Archive for the ‘CLASSIC ALBUMS’ Category

The ANTLERS – ” Refuge “

Posted: April 17, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Transgressive Records and The Antlers have issued some new live footage of them performing “Refuge” ahead of the release of their double 12″ later this year. Pre-order the limited edition 12″ here: http://shop.transgressiverecords.com/

In London 2 x 12"

Transgressive Records are proud to present The Antlers In London a limited edition vinyl only release, which will not be issued digitally. The deluxe double set captures the entirety of their sold-out Hackney Empire show, centered around the glorious album “Familiars” released last year to rave reviews.
Album tracks Palace, Refuge and Hotel are extended into blissfully engaging pieces, reflecting different angles to the record, whilst classics from well-loved albums “Burst Apart” and “Hospice” are seamlessly incorporated into the lushly arranged set. The reverence of the audience is palpable, and the majesty of the Hackney Empire’s environment etched into its grooves. The Antlers are an indie rock band based in Brooklyn, New York. The band’s lyrics are written and sung by Peter Silberman. Their music is composed and performed by Silberman, Darby Cicci (trumpet, upright/electric bass, keyboards, synths, vocals) and Michael Lerner (drums). The Antlers’ makeup has developed from a lo-fi, bedroom recording folk project into a heavily lush and orchestrated rock group with an aptitude for melodious experimentation and layering. The instrumentation consists of vocals, electric guitar, keyboards/synths, drums and an array of other instruments including piano, horns, strings, and electronic elements.[1] Silberman has said that the band’s name is taken from The Microphones‘ song, “Antlers”.

The Antlers – In London
Recorded live at the Hackney Empire, London, 24th October 2014
Limited edition 2×12” set.

Strictly limited to vinyl only, the live collection chronicles last year’s show at London’s Hackney Empire, where the session was also filmed; you can check out our emotionally-charged galleryhere.

The album is focused mostly on last year’s Familiars, but also includes tracks from throughout their back catalogue (find out exactly what further down the page).

Tracklist:

1. Palace
2. Doppelgänger
3. Hotel
4. Kettering
5. No Widows
6. Director
7. Revisited
8. Parade
9. I Don’t Want Love
10. Surrender
11. Putting The Dog To Sleep
12. Refuge
13. Epilogue

Live In London is released 15th June on Transgressive.

Check out the video of them performing “Refuge” and then check out the LP’s tracklist .

The ROLLING STONES – ” The Rolling Stones ” Debut Album Released April 16th 1964

Posted: April 16, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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rolling stones, the - the rolling stones - 1964 - album cover

Released in April 1964, The Rolling Stones was – according to guitarist Keith Richards – half-comprised of rough mixes precipitously rushed onto the market by their manager (and the album’s nominal producer) Andrew Loog Oldham. It’s a testament to the group’s brilliance that the result was still the best album to emerge from the early 1960s British blues boom.
The Rolling Stones is the debut album by The Rolling Stones, released by Decca Records in the UK on 16 April 1964. The American edition of the LP, with a slightly different track list, came out on London Records on 30 May 1964, with the added title England’s Newest Hit Makers.

The majority of the tracks reflect the band’s love for R&B. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (whose professional name until 1978 omitted the “s” in his surname) were fledgling songwriters during early 1964, contributing only one original composition to the album: “Tell Me (You’re Coming Back)”. Two songs are credited to “Nanker Phelge” – a pseudonym the band used for group compositions from 1963 to 1965. Phil Spector and Gene Pitney both contributed to the recording sessions, and are referred to as “Uncle Phil and Uncle Gene” in the subtitle of the Phelge instrumental “Now I’ve Got a Witness.”

The album cover photo was taken by Nicholas Wright. The cover bears no title or identifying information other than the photo and the Decca logo – an “unheard of” design concept originated by manager Andrew Oldham.

