By Natalie Finn
Los Angeles (E! Online) - More than 30 years later, the Beatles' records are still golden.
A recently unearthed reel-to-reel tape of what is believed to be a Fab Four recording session from 1964 was auctioned online Tuesday for 9,300 pounds, or $23,44(including tax and handling fees), according to Cameo Auctioneers in the Berkshire village of Midgham.
On the 30-minute tape, one can hear the banter taking place between Paul McCartney and John Lennon as the group tries to get through a take of "I'll Follow the Sun," which is on the album Beatles for Sale (Beatles '65 in the U.S.), without collapsing into giggles.
"It's just going to get funnier and funnier as the evening goes on," Lennon says.
"I'll Follow the Sun," which continues on to side two after beginning toward the end of side one, is preceded by renditions of "Don't Put Me Down Like This," "I Feel Fine," "She's a Woman," "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" and "Honey Don't."
The side-two tracks include "I'm a Loser," Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business," the Hollies' "Nitty Gritty" and "Something's Got a Hold on Me" and the gospel tune "I Shall Not Be Moved."
The auction house told BBC News the buyer wished to remain anonymous and would only confirm that a man, whose dad once worked in the music biz, discovered the tape in his father's attic in northern England.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Rolling Stone Reader's List: Best Final Album
This week, Rolling Stone asked their readers to pick the best final albums in an artists career. This, of course, severely narrowed the field as the only eligible recordings would be from groups that have broken up or solo artists that had passed on and it even left the Rolling Stone editors needing to disqualify a few named albums. Both the Velvet Underground's Loaded and the Doors' L.A. Woman were removed as they technically were not final albums.
The winner, though, by a large margin, was the Beatles' Abbey Road. This alone could confuse some as the last Beatles studio album was Let It Be, but Abbey Road was the last album the group recorded together. Let it Be was just released last as the group had been unhappy with the sessions and didn't allow it to hit the streets until some retooling by Phil Spector.
The list:
1) Abbey Road - Beatles
2) Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix Experience
3) In Utero - Nirvana
4) Sublime - Sublime
5) Pink Moon - Nick Drake
6) Closer - Joy Division
7) Down on the Upside - Soundgarden
8) Synchronicity - Police
9) Anodyne - Uncle Tupelo
10) Reinventing the Steel - Pantera
11) The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory - Tupac Shakur
12) Uprising - Bob Marley and the Wailers
13) Strangeways Here We Come - Smiths
14) Grace - Jeff Buckley
15) Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
The winner, though, by a large margin, was the Beatles' Abbey Road. This alone could confuse some as the last Beatles studio album was Let It Be, but Abbey Road was the last album the group recorded together. Let it Be was just released last as the group had been unhappy with the sessions and didn't allow it to hit the streets until some retooling by Phil Spector.
The list:
1) Abbey Road - Beatles
2) Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix Experience
3) In Utero - Nirvana
4) Sublime - Sublime
5) Pink Moon - Nick Drake
6) Closer - Joy Division
7) Down on the Upside - Soundgarden
8) Synchronicity - Police
9) Anodyne - Uncle Tupelo
10) Reinventing the Steel - Pantera
11) The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory - Tupac Shakur
12) Uprising - Bob Marley and the Wailers
13) Strangeways Here We Come - Smiths
14) Grace - Jeff Buckley
15) Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
New Releases
New West Records proudly introduces Norah Jones: "Live From Austin, TX," the latest DVD release from the acclaimed PBS Austin City Limits television series. Taken from the full ACL concert that was then edited into the half hour TV show, the DVD contains previously unreleased performances. The 18 song disc was filmed in Hi-Definition and has DTS 5.1Surround Sound. Norah Jones: Live From Austin, TX, will be the first release from the series available as a Limited Edition 180 gram vinyl record. Vinyl will be available on August 5, 2008 with the DVD in stores September 2, 2008.
Grammy Award winning artist Norah Jones recorded this stunning ACL performance on June 14, 2007, the second time the young artist has graced ACL's stage. Jones' music has touches of smoky jazz, country twang and Memphis soul that permeate her original songs. Her emotional, seductive performance is captured on the intimate DVD whether she is playing guitar on “Come Away With Me" or piano on “Don't Know Why." In addition to her own songs, Norah also plays a few covers including “Hands On The Wheel, “ made famous by Willie Nelson and Roy Orbison's “Blue Bayou." Norah shares the stage with The Handsome Band as well as special guests J. Walter Hawkes and M. Ward.
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New Metallica Album Gets Release Date
Aug 05, 2008
A release date's been set for the new Metallica album.
The band's "Death Magnetic" will enjoy a rare Friday release, finding its way into stores Sept. 12 from Warner Bros, bucking the usual practice of dropping new albums into stores on Tuesdays. No reasons for the oddball release date were revealed by the band or its label.
Death Magnetic's track listing is:
That Was Just Your Life
The End Of The Line
Broken, Beat and Scarred
The Day That Never Comes
All Nightmare Long
Cyanide
The Unforgiven III
The Judas Kiss
Suicide and Redemption
My Apocalypse
----------------------------------------------------------------------
James Taylor to Release Covers
Throughout James Taylor's career, he's made it a habit to throw in occasional cover songs among his numerous originals. A number have even made it on the charts, including Up on the Roof, Handy Man, How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved By You), Mockingbird and Devoted to You (the last two with ex-wife Carly Simon).
On September 30, Taylor will release an entire record of cover songs, appropriately titled Covers, on the Hear Music label. It is his first release of studio material since 2003's October Road and his second recording for Hear Music (the first being a live CD).
Included are songs originally done by everyone from Elvis Presley and the Drifters to Junior Walker and the Allstars and Glen Campbell.
The track list:
It's Growing
(I'm A) Road Runner
Wichita Lineman
Why Baby Why
Some Days You Gotta Dance
Seminole Wind
Suzanne
Hound Dog
Sadie
On Broadway
Summertime Blues
Not Fade Away
Grammy Award winning artist Norah Jones recorded this stunning ACL performance on June 14, 2007, the second time the young artist has graced ACL's stage. Jones' music has touches of smoky jazz, country twang and Memphis soul that permeate her original songs. Her emotional, seductive performance is captured on the intimate DVD whether she is playing guitar on “Come Away With Me" or piano on “Don't Know Why." In addition to her own songs, Norah also plays a few covers including “Hands On The Wheel, “ made famous by Willie Nelson and Roy Orbison's “Blue Bayou." Norah shares the stage with The Handsome Band as well as special guests J. Walter Hawkes and M. Ward.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
New Metallica Album Gets Release Date
Aug 05, 2008
A release date's been set for the new Metallica album.
The band's "Death Magnetic" will enjoy a rare Friday release, finding its way into stores Sept. 12 from Warner Bros, bucking the usual practice of dropping new albums into stores on Tuesdays. No reasons for the oddball release date were revealed by the band or its label.
Death Magnetic's track listing is:
That Was Just Your Life
The End Of The Line
Broken, Beat and Scarred
The Day That Never Comes
All Nightmare Long
Cyanide
The Unforgiven III
The Judas Kiss
Suicide and Redemption
My Apocalypse
----------------------------------------------------------------------
James Taylor to Release Covers
Throughout James Taylor's career, he's made it a habit to throw in occasional cover songs among his numerous originals. A number have even made it on the charts, including Up on the Roof, Handy Man, How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved By You), Mockingbird and Devoted to You (the last two with ex-wife Carly Simon).
On September 30, Taylor will release an entire record of cover songs, appropriately titled Covers, on the Hear Music label. It is his first release of studio material since 2003's October Road and his second recording for Hear Music (the first being a live CD).
Included are songs originally done by everyone from Elvis Presley and the Drifters to Junior Walker and the Allstars and Glen Campbell.
The track list:
It's Growing
(I'm A) Road Runner
Wichita Lineman
Why Baby Why
Some Days You Gotta Dance
Seminole Wind
Suzanne
Hound Dog
Sadie
On Broadway
Summertime Blues
Not Fade Away
This Date In Music History- August 5
Birthdays:
Renee Benson (my better half) celebrates her 39th birthday (again) on this date.
Samantha Sang ("Emotion") is 55.
Rick Derringer ("Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo" and leader of the McCoys) turns 61.
Born on this day in 1946, Jimmy Webb US singer and songwriter. Wrote the 1968 hit for Richard Harris 'MacArthur Park', plus 'Galveston', for Glen Campbell, 'Up Up and Away,” for the 5th Dimension.
Born on this day in 1942, Rick Huxley guitar of the Dave Clark Five.
History:
Today in 1978 the song "Miss You," by the Rolling Stones topped the charts and stayed there for a week. It reached #3 in the UK. It has been reported that the lyrics were inspired by Mick Jagger's deteriorating relationship with his wife, Bianca.
In Britain in 1966, the Beatles released "Revolver," frequently cited as the best album ever made. Certainly in my Top Ten list of classic albums.
Pink Floyd released their debut album, "Piper at the Gates of Dawn," in England in 1967.
In 1957, Sonny Bono was hired by Specialty Records as their Hollywood "artists & repertoire" man.
In 1972, Stevie Wonder signed a $13 million deal with Motown Records, the richest ever at that time.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young member David Crosby was sentenced to five years in jail in Texas in 1983 for cocaine and firearms offences. Crosby had slept through most of his trial. (the conviction was overturned after he spends less than a year in prison).
In 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home at the age of 36.
In 1972, Clive Davis signed a young band called Aerosmith to CBS Records after seeing them play Max's Kansas City in New York. They receive $125,000 for their services.
American Bandstand made its network debut on ABC-TV in 1957. The show was hosted by Dick Clark. Until this day the show had been a local show in Philadelphia since 1952. The first record Clark played on the network debut show was "That'll Be the Day" by Buddy Holly and his first guests were the Chordettes.
Drummer Jeff Porcaro, from Toto died age 38 in 1992. His death has been the subject of controversy: some say the attack was caused by an allergic reaction to garden pesticide, while others say Porcaro's heart was weakened by smoking and cocaine use. Porcaro also worked with many other acts including Sonny and Cher, Roger Waters, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Steely Dan, Paul Simon and Boz Scaggs.
A report by 560 UK undertakers in 2005 revealed that bereaved families preferred Pop songs to Hymns at funerals. "Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler was the most requested song, along with Robbie Williams "Angels,” Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" and Elton John's "Candle In The Wind.” Among the most unusual songs played was Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust".
Beatles fans feared the misuse of the Fab Four’s music had hit rock bottom in 2007 following the decision to license ‘All You Need Is Love’ for use in a diaper ad. Procter & Gamble had purchased the rights to use the song from Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which now owned Northern Songs, the Beatles’ catalogue. The ad featured a baby jumping on a teddy bear in a disposable diaper which offered “ultimate leak protection.” What a disgrace, Beatles music, or for that matter, any classic rock and roll, does not belong in advertisements pitching any product. There, I said it, and I feel much better.
Renee Benson (my better half) celebrates her 39th birthday (again) on this date.
Samantha Sang ("Emotion") is 55.
Rick Derringer ("Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo" and leader of the McCoys) turns 61.
Born on this day in 1946, Jimmy Webb US singer and songwriter. Wrote the 1968 hit for Richard Harris 'MacArthur Park', plus 'Galveston', for Glen Campbell, 'Up Up and Away,” for the 5th Dimension.
Born on this day in 1942, Rick Huxley guitar of the Dave Clark Five.
History:
Today in 1978 the song "Miss You," by the Rolling Stones topped the charts and stayed there for a week. It reached #3 in the UK. It has been reported that the lyrics were inspired by Mick Jagger's deteriorating relationship with his wife, Bianca.
In Britain in 1966, the Beatles released "Revolver," frequently cited as the best album ever made. Certainly in my Top Ten list of classic albums.
Pink Floyd released their debut album, "Piper at the Gates of Dawn," in England in 1967.
