Beatles- A Hard Day's Night
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Rock & Roll Tidbits
Keith Moon, the drummer for the Who, developed his own unique language. In fact, here are some of his words that he used to describe male genitalia, they included: bacon assegai, beef torpedo, cobblers, cricket set, mutton javelin, plonker, wanger and last but not least, the pork sword.
The Ramones were well-known for their loud concerts. One time they performed so loud while in the recording studio that they actually destroyed several expensive pieces of audio equipment.
The Spice Girls once met Queen Elizabeth. But Ginger Spice refused to follow the proper protocol to curtsy when she was shaking hands with the Queen. Ginger Spice was terrified that her ‘old tired tits’ would come flopping out of her dress.
Tupac Shakur scored a big hit with his album 2Pacalypse. So he went out car shopping and bought his dream car. The next day, he totaled it.
On Aerosmith’s first tour of Britain, the American rockers rented a forty-five set private plane at a cost of 18,000 British pounds per day. Trouble was, the band was only bringing in about 2 to 3,000 pounds per show.
“I won’t be happy until I am as famous as god,” Madonna once quipped.
Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees once worked on a solo album called “We Are The Bunbury’s.” The LP was about a family of cricket-playing rabbits. Uh, don’t think I ever saw that one.
Near the end of Metallica’s “Kill ‘Em All” tour, the band spotted one of their fans wearing a homemade shirt that read : “Alcoholica, Drank ‘Em All.” They liked it so much that they ripped off the idea and had their own “Alcoholic” t-shirts made.
Back in 1965, James Brown’s manager circulated a rumor that the King of Soul was going to get a sex-change operation in order to marry his band mate, Bobby Byrd.
As a lad, Johnny Ramone was known as a bit of a thug, but not necessarily a smart one. He once was caught breaking into a Laundromat. Apparently, he thought that he was breaking into a drug store. Ooops.
In 1995, at the MTV European Awards ceremony in Paris, U@ front man Bono commented to the French: “What a city. What a night…what a wanker you have for president!”
Elton John was always known for his extravagant costumes. His least successful creation? A pair of wooden pants. “Not very good for moving about, I’m afraid,” said John.
At the end of a live television appearance in Paris, the Who ran out of the studio and into the streets, lined up against a wall and urinated. Trouble was, the group peeing session was broadcast to viewers in France and England.
The Ramones were well-known for their loud concerts. One time they performed so loud while in the recording studio that they actually destroyed several expensive pieces of audio equipment.
The Spice Girls once met Queen Elizabeth. But Ginger Spice refused to follow the proper protocol to curtsy when she was shaking hands with the Queen. Ginger Spice was terrified that her ‘old tired tits’ would come flopping out of her dress.
Tupac Shakur scored a big hit with his album 2Pacalypse. So he went out car shopping and bought his dream car. The next day, he totaled it.
On Aerosmith’s first tour of Britain, the American rockers rented a forty-five set private plane at a cost of 18,000 British pounds per day. Trouble was, the band was only bringing in about 2 to 3,000 pounds per show.
“I won’t be happy until I am as famous as god,” Madonna once quipped.
Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees once worked on a solo album called “We Are The Bunbury’s.” The LP was about a family of cricket-playing rabbits. Uh, don’t think I ever saw that one.
Near the end of Metallica’s “Kill ‘Em All” tour, the band spotted one of their fans wearing a homemade shirt that read : “Alcoholica, Drank ‘Em All.” They liked it so much that they ripped off the idea and had their own “Alcoholic” t-shirts made.
Back in 1965, James Brown’s manager circulated a rumor that the King of Soul was going to get a sex-change operation in order to marry his band mate, Bobby Byrd.
As a lad, Johnny Ramone was known as a bit of a thug, but not necessarily a smart one. He once was caught breaking into a Laundromat. Apparently, he thought that he was breaking into a drug store. Ooops.
In 1995, at the MTV European Awards ceremony in Paris, U@ front man Bono commented to the French: “What a city. What a night…what a wanker you have for president!”
Elton John was always known for his extravagant costumes. His least successful creation? A pair of wooden pants. “Not very good for moving about, I’m afraid,” said John.
At the end of a live television appearance in Paris, the Who ran out of the studio and into the streets, lined up against a wall and urinated. Trouble was, the group peeing session was broadcast to viewers in France and England.
Album Cover Art
I've always loved looking into a farmer's field and right in the middle of a field sits a lone tree, why they keep it there, I am not sure. But it's something that always grabs my attention, as so did this cover.
Shiny Toy Guns- We Are Pilots
Shiny Toy Guns is a Grammy-nominated American rock band originally from Shawnee, Oklahoma that formed in 2002 in Los Angeles, California. They have released three versions of their first studio album We Are Pilots, which featured three singles that peaked inside the top 30 in the U.S. Modern Rock Charts.
Shiny Toy Guns gained popularity in California as well as through their MySpace page. In January 2005, they released their first album We Are Pilots through record company Stormwest International. They began touring across America that summer in support of their album. We Are Pilots was re-recorded and re-released with a revised track list through record company SideCho in November 2005. Continuing to tour extensively, in June 2006 they signed with Universal Records and released a finalized copy of We Are Pilots on October 17, 2006.
Shiny Toy Guns- We Are Pilots
Shiny Toy Guns is a Grammy-nominated American rock band originally from Shawnee, Oklahoma that formed in 2002 in Los Angeles, California. They have released three versions of their first studio album We Are Pilots, which featured three singles that peaked inside the top 30 in the U.S. Modern Rock Charts.
Shiny Toy Guns gained popularity in California as well as through their MySpace page. In January 2005, they released their first album We Are Pilots through record company Stormwest International. They began touring across America that summer in support of their album. We Are Pilots was re-recorded and re-released with a revised track list through record company SideCho in November 2005. Continuing to tour extensively, in June 2006 they signed with Universal Records and released a finalized copy of We Are Pilots on October 17, 2006.
Music News & Notes
ISIS - New Album Tracklisting, Cover Art Revealed
ISIS, the Los Angeles by way of Boston quintet, will release their fifth full-length album, Wavering Radiant, on May 5 via Ipecac Recordings.
The album, recorded over the late summer andfall of 2008 in Los Angeles, was produced by Joe Barresi (QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, MELVINS) and will also see a vinyl release on April 21.
Aaron Turner recently discussed the new album with Billboard, saying "This is a better sonic representation of what the band actually sounds like. In the past I think some of the recordings were a little too clean in their final form. There was something about the energy that seemed to be lacking. It seems to feel more like us than anything else has."
"I feel a sense of completion with this record that I've never felt before,” Aaron Harris adds. “We spent more time creating this record than we have with any other, and I feel in my heart that this record is in many ways our best."
Cover art was once again created by Turner.
The track listing for Wavering Radiant is: 'Hall Of The Dead', 'Ghost Key', 'Hand Of The Host', 'Wavering Radiant', 'Stone To Wake A Serpent', '20 Minutes / 40 Years', 'Threshold of Transformation'.
Isis is currently planning extensive worldwide touring behind Wavering Radiant with more details to be announced shortly.
==========================
James Backs Out Of Statement
Etta James states that she was just joking when she told an audience that she hated Beyonce. She told the New York Daily News, "I didn't really mean anything. Even as a little child, I've always had that comedian kind of attitude... That's probably what went into it."
In reference to Beyonce's version of "At Last," James said she felt "left out of something that was basically mine, that I had done every time you look around. Nobody was getting mad at me in Seattle. They were all laughing, and it was funny."