Upon its release, The Rolling Stones became one of 1964’s biggest sellers in the UK, staying at No. 1 for twelve weeks.the rolling stones 1964

 

The Rolling Stones
  • Mick Jagger – lead and backing vocals, harmonica on “Little by Little” and “I’m a King Bee”, percussion
  • Keith Richards – guitar, backing vocals
  • Brian Jones – guitar, harmonica, percussion, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on “Walking The Dog”
  • Bill Wyman – bass guitar, backing vocals
  • Charlie Watts – drums, percussion
Additional musicians
  • Ian Stewart – organ, piano
  • Gene Pitney – piano on “Little by Little”
  • Phil Spector – maracas on “Little by Little”

STEPHEN STILLS MANASSAS – ” Manassas ” Released 12th April 1972

Posted: April 13, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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In 1972, Stephen Stills formed a new band called ‘Manassas’ and on April 12th they released their debut double LP of the same name. A sprawling masterpiece, akin to the Beatles‘ White Album, the Stones‘ Exile on Main St., or Wilco‘s Being There in its makeup, if not its sound. Rock, folk, blues, country, Latin, and bluegrass have all been styles touched on in Stephen Stills‘ career, and the skilled, energetic musicians he had gathered in Manassas played them all on this album. What could have been a disorganized mess in other hands, though, here all gelled together and formed a cohesive musical statement. The songs are thematically grouped: part one (side one on the original vinyl release) is titled “The Raven,” and is a composite of rock and Latin sounds that the group would often perform in full live. “The Wilderness” mainly centers on country and bluegrass (Chris Hillman‘s and Al Perkins‘ talents coming to the forefront), with the track “So Begins the Task” later covered by Stills‘ old flame Judy Collins. Part three, “Consider” is largely folk and folk-rock. “Johnny’s Garden,” reportedly for the caretaker at Stills‘ English manor house and not for John Lennon as is often thought, is a particular highlight. Two other notables from the “Consider” section are “It Doesn’t Matter” (later redone with different lyrics by the song’s uncredited co-writer Rick Roberts on the first Firefall album) and “Move Around,” which features some of the first synthesizer used in a rock context. The closing section, titled “Rock & Roll Is Here to Stay,” is a rock and blues set with one of the landmarks of Manassas‘ short life, the epic “The Treasure.” A sort of Zen-like meditation on love and “oneness,” enlivened by the band’s most inspired recorded playing it evolves into a bluesy groove washed in Stills‘ fierce electric slide playing.

The delineation lines of the four themed song groupings aren’t cut in stone, though, and one of the strengths of the album is that there is a lot of overlap in styles throughout. The CD reissue’s remastered sound is excellent, though missed is the foldout poster and handwritten lyrics from the original vinyl release. Unfortunately, the album has been somewhat overlooked over the years, even though Stephen Stills considers it some of the best work he has done. 

“It Doesn’t Matter” was released as a single and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones plays bass on and co-authored “The Love Gangster” and is reported to have said that he would have left the Stones to join Manassas.

Manassas marked a critical comeback for Stills, reviewers calling it a “sprawling masterpiece.

The album debuted on the Billboard Top LP’s chart for the week ending April 29th, 1972 . Stephen Stills’ album shared the Top 10 with an album by David Crosby and Graham Nash (Graham Nash David Crosby) and an album by Neil Young (Harvest), and.with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Stephen Stills, Chris Hillman, Chris Hillman and Dallas Taylor. 

This was recorded for Beat-Club (not for the often misquoted MusikLaden, which replaced Beat-Club on December 13, 1972). The show was broadcast on March 25, 1972 (referred to as Episode #1.77). Any corrections are most welcome.The broadcast seems to showcase Side A of the forthcoming double album release (April 12, 1972) almost in its entirety and track-by-track.

Manassas was a fairly short-lived project, but a highly creative one. The double album was in a sense a concept album of different genres from which the band could quite easily and most skilfully draw upon.

The core members of Manassas were:

Stephen Stills: vocals, keyboards & guitar (CSNY, ex-Buffalo Springfield)
Chris Hillman: vocals, mandolin & guitar (ex-Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers)
Al Perkins: steel guitar & guitar (ex-Gram Parsons and Flying Burrito Brothers)
Calvin “Fuzzy” Samuels: bass, backing vocals (ex-CSNY and John Sebastian)
Paul Harris: keyboards (played with John Sebastian during 1968-71)
Dallas Taylor: drums (ex-Clear Light, CSNY and John Sebastian)
Joe Lala: percussion, backing vocals (ex-Blues Image and Pacific Gas & Electric)

The HEARTBREAKERS – ” Live at Max’s Kansas City “

Posted: April 13, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Heartbreakers Max's Kansas City RSD LP

A Record Store Day release on multi-coloured vinyl of the classic live album, with the rarely heard Volume 2 added for the first time on vinyl.

Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan formed the Heartbreakers out of the ashes of the New York Dolls in 1975.  Gaining infamy in London touring with the Sex Pistols on the Anarchy tour of ’76, they went on to produce just one album, the classic ‘L.A.M.F.’ in 1977.

The Heartbreakers split up When Track Records folded early in 1978.  But in the fall of ’78, Johnny Thunders,Billy Rath and Walter Lure found themselves in New York and decided to do a couple of gigs for ‘old times sake’ and some ‘chump change’. Jerry had moved on to play with The Idols and Sid Vicious, so they got together with drummer Ty Styx for some farewell gigs at Max’s Kansas City.  The resulting album was issued in 1979 on Max’s Kansas City Records in the US and Beggars Banquet in the UK.

It sold well, so Max’s Tommy Dean and Peter Crowley decided to record a Volume 2. A long weekend of shows was booked, this time with original drummer Jerry Nolan, but ‘chemical imbalances’ ruined all but half of the last show.  Beggars turned down the tapes, and Volume 2 remained unreleased, appearing only briefly on CD in the mid-90’s.  

Now for the first time, both volumes are brought together on double-vinyl, in a Record Store Day release of limited, spattered red, yellow & black double vinyl.  Disc 1 is the original 1978 live album and Disc 2 is Volume 2 recorded 1979 but unreleased until 1995 and never before on vinyl.  The album comes in a gatefold sleeve with the original artwork, together with an insert with notes by Johnny Thunders’ biographer Nina Antonia.

VOLUME 1:  Side One  Intro, Milk Me, Chinese Rocks, Get Off The Phone, London, Take A Chance, One Track Mind.  Side Two  All By Myself, Let Go, I Love You, Can’t Keep My Eyes On You, I Wanna Be Loved, Do You Love Me.   
VOLUME 2:  Side Three  All By Myself, Pirate Love, Too Much Junkie Business.   Side Four  Don’t Mess With Cupid, So Alone.

The ACTIVE LISTENER – ” Sampler No 21 “

Posted: April 12, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The ACTIVE LISTENER – ” Sampler No 29 “

Posted: April 11, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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HEAVENLY RECORDINGS – Labels We Love

Posted: April 3, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The first record on Heavenly was released in the spring of 1990, a 12” by Sly & Lovechild. Acid house had hit London hard, offering a hedonistic escape route from what looked to be a second decade of Thatcherism. The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays had performed together on Top Of The Pops and, for a short while, it felt like those bands could take on the world and, as a fan, you could revel in the reflected glory. Primal Scream had changed their prescription and let their hair down while My Bloody Valentine were busy spending a lot of Creation’s money in the studio. Grunge and Britpop were still just twinkles in eyes, still the stuff of madmen’s dreams. And, thankfully, Spandau Ballet had just split up.

In the ensuing 18 years, a whole load of people have walked through the doors of Heavenly Recordings. Without exception, they’ve all been welcomed back time and again by the label’s genial hosts. In fact, it’s hard to get rid of some of them come three in the morning, when the cab is waiting outside with the meter running.

When these gigs were mooted a while back, it came down to me to piece together a Heavenly History, a selective-memory version of events with all the boring bits taken out. I’ve worked at Heavenly for 14 years now in various capacities – from gig promoter to press officer; A&R man to office Bez. If there are any factual inaccuracies in here, I can only apologise and put it down to loss of brain cells. There were loads of people who we didn’t manage to speak to (due either to us running out of time or them being too damn lazy to get back to us), meaning you’re missing out on stories about the likes of Fabulous, Northern Uproar, The Hybirds, The Little Ones, Jon Carter, Dot Allison, Dr Robert, Schizoid Man, Pete Greenwood, Beggars, The Loose Salute, 22-20s, Jaymay, Nada Surf and, of course, Dog.

Heavenly was already a state of mind. Seemed like the right time to make it something really special. We were all deeply immersed in music that we loved. None of us could believe our fucking luck, really. (Jeff Barrett)

It was thirty years ago today – or thereabouts – that Heavenly came to be. In celebration of this big ol’ birthday comes Believe in Magic – a chronicle not only of Foxbase Alpha, Working Men’s Club and 28 of the releases in between that got the label to where it is today, but also of the haircuts, nights down the pub, pencil-eraser-carvings, cheese toasties, acid houses, Sunday Socials and lost Weekenders – Yorkshire and otherwise – that are as much a part of its story.

