Sunday, September 30, 2012

On the turntable this Sunday...Wilco (the album)




Wilco (the album) is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock group Wilco which was released June 30, 2009. Prior to release, Wilco streamed the album on their website. The album was nominated for an Grammy Award for Best Americana Album.

After Wilco released their sixth studio album, Sky Blue Sky, in 2007, they spent the following two years touring to promote the album. In August 2008, Billboard reported that Wilco had been playing two new songs, "One Wing" and "Sonny Feeling", at recent shows in anticipation of a new studio album. Rolling Stone revealed the title of the album on April 28, 2009.

The album was recorded in Neil Finn's recording studio Roundhead Studios in Auckland, New Zealand. Members of Wilco were present to record material for a 7 Worlds Collide compilation album to benefit Oxfam. Guitarist Nels Cline and multi-instrumentalist Mikael Jorgensen provided overdubs once the band returned to Chicago, Illinois. The album was produced by the band and Jim Scott, who worked as an engineer on Being There, Summerteeth, and Sky Blue Sky. The band joined Scott in Valencia, California to mix the album. According to lead singer Jeff Tweedy, the band "allow[ed] [themselves] a little bit more leeway in terms of sculpting the sound in the studio and doing overdubs and using the studio as another instrument".

Wilco (the album) included the first duet to be featured on a Wilco album, "You and I", which was recorded with Canadian indie folk singer Feist. The band met Feist at the 50th Grammy Awards and found they had a mutual appreciation for each others' music.

On May 13, 2009, the album leaked on the internet, and Wilco promptly responded by streaming the album for free on their website. The stream resulted in over 100,000 visits to Wilco's website on the 13th. The band also suggested that those who downloaded the leaked copy make a charitable donation to Inspiration Corporation, an organization that assists low-income families in Chicago. Blogger Mike Masnick praised Wilco for their response to the leak, contrasting it to the reactionary response from 20th Century Fox following the leak of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

The album has been invariably described as the band's most accessible and upbeat since their early albums, with The Independent stating that it "recall[s] the simplicity of the band's early LPs A.M. and Being There."  Matthew Perpetua of Pitchfork Media concurs, arguing that on the album "the disparate strains within the group's catalog have somehow flowed together into a unifying aesthetic", with the album touching on all of Wilco's various styles and guises in the past, which Perpetua identifies as "alt-country, Americana, neo-folk, quasi-experimental, and, if you insist, "dad rock.""  Critic Jonathan Cohen also noted "Deeper Down" for its "wealth of sonic details".

Tweedy summarised the main theme of the album as the acceptance of life's uncertainties, stating

I think there's a liberating nature to that concept [...] It allows for a playfulness and an engagement in life that is more enjoyable than the alternative. I've aspired to convey some of those things for a long time now, maybe not so clearly before because it hasn't been so clear to me. But I do believe that the greater ability you have to tolerate ambiguity, the more successfully you can steer your life. The alternative point of view – the complete dismissal of ambiguity, trying to rationalise irrationality – can be very destructive.

This theme is manifested, for example, in the line from "Deeper Down" which goes "I adore the meaninglessness of the 'this' we can't express."

The album's lyrics portray both dark and light subject matter, from "Bull Black Nova", which is written from the point of view of a man who just killed his girlfriend, to the Feist duet "You and I", which treats two lovers trying to keep a relationship together.[13]

The album was named after the band because it "[felt] like what the band was meant to be". According to Tweedy the band "struggled with a lot of other titles that felt more exemplary of what the music was. But nothing else felt quite so succinct."

Wilco appeared on The Colbert Report to play "Wilco (the song)" and promote 2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama. Wilco embarked on a twenty-one show tour to promote the album starting on June 12, 2009. The tour concluded with a performance at the 10,000 Lakes Festival in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.

The song "You Never Know" was released as the first single. They performed the song on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on June 24, 2009. The song reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Triple A Chart

The song "You and I" was performed on the Late Show with David Letterman on July 14, 2009.

