New Vinyl Record and Music Releases - July 19, 2011

A slew of new releases this week including some highly anticipated albums from 3 Doors Down with Time of My Life, John Hiatt's Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns, Fruit Bats with Tripper, 311 with Universal Pulse and They Might Be Giants with Join Us.

Vinyl reissues include four from the seminal punk rockers the Ramones (Leave Home, Road to Ruin, the Ramones and Rocket to Russia), 3 from Grandaddy (Sumday, The Sophtware Slump and Under The Western Freeway), Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti's Worn Copy, two from De La Soul (Buhloone Mind State and Stakes Is High), Hole with Pretty On the Inside, Ben Folds Five self-titled effort, Black Sabbath's Master of Reality, Low with Long Division and Soft Machine's Soft Machine At Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, just to name a few.

Heavy-thrash metal releases include Altars's Opposition, Dying Fetus with History Repeats..., Chelsea Grin's My Damnation and Toxic Holocaust - Conjure and Command, among others.

Other CVR Blog picks include REO Speedwagon's Hi Infidelity: 30th Anniversary Edition (2 CDs), Fall On Your Sword's Another Earth, Peter Murphy with Should the World Fail to Fall Apart (2 CD) and Steve Earle's I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive; to name a few.



2Cellos - 2Cellos

3 Doors Down - Time of My Life
40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room
311 - Universal Pulse
Alan Silvestri - Captain America: The First Avenger Soundtrack
Altars - Opposition
Amy Lavere - Stranger Me
Andrew Liles - As if Punk Never Happened (7") (picture disc)
Antony and the Johnsons - Swanlights (EP)
Apache Dropout - Shot Down (7") (vinyl)
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - Worn Copy (reissue) (vinyl)
Audrey Wheeler - Let It Be Me (2 CDs)
Autre Ne Veut - Body
Avichi - Devil's Fractal
Baba Zula - Gecekondu
Bart & Friends - Stories With the Endings Changed (10") (vinyl)
Basement Jaxx - Basement Jaxx Vs Metropole Orkest

Battlecross - Pursuit of Honor
Beau Williams - Bodacious!
Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five (reissue) (vinyl)
Big Talk - Big Talk-
Bitch - Be My Slave
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality (reissue) (vinyl)
Boston Spaceships - Let It Beard
Brillinat Colors - Again and Again (vinyl)
Burlap to Cashmere - Burlap to Cashmere (vinyl)
Bye Bye Blackbirds - Fixed Hearts
Carol Kleyn - Love Has Made Me Stronger (vinyl)
Chelsea Grin - My Damnation
City Of Ships - Minor World
Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire - Visceral
Clouds - Lot Of Calls From No One Part2 / Rest Of The Cycle (12") (vinyl)
Cold - Superfiction
Coldplay - Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall (vinyl)
Collections of Colonies of Bees - Giving
Cream - Icon (2 CDs)
Crewdson - Gravity
Crisis of Conformity (reissue) (7") (vinyl)
DJ Khaled - We The Best Forever
Danny And The Champions Of The World - Hearts & Arrows
Dave Cloud and the Gospel of Power - Practice in the Milky Way
De La Soul - Buhloone Mind State (reissue) (vinyl)
De La Soul - Stakes Is High (reissue) (vinyl)
Decapitated - Carnival Is Forever
Delicate Cutters - Some Creatures
Demonical - Death Infernal
Dionne Bromfield - Good For The Soul
Dirk Geiger - Second Life
Disma - Towards The Megalith
Don Gere - Werewolves On Wheels (vinyl)
Doug Means Project - 2.0
Dutch Uncles - Cadenza  (vinyl)
Dying Fetus - History Repeats...
EDM - Night People
Eddie Vedder - Ukulele Songs (vinyl)
Elephant - Allured / Actors (7") (vinyl)
Elias Hulk - Unchained (vinyl)
Esther Williams - Inside Of Me
Eternal Tapestry & Sun Araw - Night Gallery
Evelyn King - Music Box: Limited Edition
Every Avenue - Bad Habits
Excruciator - Devouring
Faces on Film - Some Weather (reissue)
Fall On Your Sword - Another Earth (vinyl)
Fink - Perfect Darkness
Fjordne - Charles Rendition
Floating Action - Desert Etiquette
Flourishing - The Sum of All Fossils
Forever Goldrush - The Amador Frequency
Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks
Fruit Bats - Tripper
Future Islands - Before the Bridge (vinyl)
GQ - Face To Face
GQ - Two
Generationals - Actor-Caster (vinyl)
George Lynch - Kill All Control
Giacamo Gates - The Revolution Will Be Jazz: The Songs of Gil Scott-Heron
Goo Goo Dolls - Live From Soho
Grandaddy - Sumday (reissue) (vinyl)
Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump (reissue) (vinyl)
Grandaddy - Under The Western Freeway (reissue) (vinyl)
Grumbling Fur - Furrier
Hail!Hornet - Disperse The Curse
Hank Snow - Songs Of Tragedy / When Tragedy Struck
Heatmiser - Mic City Sons (vinyl)
Heights - Dead Ends

