Album Cover Art

Continuing with the Gigwise.com list of the dirtiest and sexiest album covers, let's look at #26 on the list:


26. Lords Of Acid: ‘Crablouse’ – The Belgian acid house outfit became infamous for their obsession with sex throughout the early nineties. Their album covers were bad enough – see ‘Lust’ in our Controversial Album Covers gallery – but ‘Crablouse’ perhaps takes the biscuit. A curious male naked form, with a female hand seemingly coming out of nowhere and grabbing the genital region, it’s just plain baffling.






Track Listings
1. Crablouse in Its Native Environment
2. Whatever You Do, Remain Calm
3. Ludo's No Visible Symptoms
4. Ludo's It's There to Stay
5. Ludo's Coming Even Harder
6. Joey's Sample to the Lab
7. Joey's Nothing Can Kill
8. Joey's Seven Year Itch
9. Roli's Cured by Muscle
10. Roli's the Body Is Our Destiny
11. Don't Kill for Love



Not a big fan.....

Music News & Notes

Thin Lizzy Moves to Stop Biopic of Phil Lynott


Members of Thin Lizzy have moved to stop a biopic of late frontman Phil Lynott. Guitarist Scott Gorham told the director that he would not receive the group's approval until their was a complete rewrite of the script.

"It's an ongoing saga because when we looked at the script, it was full of truths and half-truths and Hollywood's take on Phil's life was all about drugs.

"Of course there were drugs - that's the sensational side of Thin Lizzy - but when the movie absolutely centred on that it became a problem.

"We want to veer people towards the music of Phillo and Thin Lizzy because he was a remarkable songwriter, musician and performer.

"There was a lot more to Phil and the band than just taking drugs. It irritates me that the personal stuff overshadows the musical legacy. You only get one shot at getting a movie right. We won't give it the green light until everyone is happy."

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Blink 182 Members Reconcile

The former members of Blink 182 don't hate each other so bad anymore.

After drummer Travis Barker was severely injured in a plane crash in September and producer Jerry Finn passed away, the members of Blink 182 are letting some of the old issues be water under the bridge.

"(Singer/guitarist) Tom (DeLonge), Travis, and I have all spoken together," singer/bassist Mark Hoppus wrote on his blog. "First through a number of phone calls, and then a couple of weeks ago we all hung out for a few hours. They've all been great, very positive conversations. We're just reconnecting as friends after four years of not talking."

No immediate plans to reunite Blink have been discussed Hoppus said.

SOURCE: http://www.aversion.com

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Opeth And Immortal To Release Vinyl Box Sets


German label Viva Hate Records has announced the release of limited edition, hand numbered OPETH And IMMORTAL vinyl wooden boxes.

The Opeth box is a 6xLP set of the following albums: The Orchid, Morningrise, My Arms Your Hearse. The wooden box will have the Opeth logo and album details printed/burned on it. The first 200 coloured versions contain an exclusive special Opeth shirt. This is due for release in January.

The Immortal box is a 6xLP set of the following albums: Diabolical Fullmoon, Pure Holocaust, Battles In The North, Blizzard Beasts,At The Heart Of Winter, Damned In Black. The wooden box will have the Immortal logo and album details printed/burned on it. The white vinyl version is limited to 100 pieces. The dark red vinyl version is limited to 200 pieces. Each will include a special shirt. This is due for release in March.

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The Jesus Lizard Reuniting In 2009

Seminal indie rock outfit the Jesus Lizard will play its first shows in 10 years in 2009, while Touch & Go will remaster and reissue its first four studio albums.

The original lineup of David Yow, Duane Denison, David Wm. Sims and Mac McNeilly will return to the stage May 9-10 at All Tomorrow's Parties' the Fans Strike Back in Minehead, England, which will also feature Devo, Spiritualized, the reunited Sleep and Young Marble Giants. The group will play "very limited" as-yet-unannounced dates in the months to follow, concluding with a November show in Chicago.