==========================
Coldplay Doesn't Have To Hide At Grammy's
The members of Coldplay no longer have to try to avoid being seen at the Grammy's. A lawyer for the group has accepted papers from Joe Satriani's lawyers rather than have any embarassing incidents.
Satriani is suing the group, claiming that Viva La Vida was plagiarized from his I Just Wanna Fly. Lawyer Howard King told E! News, "We were going to attempt to serve them sometime this weekend while they were in Los Angeles, the Grammys being the most obvious time. We had also considered the MusiCares event. However, we had a very fine lawyer contact us and assure us there's no need to personally serve them. He will accept the papers on the band's behalf."
==========================
Jerusalem based extreme metal band Arallu has revealed the cover art for their upcoming album "Desert Battles - Descending To The Sands."
ISIS, the Los Angeles by way of Boston quintet, will release their fifth full-length album, Wavering Radiant, on May 5 via Ipecac Recordings.
The album, recorded over the late summer andfall of 2008 in Los Angeles, was produced by Joe Barresi (QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, MELVINS) and will also see a vinyl release on April 21.
Aaron Turner recently discussed the new album with Billboard, saying "This is a better sonic representation of what the band actually sounds like. In the past I think some of the recordings were a little too clean in their final form. There was something about the energy that seemed to be lacking. It seems to feel more like us than anything else has."
"I feel a sense of completion with this record that I've never felt before,” Aaron Harris adds. “We spent more time creating this record than we have with any other, and I feel in my heart that this record is in many ways our best."
Cover art was once again created by Turner.
The track listing for Wavering Radiant is: 'Hall Of The Dead', 'Ghost Key', 'Hand Of The Host', 'Wavering Radiant', 'Stone To Wake A Serpent', '20 Minutes / 40 Years', 'Threshold of Transformation'.
Isis is currently planning extensive worldwide touring behind Wavering Radiant with more details to be announced shortly.
==========================
James Backs Out Of Statement
Etta James states that she was just joking when she told an audience that she hated Beyonce. She told the New York Daily News, "I didn't really mean anything. Even as a little child, I've always had that comedian kind of attitude... That's probably what went into it."
In reference to Beyonce's version of "At Last," James said she felt "left out of something that was basically mine, that I had done every time you look around. Nobody was getting mad at me in Seattle. They were all laughing, and it was funny."
==========================
Coldplay Doesn't Have To Hide At Grammy's
The members of Coldplay no longer have to try to avoid being seen at the Grammy's. A lawyer for the group has accepted papers from Joe Satriani's lawyers rather than have any embarassing incidents.
Satriani is suing the group, claiming that Viva La Vida was plagiarized from his I Just Wanna Fly. Lawyer Howard King told E! News, "We were going to attempt to serve them sometime this weekend while they were in Los Angeles, the Grammys being the most obvious time. We had also considered the MusiCares event. However, we had a very fine lawyer contact us and assure us there's no need to personally serve them. He will accept the papers on the band's behalf."
==========================
Jerusalem based extreme metal band Arallu has revealed the cover art for their upcoming album "Desert Battles - Descending To The Sands."
Friday, February 6, 2009
Rock & Roll Tidbits
Neil Young loved the perks of being a rock star. While touring with CSN&Y, there were hookers on the payroll and a twenty-four hour party suite complete with champagne, iced shrimp and capsules of cocaine.
In her early days, Madonna would get the attention of the record company executives by dropping popcorn into her cleavage during business meetings and then sassily retrieving the lost kernels.
Rapper Ice-T had a firm belief that without the male sex-drive that the economy would come crashing down. “All we would do is lie around and eat and fart and get fat.”
Mama Cass Elliot was once on trial in London in 1967 for failure to pay a hotel bill. As the group (she was with fellow Mamas & Papas) left the courtroom, TV cameras caught Denny Doherty and John Phillips taking hash brownies out of Mama Cass’s purse and gobbling them down.
Back in 1978, Ozzy Osbourne publically declared that he was an alcoholic. He proceeded to quit his band and retired from music. So the odd rocker decided to open a bar, but Ozzy quickly drank up the inventory; squandered his money and soon was back together with his band.
Iggy Pop got very depressed when the Stooges broke up for the second time. So he gobbled up a bunch Quaaludes, Valium and Seconals and then went out for dinner. He flipped out and cops picked him up and gave him the choice of going to jail or a mental hospital. He chose the mental hospital. But the next day he broke out, consumed the rest of his stash and then committed himself to the hospital again.
Aerosmith was in Memphis for a gig in 1975 and local cops were intent on busting lead singer Steven Tyler if he said the ‘f-word’ onstage. But Aerosmith’s road manager convinced the locals to hold off on the bust until after the concert. However, one of the roadies tipped Tyler off. So he had the lighting man black out all the lights as soon as the show ended. After the show’s final number, Tyler jumped offstage and stumbled through the now pitch black auditorium in an effort to get away. But the vigilant cops just nailed the rock star in the lobby.
I guess Michael Jackson yearned for friendship because there was a time that he kept six mannequins in his room. He would dress them in evening gowns (no word whether these were male or female stiffs), he had a name for each one and actually had conversations with them. “I like to imagine talking to them,” the strange gloved-one stated. Perfectly normal Mike, perfectly normal- we all do that.
K. D LANG insists that people write her name using only lower case letters. Ooops.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono were known to push the media’s buttons every now and then. After their infamous ‘bed-in,’ the pair concocted ‘bagism.’ John and Yoko actually had themselves sewn inside of white bed clothes and crouched silently on a low table at a hotel in Vienna. Stunned reporters refused to believe that the odd couple were actually in the bag until Yoko began to wail a Japanese folk song- and left no doubt.
In 1987, while on a break from Metallica, James Hetfield played a series of surprise gigs at San Francisco nightclubs with a band named Spastic Children. When the band wanted to end one show with a nude encore, they were strongly discouraged from doing so by the club’s owner. So for the encore the group played in their underwear.
When James Brown was arrested at age fifteen for stealing clothes from parked cars and sent to jail, he said, “They sent me to prison for being dumb.”
In her early days, Madonna would get the attention of the record company executives by dropping popcorn into her cleavage during business meetings and then sassily retrieving the lost kernels.
Rapper Ice-T had a firm belief that without the male sex-drive that the economy would come crashing down. “All we would do is lie around and eat and fart and get fat.”
Mama Cass Elliot was once on trial in London in 1967 for failure to pay a hotel bill. As the group (she was with fellow Mamas & Papas) left the courtroom, TV cameras caught Denny Doherty and John Phillips taking hash brownies out of Mama Cass’s purse and gobbling them down.
Back in 1978, Ozzy Osbourne publically declared that he was an alcoholic. He proceeded to quit his band and retired from music. So the odd rocker decided to open a bar, but Ozzy quickly drank up the inventory; squandered his money and soon was back together with his band.
Iggy Pop got very depressed when the Stooges broke up for the second time. So he gobbled up a bunch Quaaludes, Valium and Seconals and then went out for dinner. He flipped out and cops picked him up and gave him the choice of going to jail or a mental hospital. He chose the mental hospital. But the next day he broke out, consumed the rest of his stash and then committed himself to the hospital again.
