Led Zeppelin - Black Dog
Thursday, May 7, 2009
News & Notes
Here's the latest from Virgil over at www.vinylcollective.com:
Got some great restocks from Asian Man (including a pretty much out of print black vinyl Phase 3), more O Pioneers s/t 7″s, Mike hale LPs, and more.
LINK 80 “17 Reasons” LP
MIKE HALE “Broken With No Hope” LP black vinyl
Mu330 “Crab Rangoon” LP
MU330 “Mu330″ LP
O PIONEERS!!! “S/T” 7″ vanilla colored vinyl
RIVERDALES “Phase 3″ LP black vinyl
RIVERDALES “Phase 3″ LP clear gold vinyl
TUESDAY “Free Wheelin” LP
===================================
Dylan Nails His Fifth Number One Album in the U.S.
Bob Dylan will top this weeks Billboard Album chart with "Together Through Life." In his long and legendary career, this is only the fifth time he has reached the top and only the second time in the last 33 years. Overall, Dylan sold 125,000 copies of the new album.
Got some great restocks from Asian Man (including a pretty much out of print black vinyl Phase 3), more O Pioneers s/t 7″s, Mike hale LPs, and more.
LINK 80 “17 Reasons” LP
MIKE HALE “Broken With No Hope” LP black vinyl
Mu330 “Crab Rangoon” LP
MU330 “Mu330″ LP
O PIONEERS!!! “S/T” 7″ vanilla colored vinyl
RIVERDALES “Phase 3″ LP black vinyl
RIVERDALES “Phase 3″ LP clear gold vinyl
TUESDAY “Free Wheelin” LP
===================================
Dylan Nails His Fifth Number One Album in the U.S.
Bob Dylan will top this weeks Billboard Album chart with "Together Through Life." In his long and legendary career, this is only the fifth time he has reached the top and only the second time in the last 33 years. Overall, Dylan sold 125,000 copies of the new album.
Album Cover Stories
As always, I want to thank Michael Goldstein over at www.RockPoPGallery.com for the exclusive reprint rights to his marvelous album cover art stories:
Cover Story Interview – The Pixies – Doolittle - with photography by Simon Larbalestier
Cover Story for April 30, 2009
Subject: Doolittle, by The Pixies – a 1989 release on 4AD/Elektra records, with photography by Simon Larbalestier
Throughout the 40+ year history of rock and pop music culture, art and music have always marched together hand-in-hand. As documented in past Cover Story articles and in the many fine books written on the topic, album cover artwork, along with the music it promotes, has gone through numerous iterations since the early 1960s, with styles often set by one or two “breakthrough” artists who are then copied (and, in some cases, improved upon) by others (i.e., musicians, art directors and other related creatives) making a living in the same business.
As an example to back up that contention, all it takes is a look at the basic formulas for sure-fire success followed by Beatles-era acts – i.e., first sound like the Beatles, then be sure to look like the Beatles. I was always impressed by the slightly-different approach taken by the San Antonio, TX-based band lead by Doug Sahm called The Sir Douglas Quintet. Their first album was called The Best of The Sir Douglas Quintet and featured a photo on the cover of a band of five “mop tops” that was lit in such a way that you could only see the outlines of the band members, so you weren’t sure exactly where the band was from – you just assumed that they were another British band (fantastic marketing ploy, no?)! Buying the LP from the cover alone, I was then quiet surprised to hear their uniquely Texas-tinged rock tunes.
Anyway, as time went on and rock music expanded into its many different genres, each with its own group of accomplished designers, illustrators and photographers commissioned to provide appropriate cover imagery, from time to time there were musical and artistic pairings that stood out for their individuality and willingness to avoid convention. Today’s featured pairing of the influential Boston-based band the Pixies with their photographer-of-choice Simon Larbalestier serves to show how a successful pairing of artistic and musical talent produces a truly compelling package. With Doolittle, the Pixies continued to display a broad range of ways to express their take on the world musically, from dark ditties such as “Wave of Mutilation” and “Debaser” through the two hit singles - “Monkey Gone To Heaven” and the ultra-singable “Here Comes Your Man” – to the slightly-strange (but critically-appreciated) tracks such as “La La Love You” and “Gouge Away”. Their songcraft went on to influence many of the indie bands that would soon follow in their tracks, with Doolittle now always included in most every summary of “most-influential albums” of the rock music era.
This record was also the first where the design team – including Larbalestier and the fine graphic artist/designer Vaughan Oliver – had access to some of the themes that would be featured in the new record’s music and so, with these clues, they set about to imagine the appropriate visual representations of the band’s new music. The processes involved in this effort to intertwine standout song-writing with extraordinary imagery are brought to light in today’s Cover Story interview…
In the words of the photographer, Simon Larbalestier (interviewed late March, 2009) –
Back in 1984 - before starting my Masters Degree at the Royal College of Art in London - I visited Vaughan Oliver in his studio in London to show him some of my work. Most of it was very much out of context to the music industry in which he was working – my images of old decaying warehouses seemed to have no relevance to album covers! - but what we both appreciated in each other was our mutual desire to turn pictorial conventions upside down and to break down known design rules. After that meeting we stayed in touch and, two years later, I invited Vaughan to my final year degree show at the RCA. At this point in time, Vaughan happened to be looking for a photographer to work on the Pixies first EP release called Come on Pilgrim, and he was interested in four photographs from my degree show, two of which became the album artwork. This early work, looking back on it, was very raw - it was created the way I wanted it with no compromises being made to accommodate client requirements.
For the Doolittle project - by far, my most-favored body of work by the Pixies from that period - the imagery was very much an eclectic mix of the interests of Vaughan, Charles Thompson (aka “Black Francis”) and myself. From my perspective, Vaughan and Charles very much supported my dark fascinations in decay, texture, the macabre and surrealism and their visual expression in the resulting photographs. The darkness in the Doolittle images was inspired by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali’s Surrealist film Un Chien Andalou (1929). Furthermore, it was the first time that Vaughan and I had access to Charles’ hand-written lyrics, and his rich use of language made it easier for me to begin to construct image scenarios. Everything about the Pixies imagery was constructed - often built as a small set as in the Doolittle series (or a life-size collage set for the Surfer Rosa Series) – and everything was sourced and built from scratch in front of the camera lens. In other words, the vision was a constructed one, and not a document of real life.
I think it is important to note here that Vaughan and I worked very much as a collaborative team – he trusted me to make the photographs, we’d discuss ideas suggested by the band and our own and most of the time he’d leave me to shoot the images in my own way. Later we’d meet up and discuss the contact sheets before I made the final prints.
Over the course of the 2-3 weeks spent on the project - it’s so far back I can’t remember exactly! - I may have submitted 12-15 main images plus some slightly different versions of each picture. Each photo consisted of two principal elements – that is, Pelvic Bone and Stiletto Shoe, Bell and Teeth, Rope and Barbie Doll, etc. The images were shot in my studio using a Rolleiflex SL66 bellows camera with a standard 80/2.8 Planar lens that enabled me to shoot objects close-up. There was no computer software or complex filter/mirror set-ups used, and the lighting was simple tungsten reflected - the contrast and depth in the images came from the way I chose to print the negatives detail in the darkroom and their fine resolution. The negatives themselves were made on super-fine grain Agfapan 25 film (sadly, no longer made). As I recall, the management had asked for color images and I “provided” these by hand-bleaching and toning the final artwork prints in the darkroom. This visually removed them slightly from their simpler black-and-white renditions.
Raw photo images for the record cover, plus the singles "Tame" and "Gouge Away"
I think it is important to remember that, at the time the Pixies images were one part of the much greater whole of my career. I was working within the design industry, completing many collages - “illustrations”, for want of a better word - for numerous editorial clients such as New Scientist Magazine and scores of book covers for publishing houses such as Random House and Secker and Warburg. I was shooting more and more landscape work for my personal fine art photography portfolio, so the fact that the Pixies work wasn’t immediately recognised as “successful” in the design world and as a marker point in my career didn’t really concern me at the time for the simple reason that I was very busy with other projects!
The Pixies were the first band that I was asked to photograph for. For the first two album covers and for some of the singles, the images were used as they were originally conceived, with no re-shoots. Knowing their appreciation of my sense of composition, I approached the Pixies projects with a confidence and certainty that offered a freedom seldom found with other commissioned projects. Where I compromised, in the later imagery for Bossanova and Trompe le Monde, was in my use of color. The subsequent use of color photography was a request from the management of the band, as I recall, not a design or aesthetic decision by Vaughan Oliver. Professional practice has since taught me that, to deliver commissioned work effectively and on a regular basis, there is always some form of compromise being made.
Being a freelance photographer often means working on projects which are short-term, with intense and often brief working relationships with designers and art directors. Often times, the real sense of the completion of the project isn’t seen until it appears in its printed form, and this can be months after the work’s been done. The Pixies project was unique for me in that it would continue to be recognized throughout the life-span of the band itself, so I wouldn’t really see it as a completed body of work until several years later.
There is no doubt at all that the Pixies work has achieved a degree of longevity, not only because of its association with a successful and iconic band, but also because it is being appreciated many years later both for reasons of nostalgia and its re-discovery by a later generation. In 1999, I was giving a lecture on my work in Seattle and someone in the audience asked me a question about the Pixies. I found this somewhat distracting as I was introducing my “Attracting to Emptiness” series in the lecture, so I in turn asked the audience a question: “Why is everyone so interested in the Pixies images?” The answer was that, in the twelve years since the release of the first EP, the audience as a whole enjoyed being able to – through the music and images of the Pixies - relive some of “the good times” of when they were growing up. I felt quite humbled at that point and appreciative that there was an audience out there that was giving my work the longevity that I desired - I had just not seen it.
Today, as people who grew up during that period of time become older and have their own families, their children have now become interested in their parents’ music and all things associated with it so that, in 2009, this work now seems more popular than ever - even to Jack and Lucy, my own two teenage children!
About the photographer, Simon Larbalestier –
Simon Larbalestier has moved from album artwork for iconic rock bands like the Pixies, through international design and advertising, to a more documentary approach over the last 20 years. Simon graduated from the Royal College of Art, London in 1987. Now based in Bangkok, his current work involves several long term projects - chronic disability in Cambodia with the Cambodia Trust; children living with HIV in Thailand, supported by the Australian charity Born To Live; and the daily struggle of Khmer and Thai nationals, especially the elderly, the underprivileged and the disabled. This later work was screened at the Angkor Photography Festival in Siem Reap in November 2007 and in March 2008 at The Foto Freo Festival in Fremantle, Western Australia.
Larbalestier was also invited to participate in the second annual Twenty 120 festival 2008 ( http://www.twenty120.com) which had a screening of a film short Khok Tamol: New Beginnings that June at Promax/BDA in New York, as well as a screening in Los Angeles in July at Cinespace. Keeping in line with the spirit of Twenty120, a select group of 20 directors were invited to create films, interpreting the theme “Truth V Deception” as they choose.
19 images from the “Between Two Worlds” and “Attracting to Emptiness” series have been published by On Pedder in their Pedderzine Issue 4 (Hong Kong, October 2008). Pedderzine is On Pedder's quarterly magazine. Issue 4 explores the themes of Worship, Devotion and Power.
