Subscribe
Home Blog Page 1031

Procol Harum Organist Wins Court Case

Uncut
-
0
Procol Harum Organist Wins Court Case

Procul Harum’s organist Matthew Fisher, yesterday won a High Court battle over who wrote the organ melody for the classic 60s song, “A Whiter Shade Of Pale.” Fisher, a founding member of Procol Harum, played organ on the 1967 hit argued that he wrote the distinctive organ melody. After three weeks in court, Mr Justice Blackburne ruled that Fisher is to be entitled to 40% of the copyright. Mr Blackburne, who studied both music and law at Cambridge University said, "I find that the organ solo is a distinctive and significant contribution to the overall composition and, quite obviously, the product of skill and labour on the part of the person who created it." Fisher’s argued he wanted to be credited with 50% and up to £1 million in backdated payments, but the court decided that lead singer Gary Brooker's input was more than his on the song, and the payments rejected. Since “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” was written in the 60s, the song has been credited to Procol Harum founder member and singer Gary Brooker and the group’s lyricist Keith Reid. Brooker defended his claim to be the sole writer of the tune, saying in a statement, "If Matthew Fisher's name ends up on my song, then mine can come off! It's hard to believe that I've worked with somebody on and off since 1967 whilst they hid such unspoken resentment. The singer, who still fronts Procol Harum, will have to pay the majority of the legal fees, estimated to be around £500,000. Brooker said in conclusion of the court case, "I'm relieved the trial is over, but my faith in British justice is shattered." Matthew Fisher reiterated that the legal battle was a matter of principal and not about money, saying, "I think I can assume that from now on I'm not going to be on Gary and Keith's Christmas card lists but I think that's a small price to pay for finally securing my rightful place in rock and roll history.” Gary Brooker has been granted permission to appeal.

Procul Harum’s organist Matthew Fisher, yesterday won a High Court battle over who wrote the organ melody for the classic 60s song, “A Whiter Shade Of Pale.”

Fisher, a founding member of Procol Harum, played organ on the 1967 hit argued that he wrote the distinctive organ melody. After three weeks in court, Mr Justice Blackburne ruled that Fisher is to be entitled to 40% of the copyright.

Mr Blackburne, who studied both music and law at Cambridge University said, “I find that the organ solo is a distinctive and significant contribution to the overall composition and, quite obviously, the product of skill and labour on the part of the person who created it.”

Fisher’s argued he wanted to be credited with 50% and up to £1 million in backdated payments, but the court decided that lead singer Gary Brooker’s input was more than his on the song, and the payments rejected.

Since “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” was written in the 60s, the song has been credited to Procol Harum founder member and singer Gary Brooker and the group’s lyricist Keith Reid.

Brooker defended his claim to be the sole writer of the tune, saying in a statement, “If Matthew Fisher’s name ends up on my song, then mine can come off! It’s hard to believe that I’ve worked with somebody on and off since 1967 whilst they hid such unspoken resentment.

The singer, who still fronts Procol Harum, will have to pay the majority of the legal fees, estimated to be around £500,000.

Brooker said in conclusion of the court case, “I’m relieved the trial is over, but my faith in British justice is shattered.”

Matthew Fisher reiterated that the legal battle was a matter of principal and not about money, saying, “I think I can assume that from now on I’m not going to be on Gary and Keith’s Christmas card lists but I think that’s a small price to pay for finally securing my rightful place in rock and roll history.”

Gary Brooker has been granted permission to appeal.

Flags Of Our Fathers

Uncut
-
0
Flags Of Our Fathers

Clint Eastwood in the twilight of his career continues to amaze. In the decade following the Oscar-winning Unforgiven, he seemed wholly to have surrendered to humdrum mediocrity. But in a career renaissance comparable to Bob Dylan's cussed reluctance to leave the building quietly, Eastwood has rallied spectacularly, as if being remembered latterly for not much more than a comely spoof like Space Cowboys was simply an unbearable notion. Mystic River (2003) was an unexpected revival and won Oscars for two of its stars, Sean Penn and Tim Robbins. What followed, extraordinarily, was Clint's masterpiece to date - 2005's Million Dollar Baby, a film about life, love, death and boxing that Hollywood first refused to bankroll and then honoured with multiple Academy Awards, including Best Film and Best Director. Two years on, here's Clint at 76 with Flags Of Our Fathers, an epic project that would have been daunting for a director half his age, and his second classic on the trot. A film of awesome emotional power and angry intent, Flags Of Our Fathers is based on the best-selling book by James Bradley, whose father, John "Doc" Bradley, was one of the six US servicemen in the iconic photo by Joe Rosenthal of the American flag being raised over the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, site of one of the bloodiest battles of WW2. Rosenthal's picture was emblematic of uncommon valour, heroism on a grand scale, noble sacrifice, the triumph of the incontestably good over the demonstrably evil. I'd always imagined it had been taken in so-called heat of battle, bullets flying everywhere, the Americans on their way to victory after days of fixed-bayonet carnage. Which is certainly the impression you get from Allan Dwan's 1949 John Wayne vehicle, Sands Of Iwo Jima, which has the Duke dying - shot in the back! - as the Stars And Stripes goes up on Mt Suribachi. As Eastwood now provocatively reminds us, however, an American flag was indeed hoisted above Iwo Jima in the maw of battle - but it wasn't the flag in Rosenthal's photograph, which went up during a lull in the fighting as a replacement for the original banner, and was erected by five marines and a Navy medic who had been bloodily engaged elsewhere when the first flag was put up. The six men in Rosenthal's picture - by now inspiring war-weary America - were nevertheless treated as heroes of the battle, and Washington enlisted them as part of a huge propaganda campaign to raise war bonds to pay for one last push against the Japanese. Three of them were by now dead, but "Doc" Bradley (Ryan Phillipe), the opportunistic 19 year old Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) and Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) were flown back to the States where they reluctantly starred in a touring pageant celebrating their illustrious exploits on Iwo Jima, even as their buddies were still dying in the Pacific. The trio quickly realise they are now a showbiz turn, no one much interested in the truth of what happened on Iwo, everyone eager to buy into the myth, the legend created by Rosenthal's powerfully evocative image of courage under apparent fire. The deeply-troubled Hayes, a Pima Indian, is especially vulnerable to the bitter contradictions of his new circumstances. Lauded on the one hand as a hero he doesn't think he is, on the other treated with patronising racism, he is destroyed by alcoholism. Beach tears up the screen as Hayes. Eastwoood handles the film's parallel storylines with astonishing confidence and technical dexterity, working from a superb script by Paul Haggis (who wrote Million Dollar Baby) and William Broyles Jr (Jarhead). The home front propaganda machine and its affect on the men it's exploiting is mercilessly ridiculed, as are notions of unthinking patriotism and the re-writing of history for political advantage, which gives the film a resonant timeliness. The battle scenes, meanwhile, are staggering. The vast invasion fleet and initial landings are rendered epically, and will no doubt put people in mind of Saving Private Ryan. But it's the point-blank ferocity of a war fought at fearsomely close quarters that sets you reeling, makes you think of the hand-to-hand combat scenes of Sam Fuller's Merrill's Marauders, Peckinpah's Cross Of Iron and Don Siegel's Hell Is For Heroes. Fascinatingly, Eastwood's simultaneously filmed the same story from a Japanese perspective in Letters From Iwo Jima, which will be released next February. It promises to complete an extraordinary double from a film maker whose second wind is turning into a full force creative gale. ALLAN JONES

Clint Eastwood in the twilight of his career continues to amaze. In the decade following the Oscar-winning Unforgiven, he seemed wholly to have surrendered to humdrum mediocrity. But in a career renaissance comparable to Bob Dylan’s cussed reluctance to leave the building quietly, Eastwood has rallied spectacularly, as if being remembered latterly for not much more than a comely spoof like Space Cowboys was simply an unbearable notion.

Mystic River (2003) was an unexpected revival and won Oscars for two of its stars, Sean Penn and Tim Robbins. What followed, extraordinarily, was Clint’s masterpiece to date – 2005’s Million Dollar Baby, a film about life, love, death and boxing that Hollywood first refused to bankroll and then honoured with multiple Academy Awards, including Best Film and Best Director. Two years on, here’s Clint at 76 with Flags Of Our Fathers, an epic project that would have been daunting for a director half his age, and his second classic on the trot.

