Liz Phair addresses the romance between Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson, pondering how they might have felt and interacted privately in her new song “Hey Lou.” Produced by long time collaborator Brad Wood, it’s Phair’s first new song in two years following the Wood-produced “Good Side.” There’s more to come. Phair is all set to release her first album of new material in a decade, entitled “Soberish”, following a deal struck with U.K. Chrysalis Records.
“Hey Lou” dropped at midnight and is accompanied with a fun, Toben Seymour-music video featuring music’s quirkiest pair and a cameo from Andy Warhol, all rendered as puppets. It’s the Chicago-based singer and songwriter’s first release since 2019’s “Good Side.” Have you ever wondered what love looks like for your favourite celebrity couple behind closed doors? Hey Lou imagines a day in the life of two music legends, whose union was an inspiration for rock fans.
Due out at an unspecified date in 2021, “Soberish” will be supported this summer when Phair hits the road.
Last year the Los Angeles punk legends that are X returned with their first album in 27 years – and the first with the original line-up in 35 years!
“Alphabetland” was released via Fat Possum Records and is, we must admit, a brilliant ‘come-back’ album. Today, they followed it up with two unreleased songs “True Love, Pt. 3″and “Strange Life”, both of which where recorded during Alphabetland‘s studio sessions.
True Love is a reimagining of the funk-inspired track from 1983’s Under The Big Black Sun, and Strange Life is simply a brilliant punk ‘blinder’ that features guitar from Doors legend Robbie Krieger. A different version of Strange Life made it onto Alphabetland, but this newly released rendition happened after Robbie Krieger dropped by the studio and X rather cheekily asked him to play on the song.
Krieger adds a brief outro to the song but it didn’t make it onto the album version. X’s singer Exene Cervenka said him popping in to see the band was “fitting and wondrous!” Fitting because The Doors keyboard player the late, great Ray Manzarek produced their first four albums, Los Angeles, Wild Gift, Under the Big Black Sun and More Fun in the New World. All classic album’s.
Multi-award-winning Melbourne contemporary folk outfit, The Maes (formerly The Mae Trio) is the brainchild of sisters Maggie and Elsie Rigby. Touring in Australia and overseas, audiences are moved by their striking song writing, intricate instrumental arrangements, and stunning vocal harmonies. Find all that and more on their gorgeous new self-titled album.
Our new lockdown single, Glad That It’s Over is a lockdown special, it was written and recorded in COVID 19 lockdowns and it is about lockdown as a time for reflection both with the nostalgia associated with times when we could travel, hug friends and see live music but also having the time and space to process events from our pasts with the wisdom of hindsight. In particular, a six-month, family camping adventure in which a family band was formed, a post-school backpacking trip in Europe and a past relationship.
In 1968, psychedelia was exploding and even blues-loving avatars of the era like Cream and Jimi Hendrix were increasingly eschewing their roots in favour of paisley pastures. But one band was perfectly positioned to keep the blues on board for the turned-on generation.
Canned Heat are one of the most beloved live bands of all time. They command a following every bit as dedicated as those Dead Heads who live in vans and follow The Grateful Dead from show to show. Also like the Dead, Canned Heat are one of those bands whose live show changes with the wind. One moment they can be tearing into a full-tilt blues boogie, the other they can shred into a drawn out solo. The only constant is that it’s always amazing.
If you went by the status allotted to them these days, you might assume Canned Heat was just another bunch of hippie-era biker boogie merchants. Nothing could be further from the truth. With prodigiously bearded 300 pound singer Bob “The Bear” Hite and gawky guitar virtuoso Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson up front, the unlikely rock stars were both true scholars and raw-boned practitioners of the blues. Turning up the Heat at crucial cultural watersheds like the Woodstock and Monterey Pop festivals, they brought the blues not only to the flower children but to the mainstream, accomplishing what would previously have been regarded as unthinkable by bringing tunes deeply rooted in 1920s blues to the Top 40.
Bob Hite was a Southern California kid born into music; his mother had been a singer with a big band and his father was a trumpeter. He immersed himself in his parents’ record collection from an early age, quickly branching off to explore his burgeoning love of the blues. Hite would roam far and wide in search of old blues 78’s and eventually amassed thousands of them.