As Jeff Barrett puts it at the beginning of the book, if there’s a continuous theme that runs through all of this, I think it’s that everything comes down to conversations with people about music. It might seem like it all starts with someone on one side of the counter who is selling you something, or someone writing excitedly in a magazine telling you about a band you need to hear, but I don’t think I’ve ever really seen things as one-way transactions. It’s more an ongoing dialogue, one that never really stops and helps to build up this growing soundtrack to our lives, something that’s passed from one person to another. That’s really the ever-present thread. That’s why we still believe in magic.

Though we are three decades distant from The World According to Sly and Lovechild, lineup changes, ups, downs, and a good few office clean ups under the label’s belt, the Heavenly firm continue not to believe their fucking luck; at still being here, keepin’ on keepin’ on doing what they love, and at being able to pass all of this – then, now, and next week

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The ROLLING STONES – ” Sticky Fingers ” Reissue

Posted: April 3, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Get Your Sticky Fingers On The Sticky Fingers Reissue

 

Sticky Fingers was over 500 days in the making; from when recording began to when it was originally released in April 1971 – anticipation from fans was intense. The anticipation had been heightened by a UK tour in March, the filming of a show at London’s legendary Marquee Club and by the fact that The Rolling Stones had announced that they were going to live in France.

Upon its release the album was greeted with delight by fans and critics alike. As Rolling Stone magazine said, “It is the latest beautiful chapter in the continuing story of the greatest rock group in the world,” The reissue of “Sticky Fingers” has been over 16,000 days in the making, The original Sticky Fingers is a perfect record. Great music, an album cover that’s iconic and the story around its making that has added to its appeal. Many classic Stones’ records were recorded in America, at both RCA’s studio in Hollywood and at Chess Records in Chicago, but for Sticky Fingers the band chose a far less glamorous studio, one in the Southern States that only those in the musical-know had heard of – Muscle Shoals Sound in Sheffield, Alabama.

Having finished their tour of the US in December 1969 the Rolling Stones flew to Muscle Shoals where they recorded three songs that are at the very heart of the album – ‘Brown Sugar’, ‘Wild Horses’ and ‘You Gotta Move’. As Keith later said, “I thought it was one of the easiest and rockingest sessions that we’d ever done. I don’t think we’ve been quite so prolific…ever.” The band then flew from Muscle Shoals to San Francisco on 5th December, and 24 hours later they played their infamous free concert at Altamont.
Over the course of the next year the band worked on more recordings at London’s Olympic Studios and at Mick’s country house, Stargroves using the Stones Mobile, to capture the remainder of the tracks that make up the album.

But 1970 was not all about recording, far from it. There was a European tour and behind the scenes there was much changing. The Stones had decided to leave Decca Records at the end of their contract period and to start their own label that was to be funded by another record company; after much negotiation the band decided to go with Ahmet Ertegun and Atlantic Records.

Forming their own label meant coming up with a name and an identity – the name was simple, Rolling Stones Records, but the identity and the logo took a little longer. As we now all know it was the famous ‘tongue and lips’ that became that identity and has since become the most recognisable band logo in the world, as well as one of the most well known brands.

Given some of the issues that the band had faced with earlier record covers they were determined to have an album that looked they way they wanted and so Mick and Charlie set about working with Andy Warhol to come up with a concept that the band loved. The album with its fully working zip on the original release is now one of the best-known covers in the world; at the time the New Musical Express was prompted to write, “Fame has spread from Mick Jagger’s lips to his zips.” It was all part of the single mindedness with which the Rolling Stones went about getting this record, just right.

Sticky Fingers Deluxe Vinyl
By the time mixing was completed in early 1971 the band had two things on their collective minds. A short tour of the UK and a move to France, a tour to say farewell and a move necessitated by financial mismanagement over a long period that would have bankrupted the band had they stayed in Britain.

And so it was that on 16 April 1971 ‘Brown Sugar’ came out in the UK and a week later Sticky Fingers was released around the world. 44 years later, on 26 May 2015 in North America, and a day earlier in the rest of the world, Sticky Fingers is to be reissued in a variety of formats.