In 1957, Sonny Bono was hired by Specialty Records as their Hollywood "artists & repertoire" man.
In 1972, Stevie Wonder signed a $13 million deal with Motown Records, the richest ever at that time.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young member David Crosby was sentenced to five years in jail in Texas in 1983 for cocaine and firearms offences. Crosby had slept through most of his trial. (the conviction was overturned after he spends less than a year in prison).
In 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home at the age of 36.
In 1972, Clive Davis signed a young band called Aerosmith to CBS Records after seeing them play Max's Kansas City in New York. They receive $125,000 for their services.
American Bandstand made its network debut on ABC-TV in 1957. The show was hosted by Dick Clark. Until this day the show had been a local show in Philadelphia since 1952. The first record Clark played on the network debut show was "That'll Be the Day" by Buddy Holly and his first guests were the Chordettes.
Drummer Jeff Porcaro, from Toto died age 38 in 1992. His death has been the subject of controversy: some say the attack was caused by an allergic reaction to garden pesticide, while others say Porcaro's heart was weakened by smoking and cocaine use. Porcaro also worked with many other acts including Sonny and Cher, Roger Waters, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Steely Dan, Paul Simon and Boz Scaggs.
A report by 560 UK undertakers in 2005 revealed that bereaved families preferred Pop songs to Hymns at funerals. "Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler was the most requested song, along with Robbie Williams "Angels,” Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" and Elton John's "Candle In The Wind.” Among the most unusual songs played was Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust".
Beatles fans feared the misuse of the Fab Four’s music had hit rock bottom in 2007 following the decision to license ‘All You Need Is Love’ for use in a diaper ad. Procter & Gamble had purchased the rights to use the song from Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which now owned Northern Songs, the Beatles’ catalogue. The ad featured a baby jumping on a teddy bear in a disposable diaper which offered “ultimate leak protection.” What a disgrace, Beatles music, or for that matter, any classic rock and roll, does not belong in advertisements pitching any product. There, I said it, and I feel much better.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Cover Story - Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Are You Experienced?"
As always, I would like to thank Michael at www.rockpopgallery for allowing me to reprint this wonderful material and part three of our "Album Cover Art Stories" Reproduction is strictly prohibited.
Cover Story - Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Are You Experienced?"
with photography by Karl Ferris
Cover Story for February 22, 2008
Subject: Are You Experienced?, a 1967 release (on Reprise Records) by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, with cover photo & design by Karl Ferris
Considered by many music fans and critics as one of the (if not THE) greatest debut record from a rock-era artist, Are You Experienced (with or without the ?) also illustrated how records were produced, packaged and tailored for distribution to the world’s music marketplaces. Released in the U.K. in May, 1967, the record was a compilation of the fantastic music and performances that had been wowing crowds in London theaters up to that point. Those crowds included most of members of the leading musical acts of the time - including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, The Hollies, The Who (and many others) – who’d all come to watch and listen in stunned amazement to the trio’s musical magic.
In the 40+ years (yes, that long ago!) since its release, the record’s influence on both the musicians who’ve striven “to play guitar like Hendrix” and those who create “Best Of” lists continues, with EVERY top guitarist today confirming Hendrix’s influence on their playing and the record’s positions on Rolling Stone magazine’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” (#15) in 2003 (following up its #5 ranking in 1987’s “Best Albums of the Last 20 Years” and #5 on a similarly-titled list published in 2001 by cable net VH-1. It is now also a national treasure in that it has also been selected to be permanently preserved by the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry and archive.
The performances included on the album include many compositions that would become Hendrix’s signatures, including "Purple Haze", "Manic Depression", "Hey Joe", "The Wind Cries Mary", "Fire " and “Foxey Lady". After 3 of the band’s singles hit the Top 10 charts in the U.K. and the incredible buzz following their mind-boggling performance at the Monterey Pop Festival, the act’s record label rushed to release the record in the U.S. by the end of August.
While the music on the LP represented the leading edge of musical prowess and technical sophistication, the packaging in the U.K. was not what Hendrix thought accurately matched the act’s psychedelic and forward-reaching nature, and so he took this complaint to manager Chas Chandler, who then called upon well-known London photographer Karl Ferris to work with him and the artist to come up with imagery for the upcoming U.S. release that would be a better match to the music. Karl was kind enough to provide Cover Stories with excerpts from an upcoming biography and coffee table book of his most-recognized photos so that we could give you the complete story about “the making of” the universally-recognized psychedelic image that was used on the cover of this seminal record. So, if you’ll ‘scuse me….
In the words of the photographer, Karl Ferris -
The first time saw I Jimi Hendrix was at his début showcase of “The Experience” at the “The Bag O’Nails” club in London in January 1967. This was where I saw members of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Graham Nash, Eric Clapton and many other in the ‘rock elite’ watching awestruck as Jimi unleashed his powerful music on them. They were thunderstruck and completely blown away as evidenced by the awesome silence after he finished, followed by a thunderous applause, with all those jaded ‘rock stars’ going crazy over his performance. Pete Townsend turned to Clapton and said "We might as well go and work for the Post Office now". Jimi was the talk of the London after that…
Later, in May 1967, apparently Jimi saw my Hollies Evolution cover which had recently been released and said to his manager Chas Chandler that he wanted something similar - “something psychedelic” - on his Are You Experienced? album when it was to be released in the USA. He was not happy with its UK cover which, he said, ‘made him look like a fairy’, so he sent Chas off to contact me. We set up an appointment to meet at Jimi’s flat in London, and I took my portfolio along.
He loved my work - especially the psychedelic shots - and asked me if I would create a newalbum cover design for the Reprise Records release in the U.S. I said ‘yes’ and that I would have to absorb his music for inspiration. He said that I should accompany him to Olympic studios, were he was recording his next LP, titled Axis Bold As Love. I was totally mind-blown by what I heard there. The shear power of his psychedelic experimentation was awe inspiring, but when taking a break from playing he was a very nice, unaffected and a shy kind of a guy. He asked me where I was from and I mentioned that I had lived in Vancouver for 4 years. He was surprised and said that he also had lived in Vancouver with his grandmother for a while. We then started smoking joints and swapping Vancouver stories, and we got on famously.
At 4am the next morning, I went home with some tapes of the session and the music from the UK Are You Experienced record to use for inspiration for the US album design. I played the music all day and raved about the music to my girlfriend Anke, saying that it sounded so “far out” that it seemed to come from outer space. This gave me the idea of the group traveling through space in a Biosphere on their way to bring their unworldly space music to earth, and so I then set about sketching some designs of this.
For the cover, I decided to use my new “infrared” technique which I had invented, which combines the photographic color reversal image with the heat signature (and, seemingly, the ability to see the Life Force of plant and human life - it even appears to capture auras !).
To create the spherical photo I decided to use a giant ‘fisheye’ lens invented by Nikon (which was much bigger than my Nikon F camera). I would shoot in Kew Botanical Gardens in London, where they had the kind of foliage that would react well to my “Infrared” technique.
Jimi loved this idea when I explained to him how this technique worked, and as I leave nothing to chance and design all the elements of my album cover shots (I had fashion and styling experience from my work in fashion photography), I wanted to pick out the clothes that the group members were going to wear in the shot. I first went to Jimi’s flat to see what he had, and when I looked in his cupboard I saw a painted jacket that an artist had given to him, saying “I painted this for you”. It had large double-pupil eyes painted on the chest, smaller eyes circling the back and psychedelic swirls everywhere else. I said, “This is it! The eyes represent the ‘mirror to the soul’ and the psychedelic vision”. Jimi agreed and said he felt is was part of him and called it the "Gypsy Eyes" jacket.
Later that evening. when Jimi was coming out of the shower before the gig later that night, I was amazed to see his hair all knapped out, as he would normally wear it like the English guys, straightened out and lacquered down into a long ‘Beatle cut’. I said to him, ‘Why don’t you wear it like that, it looks far out’, but he said ‘it looks like shit!’ I countered ‘No man, it looks unique and spacey – it’s just what we need for the cover’. His hair just needed to be evened up and so, at my suggestion, his girlfriend trimmed it into a ball and we had what was later called an “Afro”, after the Sudanese Africans who had always worn their hair like that. The next day, when Jimi’s bandmates Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell saw his hair, they really liked it, so I suggested that they have it, too. My hair stylist Johanna permed their hair into "Afros" so they would have a uniform look and we then went shopping in Kings Road boutiques for outfits for the guys.
When everything was ready, we hired a Rolls Royce limo and drove down to Kew Gardens, where I found the perfect tree which had foliage that reached the ground. I had the guys stand back inside the leaves and shot them through the fisheye lens from a low angle, to emphasize Jimi’s hands. We didn’t shoot long as we had arrived late and we ran out of light, but we returned the following day and shot some more. After the session, to celebrate we walked across the road to an ancient Elizabethan Pub and downed many ales and smoked joints in the garden (it was a good thing that we had a chauffer to drive us back to London!).
When I got the shots back from Kodak, I was amazed and pleased with spherical fisheye picture and the colors that had been created in it. As it turned out, the shot used on the Are You Experienced? U.S. cover was the first frame on the first roll - it was just meant to be – and another fisheye image from that session would later become the international Smash Hits photo cover.
The Kodak lab manager had great praise for the pictures when I picked them up, so when I next took them over to Jimi’s house, he was very pleased and excited and said that the shot was really psychedelic and truly represented his music. ‘You are the only photographer that is doing with photography what I am doing with music - knocking down the barriers and going far out beyond the limits’. He said that he wanted this image for the covers of his U.S. and international releases of his debut album and that I should design the whole album cover for submission to Warner/ Reprise Records. I said that I would be delighted. He then called up Mitch, Noel and Chas to come over and see the new album cover shots. Everyone was very pleased, as they were seen as the perfect images to represent “The Experience” worldwide. We planned a big celebration party that night. We took some LSD and went to the Bag O’Nails club (where Jimi jammed with Jeff Beck) and then took some groupies back to Jimi’s flat and partied all night.
The next day, I began work on designing the album cover. I started with the ‘spheres flying through space’ concept, but as this would be a very wide format, this would only work on a double gatefold cover. I found out from Chas Chandler that Reprise was being cheap and would only produce a single cover, so I had to rethink the design. I began with the approved fisheye shot, over which I placed a gold leaf matte with a hole cut to fit the circular photograph, and added purple filigree psychedelic lettering printed on the gold metallic matte, which would make the lettering also seem metallic. I had an artist friend of mine do the lettering, for which I paid 20 UK pounds to own.
I then organized a photo session in my studio for the back cover shot. I wanted to make a group portrait - emphasizing the group’s Afro hair styles – and so I shot it in black and white with their hair backlit to make ‘halos’ around their heads. The guys loved that shot also.
I then made a printer-ready ‘slick’ of the finished design and sent it to Reprise Records for printing the final cover. Unfortunately, they decided to pursue a cheaper route and not use the gold matte design layer, but to print it all together -photo, lettering and border all in one layer - using gold ink instead for the gold matte surround.
Disappointingly, by choosing this cheaper arrangement, the label’s Art Director was given the AD credit, although it was still my same design and art direction. When Jimi saw the release, he was very upset, as it lost a lot of its visual impact he wanted by using the gold ink border instead of the metallic gold matte surround layer, and also because they had claimed the Art Direction credit. He was very apologetic to me and disappointed, but as it was already out, there was nothing he could do about it, but he said that he wanted to use one of the studio portrait shots for the Axis Bold As Love album that he was currently working on. He said that although the design for that record was by someone else (featuring a Hindu poster design from India), they wanted to use my head shot of the group as an illustration to replace the Hindu god heads that were featured in the center. And so, as it turned out, with the photos I supplied to Reprise for the cover of 1968’s Electric Ladyland album - the final 'Experience' album that was released - my images were on all three of the U.S. 'Experience' albums issued in Jimi's lifetime.