Track listing: All songs written by Jeff Tweedy except where noted.

1."Wilco (The Song)" – 2:59
2."Deeper Down" (Tweedy, Sansone) – 2:59
3."One Wing" – 3:42
4."Bull Black Nova" – 5:39
5."You and I" – 3:26
6."You Never Know" – 4:21
7."Country Disappeared" – 4:02
8."Solitaire" – 3:04
9."I'll Fight" – 4:23
10."Sonny Feeling" – 4:13
11."Everlasting Everything" – 3:58
iTunes bonus track
12."Dark Neon" – 4:24

Saturday, September 29, 2012

The Avett Brothers in Central Park (A Relix Gallery)




Please follow the link to see more photos from The Avett Brothers recent show at NYC's Central Park, courtesy of Dino Perrucci and Relix.  

Friday, September 28, 2012

Eric Clapton to celebrate 50 years in music in 2013


Eric Clapton will celebrate 50 years as a professional musician next year and will celebrate the milestone with a series of concerts in the United Kingdom in May.  

Clapton's band for the upcoming show will feature many longtime collaborators including, Steve Jordan, Willie Weeks, Michelle John, Doyle Bramhall II and Sharon White.  

Slowhand has spent most of his time recently working on a new studio album and just may bring his Crossroads Festival to New York's MSG this spring.  

Eric Clapton's UK Dates:


May 13: LG Arena (Birmingham)
May 14: Manchester Arena (Manchester)
May 17: Royal Albert Hall  (London)

May 18:  Royal Albert Hall  (London)
May 20:  Royal Albert Hall  (London)
May 21:  Royal Albert Hall  (London)
May 23: Royal Albert Hall  (London)

Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Who North American Tour




As The Who prepare for their upcoming North American tour, the band recently announced that Vintage Trouble will be the opening act on the first leg.   

The Who will be performing their iconic 1973 album Quadrophenia in its entirety, along many other classic songs, each night of the tour.  The tour kicks off on November 1st in Sunrise, FL at the BankAtlantic Center.

The Who North American Tour

November 1 Sunrise, FL—BankAtlantic Center
November 3 Orlando, FL—Amway Center
November 5 Duluth, GA—The Arena at Grinnett Center
November 8 Greenville, SC—Bi-Lo Center
November 9 Greensboro, NC— Greensboro Coliseum
November 11 Pittsburgh, PA—CONSOL Energy Center
November 13 Washington, DC—Verizon Center
November 14 Brooklyn, NY—Barclays Center
November 16 Boston, MA—TD Garden
November 20 Montreal, QC—Bell Centre
November 21 Ottawa, ON—Scotiabank Place
November 23 Toronto, ON—Air Canada Centre
November 24 Detroit, MI—Joe Louis Arena
November 27 Minneapolis, MN—Target Center
November 29 Chicago, IL—Allstate Arena
November 30 Chicago, IL—Allstate Arena
December 2 Nashville, TN—Bridgestone Arena
December 5 New York, NY—Madison Square Garden
December 6 Newark, NJ—Prudential Center
December 8 Philadelphia, PA—Well Fargo Center
December 9 Uncasville, CT—Mohegan Sun Arena

Sunday, September 23, 2012

On the turntable this Sunday...Amorica




Amorica is the third album by The Black Crowes. It was released in late 1994 on American Recordings and re-issued in the US and UK in 1998 with two bonus tracks. The album cover's depiction of pubic hair, from a 1976 United States Bicentennial issue of Hustler magazine, caused controversy. The record company ended up putting out an alternative cover that blacked out the offending image. Amorica eventually reached Gold status in the United States, shipping 500,000 copies.

Track listing: All songs written by Chris Robinson and Rich Robinson.