After splitting with Touch & Go in 1995, the band jumped to a major-label, Capitol, and released two more albums that sold appreciably less than its prior efforts. Its last show was in late March 1999.

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Concord Starts Ray Charles Reissue Program


Concord Records has announced that they have entered an agreement with the Ray Charles Foundation to begin releasing the singer's catalog, covering his work on the ABC and Tangerine labels. The program will include both physical and, for the first time on many titles, digital media.

The first reissue will be Charles' 1985 release The Spirit of Christmas. This year, it will be made available only as a digital release which began yesterday on iTunes. A physical copy will be out next year for the Christmas season.

Next, in March, will come a new 21-track retrospective containing many of Charles' great 60's hits (Georgia On My Mind, Hit the Road Jack, Unchain My Heart, etc.).

The balance of 2009 will see reissues of Modern Sounds in Country Western Music Volumes 1 & 2, The Genius Hits the Road, Genius + Soul = Jazz and Berlin, 1962. In addition, Starbucks will get an exclusive, Starbucks Opus Anthology, and a few digital-only exclusives.

John Burk, Concord Music Group exec VP of A&R stated, "Ray Charles is one of America's most iconic and treasured voices. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to once again present Ray's music with the reverence and respect it deserves and continue our dynamic partnership with Val Ervin and everyone at the Ray Charles Foundation."

Vinyl makes a collectable comeback

written by Toby Walne

Who said that records were finished? If you have a pile of old LPs gathering dust in the loft, you could be in the money. The most collectable records fetch thousands of pounds.

Jean-Paul Cuesta-Vayon, 42, who runs the Vinyl Junkies shop in Soho, central London, says: 'You can't beat records - they are not just more tactile with far better art work than CDs, they also boast far superior sound quality.

When CDs and then MP3 music formats came along they offered more convenience and seemed an exciting alternative. But as time has gone by many music lovers have come back to the more lasting appeal of vinyl.'

Jean-Paul says this attraction goes right across the music market - from jazz to rock 'n' roll, hip hop and rhythm and blues.

But though the appeal attracts all age groups, the nostalgia of those brought up on vinyl is also a key driving force. The blue-chip investments are the bands with international appeal that have stood the test of time.

At the head of the list is The Beatles. Other highly collectible groups include The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, Queen and The Smiths.

Among the individual performers, Elvis Presley, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Cliff Richard, Elton John and Marc Bolan are the most sought after.

Industry magazine The Record Collector puts the first ten numbered copies of The Beatles' White Album - released 40 years ago this weekend - as top of the pops for rarity value.

It puts a conservative estimate of between £5,000 and £7,000 for one of the first ten copies, though investors might pay twice that amount.

Other rarities include a swearing Marc Bolan on a recording of Hard On Love plus a silk-padded sleeve of The Rolling Stones album, Their Satanic Majesties Request, both valued at £2,000.

Collectors will pay about £3,000 for the mono version of Unfinished Music No 1: Two Virgins, an experimental 1968 album by John Lennon & Yoko Ono with the couple nude on the cover, rarity rather than musical appeal pushing up the price.

Perhaps the most expensive record is the 7in single of That'll Be The Day, recorded by The Quarrymen in 1958 before three of them went on to form The Beatles. Sir Paul McCartney owns the only known copy, which is valued conservatively at £100,000.

Stephen Maycock, the rock 'n' roll memorabilia consultant for auction house Bonhams, says: 'It wasn't until the Eighties that vinyl really started to be viewed as collectible, when the supply dried up as the musical format was switched to CDs.'



Vinyl's back: Jean-Paul, pictured, says vinyl is making a resurgence and is a great investmentFirst pressings are usually the most valuable, as they were often produced in relatively small numbers before the record became a hit. Early demos and limited exports are also sought after among diehard collectors.

The record company and issue code on the disc and sleeve can help reveal the identity. Other considerations include whether it was a commercial release or promotional, recorded in stereo or mono, contained any freebies or has a picture sleeve.

