Lion's Share Cover Art

As you all know, album cover art is a subject that is dear to my heart. Here is a fantastic example!

LION'S SHARE UNVEIL TRACK LIST AND ALBUM ART FOR "DARK HOURS"

Swedish melodic heavy metallers LION'S SHARE have unveiled the cover art for its upcoming sixth full-length album, "Dark Hours".

LION'S SHARE will release its new album in late March 2009 via Blistering Records. The follow-up to 2007's "Emotional Coma" was mixed and mastered by Jens Bogren (OPETH, SYMPHONY X, PARADISE LOST, AMON AMARTH) and features guest appearances by SYMPHONY X guitarist Mike Romeo (guest solo on "Behind The Curtain"), and drummers Conny Pettersson (from Earache Records death metal act ANATA) and Richard Evensand (CHIMAIRA, SOILWORK).

The band states: "The new songs are simply awesome and everybody that has heard it thinks it's our best album to date. The red thread lyric-wise on this album is that all songs are about things that happened in the late Sixties; a decade known for many good things. However, we're not describing the happy times of the Sixties: We give you the 'Dark Hours'. Musically, it's more straight-forward and faster than ever. The songs are filled with energy and great hooks."

LION'S SHARE's most recent album, "Emotional Coma", was released in the U.S. January 29th, via Locomotive Music. The CD was issued by AFM Records in Europe and Spiritual Beast in Japan/Asia and features guest solos from ex-KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick, and ex-MEGADETH guitarist Glen Drover.

BAND LINKS:

www.lionsshare.org

Classic Rock Videos

The Beatles - I Saw Her Standing There

Vinyl collection: old painter’s lifelong passion

At 62, painter Vu Dan Tan has had a life-long passion for music. While artwork may be how he earns his living, this passion has materialised into one of the city’s most impressive vinyl record collections: with 10 antique record players and nearly 1,000 records.

"I studied how to paint with artist Manh Quynh, starting when I was six," recalls Tan. "I began to learn the piano from my older cousin Le Lien; she taught me when I was 15. At that time, the piano was seen as a girl’s hobby, and boys didn’t typically learn how to play it."

His love of music, however, was sparked at around the same time he started painting. His father gave him his first record player, with two songs in French so he could learn the language.

"Since then, I have really grown to love these old players," recounts Tan. "Anytime I see the needle flying over the record, and sounding out classical sounds and sweet melodies, I feel refreshed."

Even just talking about these antique players and vinyl records seems to excite Tan. He grew increasingly ecstatic, as he recalled the only place that used to sell vinyl records on Trang Tien Street, which is now the foreign book shop.

The players and records came from overseas, brought by people returning from Russia, Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland, Tan says. A Czech record at the time would cost around VND7, while a cheaper Russian record was VND3.5. That was quite expensive, considering an average monthly salary for a State employee was just VND60.

"When Southern Viet Nam was liberated, many people brought these products to Ha Noi from Sai Gon," he says.

His own personal collection of record players, still in great condition, come from Russia, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Japan and Viet Nam.

"Each player has its own aesthetic features," he explains. "For example, a Russian one looks as strong as a Minsk motorbike, while a Japanese one looks graceful and a Hong Kong player looks so delicate."

To ensure he can continue to enjoy these players, and that they don’t become something just nice to look at, Tan owns around 100 iron magnetic needles, and he jokes: "I can use them until the end of my lifetime."

The old painter’s collection of vinyl records include records of 33, 45 and 78 revolutions per minute. The collection includes mostly classical music by famous composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

"Listening to this classical music on vinyl played on old players helps bring listeners back to older days," says a dreamy Tan. "I think that modern CD players just don’t compare, in terms of their sound."

While this artist loves his records, he says that listening to classical music live is definitely the best option. He highly recommends the Opera House, as he describes the chill that runs down his spine listening to live music. Unfortunately, heading to the opera daily is not always an option, so records present a happy alternative.

Much like writing in a diary, Tan keeps track of his collection by carefully signing his name and the date on the records’ paper cover. While his collection is well known and respected, he remains relatively modest about his work.

"It’s nothing compared to young collectors now," says Tan. "They have many better collections with unique players and records. One such collector, painter Quach Dong Phuong, owns an old amplifier made by the Western Electric company in 1956."

Keeping up any collection is more than just finding new treasures and Tan pays special attention to keep his own in top shape.

"Older records made of carbon can be easily broken, while other vinyl records must be protected from dust and from the heat," he says.

Although he spends much of his time preserving them he’s still happy to share the records with others. While the collection is highly valuable, for him sharing the joy of music on vinyl is a priceless joy.

"There are classics that surpass time and can become immortal: classical music, ancient players and vinyl records."

SOURCE: http://english.vietnamnet.vn

Top 5 eBay Vinyl Record Sales

Week Ending 01/24/2009


1. LP - Jutta Hipp "with Zoot Sims" Blue Note 1530 - $4,650.07 - Start: $19.99 - Bids: 15


2. 45rpm - Nirvana "Love Buzz" Sub Pop #47 / 1000 - $2,450.00 - Start: $2,450.00 - Bids: 1


3. LP - Led Zeppelin I Atlantic UK First Press Turquoise Lettering - $2,118.70 - Start: $0.99 - Bids: 36


4. 45rpm - Tommy Ridgley "My Love Gets Stronger" / "Fly In My Pie" International City - $1,999.99 - Start: $99.99 Bids: 16


5. LP - The Beatles "Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" Captiol MAS 2653 Mono SEALED - $1,775.00 - Start: $9.95 - Bids: 21


An original Blue Note LP from Jutta Hipp tops the list this week, bidding up a little more than halfway over $4.6k. Next, the "Love Buzz" 7" from Nirvana gets it asking price with one bid exactly at the mid-point past $2.4k. This record is probably the most frequent visitor to the top 5, and as its been pointed out before, has an extremely stable value at between $2k - $2.5k.

