Song meanings and facts...quality music

Songmeaning - Layla

2009-07-06T11:46:00.002+03:00

From Derek and the Dominos to Eric Clapton

This is about George Harrison's wife, Pattie. She and Clapton began living together in 1974 and married in 1979. Clapton and Harrison remained good friends, with George playing at their wedding along with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Clapton left her for actress Lory Del Santo (with whom he had his son, Conor) in 1985. In an article published in The Guardian December 13, 2008, Pattie said: "I wasn't so happy when Eric wrote 'Layla,' while I was still married to George. I felt I was being exposed. I was amazed and thrilled at the song - it was so passionate and devastatingly dramatic - but I wanted to hang on to my marriage. Eric made this public declaration of love. I resisted his attentions for a long time - I didn't want to leave my husband. But obviously when things got so excruciatingly bad for George and me it was the end of our relationship. We both had to move on. Layla was based on a book by a 12th-century Persian poet called Nizami about a man who is in love with an unobtainable woman. The song was fantastically painful and beautiful. After I married Eric we were invited out for an evening and he was sitting round playing his guitar while I was trying on dresses upstairs. I was taking so long and I was panicking about my hair, my clothes, everything, and I came downstairs expecting him to really berate me but he said, 'Listen to this!' In the time I had taken to get ready he had written "Wonderful Tonight." I was a bit more hurt when Eric wrote Old Love (1989). The end of a relationship is a sad enough thing, but to then have Eric writing about it as well. It makes me more sad, I think, because I can't answer back."

Duane Allman came up with the famous guitar riff and played lead with Clapton. Allman was a big Clapton fan and arranged to drop by the session through Tom Dowd, who produced the Allman Brothers' album Idlewild South. Dowd was working with Clapton on the Derek and the Dominos album and made sure Duane paid a visit. When he came by, Allman was thrilled to learn that Clapton not only knew who he was, but also thought he was a great guitarist. They got along very well and Clapton asked Allman to record with the band.

Allman's death in a motorcycle accident in October, 1971 helped renew interest in the song.

Clapton went into a drug-filled depression when the single tanked in 1971. He couldn't understand why it wasn't a hit. The record company did very little to advertise the album, figuring any project with Clapton would get plenty of publicity. It eventually did, and the record company made out very well.

Derek and the Dominos formed after Eric Clapton, Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon worked on George Harrison's first post-Beatles album, All Things Must Pass.

At the end of the song, Dwayne Allman produced the "crying bird" sound with his guitar while Clapton played acoustic. It was a tribute to Charlie Parker, a jazz legend known as "bird."

The piano piece at the end was edited on a few weeks later. Drummer Jim Gordon came up with it as a solo project and had to be convinced to use it on "Layla." Gordon was one of the most successful session drummers of the late 1960s and early 1970s, playing on many classic albums of the time. The piano at the end has become famous. It was used to great effect at the end of the movie Goodfellas, and radio stations almost always play the version with the piano.

Clapton performed a slow, acoustic version for an MTV Unplugged concert in 1992. It was released as a single and made #12 in the US, getting lots of airplay on pop, rock, and adult contemporary radio stations. This version also won a Grammy for Best Rock Song.

Songmeaning - Child in Time, Deep Purple

2009-07-03T10:02:00.002+03:00

The Hymn of Rock

Written by the band in 1969, it is said by the band members themselves to have been inspired by a riff featured in a song by Purple contemporaries It's a Beautiful Day, called "Bombay Calling". The riff was played on violins and much faster in tempo.

"Child in Time" is an essentially simple composition, featuring an organ intro, three power chords, and a two minute long solo. Lyrically dark, vocalist Ian Gillan utilizes his full vocal range and goes from quiet singing to loud, high-pitched, banshee-esque screaming. Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore comes in with a slow solo, which builds up to a fast-pace playing and then ends abruptly, with the whole song cycle starting over again. Blackmore is normally associated with playing a Fender Stratocaster, however, he played a Gibson ES-335 on the studio version of the song.

A staple of the Deep Purple live concerts in 1970–73 and later after their initial reunion tours of 1985 and 1987-88, the song has not been featured regularly at concerts since Gillan returned (for a second time) to the line up in 1993. Gillan cites many personal reasons for leaving the song out, but it is likely that, given his advancing years, the song is becoming increasingly difficult to perform without sampled vocal backings. Its last appearance in Deep Purple's live set was at Harrogate in 2002. In that performance, high-pitched guitar was used to cover up Gillan's now-limited vocal range during the "screaming" parts. A similar technique is used on current live performances of "Space Truckin'".

The live version from "Made in Japan" is considered to be even better than the original, with excellent vocal and instrumental improvisations. "Child in Time" was not a very coverred song due to the difficulty of playing it live. Yngwie Malmsteen covered this as probably the best non-Deep Purple version there is.