As with all collectible items, Maycock says condition is vital. An LP in mint condition is worth twice a 'very good' example that has a few minor scuffs and surface scratches. Anything less is not usually considered as collectible - a badly scratched copy could fetch less than a tenth of the value.

Although Jean-Paul admits that recordings by the big names in music have accounted for some of the most impressive price rises in recent years, there is also a growing market for more obscure artists where cut-price gems can still be discovered.

'I have an early Seventies jazz record, The Latin Taste by Romano Mussolini, the youngest son of the wartime Italian dictator,' he says. 'It could be picked up for a few pounds a few years ago, but is now worth £600. Another rarity is Charlie Parker's In Sweden 1950 album, which is worth £1,000 because it's extremely rare.'

Bonhams has put a £600 estimate on a disc recorded in the late Sixties by Reg Dwight before he changed his name to Elton John. An early U2: Three 12in single from 1981 and signed by Bono has a valuation of £3,000. While internet trading has transformed the market, for many vinyl investors there is no substitute for the fun of rummaging through racks at specialist record shops or trade fairs.

Befriending the dealer at a secondhand record store can also prove invaluable. But traders will typically offer half the price you could get on eBay. An excellent source of information with details of shops and fairs is the Record Collector. The magazine publishes the industry bible, Rare Record Price Guide 2010. For American releases, investors should check out the books, Goldmine Record Album Price Guide and Goldmine Price Guide To 45RPM Records.

SOURCE: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk

The Beatles' White Album 40th Anniversary Tribute

Sales

The album was a major commercial success, spending a total of eight weeks at #1 in the UK (the first week being that of December 7, 1968), and nine weeks at #1 in the United States (the first week being that of December 28, 1968). Total US sales are estimated at over 9.5 million copies (19 million units). Excluding compilations, The Beatles has outsold all other Beatles album releases except Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band and Abbey Road, according to United World Chart.


Re-issues

Two re-issues in 1978 (one by Capitol Records, the other by Parlophone) saw the album pressed on white vinyl, completing the look of the "white" album. In 1985, EMI Electrola released a DMM (direct metal mastered) white vinyl pressing of the album in Germany, which was imported to the United States in large numbers. Another popular white vinyl pressing was manufactured in France. The 1978 Parlophone white vinyl export pressing and the German DMM pressing are widely considered the best-sounding versions of the album.[citation needed] This is due to the use of the famed Neumann lathe on the 1978 export pressing and the use of the DMM process on the 1985 pressing.

On January 7th, 1982, Mobile Fidelty Sound Lab released the album in a non-embossed unnumbered version of "The White Album" cover with the ORIGINAL MASTER RECORDING banner at the top. Neither the poster nor portraits were included. The labels to the discs are white with primarily black text and the Capitol dome logo at three o'clock. The MFSL discs were made with Super Vinyl, a heavy and hard compound that that provides an extraordinary quiet playing surface. Although MFSL leased the album from Capitol and used the company's sub-master, the discs still sound superior to the standard British and American pressings. The discs were stored in "rice paper" static-free, dust-free inner sleeves enclosed in an off-white gatefold reinforced stiff board that fit into the custom fabricated album jacket.

In 1998, a 30th anniversary reissue of the album was released on a two-disc compact disc version in the United Kingdom. The packaging of this release is virtually identical to its vinyl counterpart. It has the same pure white gatefold cover, complete with the title "The BEATLES" in a slightly raised, embossed graphic at a slight angle. It also included the now-classic sequentially numbered serial number on the front of this cover, thus making this one a real limited edition. The interior of this cover features the song titles on the left-hand side, and the four black-and-white photos of the group members on the right. This version of the cover even accurately mimics the original British vinyl pressing from 1968, with the openings for the discs at the top rather than the sides. There are miniatures of the four full-colour glossy portrait photos included, as well as an exact replica of the poster with the photo collage on one side, and the album's complete song lyrics on the opposite side. The CDs are housed in black sleeves, which were also used for the original British album. This commemorative double CD album is housed in a clear plastic slipcase.

