Category Archives: Music

Cannot get a ticket to catch Eric Clapton in concert? Now ready: The Blu-ray and DVD “Live In San Diego”

Anyway the wind blows you, you will end up watching Eric Clapton’s highly-anticipated Live In San Diego With Special Guest JJ Cale. The DVD and Blu-Ray follows the release of the 2-disc CD set, 3 LP vinyl set and digital album of the concert, that were released on September 30, 2016 on Reprise/Bushbranch Records. In addition to the main DVD and Blu-Ray program, fans will enjoy extra footage of Clapton and Cale rehearsing “Anyway The Wind Blows” and “Who Am I Telling You?” for the concert.

Recorded at Clapton’s March 15, 2007 performance at the iPayOne Center in San Diego, CA, Live In San Diego With Special Guest JJ Cale concert was part of a world tour that was much loved by Clapton fans and featured a stellar band that included guitarists Derek Trucks (now of the Tedeschi Trucks band) and Doyle Bramhall II. The two-hour San Diego concert was a highlight of the tour as it featured JJ Cale as a special guest on five tracks (including “After Midnight” and “Cocaine”), as well as Robert Cray on the final song of the record, “Crossroads.”

After successfully covering several Cale songs throughout his career, Clapton finally collaborated with Cale in 2006 on the original album Road to Escondido.  Says Clapton: “This is the realization of what may have been my last ambition, to work with the man whose music has inspired me for as long as I can remember.”

So it’s fitting that one year later, Cale joined Clapton on stage for this special concert where they performed together, underlining the mutual respect the two musicians had for each other.

The concert features a superb set list from across Eric’s career. Notably, it includes songs from Eric’s classic Derek and the Dominos album Layla, with Derek Trucks playing many of Duane Allman’s original guitar parts.

Clapton is currently preparing to play North American shows for 2017, a series of concert dates at two famed venues: New York’s Madison Square Garden and Los Angeles’ Forum.  The shows will be a celebration of 50 years in music and just as many decades performing at these two venues.  Legendary guitar players Gary Clark, Jr. and Jimmie Vaughan will be special guests at the shows.

The remaining dates for Clapton ion concert:

Thursday, September 7 New York Madison Square Garden
Friday, September 8 New York Madison Square Garden
Friday, September 15 Los Angeles The Forum
Saturday, September 16 Los Angeles The Forum

 

Three albums that made Glen Campbell a star reissued by Capitol Nashville/UMe on vinyl

The Rhinestone Cowboy is still with us, and by the time I get to Phoenix or Galveston he still will be. News that’s gentle on my mind.

New gentle news: Capitol Nashville/UMe will reissue on vinyl Campbell’s albums Gentle on My Mind, Wichita Lineman and Galveston, the star-making albums that helped make Glen Campbell a global superstar and household name. Save the date: They will be reissued on March 24.


The titles, which haven’t been available on vinyl for decades, will be released on standard black vinyl and housed in replicas of the original sleeve art. Each album will also receive a limited edition color run that will be available exclusively at GlenCampbell.com at a later date.

Gentle on My Mind, released in 1967 on Capitol Records, was Campbell’s breakthrough album. It was the first to go to No. 1 on the country music charts and reach the platinum sales mark of one million albums sold. At its heart was the single, “Gentle on My Mind,” a cover of John Hartford’s original that so enchanted Campbell, he called in some of his buddies from his legendary studio band, The Wrecking Crew (which included Leon Russell), and recorded it himself to submit to his producer Al De Lory. His first major hit, the song earned him his first two Grammys and made the Arkansas native a rising star.Gentle on My Mind can be pre-ordered @ UMe.lnk.to/GlenCampbellGentleAmzPR and streamed @: ume.lnk.to/GlenCampbellGentlePR.