Ian Gillan said in an interview in 2002: "There are two sides to that song - the musical side and the lyrical side. On the musical side, there used to be this song 'Bombay Calling' by a band called It's A Beautiful Day. It was fresh and original, when Jon was one day playing it on his keyboard. It sounded good, and we thought we'd play around with it, change it a bit and do something new keeping that as a base. But then, I had never heard the original 'Bombay Calling'. So we created this song using the Cold War as the theme, and wrote the lines 'Sweet child in time, you'll see the line.' That's how the lyrical side came in. Then, Jon had the keyboard parts ready and Ritchie had the guitar parts ready. The song basically reflected the mood of the moment, and that's why it became so popular."

1 Year of Music Blessing - Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin

2009-07-02T08:57:00.003+03:00

July Morning was the first post on musicblessing. Eventhough it was posted on 3rd of July, the post was created one day before.

The celebrations continues with one of the most famous and disputed songs of all times. Stairway to Heaven rose both controversy and joy, and today is still listened all around the globe. Offcourse there are a lot of meanings and facts regarding Stairway to Heaven, which brings a lot of controversy to this piece of art.

The most famous Rock song of all time, this didn't chart because it was never released as a single to the general public. Radio stations received promotional singles which quickly became collector's items.

On Tuesday November 13, 2007, Led Zeppelin's entire back catalogue was made available as legal digital downloads, making all of their tracks eligible for the UK singles chart. As a result, at the end of that week the original version of "Stairway To Heaven" arrived in the UK singles charts for the first time.

Many novice guitarists try to learn this song, and most end up messing it up. In the movie Wayne's World, it is banned in the guitar shop where Wayne starts playing it. In the movie, Wayne clearly plays the first few notes before being scolded, but due to legal issues, the video version was changed so Wayne plays something incomprehensible. On an episode of South Park, the character Towelie tries to play this in a talent show and screws it up.

This is rumored to contain backward satanic messages, as if Led Zeppelin sold their souls to the devil in exchange for "Stairway To Heaven." Supporting this theory is the fact that Jimmy Page bought Aleister Crowley's house in Scotland, which had become a well known Satanic church and was known as "The Toolhouse." In his books, Crowley advocated that his followers learn to read and speak backwards.

Robert Plant addressed the issue in an interview with Musician magazine: "'Stairway To Heaven' was written with every best intention, and as far as reversing tapes and putting messages on the end, that's not my idea of making music. It's really sad. the first time I heard it was early in the morning when I was living at home, and I heard it on a news program. I was absolutely drained all day. I walked around, and I couldn't actually believe, I couldn't take people seriously who could come up with sketches like that. There are a lot of people who are making money there, and if that's the way they need to do it, then do it without my lyrics. I cherish them far too much."

The most simple theory about the subject of Stairway to Heaven is that this song is about a woman who accumulates money, but finds out the hard way her life had no meaning and will not get her into heaven.

This runs 8:03, but still became one of the most-played songs on American radio. It proved that people wouldn't tune out just because a song was long. In solo work or with other groups, Jimmy Page would not let anyone but Robert Plant sing this, but he does play it as an instrumental on occasion.

Jimmy Page has a strong affinity for this song, and felt Robert Plant's lyrics were his best yet. He had him write all of Zeppelin's lyrics from then on. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine (March 13, 1975) the interviewer, Cameron Crowe, asked Jimmy Page how important "Stairway To Heaven" was to him: Page replied: "To me, I thought 'Stairway' crystallized the essence of the band. It had everything there and showed the band at its best... as a band, as a unit. Not talking about solos or anything, it had everything there. We were careful never to release it as a single. It was a milestone for us. Every musician wants to do something of lasting quality, something which will hold up for a long time and I guess we did it with 'Stairway.' Townshend probably thought that he got it with Tommy. I don't know whether I have the ability to come up with more. I have to do a lot of hard work before I can get anywhere near those stages of consistent, total brilliance."

Robert and Jimmy wrote this in an old mansion called Headley Grange in Liphook Road, Headley, Hampshire, where Led Zeppelin recorded most of their 4th album. It was a huge, old, dusty mansion with no electricity but great acoustics. Bands would go there to get some privacy and focus on songwriting. One night, in front of a roaring fire, Page strummed the chords to this for Robert. Plant wrote 90% of the lyrics right there in front of the fire. He has said in many interviews that he didn't seem to be writing, that something else was moving his pencil for him. Plant is a great admirer of all things mystic, the old English legends and lore and the writings of the Celts. He was immersed in The Lord Of The Rings around this time and many of his lyrics reflect that.

Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones decided not to use a bass on this because it sounded like a folk song. Instead, he added a string section, keyboards and flutes. He also played wooden recorders that were used on the intro. Bonham's drums do not come in until 4:18.

