins
Broken Bells - Broken Bells (2-CD box set) (vinyl)
Burning Star Core - Papercuts Theater (vinyl)
Chieftains - San Patricio (CD & DVD)
Chieftans Featuring Ry Cooder - San Patricio (CD/DVD)
Choir of Young Believers - Claustrophobia
Chuck Berry - You Can’t Catch Me
Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem - Finnegan’s Wake
Cliff Richard & the Shadows - Move It
Coconuts - Coconuts (vinyl)
Dark Tranquillity – We Are the Void
Daughters – Daughters
Demon Hunter - World Is a Thorn
Deru - Say Goodbye To Useless
Diamond Rings: Wait & See b/w On Fire
EELS - Line in the Dirt (vinyl)
Ella Fitzgerald - Ira & George Gershwin Song Book
Eluveitie - Everything Remains: As It Never Was
Emanuel and the Fear – Listen
Empires – Bang (EP)
Epstein y El Conjunto – When Man Gets Full He Falls Asleep
Finntroll – Nifelvind
Fleshtones - It’s Super-Rock Time! The IRS Years, 1980-85
Four Year Strong - Enemy of the World
Fraction – Moon Blood (vinyl version, limited to 1,000 copies)
Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers - Why Do Fools Fall in Love
Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks (vinyl)
Gama Bomb - Tales From the Grave in Space (available as a vinyl limited to 1,000 copies or limited-edition CD with bonus Half Cut EP)
Gary Allan - Get Off on the Pain
Goldfrapp – “Rocket” (single)
Gonjasufi - A Sufi and a Killer (vinyl)
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (CD & DVD)
Gyptian - Hold On
Harry Chapin - Original Album Series (5 CDs)
Hawkwind - Minneapolis 1989 (2 CDs)
Hawkwind - Sonic Attack (2 CDs)
Hollies - Midas Touch: The Very Best Of
Iggy & the Stooges - Anthology Box: Stooges & Beyond (2 CDs)
JJ - No 3 (vinyl)
Jason & the Scorchers - Halcyon Times
Jason Collett - Rat A Tat Tat (vinyl)
Jatun - Blanket of Ash (vinyl)
Javelin - 2 (vinyl)
Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced (remastered with bonus DVD) (vinyl)
Jimi Hendrix - Axis Bold As Love (remastered with bonus DVD) (vinyl)
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland (remastered with bonus DVD) (2-LP vinyl)
Jimi Hendrix - First Rays of the New Rising Sun (remastered with bonus DVD) (2-LP vinyl)
Jimi Hendrix - Live At Woodstock (DVD)
Jimi Hendrix - Smash Hits (remastered)
Jimi Hendrix - Valleys Of Neptune (2-LP vinyl)
Joan Jett & Blackhearts - Greatest Hits (remastered)
Johnny Cash - American VI: Ain’t No Grave (Vinyl)
Josh Rouse - El Turista (vinyl)
Judson Claiborne - Time and Temperature
Kartick & Gotam – Business Class Refugees
Ken Hensley - Eager To Please
Kissaway Trail - Sleep Mountain
Koot Hoomi - Koot Hoomi Presents: The Dark Side of Hall and Oates - A Tribute
Kristin Hersh - Murder, Misery and Then Goodnight (reissue)
Kristin Hersh - Strange Angels (reissue)
Lawrence Arabia – Chant Darling
Lay Low – Farewell Good Night’s Sleep
Lemonade – Pure Moods (EP)
Liars - Sisterworld (CD & DVD)
Librarians – Present Passed (Postfact)
Linda Ronstadt - Simple Dreams (Mobile Fidelity)
Longital – Gloria
Ludacris - Battle of the Sexes
Marty Wilde - Bad Boy
Mary Onettes - Islands (vinyl)
Method Actors - This Is Still It
Miles Davis - Live in Berlin 1969 (remastered)
Miles Kurosky - The Desert of Shallow Effects
Mimicking Birds - Mimicking Birds
Mindbenders - Groovy Kind Of Love
Monica - Still Standing
Morning Benders - Big Echo (vinyl)
Nervous Curtains - Out of Sync With Time (vinyl)
New Young Pony Club - The Optimist (vinyl)
Numero Group - Good God! Born Again Funk
Ortolan - Time On a String
Os Mutantes - E Seus Cometas No Pais Do Baurets (vinyl)
Patti Dahlstrom - Emotion: the Music of
Patty Larkin - 25
Pavement - Brighten the Corners (vinyl reissue)
Pavement - Crooked Rain Crooked Rain (vinyl reissue)
Pavement - Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement (2-LP vinyl)
Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted (vinyl reissue)
Pavement - Terror Twilight (vinyl reissue)
Pavement - Watery Domestic (vinyl reissue)
Pavement - Wowee Zowee (vinyl reissue)
Pearly Gate Music – ?Big Escape (limited-edition 7-inch single)
Peter, Paul & Mary - With Symphony Orchestra: Prague
Pocket Featuring Danny Seim - Backwards From Ten
Pocket Featuring Mark Burgess - A Force Of Nature
Randal Bramblett - The Meantime
Redman - Reggie Noble 9 ½
Rotting Christ - Aealo
Sam Cooke - Night Beat (Vinyl)
Sectioned – Purulent Reality
Serge Gainsbourg - L’eau a La Bouche (reissue)
Serj Tankian - Elect the Dead Symphony (2-LP vinyl)
Shooter Jennings & Hierophan -: Black Ribbons
Standard Fare - The Novelle Beat
Stephen Stills & Manassas - Manassas (2 LPs) (Vinyl)
Tanlines – Settings (EP)
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks (vinyl)
The Bundles - The Bundles (vinyl)
The Ex & Tom Cora - Scrabbling at the Lock (vinyl)
The Knife - Tomorrow, In A Year
The Pharmacy - Weekend
The Splinters – Kick
Throwing Muses - Red Heaven
Throwing Muses - The Real Ramona
Thrushes - Night Falls
Thunder Power – Hearts Intersect
Titus Andronicus - The Monitor (vinyl)
Various Artists - Buddha Lounge Renditions of Coldplay
Various Artists - Ceremony - A New Order Tribute
Various Artists - Ethiopiques
Various Artists - Putumayo Kids Presents: Jazz Playground
Via Audio - Animalore (vinyl)
Violent Soho - Violent Soho
White Hinterland - Kairos (vinyl)
Who - The Kids Are Alright (Blu-ray DVD)
Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings - Country Outlaws (Tin)
Woodpigeon – Die Stadt Muzikanten
Year Long Disaster – Black Magic: All Mysteries Revealed
Zola Jesus – Stridulum (EP)
Bon Iver Covers Peter Gabriel for Record Store Day Single
Bon Iver is teaming up with Peter Gabriel to release a split 7″ single on Record Store Day, which is happening April 17 this year. The single, which will only be available at independent record stores, will feature Gabriel’s cover of Bon Iver’s “Flume”, a track that appeared on Gabriel’s covers album Scratch My Back, on one side. On the other, Bon Iver will return the favor by covering “Come Talk to Me”, a seven-minute song from Gabriel’s 1992 Us album.
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Bird and the Bee cover Hall & Oates’ ‘Sara Smile’
When multi-instrumentalist and producer Greg Kurstin (he’s worked with everyone from Britney and Kylie to Lily Allen and Little Boots) and singer-songwriter Inara George, a.k.a. indie-pop duo The Bird and the Bee, take on a covers album, they aim high. Like, Hall & Oates high.
The third full-length from the duo will be the faux-loftily titled Interpreting the Masters, Vol. 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall & John Oates, featuring their take on H&O classics like “Maneater,” “Rich Girl,” “Private Eyes” and the exclusive-to-EW ballad “Sarah Smile.” (March 23 release date)
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Broken Social Scene Reveal Forgiveness Rock Record Track List, Limited-Edition Album
Broken Social Scene obsessives: If you’ve ever wished one of the band’s records would be released as several vinyl discs, today is your lucky day.
The Toronto musical collective’s Forgiveness Rock Record will be available as a limited-edition, numbered box set containing seven 180-gram 10-inch vinyl records that will also come with a digital download of the record. Only 1,000 copies of the box set will be made, and it’s going for $125.
Forgiveness Rock Record will also be available as a standard CD, vinyl and digital release for those of you who are less hardcore.
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The Melvins Return With “The Bride Screamed Murder” On June 1
The Melvins are set to release “The Bride Screamed Murder” on June 1 via Ipecac Recordings with a US tour launching the same day in San Diego and including a stop at the Bonnaroo Festival. “The Bride Screamed Murder” is the third release featuring Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover and Big Businesses’ Coady Willis and Jared Warren. While the Melvins recently celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary, the latest incarnation debuted with the highly-praised “(A) Senile Animal” (2006) and continued with “Nude With Boots” (2008).
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OVERMASTER’s ‘Madness Of War’ Due In April
The debut CD from OVERMASTER, entitled “Madness of War”, will be released on April 23 via Cruz Del Sur Music.
OVERMASTER features the wailing power of Gustavo “Gus” Gabarró (formerly of WHITE SKULL) on vocals, along with several other professional and skilled Italian musicians hailing from SKYLARK, HIGHLORD, EDGE OF FOREVER and other talented Italian acts.
“Madness of War” was recorded, mixed and mastered at Fear Studio during the crossover into 2010, with the usual high standard sound quality of Fear’s previous productions.
Christian hard rockers STRYPER entered the studio on March 6 to begin recording an album of covers songs, set to be released later in the year. The CD will include STRYPER’s renditions of the following classics:
* JUDAS PRIEST - “Breaking The Law”
* IRON MAIDEN - “The Trooper”
* SCORPIONS - “Blackout”
* OZZY OSBOURNE - “Over The Mountain”
* SWEET - “Set Me Free”
* VAN HALEN - “On Fire”
* DEEP PURPLE - “Highway Star”
* BLACK SABBATH - “Heaven And Hell”
* UFO - “Lights Out”
* KANSAS - “Carry On Wayward Son”
STRYPER guitarist/vocalist Michael Sweet recently explained the band’s decision to pay tribute to its influences on the new album:
“We grew up listening to many different styles of music and there is a list of bands that influenced us throughout our musical education. Bands like JUDAS PRIEST, IRON MAIDEN, SCORPIONS, VAN HALEN, UFO, DEEP PURPLE, LED ZEPPELIN, QUEEN, KANSAS and many others, helped to shape our sound and make us who we are today, musically speaking. ‘
Check out this fan-filmed video footage of STRYPER performing a cover version of the JUDAS PRIEST classic “Breaking The Law” on January 23, 2010 at Tivoli in Utrecht, The Netherlands can be viewed below.
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Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous Takes Own Life
Prolific singer/songwriter Mark Linkous has committed suicide, according to his publicist. He was best known for his acclaimed work with the bandSparklehorse, who released four albums of imaginative ambient psych-folk. Linkous also produced Daniel Johnston’s 2003 album Fear Yourself and collaborated with Danger Mouse on Dark Night of the Soul. His exact age is unknown, but he was in his forties.
“It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life today,” reads a statement from his family. “We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts.
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Kinks Working On New Album
It’s being reported that the Kinks are in the process of putting together a new album that will include some older, never released tracks along with the possibility of a few new ones.