Released as Campbell was becoming a television star, film actor and crossover sensation, Wichita Lineman remains Campbell’s best-selling album. The double-platinum release reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and stayed there for a month (bracketed by Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland and only unseated by The Beatles’ The White Album. Wichita Lineman stayed atop the country music charts for 20 weeks and was the year’s top release in the genre. Centerpiece single, “Wichita Lineman,” written by Campbell’s songwriting soulmate Jimmy Webb, was nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards and Single of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

In 2000, the title track–one of Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”–was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Wichita Lineman can be pre-ordered @  ume.lnk.to/GlenCampbellWichitaAmzPR and streamed @ume.lnk.to/GlenCampbellWichitaPR.

Campbell teamed up with Webb again for two hits on his next album, Galveston, released in 1969. The title track returned to No. 1 and was a crossover hit. The duo logged another minor hit with the follow up single, “Where’s the Playground Susie.” Campbell’s last platinum-selling album of his late-’60s run arrived as he began to host his own television variety show, “The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour,” and became a household name in the U.S. Galveston can be pre-ordered @ ume.lnk.to/GlenCampbellGalvestonAmzPR and streamed @ ume.lnk.to/GlenCampbellGalvestonPR.

Taken together, Gentle on My Mind, Wichita Lineman and Galveston capture the Country Music and Musicians Halls of Fame member at the height of his powers. A country superstar, a member of The Beach Boys with his fingerprints on music history, one of pop’s greatest guitar players–all his personas can be found on this amazing run of albums.

Universal music has the Brain to release ‘The Brain Box–Cerebral Sounds Of Brain Records 1972-1979″

It’s a no-brainer. Founded in 1972, German label Brain now commands a status and reputation among listeners and collectors all over the world that would have been unimaginable at the time. Today, it is regarded as one of the most important label outlets for German rock music of the ’70s, a genre generally referred to as krautrock, although the term hardly does justice to the range of styles covered by these groups and their records. In any case, it was coined by the English media and only became popular as an afterthought. Brain first used it in May 1974 in an advertisement in Musikexpress magazine for their “Kraut Rock” compilation. The label licensed international acts and albums right from the start in order to expand its portfolio.

Now, for the first time, the story of the label is revisited in depth, thanks to UMe. Set for release on April 21, The Brain Box–Cerebral Sounds Of Brain Records 1972-1979 contains 8 CDs and a total of 83 songs. The set is completed by a 76-page hardcover book with extensive information about the label as well as photographs and artwork; it also includes a Brain tote bag featuring their iconic logo. The collection was compiled by Mark Powell, who also provided the English liner notes. The German introduction was written by krautrock expert Andreas Dewald. Grobschnitt icon Eroc was in charge of remastering. The Brain Box can be pre-ordered here: brainrecords.lnk.to/CerebralSounds.

The general sense of upheaval and the revolutionary spirit of the late ’60s–politically, socially and artistically–began to create exciting results in the German music scene. Amon Düül II and Can released their first records; Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream pushed the boundaries of electronic music; Ihre Kinder and Floh De Cologne sang in German. And in 1969, journalist Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser launched the now equally iconic Ohr label, followed by Pilz and Kosmische Kuriere. However, soon two of his employees, Günter Körber and Bruno Wendel, got so irritated by the increasing eccentricity and LSD experiments of their boss that, in late 1971, they decided to quit and set up their own label under the umbrella of Hamburg-based company Metronome.

Some Ohr acts, such as Embryo, Guru Guru and Klaus Schulze, went with them and were soon joined by many more on their new label Brain: Jane, Cluster, Grobschnitt, Os Mundi, Thirsty Moon, and Emergency, to name just a few. Following the departure of Günter Körber around 1975 (he went on to start Sky Records), the label lost its driving force and headed in a more commercial direction. Today most of the repertoire is part of the Universal Music catalog.

 The first five CDs in this set are dedicated to German bands–from The Scorpions, Gomorrha, Sameti, Yatha Sidhra, Satin Whale, RMO, Eroc, Harmonia, Schicke Führs Fröhling, Liliental and Anyone’s Daughter with their four-part track “Adonis,. The sixth CD contains material from international records, including tracks by Steamhammer, Spyro Gyra, Atomic Rooster, Alexis Korner & Snape, Gryphon, Dutch group Light, Locomotiv GT from Hungary, and Finish band Tasavallan Presidentti and their guitarist Jukka Tolonen.

