Music News & Notes

Cover Art of Jamie Foxx's 'Intuition'


Jamie Foxx dons a black leather jacket on the cover art of his forthcoming third studio album 'Intuition'.

An official cover art for Jamie Foxx's third major studio effort "Intuition" has been unveiled. The picture, posted on the news photo, shows the close-up look of the 40-year-old singer wearing a black leather jacket and sunglasses.

"Intuition" is a follow up to Jamie's 2005 studio LP "Unpredictable". Slated to be dropped on December 16 in the U.S., the record will line up guest stars T.I. on single "Just Like Me", Lil Wayne on "Aye!", and Keri Hilson on "My Girl".

----------------------------------------------------

Motley Crue To Commemorate Vinyl Reissue with Limited Edition Leather Box Set Journals Of the Damned

Press release:

Motley Crue announced today that Eleven Seven Music/Motley Records will release vinyl configurations of their current hit album Saints of Los Angeles along with their first five classic studio albums, Too Fast For Love (1981); Shout at the Devil (1983); Theatre of Pain (1985); Girls, Girls, Girls (1987) and Dr. Feelgood (1989) on Tuesday, November 25. Each album is pressed on high quality 180 gram vinyl and cut from the original analog master tapes.

To mark this occasion, Motley Crue is releasing a limited edition leather box set, Journals Of The Damned, containing all six vinyl releases. Limited to a sales run of 500, each set is individually numbered and also contains a Shout At the Devil Era lithograph signed by all four members of the band. The sets are available exclusively for order at www.motley.com.

The release of these Motley Crue albums on vinyl comes as many music fans are embracing vinyl for its superior sound quality and new technology allowing the transfer to MP3. With increased availability at major music retailers and online, LPs are making a comeback.

"I remember opening up my first vinyl and seeing the incredible artwork it had. There’s nothing like it," said Nikki Sixx. "You also get that true gritty sound on vinyl that really makes a rock record sound great which CD’s can never achieve. With the current resurgence of vinyl, it came at a perfect time for us to open up the next generation of rock fans to what they’ve been missing out on."

----------------------------------------------------

Christie’s Punk/Rock auction

Auction House Christie’s have a Punk/Rock auction now online for your perusal. Estimates range from $100 to $150,000.

There are many weird and wonderful artefacts from rock history covering acts such as The Ramones, Blondie, David Bowie and The Sex Pistols.

Estimated at between $4,000 to $5,000 is this portfolio of Velvet Undergound items including an article on the VU by Lester Bangs in typescript facsimile, prints, photographs and an original mono vinyl record and sleeve of the 1967 album ‘The Velvet Underground and Nico’.

In amongst the gems are several photographs by legendary photographer Mick Rock including a print of Iggy Pop. There is also an original Westwood/McLaren ‘God Save the Queen’ T-shirt.

You can, should you wish, bid on several lots of signatures of all four Beatles. The most expensive item on offer is a Vox Continental Portable Organ used by John Lennon at the 1965 Shea Stadium concert and on the recording of ‘I’m Down’.

If you don’t want to spend that much then the teenage Kurt Cobain’s bass guitar is going for around $60,00 to $80,000.

The items go under the hammer on 24th November.

----------------------------------------------------

METALLICA Reissue

METALLICA is about to reissue its classic 1991 self-titled album on vinyl as part of the ongoing series that will eventually see the entire catalog available again. The "black" album will be available in North America on November 28 as a two-disc package for the 33.3 version, and in a box for the four-disc, 180 gram, 45 rpm edition. Check out your favorite local record shop or just head over to the METALLICA.com store to pick up a copy. Look for the re-release on vinyl in the rest of the world in late December.

Released in August 1991, "Metallica" features some of METALLICA's most popular songs, including "Enter Sandman", "The Unforgiven", "Nothing Else Matters", "Wherever I May Roam" and "Sad but True". It spent four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 chart and is the band's best-selling album to date, with over 15 million copies sold in the United States and over 22 million copies worldwide. It's also one of the best-selling heavy metal albums of all time.

The album cover features only the band's logo and a coiled snake (derived from the Gadsden flag). The motto of the Gadsden flag, "Don't Tread on Me", is also the title of a song featured on the album.

Top Ten TV Theme Songs

Let's explore PasteMagazine.com's list of theme songs, this time see what made #7 on their list:

7. The Andy Griffith Show - Earle Hagen, Herbert Spencer and Everett Sloane

That's Hagen you hear whistling the intro, but I was more impressed with this version by some guy's parrot:





I have to admit, this is one of my favorite shows, I still watch it on TV Land. I love the classic characters- Barney Fife, Floyd Lawson, Goober, Gomer, The Darlings and who can ever forget Ernest T. Bass (who, by the way only appeared in 10 episodes)? Why there is even a website devoted to the show (http://www.andygriffithshow.net)!