Drummer Mick Avory told Spinner’s UK site, “Things are always bubbling under or over with the Kinks — I’m never quite sure if we’re going to do them or not. We are certainly doing another album. We’ve got old tracks which need to be baked. You have to go through this process to transfer them to digital, it’s a bit of a process and you only get one shot at it. We’ve certainly got eight tracks we could use there, so we’re going to have to do some more to make the numbers up for an album.”
Of course, the big problem in trying to get those new tracks recorded is the long running feud between brothers Ray and Dave Davies. “…in our case it’s Ray and Dave that have got to work together, once they’ve slotted together, we can go ahead. All the while they are not wanting to do what the other wants to do, it goes nowhere.”
The group’s last original recordings were released on the revised 2-CD edition of To The Bone (1996) while their last performance together was in the same year.
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Neil Young’s Trunk Show Coming to Select Theaters on March 19
Jonathan Deeme will be releasing the second installment of three Neil Young concert documentaries in eleven cities starting March 19, 2010 for a one-week run. Trunk Show was shot during two Pennsylvania shows during Young’s 2007 Chrome Dreams II tour. Partway through the follow-up to the 2006 documentary Heart of Gold, Young launches into “No Hidden Path” and 20 blistering heart-drenching minutes later he ends. The new documentary mixes live and backstage footage and includes new music from the Chrome Dreams II album along with classics like “Cinnamon Girl” and “Cowgirls in the Sand.”
Trunk Show is subtitled “scenes from a concert,” specifically from a pair of shows Young performed at the 1927-built Tower Theater in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, as part of his intimate Chrome Dreams II theater tour in 2007. Onstage, he performed a full acoustic set, followed by a full electric one with bandmates Ben Keith, Rick Rosas, Ralph Molina, Anthony “Sweetpea” Crawford and wife Pegi Young.
The following theaters will be showing the film beginning March 19:
•Kendall Square Cinema, Cambridge, MA
•Sunshine Cinema, New York, NY
•Ritz Five, Philadelphia, PA
•Music Box Theatre, Chicago, IL
•Lagoon Cinema, Minneapolis, MN
•Chez Artiste Theatre, Denver, CO
•Shattuck Cinemas, Berkeley, CA
•Lumiere Theatre, San Francisco, CA
•Embarcadero Center Cinema, San Francisco, CA
•Nuart Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
•Landmark’s Varsity Theatre, Seattle, WA
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Bloc Party Star’s Side Project Announce Debut Album
Pin Me Down, the side-project of Bloc Party guitarist Russell Lissack, have announced plans to release their debut album. The self-titled effort was recorded by Alex Elena and Daniel Lingren in London and New York throughout 2009. The group Pin Me Down, also features vocalist Milena Mepris, will release a new single ‘Treasure Hunter’ on limited edition 7” and digital download. Both the album and the single will be available from April 19.
Carole Bayer Sager - singer/songwriter. Wrote “Groovy Kind Of Love,” hit for The Mindbenders (1946)
Randy Meisner - Poco / Eagles (1946)
Mike Allsup - Three Dog Night (1947)
“Little” Peggy March (1948)
Dave Lambert - Strawbs (1949)
Clive Burr - Iron Maiden (1957)
Gary Numan - Tubeway Army (1958)
Jimmy Dormire - Confederate Railroad (1960)
Cheryl “Salt” James - Salt-N-Pepa (1964)
Peter Gill - Frankie Goes To Hollywood (1964)
Shawn Mullins (1968)
Gareth Coombes - Supergrass (1976)
Tom Chaplin - Keane (1979)
Andy Ross - OK Go (1979)
Bob Moffatt - The Moffatts (1984)
Clint Moffatt - The Moffatts (1984)
David Moffatt - The Moffatts (1984)
Eleanor Jackson - La Roux (1988)
They Are Missed:
Ron Mckernan, keyboard player with The Grateful Dead, died in 1973 (age 27) from liver failure brought on by alcohol poisoning.
Born today in 1948, Mel Galley, guitar, Whitesnake. Died of cancer on July 1, 2008.
History:
In 1961, the Beatles played at the Cavern Club in Liverpool at lunchtime. That night they performed twice: at Aintree Institute, Aintree, Liverpool, and at Hambleton Hall, Huyton, Liverpool.
The Beatles make their British national radio debut in 1962, singing “Dream Baby”, “Maybelline” and “Please Mr. Postman” on the BBC’s “Teenagers’ Turn” program.
In 1964, the Dave Clark Five make the first of 18 appearances on CBS-TV’s “Ed Sullivan Show.”
David Bowie made his TV debut in 1965 with The Manish Boys on a UK program called ‘Gadzooks! It’s All Happening’ when they performed their current single ‘I Pity The Fool.’
Bob Dylan recorded “Just Like A Woman” for his Blonde On Blonde album at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville, Tennessee in 1966.
Albert King, Janis Joplin and Tim Buckley appeared at the opening of New York’s Filmore East, New York in 1968.
“Proud Mary” was Creedence Clearwater Revival’s first million selling single (1969).
The Small Faces split up in 1969 after singer Steve Marriott announced he was leaving the band. Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones linked up with Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart and formed The Faces.
Lulu became the first British female singer to appear behind the Iron curtain, when she toured Poland with The Hollies in 1966.
Diana Ross made her first performance as a solo act when she appeared in Framingham, Massachusetts in 1970.
In 1973, Paul McCartney was fined £100 ($170) for growing cannabis at his farm in Campbeltown, Scotland. McCartney claimed some fans gave the seeds to him and that he didn’t know what they would grow. Umm, OK Sir Paul….
Bad Company kicked off their first UK tour at Newcastle City Hall in 1974. The band was made up by ex members from Free, (Paul Rodgers & Simon Kirke), Mott The Hoople, (Mick Ralphs), and King Crimson, (Boz Burrell).
Olivia Newton-John went to #1 on the US singles chart in 1975 with “Have You Ever Been Mellow,” the singers second US #1.
Whitney Houston went to #1 on the US album chart in 1986 with her self-titled album. It spent a total of 14 weeks at the #1 position.
In 1990, Cher won the worst dressed female, and worst video for ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’, in The Rolling Stone Magazine’s awards, Donny Osmond won the most unwelcome comeback award.
“Beavis and Butthead” premiered on MTV as a series in 1993.
The Wallflowers’ dramatic “One Headlight” topped the Modern Rock chart in 1997.
In 2005, a 9-year-old boy wakes from a coma after hearing Green Day’s “American Idiot.” Wales resident Corey George, a Green Day fan, was hit by a car and unconscious for two weeks when his parents played him the disc. “Within an hour he had opened his eyes,” says Corey’s father.
Pearl Jam’s “World Wide Suicide,” hits #3 on Billboard Radio Monitor’s Modern Rock chart in 2006 becoming the group’s highest debut (to date) single. Nine Inch Nail’s “Every Day Is Exactly The Same” and Fall Out Boy’s “Dance, Dance” are #1 and 2 respectively. A week later, Pearl Jam tops the chart.
In 2008, China was set to impose stricter rules on foreign pop stars after Bjork caused controversy by shouting “Tibet, Tibet” at a Shanghai concert after a powerful performance of her song Declare Independence. Talk of Tibetan independence was considered taboo in China, which had ruled the territory since 1951. A spokesperson from the culture ministry said Bjork would be banned from performing in China if there was a repeat performance.
In 2009, late Who drummer Keith Moon was honored with a special plaque at the site of London’s Marquee Club, where the group cut its teeth. Surviving Who members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend attend the marker’s unveiling, which is sponsored by the U.K.’s Heritage Foundation. “Keith Moon . . . deserves many plaques,” Daltrey tells the crowd.
Enid Blyton is still one of the most read children’s authors. And that’s official. Although her heyday was fifty or more years ago, children are still lapping up her books, despite the efforts of the PC apparatchiks, including the BBC, who apparently blackballed her ( ‘ fourth-rate, don’t you know ‘) for thirty years. More significantly, adults are still collecting firsts of her titles, which have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide and have ( according to one source ) been made available in 3,544 translations. So, Blyton has answered her critics, at least in terms of sales, even J.K. Rowling, Jacqueline Wilson Helen Cresswell and Roald Dahl have some way to go.
Born in 1897 above a shop in Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, London (blue plaque), the daughter of a cutlery salesman, Blyton trained as a teacher and it was during this period that she published her first story in Teacher’s World aged 20. Blyton’s middle name was versatility. She began with poetry, then in the late thirties turned to adventure stories that catered for all age groups. At the same time she was producing countless fairy stories, pop-up books and other material for pre-school and early school-aged kids, including her best known creation, Noddy. Much of her huge output is not well known and indeed the full Blyton bibliography cannot fail to impress even the most sour-faced anti-Blytonite. It suggests that the woman just couldn’t stop writing, which may explain why she never had time for her own children.
Going against the trend a little, the earliest Blyton titles can be cheaper than firsts of the middle period , rare editions of which in good condition are breathtakingly expensive. Copies of Teacher’s World can be had for a mere £8 and in you can find them, £35 or so will buy you issues of Nash and Pall Mall magazine, where her work appeared in 1917 and 1918.Not surprisingly, her first published book commands a high price. The one copy of Child Whispers (1922), a pamphlet size collection of her verse, in a wrapper is listed in ABE at a very adult $2,400. Skip a year to her second book and the price plummets. Real Fairies is almost identical in format and size, has the same publisher ( Savile & Co ), but there seem to be more copies around and on ABE prices range from £60 for a poor copy of the hardback to £141 for a ‘ super copy ‘ from the Blyton specialists Rose’s & Stella’s Books, who also ask £132 for a ‘super copy ‘of Silver and Gold (1927), another verse collection featuring truly charming black and white drawings by Ethel Everett, a truly gifted artist who deserves to be better known.
Blyton’s greatest creations were of course, The Famous Five, the Secret Seven and Noddy. I was shamelessly brought up on all three, and can still visualise the Eileen Soper illustrations that accompanied the Famous Five books. Most of these adventures were actually published during the last world war, when doubtless children liked to be thrilled by rumours of spies and tunnels to caves and double agents posing as shopkeepers, and mad scientists - all hilariously parodied by The Comic Strip chums on Channel Four (’hot buttered crumpets and lashings of ginger beer’) and now sent up in Viz magazine. Most of the stories have dated rather charmingly. I remember being astonished to read around 1962 that the Famous Five had to watch TV in someone else’s house because Uncle Quentin didn’t have a set. We’d had ours since 1951 !
Presumably it’s the well heeled baby-boomers who are now buying the firsts in these series. Five on a Treasure Island (1942) was the first Famous Five adventure, but as with most sought after firsts, on ABE you have to plough through innumerable horrible library copies of sixth, seventh and eighth editions, crayoned-in copies of ditto, charmless paperbacks etc to get to the very few really nice copies in wrappers, all of which fetch big bucks. A dealer in Leicester, an undoubted specialist in this field hass two copies described as having ‘ highly skilled archival restoration.’ They ‘ show well ‘, to use his regrettable jargon. He rates this title as ‘very scarce’ and wants a stupefying £3,250 and £3,750 for his copies , two grand more than the price quoted in the current Rare Book Price Guide 2010. Perhaps it’s time the Famous Five investigated his fiendish plans for the Blyton market.
The Secret Seven series seems to be slightly less popular. At Seaside Cottage is rated at a mere £30-40. Others, depending on condition. command modest sums of between £5 and £40.The much collected Mystery Books are similarly cheap, even with wrappers, except for the first title, The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage, which is rated for some reason at £650 – £750 with wrapper and a risible £10 without– a good example of the Brighton Rock Syndrome (BRS)—an incurable condition characterised by an irrational obsession with wrappers ( more of this in a later blog ).