 A particular highlight of this box is the first-time release of the two “Brain Festival Essen” double albums, which first came out in 1977 and 1978 respectively, and during which the label presented its bands exclusively on a big stage and then on record: established acts such as Jane, Guru Guru, Novalis and RMO, as well as bands that were new at the time, including Gate, Message, SFF, To Be, Blonker and the Norwegian jazz rock five-piece Ruphus, which closed the event both times. These two albums mark the perfect documentary finish to an extraordinary label history which is always worth exploring.

 

“The Joshua Tree” turns 30, and U2’s world tour begins May 12. Good luck getting tickets!

To think three decades have passed since the release of U2’s fifth studio album The Joshua Tree reminds us that (a) we are all getting old and (b) an anniversary edition of the iconic record needs to be released.

That’s what’s being done by Interscope Records on June 2. Alongside the 11-track album, the super deluxe collector’s edition includes a live recording of The Joshua Tree Tour‘s 1987 Madison Square Garden concert; rarities and B-sides from the album’s original recording sessions; as well as 2017 remixes from Daniel Lanois, St Francis Hotel, Jacknife Lee, Steve Lillywhite and Flood; plus an 84-page hardback book of unseen personal photography shot by The Edge during the original Mojave Desert photo session in 1986.

In January of 2017, Rolling Stone dubbed the album their “1987 masterpiece… Thirty years ago, the wild success of The Joshua Tree transformed U2 into the biggest band on the planet.”

Whew!

Released to universal acclaim on March 9, 1987 and featuring hit singles “With Or Without You”, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “Where The Streets Have No Name”, The Joshua Tree went to No. 1 in the U.K, U.S., Ireland and around the world, selling in excess of 25 million albums, and catapulting Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr., “from heroes to superstars”, according to Rolling Stone.

Time put U2 on its cover in April 1987, proclaiming them “Rock’s Hottest Ticket” and the 12 months that followed saw U2 create indelible moments including the traffic-stopping Grammy Award-winning “Where The Streets Have No Name” video on the roof of a Los Angeles liquor store, and go on to win a BRIT Award and two Grammys, including Album of the Year,  their first of 22 received to date; as well as a triumphant return home for four unforgettable shows in Belfast, Dublin and Cork in the summer of 1987.

The Joshua Tree was produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. Recording took place in Dublin at Windmill Lane Studios and Danesmoate, the house which subsequently became bassist Adam Clayton’s home.

Full details of all formats are available at http://www.u2.com/news/title/the-joshua-tree-at-30

The Joshua Tree original track listing is as follows: Where The Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, With Or Without You, Bullet The Blue Sky, Running To Stand Still, Red Hill Mining Town, In God’s Country, Trip Through Your Wires, One Tree Hill, Exit and Mothers Of The Disappeared. 

The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 opens in Vancouver on May 12, 2017, kicking off a run of stadium dates across North America and Europe, including U2’s first ever U.S. festival headline appearance at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival this summer.

 

 

Deborah Cox may (or may not) be starring in the musical take of “The Bodyguard”

Deborah Cox is drowning in good reviews, starring as fictional musical legend Rachel Marron in the stage musical The Bodyguard. Yep, it’s the same role Whitney Houston played in the 1992 flick of the same name.

Those wishing to see where and when Cox performs the role should visit thebodyguardmusical.com, and take note of the warning on the website: Please note that Ms. Cox is not scheduled to appear at all performances. Please check the venue website and ticketing agency for each city for the schedule. The producers of The Bodyguard cannot guarantee the appearance of any particular artist, which is always subject to illness and holidays.

Yet you can listen to Cox, now that Broadway Records’s president Van Dean and Deco Recording Group have announced that Deborah Cox: I Will Always Love You will be released digitally and in stores on March 31. The album is currently available for pre-order at BroadwayRecords.com and Amazon.com.

I Will Always Love You is an 8-track EP featuring the most requested songs from the smash-hit musical, including such iconic fan favorites as “All the Man that I Need”, “I Have Nothing” and “I Will Always Love You.”

