Sunday, January 31, 2016

On the turntable this Sunday...Substance



Substance is a singles compilation album by the post-punk band Joy Division, released on Factory Records in 1988. It is the companion to a similar singles compilation by their subsequent band New Order, also entitled Substance. It peaked at #7 in the UK album chart and #146 on the Billboard 200, the band's only chart appearance in the United States. It also reached #15 in New Zealand and #53 in Australia in August 1988.

Substance compiles the four singles released by the band that did not appear on albums - "Transmission", "Komakino", "Love Will Tear Us Apart", and "Atmosphere" - as well as their B-sides. It also collects tracks released on extended play singles, the band's first release An Ideal for Living, and two samplers issued by Factory Records, A Factory Sample and Earcom 2: Contradiction. The single "Atmosphere" had been originally issued in France as "Licht und Blindheit" with "Dead Souls" on the B-side. Following the death of Ian Curtis, it was reissued as a posthumous B-side of the "She's Lost Control" single in an alternate version from the track that had previously appeared on Unknown Pleasures. The vinyl version omits the single "Komakino" and does not include the complete titles from the extended plays. Later CD pressings issued by London Records contain a previously unreleased mix of "She's Lost Control" that is slightly different from the original single release. More guitar is featured within the song, the synthesizer melody is shortened and starts at a later point, and the ending of the song is extended by 15 seconds and doesn't fade out.

Read more @ Wikipedia

Saturday, January 30, 2016

ELO's Jeff Lynne: My Life in 15 Songs (Rolling Stone)




Even during the height of Electric Light Orchestra's hit-making days in the late 1970s, only the most devoted rock fans knew the name Jeff Lynne. "I never pushed myself forward," he says on the phone from his home in Los Angeles. "I could have gotten a big head, but it just wasn't in my nature. All I wanted was studio time and more studio time and even more studio time."

Read more of Andy Greene's article @ Rolling Stone: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/elos-jeff-lynne-my-life-in-15-songs-20160121#ixzz3yHNsBxOa

Friday, January 29, 2016

Top 10 Glenn Frey Solo Songs (Ultimate Classic Rock)




Glenn Frey‘s solo career was bound to be overlooked, considering he’d scored a pile of Top 40 hits – including two chart-toppers – as a member of the Eagles. Like his longtime bandmate Don Henley, Frey was determined to explore as far outward as possible from the group’s core country-rocking sound.


Read More of Nick DeRiso's article and watch the videos @ Ultimate Classic Rock: Top 10 Glenn Frey Solo Songs


Thursday, January 28, 2016

Brian Wilson to Mark 50th Anniversary of Pet Sounds with Tour (jambands.com)




Brian Wilson will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Beach Boys’ iconic Pet Sounds record with an extensive world tour that kicks off March 26 in Australia. Wilson and his band will be joined throughout by founding Beach Boys member Al Jardine as well as Blondi Chaplin, who joined the group in the 70s.

Read more @ jambands.com

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

February 2016 New Music Releases (Ultimate Classic Rock)



The world of rock is finally emerging from its long winter’s nap, as a quick spin through our list of February 2016 new music releases shows.

So we have a new album from Elton John, his first since 2013’s The Diving Board. And Alice Cooper sitting in for a symphonic reading of Pink Floyd‘s Wish You Were Here. The Cult are back,too, after some time spent in the studio....


Read More of Nick DeRiso's article @ Ultimate Classic Rock: February 2016 New Music Releases 

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Springsteen Offers Free Download of Chicago Show online




Due to the postponement of Bruce Springsteen’s first Madison Square Garden show, The Boss is offering up his recent Chicago show as a free download until Tuesday evening, 01/26 at 8 PM. 

Along with a complete live performance of The River, Springsteen offers classic cuts as well as a special tribute to the late Glenn Frey with a cover of the Eagles “Take it Easy” to kick off the encore, a debut for the E Street Band. 


Monday, January 25, 2016

Shaky Knees Music Fest Announces 2016 Lineup (jambands.com)




Shaky Knees Music Festival has revealed its lineup for 2016, and the Atlanta, GA fest will be headlined by Florence + the Machine, My Morning Jacket and Jane’s Addiction.

Read more @ jambands.com


Sunday, January 24, 2016

On the turntable this Sunday...Three Snakes and A Charm



Three Snakes and One Charm is the fourth album by the American blues rock band The Black Crowes. It was released on July 23, 1996.