I was fortunate and am very proud of my association and friendship with Jimi. He was a prince of a man and we spent many creative hours together discussing philosophy, art, and music. I was also fortunate to have been able to watch many of his mesmerizing performances in the studio and on stage.
He was the ultimate performer - you just couldn’t take your eyes off him. He once told me that “the music played him”, but he played the guitar with total mastery, with every inspiration that came into his mind instantly transmitted through his fingers to caress, slide, strum, beat and squeeze the music out of his guitar. Like a wizard, he would move around his instrument concocting musical magic that would entrance everyone who heard it. He had perfect pitch and timing. He would first play the melody and then go further out in his improvisation than anyone else could, and all the while you could still hear the melody, he could immerse himself deeply in a psychedelic, electronic improvisation and then suddenly, on the beat, he’d bring it back to the melody of the tune. He was the perfect combination of soul and technique - a total genius, an Amadeus Mozart for the Twentieth Century.
Here is a recreation ("AYX Alternate Bubbles") of the very first double-gatefold cover design that Jimi's new US record company (Reprise) did not want to do, allowing him only a conventional single-cover design.
About the photographer, Karl Ferris -
Karl Ferris is known as "the Innovator of Psychedelic Photography". A photographer to the “British Rock Elite” - Eric Clapton, Cream, Donovan, The Hollies and Jimi Hendrix - Ferris was invited as their personal photographer to create their “Images”. He was given an insider access to the “Experience” that defined the 60’s and the world.
As a World War II baby, who grew up in Hastings, England in the 50’s, Ferris learned two things that would later affect his life, the first being the history of Hastings, conquered by the Normans in 1066. This peaked an interest in this medieval period of history and he would bicycle around Norman castles and fantasize about battles, knights, chivalry and heraldry. The second thing he learned was an appreciation of art, having a showing of his early paintings at the Hastings Museum. He later went on to study at Hastings College of Art focusing on the Pre-Raphaelite style of painting which would later influence his psychedelic photography of the 60’s.
After school and with dreams of traveling to India, Ferris signed up as a steward on a P&O liner that went to Australia via India. After returning to England he served two years with the Royal Air Force for his National Service (Conscription) as an aerial photographer. During this period he became friends with a fellow conscriptee, who was a member of a Liverpool Mersey Beat group, and he was introduced for the first time to this type of music.
He was invited back to Liverpool to see a new group - The Beatles - who were appearing at the Cavern Club and was introduced to them. He was then hooked on “Beat” music from which the Beatles took their name. After his military service, Ferris immigrated to Vancouver, Canada working as an assistant to master photographer Harold Nygard. From him Karl learned the skills of composition, form and texture. He also began an involvement in the “Beatnik” lifestyle and began hanging out in “coffee bars” listening to poetry readings and progressive jazz of such artists as Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, John Coletrane and Ornette Coleman. He shot his first music subjects at these gatherings for local newspapers and magazines. He also began to take fashion shots of girl friends and models, building up a Portfolio. Nygard told him that he had a real talent in this, but should return to London where the Mod Fashion scene was going on.
In 1964 Karl returned to England and the happening Beat scene. Ferris received commissioned work as a fashion photographer for Teen magazine “19” and later Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, French Mode and Marie Claire. These commissions brought him to such locations as Paris, Cannes, Munich, Ibiza and Morocco. When he wasn’t working he would join into the “Scene”, after meeting up (and eventually dating) Denmark’s Top Superstar model of the time, Karl was introduced to a Pop group called the “ The King Bees” who invited him to sing “Rolling Stones” cover songs with them, so he began touring in and around Copenhagen doing this.
He eventually returned to England for a “shoot” offer with Vogue. The Beatles had just released “ Rubber Soul” and Karl had the chance to meet up with their official photographer, Robert Freeman, who encouraged Ferris to experiment with different styles of images - which he promptly did - in his unique psychedelic style. On a trip to the Spanish island of “Ibiza” he met and began shooting the “Fool” - Simon and Marijke’s Innovative Psychedelic Fashion designs. They were eventually printed in the fashion section of the London times. This was the first time such psychedelic photography and fashions had been seen anywhere. He and the Fool were invited to come to London to shoot some more “Psychedelic” fashion features.
From this Ferris received many commissions. He also began working on “Psychedelic Happening shows” combining projections of colored liquid and photographs over freeform dancers. The likes of Paul McCartney, Graham Nash, Eric Clapton, T Rex, Pink Floyd and John Lennon dropped by and began participating, by playing music, with these shows. Ferris was also invited to do a stage light show for Pink Floyd, which is believed to be the first one ever done in England in 1966.
Ferris met with Jimi Hendrix in 1967 through Chas Chandler, who “discovered” Hendrix. Karl received the compliment of a lifetime when Hendrix remarked to him, on seeing his portfolio, “You‘re doing with photography what I’m doing with music - going far out beyond the limits”.
Karl also created the Album cover images for Donovan’s “Gift From A Flower To A Garden”, “Wear Your Love Like Heaven”, For The Little Ones” and “Hurdy Gurdy Donovan” and for The Hollies’ “Evolution”. He was also instrumental in creating their “Images” for the shoots, which then became their recognized public image. During the years 1967-69, Karl Ferris was one of the preferred photographers to the British Rock elite, shooting also many PR photos for them.
In 2003 Ferris began his quest to re-visit a time in music that defined a generation with, “The Ferris Experience” Happening. Exhibiting the famous Record Album cover photographs and a Psychedelic multimedia video and slide show, opening in Vancouver, Canada at The Exhibitions Gallery . It was be the first time in 35 years that such an exhibition had been unveiled. In 2005, Karl’s Happening show and photo gallery exhibit began a tour of major cities in the USA starting with the San Francisco Art Exchange (continuing in Toronto and other cities in 2006). Also in 2006, a filmed documentary called "Psychedelic Revolution - The Karl Ferris Experience" went into production (to coincide with the 40th anniversary of "the Summer of Love"). To watch this 17-minute documentary on YouTube, please click on the following link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp54sT9qGQk. In 2008, books of his Hendrix and Donovan photographs (including DVDs) will be published.
To see all of the Karl Ferris items available at RockPoP Gallery, please click on the following link - http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/karl-ferris/list.htm?1=1
To see all of the Jimi Hendrix-related items available at RockPoP Gallery, please click on the following link - http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/jimi-hendrix-experience/list.htm?1=1
All images featured in this Cover Story are Copyright 1967 and 2008, Karl Ferris and Karl Ferris Photography - All rights reserved. Except as noted, all other text Copyright 2008 - Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (www.rockpopgallery.com) - All rights reserved
Cover Story - Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Are You Experienced?"
with photography by Karl Ferris
Cover Story for February 22, 2008
Subject: Are You Experienced?, a 1967 release (on Reprise Records) by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, with cover photo & design by Karl Ferris
Considered by many music fans and critics as one of the (if not THE) greatest debut record from a rock-era artist, Are You Experienced (with or without the ?) also illustrated how records were produced, packaged and tailored for distribution to the world’s music marketplaces. Released in the U.K. in May, 1967, the record was a compilation of the fantastic music and performances that had been wowing crowds in London theaters up to that point. Those crowds included most of members of the leading musical acts of the time - including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, The Hollies, The Who (and many others) – who’d all come to watch and listen in stunned amazement to the trio’s musical magic.
In the 40+ years (yes, that long ago!) since its release, the record’s influence on both the musicians who’ve striven “to play guitar like Hendrix” and those who create “Best Of” lists continues, with EVERY top guitarist today confirming Hendrix’s influence on their playing and the record’s positions on Rolling Stone magazine’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” (#15) in 2003 (following up its #5 ranking in 1987’s “Best Albums of the Last 20 Years” and #5 on a similarly-titled list published in 2001 by cable net VH-1. It is now also a national treasure in that it has also been selected to be permanently preserved by the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry and archive.
The performances included on the album include many compositions that would become Hendrix’s signatures, including "Purple Haze", "Manic Depression", "Hey Joe", "The Wind Cries Mary", "Fire " and “Foxey Lady". After 3 of the band’s singles hit the Top 10 charts in the U.K. and the incredible buzz following their mind-boggling performance at the Monterey Pop Festival, the act’s record label rushed to release the record in the U.S. by the end of August.
While the music on the LP represented the leading edge of musical prowess and technical sophistication, the packaging in the U.K. was not what Hendrix thought accurately matched the act’s psychedelic and forward-reaching nature, and so he took this complaint to manager Chas Chandler, who then called upon well-known London photographer Karl Ferris to work with him and the artist to come up with imagery for the upcoming U.S. release that would be a better match to the music. Karl was kind enough to provide Cover Stories with excerpts from an upcoming biography and coffee table book of his most-recognized photos so that we could give you the complete story about “the making of” the universally-recognized psychedelic image that was used on the cover of this seminal record. So, if you’ll ‘scuse me….
In the words of the photographer, Karl Ferris -
The first time saw I Jimi Hendrix was at his début showcase of “The Experience” at the “The Bag O’Nails” club in London in January 1967. This was where I saw members of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Graham Nash, Eric Clapton and many other in the ‘rock elite’ watching awestruck as Jimi unleashed his powerful music on them. They were thunderstruck and completely blown away as evidenced by the awesome silence after he finished, followed by a thunderous applause, with all those jaded ‘rock stars’ going crazy over his performance. Pete Townsend turned to Clapton and said "We might as well go and work for the Post Office now". Jimi was the talk of the London after that…
Later, in May 1967, apparently Jimi saw my Hollies Evolution cover which had recently been released and said to his manager Chas Chandler that he wanted something similar - “something psychedelic” - on his Are You Experienced? album when it was to be released in the USA. He was not happy with its UK cover which, he said, ‘made him look like a fairy’, so he sent Chas off to contact me. We set up an appointment to meet at Jimi’s flat in London, and I took my portfolio along.
He loved my work - especially the psychedelic shots - and asked me if I would create a newalbum cover design for the Reprise Records release in the U.S. I said ‘yes’ and that I would have to absorb his music for inspiration. He said that I should accompany him to Olympic studios, were he was recording his next LP, titled Axis Bold As Love. I was totally mind-blown by what I heard there. The shear power of his psychedelic experimentation was awe inspiring, but when taking a break from playing he was a very nice, unaffected and a shy kind of a guy. He asked me where I was from and I mentioned that I had lived in Vancouver for 4 years. He was surprised and said that he also had lived in Vancouver with his grandmother for a while. We then started smoking joints and swapping Vancouver stories, and we got on famously.
At 4am the next morning, I went home with some tapes of the session and the music from the UK Are You Experienced record to use for inspiration for the US album design. I played the music all day and raved about the music to my girlfriend Anke, saying that it sounded so “far out” that it seemed to come from outer space. This gave me the idea of the group traveling through space in a Biosphere on their way to bring their unworldly space music to earth, and so I then set about sketching some designs of this.
For the cover, I decided to use my new “infrared” technique which I had invented, which combines the photographic color reversal image with the heat signature (and, seemingly, the ability to see the Life Force of plant and human life - it even appears to capture auras !).
To create the spherical photo I decided to use a giant ‘fisheye’ lens invented by Nikon (which was much bigger than my Nikon F camera). I would shoot in Kew Botanical Gardens in London, where they had the kind of foliage that would react well to my “Infrared” technique.
Jimi loved this idea when I explained to him how this technique worked, and as I leave nothing to chance and design all the elements of my album cover shots (I had fashion and styling experience from my work in fashion photography), I wanted to pick out the clothes that the group members were going to wear in the shot. I first went to Jimi’s flat to see what he had, and when I looked in his cupboard I saw a painted jacket that an artist had given to him, saying “I painted this for you”. It had large double-pupil eyes painted on the chest, smaller eyes circling the back and psychedelic swirls everywhere else. I said, “This is it! The eyes represent the ‘mirror to the soul’ and the psychedelic vision”. Jimi agreed and said he felt is was part of him and called it the "Gypsy Eyes" jacket.