Says the 42-year-old Cox: “I’ve always been a fan of the songs in the movie so it has been a dream to perform them on stage every night. This project was born out of continuous requests from my fans and people who have seen me in the show. They wanted to have something with me singing these songs so I listened and went to work putting this EP together.”

Natalie Merchant celebrates a 30-years career, on tour and with a box set

Thirty years old, and Natalie Merchant’s career seems as young as ever. So does she.

Catch what we mean when Merchantl tours the U.S this summer in with Natalie Merchant: 3 Decades of Song.  In anticipation of a forthcoming career retrospective boxed set on Nonesuch, Merchant’s concerts will span her three-decade recording career, with songs from both 10,000 Maniacs and her solo albums. A string quartet joins Merchant and her regular band for the shows. A portion of the proceeds from Natalie Merchant: 3 Decades of Song will be donated to the organization Food & Water, which champions healthy food and clean water for all.

In high school yearbook, and in 2005

Nonesuch most recently released Merchant’s Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings in 2015. This collection of all-new recordings revisits Merchant’s multi-platinum solo debut, Tigerlily, originally released in 1995 following her departure from 10,000 Maniacs. The release was accompanied by a documentary DVD.

Her career began in 1981 when, as a college student, she joined the seminal alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs, which signed to Elektra Records in 1984. As lead vocalist, lyricist, and sometimes pianist, Merchant released six critically acclaimed studio albums with the band, including the platinum-certified In My Tribe (1987), Blind Man’s Zoo (1989), Our Time in Eden (1992), and MTV Unplugged (1993). She left the group in 1993, and in 1995 released her multi-platinum solo debut, Tigerlily, followed by the platinum Ophelia (1998) and Motherland (2001).

In 2003 she independently released an album of traditional and contemporary folk music, The House Carpenter’s Daughter, which also coincided with the birth of her child. For the next seven years she lived quietly in New York’s Hudson Valley devoting herself to family and community, while taking opportunities to collaborate with other musicians and strengthen her commitment to activism and philanthropy.

In 2010, Merchant returned with a thematic double album, Leave Your Sleep, her debut for Nonesuch Records. For this meditation on childhood and mothering Merchant set 19th- and 20th century American and British children’s poetry to music. She also collaborated with award-winning children’s book illustrator Barbara McClintock for a picture book based on the album. In 2014, Nonesuch released Natalie Merchant, her sixth solo album and first of entirely original songs in thirteen years, which the New York Times called a “set of dark, brave, thoughtful and serenely startling songs”.

Merchant remains dedicated to a wide array of social justice and environmental causes.  Recently, she spearheaded the making of the protest concert film Dear Governor Cuomo (2013) with New Yorkers Against Fracking, actors Mark Ruffalo and Melissa Leo, and filmmakers Jon Bowermaster and Alex Gibney, and she directed and produced SHELTER: A Concert Film to Benefit Victims of Domestic Violence (2014).

Visit her tour dates here nataliemerchant.com/calendar

 

Consider Tyce another bat out of hell. That’s a compliment. Read on . . .

For the record, whenever Van Dean, President of Broadway Records, speaks, we listen.

“I first heard Tyce sing Steinman in a concert in New York and knew immediately that he was a rare talent who could pull off these extraordinarily difficult to sing songs and make them his own,” Dean says. “It’s no surprise that Steinman trusted Tyce with his material and we are excited to unveil Tyce’s debut album to the world.”

Indeed. Every so often a new artist comes along with a debut album that not only raises eyebrows, but curiosity in that the songs are so perfectly matched with the talent. In Tyce’s case, with today’s release of his debut Broadway Records album, Hero, his voice is perfectly in sync with the celebratory music and lyrics of noted Meatloaf collaborator Jim Steinman.

No ordinary talent would ever dare to record such treasured songs as “Holding Out For A Hero,” “Total Eclipse Of The Heart,” “I’m Gonna’ Love Her For Both Of Us” and “Braver Than We Are,” without the imprimatur of wordsmith Steinman, who was catapulted to international fame and renown with the debut album from Meatloaf, Bat Out of Hell.