In the #3 spot, a UK first press of Led Zeppelin's first LP sells for more than $2.1k. A Northern Soul 45 gets the #4 spot, this one from Tommy Ridgley and it bids to a penny under $2k.

And last, a sealed Sgt Pepper mono pressing sells for well over $1.7k.

As always, I want to thank Norm over at http://ccdiscoveries.blogspot.com/ for this great data.

Louisa man says vinyl still invincible ABOUT 'THE RECORD CUTTER'

Louisa man makes vinyl records, keeps a tradition alive

BY JONAS BEALS

When Vampire Weekend--the hottest indie band in the 2008 blogosphere--played two sold-out shows at the 9:30 Club last month, its merchandise table featured 12-inch vinyl LPs of their debut album.

People were buying them, and plenty of those customers were young. Teens. Kids.

It's hard to deny: Music history is repeating itself at 33 rpm.

At Chris Benson's studio in Louisa County, you can watch the real-time birth of a record. Benson is a master engineer, a trade that should have died when CDs came along in 1980. He uses a restored 1966 Neumann VMS-66 record lathe to cut grooves on blank lacquer discs.

"This machine was responsible for two Led Zeppelin albums and a Pink Floyd album," he said, referring to his exact lathe before getting more general. "This is the only way vinyl records are made."

CONCERNING THE CUT

The basic record-making process hasn't changed much since the early 1900s. Essentially, Benson uses an electric version of the technique Thomas Edison invented for his wax cylinders in 1877. Sound vibrates the needle, the needle etches a pattern in the blank record.

Once Benson has a disc cut, it can go one of two ways. The lacquer record can be used as-is on any record player--something disc jockeys refer to as a "dub plate." If the lacquer disc is a "master," it will be sent to a record-pressing company that uses the master to make a metal mold. A mechanical press sandwiches hot vinyl between the sides of the mold, and a slew of mass-produced vinyl records are born.

Years have passed and increased sophistication has brought complexity.

Early commercial recordings were actually cut directly to the disc with the help of a megaphone, then microphones. In the 1950s, recordings were stored on magnetic tape, then played back to cut the record.

Benson's setup is a tangle of wires, meters, buttons and sliders. There are a number of intermediate steps between his computer, where this particular recording is stored, and a finished record, but it all comes to a point where a sapphire-tipped needle, thinner than a human hair, cuts the groove.

"There's no magical science to it, and you don't need anything fancy," he said. "It's really a rudimentary and crude machine."

But making it work properly takes specific mechanical knowledge, strict attention to detail and a lot of patience. A stray hair or a nearly invisible speck of dust can send the needle off track and mar a recording.

Benson might scrap three or four discs before he gets a flawless record.

Benson explained the process as he set a fresh disc on the lathe. He leaned over the stylus and dropped it into the blank record, focused on the "chip"--a minuscule thread of lacquer being removed by the needle.

"I won't ever buy an LP again," he said. "I can cut my own."

REBIRTH OF THE RECORD

Benson's nom de guerre, "The Record Cutter," is informative whether he is spinning electronic dance music or transferring sounds to vinyl. Both are passions of his, but the latter has reached obsessive levels.

Benson sees himself as a technician, an artist and an important link in the thin chain of master engineers. He is trying to keep vinyl alive.

To do so is not a matter of marketing the nearly century-old technology to modern consumers. The demand is already there.

Ask an audiophile about the benefits of vinyl and you will probably get a lot of touchy-feely woo-woo about "warmth," "richness," and "depth." Compare that to the sleek chill of an iPod and records just sound outdated and inconvenient.

But pick up an LP and try to ignore its primal connection to the music. The size, the heft, the storybook record sleeve falling open with unexpected details--all of it in service of the shiny, grooved platter within. Handle it with care, because those minute grooves are music--the actual, physical destruction caused by air molecules in motion.

Vinyl inspires respect in a way digital streams of ones and zeroes never will. The song is literally in your hands. Look close enough and you can see it.

"Vinyl is like paper. People will always use it," Benson said.

He is more concerned with who will make the records, and what tools will be available. Record lathes are no longer manufactured.

"As long as people take care of these machines, vinyl will be around. People need to learn about this."

The overall music industry has shriveled with the advent of the mp3, but vinyl sales have been booming. Big discs still account for only a fraction of sales, but their share of the market is growing. Vinyl's popularity is such that plenty of Top-10 artists will press at least a short run of vinyl for collectors, hard-core fans and DJs. For example, most of Radiohead's albums are available on vinyl.

Jack Morrison owned Blue Dog Records and Tapes on Caroline Street in downtown Fredericksburg. The store closed nearly four years ago, after an industry-wide slowdown in CD sales. There was a bright spot, however.

"We sold vinyl more and more as CD sales went down," Morrison said. "Kids were buying vinyl, too."

He devoted more space to the big discs.

"People would come in and say, 'Wow, I didn't know they still made these.'"

Morrison was not a vinyl fan at first, but he came around. He kept one of the store's LP racks; it holds his personal vinyl collection now.

"It took a lot of convincing for me," he said. "The highs can sometimes be too tinny, but it really does have the warmer sound people talk about."

He believes he could have kept the store open just selling vinyl if Fredericksburg's student population had been a little bigger.

In some larger cities, specialty stores have been able to make a profit selling music on vinyl, nary a CD on their shelves. As more artists release their albums on vinyl, the medium has gained respect among mainstream consumers.

COMING BACK AROUND

When bands and record labels want to sell vinyl, they turn to the few obsessives who cut records.

"Those multi-million-dollar companies come to people like me," Benson said.

For now, he cuts custom records for DJs and lesser-known punk bands, but at 30, he is a toddler in the world of record-cutting. If vinyl hangs on, artists might need his skills. Regardless, he hopes to inspire the next generation of master engineers.

"Vinyl is never going to die," Benson insisted.

At some point, a master engineer like Benson was hunched over a record lathe, staring at a needle as it etched the grooves of that Vampire Weekend album. Like Benson, that person might have been working in a homemade studio. It had to start somewhere.