SOURCE: wikipedia

Beatles Music

http://tinyurl.com/6lnkps

White Album

http://tinyurl.com/5sjvog

The Beatles Glass Onion

Top Ten TV Theme Songs

Let's explore PasteMagazine.com's list of theme songs, this time see what made #3 on their list:

2. M*A*S*H - "Suicide Is Painless" by Johnny Mandel

M*A*S*H was unique in that it was a tragedy with a laugh track. Unlike its war-sitcom predecessor Hogan's Heroes, M*A*S*H was a black comedy pointing to the absurdity and horror of war. The humor was often of the gallows variety, and the theme song signaled bravery in the face of sadness. The devastating words were written by Robert Altman's 14-year-old son Mike but wisely left out of the TV version. It didn't need anything more than a haunting melody.



M*A*S*H is an American television series developed by Larry Gelbart, adapted from the 1970 feature film MASH (which was itself based on the 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, by Richard Hooker). The series is a medical drama/black comedy that was produced by 20th Television Fox for CBS. It follows a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War. M*A*S*H's title sequence featured an instrumental version of the song "Suicide Is Painless", which also appears in the original film. The show was created after an attempt to film the original book's sequel, M*A*S*H Goes To Maine, failed. It is the most well-known version of the M*A*S*H works.

The series premiered on September 17, 1972, and ended February 28, 1983, with the finale becoming the most-watched television episode in U.S. television history with over 105 million viewers. It is widely considered one of the greatest shows in television history. The show is still broadcast in syndication on various television stations (mostly during the late night/early morning hours). The series spanned 251 episodes and lasted eleven seasons covering a three-year conflict.

Nielsen ratings
1972-73: #46
1973-74: #4 17.0 m
1974-75: #5 18.7 m
1975-76: #15 15.9 m
1976-77: #4 18.4 m
1977-78: #9 16.9 m
1978-79: #7 18.9 m
1979-80: #5 19.3 m
1980-81: #4 20.5 m
1981-82: #9 18.9 m
1982-83: #3 18.8 m

Starting on January 1, 2007, TV Land aired M*A*S*H from 8 p.m. until 8 a.m. for one week in a marathon. According to a press release available at the Futon Critic, the marathon of M*A*S*H episodes and specials that aired during the first week of January drew "an average of 1.3 million total viewers and scored double-digit increases in demo rating and delivery." Additionally, the marathon helped TV Land rank in the top ten basic cable channels among the adults 25–54 demographic for the week. Ratings for specific episodes and specials are also included in the press release:

"Goodbye, Farewell and Amen "– 1.3 million total viewers

Memories of M*A*S*H (20th Anniversary) – 1.5 million total viewers

30th Anniversary Reunion Special – 1.4 million total viewers.

M*A*S*H airs on TV Land and also airs four times a day, Monday through Friday on Hallmark Channel. The program also airs twice daily on ION Television (a terrestrial television network), as well as in syndication to local stations. Because of this, some viewers would get M*A*S*H on four channels, with two of them being their local stations.

interesting tidbits:

On Sesame Street, Big Bird's teddy bear is named Radar. This is in homage to Radar O'Reilly's teddy bear.

On an episode of Family Guy, a character remarks "When I fire rockets, I always like to think I'm shooting at Jamie Farr and Alan Alda. Take that, wise-cracking meatball surgeon!" In another episode, the characters are discussing one of their characters leaving the show dramatically, spoofing the scene when Radar announces Colonel Blake's death, with Brian playing Radar. Also, in yet another episode, the character of Stewie, while intoxicated, sings the first few words of "Suicide is Painless", the show's opening theme.

Gary Burghoff's left hand is slightly deformed, and he took great pains to hide or de-emphasize it during filming. He did this by always holding something (like a clipboard), or keeping that hand in his pocket.

Leslie Nielsen guest-starred as Col. Buzz Brighton. Because of his high casualty record, Hawkeye and Trapper try to send back to America by convincing him that he is insane.

Honestly, I was never a fan of the show and really never watched an episode in full. Different strokes for diffeent folks as they say.