An impressive list of artists covered this song: U2, Jimmy Castor, Frank Zappa, The Foo Fighters, The Dave Matthews Band, Sisters of Mercy, Nancy Wilson, Zakk Wylde, Elkie Brooks, Pardon Me Boys, White Flag, Jana, Great White, Stanley Jordan, Far Corporation, Dixie Power Trio, Justin Hayward, Leningrad Cowboys, Dread Zeppelin, Tiny Tim, piano virtuoso Richard Abel, and Monte Montgomery. Neil Sedaka had an unrelated Top-10 hit with the same title in 1960.

The band performed this at the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary concert in 1988 with Jason Bonham sitting in on drums for his late father. Plant did not want to play it, but was convinced at the last minute. It was sloppy and Plant forgot some of the words. This was not the case when Jason joined them again in 2007 for a benefit show to raise money for the Ahmet Ertegun education fund. They performed this song and 15 others, earning rave reviews from fans and critics.

Led Zeppelin played this for the first time in Belfast on March 5, 1971 - Northern Ireland was a war zone at the time. John Paul Jones said in an audio documentary that when they played it, the audience was not that impressed. They wanted to hear something they knew - like "Whole Lotta Love."

Jimmy Page considers this a masterpiece, but Robert Plant does not share his fondness for the song. Plant has referred to it as a "wedding song" and insists that his favorite Led Zeppelin song is "Kashmir." After the band broke up, Plant refused to sing it except on rare occasions, including Live Aid.

This was the last song the remaining members of Led Zeppelin performed when they reunited for Live Aid in 1985. Bob Geldof organized the event, and did his best to get many famous bands to play even if they had broken up. Unlike The Who, Geldof had an easy time convincing Plant, Page, and Jones to play the show. They played the Philadelphia stage with Tony Thompson and Phil Collins sitting in on drums.

The acoustic intro was borrowed from the song "Taurus" from the band Spirit, who toured with Led Zeppelin when they first played the US. The band Spirit has acknowledged this, and is okay with it.

Zeppelin's longest ever performance of this song was their last gig in Berlin in 1980. It clocked in around 15 minutes long.

According to the radio trade magazine Monday Morning Replay, this is still played 4,203 times a year by the 67 largest AOR (album-oriented rock) radio stations in the US. ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, refuses to release exact figures on how many times it has been played since its release, but figure that on each AOR station in America, the song was played 5 times a day during its first 3 months of existence; twice a day for the next 9 months; once a day for the next 4 years; and 2 to 3 times a week for the next 15 years. There are roughly 600 AOR and Classic Rock stations in the US, which means that "Stairway" has been broadcast a minimum of 2,874 times. At 8 minutes per spin, roughly 23 million minutes - almost 44 years - have been devoted to the song. So far.

On January 23, 1991, John Sebastian, owner and general manager of KLSK FM in Albuquerque, New Mexico, played the song for 24 solid hours to inaugurate a format change to Classic Rock. It played more than 200 times, eliciting hundreds of angry calls and letters. Police showed up with guns drawn after a listener reported that the DJ had apparently suffered a heart attack, later because of suspicion that - this being 8 days into the Gulf War - the radio station had been taken hostage by terrorists dispatched by Zeppelin freak Saddam Hussein. Weirdest of all, lots of listeners didn't move the dial: "Turns out a lot of people listened to see when we would finally stop playing it."

Songmeaning Thriller - Michael Jackson

2009-07-01T12:14:00.004+03:00

Tomorrow, 2nd of July, musicblessing.blogspot.com celebrates one year of good music!
And what is a better way of celebrating but also through music. The best songs of all times and their meanings will be presented here in the next weeks. And that's not all: in August 2009, Woodstock '69 festival will be honoured on this blog.

Unfortunatelly, the first song posted in these celebration days is a commemorative one: Michael Jackson's Thriller, one of the most spectacular songs off all times, with one unforgatable video.

This is a rare Pop song with a horror theme. Halloween novelty songs like "The Monster Mash" had been around for a while, but this was the first hit song with year-round appeal containing lyrics about creatures of the night who terrify their victim. At the time, Michael Jackson was one of the least frightening people on Earth, so the video had to sell it. John Landis, who worked on the 1981 movie An American Werewolf In London, was brought in to direct. Landis had Jackson turn into a Werewolf in the video.

Vincent Price, an actor known for his work on horror films, did the narration at the end, including the evil laugh. Price's rap includes the line "Must stand and face the hounds of hell." This was inspired by the most popular Sherlock Holmes novel to date, The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in which Sir Henry Baskerville's family is supposedly cursed by a bloodthirsty, demonic hound. Price's personal friends, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee (who appeared in several Hammer horror films with him), starred in a loose 1959 film adaptation of it. It was the first Sherlock Holmes film shot in color.

The 14 minute video is one of the most popular ever. It started the trend of group dance scenes in pop videos, and was named the #1 video of all time in the VH1 100 Greatest Videos countdown.

Rod Temperton wrote this. Once a member of Disco group Heatwave, he also wrote Jackson's "Off The Wall" and "Rock With You." This won for Best Performance Video, Best Choreography, and Viewers Choice at the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984.