Hole - Pretty on the Inside (reissue) (vinyl)


Holly Throsby -Team
Hope I Die Virgin - Is Forever No Way
Hundredth - Let Go
I Am Abomination - Passion Of The Heist
Imelda May - Mayhem
Immersed - In the Ire of Creation
Iron Man - Generation Void
It Prevails - Stroma
James Blake - Order / Pan (12") (vinyl)
Janko Nilovic - Funky Tramway (vinyl)
Janko Nilovic - Soul Impressions
Jean-Claude Pelletier - Streaking! (vinyl)
Jenny O. - Home
Jim Kerr - Lostboy!
Jim O'Rourke & Christoph Heemann - Plastic Palace People Vol.2
Joanna Newsom - What We Have Known (12") (vinyl)
John Butler Trio - Live at red Rocks
John Hiatt - Dirty Jeans & Mudslide Hymns
John Lee Hooker - Icon
Kelly Rowland - Motivation (f. Lil Wayne)
Kenny Wayne Shepherd - How I Go
Kid Creole & The Coconuts - I Do Believe
Kidz Bop Kids - Kidz Bop 20
Killinger - Killinger
Kottonmouth Kings - Sunrise Sessions
Kuedo - Videowave (12") (vinyl)
LMFAO – 'Sorry For Party Rocking'
Lali Puna - Move on/After All Stop (vinyl)
Las Kellies - Kellies
Le Corbeau - Moth on the Headlight
Les Rallizes DéNudés - Cable Hogue Soundtrack (vinyl)
Limp Bizkit - Icon
Lost Sounds - Blac Static (Best Of) (vinyl)
Lou Reed - Metal Machine Music (reissue) (vinyl)
Low - Long Division (reissue) (vinyl)
Madeleine Peyroux - Standing on the Rooftop (vinyl)
Malefice - Awaken The Tides
Malfunkshun - Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story
Manilla Road - The Deluge
Mel Flannery Trucking Company - As It Turns Out
Mellowhype - Blackenedwhite
Memories of Machines - Warm Winter
Meredith Bragg - Nest
Milk Maid - Yucca
Moody Blues - Icon (2 CDs)
Netherworld - Over The Summit
Next Life - Artificial Divinity
Nicholas Szczepanik - Please Stop Loving Me
Night Beats - Night Beats (vinyl)
Nikki Lane - Gone, Gone, Gone (EP)
Norma Jean - Heaven Help The Working Girl
OGI - OGI (vinyl)
Original Soundtrack - The Voice: Season 1 Highlights
Peter Murphy - Should the World Fail to Fall Apart (2 CDs)
Phinehas - Thegodmachine
Pictureplane - Thee Physical
Pokey LaFarge - Middle of Everywhere
Polyphony - Without Introduction
Portugal. The Man: Church Mouth (reissue)
Portugal. The Man: It's Complicated Being a Wizard (reissue)
Prurient - Bermuda Drain
Pursesnatchers - A Pattern Language
Queen - A Day at the Races
Queen - A Night at the Opera
Queen - Queen
Queen - Queen II
Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
Quincy Jones - The Dude
REO Speedwagon - Hi Infidelity: 30th Anniversary Edition (2 CDs)
Ramones - Leave Home (reissue) (vinyl)
Ramones - Road to Ruin (reissue) (vinyl)
Ramones - Rocket to Russia (reissue) (vinyl)
Ramones: Ramones (reissue) (vinyl)
Richard Youngs - Amplyfing Host (vinyl)
Riggs - Riggs
Ringo Deathstarr - Sparkler
Ringworm - Scars
Rival Sons - Pressure & Time
Roadside Graves - We Can Take Care of Ourselves
Rodrigo y Gabriela - Live in France
Roxette - Greatest Hits
Rubber - Ultra Feel
Rufus Wainwright - House Of Rufus
Rush - Icon (2 CDs)
Sarabante - Remnants
Serengeti - Family And Friends (vinyl)
Serge Gainsbourg: Gainsbourg Percussions (reissue) (vinyl)
Severe Torture - Feasting on Blood
Severe Torture - Misanthropic Carnage image sever
Simon Fisher Turner - The Great White Silence
Singer - Mindreading (vinyl)
Soft Machine - Soft Machine At Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club (2 LP's) (vinyl)
Soft Metals - Soft Metals
Sole and the Skyrider Band - Hello Cruel World
Sonic Youth - Confusion Is Sex (reissue) (vinyl)
Starf**kers - Metallic Diseases (vinyl)
Steve Earle - I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive
Strong Killings - Strong Killings
Suicide Silence - The Black Crown
Sun Airway - Wild Palms / Symphony In White No. 2 (7") (vinyl)
Survivor - Caught in the Game
Survivor - Premonition
Survivor - Survivor
Survivor - Vital Signs
Survivor - When Seconds Count
T-Bone Walker - Essential Collection
TFDI - When I Stop Running
Teenage Scream - Teenage Scream
The Cutmen (Whitehouse) - Seconds Out
The Dangerous Summer - War Paint
The Greenery - Spit and Argue
The Horrors - Skying
The Neighb'rhood Childr'n - The Neighb'rhood Childr'n
The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band - Peyton on Patton
The Summer Set - Everything’s Fine
The Tallest Man on Earth - Shallow Grave (reissue)
Theophilus London - Timez Are Weird These Days
They Might Be Giants - Join Us
Tim Robbins And The Rogues Gallery Band - Tim Robbins Ad The Rogues Gallery Band
Tom Morello and Nightwatchman - Union Town
Tomorrows Tulips - Eternally Teenage (vinyl)
Toxic Holocaust - Conjure and Command
Tribal Seeds - Soundwaves EP
Tropics - Mouves (12") (vinyl)
Twin Sister - Bad Street (10") (vinyl)
Umpire - Now We’re Active
Unholy - Rapture
Vanessa Carlton - Rabbits on the Run
Various Artists - A Little Help (soundtrack)
Various Artists - Andale Vol.4
Various Artists - DJ Syd Borat Presents - Axis Bold As Ladyland
Various Artists - Deep Soul, Rhythm and Blues, Vol. 1
Various Artists - Live From Nowhere Near You Vol II
Various Artists - Norman Jay Presents Good Times 30
Various Artists - Revolver USA / Midheaven Podcast #54
Various Artists - A Tribute to the Cardigans
Various Artists - DJ-Kicks: Motor City Drum Ensemble
Various Artists - Horse Meat Disco III
Various Artists - Rebel Rock: Essential Rockabilly Album
Velvet Underground - Icon
Versus - Black Gloves (EP)
Victory - Don't Talk Science
Volbeat - Beyond Hell/Above Heaven
W.A.S.P. - Inside the Electric Circus
W.A.S.P. - The Headless Children
Wilco - I Might (7") (vinyl)
Wiley - 100% Publishing
Woods - Find Them Empty (7") (vinyl)
World Under Blood - Tactical
Young Buffalo - Young Von Prettylips (EP)