And if you are a true fan of Blyton you’ll probably also want to own some of her less well-known titles. You could, for instance, thrill to the adventures of Jo, Bessie, Fanny and Dick in the queer lands at the top of the Magic Faraway Tree (1943), although you’ll need £1,718 to read about them in one first edition from ABE. Until recently Jonkers had another, which despite a ‘ small swirl ‘ in green biro on an endpaper was priced at around £2,000.
But if all you can afford is a first of Noddy you can secure one for the appropriately small price of £8. The same can be said of the many other more common titles by Blyton, especially if they are child-damaged. The plain truth is that most of her huge output is cheap enough and most bookshops with a children’s section will have firsts, albeit somewhat battered, for £3 or less. [R.M. Healey]
Wise and timely words Robin. I am old enough to remember the fuss about Jimmy Edwards remark that he “liked to curl up in front of the fire with Enid Blyton.” It was echoed recently by a row about remarks by Frankie Boyle about another national treasure, Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington, (”like someone who’s looking at themselves in the back of a spoon” and worse ). I once had an estate agent’s brochure for a mansion that Enid had owned, it was a good size but nothing like Galsworthy’s Kingston Hill palace, Hardy’s country house or Edgar Wallace’s villa. It was bought by a developer, torn down and replaced with flats. No blue plaque there. I used to subscribe to the DNB which tells you how much each person left in their will (especially those who died in the last 100 years). If anyone subscribes, or has the 60 volume set (now only £1500) about their person, they might let us know what Enid left (and Galsworthy while you have the book open.)
I remember being surprised that Agatha Christie left less than £1 million. Possibly Sir Max Mallowan, as an archaeologist, was high maintenance. Edgar Wallace left nothing but debts all of which were paid off within 2 years from royalties. Best selling writers have little motivation to save, as the money rolls in for years, way after their death. We used to have an Uncle Quentin who came in the shop, but that’s another story…
Paul Mauriat (1968 #1 single chart “Love Is Blue”) (1925)
Eric Allandale - Foundations (1936)
Bobby Womack (1944)
Chris Squire - Yes (1948)
Emilio Estefan - Miami Sound Machine (1950)
Chris Rea (1951)
Jason Newsted - Metallica (1963)
Richard March - Pop Will Eat Itself (1965)
Patrick Hannan - Sundays (1966)
Evan Dando - Lemonheads (1967)
Feargal Lawlor - Cranberries (1971)
They Are Missed:
Younger brother of The Bee Gees, Andy Gibb died in hospital, five days after his 30th birthday in 1978. His death from myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) followed a long battle with cocaine addiction, which had weakened his heart. In the United States, Gibb became the first male solo artist to chart three consecutive #1 singles with “I Just Want to Be Your Everything,” “Love Is) Thicker Than Water” and “Shadow Dancing.”
American songwriter Howard Greenfield died of a brain tumour in 1986 (age 50). Working out of the famous Brill Building with Neil Sedaka he co-wrote many hits including “Calendar Girl.” “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” and “Crying In The Rain” with Carole King. Also wrote TV theme songs including the theme to ‘Bewitched.’
Richard Manuel (The Band) committed suicide in 1986 at the age of 41.
Village People singer Glenn Hughes died of lung cancer in 2001 (age 50). He was the original “Biker” character in the disco group who scored the 1978 #1 “Y.M.C.A.”
In 2002, Doreen Waddell, singer with Soul II Soul was killed after attempting to run across the A27 in Brighton, England after being caught shoplifting.
History:
In 1955, jazz great Charlie Bird Parker played at Birdland in what would be his last public performance.
The winners of the first Grammy Awards were announced in 1959. Domenico Modugno’s “Volare” was Record of the Year; Henry Mancini’s ‘Peter Gunn’ was Album of the Year and The Champs “Tequila” won best R&B performance.
In 1966, John Lennon’s statement that The Beatles were ‘more popular than Jesus Christ’ was published in The London Evening Standard. “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. We’re more popular then Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first, rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was alright, but his disciples were thick and ordinary.” Christian group’s in the US were outraged resulting in some states burning Beatles records. Lennon later apologized.
The Rolling Stones went to #1 on the US singles chart in 1967 with “Ruby Tuesday,” the group’s fourth US #1 single. “Lets Spend The Night Together” was the original A side but after radio stations banned the song “Tuesday” became the A side.
In 1970, Janis Joplin was fined $200 for onstage profanity by a Tampa, Florida judge.
Badfinger went gold with “Day After Day” in 1972.
Pink Floyd starts a three week U.S. tour in 1973 in support of their new album “Dark Side of the Moon.”
Hall & Oates recorded “Rich Girl” in 1976.
In 1977, CBS released The Clash’s self- titled first album in the UK. CBS in the US refused to release it until 1979. Americans bought over 100,000 imported copies of the record making it one of the biggest- selling import records of all time.
The Rolling Stones recorded their “Love You Live” album in Toronto in 1977.
In 1978, the US internal Revenue Service carried out a dawn raid at the home of Jerry Lee Lewis and removed cars worth over $170,000 to pay off his tax debts.
In 1979, Randy Jackson of The Jackson Five was seriously injured in a car crash breaking both legs and almost died in the emergency room when a nurse inadvertently injects him with methadone.
Frank Zappa’s son Dweezil and his daughter Moon Unit formed a band called Fred Zeppelin in 1982. Their first single was “My Mother is a Space Cadet.”
Debbie Gibson started a three week run at #1 on the US singles chart in 1989 with “Lost In Your Eyes,” her second US #1.
Kurt Cobain was rushed to hospital after overdosing on alcohol and drugs in a Rome hotel during a Nirvana European tour in 1994. Cobain had taken 50-60 pills of Rohypnol mixed with champagne; rumours on the internet claimed that Kurt was dead.
In 2004, Brian Wilson appeared at the Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow during his 11-date UK tour. The shows saw Wilson performing the full suite of songs from his unreleased masterpiece ‘Smile’ Wilson’s ‘teenage symphony to God.’
Jaheim was at #1 on the US album chart in 2006 with ‘Ghetto Classics’ the American R&B singer’s third album release.
The Doors concert album, “Live In Pittsburgh 1970” was released in 2007. The set captured a show from the band’s final U.S. tour. Also the Doors issue, “Vinyl Box,” a seven-LP collection containing the original stereo mixes of all six of the group’s studio albums, as well as the mono version of the Doors’ self-titled debut.
An expanded edition of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Street Survivors,” commemorating the 30th anniversary of the ‘77 album’s release (a tad late), was available in 2008. The two-CD collection includes the final live tracks recorded before the plane crash that killed three band members. There’s also a previously un-issued Tom Dowd-produced version that Skynyrd rejected in favor of a self-produced effort they recorded later.
Instamatic Karma: Photographs of John Lennon was in bookstores in 2008. The volume was published by Lennon’s “lost weekend” lover, May Pang. “For years, only my closest friends got to see these photos — which were literally tucked away in a shoebox in my closet,” writes Pang in the book. Lennon’s “lost weekend” was a period in the ‘70s when the ex-Beatle and Yoko Ono had split. They later reconciled.
Rockabye Baby!, a company that produces mellow instrumental versions of popular Rock songs geared toward infants, released an album of reworked AC/DC tunes in 2008. “Rockabye Baby!: Lullaby Renditions of AC/DC “ features versions of “Highway To Hell” and “Back In Black.” Is nothing sacred?
Britney Spears kicked off a world tour in New Orleans in 2009, her first concert tour for five years. The 27-year-old who dressed as a ringmaster in the show, featured jugglers, acrobats and martial arts dancers.
Paramore has announced that they’ll be releasing a limited edition vinyl record package including an LP version of Brand New Eyes and a 7″ single of “Brick By Boring Brick.”
The LP, pressed on jet black slabs of wax, is limited to 5,000 copies for the entire globe! The 7″ is a picture disc featuring the image of wings from the albums booklet on the A side and Hayley’s handwritten lyrics on the flip side.
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Flaming Lips Take ‘Embroyonic’ On The Road
Oklahoma-based rockers the Flaming Lips will play a slew of new tour dates in support of 2009’s Embryonic, the band’s 12th LP and first-ever double album. The equally psychedelic Stardeath And White Dwarfs will join the group at most of the shows, which begin in March in Austin, Texas, and end in July at New York’s Central Park SummerStage.
A stop at the Bonnaroo Music And Arts Festival is included in the currently 18-date tour. For this show, the Flaming Lips will play a full set in addition to a collaborative performance with Stardeath And White Dwarfs of Pink Floyd’s classic album, The Dark Side Of The Moon. Prior to this show, the Flaming Lips will release a physical version of last year’s Dark Side remake with Stardeath And White Dwarfs and guest musicians Henry Rollins and Peaches. The vinyl edition goes on sale April 17, and the CD version comes out May 4.
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Skeletonwitch Limited Vinyl Release
Prosthetic Records is happy to announce Skeletonwitch’s “Worship the Witch” 10″ EPs have arrived. Pre-orders are shipping now and the rest of the limited pressing is up for sale now.
Originally released as a follow up to their first full length, “At One With The Shadows,” SKELETONWITCH gained momentum by slef releasing this 4 song EP on CD that would later create their PROSTHETIC debut, “Beyond The Permafrost.” This is the first time “Worship the Witch” is available on wax! The artwork has been reconfigured by John Baizley (Kylesa, Baroness)
Here is the breakdown of the color ways and limitations on each: Black Wax - 400 Copies * Yellow Wax - 200 Copies * Blue Wax - 200 Copies * Green Wax - 100 Copies (sold out through pre-order) * Clear Wax- 100 Copies (available exclusively through the band)
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Johnny Cash Final American Recording Album A Hit
Johnny Cash’s American VI: Ain’t No Grave, the Man in Black’s “final victory,” according to USA Today, enters the Billboard 200 Albums charts next week at #3, marking the highest debut of the week with more than 54,000 units sold. The album also debuted in the #2 spot on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.
The album, which closes out the Rick Rubin-produced and critically-acclaimed American Recordings series, was officially released on February 26, the day that would have been Cash’s 78th birthday. Cash’s Ain’t No Grave shares the apex of the Billboard chart with Sade’s Soldier of Love (#1) and Lady Gaga’s The Fame (#2).
American VI: Ain’t No Grave was recorded in the months leading up to Cash’s passing on September12, 2003. The songs were drawn from all over the musical landscape and from various eras, and include Sheryl Crow’s moving “Redemption Day,” close Cash friend Kris Kristofferson’s “For The Good Times,” “Can Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound” by Tom Paxton, Bob Nolan’s “Cool Water,” the hopeful “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream” by Ed McCurdy, J.H. Red Hayes and Jack Rhodes’s “Satisfied Mind,” Queen Lili’uokalani’s song of farewell “Aloha Oe,” and the never before heard Cash original, “I Corinthians: 15:55,” written over the last three years of his life.
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Lou Reed Classic Remastered For Vinyl, DVD Audio and Blu-Ray
Lou Reed has finalized details of the digitally re-mastered edition of his seminal 1975 album “Metal Machine Music.” Reed will release the ground breaking album in the UK on April 19th on his independent label “Sister Ray” in the following three formats – double gatefold vinyl in quadraphonic sound, audio DVD and Blu-ray.