With vinyl, it starts and ends with sound. The vibrations in the air, frozen in time. Compared to CDs, vinyl records seem quaint, but they also seem natural--the organic extension of a voice or a guitar.

"All sound on this planet is really one sound," Benson said. "It's like ripples on a pond. It's that simple."

SOURCE: http://fredericksburg.com

Rock & Roll Tidbits

Friends of The Raiders leader, Paul Revere, say that in high school, his name was Revere Dick and he had a brother named Sly.

Little Richard's 1958 Top Ten hit "Good Golly Miss Molly" says that Miss Molly "sure likes to ball..." At the time it was on the charts, Richard was enrolled a bible college.

Producer Terry Melcher called upon song writers Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil to come up with something for Paul Revere And The Raiders. They sent him a song called "Kicks", which they had originally written hoping it would help get a friend of theirs off drugs.

In 1962, Mersyside Newspaper held a contest to see who was the most popular band in Liverpool. The Beatles were the winners, partly because they called in posing as different people, voting for themselves.

In 1972, David Bowie declared that he was a homosexual, only to deny it in the 1980’s. Finally, Bowie admitted what he really was-a ‘trisexual’. He explained: “I’ll try anything once.”

Shock rocker Sid Vicious died in February, 1979 from an overdose of heroin that was bought for him by his mother, who was present when he injected it.

George Martin, who produced The Beatles most successful recordings, first rose to prominence by recording comedy records.

In 1962, when Johnny Carson took over the NBC "Tonight Show" from Jack Parr, he commissioned Paul Anka for a new theme song. Paul suggested a song that he had already written called "Toot Sweet". After a lyric was added in 1959 it was re-named "It's Really Love" and under that title, was recorded by Annette Funicello on her LP, "Annette Sings". Under a deal with Anka, Johnny became the "author" for copyright purposes and got a piece of not only the publishing but the composer's share too. Both Anka and Carson's names were listed as writers and the two began collecting BMI performance royalties. The pair got $200 in royalties every time the show aired...and it ran for 32 years, 52 weeks a year, 5 nights a week -- which works out to $1,664,000.00 -- not bad for an old tune that had been re-cycled twice before.

According to the Amusement & Music Operators Association, Patsy Cline's 1962 hit, "Crazy" is the most played song on jukeboxes across the United States. It is followed by "Old Time Rock and Roll" by Bob Seger and "Hound Dog" / "Don't Be Cruel" by Elvis Presley.

There is a five way tie for the shortest title of a song to make it to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The songs are: The Jacksons' "ABC", Edwin Starr's "War", Frankie Avalon's "Why", and Michael Jackson's "Ben" and "Bad".

Roberta Flack recorded "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" as an album cut for her 1969 debut LP "First Take". Three years later, Clint Eastwood remembered hearing the song and included it in his film "Play Misty For Me", causing Atlantic Records to re-edit and rush release the song as a single. Six weeks later, it was the number one song in the US, where it stayed for six weeks.

During a December, 1974 interview, TV talk show host Dick Cavett asked David Bowie what his mother thought of his act. He replied "She pretends I'm not hers."

When he thought that the crowd needed a wake up call, Butthole Surfer Gibby Haynes occasionally fired off a shotgun over the heads of the fans.

In the early years the Butthole Surfers enjoyed performing while medical-curiosity films played in the background. These ‘films’ were so gory and graphic (e.g. scenes of sex-change surgery), that some people at the concerts would actually vomit; which was not always a bad thing at a Butthole gathering.

When Frank Sinatra Jr was kidnapped in December, 1963, his abductors demanded $240,000 ransom. His father offered one million dollars for his safe return, but for some un-explained reason, his captors turned the offer down and settled for the original amount. Three men were later caught and sent to prison.

Walter Murphy's 1976 disco hit, "A Fifth Of Beethoven" was based on Ludwig van Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5 in C Minor", composed in 1807.

After Capitol records had rejected “Love Me Do”, “Please Please Me” and “From Me To You” for American release, label president Alan Livingston sent a memo to their parent company, EMI in Britain that said: “We don’t think The Beatles will do anything in this market.” A year later, in January, 1964, when “I Saw Her Standing There” was issued, it became the fastest selling single in the history of recorded music and Capitol’s pressing plant was forced to run 24 hours a day, trying to fill more than one million orders.

Although it says Diana Ross on her birth certificate, her parents and friends called her Diane until her early 20s

When Dennis Edwards of The Temptations first sang "Papa Was A Rolling Stone", he was upset by the line "It Was The Third Of September / That Day I'll Always Remember / 'Cause That Was The Day My Daddy Died", because Edwards father actually did die on September 3rd.

Robin and Barry Gibb wrote "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" for crooner Andy Williams. When he declined, the Bee Gees recorded the song themselves and scored the first of their nine number one records with it.

Listen carefully to the beginning of The Beatles' song "Come Together", from their Abby Road album. The bass guitar riff nearly obliterates John Lennon saying "Shoot me".

This Date In Music History-January 26

Birthdays:

Huey "Piano" Smith (the original "Rockin' Pneumonia - Boogie Woogie Flu") turns 75.

Jean Knight ("Mr. Big Stuff") (1943)

Paul Pena, a blues musician who wrote Steve Miller's hit "Jet Airliner" and then became a Tuvan throat singer as documented in the film Genghis Blues, was born in Hyannis, Mass in 1950.

Lucinda Williams (1953)

Eddie Van Halen (1957)

Andrew Ridgeley- Wham (1963)

Cinderella -Tom Keifer (1961)


They Are Missed:

The late Marshall Lieb of the Teddy Bears was born in 1939.

In 2007, Tommy Dee, who reached #11 on the Billboard chart in 1959 with "Three Stars,” a song dedicated to Richie Valens, Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper, died at the age of 70, after a long illness.


History:

Signed to Decca Records in 1956, Buddy Holly headed to Nashville for his first official recording session. Overseen by veteran country producer Owen Bradley, the session yields four tracks, including Holly's debut single ("Blue Days, Black Nights") and a classic cover ("Midnight Shift").

