The vinyl record collecting blog - with news about new vinyl record releases, vinyl record sales, new music releases, album cover art and weekly features
Elvis Costello Names New LP National Ransom, Unveils Album Cover
Legendary songwriter Elvis Costello has a new studio album on the way, which is due out on October 5, has been given the new, only slightly different title of National Ransom. ElvisCostello.info posted the album’s cover art. There’s no firm tracklist yet, but Costello has debuted a number of live songs in concert, which may appear on the LP (we can expect information about the tracklist and a single to be announced soon).
The record was recorded by folk super-producer T-Bone Burnett, who has worked with Costello on three previous albums, including 2009’s 'Secret, Profane & Sugarcane.' It was recorded in Nashville and features backing bands the Imposters and the Sugarcanes. It will be released via Starbucks’ Hear Music label.
In a recent interview with Herald Scotland, Costello said, “The ensemble ranges from two players to nine pieces and while some songs are very intimate and quiet, others are not.”
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Iggy Pop & James Williamson to release Kill City
Kill City is aurgueably Iggy Pop and James Williamson's severly overlooked, yet ultimately essential album that musically bridges the gap between The Stooges' volatile 1973 studio masterpiece 'Raw Power' and Iggy's first two magnificent solo efforts, 'The Idiot' and 'Lust for Life.' Originally recorded in 1975 and later released by Bomp! Records in '77, the sound quality of Kill City was compromised from the get-go, as it originally suffered from a bad pressing (on the infamous green vinyl), and over the years the quality of the record itself managed to get even worse. When the original distributor went out of business, the 2-track album production masters vanished and every subsequent pressing of the album - on record, cassette and CD - used a copy of that deficient green vinyl as its master.
The October release of this album also follows Iggy & The Stooges' current world tour (featuring the reunited James Williamson on guitar), where they've been performing material from Kill City live for the first time.
Kill City will be available on October 19th as a CD Digipak featuring the original 1977 artwork and a 24-page booklet with rare and unseen photos. The vinyl first-run is a limited edition of 1,000 on clear green vinyl (as an homage to the original 1977 pressing). There are no bonus tracks, but, with this newly restored version, people will be able to discover, or re-discover, a truly great album as it was intended to sound.
KILL CITY TRACKLISTING
1. Kill City
2. Sell Your Love
3. Beyond The Law
4. I Got Nothin'
5. Johanna
6. Night Theme
7. Night Theme (Reprise)
8. Consolation Prizes
9. No Sense Of Crime
10. Lucky Monkeys
11. Master Charge
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Optimo to re-release Chris Carter LP
JD Twitch's Optimo Music imprint is scheduled to release 'The Spaces Between,' an updated vinyl version of the 1980 release by Throbbing Gristle co-founder Chris Carter. Carter's debut work was recorded in London between 1974 and 1978 and released via Gristle's Industrial Records. Until now, none of the recordings on the album have ever been available on vinyl. The new version features only six of the original 15 songs, all of which have been re-mastered by Carter himself, plus a bonus track called "Climbing," which Twitch credits with being "one of the first ever recordings to use an 808 drum machine."
The Spaces Between marks a shift in direction for Optimo Music. Twitch launched the label in 2009, and to date has used it mostly as a platform for fledgling artists from Glasgow, such as Big Ned, Den Haan, Divorce and Older Love. The new LP will be Optimo Music's second full-length to date, and its first foray into reissues.
Optimo Music will release The Spaces Between in September 2010.
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Morrissey to release re-master of “Everyday Is Like Sunday”
On September 27 Morrissey will release a remastered version of his once UK top ten hit single “Everyday Is Like Sunday” from 1988. I t will be released alongside s special 20th anniversary edition of the singer’s compilation album 'Bona Drag.' The remastered version of “Everyday Is Like Sunday” will be released on CD, two 7" vinyl records and as a digital download. Those looking to purchase the single on vinyl need to pay attention as the first version contains the track “Trash,” recorded live at Irvine Meadows, California in 1991, while version 2 has a live take of the single recorded at The Hollywood Bowl from his performance in 2007.
