Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

nice vinyl story out of the uk:

Vinyl frontier

Vinyl records are making a comeback. Is it because of a hunger for the past, a love of album cover artwork – or simply a recognition that they sounded better all along? DANIEL BIRCH and STEPHEN LEWIS report

THERE has always been a certain magic about vinyl. Okay, so a vinyl LP can be scratched and it might hiss and crackle. But it’s so much more real and solid than a CD, let alone a tune downloaded to your MP3 player.

The rituals associated with putting on a vinyl record make it an action to treasure: slipping the disc out of its sleeve; blowing to remove the dust, or else wiping it lovingly with a cloth; lifting the stylus to place it at the beginning of the track you want.

Then there are the sleeves: works of art during the days of vinyl, but so much less satisfying on a CD box.

Digital is much more convenient and easier to use, but where’s the soul?

Given that we are in an era when retro fashion is all the rage, it is hardly surprising that vinyl is beginning to make a comeback.

Read the rest at yorkpress.co.uk

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this from our friends at polyvinylrecords.com

of Montreal Paralytic Stalks Out Now!

Less than 200 copies remain of the limited edition fuchsia vinyl (pictured above), so be sure to grab your copy while you still can!

Order the album in a variety of options:
CD
180-gram black vinyl (includes 2-sided 12" x 24" poster)
Limited edition 180-gram fuchsia vinyl (1500 copies, includes 2-sided poster)
Cassette (limited to 500 on purple tape)
T-Shirt + MP3 (new design by David Barnes)
Sweatshirt + MP3 (each size is limited to 50)
All orders include a new FREE 2" x 6" sticker design.

Buy it Here

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from our friends at vinylcollective.com 

Blink 182 – Enema, Dude Ranch and S/T Repress

Shop Radio Cast has launched pre orders for exclusive represses of three Blink 182 titles with two colors, limited to 500 copies each. You can pre order now here. Pressing info is as follows:

Blink 182 – Enema Of The State LP (Purple – LTD 500, Opaque Blue – LTD 500)

Blink 182 – Dude Ranch LP (180 Gram Black LTD 500, Translucent Red - LTD 500)

Blink 182 – Blink 182 2XLP (Green LTD 500, White LTD 500)

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CRYPTOPSY To Reissue 'None So Vile', 'Blasphemy Made Flesh' And Early Demos On Vinyl

Canadian label War On Music Records will reissue several vinyl records from Montreal extreme metal veterans CRYPTOPSY. Two highly renowned classics of the genre, "Blasphemy Made Flesh" and "None So Vile", will be made available as separate LPs, and the cult rarity "Ungentle Exhumation" demos (under license from Galy Records) will be released officially for the first time ever as a limited seven-inch single.

Read the rest at our friends at Blabbermouth

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Bruce Springsteen Releases New Music Video



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and in music history for february 11th:

Twist & Shout

In 1963, the Beatles recorded "Twist & Shout" and "I Saw Her Standing There." The band spent ten hours at Abbey Road studios recording the tracks that would make up the bulk of their first album.

The Beatles released the song on their first UK album, 'Please Please Me,' and is notable for 11 songs recorded in a mere 10 hours. "Twist and Shout", with John Lennon on lead vocals, was the last song recorded; producer George Martin knew Lennon's voice would suffer from the performance, so he left it until last, with only 15 minutes of scheduled recording time remaining.

Lennon was suffering from a cold, and was drinking milk and sucking on cough drops to soothe his throat. His coughing is audible on the album, as is the cold's effect on his voice. Even so, he produced a memorable vocal performance: a raucous, dynamic rocker. He later said his voice was not the same for a long time afterward, and that "every time [he] swallowed, it felt like sandpaper".

A second take was attempted, but Lennon had nothing left and it was abandoned. George Martin said, "I did try a second take ... but John's voice had gone."

The Beatles' cover was released on March 2, 1964 in the US. as a single, with "There's a Place" as its B-side, by Vee-Jay Records on the Tollie label. It reached No. 2 on April 4, 1964, during the week that the top five places on the chart were all Beatles singles. "Twist and Shout" was the only million-selling Beatles single that was a cover record, and the only Beatles cover single to reach the Top 10 on a national record chart. The song failed to hit #1 because the Beatles had another song occupying the top spot, "Can't Buy Me Love".

In the UK, "Twist and Shout" was released by Parlophone on an EP with three other tracks, "Do You Want to Know a Secret", "A Taste of Honey", and "There's a Place", from the Please Please Me album. Both the EP and album reached No. 1 (see Twist and Shout (EP)). In Canada, it became the title track to the second album of Beatles material to be issued by Capitol Records of Canada, on February 3, 1964.

It is regarded as one of the finest examples of British rock and roll for its vocal performance. The song was used as a rousing closing number on Sunday Night at the London Palladium in October 1963 and at The Royal Variety Show in November 1963, the former signalling the start of "Beatlemania". They performed it on one of their Ed Sullivan Show appearances in February 1964.

The Beatles continued to play the song live until the end of their August 1965 tour of North America. Additionally, they recorded "Twist and Shout" on nine occasions for BBC television and radio broadcasts, the earliest of which was for the Talent Spot radio show on November 27, 1962.




I Saw Her Standing There

On their album, "I Saw Her Standing There" starts with a rousing "One, two, three, four!" count-in by McCartney. Usually, these count-ins are edited off the final audio mix. However, record producer George Martin wanted to create the effect that the album was a live performance: "I had been up to the Cavern and I’d seen what they could do, I knew their repertoire, and I said 'Lets record every song you’ve got, come down to the studios and we’ll just whistle through them in a day'." Martin took the count-in from take 9, which was considered 'especially spirited' and spliced it onto take 1.  Music journalist Richard Williams suggested that this dramatic introduction to their debut album was just as stirring as Elvis Presley's "Well, it's one for the money, two for the show…" on his opening track, "Blue Suede Shoes", for his debut album seven years earlier.  In addition it also made the point that The Beatles were a performing band as, at that time, they opened their live set with this song.  On the first American release of the song, issued on Vee Jay Records, the count was edited out—but the "Four!" is still audible.

In 1964, at the Colosseum in Washington, DC, the Beatles played their first U.S. concert. They sang "Roll Over Beethoven," "From Me to You," "I Saw Her Standing There," "This Boy," "All My Loving," "I Wanna Be Your Man," "Please Please Me," "Till There Was You," "She Loves You," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "Twist and Shout," and "Long Tall Sally." Because of the stage setup, the band was forced to move their equipment three separate times in order to give everyone in the audience a chance to see them. The opening acts were Tommy Roe, the Caravelles, and the Chiffons.



In 1966, Cher recorded "Bang Bang."

In 1967, the Monkees saw their second album, "More of The Monkees" leap from position 122 to number 1. The Fabricated Four only provided the vocals and were backed by some of the finest studio musicians around, like Glen Campbell and Neil Sedaka. The LP contained the hits, "I'm a Believer" and "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" and was produced by Carole King, Carole Bayer Sager, Tommy Boyce and others. After being pressured by the press, The Monkees later announced that they would play their own instruments on all future recordings.


7" French release

Also in 1967, the Turtles released their biggest hit, "Happy Together," which will reach #1 in the US and #12 in the UK. Co-written by Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon, the song had been rejected by several other performers. The song knocked The Beatles' "Penny Lane" out of the #1 slot for three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1968, the new and now legendary 20,000 seat, fourth incarnation of Madison Square Garden officially opened in New York City.

In 1970, also in New York City, Fleetwood Mac, the Allman Brothers and the Grateful Dead performed at the Fillmore East.

The film "The Magic Christian," featuring Ringo Starr debuted in New York City in 1970.

In 1970, John Lennon paid 1,344 pounds in fines for protesting the South African rugby team playing in Scotland.

In 1979, an audience of 43 million people watched the ABC made-for-TV movie, "Elvis!" starring Kurt Russell, Shelley Winters, Season Hubley, and Pat Hingle.

In 1983, the Rolling Stones concert film "Let's Spend the Night Together" opened in New York.

In 1986, the single "Superbowl Shuffle" by the Chicago Bears Shufflin' Crew was certified gold by the RIAA.

In 2000, a fan attending an Isley Brothers concert in Los Angeles suddenly shot three members of the audience, one of them fatally. He was then killed by police, reportedly shot in self-defense.

In 2003, the British Phonographic Industry reported that the year 2002 saw the largest sales decline in decades, with the most severe slump in a single year since the birth of the CD market in the early 1980s. Piracy, illegal duplication and distribution of CD's by international criminals were blamed for the decrease.

In 2009, the body of singer (Be My Baby, Baby I Love You) Estelle Bennett of the Ronettes was found in her apartment. She had died of colon cancer at age 67.

and in an odd twist, ending today's music history lesson, my favorite Lennon composition:

Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

great story of how a neighborhood came together to help a record store in Canada!

Miracle at Birdman Sound: How loyal customers saved an indie record store, for now

Posted by: The Big Beat

A couple of weeks ago, while Mrs. Big Beat and I were swanning about Miami Beach and Key West, there was a small but satisfying show of community spirit back here in Ottawa.

John Westhaver owns Birdman Sound, a small, nondescript space filled with some of the coolest rock, funk, punk and jazz in the city — all of it on vinyl. He has a small selection of CDs as well, but they’re now incidental to his business. It’s the sales of vinyl records that keep Birdman alive. (Vinyl records remain a small sector of retail music sales, but for most or all of the past decade vinyl has been the fast growing sector of the market.)