In 1969, in the midst of recording Let It Be at the Apple Studios, the Beatles layed down a series of rock 'n' roll covers, including "Shake Rattle And Roll," "Kansas City," "Miss Ann," "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," "Blue Suede Shoes," "You Really Got A Hold On Me" and "Tracks Of My Tears." They also worked on "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road." Ringo spends the day composing "Octopus's Garden" and the Beatles also hatched the idea to perform on the roof of their headquarters.

John Lennon writes and records “Instant Karma (We All Shine On)” in 1970.

In 1964, the British Invasion begins in America, as "I Want To Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles goes to #1.

The American Breed was signed by ACTA Records when the label president sees them perform while stuck in Chicago during a blizzard in 1967.

In 1962, "The Twist" was banned from the Buffalo Roman Catholic Diocese for being "impure.”

Ringo Starr went to #1 on the Billboard singles chart in 1974 with his version of Johnny Burnette's 1960 #8 hit "Your Sixteen.” The track featured Paul McCartney on kazoo and Harry Nilsson on background vocals.

In 1970, Australia's first rock festival, the Ourimbah Rock Festival was attended by 11,000 people over the weekend.

In 1999, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that John Denver died in a 1997 airplane crash because he took off with too little fuel in one tank, had trouble switching to his backup tank and inadvertently put his plane into a roll while his attention was diverted.

The Four Seasons' "Walk Like A Man" was released in 1963. Five weeks later, it will be Billboard's #1 single.

A trio called The Rooftop Singers took "Walk Right In" to the top of the Billboard chart in 1963. The song had been written in 1930 by Gus Cannon, who had been living in poverty until he started earning royalties from the hit record.

In 1980, three years after signing with Warner Brothers Records, 21 year-old Prince made his US television debut on American Bandstand where he performed his R&B chart topping hit, "I Wanna Be Your Lover.”

The first of a two-part Jimi Hendrix exhibition premiered at Seattle's Experience Music Project in 2008. The first phase of the exhibit, Message To Love, features two iconic Hendrix guitars housed in a gallery with blank walls on which visitors are encouraged to write their thoughts about the guitar great. Part two, Jimi Hendrix: An Evolution of Sound, offers an interactive look at the guitarist's influence on popular music.

Peter Green, one of Fleetwood Mac's founding guitarists, was committed to an English mental institution in 1977. Cause? He fired a pistol at a messenger who was trying to deliver a check for his portion of song royalties

Classic Rock Videos

The Beatles Live - Twist and Shout

Review- Dennis Wilson

I am very proud to announce a great new feature, music reviews that are written by the senior contributing editor of Stereophile magazine- Michael Fremer. It has been a pleasure to speak with Michael and learn more about audio sound and equipment. In fact, his new DVD, "It's A Vinyl World, After All" has hit the shelves and is selling out very quickly. This is a must have for anybody who loves vinyl, it is a true masterpiece.


Additionally, make sure to stop by his site, www.musicangle.com and bookmark it for further exploration. I certainly want to thank Michael for the exclusive rights to reprint his fantastic material.










ALBUM REVIEW:
Dennis Wilson (reissue)
Pacific Ocean Blue
Caribou/Sundazed LP 5212 3 blue LPs

Produced by: Dennis Wilson & Gregg Jakobson, John Hanlon
Engineered by: Stephen Mofitt, others
Mixed by: Stephen Moffitt, John Hanlon
Mastered by: Vic Anesini at Sony Music Studios and Battery Studios, NYC
Reissue producer: Rob Santos


Review by: Michael Fremer
2009-01-01


Dennis Wilson didn't sing very well in the conventional sense of the word: his pitch was frequently off, he warbled, his vocal timbre was raspy and calling his range 'limited' would be an overstatement.

Yet his commitment to communicating his feelings, which were often downcast but ever hopeful, overcame has limitations. Still, in order to enjoy this tribute you'll need to come to grips with the fact that Wilson's singing abilities were limited and his mood was bluer than the ocean.

The only Beach Boy who personified the Beach Boy image of sun, surfing, girls, cars and sex (the screaming at Beach Boy concerts was all aimed at Dennis) was the least talented in the conventional sense of the word, yet the artistry that coursed through the Wilson family's genes was present in Dennis who, because of his limited musical training and his troubled temperament, found expression in its rawest, most pure form, as this set demonstrates.

Listen to 'Fairwell My Friend' and you'll know. It's a song dedicated to a friend's father, who had been a member of the fragile singer's support system.

There wouldn't be a Dennis Wilson solo album (the first Beach Boy solo album, released in September of 1977 on James William Guercio's Caribou Records, distributed by Columbia) without the support of his many friends, who participated and contributed not out of pity or sympathy, but because they genuinely believed in his talents. They also knew that without their support there wouldn't be a Dennis solo album: he was simply too broken.

Now this record review will become personal: I met Dennis Wilson once, but before getting to that, looking through the credits I found many familiar names of people I'd not thought about in decades.

Among the guitarists was Ed Tuleja. He had the first Telecaster I'd ever seen live. It was at Cornell in the basement of University Halls #3 my freshman year, 1964. Tuleja was in a group called Oz and the Ends fronted by another freshman, Ozzie Ahlers. The first song I heard them rehearse was called '(Everybody learn to) Master the Bate.' In fact, I recorded it (in stereo) but the damn tape disappeared from my apartment around 1977. I wish I still had it!

I was the first floor's resident audio dweeb and lived across the hall from the group's bassist Peter Truitt, who asked me to help them with their P.A.. They had meager resources and couldn't afford a decent horn-based speaker system. All they could afford was a really crappy Radio Shack dynamic driver-based system that barely cut the vocals through the instrumental din. I felt I'd let them down, but that was all they could afford.