Later that evening. when Jimi was coming out of the shower before the gig later that night, I was amazed to see his hair all knapped out, as he would normally wear it like the English guys, straightened out and lacquered down into a long ‘Beatle cut’. I said to him, ‘Why don’t you wear it like that, it looks far out’, but he said ‘it looks like shit!’ I countered ‘No man, it looks unique and spacey – it’s just what we need for the cover’. His hair just needed to be evened up and so, at my suggestion, his girlfriend trimmed it into a ball and we had what was later called an “Afro”, after the Sudanese Africans who had always worn their hair like that. The next day, when Jimi’s bandmates Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell saw his hair, they really liked it, so I suggested that they have it, too. My hair stylist Johanna permed their hair into "Afros" so they would have a uniform look and we then went shopping in Kings Road boutiques for outfits for the guys.
When everything was ready, we hired a Rolls Royce limo and drove down to Kew Gardens, where I found the perfect tree which had foliage that reached the ground. I had the guys stand back inside the leaves and shot them through the fisheye lens from a low angle, to emphasize Jimi’s hands. We didn’t shoot long as we had arrived late and we ran out of light, but we returned the following day and shot some more. After the session, to celebrate we walked across the road to an ancient Elizabethan Pub and downed many ales and smoked joints in the garden (it was a good thing that we had a chauffer to drive us back to London!).
When I got the shots back from Kodak, I was amazed and pleased with spherical fisheye picture and the colors that had been created in it. As it turned out, the shot used on the Are You Experienced? U.S. cover was the first frame on the first roll - it was just meant to be – and another fisheye image from that session would later become the international Smash Hits photo cover.
The Kodak lab manager had great praise for the pictures when I picked them up, so when I next took them over to Jimi’s house, he was very pleased and excited and said that the shot was really psychedelic and truly represented his music. ‘You are the only photographer that is doing with photography what I am doing with music - knocking down the barriers and going far out beyond the limits’. He said that he wanted this image for the covers of his U.S. and international releases of his debut album and that I should design the whole album cover for submission to Warner/ Reprise Records. I said that I would be delighted. He then called up Mitch, Noel and Chas to come over and see the new album cover shots. Everyone was very pleased, as they were seen as the perfect images to represent “The Experience” worldwide. We planned a big celebration party that night. We took some LSD and went to the Bag O’Nails club (where Jimi jammed with Jeff Beck) and then took some groupies back to Jimi’s flat and partied all night.
The next day, I began work on designing the album cover. I started with the ‘spheres flying through space’ concept, but as this would be a very wide format, this would only work on a double gatefold cover. I found out from Chas Chandler that Reprise was being cheap and would only produce a single cover, so I had to rethink the design. I began with the approved fisheye shot, over which I placed a gold leaf matte with a hole cut to fit the circular photograph, and added purple filigree psychedelic lettering printed on the gold metallic matte, which would make the lettering also seem metallic. I had an artist friend of mine do the lettering, for which I paid 20 UK pounds to own.
I then organized a photo session in my studio for the back cover shot. I wanted to make a group portrait - emphasizing the group’s Afro hair styles – and so I shot it in black and white with their hair backlit to make ‘halos’ around their heads. The guys loved that shot also.
I then made a printer-ready ‘slick’ of the finished design and sent it to Reprise Records for printing the final cover. Unfortunately, they decided to pursue a cheaper route and not use the gold matte design layer, but to print it all together -photo, lettering and border all in one layer - using gold ink instead for the gold matte surround.
Disappointingly, by choosing this cheaper arrangement, the label’s Art Director was given the AD credit, although it was still my same design and art direction. When Jimi saw the release, he was very upset, as it lost a lot of its visual impact he wanted by using the gold ink border instead of the metallic gold matte surround layer, and also because they had claimed the Art Direction credit. He was very apologetic to me and disappointed, but as it was already out, there was nothing he could do about it, but he said that he wanted to use one of the studio portrait shots for the Axis Bold As Love album that he was currently working on. He said that although the design for that record was by someone else (featuring a Hindu poster design from India), they wanted to use my head shot of the group as an illustration to replace the Hindu god heads that were featured in the center. And so, as it turned out, with the photos I supplied to Reprise for the cover of 1968’s Electric Ladyland album - the final 'Experience' album that was released - my images were on all three of the U.S. 'Experience' albums issued in Jimi's lifetime.
I was fortunate and am very proud of my association and friendship with Jimi. He was a prince of a man and we spent many creative hours together discussing philosophy, art, and music. I was also fortunate to have been able to watch many of his mesmerizing performances in the studio and on stage.
He was the ultimate performer - you just couldn’t take your eyes off him. He once told me that “the music played him”, but he played the guitar with total mastery, with every inspiration that came into his mind instantly transmitted through his fingers to caress, slide, strum, beat and squeeze the music out of his guitar. Like a wizard, he would move around his instrument concocting musical magic that would entrance everyone who heard it. He had perfect pitch and timing. He would first play the melody and then go further out in his improvisation than anyone else could, and all the while you could still hear the melody, he could immerse himself deeply in a psychedelic, electronic improvisation and then suddenly, on the beat, he’d bring it back to the melody of the tune. He was the perfect combination of soul and technique - a total genius, an Amadeus Mozart for the Twentieth Century.
Here is a recreation ("AYX Alternate Bubbles") of the very first double-gatefold cover design that Jimi's new US record company (Reprise) did not want to do, allowing him only a conventional single-cover design.
About the photographer, Karl Ferris -
Karl Ferris is known as "the Innovator of Psychedelic Photography". A photographer to the “British Rock Elite” - Eric Clapton, Cream, Donovan, The Hollies and Jimi Hendrix - Ferris was invited as their personal photographer to create their “Images”. He was given an insider access to the “Experience” that defined the 60’s and the world.
As a World War II baby, who grew up in Hastings, England in the 50’s, Ferris learned two things that would later affect his life, the first being the history of Hastings, conquered by the Normans in 1066. This peaked an interest in this medieval period of history and he would bicycle around Norman castles and fantasize about battles, knights, chivalry and heraldry. The second thing he learned was an appreciation of art, having a showing of his early paintings at the Hastings Museum. He later went on to study at Hastings College of Art focusing on the Pre-Raphaelite style of painting which would later influence his psychedelic photography of the 60’s.
After school and with dreams of traveling to India, Ferris signed up as a steward on a P&O liner that went to Australia via India. After returning to England he served two years with the Royal Air Force for his National Service (Conscription) as an aerial photographer. During this period he became friends with a fellow conscriptee, who was a member of a Liverpool Mersey Beat group, and he was introduced for the first time to this type of music.
He was invited back to Liverpool to see a new group - The Beatles - who were appearing at the Cavern Club and was introduced to them. He was then hooked on “Beat” music from which the Beatles took their name. After his military service, Ferris immigrated to Vancouver, Canada working as an assistant to master photographer Harold Nygard. From him Karl learned the skills of composition, form and texture. He also began an involvement in the “Beatnik” lifestyle and began hanging out in “coffee bars” listening to poetry readings and progressive jazz of such artists as Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, John Coletrane and Ornette Coleman. He shot his first music subjects at these gatherings for local newspapers and magazines. He also began to take fashion shots of girl friends and models, building up a Portfolio. Nygard told him that he had a real talent in this, but should return to London where the Mod Fashion scene was going on.
In 1964 Karl returned to England and the happening Beat scene. Ferris received commissioned work as a fashion photographer for Teen magazine “19” and later Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, French Mode and Marie Claire. These commissions brought him to such locations as Paris, Cannes, Munich, Ibiza and Morocco. When he wasn’t working he would join into the “Scene”, after meeting up (and eventually dating) Denmark’s Top Superstar model of the time, Karl was introduced to a Pop group called the “ The King Bees” who invited him to sing “Rolling Stones” cover songs with them, so he began touring in and around Copenhagen doing this.
He eventually returned to England for a “shoot” offer with Vogue. The Beatles had just released “ Rubber Soul” and Karl had the chance to meet up with their official photographer, Robert Freeman, who encouraged Ferris to experiment with different styles of images - which he promptly did - in his unique psychedelic style. On a trip to the Spanish island of “Ibiza” he met and began shooting the “Fool” - Simon and Marijke’s Innovative Psychedelic Fashion designs. They were eventually printed in the fashion section of the London times. This was the first time such psychedelic photography and fashions had been seen anywhere. He and the Fool were invited to come to London to shoot some more “Psychedelic” fashion features.
From this Ferris received many commissions. He also began working on “Psychedelic Happening shows” combining projections of colored liquid and photographs over freeform dancers. The likes of Paul McCartney, Graham Nash, Eric Clapton, T Rex, Pink Floyd and John Lennon dropped by and began participating, by playing music, with these shows. Ferris was also invited to do a stage light show for Pink Floyd, which is believed to be the first one ever done in England in 1966.
Ferris met with Jimi Hendrix in 1967 through Chas Chandler, who “discovered” Hendrix. Karl received the compliment of a lifetime when Hendrix remarked to him, on seeing his portfolio, “You‘re doing with photography what I’m doing with music - going far out beyond the limits”.
Karl also created the Album cover images for Donovan’s “Gift From A Flower To A Garden”, “Wear Your Love Like Heaven”, For The Little Ones” and “Hurdy Gurdy Donovan” and for The Hollies’ “Evolution”. He was also instrumental in creating their “Images” for the shoots, which then became their recognized public image. During the years 1967-69, Karl Ferris was one of the preferred photographers to the British Rock elite, shooting also many PR photos for them.
In 2003 Ferris began his quest to re-visit a time in music that defined a generation with, “The Ferris Experience” Happening. Exhibiting the famous Record Album cover photographs and a Psychedelic multimedia video and slide show, opening in Vancouver, Canada at The Exhibitions Gallery . It was be the first time in 35 years that such an exhibition had been unveiled. In 2005, Karl’s Happening show and photo gallery exhibit began a tour of major cities in the USA starting with the San Francisco Art Exchange (continuing in Toronto and other cities in 2006). Also in 2006, a filmed documentary called "Psychedelic Revolution - The Karl Ferris Experience" went into production (to coincide with the 40th anniversary of "the Summer of Love"). To watch this 17-minute documentary on YouTube, please click on the following link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp54sT9qGQk. In 2008, books of his Hendrix and Donovan photographs (including DVDs) will be published.
To see all of the Karl Ferris items available at RockPoP Gallery, please click on the following link - http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/karl-ferris/list.htm?1=1
To see all of the Jimi Hendrix-related items available at RockPoP Gallery, please click on the following link - http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/jimi-hendrix-experience/list.htm?1=1
All images featured in this Cover Story are Copyright 1967 and 2008, Karl Ferris and Karl Ferris Photography - All rights reserved. Except as noted, all other text Copyright 2008 - Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (www.rockpopgallery.com) - All rights reserved
Sunday, August 3, 2008
This Date In Music History- Aug 3
Birthdays:
Born on this day in 1966, Shirley Manson, vocals, Garbage.
Tony Bennett ("The Good Life") is 82.
Metallica's James Hetfield was born in L.A. in 1963.
Born on this day in 1941, Beverly Lee, The Shirelles.
History:
In 1971, Paul McCartney unveiled his new band, Wings, comprising Paul McCartney and Linda with Denny Laine (guitar) and Denny Seiwell (drums). Though there will be personnel changes, Paul McCartney and Linda remain loyal to the Wings rubric for the next ten years. Albums released during the Wings era: Wild Life (1971), Red Rose Speedway (1973), Band on the Run (1973), Venus and Mars (1975), Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976), Wings Over America (1976), London Town (1978), Wings Greatest (1978) and Back to the Egg (1979).
The Beatles appeared at The Cavern Club in Liverpool for the very last time on August 3, 1963. They had performed 274 concerts at the dingy, basement club since their debut there 2½ years earlier. Their first gig paid them 5 Pounds ($14) and their last brought in 300 Pounds ($840).