Issue No.8 (March 2009) of C International Photo Magazine http://www.ivorypress.com/cPhoto/cPhoto_2.html featured a body of Pixies images, including unseen Polaroids from the 1988-1990 covers and new images made especially for a deluxe edition package of the five vinyl Pixies albums (Pixies: Minotaur) to be released in summer 2009
To see more of Simon Larbalestier’s work, please visit the following web sites –
Main site - http://www.simon-larbalestier.co.uk
His most-current work can be seen on his Photoshelter Online Archive http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/simonlarbalestier
And his blog (titled “Addenda”) can be read at
http://simonlarbalestier.typepad.com/addenda/
All images featured in this Cover Story are Copyright 1989 - 2009, Simon Larbalestier Photography - All rights reserved. Except as noted, all other text Copyright 2009 - Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (www.rockpopgallery.com) - All rights reserved.
Cover Story Interview – The Pixies – Doolittle - with photography by Simon Larbalestier
Cover Story for April 30, 2009
Subject: Doolittle, by The Pixies – a 1989 release on 4AD/Elektra records, with photography by Simon Larbalestier
Throughout the 40+ year history of rock and pop music culture, art and music have always marched together hand-in-hand. As documented in past Cover Story articles and in the many fine books written on the topic, album cover artwork, along with the music it promotes, has gone through numerous iterations since the early 1960s, with styles often set by one or two “breakthrough” artists who are then copied (and, in some cases, improved upon) by others (i.e., musicians, art directors and other related creatives) making a living in the same business.
As an example to back up that contention, all it takes is a look at the basic formulas for sure-fire success followed by Beatles-era acts – i.e., first sound like the Beatles, then be sure to look like the Beatles. I was always impressed by the slightly-different approach taken by the San Antonio, TX-based band lead by Doug Sahm called The Sir Douglas Quintet. Their first album was called The Best of The Sir Douglas Quintet and featured a photo on the cover of a band of five “mop tops” that was lit in such a way that you could only see the outlines of the band members, so you weren’t sure exactly where the band was from – you just assumed that they were another British band (fantastic marketing ploy, no?)! Buying the LP from the cover alone, I was then quiet surprised to hear their uniquely Texas-tinged rock tunes.
Anyway, as time went on and rock music expanded into its many different genres, each with its own group of accomplished designers, illustrators and photographers commissioned to provide appropriate cover imagery, from time to time there were musical and artistic pairings that stood out for their individuality and willingness to avoid convention. Today’s featured pairing of the influential Boston-based band the Pixies with their photographer-of-choice Simon Larbalestier serves to show how a successful pairing of artistic and musical talent produces a truly compelling package. With Doolittle, the Pixies continued to display a broad range of ways to express their take on the world musically, from dark ditties such as “Wave of Mutilation” and “Debaser” through the two hit singles - “Monkey Gone To Heaven” and the ultra-singable “Here Comes Your Man” – to the slightly-strange (but critically-appreciated) tracks such as “La La Love You” and “Gouge Away”. Their songcraft went on to influence many of the indie bands that would soon follow in their tracks, with Doolittle now always included in most every summary of “most-influential albums” of the rock music era.
This record was also the first where the design team – including Larbalestier and the fine graphic artist/designer Vaughan Oliver – had access to some of the themes that would be featured in the new record’s music and so, with these clues, they set about to imagine the appropriate visual representations of the band’s new music. The processes involved in this effort to intertwine standout song-writing with extraordinary imagery are brought to light in today’s Cover Story interview…
In the words of the photographer, Simon Larbalestier (interviewed late March, 2009) –
Back in 1984 - before starting my Masters Degree at the Royal College of Art in London - I visited Vaughan Oliver in his studio in London to show him some of my work. Most of it was very much out of context to the music industry in which he was working – my images of old decaying warehouses seemed to have no relevance to album covers! - but what we both appreciated in each other was our mutual desire to turn pictorial conventions upside down and to break down known design rules. After that meeting we stayed in touch and, two years later, I invited Vaughan to my final year degree show at the RCA. At this point in time, Vaughan happened to be looking for a photographer to work on the Pixies first EP release called Come on Pilgrim, and he was interested in four photographs from my degree show, two of which became the album artwork. This early work, looking back on it, was very raw - it was created the way I wanted it with no compromises being made to accommodate client requirements.
For the Doolittle project - by far, my most-favored body of work by the Pixies from that period - the imagery was very much an eclectic mix of the interests of Vaughan, Charles Thompson (aka “Black Francis”) and myself. From my perspective, Vaughan and Charles very much supported my dark fascinations in decay, texture, the macabre and surrealism and their visual expression in the resulting photographs. The darkness in the Doolittle images was inspired by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali’s Surrealist film Un Chien Andalou (1929). Furthermore, it was the first time that Vaughan and I had access to Charles’ hand-written lyrics, and his rich use of language made it easier for me to begin to construct image scenarios. Everything about the Pixies imagery was constructed - often built as a small set as in the Doolittle series (or a life-size collage set for the Surfer Rosa Series) – and everything was sourced and built from scratch in front of the camera lens. In other words, the vision was a constructed one, and not a document of real life.
I think it is important to note here that Vaughan and I worked very much as a collaborative team – he trusted me to make the photographs, we’d discuss ideas suggested by the band and our own and most of the time he’d leave me to shoot the images in my own way. Later we’d meet up and discuss the contact sheets before I made the final prints.
Over the course of the 2-3 weeks spent on the project - it’s so far back I can’t remember exactly! - I may have submitted 12-15 main images plus some slightly different versions of each picture. Each photo consisted of two principal elements – that is, Pelvic Bone and Stiletto Shoe, Bell and Teeth, Rope and Barbie Doll, etc. The images were shot in my studio using a Rolleiflex SL66 bellows camera with a standard 80/2.8 Planar lens that enabled me to shoot objects close-up. There was no computer software or complex filter/mirror set-ups used, and the lighting was simple tungsten reflected - the contrast and depth in the images came from the way I chose to print the negatives detail in the darkroom and their fine resolution. The negatives themselves were made on super-fine grain Agfapan 25 film (sadly, no longer made). As I recall, the management had asked for color images and I “provided” these by hand-bleaching and toning the final artwork prints in the darkroom. This visually removed them slightly from their simpler black-and-white renditions.
Raw photo images for the record cover, plus the singles "Tame" and "Gouge Away"
I think it is important to remember that, at the time the Pixies images were one part of the much greater whole of my career. I was working within the design industry, completing many collages - “illustrations”, for want of a better word - for numerous editorial clients such as New Scientist Magazine and scores of book covers for publishing houses such as Random House and Secker and Warburg. I was shooting more and more landscape work for my personal fine art photography portfolio, so the fact that the Pixies work wasn’t immediately recognised as “successful” in the design world and as a marker point in my career didn’t really concern me at the time for the simple reason that I was very busy with other projects!
The Pixies were the first band that I was asked to photograph for. For the first two album covers and for some of the singles, the images were used as they were originally conceived, with no re-shoots. Knowing their appreciation of my sense of composition, I approached the Pixies projects with a confidence and certainty that offered a freedom seldom found with other commissioned projects. Where I compromised, in the later imagery for Bossanova and Trompe le Monde, was in my use of color. The subsequent use of color photography was a request from the management of the band, as I recall, not a design or aesthetic decision by Vaughan Oliver. Professional practice has since taught me that, to deliver commissioned work effectively and on a regular basis, there is always some form of compromise being made.
Being a freelance photographer often means working on projects which are short-term, with intense and often brief working relationships with designers and art directors. Often times, the real sense of the completion of the project isn’t seen until it appears in its printed form, and this can be months after the work’s been done. The Pixies project was unique for me in that it would continue to be recognized throughout the life-span of the band itself, so I wouldn’t really see it as a completed body of work until several years later.
There is no doubt at all that the Pixies work has achieved a degree of longevity, not only because of its association with a successful and iconic band, but also because it is being appreciated many years later both for reasons of nostalgia and its re-discovery by a later generation. In 1999, I was giving a lecture on my work in Seattle and someone in the audience asked me a question about the Pixies. I found this somewhat distracting as I was introducing my “Attracting to Emptiness” series in the lecture, so I in turn asked the audience a question: “Why is everyone so interested in the Pixies images?” The answer was that, in the twelve years since the release of the first EP, the audience as a whole enjoyed being able to – through the music and images of the Pixies - relive some of “the good times” of when they were growing up. I felt quite humbled at that point and appreciative that there was an audience out there that was giving my work the longevity that I desired - I had just not seen it.
Today, as people who grew up during that period of time become older and have their own families, their children have now become interested in their parents’ music and all things associated with it so that, in 2009, this work now seems more popular than ever - even to Jack and Lucy, my own two teenage children!
About the photographer, Simon Larbalestier –
Simon Larbalestier has moved from album artwork for iconic rock bands like the Pixies, through international design and advertising, to a more documentary approach over the last 20 years. Simon graduated from the Royal College of Art, London in 1987. Now based in Bangkok, his current work involves several long term projects - chronic disability in Cambodia with the Cambodia Trust; children living with HIV in Thailand, supported by the Australian charity Born To Live; and the daily struggle of Khmer and Thai nationals, especially the elderly, the underprivileged and the disabled. This later work was screened at the Angkor Photography Festival in Siem Reap in November 2007 and in March 2008 at The Foto Freo Festival in Fremantle, Western Australia.
Larbalestier was also invited to participate in the second annual Twenty 120 festival 2008 ( http://www.twenty120.com) which had a screening of a film short Khok Tamol: New Beginnings that June at Promax/BDA in New York, as well as a screening in Los Angeles in July at Cinespace. Keeping in line with the spirit of Twenty120, a select group of 20 directors were invited to create films, interpreting the theme “Truth V Deception” as they choose.
19 images from the “Between Two Worlds” and “Attracting to Emptiness” series have been published by On Pedder in their Pedderzine Issue 4 (Hong Kong, October 2008). Pedderzine is On Pedder's quarterly magazine. Issue 4 explores the themes of Worship, Devotion and Power.
Issue No.8 (March 2009) of C International Photo Magazine http://www.ivorypress.com/cPhoto/cPhoto_2.html featured a body of Pixies images, including unseen Polaroids from the 1988-1990 covers and new images made especially for a deluxe edition package of the five vinyl Pixies albums (Pixies: Minotaur) to be released in summer 2009
To see more of Simon Larbalestier’s work, please visit the following web sites –
Main site - http://www.simon-larbalestier.co.uk
His most-current work can be seen on his Photoshelter Online Archive http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/simonlarbalestier
And his blog (titled “Addenda”) can be read at
http://simonlarbalestier.typepad.com/addenda/
All images featured in this Cover Story are Copyright 1989 - 2009, Simon Larbalestier Photography - All rights reserved. Except as noted, all other text Copyright 2009 - Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (www.rockpopgallery.com) - All rights reserved.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Bird & Animal Names In Rock & Roll- part twelve
Let’s continue our ongoing article series about “bird” and animal” names in rock and roll history:
One of the most dynamic, outspoken and successful businessman/rapper/R & B stars is Jay-Z. After appearing as a guest on a release by Big Jaz and Original Flavor, Jay-Z released the first of many super successful albums called “Reasonable Doubt” (number twenty-three on the pop charts and number three on the rap charts in 1996). Blending his street smarts with popular rap and savvy business decisions, Jay-Z has become one of rock/rap’s elite personalities.
Originally from the Marcy Houses housing projects in Brooklyn, New York, Shawn Corey Carter (born 12/04/69) and picked up the nickname “Jazzy,” which eventually was shortened and developed into his stage name “Jay-Z.” The name also pays homage to his musical mentor, Jaz-O (Jay-Z’s voice can be heard on many of Jaz-O’s recordings in the late 80’s and early 90’s) as well as to the J-Z subway lines from his old neighborhood.