Anyway, Ozzie and Ed were really good players, even back then at 17 or 18, so I'm not surprised they both stayed in music. My most vivid memory of Ed Tuleja was walking down the stairs at the student union, Willard Straight Hall, into the Ivy Room, which at the time was the cafeteria and lunch-time hangout for the entire campus, and hearing for the very first time, The Byrds' version of 'Turn, Turn, Turn.' Both of us melted on the spot as the tune played on the jukebox, barely audible above the noisy cafeteria din. Then we parted and went to our assigned segregated tables in the rigid fraternity hierarchy.

Keyboardist Ron Altbach also was at Cornell and hung around the Oz and the Ends rehearsals. He plays accordion on this Wilson album and his name can be found on other Wilson family projects.

Oh, another familiar name was the late arranger Jimmie Haskell's. Haskell wrote and arranged all of the musical links on the animated film 'Animalypics' that I'd co-written and on which I did voices along with Gilda Radner, Billy Crystal and Harry Shearer.

So how did I meet Dennis Wilson? Well, that's a long, somewhat sordid and embarrassing story that puts no one in a good light, but here goes: I had this troubled friend I'd met at a poker game in L.A. in the early '80s attended by, among others, the rock critic and cultural commentator Richard Meltzer, who I'd met years before in New York.

Meltzer memorably wrote an autobiography, the first sentence of which was 'I wouldn't fuck my mother with a ten foot pole.' Meltzer kept a parrot in his New York apartment that liked to perch on the fireplace mantle. The parrot would just sit there and of course left droppings. The droppings formed a massive (and disgusting!) stalactite that clung to the side of the fireplace, eventually making its way onto the hearth.

Rather than cleaning it up, Meltzer chose to put newspaper paper down on the hearth. Eventually, the guano overflowed onto the wood floor. Meltzer spread more newspaper on the floor to catch the growing guano flow. Why bring up the parrot? Why not? It's not something you see every day and Meltzer wasn't someone you met every day either.

Flash forward a few years to the poker party and this guy I'd never met needed a ride home to Santa Monica, which was near Venice, where I lived. We got back to his place and after looking through his record collection I realized we'd end up friends, which we did, despite his many eccentricities and oddities that I won't go into here.

One night he killed himself in his car (a real Mini-Cooper, of which he had two) in the parking lot at Will

Rogers State Park by putting the barrel of a 357 Magnum in his mouth and pulling the trigger—not before injecting his two dogs with poison.

I found out the next morning because he left a package on my porch before driving to the Pacific Ocean beach front park, containing a long suicide note in which he thanked me for our friendship and instructed me to call all of his friends and inform them of his demise and for us to all meet at his house where we'd find all of his possessions labeled as to who would get what. Not surprisingly, I got all of his records, including his rather extensive Hendrix bootleg collection.

He also left me, in that package containing the suicide note, an ounce of cocaine. Now, back in the early 1980's cocaine was all over Los Angeles (and New York and Boston and') and I'm not going to try and tell you that I'd never seen it or done it because I had.

In fact, when Eric Clapton's Slowhand album was released, the one with J.J. Cale's song 'Cocaine' on it, one of the record label's promo tchotzkes was a cigar box containing a razor blade, a cut off plastic straw and a gram vial with the obligatory chain and coke spoon attached. That's from a major record label!. That's how crazy it was.

Most everyone I knew in the record biz (and out of the record biz) was tooting away on a regular basis. That said, I'd never before seen an entire ounce of the stuff. I told a few friends of mine about it because the last thing I wanted to have sitting around my apartment was an ounce of cocaine, yet I couldn't bring myself to just flush it. I'm not going to lie to you: I did some and in small amounts I enjoyed the lift. I never really got my kicks from the stuff and never got heavily involved. I'm jumpy enough as it is!

I started giving it away to people I knew who would enjoy it. Within a few days of making known to a few friends that I had the stash, I got a knock on my door and there was Dennis Wilson. If that doesn't show you how fucking dangerous and addicting that stuff is—that a well-known guy would knock on the door of a total stranger and humiliate himself to get some free toot—I don't know what would!

I'll never forget the encounter: Wilson charmed his way into my apartment as if we were best friends. I immediately knew why he was there, of course, but he didn't ask for it right away. He began by pouring through my record collection. We played some tunes and talked about music for a while. It was bizarre, it was fun and of course it was pathetic for both of us. Couldn't I have met this charming, vital, terribly lost person some other way? Apparently not.

How could someone who had talent, fame, money, good looks and a lifetime's worth of adventure and had probably screwed more beautiful woman in his life than I could even imagine, end up humiliating himself at my door in search of something as lame as cocaine?

Wilson wasn't feverish about it. He didn't act desperate, though of course, the act of just showing up at my door was desperation. We played tunes for a while and talked about music and then he did something I'll never forget: I had this cheap Casio keyboard. I mean, it was a two and and a half or three feet long toy with a limited range keyboard fitted with tiny keys and a cheesy built-in drum machine. I'd 'played' it for years and gotten less than zero from it.

In Wilson's hands it became a grand piano, a pipe organ, an instrument capable of great musical expressiveness. He played with that Casio for a good ten or fifteen minutes, during which time I stared at his fingers trying to figure out how he managed to wring so much from so little. It was musical alchemy.

I hadn't paid much attention to Pacific Blue when it was first released, thinking of Wilson as the non-talent in the Wilson family, nor had the music-buying public at the time: the record only made it to #96 on the Billboard charts.

In those few minutes during which Dennis Wilson played the Casio I went from thinking of him as a good looking oaf living in his brother's shadow, to thinking of him as someone possessed of great (if woefully unfulfilled) spirit and musical talent.

I also realized he was performing, not out of generosity, but in the hopes of a reward. I obliged by laying out some lines. I wasn't about to have him leave my apartment with anything that could come back to haunt me, but of course I was wrong.

A year later, on December 28th, 1983 he was gone, the victim of an accidental drowning. He was already lost and drowning when I met him and I know that my tiny 'contribution' had little impact on where he was headed, but it haunts me nonetheless.