Thriller was the biggest-selling album ever until it was surpassed by The Eagles Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975. Both albums have sold over 26 million copies. These days, along with Michael's recent death, Thriller became again the best selling album of all times. The song Thriller was the last of 7 US Top 10 hits from the album.

Jackson, a Jehova's Witness, insisted on a disclaimer at the beginning of the video reading: "Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult."

The UPC code on the album cover contained 7 digits that were rumored to be Jackson's telephone number. People with that number in many different area codes got swamped with annoying calls.

In 2008 Thriller 25, a special 25th anniversary edition of Thriller, was released. The re-recorded album debuted at #2 on the Top Comprehensive Albums chart, where catalog titles mix with current best-sellers. This made it the highest-charting catalog album in the history of the Top Comprehensive Albums survey. Despite selling 166,000 copies in its debut week, it was not eligible for the main album chart as Billboard considered it to be a catalog or oldies album, and Billboard publishes a special chart just for catalog albums. (source: Songfacts)

Few know that Thriller was very close to be named "Starlight love". Quincy Jones, the producer of the album, stated that they came across Thriller theme and they loved the ideea of a horror song and video.

Other songs of Michael Jacksons' and their meanings will follow on this blog so stay close.

What remains after Michael Jackson?

2009-06-27T09:31:00.003+03:00

The press will be full of cheep sentimentalism after this very unhappy event, they will analyse Michael's career, they will make up conspiration theories, they will remember Michael's concerts, they will review endlessly pictures with him, they will eulogize, they will polemize...

From such many controversies, something sure remains after his death: Michael Jackson entered the legend (if there was any doubt untill now). But not in any way: he became e legend as a controversial genius, a mad man, a danser clown, an absolute but frustrated artist, gone before his time.

Do you want to know which artists he has alonside in this hall of fame? It's simple: Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, John Lennon, the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ritchie Valens, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Buddy Holly, John Bonham - the list is opened and continuosly growing.

None of the above was considered to be "normal", every one of them shocked through their way of beeing, through their strange way of expressing their passion. They were adored by their fans, maybe too much. They have adapted very well to their times, and more than that, they were trend setters, they established the land marks. But it's a very short line from succes to loosing it. Anyhow, any genius artist will transform into dust, if not nourished with this madness.

With the risc of sounding gruesome, maybe it's better that Michael Jackson passed away. Michael will remain in our memory with those concerts from 15-20 years ago, concerts who changed the world of music, with those amazing TV videos which he brought them to the level of arts, with those incredible coreographies which will be copied another 50 years from now. Who knows if, at more than 10 years from his last concerts, he would have known to sing, or to dance?! We allready know that he didn't had the energy for this.

A mistery will remain: how Michael Jackson would have sound like today? Would have disapointed us? Would he became even brighter?

The King is dead. Long live the King!

Chris Rea - Road to Hell

2009-05-25T10:16:00.003+03:00

British singer and guitarist Chris Rea has enjoyed a run of popularity in Europe during the late '80s and early '90s after almost a decade of previous recording.

Rea started out performing with a local group called Magdalene, taking David Coverdale's place; the band won a national talent contest in 1975 as the Beautiful Losers, but still failed to get a record contract. Rea left the band and recorded the album Whatever Happened to Benny Santini, which alluded to a discarded stage name, which went gold on the strength of the U.S. Top 20 hit "Fool (If You Think It's Over)."

Rea was not heard from again in the U.S. for some time, concentrating his efforts on his main fan base of Europe. A compilation of tracks from Rea's '80s albums, New Light Through Old Windows, was released in 1988 and sold well in the U.K. and Europe and charted in the U.S.

Rea followed it up with the critically acclaimed The Road to Hell, which many regarded as his best album. The image above represents the album's cover.

It and its follow-up, Auberge, went to the top of the U.K. album charts, but did not prove as successful in the U.S., where he has failed to chart with his subsequent releases. He released his most ambitious project in 2005, an eleven-album, 130-track box set of all new material inspired by the blues and his own paintings called Blue Guitars. The fun The Return of the Fabulous Hofner Blue Notes appeared in 2008.

Guess The Band From The Picture

2009-05-25T10:13:00.002+03:00

Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses

2009-05-22T09:27:00.002+03:00

This song was titled after the James Joyce novel of the same name, which chronicled a day in its protagonist's life. It also references the Greek Mythological hero Ulysses who was the hero of Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey. Frontman Alex Kapranos told Mojo magazine May 2008: "I like the idea of the gods blowing you away for 10 years. I like the idea of being out in the Aegean - of being lost but embracing it."

Kapranos referred to this song when interviewed by Rolling Stone as, "quite an odd one," adding, "It's got the immediacy of a Pop song but it's an abstract construction too. Having the immediacy of pop without the conventions of pop is something that we still aim for."

This song was previously used as part of a sound art exhibition by the Albanian artist Anri Sala that was held in London.