A film of awesome emotional power and angry intent, Flags Of Our Fathers is based on the best-selling book by James Bradley, whose father, John “Doc” Bradley, was one of the six US servicemen in the iconic photo by Joe Rosenthal of the American flag being raised over the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, site of one of the bloodiest battles of WW2.

Rosenthal’s picture was emblematic of uncommon valour, heroism on a grand scale, noble sacrifice, the triumph of the incontestably good over the demonstrably evil. I’d always imagined it had been taken in so-called heat of battle, bullets flying everywhere, the Americans on their way to victory after days of fixed-bayonet carnage. Which is certainly the impression you get from Allan Dwan’s 1949 John Wayne vehicle, Sands Of Iwo Jima, which has the Duke dying – shot in the back! – as the Stars And Stripes goes up on Mt Suribachi.

As Eastwood now provocatively reminds us, however, an American flag was indeed hoisted above Iwo Jima in the maw of battle – but it wasn’t the flag in Rosenthal’s photograph, which went up during a lull in the fighting as a replacement for the original banner, and was erected by five marines and a Navy medic who had been bloodily engaged elsewhere when the first flag was put up. The six men in Rosenthal’s picture – by now inspiring war-weary America – were nevertheless treated as heroes of the battle, and Washington enlisted them as part of a huge propaganda campaign to raise war bonds to pay for one last push against the Japanese.

Three of them were by now dead, but “Doc” Bradley (Ryan Phillipe), the opportunistic 19 year old Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) and Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) were flown back to the States where they reluctantly starred in a touring pageant celebrating their illustrious exploits on Iwo Jima, even as their buddies were still dying in the Pacific.

The trio quickly realise they are now a showbiz turn, no one much interested in the truth of what happened on Iwo, everyone eager to buy into the myth, the legend created by Rosenthal’s powerfully evocative image of courage under apparent fire. The deeply-troubled Hayes, a Pima Indian, is especially vulnerable to the bitter contradictions of his new circumstances. Lauded on the one hand as a hero he doesn’t think he is, on the other treated with patronising racism, he is destroyed by alcoholism. Beach tears up the screen as Hayes.

Eastwoood handles the film’s parallel storylines with astonishing confidence and technical dexterity, working from a superb script by Paul Haggis (who wrote Million Dollar Baby) and William Broyles Jr (Jarhead). The home front propaganda machine and its affect on the men it’s exploiting is mercilessly ridiculed, as are notions of unthinking patriotism and the re-writing of history for political advantage, which gives the film a resonant timeliness.

The battle scenes, meanwhile, are staggering. The vast invasion fleet and initial landings are rendered epically, and will no doubt put people in mind of Saving Private Ryan. But it’s the point-blank ferocity of a war fought at fearsomely close quarters that sets you reeling, makes you think of the hand-to-hand combat scenes of Sam Fuller’s Merrill’s Marauders, Peckinpah’s Cross Of Iron and Don Siegel’s Hell Is For Heroes.

Fascinatingly, Eastwood’s simultaneously filmed the same story from a Japanese perspective in Letters From Iwo Jima, which will be released next February. It promises to complete an extraordinary double from a film maker whose second wind is turning into a full force creative gale.

ALLAN JONES

The Hold Steady – Boys And Girls In America

Uncut
-
0
The Hold Steady – Boys And Girls In America

I don’t know if Boys And Girls In America is rock’n’roll as literature or literature as rock’n’roll. Either way, you could write a book about what’s going on here and the two albums preceding it that have made The Hold Steady the most talked about band in America right now. Praise for the Brooklyn-based, Minneapolis-reared quartet’s crunching rock and Craig Finn’s amazing songs has come from all quarters. The buzz started with the 2004 release of their first album, The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me, which the admirable Chuck Klosterman in Esquire selected as one of the top albums of the century so far. It was also included on best of the year lists in Blender, Rolling Stone and Spin. Their second album, Separation Sunday, meanwhile, was raved over in the New York Times by Jon Pareles and they were the first band in 15 years to appear on the cover of New York’s Village Voice. The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me was a sprawling epic about teenagers, drugs, derangement, despair, murder, spiritual rot and the redemptive power of rock’n’roll, the profane poetry of Finn’s lyrics set to the firestorm riffing of Tad Kubler’s guitars. The pair had first played together in Lifter Puller, art punks apparently, who made a lot of noise but little money on the Minneapolis bar band circuit that had earlier hosted wild nights by local heroes like Hüsker Dü and The Replacements. When Lifter Puller split, Kubler relocated to Los Angeles, joining Finn a year later in Brooklyn where they formed The Hold Steady. Within months they'd recorded Almost Killed Me, which introduced us to Holly, Gideon and Charlemagne, the three characters whose strung-out desperate lives are central to Finn’s songs and whose stories are brought up to date on Boys And Girls In America. They’re druggy misfits who probably grew up listening to The Replacements’ Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash and wondered in baffled awe how Paul Westerberg knew so much about them and their mall-rat lives. On Separation Sunday, especially, they go on dreadful benders, seek salvation in whatever drugs are available, getting high their only real imperative, have lots of unhappy wanton sex, are driven to madness, Christ and each other by confused and choleric urgencies. The songs on the early albums were densely-written, with more words in their lyrics than virtually anything since the young Springsteen of Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ. They come at you in a torrential rush, full of brilliant images, many of them recurring from song to song across the two albums. It’s a trick that works here on Boys And Girls, too, key lines repeated, Finn given to a testifying vocal rapture, a brutal urban echo of Van Morrison’s sense of natural wonder. On Boys And Girls, though, Finn’s writing is sharper than ever, the various narratives driven less by the wordy exposition of yore than acute observation, devastating detail, by turns exclamatory, epigrammatic and grainily authentic. Songs like the delirious opener “Stuck Between Stations”, the brutally jaunty “Hot Soft Light”, the corrosive “Party Pit” and the sulphurous waltz of “First Night” are a toxic mix of Springsteen’s cavernous romanticism and the grim verité of something like Lou Reed’s “Street Hassle”. Soiled vignettes, in other words, of lives in the teenage wastelands, given up to fleeting sordid pleasures and piss-stained dreams of better times that never arrive. Musically, too, The Hold Steady are tighter, wholly as exciting at times as the E Street Band in their turbo-charged prime; several tracks are punctuated by rollicking keyboard parts from Franz Nicolay that recall Roy Bittan’s work with Springsteen’s rowdy crew. The Hold Steady have frankly never sounded bigger or more furiously robust – this is often deafening arena rock, unashamedly so, a ferocious methamphetamine rush, urgent, at times almost out of control, a vast swampy roar. It’s a holy noise that runs from bone-crunching riffs that recall the Stones, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, the E Street boys and Replacements, to swaggering doo-wop harmonies, hook-filled garage band pop and a dynamic clout that more than once recalls the hardcore rancour of This Year’s Model. Like Richmond Fontaine’s Willy Vlautin, Finn’s inspired as much by literature as rock’n’roll - the album’s title is inspired by a line from Jack Keruoac’s On The Road and “Stuck Between Stations” turns out partly to be about the suicide of the great American poet, John Berryman (as much, perhaps, an influence on Finn as the writer Delmore Schwarz was on the youthfully impressionable Lou Reed). There’s nothing starchy or stuck-up about this, however – Finn’s writing is rich in common vernacular, slangy, conversational, often very funny and illuminated by a white-hot attention to detail. It’s the kind of language you might overhear in bars where people go to drink and die, poetic in its grungy perfection but never merely fanciful or artfully abstract. They swell with charred truth, these songs and rock like there’s no tomorrow. Which, when all is said and equally done, there won’t be for Holly, Gideon and Charlemagne, the world going up in flames around them.Welcome to the first great album of 2007. ALLAN JONES

I don’t know if Boys And Girls In America is rock’n’roll as literature or literature as rock’n’roll. Either way, you could write a book about what’s going on here and the two albums preceding it that have made The Hold Steady the most talked about band in America right now.