This three record, triple gatefold set collects the original Pacific Blue album along with two records' worth of un-issued tracks, some from the Pacific Blue sessions but mostly from a follow up album, Bambu that was never completed. Wilson's support system had crumbled with the sale of Brother recording studio and brother Carl Wilson's estrangement.

While the unreleased Pacific Blue tracks and all of Bambu were mixed recently by John Hanlon, a former studio tech at Brother, who went on to become an engineer, the Bambu material is as Dennis Wilson had left it. Rather than being unsatisfying snippets they stand as testament to both Wilson's talents and his darkness.

This reissue is six sides of mostly sadness, regret remorse and confusion. What made Dennis Wilson such a sad soul? Beats me. Perhaps like his talent and that of his brother, his emotional difficulties were entwined in his genes.

Who was Dennis Wilson? Start with 'Piano Variations on Thoughts of You,' the final track on the final side of this triple LP, six side set. As with those few minutes I spent listening to Wilson play that little Casio keyboard, by the time the final notes fade out at the very end of the three minute piece, you'll begin to know.

Both Brother and Caribou (which eventually burnt down) were studios known for producing great sound. You'll hear it in these recordings.

While Wilson's friends were so eager to help him realize his musical dream that they occasionally overwhelmed his vocal contributions, hearing these tracks all these years later is like opening a time capsule out of pours Dennis Wilson's soul, and if you're of a certain age, some of your own that's been locked away in that very perilous time of deep disillusionment and disappointment for a generation that came of age with so much hope in the air.

Rock & Roll Tidbits

Michael Jackson was just five years old when the Jackson Five played their first professional gig. Their fee for the night was only eight dollars, but they collected over one hundred dollars in money tossed on the stage.

The music business is hard on a marriage. Paul Revere has been married six times. Jerry Lee Lewis, Kenny Rogers and Tammy Wynette have each been married five times. James Brown, Glen Campbell and Peggy Lee have been married four times.

Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson were not the first group in the rock and roll era to call themselves The Supremes. An all male quartet from Columbus, Ohio used the name on a 1957 single called "Just You And I" and Ruby and the Romantics, who had a number one US hit with "Our Day Will Come" in 1963, started out as The Supremes.

The Guess Who performed at The White House during the Nixon administration, but were asked not to perform their #1 hit "American Woman" because of its' anti-U.S. establishment lyrics.

Fats Domino's 1956, US #2 hit, "Blueberry Hill" was originally a number one hit for big band leader Glen Miller in 1940.

According to Rolling Stone magazine, The Young Rascals were surprised by the success of "Good Lovin". Felix Cavaliere admitted, "We weren't too pleased with our performance. It was a shock to us when it went to the top of the charts."

Although Jerry Lee Lewis received a lot of bad press for marrying his 13 year old second cousin, Jerry's sister Linda Gail first married at 14 and another sister, Frankie Jean, first married at age 12.

When song writer Burt Bacharach asked B.J. Thomas to sing "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" for the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, he neglected to tell Thomas that the song had already been turned down by Bob Dylan and Ray Stevens.

Buddy Holly's drummer, Jerry Allison played drums on The Everly Brothers 1959 hit "Til I Kissed You".

Songwriter Hoyt Axton once revealed that the first line of "Joy To The World", Jeremiah was a bullfrog, was never intended to be in the song. It was just a fill-in line he used until he could come up with better lyrics. He pitched the tune to Three Dog Night when they toured together and they ended up recording it "as is."

George Harrison expressed his feelings about the break-up of The Beatles by saying: "The saddest thing was actually getting fed up with one another."

A race running the route described in the song "Dead Man's Curve", from Hollywood and Vine to Sunset and Doheny, would have covered 4.5 miles. If it were extended to the real "dead man's curve" near UCLA, it would have been a drag race of 8.7 miles.

The Beach Boys' 1966 hit, "Caroline, No" was originally titled "Carol, I Know".

After Jan Berry of Jan and Dean was seriously injured in a car accident on April 12, 1966 and could no longer perform, his partner Dean Torrence formed a graphics design company that was responsible for over 200 album covers including "The Turtles Golden Hits", nine for The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and several for Harry Nilsson. He won a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover of the Year in 1972 for the LP "Pollution" by the group of the same name and was nominated on three other occasions.

In 1956, entertainer Jackie Gleason said of Elvis Presley, "He can’t last, I tell you flatly, he can’t last."

The Recording Industry Association of American began certifying recordings as Gold on March 14th, 1958 to recognize records that sold over 500,000 copies. The first Gold plaque was presented to Perry Como for his hit single, "Catch A Falling Star". Four months later, the cast album to "Oklahoma" sung by Gordon Macrae became the first official Gold album. In 1976, because of booming record sales, the RIAA created a new platinum award, for singles that sell in excess of 2 million copies and an album that sells 1 million units. The first platinum single was Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady", and the first platinum album went to the Eagles for their "Greatest Hits 1971-1975". On March 16, 1999, the RIAA launched the Diamond Awards, honoring sales of 10 million copies or more of an album or single. Awards were presented to AC/DC, The Eagles, and Metallica.

On February 14th, 1977, singer / songwriter Janis Ian received 461 Valentine's day cards after indicating in the lyrics of her 1975, number 3 hit "At Seventeen", she had never received any. (The valentines I never knew, The Friday night charades of youth, Were spent on one more beautiful, At seventeen I learned the truth)

According to Paul Anka, who appeared with Buddy Holly on some of the Winter Dance Party tour before the plane crash that took Holly's life, Buddy had plans to take flying lessons when the tour was over.

On Sunday, February 10th, 1964, the night that the Beatles made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, an estimated 73 million viewers watched on TV, with over 45 percent of all sets in the US tuned in. The crime rate among American teenagers dropped to nearly zero that night.

For the Love of Vinyl: The Album Art of Hipgnosis

For the Love of Vinyl: The Album Art of Hipgnosis
by Storm Thorgerson & Audrey Powell

You have definitely seen the album art of Hipgnosis, the now-revered British design group that created the art for most of your favorite classic records of the 1970s. Houses Of The Holy, Dark Side Of The Moon — both theirs.