After his initial release, Jay-Z released his sophomore album entitled “In My Lifetime, Vol. 1” (1997) and in 1998, volume two called “Hard Knock Life,” which allowed the rapper to totally dominate the pop charts (volume two has been certified platinum five times and has sold more than eight million copies worldwide). The release included the cut “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)”, which peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Top 40 charts. The rapper embarked on a very successful tour and has also aided in boosting the careers of such protégés as Ja Rule, Memphis Bleek and Beanie Sigel. Additionally, the album won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.
“Volume Three” was released in 1999 (The Life and Times of S. Carter) and also secured platinum status (three times) and sold well over six million copies worldwide (number one pop and R & B in 2000). Jay-Z also appeared on Mariah Carey’s number one Billboard Top 40 hit called “Heartbreaker.” But, the year also brought turmoil; as Jay-Z was accused of stabbing record executive Lance “Un” Rivera. Although he initially denied involvement in the crime, he later pled guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to three years probation.
But, music is not Jay-Z’s only forte. As previously mentioned, this savvy businessman co-founded the urban clothing brand “Rocawear” (1999), is a part owner of the NBA New Jersey Nets, co-founded “Roc-A-Fella Records” and is a co-owner of the 40/40 Club, an upscale sports bar that originated in New York City and has expanded into Atlantic City (future plans include clubs in L.A., Las Vegas and Singapore).
But, back to the music. In 2000, the legendary rapper released the album entitled “The Dynasty: Roc La Famila”, which was intended to be a compilation album and to introduce new artists such as Amil, and the previously mentioned Memphis Bleek and Beanie Sigel. But even with these newcomers, the album had Jay-Z’s name associated with it and it went on to sell more than two million copiers in the U.S. alone.
In 2001, Jay-Z’s next album “The Blueprint,” is considered by many to be one of hip hop’s classic releases, selling more than 450,000 copies in the first week. The album was a very successful “crossover” hit, achieving a perfect balance of mainstream music and hardcore rap. Rapper Eninem appeared on the single “Renegade” and the album also features the singles “Takeover” and the popular cut “Izzo (H.O.V.A.).” The album was certified double-platinum in the U.S.
“The Blueprint: The Gift & the Curse” was Jay-Z’s next album (a double LP 2002) and the release sold more than four million copies in the U. S. alone. The album spawned two big hits, “Excuse Me Miss” and “03 Bonnie and Clyde,” the latter featuring Jay-Z’s girlfriend at the time, Beyonce Knowles (it was later re-issued on a single disc called “The Blueprint 2.1”). Other notable singles included “Gun & Roses,” featuring Lenny Kravitz, the popular track “Hovi Baby,” “A Dream,” which featured Faith Evans and a recording of the late Notorious B.I.G. and the cut entitled “The Bounce,” featuring Kayne West.
In 2003, “The Black Album” was released and it was announced that this was to be Jay-Z’s last recording. Notable songs included “Dirt Off Your Shoulder,” “Change Clothes,” “What More Can I Say” and “99 Problems.” In November of 2003, Jay-Z performed at Madison Square Garden and this concert was his “retirement” party. And, although he retired from making new studio albums, Jay-Z kept very busy working on other projects including a greatest hits release and concert appearances with R. Kelly, Lincoln Park and Phish.
Retirement was short-lived as Jay-Z returned to music scene in 2006 with a release called “Kingdom Come.” His single, “Show Me What You Got” received heavy airplay (the album sold more than two million copies in the U.S.) and was leaked on the Internet in early October 2006, scheduled to be released later on that month causing the FBI to step in and investigate.
Jay-Z released his tenth album entitled American Gangster on November 6, 2007 being inspired after viewing the film of the same name. At the start of the album's first single, "Blue Magic", Jay-Z offers a dealer's manifesto while making references to political figures of the late 1980s with the lyric: "Blame Reagan for making me to into a monster, blame Oliver North and Iran-Contra, I ran contraband that they sponsored, before this rhymin' stuff we was in concert.” Another amazing hit for the rapper, the album was certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA.
No one knows what the future holds, but this legendary rapper and musician is certainly revered and respected in the music world and his best work may be to come.
The seminal music group, the “Dixie Hummingbirds” were a leading Southern Black Gospel quartet for over fifty years and have been an instrumental force in the development of “Soul Music.”
Formed in 1928 by James Davis, the group made their first record in 1939 for Decca Records. Later that year the group added lead singer Ira Tucker and William Bobo. Tucker not only brought an elegant and powerful voice to the group, his energetic showmanship (running up and down the aisles, jumping off the stage, falling to his knees in prayer) is legendary. Tucker also took the group on adventurous harmonic journeys (which the group coined as “trickeration”) as well as taking the lead in the stylistic innovations and lush soundscapes that made them a popular attraction.
After relocating to Philadelphia in the 1940’s, the group recorded for a number of record labels and were regulars on radio and the Northeast Gospel Circuit. The legendary recording group also influenced many other artists, some even imitating their resourcefulness and live energy they were famous for (including James brown and Jackie Wilson). The group also performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1966.
But, they are best remembered as the backup singers for Paul Simon’s 1973 Billboard Top 40 hit “Loves Me Like A Rock,” a song that garnered the band a Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance. The expressive and iconic group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and was recently nominated for a Grammy Award in 2007 for their album “Still Keeping It Real.”
Jay-Z Tidbits:
Jay-Z also, along with Sean "Diddy" Combs, pledged $1 million to the American Red Cross' relief effort after Hurricane Katrina. Jay-Z also stated his support for Kanye West after the latter's outburst against President Bush during a live Katrina charity telethon. (He also addressed the issue of the Katrina disaster, and the government's response, in his song "Minority Report").
Controversary seems to follow Jay-Z and on February 1, 2008 it was announced that Jay-Z would headline the 2008 Glastonbury Festival. Tickets failed to sell out with 'only' 100,000 being sold - out of a possible 137,500 and as the festival sold out in 2 hours the previous year, critics were quick to blame the choice of a hip hop artist as opposed to a rock band as the main problem. In fact, Oasis' Noel Gallagher criticised the organizers of the festival for scheduling Jay-Z as a headliner for the traditionally guitar-driven concert.
Jay-Z opened his set at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival with a cover of Oasis' classic "Wonderwall."
Jay-Z's most public relationship has been with R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles, a former member of Destiny's Child and on April 4, 2008, Knowles and Jay-Z were married in New York City.
Dixie Hummingbirds Tidbits:
In February 2008, the first feature length documentary/concert film featuring the history of the Dixie Hummingbirds was released in commemoration of their extraordinary eighty years as performers. The Dixie Hummingbirds: Eighty Years Young has been shown on the Gospel Music Channel and has played at numerous film festivals.
James Davis retired in 1984. He died of a heart ailment in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (April 17, 2007)
Sadly, Ira Tucker, Sr also passed away (June 24, 2008 at the age of 83). The group will continue on, thereby preserving the rich legacy left by Tucker, James Davis, William Bobo, Beachey Thompson, James Walker, Howard Carroll, et al. and will continue onward with possible new additions to their personnel down the road.
The Dixie Hummingbirds were inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000.
We will continue on Saturday, stay tuned!
One of the most dynamic, outspoken and successful businessman/rapper/R & B stars is Jay-Z. After appearing as a guest on a release by Big Jaz and Original Flavor, Jay-Z released the first of many super successful albums called “Reasonable Doubt” (number twenty-three on the pop charts and number three on the rap charts in 1996). Blending his street smarts with popular rap and savvy business decisions, Jay-Z has become one of rock/rap’s elite personalities.
Originally from the Marcy Houses housing projects in Brooklyn, New York, Shawn Corey Carter (born 12/04/69) and picked up the nickname “Jazzy,” which eventually was shortened and developed into his stage name “Jay-Z.” The name also pays homage to his musical mentor, Jaz-O (Jay-Z’s voice can be heard on many of Jaz-O’s recordings in the late 80’s and early 90’s) as well as to the J-Z subway lines from his old neighborhood.
After his initial release, Jay-Z released his sophomore album entitled “In My Lifetime, Vol. 1” (1997) and in 1998, volume two called “Hard Knock Life,” which allowed the rapper to totally dominate the pop charts (volume two has been certified platinum five times and has sold more than eight million copies worldwide). The release included the cut “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)”, which peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Top 40 charts. The rapper embarked on a very successful tour and has also aided in boosting the careers of such protégés as Ja Rule, Memphis Bleek and Beanie Sigel. Additionally, the album won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.
“Volume Three” was released in 1999 (The Life and Times of S. Carter) and also secured platinum status (three times) and sold well over six million copies worldwide (number one pop and R & B in 2000). Jay-Z also appeared on Mariah Carey’s number one Billboard Top 40 hit called “Heartbreaker.” But, the year also brought turmoil; as Jay-Z was accused of stabbing record executive Lance “Un” Rivera. Although he initially denied involvement in the crime, he later pled guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to three years probation.
But, music is not Jay-Z’s only forte. As previously mentioned, this savvy businessman co-founded the urban clothing brand “Rocawear” (1999), is a part owner of the NBA New Jersey Nets, co-founded “Roc-A-Fella Records” and is a co-owner of the 40/40 Club, an upscale sports bar that originated in New York City and has expanded into Atlantic City (future plans include clubs in L.A., Las Vegas and Singapore).
But, back to the music. In 2000, the legendary rapper released the album entitled “The Dynasty: Roc La Famila”, which was intended to be a compilation album and to introduce new artists such as Amil, and the previously mentioned Memphis Bleek and Beanie Sigel. But even with these newcomers, the album had Jay-Z’s name associated with it and it went on to sell more than two million copiers in the U.S. alone.
In 2001, Jay-Z’s next album “The Blueprint,” is considered by many to be one of hip hop’s classic releases, selling more than 450,000 copies in the first week. The album was a very successful “crossover” hit, achieving a perfect balance of mainstream music and hardcore rap. Rapper Eninem appeared on the single “Renegade” and the album also features the singles “Takeover” and the popular cut “Izzo (H.O.V.A.).” The album was certified double-platinum in the U.S.
“The Blueprint: The Gift & the Curse” was Jay-Z’s next album (a double LP 2002) and the release sold more than four million copies in the U. S. alone. The album spawned two big hits, “Excuse Me Miss” and “03 Bonnie and Clyde,” the latter featuring Jay-Z’s girlfriend at the time, Beyonce Knowles (it was later re-issued on a single disc called “The Blueprint 2.1”). Other notable singles included “Gun & Roses,” featuring Lenny Kravitz, the popular track “Hovi Baby,” “A Dream,” which featured Faith Evans and a recording of the late Notorious B.I.G. and the cut entitled “The Bounce,” featuring Kayne West.
In 2003, “The Black Album” was released and it was announced that this was to be Jay-Z’s last recording. Notable songs included “Dirt Off Your Shoulder,” “Change Clothes,” “What More Can I Say” and “99 Problems.” In November of 2003, Jay-Z performed at Madison Square Garden and this concert was his “retirement” party. And, although he retired from making new studio albums, Jay-Z kept very busy working on other projects including a greatest hits release and concert appearances with R. Kelly, Lincoln Park and Phish.
Retirement was short-lived as Jay-Z returned to music scene in 2006 with a release called “Kingdom Come.” His single, “Show Me What You Got” received heavy airplay (the album sold more than two million copies in the U.S.) and was leaked on the Internet in early October 2006, scheduled to be released later on that month causing the FBI to step in and investigate.
