Rhino Records will celebrate the 35th anniversary of Fleetwood Mac’s landmark Rumours album in January with an expanded anniversary reissue that includes assorted outtakes and demos. An expanded edition also features Rumours on 140-gram vinyl, the 1977 documentary The Rosebud Film on DVD and more outtakes. Rumours 35 is slated for a January 29th release.
List Time: Rolling Stone’s 50 Greatest Hip Hop Songs Of All Time
Finally, our friends at Boing Boing posted this crazy clip of John Lennon teaming up with Chuck Berry for a version of Memphis, Tennessee on The Mike Douglas Show in 1972. Our favorite part has to be Berry’s bemused look when Yoko Ono stars screaming. Check it out…
Today marks the 32nd anniversary of the day Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon outside of the Dakota in NYC. My house growing up was always filled with the sounds of The Beatles, and they were the first band with which I was totally infatuated. Lennon’s death was senseless, and we were robbed of many years of genius, while his family was robbed of a father and a husband.
[Stevie Wonder Tells His Audience About Lennon's Death (Hat Tip Chris DiLeo)]
Back in 2005, I made my first trip to the annual gathering of Lennon fans in Central Park’s Strawberry Fields. Here’s an essay that I wrote when I returned home that cold evening seven years ago…
One of the more unfortunate aspects of being a rock star is that fame and fortune attract shady elements like a moth to a flame. Local boy does good only to meet his demise at the hands of a hanger-on gone bad — we’ve seen the same story repeated on all 150 episodes of Behind The Music. So many legendary musicians have been robbed from us under the most suspicious of circumstances.
Perhaps this week’s B List is a little too morbid, but hey…life isn’t just sunshine and lollipops (go fuck a rainbow, hippie). So we’ve assembled a list of 10 rock stars whose lives were cut short when they were violently murdered. Some of these stories are absolutely crazy and deserve a whole post. But we’re not going to get into all the gory details, so click on the rocker’s name to find out more.
1. Jaco Pastorius: John Francis Anthony Pastorius II was arguably the best musician to ever play bass. His solo work, and the time he spent as a member of Weather Report, showed off the precision and speed he brought to the table. Check out this clip of Pastorius nailing Slang for an example of what made him such a unique player. Jaco’s career ended tragically in 1987 when he was beaten to death by a bouncer at a nightclub in Florida. Read on for more…
A status update from our friend Justin of the OhKeePah Blog read that he “likes songs with whistling,” which got us thinking about all the songs in rock history that feature whistling. There are plenty of duds but plenty of classic tunes as well that contain at least a little whistling in them.
For this week’s B List we’ve put together a list of the ten most memorable songs that include whistling. The tunes that you can’t help but hum along with when you hear them on the radio or see them on TV.
10. The Scorpions – Wind of Change
During the summer of 1991, you couldn’t listen to Top 40 radio for more than 20 minutes without hearing Klaus Meine’s distinctive whistling throughout The Scorpions’ epic power ballad – Wind of Change. The tune, which is about the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, made it to #4 in the States but still stands as the 10th best selling single in the history of Germany. READ ON for our nine most memorable whistling songs…
As we previously reported, the Gorillaz have been celebrating the holidays with an advent calendar on their website, which each day revealing exclusive band-related content. With just ten days to go on the calendar, the fictional cartoon band had revealed the details of what’s in store for Christmas day, as they will release a free downloadable album called The Fall – which Damon Albarn reportedly recorded with the assistance of his iPad.
Finally, back in 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono created a poster that read “War Is Over! If You Want It. Happy Christmas From John and Yoko” and placed the message on billboards in 11 cities around the world in an effort to promote world peace. Now, some 40 years later, Ono is urging people to display the message this holiday season, which has been translated into 100 languages and can be downloaded via her website.