By the time he met up with a recently arrived guitar player from Boston named Alan Wilson in 1965, the hefty, garrulous Hite had fully assimilated all those blues records and become a commanding, charismatic singer in the process. Hite ended up jamming with fellow bluesologist Wilson, who brought along another guitar-playing pal, John Fahey. At the time, Fahey who would go on to change the face of acoustic guitar music—was a UCLA student at work on a paper about Charley Patton. But what was initially intended to be an unplugged jug band quickly headed towards plugging in and turning up, and Fahey made an abrupt exit.
By the time they played their first gig, at storied L.A. folk club the Ash Grove, they were calling themselves Canned Heat, after Tommy Johnson’s 1928 delta blues tune “Canned Heat” Blues
In Johnson’s era, “canned heat” was the term for drinking Sterno cooking fluid for a cheap but dangerous high. The line-up for the group’s debut was Hite on vocals, Wilson on guitar and harmonica, Kenny Edwards of Linda Ronstadt & the Stone Poneys on guitar, Ron Holmes on drums, and Stuart Brotman on bass.
Hite earned his ursine nickname for his imposing size, his hirsuteness, and his growl of a singing voice. His buddy Blind Owl, so dubbed for his extreme near-sightedness, was his perfect foil and could not have been more different than Hite. Where The Bear was larger than life in every sense of the term, Wilson was a troubled, bookish introvert who did his best to disappear into the background at every available opportunity. The fact that he was a preternaturally gifted guitarist, singer, and harp blower, however, tended to complicate this compulsion. The personal and musical push and pull between Blind Owl and The Bear was the engine that made Canned Heat move.
By the time they cut an album’s worth of demos for Liberty Records in ’66, Henry “Sunflower” Vestine was Wilson’s six-string sparring partner and Frank Cook was on drums. The sessions were overseen by legendary bandleader and producer Johnny Otis, who was behind classic singles by the likes of Etta James and Big Mama Thornton, as well as scoring a slew of R&B hits himself. Canned Heat mostly recorded straightforward, convincing takes on blues staples by heroes like Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, et al.
The demos were released in 1970 as Vintage after Canned Heat’s star had already risen.
Canned Heat (1967)
Canned Heat is the 1967 debut album by Canned Heat. It was released shortly after their appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival and is a blues cover album. Canned Heat is the 1967 debut album . After bringing in new bassist Larry “The Mole” Taylor, who plays in the band to this day, Canned Heat started working on their debut album, but in the midst of the process, they took part in what many consider the Big Bang of ’60s counterculture, 1967’s Monterey Pop festival. The festival itself and the D.A. Pennebaker-directed documentary that arrived the following year weren’t just the warm-up act for Woodstock; they were most people’s first real glimpse of what the Summer of Love and the blossoming hippie movement looked and sounded like.
1967 – Monterey Pop Festival
This was the festival that broke the band on a big scale. Prior to this, Canned Heat had mainly played smaller gigs around the L.A. underground scene – a scene that was bubbling, and threatening to erupt at the time. Monterey was the eruption. This footage was shot by famed director Pennebaker (who directed Dylan’s legendary ‘Don’t Look Back’ film) and a rave review of their set in popular music rag Down Beat gushed: “Technically, Vestine and Wilson are quite possibly the best two-guitar team in the world and Wilson has certainly become our finest white blues harmonica man.”
The twin shot of this performance and a debut album the following month saw the band quickly rise to fame.
Of course, flanked by flower-power figures like The Mamas & The Papas and Jefferson Airplane, the rough ‘n’ ready Heat looked like they’d just stopped off for a jam in between their shift at the gas station and their biker club meeting. But the raw power in The Bear’s voice and Vestine and Wilson’s guitars as they tore into “Rollin’ and Tumblin’ served notice that raw, real, old-school blues were still an undeniable presence in the new Aquarian age. Sure, the similarly inclined Paul Butterfield Blues Band was present at the festival as well, but they didn’t make the film’s final cut. So it was Hite and company who became the new ambassadors of the blues was released just weeks later, the timing couldn’t have been better. The record was produced by Calvin Carter, who had been the house producer for famed Chicago blues hub Vee-Jay Records, and had worked with Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, and more. With Carter in their corner, Canned Heat turned out a tough, unadorned love letter to their influences on the all-covers album, bringing a fierce-but-faithful take on Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, et al into white middle-class homes across America.