Praise for the Brooklyn-based, Minneapolis-reared quartet’s crunching rock and Craig Finn’s amazing songs has come from all quarters. The buzz started with the 2004 release of their first album, The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me, which the admirable Chuck Klosterman in Esquire selected as one of the top albums of the century so far. It was also included on best of the year lists in Blender, Rolling Stone and Spin. Their second album, Separation Sunday, meanwhile, was raved over in the New York Times by Jon Pareles and they were the first band in 15 years to appear on the cover of New York’s Village Voice.

The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me was a sprawling epic about teenagers, drugs, derangement, despair, murder, spiritual rot and the redemptive power of rock’n’roll, the profane poetry of Finn’s lyrics set to the firestorm riffing of Tad Kubler’s guitars. The pair had first played together in Lifter Puller, art punks apparently, who made a lot of noise but little money on the Minneapolis bar band circuit that had earlier hosted wild nights by local heroes like Hüsker Dü and The Replacements. When Lifter Puller split, Kubler relocated to Los Angeles, joining Finn a year later in Brooklyn where they formed The Hold Steady.

Within months they’d recorded Almost Killed Me, which introduced us to Holly, Gideon and Charlemagne, the three characters whose strung-out desperate lives are central to Finn’s songs and whose stories are brought up to date on Boys And Girls In America. They’re druggy misfits who probably grew up listening to The Replacements’ Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash and wondered in baffled awe how Paul Westerberg knew so much about them and their mall-rat lives. On Separation Sunday, especially, they go on dreadful benders, seek salvation in whatever drugs are available, getting high their only real imperative, have lots of unhappy wanton sex, are driven to madness, Christ and each other by confused and choleric urgencies.

The songs on the early albums were densely-written, with more words in their lyrics than virtually anything since the young Springsteen of Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ. They come at you in a torrential rush, full of brilliant images, many of them recurring from song to song across the two albums. It’s a trick that works here on Boys And Girls, too, key lines repeated, Finn given to a testifying vocal rapture, a brutal urban echo of Van Morrison’s sense of natural wonder.

On Boys And Girls, though, Finn’s writing is sharper than ever, the various narratives driven less by the wordy exposition of yore than acute observation, devastating detail, by turns exclamatory, epigrammatic and grainily authentic. Songs like the delirious opener “Stuck Between Stations”, the brutally jaunty “Hot Soft Light”, the corrosive “Party Pit” and the sulphurous waltz of “First Night” are a toxic mix of Springsteen’s cavernous romanticism and the grim verité of something like Lou Reed’s “Street Hassle”. Soiled vignettes, in other words, of lives in the teenage wastelands, given up to fleeting sordid pleasures and piss-stained dreams of better times that never arrive.

Musically, too, The Hold Steady are tighter, wholly as exciting at times as the E Street Band in their turbo-charged prime; several tracks are punctuated by rollicking keyboard parts from Franz Nicolay that recall Roy Bittan’s work with Springsteen’s rowdy crew. The Hold Steady have frankly never sounded bigger or more furiously robust – this is often deafening arena rock, unashamedly so, a ferocious methamphetamine rush, urgent, at times almost out of control, a vast swampy roar. It’s a holy noise that runs from bone-crunching riffs that recall the Stones, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, the E Street boys and Replacements, to swaggering doo-wop harmonies, hook-filled garage band pop and a dynamic clout that more than once recalls the hardcore rancour of This Year’s Model.

Like Richmond Fontaine’s Willy Vlautin, Finn’s inspired as much by literature as rock’n’roll – the album’s title is inspired by a line from Jack Keruoac’s On The Road and “Stuck Between Stations” turns out partly to be about the suicide of the great American poet, John Berryman (as much, perhaps, an influence on Finn as the writer Delmore Schwarz was on the youthfully impressionable Lou Reed). There’s nothing starchy or stuck-up about this, however – Finn’s writing is rich in common vernacular, slangy, conversational, often very funny and illuminated by a white-hot attention to detail. It’s the kind of language you might overhear in bars where people go to drink and die, poetic in its grungy perfection but never merely fanciful or artfully abstract.

They swell with charred truth, these songs and rock like there’s no tomorrow. Which, when all is said and equally done, there won’t be for Holly, Gideon and Charlemagne, the world going up in flames around them.Welcome to the first great album of 2007.

ALLAN JONES

V/A- American Hardcore: The History Of American Punk Rock 1980-1986

Uncut
-
0
V/A- American Hardcore: The History Of American Punk Rock 1980-1986

When it exploded out of the anxious loins of miscreant teenage America in 1980 with Bad Brains’ epochal and amazing “Pay to Cum”, hardcore was the closest thing to folk music America had produced in decades. The original American punks were aesthetes, poets manqué, Bohemians in the age-old tradition. Hardcore kids, on the other hand, couldn’t give two shits about Rimbaud or Warhol or AM radio in the ‘60s. Instead, they sounded as if they were scrawling invective on the stall wall while they beat their meat red and raw in the high school bathroom. Yes, hardcore was unrelentingly masculine, not to mention repulsively misogynistic and often homophobic and racist. But its esprit de corps was incredibly infectious and inspirational - there really is nothing more liberating than the moshpit. This is evident on American Hardcore, the exhilarating soundtrack to Steven Blush’s new documentary. Even without the biotic odour and flying bodies – on anthemic tracks like Minor Threat’s fervent “Filler”, MDC’s rousing “I Remember” and Gang Green’s desperate “Kill a Commie”. It’s no coincidence that the febrile intensity of the vocalists – to say nothing of the guitarists and drummers – collected on American Hardcore resembles holy-roller true believers speaking in tongues. Hardcore was a religion, and this was reflected in lyrics that were naked and unadorned, diary entries set to spasmodic, spirited guitars. However, the devotion was not necessarily to sound, but to mindset, and perhaps this is why punk has cast a stronger, longer lasting shadow across the US than in the UK, and why, even without Green Day swiping Circle Jerks hooks or black metal bands appropriating the vocal style of Negative Approach’s John Brannon and blast beats of just about everyone, hardcore would still be an imposing presence on the American rock scene. There are some glaring omissions here (no Descendents, Necros, Hüsker Dü or Naked Raygun), and with all of the mp3 blogs devoted to hardcore, you’d think that Rhino would have spiced the package up a bit to entice paying customers. But these are small gripes of what is otherwise a crucial, revelatory collection - more fun than elbowing a stagediving skinhead. PETER SHAPIRO

When it exploded out of the anxious loins of miscreant teenage America in 1980 with Bad Brains’ epochal and amazing “Pay to Cum”, hardcore was the closest thing to folk music America had produced in decades. The original American punks were aesthetes, poets manqué, Bohemians in the age-old tradition. Hardcore kids, on the other hand, couldn’t give two shits about Rimbaud or Warhol or AM radio in the ‘60s. Instead, they sounded as if they were scrawling invective on the stall wall while they beat their meat red and raw in the high school bathroom.

Yes, hardcore was unrelentingly masculine, not to mention repulsively misogynistic and often homophobic and racist. But its esprit de corps was incredibly infectious and inspirational – there really is nothing more liberating than the moshpit. This is evident on American Hardcore, the exhilarating soundtrack to Steven Blush’s new documentary. Even without the biotic odour and flying bodies – on anthemic tracks like Minor Threat’s fervent “Filler”, MDC’s rousing “I Remember” and Gang Green’s desperate “Kill a Commie”.

It’s no coincidence that the febrile intensity of the vocalists – to say nothing of the guitarists and drummers – collected on American Hardcore resembles holy-roller true believers speaking in tongues. Hardcore was a religion, and this was reflected in lyrics that were naked and unadorned, diary entries set to spasmodic, spirited guitars. However, the devotion was not necessarily to sound, but to mindset, and perhaps this is why punk has cast a stronger, longer lasting shadow across the US than in the UK, and why, even without Green Day swiping Circle Jerks hooks or black metal bands appropriating the vocal style of Negative Approach’s John Brannon and blast beats of just about everyone, hardcore would still be an imposing presence on the American rock scene.