You’ll find little that’s mainstream in Birdman — perhaps the Black Keys, who are now at least perched on the edge of mainstream stardom. You’ll also find James Brown or John Coltrane, and old Black Sabbath or the Stooges, all on vinyl, but the majority is music that perhaps most people, to their own sad loss, would consider to be “out there.”

Please read the rest at blogs.ottawacitizen.com

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Clutch Releasing Double Vinyl Edition Of LP 'Blast Tyrant'

Clutch have scheduled a February 28th release date for their double vinyl edition of their 2004 'Blast Tyrant' album. The 180 gram vinyl contains 16 songs and also includes six mini-posters taken straight from Blast Tyrant's "Atlas of the Invisible World." Each illustrated poster is sized (8.5" x 11") and depicts one of the various characters featured within the Blast Tyrant storyline.

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Career Spanning Grateful Dead DVD Box Set

Shout! Factory have scheduled an April 17, 2012 release date for a new 14-DVD Grateful Dead box set called 'All The Years Combine: The DVD Collection.'

Conceived as the ultimate tribute to the band's legendary on-stage prowess, the set includes 12 concert films; a 40-page booklet containing rare photos and new liner notes by Blair Jackson; and all bonus features from previous releases of the DVDs in the set.

As a special treat for fans, it also includes an exclusive bonus disc containing five previously unreleased live performances from the Grateful Dead archive, Backstage Pass, the 1992 documentary directed by Justin Kreutzmann, and a brand-new interview with Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux.

Despite an ambivalent attitude to using television as a promotional medium, the Grateful Dead's creative genius and interest in filming their live shows resulted in what is now an extensive catalog of live performances on video. Included in All The Years Combine: The DVD Collection are The Grateful Dead Movie, The Closing Of Winterland; Dead Ahead; Truckin' Up To Buffalo; Ticket To New Year's; Downhill From Here; View From The Vault; View From The Vault Vol. 2; View From The Vault Vol. 3; View From The Vault Vol. 4; and So Far, a 1987 film that has previously only been available on VHS and laserdisc.

In 2011 Shout! Factory released The Grateful Dead Movie on Blu-ray, in a deluxe 2-disc set that included a DVD loaded with an extensive slate of bonus features. All The Years Combine: The DVD Collection will contain the DVD version of the film as well as the accompanying DVD of bonus features.

The 12 films in the box set begin with The Grateful Dead Movie, filmed in 1974 when the band hired a crew to film 5 pre-hiatus shows at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom. The film was released in 1977 after more than 2 years of work with a team of editors led by Susan Crutcher. In the liner notes of All The Years Combine, Blair Jackson writes "The Grateful Dead Movie may be the single greatest document of the totality of the Grateful Dead experience. Even though it is really just a slice in time showing one incarnation of the group, it completely captures the group's magical essence — that joyous and strange mystical spirit that was a part of everything they did, from the Acid Tests in 1965 to the last concert at Soldier Field in Chicago in 1995, a month before Garcia's death."

Filmed in the same location just a few years later, The Closing Of Winterland was filmed during the Dead's annual New Year's Eve concert in 1978, which was to be the final show at the venerable arena. Featuring friends like Lee Oskar (War) and Matthew Kelly (Kingfish); John Cipollina (Quicksilver); Greg Errico (Santana) and author Ken Kesey with his Thunder Machine, the playing is loose but intense, the frequent peaks reliably transcendent. The sound — mixed from the 24-track master reels — is superb. The Closing Of Winterland DVD is also packed with bonus features galore, including "Winterland: A Million Memories" Documentary Film; Blues Brothers: "Soul Man" & "B Movie"; New Riders Of The Purple Sage: "Glendale Train"; "Making Of The DVD" Featurette; 2 a.m. Interview with Bill Graham by Scoop Nisker; Detailed Chronological History of Grateful Dead at Winterland; and an Alternate Camera Angle Option ("Wharf Rat," "St. Stephen" & "Good Lovin'").

Dead Ahead, recorded at Radio City Music Hall in 1980, is the next DVD in All The Years Combine. Celebrating their 15th anniversary, the Dead played 15 shows at the Warfield in San Francisco, followed by eight concerts at Radio City Music Hall. In addition to their usual two sets, the Dead opened each night with an acoustic set as well. The final concert fell on Halloween, and was simulcast as a closed-circuit pay-per-view event at 20 movie theaters across the country. Dead Ahead is comprised of songs from the final show and the previous night's show interspersed with comic bits from the Saturday Night Live comedy team of Al Franken and Tom Davis (both big Dead Heads).

The award-winning 55-minute conceptual video So Far makes its maiden appearance on DVD in this box. The video contains footage from private sessions taped in Marin County, portions of the 1985 New Year's Eve concert at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, and psychedelic visual material. Of the film, Garcia said "The video is the Grateful Dead way of doing things, which turns out to be expensive, difficult and unrepeatable. If we went back to do this again, we'd come out with a different finished version. We couldn't repeat it. If you're going to do something, it's important — for me, at any rate — to shoot high, even if you miss, or even if you're accused of being pretentious. . . . We were after the idea of electronic mind-altering and consciousness-altering. And on that level, I think it's pretty successful."

Ticket To New Year's, filmed at Oakland Coliseum on New Year's Eve 1987, was also a national pay-per-view telecast. Once again the Dead rose to the occasion and gave the fans in Oakland and many thousands across the country watching in their living rooms a very well-played and energetic show.

Truckin' Up To Buffalo is the complete show from Rich Stadium in Buffalo on July 4, 1989, and it's a hot one. Len Dell'Amico's direction really lets us see the communication between the players when they're "on" — the subtle cues, the quick exchange of glances and smiles as they dig into a tune or jam. It's really like eavesdropping on the band from an onstage perch.

Two weeks and seven shows after the Buffalo extravaganza, the Dead returned to one of their favorite Midwest haunts, Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin, for three shows. This scenic amphitheater has a covered seating area and a huge, steep back lawn section that the Dead had no problem filling by the late '80s. Downhill From Here, which consists of the entire July 17, 1989, Alpine show — save for three songs at the end of the first set that were swapped out for three from the first set of the concert two nights later — was one of the first commercial videos the Dead released in the years right after Garcia's death, and it still stands as one of the best.

The View >From The Vault I release (recorded July 8, 1990, from the now-demolished Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh) gets off to a rollicking start with "Touch Of Grey" and "Greatest Story Ever Told" and keeps grooving with the old British folk number "Jack-A-Roe." Phil does a great job singing Dylan's "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues," and the encore is an emotional "Knockin' On Heaven's Door." Also worth noting is this disc's bonus material — from the more intimate Cardinal Stadium, in Louisville, Kentucky, two nights earlier (July 6, 1990). Two of the best numbers on View >From The Vault come from this addendum: a magnificent "Standing On The Moon," sung with tremendous passion and nuance by Garcia; and a hot, bluesy 13-minute excursion labeled "KY Jam."

View From The Vault II brings us a show from (long-gone) RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, on June 14, 1991. A few months after Brent Mydland's death in the summer of '90, the Dead had returned to the road as a septet, with the keyboard slot occupied by two players — Vince Welnick and Bruce Hornsby. This DVD's bonus footage returns to RFK a year earlier for a portion of one of Brent's last shows. We get a very different-sounding "Dark Star," as well as "Victim Or The Crime," "Foolish Heart" and Phil leading the group through a reassuring and hopeful "Box Of Rain": "Believe it if you need it; if you don't, just pass it on . . . "

The show that dominates View From The Vault III took place on June 16, 1990, at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA, south of San Francisco. This turned out to be the last tour for Brent Mydland, who died in late July 1990, but here the sextet is still going strong, with no hint of the calamity to come. This particular concert is revered for its the extraordinary second set, which includes solid versions of "China Cat," "I Know You Rider," "Estimated Prophet" and "Terrapin" before the band launches into one of their most interesting and exploratory jams during this era. The first set is also loaded with goodies, and bonus footage on the DVD consists of the first six songs from the October 3, 1987 concert at Shoreline, and is perhaps most notable for the N'awlins funk rave-up "Hey Pocky Way" and one of the few extant video versions of Weir's slithery "My Brother Esau."

View From The Vault IV captures the complete Grateful Dead sets from two shows in a series of sold-out stadium concerts backing Bob Dylan in the summer of 1987, where the band played their own sets too. The concert from Oakland Stadium is an exceptionally lively and high-spirited affair. Two days later the tour moved to Anaheim Stadium in Southern California, and the group hit a series of completely different high notes with their set lists.

Wrapping up the box set is an exclusive bonus disc containing five previously unreleased and never before seen live performances from 1987-1991, sourced from the Grateful Dead archive, as well as Backstage Pass, the 1992 documentary directed by Justin Kreutzmann, and a brand-new interview with Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux.

Jackson writes in the All The Years Combine booklet, "You can find nearly the whole history of American music spread across these discs, with music encompassing rock, folk, blues, jazz, country, ragtime, soul, funk, modern classical and avant-garde elements. Where else can you hear songs by Chuck Berry, Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, Howlin' Wolf, Johnny Cash and Buddy Holly, unifying anthems, party rave-ups, songs of existential longing, murder ballads, cowboy tunes, love songs, primal drums and dissonant electronics all in one place? The Grateful Dead created a rich and sumptuous psychedelic patchwork quilt stitched together with magical golden thread. Sad to say, we'll never see anything quite like them come this way again — but at least we have the recorded footage, reminding us that it wasn't just a beautiful dream . . ."