In October, the band was involved in an incident that moulded their destiny in multiple ways. They were staying at a hotel in Denver, where the local authorities at the time were cracking down hard on the quickly rising hippie drug culture. When Canned Heat—who were just as fond of illicit substances as they looked—rolled into town, the cops had it in for them. The authorities allegedly forced a “friend” of the band to plant pot and hash in their room. Next thing the guys knew, they were facing down a 10-year rap. In desperation their manager Skip Taylor made a deal with Liberty to trade the band’s publishing for their $10,000 bail.
The band’s lawyer pleaded the case down to a misdemeanor, but Taylor’s deal basically meant that no matter how well they did, the band would be financially screwed in perpetuity. And the publicity from the incident cemented the heavy-drugging band’s growing reputation as hard-living outlaws, leading to their embrace by the biker community that was fast becoming the dark side of the era’s underground culture.
Boogie with Canned Heat (1968)
In early ’68, Canned Heat released an album that became a touchstone of the era. “Boogie with Canned Heat” contained mostly original tunes, though the sound was still heavily informed by traditional blues, especially the song that helped ensure the band’s immortality. This is a classic! Recorded in 1968 by reinventors of the blues boogie, Canned Heat made a fantastic record, every track a killer! This is the earliest record by the line-up that was its greatest with Alan Wilson, Bob Hite, Henry Vestine, Larry Taylor, and Fito De La Parra. It has great blues, great boogie, great innovation, and some of the greatest playing you will hear either before or after. Alan Wilson’s harmonica is second to none, the rhythm section comprising Larry Taylor on bass and Fito on drums is tight and brilliant, lead singing by Bob Hite is strong, fun, and inviting, while lead guitar by Henry Vestine is both hypnotic and powerful. Such a great sound that sounds fresh on each and every playing. The CD has six bonus tracks that are really interesting too. This band is still really underrated after all these years but they are brilliant exponents of the blues and have combined the blues with an edgy rock that makes a synthesis that after almost 50 years has not been bettered. Brilliant!”
“On the Road Again” was based on the 1953 tune of the same name by Chicago bluesman Floyd Jones (which in turn was an adaptation of the 1928 delta blues song Big Road Blues by Tommy Johnson. Blind Owl turned it into a moody, hypnotic cut that blended deep blues with Indian modality and a trippy, psychedelic feel that somehow meshed organically with the track’s intense earthiness. The Heat’s new drummer, Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra—a Mexican new to L.A. who would be the only mainstay in the line up for the rest of the band’s career added a sensual, almost primal pulse that spoke directly to the body. Wilson’s ghostly vocal embodied the sense of alienation the troubled guitarist suffered from, creating an ethereal vibe that provided a magical contrast with the visceral groove. Ironically, the song was the b-side of the “Boogie Music” single, but somewhere along the line somebody decided to flip the 45 over. “On the Road” ended up exploding across the globe, bringing the band to the upper rungs of the pop charts in America and all over Europe. Canned Heat toured the continent and made appearances on European TV. The boys from L.A. helped give new life to the blues around the world.
Living the Blues (1968)
But the band’s next album contained another Wilson-led track that would raise Canned Heat’s profile even further. Released in autumn of 1968, “Living the Blues” included the sunny-sounding “Goin’ Up the Country” the band’s reboot of the 1920s tune Bull-Doze Blues by Henry Thomas, with new lyrics by Wilson. Not only did the song become an even bigger international hit than “On the Road Again,” it ended up turning the band into countercultural standard-bearers.
