Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Classic Rock Videos

Can't have a 'Classic Rock Video' series with the "Fat Man"

Music News-new vinyl releases

Snow Patrol will release their new album on CD, DVD and vinyl, with a Special Edition package also available.

Fans who were up early this morning had the chance to hear a special Snow Patrol gig live from the band's living room, broadcast on BBC Radio 1.

The band played the special living room acoustic set on Joe Whiley's show, featuring the new single 'Take Back The City', which is available for download from October 5, and on general release October 13.

The single is the first to be taken from the new Snow Patrol album A Hundred Million Suns, which is out here on October 24.

As well as the standard CD and DVD releases, the album will also be out in a Special Edition package with two behind-the-scenes docs following the band through rehearsals and into the studio, and on double gatefold vinyl.

http://www.hotpress.com/

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LONDON, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- British rocker David Gilmour recalls his 2006 concert in Gdansk, Poland, as "a great, great show," which is why he's preserved it on CD and DVD.

The Pink Floyd guitarist was planning "to make a live album out of the show tour" supporting his latest solo album, "On An Island." But the Gdansk show, staged at the city's historic shipyards and featuring an orchestra, changed his mind.

"It's slightly not representative of all the shows from the tour," Gilmour said, "but so many of the best (songs) for the album seemed to come from that night, anyway.

"So in the end we thought, 'Oh, we'll just do the whole (album) from Gdansk. That's the one we'll do. It'll be great."

"Live in Gdansk" is available in five different CD, DVD and vinyl album combinations.

The album also features one of the last recorded performances of Pink Floyd keyboardist and Gilmour band member Richard Wright, who died Sept. 15 of cancer at age 65.

http://www.upi.com

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UK's What Records is taking pre-orders for AC/DC's new album, "Black Ice", as a limited heavyweight vinyl, deluxe packaged (book) CD and CD album. The vinyl will come with an exclusive AC/DC badge. Anyone ordering the CD or limited CD before October 1 will also get a badge.

This Date In Music History- September 24

Birthdays:

Gerry Marsden of Gerry & the Pacemakers ("Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying") turns 66.

Barbara (1940) and Jiggs (1942) Allbut of the Angels ("My Boyfriend's Back") are born-- same day, different years.

History:

Jimi Hendrix and Chas Chandler, former bassist with the Animals, flew from New York to London in 1966. There, Hendrix will form a new band and Chandler will become the manager of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. En route, they decide to change the guitarist's name from Jimmy to Jimi.

The late Linda McCartney ("Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" with husband Paul) was born in 1942.

Alan Freed's "Mr. Rock 'n' Roll" movie, with appearances by Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon, LaVern Baker, Little Richard and others, premiered in New York City in 1957.

John Lennon appeared as a guest on The Dick Cavett Show in 1971.

Memphis played host to the first Elvis Presley convention in 1977.

Nirvana's "Nevermind" was released in 1991.

Fleetwood Mac`s "Don`t Stop" peaked at #3 in 1977. However, an Arkansas fan, Bill Clinton, revives the song using as his presidential campaign theme song in '92.

Stamps designed by John Lennon to support a strike by postal workers were sold for $2,000 in 2003, double the pre-sale estimate, according to auctioneers at Sotheby's.

London`s Wembley Arena was the site of the 50th birthday party for the Fender Stratocaster guitar in 2004. Paul Rodgers, Joe Walsh and David Gilmour are among those who attended. Proceeds from the event went to the Nordiff-Robbins Music Therapy charity.

In 1962, Elvis Presley received an invitation to appear at the Royal Variety Performance, a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom which was attended by senior members of the British Royal Family. Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker graciously declined, citing motion picture commitments. The real reason was that Parker was an illegal Dutch immigrant living in the United States who feared he may not be allowed to return if he left the country.

The Association had their first number one single with "Cherish" in 1966. The song had been released in August and within two months would be a million seller, remaining at the top of the US Pop charts for nearly a month. Oddly, it did not do well overseas, perhaps because of poor distribution. Only when the song was re-recorded by David Cassidy in 1971, did "Cherish" become an international hit.

In 1988, Bobby McFerrin's a cappella tune, "Don't Worry, Be Happy" hit the top of the record charts, not only in the US but in almost every country in the world. The song would go on to win Grammy Awards for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year. It made #2 in the UK. During his career, McFerrin has become a ten-time Grammy Award winner.

Elvis Presley was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1998.

Judy Garland made her TV debut on the "Ford Star Jubilee" on CBS in 1955.

After suing for wrongful dismissal, Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler collects a $2.5 million settlement from the band in 1993. He alleged that his bandmates threw him out of the group for his heroin habit, after encouraging him to take the drug in the first place. That'll teach 'em.

Album Cover Art

Let's continue our look at album cover art, a list compiled by Gigwise.com:

Controversial

35. Serge Gainsbourg: ‘Histoire De Melodie Nelson’ Who? What? And an image of a underage girl with no top? Yeah, that will sell your music.

Histoire de Melody Nelson is a 1971 concept album by controversial French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. The Lolita-esque pseudo-autobiographical plot involves the middle-aged Gainsbourg unintentionally colliding his 26-horsepower 1910 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost into teenage nymphet Melody Nelson's bicycle, and the subsequent seduction and romance that ensues. Histoire de Melody Nelson is considered by many critics and fans to be Gainsbourg's most influential and accomplished album.