Tyce is the first male vocalist to have recorded with Steinman since Meatloaf. Says Tyce: “I also fit Jim’s original vision of a young blond, honorable, noble-boy, that he first had in mind when he wrote Bat Out Of Hell.”  (Steinman is currently prepping the musical Bat Out Of Hell which opens June 5 in the U. K.)

Bravely produced and boldly re-imagined by Zak Lloyd (with Tony Heyes as executive producer and Nicky James as producer), with Steinman’s blessing, the album features nine Steinman-tracks; plus seven bonus tracks. Don’t be fooled, these tunes perfectly balance Steinman’s original vigor with a twist of modern.

Tyce, who has long been key player in the Broadway community and recently appeared at last year’s Rockers On Broadway event (performing Boston’s “More Than a Feeling” to a rapturous reception) services Steinman’s work with a bold, fresh take and a passion that immediately demands an audience.

Tyce first met Steinman after honoring him at a special concert in New York City. A surprise performance followed, with Tyce receiving a standing ovation after singing “Bat Out of Hell” in its 9-minute 51-second entirety in the original key. This was the first time the song was ever officially performed live since the Meat Loaf rendition. From there, it was kismet and a new interpreter of Steinman was born and reborn, for Jim.

We give Jim the last words. He calls Tyce “brilliant! virtuosic!” and gushes again over Hero: “It was like you wrestled with a fire-breathing dragon and came out on top!”

Save the date! “Hits And Pieces–The Best of Marc Almond and Soft Cell” hits March 10

For the record: As a youngster growing up in Southport, Merseyside, Peter Mark Sinclair “Marc” Almond was immersed in the magical world of the three-minute single. Remember those 45s with those nice round holes in their centers? The 45-rpm single was King, and Almond worshipped at its spinning throne. Marc had always aspired to become a great singles artist; he wanted to follow in the footsteps of two of his heroes, David Bowie and Scott Walker in turning the single into an art form.

Those records, as well as tuning in to Radio Caroline, Radio Luxembourg and a weekly fix of Top of the Pops, acted as catalysts for the aspiring singer’s dreams and ambitions. He achieved exactly that when “Tainted Love” rocketed to the top of the UK chart in September 1981 (and became the biggest selling single of the year), commencing a singles chart love affair that has played a huge part in Marc’s 40 + year career and has seen him shift in excess of 30 million sales.

Now that impressive singles career is celebrated on March 10  with the UMe release of Hits And Pieces–The Best Of Marc Almond And Soft Cell, which comes available as a 2-disc or single CD digital download and traces Almond’s singles career from Soft Cell through to his solo work and collaborations.

Almond has always excelled at recording superb singles–he has secured a body of work that encompasses truly outstanding originals, covers and duets. Highlights of Hits And Pieces include “Tainted Love”; “What!”; “Say Hello Wave Goodbye”; the No. 1-reaching Gene Pitney duet “Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart”; his interpretation of Scott Walker’s cover of Jacques Brel’s “Jacky” (with its epic kitchen sink production from Trevor Horn); a cover of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” (with Bronski Beat); “Melancholy Rose” and “Ruby Red” from the Mother Fist album, a Tony Visconti-produced nugget “The Dancing Marquis”; last year’s superb “The Velvet Trail”; the glam stomper “Varieté” and another unforgettable cover in the form of “The Days of Pearly Spencer”.

To complete the package is the newest track on this compilation: The previously unreleased “A Kind Of Love”, three effortlessly breezy minutes that hint at Almond’s past–the “light summery psychedelic sounds” on that mid-’60s transistor radio, the Northern soul scene that inspired Soft Cell to cover “Tainted Love” and “What!”–without really sounding much like anything Almond has recorded before. “A Kind Of Love” was co-written and produced by Chris Braide. The loving tune is Almond the Singles Artist showing once again how to turn three-and-a-half minutes into aural gold.