1."Gone" – 5:08
2."A Conspiracy" – 4:46
3."High Head Blues" – 4:01
4."Cursed Diamond" – 5:56
5."Nonfiction" – 4:16
6."She Gave Good Sunflower" – 5:48
7."P.25 London" – 3:38
8."Ballad in Urgency" – 5:39
9."Wiser Time" – 5:33
10."Downtown Money Waster" – 3:40
11."Descending" – 5:42

Bonus tracks

12."Song of the Flesh" – 3:45
13."Sunday Night Buttermilk Waltz" – 2:46
14."Tied Up and Swallowed" - 4:16

PersonnelChris Robinson – vocals
Rich Robinson – guitar
Marc Ford – guitar
Eddie Harsch – keyboards
Johnny Colt – bass guitar
Steve Gorman – drums

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Rush at the United Center (A Gallery-Relix)





Please follow the link to view Norman Sands' images from Rush's concert at the United Center in Chicago on September 15th. 

Friday, September 21, 2012

Friday Video: Wilco's "Sunloathe"



For your Friday viewing enjoyment, here’s the official video for “Sunloathe” from Wilco’s latest album The Whole Love.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Phish to release 12/6/97



Please follow the link to read the recent article that appeared on jambands.com for more details...


Disc One
1. Golgi Apparatus (5:35)
2. Run Like An Antelope (16:30)
3. Train Song > (2:44)
4. Bathtub Gin > (12:36)
5. Foam (10:24)
6. Sample In A Jar (5:04)
7. Fee > (5:36)
8. Maze (15:10)
9. Cavern (4:50)

Disc Two
1. Tweezer > (22:25)
2. Izabella > (9:27)
3. Twist > (7:44)
4. Piper > (14:12)
5. Sleeping Monkey > (6:05)
6. Tweezer Reprise (4:33)
7. Rocky Top (2:53)

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

New music from Donald Fagen


Steely Dan frontman, Donald Fagen has a new album, Sunken Condosset to be released on October 16th. 

Follow the link to listen to the first track from Sunken Condos, 'I'm Not The Same Without You.'

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Umphrey’s McGee and Railroad Earth "Kashmir"




Over this past weekend, Railroad Earth opened for Umprhrey's McGee at Red Rocks and later joined the band for the following take on Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir.” Enjoy!


Monday, September 17, 2012

Sunday, September 16, 2012

On the turntable this Sunday...Everyday



Everyday is the third studio album by the Athens, GA based band Widespread Panic. It was first released by Capricorn Records and Warner Bros. Records on March 3, 1993. It would later be re-released in 2001 by Zomba Music Group.

Beginning on November 5, 1992, The band recorded the album at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, AL. They were in the studio for roughly 5 weeks.

The album reached a peak position of #184 on the Billboard 200 chart and #10 on the Heatseekers chart.

Track listing:

1.Pleas – 5:07
2.Hatfield – 6:50
3.Wondering – 3:56
4.Papa's Home – 6:42
5.Diner – 7:25
6.Better Off (T Lavitz, Widespread Panic) – 5:05
7.Pickin' Up the Pieces – 4:26
8.Henry Parsons Died (Carter, Hutchens) – 4:36
9.Pilgrims – 6:30
10.Postcard (Guenther, Widespread Panic) – 4:27
11.Dream Song – 4:50


Widespread Panic:

John Bell - guitar, vocals
Michael Houser - guitar, vocals
Todd Nance - percussion, drums, vocals
Domingo S. Ortiz - percussion
Dave Schools - bass, percussion, vocals
John Hermann - keyboards

Other personnel:

Jim Bickerstaff - engineer, mixing, bg vocals (Pleas)
Deborah Norcross - artwork
Johnny Sandlin - producer, engineer, mixing
Alan Schulman- engineer
Johnny Walls - assistant engineer
Kent Bruce - assistant engineer, mixing assistant
Hampton Dempster - vocals
Daniel Hutchens - vocals
Matt Mundy- mandolin
Benny Quinn - mastering
Alastair Thain - photography
Angelina Jolie - album cover and CD model

Saturday, September 15, 2012

The Avett Brothers on Jimmy Kimmel Live

The Avett Brothers appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live this week in support of their new album The Carpenter, which was released this week.