From the first time I heard Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground and Superstition, I’ve always been a huge fan of the clavinet. This electric keyboard manufactured by the Hohner company produces a funky sound that adds plenty of life to any song in which it is used. Since its introduction in the ’60s, the clav has been used in dozens of classic rock, funk, disco and reggae songs. It’s even turned up in the setup of many jamband keyboard players including JoJo Hermann of Widespread Panic and Page McConnell of Phish.
This week’s B List looks at the ten best clav-fueled songs from the ’60s and ’70s. Part two of our look at the clavinet will focus on more modern tracks that use this keyboard, but that’s for a later date.
For now, let’s look at ten classic clavinet-fueled songs…
10. Higher Ground – Stevie Wonder
When most people hear the traditional clavinet sound, they think of Stevie Wonder’s work on both Higher Ground and Superstition. Without a doubt, Stevie put this keyboard on the map. Above, we’ve got a clip of Stevie and Wonder Love tearing it up live in 1973.
READ ON for nine more classic clavinet-fueled songs…
Biopics about musicians have become all the rage over the last few years. The latest to be headed to a movie theater near you is Nowhere Boy about John Lennon’s childhood and adolescence. The film, which is based on his half-sister Julia Baird’s memoir Imagine This: Growing Up with My Brother John Lennon, will hit screens later this year. Let’s check out the trailer…
After 33 seasons of football, 2009 will be the last year that the Giants and Jets will call Giants Stadium home before moving into new digs across the lot for the 2010 season. In a move that seems fitting, New Jersey’s native son Bruce Springsteen will play the stadium’s final concerts. Bruce & The E Street Band will setup shop for a three-night run to take place on September 30, October 2 and 3. Tickets for these shows go on-sale on June 1 at 10AM.
List Time: Cameron Crowe’s Top Music Moments In Film
Finally, I can’t seem to get away from Bob Dylan stories these days, and I thought this one was just too good to let slide. Back in the fall we reported that the legendary singer-songwriter paid a surprise visit to the childhood home of Neil Young. Well, it seems as this has become something of a trend for Zimmy. During his recent UK run Dylan paid 16 pounds to take a guided group tour of the house John Lennon grew up in – apparantly going unrecognized while flipping through photo albums and looking at memorabilia.
Indie-jam rockers moe. get a well deserved break from the road after performing at moe. down 9 at the Snow Ridge Ski Area in Turin, NY over Labor Day Weekend. For those of us who can’t make it up to Turin for the festie iClips has us covered. They’ll be webcasting many of the performances from throughout the weekend.
Let’s see what else is goin’ down on this happy hump day…
The good folks at Consequence of Sound have started a fantastic new feature called Where We Live, which examines the best venues in the country. This week, the CoS guys look at the majestic Gorge amphitheater in George, Washington.
Earlier today British tabloid The Sun reported that Lenny Kravitz had recently auditioned for Velvet Revolver lead singer job previously vacated by Stone Temple Pilot’s Scott Weiland. But there doesn’t seem to be any truth to that story as Kravitz just told Rolling Stone that while he knows and loves the VR dudes, he isn’t, and was never, joining their band.
We can all rest a little easier tonight because John Lennon’s Killer, Mark David Chapman, has been denied parole for the fifth time. Sadly, the parole board didn’t revoke MDC’s quite generous conjugal visit setup.
On the eve of their first shows of the year, court papers have surfaced showing that The Allman Brothers Band are suing Universal Music Group for roughly $13 million over the exploitation of masters recorded with Capricorn Records between 1969 and 1980. The Allmans kick off their Summer Tour with Bob Weir and RatDog tonight at Bethel Woods in Bethel, NY.
While the Red Sox may have the edge on the Yankees in the standings, NYC has sure been winning out when it comes to free concerts. But don’t count Beantown out just yet. Our Boston-area readers are in for a treat on July 19 when Melvin Sparks and Robert Randolph perform for free at Boston Common as part of the 2008 Life is good Festival. Besides the two guitar greats, this bash will feature classic backyard food as well as traditional games and activities. Sweet deal!