Much has been published about the work of Hipgnosis’ co-founders Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell, whose photography backgrounds fueled their work. However, For The Love of Vinyl documents over 60 of their projects in detail — offering insight into the environment in which these works were produced. These histories are often as interesting as the album art.

The founders write in the introduction:

Most the work in [For The Love of Vinyl] was executed in Denmark Street, where we had a makeshift studio and a smelly but serviceable darkroom. The great virtues of Denmark Street were its central location, its cheapness, and its funky setting amongst guitar shops and rehearsal rooms in a maze of back alleys.

Contributor Adrian Shaughnessy writes:

Aubrey Powell recalls the moment Johnny Rotten — the king of artful-dodger pop — and his manager (Malcom McLaren) turned up on Denmark Street. “The music that inched out of their thick studio door clashed horribly with the delicate harmonies of Crosby, Stills & Nash emanating from ours. Daily, I sensed a malignant attitude in McLaren’s mission — we were out, they were in.”

McLaren’s Sex Pistols helped usher in a new sound, putting many of Hipgnosis’ clients out of work. In 1982, the graphic design agency closed.


Artwork from Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd.

To the record company’s surprise, in 1975, Hipgnosis wrapped Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd’s follow-up to the wildly successful Dark Side of the Moon, in opaque black plastic.




Below, Powell discusses For The Love of Vinyl.



I have the book and it is full of great artwork and the stories behind the scenes and is a great addition to your bookself or coffe table. Buy your copy of this fantastic look at the history of album cover art:




SOURCE: http://www.alarmpress.com

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Just For The Record

The vinyl revival is not only in the US and the UK. Read this great story about the vinyl comeback from 'down under.'


Just for the record

written by Bernard Zuel


THEY will never compete with compact discs when it comes to pristine sound, or MP3s when it comes to convenience. They don't hold photographs or feature films, and the bargain bins in Asian street markets are not exactly bulging with knock-offs illegally reproduced in secret sweatshops.

But figures released in the US last week showed that vinyl albums sales nearly doubled last year, with 1.88 million sold - up from just under 1 million in 2007. In Australia, unofficial figures show an increase of more than 50 per cent over the same period.

When U2 release their new album, No Line On The Horizon, next month they will do so on vinyl, as well as CD.

Last year Elvis Costello released his new album on vinyl alone for its first few weeks on sale, before releasing a CD version, and Radiohead offered a $100 vinyl option of its album In Rainbows - which fans could otherwise download for whatever price they chose. It sold more than 100,000 copies.

At the other end of the age market, the White Stripes sold 12,000 copies of its 2007 album Icky Thump in the US, and Metallica sold all 5000 of the $150 vinyl boxed set of 2008's Death Magnetic album.

At the even more cost-conscious level - the local independent scene - Sydney band Cog plan to release two albums on vinyl. The Drones, previous winners of the Australian Music Prize, recently did well with a picture sleeve, 12-inch vinyl mini-album, and teen favourites the Grates are one of scores of Australian bands to make their albums simultaneously available on CD and vinyl.

Still, the clearest indication that there is money to be made from vinyl is that the world's largest record company, Universal Music, has embarked on a massive vinyl album release.

While rival EMI has released vinyl versions of 15 to 20 major acts, such as Jimi Hendrix, the Beach Boys and Coldplay, and Sony Music has a program of about 30 back-catalogue vinyl releases for artists such as Bruce Springsteen (all only available through imported copies in Australia), Universal, using the little-discussed 60th anniversary of the long-playing vinyl record as its hook, is releasing 76 remastered-for-vinyl albums for worldwide distribution.

The so-called Back to Black program has classic albums from the 1960s and '70s (from James Brown, Velvet Underground - with peelable banana sticker - and John Coltrane to Thin Lizzy, Stevie Wonder and Abba), big-selling '80s albums (by the likes of U2, Def Leppard and the Police) and some contemporary albums by artists with many fans who were born after the emergence of the compact disc (Amy Winehouse, Bjork and Ryan Adams).

What you get are the albums in their original sleeves, often including gatefold covers, the record made of 180-gram vinyl (new, rather than recycled plastic and considerably thicker than standard), so the sound is improved, and an access code to download all those tracks as MP3 files.

Liam Dennis, Universal's back catalogue product manager, says vinyl is not only being bought by ageing collectors or audiophiles who have argued for 25 years that only vinyl sounds right.

"Three distinct people buy these records," Dennis says. "Firstly, an older generation who may have purchased the album in the era of its original release, wanting to revisit the album in the warmth of vinyl, who may also be new to digital downloads.

"Secondly, a younger generation for whom CD or even digital downloads are the norm. Their childhood experience of vinyl may have been limited to their parents' copy of Hot August Night - my personal experience - but they are now wanting the retro cool factor of vinyl. It's not just the music but also the touchy-feely physical product.

"Thirdly, completist fans who want everything released by a particular artist."

Buoyed by the sales of these vinyl re-issues, Universal, like many of the big companies, has increased the volume of vinyl offered in conjunction with new CD albums by acts such as Guns N' Roses, the Presets, the Cure and Snow Patrol.

Two years ago vinyl was 10 per cent of sales for Neville Sergent, owner of Mojo Music in York Street, which specialises in music from the 1940s to the 1970s. These days that is up to 20 per cent. Of his customers, about one in four is under 30 and has grown up with CDs and now downloads.

Why are they buying vinyl?

"There's not one answer," Sergent says. "The obvious one is it has a hip factor, whatever that means. It's bigger, it engages you, it does have a warmer sound [but also] it's a retro thing, like people riding scooters or wearing Levi's.

"Then there's a lot that are either in bands or hang out with people in bands or their fathers are into that music. And the compressed sound of phones and iPods [see box below], it makes vinyl stand out more."

What Sergent describes as the way vinyl engages music fans is a crucial element in the experience for John Encarnacao, a lecturer in music at the University of Western Sydney, as well as a musician and voracious vinyl buyer, both of new and old music. Playing vinyl is about more than just putting some music on.

