Tag: tidal

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Greetings from Tim Buckley – A New Independent Film

I am enthusiastic to learn about a new independent film, Greetings from Tim Buckley by TriBeca Film. It will be available for rental from iTunes starting April 16th. The film opens on May 3rd in New York and Los Angeles.

Official Trailer

Penn Badgley channels Jeff Buckley in this clip from “Greetings From Tim Buckley” as he sings Buckley’s famous cover of his father’s song, ‘Once I Was.’ The movie leads up to this deciding moment when Jeff Buckley is discovered by the world on this stage. The torch is passed from father to son through the shared music inherent in their respective DNA.

Buckley_poster

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Rock Candy Funk Party

I was listening to the music player on the Elmore Magazine Website. Normally most music player play lists don’t do much for me. I find many music players very “cheesy” representations of the artist’s music. The playlists are typically “weak” and “”thrown together” in haphazard fashion. However, this funk track has dramatically shifted my reservation towards the positive.

The band is a stunning collaboration of funk, rock and blues superstars. Rock Candy Funk Party is made up of  album producer Tal Bergman (drums), Ron DeJesus (guitar), Joe Bonamassa (guitar), Mike Merritt (bass), and Renato Neto (keyboards).

As Booker T says 😉

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Jessie Ware Is Everywhere

Jessie Ware is everywhere. The word ingenue comes to mind when I hear her sing. Her début album Devotion a top seller in 2012 is being re-released on April 15th with the addition of four bonus tracks including two previously unheard cuts – ‘Imagine It Was Us’ and ‘Wildest Moments – Feat. A$AP Rocky’.

Is there a track on the album you’re proudest of?

I think maybe “Running“. It came right at the end of the album, and maybe that was when I was at my most relaxed and content and confident, so it became I easier to write. I feel so proud of that song: it sounds like everything that I wanted to achieve, with the references to old soul and dance, and the groove and electronic feel.

Expect more hype to follow when Jessie Ware invades America next month for concert dates in the New York Area and two appearances at Coachella.

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Let’s Make A Deal – Taj Mahal Edition

As they say on Let’s Make A Deal, do you want what’s behind Door #1, Door #2 0r Door #3? The Taj Mahal Edition for blues music collectors appears below

Record Store Day 2013

Taj Mahal and  SONY Legacy Recordings announce the release of The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal and The Natch’l Blues on vinyl for Record Store Day 2013.

Collectible Grade: RECORD STORE DAY FIRST’ RELEASE.  These are titles that you can find on Record Store Day at Record Store Day participating stores. So if you’re a fan of the artist, you get first listen. At some point in the future, generally four to six weeks, these titles will be available, in the same format, at other retailers.

Behind Door #1 – The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal

Two 12″ 180-gram vinyl LPs in an individually numbered gatefold jacket – Amazing studio demos chronicling the early years of the American bluesman Taj Mahal.

Behind Door #2 – The Natch’l Blues

12″ 180-gram vinyl in an individually numbered jacket – Taj Mahal’s breathtaking second album, originally released in 1968, showcased a band featuring Al Kooper and Jesse Ed Davis while introducing a generation to deep blues classics like “Corinna,” “She Caught the Katy (and Left Me a Mule to Ride),” and “The Cuckoo.”

Door #3 – The Complete Columbia Albums Collection

The box set includes both prizes behind Door #1 and Door #2 along with 11 other vinyl recordings.

So many choices, so little time 😉

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Nederpop, Music of the Hague

The year was 1970. The group was Shocking Blue, Dutch musicians from The Hague with a #1 US Hit on February 7, 1970 “Venus“.

I remember attending Career Academy Broadcasting School at 8 West 40th Street in New York City when “Venus” exploded upon the airwaves. My listening tastes were still being shaped by Top 40 AM radio but progressive FM radio was my consuming passion. I wanted to become a professional disk jockey in the worst way. I played that 45 r.p.m. record religiously as part of my afternoon radio show class.

Roll the tape ahead 43 years later. I am picking through music magazines at Barnes & Noble when I notice the cover of Shindig Magazine from the UK. Shocking Blue is their cover story. I buy the magazine to learn more about why Shocking Blue was more than the one-hit wonder. I get a side education about the Dutch music scene as a by-product.

