Music News & Notes

Jimmy Page hails Royal Mail's rock'n'roll stamp collection

Former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page has hailed a new range of Royal Mail stamps featuring classic British album covers.

The set of ten stamps, which entered circulation on January 7, features iconic album covers including Blur's 'Parklife', The Clash's 'London Calling' and Led Zeppelin's 'IV'.

Speaking at the launch of the stamps at London's Rough Trade West, Page revealed the irony behind Led Zeppelin's iconic 'IV' album cover.

"Almost 40 years after the album came out, nobody knows the old man who featured on the cover, nor the artist who painted him," he said. "That sort of sums up what we wanted to achieve with the album cover, which has remained both anonymous and enigmatic at the same time."

The full list of stamps featured in the series is:

Blur - 'Parklife'
Coldplay - 'A Rush of Blood to the Head'
David Bowie - 'The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars'
Led Zeppelin - 'IV'
Mike Oldfield - 'Tubular Bells'
New Order - 'Power, Corruption And Lies'
Pink Floyd - 'The Division Bell'
Primal Scream - 'Screamadelica'
The Clash - 'London Calling'
The Rolling Stones - 'Let It Bleed'

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Paul Revere & The Raiders' "Complete Original Columbia Singles" Coming On Collectors' Choice

Paul Revere & the Raiders helped to put the Pacific Northwest on the rock 'n' roll map with such smash hits as "Steppin' Out," "Kicks," "Hungry," "Just Like Me," "Good Thing," "Him Or Me - What's It Going to Be?," "Ups And Downs," "Let Me," "I Had a Dream," "Too Much Talk," "Indian Reservation" and many more - 62 A and B sides of singles in all. They were the rare '60s American singles band with true street cred. And on March 23, 2010, Collectors' Choice Music will release Paul Revere & the Raiders Featuring Mark Lindsay: The Complete Original Columbia Singles.

In addition to the 62 commercially released sides, this collection makes available a rare single Paul Revere & the Raiders recorded for Chevrolet (distributed at its dealerships), "SS396" b/w "Corvair Baby," plus two bonus tracks: a commercial for the Pontiac Judge GTO Breakaway street rod and a special record included with Mattel's "Swingy Doll." Many of the songs on the CD have never appeared on CD.

In the tradition of its critically hailed "complete singles" collections for Jan & Dean, Gary Lewis & the Playboys, and Jay & the Americans, all singles appear in their original mono or stereo mixes with ace engineer Bob Irwin working his renowned remastering magic on the original tapes for best-ever, kick-butt sound.

As with the previous Collectors' Choice "complete singles" collections, Ed Osborne produced and annotated the set, gathering insider perspectives from leaders Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay, Raiders Phil "Fang" Volk, Keith Allison, Jim "Harpo" Valley, and manager Ron Hart. The package is festooned with rare photos.

In 1975, Revere, Lindsay and Allison played the last Paul Revere & the Raiders gig at Knott's Berry Farm. "Looking back," says Revere, "we really had an incredible run . . . Any mistakes that were made along the way don't mean shit after all is said and done. Everything turned out for the best."

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Fans Around The Globe Celebrate Elvis Presley's 75th Birthday

Fans around the world are celebrating Elvis Presley's 75th birthday today.

Testament to The King's legend, 33 years on from his untimely death in 1977 he's still one of the biggest earning dead celebrities and adored by fans around the globe.

Earlier today in Sydney, some 10,000 people gathered at a train station for the six-hour 'Elvis Express train' to the town of Parkes where the 18th annual Elvis Festival is held.

His home at Graceland, Memphis is already being besieged by fans desperate to pay their respects to their idol.

Memphis, of course, is home to the official Elvis Presley Day celebrations which will feature a cake cutting ceremony attended by both Lisa Marie and Priscilla Presley.

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Michael Jackson 'Death Investigation Complete, Doctor Faces Charges'

The LAPD investigation into the death of Michael Jackson has been completed, according to reports. Detectives are expected to present the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney within weeks.

TMZ reports that the investigation was "exhaustive" and "extremely thorough", and that Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, is likely to face criminal charges.

Dr Murray is reported to have been with Jackson in the hours before his death on June 25th last year.

It's about time.....

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Found this a very interesting read, check it out:

An Interview With Beatles Record and Memorabilia Collector Jesse Barron

By Maribeth Keane, Collectors Weekly Staff (Copyright 2008)

In this interview, Jesse Barron discusses collecting vintage Beatles records and memorabilia, especially rare variants of early Beatles releases (both 45s and LP albums). Based in South Carolina, Jesse can be reached through his website, Mybeatles.net, which is a member of our Hall of Fame.

About 12 years ago a coworker told me that they saw a picture sleeve on eBay from The Beatles selling for 500 dollars. My sister had given me a Beatles 45 picture sleeve when I was quite young. I went to make sure I still had it, and it was similar and still in excellent condition. So that started up my interest again. I had a couple of more Beatles 45s and albums, and I did a little research on the internet and found out they were worth some money. Then I realized I was missing some Beatles records, so I thought it’d be nice to finish out my collection, and started to search for more pieces for my collection.

Collectors Weekly: Were you a Beatles fan when you started?

READ THE REST HERE:  http://www.collectorsweekly.com/