“Fantastic set from the Heat. This album shines in the recordings of Canned Heat. Great songs absolutely great musicianship. The star of the set is “Going Up the Country” a song which is in the American lexicon of TV commercials now. But Bob Hite’s song “Sandy’s Blues” is an absolutely stunning tune. “Walking By Myself” is another tune which is super, and one covered by Gary Moore much later. “Parthenogenesis” is a long cut, divided into nine parts highlighted by Alan Wilson’s harmonica and jaw-harp, John Mayall’s great piano and Henry Vestine’s great guitar. This song gives the Heat a chance to get a little psychedelic. Disc two consists of two tracks “Refried Boogie (Part I) and Refried Boogie (Part II)” which allows the Heat to play extended jams, Fito’s drum solo is great. Worth snapping up if you’re a Boogie fan!”
1969 Woodstock
Shortly after replacing Vestine—whose drug problems had become too much even for Canned Heat—with Harvey Mandel, the band played at the Woodstock festival in August of ’69. Though the band’s actual performance wasn’t included in Michael Wadliegh’s landmark 1970 documentary of the epochal event, allegedly on account of record company politics (it turned up years later in the director’s cut and an outtakes collection), the studio version of “Goin’ Up the Country” appeared in the film as the soundtrack to a montage of happy hippie revelers. The placement, dovetailing with the tune’s sprightly flute hook and child-of-nature lyrics, made the grungy bad-boy crew (with Wilson admittedly being the relative naif) unlikely avatars of the hippie era forevermore.
The band’s biggest hit, at the most famous festival of all time. Woodstock is often used as a shorthand to describe the merging of youth culture, drugs, music, sunshine and the optimistic attitude rushing through the late ’60s. Canned Heat’s blistering, narcotic rendition of ‘On The Road Again’ was the perfect soundtrack to an era of wide open roads and limitless possibilities.
“John Lee Hooker and Canned Heat” In the spring of 1970, Mandel and Taylor left the band, and Vestine resumed his old spot. With new bassist Antonio de la Barreda on board, Canned Heat fulfilled their blues-fan dreams by making an album with John Lee Hooker. The Hook, for his part, was quite impressed with the Heat, heaping particular praise on Wilson for his harmonica work. Hooker ‘n Heat, which would be released early the following year, wasn’t the band’s only meeting with their musical heroes.
In 1968 they worked with Chicago blues master Sunnyland Slim on ‘Slim’s Got His Thing Goin’ On’. In 1970 they joined with Memphis Slim on the sessions for what would be released four years later as “Memphis Heat” And in ’73, they worked on Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown’s “Gate’s on the Heat” album. And before he had even moved to L.A., Wilson had already helped aging, tremor-ridden delta blues legend Son House relearn his old repertoire so he could cut his 1965 comeback album, ‘Father of the Folk Blues’, which featured Wilson’s accompaniment on a couple of cuts.
Future Blues (1970)
Canned Heat released a new album of their own in August of 1970. ‘Future Blues’ was recorded with the band’s previous line-up, and would mark their last sessions with Wilson. “Let’s Work Together” a cover of a recent tune by ’50s R&B hero Wilbert Harrison, became the Heat’s third and final U.S. Top 40 hit, but in characteristic fashion, the band held off on the song’s release as a single until after Harrison’s own version had its run.
“Let’s hear it for “Future of the Blues”. This is a fine blues album, probably better than Boogie With Canned Heat; and a little surprising Harvey Mandel did not play (guitar) with the band longer. “Sunflower” Vestine would return for the next Canned Heat album.
The band’s best post-Woodstock studio album,1970’s “Future Blues” also marked a commercial peak of sorts. Their hit single remake of Wilbert Harrison’s Let’s Work Together (a chart hit for him the previous year) drove the original LP’s successful chart run and probably exposed these FM radio stalwarts to a wider audience due to the single’s Top 40 airplay. The album seems more focused and less boogie-fied than prior Canned Heat efforts, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This reissue features five most interesting bonus tracks, including the tighter mono single version of Let’s Work Together.