Aerosmith was in Memphis for a gig in 1975 and local cops were intent on busting lead singer Steven Tyler if he said the ‘f-word’ onstage. But Aerosmith’s road manager convinced the locals to hold off on the bust until after the concert. However, one of the roadies tipped Tyler off. So he had the lighting man black out all the lights as soon as the show ended. After the show’s final number, Tyler jumped offstage and stumbled through the now pitch black auditorium in an effort to get away. But the vigilant cops just nailed the rock star in the lobby.
I guess Michael Jackson yearned for friendship because there was a time that he kept six mannequins in his room. He would dress them in evening gowns (no word whether these were male or female stiffs), he had a name for each one and actually had conversations with them. “I like to imagine talking to them,” the strange gloved-one stated. Perfectly normal Mike, perfectly normal- we all do that.
K. D LANG insists that people write her name using only lower case letters. Ooops.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono were known to push the media’s buttons every now and then. After their infamous ‘bed-in,’ the pair concocted ‘bagism.’ John and Yoko actually had themselves sewn inside of white bed clothes and crouched silently on a low table at a hotel in Vienna. Stunned reporters refused to believe that the odd couple were actually in the bag until Yoko began to wail a Japanese folk song- and left no doubt.
In 1987, while on a break from Metallica, James Hetfield played a series of surprise gigs at San Francisco nightclubs with a band named Spastic Children. When the band wanted to end one show with a nude encore, they were strongly discouraged from doing so by the club’s owner. So for the encore the group played in their underwear.
When James Brown was arrested at age fifteen for stealing clothes from parked cars and sent to jail, he said, “They sent me to prison for being dumb.”
Album Review by Michael Fremer
I am very proud to continue our new feature (look for this every Friday), music reviews that are written by the senior contributing editor of Stereophile magazine- Michael Fremer. It has been a pleasure to speak with Michael and learn more about audio sound and equipment. In fact, his new DVD, "It's A Vinyl World, After All" has hit the shelves and is selling out very quickly. This is a must have for anybody who loves vinyl, it is a true masterpiece.
Additionally, make sure to stop by his site, www.musicangle.com and bookmark it for further exploration. I certainly want to thank Michael for the exclusive rights to reprint his fantastic material.
ALBUM REVIEW:
Roy Orbison (reissue)
The All Time Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison
Mobile Fidelity MFSL 2-304 2 180g LPs
Produced by: Fred Foster
Engineered by: Bill Porter, Tommy Strong
Mixed by: Bill Porter
Mastered by: Rob LoVerde and Shawn R. Britton
Review by: Michael Fremer
The big problem with vinyl 'greatest hits' compilations is that they are, of necessity, at least a generation down from the master tape. That's because assembling the actual masters into a cutting reel usually isn't allowed and even were a record label to allow it, levels, equalization and tape head azimuth issues make in nearly impossible to adjust between tracks as the tape reel rolls and the lacquer gets cut.
Worse, many major labels usually won't let masters out of the vaults so what's used to cut is an assemblage produced from copies of copies or a digital master made from originals.
There have been many pressings of this Roy compilation over the years, including the Monument/CBS Records, N.Y. original issued in 1972 (KZG 31484) shortly after Columbia bought Monument from Fred Foster, another one a decade later on Monument Records a division of Monument Entertainment Corporation of America (KWG2784-38384-1), two 180g audiophile pressings (DCC Compact Classics LPZ[2]-2042 and S&P [2] 507) and now this one from Mobile Fidelity.
Forget the original even if you find it in the dollar bins. It's difficult to mess up Bill Porter recordings, but this one does. It meanders from bright to dull and is occasionally distorted (there are occasional distortions on the master tapes, but this reissue magnifies them and adds some!). Clearly a cut from who knows what generation tapes. The 1982 edition isn't any better. While it's not the same cut, it's clearly cut from the same bright, distorted who knows what generation tape.
Finally, in the mid-nineties, DCC Compact Classics issued a version that did justice to Bill Porter's (and Tommy Strong's) recordings and Roy Orbison's artistry. This version, cut by Kevin Gray and mastered and produced by Steve Hoffman set the standard for clarity, dimensionality, warmth and resolution. And the liner notes and photos brought added value, using Boudlaux Bryant's original annotation plus a long detailed remembrance from the great Bill Porter, full musician credits, studio details and some swell photos. The laminated jacket featured Roy's signature embossed on the cover. A class act.
When DCC Compact Classics failed (not because its records and gold CDs didn't sell!), former DCC Compact Classic employee Sam Passamano, Jr. founded S&P and issued a few noteworthy titles, including a stellar sounding edition of Eva Cassidy's Songbird (S&P 501) and a reissue of this Roy compilation cut in 2004 using the same superb packaging and a new cut by Kevin and Steve at AcousTech that sounds slightly warmer and perhaps a bit more involving than the DCC original, but clearly cut from the same tape.
The right to issue the title recently passed to Mobile Fidelity, which spent a great deal of time working with Sony/BMG in an attempt to get the original master tapes, assemble them into production reels and cut in real time, making on the fly EQ and azimuth changes as needed. Mo-Fi's hiring of former Sony mastering engineer Rob LoVerde facilitated the negotiations. LoVerde is listed as a 'mastering associate' on the S&P edition's cutting notes.
According to mastering engineer Shawn R. Britton, LoVerde was given permission to disassemble the master tapes of Orbison's original releases and assemble 'greatest hits' cutting reels (and of course restore them to their original place in history once the cutting had been accomplished)!
While adjustments were needed to produce a coherent package, because Bill Porter was such a perfectionist, and because these tracks were all recorded direct to two track at only two studios (RCA Studio B and Monument Studios with 'Pretty Paper' recorded in the UK at Pye), the track to track variations weren't nearly as great as they might have been.
I still find Britton's story difficult to believe and I hope he appreciates my skepticism and doesn't think I'm calling him dishonest, because I'm not. In fact, based on listening to this spectacular sounding reissue, I'm a believer! That said, I can't tell you how many times records are claimed to have been cut from 'master tapes' only to have 'well connected' people on the inside of the record biz call me and say things like 'don't believe what you read. I have the master tapes and they've never left the building.' So I'm just passing on what I've been told! So far no one's called to dispute Shawn, but then again I'm writing this before anyone's read it!
In any case, hearing is believing and this half speed mastered version of The All-Time Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison is by far, the most dynamic, transparent, deep, wide and especially detailed version I've yet heard. I've been listening to some of these tracks for nearly 50 years and I heard new musical elements and details on almost every track (along with, of course, some tape deterioration and distortion).
Detractors claim that half speed mastering makes cutting bass difficult since you're halving the frequencies and making the cutting amps reproduce ultra-low frequencies, but the bottom end of this cut is deep and powerful and reveals nuances in the bottom octaves I've never before heard. Instruments that formerly receded into the mix are now clearly audible and not because of added brightness.
Play 'It's Over' and when the castanets click at the beginning, you'll jump, even if you've heard the song 1000 times. The crescendos jump out. There's a deep bass accent on the tune I've never before heard, nor do I know what produced it but it's powerful.
The album contains all of Roy's great Monument hits and a few clunkers too, like the campy 'Working For the Man' that sounds like a cross between Sam Cooke's 'Chain Gang,' Ernie Ford's '16 Tons' and Belafonte's 'The Banana Boat Song' but it's mostly hits from 1960's 'Only The Lonely' to '64's 'Pretty Woman.'
