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Archive for June, 2009

What I’m Listening To

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

Some songs in high rotation on my IPod/computer etc.

I’m Falling -Bluebells
‘Cross The Green Mountain- Bob Dylan
Workingman’s Blues #2- Bob Dylan
Life Is Hard- Bob Dylan
Thunder Road- Bruce Springsteen
Born To Run- Bruce Springsteen
This Life -Bruce Springsteen
Don’t Dream It’s Over- Crowded House
My National Pride- Dexy’s Midnight Runners
Until I Believe In My Soul- Dexy’s Midnight Runners
Quiet Times- Dido
Cross My Heart- Everything But The Girl
Whoa Billy- Lucky Soul
Undecided- The Magic Numbers
The Devil Has All The Best Tunes- Prefab Sprout
Perfect Circle- R.E.M.
Beat A Drum-R.E.M.
Destroy The Building- Saint Etienne
Method Of Modern Love- Saint Etienne
Lover Plays The Bass-Saint Etienne
Farmer In The City (Remembering Pasolini)- Scott Walker
Magnificent- U2

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Another King Passes On

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

I would be dishonest to say I was anything close to a Michael Jackson fan. But I would also be dishonest to deny his influence on both music and popular culture, and to also note that my non-fandom was mostly a matter of personal taste. The news is certainly on the same scale as the passings of Elvis, John Lennon and Princess Diana, and ones first reaction must be sympathy for all of his family.

And yet, the although the news is shocking, it is not a complete surprise. And my reflection must be on the difficulty of being a celebrity, especially for someone who was essentially, as Paul McCartney described a “boy man.” I do believe Michael Jackson was a good person inside, but his nature made him prone to exploitation and scandal. Whatever finally caused his death, this must have all weighed on his heart.

Many of us desire fame and fortune, but if we look at the lives of the most famous people, how many of us would really choose the constant press attention and other stresses that this life brings. It doesn’t need a formal actuarial study to tell us that the average lifetime of a major celebrity is much lower than that of “normal people.”

Rest in peace, Michael Jackson. You gave a lot of pleasure to many people. And I hope that in your passing, we may all reflect on what is truly important.

Posted in General Music | 1 Comment »

Paul Williams Benefit II

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

Re yesterday’s post on the tribute, worth noting that Cindy Lee Berryhill ( Paul’s Wife ) and John Doe will also be performing at this concert.

Posted in Brian Wilson, General Music | No Comments »

Paul Williams Benefit

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

From the Brian Wilson newsgroup on Facebook

Crawdaddy! is presenting a benefit concert for the legendary rock journalist Paul Williams, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a bicycle accident, leading to early onset of dementia. 100% of the door proceeds benefit Paul and his family as they go through these tough times. To learn more about Paul Williams, visit paulwilliams.com.

6/28/09, 8:00pm: Mojo Nixon, Jello Biafra, Mark Eitzel, John Easdale, Debora Iyall, Peter Dunne, Ben Fong Torres, and more, at the Red Devil Lounge, San Francisco, CA

Paul Williams is known for his support of Brian Wilson in his writings so this is an excellent cause for any Brian fan.

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Happy Birthday Brian

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

Brian celebrates his birthday and it’s hard to believe that he has just turned 67, just like his creative Gemini “twin” from over the ocean, Paul McCartney, who was born two days before Brian. The world has been privileged to have Brian for two-thirds of a century and he isn’t going away yet. Indeed, we have an ambitious world tour for the second half of the year, starting shortly. For the record, here are the dates.

July 4 — Munich, Germany (Deutsches Theater)

July 5 — Nuremberg, Germany (Serenadenhof)

July 6 — Amsterdam, Holland (Paradiso)

July 8 — Berlin, Germany (Tempodrom)

July 9 — Bonn, Germany (Museumplatz)

July 11 — Guilford, Surrey, England (GuilFest, Stoke Park) (Brian is headlining)

July 12 — Gateshead, Tyneside, England (The Sage Gateshead)

Sept. 4-6 — County Laois, Ireland (Electric Picnic 2009, Stradbally Hall)

Oct. 23 — Mount Pleasant, MI, USA (Soaring Eagle Casino)

Oct. 24 — Milwaukee, WI, USA (Pabst Theatre)

Oct. 26 — Red Bank, NJ, USA (Count Basie Theatre)

Oct. 27 — Englewood, NJ, USA (Bergen Performing Arts Center)

Oct. 29 — Glenside, PA, USA (Keswick Theatre)

Oct. 30 — Morristown, NJ, USA (Community Theatre at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts)