As a CD, the single will feature an unreleased alternative version of “November Spawned a Monster” called “November The Second” as well as a live performance of the single itself from Top of the Pops the same year it was originally released
Songwriter Jimmy Webb ("Up-Up And Away", "By The Time I Get To Phoenix", "MacArthur Park" and many, many more) turns 63
Pete York - Spencer Davis Group (1942)
Tommy Aldridge - Whitesnake (1950)
Matt Johnson - The The (1961)
Marshall Schofield - The Fall (1962)
Angela Rae - Wild Horses (1966)
MCA (Adam Yauch) - Beastie Boys (1967)
Mike Graham - Boyzone (1972)
Simon Dawbarn - 911 (1974)
Paul Robert Nester Thomson - Franz Ferdinand (1976)
David Welsh - The Fray (1984)
Joe Jonas - Jonas Brothers (1989)
They Are Missed:
Singer Thomas Wayne was killed in a car crash in 1971 (age 29). Had the 1959 #5 single "Tragedy."
Norman Petty (produced Buddy Holly, Buddy Knox and the Fireballs and recorded with his own trio) died of leukemia in 1984.
In 1992, Jamaican singer-song writer Jackie Edwards died. Edwards worked as a singer, songwriter for Island Records. He wrote both "Keep On Running" and "Somebody Help Me," that became #1 singles for The Spencer Davis Group, as well as releasing his own albums.
Born on this day in 1933, Bobby Helms, American country music singer best known for his 1957 hit, "Jingle Bell Rock." Died of emphysema at his home in Martinsville, Indiana on June 19, 1997). He was 63.
The late Jackie Brenston ("Rocket 88") was born in 1930.
The late Bill Pinkney of the original Drifters ("Honey Love") was born in 1925 (died July 4, 2007).
Bobby Byrd (August 15, 1934 – September 12, 2007) was an African American funk/soul/R&B/gospel musician, songwriter and record producer who played with James Brown and The Famous Flames. He was born in Toccoa, Georgia.
In 2008, US record producer Jerry Wexler, who influenced the careers of singers including Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and Bob Dylan, died at his home in Sarasota, Florida (age 91). Wexler produced the Aretha Franklin hit "Respect," the Wilson Pickett song, "In the Midnight Hour" and helped Bob Dylan win his first Grammy award by producing the 1979 album, 'Slow Train Coming.' He also coined the term ‘rhythm and blues’ while writing for Billboard magazine in the late 1940s.
History:
"The Wizard of Oz" premiered in Hollywood, CA in 1939. Judy Garland became famous for the movie's song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
Elvis Presley started a five week run at #1 on the US singles chart in 1960 with "It's Now Or Never," (also #1 in the UK). The song which was based on the Italian song, "O Sole Mio," gave Presley his first post-army #1 hit.
At Liverpool’s Cavern Club in 1962, Pete Best played his last show with The Beatles. Of course, he's unaware he’s about to be dumped.
Crooner Dean Martin went to #1 on the US singles chart in 1964 with "Everybody Loves Somebody."
In 1965, the Beatles set a new world record for the largest attendance at a pop concert when they played in front of 55,600 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City. Sharing the bill with The Beatles; Brenda Holloway, The King Curtis Band, The Young Rascals and Sounds Incorporated. The Beatles were paid $160,000 for the show, the set list: ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘She's a Woman’, ‘I Feel Fine’, ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzie’, ‘Ticket to Ride’, ‘Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby’, ‘Can't Buy Me Love’, ‘Baby's In Black’, ‘Act Naturally’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘A Hard Day's Night’, ‘Help!’, and ‘I'm Down’. Two of the Rolling Stones were among the audience, Mick Jagger and Keith Richard and later that evening; Bob Dylan visited The Beatles at their hotel.
During a US tour in 1966, the Beatles appeared at the D.C. Stadium in Washington DC to over 32,000 fans. Tickets cost $3. Five members of the Ku Klux Klan, led by the Imperial Wizard of Maryland, picketed the concert.
Bobby Darin recorded his immortal cut "If I Were A Carpenter" in 1966.