For fanatic Roy fans nothing but the original albums will do and if that's you, Classic has many of them, including Lonely and Blue, the original of which will set you back many hundreds of dollars. The problem with the original albums is a mix of greatness and lots of corny filler. For instance, Lonely and Blue has the hits 'Only the Lonely,' 'I'm Hurtin' and 'Blue Angel,' but the rest of it is not nearly as strong. However, Roy fans would want Roy and Joe Melson's 'Blue Avenue,' and a few others, but maybe not so much a karaoke-like cover of Johnnie Ray's 'Cry' complete with strings, a high fructose corn syrup cover of 'Bye-Bye Love,' and an over the top rendering of Don Gibson's '(I'd Be) A Legend In My Own Time.'
How do the cuts common to Classic's Lonely and Blue (cut by Bernie Grundman) and Mo-Fi's'Greatest Hits compare? Well here's where it gets tricky! Mo-Fi's mastering is warmer, more supple, more 'audiophile,' and if you monitored the meters, probably more dynamic. Classic's is somewhat brighter and more direct, but Classic's is also tighter and punchier.
I've had Roy fans here and they can't seem to come to a consensus as to which they prefer. One individual, who shall remain nameless and who has no axe to grind other than being a huge Roy fan dismissed the Mo-Fi as ''not being Roy.' That's an extreme position in my book! The two versions are different, that's for sure but then the mastering chains are too: as different as my stereo is from yours!
I wish I had stayed in contact with Bill Porter so I could ask him to comment! Meanwhile, if you're a big Roy fan, when Classic's Lonely And Blue returns to print (if you don't already have it), you should pick as well as this Mo-Fi reissue up and decide for yourself. Mo-Fi returns to the original CBS packaging, which doesn't hold a match, never mind a candle to the DCC and S&P, but you can't have everything.
Additionally, make sure to stop by his site, www.musicangle.com and bookmark it for further exploration. I certainly want to thank Michael for the exclusive rights to reprint his fantastic material.
ALBUM REVIEW:
Roy Orbison (reissue)
The All Time Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison
Mobile Fidelity MFSL 2-304 2 180g LPs
Produced by: Fred Foster
Engineered by: Bill Porter, Tommy Strong
Mixed by: Bill Porter
Mastered by: Rob LoVerde and Shawn R. Britton
Review by: Michael Fremer
The big problem with vinyl 'greatest hits' compilations is that they are, of necessity, at least a generation down from the master tape. That's because assembling the actual masters into a cutting reel usually isn't allowed and even were a record label to allow it, levels, equalization and tape head azimuth issues make in nearly impossible to adjust between tracks as the tape reel rolls and the lacquer gets cut.
Worse, many major labels usually won't let masters out of the vaults so what's used to cut is an assemblage produced from copies of copies or a digital master made from originals.
There have been many pressings of this Roy compilation over the years, including the Monument/CBS Records, N.Y. original issued in 1972 (KZG 31484) shortly after Columbia bought Monument from Fred Foster, another one a decade later on Monument Records a division of Monument Entertainment Corporation of America (KWG2784-38384-1), two 180g audiophile pressings (DCC Compact Classics LPZ[2]-2042 and S&P [2] 507) and now this one from Mobile Fidelity.
Forget the original even if you find it in the dollar bins. It's difficult to mess up Bill Porter recordings, but this one does. It meanders from bright to dull and is occasionally distorted (there are occasional distortions on the master tapes, but this reissue magnifies them and adds some!). Clearly a cut from who knows what generation tapes. The 1982 edition isn't any better. While it's not the same cut, it's clearly cut from the same bright, distorted who knows what generation tape.
Finally, in the mid-nineties, DCC Compact Classics issued a version that did justice to Bill Porter's (and Tommy Strong's) recordings and Roy Orbison's artistry. This version, cut by Kevin Gray and mastered and produced by Steve Hoffman set the standard for clarity, dimensionality, warmth and resolution. And the liner notes and photos brought added value, using Boudlaux Bryant's original annotation plus a long detailed remembrance from the great Bill Porter, full musician credits, studio details and some swell photos. The laminated jacket featured Roy's signature embossed on the cover. A class act.
When DCC Compact Classics failed (not because its records and gold CDs didn't sell!), former DCC Compact Classic employee Sam Passamano, Jr. founded S&P and issued a few noteworthy titles, including a stellar sounding edition of Eva Cassidy's Songbird (S&P 501) and a reissue of this Roy compilation cut in 2004 using the same superb packaging and a new cut by Kevin and Steve at AcousTech that sounds slightly warmer and perhaps a bit more involving than the DCC original, but clearly cut from the same tape.
The right to issue the title recently passed to Mobile Fidelity, which spent a great deal of time working with Sony/BMG in an attempt to get the original master tapes, assemble them into production reels and cut in real time, making on the fly EQ and azimuth changes as needed. Mo-Fi's hiring of former Sony mastering engineer Rob LoVerde facilitated the negotiations. LoVerde is listed as a 'mastering associate' on the S&P edition's cutting notes.
According to mastering engineer Shawn R. Britton, LoVerde was given permission to disassemble the master tapes of Orbison's original releases and assemble 'greatest hits' cutting reels (and of course restore them to their original place in history once the cutting had been accomplished)!
While adjustments were needed to produce a coherent package, because Bill Porter was such a perfectionist, and because these tracks were all recorded direct to two track at only two studios (RCA Studio B and Monument Studios with 'Pretty Paper' recorded in the UK at Pye), the track to track variations weren't nearly as great as they might have been.
I still find Britton's story difficult to believe and I hope he appreciates my skepticism and doesn't think I'm calling him dishonest, because I'm not. In fact, based on listening to this spectacular sounding reissue, I'm a believer! That said, I can't tell you how many times records are claimed to have been cut from 'master tapes' only to have 'well connected' people on the inside of the record biz call me and say things like 'don't believe what you read. I have the master tapes and they've never left the building.' So I'm just passing on what I've been told! So far no one's called to dispute Shawn, but then again I'm writing this before anyone's read it!
In any case, hearing is believing and this half speed mastered version of The All-Time Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison is by far, the most dynamic, transparent, deep, wide and especially detailed version I've yet heard. I've been listening to some of these tracks for nearly 50 years and I heard new musical elements and details on almost every track (along with, of course, some tape deterioration and distortion).
Detractors claim that half speed mastering makes cutting bass difficult since you're halving the frequencies and making the cutting amps reproduce ultra-low frequencies, but the bottom end of this cut is deep and powerful and reveals nuances in the bottom octaves I've never before heard. Instruments that formerly receded into the mix are now clearly audible and not because of added brightness.
Play 'It's Over' and when the castanets click at the beginning, you'll jump, even if you've heard the song 1000 times. The crescendos jump out. There's a deep bass accent on the tune I've never before heard, nor do I know what produced it but it's powerful.
The album contains all of Roy's great Monument hits and a few clunkers too, like the campy 'Working For the Man' that sounds like a cross between Sam Cooke's 'Chain Gang,' Ernie Ford's '16 Tons' and Belafonte's 'The Banana Boat Song' but it's mostly hits from 1960's 'Only The Lonely' to '64's 'Pretty Woman.'
For fanatic Roy fans nothing but the original albums will do and if that's you, Classic has many of them, including Lonely and Blue, the original of which will set you back many hundreds of dollars. The problem with the original albums is a mix of greatness and lots of corny filler. For instance, Lonely and Blue has the hits 'Only the Lonely,' 'I'm Hurtin' and 'Blue Angel,' but the rest of it is not nearly as strong. However, Roy fans would want Roy and Joe Melson's 'Blue Avenue,' and a few others, but maybe not so much a karaoke-like cover of Johnnie Ray's 'Cry' complete with strings, a high fructose corn syrup cover of 'Bye-Bye Love,' and an over the top rendering of Don Gibson's '(I'd Be) A Legend In My Own Time.'
