Due to be released on the 8th July a 3CD/DVD set from the bands 1974 reunion tour produced by Bill Graham,there will also be a 16 track single CD, The four members reunited for an American Arena and Stadium Tour with a further one show at Wembley stadium in London, contain 40 songs and in an order that replicates the shows running order, starting with an Electric set an acoustic set sometimes with drums and bass and sometimes not then the Kick Ass electric finale. and a DVD with 8 songs plus a 188 page booklet, there will also be a coffee table box set. there were 30 shows performances some lasting up to a period of Four hours. Graham Nash took the responsibility of sorting out the tracks but every song and every minute of each show was listened too for the best quality or best performance and then had to be authorised by each band member. The DVD has eight tracks recorded at the Capital Centre in Landover and Wembley Stadium, Neil Young was writing songs furiously at the time and would often try out the new material playing some songs only a handful of times, some rarities “Love Art blues”,”Pushed It Over The Edge”,”Don’t Be Denied” and a song called “Goodbye Dick”.
the former Walkmen frontman lead singer Hamilton Leithauser releases his first solo album later this month titled “BLACK HOURS” there has already been a fair few tracks available and it all sounds so good, Loud Rock’n Roll and piano led solo songs and orchestrated rhythms.Other members of the Walkmen already have solo albums ready and waiting its been good times for fans of this brilliant band.
JO HAMILTON and her new album project “Fractals” with a world premiere to be performed in full at Durham Cathedral in mid July. A live music performance with 3D projections and art installations it promises to be something very special. check out Jo’s earlier album “Gown”
support will be from the superb Bella Union band LANTERN ON THE LAKE
I love live albums, and this fairly newly available although unofficial release through the Goldfish records label, captures a Tom Petty Live show broadcast on radio in 1987 recorded at the Florida Coliseum in Jacksonville in 1987. The band were on tour promoting the album “Let Me Up I’ve Had Enough” an album The Heartbreakers and Petty were dissatisfied with recording-wise, Including five cover versions and only one song “Runaway Train” from the aforementioned album but still some favourites “Breakdown” and “Don’t Come Around Here No More” and a storming “Refugee”. After the tour Petty had a long hiatus of 4 years away from the Heartbreakers but got involved with the Travelling Wilburys project. below is a live video recording from Santa Monica around the same time.
Paul and Linda McCartney released the album RAM, the second solo album from McCartney after the acrimonious Beatles Split and the ongoing issues within the management and legal side and the formation of the band WINGS, recorded between November 1970 and April 1971 at Columbia Studios and AR Studios in New York City.
The song “RAM ON” from the albums first side was reprised on the second side before the final track in a similar vein to the Beatles “Abbey Road” album medley . there were three singles issued “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey”, “The Back Seat Of My Car” and the song “Eat At Hope” . Reviews were harsh at the time and Lennon had spoken that it was Muzak to his ears, but decades later the album has received praise for its big melodies and orchestral trippery.
check out music blog site Aquarium Drunkard who released a LA band members cover of the whole album.
Released in May 1982, “Combat Rock” is The Clash’s fifth studio album, their best selling album and the last to include guitarist/vocalist Mick Jones and drummer Topper Headon. It was indeed their most polarizing work to date, within the band and among their fan base. I remember hearing hardcore Clash devotees refer to “Combat Rock” as their sell out album. They could not have been more wrong.
The album displayed The Clash as a band that made impassioned statements about the times we were living in and how we got there. With this album, they somehow managed to limit the amount of anarchy and chaos pouring out of your speakers without compromising their message. The Clash toned down the excesses of their previous release Sandinista (1980), a three album opus that vacillated between brilliance and a muddled mess. They hired veteran producer Glyn Johns to produce the album, his steady hand and experience leading them to cut “Combat Rock” down from a double album called Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg to a single album.
After two albums of increasing ambition (the two-LP ‘London Calling‘ was followed by the triple ‘Sandinista!’), and a two-year recording break, the Clash’s classic line-up returned with their final album, a lean, song-centered effort. ‘Combat Rock’ which made them MTV stars, thanks to the hit singles “Rock the Casbah” and “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” But the album goes deeper than that, finding inspiration in some new corners, despite the increasing tensions among band members during recording. This was the last hurrah for guitarist Mick Jones and drummer Topper Headon … and the Clash.
It was the fifth studio album from the Clash and the penultimate album, Released on CBS records in May 1972 and spent 61 weeks in the charts, recorded at Ear Studios in London between September 1971 and january 1972 and Electric Lady studios in New York, originally planned as a double album with a working title of “Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg” with mixing done by Mick Jones the band were dissatisfied with the result and internal wrangling within the band bought in Glyn Johns and reduced the running order to a single album major tracks were Should I Stay , Should I Go, Straight To Hell and Rock the Casbah, during promotion for the album Joe Strummer sported a Travis Bickle Mohican haircut.
