Bob Bogle- The Ventures

R.I.P Bob Bogle - You changed the way a guitar could be played and heard. Godspeed..

Backstage Auctions to Put 5,000 7-inch Vintage Promotional Records On the Auction Block

Press release distributed in partnership with



Backstage Auctions to feature over 700 auction lots of rock and roll treasures from the personal collection of noted classic rock radio legend Denny Somach. The Rockin' Hot Summer Auction will feature one-of-a-kind items from rock history's most iconic bands and personalities including The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, The Band, YES, The Who, The Doors, B.B. King, The Kinks and many more.



Houston, TX (Billboard Publicity Wire/PRWEB ) June 16, 2009 -- Backstage Auctions, Inc., the online boutique auction house specializing in authentic classic rock memorabilia, is hopping on the vinyl bandwagon. With both baby boomers and teens attracted by the sound of vinyl records and record stores promoting monthly Vinyl Saturdays (June 20 is the next one), Backstage Auctions is putting up one of the largest collections of 7-inch promotional vinyl singles in their The Rockin' Hot Summer Auction, June 21-28 at http://backstageauctions.com.

Featuring items from the personal collection of radio/TV industry veteran Denny Somach spanning his 40-year career, The Rockin' Hot Summer Auction features a collection of over 5,000 7-inch vinyl promotional singles up for bidding and Backstage Auctions is expecting a big response from the collecting public. What makes 45 rpm singles so interesting is not only the artwork used on the sleeves but many contain rare B-sides with songs that were never released on an album. "Clearly the allure of vinyl is gaining mainstream popularity again with the resurgence of vinyl records being produced and released, evidenced by Record Store Day's new monthly Vinyl Saturday events, " says Jacques van Gool, of Backstage Auctions.

Somach's collection of vinyl records covers all music genres which defined the 1970s, including classic rock, British rock, progressive rock, hard rock, punk and new wave, disco, R&B and soul, country and western, pop, blues, jazz, folk and reggae. Records on the auction block include singles from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, David Bowie, KISS, Fleetwood Mac, Journey and many more. "As an auctioneer who works exclusively with music industry professionals, we have seen some amazing vinyl collections come through our doors, but this particular 7- inch collection is one of the most unique and rare collections simply because 90% of the singles are promotional and radio-station-only releases," says van Gool.

Somach will donate a portion of the auction proceeds to the American Diabetes Association.

Every lot in The Rockin' Hot Summer Auction can be viewed online June 14-20 at http://backstageauctions.com. Bidding starts on June 21-28.

Backstage Auctions is a boutique online auction house specializing in authentic classic rock memorabilia. By exclusively representing legendary musicians and entertainment professionals directly, every auction event is unique and reflects the seller's legacy and chronicles their legendary career. Over the past five years Backstage Auctions has represented musicians, producers and managers in the music industry. Their very first online auction event featured the private collection of legendary producer Eddie Kramer and since then, they have represented musicians such as Ted Nugent, Howard Kaylan (The Turtles), Ross Valory (Journey) and Michael Shrieve (Santana) as well as managers of legendary bands such as The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, KISS, Journey, Joe Walsh and Motley Crue. Backstage Auctions works closely with each of their clients and incorporates their personal stories and memories throughout the online auction event. The end result is a unique, historical and unforgettable journey spanning decades of music history.

Denny Somach is a Grammy® Award recipient, author and producer for radio and television. Somach is considered one of the founders of the format known as Classic Rock, which he helped to create at WYSP, the premier rock radio station in Philadelphia. He was also instrumental in developing NBC's rock radio network, The Source. Somach formed Denny Somach Productions (DSP) which has become one of the most successful independent producers of syndicated and network radio programming in the country, including Legends of Rock and Live from the Hard Rock Cafe for NBC; Rolling Stone Magazine's Continuous History of Rock and Roll for ABC; the Psychedelic Psnack for Westwood One and Scott Muni's Ticket to Ride. Somach also produced "Meet the Beatles...Again" hosted by Pat O'Brien, which won the 2005 Crystal Radio Award and Clapton - The Autobiography, the official radio program for Eric Clapton's best selling book.

Somach has also been involved with numerous television productions. He served as a producer and reporter for Evening/PM Magazine, produced The Rock and Roll Show for CBS, The News That Rocked for MTV, the weekly concert series, Hot Spots, on the USA Network and he is the co-creator of Friday Night Videos for NBC. A recognized rock and roll authority, Somach has appeared on numerous television shows, including: The Today Show, Larry King Live, The Early Show on CBS, The Joan Rivers Show, Dateline NBC, CNN's Moneyline, and other programs. He is also the author of Ticket to Ride (Wm Morrow & Co. 1989) and Meet the Beatles…Again (1995.)

