I’m sure we’ve probably done this before, but the topic of ‘lost’ albums / tracks came to mind after the mention of the Buckingham/Nicks album on the “Well I never knew that” thread, Dave’s review of Gary Crowley’s Lost 80s and some discussion on rare 12” mixes over over SuperDeluxeEdition.

So what albums / tracks / 12” mixes have never had a digital or CD release and are only available in their original vinyl incarnation. What gems from your past would you love to see released ? What rumoured shelved albums (e.g Bowie “Toy”) ?…….

Six part series on Hulu with Rick Rubin and McCartney covering The Beatles (I’ve heard of them), Wings and his solo stuff. It premiered in the US on July 16th, but not sure on the rest of the world (not found it on any of my TV services here in Singapore).

Looks like with this and the Get Back movie in November , we have an abundance of McCartney / The Beatles this year.

Anyone watched yet ?

One for Dave…

“The War On Drugs announce I Don’t Live Here Anymore, their first studio album in four years, out October 29th on Atlantic Records, and a 2022 North American and European tour. In conjunction with today’s announcement, they present its first song/video, “Living Proof.” Over the last 15 years, The War on Drugs have steadily emerged as one of this century’s great rock and roll synthesists, removing the gaps between the underground and the mainstream, between the obtuse and the anthemic, making records that wrestle a fractured past into a unified and engrossing present. The War On Drugs have never done that as well as they do with their fifth studio album, I Don’t Live Here Anymore, an uncommon rock album about one of our most common but daunting processes—resilience in the face of despair. ‘

It is generally accepted that back in the 60s, the likes of Peter Green, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck were responsible for the “re-discovery” of the blues and likes of Muddy Waters, Freddie King, BB et al.

Having just watched the Joe Bonamassa documentary “Guitar Man” and been listening to the Tedeschi Trucks Band’s revisiting of “Layla”, it struck me that as those 60s icons have either departed or riding towards the sunset, we have the likes Of Derek Trucks and Joe Bonamassa that have taken up the baton as the next generation to keep the blues alive….

Both seem to be at the top of their game, and whilst they are not apple to apples comparatively (Trucks being more a slide guitar proponent, Bonamassa being more of a shredder?), watching this clip from the Freddie King Hall of Fame induction, who do you rate more highly ? Personally, whilst I like Bonamassa a lot, I sometimes feel he is a little too sterile, whereas Trucks has more of a “feel” (if that makes sense). BTW, if you are going to have great blues solos, you can’t do much better that having ZZ Top as your rhythm section !

I » Continue Reading.

Is anyone else watching the new Netflix series “This Is Pop” ?

Whereas the recent Apple TV series on 1971 was much more serious and ‘political” in is nature, juxtaposing the music with society at the time, this is eight 45 minute films covering a variety of aspects of pure pop music in much lighter tone.

I’m about half way though and it’s a really entertaining watch.

The first episode covers Boys II Men and how they became the benchmark for boy bands the world over. I’m certainly not a fan of their music, but they came across in really well and the background of how Babyface moulded their big hits is interesting.

Secondly, a film all about auto tune – how it was invented (did you know it was a spin off from the oil industry sonar detection?) and how it was used secretly for a few years before Cher took it into the open. Some debate on whether it was a good thing (the rapper T-Pain was blamed for “killing” music when he used), but concluded that it really is just a tool and can be used creatively, not just to mask crap singers. Episode features » Continue Reading.

I’ve been on a bit of a Talk Talk binge recently and whilst listening to their albums, was pondering the nature of how an artists music changes over the course of their career…..

I’m sure I am amongst many here that listen to artists that have been making music for 50+ years and so have long and varied careers. I look at some of those and they are essentially similar across their whole catalogue (The Stones, Springsteen, The Who?). I love many of these artists and will still buy new releases – I guess you know roughly what you are going to get and whilst there are some ups and downs, they are pretty safe bets.

Then there are the artists that change. Even then there are differences in the nature of the changes, of which I can think of three main categories…. i) The artist of constant change – the Bowies, the Joe Jackson’s, etc – the ones that cross all genres, sometimes following fashion, sometimes deliberately out of step. Each album could be a surprise, could be a masterpiece or a huge misstep…. ii) The artists that have changed due to changing circumstances – the ones that go » Continue Reading.