Zounds - Redemption of Zounds













New Jazz Releases

Remember, if you are a record company and have new releases or know of any I missed (especially vinyl), please email me and I will add your music to the list. I also do reviews of new vinyl, email me for more information.

Have new music for the list? Email me at rbenson30@wi.rr.com

Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

Say Anything Sign To Equal Vision Records

Say Anything have recently signed on with Equal Vision Records and will begin recording their fourth studio album with producer Tim O’Heir in August 2011.

“Once we found our label, we knew there was only one producer who could bring the kind of ambitious, freethinking, over-the-top approach to the recording process that we were looking for,” Bemis explains. “We are proud to announce that for the first time in the better part of a decade, we will be returning to the studio with Tim O’Heir, the super-sick producer who helped us shape Say Anything’s …Is a Real Boy into what it is."

In addition to releasing the new full-length album, Equal Vision Records will also release a wide variety of previously unreleased Say Anything material, vinyl, rarities collections and other projects.

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a follow up to another story, these are rare recordings and should be preserved, regardless of the audio medium used to record combat history:

The sounds of World War II can be heard at Quantico

By Julia LeDoux

QUANTICO, Va. - Historians at the United States Marine Corps History Division at Quantico have ringside seats as they continue their efforts to digitize thousands of recordings made by Marine combat correspondents during World War II.