Kapranos told Mojo December 2008 that Tonight: Franz Ferdinand is, "a night time record, about different elements of a full-on night out, from being charged up for decadence to being on the dancefloor, to freaking out, to rocking yourself to sleep in your bedsit at the end of it. The title is about the sense of anticipation that something big's about to happen."

The cover art for the single was photographed in Brooklyn by Guy Eppel. It is part of a series of photos of the band that are of, according to Franz Ferdinand's blog, "imaginary crime scenes."

The Moody Blues - Nights in White Satin

2009-05-15T08:30:00.002+03:00

The Moody Blues recorded this with The London Festival Orchestra (Which never actually existed. It is the name given to the musicians put together to make this album.) The original idea was for the group and orchestra to record a Rock version of Dvorak's "New World Symphony," which their record company would use to demonstrate enhanced stereo sound technology.

"Days of Future Passed" is a concept album based around different times of day. For example, "Dawn Is a Feeling" and "Tuesday Afternoon." This song was last on the album because it represented nighttime.

Justin Hayward was inspired by Moody Blues keyboard player Mike Pinder's composition "Dawn Is A Feeling." Since Pinder had done 'The Morning' for the concept album, Hayward tried to do 'The Night.'

Justin Hayward, who joined the band the previous year. He got the idea for the song after someone gave him a set of white satin sheets, and wrote it in his bed-sit at Bayswater. Haywood told the Daily Express Saturday magazine May 3, 2008: "I wrote our most famous song, 'Nights in White Satin' when I was 19. It was a series of random thoughts and was quite autobiographical. It was a very emotional time as I was at the end of one big love affair and the start of another. A lot of that came out in the song."

This was a new sound for the band. When they formed, they were more of a Blues band, and had a hit in 1965 with a cover of Bessie Banks' "Go Now." With this album, they became more of a psychedelic/orchestral band and did very well.

This was originally released in 1967, but it didn't do very well in the US because the song was over 6 minutes long and a lot of people never heard of the band. In 1972, after songs like "Hey Jude " and "Layla" paved the way for long, dramatic songs and the band became well known, this was re-released in the US and became a hit.

Even though this didn't have chart success when it was first released, the album did very well. It was commercially successful in countries across the world, staying on many charts for nearly two years.

The poem at the end was recorded separately. It is called Late Lament and was written by their drummer, Graeme Edge. The poem was read by keyboard player Mike Pinder. Edge wrote another poem that appeared early on the album called Morning Glory.

Good Times, Bad Times - Led Zeppelin

2009-05-02T09:53:00.003+03:00

This is the first song from Led Zeppelin's debut album, Led Zeppelin I from 1968. As the title clearly states, the meaning of the song is simple, expressing the downs and ups of a person's life.

The instrumentation of this song is what makes it special: Jimmy Page passed his guitar through a Leslie Speaker to create a swirling effect. The Leslie contains a rotating paddle and was designed for organs, but some musicians used it to process guitars and vocals. Eric Clapton used it on "Badge." John Bonham used a device called a "Triplet" on his bass drum for this song to get a double bass pedal sound. He used the tip of his toe to flick the bass pedal back fast, creating an effect many drummers tried to copy. Page put microphones all over the studio to capture a live sound when they recorded this.

Led Zeppelin played this at their live shows until 1970. When the band reformed for a benefit show on December 10, 2007 with Jason Bonham playing drums in place of his father, this was the first song in the set.

Bassist John Paul Jones told Rolling Stone magazine after they opened with this song at their December 10, 2007 benefit show: "That's the hardest riff I ever wrote, the hardest to play." (Songfacts)

Read also:

Famous Album Covers: "Fallen Angel" - Uriah Heep

2009-04-24T10:23:00.004+03:00

Fallen Angel is the 12th album released by British rock band Uriah Heep in 1978. The ever-evolving story of Uriah Heep found them exploring a more commercial vein than usual on this 1978 release. Fallen Angel reached #186 in the US but in Germany the band was at the height of their popularity.

The album was originally released in a gatefold-sleeve, opening in the vertical- rather than the customary horizonatal-axis. The lyrics were printed on the LP-liner. The artwork was licenced from artist Chris Achilleos, although there seems to have been some alteration to the bodice: the breasts are not so exposed on the original. Whether this was done by Achilleos himself, or even with his approval, is currently unclear. Achilleos' website lists the original artwork as missing (Wiki).

Read also:

Uriah Heep - July Morning

Music Dictionary - Brit Rock

2009-04-14T09:08:00.003+03:00

British rock and roll, or Brit rock, was born out of the influence of rock and roll and rhythm and blues from the United States, but added a new drive and urgency, exporting the music back and widening the audience for black R & B in the U.S. as well as spreading the gospel world wide. Much of what has made rock music unique, in its ability to unite audiences and adapt new influences, came from British bands in the late 50s and rock groups in the early 60s.