Shout! Factory is a diversified entertainment company devoted to producing, uncovering and revitalizing the very best of pop culture. Founders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos have spent their careers sharing their music, television and film faves with discerning consumers the world over. Shout! Factory's DVD offerings serve up classic, contemporary and cult TV series, riveting sports programs, live music, animation and documentaries in lavish packages crammed with extras. The company's audio catalogue boasts GRAMMY®-nominated boxed sets, new releases from storied artists, lovingly assembled album reissues and indispensable "best of" compilations. These riches are the result of a creative acquisitions mandate that has established the company as a hotbed of cultural preservation and commercial reinvention. With its fingers on the pulse of pop culture, Shout! Factory continues to impact the entertainment media landscape through acquisition of top quality programming for home entertainment releases. Shout! Factory is based in Santa Monica, California. For more on Shout! Factory, visit www.shoutfactory.com.

ALL THE YEARS COMBINE: THE DVD COLLECTION Includes:
• The Grateful Dead Movie (2-DVD)* (Theatrical film, originally released in 1977)
• The Closing Of Winterland (2-DVD)* (Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA, December 31, 1978)
• Dead Ahead* (Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY, October 1980)
• So Far (Originally released on VHS and laser disc in 1987 — first time on DVD!)
• Ticket To New Year's* (Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA, December 31, 1987)
• Truckin' Up To Buffalo (Rich Stadium, Orchard Park, NY, on July 4, 1989)
• Downhill From Here (Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI, July 17, 1989)
• View From The Vault* (Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA, July 8, 1990)
• View From The Vault II* (RFK Stadium, Washington, DC, June 14, 1991)
• View From The Vault III* (Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA, June 16, 1990)
• View From The Vault IV (Oakland Stadium, Oakland, CA, July 24, 1987, and Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim, CA, July 26, 1987)

*includes all bonus features from previous release

Exclusive bonus disc contains:
• Five previously unreleased live performances from the Grateful Dead archive
• Backstage Pass, the 1992 documentary directed by Justin Kreutzmann
• Brand-new interview with Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux

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album cover art of the day:

Killing Joke Reveal New Album Art

The new album will hit the stores April 2, and will be called 'MMXII' or 2012 for those who don't know Roman numerals (me). The LP will be released through Spinefarm Records in both CD form and as a digital download. It will also be made available on double colored gatefold vinyl.

A press release claims “The album’s key is the end of times, an age of flux, a shift in consciousness.”













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Audio Fidelity to Reissue Sade's 'Diamond Life'

Marshall Blonstein, president of Audio Fidelity, recently announced February 14 as the release date for the audiophile label's 180-gram virgin-vinyl reissue of Sade's DIAMOND LIFE album. Originally issued 27 years ago this month, DIAMOND LIFE launched the career of one of the most distinctive and enduring vocalists in contemporary pop. The LP will be issued in a numbered, deluxe gate-fold limited edition that will be available through online and brick-and-mortar retailers alike.

On DIAMOND LIFE, Sade pioneered an alluring style that effortlessly blended ballads, soft soul music and jazz-and impressed audiences and critics the world over. Saluting the album for its sophistication and restraint, the Village Voice noted that Sade "and her associates put their project over with a fashion model's virtues: taste, concept sound. No superfluity, not even an excessive tempo." Sade's warm vocals and clever lyrics, and the band's sleek, unrushed support, rendered DIAMOND LIFE an instant classic, the first of four consecutive Top-10 albums for Sade and her group. She would subsequently score with the hit singles "The Sweetest Taboo," "Paradise" and "No Ordinary Love," and, in 1986, win a Grammy® for Best New Artist.

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THE PHARMACY - "Dig Your Grave" EP 7"

Seatlle’s THE PHARMACY have spent the majority of the last decade touring the US and Europe relentlessly on their infectious brand of pop garage. In between tours they’ve released a slew of singles and three critically acclaimed LPs, cementing them as the current purveyors of the pop garage genre. Frontman SCOTT YODER concocts epic pop gems that aren’t obscured by mountains of fuzz or clched lyrics—all while staying true to their lo-fi perspective on sound. Four songs in all. 2/3rds of THE PHARMACY play in the bedroom pop band FUZZY CLOAKS!

Limited to 500 hand numbered copies! First 100 on color vinyl!

Order the 7" HERE

The band just released a brand new video for the title track


THE PHARMACY - DIG YOUR GRAVE (MUSIC VIDEO)

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Don Cornelius Death Ruled A Suicide

Coroners have officially ruled that Don Cornelius's death last week was a suicide. In the wake of an autopsy conducted on Friday, the determination was made that the Soul Train host took his life with a gunshot to the head. Investigators are awaiting the results of toxicology reports, after which a final report will be issued.

Cornelius, who was 75, was found dead in his home in Sherman Oaks, California, last Wednesday. His son, Tony Cornelius, issued a statement last week thanking fans and requesting privacy. "At this time, we respectfully ask that you allow our family and friends the privacy necessary to get through this difficult time," he said, in a statement to CNN. "We thank all the well-wishers and the fans who have supported the Soul Train legacy."

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and in music history for february 10th:

In 1942, after topping the charts for more than two months, "Chattanooga Choo Choo" by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra became the first recording to be certified as a million-seller and was honored with a gold record, a master copy of the disc sprayed with gold lacquer by RCA as a publicity stunt. What is recognized today as a Gold Record was not initiated for another 16 years when the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) adopted the idea and trademarked the Gold Record. In 1958, the first Gold single was awarded to Perry Como for "Catch A Falling Star" and the first Gold album was given to Gordon McRae for the soundtrack of "Oklahoma!"

In 1956, Little Richard recorded "Long Tall Sally." The flip side was "Slippin' and Slidin'." Both songs were subsequently released in the LP Here's Little Richard (Specialty, March 1957). The single reached number one on the Billboard rhythm and blues chart, staying at the top for six of 19 weeks, while peaking at number six on the pop chart. It received the Cash Box Triple Crown Award in 1956. The song as sung by Little Richard is #56 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It became one of the singer's best-known hits and has become a rock and roll standard covered by hundreds of artists



In 1959, Link Wray performed his controversial instrumental "Rumble" on ABC-TV's "American Bandstand." Many radio stations had refused to play the record only because of the danger implied in its title.

On this day in 1965, "You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’" by the Righteous Brothers was the #1 song.

In 1967, the Beatles and producer George Martin continued work in the studio on "A Day In The Life," using a 40-piece orchestra to add the orchestral crescendos. At the Beatles' request, orchestra members arrived in full evening dress along with novelty accoutrements. One violinist wore a red clown's nose, one had a fake gorilla's paw on his bow hand and others wore funny hats with other assorted novelty items. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mike Nesmith, and Donovan also attended the session. Martin later recalled that when he told some of Britain's finest musicians that they were to play twenty-four bars of cacophonous, improvised crescendo, "they all looked at me as though I were completely mad."

In 1968, the Beatles closed their American fan club and business office, dismissed their American public relations people, and consolidated all business dealings within their own Apple Corps in London.

In 1971, Carole King's 'Tapestry' was released. It is one of the best-selling albums of all-time, with over 25 million copies sold worldwide In the US, it has been certified diamond by the RIAA with more than 10 million copies sold. It received four Grammy Awards in 1972, including Album of the Year. The lead single from the album, "It's Too Late"/"I Feel The Earth Move" was number 1 on the Billboard 100 for five weeks. In 2003, Tapestry was ranked number 36 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

In 1972, David Bowie opened his Ziggy Stardust Tour in London.

In 1974, at the Los Angeles Forum, Deep Purple began a 28-date North American tour.

In 1977, at the CBS Whitfield Street Studio No. 3 in London, the Clash started recording their self-titled debut album which they completed in weekend sessions 17 days later.

In 1978, Van Halen released their self-titled debut studio album. In 2006, readers of Guitar World magazine ranked it 7th on a list of the Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time. Van Halen sold over 10 million copies in the US alone, becoming one of the most successful debuts by a rock band. The album cover was shot at the Whisky a Go Go. The guitar pictured on the cover of the album is Edward Van Halen's famous Frankenstrat Guitar, made from a neck purchased from Boogie Bodies and a Stratocaster style body custom made by Wayne Charvel in California and assembled in Edward's parents' garage. In 2003, the album was ranked number 415 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

In 1986, 'John Lennon: Live in New York City,' a posthumous live album by John Lennon was released in the UK. It was prepared under the supervision of his widow, Yoko Ono. Recorded on August 30, 1972 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Lennon performed two shows, one in the afternoon and one in the evening, to raise money for children with mental challenges.

The benefit concerts, billed as One to One, also featured other performers in addition to Lennon, including Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, Melanie Safka and Sha-Na-Na, although their performances are not included on this album, nor on the simultaneous video release.

Live in New York City captures John Lennon's last full-length concert performance, coming right after the release of Some Time in New York City, which was a commercial failure in the United States. Perhaps as a result, Lennon's stage talk, while humorous, is self-deprecating and slightly nervous in tone. Backing Lennon and Ono were Elephant's Memory, who had served as Lennon and Ono's backing band on Some Time in New York City. Although the material Lennon performed was largely drawn from his three most recent albums of the period (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Imagine and Some Time in New York City), he also included in the setlist his Beatles hit "Come Together" and paid tribute to Elvis Presley with "Hound Dog" before leading the audience in a singalong of "Give Peace a Chance".