Oct. 31 — Virginia Beach, VA, USA (Sandler Center for the Performing Arts)

Nov. 1 — Morgantown, WV, USA (Creative Arts Center at WVU)

Nov. 3 — Concord, NH, USA (Capitol Center for the Arts)

Nov. 4 — Portland, ME, USA (Merrill Auditorium)

Nov. 6 — Pittsburgh, PA,USA (Carnegie Music Hall)

Nov. 7 — Rochester, NY,USA (Auditorium Theatre)

Nov. 8 — Westbury, NY,USA (The Capital One Bank Theatre)

Nov. 10 — Albany, NY,USA (The Egg)

Nov. 11 — Wilkes-Barre, PA,USA (F.M. Kirby Center)

Nov. 13 — Morristown, NJ,USA (Community Theater at Mayo)

Dec. 3 — Aguora Hills, CA,USA (The Canyon)

Dec. 5 — Stateline, NV,USA (Harrah’s Lake Tahoe)

Posted in Brian Wilson | 1 Comment »

Prefab News

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

The new Prefab Sprout album is becoming more of a reality with a release date of 7 September announced. Preliminary trackist is

1. Let There Be Music

2. God Watch Over You

3. The Last Of The Great Romantics

4. Let’s Change The World With Music

5. Angel of Love

6. Earth: The Story So Far

7. Falling In Love

8. I Love Music

9. Meet The New Mozart

10. Music Is a Princess

11. Ride Home To Jesus

12. Sweet Gospel Music

Tracks 2 and 11 were previously released on a Wendy Matthews album which I have, and are both very good. If you read this thread on the Sproutnet site, you will see this is something of a lost Prefab album, being finalised by Paddy McAloon in a similar way to Brian finishing SMiLE. All very exciting!

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Compiling The Love

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

Travel has meant that I have got hold of the new Beach Boys’ compilation a while after its release, so this review may seem a bit dated. The theme of the new Beach Boys compilation is happy love songs, so we don’t have any surfing or car songs, and there is no place for Wendy or Caroline No. But this still means there are twenty great songs on this collection, and collectors will welcome the first official release of Dennis’ Fallin’ In Love and new stereo mixes of Don’t Worry Baby, Why Do Fools Fall In Love, I’m So Young, Good To My Baby and Time To Get Alone. Most of the songs are from the 63-65 including four apiece from Shut Down 2 and Today, but there are three from Pet Sounds, and three from the 67-71 “Transcendental Era” including the unreleased Dennis song. That is the only song on the album not written or produced by Brian – one would have thought Forever would have fitted perfectly.

It’s all great stuff, of course, but it is another compilation. Cynics will note the attempt to appease completist collectors with a few new scraps, while the big hits on the album try to hook in new fans. Positivists will say, at least they are still releasing compilations. Overall, we’ll take it for now, but maybe live in hope that there is better and newer to come from America’s band.

Posted in Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, Record Reviews | No Comments »

Gaming Killed The Music Star?

Friday, June 12th, 2009

I’ve blogged about pirating and record companies before and here is an interesting perspective in the Guardian on falling record sales – its something that I think we have known for a while, in that gaming has crowded out the space for record-buyers. And this is before the current recession has bitten. One of the key points is that you cannot gloss over the latest trendy hits with filler and expect people to buy the whole album – as the Beatles, Dylan and Brian Wilson pioneered, you have to respect the album and ensure quality throughout. Unfortunately artists are now suffering even more in this technological environment, but I still think it comes down to the fickleness of record companies and ultimately the public who chase cheap thrills and gimmicks rather than long-lasting quality. But as a certain Robert Zimmerman has recently shown, maybe that quality will win through in the end.

Posted in General, General Music | No Comments »

Macca Starrs With Dylan

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

You’ve probably all seen this story about Bob Dylan and Paul Macca wanting to colloborate based on Dylan’s desire to work with the former Beatle. All showing that underneath the protest songs, wordplay and that voice, Dylan has a pop songwriting sensibility that he wants to explore -remember the Wilburys and Lay Lady Lay. And now the other surviving Beatle will join in- Ringo has of course worked with Paul before.

Dylan has made an incredible commercial and critical comeback, considering where he was by the late 1980s. This has been capped by his latest album, Together Through Life, hitting Number 1 in both the UK and USA, an amazing achievement. Of course, Dylan deserves it -and one hopes another great American songwriter will also get a similar recognition while he is still around -yes, I am talking about Brian Douglas Wilson.

Posted in Beatles, General Music | 2 Comments »