Jay-Z released his tenth album entitled American Gangster on November 6, 2007 being inspired after viewing the film of the same name. At the start of the album's first single, "Blue Magic", Jay-Z offers a dealer's manifesto while making references to political figures of the late 1980s with the lyric: "Blame Reagan for making me to into a monster, blame Oliver North and Iran-Contra, I ran contraband that they sponsored, before this rhymin' stuff we was in concert.” Another amazing hit for the rapper, the album was certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA.
No one knows what the future holds, but this legendary rapper and musician is certainly revered and respected in the music world and his best work may be to come.
The seminal music group, the “Dixie Hummingbirds” were a leading Southern Black Gospel quartet for over fifty years and have been an instrumental force in the development of “Soul Music.”
Formed in 1928 by James Davis, the group made their first record in 1939 for Decca Records. Later that year the group added lead singer Ira Tucker and William Bobo. Tucker not only brought an elegant and powerful voice to the group, his energetic showmanship (running up and down the aisles, jumping off the stage, falling to his knees in prayer) is legendary. Tucker also took the group on adventurous harmonic journeys (which the group coined as “trickeration”) as well as taking the lead in the stylistic innovations and lush soundscapes that made them a popular attraction.
After relocating to Philadelphia in the 1940’s, the group recorded for a number of record labels and were regulars on radio and the Northeast Gospel Circuit. The legendary recording group also influenced many other artists, some even imitating their resourcefulness and live energy they were famous for (including James brown and Jackie Wilson). The group also performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1966.
But, they are best remembered as the backup singers for Paul Simon’s 1973 Billboard Top 40 hit “Loves Me Like A Rock,” a song that garnered the band a Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance. The expressive and iconic group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and was recently nominated for a Grammy Award in 2007 for their album “Still Keeping It Real.”
Jay-Z Tidbits:
Jay-Z also, along with Sean "Diddy" Combs, pledged $1 million to the American Red Cross' relief effort after Hurricane Katrina. Jay-Z also stated his support for Kanye West after the latter's outburst against President Bush during a live Katrina charity telethon. (He also addressed the issue of the Katrina disaster, and the government's response, in his song "Minority Report").
Controversary seems to follow Jay-Z and on February 1, 2008 it was announced that Jay-Z would headline the 2008 Glastonbury Festival. Tickets failed to sell out with 'only' 100,000 being sold - out of a possible 137,500 and as the festival sold out in 2 hours the previous year, critics were quick to blame the choice of a hip hop artist as opposed to a rock band as the main problem. In fact, Oasis' Noel Gallagher criticised the organizers of the festival for scheduling Jay-Z as a headliner for the traditionally guitar-driven concert.
Jay-Z opened his set at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival with a cover of Oasis' classic "Wonderwall."
Jay-Z's most public relationship has been with R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles, a former member of Destiny's Child and on April 4, 2008, Knowles and Jay-Z were married in New York City.
Dixie Hummingbirds Tidbits:
In February 2008, the first feature length documentary/concert film featuring the history of the Dixie Hummingbirds was released in commemoration of their extraordinary eighty years as performers. The Dixie Hummingbirds: Eighty Years Young has been shown on the Gospel Music Channel and has played at numerous film festivals.
James Davis retired in 1984. He died of a heart ailment in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (April 17, 2007)
Sadly, Ira Tucker, Sr also passed away (June 24, 2008 at the age of 83). The group will continue on, thereby preserving the rich legacy left by Tucker, James Davis, William Bobo, Beachey Thompson, James Walker, Howard Carroll, et al. and will continue onward with possible new additions to their personnel down the road.
The Dixie Hummingbirds were inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000.
We will continue on Saturday, stay tuned!
Austin City Limits Announces Guests For 35th Season
Austin City Limits is celebrating its 35th year on the air (check your local PBS listings) and has put together an impressive and eclectic lineup for music fans. I am very fond of the show, a few weeks ago, I watched Arcade Fire put on an hour worth of pure rock and roll splendor, I had heard of the band, but never heard their music. After watching the show, I am now one of their biggest fans. There is nothing like live music....
The new season is set to debut on October 3 with the Dave Matthews Band and will include appearances by the Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel and many more. Interestingly, Willie Nelson was the artist on the original 1974 pilot episode and Asleep at the Wheel was the guest on the premier episode of the series.
"We had high hopes for our 35th anniversary, but never expected to pull together a season like this" said ACL producer Terry Lickona. "We've scored major coups with some of the biggest names in rock and some of the best touring bands in the world. And we're excited to continue to showcase the best new and emerging sounds wherever they come from, including some of the hottest bands making waves in Austin and beyond. After three and a half decades it seems like everybody still wants to stand on that stage and be a part of ACL history."
The following is the inital list of Season 35 performers with additional names to be added at a future dates. Air dates have not been determined:
Dave Matthews Band
Pearl Jam
Kenny Chesney
Elvis Costello
Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel
Beastie Boys
Sonic Youth
Ben Harper and Relentless7
M. Ward
Andrew Bird
Madeleine Peyroux
St. Vincent
Heartless Bastards
Okkervil River
Band of Heathens
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RAMMING SPEED Preparing To Release New Seven-Inch Single - May 5, 2009
Boston thrash/grind/crust road warriors RAMMING SPEED are putting the finishing touches on a new seven-inch single, to be unleashed just in time for their two-month summer "world tour." The record, entitled "Always Disgusted, Never Surprised", will be released by Punks Before Profits Records and will feature four brand new songs. Recorded at New Alliance (CONVERGE, COLISEUM, ANIMOSITY) with head engineer Ethan Dussault (mastering by Nick Zampiello), the record will have an initial pressing of 600, 100 of which will be a tour-only edition.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Audio Audition Vinyl Record Reviews
I want to thank John over at http://www.audaud.com/index.php for the exclusive rights to reprint this great review!
AUDIOPHILE AUDITION focuses on recordings of interest to audiophiles and collectors, with an accent on surround sound for music, and on all hi-res disc formats. Over 100SACD, DVD Video/Audio and standard CD reviews are published during each month, and our archives go back to January 2001.
Jeb Loy Nichols – Parish Bar – Compass Records 4497 150-gram vinyl LP, 41 minutes ****:
When I first dropped the needle to the record I thought I was going to start hearing the Bee Gees or Stevie Wonder, but then warm, thick vocals issued forth. Is it funk? Is it hip hop? Is it dance music? You can decide, but what I can tell you is that it’s got a 70s groove and a contemporary flair at the same time--and it’s pretty good! The second track had a world music/reggae feel except for the harmonica that popped out of nowhere. Jeb’s voice is a little like John Mayer and some of the tracks are like a John Mayer or Jack Johnson track with a bunch of different musical styles blended together all guided by Nichols’ vision. You get the feel that the entire creation process is very organic and natural for Jeb. This record is completely inoffensive and can easily serve as background music for a hip get-together or for a fun, light listening adventure.
The disc comes with a password to download mp3s of the album for free and you also get a piece of frameable artwork. Sound quality of the disc is A/A- and music gets a B+.
TrackList: Countrymusicdisco45; Whole Thing Going On; Just a Country Boy; I’m Blue I’m Lonesome Too; Days Are Mighty; Too Much Not Enough; Satan’s Helper; Foggy Road Ride; My kind; Neath the Cold Ground; So Sad; Dr. Noblio; I Took a Memory to Lunch.
Sonny Rollins – Saxophone Colossus – Prestige OJC 291 mono LP, 40 minutes ***** [Reissue from Concord Records]:
This copy was made from stampers originally cut for DCC by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray as evidenced by old matrix information that has been scratched out. The only better- sounding copy known to me are the originals cut by Rudy Van Gelder that are available used for upwards of $300. Three of the tracks are original, one a standard, the other the famous theme from Weill’s Three-Penny Opera. The back of the record gives added information on each of the songs and emphasizes the colossal nature of one of the few remaining jazz legends, Sonny Rollins. On this record he is joined by other jazz notables Tommy Flanagan (piano), Max Roach (drums), and Doug Watkins (bass).
I won’t review the music as you can find hundreds of reviews that better express the beauty of this record far better than I can. For music this record is a classic and therefore gets and A+. Sound quality falls somewhere in the A range. Tonal quality is excellent, dynamics are excellent, and that horn…An absolute must for even the newest of jazz neophytes!
TrackList: Moritat; Blue Seven; St. Thomas; You Don’t Know What Love Is; Strode Rode.
Smiley Lewis – …I Hear You Knocking – Pure Pleasure Records Limited PPAN LP9141 180 gram vinyl mono reissue LP, 30 minutes *****:
Personnel on this record are: Smiley Lewis (vocal, guitar), Dave Bartholemew (trumpet), Lee Allen, Herb Hardesty, Alvin “Red” Tyler (tenor saxophones), Clarence Ford (baritone saxophone), Salvador Doucette, Edward Frank, Joe Robichaux, Huey Smith (piano), Justin Adams, Edgar Blanchard, Ernest McLean (guitar), Frank Fields (bass), George French (bass guitar), Robert French, Earl Palmer, Charles “Hungry” Williams (drums).
Overton Lemon (Smiley) Lewis is a blues singer/guitar player who subscribes to the old school of blues and sings in a rough, ragged, hollering voice. He got his start early in clubs in the French Quarter and had his big hit in 1955 with “I Hear You Knocking” (later covered by Dave Edmunds). The piano playing and upbeat sound of this tune is what no doubt propelled it to the top of the charts. Most of the material on the record covers the typical man/woman topics present in a lot of the blues music and there are quite a few standout tracks. “Blue Monday” starts with solid, punchy bass and then comes the horns—wow! This number will appeal to less hardcore listeners of more popular blues music. “Lost Week End” is a perfect example of Lewis’ New Orleans influence while “Real Gone Lover” sounds very similar to “Shake, Rattle and Roll.” This is one great blues record!
This disc was remastered at Abbey Road Studios by Sean Magee. The recording is mono and some times it is hard to focus in on particular instruments within the soundstage due to the age of the recording. Sound ranged from B- to A- depending on the track while Music is a solid A.
TrackList: The Bells Are Ringing; Standing On The Corner; Blue Monday; Down The Road; Lost Week End; Real Gone Lover; Bumpity Bump; I Hear You Knocking; I Can’t Believe It; Hey Girl; One Night; Nothing But The Blues.
Above three reviews -- Brian Bloom
AUDIOPHILE AUDITION focuses on recordings of interest to audiophiles and collectors, with an accent on surround sound for music, and on all hi-res disc formats. Over 100SACD, DVD Video/Audio and standard CD reviews are published during each month, and our archives go back to January 2001.
Jeb Loy Nichols – Parish Bar – Compass Records 4497 150-gram vinyl LP, 41 minutes ****:
When I first dropped the needle to the record I thought I was going to start hearing the Bee Gees or Stevie Wonder, but then warm, thick vocals issued forth. Is it funk? Is it hip hop? Is it dance music? You can decide, but what I can tell you is that it’s got a 70s groove and a contemporary flair at the same time--and it’s pretty good! The second track had a world music/reggae feel except for the harmonica that popped out of nowhere. Jeb’s voice is a little like John Mayer and some of the tracks are like a John Mayer or Jack Johnson track with a bunch of different musical styles blended together all guided by Nichols’ vision. You get the feel that the entire creation process is very organic and natural for Jeb. This record is completely inoffensive and can easily serve as background music for a hip get-together or for a fun, light listening adventure.
The disc comes with a password to download mp3s of the album for free and you also get a piece of frameable artwork. Sound quality of the disc is A/A- and music gets a B+.