“Live and Die”
“February Seven”

Friday, September 14, 2012

Little Feat to Tour with Leon Russell


Follow the link for more details about the Little Feat/Leon Russell tour scheduled to begin on October 30th in Warrendale, PA.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Neil Young & Crazy Horse to release new album in October




Never one to stay away from a recording studio for any great length of time,  Neil Young is set to release a new album with Crazy Horse on October 30th, entitled Psychedelic Pill.  The double disc opens with the twenty-seven minute “Driftin’ Back” and contains at least two other tracks that clock in over the sixteen minute mark.

Psychedelic Pill will also be released with full-length videos for each of the songs just as he did with his earlier 2012 release, Americana.  

Neil Young & Crazy Horse will also hit the road in support of Psychedelic Pill with a tour that begins in Ontario on October 3rd.

The track listing for Psychedelic Pill:

Disc One:
 Driftin’ Back (27:36)
 Psychedelic Pill (3:26)
 Ramada Inn (16:49)
 Born In Ontario (3:49)

Disc Two:
 Twisted Road (3:28)
 She’s Always Dancing (8:33)
 For The Love Of Man (4:13)
 Walk Like A Giant (16:27) 

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Jimmy Herring: Many Tones, Many Changes (Relix Interview)



Widespread Panic's guitarist, Jimmy Herring, has certainly remained busy during the Panic's indefinite hiatus this year.  The 50-year-old guitarist has been on the road with the Jimmy Herring Band, touring in support of his latest release, Subject To Change Without Notice.   Herring sits down with Brian Robbins from jambands.com for the following interview.   

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Album Review: The Dave Matthews Band's 'Away From The World'




It seems like just yesterday when I first saw the Dave Matthews Band in a dive bar in Auburn, AL, but the DMB have been around for over 20 years now and are still enjoying a very successful and prolific career. From very humble beginnings playing bars in Charlottesville, VA to topping Forbes Magazine’s list of the highest paid touring band in the world,  their recording career has also seen some milestones with the release of classic albums such as Under The Table and Dreaming, Crash, and Before These Crowded Streets.  However, the DMB has also seen some low points such as the release of Everyday.  Regardless, the Dave Matthews Band is still one of the most consistent bands around and they do not disappoint with their latest release, Away From the World, available today.

The band worked on Away From the World with longtime collaborator,  Steve Lillywhite. Who produced the band’s first three albums and for fans longing for the earlier sound of this band, you will be pleased to know that this is a Dave Matthews Band record.

“Broken Things” is a vintage Dave Matthews Band album opener;  the song sounds like it was recorded during the infamous “Lillywhite Sessions.”

“Belly Belly Nice” is another up-tempo classic DMB-sounding  song…very reminiscent of a track that could belong on Before These Crowded Streets. Songs like “Mercy” and “Gaucho” are the two tracks that most people have heard from the new album and while both are solid, they are the two weakest tracks on Away From the World.

If I had to name the strongest tracks on this record, I would easily name “The Riff,” “The Snow Outside,” and “If Only” as my three favorites, behind “Drunken Solider.”  ‘Drunken Solider” is easily one of the best Dave Matthews Band songs that I have heard in a long while and one of the moments on the record that Dave sings with conviction and emotions over some incredible musicianship and jamming.   


I am going to go on a limb and say that Away From the World is one of the most solid releases of 2012…in line with Jack White’s Blunderbuss for album of the year. 

-Will Fisher, The Showbiz Kids
Showbiz Kids Rating: 9.5 out of possible 10

Sunday, September 9, 2012

On the turntable this Sunday...Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band



Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles. Released in June 1967, Rolling Stone called it "the most important rock & roll album ever made ... by the greatest rock & roll group of all time." The LP included songs such as "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "When I'm Sixty-Four" and "A Day in the Life".