Around this time, the deeply depressive Wilson’s inner struggles deepened to the point where he made a couple of unsuccessful suicide bids. He spent some time convalescing in a mental hospital and re-joined the band when he got out, but the dark cloud following him around did not lighten. In September the band was scheduled to depart for a tour of Europe, but Wilson went missing, which Hite subsequently noted was not unusual for the moody, mysterious guitarist.
This video quality isn’t the best, but this is an important historical document — albeit a bittersweet one — as it is the last known footage of co-founder and singer Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson. He died just over a month after this concert was recorded. Here he sings his great composition, ‘Human Condition’ Live in Kralingen
The rest of the band was forced to fly ahead without him, and on September 3rd, Skip Taylor found Wilson dead of a barbiturate overdose. The consensus was that the incident was intentional. Blind Owl became the first American rock star in the ill-fated “27 Club” of artists who passed unnaturally at that age. Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix would join the ill-starred club within weeks, and Jim Morrison the following year.
Live at Montreux 1973 Canned Heat wasn’t taken down by the loss of one of their main creative forces. They continued on with new guitarist Joel Scott Hill and released 1971’s ‘Historical Figures and Ancient Heads’. In the years to come, the band would see a dizzying swirl of personnel changes, though they went on to make some worthy records and remained a vital live unit, as seen on the 1973 Live at Montreux concert video. But on April 5th, 1981, The Bear—who never backed off from his hard-living ways—died after allegedly mistaking a vial of heroin for cocaine. Hite had escaped the “27 Club” but he was still just 38. Some genius has uploaded an entire 1973 Stockholm concert , and the band have adapted well to the shock loss of their vocalist Alan Wilson, adding guns James Shane and Ed Beyer. The band were firing on all cylinders here, sharpened by years on the road.
Ever since Hite’s passing, de la Parra has kept the band going, with a multitude of line-ups that would eventually include a returned Larry Taylor and Harvey Mandel. Canned Heat made several post-Hite albums and toured endlessly; they can still be found out on the road today. Their long time drummer ended up telling much of the band’s tumultuous story in his memoir “Canned Heat: Living the Blues”.
Between Canned Heat’s heady heights and desperate lows, their tale could easily be the stuff of sensationalistic rock biopics. But the important thing to keep in mind, half a decade after some of the band’s biggest accomplishments, is how much they did for the blues. Before British bands like Led Zeppelin began making big coin with their amped-up, chest-beating take on the tradition and shafting some of the originators in the process, Alan Wilson’s spectral, Skip James-like moan and stinging slide guitar and Bob Hite’s Big Joe Turner-on-a-Harley vibe breathed loving new life into America’s musical birthright when it was most in need.
London’s Dry Cleaning have announced that their debut album is on the way: “New Long Leg” is out April 2 via 4AD Records. The follow-up to their 2019 EPs Sweet Princess and Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks features the new song “Strong Feelings” is the 2nd single from upcoming debut album
Dry Cleaning recorded the album during the pandemic, with each member demoing their individual parts on a four-track Tascam recorder they passed to each other through the window of a car, disinfected each time with antibacterial wipes. They went on to work with producer John Parish (PJ Harvey) at Rockfield Studios in Wales to put the record together. “Strong Feelings,” vocalist Florence Shaw said in a statement, is “about secretly being in love with someone who doesn’t know it, and Brexit’s disruptive role in romantic relationships.”
One of the standout albums for 2021. It’s everything you expected and more. Simply amazing. Dry Cleaning will release their debut studio album “New Long Leg” the 10-track long-player, which includes last year’s single ‘Scratchcard Lanyard’, was recorded over two weeks last summer at Rockfield. “New Long Leg” is more ambitious and complex, with Shaw’s spoken vocals tightly intertwined with the band’s restless instrumentals. With lyrics preoccupied by themes like dissociation, escapism, daydreaming, complicated feelings of love, anger, revenge, anxiety, the kitchen, lethargy, forgetfulness, and survival, Shaw says, “the title is ambiguous; a new long leg could be an expensive present or a growth or a table repair.”