TrackList: Countrymusicdisco45; Whole Thing Going On; Just a Country Boy; I’m Blue I’m Lonesome Too; Days Are Mighty; Too Much Not Enough; Satan’s Helper; Foggy Road Ride; My kind; Neath the Cold Ground; So Sad; Dr. Noblio; I Took a Memory to Lunch.
Sonny Rollins – Saxophone Colossus – Prestige OJC 291 mono LP, 40 minutes ***** [Reissue from Concord Records]:
This copy was made from stampers originally cut for DCC by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray as evidenced by old matrix information that has been scratched out. The only better- sounding copy known to me are the originals cut by Rudy Van Gelder that are available used for upwards of $300. Three of the tracks are original, one a standard, the other the famous theme from Weill’s Three-Penny Opera. The back of the record gives added information on each of the songs and emphasizes the colossal nature of one of the few remaining jazz legends, Sonny Rollins. On this record he is joined by other jazz notables Tommy Flanagan (piano), Max Roach (drums), and Doug Watkins (bass).
I won’t review the music as you can find hundreds of reviews that better express the beauty of this record far better than I can. For music this record is a classic and therefore gets and A+. Sound quality falls somewhere in the A range. Tonal quality is excellent, dynamics are excellent, and that horn…An absolute must for even the newest of jazz neophytes!
TrackList: Moritat; Blue Seven; St. Thomas; You Don’t Know What Love Is; Strode Rode.
Smiley Lewis – …I Hear You Knocking – Pure Pleasure Records Limited PPAN LP9141 180 gram vinyl mono reissue LP, 30 minutes *****:
Personnel on this record are: Smiley Lewis (vocal, guitar), Dave Bartholemew (trumpet), Lee Allen, Herb Hardesty, Alvin “Red” Tyler (tenor saxophones), Clarence Ford (baritone saxophone), Salvador Doucette, Edward Frank, Joe Robichaux, Huey Smith (piano), Justin Adams, Edgar Blanchard, Ernest McLean (guitar), Frank Fields (bass), George French (bass guitar), Robert French, Earl Palmer, Charles “Hungry” Williams (drums).
Overton Lemon (Smiley) Lewis is a blues singer/guitar player who subscribes to the old school of blues and sings in a rough, ragged, hollering voice. He got his start early in clubs in the French Quarter and had his big hit in 1955 with “I Hear You Knocking” (later covered by Dave Edmunds). The piano playing and upbeat sound of this tune is what no doubt propelled it to the top of the charts. Most of the material on the record covers the typical man/woman topics present in a lot of the blues music and there are quite a few standout tracks. “Blue Monday” starts with solid, punchy bass and then comes the horns—wow! This number will appeal to less hardcore listeners of more popular blues music. “Lost Week End” is a perfect example of Lewis’ New Orleans influence while “Real Gone Lover” sounds very similar to “Shake, Rattle and Roll.” This is one great blues record!
This disc was remastered at Abbey Road Studios by Sean Magee. The recording is mono and some times it is hard to focus in on particular instruments within the soundstage due to the age of the recording. Sound ranged from B- to A- depending on the track while Music is a solid A.
TrackList: The Bells Are Ringing; Standing On The Corner; Blue Monday; Down The Road; Lost Week End; Real Gone Lover; Bumpity Bump; I Hear You Knocking; I Can’t Believe It; Hey Girl; One Night; Nothing But The Blues.
Above three reviews -- Brian Bloom
Music News, A Rant & Notes
RIAA Admits Vinyl Sales Are Climbing
Will vinyl ever get back to being the main source for music? Probably not, there are just too many other formats out there. Remember, when vinyl had its heyday, it WAS the format, it was how music lovers obtained their music and the most common form of music distribution. Personally, I think the download is just polluting the music scene, it has cheapened music, especially the 99 cent download. Too much bad music is being produced, it is so easy to post a song on MySpace and sell it; from people who have no clue what good music is. Anyway, here is what the RIAA is saying about the 'return' of our beloved vinyl record:
According to the RIAA’s recently-released 2007 sales report, the American music industry sold 36.6 percent more Extended Play (EP) and Long Play (LP) records than it had in the previous year, increasing vinyl sales revenue by 46.2 percent. CD unit sales, on the other hand, declined 11.7 percent with revenue dropping 20.5 percent during the same period.
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Rare Motown Single "Do I Love You" Is World's Most Expensive Record At $38K
Nidhi Sharma - Celebrity News Service Reporter
London, England (CNS) - A rare 7-inch vinyl single from Motown Records has been sold at a record price for $38,000 thus becoming the world's most expensive record. The single of Frank Wilson's "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" is one of only two surviving copies in the world.
Motown head Berry Gordy had the record destroyed when Wilson quit performing music to move into song writing and production. However a couple of copies managed to survive and one of it was sold at auction.
Record dealer John Manship of Leicestershire, England, said the buyer wanted to remain anonymous. The seller, Fife disc jockey and record collector Kenny Burrell, bought his version of the disc from a Canadian record dealer for at a then-record price of $22,000, BBC reports.
The record had previously been obtained from a record processing plant in Detroit, the home of Motown. Manship said about 70 bids had been made for the single.
SOURCE: http://www.allheadlinenews.com
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Woodstock 40th Anniversary
The bill for the Woodstock 40th Anniversary concert and celebration of music in Bethel, New York is starting to take shape. The August 15 show will include Mountain, Ten Years After, Canned Heat, Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Levon Helm Band, Jefferson Starship and Country Joe McDonald.
All of the acts played at the 1969 show except for Big Brother & the Holding Company as Janis Joplin was backed that day by the Kozmic Blues Band. Helm performed as part of the Band and the Jefferson Starship was then the Jefferson Airplane.
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Little Richard's 1970's Reprise Catalog Coming in June
After setting the early standard for Rock and Roll with his Specialty Records output, Little Richard quit the business to study religion. Recording gospel on End, Mercury and Atlantic, he eventually bounded back into rock in 1962 with a tour of England and great exposure with his music recorded by the likes of the Beatles.
In 1970, while a huge hit on the nostalgia circuit, he recorded three albums for Reprise. The Rill Thing, King of Rock and Roll and The Second Coming covered a wide range of styles, which may be one of the reasons they were not well received by the public. Only Freedom Blues, from The Rill Thing, made a showing on the R&B charts, reaching number 28 (47 on the Hot 100) while the followup, Greenwood Mississippi, made it to 85 on the pop list. Only 1971's King of Rock and Roll cracked the album chart, peaking at number 193.
These three albums will be released for the first time on CD with their original track listings on June 23 from Collector's Choice. Music historian Gene Sculatti, author of the Catalog of Cool, contributes liner notes.
The following is from the press release:
The Rill Thing: Little Richard recorded with the Muscle Shoals rhythm and horn sections on his 1970 Reprise debut, which Rolling Stone called “a major artistic triumph,” noting that he “personally arranged, produced and recorded the album with five recently penned originals. The record faithfully exhibits Richard’s maturity as an artist.” The first single, “Freedom Blues,” notched #47 on the pop charts, #28 R&B. Its two additional singles were the Travis Wammack-written “Greenwood, Mississippi,” which stalled at #85, and a non-charting yet inspired version of the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There.” The album also included cover of Hank Williams’ “Lovesick Blues” done up in a New Orleans rhythm and “Dew Drop Inn,” which revisits more conventional Little Richard terrain: the patent scream, rollicking piano and booting sax solo of his earliest hits.
The King of Rock and Roll: The trade ad for this 1971 volume read: “Only Little Richard could top Little Richard.” Joel Selvin, reviewing in Rolling Stone, called the second Reprise set “a most significant chapter in the living legend of the greatest rock ’n’ roll singer ever . . .packed with the sort of stuff good rock is made of.” Richard paired with producer H.B. Barnum (Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, O.C. Smith) here, finding him working closer to the upbeat R&B style of “Tutti Frutti” and “Good Golly Miss Molly,” but performing repertoire culled from the Top 40 of the ‘60s and early ‘70s: “Brown Sugar,” “Joy to the World,” “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “Born on the Bayou,” and takes on Hank Williams’ ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” Leadbelly’s “The Midnight Special” and Fred Rose’s “Settin’ the Woods on Fire.”
The Second Coming: Little Richard’s third and final Reprise album (although portions of a fourth were recorded and shelved) finds him reunited with Robert “Bumps” Blackwell, producer of his Specialty Records hits in the ‘50s. Four tunes (“Mockingbird Sally,” “Rockin’ Rockin’ Boogie,” “Thomasine” and “Saints”) feature New Orleans musicians who played on Richard’s (and many of Fats Domino’s) original hits: drummer Earl Palmer and sax man Lee Allen. Commenting on “Saints,” an update of “When the Saints Go Marching In,” Blackwell, in his original album notes, explained that their aim was to mix “New Orleans jazz with the horns and guitars creating a big brass sound, with the wah-wah blending in what I call the Isaac Hayes and Bar-Kays rhythmic Shaft attitude.” The album also contains a Little Richard/Sneaky Pete Kleinow co-write, “It Ain’t What You Do, It’s the Way You Do It,” with Kleinow’s pedal steel and Richard on electric piano reminiscent to The Beatles’ “Get Back.”
SOURCE: http://winkscollectibles.blogspot.com
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Vinyl Collective News
Stop by www.vinylcollective.com for some great vinyl!
Vinyl Collective Top 10 Sales of the past Week
1. STREETLIGHT MANIFESTO “Everything Goes Numb” LP white vinyl VC exclusive color
2. THURSDAY “Full Collapse” LP solid brown vinyl
3. LAWRENCE ARMS “Ghost Stories” LP maroon vinyl
4. THE MENZINGERS “Hold On, Dodge” 7″ olive green vinyl
5. STREETLIGHT MANIFESTO “Everything Goes Numb” LP clear red vinyl
5. BAYSIDE “Shudder” LP solid red vinyl
7. BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME “Alaska” dbl LP clear vinyl
8. A DAY TO REMEMBER “Homesick” LP clear green vinyl
9. DARKEST HOUR “Hidden Hands Of The Sadist Nation” dbl LP dark putty vinyl VC excl
10. KAY KAY AND HIS WEATHERED UNDERGROUND “S/T” frosty translucent blue vinyl w/ CD
10. EELS “Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs Of Desire” LP
10. BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY! “Scrambles” LP VC exclusive color
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Patrick Wolf's The Bachelor Cover Art, Release Info
The Bachelor is out June 1 in Europe and the UK on Wolf's BloodyChamberMusic imprint, and June 2 (digitally) and August 11 (physically) in the US, on NYLON Magazine's NYLON Records. If you want to see Wolf on the road, he'll be headining the NYLON Summer Music Tour with Living Thing and The Plasticines.
Will vinyl ever get back to being the main source for music? Probably not, there are just too many other formats out there. Remember, when vinyl had its heyday, it WAS the format, it was how music lovers obtained their music and the most common form of music distribution. Personally, I think the download is just polluting the music scene, it has cheapened music, especially the 99 cent download. Too much bad music is being produced, it is so easy to post a song on MySpace and sell it; from people who have no clue what good music is. Anyway, here is what the RIAA is saying about the 'return' of our beloved vinyl record:
According to the RIAA’s recently-released 2007 sales report, the American music industry sold 36.6 percent more Extended Play (EP) and Long Play (LP) records than it had in the previous year, increasing vinyl sales revenue by 46.2 percent. CD unit sales, on the other hand, declined 11.7 percent with revenue dropping 20.5 percent during the same period.