From 1994 - 1998, Denny was the executive VP of EMI Merchandising where he created and executed the merchandising for the Beatles "Live at the BBC" and "Anthology" releases. He also initiated and conducted high end merchandising for three Rolling Stones worldwide tours.

Currently, Denny Somach produces the weekly Led Zeppelin tribute program; Get the Led Out with Carol Miller. The radio program airs on over 100 stations throughout the country including WAXQ, New York, the highest rated classic rock station in the U.S.

# # #

Classic Rock Videos

Alice Cooper - I'm Eighteen

New Releases- June 16, 2009

311: Uplifter
Acid Mothers Temple: Are We Experimental
Alice Cooper: School's Out (remastered vinyl)
Amadou & Mariam: Welcome To Mali (2-LP vinyl with CD)
Antenna Shoes: Generous Gambler
Baaba Maal: Television
Beck: One Foot in the Grave (2-LP remastered vinyl) Buy It Here
Blind Pilot: 3 Rounds and a Sound
Boris Skalsky: First Songs EP
Brasstronaut: Old World Lies EP
Brokencyde – I’m Not a Fan But the Kids Like It
Bruce Springsteen: Greatest Hits Buy Bruce Springsteen Music
Captain Beefheart: Jukebox
Cass McCombs: Catacombs
Catherine MacLellan: Water in the Ground
Cocteau Twins: Garlands (remastered vinyl)
Crosby Stills & Nash: Demos
Dave Matthews Band: Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King (2-CD & DVD box set) (2-LP vinyl) Buy Dave Matthews Band
Deastro: Moondagger
Diane Birch: Bible Belt
The Doors: The Soft Parade (remastered)
EELS: Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire
Elvis Costello: Secret, Profane and Sugarcane
Emery: ... In Shallow Seas We Sail
Faces: A Nod Is as Good as a Wink...to a Blind Horse (vinyl reissue)
Franz Ferdinand: Blood (vinyl)
George Harrison – Let It Roll: The Songs of George Harrison
Girl in a Coma: Trio B.C. (vinyl)
Great White: Great Zeppelin: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin (vinyl reissue)
Green Day - vinyl reissues (LP)
Hank Williams Jr. – 127 Rose Avenue
Hoots and Hellmouth: The Holy Open Secret
Iggy Pop: Preliminaires
Incubus – Monuments and Melodies
J-Dilla: Jay $tay Paid
Jeff Buckley: Grace - Around the World (CD & DVD) (CD & 2-DVDs)
Jonas Brothers – Lines, Vines and Trying Times
Juicy J – Hustle Till I Die
Linkin Park – New Divide [Single]
Lydia Lunch: Queen of Siam
Marshall Crenshaw: Jaggedland
Michael Buble – Michael Buble Meets Madison Square Garden
Miles Davis: Milestones (vinyl reissue)
Neil Young: Neil Young Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972 (8-CD box set) (10-disc DVD box set) (10-disc Blu-ray box set) Buy Neil Young
New Riders Of The Purple Sage: Where I Come From
New York Dolls: 'Cause I Sez So (vinyl)
Noisettes: Noisettes
Oasis: And It's a Good Night from Him (dvd)
Paolo Nutini: Sunny Side Up
Patrick Watson: Wooden Arms (vinyl)
Patrick Wolf: The Bachelor
Patti Smith: Classic Interviews
Pet Shop Boys: Did You See Me Coming? Pt.1
Pet Shop Boys: Did You See Me Coming? Pt.2
Pink Floyd: A Momentary Lapse of Reason (reissue)
Pink Martini: Discover the World: Live in Concert (dvd)
Prefuse 73: Forest of Oversensitivity
Rancid: Let the Dominoes Fall (3-disc box set)
Ray Charles: Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Vol. 1 & 2 (remastered)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - vinyl reissues (LP)
Rodney Crowell: The Rodney Crowell Collection (reissue)
Ryan Bingham: Roadhouse Sun
Scott Matthew: Scott Matthew (vinyl)
Simple Minds: Graffiti Soul
So Many Dynamos: Loud Wars

Spinal Tap — Back From the Dead
The Sounds: Crossing the Rubicon (vinyl)
Steven Wright: I Have a Pony (CD & DVD)
Taking Back Sunday: New Again (CD & DVD)
Thea Gilmore: Recorded Delivery
Umphrey's McGee: Soundstage Presents (dvd)
Various Artists: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More: Woodstock (remastered)
Various Artists: Theme Time Radio Hour: With Your Host Bob Dylan
Various Artists: Woodstock Two (remastered)
Wallflowers - Collection
The Who: The Who Sell Out (Deluxe Edition) (remastered with bonus tracks)
Willy Porter: How to Rob a Bank
Zeus: Sounds Like Zeus

Audio News

Audiophile Audition ReviewI want to thank John over at http://www.audaud.com/index.php for the exclusive rights to reprint this great review!