Dry Cleaning was formed by friends Tom Dowse, Nick Buxton and Lewis Maynard after a karaoke party in 2017 inspired a collaboration. They wrote instrumentally to begin with until six months later Florence Shaw, a visual artist, university lecturer and picture researcher by day – with no prior musical experience – turned up to a band rehearsal armed with reams of her own collected writing and a copy of Michael Bernard Loggins’ Fears Of Your Life to read out over the music. Before long she was the group’s frontperson, contributing words of her own, and serving as the perfect foil to the band’s music.
Florence Shaw: (frontwoman) said about the LP: “I found the lockdown played into some of the themes I was interested in anyway, living in a small world, a feeling of alienation, paranoia and worry, but also a joyful reveling in household things. It’s not just sheer pent-up energy all the time in the way that the first two EPs were. I feel more confident with leaving gaps.”
There is a Bonus CD – Featuring two extra tracks Tony Speaks! and Hm.
The Who, live from the Tanglewood Music Centre, Lenox, MA on 7th July 1970. The Who toured North America in the summer of 1970 playing 22 dates in medium and major markets to capacity crowds. They had just released their now iconic live album, “Live At Leeds” on May 23, culled from a performance just three months prior. It was a simple affair compared to the complex “Rock Opera” Tommy and would stand as a bench mark for what a live album was, and standard bands still strive for today. The final date on the tour was at the Music Shed at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, MA. The venue had been sporadically used by concert promoter Bill Graham, who was known for his eclectic bills that would blend different musical genres. The bill for this concert was rather straight forward, The Who was the headline act over Jethro Tull and It’s A Beautiful Day. Graham would also video record many of the acts that appeared at his venues, the recording of this performance by The Who is one of the most vivid documents of the band from this era, surprisingly it has never seen a full official release.
The audio portion of this concert is the subject of this new release. The sound is a perfect soundboard recordings, if one did not known you would think it’s an official release. Perfect balance, perfect frequency range, virtually no hiss or signs of over mastering, just incredible sound that’s even better at loud volumes, the one word that sums it up is stunning. There has been one previous release of this material, “Tangled Up In Who” (Hiawatt CE9802/3), being pressed way back in 1998, long out of print. This new release is promoted as being from a better source so an audio upgrade is certain.
A great Bill Graham intro starts the proceedings, “For us it’s always a privilege…on bass Mr. John Entwistle…on vocals Mr. Roger Daltrey…on drums Mr. Keith Moon…on vocals and lead guitar Mr. Peter Townsend, The Who”… Bill, the pleasure is all ours. The set list is standard to this era, Entwistle’s fabulous Heaven And Hell is the opener, with I Can’t Explain, the new (and as of then unreleased) song Water and “Young Man Blues£ are all regulars. “I Don’t Even Know Myself” made its debut June 16th in Berkeley and by this point it’s also a regular, taking the spot previously held by The Seeker.
“Tommy”still makes up a major portion of the set list, the band dropped Sally Simpson from the piece and is the better for it. By this point they had been playing “Thomas” since May 1969 and were very fluent in their delivery. During the intro Pete references playing New York’s Metropolitan Opera House and those concerts being the last performances of “Tommy”, when in fact they had been playing it this entire tour. This concert at Tanglewood would be the last performance in the United States for 19 years. Being the last concert in the states the band turn a very powerful version, quite focused and the “See Me, Feel Me” finale brings down the Shed. Pete gives a nice farewell speech at the “Opera’s” conclusion, telling the audience it’s been “THE most enjoyable tour we’ve done of this country” and then they hammer out a devastating version of “My Generation”, frickin blistering ending to the concert, if this doesn’t get you moving, my friend, nothing will.
The packaging is basic colour inserts with live shots of The Who in action, all very dynamic looking. This is classic Who, Golden haired Daltry, Townsend in his jump suit, Entwistle in his tailored outfits, and a young fit and trim Moonie all over the place. This is an essential Who recording, a very easy listen and a typical 1970 performance, the band were in their stride as a live act cementing this fact for the next decade, and beyond.
Following relentless touring, a triumphant appearance at Woodstock and the release of Live At Leeds, by mid-1970 the Who were widely regarded as the greatest live rock’n’roll band in the world. Originally performed for broadcast on WBCN-FM, the explosive set presented here from Tanglewood Music Centre, Lenox, MA on 7th July 1970, finds them tearing through “Tommy” and other live favourites, and is accompanied by background notes and images.