The album coincides with Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Trio UK concerts at the Cambridge Junction (April 17), Oxford O2 Academy (April 18) and London Royal Festival Hall (April 19, part of the Ether Festival).
Lou did the digital re-mastering from the original multi-tracks with the help of world-renowned mastering guru, Scott Hull. This is a new and improved re-mastered version, and is different from all previous releases on the RCA, Buddha and Sony affiliated labels.
Harrison Ford may be back, whip in tow, as Indiana Jones. The actor told the BBC that he, Spielberg and Lucas have come with the bones of an idea for the fifth instalment in the Indy franchise.
He said: “Steven and George and I are sort of agreed on a germ of an idea and we’re seeing what comes of it.”
Explaining the trio’s working methods, he said, “The process works like this: We come to some basic agreement and then George goes away for a long time and works on it. Then Steven and I get it in some form, some embryonic form. Then if we like it we start working with George on it and at some point down the line it’s ready and we do it.”
Paramount would doubtless like Ford and Co. to get a move on, seeing as the previous Indy-instalment Kingdom of the Crystal Skull made almost $800m worldwide.
Assuming a sequel is greenlit and takes a couple of years to make, Ford would be 70-years-old by the time Indy 5 hits cinema screens.
DEAR JERRY: I was knocked out by the high values, and endless nuances affecting those prices, for the “Introducing the Beatles” album covered in your recent column.
I would very much like to have similar details and values for first state issues of “The Beatles Yesterday and Today,” with the Butcher Cover. —Jesse Watson, Burlington, Wisc.
DEAR JESSE: Of course you’ll be needing this information for both the monaural and stereo issues, right?
On the small chance anyone reading this is unfamiliar with the story, the first edition — also known as first state — of “The Beatles Yesterday and Today” sported what was by 1966 standards a highly controversial photo.
The front cover, described by the Beatles as having “their own brand of pop art satire,” pictures the four boys wearing butcher smocks, while surrounded by chunks of raw meat, bones, and pieces from toy dolls.
Commonly referred to as the Butcher Cover, reviewers, radio stations, and print media who received advance copies, swamped Capitol Records with complaints — to such an extent the company quickly recalled it and replaced the butcher shop image with a very mundane one.
The recall and cover switcheroo took place before record stores received copies, which means the Butcher Cover edition was neither commercially available nor sold in stores.
By modern standards, such an embarrassing imbroglio over a cluttered yet nontoxic photograph is clearly much ado about nothing.
On the bright side, the controversy did give birth to a very valuable collectible.
Monaural first state copies (T-2553) are now in the $5,000 to $7,500 range. Stereo first states are at least twice as rare as monos and twice as valuable: $10,000 to $15,000.
DEAR JERRY:There is something about a teener record I bought in the 1960s that has been nagging me since then.
Unfortunately, this is a flop that fell through the cracks, one no one seems to know a thing about. The title is “Submarine Race,” and the credit reads Danny & Gwen (Liberty 55490).
The issue is how familiar these two sound, especially Gwen, though I can’t think of anyone named Gwen who recorded at that time.
I just found a copy on eBay, but the seller left no comments whatsoever. He obviously knows nothing more than I do about Danny & Gwen.
Might one or both of this duo be known under other names? —Rusty Crutchfield, San Mateo, Calif.
DEAR RUSTY: Danny may not be known to you, though he does have about a dozen hits to his credit.
He is Jerry Naylor, best known in the ’60s for “Stop Your Crying” (1961) and in the ’70s for “But for Love” (1970) and “Is This All There Is to a Honky Tonk” (1975).
Briefly, Jerry sang with the Crickets in 1961, also for Liberty Records, two years after Buddy Holly’s death.
Giving you Gwen’s name at birth, Florencia Bisenta de Casillas Martinez Cardona, isn’t much of a clue, but I think you know this talented singer better as Vikki Carr.
Five years later, Vikki landed in the Top 3 with her signature song, “It Must Be Him.” It and Dean Martin’s “That’s Amore” are the two featured vocals in the 1987 film “Moonstruck.”
In the years after “Submarine Race,” Jerry and Vikki each made many records, but never again recorded together.
IZ ZAT SO? Though most folks are never likely to see one, a precious few still-sealed copies of the first state stereo “Beatles Yesterday and Today” do exist. Quantity estimates vary, but most put the number preserved in the original shrink-wrap at no more than 10.
Should one of those pop up in a properly-run auction, the hammer would not likely fall until bidding reached the $40,000 to $60,000 range.
Jerry Osborne answers as many questions as possible through this column.
Two Free Elliott Smith Downloads From Upcoming Reissues
On April 6, independent label Kill Rock Stars will reissue Elliott Smith’s first and last full albums, completing its library of the late singer-songwriter’s independent releases. To promote the reissues, the label has made a remastered version of “Last Call” (Roman Candle) and “Twilight” (From A Basement On The Hill) available for free download. http://killrockstars.com/
Roman Candle, Smith’s first album, was recorded in his then girlfriend’s basement, and, as the story goes, only because she convinced him to mail it in to Portland-based Cavity Search Records did it ever see the light of day. The Kill Rock Stars founder, Slim Moon, vividly recalls his first real encounter with Smith’s music at Kill Rock Stars’ Web site. For the reissue, Roger Seibel, along with the Smith family’s archivist, Larry Crane, have remastered the album, known for its scratchy, lo-fi home production. Roman Candle will also see its first U.S. vinyl release through the KRS reissue. From A Basement On The Hill was the last album that Smith worked on before his death in 2003. It was released posthumously on ANTI-Records.
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Band of Horses Announce New Album
Band of Horses return with their much anticipated third album, Infinite Arms, on May 18. But what label will release it? Possibly Sub Pop, who released their first two albums, but possibly not. The label hasn’t been announced yet.
Touring members Tyler Ramsey and Bill Reynolds make their debut on record with Infinite Arms, which was produced by the band and Phil Ek, who worked on the band’s past albums. All five members contributed to the recording process, causing frontman Ben Bridwell to state, “in many ways, this is the first Band of Horses record.”
Band of Horses plan to tour long and hard throughout the rest of the year.
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Genesis Guitarist Steve Hackett Announces Album Release
North America will soon see the release of Steve Hackett’s new album Out Of The Tunnel’s Mouth. The album is scheduled to hit streets on June 8th via InsideOut Music.
Released late last year in the world-renowned guitarist/composer’s native UK, Out Of The Tunnel’s Mouth is a rock album which features beautifully-sweeping symphonic sounds highlighted by Hackett’s signature soaring guitar and unsullied vocals. The tracks contain a mélange of influences from classical to Middle Eastern and showcase Hackett’s prowess as a composer with the ability to meld seemingly disparate styles.
In other news, Hackett will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame on March 15th in The 25th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2010 Induction Ceremony alongside his Genesis bandmates from the classic line-up: Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford. For more than three decades, Steve Hackett has been known for his innovative tone and extraordinary versatility as a guitarist and composer. He helped define Genesis’ sound as lead guitarist in the classic line-up and went on to have a highly-successful career as a solo artist, and also as part of 80s supergroup GTR with Steve Howe.
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Mr. Gnome Announce EP And Tour
Critically-praised Cleveland duo Mr. Gnome has announced U.S. tour dates beginning in March in support of a new EP due out later this month.
The EP, titled ‘Tastes Like Magic’ will be released on vinyl and digital download on March 16th. The new songs were recorded at Josh Homme’s (QOTSA, Them Crooked Vultures) Pink Duck Studios in Los Angeles, where Mr. Gnome also recorded its recent album, Heave Yer Skeleton.
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The Black Keys New Album Details
The Black Keys release their sixth full-length album, Brothers, May 18 on Nonesuch Records. The album arrives on the heels of three other acclaimed projects the band released in the past year: Dan Auerbach’s solo effort, Keep It Hid, the debut LP from Patrick Carney’s band Drummer, and Blakroc, a collaboration between The Black Keys and renowned MCs including RZA, Mos Def, Q-Tip, and Raekwon.
The band will support Brothers with a tour that includes a sold out performance at Central Park’s SummerStage in New York City on July 27 (additional dates will be announced soon).
The New York Times has called The Black Keys’ music “tough-minded, blues haunted songs,” and the ghosts of Muscle Shoals inhabit Brothers’ 15 tracks. Of the album, Auerbach says, “We like spooky sounds…like Alice Coltrane, where a dark groove is laid down. That’s the headspace we tried to get into for this record.”
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Metallica Boycott
Metallica fans in Israel were excited when they learned that the band would return to the country for the first time in over a decade on May 22nd to play at the Ramat Gan stadium in Tel Aviv. However, their mood blackened when they learned about the excessive ticket prices.
Metal Israel reports that the show’s “producer Marcel Avram is charging no less than 600 shekel for the cheapest seats (around $159 according to today’s exchange rate) while floor seats are twice that price.” Because of this an online drive via Facebook has been started by fans calling for a boycott of the show.
Over 500 fans have reportedly already agreed to boycott the concert. According to Metal Israel, “The initiators of the boycott state that Metallica tickets do not cost nearly as much as this in the rest of the world and assert that the promoter is trying to take advantage of loyal Metallica fans.”
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The Charlatans’ Debut Album ‘Some Friendly’ Gets 20th Anniversary Re-Release
Beggars Banquet are re-releasing The Charlatans’ debut album ‘Some Friendly’ this May to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The expanded edition of the record features a remastered version of the original album plus a 19-track second CD of single b-sides and complete BBC sessions from the John Peel and Mark Goodier shows.
The album’s re-release coincides with Tim Burgess and co.’s performances at Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona and The Roundhouse in Camden where they will play the album in its entirety.
Released in October 1990, ‘Some Friendly’ shot to number one in the UK charts and contained their breakthrough single ‘The Only One I Know’.
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Deerhoof to Release Two Vinyl Reissues for Record Store Day
In honor of this year’s Record Store Day (April 17), Deerhoof are reissuing their 2003 album Apple O’ and 2005 EP Green Cosmos on vinyl. Each comes with a download code for the album’s contents, plus four bonus tracks. Apple O’ is on blue vinyl, while Green Cosmos is on green vinyl.
Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier wrote a note about the reissues and his relationship with independent record stores which can be read over at the Kill Rock Stars site. http://killrockstars.com/news/
========================================= Ambitions to release new EP
Although they broke up in mid-2008, Ambitions recently found themselves in the studio recording for a compilation and decided to record new material for a 7″ to be titled “Surface To Air.” Here’s the official word from frontman Jay Aust:
“This past December, we were asked to do a cover song for an upcoming Chain Of Strength tribute 7″. Although we hadn’t been an active band for some time, it was hard to pass up the opportunity to record again. Since our last show in Fall 2007, we have been busy with various musical endeavors (Jeff and John formed Daybreaker, Jake has been playing in Defeater and his new band DreamTigers, Keith has been touring with Energy, and I have been keeping busy with Unforgiven). Despite everyone’s schedules, it has been a cool experience to get everyone together, especially given we are spread out over 3 states.
“The Chain of Strength compilation, which is being released by 1124 Records, will include a 2×7″ vinyl and will also feature songs from our friends in The Geeks, Offsides, Reign Supreme, and others. Our contribution will be “There Is A Difference” off the True Till Death 7″.