Expose's debut album 'Exposure' was released in 1987.

In 1993, an estimated 90 million people worldwide watched ABC-TV's primetime Oprah Winfrey special that featured the first interview with Michael Jackson in 14 years, live from his Neverland Ranch. During the program Jackson claimed he suffered from Vitiligo, a skin condition that accounted for his loss of pigmentation. The singer also insisted that he'd had only two minor plastic surgery operations.

In 1996, at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, country music singer Shania Twain drew a crowd of nearly 20,000 fans for an autograph session.

Also in 1997, Melissa Etheridge's then-partner Julie Cypher gave birth to a daughter. It was later revealed that the baby's father was Crosby, Stills & Nash's David Crosby.

In 1999, Musician magazine stopped publication after 21 years.

In 2003, the Rolling Stones play a free show in Los Angeles with help from Bill Clinton to raise awareness of global warming.

In 2008, singer Freddie Bell, leader of the 1950s rock 'n' roll group Freddie and the Bellboys, died at the age of 76. It was his version of Big Mama Thorton's "Hound Dog" that inspired Elvis Presley to record the song after seeing it performed by Bell in Las Vegas

birthdays today include (among others): Roberta Flack (75), Rosanna Tavarez (Eden's Crush) (35), Don Wilson (Ventures) (75) and Jimmy Merchant (Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers) (72)

Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

T. Rex’s ‘Electric Warrior’ Singles Set For Record Store Day Reissue

T. Rex’s second album ‘Electric Warrior’ is scheduled to be reissued on April 23 to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of glam rock. The classic album, which featured the hit singles ‘Get It On’ and ‘Jeepster’, will be released in a number of different formats including a Deluxe Edition and Super Deluxe Edition, as well as special vinyl and digital editions. The album will be preceded by the release of a special box set of 7” singles entitled the ‘Electric Sevens’ on Saturday April 21 to celebrate Record Store Day 2012.

In addition to the original tracklisting, ‘Electric Warrior’ will also include four bonus tracks - the non-album single ‘Hot Love’ plus the B-sides ‘There Was A Time / Raw Ramp’, ‘King Of The Mountain Cometh’ and ‘Woodland Rock’.

The limited-edition Super Deluxe Edition of ‘Electric Warrior’ will be housed in a lavish box set, which is foil-blocked and de-bossed and will contain the two CDs plus a DVD of rare and unreleased TV performances and promos by the group. Additional items include a 32-page hardback book featuring a brand new essay from Bolan biographer Mark Paytress. The box also includes reproductions of rare photos, a poster, a coaster and a vintage press release.

‘Electric Warrior’, the follow-up to T. Rex’s eponymous debut, was originally released in 1971, when it reached Number One in the UK Albums Chart before returning to the top spot again during the following year. The band’s performance of ‘Hot Love’ – their first Number One single – on Top of the Pops has since become known as one of the defining moments of glam rock.

T. REX – ELECTRIC WARRIOR – SUPER DELUXE EDITION
DISC ONE – ORIGINAL ALBUM PLUS SINGLE A & B SIDES
1 - Mambo Sun
2 - Cosmic Dancer
3 - Jeepster
4 - Monolith
5 - Lean Woman Blues
6 - Get It On
7 - Planet Queen
8 - Girl
9 - The Motivator
10 - Life’s A Gas
11 - Rip Off
BONUS TRACKS
12 - There Was A Time / Raw Ramp - B-side
13 - Hot Love - A-side
14 - King Of The Mountain Cometh - B-side
15 - Woodland Rock - B-side

DISC TWO – DEMOS & OUT-TAKES
1 - Electric Warrior Poem – Rare US Radio Promo *
2 - Mambo Sun – Instrumental Edit *
3 - Cosmic Dancer – Single-Vocal Version *
4 - Jeepster – Single-Vocal Version *
5 - Monolith – No Backing Vocals Version *
6 - Lean Woman Blues – Single-Guitar Track – Work in Progress *
7 - Get It On – Full Length Version *
8 - Planet Queen – Acoustic Version *
9 - Girl – New York Demo *
10 - The Motivator – Work In Progress *
11 - Life’s A Gas – Studio Out-Take *
12 - Rip Off – Instrumental *
13 - Raw Ramp – London Demo Version
14 - Electric Boogie – London Demo Version *
15 - Honey Don’t – Studio Out-Take / Work In Progress *
16 - Planet Queen – Acoustic Solo / London Demo Version *
17 - Girl - Acoustic Solo / London Demo Version *
18 - Jeepster – Electric Home Demo Version *
19 - Get It On – Acoustic Home Demo Version *
20 - Untitled Instrumental – Studio Out-Take *
21 - Electric Warrior Poem and radio advert. US Radio promo *

Previously Unreleased *

DISC THREE - DVD
1 - Hot Love from Top Of The Pops, 24th March 1971. First time on DVD
2 - Get It On from Top Of The Pops, 20th December 1971 featuring Elton John
3 - Jeepster from Beat Club, Germany. Previously Unseen Blue Screen Version
4 - Life’s A Gas from Beat Club, Germany. Previously Unseen Blue Screen Version
5 - Girl, Live at Wembley Empire Pool, 18th March 1972
6 - Cosmic Dancer, Live at Wembley Empire Pool, 18th March 1972
7 - Get It On, Official Promo
8 - Jeepster, Official Promo
9 - Jeepster from Beat Club, Germany. Broadcast version
10 - Life’s A Gas from Beat Club, Germany. Broadcast version


RECORD STORE DAY 2012 EXCLUSIVE: ELECTRIC SEVENS 7” SINGLES BOX SET

VINYL SINGLE ONE: HOT LOVE
A1 - Hot Love - Single Version
B1 - Unnamed Instrumental aka “A Lot Of Rubbish” (O/T) *
B2 - Hot Love - no strings version

VINYL SINGLE TWO: GET IT ON
A1 - Get It On single version
B1 - Raw Ramp – London demo version *
B2: Get It On - acoustic demo*

VINYL SINGLE THREE: JEEPSTER
A1 - Jeepster – single version
B1 - Life's A Gas - electric demo (2.22) *
B2 - Jeepster - electric demo (2.15)

VINYL SINGLE FOUR: BBC EP
A1 -Sailors of the Highway (2:46) BBC Radio 1 Club – 3rd August 1971
B1 - Girl (2:13) BBC Radio 1 Club –3rd August 1971
B2 - Electric Boogie (1:47) BBC Radio 1 Club – 20th July 1971

Previously Unreleased *

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Pachyderm studio space to rock again

Article by: CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER , Star Tribune

Under new ownership, the Cannon Falls studio where Nirvana made its last album is slated to be reopened this year.

The rural Minnesota recording studio where Nirvana made its last album is in utero again.

Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls -- which sat dormant last year following several years of decline -- is being overhauled by one of the Twin Cities' most reputable studio operators, who hopes to return it to its former glory. He just can't use the place's old name.

The 1960s-era house and wooded, six-acre lot that hosted Kurt Cobain, Soul Asylum, PJ Harvey, Live and many other rock stars in the 1990s was purchased last year by John Kuker, whose Minneapolis-bred Seedy Underbelly studio now operates in Los Angeles and New York. Kuker owns the property but not the studio equipment or the Pachyderm name.

No problem, he says. He tentatively plans to call it Seedy Underbelly North. He also recently brought in a recording console that he said was used by Bob Marley in the early 1970s at Island Records' Basin Street studio in London.

The refurbished studio, about 45 minutes south of the Twin Cities, should be rocking again by summer.

Read the rest at startribune.com

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Johnny Cash's 80th Birthday Celebration Begins With BOOTLEG VOL. IV : THE SOUL OF TRUTH

2-CD, 51-TRACK COLLECTION FOCUSES ON SONGS OF FAITH RECORDED IN THE 1970s AND '80s

Duets and collaborations with June Carter Cash, Rosanne Cash, Cindy Cash, Anita Carter, Helen Carter, Rodney Crowell, Jessi Colter, and others

Available everywhere April 3, 2012, through Columbia/Legacy

NEW YORK, Feb. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- International superstar Johnny Cash would have turned 80 years old on February 26, 2012. Legacy Recordings is set to celebrate this landmark year with a full slate of projects to be announced in the coming weeks.

First up is BOOTLEG VOL. IV: THE SOUL OF TRUTH, a 2-CD, 51-track collection which compiles gospel and spiritual recordings (both released and previously unreleased) made by Cash in the 1970s and '80s. The tracks are traditional hymns and folk songs, as well as original composi­tions by Cash and many other songwriters. These recordings date from a period when his life was finally on an even keel, evidenced by "His excitement for his faith," as the liner notes written by his son, John Carter Cash, bear witness.

BOOTLEG VOL. IV: THE SOUL OF TRUTH will be available at all physical and digital retail outlets starting April 3rd through Columbia/Legacy, a division of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.