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Rare Motown Single "Do I Love You" Is World's Most Expensive Record At $38K
Nidhi Sharma - Celebrity News Service Reporter
London, England (CNS) - A rare 7-inch vinyl single from Motown Records has been sold at a record price for $38,000 thus becoming the world's most expensive record. The single of Frank Wilson's "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" is one of only two surviving copies in the world.
Motown head Berry Gordy had the record destroyed when Wilson quit performing music to move into song writing and production. However a couple of copies managed to survive and one of it was sold at auction.
Record dealer John Manship of Leicestershire, England, said the buyer wanted to remain anonymous. The seller, Fife disc jockey and record collector Kenny Burrell, bought his version of the disc from a Canadian record dealer for at a then-record price of $22,000, BBC reports.
The record had previously been obtained from a record processing plant in Detroit, the home of Motown. Manship said about 70 bids had been made for the single.
SOURCE: http://www.allheadlinenews.com
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Woodstock 40th Anniversary
The bill for the Woodstock 40th Anniversary concert and celebration of music in Bethel, New York is starting to take shape. The August 15 show will include Mountain, Ten Years After, Canned Heat, Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Levon Helm Band, Jefferson Starship and Country Joe McDonald.
All of the acts played at the 1969 show except for Big Brother & the Holding Company as Janis Joplin was backed that day by the Kozmic Blues Band. Helm performed as part of the Band and the Jefferson Starship was then the Jefferson Airplane.
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Little Richard's 1970's Reprise Catalog Coming in June
After setting the early standard for Rock and Roll with his Specialty Records output, Little Richard quit the business to study religion. Recording gospel on End, Mercury and Atlantic, he eventually bounded back into rock in 1962 with a tour of England and great exposure with his music recorded by the likes of the Beatles.
In 1970, while a huge hit on the nostalgia circuit, he recorded three albums for Reprise. The Rill Thing, King of Rock and Roll and The Second Coming covered a wide range of styles, which may be one of the reasons they were not well received by the public. Only Freedom Blues, from The Rill Thing, made a showing on the R&B charts, reaching number 28 (47 on the Hot 100) while the followup, Greenwood Mississippi, made it to 85 on the pop list. Only 1971's King of Rock and Roll cracked the album chart, peaking at number 193.
These three albums will be released for the first time on CD with their original track listings on June 23 from Collector's Choice. Music historian Gene Sculatti, author of the Catalog of Cool, contributes liner notes.
The following is from the press release:
The Rill Thing: Little Richard recorded with the Muscle Shoals rhythm and horn sections on his 1970 Reprise debut, which Rolling Stone called “a major artistic triumph,” noting that he “personally arranged, produced and recorded the album with five recently penned originals. The record faithfully exhibits Richard’s maturity as an artist.” The first single, “Freedom Blues,” notched #47 on the pop charts, #28 R&B. Its two additional singles were the Travis Wammack-written “Greenwood, Mississippi,” which stalled at #85, and a non-charting yet inspired version of the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There.” The album also included cover of Hank Williams’ “Lovesick Blues” done up in a New Orleans rhythm and “Dew Drop Inn,” which revisits more conventional Little Richard terrain: the patent scream, rollicking piano and booting sax solo of his earliest hits.
The King of Rock and Roll: The trade ad for this 1971 volume read: “Only Little Richard could top Little Richard.” Joel Selvin, reviewing in Rolling Stone, called the second Reprise set “a most significant chapter in the living legend of the greatest rock ’n’ roll singer ever . . .packed with the sort of stuff good rock is made of.” Richard paired with producer H.B. Barnum (Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, O.C. Smith) here, finding him working closer to the upbeat R&B style of “Tutti Frutti” and “Good Golly Miss Molly,” but performing repertoire culled from the Top 40 of the ‘60s and early ‘70s: “Brown Sugar,” “Joy to the World,” “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “Born on the Bayou,” and takes on Hank Williams’ ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” Leadbelly’s “The Midnight Special” and Fred Rose’s “Settin’ the Woods on Fire.”
The Second Coming: Little Richard’s third and final Reprise album (although portions of a fourth were recorded and shelved) finds him reunited with Robert “Bumps” Blackwell, producer of his Specialty Records hits in the ‘50s. Four tunes (“Mockingbird Sally,” “Rockin’ Rockin’ Boogie,” “Thomasine” and “Saints”) feature New Orleans musicians who played on Richard’s (and many of Fats Domino’s) original hits: drummer Earl Palmer and sax man Lee Allen. Commenting on “Saints,” an update of “When the Saints Go Marching In,” Blackwell, in his original album notes, explained that their aim was to mix “New Orleans jazz with the horns and guitars creating a big brass sound, with the wah-wah blending in what I call the Isaac Hayes and Bar-Kays rhythmic Shaft attitude.” The album also contains a Little Richard/Sneaky Pete Kleinow co-write, “It Ain’t What You Do, It’s the Way You Do It,” with Kleinow’s pedal steel and Richard on electric piano reminiscent to The Beatles’ “Get Back.”
SOURCE: http://winkscollectibles.blogspot.com
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Vinyl Collective News
Stop by www.vinylcollective.com for some great vinyl!
Vinyl Collective Top 10 Sales of the past Week
1. STREETLIGHT MANIFESTO “Everything Goes Numb” LP white vinyl VC exclusive color
2. THURSDAY “Full Collapse” LP solid brown vinyl
3. LAWRENCE ARMS “Ghost Stories” LP maroon vinyl
4. THE MENZINGERS “Hold On, Dodge” 7″ olive green vinyl
5. STREETLIGHT MANIFESTO “Everything Goes Numb” LP clear red vinyl
5. BAYSIDE “Shudder” LP solid red vinyl
7. BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME “Alaska” dbl LP clear vinyl
8. A DAY TO REMEMBER “Homesick” LP clear green vinyl
9. DARKEST HOUR “Hidden Hands Of The Sadist Nation” dbl LP dark putty vinyl VC excl
10. KAY KAY AND HIS WEATHERED UNDERGROUND “S/T” frosty translucent blue vinyl w/ CD
10. EELS “Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs Of Desire” LP
10. BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY! “Scrambles” LP VC exclusive color
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Patrick Wolf's The Bachelor Cover Art, Release Info
The Bachelor is out June 1 in Europe and the UK on Wolf's BloodyChamberMusic imprint, and June 2 (digitally) and August 11 (physically) in the US, on NYLON Magazine's NYLON Records. If you want to see Wolf on the road, he'll be headining the NYLON Summer Music Tour with Living Thing and The Plasticines.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Music News & Notes
Prince Says No To Guitar Hero
It's being reported that Prince turned down an offer from Activision to have his music in the Guitar Hero video game franchise. On last week's Tavis Smiley show, he commented:
"I just think it's more important that kids learn how to actually play the guitar. It's a tough instrument. It's not easy. It took me a long time, and it was frustrating at first. And you just have to stick with it, and it's cool for people who don't have time to learn the chords or ain't interested in it. But to play music is one of the greatest things."
A sign of the times, hopefully....
======================
New Augury Album “Fragmentary Evidence” Out August 11th
After 5 years and numerous lineup changes, Canadian progressive death metal masters Augury are finally set to release another album. “Fragmentary Evidence” comes out on August 11th in the US.
Since “Concealed” came out in 2004, the band has replaced former drummer Étienne Gallo with newcomer Antoine Baril, and female vocalist Gabrielle Borgia also left the band. If the two promo songs released in 2006 are any indication however, the new album will see Augury developing and streamlining their approach to death metal while still retaining the progressive approach that set them apart on their debut. Both tracks on the promo, ‘Skyless’ and ‘Faith Puppeteers’ will also appear on the new release.
“Fragmentary Evidence” is definitely a release to watch out for if you’re a fan of progressive and technical death metal. Check Augury’s MySpace page for updates and eventually samples of their new album.
======================
New Wolfmother Music
Aussie rockers Wolfmother debuted their new lineup for hundreds of eager fans at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum this past Friday night. The recently reconstituted band previewed several hard-rocking tracks from their forthcoming album, Cosmic Egg, at the sold-out show. Curly-haired frontman Andrew Stockdale — the only remaining member since two-thirds of the trio left in 2008 due to “irreconcilable personal and musical differences” — put his new group through the paces as they ironed out the kinks of their embryonic incarnation.
It's being reported that Prince turned down an offer from Activision to have his music in the Guitar Hero video game franchise. On last week's Tavis Smiley show, he commented:
"I just think it's more important that kids learn how to actually play the guitar. It's a tough instrument. It's not easy. It took me a long time, and it was frustrating at first. And you just have to stick with it, and it's cool for people who don't have time to learn the chords or ain't interested in it. But to play music is one of the greatest things."
A sign of the times, hopefully....
======================
New Augury Album “Fragmentary Evidence” Out August 11th
After 5 years and numerous lineup changes, Canadian progressive death metal masters Augury are finally set to release another album. “Fragmentary Evidence” comes out on August 11th in the US.
Since “Concealed” came out in 2004, the band has replaced former drummer Étienne Gallo with newcomer Antoine Baril, and female vocalist Gabrielle Borgia also left the band. If the two promo songs released in 2006 are any indication however, the new album will see Augury developing and streamlining their approach to death metal while still retaining the progressive approach that set them apart on their debut. Both tracks on the promo, ‘Skyless’ and ‘Faith Puppeteers’ will also appear on the new release.
“Fragmentary Evidence” is definitely a release to watch out for if you’re a fan of progressive and technical death metal. Check Augury’s MySpace page for updates and eventually samples of their new album.
======================
New Wolfmother Music
Aussie rockers Wolfmother debuted their new lineup for hundreds of eager fans at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum this past Friday night. The recently reconstituted band previewed several hard-rocking tracks from their forthcoming album, Cosmic Egg, at the sold-out show. Curly-haired frontman Andrew Stockdale — the only remaining member since two-thirds of the trio left in 2008 due to “irreconcilable personal and musical differences” — put his new group through the paces as they ironed out the kinks of their embryonic incarnation.
New Vinyl Releases
New vinyl being reissued soon, the classics never get old!
