Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

awesome write up from toledo ohio, long live record stores!

Vinyl-LP seller goes back behind counter

BY TYREL LINKHORN BLADE BUSINESS WRITER

Amjad Doumani, who owned a record store in Toledo from 1987 to 1994, has reopened a storefront business downtown at 137 N. Michigan street. When Amjad Doumani closed his record store at the end of 1994 and began taking orders online and by mail, he always hoped he'd again find himself selling LPs and music memorabilia from behind the counter.

Seventeen years later, he is.

In late January, Mr. Doumani reopened B-Bop Records at 137 N. Michigan St. in downtown Toledo. He likes to say his music store is both the oldest and newest in Toledo.

Though the business has been successful in its online form, it wasn't quite the same.

"For me, the thing I missed the most about having a storefront were the relationships I cultivated with my clientele. That's what's great about independent businesses and businesses like B-Bop Records," he said. "When someone comes in here, you know what they like, what they don't like, and you can turn them on to [new music]."

Please read the rest at toledoblade.com

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The Beatles' Yellow Submarine Feature Film Restored for May Release on DVD and Blu-ray; Film's Songtrack Album to be Reissued

Once upon a time ... or maybe twice ... there was an unearthly paradise called Pepperland ...

LONDON, March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Beatles' classic 1968 animated feature film, Yellow Submarine, has been digitally restored for DVD and Blu-ray release on May 28 (May 29 in North America). The film's songtrack album will be reissued on CD on the same date.

Currently out of print, the film has been restored in 4K digital resolution for the first time by Paul Rutan Jr. and his team of specialists at Triage Motion Picture Services and Eque Inc. Due to the delicate nature of the hand-drawn original artwork, no automated software was used in the digital clean-up of the film's restored photochemical elements. This was all done by hand, frame by frame.

Bonus features for the Yellow Submarine DVD and Blu-ray include a short making-of documentary titled "Mod Odyssey" (TRT: 7:30), the film's original theatrical trailer, audio commentary by producer John Coates and art director Heinz Edelmann, several brief interview clips with others involved with the film, storyboard sequences, 29 original pencil drawings and 30 behind-the-scenes photos. Both Digipak packages will include reproductions of animation cels from the film, collectible stickers, and a 16-page booklet with a new essay by Yellow Submarine aficionado John Lasseter (Chief Creative Officer, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios).

Lasseter writes in his essay, "As a fan of animation and as a filmmaker, I tip my hat to the artists of Yellow Submarine, whose revolutionary work helped pave the way for the fantastically diverse world of animation that we all enjoy today."

Directed by George Dunning, and written by Lee Minoff, Al Brodax, Jack Mendelsohn and Erich Segal, Yellow Submarine began its voyage to the screen when Brodax, who had previously produced nearly 40 episodes of ABC's animated Beatles TV series, approached The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein with a unique vision for a full-length animated feature.

Yellow Submarine, based upon a song by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, is a fantastic tale brimming with peace, love, and hope, propelled by Beatles songs, including "Eleanor Rigby," "When I'm Sixty-Four," "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," "All You Need Is Love," and "It's All Too Much." When the film debuted in 1968, it was instantly recognized as a landmark achievement, revolutionizing a genre by integrating the freestyle approach of the era with innovative animation techniques.

Inspired by the generation's new trends in art, the film resides with the dazzling Pop Art styles of Andy Warhol, Martin Sharp, Alan Aldridge and Peter Blake. With art direction and production design by Heinz Edelmann, Yellow Submarine is a classic of animated cinema, featuring the creative work of animation directors Robert Balser and Jack Stokes with a team of animators and technical artists.

"I thought from the very beginning that the film should be a series of interconnected shorts," remembers Edelmann. "The style should vary every five minutes or so to keep the interest going until the end."

These styles included melding live-action photography with animation, 3-dimensional sequences and kaleidoscopic "rotoscoping" where film is traced frame by frame into drawings. The entire process took nearly two years, 14 different scripts, 40 animators and 140 technical artists, ultimately producing a groundbreaking triumph of animation.

