The Church is an Australian psychedelic rock band formed in Sydney in 1980. Initially associated with new wave, neo-psychedelia and indie rock, their music later came to feature slower tempos and surreal soundscapes reminiscent of dream pop and post-rock. “From the release of the ‘She Never Said’ single in November 1980, this unique Sydney-originated entity has purveyed a distinctive, ethereal, psychedelic-tinged sound which has alternatively found favour and disfavour in Australia.” The Los Angeles Times has described the band’s music as “dense, shimmering, exquisite guitar pop”. The Church’s extensive career has cemented them as one of Australia’s most enduring bands of the post-punk era and well-deserving of their place in the ARIA Hall of Fame. Having refined their unique and defining sound over the course of a remarkable 24 studio albums, including Starfish, The Blurred Crusade and Priest=Aura, the band have received international acclaim, with fans across the globe still enjoying their iconic music today.
The Church Live 50-plus minutes of the band performing at what’s believed to be Hodern Pavilion in its hometown of Sydney, Australia, in 1982.
The 10-song performance — including strong early single “The Unguarded Moment” is professionally filmed, with outstanding audio,
Setlist:
1. Tear It All Away 0:00
2. Too Fast For You 0:4:25
3. Sisters 0:8:21
4. Electric Lash 12:34
5. Field Of Mars 17:00
6. You Took 22:04
7. The Unguarded Moment 30:17
8. Almost With You 34:41
9. Is This Where You Live 39:11
10. Just For You 46:48
Nottingham indie rock newcomers Do Nothing have shared a new track. ‘Fits’ that comes with the announcement that they’ll be releasing EP ‘Zero Dollar Bill’ on 10th April, which will also include previous single ‘LeBron James’. Zero Dollar Bill EP is the debut release from Do Nothing, childhood friends vocalist Chris Bailey, guitarist Kasper Sandstrom, bassist Charles Howarth and Andrew Harrison on drums. Speaking about new single ‘Fits’, Bailey said: “This song came about relatively naturally. It’s about that sad little feeling of drifting away from things that meant a lot to you when you were younger. I wanted to write something about my big brother, and what came out sounds somewhat sarcastic, but is actually a quite sincere love song to him and our childhoods. He’s called Benji, and I don’t see him enough.”
The EP muses on the state of the world as well as Bailey’s own personal experiences in the past several years since the formation of Do Nothing. “There’s a lot of finger-pointing, yelling and confusion,” he begins. “And as much of an ordeal as that sounds I think it’s quite fun. The point is that confusion is important! It’s basically the currency that I deal in.”
‘Fits’ is the ideal counterpart to ‘LeBron James’, a window into the band’s incendiary live show, providing more acerbic lyricism in the lineage of LCD Soundsystem and an air of Talking Heads’ intoxicating pop – it marks another watershed moment for the band following a remarkable rise last year. Do Nothing have also shared the video for rousing track “Contraband”, taken from their excellent five track debut EP out now on their own imprint Exact Truth.
Their mix of skewed art-pop, full on acerbic rage and mordant black humour are all well to the fore in the video!. Of the new song, frontman Chris Bailey explains: “This song came about relatively naturally. It’s about that sad little feeling of drifting away from things that meant a lot to you when you were younger. I wanted to write something about my big brother, and what came out sounds somewhat sarcastic, but is actually a quite sincere love song to him and our childhoods.
Zero Dollar Bill is their debut EP by Nottingham’sDo Nothing.
We know time has lost all meaning in these lockdown weeks but it does feel like we’ve been waiting for The 1975’s ‘Notes On A Conditional Form’ for ages. The end is in sight, though, and what better way to carry us through the next month than the absolute bop that is of another shared track from the forthcoming release, The 1975 have shared “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know),” the latest single from their forthcoming album Notes on a Conditional Form. Check out the music video, directed by Adam Powell, below. The song is still driven by rose-tinted joy.
this song is shamelessly huge. The aching guitar line is immediately recognisable, the mark of an instant classic, and Matty’s cry of “Oh yeah” – before the uproarious sax takes over , offers perhaps the greatest endorphin release you’ll find this side of lockdown.