The bountiful album catalog of Johnny Cash on Columbia Records, for whom he recorded from 1958 to '83, is blessed with many albums of faith, from 1959's classic Hymns By Johnny Cash and 1962's Hymns From the Heart, to his much-lauded concept album projects of 1968 (The Holy Land) and 1973 (The Gospel Road), and more. The chronology moves ahead a few years for BOOTLEG VOL. IV, which features tracks that were cut both at Columbia Studios in Nashville, as well as his own House Of Cash in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

The recordings were made during his Columbia tenure, though not necessarily released on Columbia at the time. For example, as compilation producer Gregg Geller explains, "The centerpiece of BOOTLEG VOL. IV is the first 20 songs on Disc One, which comprised the album A Believer Sings The Truth, originally recorded for the small Cachet Records label in 1979, half of which were reissued in 1982 on CBS's boutique gospel label, Priority Records – neither the original nor the reissue were widely distributed. Of the remaining five 1979 recordings on Disc One, four appeared briefly on the album I Believe…, released by Arrival Records in 1984; the fifth is the aforementioned 'Truth'."

The latter is a reference (Geller explains) to a previously unreleased song based on a poem that was believed to have been written by Muhammad Ali and presented to Cash, who recorded but never released the track. The poem turned out to be written by the Sufi leader Hazrat Inayat Khan, and one of its lines gives this collection its title: "The soul of truth is God."

The seemingly convoluted release history of the tracks on BOOTLEG VOL. IV is part of the allure of the series to Cash-philes around the world. Disc two begins with 12 tracks recorded in 1975, intended for an LP that never received a title and was never released. (Although two of its tracks have shown up on compilations issued over the past five years.) Disc two then proceeds to 10 tracks that comprised a rare LP prized by Cash collectors, Johnny Cash—Gospel Singer, recorded in 1983 for the CBS gospel label, Priority Records. The final four tracks are previously unreleased outtakes from those same sessions.

Once the track genealogy is sorted out, the music is revealed for what it is – the gospel and spiritual foundation of Johnny Cash's life. As John Carter's evocative 1,500-word liner notes essay points out, gospel music was an integral part of his father's life from earliest childhood. Whether the family was out working the fields of their Dyess, Arkansas farm, or listening to the Sears-Roebuck Silvertone radio late on a Friday or Saturday night, or singing together on Sunday morning at the Dyess Central Baptist Church, gospel music was the be-all and end-all.

"The music set a foundation for J. R. Cash," John Carter writes, "and upon it he established the motivation for his existence. With the songs of the gospel came faith, and along with faith, a fortitude and persistence that would not be denied. If you were convinced of my Dad's honesty, it is because he was confident of his purpose, and that purpose was defined by gospel music. Though he would sing many kinds of music in his life, he was never truer than when he sang songs of faith."

Through the highs and lows of his career on records, both at Sun and Columbia, Johnny Cash kept his gospel roots up front in the spotlight. Friends and family would join in the testimony, demonstrated throughout BOOTLEG VOL. IV, as he is joined by June Carter Cash ("He's Alive," Sister Rosetta Tharpe's "This Train Is Bound For Glory," "Far Side Banks Of Jordan"), Rosanne Cash ("When He Comes"), Cindy Cash ("Lay Me Down In Dixie"), Anita Carter ("Over The Next Hill (We'll Be Home)"), Helen Carter (on the Carter Family's "Way Worn Traveler"), Rodney Crowell ("You'll Get Yours And I'll Get Mine," the Gaither Family's "He Touched Me"), Jessi Colter ("The Old Rugged Cross"), and many others on this collection.

Songwriters including Billy Joe Shaver ("I'm Just An Old Chunk Of Coal"), Sister Rosetta Tharpe ("Strange Things Happening Every Day"), Bill Monroe ("You're Drifting Away"), Dorothy Love Coates ("That's Enough"), Marijohn Wilkin ("Back In The Fold"), Mark Germino ("God Ain't No Stained Glass Window"), and Rodney Crowell ("Wildwood In The Pines") share the stage with Cash, whose compositions account for 19 of the 51 tracks.

"At the very heart of this faith was gospel music," John Carter's notes conclude. "I invite you to join me, and get to know the man John R. Cash as I remember him. You will hear him in these treasured recordings. Listen carefully: Spirit, Faith, Gospel. The very source of his vision."

The Johnny Cash Bootleg Series

The Johnny Cash Bootleg Series has been developed by Grammy Award®-nominated producer Gregg Geller, and Grammy® and W.C. Handy multi-award winning musician/producer Steve Berkowitz. The House Of Cash archive in Hendersonville, Tennessee bore first fruit on Columbia/Legacy in May 2006, with the release of Personal File aka Bootleg Vol. 1, a fascinating double-CD collection of 49 privately recorded, intimate solo performances dating from 1973 to 1982.

Four years later in May 2010, Bootleg Vol. 2: From Memphis To Hollywood continued the series. This time the focus was on the dawning of Cash's recording career at Sun Records in Memphis from late 1954 to late '57 (on CD One), into his first decade at Columbia Records in Nashville, from 1958 to 1969 (on CD Two), when he began to find work in the world of film and television.

In 2011, Bootleg Vol. 3: Live Around The World picked up the thread over the course of ten live performance settings. Highlights included the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, a 1969 USO tour appearance in Vietnam, a 1970 White House performance at President Nixon's invitation, a 1972 show at Osteraker Prison in Sweden, the 1973 CBS Records Convention in Nashville, and more.

The release of Bootleg Vol. 3 coincided with the publication of an important new book, House Of Cash: The Life, Legacy and Archives of The Man In Black (Insight Editions) written by John Carter Cash. An affectionate and affecting look into the Johnny Cash legend, House Of Cash is a memoir, biography and deeply personal remembrance of the man beneath the black. The lavishly illustrated book features many color and black and white photos, as well as numerous keepsake facsimile documents from the Cash family archive.

BOOTLEG VOL. IV: THE SOUL OF TRUTH by JOHNNY CASH (Columbia/Legacy 88697985382) Disc One – Selections: 1. Wings In The Morning • 2. Gospel Boogie (A Wonderful Time Up There) • 3. Over The Next Hill (We'll Be Home) (with Anita Carter) • 4. He's Alive (with June Carter Cash) • 5. I've Got Jesus In My Soul • 6. When He Comes (with Rosanne Cash) • 7. I Was There When It Happened (with Marshall Grant) • 8. I'm A New Born Man • 9. Strange Things Happening Every Day • 10. Children Go Where I Send Thee • 11. I'm Just An Old Chunk Of Coal • 12. Lay Me Down In Dixie (with Cindy Cash) • 13. Don't Take Everybody To Be Your Friend • 14. You'll Get Yours And I'll Get Mine (with Rodney Crowell) • 15. Oh Come, Angel Band • 16. This Train Is Bound For Glory (with June Carter Cash) • 17. I'm Gonna Try To Be That Way (with Jan Howard) • 18. What On Earth Will You Do (For Heaven's Sake) • 19. That's Enough • 20. The Greatest Cowboy Of Them All (with Jack Routh) • 21. Didn't It Rain • 22. He Touched Me (with Rodney Crowell) • 23. Way Worn Traveler (with Helen Carter) • 24. I'll Have A New Life (with June Carter Cash) • 25. Truth (previously unreleased). (All tracks recorded January 1979, in Nashville; except tracks 7,11,18 recorded May 1979, in Hendersonville, TN.)

Notes:

Disc One produced by Jack Clement and Jack Routh.

Tracks 1-20 released as A Believer Sings The Truth (Cachet CL3-9001), 1979.

Tracks 1-4, 6, 10, 11, 15, 18, 20 also released as A Believer Sings The Truth (Priority 38074), 1982.
Tracks 21-24 released on I Believe… (Arrival 3870), 1984.

Disc Two – Selections: 1. Back In The Fold • 2. Look Unto The East • 3. I Was There When It Happened • 4. Sanctified • 5. Would You Recognize Jesus • 6. That's Just Like Jesus • 7. What On Earth Will You Do (For Heaven's Sake) • 8. Keep Me From Blowing Away • 9. Don't Give Up On Me • 10. Over The Next Hill (We'll Be Home) • 11. Far Side Banks Of Jordan (duet with June Carter Cash) • 12. Our Little Old Home Town • 13. Belshazzar • 14. My Children Walk In Truth • 15. The Old Rugged Cross (duet with Jessi Colter) • 16. One Of These Days I'm Gonna Sit Down And Talk To Paul • 17. God Ain't No Stained Glass Window • 18. Half A Mile A Day • 19. Another Wide River To Cross • 20. You're Drifting Away • 21. Believe In Him • 22. Over There • 23. Gospel Road • 24. What Is Man • 25. Wildwood In The Pines • 26. Never Grow Old (Tracks 1-12 recorded October, December 1975, in Hendersonville, TN; tracks 13-26 recorded May, August, September, October, December 1982, in Nashville.)

Notes:

Disc Two produced by Charlie Bragg (tracks 1-12 ) and Marty Stuart (tracks 13-26).

Tracks 1-12, previously unreleased unnamed album (except track 4, previously released as a bonus track on the album Ultimate Gospel (Columbia/Legacy 88697 05838 2) 2007; and track 8, previously released on the album The Great Seventies Recordings (Reader's Digest A764438), 2010.
Tracks 13-22, from the withdrawn-from-release album Johnny Cash—Gospel Singer (Priority 38503) 1983, subsequently released as Believe In Him (Word 47828), 1986, in a different sequence.

Tracks 23-26, previously unreleased outtakes from sessions for the album Johnny Cash—Gospel Singer.