“While in the studio, we also decided to record a few new songs. In late spring, we will release a new 7″ entitled Surface to Air. The recording is currently in progress at Getaway Studios (Bane, Shipwreck, Defeater) by Dan Rose and will be mixed by Jay Maas. Everything is going well and we should be wrapping up around the end of March. More release details and updates to follow.
“Lastly, we were recently given the opportunity to play a one-off show in Texas in June alongside With Honor. Having never had the chance to play the Southwest, we are very excited to get out that way! The show will take place June 18th @ The Abilene Civic Center in Abilene TX.
“Although not officially back together, we may do a few shows in support of the new release late spring/early summer. Hope to see you soon!”
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From Ashes Rise Return with New Live Album, EP and Montreal Reunion Show
Portland-based hardcore quartet From Ashes Rise called it quits in 2005 after a sturdy eight-year run. However, the band have returned with both a live album and their first shows in five years. On top of that, they have a new EP in the works.
As Punknews.com reports, the live album is going to be called Live Hell and was recorded in Los Angeles in 2005. The 13-track release is available now through iTunes, and will get a limited 500 copy vinyl release by Jade Tree on March 23.
[Guest post contributed by Anna Miller.] There’s no doubt that Apple has taken the world by storm with its iProducts, and love them or hate them, there’s also no doubt that we admire their beauty and envy their owners. But what’s making more news than the products themselves are the apps that have been written for the devices that this tech giant dreams up every now and then – from useless to must-have, from controversial to boring, and from innovative to also-ran, a host of applications have been written for the iPhone ever since Apple opened up its SDK to third party developers. And if you’re a book lover like me, you’re definitely going to appreciate the apps that have been written with us in mind, 12 of the most interesting of which I’ve listed belong:
1. Kindle: This great app not only allows you to save hundreds of dollars when you don’t want to buy the actual Kindle device, it also allows you to sync your Kindle books on both your iPhone (or iPod) and your Kindle if you do own one. Using this, you can buy ebooks from Amazon and read them on your phone.
2. B&N Bookstore: This app allows you browse through the books available at the online Barnes and Noble store, read their reviews, and also buy and download them to your iPhone.
3. eReader: A popular and free e-book reader for the iPhone, this app allows you to browse through online libraries and bookstores and read any of the more than 100,000 available titles.
4. BookSearch: If you’re worried about the cost of an online book, this app allows you to use either your GPRS connection or WiFi to search for cheaper versions of the book at other stores.
5. Classics: As the name suggests, this app offers access to and lets classic lovers read their favourite books on their phone.
6. IndieBound: This app shows you a list of current bestsellers in both the hardbound and paperback forms. You’re also able to search for traditional bookstores based on the zip code, a feature that allows you to locate your nearest bookstore when on vacation or out of town.
7. Stanza: This app supports the e-pub book format and allows you to download free books stored in this format from various online domains.
8. Local Books: This app allows you to find bookstores and libraries near you – if you love books and want to have constant access to them, this is the app for you.
9. Library List: If you have a virtual library on your phone, you’re bound to love this nifty app – it lets you mark which books you’ve read and which you’re yet to read and also allows you to jot down notes for each book.
10. TomeRaider: This app allows you to download educational e-books and other resources like dictionaries, encyclopaedias and guidebooks that are available in the digital format.
11. SnapTell: If you want to know everything there is to know about a book, this app does the trick – once you click a photo of the book’s cover, you’re provided with details like the price, rating and description of the book. (See left, just loaded it for free–selective but awesome- ED.)
12. Clickwheel Comic Reader: As the name says, this one is for those who love comics – it’s free and brings your favourite characters to your iPhone screen.
[Thanks Anna. Great stuff--have downloaded Stoptell and BookSearch already (both Free.) Anna Miller is a journalist who writes on the topic of online degree. She welcomes your comments at her email id: anna.miller009@gmail.com]
I was in a noisy pub in Covent Garden the other day and through the shouts for beer and the general post work rowdiness I could vaguely hear an old Pogues song coming from a juke box the other side of the room. I wasn’t sure what it was called but dimly remembered it from the late 80s. An American fantasy collector I was with held up his Iphone for a second and declared it was Streams of Whiskey a ditty about Brendan Behan. What an app! I have an Iphone with a few apps and a few books to read in waiting rooms (300 short stories for £1) but this guy had a 100 apps including one that let him paint like Jackson Pollock. He also had one Iphone for England and another for America to avoid punitive roaming charges. I suspect he has private money.
The posting above is a guest entry by Anna Miller full of useful app info for bookloving Iphone users. What I currently need is an app that works when you point your Iphone at a book - it immediately catalogues it with condition, a puff and the right price, then uploads it to online book malls. A little later it sells it and puts the money in the bank for you. This can almost be done already with books with a barcode on the back (or a good clear pictorial cover - see the amazing Snaptell) but I need one that can handle leather bound books, incunabula and livres d’artistes.
Annie Winifred Ellerman. (Bryher) REGION OF LUTANY. Chapman & Hall, London, 1914.
Current Selling Prices $1500 /£1000
POETRY
A serious sleeper and now almost impossible to find. The writer’s first book. I once called up the British Library copy and as I recall it is like a little gift book, 16mo in size ( the Bodleian copy gives the height as 13 cms which is taller than I recall–possibly it had yapped edges) published in limp suede covers. I have never seen or heard of a copy in commerce and my evaluation may be cautious. Here are a few lines:
Where is the way to thee, Region of Lutany?
I cried to the swallow and lark in their flight,
I cried at the dawn, in the day, and the night,
I cried to the cloud, and the wave, and the tree,
None knew the way to thee,
Mistress imperious, O thou mysterious
Region of Lutany.
A cryptic poem reading almost as if it had been channelled from another world. I imagine that there are a lot of lutes in Lutany. Bryher mentions lutes in another poem in the book Poem Addressed to Corfu:
Are thy quivering sea-shells an argent lute,
Strung with the whispering amethyst spray,
Breathing such songs to the dawn-lit bay,
That even the wind of the South is mute…
‘ Bryher’ (Annie Winifred Ellerman 1894 - 1983) was born out of wedlock at Margate in Kent; she was her parents’ eldest child and only daughter. Her father Sir John Ellermann was said to be the richest man in England (like Nancy Cunard the money was from shipping.) She travelled in Europe as a child, to France, Italy and Egypt. At the age of fourteen she was at boarding school and at around this time her mother and father married. On one of her travels, Ellerman journeyed to the Isles of Scilly off the southwestern coast of England and acquired her future pseudonym from her favourite island, Bryher, home of Hell Bay.
Like many writers and intellectuals of her time she migrated to Paris. With her husband, the American writer Robert McAlmon, she founded the Contact Press. Bryher was an unconventional figure in Paris and was acquainted, even intimate, with Ernest Hemingway. Bisexual, she has been linked with many men and women of that period, including James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Beach and Berenice Abbott. Her wealth enabled her to give financial support to struggling writers, including Joyce and Edith Sitwell. She also helped with finance for the Paris bookshop Shakespeare and Company (started by Sylvia Beach) and started a film company POOL Productions. She also helped provide funds to purchase a flat in Paris for struggling artist Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven the ultra eccentric Dadaist artist and poet. Shakespeare and Co published her brother’s anti-public school book Why do They Like it ? also something of a sleeper and one of their very few non Joycean publications. Sir John Ellermann wrote it under the name of E L Black at the age of 16. He also wrote The Families and Genera of Living Rodents. There are two decent copies of the Shakespeare and Company work online at £450 and £500. I sold my last one at £300 in the later Blair years. The highest price being demanded for a Bryher book is a stroppy £2400 for a decent jacketed US first of her 1920 novel Development. This from a firm who seem never to reduce their prices so it may stay as a useful marker until, say, Blair is banged up for war crimes in the Eurozone.
Bryher is now slightly neglected but she has her admirers and her early works are uncommon and collectable. The academic Jayne Marek describes her as an ‘invisible’ woman”. For JM Bryher is ‘even less recognized as a writer than a patron: most of her texts are now out of print and have received little critical attention. Her novels, poems, memoirs, and criticism, together spanning much of the twentieth century, form a significant contribution to the development of Anglo-American modernism, particularly through their French and Imagist influences, and their explorations of topics including women’s education, gender mutability, psychoanalysis, and film technology…’ Bryher’s contribution to avant garde and experimental cinema is well documented. With the poet H.D. and director Kenneth Macpherson (her second husband) she started the magazine Close Up, and formed the POOL cinema group to write about and make films. Only one POOL film survives in its entirety, titled Borderline (1930), starring H.D. and Paul Robeson. In common with the Borderline novellas, the film explores extreme psychic states and their relationship to surface reality. Another short film has recently emerged and can be seen in its entirety at the Beinecke Library site. The shadowy shot above is a still from the film Monkey Moon a silent film featuring two of Macpherson’s and Bryher’s pet monkeys. Humans are absent with Bryher or possibly Macpherson only seen in silhouette or as a stout pair of shoes (Lobbs?) walking towards the camera. For me it was a very slow 8 minutes - to enjoy it you have to be a monkey person.
Bryher’s 1929 book Film Problems of Soviet Russia can make £200, the film magazine Close Up can make £40 an issue and a complete run is valuable and fairly easy to sell… Almost all books published by Pool are worth money and a few are great rarities (mostly by H.D. –rare, but somewhat hard to sell at ambitious prices.) Her second book Lament for Adonis, Bion the Smyrnaean (London: A.L. Humphreys, 1918 ) is currently on the web at a £1000. It is one of a very few copies specially printed on handmade paper, and specially bound, for the author’s use. It might sell, but Lutany has a greater caché and can also be sold to collectors of modernist rarities and first books - the Black Tulip of Bryheriana. Her later works, historical novels, are hard to sell -even signed ( I have had 3 signed novels, unsold and online, at modest prices for many moons.) It is gratifying to discover that with all the wealth from her father (her brother got even more and kept a permanent suite at the Savoy) she did so much good. The Wikiman informs us - ‘Bryher used her wealth and influence to rescue innocent people, including many writers and intellectuals, from the Nazis during World War II. She was very private about her efforts to assist her friends in their flight from Nazi-occupied areas and so she is not commonly recognized for this remarkable effort.’