During the "Amorica or Bust" tour of 1995, many of the relationships within The Black Crowes had soured, the most public of which was the one between brothers Chris and Rich Robinson. "We just fucking hated each other," Rich noted in the September 1996 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine. "It's just a normal phase bands go through. There was a lot of emotional baggage, and everyone got on each other's nerves. We almost broke up a few times, but finally we all let go and moved on."
Chris echoed his brother's sentiment in the March 1996 issue of Guitar World magazine. "Everyone goes through changes," he stated. "The trick is trying to remember that and keep it together, and having respect for everyone and not judging people because you're all goin' through changes. Perseverance is the thing. You have to get your ego in place."
With this new attitude in place, the band began planning what would be their fourth studio album. Their previous album, 1994's Amorica, was very much a studio recording, with a great deal of overdubs and other musical flourishes. This was a distinct change from the band's sophomore effort, 1992's The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, which was recorded in eight days with little to no overdubs. A great deal of this was attributed to producer Jack Joseph Puig, who manned the board for Amorica. "The eight day album was coming off of 15 months of touring and we were still just flying," then-bassist Johnny Colt told RockNet in 1995. "This time we took some time off beforehand and tried to slow down...We consciously tried to take more time. I'm not even saying we really needed it, but we wanted to try it. We have worked ourselves into a position to afford to spend a little bit more time and try to make a different step."

Chris Robinson had a slightly different tone to his take on Amorica. "(It) wasn't hard to make because it was our third album," he told MOJO magazine in July 1996. "It was hard to make because we were depressed and in an angry, confused place. Most of it was personal shit."

Rather than make another "studio" record like Amorica, the band opted for a different approach in the latter months of 1995. "Chris suggested that rather than book a hotel for six months, it'd be cooler if we rented a house for everyone to stay in," Rich Robinson noted in 1996. "So Chris moved into the house, and I brought my little board over to work on the demos. It sounded so cool that I brought my big board over, and the rest of my shit, and we rented a Neve sidecar for 10 extra channels. And we just did it."

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Weezer Announce The White Album





Weezer will release their next studio album on April 1. Dubbed The White Album, the record falls in line with previous Weezer releases Blue, Green and 2008’s Red albums.

Read the full article @ jambands.com 

Friday, January 22, 2016

Bruce Springsteen Covers David Bowie, Resurrects 'The River' at Tour Opener (Rolling Stone)



Ever since Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band reunited back in 1999, a major component of their live shows has been spontaneity. When they last toured in 2014, it was impossible to know what songs might pop up on any given night, whether it was an unexpected cover like Lorde's "Royals" or Van Halen's "Jump," crazily obscure studio outtakes like "The Iceman" and "Living on the Edge of the World" or even alternate versions of familiar tunes like "Racing in the Street '78" and "Prove It All Night" with the long piano/guitar intro last heard on the Darkness on the Edge of Town tour.

Read more of Andy Greene's review @ Rolling Stone: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bruce-springsteen-covers-david-bowie-resurrects-the-river-at-tour-opener-20160117#ixzz3xhomMVG5

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Phish Close Mexico Run, Tease New Album (jambands.com)




Phish closed out their three-night run in Mexico over the weekend with a quote heavy set and by teasing their next studio project.

The group kicked things off with the highly anticipated “Mexican Cousin,” their first since November 2, 2014, and moved into another song left on the shelf for all of 2015, “The Curtain With.”

Read full article @ jambands.com


Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Glenn Frey: The Voice That Launched a Million Tequila Sunrises (Rolling Stone)





With a voice resembling a pitched-down Neil Young and the best hair by far (not to mention the most convincing desperado mustache), Glenn Frey was the Eagles' ace in the hole. He played lead, rhythm, acoustic, electric, and slide guitar; he doubled on keyboards; he co-wrote or curated most of the band's best songs, sang lead on many of them, and maybe most crucially, helped arrange their take-no-prisoners group harmonies.

Read more of Will Hermes' tribute @ Rolling Stone: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/glenn-frey-the-voice-that-launched-a-million-tequila-sunrises-20160119#ixzz3xhjwDDij 

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

R.I.P. Glenn Frey (Ultimate Classic Rock)



Eagles guitarist Glenn Frey has died yesterday (Jan. 18). He was 67.
The band posted a statement on its Facebook page, listing “complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia” as the causes of death.


Read More @ Ultimate Classic Rock: Glenn Frey Dead at Age 67 

Monday, January 18, 2016

David Bowie’s Most Memorable Rock Collaborations (Ultimate Classic Rock)



Even within the smaller category of David Bowie‘s most memorable rock collaborations, he was ever changing. A master craftsman, master interpreter and master entertainer, Bowie could transform the smallest of guest turns into a full blown adventure – and he did so time and time again

Read More of Dave Swanson's article @ Ultimate Classic Rock: David Bowie's Most Memorable Rock Collaborations 

Sunday, January 17, 2016

On the turntable this Sunday...★




Blackstar (stylised as ) is the twenty-fifth and final studio album by English musician David Bowie. It was released through Bowie's ISO Records label on 8 January 2016, the date of Bowie's 69th birthday and two days before his death. The title track was released as a single on 20 November 2015 and was used as the opening music for the television series The Last Panthers. "Lazarus" was released on 17 December 2015 as a digital download and received its world premiere on BBC Radio 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq the same day.  The album was met with critical acclaim.