I know there are a few Tedeschi Trucks Band fans on here (who probably know this already) – they have just announced the release of Layla Revisited…..

‘Introducing Layla Revisited (Live at LOCKN’), a 2-CD, 3-LP live album of an instant classic concert, with Tedeschi Trucks Band joined by special guests Trey Anastasio and Doyle Bramhall II for a top-to-bottom performance of the classic Derek and the Dominos album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, live at LOCKN’ Festival on August 24, 2019. Layla Revisited (Live at LOCKN’) will be available everywhere on July 16.’

I have this on a bootleg and it’s fabulous – looking forward to the official release.

https://www.tedeschitrucksband.com/LaylaRevisited

New recording of the classic Peter Green / Fleetwood Mac track featuring an original demo vocal from Peter Green with a new musical backing from David Gilmour. It will be released as part of the forthcoming book on Peter and was apparently approved by him before his death.

After a couple of listens, I’m still not sure what I think – yes it sounds great, but it’s almost too good / produced. Maybe I just know the original too much.

So Ed Sheeran is going to be the shirt sponsor for Ipswich Town (of which I believe there are a few fans on here).

What other musician / football sponsorships would we like to see…….

– Swing Out Sister sponsoring any of the ESL teams (“Breakout”) – Status Quo sponsoring Newcastle United (‘Down Down”)

I’m sure you can do better (and no points for anyone suggesting Queen,,,,.)

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/may/06/ed-sheeran-to-sponsor-ipswich-shirts-next-season

New docuseries coming up on Apple TV looking at 1971 – the AWs favourite year (well Hepworth’s anyway). It’s from the director of Amy & Senna (which i thought were both good).

https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2021/04/apple-tv-announces-new-music-docuseries-1971-the-year-that-music-changed-everything/

There’s a feature on a LA radio station that breaks down classic songs into their multi-tracks to show how they are put together. They recently covered the Beach Boys “Good Vibrations”. It’s about a 25 minute listen, but is seriously good…..

There’s a bunch more in there Soundcloud page – including Brass In Pocket, Space Oddity, Won’t Get Fooled Again and even Tubthumping. Not listened to them all yet, but those I have are good.

https://soundcloud.com/theklossessions

I really like this…….

New album of blues covers due in May.

The recent posts on the demise of CDs, discussions on vinyl and spotify show that many of us still have our own collections of music (be it physical or digital).

I know we have down this before, but I think it was a long time ago…. how big is your music collection and any other interesting details of its composition ?

I’ll show you mine in the comments.

Just a reminder that today (Apr 2nd) is Bandcamp Friday, during which all proceeds from sales are given to the artist.

Any planned purchases / recommendations to share with everyone ?

https://bandcamp.com

I know there is a lot of love for Line Of Duty on here and the new season has just started (I still haven’t actually watched any of it yet !) but surely the best crime drama in recent years has got to be Unforgotten, which finished season 4 last night.

Don’t want to say too much or give away any spoilers, but that final episode last night was superb – understated yet emotional, a reveal that was surprising yet was not implausible. All four series have maintained the high quality and if you have never watched, I would highly recommend.

AKA – It’s new release Friday !

Mono, a Japanese group that I only just discovered this past year, have a new album out on Bandcamp (and probably on all streaming platforms) – “Beyond the Past • Live in London with the Platinum Anniversary Orchestra”.

For those that don’t know them, they are probably best described as “post rock’. If you like Sigur Ros, Explosions In The Sky, etc then you will probably like this.

Only had a first listen this afternoon, so this is not a review. Just one of those non mainstream releases that I wanted to highlight (and give me an excuse to post the below video from the album below).

https://monoofjapan.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-the-past-live-in-london-with-the-platinum-anniversary-orchestra

For some reason, I’ve been watching a lot of stand up comedy these past few weeks – from the Bill Bailey Limboland that was on BBC last night, some Billy Connolly, some Eddie Izzard, some Dave Allen…….