A Girl Called Eddy - A Girl Called Eddy (vinyl reissue)
A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Nitetime Rainbows EP (vinyl)
A Weather - Everyday Balloons
Athlete - Black Swan
Benjy Davis Project - Lost Souls Like Us
Benny Andersson Band - Story of a Heart
Black 47 - Bankers & Gangsters
Black Water Rising - Black Water Rising
Blake Shelton - Hillbilly Bone
Borknagar - Universal
Bradley - MountainTigerWolf
Bridges and Blinking Lights - Heroes, Guns & Snakes
Caitlin Rose - Dead Flowers
Citizen Cope - The Rainwater LP
Cliff Richard & the Shadows - Golden Greats (3 CDs)
Cliff Richard - Vintage 2010
Clogs - The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton
Connie Francis - Golden Greats
DJ Khaled - Victory
Danny Elfman - Alice in Wonderland (soundtrack)
Danny Gokey - My Best Days
Dave Brubeck - Time Out (Vinyl)
Dean Martin - That’s Amore
Dee Dee Bridgewater - Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie with Love from Dee Dee
Dire Straits - Communique (vinyl reissue)
Easton Corbin - Easton Corbin
Editors - You Don’t Know Love
Ella Fitzgerald - Simply Ella
Ella Fitzgerald - Sings the Cole Porter Songbook
Emma Pollock - The Law Of Large Numbers
Fela Kuti - London Scene / Shakara (reissues)
Fenn O’Berg - In Stereo
Flogging Molly - Live at the Greek Theater (2-CDs & DVD)
Foreigner - Can’t Slow Down (Vinyl)
Frank Turner - Love Ire & Song (vinyl)
Gary Numan - Down in the Park: The Alternative Anthology
Golden Triangle - Double Jointer (vinyl)
Great American Taxi - Reckless Habits
Groove Armada - Black Light
Guitar Shorty - Bare Knuckle
Hank Williams - Lost Highway
Holmes Brothers - Feed My Soul
Jaguar Love - Hologram Jams (vinyl)
Jamie Cullum - The Pursuit (vinyl)
Jamie Foxx - Body
Japanther - Rock N Roll Ice Cream (vinyl)
Jason DeRulo - Jason DeRulo
Jimmy Hughes - Why Not Tonight: The Fame Recordings 2
John Hiatt - The Open Road
Josh Wolf ( of WHY?) - Jet Lag
Judas Priest - Sin After Sin (Vinyl)
Judas Priest - Stained Glass (Vinyl)
Lifehouse - Smoke & Mirrors
Lightspeed Champion - Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You (vinyl)
Little Boots - Hands
Loscil - Endless Falls
Madonna - Revolver (Single) (Vinyl)
Marley’s Ghost - Ghost Town
Mastodon - Remission (vinyl)
Miles Davis - Live in Rome & Copenhagen 1969
Miles Davis - Warsaw Concert 1983
Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
Natalie Merchant - Leave Your Sleep
Overnight Lows - City of Rotten Eyes
Owen Pallett - Heartland
Peasant - Shady Retreat
Peter Gabriel - Scratch My Back (2-CD deluxe edition)
Polar Bear - Peepers
Portugal. The Man - American Ghetto
Raheem DeVaughn - The Love & War MasterPeace
Ray Charles - Berlin 92
Rogue Wave - Permalight
Rogue Wave - Permalight (vinyl)
Sarah Silverman - Songs Of The Sarah Silverman Program
Sharam Jay - In My Blood
Shearwater - The Golden Archipelago (vinyl)
Shirley Bassey - EMI/UA Years 1959-1979 (5 CDs)
Shirley Bassey - Vintage 2010
Shooter Jennings - Black Ribbons
Strange Boys - Be Brave
Sun Ra - Space Is the Place (soundtrack) (2-LP vinyl reissue)
The Library Is On Fire - Magic Windows, Magic Nights
The Ruby Suns - Fight Softly (vinyl)
The Texas Tornados - Esta Bueno
These New Puritans - Hidden
Twin Tigers - Gray Waves
Various Artists - Almost Alice
Various Artists - Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey
Various Artists - Next Stop Soweto
Various Artists - Nigeria Afrobeat Special: The New Explosive Sound in 1970’s Nigeria (3-LP vinyl box set)
Various Artists - Nigeria Special Volume 2: Modern Highlife: Afro Sounds & Niger=an Blues 1970-6 (vinyl)
Various Artists - Rounder Records 40th Anniversary Concert
Visage - Face: The Best of
Wendy & Lisa - Nurse Jackie - Season One Soundtrack
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Skeleton (vinyl)
Yellow Swans - Going Places
Yo-Yo Ma - Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (soundtrack) (reissue)
Watch for these CD sets on March 4, 2010
Bread - Original Album Series (5 CDs)
Judy Collins - Original Album Series (5 CDs)
Drifters - Original Album Series (5 CDs)
Foghat - Original Album Series (5 CDs)
Iggy & the Stooges - Move Ass Baby
Kix - Original Album Series (5 CDs)
Men at Work - Live in San Bernardino
Ricky Nelson - Lonesome Town Complete Record Releases 1957-59 (3 CDs)
Todd Rundgren - Original Album Series (5 CDs)
Slave - Original Album Series (5 CDs)
Spinners (Detroit Spinners) - Original Album Series (5 CDs)
Warren Zevon - Original Album Series (5 CDs)
Mark Evans - AC/DC. He quit in 1977 after becoming tired of touring (1956)
John Cowsill - Cowsills (1956)
Jon Bon Jovi - Bon Jovi (1962)
Chris Martin - Coldplay (1977)
They Are Missed:
Born on this day in 1950, Karen Carpenter, vocals, drums, The Carpenters. She died on February 4, 1983 of anorexia nervosa.
French singer Serge Gainsbourg died of a heart attack in 1991. During his career, he wrote the soundtracks for more than 40 films.
Born on this day in 1948, Rory Gallagher, Irish blues guitarist. Gallagher died on June 14, 1995.
Born today in 1938 , Lawrence Payton, vocals, The Four Tops. Payton died on June 20, 1997.
In 1999, Dusty Springfield died after a long battle against cancer (age 59). The British singer had her first UK hit single in 1963 with “I Only Want To Be With You” plus over 15 other UK Top 40 singles.
Singer, songwriter Hank Ballard died from throat cancer in 2003. Wrote and recorded “The Twist,” but it was only released on the B-side of a record. One year later, Chubby Checker debuted his own version of “The Twist” on Dick Clark’s Philadelphia television show. It topped the charts and launched a popular dance craze.
Born today in 1943, Tony Meehan, drummer, The Shadows. Meehan died on11/28/05 (age 62) from head injuries sustained in a fall.
In 2008, Canadian guitarist, singer, Jeff Healey, died of cancer. Healey lost his sight to retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eyes when he was eight months old, resulting in his eyes being surgically removed. After living cancer-free for 38 years, he developed sarcoma in his legs. Despite surgery for this, the sarcoma spread to his lungs and ultimately was the cause of his death. Healey released over 12 albums, presented a long running radio show and worked with many artists including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, BB King, ZZ Top, Steve Lukather, Eric Clapton and Ian Gillan.
History:
Bo Diddley had his first recording session at Universal Recording Studio in Chicago in 1955, where he layed down “Bo Diddley,” which went on the top the R&B chart by the following June.
In 1960, after completing his national service and flying back to America, Elvis Presley stepped on British soil for the first and only time in his life when the plane carrying him stopped for refuelling at Prestwick Airport, Scotland.
In 1963, the Four Seasons became the first group to have 3 consecutive #1’s in the US when “Walk Like A Man” started a three week run at the top.
The Beatles began filming what would become their first feature film ‘A Hard Days Night’ at Marylebone train station in London in 1964.
Also in 1964, Vee-Jay Records in Chicago created the Tollie label and released “Twist And Shout” by the Beatles.
At this year’s Grammys in 1974, Stevie Wonder won four awards: Album of the year for ‘Innervisions’, Best R&B song and Best vocal for “Superstition” and Pop vocal performance for “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life.”
Terry Jacks started a three week run at #1 on the US singles chart in 1974 with “Seasons In The Sun.” The song (written in French by Belgian, Jacques Brel), had English lyrics by poet Rod McKuen.
In 1975, a policeman who stopped a Lincoln Continental for running a red light in Los Angeles was surprised to find Paul McCartney at the wheel with his wife Linda. The cop detected a smell of marijuana and on searching the car found eight ounces of the drug. Linda was arrested for the offence.
A new digital audio system, a five-inch compact disc containing up to 1 hour of music was launched by Sony, Philips and Polygram in 1983.
Wham! started a three week run at #1 on the US singles chart in 1985 with “Make It Big,” which eventually went on the sell over 5 million copies in the US.
In 1991, 21 years after it’s first release “All Right Now” by Free made it to #2 on the UK singles chart after being re-issued to coincide with its use in a Wrigleys Chewing gum TV ad.
Madonna’s “Rescue Me” entered the US hot 100 at #15 in 1991, making her the highest- debuting female artist in rock history.
In 1991, Mariah Carey started an 11-week run at #1 on the US album chart with her debut ‘Mariah Carey.’
LeAnn Rimes went to #1 on the US album chart in 1997 with ‘Unchained Melody, The Early Years.’
50 Cent started a nine week run at #1 on the US singles chart in 2003 with “In Da Club.”
R. Kelly was at #1 on the US album chart in 2003 with ‘Chocolate Factory.’
In 2004, Metallica and Godsmack headed out on the “Madly In Anger Tour” across North America. “We look forward to completely annihilating America,” says Godsmack’s Sully Erna. Metallica also offers audio recordings of every show on their tour for sale within days of each performance via their LiveMetallica.com. website. “This technology enables our fans to get the best possible recording of the show, without having to hold a microphone in the air for the entire night,” says drummer Lars Ulrich.
In 2007, Jimi Hendrix was crowned the ‘wildest guitar hero’ of all-time in a poll of music fans for Classic Rock magazine. Hendrix beat Keith Richards into second place, with Stevie Ray Vaughan in third. Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page made it to number four, followed by Dimebag Darrell, who played for several heavy metal bands including Pantera and Damageplan.
In 2009, Liverpool University launched a Masters degree on The Beatles, popular music and society. Liverpool Hope University claimed the course which looked at the studio sound and compositions of The Beatles was the first of its kind in the UK and “probably the world”.
In 2009, U2 began a five-night run on CBS’ Late Show With David Letterman to promote their album “No Line On The Horizon.” The set drops the following day. It’s the group’s first performance on Lettermen since ’01. O
Lifehouse roll out their fifth studio album in 2010 “Smoke & Mirrors.” It’s the group’s first effort since the addition of guitarist Ben Carey.
The Isle of Wight Festival is extremely proud to announce that the legendary Paul McCartney will be headlining the Main Stage on Sunday 13 June bringing this year’s festival, which takes place from 11-13 June, to a spectacular close.
Renowned the world over, Paul McCartney awoke a generation giving a fresh sound to rock n’ roll, changing the face of music forever, first with The Beatles and then as a critically acclaimed solo artist. Across a career that has spanned over 30 years, he’s penned some of the most famous tracks ever written, including ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, ‘Live and Let Die’ and ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, meaning this year’s festival-goers will be in for something truly special as this living legend performs a rousing set.
Paul McCartney says: ‘I always remember hearing such great things about this festival and it has such a sense of history with the likes of Jimi Hendrix playing there the first time round. This will be my first show on the Isle of Wight and I’m looking forward to a rollicking night of rock n’ roll’.
Paul’s live shows have reached a new legendary status in recent years garnering unprecedented reviews from fans and critics alike wherever he goes. He’s pushed boundaries, performed to millions and made global news with monumental shows including performances in Red Square, Russia, outside the Coliseum in Rome, performing live to a NASA space station and the largest outdoor show ever in the Ukraine.
The UK got a recent taste for Paul’s live show last Christmas when he bought his 2009 ‘Good Evening Europe’ tour to a climatic and memorable finale at London’s 02 Arena, his only UK show of 2009. Reviews for the show were phenomenal and prove that Paul McCartney is a live experience that no one should miss.
This special show at the Isle of Wight Festival is part of Paul’s all new ‘Up And Coming’ tour which starts in the US in March and comes to the UK and Ireland in June.
In addition to Paul McCartney, other world-class artists performing on Sunday’s Main Stage include Pink, Editors, Spandau Ballet and Friendly Fires. Across the course of the weekend over 45 acts will take to the stage including Jay-Z, Blondie, The Strokes, Florence + The Machine, Biffy Clyro, Crowded House, Paloma Faith, Mr. Hudson, Orbital, La Roux, Marina and the Diamonds and many more.