On April 24, Candlewick Press will release a new, compact hardcover edition of the Yellow Submarine picture book, a read-aloud journey for the whole family. Featuring the lighthearted wit of the film's script alongside original artwork from the movie that has charmed children and adults through several generations, the beautiful, 40-page book will be sold by retailers everywhere and on the Beatles Store

An interactive digital version of the book is also available as a free download on Apple's iBookstore for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch at www.iTunes.com/TheBeatles

www.thebeatles.com

Yellow Submarine synopsis:
Once upon a time ... or maybe twice, there was an unearthly paradise called Pepperland, a place where happiness and music reigned supreme. But all that was threatened when the terrible Blue Meanies declared war and sent in their army led by a menacing Flying Glove to destroy all that was good. Enter John, Paul, George and Ringo to save the day! Armed with little more than their humor, songs, and of course, their yellow submarine, The Beatles tackle the rough seas ahead in an effort to bring down the evil forces of bluedom.

Production credits
Running Time: 89 minutes
Director - George Dunning
Producer - Al Brodax
Screen story - Lee Minoff
Screenplay - Lee Minoff, Al Brodax, Jack Mendelsohn, and Erich Segal
Art Director - Heinz Edelmann
Animation directors - Robert Balser and Jack Stokes
Production Executive - John Coates
Music Producer and Supervisor - George Martin

Featuring music by The Beatles


Yellow Submarine [DVD, Blu-ray]
Feature film [TRT: 89:00]
Fully restored in 4K and presented in the original aspect ratio of 1:66-1

Audio options:
English 5.1 DTS
German 5.1 DTS
Italian 5.1 DTS
English Dolby Stereo
Original Mono

Audio Commentary – Heinz Edelmann (Art Director) and John Coates (Producer)


Subtitle languages (feature only):
English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Polish, Finnish, Japanese

Extra features:
Mod Odyssey documentary [TRT: 7:30]
Original theatrical trailer [TRT: 3:30]


Storyboard sequences:
- Sea of Monsters (split screen footage) [TRT: 4:20]
- Battle of the Monsters [118 images]
- Pepperland [64 images]

Interviews:
- Paul Angelis (voice of Ringo and Chief Blue Meanie) [TRT: 1:39]
- John Clive (voice of John) [TRT: 2:03]
- David Livesey (key animator) [TRT: 1:11]
- Millicent McMillan (Heinz Edelmann's assistant) [TRT: 1:12]
- Jack Stokes (animation director) [TRT: 3:42]
- Erich Segal (co-writer) [TRT: 1:38]

Original pencil drawings [29 images]
Behind-the-scenes photos [30 images]

Yellow Submarine Songtrack [CD]
1. Yellow Submarine
2. Hey Bulldog
3. Eleanor Rigby
4. Love You To
5. All Together Now
6. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
7. Think For Yourself
8. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
9. With A Little Help From My Friends
10. Baby, You're A Rich Man
11. Only A Northern Song
12. All You Need Is Love
13. When I'm Sixty-Four
14. Nowhere Man
15. It's All Too Much

SOURCE Apple Corps Ltd./EMI Music

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new details coming in for record store day (expect many more in the coming days!)

'The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends' Record Store Day Release

The Flaming Lips are busy compiling various collaborations from the last year for a special Record Store Day. Here are the details

'The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends' will contain 13 tracks, many that have been unreleased. Efforts with Neon Indian, Prefuse 73, and Lightning Bolt will be included and the new compilation also adds new collaborations with Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Bon Iver, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Nick Cave, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Yoko Ono, Erykah Badu, and Biz Markie. The limited-edition LP will be pressed on two high-quality, multi-color 12″ vinyl discs that are housed in separate custom art jackets and a press release states that no two discs will look exactly alike and cautions that this will be on the only pressing. In addition to the compilation, the band have teamed with Mastodon for a split 7″ single as part of the Side by Side 2012 Series available exclusively for Record Store Day. One side features The Lips’ Soft Bulletin track “Spoonful Weighs a Ton," while the B-side contains Mastodon’s cover of it.