"I like the ritual of playing records and I guess the ritual is really about dedicating oneself to listening to music," Encarnacao says. "The convenience of CDs has been talked about since they came out and MP3s are even more convenient but to me they allow people to do something else while they're listening. Generally speaking, people don't pay as much attention to music now.

"I use the word ritual and that may sound fetishistic but vinyl seems more respectful of the music as a medium in every way. The presentation of it is more respectful, in terms of being bigger, and in terms of the way you play it."

Cog's Flynn Gower couldn't agree more as he anticipates the response to his band's coming vinyl releases. "Album artwork played a massive part in the romanticism of rock'n'roll. When someone talks about a great album you immediately conjure up images of the cover art. There is just something warm and reassuring about vinyl. When someone picks up an old record they do so with respect, kindness and reverence. Like it's a work of art or an ancient treasure from an archaeological dig."

SOURCE: http://www.smh.com.au

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The Mamas and Papas - California Dreamin

Rock & Roll Tidbits

Five different record companies, including Decca, Roulette, Columbia, RCA and Atlantic turned down "That'll Be The Day" by Buddy Holly. Finally, Bob Thiele at Coral / Brunswick Records heard the demo and signed Holly to a contract.

In order to give fans a "gold record", the first 100,000 copies of "We're An American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad were stamped out of gold colored vinyl.

Lesley Gore appeared in two episodes of the TV show Batman in 1966. She played the role of "Pussycat", one of Catwoman's henchwomen. She may have had a little help landing the role, as Howie Horwitz, one of the show's producers, is her uncle.

Even though they have such strange names as Moon Unit, Diva, Dweezil and Ahmet Rodan, Frank Zappa once said that he believed that his kids would always have more trouble because of their last name.

Years before scoring 1972's number one smash "I Can See Clearly Now", Johnny Nash entered a talent show in Houston Texas. He lost to a young Soul singer named Joe Tex, who would have a chart topping hit of his own in 1968 with "Skinny Legs and All".

Jimi Hendrix was hired as the Monkees opening act for their 1967 Summer tour. Unfortunately, US audiences had never seen anything like Hendrix before and booed him off of the stage. He quit the tour after two weeks.

According to BMI, the performing rights organization that represents, songwriters, composers and music publishers, Mason Williams' 1968 hit, "Classical Gas" has received more radio airplay than any other instrumental.

Before starting his run at the legendary Whisky A Go Go, Johnny Rivers hired a fill-in bass player named Sylvester Stewart. Things didn't go well the first night and Stewart was promptly fired. A few years later, he would re-appear on the music scene as the leader of his own band...Sly and The Family Stone.

According to guitarist Robbie Robertson, Bob Dylan's backup band resisted all conformity, even naming their ensemble. After landing their own recording contract, record company executives pressed them for a group name, but had to settle for simply The Band.

In April, 1967, the Greyhound bus company began offering a guided tour of what they called "Hippyland" in San Francisco.

According to producer Mickie Most, The Animals went into a recording studio at 8 A.M. to cut "House Of The Rising Sun" and 15 minutes later, the track was complete. With studio time costing the equivalent of $20 an hour, the song cost $5 to record, but would go on to top both the US and UK charts.

The set on which Rick Nelson appeared in the TV show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, was an exact copy of the Nelson's real Hollywood home.

Frank Sinatra once called Rock and Roll "The most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear."

The musicians who backed The Chiffons on their 1963 #1 hit "He's So Fine" were all members of The Tokens, who had scored their own chart topper with "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in 1961.

In the Fall of 1965, while the Four Seasons' "Let's Hang On" was a Billboard #3 smash, they also scored a #12 hit with "Don't Think Twice" under the name of The Wonder Who. At the same time, lead singer Franki Valli reached #39 with a solo release called "You're Gonna Hurt Yourself", giving him three Top 40 hits at the same time, all under different names.

While talking on the phone with his mother, Disc Jockey Murray The K mentioned that he and Bobby Darin were soaking their feet after playing a game of softball in Central Park. A few minutes later, she called back to say that she had an idea for a song - "Splish, Splash, take a bath..." Murray and Bobby began sorting out some lyrics while Murray's mother, Jean, who had been a vaudeville piano player, finished the melody. It became the first of Bobby's 22 US Top 40 hits when it reached #3 in the Summer of 1958.

The Beatles recorded two different versions of the song "Strawberry Fields Forever". One was a half-tone higher and slightly faster than the other. The group couldn't decide which rendition they liked better and finally asked producer George Martin if he could put them together somehow. When one was slowed down, it fit perfectly with the other, resulting in the song we know today.

Apparently, Little Richard was not a real smart child. As a lad, he wanted to give one of his neighbors a ‘creative gift.’ But his neighbor, Miz Ola screamed when she opened her present. It seems young Richard thought that defecating in a box and wrapping it up as a present for his elderly friend would be a good gift for her. Little Richard stated in his autobiography: “God bless Miz Ola, she’s dead now.” No word on if he selected other neighbors to receive his thoughtful gift.

When Malcolm Young and Angus Young named their band AC/DC, they apparently didn’t realize that the electrical term was also slang for bisexual. But the ambiguous name helped them out in the beginning as the group was hired to play many gay-themed gigs. Work is work, I guess.

In the early days, the Bee Gees were so desperate to sell their records that they actually gave members of their fan club money to go out and but their records. Thankfully, there were only six members in the fan club or the trio would be broke.

Ironically, only Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys was the group’s only surfer.

Antoine "Fats" Domino came by his nickname because he stood 5 feet, 2 inches tall and weighed 225 lb.

When Elvis Presley was inducted into the US Army on March 24th, 1958, Uncle Sam started losing an estimated $500,000 in lost taxes for each year that Private Presley served.

Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead was brought in as a session musician to play steel guitar on Brewer and Shipley's March, 1971 hit, "One Toke Over The Line".