During the Sgt. Pepper sessions, the group improved upon the quality of their music's production while exploring experimental recording techniques. Producer George Martin's innovative approach included the use of an orchestra. The songs on the album range from music hall, rock and roll and pop to traditional Indian music. Widely acclaimed and imitated, the album cover's inspiration came from a sketch by Paul McCartney that depicted the band posing in front of a collage of some of their favorite celebrities. It later served as the basis for the design by English pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth.

Sgt. Pepper was a worldwide critical and commercial success, spending a total of 27 weeks at the top of the UK Album Chart and 15 weeks at number one on the US Billboard 200. A seminal work in the emerging psychedelic rock style, the album was critically acclaimed upon release and won four Grammy Awards in 1968. In 1994, it was ranked number one in the book All Time Top 1000 Albums. In 2005, the album was placed at number one on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Sgt. Pepper is one of the world's best selling albums, with 11 million RIAA certified copies sold in the US as of 2012.

By late 1965, the group had grown weary of touring, and by the end of their 1966 US tour they decided to retire from live performance. Lennon commented: "We're fed up with making soft music for soft people, and we're fed up with playing for them too." Upon their return to England, rumors began to circulate that the band had decided to break-up.  They subsequently took an almost two-month vacation and individually became involved in their own interests. George Harrison travelled to India for six weeks to develop his sitar playing at the instruction of Ravi Shankar.  In 1966, McCartney and producer George Martin collaborated on a soundtrack for the film The Family Way.  Also in 1966, John Lennon acted in How I Won the War, and he attended art showings, such as one at the Indica Gallery where he met his future wife Yoko Ono. Ringo Starr used the break to spend more time with his wife and first child.  In November, during a return flight to London from Kenya, where he had been on holiday with tour manager Mal Evans, McCartney had the creative idea that would first become a song, and would eventually inspire the Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band concept.   McCartney commented: "We did try performing some songs off [Revolver], but there were so many complicated overdubs we can't do them justice. Now we can record anything we want, and it won't matter. And what we want is to raise the bar a notch, to make our best album ever."

With Sgt. Pepper, the group wanted to create a record that could in effect tour for them; an idea they had already explored with the promotional film clips made over the previous years.  As McCartney explained, "We were fed up with being The Beatles. We really hated that fucking four little mop-top approach. We were not boys, we were men ... and [we] thought of ourselves as artists rather than just performers."

In early February McCartney had the idea of recording an album that would represent a performance by a fictitious band. This alter-ego group would give the band the freedom to experiment musically. McCartney explained: "I thought, let's not be ourselves. Let's develop alter egos ... it won't be us making all that sound, it won't be The Beatles, it'll be this other band, so we'll be able to lose our identities in this." Martin wrote of the fictitious band concept: "'Sergeant Pepper' itself didn't appear until halfway through making the album. It was Paul's song, just an ordinary rock number ... but when we had finished it, Paul said, 'Why don't we make the album as though the Pepper band really existed, as though Sergeant Pepper was making the record? We'll dub in effects and things.' I loved the idea, and from that moment on it was as though Pepper had a life of its own".

The album starts with the title song, which introduces Sgt. Pepper's band itself; this song segues into a sung introduction for bandleader "Billy Shears" (Starr), who performs "With a Little Help from My Friends". A reprise version of the title song appears on side two of the album just prior to the climactic "A Day in the Life", creating a bookend effect. However, the band effectively abandoned the concept other than the first two songs and the reprise. Lennon was unequivocal in stating that the songs he wrote for the album had nothing to do with the Sgt. Pepper concept, and further noted that none of the other songs did either, saying "Every other song could have been on any other album".  In spite of Lennon's statements to the contrary, the album has been widely heralded as an early and ground-breaking example of the concept album.