Tracklist:
side 1:
1. 2012 (feat. Ke$ha and Biz Markie)
2. Ashes In The Air (feat. Bon Iver)
3. Helping The Retarded To Know God (feat. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros)


side 2:
4. Supermoon Made Me Want To Pee (feat. Prefuse 73)
5. Children Of The Moon (feat. Tame Impala)
6. That Ain’t My Trip (feat. Jim James of My Morning Jacket)
7. You, Man? Human? (feat. Nick Cave)

side 3:
8. I’m Working At NASA On Acid (feat. Lightning Bolt)
9. Do It! (feat. Yoko Ono)
10. Is David Bowie Dying? (feat. Neon Indian)


side 4:
11. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (feat. Erykah Badu)
12. Thunder Drops (feat. New Fumes)
13. I Don’t Want You To Die (feat. Chris Martin of Coldplay)

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Neil Young & Crazy Horse Detail New Album

Neil Young has once again teamed up with old pals Crazy Horse for his next album called 'Americana,' which is scheduled to hits the streets on June 5, 2012. According to Rolling Stone, the album was produced by Young and John Hanlon with Mark Humphreys at Audio Casa Blanca.

No word about a vinyl release, however, I would bet that Young (and knowing his loyal fans will be clamoring for it) will issue the effort via vinyl soon after.

Tracklist:
1. Oh Susannah
2. Clementine
3. Tom Dooley
4. Gallows Pole
5. Get A Job
6. Travel On
7. High Flyin’ Bird
8. She’ll Be Comin ’Round The Mountain
9. This Land Is Your Land
10. Wayfarin’ Stranger
11. God Save The Queen

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and in music history for march 20th:

In 1957, Bobby Helms had his biggest single, "Fraulein", reach the US Country chart. The song eventually hit number 1, spending 52 weeks on the chart, longer than any other Country song of the 1950s. Later in the year, he had another number one record with "My Special Angel". Bobby released "Jingle Bell Rock" in November and would return to the US Top 40 on two other occasions.

In 1959, Bobby Rydell made his first TV appearance, on "American Bandstand."

In 1960, Elvis Presley enters a Nashville recording studio for the first time since being discharged from the US Army. A twelve hour session will produce his next single, "Stuck On You", which will top the Billboard chart a month later. Scotty Moore and Bill Black, who had quit Presley's touring band in 1957, are in the studio with him for the last time.

In 1961, Ricky Nelson records "Hello Mary Lou", which would climb to number 9 in the US by early May.

Also in 1961, the top tune in the US was Elvis Presley's "Surrender," which used updated lyrics put to a melody that was written in 1911 as "Come Back To Sorrento". The song would also reach #1 in the UK.

In 1964, the Beatles were given a special award by Billboard magazine in recognition of their holding the top three positions on the charts. The Fab Four also made their first appearance on the British TV show "Ready Steady Go!," lip-syncing "Can't Buy Me Love," "It Won't Be Long," and "You Can't Do That."

Also in the Beatles released "Can't Buy Me Love" in the UK in 1964.

In 1965, the first Motown tour of the U.K. opens with Martha & the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, the Supremes and the Temptations.

In 1968, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Richie Furay and Jim Mesina are arrested at Stephen Stills' house in Los Angeles for "being at a place where it is suspected marijuana is being used." It's a misdemeanor for which Clapton will be found innocent while the others paid small fines.

In 1969, after days of looking for a suitable, legal place, John Lennon married Yoko Ono in the British Consulate Office at the Rock of Gibraltar in Spain, a piece of land still owned by the English and described by Lennon as being necessarily "quiet, friendly, and British." Later, in the Beatles song "The Ballad Of John And Yoko," he described the site as "Gibraltar, near Spain," unintentionally adding fuel to the fire of an international controversy, as England and Spain were then at odds over the area's ownership.