I learn that The Hague is Holland’s number one music city. Nederpop home to groups Shocking Blue, Golden Earring (Godfathers of Nederpop) and Focus just to name a few.

File:Golden Earring - Moontan.jpg

I saw Golden Earring open for King Crimson in Central Park in 1975. I will never forget how the lead singer ran behind the stage during “Radar Love” and used a mini-trampoline to jump over the drummer to hit the stage standing right at that point in the song after the drumming where the vocals start again.

I make it my mission to delve more into the music of The Hague at my next opportunity 😉

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The Rewarding Influence of Richard Hell

Last month I wrote an extensive A-Z music journalist series. The tree of music journalism I planted continues to harvest fruit.

I commenced InterWeb reading this morning with Robert Christgau’s Barnes and Noble Review column Rock & Roll &. I was rewarded with a thought-provoking essay about Richard Hell’s new book, I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp.

The more I dug into Richard Hell, Television, his (s)exploits and writing prowess the more intrigued I became.

I have tried to find  copy of the book at my local Barnes & Noble Stores so I can give you a closer perspective but no luck thus far.

I add this book to my ever-increasing music book reading list.

There is a tie-in event with Richard Hell, Fashion and Punk that I also want to share with you. The exhibit takes place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art May 9-August 14, 2013.

PUNK: Chaos to Couture will examine punk’s impact on high fashion from the movement’s birth in the early 1970s through its continuing influence today. Featuring approximately one hundred designs for men and women, the exhibition will include original punk garments and recent, directional fashion to illustrate how haute couture and ready-to-wear borrow punk’s visual symbols.

Focusing on the relationship between the punk concept of “do-it-yourself” and the couture concept of “made-to-measure,” the seven galleries will be organized around the materials, techniques, and embellishments associated with the anti-establishment style. Themes will include New York and London, which will tell punk’s origin story as a tale of two cities, followed by Clothes for Heroes and four manifestations of the D.I.Y. aesthetic—Hardware, Bricolage, Graffiti and Agitprop, and Destroy.

Presented as an immersive multimedia, multisensory experience, the clothes will be animated with period music videos and soundscaping audio techniques. – Description Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art 2013

A book, Punk: Chaos to Couture, by Andrew Bolton, with an introduction by Jon Savage, and prefaces by Richard Hell and John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols), will accompany the exhibition. This publication will be illustrated with photographs of vintage punks and high fashion. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the $45 catalogue (hard cover only) will be distributed worldwide by Yale University Press.

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Pink Floyd 40th Anniversary, Unite to Darken the Moon

Wow has it been 40 years already since the release of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon? I remember well March 17, 1973 when that recording debuted (US release date according to Capitol Records). The FM radio station I listened to out of New York City, WNEW-FM 102.7 leaned on it strongly. I bought my vinyl LP copy on  the Saturday afternoon it was released here in the States.  On the following day, Sunday the 18th of March 1973 I was fortunate to witness Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon 1973 Tour. They performed at The Palace in Waterbury, Ct. I wrote about that experience in the blog post hyper-linked below.

Pink Floyd In Concert 1973 – The Dark Side of the Moon Tour

Pink Floyd and EMI Music will mark the 40th Anniversary of the original UK release of The Dark Side of The Moon on 24 March 2013, as fans around the globe unite to turn a specially designed moon dark. Centred around a global playback of the album on PinkFloyd.com, each memory, thought and photo tweeted as fans rediscover the album will count towards the creation of a dark side of the moon.

Starting at 00:01am GMT on 24 March 2013, for the entire day fans all over the world will be able to share thoughts and comments via twitter using #DarkSide40 and witness the impact as the volume of messages combine to turn the moon dark.

DSOTM

Storm Thorgerson

When it comes to branding and logo there may not be a more discernible icon than the Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon “Prism”.  (Well perhaps the Rolling Stones Lips might top it…) It was designed by Storm Thorgerson when he was with Hipignosis. I have been a major fan of Storm Thorgerson for decades.

I wish I could afford the deluxe edition of his collectible book, Taken By Storm, The Album Art of Storm Thorgerson by the high-end music book publishing house Genesis Publications.