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U2 top earners poll of 2009
U2 have been named at the highest earning band of 2009, according to Billboard’s annual poll.
Even though the Irish band’s latest release ‘No Line On The Horizon’ had disappointing sales, Bono and the boys have still grossed more cash in US last year than any others.
The magazine claim that even though the 360° Tour is one of the most expensive ever U2 still made $109 million, which works out at approximately £71 million.
In second place was Bruce Springsteen with $58 million (£38m) and Madonna third with $48 million. Rockers ACDC came in fourth with $43 million dollars, followed by the Princess of Pop, Britney Spears, who earned $38 million dollars.
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Library Tosses Rare Vinyl Record Collection
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library decided to toss out its collection of vinyl record albums, some of which we found are worth a lot of money.
The old records are being sold for just a dollar apiece, but a music enthusiast got his hands on some albums that could be worth well over a thousand times as much.
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SOUNDGARDEN: Debut SUBPOP Single To Be Reissued For ‘Record Store Day’
A limited-edition, orange-vinyl seven-inch reissue of SOUNDGARDEN’s debut SubPop single, “Hunted Down” and the B-side “Nothing To Say”, will be available at select independent record stores on “Record Store Day” (April 17).
“Record Store Day” celebrates the continued existence of independent record stores, mostly through live in-store appearances, performances and special limited-edition releases that will only be sold through participating stores on the day itself, which is April 17 this year.
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New Jeff Healey Studio Album and Live DVD Set For Release
Stony Plain Records announces an April 6 release date in the U.S. and Canada for Jeff Healey’s final jazz studio album, Last Call, which showcases the beloved legendary musician performing the music that was his true passion in life: the classic jazz, swing and pop sounds of the 1920s-1940s.
Released with the participation and support of Jeff Healey’s widow, Cristie, Last Call is a 14-track collection on which Healey plays multi-tracked guitar parts, trumpet and sings. On several of the songs, he’s accompanied by Ross Wooldridge on piano and clarinet and Drew Jurecka on violin.
Hi Res Cover ArtConcurrent with this CD in Canada, Stony Plain will also release, Beautiful Noise, a concert DVD featuring Jeff Healey and The Jazz Wizards, his regular jazz performance band, originally recorded for the Toronto-based TV show, “A Beautiful Noise,” in January, 2006. In the U.S., the Beautiful Noise DVDwill be released on March 23 and distributed by MVD Entertainment Group.
Last Call was Jeff’s last jazz/swing recording before his death in March, 2008 of cancer. Mess of Blues, an album of his fan-favorite blues and roots songs released shortly after he passed away, won the Blues Award for “Best Rock/Blues Release” in 2009; and the Songs from the Road live CD,released in September of 2009, won the “Recording of the Year” at the 2010 Maple Blues Awards.
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EVANESCENCE To Enter Studio This Week
EVANESCENCE frontwoman Amy Lee has confirmed that the band will enter the studio this week with Grammy Award-winning producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, THE ROLLING STONES, PETER GABRIEL, CHRIS CORNELL) to begin recording its third album for a late fall 2010 release.
“I can’t explain how excited I am to make this record,” said Lee. “Over the past year and a half, these songs have become the center of my life, and I can’t wait to hear what they grow into in the studio. I think our sound is evolving into something that will surprise people, in a very good way. I feel, as always, that growth can be an incredible, limitless thing if you let it. I never want to make the same album twice.”
Hear that increasingly loud thumping sound? That’s the collective heartbeat of females everywhere racing as The Twilight Saga: Eclipse approaches. The movie’s release is still several months away, but Twilighters of all sexes and species (human, werewolf, vampire, etc.) are already foaming at the mouth. Maybe you haven’t aligned yourself with Team Edward or Team Jacob. And maybe you haven’t kept up with every Eclipse detail. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
In Eclipse, Bella Swan once again finds herself surrounded by danger as the city of Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge. In the midst of it all, she’s forced to choose between her love for Edward Cullen and her friendship with Jacob Black — knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the struggle between vampire and werewolf. With graduation quickly approaching, Bella is confronted with the most important decision she’s ever made: life or death.
The film began shooting in mid-August under the direction of David Slade (30 Days of Night, Hard Candy); he takes over the reigns from Chris Weitz. Slade worked from a script by returning scribe Melissa Rosenberg, which was of course based on Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling book. Principle photography officially wrapped on October 29.
Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner will reprise their roles as Bella, Edward and Jacob.
Several new actors are joining the Twilight family including Bryce Dallas Howard as Victoria. Howard replaces actress Rachelle Lefevre who played the character in the previous movies. Also new are Xavier Samuel as Riley, Catalina Sandino Moreno as Maria, Jack Huston as Royce King, Julia Jones as Leah, BooBoo Stewart as Seth, and Jodelle Ferland as Bree.
Continuing in the series as members of the Cullen family are Ashley Greene as Alice, Peter Facinelli as Carlisle, Elizabeth Reaser as Esme, Kellan Lutz as Emmett, Nikki Reed as Rosalie, and Jackson Rathbone as Jasper. Billy Burke also returns as Charlie Swan. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is filming on location in Vancouver, BC.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse brings back members of the Quileute Indian Nation; the classmates of Bella and Edward; and the legendary Volturi, a venerable coven of vampires who weigh and impose the laws of the vampire world. A cast list for film appears at the end of this document.
Eclipse will be the first movie in the series to be presented in IMAX. So, if you’ve ever wanted to drink in the majestic sight of a five-story high Robert Pattinson, well… here’s your chance!
The fourth and final installment in the series, Breaking Dawn, may start shooting as early as this spring. Word on the street is that Summit is mulling splitting the flick into two parts.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse hits North American movie theaters on June 30, 2010.
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For all you Twihards out there in need of a handy cast reference guide, print this out and keep it close to your heart:
Main Cast:
Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan
Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen
Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black
Cullen Family:
Ashley Greene as Alice Cullen
Peter Facinelli as Dr. Carlisle
Elizabeth Reaser as Esme Cullen
Kellan Lutz as Emmett Cullen
Nikki Reed as Rosalie Hale
Jackson Rathbone as Jasper Hale
Wolf Pack:
Chaske Spencer as Sam Uley
Bronson Pelletier as Jared
Alex Meraz as Paul
Kiowa Gordon as Embry Call
Tyson Houseman as Quil Ateara
Other Quileutes:
Gil Birmingham as Billy Black
Tinsel Korey as Emily
Nomad Vampires:
Bryce Dallas Howard as Victoria
Volturi:
Cameron Bright as Alec
Charlie Bewley as Demetri
Daniel Cudmore as Felix
Dakota Fanning as Jane
Additional Returning Cast Members:
Billy Burke as Charlie Swan
Sarah Clarke as Renee Dwyer
Anna Kendrick as Jessica
Michael Welch as Mike
Christian Serratos as Angela
Justin Chon as Eric
New Cast Members:
Xavier Samuel as Riley
Catalina Sandino Moreno as Maria
Jack Huston as Royce King
Julia Jones as Leah Clearwater
BooBoo Stewart as Seth Clearwater
Jodelle Ferland as Bree
1. 45 - Magnetics “Lady In Green” / “Heart You’re Made Of Stone” Bonnie - $5,500.00
2. LP - Pink Floyd “Ummagumma” Japan Red Vinyl - $4,200.00
3. 12″ - Ryvon DJ “I’m gonna dance (take me tonight) - $3,551.00
4. LP - Andre Cluytens “Ravel The Complete Orchestral Works” Columbia SAX 2476-9 UK Pressing - $2,794.67
5. LP - The Beatles “Let It Be” UK Box Set PXS 1 - $2,716.00
More on this week’s top 5 on Vinyl Record Talk, Tuesday 7:00PM Eastern / 4:00PM Pacific on Radio Dentata. Go to http://ccdiscoveries.blogspot.com for more information!
Brian Eno confirms he’s working on new Coldplay album Band in the studio starting their fifth release
Brian Eno has confirmed that he is working with Coldplay again as they gear up to start recording their fifth album. Earlier this month frontman Chris Martin said he wanted to get the band’s next album out by Christmas, and Eno has confirmed he will be involved again. The former Roxy Music man produced the band’s last album, 2008’s ‘Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends’, and told BBC 6 Music that he would again force the band’s frontman to work separately from his bandmates as he did on that record.
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Tiny Engines To Release Everyone Everywhere’s Debut LP
Tiny Engines is pleased to announce that it will release the self-titled debut full-length from Philadelphia’s Everyone Everywhere. The album, which will be released in vinyl and digital formats on May 4, 2010, is now up for pre-order from the label. Tiny Engines will press 500 12-inches on maroon and off-white colorways (350/150). The band is currently streaming two brand new songs, “Tiny Boat” and “Blown Up Grown Up,” on its Myspace page.
Everyone Everywhere’s eponymous debut builds on the rock-solid foundation laid down on last year’s dynamic 7″, “A Lot Of Weird People Standing Around.”
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Japandroids Announce 7″ single series of unreleased songs!
After a string of triumphant debut shows in the UK last year, which saw the Vancouver two-piece bring their explosive live act to packed out audiences, Japandroids have confirmed they will return to Europe for a string of UK shows in May including an appearance at The Great Escape Festival. Having sold out London’s ICA, 6 weeks in advance of their headline show next week, Japandroids will be playing The Garage when they return in May.
New May 2010 dates
Thursday 13th May - Saturday 15th May - The Great Escape, Brighton
Monday 17th May - DiScover @ The Harley, Sheffield
Tuesday 18th May - Jericho, Oxford
Wednesday 19th May - Joiners, Southampton
Thursday 20th May - The Garage, London
Additionally, the duo has announced they will be releasing a five-part series of 7″ singles throughout 2010 on Polyvinyl Records. Each limited edition 7″ will feature a previously unreleased track from the ‘Post Nothing’ sessions alongside a cover. Japandroids devised the 7″ series as a way to give something back to their fans while the band is in the midst of heavy touring and unable to record a full album. Each two-song 7″ will be recorded during the brief period of time the band is at home between tours.
First up, released on April 12th is ‘Art Czars’, the clear coloured vinyl will also feature ‘Racer-X’ - a Big Black cover and live favourite.
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Joan Jett returns with a new album and The Runaways are about to hit the big screen
Joan Jett is a busy girl these days. First, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts are releasing the definitive double-disc “Greatest Hits” collection, along with double-disc vinyl on 3/9/10. The amazing thing is that the album release is coming out just in time for the March release of “The Runaways” movie, where Joan is also the executive producer. The two-disc collection contains eight songs featured in the film, “The Runaways,”including one previously unreleased track featured in the film. The album also includes rerecorded material featuring several Runaways favorites, along with re-mastered original material including such hits as “I Love Rock N’ Roll” and “I Hate Myself for Loving You,” “Bad Reputation,” and a cover of Tommy James & The Shondels “Crimson and Clover.” www.therunaways.com
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Unearthly Trance set to record new album
Unearthly Trance will begin work on their follow-up album to Electrocution this weekend in New York, New York. This will be the trio’s fifth studio album, aptly titled V.