The genre gathers several other rock wings, as Great Britain was and still is one of the countries with indefinite resource for music, especially rock music. Therefore rock&roll, canterbury sound, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, heavy metal, folk rock found their success in the UK in the '60, but with a different beat and sound, adapted to the local prefferences and styles. The glm rock in the '70s and punk rock in the '80s represents brit rock in the post-hippie era.

Many of the more recent successful forms, subgenres, and artists of rock and pop music have originated or found their greatest success in the UK. Major stars of the 1960s and '70s ranging from Eric Clapton to Peter Gabriel moved on from rock bands to great success as solo performers. In the early 1980s, the sound of synth pop typified much British rock music ranging from chart hits to off the radar works. Alternative rock played an important role in the UK in the development of the british music apart from the influences from USA.

In Britain today, the terms of "pop" and "rock" are still more closely associated with each other than in the United States, where due to prejudice and musical history "pop" usually denotes only a solo artist, often female, seen to represent a tradition outside the province of guitar based music or with a very wide popularity. Thus, in the UK a band such as Radiohead might be characterized as pop, to denote their synth based sound and often populist appeal, while in the United States they might be categorized as rock, most likely as "alternative rock", for their "authentic," sometimes dark lyrics, perhaps for being white and male, and certainly for appealing to the type of people seen to listen to critic-sanctioned indie rock bands, rather than "superficial pop" music.

This is Radiohead with the hit "You"

Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan

2009-04-10T09:14:00.003+03:00

Bob Dylan wrote this song as it is in fact a very simple performance with meaningfull lyrics. It was originally released in 1969 on his album Nashville Skyline. The words of the song are sung by Dylan in a low, soft-sounding voice instead of his familiar high-pitched nasal-sounding voice. Dylan credited his "new" voice to quitting smoking before recording the song, but some unreleased bootleg tapes from the early '60s reveal that this was an aspect of his vocal persona that he had actually possessed since at least that time. Released as a single in July of 1969, it became one of Dylan's biggest US Pop chart hits, peaking at number seven. The single did even better on the UK Singles Chart, reaching the number five spot. It is often performed live by Dylan, and was included on the Hard Rain and Before the Flood albums. It also appears on his quintuple-platinum Greatest Hits, Volume II album, as well as on compilations Biograph and The Essential Bob Dylan (Wiki).

Dylan wrote this for the 1969 movie Midnight Cowboy. Harry Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin'," which was released the year before, was chosen for the theme song instead.

Many radio stations refused to play this simply because of the use of the word "lay" in the title, assuming it referred to sex (i.e. "get laid"). Despite the accusation of being "Sexually Titled", Dylan denied any sexual terminology. (SongFacts)

Read also:

Oasis - Wonderwall

2009-04-07T09:55:00.003+03:00

Wonderwall was the first single Oasis released in the US, and is their biggest hit in that country. The album is the second-best selling in British history. The best selling album in UK history is Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles.

The general consensus was that this song is about Noel Gallagher's then girlfriend Meg Matthews, who is compared with a schoolboy's wall to which posters of footballers and Pop stars are attached. Noel later married then divorced Meg Matthews. However, according to Q magazines 1001 Best Songs Ever, this was not about Matthews. Noel is quoted as saying, "The meaning of that song was taken away from me by the media who jumped on it. And how do you tell your Mrs. it's not about her once she's read it is? It's about an imaginary friend who's going to come and save you from yourself."

Others say that The concept of the "Wonderwall" is based on a '60s film called Wonderwall - from Psychedelia to Surrealism, starring Jane Birkin. She lives next door to a man who becomes fascinated with her,so he slowly makes holes in his wall so he can watch her through it. This is the "Wonderwall." Also there are some voices stating that the music is based on Wonderwall Music, an instrumental album George Harrison wrote for the movie Wonderwall in 1968. This was the first solo album released by any of The Beatles.

Initially Noel wanted to sing this song, but he gave his brother Liam Gallagher the choice, and Noel ended up singing "Don't Look Back In Anger." What sounds like a cello was played on a Mellotron tape-playback keyboard, although the video features shows someone playing the cello. At live shows Noel plays his acoustic guitar on a Fender Telecaster. It's one of the few songs where he uses a Fender guitar rather than a Gibson.

In an interview conducted in Australia around the time of the release of Be Here Now, when asked which 3 songs he would like to be remembered for, Noel immediately responded with "Live Forever" and "Wonderwall" and then proceeded to list several others, including "Champagne Supernova," "Magic Pie" and "Cigarettes & Alcohol."

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April - Deep Purple

2009-04-01T08:59:00.003+03:00

April is a very complex music composition bringing toghether elements from symphonic, acoustic, rock in one piece of what is going to be called progresive rock.

This is part from 1969 album "Deep Purple". This is a record that even those who aren't Deep Purple fans can listen to two or three times in one sitting -- but then, this wasn't much like any other album that the group ever issued. Actually, Deep Purple was highly prized for many years by fans of progressive rock, and for good reason.