Almond, a LaVeyan Satanist, has been with the same man for more than two decades. Yet he says he dislikes being pigeon-holed as “‘gay’ . . . such a label “enables people to marginalize your work and reduce its importance, implying that it won’t be of any interest to anyone who isn’t gay”.

Pickin’ and playin’ and reveling “The History of Rock in Fifty Guitars”

Here we are, strumming along to tell you about a nifty little book that traces the evolution of the guitar. And then some.

The pickin’ and playin’ began in the ’20s with experiments with steel cones and resonators. With these additions, the role of the guitar transformed from accessory to vital band member—introducing electronic amplification to the 20th century music scene. The new intensified sounds inspired a much more colorful style of playing, and in turn, a string of new genres from jazz and blues to skiffle and country.

With the growing beatnik movement rearing its head in the ’50s, a new musical landscape was in high demand and rock ’n roll was born with a guitar in hand. Bruce Wexler reveals the 50 most beloved guitars in rock history and the artists who played them in The History of Rock in Fifty Guitars (The History Press, $24.95).

What a crowd! There’s Jerry Garcia’s famous Tiger guitar, customized by Alembic; John Lennon’s Gibson-made “Revolution” Casino guitar heard on “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”;  Jimi Hendrix’s Fender Stratocaster that he played on the Woodstock stage; B.B. King’s Gibson ES-355 charmingly nicknamed “Lucille” and Kurt Cobain’s fusion Fender Jag-Stang.

Each vignette counting down the top 50 guitars offers insight into the history behind the guitars, the star-studded instrumentalists who played them and the hit songs and albums the guitars helped to compose. Many limited-edition tribute guitars are highlighted and enhanced with closeup shots detailing the guitar’s features—including gold-plated hardware, locking tuners, double-necks, P-90 pickups, f-holes and more—that make them entirely unique and groundbreaking. A book that traces the development of the guitar over seven decades of rock music, The History of Rock in Fifty Guitars will enthrall guitar aficionados and music buffs.

Martin Torgoff’s “Bop Apocalypse: Jazz, Race, the Beats, and Drugs” is an addictive look at America’s early drug use . . . and the music that went with it

A few pages into this book got us addicted. That’s a good thing. To fully understand national discussions on drugs—whether it’s the legalization of marijuana or the use of Naloxone for heroin overdoses—we must look at how the American drug culture was born: With herbal jazz cigarettes (think joints) at the Savoy Ballroom and the Beats high on Benzedrine in Times Square. In Bop Apocalypse: Jazz, Race, the Beats, and Drugs (Da Capo, $25.99), Martin Torgoff explores the early days of America’s drug use and marries it with our counter culture history taking us back to the beginning of the 20th century when modern drug law, policy, and culture were first established, and when musicians, writers and artists came together under the influence.

The narrative of Bop Apocalypse encompasses:

  • the birth of jazz in New Orleans
  • the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Harry Anslinger and his “Marijuana and Musicians” file which included Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and others
  • Louis Armstrong and Chicago in the ’20s
  • “Reefer Madness” and the Marihuana Tax Act of ’37
  • Kansas City and the birth of swing
  • Bebop and the arrival of heroin to the streets of Harlem in the ’40s
  • the con­joining of principal Beat Generation characters in New York—Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady and William Burroughs; their journeys and the creation of the three jazz-imbued masterworks (On the Road, Howl and Naked Lunch)
  • the birth, by 1960, of a new bohemian culture in cities and on college campuses across America

    The last known photo of Billie Holiday, snapped during a Verve recording

The juxtaposition of genius and addiction is notable throughout. Billy Holiday’s heroin addiction is discussed candidly with revealing new details from bebop hooker Ruby Rosano who shot up with Holiday’s help in a basement apartment while Charlie Parker played a blues nearby. Other vignettes like the engagement of the Miles Davis Quintet at the Café Bohemia in ’56 introduced John Coltrane’s brilliance to an audience of adoring fans as he spiraled into addiction and Davis reemerged clean.

A book that lays bare the ways in which race, drugs, and music collided to create a culture of both creative ingenuity and, at times, self-destruction, Bop Apocalypse tracks the impact of music’s long love affair with illicit substances.