Here’s a look at some other stories of interest on this hump day…
Many hair bands are still finding success 20 years after forming
Bruce Springsteen’s new Live EP features a track with Tom Morello
Finally, Runaway Dinosaur turned us onto an amazing MUST SEE video called I Met The Walrus featuring the audio of an interview with John Lennon by a 14 year old named Jerry Levitan who snuck into his hotel room in 1969. This mesmerizing short film combines visually stunning pen work and digital animation with a heart-warming interview that shows off what a complete mensch Lennon was.
As if we needed another reason to hate Yoko Ono, we’ve got another one to add to our list. The widow of the late John Lennon is looking to block World Wide, a consortium of Beatles collectors, from releasing the film 3 Days In The Life.
Clocking in at over two and a half hours long, the film is said to include scenes of Lennon smoking pot, writing songs and discussing putting LSD in President Richard Nixon’s tea. The film was culled from over nine hours of footage of Lennon and Ono shot weeks before The Beatles broke up by Ono’s ex-husband.
Heart On A Stick started listing 53 Reasons To Hate Vampire Weekend
Finally, we let 4/20 pass without a cheap joke or thinly veiled drug reference – shame on us. Picking up the slack though was Coventry who celebrated the day with a ton of posts dedicated to all things 420, including a stellar mix of some memorable versions of 2001 from the Phab Phour. Nice work boys.
Just in case it wasn’t obvious, now is probably not a good time to be working for a record company. Geffen and Interscope gave 15 employees quite the holiday present when they were unceremoniously laid off yesterday, following similar cuts by Def Jam and Sony BMG earlier this month.
The major labels aren’t going to recover anytime soon unless they change their business models. Each year the number of people buying CDs decreases, yet the majors still focus on physical distribution of music. If Apple never sold the majors on iTunes would we even be able to download most albums? These companies are going down the tube, and they have no one to blame but themselves.
Now I’m gonna hop off my soap box, and share some pre-weekend linkage:
Chicago’s legendary Thrill Jockey record label turns 15
After nearly a year on the road, Nickel Creek’s farewell tour comes to a close on November 29th. If you haven’t had a chance to see them before they go their separate ways, be sure to check out NPR’s webcast of Friday night’s show live from the 9:30 club in Washington D.C. Although, we’d really prefer to instead say goodbye to Nickelback from the public consciousness, not the Creek.
Power User Trent Reznor calls OiNK “the greatest music store of all-time”
Heavy Mideast Metal: Baghdad’s Acrassicauda is truly a band on the run
Die-hard fans of The Who will be offered access to a massive library of audio and video files for $50 a month
Will Butler of Arcade Fire responds to Sasha Frere-Jones criticisms
Check out the latest edition of Nedstalgia to find out how Neddy wound up in Dave Schools’ hotel room listening to the Dead
Finally, the full song list for the upcoming Rock Band video game looks absolutely incredible. We can’t wait to drum along with Epic or to sing Mississippi Queen when the game comes out on November 20th. Thanksgiving fun.
Artists have used nudity in their work since the days of the Greek Empire, so it’s no surprise that a few rock bands have used images of the naked body on their album artwork. Some bands use nudity to stir controversy, while a few others actually summon artistic intent to make their naked decisions.
For a while during the ’70s and ’80s it seemed like every week there was a new controversy over album art, but we don’t hear about that as much anymore. Two big factors have led to a decline in artists submitting albums with graphic covers. First, the obvious: CDs have a much more limited space for album artwork than vinyl. But more importantly, Wal-Mart has taken over physical distribution of albums, and they don’t stand for anything with even a hint on controversy. Apparently no one ever takes off their clothes in Bentonville, Arkansas.
This week’s B List takes a look at 10 controversial album covers that would never find their way into the racks at Wal-Mart (and, hey, nice racks). Some of these are quite graphic, so we’re gonna post them all after the jump and issue a big fat Not Safe For Work warning before we get down to business. So read on for our quick study of titties and penises on album covers…