AUDIOPHILE AUDITION focuses on recordings of interest to audiophiles and collectors, with an accent on surround sound for music, and on all hi-res disc formats. Over 100SACD, DVD Video/Audio and standard CD reviews are published during each month, and our archives go back to January 2001.


Audio News for June 9, 2009

Napster’s Impact on Music Distribution; Studio Tips on Improving Quality of Data-Reduced Audio Files; Neil Young Blu-ray Package Gets Thumbs Down; Acurus and Aragon Lines Are Back


Napster’s Impact on Music Distribution - Ten years ago Napster was first released and had sweeping effects on the entire music industry. It came at exactly the right time, when people were beginning to switch from snail-paced dialup to broadband connections, which allowed them to download music in a short period of time. Of course the program and the peer-to-peer revolution it started infringed on copyright and licensing laws - which is how it was reduced down to its present shell of itself. In a way, Napster led the way to iTunes, which is really a legal version without the peer-to-peer sharing. And iTunes has certainly made digital music downloading a success, at least in the pop music area. The whole system of how music is distributed has radically changed. Napster also made MP3 files catch on with the general public, and launched the preference for convenience (and often free or lower cost) in spite of compromised sound over standard CD quality, let alone hi-res formats. Now, however, lossless codecs such as FLAC are becoming more popular, and download sites such as HDtracks are offering hi-res downloads that surpass 44.1K CDs, though so far hi-res surround has not made much headway.


Studio Tips on Improving Quality of Data-Reduced Audio Files - Nashville studio engineers advise recording artists and producers to boost the quality of their recordings by mixing two separate masters - one for hi-res and CD and another for MP3 and other such codecs. Data compression typically throws out more than 90% of the original music information, yet has become the standard for digital music distribution. Some of the suggestions are to encode at the highest possible resolution. For example, a 320 kbps file still has over 22% of the original audio data, while the popular 128 kbps files have less than 8%. The best-sounding algorithm should be used after testing the material with different ones. It is even suggested that mono MP3 files are often a solution since they have twice as much musical data as the stereo files and therefore can sound better. The other major destroyer of pop digital music today is compression and peak-limiting of dynamic levels. it is suggested to apply the digital encoding prior to peak limiting to maximize as much of the dynamic details as possible.


Neil Young Blu-ray Package Gets Thumbs Down - Singer Neil Young is quite an audiophile and promoted his new Neil Young Archives, Vol. 1 1963-1972 Blu-ray box (SRP: $349) as the last word in remastered hi-res sonics of his old recordings. It comes with a specially-bound embossed “leather” book and 11 discs, of which only one is of previously unreleased material and only one is in surround. There is a VHS-quality film “Journey Thru the Past,” and the rest of the two-channel Blu-rays - which show visually only an LP spinning on a turntable or tape reels revolving - are 192K/24bit. Even if your components can pass that hi-res signal, they don’t sound any better than the DVDs and CDs released before, and the Blu-ray navigation is frustrating according to reviews.


Acurus and Aragon Lines Are Back - After four years of inactivity two well-regarded lines of high end audio electronics are back in the marketplace. Klipsch had owned Aragon and Acurus amps, preamps and processors since 2001 and has now sold them to two Klipsch electronics engineers, Rick Santiago and Ted Moore, since deciding to concentrate their efforts entirely on their loudspeaker lines. The new owners intend to announce a new line of products in early 2010. Their amps will feature the use of class A at lower signal levels and a gradual shift to class A-B at higher levels, with ratings between 125 watts per channel and 400wpc. Acurus will be the entry-level line and Aragon the higher-priced series. The lines were originally founded by Tony Federici and Paul Rosenberg, with Mondial as the parent company.