How do the cuts common to Classic's Lonely and Blue (cut by Bernie Grundman) and Mo-Fi's'Greatest Hits compare? Well here's where it gets tricky! Mo-Fi's mastering is warmer, more supple, more 'audiophile,' and if you monitored the meters, probably more dynamic. Classic's is somewhat brighter and more direct, but Classic's is also tighter and punchier.
I've had Roy fans here and they can't seem to come to a consensus as to which they prefer. One individual, who shall remain nameless and who has no axe to grind other than being a huge Roy fan dismissed the Mo-Fi as ''not being Roy.' That's an extreme position in my book! The two versions are different, that's for sure but then the mastering chains are too: as different as my stereo is from yours!
I wish I had stayed in contact with Bill Porter so I could ask him to comment! Meanwhile, if you're a big Roy fan, when Classic's Lonely And Blue returns to print (if you don't already have it), you should pick as well as this Mo-Fi reissue up and decide for yourself. Mo-Fi returns to the original CBS packaging, which doesn't hold a match, never mind a candle to the DCC and S&P, but you can't have everything.
Album Cover Art
Blur- Sunday- medium rare please!
Blur are an English alternative rock band that formed in London in 1989. The four members of the band are singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure (1991) incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing. Following a stylistic change—influenced by English guitar pop groups such as The Kinks, The Beatles and XTC—Blur released the Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995) albums. As a result, the band helped to popularise the Britpop genre and achieved mass popularity in the UK, aided by a famous chart battle with rival band Oasis dubbed "The Battle of Britpop".
Music News & Notes
Ben Kweller moves to Austin, releases country album
With 2009 comes a year of new territory for Ben Kweller. He has become an Austinite.
"I've just been wanting to do it for years... and there's no better town I'd rather live in," Kweller said. "It's the coolest place in the world, as far as I'm concerned."
Kweller's new vinyl album released Tuesday, "Changing Horses", also covers new ground with its consistent country sound.
"I did record it here in Austin, but I was still living in New York," he said. "I've been writing these songs for years. Some of them go back to the time I was 16 years old."
The "Changing Horses" vinyl album includes a free CD version.
============================
Pinhead Gunpowder to release Greatest Hits and discography
Recess Records have unveiled plans to release a Pinhead Gunpowder "Greatest Hits" album on CD and vinyl in March of this year.
The label has also confirmed plans to reissue the entire Pinhead Gunpowder discography on vinyl and CD in 2009. The label is aiming for a fall release of five albums including Jump Salty, Carry the Banner, Goodbye Ellston Avenue, Compulsive Disclosure and Shoot The Moon.
The band features members of Green Day and Crimpshrine.
============================
Jazzy Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi has been added to the New Orleans Jazz Fest as this year’s lineup continues to trend towards rock. The fest, taking place over the weekends of April 24-26th and April 30-May 3rd, also features Dave Matthews Band, Wilco, Kings of Leon, and Spoon among others.
============================
Wilco DVD
Wilco is helping out on Record Store Day, releasing their new live DVD "Ashes of American Flags" exclusively to the indie stores on April 18th, two weeks before its wide release.
“Without these stores, there’s just no way Wilco would still be around. They’ve been with us from the very beginning, through thick and thin,” Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy told Billboard.com.
============================
Etta James Not Beyonce Fan
Etta James has changed her mind over the performance of her song "At Last" by Beyonce at one of the President's Inaugural Balls. At the time, her son said that she was honored and thought it was great, but the audio from a recent concert has surfaced on the net where James says, "The great Beyonce ... I can't stand Beyonce. She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol' president day, gonna be singing my song that I've been singing forever." Tell us how you really feel.
============================
More Stars For The Grammy's
We can add Neil Diamond, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Allen Toussaint to the lalready long list of performers for Sunday night's Grammy Awards. Buddy Guy, B.B. King, John Mayer and Keith Urban will salute the late Bo Diddley. Also look for a Four Tops salute with Duke Fakir, Jamie Foxx and Ne-Yo.
============================
Pearl Jam Pumped Up To Hit The Studio
Pearl Jam is about to hit the studio for a two-week session in Los Angeles with producer Brendan O'Brien as it continues work on its ninth studio album, which the band plans to self-release in the United States.
After laying down some instrumental beds last summer, additional demos were put to tape in December, and the band's non-singing members formulated another batch of material during a recent trip to Montana.
Frontman Eddie Vedder "put rough vocals on about half the stuff we worked on in December," bassist Jeff Ament tells Billboard.com. "There's a handful of really great lyrics. Lyrically, that stuff is in the embryonic stage, but there's a handful of lines and a couple of choruses that are just really great. He keeps getting better."
"I saw [guitarist] Mike [McCready] last night and we were both talking about this song and that song," he continues. "One of the songs we decided would go down a whole step and he was asking me about a chord progression."
Read the rest here:
www.billboard.com
==================================
With 2009 comes a year of new territory for Ben Kweller. He has become an Austinite.
"I've just been wanting to do it for years... and there's no better town I'd rather live in," Kweller said. "It's the coolest place in the world, as far as I'm concerned."
Kweller's new vinyl album released Tuesday, "Changing Horses", also covers new ground with its consistent country sound.
"I did record it here in Austin, but I was still living in New York," he said. "I've been writing these songs for years. Some of them go back to the time I was 16 years old."
The "Changing Horses" vinyl album includes a free CD version.
============================
Pinhead Gunpowder to release Greatest Hits and discography
Recess Records have unveiled plans to release a Pinhead Gunpowder "Greatest Hits" album on CD and vinyl in March of this year.
The label has also confirmed plans to reissue the entire Pinhead Gunpowder discography on vinyl and CD in 2009. The label is aiming for a fall release of five albums including Jump Salty, Carry the Banner, Goodbye Ellston Avenue, Compulsive Disclosure and Shoot The Moon.
The band features members of Green Day and Crimpshrine.
============================
Jazzy Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi has been added to the New Orleans Jazz Fest as this year’s lineup continues to trend towards rock. The fest, taking place over the weekends of April 24-26th and April 30-May 3rd, also features Dave Matthews Band, Wilco, Kings of Leon, and Spoon among others.
============================
Wilco DVD
Wilco is helping out on Record Store Day, releasing their new live DVD "Ashes of American Flags" exclusively to the indie stores on April 18th, two weeks before its wide release.
“Without these stores, there’s just no way Wilco would still be around. They’ve been with us from the very beginning, through thick and thin,” Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy told Billboard.com.
============================
Etta James Not Beyonce Fan
Etta James has changed her mind over the performance of her song "At Last" by Beyonce at one of the President's Inaugural Balls. At the time, her son said that she was honored and thought it was great, but the audio from a recent concert has surfaced on the net where James says, "The great Beyonce ... I can't stand Beyonce. She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol' president day, gonna be singing my song that I've been singing forever." Tell us how you really feel.
============================
More Stars For The Grammy's
We can add Neil Diamond, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Allen Toussaint to the lalready long list of performers for Sunday night's Grammy Awards. Buddy Guy, B.B. King, John Mayer and Keith Urban will salute the late Bo Diddley. Also look for a Four Tops salute with Duke Fakir, Jamie Foxx and Ne-Yo.