Recording of the album took place at The Magic Shop and Human Worldwide Studios in New York City. Bowie began writing and making demos for songs that appear on Blackstar as soon as sessions for The Next Day concluded. The two songs that appear on Blackstar that were previously released, "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)" and "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore", were re-recorded for Blackstar, including new saxophone parts played on the latter song by Donny McCaslin (replacing parts Bowie played on the original release). According to producer Tony Visconti, the album was inspired by rapper Kendrick Lamar with his 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly, with electronic duo Boards of Canada and experimental hip-hop trio Death Grips also cited as influences for the album. The five star segments below the main star (on the album cover) can be read as stylised letters spelling 'b o w i e'.
The title of the second song takes up that of a play by John Ford, an English dramatist of the 17th century.
According to producer Tony Visconti, Bowie had planned for the album to be his swan song or "parting gift" for his fans before his death; he died two days after the album's release.

Read more @ Wikipedia

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Phish to Webcast Riviera Maya Mexico Tonight



Phish have will be webcasting the rest of their three-day destination event in Riviera Maya, Mexico, throughout the remainder of the weekend.



The webcast will be "live" from Mexico, where Phish are holding a weekend getaway festival that resumes tonight and tomorrow night, via LivePhish.com  


Friday, January 15, 2016

45 Most Anticipated Albums of 2016 (Rolling Stone)





From this month's return of David Bowie to the much-delayed return of Frank Ocean, 2016 promises to be full of big albums and big names. Here are the 45 records we're most eager to blast on our stereos this year.

Read more @ Rolling Stone: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/45-most-anticipated-albums-of-2016-20160106#ixzz3wZeKt7Z8

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Tame Impala Announce US Tour Dates (jambands.com)



Kevin Parker’s Tame Impala had a banner year in 2015, and now the band has announced its first North American tour dates of 2016, which will come after a winter tour in Europe and South America.

Read more @ jambands.com

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Carnegie Hall Bowie Tribute Concert to Feature The Roots, Perry Farrell, The Mountain Goats and More (jambands.com)



Just hours before the news broke of David Bowie’s death, a tribute concert at Carnegie Hall was announced to celebrate the late icon’s impressive catalogue. The tribute, as the event’s page states, has now become a memorial.

Taking place March 31 at Carnegie, Hall, the concert is being put on by City Winery’s Michael Dorf and will feature The Roots, Perry Farrell, The Mountain Goats, Cyndi Lauper, Jakob Dylan, Bettye LaVette, Heart’s Ann Wilson Robyn Hitchcock and more surprise guests, along with longtime Bowie producer Tony Visconti. 

Read more at jambands.com

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

David Bowie Dead at 69 (Ultimate Classic Rock)




Rock legend David Bowie has died just two days after his 69th birthday, following a previously undisclosed, 18-month battle with cancer.

Read More @ Ultimate Classic Rock: David Bowie Dead at 69 





The artist's Facebook page announced the news, with the singer's rep confirming his death to Rolling Stone.

Read more @ Rolling Stone: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-bowie-dead-at-69-20160111#ixzz3wxwqyhBY





Monday, January 11, 2016

R.I.P. David Bowie





David Bowie, the legendary singer-songwriter and actor, has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 69.
The artist's Facebook page announced the news, with the singer's rep confirming his death to Rolling Stone. "David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18-month battle with cancer," the statement read. "While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family's privacy during their time of grief."


Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-bowie-dead-at-69-20160111#ixzz3wvoKKqRz 

Sunday, January 10, 2016

On the turntable this Sunday...Sign "☮" the Times




Sign o' the Times, stylized as Sign "☮" the Times, is the ninth studio album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on March 31, 1987 by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album is the follow-up to Parade (1986), and Prince's first "solo" album following his departure from The Revolution; the symbol between the quotes is a peace sign. The songs were largely recorded during 1986 to 1987 in sessions for albums Prince ultimately aborted—Dream Factory, Camille, and Crystal Ball.

The album's music draws on funk, soul, psychedelic pop, and rock musicSign o' the Times features lyrical themes such as the depressing state of the world in the title track, gender identity/androgyny in "If I Was Your Girlfriend", party funk in "Housequake", sexual lust in "It", replacing a loved one in "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man", and spiritual enlightenment in "The Cross". The album also had an accompanying concert film of the same name.