But even at their biggest and most uninhibited, The 1975 still keep it wonderfully weird. The first minute of ‘If You’re Too Shy…’ is a glitching tease of what’s to come, broken up by Twigs’ wordless vocals as an ominous styled drone stalks the track. The song itself tells the story of an online lust affair that occupies the subjects’ every thought, with Matty desperate to “see the girl on the screen.” It’s never that simple with this band, “There’s something about her stare that makes you nervous and you say things that you don’t mean,” Matty sings, allowing relatable vulnerability to creep through. Elsewhere, he confesses how much he needs the fake courage of alcohol (“Sometimes it’s better if you think but this time / I’m going to drink through it”) to escape the real world.
Notes on a Conditional Form follows 2018’s A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. The 1975 have now shared seven of the new album’s 22 songs. Along with “If You’re Too Shy,” the band has released “The 1975,” “People,” “Frail State of Mind,” “Me & You Together Song,” “The Birthday Party,” and “Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America.”
“If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know”) from the new album ‘Notes On A Conditional Form’ available through Dirty Hit, under exclusive licence to Polydor Records and Interscope Records
The Rolling Stones have released a new song. It’s titled “Living in a Ghost Town” and it marks the first single from the band since the release of the covers record Blue & Lonesome way back in 2016. In a press release, Mick Jagger said the band began working on the single before the coronavirus spread rapidly across the globe. “We thought would resonate through the times that we’re living in right now,” he said. Have a listen to this classic Stones track “Living in a Ghost Town,” which was completed in isolation.
The mid-tempo number written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards finds the veteran rock band grappling with an isolation that hits all too close to home amid the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic. “I’m a ghost, livin’ in a ghost town/ You can look for me, but I can’t be found/ You can search for me, I had to go underground/ Life was so beautiful, then we all got locked down/ Feel like a ghost, livin’ in a ghost town,” Jagger sneers over a steady drumbeat and electric guitar line and the haunting harmonica sound.
“So the Stones were in the studio recording some new material before the lockdown and there was one song we thought would resonate through the times that we’re living in right now,” the frontman said in a statement about the song’s prescient timing. “We’ve worked on it in isolation. And here it is — it’s called ‘Living in Ghost Town.’” the surprise track marks The Rolling Stones’ first proper studio single since their 2016 cover album, which featured takes on blues classics such as Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra’s 1953 hit “Just Your Fool,” Little Walter’s “Hate to See You Go,” Bukka White’s “Shake ‘Em On Down” and more.
Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, the Stones were scheduled to tour North America this summer. They recently gave a remote performance of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” during the One World: Together at Home broadcast.
The official video for Living In A Ghost Town by The Rolling Stones
The sad 2017 demise of Tom Petty has increased the interest in this renowned rocker. Petty had just clocked up forty years of success before the cruel hand of fate robbed the world of his prestigious talent. A seventies Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released a dynamic debut album that had this American band setting a new template. Not quite old school but not quite new wave Petty and his posse wrote some good tunes which were radio friendly with an edge. Other top tunes followed but as regards a long player I did not go any further.
However, on the back of a golden yesteryear era, it is time to take further stock of a rock n roll icon. This 16 track, 72 minute long live set picks up on a 1989 US FM Broadcast. Petty is the main songwriter – but, there are allegiances with Mike Campbell, Jeff Lynne and Dave Stewart in different formats across half a dozen of the songs, a Benmont Tench tune and there is also a Chuck Berry cover. This 101% music maverick offers stage stamina and both quantity and quality. On a selfish note, Breakdown from the fresher release is present and that means an extra credit – and, an alternative approach to the sonic sculptures adds extra spice. This is a great FM recording from North Carolina featuring some of the new songs from both “Let Me Up” and “Full Moon Fever”, and of special note is the middle section with new acoustic renditions of ‘Even the Losers’, ‘Listen to Her Heart’, and the rarely subsequently played ‘Face in the Crowd’ (in an absolutely beautiful version). Other highlights are the rarely performed ‘Something Big’ from “Hard Promises” and a new, more rockin’ arrangement of ‘Don’t Come Around Here No More’.
Tom Petty made a significant contribution to rock n roll across five decades and in no manner was it a petty one! This 2018 “Strange Behaviour” set has a sadly lost legend breaking hearts and setting standards. Great quality sound and some different takes on certain songs, worth it for the version of “A Face in the Crowd” on its own. The original source on this was Westwood One Superstars In Concert. This was part of the Strange BehaviourTour, which ran from July to September, 1989 in the U.S., and this was the only date in North Carolina. The next leg of the tour continued in January-March of 1990,
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Chapel Hill, NC – September 13th, 1989
Neil Young and his Performance Series releases from the Neil Young Archives is “Bluenote Café” released on November 13th via Reprise Records. The album collects various performances captured during Neil’s 1988 tour.