============================
Pearl Jam Pumped Up To Hit The Studio
Pearl Jam is about to hit the studio for a two-week session in Los Angeles with producer Brendan O'Brien as it continues work on its ninth studio album, which the band plans to self-release in the United States.
After laying down some instrumental beds last summer, additional demos were put to tape in December, and the band's non-singing members formulated another batch of material during a recent trip to Montana.
Frontman Eddie Vedder "put rough vocals on about half the stuff we worked on in December," bassist Jeff Ament tells Billboard.com. "There's a handful of really great lyrics. Lyrically, that stuff is in the embryonic stage, but there's a handful of lines and a couple of choruses that are just really great. He keeps getting better."
"I saw [guitarist] Mike [McCready] last night and we were both talking about this song and that song," he continues. "One of the songs we decided would go down a whole step and he was asking me about a chord progression."
Read the rest here:
www.billboard.com
==================================
This Date In Music History- February 6
Birthdays:
Fabian turns 66.
Natalie Cole is 59.
W. Axl Rose (1962)
Barrett Strong, songwriter who wrote many Motown hits with Norman Whitfield (1941)
Corey Wells- Three Dog Night (1942)
Duff McKagan- Guns ‘n’ Roses (1964)
Chris Barron- Spin Doctors (1968)
Bobby Brown (1969)
They Are Missed:
Frankie Laine suffered complications after hip-replacement surgery and died at the age of 93 in 2007. The big voiced singer sold over 100 million records and placed seven songs on Billboard's Top 40.
27 year-old Jesse Belvin, who scored a 1956 hit with "Goodnight, My Love,” was killed in an auto accident in Hope, Arkansas in 1960. His wife and the car's driver also died of their injuries. The three were trying to make a fast get-a-way from the first ever mixed race audience Pop concert in the town of Little Rock, after threats had been made against Belvin's life. The accident remains a contentious point, with many suspecting foul play.
In 1998, "Rock Me Amadeus" singer Falco was killed in a car accident in the Dominican Republic.
Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys died of complications from cancer in 1998.
Hugo Montenegro, who is best remembered for scoring a #2 hit with the instrumental theme to Clint Eastwood's movie, "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly," died of emphysema in 1981. He was 55.
Bob Marley was born in St. Ann’s Parish in Jamaica in 1945.
History:
In 1943, Frank Sinatra made his debut as vocalist on radio's "Your Hit Parade."
Paul Simon released “Mother and Child Reunion,” in 1972, his first single since the split of Simon and Garfunkel.
In 2003, the Rolling Stones performed a free concert in Los Angeles to draw attention to global warming.
Today in 1982, the song "Centerfold" by the J. Geils Band topped the charts and stayed there for 6 weeks.
In 1981, former Beatles, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison teamed up to record a musical tribute to John Lennon. The song "All Those Years Ago" was the result.
Elvis Presley met his future manager in 1955, the already legendary Col. Tom Parker. The encounter took place between Memphis shows.
Van Halen’s remake of Roy Orbison`s “Oh, Pretty Woman” peaks at #12 in 1982 becoming the group’s biggest hit to date. In ’64, Orbison topped the charts with the song.
In 2008, Pearl Jam members (guitarist/vocalist Stone Gossard, guitarist Mike McCready, bassist Jeff Ament and drummer Matt Cameron – but no Eddie Vedder) released "Rock Around Barack" in support of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The track is set to the tune of the ‘50’s hit "Rock Around The Clock."
In a rare feat, a Country song crossed over to the Pop charts and became the best selling single in America when Lynn Anderson's "Rose Garden" climbed to the top of the Cash Box hit parade in 1971.
In 1988, Dusty Springfield returned to the US Top 10 for the first time in nineteen years with a duet with Pet Shop Boys called "What've I Done To Deserve This". Her last big hit in America was "Son Of A Preacher Man" in December, 1968.
Fabian turns 66.
Natalie Cole is 59.
W. Axl Rose (1962)
Barrett Strong, songwriter who wrote many Motown hits with Norman Whitfield (1941)
Corey Wells- Three Dog Night (1942)
Duff McKagan- Guns ‘n’ Roses (1964)
Chris Barron- Spin Doctors (1968)
Bobby Brown (1969)
They Are Missed:
Frankie Laine suffered complications after hip-replacement surgery and died at the age of 93 in 2007. The big voiced singer sold over 100 million records and placed seven songs on Billboard's Top 40.
27 year-old Jesse Belvin, who scored a 1956 hit with "Goodnight, My Love,” was killed in an auto accident in Hope, Arkansas in 1960. His wife and the car's driver also died of their injuries. The three were trying to make a fast get-a-way from the first ever mixed race audience Pop concert in the town of Little Rock, after threats had been made against Belvin's life. The accident remains a contentious point, with many suspecting foul play.
In 1998, "Rock Me Amadeus" singer Falco was killed in a car accident in the Dominican Republic.
Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys died of complications from cancer in 1998.
Hugo Montenegro, who is best remembered for scoring a #2 hit with the instrumental theme to Clint Eastwood's movie, "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly," died of emphysema in 1981. He was 55.
Bob Marley was born in St. Ann’s Parish in Jamaica in 1945.
History:
In 1943, Frank Sinatra made his debut as vocalist on radio's "Your Hit Parade."
Paul Simon released “Mother and Child Reunion,” in 1972, his first single since the split of Simon and Garfunkel.
In 2003, the Rolling Stones performed a free concert in Los Angeles to draw attention to global warming.
Today in 1982, the song "Centerfold" by the J. Geils Band topped the charts and stayed there for 6 weeks.
In 1981, former Beatles, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison teamed up to record a musical tribute to John Lennon. The song "All Those Years Ago" was the result.
Elvis Presley met his future manager in 1955, the already legendary Col. Tom Parker. The encounter took place between Memphis shows.
Van Halen’s remake of Roy Orbison`s “Oh, Pretty Woman” peaks at #12 in 1982 becoming the group’s biggest hit to date. In ’64, Orbison topped the charts with the song.
In 2008, Pearl Jam members (guitarist/vocalist Stone Gossard, guitarist Mike McCready, bassist Jeff Ament and drummer Matt Cameron – but no Eddie Vedder) released "Rock Around Barack" in support of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The track is set to the tune of the ‘50’s hit "Rock Around The Clock."
In a rare feat, a Country song crossed over to the Pop charts and became the best selling single in America when Lynn Anderson's "Rose Garden" climbed to the top of the Cash Box hit parade in 1971.
In 1988, Dusty Springfield returned to the US Top 10 for the first time in nineteen years with a duet with Pet Shop Boys called "What've I Done To Deserve This". Her last big hit in America was "Son Of A Preacher Man" in December, 1968.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Dewey Martin, Buffalo Springfield Drummer, Dead At Age 68
It’s reported that drummer Dewey Martin (real name: Walter Milton Dwayne Midkiff), who played drums with the 1960’s group, Buffalo Springfield, passed away on January 31 of unknown causes.
Dewey Martin was born on September 30, 1940 in Chesterville, Ontario. He started playing drums when he was about 13-years-old and his first band was a high school outfit called The Jive Rockets. He soon progressed and played with various dance and ‘rockabilly’ groups in the Ottawa Valley area, including Bernie Early & The Early Birds.
