Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Music News & Notes

McCartney CD/DVD Coming In November

Paul McCartney christened Citi Field, the new home of the New York Mets, with a sold-out three-night stand in Flushing, Queens. Those shows will be the focus of an upcoming 2CD/1DVD set titled "Good Evening New York City." Each night’s 33-song, two-hour-and-40-minute hits-filled set was filmed with 15 high-definition cameras, plus an additional 75 flipcams were distributed to the audience to capture all angles of McCartney’s performance. "Good Evening New York City" will be released on November 17th via Hear Music.

The deluxe edition of "Good Evening New York City" will feature both expanded packaging and a bonus DVD of McCartney performing atop the marquee of the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York on July 15th. While the performance was filmed for Late Show With David Letterman, the DVD will include the performance of some songs that weren’t broadcast.

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Wolfgang's Vault to Make Over a Thousand Concerts Available For Purchase

Six years ago, a small website launched that streamed concerts from the archives of the late Bill Graham. Wolfgang's Vault came under attack from a number of major artists over the rights to make their performances available over the internet but, over time, the site was able to strike deals with companies and artists.

Since then, Wolfgang's Vault has added the libraries of the King Biscuit Flower Hour, the Silver Eagle Cross Country archive and catalogs from the Record Plant, Dawson Sound, Daytrotter and Noise Pop. Almost every major artist is represented in the archives and, on occasion, shows are made available for download at a reasonable price.

Bill Sagan, CEO and founder of the Vault has now told Billboard that, as of November 1, the concerts available for purchase will grow from the current 500 to over 1,500, including 160 shows by the Grateful Dead along with concerts from artists as diverse as Jimi Hendrix to Aretha Franklin to Dolly Parton.

Sagan told Billboard that the change is "the result of negotiating agreements with performers and record labels that not only acknowledge our ownership of this material but gives us rights to exploit it. The objective is that just about everything we stream we'll be able to download. When we hit November 3, more than half the concerts...will be available for download. By Christmas or slightly after Christmas we'll be closer to three-quarters."

Prices for MP3 files of the shows will be $7.98 and $8.98 while lossless Flac recordings are $11.98 and $12.98. The site will also offer a $48 a year membership that comes with a $50 gift certificates, other discounts and the ability to stream concerts at a higher quality bit rate.

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U2 Concerts Costly

U2 has sold $300 million in tickets on its current tour but is yet to generate a profit. That's what happens when you are dragging multiple giant claws around the world. According to Pollstar, the tour costs $750,000 a day to keep on the road, even on the days when the group is not performing. There are three complete claws and stages, with one being disassembled in the previous city, one ready for the current show and one being assembled at the next tour stop.

It is expected that the profit point will be reached sometime during the current sting in the U.S.

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IMMORTAL: 'All Shall Fall' Title Track Available For Streaming

Reunited Norwegian black metallers IMMORTAL have posted the title track of their new album, "All Shall Fall", on their MySpace page.

Pictured below is the limited-edition, box-set version of "All Shall Fall". This box set is only available through Nuclear Blast's mailorder. Here

The box is made of iron, and it's HEAVY! It is limited to 1,000 copies, and contains the digipack, four picture-disc 7" vinyls, a poster flag, a patch and a button.

"All Shall Fall" will be released in North America on October 6 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD, which was issued in Europe on September 25, was recorded at Grieghallen and Abyss studios in Norway and Sweden, respectively.

"All Shall Fall" was made available in the following formats:

* Standard jewelcase CD
* Limited-edition digipack
* Limited-edition 180g vinyl
* Limited-edition picture disc
* Limited-edition box, only available through Nuclear Blast webshop.

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RJD2 Announces New Album Details

The hip-hop instrumentalist RJD2 hasn't released a solo album since 2007's ill-fated indie pop move The Third Hand, and lately he's mostly been entering our living rooms via his earwormy "Mad Men" theme. But that's about to change. Last month, we reported that RJ has started his own label, RJ's Electrical Connections, and he's in the process of reissuing his back catalog. And come January 19, he'll release his fourth official album, The Colossus, via RJ's Electrical Connections.

The Colossus will alternate between the sample-based approach of his classic debut Deadringer and the live instrumentation of his more recent stuff. And while some tracks are instrumental, he's also recruited a few guest vocalists, including Little Brother rapper Phonte Coleman and Kenna, Malcolm Gladwell's favorite would-be pop star.

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Cooper Halloween Single

Shock rock veteran Alice Cooper is going to treat us this year with a Halloween single. Keepin' Halloween Alive along with a Karaoke version (Cooperoke). It was scheduled to be made available through iTunes yesterday (Tuesday).

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