The Clash were never shy about making political statements and “Rock the Casbah” is no exception. It was intended to be a song about the banning of rock music by Muslim fundamentalists in Iran, but like all really cool things, it got co-opted by people who completely missed the message. “You know the U.S. military played this song in the first Gulf War to the troops and now are using it again as they prepare for war,” Strummer shared “this is just typical and despicable.” Also, in 2006, “Rock the Casbah” was named one of the 50 Greatest Conservative Rock Songs by the National Review.
The biggest triumph of Combat Rock was that The Clash were able to sell tons of records with an album that was complex and more different than anything else on the charts at the time.
Combat Rock is so much more than just “Should I Stay or Should I Go” and “Rock the Casbah.” The band were big fans of the movie Apocalypse Now and they had a great fascination with the Vietnam War. As a result, several of the album’s songs are meditations on the war and its impact on society. “Straight to Hell” tells the story of Vietnamese women and their children whose fathers were American soldiers who eventually abandoned them. “Sean Flynn” is another Vietnam-themed tale about the son of actor Errol Flynn who was a photojournalist who disappeared in 1970 while in Vietnam.
The Clash spent much of 1981 and some of 1982 in New York and many of the songs on Combat Rock have a very distinct New York influence and feel to them. One of these songs is “Red Angel Dragnet,” a tune that was inspired by the shooting death of Frank Melvin, a member of the Guardian Angels. The song incorporates quotes from Martin Scorcese’s Taxi Driver with The Clash’s longtime associate and sometimes manager Kosmo Vinyl imitating the voice of the movie’s main character, Travis Bickle.
“Overpowered By Funk” is a song that illustrates the heavy influence that hip-hop (then referred to as rap) had on the band. Joe Strummer recalled in 2002, “When we came to the U.S., Mick stumbled upon a music shop in Brooklyn that carried the music of Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, the Sugar Hill Gang…these groups were radically changing music and they changed everything for us.” The song features a rap vocal by legendary graffiti artist Futura 2000. It captured the mood and feel of New York City in 1982 and it gave us a glimpse into Jones’ musical future with his band Big Audio Dynamite. The dark side of New York is on display in “Ghetto Defendant,” a reggae dub track featuring Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. It’s an ominous tale about heroin addiction and despair. Ironically, it was heroin addiction that forced the band to fire drummer Topper Headon after the album’s release.
The various styles of music on Combat Rock were emblematic of the drifting apart of Strummer and Jones. “Know Your Rights” is Joe Strummer personified and one hell of a way to kick off an album. The song exemplified the direction he wanted the band to go. Strummer thought they needed to get back closer to their punk roots. The stylistic tug of war on Combat Rock works with the heavy subject matter. Unbeknownst to us at the time, it was the last great statement from The Clash as we knew them. When the Combat Rock tour ended, Strummer and the band’s manager Bernie Rhodes forced Jones out of the band. Strummer confided in 2002, “I committed one of the greatest mistakes of my life with the sacking of Mick.”
Combat Rock’s legacy lives on years after its initial release, with the most notable example being “Straight to Hell”, which was sampled in M.I.A’s 2007 song “Paper Planes.” Combat Rock may be one of the most misunderstood albums of all time. The band’s hardcore fans wanted more of what “London Calling” was and The Clash wanted to grow and explore. In the long run, I think we were the better for it.
The Band were Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Topper Headon and Paul Simonon,
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, released this day 45 years ago, The second studio album from Canadian singer songwriter Neil Young and the first with his constant backing band over his career one of Rocks finest Crazy Horse, featuring the band members Ralph Molina, Billy Talbot, Danny Whitten and includes the some songs that have become standard in Young’s live performances “Cowgirl In the Sand”,”Down By The River” and “Cinnamon Girl”, many of the songs are long guitar led with Neil Young’s perpetual strangely moving Mournful vocal
EXILE ON MAIN STREET the Rolling Stones released as a Double Album mostly recorded between 1968-1972 in Nellcote France, Stargroves Jagger’s country Home, Olympic Studios and Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles this was the Stone’s returning to a more rawer sound with lots of their influences on show in many different styles. Gripping on first listen it rocks with power and reveal’s something new with every listen changing your mind on what the best tracks were each time you hear it. Certainly one of the great double albums of Rock music, Rock stemmed from the Blues and spread across four sides are Rock’n’roll, Blues, Soul and Gospel gems. The singles released were “Tumbling Dice”, “Happy” with Keith on vocals and “All Down the Line” the album was a huge success reaching No.1 slot worldwide, Its an album with great feeling and since has been cited as one of the classic rock albums certainlly of the 1970’s. Nearly all the songs written by Jagger Richards.
the new album sounds great, Lots of creeping Synths and perhaps a bit slicker in Production but still a huge euphoric sound this band bring to their songs, will be awesome live, The album Luminous is out now,