The album is volume eleven in Young’s Archives Performance Series, and features performances from Young’s 1987–88 American tours with his then-backing band, The Bluenotes (renamed here as Bluenote Café ), with whom he recorded his seventeenth studio album, “This Note’s for You”.
Aside from live versions of “This Note’s for You” songs, the album features a number of songs that weren’t released at the time; “Welcome to the Big Room”, “Hello Lonely Woman”, “Bad News Comes to Town”, “Crime of the Heart” and “Doghouse” make their first appearances on any official Neil Young release (“Doghouse” was covered in 2011 by Young’s then-wife Pegi on her album “Bracing for Impact”. Two of the album’s tracks, “This Note’s for You” and “Ain’t It the Truth,” previously appeared on the compilation album “Lucky Thirteen”. The album received positive reviews,”generally favourable reviews”. Chris Gerard of PopMatters gave the album nine stars out of ten, stating: “Bluenote Café” is essential Neil Young, and further evidence that Young’s 80s work has more value than many would expect.
This superb live 2-CD, 4-vinyl LP set documents one of Young’s most funky and heartfelt periods and features seven unreleased songs: and a searing 19+ minute version of the immortal “Tonight’s the Night” from The Pier in New York City.
The Bluenote Café Band:
Neil Young – guitar & vocals
Rick Rosas – bass,
Chad Cromwell – drums
Frank Sampedro – keyboards
Steve Lawrence – lead tenor saxophone
Ben Keith – alto saxophone
Larry Cragg – baritone saxophone
Claude Cailliet – trombone
Tom Bray – trumpet
John Fumo – trumpet
Billy Talbot – bass
Ralph Molina – drums
Delaney & Bonnie were the American musical duo of singer/songwriters Delaney Bramlett and Bonnie Bramlett. In 1969 and 1970, they fronted a rock/soul ensemble, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, whose members at different times included Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, George Harrison, Leon Russell, Bobby Whitlock, Dave Mason, Rita Coolidge, King Curtis, and Eric Clapton.
Bonnie Bramlett, started as a backing singer for blues artists that included Little Milton, Albert King and Fontella Bass and gained attention as a history maker as being the first white Ikette for Ike & Tina Turner. Wanting to spread her wings she moved to Los Angeles, met up with Delaney Bramlett who was with The Shindogs and married him just days after their first meeting in 1967. Their daughter Bekka who was born the following year is herself an extremely successful singer. She and her husband became the duo Delaney & Bonnie who became one of the first successful white R&B acts and soon they would tour with Eric Clapton and perform with artists such as Dave Mason, Rita Coolidge , Leon Russell, Duane Allman, John Lennon and George Harrison where they would be known as Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. Seeing success in the charts the songs they are most known for now are possible “Only You Know and I Know” and “Never-Ending Song of Love”.
Also following her own solo career, she and Leon Russell co-wrote the song “Give Peace a Chance” and “Groupie” which would change it’s name to “Superstar” and be a huge 1971 hit for The Carpenters.
Delaney Bramlett passed away in December 2008, He learned the guitar in his youth. He moved to Los Angeles in 1959 where he became a session musician. His most notable early work was as a member of the Shindogs, the house band for the ABC-TV series Shindig! (1964–66), which also included guitarist and keyboardist Leon Russell. He was the first artist signed to Independence Records.
She and Delaney divorced in 1973.
Delaney Bramlett and Leon Russell had many connections in the music business through their work in the Shindogs and formed a band of solid, if transient, musicians around Delaney & Bonnie. The band became known as “Delaney & Bonnie and Friends”, because of its regular changes of personnel. They secured a recording contract with Stax Records and completed work on their first album, Home, in 1968.
Home:
As earthy as it was honest, in retrospect, it’s little wonder the music of Delaney and Bonnie held as much attraction for Eric Clapton in the waning days of Cream as did the Band’sMusic From Big Pink. Precursor to reissues on the same Atco label as that groundbreaking power trio, this debut on Stax Records was even closely aligned with D&B’s roots: the secular devotion as expressed in the couple’s co-writing efforts such as “Pour Your Love On Me” sounds as deeply felt as their rendition of Isaac Hayes and David Porter’s “My Baby Specializes” or that signature of Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart.”
