Music News & Notes

Iron and Wine Vinyl Release

This May, Iron and Wine will release a 2CD/3LP collection of rare tracks, entitled "Around the Well." Coming from their label Sub Pop, the collection ranges from songs that are out-of-print to those that have never been released. The title of this compilation comes from the band's single, "The Trapeze Swinger."

The first disc is mainly quiet, rough home recordings, while the second is mostly formal studio recordings. The re-released tracks come from songs recorded on 2002's The Creek Drank the Cradle all through 2007's The Shepherd's Dog.

The band will support the weighty release with a small, five-city tour of intimate venues, where it will turn the set list of each show over to fans, making each performance completely unique. From March 6-30, fans can vote by city and night on the songs they'd like to hear at IronAndWine.com.

Iron and Wine has also begun work on a sequel to The Shephard's Dog, to be released in the spring of next year.

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Japandroids Vinyl

Japandroids' first full-length vinyl will be released soon. Record label Unfamiliar will release it in North America on April 28, only on vinyl and digital download. The Vancouver duo Japandroids play shouty, jangled-up anthemic fuzz-rock the way their compatriots in the Constantines do. And that's a good thing.

Coming up over the next couple of months, the duo will play a few shows in Vancouver and Toronto.

Post-Nothing track list:

01 The Boys Are Leaving Town
02 Young Hearts Spark Fire
03 Wet Hair
04 Rockers East Vancouver
05 Heart Sweats
06 Crazy/Forever
07 Sovereignty
08 I Quit Girls

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Jimmy Eat World Vinyl

Jimmy Eat World has announced the details for their vinyl reissue of "Clarity." The vinyl will be available on the band's Clarity tour, and via their online store. The disc will be pressed on 180 gram vinyl and artwork is being produced as a gatefold. The disc will include the bonus tracks “Christmas Card” and “Sweetness (demo)” and online orders will include a Clarity t-shirt.

The band is celebrating the 10th anniversary of their fan favorite album, Clarity, by performing the album in its entirety at ten shows beginning this month. The shows kick off on the 23rd in New York City and wrap up March 7th in Arizona.

"Clarity" was the band's second major label album, released on Capitol Records. Despite lasting critical acclaim, the record did not perform to the label's expectations and the band was dropped. Their next album, "Bleed American" was self-recorded by the band and actually became their breakthrough release.

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Fat Cat Reissues

Fat Cat records is about to reissue two Sigur Rós albums on 180-gram DMM vinyl in the UK. On March 9, the label will release big, luxurious vinyl remasters of 1999's Ágætis Bryjun and 2002's ( ).

The Fat Cat people did the Direct Metal Mastering at Abbey Road Studios, and they're pulling out all the packaging stops for these joints: silver ink on heavyweight uncoated blue card for Ágætis Bryjun, heavyweight outer sleeve with die cut ( ) shape showing through to four interchangeable inner sleeves for ( ).

Those reissues will only be available in the UK or from the Fat Cat UK web page. But American listeners aren't entirely out of luck. Fat Cat is planning similarly deluxe American vinyl reissues of a couple of their other recent classics. No release date on these yet, but Animal Collective's 2004 album "Sung Tongs" and Max Richter's 2004 album "The Blue Notebooks" will soon get the full 180-gram DMM treatment. Fat Cat tells us to expect spring 2009 release dates for both.

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Mangione's Band Members Die in Plane Crash

Two members of Chuck Mangione's group were killed in the crash of Continental Flight 3407 last night outside Buffalo, New York. Gerry Niewood and Coleman Mellett were traveling to Buffalo for a performance with the Buffalo Philharmonic when the plane fell onto a suburban home.

Mangione posted the following message on his official website.

"I'm in shock over the horrible, heartbreaking tragedy of the crash of Flight 3407 which took the lives of my dear friends and band members Gerry Niewood and Coleman Mellett. I am grieving and praying with their families and friends. That's all I can say for now."
Chuck Mangione

Ronettes Singer Estelle Bennett Dies At 67

Estelle Bennett, one of the Ronettes, died at her home in Englewood, N.J. on February 11, 2009 (cause of death is unknown at this time- she was 67). Her trio, working with producer Phil Spector, helped epitomize the famed "wall of sound" production that has become part of pop music history.

The Ronettes were formed in 1959 in the Washington Heights area of New York City by sisters Veronica (Ronnie) and Estelle Bennett and their cousin Nedra Talley. Originally billed as the Darling Sisters, they won an amateur talent contest at the Apollo Theater.

The group originally signed to Colpix and recorded a number of uneventful singles, finally getting their big break when they met producer Phil Spector and were signed to his Philles Records label in 1963. Their now legendary recording of "Be My Baby" hit #2 on Billboard's pop music chart that year. The song was written by Phil Spector (with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich) with Estelle singing backing vocals. The cut is considered by many (including the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson), to be one the greatest pop songs ever recorded. Among their other hits were "Walkin' in the Rain" and "Baby I Love You." Additionally, they did a memorable version of "Sleigh Ride" that appeared on Spector's "A Christmas Gift for You" album. Their last Philles single was " I Can Hear Music" in 1966.

