Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

not big on getting on a soap box and addressing a lot of subjects on the CVR Blog, but being a former drinker, please, what ever you do, do not drink and drive - designate a driver!!

Have A Safe And Happy Start To The New Year!

fantastic story from the AP, vinyl lovers doing well!

Vinyl collectors help album industry

By Associated Press

FAYETTEVILLE (AP) — The sound may not be crystal clear. They can be scratched and skip from time to time. It’s not a very mobile music form.

But they are growing in popularity.

Vinyl record sales have grown steadily over the past six years, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

David Bakula, a senior vice president at Nielsen SoundScan, said 2011 sales of new LPs, or long-playing records, are almost 3.5 million year-to-date compared to 2.8 million in 2010. LP sales are also bucking the downward trend in the industry; overall album sales dropped 13 percent in 2010, but sales of vinyl increased by 12 percent during the same period, according to Sound-Scan.

“It’s not like we’re just breaking last year’s record, we’re killing it,” Bakula said.

That’s good news for local record collector Glen Wheeler. The former record store owner estimates he has between 50,000 and 60,000 records stacked and boxed, filling his Springdale home.

“It’s really making a comeback, which is great for me,” Wheeler said. “People have questioned my sanity for about 10 years now. I really believed in vinyl and I think I proved to be right.”

Columbia Records introduced the LP in 1948. Wheeler believes the format is what made the music business.

“Rock ’n’ roll really took off,” he said.

He called the 12-inch LP format the perfect art form, allowing 20 to 25 minutes of music on each side.

Read the rest at thecabin.net

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this out of the uk (and i would agree, in the states these albums have little value, the market is glutted with this crap and the goodwill bins are full as well....

Bottom of the Pops! Rod Stewart and Abba in top ten least wanted LPs

Pop music buffs will find it hardly surprising that nobody these days wants to take home a vinyl copy of T’Pau’s debut album Bridge of Spies. But it is rather remarkable that a top ten of least-wanted LPs also includes such household names as Elton John, Rod Stewart and Abba. Others to feature in the league of shame include Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, Culture Club, Paul Young, Dionne Warwick and Sky.

All the unloved albums were released between 1977 and 1987, spanning the years either side of the advent of compact discs in the mid-1980s. The list was compiled for the music magazine Mojo by Ben’s Collectors Records of Guildford, Surrey, which has been selling vinyl for 25 years.

Read the rest at dailymail.co.uk




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interesting write up about the scorpions at noisecreep.com

Scorpions on Their New Album and Why They're Saying Goodbye

by Jason MacNeil

Last year, German hard rock band the Scorpions announced that 'Sting in the Tail' would be their final studio album with a farewell world tour to follow. Yet with the tour booked well into 2012 and 2013, the group led by founding guitarist Rudolf Schenker and singer Klaus Meine, recently managed to release another album called 'Comeblack.'

Some have criticized the group – garnering a surprisingly younger legion of fans lately – for releasing another album after proclaiming 'Sting in the Tail' to be the last, but Schenker is adamant it's not the case.

"We said it would be great to make a project because we see it as a project, not an album like a real Scorpions album," he tells Noisecreep. "We stayed true to our word saying that 'Sting in the Tail' is our last studio album. But this is a project for us because as a band we never went into cover versions so much."

Read the rest at noisecreep.com

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and in an expanded music history for december 31st, 2011:

In 1929, Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians played "Auld Lang Syne" as a New Year's Eve song for the first time.

In 1940, as a result of a dispute between the radio networks and ASCAP (the American Society of Composers and Publishers), the radio industry was prevented from playing any ASCAP-licensed music. The ban lasted for ten months.

John Denver (born Henry John Deutschendorf) was born on this date in 1943 (died in 1997).

In 1952, country legend Hank Williams died en route from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Ohio.

In 1955, based on record sales as well as radio and jukebox plays, Billboard magazine named "Unchained Melody" by Les Baxter and his Orchestra, the number 1 song in the US for 1955.

In 1956, on New Years Eve, Elvis Presley appeared on Wink Martindale's local TV special in Memphis.

In 1961, appearing on New Year's Eve at the Ritchie Valens Memorial Concert at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, the Beach Boys play their first show under that name. Prior to this, they called themselves the Pendletons and Carl And The Passions. The gig paid them $300.

In 1961, Janis Joplin sang in public for the first time in Beaumont, TX.

In 1962, 27-year-old John Phillips marries 18-year-old Holly Michelle Gilliam. The marriage was her first and his second, and would produce one child, Chynna Phillips, vocalist of the 1990s' Pop trio Wilson - Phillips. The pair would later co-found The Mamas and Papas, but divorced in 1970.

In 1963, Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir, later of the Grateful Dead, played music together for the first time.

Also in 1963, the Kinks performed live for the first time in London.

In 1965, John Lennon's estranged deadbeat father, Alf, released the single "That's My Life (My Love And My Home)," designed to ride his son's coattails and be a sequel to the Beatles "In My Life." John reportedly instructed manager Brian Epstein to make sure the single was blackballed in the UK. It was not a hit.

In 1965, the Beatles single "I Feel Fine" and album "Beatles '65" are certified Gold.

In 1966, the Monkees topped the Billboard Hot 100 with the Neil Diamond composition, "I'm A Believer". Because of over a million advance orders, the single went Gold two days after its release and has now sold over ten million copies worldwide. Its reign at #1 lasted for seven weeks.

In 1967, Sonny and Cher were barred from Pasadena, California's Tournament of Roses Parade for speaking out in support of the 2,000 demonstrators who protested a year-long campaign by sheriffs and police to clear the Strip of 'loitering' teenagers. Known as "the Sunset Strip rioters", the group mainly consisted of 15-year-olds with long hair and acne who were confronted by several hundred riot-helmeted sheriff's deputies.