SOURCE Legacy Recordings

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Bonnie Raitt Announces 2012 Tour; Mavis Staples Opening On Later Dates

Bonnie Raitt is coming out of her hiatus with afterburners firing. Her first studio album in seven years, Slipstream, hits stores on April 10 via Redwing Records. On May 1, she opens a 70-date tour in Newkirk, OK, a trek that will see hear play at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Nashville's Ryman Theater and Virginia's Wolf Trap.

Read more and get the tour dates at our friends at vintagevinylnews.com

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Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to Induct the Crickets, Blue Caps, Comets, Famous Flames, Midnighters and Miracles

It's going to be one very long ceremony when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame holds its induction on April 14. The organization had already announced the honoring of the Beastie Boys, Donovan, Guns N' Roses, Laura Nyro, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Small Faces/Faces, Freddie King, Don Kirshner, Cosimo Matassa, Tom Dowd and Glyn Johns, and now they are adding six groups that were criminally overlooked when their lead singers were inducted in the past.

Read more at our friends at vintagevinylnews

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from our friends at vinylcollective.com

Blink 182 – Buddha Available Again

Blink 182′s Buddha has been out of print for several months but it is back in stock on black vinyl only. The picture disc is still currently not available. You can grab your copy of Buddha here. As well, here is a list of what is currently in print from Blink 182:

Blink 182 – Buddha LP

Blink 182 – They Came To Conquer Uranus 7″

Blink 182 – Neighborhoods LP (White, only 10 copies left)

Blink 182 – Neighborhoods LP (Blue/White)




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Richard Hawley Vinyl Release

Richard Hawley has recently announced his sixth studio album 'Standing At The Sky's Edge' will be released via Parlophone on CD, digital download and gatefold double vinyl on May 7

Hawley said of the album: "I wanted to get away from the orchestration of my previous records and make a live album with two guitars, bass, drums and rocket noises!"









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check out this noisecreep.com exclusive!

Huntress, 'Spell Eater': Exclusive Album Cover Reveal

Coming straight of out of Southern California is a group dealing out such high-quality traditionally-flavored heavy metal that Noisecreep covered them when they didn't even have a record deal. Yes, Huntress are that great. We knew the secret would get out to the world one day, so it's no surprise that the folks at Napalm Records signed up Huntress to a shiny new record deal in late 2011.

Lead by a force of nature named Jill Janus, Huntress' upcoming debut album, 'Spell Eater,' will surely make it to the year-end lists come next December. Thundering drums, heavy riffs, spectral solos, and catchy choruses, are the basis of Huntress' sound, which is majestically crowned by Janus' powerhouse vocals.

'Spell Eater' won't hit North American stores till May 8, but in this Noisecreep exclusive, we bring you the premiere of the album's killer cover art!

Read the rest and see the killer album cover art at noisecreep.com

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in music history for february 9th:

In 1957, after nine weeks, Guy Mitchell's "Singing The Blues" is pushed out of Billboard's top spot by Elvis Presley's "Too Much".

In 1958, a report by the American Research Bureau cites Dick Clark's American Bandstand as the top-ranked daytime television program, drawing an average of 8,400,000 viewers per day.

In 1959, Lloyd Price reached number one on the Billboard Pop chart with "Stagger Lee", an up-dated version of an 1911 Folk song called "Stack-O-Lee" that was based on the murder of William "Billy" Lyons by Stagger Lee Shelton. Wilson Pickett would take the song to number 22 in 1967.

In 1961, the Beatles appeared at the Cavern Club, Liverpool, for the very first time (as the Beatles), they would go on to make a total of 292 other appearances at the Club.

In 1962, Neil Sedaka records "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do", which will become his fifth US Top Ten hit and first number one by the following August. Neil's ballad version of the song would peak at number eight in February 1976.

In 1963, Ray Hildebrand and Jill Jackson, who were billed as Paul and Paula, had the top tune in the US with "Hey Paula." It made #8 in the UK.

In 1964, the Beatles made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, which was watched by over 73 million people (60% of the viewing audience). The Fab Four performed "All My Loving", "Till There Was You", "She Loves You", "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand". The show had received over 50,000 applications for the 728 seats in the TV studio. Sullivan read a telegram to the audience just before the band's performance: "Congratulations on your appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show and your visit to America. STOP. We hope your engagement will be successful and your visit pleasant. STOP. Sincerely Elvis and the Colonel."



In 1966, singer/actress Sophie Tucker, who was billed as the "Last of the Red-Hot Mamas," died of lung cancer at 82.

In 1967, at Regent Sound Studio in London, the Beatles began recording the Paul McCartney composition "Fixing A Hole" for the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album. The track was completed at EMI's Abbey Road Studios on February 21.

In 1967, the film for the latest Beatles single "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" was shown on BBC-TV's Top Of The Pops. It was the first Beatles single not to make #1 in the UK since 1963, held off the top by Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me."

In 1972, Paul McCartney's Wings played the first night of a UK College tour in Nottingham. The group arrived unannounced asking social secretaries if they would like them to perform that evening. The band's intended first stop on the tour, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, refused to allow them to play so they drove on to Nottingham. Admission was 40p, British pub rock band Brinsley Schwarz was the opening act for the tour.

In 1974, the Love Unlimited Orchestra went to #1 on the US singles chart with "Love's Theme," it made #10 in the UK.

In 1975, Willie Nelson began recording "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain" for his album "Red Headed Stranger." The track was completed on February 12. Released as a single in July, it became Nelson's first #1 record on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.

In 1976, Percy Faith, who led his orchestra to the top of the Billboard Pop chart with "Theme From A Summer Place" in 1960, died of cancer at the age of 62. Between 1950 and 1973, Faith charted in the US Top 40 sixteen times.

In 1979, a Birmingham, England band called UB40 play their first ever gig at a pub in their hometown. The Reggae group took their name from the UK unemployment benefit form.

In 1981, rock and roll pioneer, Bill Haley died of a heart attack at the age of 55. He was still a big star in Europe and in Mexico where his "Twist" album was the best selling LP of all time for many years. Haley was getting ready to release a new Country and Western album when he passed away in Harlingen, Texas. He had been suffering from a brain tumor and had given his last concert in South Africa in April of 1980. During his career, Bill Haley sold over 60 million records

In 1982, George Harrison presented UNICEF with a cheque for $9 million (£5.3 million), ten years after the fundraising concert for Bangladesh.

Prince's "Little Red Corvette" was released in 1983.

In 1985, Phil Collins released the single "Sussudio."

In 1991, C & C Music Factory started a two week run at #1 on the US singles chart with 'Gonna Make You Sweat', a No.3 hit in the UK.

In 1997, Mississippi blues artist Jack Owens died aged 92. In 1995 he appeared in a TV advertisement for Levi's jeans, showing him seated on his front porch.

In 1997, singer Brian Connolly, lead vocalist of Sweet, died of kidney failure at the age of 51.



In 2002, Billboard published the Top 5 selling albums in the world from 2001: Britney Spears 'Britney', $7m (£4.1m); Shaggy's 'Hotshot', $7.2m £4.24m); Destiny's Child's 'Survivor', $7.8m (£4.6m); Linkin Park's 'Hybrid', $8.5m (£5m) and Dido's 'No Angel', $8.6m (£5.06m) sales.

In 2005, Tyrone Davis, best known for his hits "Turn Back The Hands of Time" and "Can I Change My Mind", died from complications following a stroke. He was 66.

In 2009, Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant took home five prizes for his collaboration with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss at this years Grammy Awards held in Los Angeles. The duo won album of the year for Raising Sand and record of the year for ‘Please Read The Letter.’ Coldplay, (who won song of the year for ‘Viva La Vida’) Adele, Duffy, Radiohead and Peter Gabriel were among other UK acts to be honoured. John Mayer won Best solo rock vocal performance for ‘Gravity’, Kings of Leon won Best rock performance by a group with ‘Sex on Fire’, Best rock song went to Bruce Springsteen for ‘Girls In Their Summer Clothes’ and Lil' Wayne won Best rap solo performance and Best rap album for Tha Carter III.

In 2010, former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr became the 2,401st person to be added to the Hollywood Walk Of Fame during a ceremony that marked the 50th anniversary of the attraction's groundbreaking. The Beatles as a group were given a star in 1998.

birthdays today include (among others): singer, songwriter Barry Mann (1939) Wrote many early 60's pop hits including 'Saturday Night At The Movies', 'You've Lost That Loving Feeling', 'Walking In The Rain'. Also had the 1961 US No.7 solo single 'Who Put The Bomp, In The Bomp, Bomp, Bomp,' Carole King (1942), Major Harris - Delfonics (1947), Dave Rotheray - The Beautiful South (1963) and Dennis Thomas - Kool & The Gang (1951)

Ask Mr. Music by Jerry Osborne

FOR THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 6, 2012

DEAR JERRY: I am addicted to AMC's “Breaking Bad,” and not just because it's set and filmed in this area.

In Season 3's cliffhanger, “Full Measure,” Gale is in his apartment with a 78 rpm on his turntable, and singing along as it plays.

It only lasts about a minute, but I heard enough to know I must have this recording.

Unfortunately, it is entirely in another language, perhaps Spanish. I didn't understand a single word. Plus, portions of it are sung so fast it bears a resemblance to the Chipmunks.

I checked the ending credits but no mention is made of this or any music used.