The National Jazz and Blues Festivals of the middle to late sixties were important musical events because they showcased the best of the British rock, jazz and pop bands of the time. Many bands got their big breaks at these festivals, if you performed well, receiving audience acclaim could lead to residencies at the prestigious Marquee club . Some artists even got recording contracts out of their appearances .
However, by this time, the National Jazz and Blues Festival fortunes were beginning to wane. It could no longer be said to be the most prestigious , or largest Festival in the UK summer calendar . In 1970 there was massive competition for the festival punters pound from the mega festivals at Bath and the Isle Of Wight . The international line-up of both these giants dwarfed the line-up of UK bands that the National Jazz Federation promoters had signed up and consequently there was a fairly low turn out for this festival . Barely 12,000 for the Friday concert , although I don’t know the exact figures for the entire festival.
Alice Cooper celebrated his birthday with the release of a new single “Social Debris” from the forthcoming album “Detroit Stories”. Alice Cooper proves he is still one of the best and most relevant rock artists. In celebration, Alice Cooper is releasing “Social Debris” from his upcoming studio album “Detroit Stories” on Thursday night. The track is released digitally and it is accompanied by an official music video. To celebrate the special occasion in style, Alice Cooper has decided to offer “Social Debris” as free download for 24 hours on the artist´s official website http://www.alicecooper.com.
“The single “Social Debris” is a gift to Detroit, to my fans and to myself”, says Alice Cooper. “The track was written by the original Alice Cooper band. We never thought that we would ever fit in; the Alice Cooper band didn’t fit in with anybody, because we were doing things that no other band did. We didn’t fit in with the folk scene, we didn’t fit in with the metal scene, we really didn’t fit in with anything that was going on at that time. We just always felt like we were outsiders. We felt like we were social debris, we were in our own little world. So “Social Debris” was just the original band writing a song about us, essentially. And it came out sounding like it belonged into 1971. That’s just the original band – you can’t change that, it’s great.”
Listen to the single “Social Debris” here: https://alicecooper.lnk.to/SocialDebris “Detroit Stories,” Alice’s upcoming new album, is a celebration of the sound and spirit of the Golden Era of Detroit rock. “Detroit was Heavy Rock central then,” explains Alice, “You’d play the Eastown and it would be Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent,the Stooges and the Who, for $4! The next weekend at the Grande it was MC5, Brownsville Station and Fleetwood Mac, or Savoy Brown or the Small Faces.
Alice Cooper releases the second single from his upcoming new studio album “Detroit Stories,” which will be released on February 26th 2021 on earMUSIC. The song is accompanied by a lyric video. “Our Love Will Change The World” comes with innocent and hopeful melodies and joyous up-beat tempo and an overall happy atmosphere. But is that really what the lyrics are telling us about? Alice himself explains: “I think “Our Love Will Change The World” is one of the oddest songs I’ve ever done and it was one that came to us by somebody else, another Detroit writer. And it was so strange, because it was happy and what it was saying was anything but happy – it was simply a great juxtaposition. And I got it immediately and said “okay, this is going to be great”. The music saying one thing and the lyrics saying something else, I love that song. It is totally different from anything else on the album.”
“Detroit Stories,”Alice’s upcoming new album, is a celebration of the sound and spirit of the Golden Era of Detroit rock.
You couldn’t be a soft-rock band or you’d get your ass kicked.” “Los Angeles had its sound with The Doors, Love and Buffalo Springfield,” he says, “San Francisco had the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. New York had The Rascals and The Velvet Underground. But Detroit was the birthplace of angry hard rock. After not fitting in anywhere in the US (musically or image wise) Detroit was the only place that recognized the Alice Cooper guitar driven, hard rock sound and our crazy stage show. Detroit was a haven for the outcasts. And when they found out I was born in East Detroit… we were home.” 50 years later, Alice and Ezrin have united in Detroit with their Detroit friends to record “Detroit Stories,” Cooper’s new album. Pre-Order “Detroit Stories” here: https://alicecooper.lnk.to/DetroitSto…
If 2019’s “Breadcrumbs” EP laid down the trail to the city, “Detroit Stories” drives like a muscle car right down Woodward Ave.
