Thursday, June 16, 2011

Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

Coldplay To Release 'Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall' On Vinyl

Coldplay have announced that their comeback single 'Every Teardrop is a Waterfall' will be released on 7" vinyl on June 27.

The band released the single digitally on June 4, but will feature a new B-side, Major Minus, to go with the single's formal release.

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fantastic write up about a musician's love of vinyl

Indie Seen

Drive-By Truckers

by Carrie Humphries

Performing for the first time in Waterloo, Georgia based southern rock outfit Drive-By Truckers are on tour in support of their latest effort Go-Go Boots (February, 2011). On the phone with guitar/bass and vocalist, Patterson Hood, we talked about the record, DBT’s push to continue releasing vinyl and of course Shonna’s cooking (which, I’m told she’s long quit doing for the band).

At the time of our conversation, Hood was riding high on the tide of the tour. The release was met with critical rave and review and became an instant hit with fans. “It makes me very happy. I’m really glad. You never know when you make a record – you don’t know if other people are going to like it,” Hood says in his smooth southern accent. “I’ve been really happy with this response from everybody.” And in part of releasing the album, the band once again had it also pressed on vinyl. “(It’s) what I buy so when you work so hard for a record and it doesn’t come out on a format that I would buy then I feel kind of weird about it,” he explains. “Literally, it’s all I buy – vinyl. I have a turn table hooked up and I don’t own a cd player anymore except for in the car and I hardly ever use it. I love my records. I’ve been collecting records since I was eight years old which was a long time ago so I’ve got a pretty good record collection. And I would hate it if our records couldn’t be in it. I may not sit around listening to my records but I want mine to be in there. It took years to convince them to put our records out on vinyl, and then when they finally did, they sold real well. Go figure.”

Read the rest at echoweekly.com

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The vinyl countdown

As he nears his 28th birthday, jazz musician Pokey LaFarge tells Rob Adams why a young guy like him loves recording 78s

We’ve become well used to bands promoting their new recordings from the stage, be they CDs, downloads or the vinyl that quite rightly refuses to follow its supposed chosen path into obsolescence.

But Pokey LaFarge And The South City Three can go one better than that.

The Louisville, Kentucky-born, St Louis-based LaFarge, whose celebration of early jazz, blues, western swing and bluegrass has been taking events such as Celtic Connections and Shetland and Denmark’s Tonder folk festivals by storm lately, can offer audiences a new CD, a recently released 7” single that was produced by Jack White no less, and the first of several planned 78 rpm discs for that extra taste of old-time authenticity.

A collector of 78s himself, LaFarge was elated to be offered a chance to follow his heroes such as Bessie Smith, Jimmie Rodgers and Bob Wills on to a format that’s clearly close to his heart after meeting Lewis Durham, of vintage Americana specialists, siblings Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, in London last year. When not playing gigs with his sisters, Durham is a deejay specialising in old shellac records. He set up a recording studio at home so that the trio could record the music they love in the way it was recorded originally. His label only releases 78s by musicians whose sound suits the medium.

“It’s a thrill as well as an honour,” says LaFarge of the experience of being presented with a 78 bearing his name. “Lewis records just as it was done in the 1930s. He uses studio equipment that came from the old BBC studios and we laid down two songs straight to tape, no overdubs, just the live performance. The only problem is finding enough shellac, but Lewis seems to be able to find supplies. I think he scares up old unwanted and broken 78s and melts them down.”

Read the rest at heraldscotland.com


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New Metallica Music!



Metallica posted the an update online regarding talk of a new album:

"A few months ago our own Kirk Hammett hinted at a new Metallica project that’s 'not really 100 percent a Metallica record.' While Kirk may have jumped the gun a little (and has since been properly punished with a series of push-ups!), we are more than proud to announce that we have just completed recording a full length album that is a collaboration with none other than the legendary Lou Reed.

"Ever since we had the pleasure of performing with Lou at the 25th Anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at Madison Square Garden in October of 2009, we have been kicking around the idea of making a record together. Some of you astute Bay Area residents may have picked up news of recent Lou Reed sightings in the greater San Francisco area and we have indeed been working at our home studio at HQ on and off over the last few months. In what would be lightning speed for a Metallica related project, we recorded ten songs during this time and while at this moment we’re not exactly sure when you’ll hear it, we’re beyond excited to share with you that the recording sessions wrapped up last week.