May 12, 2009
Anthrax - Fist Full of Metal (3-LP)
Steve Earle - Townes (2-LP)
Ace Frehley - Greatest Hits Live (Picture Disc)
Warren Haynes - Tales of Ordinary Madness
-----------------------
May 19, 2009
Leonard Cohen - Live Songs
Leonard Cohen - New Skin for the Old Ceremony
Leonard Cohen - Songs from a Room
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate
Jethro Tull - Live at Montreux 2003
Booker T. Jones - Potato Hole
King Crimson - Eyes Wide Open
Allen Toussaint - The Bright Mississippi (2-LPs/1-CD)
-----------------------
June 2, 2009
Alice Cooper - School's Out
Deep Purple - History, Hits and Highlights 1968-1976
Delaney & Bonnie & Friends - On Tour with Eric Clapton
Faces - A Nod Is as Good as a Wink...to a Blind Horse
UFO - The Visitor
-----------------------
June 16, 2009
Beach Boys - Sunflower
Beach Boys - Surf's Up
Beastie Boys - Ill Communication (Remastered) (2-LPs)
Merle Haggard - Mama Tried
John Lennon - Live Peace In Toronto
Megadeath - So Far, So Good, So What
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Freaky Styley
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mother's Milk
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Uplift Mofo Party Plan
Roxy Music - Country Life
Roxy Music - Stranded
Sex Pistols - Sex, Anarchy & Rock N' Roll Swindle
May 12, 2009
Anthrax - Fist Full of Metal (3-LP)
Steve Earle - Townes (2-LP)
Ace Frehley - Greatest Hits Live (Picture Disc)
Warren Haynes - Tales of Ordinary Madness
-----------------------
May 19, 2009
Leonard Cohen - Live Songs
Leonard Cohen - New Skin for the Old Ceremony
Leonard Cohen - Songs from a Room
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate
Jethro Tull - Live at Montreux 2003
Booker T. Jones - Potato Hole
King Crimson - Eyes Wide Open
Allen Toussaint - The Bright Mississippi (2-LPs/1-CD)
-----------------------
June 2, 2009
Alice Cooper - School's Out
Deep Purple - History, Hits and Highlights 1968-1976
Delaney & Bonnie & Friends - On Tour with Eric Clapton
Faces - A Nod Is as Good as a Wink...to a Blind Horse
UFO - The Visitor
-----------------------
June 16, 2009
Beach Boys - Sunflower
Beach Boys - Surf's Up
Beastie Boys - Ill Communication (Remastered) (2-LPs)
Merle Haggard - Mama Tried
John Lennon - Live Peace In Toronto
Megadeath - So Far, So Good, So What
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Freaky Styley
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mother's Milk
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Uplift Mofo Party Plan
Roxy Music - Country Life
Roxy Music - Stranded
Sex Pistols - Sex, Anarchy & Rock N' Roll Swindle
Top 5 eBay Vinyl Record Sales
Week Ending 05/02/2009
1. 45 - Joy Divison "An Ideal For Living" Enigma Original - $3,938.88 - Start: $500.00 - Bids: 35
2. 12″ - Led Zeppelin “Road Box” - $3,355.00 Start: $0.01 Bids: 68
3. 45 - Nirvana "Love Buzz" 383/1000 Sub Pop - $2,849.00 - Start: $5999.99 - Bids: Best Offer
4. LP - Sylvie Vartan Panel Deluxe 2LP Box Set Japan SEALED - $2000.00 - Start: $2000.00 - Bids: 1
5. LP - Aguatrubia self-titled Arena Chile - $1,934.00 - Start: $9.98 - Bids: 15
The Joy Divison 7" on Enigma keeps rising in value and gets the #1 spot for the second time this year, selling for over $3.9k. Two more old friends get the next two spots on this week's Top 5, the Led Zeppelin album catalogue on 12" vinyl bids up past $3.3k, while a low numbered Nirvana "Love Buzz" 7" does very well on a Best Offer at a dollar less than halfway over $2.8k.
French Ye-Ye singer, Sylvie Vartan, gets the #4 spot with a Japanese double LP set that gets its asking price at $2k. And last, a Chilean Psych LP sells for over $1.9k
As always, thanks to Norm at http://ccdiscoveries.blogspot.com for this great data!
1. 45 - Joy Divison "An Ideal For Living" Enigma Original - $3,938.88 - Start: $500.00 - Bids: 35
2. 12″ - Led Zeppelin “Road Box” - $3,355.00 Start: $0.01 Bids: 68
3. 45 - Nirvana "Love Buzz" 383/1000 Sub Pop - $2,849.00 - Start: $5999.99 - Bids: Best Offer
4. LP - Sylvie Vartan Panel Deluxe 2LP Box Set Japan SEALED - $2000.00 - Start: $2000.00 - Bids: 1
5. LP - Aguatrubia self-titled Arena Chile - $1,934.00 - Start: $9.98 - Bids: 15
The Joy Divison 7" on Enigma keeps rising in value and gets the #1 spot for the second time this year, selling for over $3.9k. Two more old friends get the next two spots on this week's Top 5, the Led Zeppelin album catalogue on 12" vinyl bids up past $3.3k, while a low numbered Nirvana "Love Buzz" 7" does very well on a Best Offer at a dollar less than halfway over $2.8k.
French Ye-Ye singer, Sylvie Vartan, gets the #4 spot with a Japanese double LP set that gets its asking price at $2k. And last, a Chilean Psych LP sells for over $1.9k
As always, thanks to Norm at http://ccdiscoveries.blogspot.com for this great data!
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Bird & Animal Names In Rock & Roll History- Part eleven
Let’s continue our series about “bird” and “animal” groups and artists in rock and roll history, let’s start with an iconic 60’s vocal group.
A clean-cut vocal group from Brooklyn, New York called “Jay & the Americans” scored several Billboard Top 40 hits throughout the sixties. Interestingly, neither lead singers’ John Traynor nor David Blatt was named Jay, but their names were changed to fit the band billing.
The initial lineup consisted of John "Jay" Traynor, Howard Kane, Kenny Vance and Sandy Deanne, though their greatest success on the charts came after Traynor had been replaced as lead singer by Jay Black (David Blatt).
The group scored a Top 40 hit in 1962 called “She Cried,” with John “Jay” Traynor as the lead vocalist. Produced by the team of Leiber and Stroller, the song was full of booming percussion and lush string arrangements and peaked at number five on the Billboard Top 40 charts.
In 1963, a song called “Only In America” (Jay Black’s first with his new group) hit the charts, peaking at number twenty-five on the Billboard Top 40. Interestingly, the song was originally recorded by the Drifters, but when their record label decided not to release the song, their vocals were erased and Jay and the American’s vocals were added to it.
With the upper-register vocals of Jay Black, the group had their biggest hit in 1964 with a song called “Just A Little Bit Closer.” In 1965, the vocal group peaked at number four on the charts with the Mexican-flavored “Cara Mia,” with Jay Black’s impeccable and legendary high vocals shining with authority.
The group went on to score several more Billboard Top 40 hits including “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Sunday And Me” (a 1965 song that was Neil Diamond’s first hit as a song writer) and “Crying” (1966). After a long break from the Top 40, Jay and the Americans hit pay dirt again with a million-selling cover of the Drifters’ 1960 hit single called “This Magic Moment.” Their last hit was a remake of the Ronette’s tune called “Walkin’ In The Rain.”
Mired in a contractual dispute with United Artists over publishing rights stopped the group from recording for several years. But Jay Black kept the name alive by touring on the “oldie’s circuit” well into the 90's. The legendary group reunited in the 90’s for special performances and in 2001, Jay was featured in the PBS doo wop series as “Jay Black and the Americans.” They were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002.
A relentless touring band hailing from Austin, Texas called the “Fabulous Thunderbirds” helped popularize “roadhouse Texas-blues” and released several critically acclaimed albums in the 1980's. During the group’s heyday in the early 80's, the Fabulous Thunderbirds were star attractions on the blues bar circuit, playing compelling blues-rock blended with smart rhythms and genre defining guitars.
Formed in 1974 by guitarist Jimmy Vaughan (older brother of the legendary blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan), bassist Keith Ferguson (who had declined an invitation to join up with the stalwart rockers ZZ Top), drummer Mike Buck and singer/harmonica player Kim Wilson, the band built up a strong fan base and gained notoriety as the house band at Antone’s (a popular Austin nightclub/bar). They soon attracted the attention of a local record label named Takoma Records. After their self-titled album was released in 1979, they gained overseas exposure and a new fan base by opening for the new-wave rocker’s Rockpile (member Nick Lowe would go on and produce the group’s forth album). The release proved popular enough to attract attention from major record labels and the group signed on with Chrysalis Records in 1980.
The band’s debut release on their new label called “What’s The Word” was filled with powerful, zesty guitar rock. They followed this album with two more, 1981's “Butt Rockin’” and 1982's album called “T Bird Rhythm” (with Fran Christina now on drums). Although the albums were very well-received by the critics, they did not sell very well. But, the group gained the respect and admiration of fellow musicians, even opening for the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton. However, with sluggish album sales, Chrysalis dropped the band and they were without a recording contract until they were signed by Epic Records in 1985.
With Dave Edmunds (band mate of Nick Lowe) producing the band, the Fabulous Thunderbirds cut their breakthrough fifth album, entitled “Tuff Enuff.” The album became a crossover success and the title track was released as a single, and buoyed by repetitive MTV air play, the song broke into the Billboard Top 40, peaking at number ten. The subsequent success of the single propelled the album to number thirteen on the album charts, eventually going platinum. The group also relied on covers of soul music, with cuts like “Wrap It Up,” which is a cover of an old Sam and Dave song and it was released as the second single.
But, success was fleeting, the next album “Hot Number” (1987), did very well at first, even producing the Top Ten Album Rock hit “Stand Back,” but the album quickly fell off the charts. The commercialism and radio-ready sound alienated long time fans. A single called “Powerful Stuff” was included in the soundtrack for the Tom Cruise movie “Cocktail” and it is also included on the disappointing album release of the same name (1989). This particular release spent only seven weeks on the charts.
Jimmy Vaughan left the band after the “Powerful Stuff” LP to team up with his now famous sibling and was replaced by Duke Robillard and Kid Bangham. With a new line up, the band released the album “Walk That Walk, Talk That Talk” in the winter of 1991. Though the band returns to their roots, playing straightforward blues rock; it was bland in comparison to the band’s sound when Jimmy Vaughan was playing with the band. They were dropped by their record label, shortly after its release.
With the group in limbo in the nineties, Wilson released a couple of solo efforts (1993 and 1994) before reassembling the group in late 1994 for the album “Roll The Dice.” It was certainly a much better album that its predecessor, and the group followed the release with the album “High Water” in 1997 and a “live” album in 2001, but the magic that was the Fabulous Thunderbirds was gone. However, through many personnel changes, the Fabulous Thunderbirds have maintained their intense touring schedule throughout the United States and Europe since the early 1990s. The band toured Europe during the spring and summer of 2008 and will also perform at many blues festivals throughout the US; keeping their rabid fans satisfied.
Hot Tuna was formed as an offshoot band led by Jefferson Airplane member’s guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Cassidy. As Jefferson Airplane slowly wound down in the early 1970s, Hot Tuna -- for whom live performance was always of prime importance -- became an independent group. Although not a huge commercial success, Hot Tuna entertained fans with a superb acoustic sound, reflective and smart lyrical content and some of the best unheard music of the 1970's. Their early repertoire was derived mainly from American country blues artists such as Rev. Gary Davis, Jelly Roll Morton, Bo Carter and Arthur Blake (Blind Blake).
In 1974, the group broke off from their primarily bluesy, acoustic style and Hot Tuna morphed into a heavy rock band. The albums “America's Choice” (1975), “Yellow Fever” (1975), and “Hoppkorv” (1976), showcased a power trio with the addition of new drummer Bob Steeler. This three album series is referred to by the group as their "rampage years. Hot Tuna live performances during this period were often free-flow improvisational jams and long sets (up to six hours uninterrupted) with extended versions of their studio material. Because of this trait, they are often considered a forerunner of modern jam bands, such as Phish.
As adept as they were acoustically, it is Hot Tuna’s jam sessions, with extended blues-rock and ambitious boogie improvisations that have made them a popular concert draw for many years and helped fuel sales of live albums to satisfy their cult of fans.
Jay & the Americans Tidbits:
Did you know that future founding members of “Steely Dan,” Donald Fagen and Walter Becker played in the back up band for Jay & the American’s for a time in the early 1970's?
Black still tours under his stage name, "Jay Black.” Kenny Vance is currently the lead singer of Kenny Vance and the Planotones, a neo-doo wop band that he formed in the 1970s.
In 2006, Jay Black filed for bankruptcy due to gambling debts, and his ownership of the name "Jay & The Americans" was sold by the bankruptcy trustee to Sandy Deanne, Black's former band mate and an original member of Jay & The Americans for $100,000 to pay Black's debts. With the name purchase, former members Deanne, Howard Kane, and Marty Sanders reunited, and recruited a sound-alike singer from Chicago, coincidentally nicknamed "Jay." Thus, John "Jay" Reincke became the third "Jay" and the band returned to playing the North American oldies circuit.