Copyright 2003-2009 Audiophile Audition
Reprinted By Permission

Vinyl In The News

After the success of Record Store Day in April, local record stores will now feature “Vinyl Saturdays” once a month. It's described as a “new monthly unveiling of limited special vinyl pieces, [and] an irresistible lure to your local indie record store, where treasures of all sorts are glittering on the shelves.”

The first Vinyl Saturday kicks off this Saturday, June 20, and features new releases (available exclusively on vinyl for now) from several major artists. Available this week is a batch of 7-inch vinyl singles: Wilco’s “You Never Know” and “Unlikely Japan;” Green Day’s “Know Your Enemy” and “Hearts Collide;” Scarlett Johansson and Pete Yorn’s “Relator” and “I Don’t Know What To Do;” and Modest Mouse’s “Autumn Beds” and “Whale Song.”

This is great news for the world of vinyl, the musician's support to this and other vinyl related promotions have been an overwhelming success. Hail Vinyl!

=======================================

Music Reports

The National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) has released a report in association with Nielsen SoundScan on the current state of the recording industry.

Highlights from the report:

•Digital music is now 40% of the total music purchases compared to just 8% in 2005. It is projected that it will hit 50% by the end of 2010.

•Purchases are being made less at mass and chain/electronic stores and more at value oriented outlets (dollar, mass merchandisers, clubs) and on-line. Between 2001 and 2009, chains like Best Buy's share of the market has gone from 54% to 32%, independent music stores from 14% to 7%, mass merchandisers like Wal-Mart from 28% to 33% and non-traditional sources such as iTunes, Amazon and Starbucks from 3% to 29%.

•In 2008, the biggest percentage jump in sales was for vinyl albums, which were up 89% over 2007. The biggest drop was in current CD albums (compared to catalog) whic was down 23%.

•Since 2004, CD sales are down 45% while digital sales are up 490% and video game sales up 115%.

•Between 2006 and 2008, rap music had the biggest drop in album sales, dropping 44% with country down 36% and R&B down 34%. On the other end of the scale, rock and hard rock are only down 18%.

•Digital music buying was done most by fans of rock music, with 41% of all purchases coming from an on-line source. That's compared to only 6% of sales for country albums.

•New physical formats are not doing well. Slot Music sales are averaging 1,500 albums per week while digital album cards are only moving 590 albums. Both formats are seriously declining.

•Through the first five months of this year, rock and alternative vinyl album sales have led the way, growing between 60% and 70% from last year. The real genre gains, percentage wise, has been in country and gospel where sales are up 200% from a year ago.




Vinyl Top Sellers for 2008

During 2008 there were just under 13,000 different LP's that sold at least one unit

There were nearly 400 LP's that sold 1,000 or more copies and this accounted for 50% of all vinyl sales in 2008

The top 10 artists based on LP sales sold 225,000 vinyl albums in 2008- 13% of all LP sales for the year

Vinyl Top Sellers - 2008

Radiohead - 61,200
Metallica - 39,500
Beatles - 20,400
Elliott Smith - 17,800
Bob Dylan - 15,200
Portishead - 15,100
Ryan Adams - 14,000
Coldplay - 13,900
Guns N Roses - 13,600
Neutral Milk Hotel - 13,200

Keyboardist Kooper Almost A Rolling Stone

Al Kooper told the British magazine Word that he had a little voice inside his head not to join the Rolling Stones. He was offered Mick Taylor's spot back in 1974 by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards but he turned it down over fear of the band's reputation.

"I had this flash that said, 'Don't do it, you'll never get on with Mick and Keith musically because you're heading in a different direction'. There's the thing. There's the crossroads. If I'd turned left I'd have been a multi-millionaire Rolling Stone...and dead."

=======================

Supergrass members form band with Radiohead producer

Supergrass' Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey have joined forces with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich for a new side-project.

The trio are working on a covers album and record under the moniker The Hot Rats. They are working on songs by The Kinks, Gang Of Four, Syd Barrett, Roxy Music and the Sex Pistols.

The Hot Rats plan to release their debut album in the autumn.

=======================

Bloc Party to release all-new single in August

'One More Chance' doesn't appear on any previous albums

Bloc Party are set to release a new single unavailable on any formats before on August 10.

Non-album track 'One More Chance' was recorded with producer Jacknife Lee, who produced the band's latest album, 2008's 'Intimacy', alongside Paul Epworth, and was mixed by Phillipe Zdar of Cassius.

=======================

Charlatans ponder special debut album gig

Tim Burgess wants to play 'Some Friendly' in its entirety

The Charlatans have revealed that they're considering playing a special gig to mark the 20th anniversary of their 1990 debut album 'Some Friendly'.