The Beatles began sessions for the album in late November 1966 with a series of recordings that were to form an album thematically linked to their childhood. The initial results of this effort produced "Strawberry Fields Forever", "When I'm Sixty-Four" and "Penny Lane". "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were released as a double A-sided single in February 1967 after EMI and Epstein pressured Martin for a single. Once the single was released the childhood concept was abandoned in favor of Sgt. Pepper, and in keeping with the group's usual practice, the single tracks were not included on the LP (a decision Martin states he now regrets). They were released only as a single in the UK and Canada at the time, but were included as part of the American LP version of Magical Mystery Tour (which was issued as a six-track double EP in Britain). The Harrison composition "Only a Northern Song" was also recorded during the Sgt. Pepper sessions but did not see a release until the soundtrack album for the animated film Yellow Submarine, released in January 1969.

As EMI's premier act and the world's most successful rock group, the group had almost unlimited access to Abbey Road Studios.   All four band members had already developed a preference for long, late night sessions, although they were still extremely efficient and highly disciplined in their studio habits.

By 1967, all of the Sgt. Pepper tracks could be recorded at Abbey Road using mono, stereo and four-track recorders. Although eight-track tape recorders were already available in the US, the first eight-tracks were not operational in commercial studios in London until late 1967, shortly after the album was released. Like its predecessors, the recording made extensive use of the technique known as "bouncing down" (also known at that time as a "reduction mix"), in which a number of tracks were recorded across the four tracks of one recorder, which were then mixed and dubbed down onto one or several tracks of the master four-track machine. This enabled the Abbey Road engineers to give the group a virtual multi-track studio.

New modular effects units were used, like the wah-wah pedal and fuzzbox, and running voices and instruments through a Leslie speaker. Several then-new production effects feature extensively on the recordings. One of the most important was automatic double tracking (ADT), a system that used tape recorders to create a simultaneous doubling of a sound. Although it had long been recognised that using multitrack tape to record "doubled" lead vocals produced a greatly enhanced sound, it had always been necessary to record such vocal tracks twice; a task which was both tedious and exacting. ADT was invented especially for the band by EMI engineer Ken Townsend in 1966, mainly at the behest of Lennon, who hated tracking sessions and regularly expressed a desire for a technical solution to the problem. ADT quickly became a near-universal recording practice in popular music. Martin, having fun at Lennon's expense, described the new technique to an inquisitive Lennon as a "double-bifurcated sploshing flange". The anecdote explains one variation of how the term "flanging" came to be associated with this recording effect.  Also important was varispeeding, the technique of recording various tracks on a multi-track tape at slightly different tape speeds, which was used extensively on their vocals in this period. The speeding up of vocals became a widespread technique in pop production. The band also used the effect on portions of their backing tracks (as on "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds") to give them a "thicker" and more diffuse sound.

"Within You Without You" was recorded on 15 March with Harrison on vocals, sitar and tambura; the other instruments (tabla, dilruba, swarmandel, and an additional tambura) were played by four London-based Indian musicians. None of the other Beatles participated in the recording. For the 17 March recording of "She's Leaving Home", McCartney hired Mike Leander to arrange the string section as Martin was occupied producing one of his other artists, Cilla Black.

The lyrics for Lennon's song "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", were adapted from a Victorian circus poster for Pablo Fanque's circus, which Lennon had bought at an antique shop in Kent on the day of filming the promotional clip for "Strawberry Fields Forever" there. The sound collage was created by Martin and his engineers, who collected recordings of calliopes and fairground organs, which were then cut into strips of various lengths, thrown into a box, mixed up and edited together in random order, creating a long loop which was mixed in during final production.

This album also makes heavy use of keyboard instruments: a grand piano is used on tracks such as "A Day in the Life", a Lowrey organ is used for "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", a harpsichord can be heard on "Fixing a Hole", and Martin played a harmonium on "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!". An electric piano, upright piano, Hammond organ and glockenspiel can also be heard on the record. Harrison used a tambura on several tracks, including "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Getting Better".