There are some glaring omissions here (no Descendents, Necros, Hüsker Dü or Naked Raygun), and with all of the mp3 blogs devoted to hardcore, you’d think that Rhino would have spiced the package up a bit to entice paying customers. But these are small gripes of what is otherwise a crucial, revelatory collection – more fun than elbowing a stagediving skinhead.

PETER SHAPIRO

Holden – The Idiots Are Winning

Uncut
-
0
Holden – The Idiots Are Winning

Uncut first experienced the tremendous force of James Holden’s music early one Sunday morning last year on the heaving dancefloor of Berlin’s Berghain nightclub, a former power station turned Euro techno crucible. Using CDs, he DJed zooming Wagnerian trance that artfully buckled and twitched and drove the cosmopolitan revellers wild. Once witnessed, such prowess is not easily forgotten. And that wickedly playful, restlessly inventive spirit coarses through The Idiots Are Winning, the long-haired 26-year-old London producer’s astonishing debut album. Here, aesthetically at least, Loveless and “Windowlicker” collide at exquisite velocity. Holden is by no means a newcomer. Pete Tong gushed over his debut trance smash “Horizons”, penned in 1999 while studying maths at Oxford University. He’s since conquered the dance world with a string of adventurous singles and bold remixes for the likes of New Order, Britney Spears and Madonna. Holden also runs his Border Community label, home to bucolic post-rave upstarts Nathan Fake and Petter, and earlier this year expressed deep-rooted indie sympathy on his 'At The Controls' mix, weaving Malcolm Middleton and Harmonia around Trans Am and Plastikman. As the entrepreneurial leader of the post-Aphex generation of producers, this gives you some idea of where he’s heading. With this record, then, he’s ready to be taken seriously as an artist, not just a dance bloke. Certainly The Idiots… brims with confidence – Holden’s cocky enough to call two minutes of mid-LP silence “Intentionally Left Blank”. His buccaneering, semi-slapdash approach gives these tracks stacks of personality, and he excels at interpreting current ideas in new and fascinating ways. On masterful opener “Lump” and its sisters “10101” and “Idiot”, he seduces with vogueish minimal sounds before unfolding wave upon curdled wave of woozy euphoric grunge. Enlightened and agreeably alien, it’s like Mudhoney covering Boards Of Canada. PIERS MARTIN

Uncut first experienced the tremendous force of James Holden’s music early one Sunday morning last year on the heaving dancefloor of Berlin’s Berghain nightclub, a former power station turned Euro techno crucible. Using CDs, he DJed zooming Wagnerian trance that artfully buckled and twitched and drove the cosmopolitan revellers wild.

Once witnessed, such prowess is not easily forgotten. And that wickedly playful, restlessly inventive spirit coarses through The Idiots Are Winning, the long-haired 26-year-old London producer’s astonishing debut album. Here, aesthetically at least, Loveless and “Windowlicker” collide at exquisite velocity.

Holden is by no means a newcomer. Pete Tong gushed over his debut trance smash “Horizons”, penned in 1999 while studying maths at Oxford University. He’s since conquered the dance world with a string of adventurous singles and bold remixes for the likes of New Order, Britney Spears and Madonna. Holden also runs his Border Community label, home to bucolic post-rave upstarts Nathan Fake and Petter, and earlier this year expressed deep-rooted indie sympathy on his ‘At The Controls’ mix, weaving Malcolm Middleton and Harmonia around Trans Am and Plastikman.

As the entrepreneurial leader of the post-Aphex generation of producers, this gives you some idea of where he’s heading.

With this record, then, he’s ready to be taken seriously as an artist, not just a dance bloke. Certainly The Idiots… brims with confidence – Holden’s cocky enough to call two minutes of mid-LP silence “Intentionally Left Blank”. His buccaneering, semi-slapdash approach gives these tracks stacks of personality, and he excels at interpreting current ideas in new and fascinating ways. On masterful opener “Lump” and its sisters “10101” and “Idiot”, he seduces with vogueish minimal sounds before unfolding wave upon curdled wave of woozy euphoric grunge. Enlightened and agreeably alien, it’s like Mudhoney covering Boards Of Canada.

PIERS MARTIN

The Bee Gees – The Studio Albums 1967-1968

Uncut
-
0
The Bee Gees – The Studio Albums 1967-1968

The 45-year odyssey of the Brothers Gibb — a crazy zigzag whisking them from floundering unknowns in Brisbane to international superstars twice — ranks with the Beach Boys' saga for family melodrama and rock transmogrification. Nowadays, it is their disco years that are routinely privileged. But the enduring success of Saturday Night Fever has tended to obscure an exquisite early body of work that caught the spirit of its times like precious few others. The six-disc Studio Albums 1967-1968 brings that material into sharp focus. With mono/stereo versions of their first three albums (1st, Horizontal and Idea) and three more CDs of outtakes, alternates, and lost singles, it contends that the Bee Gees Mark One (brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, guitarist Vince Melourney, drummer Colin Petersen) were a a studio juggernaut to challenge The Beatles and Phil Spector. Their opening trilogy can even be seen as the culmination of myriad styles percolating in the late '60s: Beatlesque impressions, baroque balladry, whimsical psychedelia, R&B. Bee Gees 1st, an audacious debut, didn't so much imitate Revolver as expand upon its ambitions, incorporating driving rockers, Gregorian chants, and devastating, near-symphonic motifs. Already, the Gibbs seemed to be dragging the pop song into ever-more grandiose and ornate environs. If the melodies seemed chirpy and effusive, wistful melancholy always lurked just beneath the surface. Horizontal and Idea were solid follow-ups, though the treacly ballads detract from the band's cosmopolitan strengths. For all their hits on perpetual oldies rotation - "Massachusetts," "I've Gotta Get A Message to You," "Words," "To Love Somebody" – it’s the group's less-celebrated excursions into psychedelia and hard-rock that will astonish the sceptics. A good case in point is "Harry Braff", a daft racecar-driver sketch heard best in the alternate version. With a lethal hook, spinetingling harmonies, droning guitar, and pulsating bass, it was perhaps too ambitious; emblematic of a very young, abundantly talented group bursting with an artistic potential that, as it turned out, they would only partially realise. LUKE TORN

The 45-year odyssey of the Brothers Gibb — a crazy zigzag whisking them from floundering unknowns in Brisbane to international superstars twice — ranks with the Beach Boys’ saga for family melodrama and rock transmogrification. Nowadays, it is their disco years that are routinely privileged. But the enduring success of Saturday Night Fever has tended to obscure an exquisite early body of work that caught the spirit of its times like precious few others.

The six-disc Studio Albums 1967-1968 brings that material into sharp focus. With mono/stereo versions of their first three albums (1st, Horizontal and Idea) and three more CDs of outtakes, alternates, and lost singles, it contends that the Bee Gees Mark One (brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, guitarist Vince Melourney, drummer Colin Petersen) were a a studio juggernaut to challenge The Beatles and Phil Spector.

Their opening trilogy can even be seen as the culmination of myriad styles percolating in the late ’60s: Beatlesque impressions, baroque balladry, whimsical psychedelia, R&B. Bee Gees 1st, an audacious debut, didn’t so much imitate Revolver as expand upon its ambitions, incorporating driving rockers, Gregorian chants, and devastating, near-symphonic motifs.

Already, the Gibbs seemed to be dragging the pop song into ever-more grandiose and ornate environs. If the melodies seemed chirpy and effusive, wistful melancholy always lurked just beneath the surface.

Horizontal and Idea were solid follow-ups, though the treacly ballads detract from the band’s cosmopolitan strengths. For all their hits on perpetual oldies rotation – “Massachusetts,” “I’ve Gotta Get A Message to You,” “Words,” “To Love Somebody” – it’s the group’s less-celebrated excursions into psychedelia and hard-rock that will

astonish the sceptics.

A good case in point is “Harry Braff”, a daft racecar-driver sketch heard best in the alternate version. With a lethal hook, spinetingling harmonies, droning guitar, and pulsating bass, it was perhaps too ambitious; emblematic of a very young, abundantly talented group bursting with an artistic potential that, as it turned out, they would only partially realise.