The double album was a synthesis of three projects from 1986, including some work with The Revolution. The bulk of the tracks originate from the final Revolution project known as Dream Factory and a later solo project called Camille. These projects, along with some other songs, merged into a 22-track, 3-LP opus called Crystal Ball. Prince's record company, Warner Bros. Records, balked at the idea of a 3-LP album, considering both the lukewarm performance of Parade and Prince's second film, Under the Cherry Moon, and it forced Prince to trim the album down.

Read more @ Wikipedia


Saturday, January 9, 2016

Mike Gordon: Mind Left Body (Relix)




50 TRIPS AROUND THE SUN
I recently turned 50, and my life is more focused and centered than ever before. Songwriting has become such an important outlet. Right now, I want to focus on that and recording, as well as enjoying life and getting in shape at this age—that whole package...


Read Mike Greenhaus' article @ Relix

Friday, January 8, 2016

David Bowie, ‘Blackstar': UCR Album Review




Producer Tony Visconti has said that David Bowie‘s 25th album, Blackstar, is a reaction to 2013’s The Next Day, which the longtime collaborators felt was a bit too rooted in the artist’s classic rock ‘n’ roll style. In other words, we were told to expect less Ziggy, more Low.

Read More of Michael Gallucci's 
 review @ Ultimate Classic Rock: David Bowie, 'Blackstar': Album Review 

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

John Mayer Hints at More Dead & Co.in 2016 (jambands.com)




Dead & Company concluded their four show New Year’s run over the weekend at The Forum in Inglewood, CA. The night featured three sets of music, including an inspired, fully segued second set. For many folks, however, the highlight came with a non-musical moment. Near the close of the evening before the “Brokedown Palace” encore, John Mayer addressed the crowd directly, thanking them for their acceptance. He then suggested “at the risk of rocking any boats” that “we’ll see you next year.”

Read more @ jambands.com

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Phish Play Decidedly Old School Set at Madison Square Garden Finale (jambands.com)




Phish closed out their four night Madison Square Garden run with some of their oldest classics throughout the show. While a majority of the show was peppered with tunes from the 90s, a newer cut “Your Pet Cat” kicked off the show, one of the songs from the band’s Chilling, Thrilling Sounds set at the Las Vegas Halloween show.

Read more at jambands.com


Sunday, January 3, 2016

On the turntable this Sunday...Tin Cans & Car Tires



Tin Cans and Car Tires is moe.'s second release with 550 Music; their first was 1996's No Doy. It was released on September 8, 1998 and featured the band's new drummer, Vinnie Amico, who had taken over the position from Chris Mazur in 1996.

  1. "Stranger Than Fiction" (Derhak) — 3:02
  2. "Spaz Medicine" (Schnier) — 5:06
  3. "Nebraska" (Derhak) — 3:50
  4. "Head" (Schnier) — 5:46
  5. "Hi & Lo" (Garvey) — 4:29
  6. "Plane Crash" (Derhak) — 8:54
  7. "Letter Home" (Schnier) — 4:07
  8. "Big World" (Schnier) — 4:49
  9. "Again and Again" (Schnier) — 4:34
  10. "It" (Garvey) — 5:04
  11. "Happy Hour Hero" (Derhak) — 5:03
  12. "Queen of the Rodeo" (Schnier) — 3:07

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Guns N’ Roses Reunion Rumors Reignited by Website Update (UCR)



Guns N’ Roses‘ official website has undergone a potentially prophetic – or possibly meaningless – update. Nearly everything from the site’s former design, including five of the eight main navigation sections, has been removed in favor of a big splashy image of the band’s famous classic-era “bullet” logo.

UPDATED, 12/31:The New York Times‘ is likewise confirming a Coachella date for Guns N’ Roses, again relying on anonymous sources. The report also says Axl Rose “is expected to make an announcement about the future of Guns N’ Roses on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ next week.”

Read More: Guns N' Roses (Well, Axl Rose and Slash, Anyway) Reportedly to Reunite for 25 Dates Including Coachella | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/guns-n-roses-coachella-slash-axl-only/?trackback=tsmclip



Read More of Matthew Wilkening's article @ Ultimate Classic Rock: Guns N' Roses Reunion Rumors Reignited by Website Update 

Friday, January 1, 2016

Columbia House to Relaunch as Vinyl Subscription Service in 2016 (Rolling Stone)




Four months after declaring bankruptcy, mail-order retailer Columbia House thinks they have uncovered a path to solvency: Vinyl. Hoping to capitalize on the record fad, Columbia House's new owner announced plans to revive the company as a vinyl-only delivery service. Columbia House got out of the music business entirely in 2010; since then, they've operated as a DVD marketplace.

Read more @ Rolling Stone: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/columbia-house-to-relaunch-as-vinyl-subscription-service-in-2016-20151224#ixzz3vdFcbBIA