The combat correspondents – newspapermen, radiomen, artists, photographers and videographers who were called Dening’s Demons -- made about 1,600 recordings during the war, said Rob Taglianetti, an oral historian with the United States Marine Corps’ History Division.

“It’s live combat,” he said of what can be heard on some of the tapes. “It’s while it’s happening, and you hear bullets in the background.”

The recordings also feature short interviews with Marines whose stories wouldn’t be known without the tapes. Combat correspondents would ask them a series of short questions such as, “where are you from,” “anything interesting happen while you’ve been here,” and “want to tell anybody back home hi?”

The live action recordings were immediately transferred onto vinyl records, which were sent out to radio stations across the country for broadcast. Written stories and photographs were sent local newspapers and even high school newspapers.

Read the rest of this fascinating story at www2.insidenova.com

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CRIMINAL: More New Album Details Revealed

Thrash masters CRIMINAL — originally formed in Chile and now based in the U.K. — have set "Akelarre" as the title of their seventh studio album, the first since the departure of lead guitarist and founding member Rodrigo Contreras and the subsequent addition of Basque guitar wizard Olmo Cascallar.

"Akelarre" is a word from the Basque language (Euskara) which is also widely used in most Spanish-speaking countries and translates to "witches' Sabbath."

Read more at Blabbermouth






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Frost Despair Reveals Album Cover Artwork

Frost Despair recently revealed the cover artwork for the band's debut album 'The God Delusion.' The artwork was created by Brazilian artist Marcelo Vasco (Dimmu Borgir, Keep of Kalessin, Dark Funeral, Chrome Division) and "The God Delusion" was recorded in Brazil from March to July 2011 at Hurricane Studios by Sebastian Carsin. The title is taken from the Richard Dawkins books of the same title.

Marcelo Vasco wrote about his impressions of the album cover artwork: "My intention creating the Frost Despair's cover art was to illustrate the perfect symbiosis between the living beauty and lightness that surrounds a symphony, and at the same time its possibility of being dark, heavy, painful, death and sad. Trying to pass this antagonistic feeling in a striking way, giving the opportunity to people to take their own conclusions of the idea that the album's name: 'The God Delusion' might suggest."




Tracklist

1. The Dark Ages
2. God Delusion
3. Damnation
4. Splendor War
5. Dark Bachiana
6. The Final Breath
7. At The Gates

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Drive-By Truckers to Release Greatest Hits Album

13 year music vets Drive-By Truckers are scheduled to release a compilation album 'Ugly Buildings, Whores and Politicians: Greatest Hits 1998-2009' on August 2 via New West Records. Longtime collaborator David Barbe produced and mixed the album, and veteran rock scribe David Fricke wrote the liner notes

The album will features songs from seven of the Truckers albums and included in the tracklist: tributes to Ronnie Van Zant and Neil Young (“Ronnie and Neil”), Sun Records (“Carl Perkins’ Cadillac”) and a nearly missed ménage a trois (“3 Dimes Down”).






Tracklist:
1. “The Living Bubba”
2. “Bulldozers and Dirt”
3. “Ronnie and Neil”
4. “Zip City”
5. “Let There Be Rock”
6. “Marry Me”
7. “Sink Hole”
8. “Carl Perkins’ Cadillac”
9. “Outfit”
10. “The Righteous Path”
11. “Gravity’s Gone” (Remix)
12. “Never Gonna Change”
13. “3 Dimes Down”
14. “Lookout Mountain”
15. “Uncle Frank” (Alternate Version)
16. “A World of Hurt”


Drive-By Truckers Tour Dates:

07-30 Muscle Shoals, AL – W.C. Handy Music Festival *
08-12-13 Athens, GA – Georgia Theatre #
08-16 Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion %
08-31 Baton Rouge, LA – Varsity Theatre
09-01 Austin, TX – Stubbs #
09-02 Dallas, TX – Granada Theatre #
09-03-04 New Orleans, LA – Tipitinas #
09-07 Tuscaloosa, AL – Bama Theatre
09-08 Savannah, GA – Trustees Theater
09-09 Raleigh, NC – Hopscotch Festival
09-10 Chattanooga, TN – Track 29
10-27 Columbia, MO – Missouri Theatre for the Arts

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We Came As Romans Reveal Album Cover

The Michigan-based sextet will release their sophomore full-length album, 'Understanding What We've Grown to Be,' on September 13th.

The album's cover painting was done by Paul Romano [Chiodos, Mastodon], who also created the cover of We Came As Romans' debut full-length album, 'To Plant a Seed.' Guitarist and lyricist Joshua Moore and bassist Andrew Glass worked together to come up with the visual concept for the cover and then collaborated with Romano to bring the powerful imagery to life.