The band are hoping to play the album in its entirety providing singer Tim Burgess can persuade his bandmates.

He told Absolute Radio: "We are thinking about that [playing the album live]. It's kind of up in the air at the moment.

"Not everyone in the band wants to do it, it's very rarely that we all agree on everything."

The band are also lining up a special 20th anniversary edition of their debut - although they are yet to announce release details.

=======================

Santigold starts work on new album with Pharrell Williams

Singer hits the studio for new effort

Santigold has started work on the follow-up to her 2008 self-titled debut album with producer Pharrell Williams.

The singer told NYLON that she had enlisted Williams as well as Diplo and Switch, who worked on her debut, and rap/dance outfit Spank Rock on production duties on the album.

Classic Rock Videos

Alice Cooper - School's Out

Music News & Notes

Alice Cooper's Film Collection Found, But He Loses a Friend and Assistant

Alice Cooper has recovered his bag containing a 300+ collection of rare horror movies was turned in to the lost-and-found at London's Heathrow Airport.

Unfortunately, his archivist and personal assistant, Brian "Renfield" Nelson, has passed away suddenly. Nelson had been with Cooper since the early-80's and had been a collector of memorabilia since 1972. A statement on Cooper's website said:

It is with extreme sadness that we need to inform the community of Alice Cooper fans of the passing of Brian "Renfield" Nelson, Alice's long-time archivist and personal assistant. It was a sudden, completely unexpected, and untimely passing. We would appreciate it if you would keep him in your thoughts, appreciate his many contributions to Alice's life and career over the years, and respect Brian's privacy and the privacy of Alice and his extended family (at home and on tour) at this time.

Alice is currently on tour in Russia, because the show must go on, which is as Brian would have wanted it.

====================

New Zeppelin Book

A new book is scheduled for release in August that chronicles Led Zeppelin's final performances in the U.K. back in 1979. Then As It Was: Led Zeppelin At Knebworth 1979: 30 Years Gone has previously unpublished photos along with fan recollections of the August 4 and 11 shows. Look for it August 8.

====================

Pixies Put On A Show

The seminal band the Pixies took the stage at the Isle of Wight festivalon Sunday night, marking their first gig since wrapping up their 2004 reunion tour and its subsequent festival gigs in 2007.

Frank Black, Kim Deal, Joey Santiago and David Lovering treated the crowd to a nearly hour-and-a-half greatest-hits set that kicked off with “U-Mass” and featured “Debaser,” “Gouge Away” and “Gigantic” along with their cover of the Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Head On” and their version of Neil Young’s “Winterlong."

According to the NME, the show went off without a hitch, save for a moment when Black and Deal laughed off a mistake that ended “In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)” early. After Deal told Black he was supposed to scream on the track, he replied, “I haven’t screamed since about 1989″ and the band cracked up. The set ended with an aptly named song: B side “Into the White.”

In other news, all of the Pixies‘ studio records are being reissued in Limited Edition and Deluxe Edition box sets titled "Minotaur" that are scehduled for release on today. The sets — include the Come on Pilgrim EP (1987), Surfer Rosa (1988), Doolittle (1989), Bossanova (1990) and Trompe Le Monde (1991) — are being repackaged with the assistance of the two men responsible for art directing and shooting the photographs for the original albums, from Surfer Rosa’s iconic flamenco dancer to Trompe’s popping eyeballs: Vaughan Oliver and Simon Larbalestier.

For $175, the Deluxe Edition gives fans the five albums on a 24k layered CD and a Blu-ray for a total of five discs, plus a DVD of the band’s 1991 Brixton Academy gig (a year before their split) that also includes all their videos. The Deluxe Edition features additional artwork by Oliver and a 54-page book. The Limited Edition costs $450 and includes the entire Deluxe Edition plus all five albums on 180 gram vinyl, a Giclée print of Oliver’s artwork and a 72-page hardcover book. The Limited Edition comes with a slipcase, the Deluxe in a custom clamshell.

====================

Monsters Of Folk Release Debut September 22nd

Monsters of Folk - comprised of Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis, My Morning Jacket's Jim James and singer/songwriter M.Ward - will be releasing their first collaborative album on September 22nd. The self-titled effort was recorded in Malibu, CA, and Omaha, NE, and produced by Mike Mogis. Although these critically acclaimed artists have shared the stage before, this album marks their first recorded output as a band. The record will be released in North America on Shangri-La Music, and internationally on Rough Trade (UK/Europe), Spunk Records (Australia/New Zealand) and P-Vine Records (Japan).