How can I obtain this very unusual piece?
—Len Bristow, Albuquerque, N.M.


DEAR LEN: Unusual to the nth degree, yet enjoyable to that same extreme, your mystery song is “Crapa Pelada (Testa Pelata).”

Recorded and issued in Italy in 1945, this was a very popular single (Cetra AA-421) by a foursome named after the record label: Quartetto Cetra (translation: Cithara Quartet). They are the most famous Italian group ever.

Yes, “Crapa Pelada” sounds Spanish, but those words, individually or together, do not translate in any of the world's primary languages, including Spanish and Italian.

What makes more sense is the subtitle, “Testa Pelata,” which, in official Italian, means Bald Head.

I learned from my trusty Italian correspondents, Carlo Stevan and Jean-Marc Gargiulo, that “Crapa Pelada” also translates as Bald Head, specifically with the Milanese (Milan) population, where many still use the unauthorized and unofficial Western Lombard dialect.

Besides the title, some of the lyrics are in the Lombard dialect. Other verses are in official Italian.

No matter how you say it, what we have here is a novelty number about a man losing his hair, and planning a mischievous use for his fallen follicles.

“Crapa Pelada (Testa Pelata)” is one of over a thousand songs in the group's repertoire, and is available on “I Successi del Quartetto Cetra,” and several other easily available CDs.

David Costabile, who plays Gale in “Breaking Bad,” can also sing, and his performance in that scene is live (not lip-sync). Since David does not speak Italian, how he keeps pace with such rapid-fire lyrics is amazing.

Funny thing you should mention the Chipmunks. Read on:


DEAR JERRY: Again this year, I noticed how quickly after December 25th the media quits playing just about everything relating to the Holidays. By January 2nd, they are all put away for about 11 months.

I seem to recall, as a child, hearing Christmas hits played well into January, and sometimes beyond. Is that an accurate recollection?

Which Christmas record remained on the Hit Parade the farthest into the next year?
—Margie Donaldson, North Hollywood, Calif.

MY LITTLE MARGIE: If you remember Christmas hits in January, you probably recall Gale Storm as Margie.

Over the years, numerous Christmas-related hits sold well in early January, and remained on the national charts for a few weeks of the new year.

However, “The Chipmunk Song” wins the Not Fade Away award, standing alone as the only Christmas-themed hit to linger on everyone's Hit Parade until the 1st of March! If this were February 1959, you'd still be hearing those singing Sciuridae for the rest of this month.

“The Chipmunk Song,” by the Chipmunks (Alvin-Theodore-Simon) with the Music of David Seville (Liberty 55168), spent 13 weeks in the Top 100 of both Billboard and Cash Box, including four weeks at No. 1.

Having two of those weeks in December 1958, and two in January '59, makes David Seville's novelty brainchild the only Christmas song in nearly 60 years to span two consecutive years.

Finally, not since “The Chipmunk Song” has another Christmas song even reached Billboard's Top 10.


IZ ZAT SO? With their recordings, David Seville and His Chipmunks accomplished some amazing things, but we should focus on more than just “The Chipmunk Song.”

Turning to album sales, they have four RIAA-certified Gold, and three Platinum:

Gold: “Chipmunk Punk” (1980); “Urban Chipmunk” (1981) “A Chipmunk Christmas” (1982); and “Alvin and the Chipmunks - The Squeakquel” (2009).

Platinum: “Christmas with the Chipmunks” (1962); “Chipmunks in Low Places” (1992); and “Alvin and the Chipmunks - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” (2007).

Jerry Osborne answers as many questions as possible through this column. Write Jerry at: Box 255, Port Townsend, WA 98368 E-mail: jpo@olympus.net   Visit his Web site: www.jerryosborne.com

All values quoted in this column are for near-mint condition.

Copyright 2011 Osborne Enterprises- Reprinted By Exclusive Permission

Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

nice story at hypebot about the musical innovations of jack white

Jack White’s Third Man Records: Embracing Both The Past & The Future

by Robin Davey

The record industry is still trying to find its feet in the digital age, and with a plethora of labels popping up, claiming new business models and fresh trajectories, it often feels like the future of music has to be something radically different to succeed. However, the majority of people fear change - that is until the flow of progress effortlessly takes them there, or alternatively, the path laid out seems glaringly familiar.

Third Man’s bond with the past is undeniable.

With its focus on vinyl output, shirking of streaming services, and earthy embracement of analog recording techniques, one could mistake the label as a side hobby for Jack White’s musings. But it is this nod to the past that makes White’s label a blueprint for future independent labels, and a lesson to the majors on how to become efficient in the new era.

Read the rest at hypebot.com

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from our friends at Vinyl Record Talk

Top 5 eBay Vinyl Record Sales - Week Ending 02/04/2012

An original Blue Note LP tops the list this week, with the rest of the entries covering just about every holy grail collecting genre, with Psych, Northern Soul, early Punk and more Jazz making the list.

1. LP - Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims "self-titled" Blue Note 1530 Original - $5,117.00

2. LP - Phantasia "self-titled" Damon 12918 - $4,005.29

3. 45 - Hamilton Movement "She's Gone" / "We're Gonna Party" Look-Out - $3,999.99

4. EP - The Thought Criminals "Hilton Bomer","I Won't Pay" / "Fun","O Bleak T.V." Doublethink - $3,432.96

5. LP - Georges Arvanitas Qunitet "Soul Jazz" Columbia 193 French Pressing - $3,205.55

Vinyl Record Talk is Live on Radio Dentata on Tuesdays at 8pm ET / 5pm PT at RadioDentata.com

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Counting Crows To Release Covers Album

Counting Crows are set to release their first album of new material in more than four years on April 10, 2012 on Collective Sounds. The effort is called 'Underwater Sunshine (or What We Did On Our Summer Vacation)' and is a collection of covers described as “a testament of a band geek-obsessed with music.” Produced by Counting Crows and Shawn Dealey, Underwater Sunshine features tracks written by artists such as Big Star, Bob Dylan, Gram Parsons, Tender Mercies, Kasey Anderson and The Faces.

Tracklist
1. Untitled (Love Song) by Romany Rye
2. Start Again by Teenage Fanclub
3. Hospital by Coby Brown
4. Mercy by Tender Mercies
5. Meet On The Ledge by Fairport Convention
6. Like Teenage Gravity by Kasey Anderson & The Honkies
7. Amie by Pure Prairie League
8. Coming Around by Travis
9. Ooh La La by The Faces
10. All My Failures by Dawes
11. Return of the Grevious Angel by Gram Parsons
12. Four White Stallions by Tender Mercies
13. Jumping Jesus by Sordid Humor
14. You Ain’t Going Nowhere by Bob Dylan
15. The Ballad of El Goodo by Big Star

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lovely.....

MUNICIPAL WASTE Album Art Revealed

Virginia-based thrash metal band MUNICIPAL WASTE are set to release their fifth studio album, 'The Fatal Feast' on April 10 in North America and April 13 in Europe via Nuclear Blast Records. The cover artwork for the effort was created by Justin Osbourn of Slasher Design.

















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more album cover art......

GORY BLISTER: New Album Cover Unveiled

Italian technical death metallers GORY BLISTER will release their long-awaited new album, "Earth-Sick", on April 23 via Bakerteam Records. The follow-up to 2009's "Graveyard Of Angels" contains ten brand-new technical and brutal death metal tracks in the signature style that has always identified the band over the past 20 years.

Read the rest at our friends at Blabbermouth

















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what the F***?

Moonspell Reveals New Album Artwork

Moonspell have recently posted the cover artwork for the new album 'Alpha Noir.' The band also commented:

"An intricate, marvelous and symbolic creation by Seth Siro Anton, the Greek artist who collaborated with the band on Night Eternal. This may be his finest and darkest piece to the date, invoking all the atmosphere that Moonspell dual album, Alpha Noir/Omega White, will unleashed on April 27th via Napalm Records. Leave your comment or shout your support to the band on our Facebook and Myspace pages."














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ACE FREHLEY Double Silver Vinyl Release

Brookvale Records, in partnership with Rocket Science, are scheduled to release the Ace Frehley's 'Anomaly' album on vinyl. The effort is due on April 10, it will be a double LP set in special gatefold packaging with the vinyl silver in color. Only 1,000 copies hand-numbered copies will be made.







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Johnny Cash Museum to Open in Nashville

Bryan Wawzenek

A museum dedicated to the life, legends and music of Johnny Cash is being planned in Nashville, Tennessee. The establishment is set to open later this year, according to the Associated Press.

The man behind the museum is Bill Miller, who collect’s Cash memorabilia and operates a Cash website. The museum is planned to open in the Lower Broadway, tourist-friendly section of Nashville, “right in the middle of the hubbub,” according to John Carter Cash, Johnny’s son.