"April," a three-part suite with orchestral accompaniment, is overall a match for such similar efforts by the Nice as the "Five Bridges Suite," and gets extra points for crediting its audience with the patience for a relatively long, moody developmental section and for including a serious orchestral interlude that does more than feature a pretty tune, exploiting the timbre of various instruments as well as the characteristics of the full ensemble. (All Music Guide)

A Ritchie Blackmore/Jon Lord composition, the first section is played solely by Lord and Blackmore; Lord plays piano and organ; Blackmore plays electric and acoustic guitars. The second section, orchestrated by Lord, uses flutes, clarinets, a string section and other instruments; the third section adds vocals. As the band wrote in the liner notes, "As a whole we hope April hangs together as a personal evocation of a beautiful, but sad (to us) month." (Songfacts)

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Dire Straits - Money for Nothing

2009-03-27T09:54:00.003+02:00

This song is about rock star excess and the easy life it brings compared with real work. Mark Knopfler wrote it after overhearing delivery men in a New York department store complain about their jobs while watching MTV. He wrote the song in the store sitting at a kitchen display they had set up. Many of the lyrics were things they actually said.

Sting sings on this and helped write it. That's him at the beginning singing "I want my MTV." Sting did not want a songwriting credit, but his record company did because they would have earned royalties from it. They claimed it sounded very similar to a song Sting wrote for The Police: "Don't Stand So Close To Me."

The innovative video was one of the first to feature computer generated animation. The characters were supposed to have more detail, like buttons on their shirts, but they used up the budget and had to leave it as is. It won Best Video at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.
The video was directed by Steve Barron, who also directed the famous a-ha video for "Take On Me" and Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science."

This was the first video played on MTV Europe. The network went on the air August 1, 1987, 6 years after MTV in the US. In the US, this stayed at #1 for 3 weeks. It also won a Grammy in 1986 for best Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.

Prince

2009-03-21T10:36:00.003+02:00

The 13th studio album by Prince and the New Power Generation, colloquially referred to as the Love Symbol or as O(+>. It was released as a double vinyl or single CD, on October 13, 1992.

Few artists have created a body of work as rich and varied as Prince. During the '80s, he emerged as one of the most singular talents of the rock & roll era, capable of seamlessly tying together pop, funk, folk, and rock. Not only did he release a series of groundbreaking albums; he toured frequently, produced albums and wrote songs for many other artists, and recorded hundreds of songs that still lie unreleased in his vaults. With each album he released, Prince has shown remarkable stylistic growth and musical diversity, constantly experimenting with different sounds, textures, and genres. Occasionally, his music can be maddeningly inconsistent because of this eclecticism, but his experiments frequently succeed; no other contemporary artist can blend so many diverse styles into a cohesive whole.

In a dispute with Warner Bros. in 1993, Prince decided to change his stage name to the album's eponymous symbol. He kept that name for several years until re-adopting the Prince moniker in 2000.

Prince's albums include among others 1999 (1983), Purple Rain (1984), Lovesexy (1988), Newpower Soul (1998) and 3121 (2006). He also starred in the 1984 feature film Purple Rain. Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. (All Music Guide, Wiki, Who2 Biographies).

As Prince doesen't like his videos being on line this post will be without any music sample.

Guess The Band From The Picture

2009-03-20T09:59:00.002+02:00

Famous Album Covers: "Nevermind" - Nirvana

2009-03-17T10:33:00.004+02:00

Nevermind is the second studio album by Nirvana, released in1991.

The album cover shows a baby swimming toward a US dollar bill on a fishhook. According to Cobain, he conceived the idea while watching a television program on water births with Grohl. Cobain mentioned it to Geffen's art director Robert Fisher. Fisher found some stock footage of underwater births but they were too graphic for the record company.

Also, the stock house that controlled the photo of a swimming baby that they subsequently settled on wanted $7,500 a year for its use, so instead Fisher sent a photographer to a pool for babies to take pictures. Five shots resulted and the band settled on the image of a three-month-old infant named Spencer Elden, the son of the photographer's friend Rick Elden. However, there was some concern because Elden's penis was visible in the image. Geffen prepared an alternate cover without the penis, as they were afraid that it would offend people, but relented when Cobain made it clear that the only compromise he would accept was a sticker covering the penis that would say "If you're offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile."

The back cover of the album features a photograph of a rubber monkey in front of a collage created by Cobain. The collage features photos of raw beef from a supermarket advertisement, images from Dante's Inferno, and pictures of diseased vaginas from Cobain's collection of medical photos. Cobain noted, "If you look real close, there is a picture of Kiss in the back standing on a slab of beef."The album's liner notes contain no complete song lyrics; instead, the liner contains random song lyrics and unused lyrical fragments that Cobain arranged into a poem (Wiki).