This Date In Music History-June 15

Birthdays:

Billy Martin - Good Charlotte (1981)

Gary Lightbody - Snow Patrol (1976)

Dryden Vera Mitchell - Alien Ant Farm (1976)

Michael Britt – Lonestar (1966)

Steve Walsh – Kansas (1951)

Russell Hitchcock - Air Supply (1949)

Noddy Holder – Slade (1946)

Scott Rockenfield - Queensryche (1963)

Born on this day in 1943, Johnny Halliday, 'the French Elvis', major star in Europe. Jimmy Page, Peter Frampton and Foreigner's Mick Jones have played on his records.

Muff Winwood - Spencer Davis Group (1943) Became a producer and A&R man for Sony Records.

Nigel Pickering - Spanky And Our Gang (1929)

Ice Cube (1969)


They Are Missed:

Born today in 1941, Harry Nilsson, good friend of John Lennon. The Monkees, Three Dog Night & Ronettes all covered his songs. He died on January 15, 1994.

Jazz master Erroll Garner was born in 1921.

Born on this day in 1933, Country rebel Waylon Jennings. Jennings died on February 13, 2002.

In 1996, iconic jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald died in Beverly Hills, California at age 79. Winner of 13 Grammy Awards, the 1956 “Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook” was the first of eight "Songbook" sets. Appeared in the TV commercial for Memorex, where she sang a note that shattered a glass while being recorded on a Memorex cassette tape. The tape was played back and the recording also broke the glass, asking "Is it live, or is it Memorex?"


History:

It was on this day in 1956 that John Lennon first met Paul McCartney at a church dinner in Liverpool, England. He invited McCartney to join his group the Quarrymen, and pop music was never the same again.

In 1966, the Beatles released their album Yesterday & Today, featuring the band wearing butcher's aprons on the front cover surrounded by decapitated baby dolls. Capitol Records quickly withdrew the sleeve, making it one of the most prized Beatles collectibles.

In 1963, Kyu Sakamoto started a three week run at #1 on the US singles chart with “Sukiyaki,” the first-ever Japanese song to do so.

In 1965, Bob Dylan recorded what would be his first ‘electric' hit, “Like A Rolling Stone” which peaked at #2 in the US and #4 in the UK.

In 1970, Jimi Hendrix spent his first day recording at Electric Ladyland in New York. Named after his 1968 album, the studio was designed according to his exact specifications.

Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods started a two week run at #1 on the US singles chart in 1974 with the insipid “Billy Don't Be A Hero.” The song was a UK #1 for Paper Lace.

Hawkwind fired bassist Lemmy Kilmister in 1975 after he was mistakenly arrested for drug possession at the US/Canada border. Lemmy returned to the UK and formed Motorhead.

In 1976, the Sex Pistols recorded their first demos in Clapham's Majestic studios followed by a gig that night at The 100 club, London.

Dire Straits started a nine-week run at #1 on the US album chart in 1985 with “Brothers In Arms.”

Nirvana's debut album “Bleach” was released in 1989. The title for the album came from a poster 'Bleach Your Works' urging drug users to bleach their needles.

In 1987, Hipgnosis designer Storm Thorgerson photographed the cover of Pink Floyd's A Momentary Lapse of Reason in Saunton Sands, England. He had 30 helpers move 800 rented beds onto the beach to shoot the album cover.

In 2002, a rare autographed copy of The Beatles’ album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band sold at auction for $57,800, more than five times the estimated price.

GEORGE HARRISON - Let It Roll

GEORGE HARRISON was the youngest Beatle, the gentle one, the most handsome.

As a songwriter, he was the "Dark Horse", living in the shadow of the towering Lennon-McCartney axis.

But the Fab Four guitarist spent the Sixties quietly honing writing skills which were to blossom spectacularly.

Three Beatles songs written by George during the latter stages of the band's career, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Something" and "Here Comes The Sun" are all-time classics.

And when they split, it was George who returned with probably the greatest solo album by an ex-Beatle - the sublime triple-vinyl LP All Things Must Pass.

Now, eight years after he died of cancer aged 58, the first retrospective collection spanning George's entire solo career is being released, right up to 2002's posthumous Brainwashed.

Read the rest of this review and interview here....fascinating stuff:
George Harrison

=========================================

Springsteen Blows Away Crowd At Bonnaroo

The Saturday night headliner at the Tennessee music festival, Bruce Springsteen, astonished the Bonnaroo crowd with a passionate three-hour performance set, offering sweat and rock 'n' roll to inspire, he said, in "hard times." It was a rare festival performance for Springsteen, who said it was only the second for him and the E Street Band.