Read more at Gibson

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this from our friends at vinylcollective

Top 10 Albums – February 6, 2012

Here are the Top 10 Albums sold at Shop Radio Cast for the week of January 31 – February 6, 2012:

1. Say Anything – Anarchy, My Dear LP
2. AFI – Black Sails In The Sunset LP
3. Balance and Composure – Only Boundaries LP
4. Brand New – Your Favorite Weapon LP
5. Saves The Day – Daybreak LP (White)
6. The Horrible Crowes – Elsie LP
7. Balance and Composure – Separation
8. Blink 182 – They Came To Conquer Uranus 7″
9. The Menzingers – A Lesson In The Abuse Of Information Technology LP
10 Fun. – Some Nights LP

Buy these releases and more at ShopRadioCast.com

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GRIMEY'S BEST SELLERS 1/30 - 2/05, 2012

Vinyl Top 25:

1. Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas
2. Nada Surf - The Stars Are Indifferent To Astrology
3. Darrell Scott - Long Ride Home
4. The Black Keys - El Camino
5. Gotye - Making Mirrors
6. The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
7. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
8. Guided By Voices - Let's Go Eat The Factory
9. JEFF The Brotherhood - Brotherhood Of Light
10. Kathleen Edwards - Voyageur
11. Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire
12. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
13. Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
14. Radiohead - King Of Limbs
15. The Black Keys - Thickfreakness
16. Guided By Voices - Doughnut For A Snowman 7"
17. Mark Lanegan - Gravedigger's Song 7"
18. Magnetic Fields - Andrew In Drag 7"
19. Thrice - At Guitar Center 7"
20. The Louvin Brothers - Satan Is Real
21. Junior Kimbrough - You Better Run: The Best of Junior Kimbrough
22. Robert Ellis - Photographs
23. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magic
24. Gonjasufi - Muzzle
25. Jeff Buckley - Grace

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and in music hsitory for february 8th:

In 1956, Buddy Holly signed a recording contract with Decca Records. He left the "e" out of his last name (Holley) and dropped it from his stage name as well.

In 1958, the Diamonds had the best selling record in the United States with their version of "The Stroll." The song also reached number four on the Billboard Pop chart and number five on the R&B chart.

In 1959, Johnny Cash performed his #1 Billboard Country chart hit, "Don't Take Your Guns To Town" on The Ed Sullivan Show

In 1960, the House of Representatives Special Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight opened hearings on disc jockey "payola."

In 1960, Bobby Rydell's "Wild One" makes its debut on the Billboard chart, where it will reach number 2. It also made the Top 10 in the UK.

Also in 1960, "Teen Angel" by Mark Dinning hit number 1 in the US. The song had been written for him by his sister Jean, who also recorded as one of The Dinning Sisters. Some radio stations banned the song and in the UK, where it barely made the top 40, it was called "the death record".

In 1963, the Four Tops are inked to Berry Gordy's Motown label and receive a $400 signing bonus.

In 1964, the publisher of the song "Louie Louie" offered $1,000 to anyone would could find suggestive lyrics in the song.

Also in 1964, the Beatles (except George Harrison, who had a sore throat), went for a photo-opportunity walk around Central Park during their first full day in New York City. Added police were called in to keep fans at a distance. Later in the day they rehearsed for their first US TV performance on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

In 1965…The Supremes released "Stop in the Name Of Love." The Supremes' choreography for this song, with one hand on the hip and the other outstretched in a "stop" gesture, was almost as memorable as the song. The routine was taught to the girls by Paul Williams and Melvin Franklin of the Temptations backstage in London, before the Supremes' first televised performance of the single on the "Ready Steady Go!" special "The Sound of Motown," hosted by Motown enthusiast Dusty Springfield.

The song was included on the Supremes' sixth album, More Hits by The Supremes, and was nominated for the 1966 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Rock & Roll Group Vocal Performance, losing to "Flowers on the Wall" by the Statler Brothers. The song was also honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's permanent collection of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

They performed the song on an episode of the ABC variety program Shindig! which aired on Wednesday, February 25, 1965.

The Supremes | Live on Shindig (1965)


In 1965, the Dave Clark Five begin filming the movie 'Catch Us If You Can. Although they perform the soundtrack music, the members of the group (unlike The Beatles) do not play themselves, but appear as a team of freelance movie stuntmen and extras, led of course, by Dave Clark.

In 1967, English duo Peter and Gordon announce their split up. Between 1964 and 1967, they placed ten songs on the Billboard Top 40. After working for Apple, Peter Asher moved to Los Angeles and produced records for Diana Ross, Linda Ronstadt and Cher. He was won Rolling Stone magazine's "Producer of the Year" awards twice. Gordon Waller would turn to acting and played the part of Pharaoh in the musical Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The duo reunited on stage in August, 2005.

Also in 1967, at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London, the Beatles began recording the John Lennon composition "Good Morning, Good Morning" for the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album. Bass and vocal were added on February 16, the Sounds Incorporated brass section was overdubbed on March 13, the backing vocals and Paul McCartney's guitar solo were done on March 28, and animal noises were added a day later. Lennon asked engineer Geoff Emerick to arrange the animal noises heard at the beginning and ending of the track so that each animal heard was one capable of devouring, or at least frightening, the animal preceding it.

In 1969, Cream's Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker announced the formation of Blind Faith with Traffic's Steve Winwood and Rick Grech of Family. One of the first "supergroups," they came up with one album and an ill-fated tour before collapsing after six months under the weight of intense media and public scrutiny.

In 1971, Frank Zappa's concert at London's Royal Albert Hall is cancelled after a representative of the venue found obscene lyrics in the score of "200 Motels". In 1975, Zappa lost a lawsuit against the Hall for breach of contract.

In 1972, the official Beatles Fan Club disbanded.

In 1973, Max Yasgur died of a heart attack at age 53. He was the owner of the dairy farm in Bethel, New York, at which the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held August 15-18, 1969.

In 1975, Queen's single "Killer Queen" was released. It was their first hit single.

Brian May:
'Killer Queen' was the turning point. It was the song that best summed up our kind of music, and a big hit, and we desperately needed it as a mark of something successful happening for us... I was always very happy with this song. The whole record was made in a very craftsman-like manner. I still enjoy listening to it because there's a lot to listen to, but it never gets cluttered. There's always space for all the little ideas to come through. And of course I like the solo, with that three-part section, where each part has its own voice. What can I say? It's vintage Queen. The first time I heard Freddie playing that song, I was lying in my room in Rockfield [a residential recording studio in Wales], feeling very sick. After Queen's first American tour I had hepatitis, and then I had very bad stomach problems and I had to be operated on. So I remember just lying there, hearing Freddie play this really great song and feeling sad, because I thought, 'I can't even get out of bed to participate in this. Maybe the group will have to go on without me.' No one could figure out what was wrong with me. But then I did go into the hospital and I got fixed up, thank God. And when I came out again, we were able to finish off 'Killer Queen.' They left some space for me and I did the solo. I had strong feelings about one of the harmony bits in the chorus, so we had another go at that too.

In the New Musical Express November 2, 1974, the song's writer Freddie Mercury had this to say about the song: "It's about a high class call girl. I'm trying to say that classy people can be whores as well. That's what the song is about, though I'd prefer people to put their interpretation upon it - to read into it what they like."



In 1975, the Ohio Players top the Billboard singles chart with "Fire" and the Hot 200 album chart with an LP of the same name.

In 1981, at Bombay Studios in Smyrna, Georgia, R.E.M. recorded "Sitting Still," "Gardening At Night," "Radio Free Europe," "Shaking Through," "Mystery To Me," "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville," "White Tornado" and "Narrator" at their first formal recording session.

In 1988, the Who (minus the late Keith Moon) reunite for their 25th anniversary at the televised British Phonographic Industry Awards in London. Their three song medley of "My Generation / Substitute / Who Are You" runs past their time slot, forcing Rick Astley to accept his award for Best British Single, off the air.

In 1990, 50 year old Del Shannon died of a self-inflicted gun shot wound at his home in Santa Clarita, California . He had just appeared at the annual Buddy Holly memorial concert in Fargo, North Dakota and had recently completed recording a new album with the help of Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne called "Rock On!" Shannon was rumored to take Roy Orbison's place in The Traveling Wilburys at the time of his death. He would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 1999.

In 2002, Bob Wooler died at age 76. He was the resident DJ and booker at The Cavern Club in Liverpool during the early 1960s. Wooler introduced the Beatles to their manager, Brian Epstein.

In 2005, Keith Knudsen, long-time Doobie Brothers drummer, died of pneumonia. The 56 year old had been battling cancer and had been in the hospital for more than a month. Knudsen was part of the band during their prime hit making years and recorded "Black Water", "Taking it to the Streets", "China Grove" and "Listen to the Music".

Also in 2005, Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman, core members of The Guess Who, were inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame. The band placed 13 songs in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 between 1965 and 1974. Cummings added 2 more as a solo artist and Bachman contributed 7 others with Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

In 2006, Kelly Clarkson won two Grammys. The awards were for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Since U Been Gone" and Best Pop Vocal Album for "Breakaway". She was the first "American Idol" participant to win a grammy. She also performed "Because of You" at the show.

Also in 2006, Sly Stone made his first major public appearance since his 1993 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when he appeared at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. The 61 year old Sly joined in briefly during a multi-artist tribute to his music.

In 2011, Nielsen SoundScan reported that since Steven Tyler started appearing on American Idol on January 19th, sales of Aerosmith's Greatest Hits collections have shot up more than 250%.

birthdays today include (among others): "Mr. Custer" singer Larry Verne (76), Creed Bratton (Grass Roots) (69), Adolfo 'Fito' De La Parra (Canned Heat) (66), Paul Wheatbread (Gary Puckett & the Union Gap) (66), Vince Neil (Motley Crue) (51), Tjinder Singh (Cornershop) (44), Dave Farrell (Linkin Park) (35) and Sam Llanas (BoDeans) (51)