In 1968, for the first time ever, Americans spent more than $1 billion on records. According to Billboard magazine, album sales were 192 million units and singles sold 187 million units.

In 1969, at a New Year's Eve concert at the Fillmore East in New York City, Jimi Hendrix introduces his new side men, bassist Billy Cox and former Electric Flag drummer, Buddy Miles. The concert is recorded for the live album, "Band of Gypsys", which will reach #5 in the US and #6 in the UK.

In 1969, a BBC-TV special declared John Lennon to be the "Man Of The Decade," on the same day that Rolling Stone magazine named him "Man Of The Year," while the music newspaper New Musical Express quoted him as saying he was thinking of leaving the Beatles.

In 1970, with Melody Maker magazine reporting that the Beatles are looking for a new bass player, Paul McCartney files suit to dissolve the Beatles' corporation. It would take until 1974 for the split to become final.

In 1971, singer David Clayton-Thomas made his last appearance with Blood, Sweat & Tears (until their brief reunion four years later).

In 1972, Dick Clark's first Rockin' New Years Eve airs on ABC-TV, starring Three Dog Night, Al Green and Blood, Sweat & Tears.

Also in 1972, The MC5 play their farewell show at a New Years Eve bash at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit. Their take for the night was $200.

In 1973, Journey made their live debut in San Francisco.

In 1973, Australian band AC/DC made their live debut when they appeared at Chequers Bar in Sydney.

In 1974, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were invited to join Fleetwood Mac, marking the band's tenth line-up change since 1967.

In 1974, after abandoning an earlier concept of an album that was to be recorded entirely with household objects, Pink Floyd began recording their landmark album "Wish You Were Here."

In 1975, Elvis Presley performed a New Year's Eve concert before 60,000 fans at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. He earned $800,000 for the night, a then world record for a single show by a solo artist.

In 1976, the Cars made their performance debut at Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

In 1978, Bill Graham's Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco closed its doors for good after the Grateful Dead played their 48th concert there, a New Year's Eve show with the Blues Brothers as the opening act.

In 1979, at a New Years Eve concert in Cleveland, Bruce Springsteen's cheek is ripped open by a fire-cracker thrown onstage from the audience.

In 1982, in New York City, the club Max's Kansas City closed. It had been a career launching pad for artists including Bruce Springsteen, the New York Dolls, and the Velvet Underground.

In 1982, singer/musician/actor/radio host "Little Steven" Van Zandt married Maureen Santora at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Bruce Springsteen was best man. After rock 'n' roll pioneer (and Reverend) Little Richard performed the ceremony, entertainment was provided by a wedding reception band consisting of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Gary U.S. Bonds, Little Milton, and the wedding band from the movie "The Godfather." Percy Sledge sang "When A Man Loves A Woman."

In 1984, on New Years Eve, Def Leppard's drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm after crashing his Corvette while racing another driver on a UK highway. The arm was re-attached, but had to be removed three days later. His right arm was also damaged, but he eventually re-joined the band using a specially adapted drum kit.

In 1985, rock and roll legend Rick Nelson was killed while en route to a New Year's Eve show in Dallas, Texas. His private DC-3 (which was previously owned by Jerry Lee Lewis) crashed in a field near DeKalb, Texas. Early press reports erroneously suggested that drug use, namely freebasing, might have played a role in the crash that killed Rick, his band, and his fiancée Helen Blair (the pilot and co-pilot survived). In fact, the National Transportation Safety Board's 1987 report determined that the fire began in a malfunctioning gas heater.



In 1991, Ted Nugent donated 200 pounds of venison to a Salvation Army soup kitchen in Detroit with the message "I kill it, you grill it."

In 1991, Pearl Jam, Nirvana and the Red Hot Chili Peppers shared the bill at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.

In 1997, pianist Floyd Cramer, who scored a Billboard number 2 hit in 1960 with "Last Date", died of lung cancer at the age of 64. As a session musician, he played on many major hits for a variety of artists, including Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel". In 2003, Cramer was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In 1999, the Manic Street Preachers set a record in Europe for the biggest indoor concert when they played for 57,000 at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

In 2004, for the first time in the last 32 years, Dick Clark wasn't in New York's Time Square to celebrate New Year's Eve. The 75 year old TV host and producer was forced to watch the show from his hospital bed after suffering a mild stroke on December 6th. A spokesman said that Mr. Clark had been doing some rehab and that doctors were encouraged with his progress.

In 2005, although he wasn't actually in Times Square and his speech had slowed due to the effects of a stroke he suffered in December, 2004, Dick Clark made a return to his New Year's Rockin' Eve TV show.

Also in 2005, the John Lennon song “Imagine” was voted England’s favorite song a quarter of a century after his death. A U.K. radio station conducted the poll of 7,000 listeners. The Beatles were voted into second and third place with “Hey Jude” and “Let It Be.”

In 2010, Joseph Jones Jr., known as "Little Joe" of the group The Tams died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 64. Although he joined the band eight years after their Billboard Top Ten hit "What Kind Of Fool Do You Think I Am", Jones stayed with the group for 36 years before retiring in 2008.

birthdays today include (among others): Andy Summers (Police) (69), Donna Summer (63), Tom Hamilton (Aerosmith) (60), Paul Westerburg (Replacements) (52), Jeff Johnson (Jason & the Scorchers) (52), Scott Ian (Anthrax) (48), Bob Bryar (My Chemical Romance) (32) and Burton Cummings (Guess Who) (64)