Tracklist 1. Rock & Roll 2. Go Man Go (Album Version) 3. Our Love Will Change The World 4. Social Debris 5. $1000 High Heel Shoes 6. Hail Mary 7. Detroit City 2021 (Album Version) 8. Drunk And In Love 9. Independence Dave 10. I Hate You 11. Wonderful World 12. Sister Anne (Album Version) 13. Hanging On By A Thread (Don’t Give Up) 14. Shut Up And Rock 15. East Side Story (Album Version)
With three releases under their belt, Hallan are growing in stature. The Portsmouth based four-piece mix frank social commentary and deadpan humour with cavernous, angular riffs, producing tracks that are honest and unique.
We’re proud to announce the release of our debut EP ‘Reporting Live From The Living Room Floor’ via Nice Swan Records . A prologue chapter within the world we call Hallan, Reporting Live From The Living Room Floor introduces the 21st century to the Gumshoe Boy. The boy is always the man for the job. He’s the man on the inside. He’s the Agency’s number one frontman and he’s armed with a tape provided by an anonymous source. An undercover operative in a satirical, Orwellian world, Reporting Live From The Living Room Floor paints a semi-abstract but tangible image of the new decade, holding a mirror up to not only our modern society but our individual selves. The time is now right. From the corner of his bleak bedroom the boy plans his plan, and from the corner of ours we do the same. Our music is built on the overlaps of musical interests. We each enjoy our separate preferences however we have a shared passion for creating music replete with integrity and honesty. These traits can be attributed to the bands that influence us the most. Bands such as The Fall, The Clash and Fontaines D.C. continuously remind us to write without constricting ourselves to genres and outside pressures. Classic songwriting is also something to take note of. Inside the Gumshoe Boy’s record collection you’ll often find Bob Dylan classics and one of George Harrisons solo albums.
Track Listing:1. Reruns2. Hands Up3. The White Boys4. Orwell’s Idyllic Future5. Television Show6. Prime Time Lullaby
Out 16th July 2021 on Nice Swan Records
And so we venture into Lockdown 2.0, a hard time for many and an especially hard time for local musicians. With no gigs or even anywhere to rehearse it’s a bleak and soul crushing time for us local bands who love the Portsmouth music community. We’ve been fortunate enough to release pre-recorded material over the first lockdown but there are some bands that will be less fortunate. We will always be a Portsmouth band.
Check out their earlier track one of my favourites: Fueled by the sounds of Sports Team to Joy Division, Hallan create their own take on post-punk using unique social commentary lyrics and chunky riffs. I guess the track could easily be seen as accusational but honestly that’s not the case. The track was written as a notice to myself primarily. The track is comprised of notes on self betterment and reminders to aspire to be more than my current self. Other parts of the track draw from everyday observation and derives from Gumshoe Boy’s notes on the scene. He sits in the corner and sees the beauty in the reoccurrence of habit.
The 7″ vinyl record will feature our newest single Modern England alongside Yesterday (With Him) on the flipside. Limited to 100 copies so snatch one up whilst you can.
100% of Bandcamp profits from “Pictures of Flowers” will be donated to Harriet’s Apothecary, an intergenerational Brooklyn based healing village led by Black Cis Women, Queer and Trans healers, artists, health professionals, magicians, activists and ancestors. The intention of Harriet’s Apothecary is to continue the rich healing legacy of abolitionist, community nurse and herbalist Harriet Tubman.
Written by Jess Williamson
Performed and recorded by Jess Williamson, Meg Duffy, and Jarvis Taveniere remotely from their homes during quarantine
Recorded in Los Angeles, April 2020Jess Williamson – Acoustic guitar, Vocals Meg Duffy – Electric guitar Jarvis Taveniere – Bass, Drums, Mellotron
The Fat Angel Sings 