In 1970, David Bowie marries American-born model Angela Barnett. She is often said to be the subject of the Rolling Stones' tune, "Angie".

In 1972, Ringo Starr released "Back Off, Boogaloo." "Boogaloo" was Ringo's nickname for Paul McCartney. The song was Ringo urging Paul to stop his snide remarks in the press about the other Beatles, and just make good music.

On this day in 1972, "Heart Of Gold" by Neil Young was the #1 song. The song, which features backup vocals of James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, is one of a series of soft acoustic pieces which were written partly as a result of a back injury. Unable to stand for long periods of time, Young could not play his electric guitar and so returned to his acoustic guitar, which he could play sitting down. "Heart of Gold" was taped during the initial sessions for Harvest in early 1971 at Quadrafonic Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. Ronstadt and Taylor were in Nashville at the time for an appearance on Johnny Cash's television program, and the album's producer Elliot Mazer arranged for them to sing backup for Young in the studio.  In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it #297 on their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.



"Young Blood" by Bad Company was released in 1976.

Also in 1976, Boz Scaggs' biggest album, 'Silk Degrees' makes its first appearance on the Billboard chart, where it will climb to #2. It's his seventh solo album, but the first to go Platinum. Among the accompanying studio musicians were David Paich, Jeff Porcaro, Steve Porcaro and David Hungate, who would go on to form the band Toto.

In 1977, T-Rex played their final gig when they appeared at The Locarno in Portsmouth, England.

In 1980, 28 year old Joseph Riviera took over the Asylum Records office in New York and demanded to see either Jackson Browne or The Eagles, wanting them to finance his trucking operation. He surrendered when told that neither act was in the office.

In 1982, Buckner & Garcia performed "Pac-Man Fever" on "American Bandstand."

In 1982, Joan Jett And The Blackhearts started a seven week run at #1 on the US singles chart with "I Love Rock 'n' Roll". It was a #4 hit in the UK.

In 1989, Dick Clark announces his retirement from American Bandstand. On April 8th, comedian David Hirsch would take over, but the show was never the same and came to an end on October 7th. It continued to tape live at the Harrah's Club and Casino in Reno, Nevada, and aired locally until the mid-1990s.

In 1990, Gloria Estefan and her band are injured in a bus accident near Scranton, PA.

In 1991, Eric Clapton's four year old son, Conor, fell to his death from the 53rd story of a New York City apartment window. The boy was in the custody of his mother, Italian actress, Lori Del Santo and the pair were visiting a friend's apartment. The housekeeper had just cleaned a room and opened the window to air it out. Eric was staying in a nearby hotel after taking his son to the circus the previous evening. The tragedy inspired his song "Tears in Heaven."

Also in 1991, it was announced that Michael Jackson and Sony signed a contract that gave an $18 million advance for the forthcoming album "Dangerous." The contract also made Jackson the CEO of the newly formed Nation Records (which changed its name to MJJ). The deal was reported to be worth $1 billion.

"Baby It's You," by the Beatles, was released in 1995.

In 2002, EMI announced they would be ridding their roster of 400 acts in an attempt to save $140 million.

In 2003, on the day war breaks out in Iraq, Bruce Springsteen opens his Australian concert with "Born in the U.S.A." and "War."

Also in 2003, the South Carolina House of Representatives passed a resolution asking the Dixie Chicks to apologize for statements made about then president Bush and put on a concert for returning troops.

birthdays today include (among others): Douglas Green (Riders in the Sky) (66), Carl Palmer (Atomic Rooster, Emerson Lake &Palmer, Asia) (62), Guy Perry (Motels) (61), Richard Drummie (Go West) (53), Alex Kapranos (Franz Ferdinand) (40) and Chester Bennington (Linkin Park) (36)