During a North American tour in 1969, Led Zeppelin appeared at the Hemisfair Arena in San Antonio. Jethro Tull and Sweet Smoke were also on the bill. During the show Zeppelin received abuse from locals due to the length of their hair.
In 1969, the Woodstock Festival was held on Max Yasgur's 600 acre farm in Bethel outside New York. Attended by over 400,000 people, the free event featured, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Santana, The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Canned Heat, Joan Baez, Santana, Melanie, Ten Years After, Sly and the Family Stone, Johnny Winter, Jefferson Airplane, Ravi Shanker, Country Joe and the Fish, Blood Sweat and Tears, Arlo Guthrie, and Joe Cocker. During the three days there were three deaths, two births and four miscarriages. Joni Mitchell was booked to appear but had to pull out due to being booked for a TV show, wrote the song "Woodstock."
The futuristic satire film 'Americathon' featuring Meat Loaf, premiered in Los Angeles in 1979. The soundtrack included songs by The Beach Boys, Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello.
George Harrison's autobiography, "I, Me, Mine" was originally published in 1980.
Diana Ross and Lionel Richie started a nine week run at #1 on the US singles chart in 1981 with "Endless Love." The song was the title from a film starring Brooke Shields.
In 1987, on the tenth anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, thousands of people marched past his grave in Memphis, TN.
In 1991, Paul Simon played a free concert in New York's Central Park before an audience of three quarters of a million people.
Boyz II Men started a 13 week run at #1 on the US singles chart in 1992 with "End Of The Road," the group's first #1 single. Taken from the Eddie Murphy film 'Boomerang,' it broke the 36-year-old record held by Elvis for the longest run at #1 on the top of the charts.
In 1997, Tony Nicole Tony Records filed suit against Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of KISS for alleged intentional interference with KISS drummer Peter Criss' contract with the label. The suit maintained that Simmons and Stanley convinced Criss to break his contract with the label.
The Donnas signed with Lookout! Records in 1997.
In 2002, a memorial to John Lennon was unveiled in the remote Scottish village of Durness where Lennon had spent his holidays from age seven to fifteen. The lyrics from "In My Life" had been inscribed on three stones.
In 2005, United National Insurance Company sued Limp Bizkit to avoid paying court costs the group accrued defending itself from wrongful-death claims. A 16-year-old fan was crushed during the 2001 Big Day Out festival in Sydney, Australia. The case against the group was dismissed. The insurance company says it doesn't have to cover the band's legal fees because frontman Fred Durst had incited the crowd during the performance.
A deluxe version of Lou Reed's ‘76 album "Coney Island Baby" was issued in 2006 (celebrating the 30th anniversary of the disc's release). The package contained a number of rarities and never-before-released tracks, including rehearsal recordings featuring Reed's one-time Velvet Underground bandmate Doug Yule. On the other side of the artistic coin, there’s an expanded version of Grand Funk Railroad's "Greatest Hits" album containing previously unreleased material. A trio of concert performances, a vintage TV appearance and a ‘73 promotional film are on the DVD.
Deana Martin's album "Memories Are Made of This" was released in 2006. The album featured her versions of many of her father's hits and other hits by Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr..
Sixteen solo John Lennon albums were made available to download on iTunes for the first time in 2007. A deal was approved by the late Beatle's widow Yoko Ono following a lengthy legal battle between the band's label Apple Corps and Apple Inc, which owned Tunes.
In 2009, U2's first UK gig on their current tour broke the attendance record for a Wembley Stadium concert. Over 88,000 people attended the show.
Fabolous was at #1 on the US album chart in 2009 with ‘Loso's Way,' the rappers fifth studio album.
2009 - It’s the Bethel Woods Music Festival in Bethel, NY (makes sense). The event commemorates the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, which took place at the same site. Several musicians who performed at the ’69 festival return. The bill includes Jefferson Starship, Mountain, The Band's Levon Helm, Big Brother & The Holding Co., Country Joe McDonald, Canned Heat and Ten Years After. Mountain's Leslie West gets married onstage after the group's performance. "You can get married in Paris, but I think getting married onstage at Woodstock would be really special," says West prior to the ceremony.