The 12-track album was recorded with longtime friend and producer, Joey Sturgis [The Devil Wears Prada, Asking Alexandria] at Foundation Recording Studio.







Tracklist
1. Mis//Understanding
2. Everything As Planned
3. What I Wished I Never Had
4. Cast The First Stone
5. The Way That We Have Been
6. A War Inside
7. Stay Inspired
8. Just Keep Breathing
9. Views That Never Cease, To Keep Me From Myself
10. What My Heart Held
11. I Can't Make Your Decisions For You
12. Understanding What We've Grown To Be

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Gigwise Chooses the Greatest Drummers of All-Time

Britain's Gigwise has chosen the fifty greatest drummers of all-time and, for once, they mean all-time a couple of the greats from big band and jazz are included.

In the top spots are two drummers who are no longer with us, Led Zeppelin's John Bonham and the Who's Keith Moon. Rounding out the top five are Danny Carey of Tool, Neil Peart of Rush and Jimmy Chamberlin of Smashing Pumpkins.

Read more and see the the Top 15 at our friends at Read more: vintagevinylnews.com



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George Thorogood Plays Chess

Peter Hodgson

George Thorogood and The Destroyers’ new album, 2010 South Michigan Avenue, celebrates his Chess Records heroes including Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Howlin’ Wolf and Buddy Guy.

The album, named for the address of Chess Records’ Chicago headquarters, was produced by Tom Hambridge, who won a Grammy in 2010 for Best Contemporary Blues Album for Buddy Guy’s Living Proof.

Read more at (they also have a great interview piece!) Gibson.com

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and in music history for today, July 18th:

In 1953, 18 year-old Elvis Presley visited the Memphis Recording Service to record "My Happiness" as a gift for his mother. The so-called vanity disc, which cost Presley $3.98, was his first recording. It would surface 37 years later as part of an RCA compilation called "Elvis - the Great Performances".

Hank Ballard and the Midnighters released "The Twist" in 1960. The song didn't become a hit until later in the year when Chubby Checker covered it.

Elvis Presley's "It's Now Or Never" was released in 1960.

In 1960, Roy Orbison saw his first record, "Only The Lonely" climb into the Top 5 in the United States after The Everly Brothers and Elvis both turned the song down. Over the next six years, The Orbison would have 22 Top 40 hits.

Also in 1960, 15 year-old Brenda Lee had the number one song in the US with "I'm Sorry", a tune that was recorded in the last ten minutes of a session and originally meant to be the "B" side of "That's All You Gotta Do".

In 1964, the Four Seasons scored their fourth US number one hit with "Rag Doll". Co-writer Bob Gaudio said that he got the inspiration for the song from a young girl in tattered clothes that cleaned his car windows at a stop light. The song reached #2 in the UK.

The Beatles album "A Hard Days Night" was released in 1964.

Also in 1964, The Rolling Stones chart in the US for the first time when a cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" peaks at #48.

In 1966, Bobby Fuller, who was still riding high on the success of "I Fought The Law", was found dead in his car in Hollywood. The incident is ruled a suicide but evidence suggests foul play, as his clothes and lungs contained gasoline. Fuller was just 22 years old. Some more info on a life that ended way too soon:

Fuller was found dead in the front seat of his mother's car shortly after "I Fought The Law" became a national hit. His death was ruled a suicide, but there were signs of foul play and the investigation was tainted, leaving the circumstances of his death a mystery and rumors to run rampant. Rick Stone, who was a roadie for the Bobby Fuller Four and good friends with the band, tells us: "My mom, Mary Stone, wrote music with Bobby at our home at 7420 Catalpa Lane in El Paso, Texas. Bobby did NOT have gas in his mouth when he was found in the car, but he did die of asphyxiation.

Bobby's body was found in a vacant lot in his mother's car and 4 years later Janis Joplin would walk out of her apartment and purchase pure bad heroin on the street corner of that same vacant lot.. then overdosed not more than 250 feet away from where Bobby died. They were born in the same general area of Southeast Texas four months apart - both traveled to Hollywood the same year and both left about the same time, however it is not known if they never knew each other.

This song was written by Sonny Curtis, who was a member of The Crickets (Buddy Holly's group). The Crickets recorded it shortly after Buddy Holly's death in 1959 and released it on their 1960 album In Style With The Crickets. If Holly had lived, there's a good chance it would have been a huge hit for The Crickets.