Ringo Starr received a gold record in 1971 for a tune he wrote himself, "It Don't Come Easy.”
Here's a weird gig Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band opened for Canadian songbird Anne Murray in New York in 1974. It's the last gig Bruce played with drummer Ernie "Boom Boom" Carter and keyboardist David Sancious.
"Get The Knack" and their single "My Sharona" topped the charts in 1979. (side note: The record collection of Knack drummer Bruce Gary is being pieced out at eBay- look for the user name "rockrules926" for Knack collectibles and an awesome vinyl record collection!)
In 1963, Allan Sherman released "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadda."
The Beach Boys released "Surfer Girl" in 1963.
Light on material for their third album, “Waiting For The Sun,” The Doors resurrect an early demo called “Hello, I Love You.” The re-recorded version went to #1 in the U.S. in 1968.
Arthur Lee, frontman for the influential late ‘60s group Love (best known for their album “Forever Changes”), died at age 61 in Memphis, TN in 2006, following a bout with leukemia. There had been a New York benefit concert for Lee only weeks earlier.
The Beach Boys released their final studio album of new material in 1992. "Summer in Paradise" did not sell well, partially because it was overshadowed by a Beach Boys box set released the following week.
In 1993, Motown Records was sold to the Dutch recording and entertainment company Polygram for $325 million. That was more than five times the $61 million Motown founder Berry Gordy got for the company when he sold it to an investment group in 1988.
In 1985, Madonna scored her first UK No.1 single with 'Into The Groove'. The track was taken from the movie 'Desperately Seeking Susan' which featured Madonna and Rosanna Arquette.
Bad Company went to No.1 on the US album chart in 1974 with their self-titled debut album.
The Tymes went to No.1 on the US singles chart in 1963 with 'So Much in Love' (it made No.21 on the UK chart).
Born on this day in 1966, Shirley Manson, vocals, Garbage.
Tony Bennett ("The Good Life") is 82.
Metallica's James Hetfield was born in L.A. in 1963.
Born on this day in 1941, Beverly Lee, The Shirelles.
History:
In 1971, Paul McCartney unveiled his new band, Wings, comprising Paul McCartney and Linda with Denny Laine (guitar) and Denny Seiwell (drums). Though there will be personnel changes, Paul McCartney and Linda remain loyal to the Wings rubric for the next ten years. Albums released during the Wings era: Wild Life (1971), Red Rose Speedway (1973), Band on the Run (1973), Venus and Mars (1975), Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976), Wings Over America (1976), London Town (1978), Wings Greatest (1978) and Back to the Egg (1979).
The Beatles appeared at The Cavern Club in Liverpool for the very last time on August 3, 1963. They had performed 274 concerts at the dingy, basement club since their debut there 2½ years earlier. Their first gig paid them 5 Pounds ($14) and their last brought in 300 Pounds ($840).
Ringo Starr received a gold record in 1971 for a tune he wrote himself, "It Don't Come Easy.”
Here's a weird gig Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band opened for Canadian songbird Anne Murray in New York in 1974. It's the last gig Bruce played with drummer Ernie "Boom Boom" Carter and keyboardist David Sancious.
"Get The Knack" and their single "My Sharona" topped the charts in 1979. (side note: The record collection of Knack drummer Bruce Gary is being pieced out at eBay- look for the user name "rockrules926" for Knack collectibles and an awesome vinyl record collection!)
In 1963, Allan Sherman released "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadda."
The Beach Boys released "Surfer Girl" in 1963.
Light on material for their third album, “Waiting For The Sun,” The Doors resurrect an early demo called “Hello, I Love You.” The re-recorded version went to #1 in the U.S. in 1968.
Arthur Lee, frontman for the influential late ‘60s group Love (best known for their album “Forever Changes”), died at age 61 in Memphis, TN in 2006, following a bout with leukemia. There had been a New York benefit concert for Lee only weeks earlier.
The Beach Boys released their final studio album of new material in 1992. "Summer in Paradise" did not sell well, partially because it was overshadowed by a Beach Boys box set released the following week.
In 1993, Motown Records was sold to the Dutch recording and entertainment company Polygram for $325 million. That was more than five times the $61 million Motown founder Berry Gordy got for the company when he sold it to an investment group in 1988.
In 1985, Madonna scored her first UK No.1 single with 'Into The Groove'. The track was taken from the movie 'Desperately Seeking Susan' which featured Madonna and Rosanna Arquette.
Bad Company went to No.1 on the US album chart in 1974 with their self-titled debut album.
The Tymes went to No.1 on the US singles chart in 1963 with 'So Much in Love' (it made No.21 on the UK chart).
Friday, August 1, 2008
Upcoming Vinyl Releases
Aerosmith - Pump
Blind Faith - Blind Faith
James Brown - Live at the Apollo
James Brown - Sho is Funky Down Here
Alice Cooper - Along Came a Spider
Def Leppard - Hysteria
Marvin Gaye - I Want You
John Mellencamp - Life, Death, Love & Freedom
Van Morrison - Tupelo Honey
Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman
Blind Faith - Blind Faith
James Brown - Live at the Apollo
James Brown - Sho is Funky Down Here
Alice Cooper - Along Came a Spider
Def Leppard - Hysteria
Marvin Gaye - I Want You
John Mellencamp - Life, Death, Love & Freedom
Van Morrison - Tupelo Honey
Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman
McCartney & Starr Block Release of Let It Be
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have block a planned re-release of the final Beatles' film, Let It Be.
The film was originally released in 1970 and documented some of the last days of the Fab Four while they were recording the tracks for the Let it Be album. There was quite a bit of bickering between the group members, including George Harrison taking exception to Paul criticizing his guitar playing and a disinterested John Lennon who spent much of his time with Yoko Ono.
When complete, the group was so unhappy with the outcome that they returned to the studio to record Abbey Road and ended up releasing Let It Be later, as their final album.
According to a spokesman from within Apple, "There has been talk of Let It Be finally being released but now there has been a change of heart. The Beatles are still a massive global brand and it's felt it won't be helped if the public sees the darker side of the story. Neither Paul nor Ringo would feel comfortable publicising a film showing The Beatles getting on each other's nerves."
"People like to imagine The Beatles were a happy ship but the reality towards the end was very different as this film shows. There's all sorts of extra footage showing more squabbles but it's unlikely it will ever see the light of day in Paul and Ringo's lifetime."
Thursday, July 31, 2008
This Date In Music History- Aug 1
Birthdays:
Blues guitarist Robert Cray was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1953.
Birthday wishes to Michael Penn, songwriter and husband of Aimee Mann.
Joe Elliott, the lead singer of Def Leppard, was born in Sheffield, England in 1959.
Chuck D. of Public Enemy, was born in Roosevelt, N.Y. in 1960.
Adam Duritz, dread-locked singer with the Counting Crows, was born in 1964.
History:
The late Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead was born in 1942.
The Grateful Dead's LP "In The Dark" entered the Billboard album chart in 1987. It contained the group's only US Top 40 hit, "Touch Of Grey", which would reach #9.
The Carter Family, country's first superstar act, cut their first record in Bristol, Tenn in 1927.
In 1964, Billboard reported that sales of harmonicas were on the rise after artists like Stevie Wonder, the Beatles and the Stones started featuring it on their records.
Also in 1964, Rockabilly singer Johnny Burnette ("You're Sixteen") drowned in a boating accident on California's Clear Lake. He was 30.
The first Atlantic City Pop Festival kicked off in New Jersey in 1969. Over 110,000 customers paid $13 to hear such artists as Iron Butterfly, CCR, Jefferson Airplane, Three Dog Night, Little Richard, Janis Joplin, Santana, Procol Harem and Joe Cocker perform. Wow, what a lineup!
MTV made its debut at 12:01am in 1981. The first video to be shown was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles. Fitting.
In 1987, MTV Europe was launched and the first video that was played was 'Money For Nothing' by Dire Straits which contained the appropriate line 'I Want My MTV.'
In 1956, RCA released two of Elvis Presley's hit singles: "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Love Me Tender."
Chubby Checker's "The Twist" was released in 1960. By mid-September, it will be the number one record in the US. Record industry history was made when Checker's original hit recording re-entered the charts in the fall of 1961 and by January of 1962, was back in the number one position. It was the first record ever to hit number one on two separate occasions.
The title track from The Beatles' movie "A Hard Day's Night" topped the record charts on both sides of the Atlantic in 1964. The film was originally titled "Beatlemania," until producers heard an offhanded comment by Ringo Starr as he flopped into a canvas chair and said "It's been a hard day's night, that was."
In 1966, The Troggs accomplished the rare feat of having a Top Ten hit in both the UK and the US with different songs. In England, "With a Girl Like You" was a major hit, while in the US, "Wild Thing" led the Billboard chart.
The "Concert for Bangla Desh" was staged in 1971 to raise money for victims of famine and war in that country. The show featured George Harrison, with some help from his friends Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Ravi Shankar and some members of Bad Finger.
"Elvis - What Happened," an expose by two of Presley's former bodyguards, was published in 1977. It sat in bookstores almost unnoticed until Presley's death two weeks later. Then it sold more than three-million copies.
In 2002, a new book 'Show the Girl the Door' written by a former tour manager disclosed some strange demands by female acts. It revealed that Shania Twain would travel with a sniffer dog in case of bombs. Jennifer Lopez liked her dressing room to be all white, including carpets flowers and furniture. Cher would have high security rooms for her wigs. Janet Jackson would have a full medical team on standby including a doctor nurse and throat specialist and Britney Spears would demand her favourite Gummie Bear soft sweets.
The first Beatles Monthly Fan Club Magazine was published in 1963. It continued until 1969 and at its peak was selling 350,000 copies a month.
Blues guitarist Robert Cray was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1953.
Birthday wishes to Michael Penn, songwriter and husband of Aimee Mann.
Joe Elliott, the lead singer of Def Leppard, was born in Sheffield, England in 1959.
Chuck D. of Public Enemy, was born in Roosevelt, N.Y. in 1960.
Adam Duritz, dread-locked singer with the Counting Crows, was born in 1964.
History:
The late Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead was born in 1942.
The Grateful Dead's LP "In The Dark" entered the Billboard album chart in 1987. It contained the group's only US Top 40 hit, "Touch Of Grey", which would reach #9.
The Carter Family, country's first superstar act, cut their first record in Bristol, Tenn in 1927.
In 1964, Billboard reported that sales of harmonicas were on the rise after artists like Stevie Wonder, the Beatles and the Stones started featuring it on their records.
Also in 1964, Rockabilly singer Johnny Burnette ("You're Sixteen") drowned in a boating accident on California's Clear Lake. He was 30.
The first Atlantic City Pop Festival kicked off in New Jersey in 1969. Over 110,000 customers paid $13 to hear such artists as Iron Butterfly, CCR, Jefferson Airplane, Three Dog Night, Little Richard, Janis Joplin, Santana, Procol Harem and Joe Cocker perform. Wow, what a lineup!
MTV made its debut at 12:01am in 1981. The first video to be shown was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles. Fitting.
In 1987, MTV Europe was launched and the first video that was played was 'Money For Nothing' by Dire Straits which contained the appropriate line 'I Want My MTV.'
In 1956, RCA released two of Elvis Presley's hit singles: "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Love Me Tender."
Chubby Checker's "The Twist" was released in 1960. By mid-September, it will be the number one record in the US. Record industry history was made when Checker's original hit recording re-entered the charts in the fall of 1961 and by January of 1962, was back in the number one position. It was the first record ever to hit number one on two separate occasions.
The title track from The Beatles' movie "A Hard Day's Night" topped the record charts on both sides of the Atlantic in 1964. The film was originally titled "Beatlemania," until producers heard an offhanded comment by Ringo Starr as he flopped into a canvas chair and said "It's been a hard day's night, that was."