LUKE TORN

Angie Stone Signs To Reactivated Stax Records

Uncut
-
0
Angie Stone Signs To Reactivated Stax Records

Celebrating the label’s 50th anniversary – the legendary Stax Records is back – with two new signings, R&B vocalist Angie Stone and soul luminary Isaac Hayes. Excited by the prospect of joining the home of soul, Angie Stone said, “The thrill of putting out music on the label that brought the world Otis, Booker T, the Staples and so many other artists who made me want to sing in the first place is simply indescribable.” She added, “I simply can’t believe that I will be a Stax artist – and I’ll be label mates with Isaac Hayes. The staff at Stax share my belief that soul has to stay in touch with its origins. We’re going to make beautiful music together.” Isaac Hayes has been equally excited about the revitalized Stax, saying, “Stax always has been and always will be Soul Music, I was a part of that. I am coming back to Stax because there is still so much to do. It’s like coming home.” As well as the latest signings, the 50th anniversary year will also see deluxe re-issues, special events and more artists joining the home of soul. The first new release will be “Stax 50: A 50th Anniversary Celebration”, a two-CD, 50-track anthology brimming with hits from Sam & Dave (“Soul Man,” “Hold On, I’m Comin’”), Otis Redding “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” “Respect”), Booker T. & the MGs (“Green Onions”), Isaac Hayes (“Theme from Shaft,” “Never Can Say Goodbye”), The Staples Singers (“Respect Yourself,” “I’ll Take You There”), Eddie Floyd (“Knock on Wood”), Rufus Thomas (“Walkin’ the Dog”), Carla Thomas (“B-A-B-Y”), Jean Knight (“Mr. Big Stuff”) and many more. Featuring a unique lenticular cover and extensive notes from Stax historian Rob Bowman’s acclaimed book Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax, this extraordinary compilation is an authoritative display of Stax’s creative vitality and unbridled chart power. Plans for digital releases, remixes and other projects are also in the works- the anniversary year’s releases are slated to include more than 20 CDs and DVDs. “This is about honoring an extraordinary legacy,” said Concord Music Group General Manager, Gene Rumsey, adding, “We look forward not only to providing indispensable collections of the most famous Stax recordings, but also to shining a spotlight on many lesser-known and undiscovered gems.”

Celebrating the label’s 50th anniversary – the legendary Stax Records is back – with two new signings, R&B vocalist Angie Stone and soul luminary Isaac Hayes.

Excited by the prospect of joining the home of soul, Angie Stone said, “The thrill of putting out music on the label that brought the world Otis, Booker T, the Staples and so many other artists who made me want to sing in the first place is simply indescribable.”

She added, “I simply can’t believe that I will be a Stax artist – and I’ll be label mates with Isaac Hayes. The staff at Stax share my belief that soul has to stay in touch with its origins. We’re going to make beautiful music together.”

Isaac Hayes has been equally excited about the revitalized Stax, saying, “Stax always has been and always will be Soul Music, I was a part of that. I am coming back to Stax because there is still so much to do. It’s like coming home.”

As well as the latest signings, the 50th anniversary year will also see deluxe re-issues, special events and more artists joining the home of soul.

The first new release will be “Stax 50: A 50th Anniversary Celebration”, a two-CD, 50-track anthology brimming with hits from Sam & Dave (“Soul Man,” “Hold On, I’m Comin’”), Otis Redding “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” “Respect”), Booker T. & the MGs (“Green Onions”), Isaac Hayes (“Theme from Shaft,” “Never Can Say Goodbye”), The Staples Singers (“Respect Yourself,” “I’ll Take You There”), Eddie Floyd (“Knock on Wood”), Rufus Thomas (“Walkin’ the Dog”), Carla Thomas (“B-A-B-Y”), Jean Knight (“Mr. Big Stuff”) and many more.

Featuring a unique lenticular cover and extensive notes from Stax historian Rob Bowman’s acclaimed book Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax, this extraordinary compilation is an authoritative display of Stax’s creative vitality and unbridled chart power.

Plans for digital releases, remixes and other projects are also in the works- the anniversary year’s releases are slated to include more than 20 CDs and DVDs. “This is about honoring an extraordinary legacy,” said Concord Music Group General Manager, Gene Rumsey, adding, “We look forward not only to providing indispensable collections of the most famous Stax recordings, but also to shining a spotlight on many lesser-known and undiscovered gems.”

Ronnie Wood To Become A Window Dresser

Uncut
-
0
Ronnie Wood To Become A Window Dresser

Musician, songwriter, painter, sculptor, and now window dresser. Early next year Ronnie Wood is to design a window display for luxury London department store Harrods. The window is rumoured to be Rolling Stones themed, and will include some of his artwork. Wood was approached to create a display as part of the department store's 'Harrods Rocks' event in February. The store is also hosting an exhibition called 'Born to Rock', which features historic and vintage guitars owned by the likes of Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. Ronnie Wood's art work is on permanent display at the Scream Gallery in London. For more information click here Ronnie Wood currently has an anthology of his musical career out which features tracks from his solo albums plus rare tracks by the Birds (which was led by his recently deceased brother Art), the Jeff Beck Group, the Faces and the Stones. For more information - click here for the Ronnie Wood album stockist

Musician, songwriter, painter, sculptor, and now window dresser.

Early next year Ronnie Wood is to design a window display for luxury London department store Harrods.

The window is rumoured to be Rolling Stones themed, and will include some of his artwork. Wood was approached to create a display as part of the department store’s ‘Harrods Rocks’ event in February.

The store is also hosting an exhibition called ‘Born to Rock’, which features historic and vintage guitars owned by the likes of Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.

Ronnie Wood’s art work is on permanent display at the Scream Gallery in

London.

For more information click here

Ronnie Wood currently has an anthology of his musical career out which

features tracks from his solo albums plus rare tracks by the Birds (which was led by his recently deceased brother Art), the Jeff Beck Group, the Faces and the Stones.

For more information – click here for the Ronnie Wood album stockist

Legendary Garage Rock Trio Split After 20 Years

Uncut
-
0
Legendary Garage Rock Trio Split After 20 Years

Legendary group Dead Moon have announced that they are to split after more than 20 years. Fred Cole formed the band in Oregon in 1987 after 60's cult garage psch band The Lollipop Shoppe who featured on 'Nuggets.' A Dead Moon compilation, “Echoes Of The Past,” showing off Dead Moon’s deranged, raggedly thrilling garage punk music was voted in at number 13 in Uncut’s Top 20 Reissues of 2006 poll. All Dead moon vinyl releases published through their own tombstone label were cut on the same lathe that the Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie" was cut on back in 1963. Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder is a celebrity fan, and the Seattle group cover the Dead Moon song "It's OK", regularly playing it spliced with their song "Daughter" during live shows. Many rumours have been circulating about the split on the internet - most of them citing touring problems in europe, but no official reason has yet been given for the split!

Legendary group Dead Moon have announced that they are to split after more than 20 years.

Fred Cole formed the band in Oregon in 1987 after 60’s cult garage psch band The Lollipop Shoppe who featured on ‘Nuggets.’

A Dead Moon compilation, “Echoes Of The Past,” showing off Dead Moon’s deranged, raggedly thrilling garage punk music was voted in at number 13 in Uncut’s Top 20 Reissues of 2006 poll.

All Dead moon vinyl releases published through their own tombstone label were cut on the same lathe that the Kingsmen’s version of “Louie Louie” was cut on back in 1963.

Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder is a celebrity fan, and the Seattle group cover the Dead Moon song “It’s OK”, regularly playing it spliced with their song “Daughter” during live shows.

Many rumours have been circulating about the split on the internet – most of them citing touring problems in europe, but no official reason has yet been given for the split!