The thunderous piano chord that concludes "A Day in the Life", and the album, was produced by assembling three grand pianos in the studio and playing an E chord on each simultaneously. Together on cue, Lennon, Starr, McCartney and assistant Mal Evans hammered the keys on the assembled pianos and held down the chord. The sound from the pianos was then mixed up with compression and increasing gain on the volume to draw out the sound to maximum sustain.

British pressings of the album (in its original LP form that was later released on CD), end with a 15-kilohertz high-frequency tone (put on the album at Lennon's suggestion and said to be "especially intended to annoy your dog"), followed by an endless loop of laughter and gibberish made by the run-out groove looping back into itself. The loop (but not the tone) made its US debut on the 1980 Rarities compilation, titled "Sgt. Pepper Inner Groove". However, it is only featured as a two-second fragment at the end of side two rather than an actual loop in the run-out groove. The CD version of "Sgt. Pepper Inner Groove" is actually a bit shorter than that one found on the original UK vinyl pressing. The sound in the loop caused some controversy when it was interpreted as a secret message. McCartney later told his biographer Barry Miles that in the summer of 1967 a group of kids came up to him complaining about a lewd message hidden in it when played backwards. He told them, "You're wrong, it's actually just 'It really couldn't be any other'". He took them to his house to play the record backwards to them, and it turned out that the passage sounded to him very much like "We'll fuck you like Superman". McCartney recounted to Miles that "we had certainly had not intended to do that but probably when you turn anything backwards it sounds like something ... if you look hard enough you can make something out of anything".

Concerns that lyrics in Sgt. Pepper referred to recreational drug use led to several songs from the album being banned by the BBC. The album's closing track, "A Day in the Life", includes the phrase "I'd love to turn you on". The BBC banned the song from airplay on the basis of this line, claiming it could "encourage a permissive attitude toward drug-taking". Both Lennon and McCartney denied any drug-related interpretation of the song at the time, although McCartney's later comments in The Beatles Anthology documentary regarding the writing of the lyric make it clear that the drug reference was indeed deliberate.

"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" also became the subject of speculation regarding its meaning, as many believed that the words of the chorus were code for LSD. The BBC used this as their basis for banning the song from British radio. Again, Lennon consistently denied this interpretation of the song, maintaining that the song describes a surreal dreamscape inspired by a picture drawn by his son Julian.  However, during a newspaper interview in 2004, McCartney was quoted as saying:

“ 'Lucy in the Sky,' that's pretty obvious. There's others that make subtle hints about drugs, but, you know, it's easy to overestimate the influence of drugs ... Just about everyone was doing drugs in one form or another and we were no different, but the writing was too important for us to mess it up by getting off our heads all the time. ”

At other times, though, McCartney seems to have contradicted himself. "When [Martin] was doing his TV program on Pepper," McCartney is quoted as saying, "he asked me, 'Do you know what caused Pepper?' I said, 'In one word, George, drugs. Pot.' And George said, 'No, no. But you weren't on it all the time.' 'Yes, we were.' Sgt. Pepper was a drug album."

Upon its release on 1 June 1967, Sgt. Pepper received both popular and critical acclaim.  The album was a global hit, with huge sales in Europe, North and South America, Africa, Japan, Australia, and even in the black market in the Soviet Union, where their albums were very popular and widely available. Various reviews appearing in the mainstream press and trade publications throughout June 1967, immediately after the album's release, were generally positive. In The Times, prominent critic Kenneth Tynan described Sgt. Pepper as "a decisive moment in the history of Western civilization". Richard Poirier wrote "listening to the Sgt. Pepper album one thinks not simply of the history of popular music but the history of this century."

Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Rollings Stones record two new tracks




The Rolling Stones are releasing  a new greatest hits compilation, entitled GRRR! on November 13th via ABKCO Music & Records.

In addition to 50 career-spanning songs, the collection will also feature two new tracks: “Gloom and Doom” and “One Last Shot,” both of which were recently recorded by the Stones in a studio in Paris, France.