After leaving Canada in the early 1960s, Martin was in the US army for a short time before heading to Nashville. Over the next few years, Martin worked as a session drummer for many of country music's greatest artists, including Carl Perkins, Patsy Cline, Charlie Rich, Faron Young, and Roy Orbison among many others. In 1963, he travelled to Las Vegas with Faron Young's band and then relocated to Los Angeles, where he decided to stay.
In Los Angeles in late 1965, Martin spent a few months with The Standells (“Dirty Water”) when drummer/singer Dick Dodd left. When Dodd returned in February 1966, Martin briefly joined The Modern Folk Quartet before touring and recording a demo with The Dillards. During late March/early April, Martin was working with The Dillards at the Ice House in Pasadena when Doug Dillard informed him that his services were no longer needed and he gave Martin a telephone number for a new group that needed a drummer. That band was Buffalo Springfield.
Dewey Martin became the last member to join the legendary group and apart from Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, he was the only musician to stay with the group from its inception in April 1966 until they broke up in May of 1968. During his time with the group, Martin also did session work for The Monkees.
While performing in concert, Martin sang covers of Wilson Pickett's “In The Midnight Hour,” and Richie Furay's "Nobody's Fool" and "Good Time Boy.” The latter song appeared on the band's second album, "Buffalo Springfield Again.” He also sang on Neil Young's rocker "Mr. Soul,” the introduction to Young's "Broken Arrow" (on the same album) and backing vocals on the band's biggest hit, "For What It's Worth.”
After the band broke up, Martin tried to carry on with new members and billed the band as the New Buffalo Springfield, but that only caused legal problems and he quit the music business to become an auto mechanic.
Martin resurfaced along with former Buffalo Springfield bassist Bruce Palmer in the mid-1980s as part of Buffalo Springfield Revisited. Joined by new members, they performed Buffalo Springfield classics on the oldies circuit before finally calling it quits in the early 1990’s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
Dewey Martin was born on September 30, 1940 in Chesterville, Ontario. He started playing drums when he was about 13-years-old and his first band was a high school outfit called The Jive Rockets. He soon progressed and played with various dance and ‘rockabilly’ groups in the Ottawa Valley area, including Bernie Early & The Early Birds.
After leaving Canada in the early 1960s, Martin was in the US army for a short time before heading to Nashville. Over the next few years, Martin worked as a session drummer for many of country music's greatest artists, including Carl Perkins, Patsy Cline, Charlie Rich, Faron Young, and Roy Orbison among many others. In 1963, he travelled to Las Vegas with Faron Young's band and then relocated to Los Angeles, where he decided to stay.
In Los Angeles in late 1965, Martin spent a few months with The Standells (“Dirty Water”) when drummer/singer Dick Dodd left. When Dodd returned in February 1966, Martin briefly joined The Modern Folk Quartet before touring and recording a demo with The Dillards. During late March/early April, Martin was working with The Dillards at the Ice House in Pasadena when Doug Dillard informed him that his services were no longer needed and he gave Martin a telephone number for a new group that needed a drummer. That band was Buffalo Springfield.
Dewey Martin became the last member to join the legendary group and apart from Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, he was the only musician to stay with the group from its inception in April 1966 until they broke up in May of 1968. During his time with the group, Martin also did session work for The Monkees.
While performing in concert, Martin sang covers of Wilson Pickett's “In The Midnight Hour,” and Richie Furay's "Nobody's Fool" and "Good Time Boy.” The latter song appeared on the band's second album, "Buffalo Springfield Again.” He also sang on Neil Young's rocker "Mr. Soul,” the introduction to Young's "Broken Arrow" (on the same album) and backing vocals on the band's biggest hit, "For What It's Worth.”
After the band broke up, Martin tried to carry on with new members and billed the band as the New Buffalo Springfield, but that only caused legal problems and he quit the music business to become an auto mechanic.
Martin resurfaced along with former Buffalo Springfield bassist Bruce Palmer in the mid-1980s as part of Buffalo Springfield Revisited. Joined by new members, they performed Buffalo Springfield classics on the oldies circuit before finally calling it quits in the early 1990’s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
Cramps Frontman Dies
The Cramps performing in Belgium in 2006; original members Lux Interior and Poison Ivy pictured.
According to the group’s publicist, Lux Interior (real name Erick Lee Purkhiser), the co-founder and lead singer of the seminal horror-punk band, the Cramps, passed away on February 4. The cause of death was from a pre-existing heart condition. He was 60 years old.
The Cramps were part of the now legendary New York punk scene in the late 70’s and were formed in 1976. Although their lineup changed over the years, it always included Lux and his wife Kristy Wallace, whose stage name is "Poison Ivy."
Playing alongside punk rock acts like the Ramones and Patti Smith, the Cramps unmistakable sound was a blend of lo-fi rockabilly and surf guitars, which some have termed as ‘psychobilly.’
Their stage antics are legendary- part zombie, part intense punk- but always theatrical and often horror-themed. Songs like “I Was A Teenage Werewolf” and “Bikini Girls With Machine Guns” were punk staples and the band’s breakthrough debut EP was 1979’s “Gravest Hits.”
Their sound has been credited as an influence by popular bands such as Pearl Jam, the White Stripes and the Black Lips, to name a few. The Cramps have released fourteen albums over the course of their career, including their latest, 2004’s “How To Make A Monster,” which sold more than 11,000 copies. The group’s best selling album was 1984’s “Bad Music for Bad people,” which has sold over 95,000 copies according to Nielson SoundScan.
The band was touring as recently as last November and rock and roll, specifically the punk movement, has lost a valuable and iconic member.
Album Cover Art
ELVIN JONES-MR. JONES Love the cover, sometimes I feel the same way :O) I mean who hasn't lost their head at one time or another?
Jones died of heart failure in an Englewood, New Jersey, hospital om May 18, 2004.
Elvin Jones, called by Life magazine "the world's greatest rhythmic drummer," was born in Pontiac, Michigan, one of ten children. He had two musician brothers: Hank, a jazz pianist, and Thad, a trumpet and flugelhorn player.
Jones entered the Detroit jazz scene in the late 1940s after touring as a stagehand with the Army Special Services show Operation Happiness.
Elvin Ray Jones was born September 9, 1927 in Pontiac, Michigan, the youngest of ten children. His father, originally from Vicksburg, Mississipi, was a lumber inspector for General Motors, a deacon in the Baptist church, and a bass in the church choir. "The greatest lady in the world", as Elvin describes his mother, encouraged him and above all taught him the value of self-sufficiency; the strenght to survive that "was especially valuable to me in the beginning as a musician". Music was in full flower in the Jones home. Brother Hank is known as one of the finest pianists in jazz, and brother Thad became a highly successful trumpet and flugelhorn player, arranger and band leader.
By age 13, determined to be a drummer, Elvin was practicing eight to ten hours a day. He went nowhere without drum sticks in his pocket, and would beat out rhythms on any available surface. Early influences Elvin likes to cite range from Kenny Clarke, Max Roach and Jo Jones to parade drummers and the American Legion Drum Corps! In 1946 Elvin enlisted in the Army, and toured with a Special Services show called Operation Happiness - as a stagehand. Unofficially, however, he was honing his own musical skills and gaining confidence, playing at post social affairs.