Overdue Tim Buckley DVD Collection Ready

Uncut
-
0
Overdue Tim Buckley DVD Collection Ready

A long overdue collection of full-length Tim Buckley video performances entitled “My Fleeting House” is to be released through Manifesto Records in April. The footage is taken from various television programs from 1967 to 1974 right up to the time of his death in 1975. Despite having produced nine studio albums, three live albums, and many “best of” compilations – “My Fleeting House” is the first-ever authorized collection of Buckley’s visual performances. Several segments on this new collection have not been seen for over thirty years. Manifesto Records has secured the best possible, first-generation video sources for the compilation, including footage from American, British, and Dutch television, and also a forgotten feature film. This DVD has the full approval of the Estate of Tim Buckley. Arranged in chronological order, My Fleeting House traces the evolution of Buckley’s music, voice, songwriting, and backup bands. The DVD has eleven full-song performances and three partial performances. As an additional unreleased oddity, a clip of Buckley being interviewed on The Steve Allen Show is included, in which Jayne Meadows compliments Buckley on his hair. Interspersed throughout the DVD are insightful interviews with Larry Beckett (Buckley’s early collaborator on many songs), Lee Underwood (Buckley’s guitar player for many years) and David Browne (author of Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley). DVD extras will include a 12-page booklet of unreleased Buckley photos, an album-by-album review by Underwood, Beckett, and Browne, and Beckett (also a poet) reciting “Song to the Siren.” “My Fleeting House” is released April 16, 2007. Pic credit: Rex Features

A long overdue collection of full-length Tim Buckley video performances entitled “My Fleeting House” is to be released through Manifesto Records in April.

The footage is taken from various television programs from 1967 to 1974 right up to the time of his death in 1975.

Despite having produced nine studio albums, three live albums, and many “best of” compilations – “My Fleeting House” is the first-ever authorized collection of Buckley’s visual performances.

Several segments on this new collection have not been seen for over thirty years. Manifesto Records has secured the best possible, first-generation video sources for the compilation, including footage from American, British, and Dutch television, and also a forgotten feature film. This DVD has the full approval of the Estate of Tim Buckley.

Arranged in chronological order, My Fleeting House traces the evolution of Buckley’s music, voice, songwriting, and backup bands.

The DVD has eleven full-song performances and three partial performances. As an additional unreleased oddity, a clip of Buckley being interviewed on The Steve Allen Show is included, in which Jayne Meadows compliments Buckley on his hair.

Interspersed throughout the DVD are insightful interviews with Larry Beckett (Buckley’s early collaborator on many songs), Lee Underwood (Buckley’s guitar player for many years) and David Browne (author of Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley).

DVD extras will include a 12-page booklet of unreleased Buckley photos, an album-by-album review by Underwood, Beckett, and Browne, and Beckett (also a poet) reciting “Song to the Siren.”

“My Fleeting House” is released April 16, 2007.

Pic credit: Rex Features

Uncut Fave Ry Cooder Is Buddy Red Cat

Uncut
-
0
Uncut Fave Ry Cooder Is Buddy Red Cat

Ry Cooder is set to release new studio album “My Name is Buddy” on March 5 through Nonesuch/ Perro Verde Records. Detailing the life, rambles, and political education of Buddy Red Cat, Ry Cooder has enlisted help from legendary friends and musicians such as banjo master Mike Seeger, his brother Pete, Roland White, Van Dyke Parks, Paddy Maloney, Flaco Jiminez, Stefon Harris, and Joachim Cooder. The new album features seventeen brand new songs, and each one is accompanied by a story/vignette written by Cooder and also a drawing by noted artist Vincent Valdez. Buddy Red Cat’s eyes, according to Cooder, “are opened to a roiling world of trouble, a place of unnecessary pain and undeserved suffering, but a site as well of remarkable resilience and resistance. His journey affords him the opportunity to find out what kind of a cat he really is, and what kind of cat he wants to become." “My Name is Buddy” is the follow-up to Ry Cooder's 2005 Grammy-nominated “Chavez Ravine”, a remembrance of a vanished neighbourhood in Los Angeles.

Ry Cooder is set to release new studio album “My Name is Buddy” on March 5 through Nonesuch/ Perro Verde Records.

Detailing the life, rambles, and political education of Buddy Red Cat, Ry Cooder has enlisted help from legendary friends and musicians such as banjo master Mike Seeger, his brother Pete, Roland White, Van Dyke Parks, Paddy Maloney, Flaco Jiminez, Stefon Harris, and Joachim Cooder.

The new album features seventeen brand new songs, and each one is accompanied by a story/vignette written by Cooder and also a drawing by noted artist Vincent Valdez.

Buddy Red Cat’s eyes, according to Cooder, “are opened to a roiling world of trouble, a place of unnecessary pain and undeserved suffering, but a site as well of remarkable resilience and resistance. His journey affords him the opportunity to find out what kind of a cat he really is, and what kind of cat he wants to become.”

“My Name is Buddy” is the follow-up to Ry Cooder’s 2005 Grammy-nominated “Chavez Ravine”, a remembrance of a vanished neighbourhood in Los Angeles.

Dylan Threatens To Sue

Uncut
-
0
Dylan Threatens To Sue

Bob Dylan is not happy to be linked to the suicide of Andy Warhol protegee Edie Sedgwick, as depicted in the forthcoming movie Factory Girl, which tells the story of Edie's life. It is alleged that Edie had a fling with Dylan in the '60s, and the film accuses him of rejecting her and sending her into a downward spiral that led to her addiction to heroin and eventual suicide. However, in the film Dylan is not mentioned by name - instead, the Yari Film Group created a character called Billy Quinn, a folk singer who wears a leather coat, uses a harmonica brace and performs solo. Factory Girl is tipped to win Oscars, and Dylan is threatening to sue.

Bob Dylan is not happy to be linked to the suicide of Andy Warhol protegee Edie Sedgwick, as depicted in the forthcoming movie Factory Girl, which tells the story of Edie’s life.

It is alleged that Edie had a fling with Dylan in the ’60s, and the film accuses him of rejecting her and sending her into a downward spiral that led to her addiction to heroin and eventual suicide.

However, in the film Dylan is not mentioned by name – instead, the Yari Film Group created a character called Billy Quinn, a folk singer who wears a leather coat, uses a harmonica brace and performs solo.

Factory Girl is tipped to win Oscars, and Dylan is threatening to sue.

Win An Audience With Dexys Kevin Rowland!

Uncut
-
0
Win An Audience With Dexys Kevin Rowland!

UNCUT will be interviewing not-so-young soul rebel KEVIN ROWLAND for An Audience With... -- and we're after your questions! Is there anything you've always wanted to ask the great man? What was going on with those dungarees, and why did he wear drag on the sleeve of the My Beauty album? The more leftfield and quirky, the better. Send your questions to Michael_Bonner@ipcmedia.com by Tuesday, December 19.

UNCUT will be interviewing not-so-young soul rebel KEVIN ROWLAND for An Audience With… — and we’re after your questions!

Is there anything you’ve always wanted to ask the great man?

What was going on with those dungarees, and why did he wear drag on the sleeve of the My Beauty album?

The more leftfield and quirky, the better.

Send your questions to Michael_Bonner@ipcmedia.com by Tuesday, December 19.

Ahmet Ertegun Dies at 83

Uncut
-
0
Ahmet Ertegun Dies at 83

Ahmet Ertegun, Founding Chairman of Atlantic Records, passed away today in New York City at the age of 83. He had been hospitalized with a head injury since October 29, when he fell backstage at a Rolling Stones concert at the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan. Dr. Howard A Riina, Mr. Ertegun's neurosurgeon at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center, said, "Mr. Ertegun suffered a severe brain injury after he fell in October. He was in a coma and passed away today with his family at his bedside." Mr. Ertegun will be buried in a private ceremony in his native Turkey. A memorial service will be conducted in New York after the New Year. One of the most important figures in the history of modern music, Ahmet Ertegun was born in Istanbul, Turkey on July 31, 1923. The son of the Turkish Ambassador to the United States, Ahmet was raised and educated in Switzerland, Paris, London, and Washington, D.C. A passionate music fan and collector, he borrowed $10,000 from his dentist and founded Atlantic Records in New York City in the fall of 1947. He signed artists, produced records, wrote songs, and supervised the fledgling label. Under Ahmet's direction, Atlantic evolved into one of the world's preeminent music companies. The artists Ahmet discovered and the music he pioneered led a revolution in R&B, soul, and rock music that reshaped the modern cultural landscape - forming a legacy that includes such seminal artists as Ray Charles, Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, The Clovers, The Drifters, John Coltrane, Ben E. King, Bobby Darin, Sonny & Cher, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Solomon Burke, Wilson Pickett, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, The Rolling Stones, Bette Midler, Roberta Flack, Phil Collins, and many others. Ahmet was founder and Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In recognition of his pioneering contributions to contemporary music and culture, he was himself elected to the Hall of Fame in 1987, and the Museum's main exhibition hall in Cleveland bears his name. In 2000, he was honored as a "Living Legend" by the United States Library of Congress, on the occasion of the Library's Bicentennial. In June 2006, he was honored with the opening night concert at the 40th Montreux Jazz Festival. He never retired and remained active at Atlantic until his death, serving as Founding Chairman of the company he started six decades ago.