The new recordings mark the first time that Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood have recorded together in the studio since 2005’s A Bigger Bang.

GRRR! will be available in multiple formats, including a three-CD 50 track version and a four-CD Super-Deluxe version with 80 tracks.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Phish at Dick's (Relix Review)


Well, Phish's Summer Tour 2012 is officially in the history books, but their three-night stand in Commerce City, CO this past weekend proved to be one to remember.  

Please follow the link to read Relix contributor, Adam Perry's excellent reviews of Phish's wild weekend at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.


Monday, September 3, 2012

SiriusXM Launches Dave Matthews Band Radio



SiriusXM announced last week it's plans to launch Dave Matthews Band Radio on Sirius channel 142 and XM channel 43 for the month of September.  

The limited-run DMB channel will feature music from the band's catalog, live recordings from the DMB archives, interviews, and exclusive previews of the forthcoming album Away From The World

Sunday, September 2, 2012

On the turntable this Sunday...Space Wrangler



Space Wrangler is the first studio album by the Athens, GA based band Widespread Panic. It was first released by a small Atlanta label, Landslide Records, on February 4, 1988. It was later reissued three times, the first two times by Capricorn Records/Warner Bros. Records, and, in 2001, by Zomba Music Group.

Due to time restraints on the original issue, concert staple "Conrad" was not included in the 1988 release. The reissues featured three extra tracks not found on the original release. Holden Oversoul and Contentment Blues were both from a John Keane Studio session in September 1990. Me and The Devil Blues / Heaven was recorded as one take and was taken from "try-out" sessions with Capricorn Records that would result in the Widespread Panic album.

Space Wrangler has been released on vinyl, cassette and CD.


All songs written and composed by John Bell, Michael Houser, Todd Nance, Domingo Sunny Ortiz, and Dave Schools unless otherwise stated.

1. "Chilly Water"   5:40
2. "Travelin' Light" (written by J. J. Cale) 3:36
3. "Space Wrangler"   6:49
4. "Coconut"   5:04
5. "The Take Out"   2:16
6. "Porch Song"   2:52
7. "Stop-Go"   4:50
8. "Driving"   8:29
9. "Holden Oversoul"   3:32
10. "Contentment Blues"   5:06
11. "Gomero Blanco"   1:11
12. "Me and the Devil Blues[b]/Heaven[a][c]"   15:11

^ a Produced by Johnny Sandlin
^ b "Me and the Devil Blues" written by Robert Johnson
^ c "Heaven" written by David Byrne and Jerry Harrison

Personnel: Widespread Panic


John Bell - Vocals, Guitar
Michael Houser - Guitar, Vocals
Todd Nance - Percussion, Drums, Vocals
Domingo S. Ortiz - Percussion
Dave Schools - Bass, Percussion, Vocals
Additional Personnel
Tim White - Keyboards
John Keane - Vocals, Producer Engineer
Alberto Salazarte - Rap
David Blackman - Fiddle
Bill Jordan - Laughs
Page McConnell (and Phish crew) - Organ on "Holden Oversoul"
T. Lavitz - Organ on "Me And The Devil Blues"/"Heaven"
Jim Bickerstaff - remixing
Jeff Coppage - engineer, remixing
James Flournoy - artwork, design
Heather Laurie - design
Benny Quinn - mastering
Johnny Sandlin - producer, remixing
Steve Tillisch - engineer

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Widespread Panic to return to the stage in December



Widespread Panic has just announced two shows, a Tunes for Tots benefit concert at the Fillmore in Charlotte, NC on December 30th, and a New Year’s Eve show at the Time Warner Cable Arena, also in Charlotte.  As of press time, these are the only the group has confirmed in 2012 which ends their indefinite hiatus. Widespread Panic have not performed since the group went on hiatus earlier this year.

Earlier this month, Widespread Panic also announced that they will perform four shows at Panic En La Playa in January 2013.