Even though I’ve seen some of these multiple times, they still bring me great pleasure and some still have me in tears of laughter every time. It seems to be an art form that has always been there and whilst the formats may change over the years (from shaggy dog stories to one liners and back again) the fundamentals still remain solid – just someone with an great ability to make us laugh through their words.

I’ve seen many comedians over the years, both on TV and live – I spent many a summer from Uni and the years after going to the Edinburgh festival (my parents moved there when I went to Uni and so had free accommodation) and was lucky to see many of those that became stars later in their early incarnations – Eddie Izzard, Frank Skinner, Paul Merton to name but a few…..

I guess the one I come back to most is Billy Connolly even though I probably » Continue Reading.

Was watching last weeks edition of Later with Jools Holland and Sir Tom Jones chose this clip of INXS doing an unplugged version of “Never Tear Us Apart”, which I don’t recall seeing before and impressed me.

I guess a successful unplugged performance shows the strength of the song as well as the talent of the artist (I guess predominately singers). Whilst they can sometimes be a bit twee, a good unplugged performance can really add to the enjoyment of a song (and sometimes change a song from “meh” to great….)

So what are the best (and maybe worst) unplugged performances…… ?

I know there a few Gretchen Peters fans on here and those are probably aware that she makes available a free download each month via her website.

To celebrate reaching 150 downloads, she has just consolidated all into an “album” via Bandcamp. It can only be accessed via a unique redemption code that was given in her monthly newsletter (so I can’t share the link to download).

Anyway, if you are interested, head over to her website and sign up for the newsletter and you hopefully you will get the code.

“Celebrating 150 free downloads of the month! 150 free downloads a free download every month, since 2008

Since July 2008 I’ve been giving away a free download every month to subscribers to this newsletter. It began as an offhanded suggestion, thrown out by someone on my team as we were brainstorming about how we might reach out to fans (this was before social media had taken over the world). It turned out to be by far the most popular feature at my website, with some fans compiling the tracks into “albums” complete with musician credits, venues, dates and even cover art.

February marked the 150th free download, and as » Continue Reading.

I know there are a few Church fans on here……

Just received notice that Intervention Records have am upcoming reissue of Starfish on CD/SACD (along with a 180g vinyl that was announced earlier). I have a few of the Joe Jackson releases from IR and they are very good. albeit expensive. Comes with a few bonus tracks.

https://www.interventionrecords.com/records/starfish-expanded-edition-cd-sacd/

We’ve just been to a proper concert for the first time in ages – a string quartet performance of Vivaldi/ Four Seasons and some other pieces. Very enjoyable.

Anyway, whilst enjoying the recital, I was wondering why classical musicians always use sheet music, yet a rock band / jazz band / etc always play from memory ?

My first thought was that classical was more complex and so more difficult to memorise, but thinking about it, surely something by Coltrane is just a complex as something by Mr Bach ? So is it that a rock / jazz outfit would heavily rehearse a particular set – but then a classical ensemble have played these pieces many many times ?

The only thing I can think is that classical is expected to be more “precise” in that each instrument is only part of the overall piece and can’t afford to improvise in any way. But then again a guitar is only part of the overall pieces.

So do they really just read note by note and play or is there some memory also ? Is the sheet music just for show in that the audience expects it to be there » Continue Reading.

Whilst sending the boy to school this morning, I was listening to BBC World Service. They have a series “In the Studio” where they talk to various creative types – from clothes designers, musicians (last week was Max Richter), whisky blenders to writers…..

Anyway this week was a guy called Patrick Woodroffe, who is the creative director for the Rolling Stones as well as being one of the foremost lighting directors in the Rock / Pop world – he seems to have worked with everyone. This program (about 30 minutes long) was talking to him during the rehearsals of the upcoming Genesis reunion tour – even if you are not a Genesis fan, its still worth a listen with anecdotes from his varied career and insights on the relationship between sound and the visuals. Very enjoyable listen which is also available on BBC Sounds (should be available world wide as this was from the World Service after all !)

As an aside, it seems that they are still not 100% sure on whether the Genesis tour will see the light of day and as such even filmed the last couple of days of full rehearsal just in case…….

» Continue Reading.