"They could sing all their way right through a wall of sound," Keith Richards of the Stones said as the Ronettes were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. "They didn't need anything. They touched my heart right there and then and they touch it still."

After the group's breakup, Bennett rarely made public appearances.

For nearly 15 years, the Ronettes waged a lengthy, and ultimately unsuccessful, court battle with Spector over royalties. They sued Spector in the late 1980s, saying that he had cheated them out of royalties by using their music in ways not authorized in their recording contract. A trial was held in 1998, and in 2000, the judge ordered Spector to pay $2.6 million in past royalties and interest for the use of Ronettes songs as background music in movies, videocassette recordings, and advertising.

The judgement was overturned by New York's Supreme Court in 2002, saying that their contract did not specify any payment for secondary rights.

The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 over the objections of Spector who said that he was the reason for the group's success.

Ronettes - Be My Baby

This Date In Music History-February 14

Welcome to a special Valentines edition of This Date In Music History!

They Got Hitched:

In 2008, Oasis singer Liam Gallagher married his long-term partner, the ex-All Saints singer Nicole Appleton at a civil ceremony in London.

In 1996, Prince (or a symbol of him) married Mayte Garcia in a Minneapolis church, he also composed a special song for his wife, “Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother, Wife,” which she heard for the first time when they had their first wedding dance. The couple split in 1998.

In 1980, Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott married Caroline Crowther.

Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia married moviemaker Deborah Koons in 1994.

Jon Farriss (INXS) married actress Leslie Bega in 1992.

In 1984, Elton John married recording engineer Renate Blauer (a female) in Sydney, Australia. The couple divorced three years later. Ya Think?

Mike Barson (Madness) married his girlfriend Sandra in 1981.

Lou Reed married Sylvia Morales in 1980.

In 1974, Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille (Captain And Tennille) married in Virginia City.

Awwwww- In 1977, US singer songwriter Janis Ian received 461 Valentine's day cards after indicating in the lyrics of her song “At Seventeen,” she had never received any.

Awwww-2- In 1998, T.G. Sheppard was best man for 35 different bridegrooms at a hotel in Las Vegas. The event was held for the winners of a national radio promotion for Sheppard's song "She's Gettin' the Rock."


Birthdays:

Phyllis McGuire- McGuire Sisters is 78.

Saxophonist Maceo Parker, one of James Brown's most acclaimed sidemen, was born in 1943.

Rob Thomas- Matchbox 20 (1972)

Ice- T (1959)


They Are Missed:

In 1989, Vincent Crane, former keyboardist for The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, died of an overdose of painkillers. His work can be heard on Brown's biggest hit, "Fire.”

Buddy Knox, who scored a #1 hit in 1957 with "Party Doll,” died in 1999 (age 65).

Blues guitarist "Magic" Sam Maghett was born in 1937 (died Dec. 1969). His delirious guitar playing helped define the modern Chicago blues sound in the mid-60s.

Multi-octaved singer Tim Buckley was born in 1947. Before his tragic overdose in 1975, he fathered Jeff Buckley, who went on to develop a devoted following of his own before drowning at the age of 30.

Mick Ticker, drummer with glam rockers the Sweet ("Fox on the Run") died in 2002 (age 52).


History:

In 1992, Wayne's World, the motion picture starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, with a brief cameo appearance from Meat Loaf, opened in movie theaters across the US. The soundtrack included cuts from Queen, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.

Neil Diamond recorded "Cherry Cherry" in 1966.

The Who recorded their "Live At Leeds" album in Yorkshire, England in 1970.

In 1958, CBS television anchor Walter Cronkite reported that the Iranian government had banned rock & roll because it is against the concepts of Islam and also a hazard to health.

In 1961, the Beatles played at Liverpool, England's Casanova Club and were captured on film for the first time. Apparently they just invented film that day.

In 1967, at the Atlantic Studios in New York, Aretha Franklin recorded her cover of Otis Redding's "Respect."

The B-52's played their first gig in Athens, Georgia in 1977.

In 2000, Kiss announced their farewell tour. The reunited foursome will don the makeup one last time, then sell off the stage props from a 30-year career in an auction. Uh, it’s reported (2009) that they are working on a new album.

In 2003, Australian police uncovered Beatles album art and reel-to-reel tapes in a raid. All the material appeared to be from the White Album and Abbey Road sessions, which were stolen from the band's London studio in 1969.

Whitney Houston's self-titled debut album was released in 1985. The LP produced four giant Billboard hits, "You Give Good Love" (#3), "Saving All My Love For You" (#1), "How Will I Know" (#1), and "Greatest Love Of All" (#1).

In 1970, The Jaggerz, a six-piece group from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, entered the Billboard chart with a song called "The Rapper.” Although the tune would rise to #2 during an eleven week run, it would be the band's only chart appearance.

In 1931, Ted Lewis' version of "Just A Gigolo" was the most popular tune in America. David Lee Roth would score a #12 hit with the same song in 1985.

In 1972, John Lennon and Yoko Ono began a week long stint as guest hosts on US TV's Mike Douglas Show. For the next five days the pair welcomed the likes of Chuck Berry, The Chambers Brothers, activist Ralph Nader, comedian Louis Nye and the US Surgeon General.

Dire Straits began recording their first album in 1978.