Jones was discharged in 1949, returning to a Detroit musical scene that was as vibrant as any outside New York. His first professional job was at Grand River Street, where things went well until the leader absconded with the receipts on Christmas Eve, Elvin began to frequent the Bluebird Inn, where he was sometimes asked to sit in. He always refused, thinking "it was presumptuous to sit in with these musicians, because... they were the greatest people I knew." In time, Jeader Billy Mitchell hired Elvin, and in three years at the club he backed up visiting stars including the legendary Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt, Wardell Grey, and, for six months, Miles Davis. In Addition, Monday nights there were jam sessions Elvin organized at his home, Tuesdays a concert series near a local university, and Elvin and his brother Thad promoted Sunday festival-style concerts. The long list of musicians Elvin played with during this period includes Miles Davis, Sonny Stitt, Tommy Flanagan, Pepper Adams, Barry Harris, Kenny Burrell, Milt Jackson, Lou Hayes and Yusef Lateef.
Elvin made his move to New York ostensibly to audition for a new Benny Goodman band. Instead, he ended up with Charles Mingus, and in subsequent years he developed his style with Bud Powell, Miles Davis, the Pepper Adams-Donald Byrd Quintet, Art Farmer and J.J. Johnson. He also had his first experiences playing with Miles' tenor man and the increasingly celebrated recording artist John Coltrane. After leaving Miles in 1960, Coltrane was touring in San Francisco with his new group when he flew back to New York to seek out Elvin. Elvin joined one of jazz' most celebrated alliances in, of all places, Denver, Colorado. Through 1966, Elvin contributed to some of the most controversial, influential, and ultimately important music in jazz. Among the triumphant recordings from his great association are "A love Supreme" and "Coltrane 'Live' at the Village Vanguard". About this experience, Elvin comments: "Right from the beginning to the last time we played together it was something pure. The most impressive thing was a feeling of steady, collective learning... If there is anything like perfect harmony in human relationships, that band was as close as you can come".
In March 1966, Elvin left Coltrane. After a brief European tour with Duke Ellington's band he returned to New York to begin his distinguished career as leader, with a series of innovative piano-less trios featuring Joe Farrell on tenor alto and flute, and one of several bassists including Jimmy Garrison, Bill Wood, Charlie Haden and Wilbur Little. Also in 1966 Elvin married Keiko, whom he met in Nagasaki, Japan. Keiko has become Elvin's partner in every sense: besides providing inspiration, she is also his personal and business manager. Keiko is involved creatively as composer and arranger; Elvin has performed and recorded many of her works, including "Mr. Jones", "Shinjitsu" and "Zange". Elvin has been heard on nearly 500 recordings, with no end in sight. He also made a temporary detour to Hollywood in 1971 to appear as the character Job Cain in the ABC Paramount film "Zachariah". Reflecting his deep commitment to the music ("Playing is not something I do at night" he said, "It's my function in life").
Rock & Roll Tidbits
Both Davy Jones and Mickey Dolenz were child actors before landing a gig with the Monkees. Neither cared much about the music, they cared more about close-ups. Dolenz slipped the cameraman $25 to make sure he got the most close-ups. That didn’t fair too well, especially when Jones would slip the guy $35 and steal the show.
The drummer who played on the Marvelettes 1961, number one hit, "Please Mr. Postman" was 22 year old Marvin Gaye.
When RCA released 55 albums in stereo in May of 1958, executives at other record companies declared stereo a passing fad and predicted that mono would always be around.
After Prince converted to being a Jehovah's Witness in May of 2001, fans could count at least 50 songs the artist can no longer perform due to their explicit content, including hits such as "Little Red Corvette" and "Cream.”
One day Michael Jackson decided to entertain himself. So he sat on the floor of his living room tearing up $100 bills; throwing them into the air saying, “Isn’t it pretty. Money makes the best confetti.” Uh, I wouldn’t know, gloved one.
Ernie K-Doe found a tune called "Mother-In-Law" in songwriter Allen Toussaint's discarded song pile and immediately wanted to record it, as he was having marital problems and blamed his wife's mother for much of them. The result was a surprising number one hit in May of 1961.
The first pressings of John Sebastian's May, 1976 solo hit, "Welcome Back", were entitled "Welcome Back Kotter" to make sure that the public identified the record as the theme song to the TV show of the same name.
When Elvis Presley married his longtime girlfriend, Priscilla Beaulieu on May 1, 1967, they danced to the Elvis song she heard when they met in 1959, "Love Me Tender.”
Keyboard player Billy Preston is the only studio musician to ever get credit on a Beatles' record.
The only artist in rock and roll history to record Billboard's number one single of the year for two years in a row was Elvis Presley, with "Heartbreak Hotel" in 1956 and "All Shook Up" in 1957. Both records held the top spot for 25 weeks in those years.
Stephen Stills of CSN fame actually auditioned to be one of the Monkees. But the producers didn’t hire him because his hair was falling out and he had bad teeth. So Stills suggested to his friend, Peter Tork, to go in for a tryout. Tork walked into the wall as he entered the audition and the job was his.
The drum sound on Buddy Knox's 1957 hit, "Party Doll" was actually made by a cardboard box filled with cotton.
Lawrence Welk is the only US recording artist to have more appearances on network television than Paul Revere and The Raiders.
Gene Pitney started his music career in the early 1960s as a song writer, penning Rick Nelson's "Hello Mary Lou,” Bobby Vee's "Rubber Ball" and the Crystals' "He's a Rebel.”
The drummer who played on the Marvelettes 1961, number one hit, "Please Mr. Postman" was 22 year old Marvin Gaye.
When RCA released 55 albums in stereo in May of 1958, executives at other record companies declared stereo a passing fad and predicted that mono would always be around.
After Prince converted to being a Jehovah's Witness in May of 2001, fans could count at least 50 songs the artist can no longer perform due to their explicit content, including hits such as "Little Red Corvette" and "Cream.”
One day Michael Jackson decided to entertain himself. So he sat on the floor of his living room tearing up $100 bills; throwing them into the air saying, “Isn’t it pretty. Money makes the best confetti.” Uh, I wouldn’t know, gloved one.
Ernie K-Doe found a tune called "Mother-In-Law" in songwriter Allen Toussaint's discarded song pile and immediately wanted to record it, as he was having marital problems and blamed his wife's mother for much of them. The result was a surprising number one hit in May of 1961.
The first pressings of John Sebastian's May, 1976 solo hit, "Welcome Back", were entitled "Welcome Back Kotter" to make sure that the public identified the record as the theme song to the TV show of the same name.
When Elvis Presley married his longtime girlfriend, Priscilla Beaulieu on May 1, 1967, they danced to the Elvis song she heard when they met in 1959, "Love Me Tender.”
Keyboard player Billy Preston is the only studio musician to ever get credit on a Beatles' record.
The only artist in rock and roll history to record Billboard's number one single of the year for two years in a row was Elvis Presley, with "Heartbreak Hotel" in 1956 and "All Shook Up" in 1957. Both records held the top spot for 25 weeks in those years.
Stephen Stills of CSN fame actually auditioned to be one of the Monkees. But the producers didn’t hire him because his hair was falling out and he had bad teeth. So Stills suggested to his friend, Peter Tork, to go in for a tryout. Tork walked into the wall as he entered the audition and the job was his.
The drum sound on Buddy Knox's 1957 hit, "Party Doll" was actually made by a cardboard box filled with cotton.
Lawrence Welk is the only US recording artist to have more appearances on network television than Paul Revere and The Raiders.
Gene Pitney started his music career in the early 1960s as a song writer, penning Rick Nelson's "Hello Mary Lou,” Bobby Vee's "Rubber Ball" and the Crystals' "He's a Rebel.”
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