At just under twenty-eight minutes, the short running time and the stylistic consistency and similarity throughout the album gives it qualities more in line with an EP or an extended musical piece with a number of movements. Histoire de Melody Nelson‘s mix of freewheeling guitar, funk style bass guitar, near spoken word vocal delivery, and lush, deep orchestrated string and choral arrangements by Jean-Claude Vannier have proven to be highly influential amongst later francophone and anglophone musical performers including the French band Air, David Holmes, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, Portishead, and Beck, whose 2002 track "Paper Tiger" from Sea Change is extremely close to the distinctive Histoire de Melody Nelson sound.

Oh, now that explains it all, the guy was a perv.

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Weird


35. Gerhard Polt: 'Leberkas Hawaii' Gerhard Polt (born May 7, 1942 in Munich) is a Bavarian writer, filmmaker, actor and satirical cabaret artist. Gerhard Polt often performs using Bavarian dialect. His main topics are Bavarian people, culture and politics. His performances in Munich theaters, which he started in 1976, are very popular. 1979 he became known to a wider audience in Germany by his TV-comedy-series “Fast wia im richtigen Leben” (Almost like in real life). In the following years, he was writer and actor in the movies “Kehraus” (1983), “Man spricht deutsh” (1987), “Germanikus” (2004), and writer and director of “Herr Ober!” (1992).

I'll have his head on a platter- errrr...wait there it is....obviously album cover design was not one of his strong suits.

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Worst


35. Butthole Surfers – ‘Brown Reason To Live’- Love the band name and I would think that is more of a controversial cover than worst (I have seen worse) Nonetheless, here it is at #35 on Gigwise's list. Hmmm I wonder if Gibby posed for the cover.

Butthole Surfers is the debut studio EP by American punk band Butthole Surfers, released in July 1983. It is also known as Brown Reason to Live and Pee Pee the Sailor (see "Title controversy"). All songs were written and produced by the Butthole Surfers. The album was originally released on Alternative Tentacles. Butthole Surfers and 1984's Live PCPPEP were reissued as the Butthole Surfers/Live PCPPEP CD on Latino Buggerveil in 2003. The 12-inch vinyl version is still available from Alternative Tentacles, and is listed as Brown Reason to Live.

The Surfers introduced themselves to the world with seven songs full of throbbing bass, crashing drums, and heavily distorted guitar topped off with largely nonsensical, barely intelligible lyrics, alternately sung by lead vocalist Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary. Haynes also plays saxophone on some tracks. Unlike later Surfers albums, no electronic instrumentation is present.

Though this EP is also known as Brown Reason to Live and Pee Pee the Sailor, Butthole Surfers is its official title. First, "Butthole Surfers" were the only words to appear on the front cover of its original release. Furthermore, Latino Buggerveil's 2003 reissue of the EP, together with 1984's Live PCPPEP on a single CD, is titled Butthole Surfers/Live PCPPEP. Perhaps most importantly, it is listed as Butthole Surfers in the "Discography" section of the band's official website.

That said, Brown Reason to Live has a strong claim to title rights, and many fans refer to it by that name. The 12-inch vinyl edition was, and still is, sold as Brown Reason to Live through original label Alternative Tentacles, but it is unclear if it was initially released as such. Also, though the words "Brown Reason to Live" did not appear on the original album's packaging, they were included below the band's name on later Alternative Tentacles printings (see image).[3] Finally, Latino Buggerveil's reissue of this album is listed as Brown Reason to Live (together with Live PCPPEP) on iTunes.

(alternate cover)
As for Pee Pee the Sailor, the album has never been officially released or marketed under that name. That title is derived from Alternative Tentacles' vinyl editions, which include a cartoon of a Popeye-esque character with buttocks for a face printed on the record's center label, and the words "Pee Pee the Sailor" written next to it. This cartoon is in addition to the label's humorous suggestion that listeners play the record at 69 RPM.

Gotta love the names, whatever it may be called.

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Best


35. David Bowie: ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars’ - Finally, a cover I can relate to and have in my collection. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is a 1972 concept album by English rock musician David Bowie. It peaked at number five in the United Kingdom and number 75 in the United States on the Billboard Music Charts. A concert film of the same name directed by D.A. Pennebaker was released in 1973. The location of the cover has since taken on legendary status with Bowie fans (similar to that of Abbey Road for Beatles’ followers).

The album presents the story, albeit vaguely, of "Ziggy Stardust," the human representative of an alien being who is hoping to present humanity with a message of hope in the last five years of its existence. Ziggy Stardust is the definitive rock star: sexually promiscuous, wild in drug intake and with a message, ultimately, of peace and love; but he is destroyed both by his own excesses of drugs and sex, and by the fans he inspired. The real-life inspiration for Ziggy was chiefly Vince Taylor. Bowie claimed that the name came from a tailor's shop in London called Ziggy's.

Bowie later told Rolling Stone it was "one of the few Christian names I could find beginning with the letter 'Z'." "Stardust" comes from one of Bowie's labelmates, a country singer named Norman Carl Odam, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy. Bowie covered a Legendary Stardust Cowboy song, "I Took a Trip (On a Gemini Spaceship)" thirty years later on Heathen.

A great addition to any LP collection, this, to me, was Bowie's crowning acheivement.