In 1966, The Troggs accomplished the rare feat of having a Top Ten hit in both the UK and the US with different songs. In England, "With a Girl Like You" was a major hit, while in the US, "Wild Thing" led the Billboard chart.
The "Concert for Bangla Desh" was staged in 1971 to raise money for victims of famine and war in that country. The show featured George Harrison, with some help from his friends Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Ravi Shankar and some members of Bad Finger.
"Elvis - What Happened," an expose by two of Presley's former bodyguards, was published in 1977. It sat in bookstores almost unnoticed until Presley's death two weeks later. Then it sold more than three-million copies.
In 2002, a new book 'Show the Girl the Door' written by a former tour manager disclosed some strange demands by female acts. It revealed that Shania Twain would travel with a sniffer dog in case of bombs. Jennifer Lopez liked her dressing room to be all white, including carpets flowers and furniture. Cher would have high security rooms for her wigs. Janet Jackson would have a full medical team on standby including a doctor nurse and throat specialist and Britney Spears would demand her favourite Gummie Bear soft sweets.
The first Beatles Monthly Fan Club Magazine was published in 1963. It continued until 1969 and at its peak was selling 350,000 copies a month.
Bob Dylan to release more rarities in October
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bob Dylan is opening up his vaults for the first time in three years, with his label announcing on Tuesday that it will issue a multi-disc album consisting of late-era outtakes, previously unreleased recordings and live tracks in October.
"Tell Tale Signs," the eighth installment in Dylan's "Bootleg Series," focuses on albums from the last two decades, ranging from 1989's "Oh Mercy" to 2006's "Modern Times."
Columbia Records will release "Tell Tale Signs" in three configurations on October 7: a standard two-disc package with 27 songs, a "limited edition" set with a bonus disc containing 12 songs; and a four-LP vinyl version including all the elements of the two-CD set.
Most of the tracks come from sessions for "Oh Mercy" and his 1997 comeback of sorts "Time Out of Mind." Selections from the former include a piano demo of "Dignity" and two alternate versions of "Most of the Time"; and from the latter, a live version of "Cold Irons Bound" recorded during Dylan's set at the 2004 Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee.
The sessions for his 1993 folk covers album "World Gone Wrong" have yielded "32-20 Blues," a tune billed as Dylan's first release of a Robert Johnson song.
Dylan's "Bootleg Series" launched in 1991 with a three-disc boxed set collecting rare and unreleased tracks spanning 27 years. The most recent release was the 2005 soundtrack to the documentary "No Direction Home."
While there have been some reports that Dylan is working on a follow-up to "Modern Times," a Columbia spokesman said "Tell Tale Signs" is the focus for now.
Dylan, meanwhile, will begin a monthlong North American tour in Philadelphia on August 8.
"Tell Tale Signs," the eighth installment in Dylan's "Bootleg Series," focuses on albums from the last two decades, ranging from 1989's "Oh Mercy" to 2006's "Modern Times."
Columbia Records will release "Tell Tale Signs" in three configurations on October 7: a standard two-disc package with 27 songs, a "limited edition" set with a bonus disc containing 12 songs; and a four-LP vinyl version including all the elements of the two-CD set.
Most of the tracks come from sessions for "Oh Mercy" and his 1997 comeback of sorts "Time Out of Mind." Selections from the former include a piano demo of "Dignity" and two alternate versions of "Most of the Time"; and from the latter, a live version of "Cold Irons Bound" recorded during Dylan's set at the 2004 Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee.
The sessions for his 1993 folk covers album "World Gone Wrong" have yielded "32-20 Blues," a tune billed as Dylan's first release of a Robert Johnson song.
Dylan's "Bootleg Series" launched in 1991 with a three-disc boxed set collecting rare and unreleased tracks spanning 27 years. The most recent release was the 2005 soundtrack to the documentary "No Direction Home."
While there have been some reports that Dylan is working on a follow-up to "Modern Times," a Columbia spokesman said "Tell Tale Signs" is the focus for now.
Dylan, meanwhile, will begin a monthlong North American tour in Philadelphia on August 8.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
EBOOK Is Now A Free Download!
Learn about the hobby of collecting vinyl with FREE ebook called "The Fascinating Hobby Of Vinyl Record Collecting" that details why people collect records, grading vinyl, why vinyl is the best sound reproduction format, where to buy collectible records, album cover art, collectibles insurance, interviews with record collectors and vinyl record retailers, and much more.
For your FREE download, visit my website:
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Creedence Clearwater albums to be reissued
Wed Jul 30, 2:14 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The first six albums of California rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival are being reissued on September 30 with bonus tracks and new liner notes, Concord Music Group said on Tuesday.
The reissued albums, which have been digitally remastered and will be presented in DigiPaks, are: "Creedence Clearwater Revival," "Bayou Country," "Green River," "Willy & the Poor Boys," "Cosmo's Factory" and "Pendulum," all originally released from 1968 to 1970.
Among the many extras are unreleased studio versions of "Down on the Corner" and "Born on the Bayou," which were recorded with Booker T & the MGs. The tracks appear on "Willy & the Poor Boys" and "Cosmo's Factory," respectively.
The announcement comes about three years after Creedence singer/songwriter John Fogerty re-signed as a solo artist with Concord's Fantasy Records label, for which Creedence recorded in the late '60s and early '70s.
Concord bought Fantasy in 2004 from Fogerty's nemesis, Saul Zaentz, and has been mending bridges with Fogerty, such as paying performance royalties on his back catalog.
Creedence, one of the great American bands to emerge in the late 1960s, recorded for Berkeley, Calif.-based Fantasy until it broke up in 1972. Fogerty had signed away his copyrights to such tunes as "Fortunate Son" and "Bad Moon Rising," and spent the ensuing decades in legal battles with Zaentz.
He once immortalized Zaentz in a song called "Zanz Kant Danz," while Zaentz countered with a plagiarism lawsuit, claiming that Fogerty's solo song "The Old Man Down the Road" ripped off the Creedence hit "Run Through the Jungle." The litigation went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
(Reporting by Dean Goodman)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The first six albums of California rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival are being reissued on September 30 with bonus tracks and new liner notes, Concord Music Group said on Tuesday.
The reissued albums, which have been digitally remastered and will be presented in DigiPaks, are: "Creedence Clearwater Revival," "Bayou Country," "Green River," "Willy & the Poor Boys," "Cosmo's Factory" and "Pendulum," all originally released from 1968 to 1970.
Among the many extras are unreleased studio versions of "Down on the Corner" and "Born on the Bayou," which were recorded with Booker T & the MGs. The tracks appear on "Willy & the Poor Boys" and "Cosmo's Factory," respectively.
The announcement comes about three years after Creedence singer/songwriter John Fogerty re-signed as a solo artist with Concord's Fantasy Records label, for which Creedence recorded in the late '60s and early '70s.
Concord bought Fantasy in 2004 from Fogerty's nemesis, Saul Zaentz, and has been mending bridges with Fogerty, such as paying performance royalties on his back catalog.
Creedence, one of the great American bands to emerge in the late 1960s, recorded for Berkeley, Calif.-based Fantasy until it broke up in 1972. Fogerty had signed away his copyrights to such tunes as "Fortunate Son" and "Bad Moon Rising," and spent the ensuing decades in legal battles with Zaentz.
He once immortalized Zaentz in a song called "Zanz Kant Danz," while Zaentz countered with a plagiarism lawsuit, claiming that Fogerty's solo song "The Old Man Down the Road" ripped off the Creedence hit "Run Through the Jungle." The litigation went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
(Reporting by Dean Goodman)
This Date In Music History- July 30
Birthdays:
Born on this day in 1949, Andy Scott, guitar, Sweet.
Jeffrey Hammond Hammond, bass, Jethro Tull Tull was born in 1946.
Born on this day in 1945, David Sanborn, saxophone, US session player.
Paul Anka ("Diana") turns 67.
Bluesman Buddy Guy was born in Lettsworth, La. in 1936.
Kate Bush was born in Bexleyheath, England in 1958.
History:
The Apple Boutique, owned and operated by The Beatles, closed its doors in 1968, after just seven months in business on Baker Street. After the owners had their pick, the remaining stock was given away.
The Beatles topped the American chart in 1966 with "Yesterday ... and Today." The cover of the album (the infamous ‘butcher' cover) had to be quickly changed when people objected to the band dressing up as butchers surrounded by dismembered dolls.
In 1954, Elvis Presley made his first full stage appearance, opening for a Slim Whitman concert in Memphis. Advised by DJ Dewey Phillips to play uptempo material, he drives the crowd nuts with his hip-swinging versions of "Good Rockin' Tonight" and "That's All Right Mama." Phillips has to push him back out onstage for an encore while country star Webb Pierce expresses his disbelief.
Elvis Presley's "Loving You" movie opened nationwide in 1957.
Sam Phillips, the man who discovered Elvis Presley and owner of the legendary Sun Records, passed away July 30, 2003 at the age of 80. Phillips also helped launch the careers of Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Charlie Rich, Conway Twitty and Jerry Lee Lewis. He sold Elvis' contract to RCA in November, 1955, for $40,000. Sam was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
Marshall Lon "Deacon" Freeman, one of the founding members of gospel's Oak Ridge Boys, died at his Rocky Face, Ga., home in 2003.
The Rolling Stones headlined a one-day festival in Toronto in 2003 to revive the city's tourism industry following an outbreak of the SARS virus. Other performers include AC/DC, Rush and Justin Timberlake. An estimated 450,000 people attend.
The late Marc Bolan was born in London in 1947. As a member of T. Rex, he went to No. 10 in 1972 with "Bang a Gong (Get It On)."
The Bee Gees' younger brother Andy Gibb started a three week run at the top of the Billboard Pop chart in 1977 with "I Just Wanna Be Your Everything", his first of three US #1's. The record made it to #26 in the UK.
1986- Oops! The show business newspaper Variety reported that RCA dumped John Denver from its roster after the release of his single, "What Are We Making Weapons For.” Variety said the song upset the record company's new owner, General Electric, one of the largest defense contractors in the US. GE sold RCA two months later.
The Troggs started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart in 1966 with 'Wild Thing'.
1973- The Mamas & the Papas Papa John Phillips calls a press conference to accuse his old label ABC-Dunhill of "the systematic, cold-blooded theft of perhaps up to $60 million, stolen from each and every artist who ever recorded for the company during a seven-year period."
In 1991, a police officer was forced to tear up a traffic ticket given to the limousine that Axl Rose was travelling in after it made an illegal turn. Rose threatened to pull that nights Guns N' Roses gig if the ticket was issued. Oh, the benefits of being a rock star!
Born on this day in 1949, Andy Scott, guitar, Sweet.
Jeffrey Hammond Hammond, bass, Jethro Tull Tull was born in 1946.
Born on this day in 1945, David Sanborn, saxophone, US session player.
Paul Anka ("Diana") turns 67.
Bluesman Buddy Guy was born in Lettsworth, La. in 1936.
Kate Bush was born in Bexleyheath, England in 1958.
History:
The Apple Boutique, owned and operated by The Beatles, closed its doors in 1968, after just seven months in business on Baker Street. After the owners had their pick, the remaining stock was given away.
The Beatles topped the American chart in 1966 with "Yesterday ... and Today." The cover of the album (the infamous ‘butcher' cover) had to be quickly changed when people objected to the band dressing up as butchers surrounded by dismembered dolls.
In 1954, Elvis Presley made his first full stage appearance, opening for a Slim Whitman concert in Memphis. Advised by DJ Dewey Phillips to play uptempo material, he drives the crowd nuts with his hip-swinging versions of "Good Rockin' Tonight" and "That's All Right Mama." Phillips has to push him back out onstage for an encore while country star Webb Pierce expresses his disbelief.
Elvis Presley's "Loving You" movie opened nationwide in 1957.