Fabulous Thunderbirds Tidbits:
In the early 1990s, Kim Wilson recorded a pair of solo albums while continuing to tour with The Fabulous Thunderbirds.
The single, "Tuff Enuff" was featured in the 1986 film Gung Ho. It was also featured in the film Tough Guys, as was the follow-up single "Wrap It Up".
Jimmie Vaughan left the band to play in a duo with his brother Stevie Ray Vaughan; and following Stevie Ray's death in 1990, Jimmie pursued a full-time solo career.
On February 16, 2000, The Fabulous Thunderbirds made history, becoming the first band ever to be broadcast on the internet using high-definition cameras. The companion DVD, "Invitation Only," is one of the first high-resolution multi-track recordings of a live concert event.
Hot Tuna Tidbits:
The band name Hot Tuna came from someone Kaukonen refers to as a "witty wag" who called out, "hot tuna" after hearing the line 'What's that smell like fish, oh baby,' from the Blind Boy Fuller song "Keep on Truckin." Kaukonen decided it was a good band name and it stuck ever since
Throughout the 1990s, Tuna again alternated between acoustic and electric styles. The two live Sweetwater albums are predominantly acoustic sets with guests Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead, singer Maria Muldaur, and ex-Rod Stewart, Jefferson Starship keyboards player Pete Sears.
Like many jam bands, the group garnered much fan support based on their pro-taping policy that allowed fans to record their live shows. In July 2006, Hot Tuna changed their stance and no longer permit taping.
From 2004-2006, the band have toured with multi-instrumentalist Barry Mitterhoff and drummer Erik Diaz and in April of 2006, Hot Tuna appeared at Merlefest, America's largest folk music festival. In 2007, they played at Bonnaroo.
As former members of Jefferson Airplane, Kaukonen and Cassidy are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They became members in 1996.
Look for part twelve of this ongoing series on Wednesday!
A clean-cut vocal group from Brooklyn, New York called “Jay & the Americans” scored several Billboard Top 40 hits throughout the sixties. Interestingly, neither lead singers’ John Traynor nor David Blatt was named Jay, but their names were changed to fit the band billing.
The initial lineup consisted of John "Jay" Traynor, Howard Kane, Kenny Vance and Sandy Deanne, though their greatest success on the charts came after Traynor had been replaced as lead singer by Jay Black (David Blatt).
The group scored a Top 40 hit in 1962 called “She Cried,” with John “Jay” Traynor as the lead vocalist. Produced by the team of Leiber and Stroller, the song was full of booming percussion and lush string arrangements and peaked at number five on the Billboard Top 40 charts.
In 1963, a song called “Only In America” (Jay Black’s first with his new group) hit the charts, peaking at number twenty-five on the Billboard Top 40. Interestingly, the song was originally recorded by the Drifters, but when their record label decided not to release the song, their vocals were erased and Jay and the American’s vocals were added to it.
With the upper-register vocals of Jay Black, the group had their biggest hit in 1964 with a song called “Just A Little Bit Closer.” In 1965, the vocal group peaked at number four on the charts with the Mexican-flavored “Cara Mia,” with Jay Black’s impeccable and legendary high vocals shining with authority.
The group went on to score several more Billboard Top 40 hits including “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Sunday And Me” (a 1965 song that was Neil Diamond’s first hit as a song writer) and “Crying” (1966). After a long break from the Top 40, Jay and the Americans hit pay dirt again with a million-selling cover of the Drifters’ 1960 hit single called “This Magic Moment.” Their last hit was a remake of the Ronette’s tune called “Walkin’ In The Rain.”
Mired in a contractual dispute with United Artists over publishing rights stopped the group from recording for several years. But Jay Black kept the name alive by touring on the “oldie’s circuit” well into the 90's. The legendary group reunited in the 90’s for special performances and in 2001, Jay was featured in the PBS doo wop series as “Jay Black and the Americans.” They were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002.
A relentless touring band hailing from Austin, Texas called the “Fabulous Thunderbirds” helped popularize “roadhouse Texas-blues” and released several critically acclaimed albums in the 1980's. During the group’s heyday in the early 80's, the Fabulous Thunderbirds were star attractions on the blues bar circuit, playing compelling blues-rock blended with smart rhythms and genre defining guitars.
Formed in 1974 by guitarist Jimmy Vaughan (older brother of the legendary blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan), bassist Keith Ferguson (who had declined an invitation to join up with the stalwart rockers ZZ Top), drummer Mike Buck and singer/harmonica player Kim Wilson, the band built up a strong fan base and gained notoriety as the house band at Antone’s (a popular Austin nightclub/bar). They soon attracted the attention of a local record label named Takoma Records. After their self-titled album was released in 1979, they gained overseas exposure and a new fan base by opening for the new-wave rocker’s Rockpile (member Nick Lowe would go on and produce the group’s forth album). The release proved popular enough to attract attention from major record labels and the group signed on with Chrysalis Records in 1980.
The band’s debut release on their new label called “What’s The Word” was filled with powerful, zesty guitar rock. They followed this album with two more, 1981's “Butt Rockin’” and 1982's album called “T Bird Rhythm” (with Fran Christina now on drums). Although the albums were very well-received by the critics, they did not sell very well. But, the group gained the respect and admiration of fellow musicians, even opening for the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton. However, with sluggish album sales, Chrysalis dropped the band and they were without a recording contract until they were signed by Epic Records in 1985.
With Dave Edmunds (band mate of Nick Lowe) producing the band, the Fabulous Thunderbirds cut their breakthrough fifth album, entitled “Tuff Enuff.” The album became a crossover success and the title track was released as a single, and buoyed by repetitive MTV air play, the song broke into the Billboard Top 40, peaking at number ten. The subsequent success of the single propelled the album to number thirteen on the album charts, eventually going platinum. The group also relied on covers of soul music, with cuts like “Wrap It Up,” which is a cover of an old Sam and Dave song and it was released as the second single.
But, success was fleeting, the next album “Hot Number” (1987), did very well at first, even producing the Top Ten Album Rock hit “Stand Back,” but the album quickly fell off the charts. The commercialism and radio-ready sound alienated long time fans. A single called “Powerful Stuff” was included in the soundtrack for the Tom Cruise movie “Cocktail” and it is also included on the disappointing album release of the same name (1989). This particular release spent only seven weeks on the charts.
Jimmy Vaughan left the band after the “Powerful Stuff” LP to team up with his now famous sibling and was replaced by Duke Robillard and Kid Bangham. With a new line up, the band released the album “Walk That Walk, Talk That Talk” in the winter of 1991. Though the band returns to their roots, playing straightforward blues rock; it was bland in comparison to the band’s sound when Jimmy Vaughan was playing with the band. They were dropped by their record label, shortly after its release.
With the group in limbo in the nineties, Wilson released a couple of solo efforts (1993 and 1994) before reassembling the group in late 1994 for the album “Roll The Dice.” It was certainly a much better album that its predecessor, and the group followed the release with the album “High Water” in 1997 and a “live” album in 2001, but the magic that was the Fabulous Thunderbirds was gone. However, through many personnel changes, the Fabulous Thunderbirds have maintained their intense touring schedule throughout the United States and Europe since the early 1990s. The band toured Europe during the spring and summer of 2008 and will also perform at many blues festivals throughout the US; keeping their rabid fans satisfied.
Hot Tuna was formed as an offshoot band led by Jefferson Airplane member’s guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Cassidy. As Jefferson Airplane slowly wound down in the early 1970s, Hot Tuna -- for whom live performance was always of prime importance -- became an independent group. Although not a huge commercial success, Hot Tuna entertained fans with a superb acoustic sound, reflective and smart lyrical content and some of the best unheard music of the 1970's. Their early repertoire was derived mainly from American country blues artists such as Rev. Gary Davis, Jelly Roll Morton, Bo Carter and Arthur Blake (Blind Blake).
In 1974, the group broke off from their primarily bluesy, acoustic style and Hot Tuna morphed into a heavy rock band. The albums “America's Choice” (1975), “Yellow Fever” (1975), and “Hoppkorv” (1976), showcased a power trio with the addition of new drummer Bob Steeler. This three album series is referred to by the group as their "rampage years. Hot Tuna live performances during this period were often free-flow improvisational jams and long sets (up to six hours uninterrupted) with extended versions of their studio material. Because of this trait, they are often considered a forerunner of modern jam bands, such as Phish.
As adept as they were acoustically, it is Hot Tuna’s jam sessions, with extended blues-rock and ambitious boogie improvisations that have made them a popular concert draw for many years and helped fuel sales of live albums to satisfy their cult of fans.
Jay & the Americans Tidbits:
Did you know that future founding members of “Steely Dan,” Donald Fagen and Walter Becker played in the back up band for Jay & the American’s for a time in the early 1970's?
Black still tours under his stage name, "Jay Black.” Kenny Vance is currently the lead singer of Kenny Vance and the Planotones, a neo-doo wop band that he formed in the 1970s.
In 2006, Jay Black filed for bankruptcy due to gambling debts, and his ownership of the name "Jay & The Americans" was sold by the bankruptcy trustee to Sandy Deanne, Black's former band mate and an original member of Jay & The Americans for $100,000 to pay Black's debts. With the name purchase, former members Deanne, Howard Kane, and Marty Sanders reunited, and recruited a sound-alike singer from Chicago, coincidentally nicknamed "Jay." Thus, John "Jay" Reincke became the third "Jay" and the band returned to playing the North American oldies circuit.
Fabulous Thunderbirds Tidbits:
In the early 1990s, Kim Wilson recorded a pair of solo albums while continuing to tour with The Fabulous Thunderbirds.
The single, "Tuff Enuff" was featured in the 1986 film Gung Ho. It was also featured in the film Tough Guys, as was the follow-up single "Wrap It Up".
Jimmie Vaughan left the band to play in a duo with his brother Stevie Ray Vaughan; and following Stevie Ray's death in 1990, Jimmie pursued a full-time solo career.
On February 16, 2000, The Fabulous Thunderbirds made history, becoming the first band ever to be broadcast on the internet using high-definition cameras. The companion DVD, "Invitation Only," is one of the first high-resolution multi-track recordings of a live concert event.
Hot Tuna Tidbits:
The band name Hot Tuna came from someone Kaukonen refers to as a "witty wag" who called out, "hot tuna" after hearing the line 'What's that smell like fish, oh baby,' from the Blind Boy Fuller song "Keep on Truckin." Kaukonen decided it was a good band name and it stuck ever since
Throughout the 1990s, Tuna again alternated between acoustic and electric styles. The two live Sweetwater albums are predominantly acoustic sets with guests Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead, singer Maria Muldaur, and ex-Rod Stewart, Jefferson Starship keyboards player Pete Sears.
Like many jam bands, the group garnered much fan support based on their pro-taping policy that allowed fans to record their live shows. In July 2006, Hot Tuna changed their stance and no longer permit taping.
From 2004-2006, the band have toured with multi-instrumentalist Barry Mitterhoff and drummer Erik Diaz and in April of 2006, Hot Tuna appeared at Merlefest, America's largest folk music festival. In 2007, they played at Bonnaroo.
As former members of Jefferson Airplane, Kaukonen and Cassidy are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They became members in 1996.
Look for part twelve of this ongoing series on Wednesday!
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