Of course there is the original album on both CD, vinyl and as a download but there are a number of other releases that will include previously unavailable material contained within the Deluxe and Super Deluxe formats. These include the alternative version of ‘Brown Sugar’ featuring Eric Clapton along with unreleased interpretations of ‘Bitch,’ ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’ and ‘Dead Flowers’, and an acoustic take on the anthemic ‘Wild Horses.’

Sticky Fingers Super Deluxe Box
The Super Deluxe edition will include, ‘Get Your Leeds Lungs Out,’ the 13-track audio recording of the Stones’ gig in Leeds in March 1971. There’s also two numbers from the band’s Marquee Club show of 26th March, 1971 on DVD. The Super Deluxe Edition includes a beautiful 120 page hardback book complete with real zip, featuring new liner notes and many rare and unseen photographs from the era plus a print, postcard set and more.

FOTHERINGAY – ” Nothing More ” Box Set

Posted: April 3, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Surviving Members Of Fotheringay For London Show

The surviving members of folk music giants Fotheringay have announced a London concert on June 19th, their first such show for 45 years. Jerry Donahue, Gerry Conway and Pat Donaldson will reunite under the band name for the gig at Under The Bridge.

News of the performance comes on the day March 30th that Universal release the four-disc set ‘Nothing More: The Collected Fotheringay,’ by the group formed by vocal legend Sandy Denny, on her departure from Fairport Convention, with her future husband Trevor Lucas. She had named the group after her 1968 composition which was inspired by Fotheringhay Castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned. That song became part of Fairport’s landmark 1969 album and Sandy Denny’s debut with the group, ‘What We Did On Our Holidays.’

The new set features their one released album, from 1970, a 1971 follow-up that was abandoned when Denny left the group, plus unseen TV footage, previously unreleased live recordings from August 1970 and seven tracks recorded in session for BBC radio. This 3CD/1DVD set is the most comprehensive compilation yet of the group’s recordings, including hitherto unseen television footage, previously unreleased live recordings from a festival in Rotterdam (both from August 1970) and, for the first time, the official release of the seven existing tracks which Fotheringay recorded in session for BBC radio. The final DVD disc is the real Holy Grail for her fans. The four songs recorded by the group for the German TV show Beat Club effectively double the existing footage of Sandy Denny in performance. Two of these, ‘Nothing More’ and ‘John the Gun’ were never even broadcast at the time. Nothing More comes in hardcover book format complete with rare and previously unseen photographs of the band plus previously unseen original sketches for the Fotheringay cover by Marion Appleton, Trevor Lucas’s sister.

Lucas, Conway and Donahue all went on to join Fairport in 1972; the unfinished second album was finally released in 2008 as ‘Fotheringay 2,’ leading a whole new audience towards the delights of this short-lived but seminal outfit.

Buy ‘Nothing More: The Collected Fotheringay’

ROLLING STONES – ” Wild Horses ” Acoustic Version

Posted: April 3, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Ahead of the highly anticipated reissue of  the 1971′s album  “Sticky Fingers”, The Rolling Stones have released a previously unheard acoustic version of  the song “Wild Horses.” 

The song is one of the most beloved in the Rolling Stones’ canon, and an indispensable document of classic rock and roll. The new remaster and arrangement puts it in a whole new context: Now it’s even more tender, emotionally bare and Mick’s vocals are given a new clarity and intimacy.

More poignantly, the song takes on an even more haunted feeling, given that it comes in the wake of the deaths of both Jagger’s girlfriend L’Wren Scott and the band’s longtime saxophonist Bobby Keys.

“For three days in December 1969, the Rolling Stones stopped into Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama and managed to lay down three songs, one of which was ‘Wild Horses,’” writes Jim Beviglia in our Behind The Song feature. “The composition of this plaintive ballad was begun by Keith Richards, whose first child was born in August 1969, causing Keith regret about going out on the road and leaving the boy behind.”

“It was one of those magical moments when things come together,” Richards wrote in his 2010 autobiography Life about the song’s genesis. “It’s like ‘Satisfaction.’ You just dream it, and suddenly it’s all in your hands. Once you’ve got the vision in your mind of wild horses, I mean, what’s the next phrase you’re going to use? It’s got to be couldn’t drag me away.” The album is out May 26th.

sticky fingers

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