None of which is a surprise given the literally down-home cover photo or especially the co-production of tight, economical arrangements by Duck Dunn, bassist of Booker T & The MG’s, whose bandmates all appear here alongside other linchpins of the influential studios,
D&B Together
The title of this album’s more than a little ironic because the principals’ had separated before the end of a series of events during which the record’s original configuration, titled Country Life, was refused release and the couple’s contract was transferred to Columbia Records.Ultimately released with a modified track sequence, the dozen cuts include what’s arguably their most famous number, “Comin’ Home” (its guitar refrain courtesy Clapton), a bonafide hit of their own in the form of Dave Mason’s “Only You Know And I Know,” plus the original version of a song subsequently made famous (in a decidedly sterilized interpretation) by The Carpenters, “Groupie(Superstar).”Reaffirmed with the addition of half a dozen bonus tracks, the gospel and r&b elements of Delaney and Bonnie’s musical approach are in full-flower here, as well as a stylistic departure in the form of the original title cut that, as a baroque waltz adorned with strings, might well have allowed for further expansion of the pair’s already eclectic style.
D&B Together 1972 album was their last album of new material, as Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett would divorce soon after its release. Although released by Columbia/CBS (catalog no. KC 31377), D&B Together was actually recorded for the Atco/Atlantic label, under the working title Country Life. According to his autobiography Rhythm and the Blues, Atlantic executive Jerry Wexler was dissatisfied with the album’s quality upon its delivery to the label, and, upon investigating the situation and discovering Delaney and Bonnie were splitting up, sold their contract – including this album’s master tapes – to CBS. CBS reordered the running sequence of the album. On reflecting on the matter in 2003, Delaney Bramlett was quoted as saying “I thought [D&B Together] was a fine piece of work, so did Bonnie. Unfortunately, Jerry Wexler didn’t agree.”
Delaney and Bonnie’s “Friends” of the band’s 1969-70 heyday also had considerable impact. After the early 1970 breakup of this version of the band, Leon Russell recruited many of its ex-members, excepting Delaney, Bonnie and singer/keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, to join Joe Cocker’s band, participating on Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen recording sessions and North American tour (March–May 1970; Rita Coolidge’s version of “Groupie(Superstar)” was recorded with this band while on tour). Whitlock meanwhile joined Clapton at his home in Surrey, UK, where they wrote songs and decided to form a band, which two former “Friends”/Cocker band members, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon, would later join. As Derek And The Dominos, they recorded the landmark album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970) with assistance on many tracks from another former “Friend,” lead/slide guitarist Duane Allman. Derek and the Dominos also constituted the core backing band on George Harrison’s vocal debut album All Things Must Pass (1970) with assistance from still more former “Friends”: Dave Mason, Bobby Keys and Jim Price.
William’s tribute cover of the song “Angel from Montgomery” ,here is what William has to say about his tribute to John Prine.
I join in the worldwide grief over the passing of one of my, and so many others’ songwriting heroes, John Prine. Prine, like one of my other heroes, Townes Van Zandt, was a once in a generation writer. He distilled emotions down to simple phrases and timeless melodies. He wrote songs that seemed like they existed decades before he even penned them. His work was a constant challenge and motivation to me to be economical and fearless in my own art. I’m honored to be able to cover and share with you my favorite song of his, Angel from Montgomery. – William Fitzsimmons
Wolf Parade’s ‘Under Glass” is a standout track from “Thin Mind”, their acclaimed album of 2020.
It’s now the subject of a gory yet humorous, Cronenberg-esque official video, and will see its premiere tonight, Saturday, April 18th via the Episode One Podcast charity stream with ChapoFYM on Twitch. The charity stream event will raise funds for the Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation!
The “Under Glass” video is directed by Caleb Bardgett and Johnny Dunn, stars Keegan Kruse, with special effects makeup from Cig Neutron (Face-Off All-Stars winner), filmed by Thaddeus Bridwell, and video effects by Bardgett.
Dan Boecker says of the video, “‘Under Glass’ is inspired by Canada’s greatest cultural export: David Cronenberg. The protagonist sits in isolation, their only joy in life is plugging in a bioport and interfacing with a psychedelic PS1 hellscape where they are loved and adored. Their body decays. They’re smiling.” And co-directors Jonny Dunn and Caleb Bardgett offered this, “We worked with Dan last year on some really cool videos for one of his other projects, and so naturally we jumped at the chance to jam with the Wolf Parade boys on this video for ‘Under Glass.’