His inexperience didn't show. After all, headlining Bonnaroo is only the third biggest concert Springsteen has played this year after the Super Bowl halftime show and President Barack Obama's inauguration.

Other acts Saturday included the Decemberists, Nine Inch Nails, the Mars Volta, Of Montreal, Raphael Saadiq, Booker T, Bon Iver, Robyn Hitchcock and Allen Toussaint, but it was "The Boss" that people were talking about.

Classic Rock Videos

Deep Purple - Hush!

Michael Fremer Review

I am very proud to continue our new feature (look for this every Friday), 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.






ALBUM REVIEW:
Miles Davis (reissue)
'Round About Midnight

Columbia/Speakers Corner CL 949 180g mono LP



Produced by: George Avakian
Engineered by: Frank Laico
Mixed by: Frank Laico
Mastered by: Maarten de Boer at UMG Berliner





Review by: Michael Fremer
2009-06-01


Miles Davis’s major label debut, recorded with his quintet in the fall of 1955 and late summer of 1956 while he was still under Prestige contract and released early in 1957, was not particularly well-received at the time, though it has grown considerably in stature since then.

Davis, John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers and “Philly Joe” Jones has been together as a group for over a year at this time, working both in the studio and in live performance. Miles had played the title track at Newport in 1955, rebounding from what the liner notes call a “health” problem, but which was an addiction to heroin that he kicked in 1953 or 1954.

The version of the gorgeous, bluesy Monk tune that opens and highlights the album both reprises the pensive, post-Bop sound of the earlier Birth of the Cool and was a harbinger of Miles to come. The opening bars, with Coltrane’s warm tenor wrapped around Davis’s jagged muted trumpet set a sublime tone for the tune and the album.

Though the 30th street studio recording is mono, great depth is produced, with Davis up front and the others cleanly layered behind. The second tune, Charlie Parker’s “Ah-Leu-Cha” is more standard uptempo hard-bop and the side closes with a stately version of the cool Cole Porter standard “All of You” that would be equally at home in a supper club as a jazz joint.

Side two opens with a pleasing, smoothly flowing but hardly memorable take on the standard “Bye, Bye Blackbird,” with Coltrane hinting at future harmonic and rhythmic strategies in his long, productive solo. Whatever Rudy Van Gelder’s legend, capturing a clean piano sound wasn’t among his strong suits, especially early on in his long career, so here, Red Garland’s piano, recorded by Frank Laico attains a welcome, woody clarity lacking on most of the Prestige Van Gelder sessions.

Compare Garland’s coherent, non-boxy sound on the suave, jumpy cover of Tadd Dameron’s “Tadd’s Delight” to any of the Prestige recordings.

The album ends with a swinging, unusual rendering of a Swedish folk song “Dear Old Stockholm,” featuring a nimble, driving Paul Chambers bass solo that’s also well recorded, particularly given the year, though otherwise there are hints of overload on a few peaks. Coltrane takes a long squiggly solo and Miles takes the melody back with an uncharacteristically complex muted trumpet solo and conclusion.

The reissue does an excellent job of capturing the original’s warm aura, particularly getting right the spacious echo behind Philly Joe’s brush work on “Bye Bye Blackbird.” The reissue is actually cleaner and more extended than the original and represents more of a clarification of it rather than a revision. Coltrane’s sax doesn’t quite have the body found on the original but you can’t have everything. And you can bet the reissue is quieter than most originals you might find. A nicely done AAA reissue.


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Vinyl Records Come In All Shapes & Sizes

Records come in all colors and various shapes and sizes. My love is the picture disc, some sound good, others not so much. However, some of these were manufactured to look at and to be collected. Let's look at some great looking vinyl shapes:






Talk Talk’s 1986 single Living In Another World features on their successful third album, The Colour of Spring. Despite being later celebrated for pioneering post-rock, the band were initially compared to Duran Duran. The Colour of Spring saw Talk Talk take a more experimental direction. This shaped single was strictly limited edition, available only in the UK.












Grace Jones's Party Girl, released in 1987 on Manhattan Records, is from the album Inside Story, the eighth by the Jamaican visionary. The single only reached No 82 in the UK charts, but was massive in the US dance scene.





