When they recorded this song, the Bobby Fuller Four was: Bobby Fuller on vocals and guitar), his brother Randy Fuller on bass and backup vocals (the raspy heavy voice), Jim Reese on guitar and Dewayne Quirico on drums. Jim Reese died October 26, 1991 in Lufkin, Texas after playing a round of golf - he had a heart attack as he was getting into his truck. Randy lives in Colton, California and Dewayne in Chicago.

At a time when the British Invasion and folk rock were the dominant genres in rock, Fuller stuck to Buddy Holly's style of classic rock and roll with Tex Mex flourishes. His recordings, both covers and originals, also reveal the influences of Eddie Cochran, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and the Everly Brothers, as well as surf guitar.

Bobby had "I Fought The Law" released on his own label in El Paso two years earlier where it was a Top 10 Hit regionally. The original lyric was "Robbin' people with a six gun," but he would sing it as "Zip Gun," "Shotgun" or "Six Gun," and joked about other guns when he sang it live.

The Clash recorded this in 1979 after they heard Fuller's version on a jukebox. They changed the line "I left my baby" to "I killed my baby." Their version hit #22 in the UK. Other groups who covered this include Social Distortion and Green Day.

Bobby Fuller's recordings have been reissued by Norton Records, Del-Fi Records, Rhino Records and Munster Records.



The Grateful Dead released their second album, "Anthem of the Sun' in 1968.

In 1968, "Helter Skelter" was recorded by the Beatles (one take lasted 27 minutes and 11 seconds)

In 1969, "Octopus's Garden" was recorded by the Beatles.

In 1970, Pink Floyd and Deep Purple played a free concert at London's Hyde Park.

In 1972, members of Sly and the Family Stone were arrested after police found over two-pounds of marijuana in their mobile home. oops....

In 1974, The US Justice Department ordered John Lennon out of the country by September 10th. The Immigration and Naturalization Service denied him an extension of his non-immigrant visa because of his guilty plea in England to a 1968 marijuana possession charge. The US Court of Appeal would overturn the deportation order in 1975 and Lennon was granted permanent resident status the following year.

Def Leppard made their live debut in Sheffield, England in 1978.

In 1983, Abbey Road Studios in London is opened to the public, making it one of the city's most popular tourist attractions.

In 1988, a California appeals court upheld a lower courts' decision to dismiss a case against Ozzy Osbourne and CBS Records. In 1984 a teenager allegedly killed himself after listening to Ozzy's "Suicide Solution."

In 1988, Nico (Christa Päffgen) died after suffering a minor heart attack while riding a bicycle on holiday with her son in Ibiza, Spain. The German born singer-songwriter and keyboardist with Velvet Underground had also worked as a fashion model and actress.

In 1995, the oldest known musical instrument in the world was found in the Indrijca River Valley in Slovenia. The 45,000 year-old relic was a bear bone with four artificial holes along its length.

In 2000, Metallica played at the House of Blues in Los Angeles, CA. The crowd was 1,000 contest winners of the "Blind Date" competition organized by Miller Genuine Draft.

In 2001, The KISS Kasket, an actual coffin featuring the faces of the four founding members of the band, went on sale. Also included were the Kiss logo and the words "Kiss Forever." Endorsing the item, Gene Simmons quipped, "I love livin', but this makes the alternative look pretty damn good." Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell was buried in one after he was shot and killed on stage in December 2004.

In 2002, the Rolling Stones crew chief, 54 year old Royden Magee, who had worked with the band for 30 years, died during a rehearsal in Toronto. A spokesman for the band said Magee had said that he wasn't feeling well and went to another room to take a nap. The Stones had just finished dinner and resumed rehearsing when they got word that Magee had collapsed and stopped breathing. He was taken by ambulance to nearby Sunnybrook Hospital with no vital signs after suffering an apparent heart attack. He was pronounced dead on arrival. The members of the band said they were devastated by his death.

The iTunes Music Store reached 500 million songs sold in 2005.

In 2008, Paul Simon filed a law suit against Rhythm USA Inc., a Georgia-based subsidiary of a Japanese firm, claiming the company never got his permission to sell wall clocks that play "Bridge Over Troubled Water". The suit claimed that as one of the best known songs throughout the world, a proper licensing agreement could command at least a $1 million licensing fee. you would think he would have been honored to have the clock play his music.....

birthdays today include (among others) country picker Ricky Skaggs (57), Martha Reeves (70), Jack Irons (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam) (49) and Dion DiMucci (72)