Classic Rock Videos

Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe

This Date In Music History-November 27

Happy Thanksgiving to all and please enjoy this expanded holiday edition of “This Date In Music History!”

Birthdays:

Faith No More drummer Mike Bordin (1962)

Simple Minds ("Don't You Forget About Me") guitarist Charlie Burchill (1959)

Charlie Benante, Anthrax (1962)

They Are Missed:

Jimi Hendrix was born in 1942.

Eddie Rabbitt was born in 1944.

Barbara Acklin ("Love Makes A Woman") died of pneumonia in 1998.

Joe Jones, a musician-turned producer who sang the 1961 Billboard #3 hit "You Talk Too Much" and went on to become an independent music publisher and advocate for Black artists' rights, died on November 27, 2005. He was 79.

Kevin DuBrow, the gravelly voiced singer for the heavy metal group Quiet Riot was found dead in Las Vegas in 2007. He was 52.

History:

In 2001, Elvis Presley was inducted into The Gospel Association Hall Of Fame. Didn’t know there is such a thing.

Elvis' movie “Fun in Acapulco,” co-starring Ursula Andress, was released in the US in 1963. While some exterior scenes were filmed on location, Elvis' scenes were all shot in Hollywood. The King never set foot in Acapulco, Mexico in his life.

In 1965, hippie/writer Ken Kesey held the first of his public acid tests. Far out man (yes, they really did say that!)

Also in 1965, The Lovin' Spoonful's "You Didn't Have To Be So Nice" and The Vogues' "5 O'Clock World" entered the US record charts.

In 1969, The Rolling Stones played Madison Square Garden, a show that was recorded and released as “Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!” The Ike & Tina Turner Revue supported them. During their performance, Janis Joplin joined Tina Turner onstage to sing a duet.

Led Zeppelin IV entered the Billboard album chart at #36 in 1971. Jimmy Page remembered, "We all had a good laugh when the record went into the charts and they had to reproduce the symbols instead of a conventional title."

Capitol Records released the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" album in the U.S. in 1967.

Steppenwolf's first album, which included their biggest hits "Born to Be Wild" and "Magic Carpet Ride,” was certified gold in 1968.

In 1970, George Harrison released his first post-Beatles album, "All Things Must Pass,” produced by Phil Spector and featuring Eric Clapton, Dave Mason, Ringo Starr and Jim Gordon. The triple disc set would go on to be certified 6x Platinum by the RIAA, making it the best selling album by a solo Beatle.

In 2005, multimillionaire defense contractor (and father of a very spoiled daughter) David H. Brooks booked New York’s Rainbow Rooms and his daughter Elizabeth’s favorite acts for her ‘bat mitzvah’ coming-of-age celebration. The stars who appeared included 50 Cent, Tom Petty, Aerosmith, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Stevie Nicks. 50 Cent, who was paid $500,000 to appear performed only four songs, but he did manage to work in the lyric, "Go shorty, it's your bat miztvah, we gonna party like it's your bat mitzvah". The party cost an estimated $10 million, including the price of corporate jets to ferry the performers to and from the venue. And my parents got mad when I asked for a stereo….

Lionel Richie was No.1 in the US in 1982 with the cut “Truly.” Richie achieved a #1 hit each year from 1978-1986 as a writer, “Three Times A Lady,” “Still,” “Lady” (Kenny Rodgers), “Endless Love ”(Diana Ross), “All Night Long,” “Hello,” “Say You, Say Me” and as co-writer of “We Are The World.”

The New Vaudeville Band were at #1 on the US singles chart in 1966 with “Winchester Cathedral” (it made No.4 in the UK).

The Beatles recorded their first BBC radio session in 1962 at the BBC Paris studio on Regent Street in London. They played “Twist and Shout,” “Love Me Do” and “P.S. I Love You.” The tracks were aired on the BBC Light Program “Talent Spot.”


Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass went to #1 on the US album chart in 1965 with “Whipped Cream & Other Delights.” (A little known fact about the Whipped Cream cover is that the model was three months pregnant at the time the photo was taken)