"A true innovator and easily one of the most influential songwriters, musicians, and performers in rock music history, Lou‘s work with the Velvet Underground and as a solo artist has such an enduring quality that he has long been revered and respected by us and many of our peers. We can’t wait for you to listen to the finished record, so as we like to hear ourselves say around here, keep watching this spot for updates...we’ll be back with more details as they come together."

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Cassette sales and production still popular

by HOLLY YOUNG

Bands use tapes for rare tracks


Don’t pawn your parents’ dusty tape player just yet: cassettes are making a comeback.

You won’t find new cars with cassette decks anymore, and last year Sony officially stopped manufacturing Walkman cassette players. But for some people, tapes — like records — evoke a sense of nostalgia.

Collectors say there’s a personal feel one gets from holding a tangible format that one cannot get with digital, and that seems to be why cassettes are still “in.”

“CDs are just boring and pointless middlemen now,” said Steve Miller, owner of Athens-based music label Hail Shitar. “I love digital music and iPods etc, but that is for listening only. A tape or vinyl release is for owning and exploring.”

Todd Ploharski, owner of downtown music shop Low Yo Yo Stuff, said that within some genres, particularly underground and experimental, cassettes have remained popular since the ‘80s. These groups have spurred a tape resurgence, preferring the rich analogue sound over digital music.

Read the rest of this intriguing story at redandblack.com

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and in music history for the day:

In 1956, a 31-year-old woman named Gogi Grant knocked Elvis out of Billboard's number one spot with a song called "The Wayward Wind". It was a tune that she recorded almost as an after thought, with just fifteen minutes of studio time remaining. Six weeks later, Elvis would be back on top with "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You".

Also in 1956, Patti Page saw what would be her biggest hit, "Allegheny Moon" enter the Billboard chart, where it would reach #2 during a 22 week run. In all, the Oklahoma native would place sixteen songs in the Top 40 between 1954 and 1965.

In 1965, Herman's Hermits were awarded their first Gold record for "Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter". The song was originally an album cut that got so much air play in the US, MGM Records released it as a single.



In 1967, over 200,000 people attended the first Monterey Pop Festival this week in 1967. Many of the leading Rock acts of the time appeared, including Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Simon and Garfunkel, Canned Heat, The Mamas and The Papas, The Grateful Dead, Eric Burdon and The Animals, The Association, Booker T. and The MGs, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, The Byrds, David Crosby and Steve Miller,. John Phillips of The Mamas and The Papas would later write, "San Francisco" (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair) about the festival, which became a big hit for Scott McKenzie later in the year.

Captain Beefheart released 'Trout Mask Replica' in 1969.

In 1970, Woodstock Ventures announced that they had lost more than $1.2 million on the festival. They would eventually profit from the sale of the Woodstock sound track and related memorabilia.

In 1975, John Lennon filed suit against the U.S. government saying they had selectively prosecuted him to deny his immigration.

The film Grease, with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, premiered in 1978.

The film The Blues Brothers premiered in Chicago in 1980.

In 1982, Pretenders guitarist, 25 year old James Honeyman Scott, died in his sleep in London, England. The official cause of death is "cocaine related heart failure."

In 1993, the U.S. Postal Service released a set of seven stamps that featured Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Clyde McPhatter, Otis Redding, Ritchie Valens, Dinah Washington and Elvis Presley.

In 1994, Kristen Pfaff (Hole) died of a heroin overdose at the age of 26.

In 1996, the two-day Tibetan Freedom Concert is held in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, CA. Over 100,000 attend. Artists included Rage Against the Machine, Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Lee Hooker, Beck, Sonic Youth, Yoko Ono, and Richie Havens.

In 1997, the Radiohead album "OK Computer" was released.

In 2002, nearly twenty-five years after his death, Elvis Presley was number one again in the UK. A remix of his "A Little Less Conversation" by Dutch disc jockey JXL claimed the top spot on the British singles charts, bringing the King's total of chart-topping hits to eighteen, one more than the Beatles' current tally.

birthdays today include Eddie Levert (O'Jays) (69) and Billy "Crash" Craddock (72)



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