The rare glow-in-the-dark edition of Kraftwerk’s 1981 single Pocket Calculator came in a polythene picture cover that was issued in several different language editions – including the German version, Taschenrechner, and the French version, Mini Calculateur. It only reached No 39 in the UK charts, but the album it featured on, Computer World, charted at No 15















Marc Almond’s A Lover Spurned, released in 1990, only reached No 29 in the UK charts. But the artwork on this limited-edition single by notorious French artists Pierre et Gilles – most famous for their heavily stylized photography with Kylie and Madonna – makes it highly collectable. The song was a cover, originally sung by Gloria Jones in 1964

















Judy is a Punk was the first Ramones single to be released on saw-blade, the vinyl cut unique to German label, Musical Tragedies (MT). Other artists who’ve released things in saw-blade format include Mudhoney, Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, Motörhead, Frank Zappa, Suicide and Can, among others. This split single, released in 2001, was shared with New York Dolls’ Human Being















Toto named themselves after the Latin phrase "in toto", meaning "completely" or "totally". Toto had huge success – releasing 19 albums and selling over 30m records worldwide. This shaped pressing of their 1982 single Africa was a UK limited edition, released by CBS Records

This Date In Music History-June 13

Birthdays:

James Carr - Country/soul star (1942)

Paul deLisle - Smash Mouth (1963)

Rivers Cuomo - Weezer (1970)

David Gray - UK singer, songwriter (1968)

Robbie Merrill – Godsmack (1963)

Rolf Brendel – Nena (1957)

Howard Lees – Heart (1951)

Dennis Locorriere - Dr Hook (1949)

Bobby Freeman (1940)


They Are Missed:


"King of Swing" Benny Goodman died from a heart attack in New York City in 1986 at the age of 77.




Born on this day in 1934, Uriel Jones, session drummer for Motown Records' in-house studio band, the Funk Brothers, during the 1960s and early 1970s. Died on March 24, 2009.

Clyde McPhatter, original lead vocalist with The Drifters, died of a heart attack in New York in 1972. Joined Billy Ward & the Dominoes in 1950, formed The Drifters in 1953, had several solo hits including 1962 “Lover Please,” was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.


History:

In 1924, Vernon Dalhart recorded "The Wreck of the Old '97," country music's first million-seller.

Louis Armstrong started a six week run at #1 on the US album chart in 1964 with “Hello Dolly!”

In 1995, Alanis Morissette released “Jagged Little Pill.” The album went on to sell over 30 million copies world-wide making Morissette the first female Canadian to score a US #1 album.

The Arctic Monkeys made their live debut in 2003 at The Grapes pub in Sheffield, England.

In 1970, Grand Funk Railroad, supported by Steel Mill, (featuring Bruce Springsteen) appeared at the Ocean Ice Palace in Bricktown, New Jersey, tickets $5.00.

The Beatles started a two week run at #1 on the US singles chart in 1970 with “The Long And Winding Road,” the groups 20th US #1. The album “Let It Be” started a four-week run at #1 the US album chart on the same day.

John Lennon made his last ever TV appearance in 1975 we he appeared on “Salute To Sir Lew Grade,” performing “Slippin And Slidin,” and “Imagine.”

In 2005, Michael Jackson was cleared of all charges of child abuse by a jury of eight women and four men at the end of a 16-week hearing in Santa Maria, California. Jackson was found not guilty of all 10 charges including abusing a 13-year-old boy, conspiracy to kidnap and supplying alcohol to a minor to assist with a felony.

In 2008, a Chicago jury acquitted R Kelly of all 14 charges of child pornography against him. The US singer was found not guilty of making an explicit sex video that prosecutors had said showed him having sex with a girl as young as 13. Both Kelly and the alleged victim, now 23, denied they were the people shown on the tape, which the jury saw. The defense argued that the man in the tape did not have a large mole on his back as does Mr. Kelly, and that the tape could have been doctored.

In 1983, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble release their debut album, Texas Flood. By the end of the year, Vaughan wins Guitar Player magazine's awards for Best New Talent, Best Electric Blues Guitar Player, and Best Guitar Album - the first person to win all three awards since Jeff Beck in 1976.

Barry and Greenwich's "Chapel of Love," recorded by the Dixie Cups, and "Leader of the Pack," recorded by the Shangri-Las, reached #1 in 1964.

Metallica’s “St. Anger” debuts at #1 in 2003. The album’s release date was moved up to thwart bootleggers.

In 2006, Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and Mike Love, Beach Boys founders and survivors, appear together publically for the first time in 10 years to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the classic “Pet Sounds” album.