Sam Phillips, the man who discovered Elvis Presley and owner of the legendary Sun Records, passed away July 30, 2003 at the age of 80. Phillips also helped launch the careers of Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Charlie Rich, Conway Twitty and Jerry Lee Lewis. He sold Elvis' contract to RCA in November, 1955, for $40,000. Sam was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
Marshall Lon "Deacon" Freeman, one of the founding members of gospel's Oak Ridge Boys, died at his Rocky Face, Ga., home in 2003.
The Rolling Stones headlined a one-day festival in Toronto in 2003 to revive the city's tourism industry following an outbreak of the SARS virus. Other performers include AC/DC, Rush and Justin Timberlake. An estimated 450,000 people attend.
The late Marc Bolan was born in London in 1947. As a member of T. Rex, he went to No. 10 in 1972 with "Bang a Gong (Get It On)."
The Bee Gees' younger brother Andy Gibb started a three week run at the top of the Billboard Pop chart in 1977 with "I Just Wanna Be Your Everything", his first of three US #1's. The record made it to #26 in the UK.
1986- Oops! The show business newspaper Variety reported that RCA dumped John Denver from its roster after the release of his single, "What Are We Making Weapons For.” Variety said the song upset the record company's new owner, General Electric, one of the largest defense contractors in the US. GE sold RCA two months later.
The Troggs started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart in 1966 with 'Wild Thing'.
1973- The Mamas & the Papas Papa John Phillips calls a press conference to accuse his old label ABC-Dunhill of "the systematic, cold-blooded theft of perhaps up to $60 million, stolen from each and every artist who ever recorded for the company during a seven-year period."
In 1991, a police officer was forced to tear up a traffic ticket given to the limousine that Axl Rose was travelling in after it made an illegal turn. Rose threatened to pull that nights Guns N' Roses gig if the ticket was issued. Oh, the benefits of being a rock star!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Upcoming Record Fairs:
For all record & music collectors, I have listed some of the Record & Music Conventions around the US for August & September...hopefully there is one near you and you can add some gems to your record collection!
Aug 9 NJ, Wayne. 2nd Saturday Record & CD Collectors Show at Firemen's Convention Center. 97 Parish Dr. (north of Rt. 46& Rt. 80)@ Rt. 23 & Rt. 202S, by Bus take NJT #195 from Port Authority toRoute 23/Fairfield Rd (after WillowbrookMall). SH: 10am 4pm. Up to 100 tables. Adm: $6.00 (Children under 12 free).Info: F. Falk, 2nd Saturday, PO Box 251,Hamburg, NJ 07419-0251 or Ph: (973) 209 6067, Email: fred@nji.com or www.showsandexpos.com
Aug 9 FL, Tampa. Tampa Bay Record & CD Show at Holiday Inn Express, 4732 N. Dale Mabry Hwy. SH: 10am - 4pm. Adm: $3.Tables $50. Info call (727) 251-9458 or rrounds1@tampabay.rr.com
Aug 10 CA, San Francisco. KUSF's Rock'n'Swap - Music Fair and Fundraiser McLaren Hall on the University of San Francisco campus. Benefits KUSF 90.3FM - non-commercial alternative radio in SF. Adm: (10a-3p) is $3, USF students FREE! EarlyBird (6am-10a) is $20.00. INFO: (415) 386-KUSF(5873) or www.KUSF.org/swap.
Aug 10 PA, Lancaster. Pennsylvania Music Expo, Jaycees Bingo Hall. 2460 New Holland Pike (PA Rt 23). SH: 9am-3pm, Tables: 95-6’, $35. Adm: FREE. Keystone Record Collectors, Ph: (717) 898-1246 or www.recordcollectors.org
Aug 16 NY, New York City. New York City Record & CD Collectors Expo, The Holiday Inn(formerly the Days Inn), 440 West 57th Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues).SH: 10am 4pm. Up to 100 tables. Adm: $6.00 (children under 12 free).FREE CD to First 100 Customers. Info: F. Falk, NYC Record Show, PO Box 251, Hamburg, NJ 07419-0251. Ph: (973) 209 6067, email: fred@nji.com or www.showsandexpos.com
Aug 16 & 17 AL, Birmingham. Birmingham Record Collectors Show. The Cedars Club, 301 Green Springs Ave S. Adm:$ 3. SH: 9am - 5pm Sat, 10am - 4pm Sunday. Limited early adm. for BRC members only, Fri. 5 - 8:30pm. Lots of show info at birminghamrecord.com/home/recordshow
Aug 17 MI, Kalamazoo. Kalamazoo Record & CD Collectors Show at County Fairgrounds, 2900 Lake St., County Center, Room A. Adm: Free, SH: 11am-5pm. (574) 329-1483. 35+ Tables, $40 each.
Aug 17 CA, Newark. Music Swap Meet at The Pavilion, 6430 Thornton Ave., SH: 8:30am-1pm, Tables: $45.-$60., Adm: $3. Info: Charlene White, (408) 263-5127.
Aug 17 WI, Milwaukee. Music Marketplace, American Serb Hall. 5101 W. Oklahoma Ave. SH: 10am-4pm, Adm: $3. Info: Bill, (847) 409-9656.
Sept 7 MI, Roseville. Metro Detroit Record Show at VFW Hall, 25671 Gratiot Ave. SH: 10am-4pm. Adm: $3. Records, oldies to current. Plus, cd's and music memorabilia. Info: (586) 759-5133 or www.michiganrecords.com
Sept 7 MO, St. Louis. Record & CD Show at American Czech Hall, 4690 Landsdowne at Kings Hwy. SH: 10am-4pm, F: $35., Adm: $2.50. Info: Jim Ronat, (618) 654-3049 or Carl, (314) 821-9121.
Sept 13 NJ, Wayne. 2nd Saturday Record & CD Collectors Show at Firemen's Convention Center. 97 Parish Dr. (north of Rt. 46& Rt. 80) @ Rt. 23 & Rt. 202S, by Bus take NJT #195 from Port Authority to Route 23/Fairfield Rd (after WillowbrookMall). SH: 10am 4pm. Up to 100 tables. Adm: $6.00 (Children under 12 free). Info: F. Falk, 2nd Saturday, PO Box 251,Hamburg, NJ 07419-0251 or Ph: (973) 209 6067, Email: fred@nji.com or www.showsandexpos.com
Sept 13 MN, Minneapolis. MSP Music Expo, Tri-City American Legion. 400 Old Highway #8 NW, New Brighton, MN. SH: 10am-4pm, Tables: 8’, $35., Adm: $3. Info: Tim at (651) 373-0065 or www.mspmusicexpo.com
Sept 14 PA, Lancaster. Pennsylvania Music Expo, Jaycees Bingo Hall. 2460 New Holland Pike (PA Rt 23). SH: 9am-3pm, Tables: 95-6’, $35. Adm: FREE. Keystone Record Collectors, Ph: (717) 898-1246 or www.recordcollectors.org
Sept 14 IL, Hillside. Chicagoland Record & CD Collectors Show at Chicago Hillside Hotel, 4400 Frontage Road, Hillside. Adm: $3, SH: 9am-4pm. Early Birds 7:00am. (630) 898-1533. 85 dealer tables.
Sept 14 NJ, Springfield. Greater NJ Record & CD Show Holiday Inn, Route 22 West. SH: 10am-5pm. Adm:$6. Info: (908) 541-0511 or e-mail GNJRecordShows@yahoo.com
Sept 14 MA, Dedham. Original New England Compact Disc and Record Show at the Holiday Inn at the junctions of RT #95/128 & RT #1. Exit 15A. SH: 10am - 4pm, Adm: $4. Includes lots of free parking. Featuring 50 vendors - some of which have participated 30 years. Info: call (781) 986-4538. Other 2008 dates: Nov 9.
Sept 20 NY, New York City. New York City Record & CD Collectors Expo, The Holiday Inn (formerly the Days Inn), 440 West 57th Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues). SH: 10am 4pm. Up to 100 tables. Adm: $6.00 (children under 12 free). FREE CD to First 100 Customers. Info: F. Falk, NYC Record Show, PO Box 251, Hamburg, NJ 07419-0251. Ph: (973) 209 6067, email: fred@nji.com or www.showsandexpos.com
Sep 20 PA, Allentown. Original 19th Semi-Annual 45-78 RPM Record Expo, Merchants Square. 12th & Vultee Sts. SH: 10am-?, Adm: $3. Tables: 8’ $55 in advance, $65 after. Surround Sound Prods, (610)-530-7606 or (797)-7743 day of show.
Sept 21 PA, Allentown. Fall 2008 Lehigh Valley Music Expo, Merchants Square. 12th & Vultee Sts. SH: 10am-?, Adm: $3. Tables: 8’ $55 in advance, $65 after. Surround Sound Prods, (610)-530-7606 or (797)-7743 day of show.
Sept 28 MA, Boston. Record & CD Collectors Show, Radisson Hotel. 200 Stuart St., 6th floor, SH: 10am-4pm, Tables: 100-8’, Adm: $6. Info: (978) 388-6576 or www.primatepromotions.com
Sept 28 OH, Fairview Park. Record & CD Convention at American Legion Hall, 22001 Brookpark Rd.(I-480, Exit 9 Grayton Rd.) SH: 10am-4pm, Adm: $3. Info: Lawrence, Ph (330) 242-4499 or lpsound@webtv.net
Sept 28 CA, Buena Park. Greater Orange County Record Show at the UFCW Union Hall, 8530 Stanton Ave. SH: 10am - 3pm, Adm $3. T: 8’, F: $65 Early bird admission $8.00 at 7:00am. Info: Steve Brunner (626) 963-9717 or or www.asavinyl.com.
Aug 9 NJ, Wayne. 2nd Saturday Record & CD Collectors Show at Firemen's Convention Center. 97 Parish Dr. (north of Rt. 46& Rt. 80)@ Rt. 23 & Rt. 202S, by Bus take NJT #195 from Port Authority toRoute 23/Fairfield Rd (after WillowbrookMall). SH: 10am 4pm. Up to 100 tables. Adm: $6.00 (Children under 12 free).Info: F. Falk, 2nd Saturday, PO Box 251,Hamburg, NJ 07419-0251 or Ph: (973) 209 6067, Email: fred@nji.com or www.showsandexpos.com
Aug 9 FL, Tampa. Tampa Bay Record & CD Show at Holiday Inn Express, 4732 N. Dale Mabry Hwy. SH: 10am - 4pm. Adm: $3.Tables $50. Info call (727) 251-9458 or rrounds1@tampabay.rr.com
Aug 10 CA, San Francisco. KUSF's Rock'n'Swap - Music Fair and Fundraiser McLaren Hall on the University of San Francisco campus. Benefits KUSF 90.3FM - non-commercial alternative radio in SF. Adm: (10a-3p) is $3, USF students FREE! EarlyBird (6am-10a) is $20.00. INFO: (415) 386-KUSF(5873) or www.KUSF.org/swap.
Aug 10 PA, Lancaster. Pennsylvania Music Expo, Jaycees Bingo Hall. 2460 New Holland Pike (PA Rt 23). SH: 9am-3pm, Tables: 95-6’, $35. Adm: FREE. Keystone Record Collectors, Ph: (717) 898-1246 or www.recordcollectors.org
Aug 16 NY, New York City. New York City Record & CD Collectors Expo, The Holiday Inn(formerly the Days Inn), 440 West 57th Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues).SH: 10am 4pm. Up to 100 tables. Adm: $6.00 (children under 12 free).FREE CD to First 100 Customers. Info: F. Falk, NYC Record Show, PO Box 251, Hamburg, NJ 07419-0251. Ph: (973) 209 6067, email: fred@nji.com or www.showsandexpos.com
Aug 16 & 17 AL, Birmingham. Birmingham Record Collectors Show. The Cedars Club, 301 Green Springs Ave S. Adm:$ 3. SH: 9am - 5pm Sat, 10am - 4pm Sunday. Limited early adm. for BRC members only, Fri. 5 - 8:30pm. Lots of show info at birminghamrecord.com/home/recordshow
Aug 17 MI, Kalamazoo. Kalamazoo Record & CD Collectors Show at County Fairgrounds, 2900 Lake St., County Center, Room A. Adm: Free, SH: 11am-5pm. (574) 329-1483. 35+ Tables, $40 each.