Ahmet Ertegun, Founding Chairman of Atlantic Records, passed away today in New York City at the age of 83. He had been hospitalized with a head injury since October 29, when he fell backstage at a Rolling Stones concert at the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan.

Dr. Howard A Riina, Mr. Ertegun’s neurosurgeon at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center, said, “Mr. Ertegun suffered a severe brain injury after he fell in October. He was in a coma and passed away today with his family at his bedside.”

Mr. Ertegun will be buried in a private ceremony in his native Turkey. A memorial service will be conducted in New York after the New Year.

One of the most important figures in the history of modern music, Ahmet Ertegun was born in Istanbul, Turkey on July 31, 1923. The son of the Turkish Ambassador to the United States, Ahmet was raised and educated in Switzerland, Paris, London, and Washington, D.C.

A passionate music fan and collector, he borrowed $10,000 from his dentist and founded Atlantic Records in New York City in the fall of 1947. He signed artists, produced records, wrote songs, and supervised the fledgling label.

Under Ahmet’s direction, Atlantic evolved into one of the world’s preeminent music companies. The artists Ahmet discovered and the music he pioneered led a revolution in R&B, soul, and rock music that reshaped the modern cultural landscape – forming a legacy that includes such seminal artists as Ray Charles, Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, The Clovers, The Drifters, John Coltrane, Ben E. King, Bobby Darin, Sonny & Cher, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Solomon Burke, Wilson Pickett, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, The Rolling Stones, Bette Midler, Roberta Flack, Phil Collins, and many others.

Ahmet was founder and Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In recognition of his pioneering contributions to contemporary music and culture, he was himself elected to the Hall of Fame in 1987, and the Museum’s main exhibition hall in Cleveland bears his name.

In 2000, he was honored as a “Living Legend” by the United States Library of Congress, on the occasion of the Library’s Bicentennial. In June 2006, he was honored with the opening night concert at the 40th Montreux Jazz Festival. He never retired and remained active at Atlantic until his death, serving as Founding Chairman of the company he started six decades ago.

Verve Voted Saddest Song Ever

Uncut
-
0
Verve Voted Saddest Song Ever

The Verve’s "The Drugs Don’t Work" has topped a list of songs that make people feel sad, a scientist has found in research conducted on behalf of phone company Nokia. Dr Harry Witchel, an expert in physiology and music, has measured physical reactions to music – heart rate, respiratory responses and skin temperatures to find song’s "tune trigger quotient". In conjunction with the Official UK Charts Company, Dr. Witchel has also compiled lists of the happiest songs, measured by levels of sighs - as they indicate happy memory recollection, and exhilarating songs, measured by an increased breathing rate. Dr Witchel commenting on the results said, "Music is undeniably powerful at triggering different emotional states. Changes in tempo and frequencies induce profoundly different emotional states. A slow tempo song like the Verve's The Drugs Don't Work slows down the heart compared to most of the other songs and compared to white noise - in other words, it works like the emotional state of sadness.” In contrast, the research found that Lily Allen’s “LDN”, Abba’s “Dancing Queen” and R.E.M’s “Shiny Happy People” were the ones guaranteed to bring on a smile. Blur’s “Song 2” topped the ‘exhilerating’ songs list by quite some way, Witchel said, “I was surprised that Blur's Song 2 could be such a clear winner among our participants." The research found that the saddest ten songs were: 1. The Verve - The Drugs Don't Work 2. Robbie Williams - Angels 3. Elton John - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word 4. Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You 5. Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U 6. Will Young - Leave Right Now 7. Elvis Presley - Are You Lonesome Tonight? 8. Christina Aguilera - Beautiful 9. James Blunt - Goodbye My Lover 10. Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees and the happiest ten were: 1. Lily Allen - LDN 2. Abba - Dancing Queen 3. REM - Shiny Happy People 4. B52s - Love Shack 5. The Beatles - She Loves You 6. Beyonce - Crazy In Love 7. Britney Spears - Baby One More Time 8. Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes - I've Had The Time Of My Life 9. The Spice Girls - Spice Up Your Life 10. Kylie Minogue - Spinning Around

The Verve’s “The Drugs Don’t Work” has topped a list of songs that make people feel sad, a scientist has found in research conducted on behalf of phone company Nokia.

Dr Harry Witchel, an expert in physiology and music, has measured physical reactions to music – heart rate, respiratory responses and skin temperatures to find song’s “tune trigger quotient”.

In conjunction with the Official UK Charts Company, Dr. Witchel has also compiled lists of the happiest songs, measured by levels of sighs – as they indicate happy memory recollection, and exhilarating songs, measured by an increased breathing rate.

Dr Witchel commenting on the results said, “Music is undeniably powerful at triggering different emotional states. Changes in tempo and frequencies induce profoundly different emotional states. A slow tempo song like the Verve’s The Drugs Don’t Work slows down the heart

compared to most of the other songs and compared to white noise – in other words, it works like the emotional state of sadness.”

In contrast, the research found that Lily Allen’s “LDN”, Abba’s “Dancing Queen” and R.E.M’s “Shiny Happy People” were the ones guaranteed to bring on a smile.

Blur’s “Song 2” topped the ‘exhilerating’ songs list by quite some way, Witchel said, “I was surprised that Blur’s Song 2 could be such a clear winner among our participants.”

The research found that the saddest ten songs were:

1. The Verve – The Drugs Don’t Work

2. Robbie Williams – Angels

3. Elton John – Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

4. Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You

5. Sinead O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U

6. Will Young – Leave Right Now

7. Elvis Presley – Are You Lonesome Tonight?

8. Christina Aguilera – Beautiful

9. James Blunt – Goodbye My Lover

10. Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees

and the happiest ten were:

1. Lily Allen – LDN

2. Abba – Dancing Queen

3. REM – Shiny Happy People

4. B52s – Love Shack

5. The Beatles – She Loves You

6. Beyonce – Crazy In Love

7. Britney Spears – Baby One More Time

8. Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes – I’ve Had The Time Of My Life

9. The Spice Girls – Spice Up Your Life

10. Kylie Minogue – Spinning Around

Stephen Merchant Beats Gervais To Comedy Award

Uncut
-
0
Stephen Merchant Beats Gervais To Comedy Award

Stephen Merchant, last night won Best TV Comedy Actor at the British Comedy Awards, beating “Extras” co-star Ricky Gervais. The actor, director and Uncut contributor plays Gervais’ hapless agent in the hit BBC sitcom “Extras”. He previously co-wrote the hugely successful series, The Office, also with Gervais. Gervais was unable to attend the event in London, and sent the following comic message to his friend from New York, saying “A British Comedy Award? – quite a prize. Not to me, I’ve won American one. But to people in that room, this is probably the highlight of their career. Enjoy the night. I’m off to have dinner with Jerry Seinfeld and Ben Stiller.” The Best TV Comedy Actress prize went to Catherine Tate. David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s Channel 4 hit “Peep Show” took the honour of being named the Best TV Comedy Show. For more details about Stephen’s new 6music radio show – click here to go to archive news

Stephen Merchant, last night won Best TV Comedy Actor at the British Comedy Awards, beating “Extras” co-star Ricky Gervais.

The actor, director and Uncut contributor plays Gervais’ hapless agent in the hit BBC sitcom “Extras”. He previously co-wrote the hugely successful series, The Office, also with Gervais.