“We looked at Brian Yuzna’s SOCIETY and Cronenberg as spiritual references for the visuals, and theme-wise, the band wanted to tap into some end-of-times / isolation / addicted-to-screens stuff… This was mid-2019, preceding our eventual quarantine so it’s all more eerily-relevant now, seeing as how we’re all pretty alone and isolated, becoming very pale and more jacked-in.
“We really wanted to nail the body horror, which meant we needed a practical special FX master…but didn’t know anyone ourselves. We hit up a buddy of ours, Eric Skodis, who knows all about that world, and he referred us to a genius named Cig Neutron, who turned out to be the absolute perfect brain for making the best and grossest oozy stuff we could imagine. We shot the video all in one day at Cig’s studio, with Thaddeus Bridwell as DP.
“Keegan Kruse starred as our logged-on lonely video freak and was such a sport. He had to wear the make up all day, and it took him another half day just to peel all of the latex and make-up off of his face.
“We couldn’t be happier to see the video finally come out in a world where all of us are now trapped inside, living ‘Under Glass.’“ Thin Mind is available worldwide through Sub Pop,“Under Glass” from the Wolf Parade album Thin Mind (Release Date: January 24th, 2020)
With their fifth album, ‘V’, The Horrors were ready to take on all comers, vigorously enforcing the widely-held belief that their time was at hand.
Renowned for boldly going where most bands fear to tread, The Horrors are masters of reinvention who once again upped the ante with their compelling, enigmatically-titled fifth album, V.
The chameleonic Southend-on-Sea popsters initially sprang onto the scene touting a chaotic fusion of 80s gothabilly and 60s garage-rock on their 2007 debut, Strange House. Yet after they changed course dramatically with 2009’s epic, motorik-influenced single ‘Sea Within A Sea’, they’ve continued to wow fans and critics. Their sophomore release, the psychedelia-streaked Primary Colours (produced by Portishead mainstay Geoff Barrow) drew considerable praise, while 2011’s synth-heavy Skying and 2014’s Luminous have ensured that The Horrors’ career remains on an upward trajectory.
The band followed their muse (almost literally) to the end of the earth to work up the songs for V. Frontman Faris Badwan and bassist Rhys Webb decamped to Iceland with a Korg drum machine and some acoustic guitars to write songs in a remote cabin, while guitarist Joshua Third, keyboard wizard Tom Furse and drummer Joseph Spurgeon also composed new tracks individually. Bringing it all back home, the quintet later hooked up with producer Paul Epworth (Paul McCartney, Coldplay, U2) and magic began to happen.
Recalling the V album sessions with fondness, The Horrors were fulsome with praise for their new producer’s enthusiasm, not to mention his spontaneity. “We’d start off with some little motif, usually an electronic loop that seemed appealing, and build stuff up,” said Joshua Third. “It was like two songs a day, we hadn’t worked like that in years. He [Epworth] would keep the whole thing rolling, whereas we’d got to a stage where we’d bunker down and chat about something for ages. But he’s so obsessed with action, it’s refreshing.”
Equal parts light and shade, V, which was released on 22nd September 2017, is arguably the darkest, yet conversely the most accessible record The Horrors have unleashed to date. The album introduces itself in dramatic fashion, with glacial, Gary Numan-esque synths framing the churning, industrial pop of ‘Hologram’, while the glitchy electronica ushering in ‘Machine’ morphs into prowling, Stooges-style aggression as the song shifts into high gear. Destined to join ‘Still Life’ and ‘Sea Within A Sea’ as one of The Horrors’ signature songs, meanwhile, V’s centrepiece is surely ‘Weighed Down’: an elegiac, dub-infused anthem which slow-burns its way across an unmissable six and a half minutes.
Elsewhere, however, V parades some of the most unashamedly confident, radio-friendly pop of The Horrors’ career to date. Buoyed up by bubbling sequencers, the recently released ‘Something To Remember Me By’ has already burnt up the airwaves, while the snappy ‘World Below’ and poised, infectious ‘Press Enter To Exit’ exude all the hallmarks of killer hits-in-waiting. Then there’s the album’s dark horse, ‘Gathering’: an eerie, ‘Karma Police’-esque commentary on CCTV-related surveillance culture couched in the most elegant and enticing of melodies.
Released in the wake of an arena tour supporting Depeche Mode, wherein the band proved beyond doubt they’re capable of conquering stadiums on their own, V vigorously enforced the widely-held belief that The Horrors were ready to take on all comers. As the chorus to ‘Hologram’ suggests – they just need to “ride this wave as far as we can”.