Aug 17 CA, Newark. Music Swap Meet at The Pavilion, 6430 Thornton Ave., SH: 8:30am-1pm, Tables: $45.-$60., Adm: $3. Info: Charlene White, (408) 263-5127.
Aug 17 WI, Milwaukee. Music Marketplace, American Serb Hall. 5101 W. Oklahoma Ave. SH: 10am-4pm, Adm: $3. Info: Bill, (847) 409-9656.
Sept 7 MI, Roseville. Metro Detroit Record Show at VFW Hall, 25671 Gratiot Ave. SH: 10am-4pm. Adm: $3. Records, oldies to current. Plus, cd's and music memorabilia. Info: (586) 759-5133 or www.michiganrecords.com
Sept 7 MO, St. Louis. Record & CD Show at American Czech Hall, 4690 Landsdowne at Kings Hwy. SH: 10am-4pm, F: $35., Adm: $2.50. Info: Jim Ronat, (618) 654-3049 or Carl, (314) 821-9121.
Sept 13 NJ, Wayne. 2nd Saturday Record & CD Collectors Show at Firemen's Convention Center. 97 Parish Dr. (north of Rt. 46& Rt. 80) @ Rt. 23 & Rt. 202S, by Bus take NJT #195 from Port Authority to Route 23/Fairfield Rd (after WillowbrookMall). SH: 10am 4pm. Up to 100 tables. Adm: $6.00 (Children under 12 free). Info: F. Falk, 2nd Saturday, PO Box 251,Hamburg, NJ 07419-0251 or Ph: (973) 209 6067, Email: fred@nji.com or www.showsandexpos.com
Sept 13 MN, Minneapolis. MSP Music Expo, Tri-City American Legion. 400 Old Highway #8 NW, New Brighton, MN. SH: 10am-4pm, Tables: 8’, $35., Adm: $3. Info: Tim at (651) 373-0065 or www.mspmusicexpo.com
Sept 14 PA, Lancaster. Pennsylvania Music Expo, Jaycees Bingo Hall. 2460 New Holland Pike (PA Rt 23). SH: 9am-3pm, Tables: 95-6’, $35. Adm: FREE. Keystone Record Collectors, Ph: (717) 898-1246 or www.recordcollectors.org
Sept 14 IL, Hillside. Chicagoland Record & CD Collectors Show at Chicago Hillside Hotel, 4400 Frontage Road, Hillside. Adm: $3, SH: 9am-4pm. Early Birds 7:00am. (630) 898-1533. 85 dealer tables.
Sept 14 NJ, Springfield. Greater NJ Record & CD Show Holiday Inn, Route 22 West. SH: 10am-5pm. Adm:$6. Info: (908) 541-0511 or e-mail GNJRecordShows@yahoo.com
Sept 14 MA, Dedham. Original New England Compact Disc and Record Show at the Holiday Inn at the junctions of RT #95/128 & RT #1. Exit 15A. SH: 10am - 4pm, Adm: $4. Includes lots of free parking. Featuring 50 vendors - some of which have participated 30 years. Info: call (781) 986-4538. Other 2008 dates: Nov 9.
Sept 20 NY, New York City. New York City Record & CD Collectors Expo, The Holiday Inn (formerly the Days Inn), 440 West 57th Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues). SH: 10am 4pm. Up to 100 tables. Adm: $6.00 (children under 12 free). FREE CD to First 100 Customers. Info: F. Falk, NYC Record Show, PO Box 251, Hamburg, NJ 07419-0251. Ph: (973) 209 6067, email: fred@nji.com or www.showsandexpos.com
Sep 20 PA, Allentown. Original 19th Semi-Annual 45-78 RPM Record Expo, Merchants Square. 12th & Vultee Sts. SH: 10am-?, Adm: $3. Tables: 8’ $55 in advance, $65 after. Surround Sound Prods, (610)-530-7606 or (797)-7743 day of show.
Sept 21 PA, Allentown. Fall 2008 Lehigh Valley Music Expo, Merchants Square. 12th & Vultee Sts. SH: 10am-?, Adm: $3. Tables: 8’ $55 in advance, $65 after. Surround Sound Prods, (610)-530-7606 or (797)-7743 day of show.
Sept 28 MA, Boston. Record & CD Collectors Show, Radisson Hotel. 200 Stuart St., 6th floor, SH: 10am-4pm, Tables: 100-8’, Adm: $6. Info: (978) 388-6576 or www.primatepromotions.com
Sept 28 OH, Fairview Park. Record & CD Convention at American Legion Hall, 22001 Brookpark Rd.(I-480, Exit 9 Grayton Rd.) SH: 10am-4pm, Adm: $3. Info: Lawrence, Ph (330) 242-4499 or lpsound@webtv.net
Sept 28 CA, Buena Park. Greater Orange County Record Show at the UFCW Union Hall, 8530 Stanton Ave. SH: 10am - 3pm, Adm $3. T: 8’, F: $65 Early bird admission $8.00 at 7:00am. Info: Steve Brunner (626) 963-9717 or or www.asavinyl.com.
Vinyl Record News & Vinyl Releases:
Turntable shipments topped 32,000 in April, one-third higher than the 19,000 record players sold the same month a year ago, according to the Consumer Electronics Association in Arlington. That's less than 1 percent of total music-player sales, but the increase has not escaped the notice of store managers.
CD sales declined 15 percent in 2007, but sales of vinyl recordings are on the rise, according to Nielsen SoundScan, a research company that tracks music sales. Year-over-year sales of vinyl records increased 70 percent in March and could reach 1.6 million by year's end.
Source: www.washingtontimes.com
Some new releases:
ABBA: The Album (reissue) [vinyl]
Annie: I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me (import single)
Awesome Color: Electric Aborigines [vinyl]
Bauhaus: In the Flat Field (reissue) [vinyl]
Cat Stevens: Tea for the Tillerman (reissue) [vinyl]
Common: Announcement/Universal Mind Control (single)
Cream: Disraeli Gears (reissue) [vinyl]
Elton John: The Captain & the Kid (reissue) [vinyl]
Eric Clapton: 461 Ocean Boulevard (reissue) [vinyl]
James Brown: Live at the Apollo (reissue) [vinyl]
KISS: Alive! (reissue) [vinyl]
Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin (import reissue) [vinyl]
Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin III (import reissue) [vinyl]
Madonna: Give It 2 Me (import single)
The Police: Zenyatta Mondatta (reissue) [vinyl]
The Presets: Apocalypso [vinyl]
Subtle: Exiting Arm [vinyl]
Supertramp: Breakfast in America (reissue) [vinyl]
Van Morrison: Tupelo Honey (reissue) [vinyl]
Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2LP with CD) [lp]
More Vinyl Releases:
Afrika Bambaataa - Planet Rock: The Album
David Bowie - Live in Santa Monica '72
Billy Bragg - Mr. Love and Justice
Def Leppard - C'mon C'mon
Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains the Same
U2 - Boy
U2 - October
U2 - War
Classic Releases:
Crystal Visions The Very Best of Stevie Nicks Limited HQ 180g 2LP Set
Stevie Nicks
Release Date: 23 July 2008
Format: LP Double Vinyl
Consolers of the Lonely Double 180g Vinyl LP Set+Postcards
The RaconteursRelease Date: 26 July 2008
Format: LP Double Vinyl
White Light White Heat Limited Edition Deluxr Vinyl LP
Velvet Underground
Release Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
What we did on our Holidays Limited Edition Deluxe Vinyl LP
Fairport ConventionRelease Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
Unhalfbricking Limited Edition Deluxe Vinyl LP
Fairport ConventionRelease Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
Welcome to Goon Island Limited(500) Deluxe Gatefold Vinyl
XX TeensRelease Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
The Times They are A-Changin' Limited 180gram Vinyl LP
Bob DylanRelease Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
Nashville Skyline Limited High-Quality Vinyl LP
Bob DylanRelease Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
My People Were Fair and Limited 180gram LP+Bonus Track Debora
Tyrannosaurus Rex
Release Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
Living With War In the Beginning Limited Edition 200gram Vinyl
Neil YoungRelease Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
End Titles..Stories For Film Limited Double Vinyl LP
UnkleRelease Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Double Vinyl
Bringing It All Back Home Limited HQ 180Gram Vinyl LP
Bob Dylan
Release Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
Another Side of Limited High Quality Vinyl LP
Bob Dylan
Release Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
Along Came A Spider Limited Edition Coloured Vinyl LP
Alice CooperRelease Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
CD sales declined 15 percent in 2007, but sales of vinyl recordings are on the rise, according to Nielsen SoundScan, a research company that tracks music sales. Year-over-year sales of vinyl records increased 70 percent in March and could reach 1.6 million by year's end.
Source: www.washingtontimes.com
Some new releases:
ABBA: The Album (reissue) [vinyl]
Annie: I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me (import single)
Awesome Color: Electric Aborigines [vinyl]
Bauhaus: In the Flat Field (reissue) [vinyl]
Cat Stevens: Tea for the Tillerman (reissue) [vinyl]
Common: Announcement/Universal Mind Control (single)
Cream: Disraeli Gears (reissue) [vinyl]
Elton John: The Captain & the Kid (reissue) [vinyl]
Eric Clapton: 461 Ocean Boulevard (reissue) [vinyl]
James Brown: Live at the Apollo (reissue) [vinyl]
KISS: Alive! (reissue) [vinyl]
Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin (import reissue) [vinyl]
Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin III (import reissue) [vinyl]
Madonna: Give It 2 Me (import single)
The Police: Zenyatta Mondatta (reissue) [vinyl]
The Presets: Apocalypso [vinyl]
Subtle: Exiting Arm [vinyl]
Supertramp: Breakfast in America (reissue) [vinyl]
Van Morrison: Tupelo Honey (reissue) [vinyl]
Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2LP with CD) [lp]
More Vinyl Releases:
Afrika Bambaataa - Planet Rock: The Album
David Bowie - Live in Santa Monica '72
Billy Bragg - Mr. Love and Justice
Def Leppard - C'mon C'mon
Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains the Same
U2 - Boy
U2 - October
U2 - War
Classic Releases:
Crystal Visions The Very Best of Stevie Nicks Limited HQ 180g 2LP Set
Stevie Nicks
Release Date: 23 July 2008
Format: LP Double Vinyl
Consolers of the Lonely Double 180g Vinyl LP Set+Postcards
The RaconteursRelease Date: 26 July 2008
Format: LP Double Vinyl
White Light White Heat Limited Edition Deluxr Vinyl LP
Velvet Underground
Release Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
What we did on our Holidays Limited Edition Deluxe Vinyl LP
Fairport ConventionRelease Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
Unhalfbricking Limited Edition Deluxe Vinyl LP
Fairport ConventionRelease Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
Welcome to Goon Island Limited(500) Deluxe Gatefold Vinyl
XX TeensRelease Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
The Times They are A-Changin' Limited 180gram Vinyl LP
Bob DylanRelease Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
Nashville Skyline Limited High-Quality Vinyl LP
Bob DylanRelease Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
My People Were Fair and Limited 180gram LP+Bonus Track Debora
Tyrannosaurus Rex
Release Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
Living With War In the Beginning Limited Edition 200gram Vinyl
Neil YoungRelease Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
End Titles..Stories For Film Limited Double Vinyl LP
UnkleRelease Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Double Vinyl
Bringing It All Back Home Limited HQ 180Gram Vinyl LP
Bob Dylan
Release Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
Another Side of Limited High Quality Vinyl LP
Bob Dylan
Release Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
Along Came A Spider Limited Edition Coloured Vinyl LP
Alice CooperRelease Date: 28 July 2008
Format: LP Vinyl
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