Gervais was unable to attend the event in London, and sent the following comic message to his friend from New York, saying “A British Comedy Award? – quite a prize. Not to me, I’ve won American one. But to people in that room, this is probably the highlight of their career. Enjoy the night. I’m off to have dinner with Jerry Seinfeld and Ben Stiller.”

The Best TV Comedy Actress prize went to Catherine Tate.

David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s Channel 4 hit “Peep Show” took the honour of being named the Best TV Comedy Show.

For more details about Stephen’s new 6music radio show – click here to go to archive news

See Cartoon KISS Save Santa Claus

Uncut
-
0
See Cartoon KISS Save Santa Claus

Everyday, we bring you the best thing we've seen on YouTube -- a great piece of archive footage, a music promo or a clip from one of our favourite movies of TV shows. Today: Watch Gene Simmons and cohorts save Santa Claus, in this clip taken from Emmy- award winning US cartoon sitcom, Family Guy. This clip is taken from a movie being watched by Peter within the Christmas special episode. Simmons saves Santa from the pterodactyls by playing the “screech of his guitar.” Best line –“Everyone to the Kiss-copter!” The Family Guy Christmas Special is available on DVD now - along with a great New Years' Eve episode when the apocalyse comes to Quahog. Check out an animated Kiss here

Everyday, we bring you the best thing we’ve seen on YouTube — a great piece of archive footage, a music promo or a clip from one of our favourite movies of TV shows.

Today: Watch Gene Simmons and cohorts save Santa Claus, in this clip taken from Emmy- award winning US cartoon sitcom, Family Guy.

This clip is taken from a movie being watched by Peter within the Christmas special episode.

Simmons saves Santa from the pterodactyls by playing the “screech of his guitar.”

Best line –“Everyone to the Kiss-copter!”

The Family Guy Christmas Special is available on DVD now – along with a great New Years’ Eve episode when the apocalyse comes to Quahog.

Check out an animated Kiss here

Pink Floyd’s Pulse Eyeballs For Sale

Uncut
-
0
Pink Floyd’s Pulse Eyeballs For Sale

Today, a pair of giant Pink Floyd “Pulse” eyeballs go on sale on auction site Ebay. The sale aims to raise money for Homelessness charity Crisis. The eyeballs are one of only ten specially commissioned pairs, which were used used on the cover of their recent DVD “Pulse.” The Floyd memorabilia will be all bids until December 20, with all proceeds going to the national homelessness charity Crisis. Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour is a well known supporter of the work of Crisis, and implores people to help out, saying, “The eBay auction will not only raise much needed funds for the charity but will also raise awareness of the plight of the homeless at a time of year when they are most vulnerable.” The eyeballs are roughly six feet high have been autographed by the band – the only pair out of the ten that have been. The eBay auction also coincides with the TV transmission of Pink Floyd’s “A Performance of The Dark Side of the Moon” filmed at Earls Court in 1994. This broadcast is on BBC1 on December 15. For more information and to make a bid for the Floyd’s big eyes – Click here to go to the listing

Today, a pair of giant Pink Floyd “Pulse” eyeballs go on sale on auction site Ebay. The sale aims to raise money for Homelessness charity Crisis.

The eyeballs are one of only ten specially commissioned pairs, which were used used on the cover of their recent DVD “Pulse.”

The Floyd memorabilia will be all bids until December 20, with all proceeds going to the national homelessness charity Crisis.

Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour is a well known supporter of the work of Crisis, and implores people to help out, saying, “The eBay auction will not only raise much needed funds for the charity but will also raise awareness of the plight of the homeless at a time of year when they are most vulnerable.”

The eyeballs are roughly six feet high have been autographed by the band – the only pair out of the ten that have been.

The eBay auction also coincides with the TV transmission of Pink Floyd’s “A Performance of The Dark Side of the Moon” filmed at Earls Court in 1994. This broadcast is on BBC1 on December 15.

For more information and to make a bid for the Floyd’s big eyes – Click here to go to the listing

Arctic Monkeys Summer Gig Spectacular

Uncut
-
0
Arctic Monkeys Summer Gig Spectacular

On Saturday 28th July 2007, Arctic Monkeys will be performing at Lancashire County Cricket Ground, Manchester. The show will follow the late Spring release of their second album - the follow up to their record-breaking “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not”, which did predictably well in all the end-of-year rock critics' polls. They band have also been nominated for a Grammy in two categories: Best Alternative Music album and Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the track “Chun Li’s Spinning Bird Kick”. The cricket ground gig will see the Monkeys supported by their favourite bands - names to be announced shortly. They will play their longest set to date, incorporating tracks from their debut and their hugely anticipated new album. The tickets for the 50,000 capacity event will go on general sale on Friday 15th December 2006 at 12.30pm. Arctic Monkeys’ registered fans will have 24 hour exclusive access to the online pre-sale which begins on Thursday 14th December 2006 at 12.30pm. For information about the pre sale go to www.arcticmonkeys.com CC Hotlines: 0871 220 0260 / 0871 230 6230 / 0161 832 1111 Buy online: www.gigsandtours.com / www.ticketmaster.co.uk In person at: Lancashire County Cricket Club box office, Palace Theatre box office Manchester, Piccadilly box office Manchester & Liverpool, Jacks Records Sheffield, Sheffield City Hall box office, Jumbo Records Leeds, Preston Guildhall box office. Coach travel: 0870 060 3779 / 01253 299266 Tickets on sale Friday 15th December 12.30pm

On Saturday 28th July 2007, Arctic Monkeys will be performing at Lancashire County Cricket Ground, Manchester.

The show will follow the late Spring release of their second album – the follow up to their record-breaking “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not”, which did predictably well in all the end-of-year rock critics’ polls.

They band have also been nominated for a Grammy in two categories: Best Alternative Music album and Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the track “Chun Li’s Spinning Bird Kick”.

The cricket ground gig will see the Monkeys supported by their favourite bands – names to be announced shortly. They will play their longest set to date, incorporating tracks from their debut and their hugely anticipated new album.

The tickets for the 50,000 capacity event will go on general sale on Friday 15th December 2006 at 12.30pm.

Arctic Monkeys’ registered fans will have 24 hour exclusive access to the online pre-sale which begins on Thursday 14th December 2006 at 12.30pm. For information about the pre sale go to www.arcticmonkeys.com

CC Hotlines: 0871 220 0260 / 0871 230 6230 / 0161 832 1111

Buy online: www.gigsandtours.com / www.ticketmaster.co.uk

In person at: Lancashire County Cricket Club box office, Palace Theatre box office Manchester, Piccadilly box office Manchester & Liverpool, Jacks Records Sheffield, Sheffield City Hall box office, Jumbo Records Leeds, Preston Guildhall box office.

Coach travel: 0870 060 3779 / 01253 299266

Tickets on sale Friday 15th December 12.30pm

Krautrock Pioneers Are Live

Uncut
-
0
Krautrock Pioneers Are Live

Krautrock legends Faust are back with an unbelievable 4 disc live set titled Faust - In Autumn. Recorded last year in the UK, their performances featured many of Faust's enduring classics performed live for the very first time in years. The first two CDs in the set are a complete unedited show from the Carling Academy, Newcastle. CD 3 is a collection of tracks culled form other dates on the tour. The DVD also compiles the finest footage form the tour. This tour was hailed as the best so far from Faust since their reformation in 1992, and this fantastic box set really captures a legendary band at the absolute top of their game and truly on fire. A 32 page booklet completes the package.

Krautrock legends Faust are back with an unbelievable 4 disc live set titled Faust – In Autumn.

Recorded last year in the UK, their performances featured many of Faust’s enduring classics performed live for the very first time in years.

The first two CDs in the set are a complete unedited show from the Carling Academy, Newcastle. CD 3 is a collection of tracks culled form other dates on the tour.

The DVD also compiles the finest footage form the tour. This tour was hailed as the best so far from Faust since their reformation in 1992, and this fantastic box set really captures a legendary band at the absolute top of their game and truly on fire.

A 32 page booklet completes the package.

1...1,0301,0311,032...1,270Page 1,031 of 1,270

SHOP UNCUT