The show comprises 8 full seasons and 249 episodes — 159 episodes in black and white (seasons 1-5) and 90 in color (seasons 6-8). Griffith appears in all 249 episodes with Bavier coming in second at 239. Only Griffith, Howard, Bavier, Knotts, and Hope Summers appeared in all eight seasons. Knotts left the show at the end of the fifth season to pursue a career in films but returned to make five guest appearances as Barney in seasons six through eight. His last appearance was the most watched episode of the series.

The Andy Griffith Show consistently placed in the top ten during its run.

1960-1961:#4
1961-1962:#7
1962-1963:#6
1963-1964:#5
1964-1965:#4
1965-1966:#6
1966-1967:#3
1967-1968:#1

interesting tidbits:

A Neilsen study conducted during the show's last season (1967) indicated the show ranked #1 among blue collar workers followed by The Lucy Show and Gunsmoke. Among white collar workers, the show ranked #3 following Saturday Movies and The Dean Martin Show.

Don Knotts won five Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, in 1961-63, 1966 and 1967, the last two for guest appearances. Frances Bavier won one Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1967. The show received its only Emmy nomination in 1967 for Outstanding Comedy Series, losing to a new show, The Monkees. In 2002, TV Guide ranked The Andy Griffith Show ninth on its list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The show was filmed at Desilu Studios, with exteriors filmed at Forty Acres. Woodsy locales, including the opening sequence with its whistled theme, were filmed north of Beverly Hills at Franklin Canyon Lake.

The show's theme music, "The Fishin' Hole", was composed by Earle Hagen and Herbert Spencer, with lyrics written by Everett Sloane. Whistling in the opening sequence was performed by Earle Hagen. One of the show's tunes, "The Mayberry March", was reworked a number of times in different tempi, styles and orchestrations as background music.

The show's sole sponsor was General Foods, with promotional consideration paid for (in the form of cars) by Ford Motor Company.

The show was retitled Andy of Mayberry for its initial daytime rerun package in 1964, to distinguish the repeat episodes from the then-new episodes airing in prime time and continued to turn up in syndication over the ensuing decades.

There is a reason this show is so well liked- one word- quality.

Classic Rock Videos

Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar (1969 Demo & 1973 Rotterdam)

Album Cover Art

Let's continue our look at the Gigwise.com list of the top 50 dirtiest and sexiest album covers (as compiled by their staff- Gigwise comments in quotes):

31. Wild Cherry: ‘Wild Cherry’ "Perhaps one of the most sexually suggestive fruits out there, the cherry, was used to great effect on this 1976 sleeve. Subtlety is the name of the game on a sleeve showing a pair of plump red female lips about to devour the cherry. The mind does indeed boggle."

Wild Cherry was a funk/rock band which had a huge hit in 1976 with the funk song "Play That Funky Music"

Rob Parissi (lead vocals & guitar) was raised in the tough, diverse steel mill town of Mingo Junction, Ohio . Parissi graduated from Mingo High School in 1968. Rob formed his first band in 1970 in Steubenville, Ohio, one mile north of Mingo Junction along the Ohio River. The band's name "Wild Cherry" was taken from a box of cough drops while Rob was recuperating from a brief hospital stay. The band played the Ohio Valley region, the West Virginia panhandle, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

"Play That Funky Music" became a huge hit when released in 1976, peaking at number one on both the Billboard R&B and pop charts. Both the single and Wild Cherry's self-titled debut album went platinum. The band was named Best Pop Group of the Year by Billboard, and received an American Music Award for Top R&B Single of the Year, as well as a pair of Grammy nominations for Best New Vocal Group and Best R&B Performance by a Group or Duo that year, adding to their success. "I Feel Sanctified" was also released as a single form the first album.

Their 1977 album, "Electrified Funk" and 1978 album "I Love My Music" did not produce any top 20 hits, while their 1979 album "Only the Wild Survive" didn't produce a top 100 single.

U.S. billboard chart placements for singles from their 3 other albums:

Baby Don't You Know (1977; peaked at #43)
Hot To Trot (1977; peaked at #95)
Hold On (1977; peaked at #61)
I Love My Music (1978; peaked at #69).
"Hot to Trot" was a minor followup hit in some non U.S. markets.

The original lineup included:

Ben DiFabbio - Drums, Lead and background vocals - From Mingo Junction, Ohio Louie Osso - Guitar, Lead and background vocals- From Steubenville, Ohio Larry Brown - Bass, Lead and background vocals - From Weirton, West Virginia Larry Mader - Keyboards, Lead and background vocals - From East Springfield, Ohio Rob Parissi -