Unearthly Trance will begin recording at SIR Studios with engineer Sanford Parker overseeing the skeletal creation of the recording. The band will then continue to self-record with additional help from trusted experts along the way. V will also mark another twist on Unearthly Trance’s sound, with slower paced riffs, raw sonics and even more progressed songwriting, the band is taking its sound towards creatively darker and strangely morbid realm. V will feature artwork by Glyn Scrawled and is expected to see a late spring release date via Relapse Records. Additional album details will be announced shortly.
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Cast Spells Announce Clear Vinyl EP
Dovecote Records is elated to announce that they will be releasing the Cast Spells Bright Works and Baton EP on clear vinyl come May 4, 2010. Cast Spells is David Davison, lead singer of Maps & Atlases.
This is the first time the EP will be available on wax and has been re-sequenced to include an extra track called “All Brass” which appeared on a split 7″ with Good Old War. The vinyl pressing of Bright Works and Baton is limited to 500. Bright Works and Baton is available digitally and on CD via Cast Spells’ record label, Sargent House.
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Steven Adler Recording New Studio Album
Original Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler is moving forward with his solo band Adler’s Appetite with a new studio album. Here is what he had to tell fans via Myspace blog on Friday:
“We have been in the studio all week putting together new original music for a spring/summer release. The songs sound great! It feels so good to be moving forward! It’s been a long time coming, but will be worth the wait.
“We will be debuting some of the new songs at The Key Club on April 10th. I want you all to be there! Plenty of time to plan your trip to Los Angeles.”
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Destroyer Albums Get Reissue Treatment from Merge Records
Dan Bejar’s Destroyer project is getting some reissue treatment from Merge Records in the form of City of Daughters and Thief on CD and Streethawk: A Seduction on CD and vinyl. The release date is April 20th. Destroyer features overtly poetic lyrics surrounded by swirling melodies, verses weaving themselves into would-be choruses via abrupt changes amid yelps, synths, the ever present jangling guitars. It’s like the poetry of a madman, in the best way.
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SCOTT WEILAND To Release Live Album?
A spokesperson for Softdrive Records has informed BLABBERMOUTH.NET that details of Scott Weiland’s live album have not yet been officially confirmed and will be announced as soon as they are available. The information below was taken from Best Buy’s web site and should be treated as a rumor only. STONE TEMPLE PILOTS/ex-VELVET REVOLVER singer Scott Weiland will release a solo live album, entitled “Live In Los Angeles”, via his own record label, Softdrive Records.
A release date for the effort has not yet been announced
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This from Blabbermouth.net
THIN LIZZY, DEEP PURPLE, UFO, AC/DC Among Greatest Live Albums Of All Time
According to Gigwise.com, THIN LIZZY’s 1978 double LP “Live and Dangerous” was voted the greatest live album of all time in a new poll.
Listeners of Planet Rock radio voted in the thousands on the poll, with THIN LIZZY’s record beating DEEP PURPLE’s 1972 classic “Made In Japan” to the top spot.
The full top 40 is as follows:
01. THIN LIZZY - Live & Dangerous
02. DEEP PURPLE - Made In Japan
03. UFO - Strangers In The Night
04. THE WHO - Live At Leeds
05. AC/DC - If You Want Blood, You Got It
06. IRON MAIDEN - Live After Death
07. PINK FLOYD - PULSE
08. PETER FRAMPTON - Frampton Comes Alive
09. KISS - Alive
10. GENESIS - Seconds Out
11. STATUS QUO - Live!
12. YES - Yessongs
13. JETHRO TULL - Bursting Out
14. HAWKWIND - Space Ritual
15. CHEAP TRICK - At Budokan
16. WISHBONE ASH - Live Dates (1973)
17. LED ZEPPELIN - The Song Remains the Same
18. QUEEN - Live Killers
19. RUSH - All The World’s A Stage
20. RUSH - Exit Stage Left
21. LYNYRD SKYNYRD - One More From The Road
22. MOTÖRHEAD - No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith
23. HUMBLE PIE - Rockin’ The Filmore
24. URIAH HEEP - Live 1973
25. LED ZEPPELIN - How The West Was Won
26. QUEEN - Live at Wembley ‘86
27. ASIA - Fantasia
28. RORY GALLAGHER - Irish Tour ‘74
29. WHITESNAKE - Live in the Heart of the City
30. ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND - Live at Fillmore East
31. SLADE - Slade Alive
32. METALLICA - S&M
33. THE ROLLING STONES - Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out
34. FREE - Live
35. RUSH - Rush In Rio
36. THUNDER - 20 Years And Out: Hammersmith Apollo July 2009
37. RAINBOW - On Stage
38. “Woodstock” soundtrack
39. DAVID GILMOUR - Live in Gdansk
40. JUDAS PRIEST - Unleashed In The East
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Phosphorescent returns with new album May 11
Phosphorescent Album: Here’s To Taking It EasyFresh off a year where Willie Nelson was his ph-ocus, Phosphorescent is back with a new album of his own material, Here’s To Taking It Easy, due May 11 on Dead Oceans.
Matthew Houck, the brains behing Phosphorescent has enlisted many of the key players from his To Willie covers album (2009) as new band members for the new album: Scott Stapleton - piano, Jeff Bailey - bass, Chris Marine - drums, Jesse Anderson Ainslie - guitar, Ricky Ray Jackson - pedal steel, John Natchez - horns and Heather McIntosh - cello (Natchez & McIntosh are studio help only, the rest will tour).
The album was recorded over 4 months in Brooklyn with Alex Lipsen last year and enlisted Stuart Sikes for some mixing assistance.
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Former Hall & Oates Bassist Tom “T-Bone” Wolk Dead at 58
Hall & OatesSome sad news for you this morning: after suffering a heart attack on Saturday, bassist Tom “T-Bone” Wolk is dead at the age of 58. Best known as the consistent bassist for Hall & Oates, T-Bone had a varied career that ranged everything from hip-hop classics to TV work with the Saturday Night Live band. It’s definitely a sad day, especially as he was supposed to perform with Hall & Oates on the upcoming Late Night With Jimmy Fallon anniversary show.
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Tee Pee Records Announce Vinyl Reissues Of Two Karma To Burn Albums
Tee Pee Records has announced the vinyl reissues of “Wild Wonderful Purgatory” and “Almost Heathen” from legendary stoner rock pioneers Karma To Burn. Both albums will be released on April 6th 2010 and will coincide with Karma To Burn’s April 2010 UK/European Tour. “Wild Wonderful Purgatory” and “Almost Heathen” will each come with a 10″ vinyl of bonus material including demos from the first album, newly recorded versions of 20 and 30 and all new artwork by Alex Von Wielding.
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Kivimetsan Druidi Reveals New Album “Betrayal, Justice, Revenge” Artwork
Finnish fantasy metallers Kivimetsan Druidi recently finished recording their new album “Betrayal, Justice, Revenge,” which will be released via Century Media Records The artwork for the album can be viewed at this location. The fist pressing of the album will also contain new bonus tracks.
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CATHEDRAL: U.K., Ireland Dates Announced
To celebrate the release of their latest album, “The Guessing Game”, veteran British doom/stoner band CATHEDRAL has announced six live shows in late April/early May 2010. Taking in England, Scotland and both Southern and Northern Ireland, these dates will represent the group’s first headlining gigs since the “Doomed Trinity” package of 2006.
Keeping in the CATHEDRAL tradition of delivering the best possible touring package it can, the band has announced the addition of Tokyo’s heaviest sons of SABBATH, CHURCH OF MISERY, and the Orthodox-doom-meets-true-metal powerhouse that is Indianapolis’s THE GATES OF SLUMBER.
And what a way to celebrate this anniversary: traditional CATHEDRAL cover artist Dave Patchett came up with one of his finest artworks in the band’s history, mirroring the themes and musical quirkiness of the album itself.
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The Get Up Kids ‘Simple Science’ EP vinyl release
The Get Up Kids return with the ‘Simple Science’ EP, a limited edition, numbered 10 inch vinyl containing their first new material in six years. The record will be released on 4/17/10 in the UK through Hassle Records. A CD version of the EP will be available later this summer.
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This from Rolling Stone.com
You’re So Vain-Part 4
Last week it seemed like the nearly four-decade-old mystery surrounding Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” was finally solved after the always-reliable (cough) U.K. press speculated that record exec David Geffen was the subject of Simon’s 1972 hit. As Rolling Stone wrote last week, Simon had previously promised that in a newly recorded version of “You’re So Vain,” the name of vain man in question would be revealed when the song was played backwards. The reverse lyric sounded simply like “David,” fueling rumors that Geffen, who allegedly favored Simon’s musical rival Joni Mitchell, was the focus of her hit. However, Simon tells Showbiz 411 that Geffen is not the “David” in question.
“What a riot! Nothing to do with David Geffen! What a funny mistake! Someone got a clue mistaken for another mistake,” Simon said in an e-mail to Showbiz 411. “How can this guessing game stop without a lie?” Simon adds that she never even knew Geffen in 1971 when the song was written, which if Simon has her timeline correct, means “You’re So Vain” was penned prior to when Simon’s label Elektra Records merged with Geffen’s Asylum Records in 1972, the date Geffen assumed control of the combined companies.
The Simon/Geffen feud didn’t start until two years after You’re So Vain was recorded. In addition, people who have heard the backwards version of the song say that you can also hear the name Warren whispered, which could be Warren Beatty. Seesm like we’ll never know, I played the record backwards and heard the name Johnathan whispered, who the heck is that. Certainly all the press cannot hurt the sales of the record……
The new version of “You’re So Vain” is due on Simon’s upcoming disc Never Been Gone.
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Lennon Used In Advert
People in England are up in arms over a new add by French automaker Citroen over an add featuring archive footage of John Lennon. The ads used dubbed clips of both Lennon and Marilyn Monroe saying that nostalgia is overrated (”Why all this nostalgia? Start something new. Live your life now.”). People are posting in various venues saying that John would turn in his grave if he knew his image was being used in such a way and that “Yoko believes that John belongs to her alone.”
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Vinyl Collective Top 10 Sales of the past week
1 MICAH SCHNABEL ?When the Stage Light Goes Dim? LP Green w/ White (Minty) Vinyl 57 copies
2 ROCKY VOTOLATO / CHAD PRICE split 7″ Blue Vinyl 50 copies
3 THE MARS VOLTA “Frances the Mute” triple LP (original pressing) 38 copies
4 SUBURBAN HOME RECORDS Mix Tape Volume 2 “Greetings From The Left Coa” CD (5 Copi 30 copies
4 ROCKY VOTOLATO ?True Devotion? LP Clear/White Vinyl 30 copies
6 ROCKY VOTOLATO ?True Devotion? LP Blue/White Vinyl 22 copies
7 MICAH SCHNABEL ?When the Stage Light Goes Dim? CD 19 copies
8 MICAH SCHNABEL ?When the Stage Light Goes Dim? LP Deluxe Set 18 copies
9 MURDER BY DEATH “Good Morning, Magpie” LP Midnight blue 200 gram vinyl (FANCY) 16 copies
10 MICAH SCHNABEL ?When the Stage Light Goes Dim? DIGITAL ALBUM (mp3) 14 copies
11 ROCKY VOTOLATO / CHAD PRICE split 7″ BOTH COLORS 11 copies
11 KEVIN SECONDS/ JONAH MATRANGA split 7″ (hand #d/1000) 11 copies
11 BRENDAN KELLY / JOE MCMAHON ?Wasted Potential? LP / Coffee Mug 11 copies
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