Keep watching the Pink Floyd Web page, http://darkside40.pinkfloyd.com/ for the variants of the Dark Side of the Moon prism. Each day another square in the diagram gets filled in and I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon 😉

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Rod Stewart – Time

Rod Stewart was the first British Rock lead vocalist I ever saw in concert. I saw Rod Stewart as lead vocalist for The Jeff Beck Group on July 3, 1969. I remember he was quite the dandy. He was tall and strutted across the Fillmore East stage wearing a long white scarf. His voice was very commanding to match his stage presence.

So here we are later in time and I am writing about Rod Stewart’s soon to be released new album, Time (May 7th).

It’s interesting how much has changed in 44 years. I discovered Rod Stewart by accident actually as my goal that night at The Fillmore East was to see my favorite band at the time, Jethro Tull. I didn’t own a lick of Jeff Beck or Rod Stewart’s music before the show. I purchased Beck-Ola on the way to the Subway at The Gramophone.

Today I receive an e-mail from the Rod Stewart mailing list that informs me of the forthcoming album. I navigate with my Web browser to the Rod Stewart Official Website and I become informed about Time and its contents there. I also see that YouTube serves as the video preview point globally for Rod Stewart’s Time. Last but not least I don’t have to leave my easy chair to buy the recording because I can pre-order it  on iTunes or Amazon. Rod Stewart in Internet Time indeed.

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Greg Lake, Autobiography:Lucky Man & CD:Songs of a Lifetime

Greg Lake has a wonderful voice with memorable inflection and hauntingly wonderful tonality. He is a vital vocal energy in the music of our heart.

Lucky Man – Autobiography

I keep discovering audio books to listen to which help pass time illuminated by the spoken word. Greg Lake is the midst of writing his autobiography ‘Lucky Man’ which is projected to be completed by the end of this year. As good fortune would have it you can buy Volume 1 of his book now as a USB guitar collectible (Click the image for ordering information). Greg Lake is our reader which adds a special intimacy to the listening/fan experience. The daybreak is your midnight; the colors have all died.  Disturbing the waters of our lives, of our lives, of our lives, lives,  Lives, lives…  Of our lives. – Greg Lake, “Take A Pebble“

Songs of a Lifetime

Greg Lake has released a live recording of his 2012 Songs of a Lifetime Tour. He is a sheer delight to witness in concert. You will be amazed when you hear him sing how you drift back to the time when King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer graced your stereo system. He typifies the feeling that you share with him in a concert hall in the quote below. We saw him a few years back with Keith Emerson at the Ridgefield Playhouse. It was a marvelous show and C’est La Vie was our highlight that evening.

The idea for the tour came about as Lake was writing his autobiography ‘Lucky Man,’ which is due toward the end of 2013. “Behind these songs there were often stories to be told and it occurred to me that the same must be true for the audience as well,” he says in a press release. “It was then that I thought of the idea of doing a series of very small intimate concerts where I could perform these songs and exchange stories with the audience, in a way reliving the time when the music we shared together really became part of our identity and in a way became the backdrop to our lives.”

View this tasty sample of one of Greg Lake’s “Songs of a Lifetime” tour concerts in this short video, filmed and edited by noted Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Archivist and Curator Tony Ortiz.

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John Mayer Leverages Social Networking

John Mayer is on the mend and will be announcing this week his Born & Raised Tour 2013 plans. John Mayer, his technical management team are collaborating with Billboard.Biz to hosting a Google+ Hangout with invited fans on Thursday March 21st.

I teach technology priding myself incorporating the latest software engineering advancements when I use the InterWeb. My compliments to the John Mayer team and Billboard for structuring an intelligent qualification survey form for this event. A direct benefit of the invitation to this event with John Mayer and Don Was is that it will sharpen your Google+ Profile for precision and accuracy.

John Mayer is on the comeback trail. He’s endured and overcome painful lessons of late, some of which were self-inflicted, others were due to his health. I’m pleased to report that John Mayer is resuming his live performances with a renewed sense of vigor.

My first sign that John Mayer was back was his appearance segment on the CBS Sunday Morning February 10th broadcast. That insightful segment piqued my interest in what John Mayer is doing next.

I hope I qualify to be invited to the John Mayer Google+ Hangout this could be historic.

If you like knowing what goes into the making of album art and graphics design watch this John Mayer YouTube video about Born and Raised.

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