This is "Come As You Are" from Unplugged MTV Concert:

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Brown Sugar - The Rolling Stones

2009-03-12T09:28:00.004+02:00

Even though "Brown Sugar" was recorded in December, 1969, The Stones did not release it until April, 1971 because of a legal dispute with their former manager, Allen Klein, over royalties. Recording technology had advanced by then, but they didn't re-record it because the original version was such a powerful take.

Mick Jagger wrote the lyrics. They were inspired by Claudia Lennear, one of Ike Turner's backup singers (Ikettes) who he had an affair with. They met when The Stones toured with Turner in 1969. Originally, Jagger wrote this as "Black Pussy." He decided that was a little too direct and changed it to "Brown Sugar."

Some say that the lyrics are about slaves from Africa who were sold in New Orleans and raped by their white masters. The subject matter is quite serious, but the way the song is structured, it comes off as a fun rocker about a white guy having sex with a black girl.

A year after this was first recorded, The Stones cut another version at Olympic Studios in London with Eric Clapton on guitar and Al Kooper on keyboards. It was considered for release as the single. The bootleg version which has Eric Clapton playing lead slide guitar was recorded at a birthday party for Keith Richards. It is widely considered to have been part of an informal audition by Clapton to become The Stones second guitarist. The bootleg version shows why Clapton likely did not get offered the job, or withdrew himself from consideration. While Clapton plays a million notes a minute, his lead has almost no interaction with the rest of the band. It is like a studio musician simply playing along with a CD that has already been recorded. In many interviews, Richards has spoken admiringly of his good friend Clapton's musicianship, but has always commented that the 2-guitar sound he and Ron Wood have developed is not Eric's cup of tea.

This was one of 4 songs The Stones had to agree not to play when they were allowed to perform in China. After getting approval to play in China for the first time in 2003, they canceled because of SARS, a respiratory illness that was going around the country. The other banned songs were "Honky Tonk Women," "Beast of Burden," and "Let's Spend the Night Together." (songfacts)

This is a version from "A Bigger Bang Tour" (2007), one of the greatest live tours in music history.

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System Of A Down - Chop Suey!

2009-03-09T08:33:00.003+02:00

This was System Of A Down's first single from their second album, and their breakout hit. The band feels they evolved a great deal between albums and did things on this that they wouldn't have thought of before. They named the album Toxicity in honor of Los Angeles, which they considered a "Toxic City." They grew up in a bad section and wanted people to know that it wasn't all glamorous.

Literally, Chop Suey is a Chinese stew made with meat or fish, plus bamboo sprouts, onions, rice and water chestnuts. They used it for the name of the song because it describes their musical style, with lots of stuff thrown together. The title is not in the lyrics.

The original name of the song is "Suicide," but they had to change the name to make it radio friendly. In the beginning of the song, you hear Serj say "we're rolling suicide." The title is a bit of a play on words - "Suey-cide."

This was climbing the charts when it was silenced by the events of September 11, 2001. Just about every radio station pulled this from their playlists in an effort to be as sensitive as possible after the tragedy. Even though the song had nothing to do with terrorism, it was considered much too aggressive. The line "I cry when angels deserve to die" was a little too heavy for most program directors. When things settled down, it returned to the airwaves pretty much where it left off, since there weren't many songs released in the weeks after 9/11.

The video was shot in the parking lot of a cheap hotel near where the band grew up in Los Angeles. Before the shoot, they posted a note on their website inviting fans to come down and participate. Since they were not well known, they thought they would get about 500, but instead 1500 fans showed up. The fans (mostly kids) were instructed to swarm the stage so they could help capture the energy of their live shows.

Many interprated this song to be about drug addiction, but it doesn't have the somber tone that many songs about addiction have. The band describes it as "a little quacky." The song was also interpreted to be about how society views death or about Christ.

In fact, Guitarist Daron Malakian stated: "The song is about how when people die, they will be regarded differently depending on the way they pass. Like, if I were to die from a drug overdose, everyone would say I deserved it because I abused drugs, hence the line 'Angels deserve to die.'"

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Music dictionary - Reggae

2009-03-04T09:10:00.003+02:00

Reggae is defined as a Jamaican popular music and dance style. It originated in the mid-1960s as a music of the Jamaican poor, reflecting social discontent and the Rastafarian movement. Its instrumentation features an electric bass played at high volume as a lead instrument, around which an ensemble of organ, piano, drums, and lead and rhythm electric guitars plays short ostinato phrases with regular accents on the offbeats.

Reggae is based on a rhythmic style characterized by regular beats on the off-beat, known as the skank. Reggae is normally slower than ska, and usually has accents on the first and third beat in each bar.

Reggae song lyrics deal with many subjects, including religion, love, sexuality, relationships, poverty, injustice and other social and political issues.

Although strongly influenced by both traditional African and Caribbean music, as well as by American rhythm and blues, reggae owes its direct origins to the progressive development of ska and rocksteady in 1960s Jamaica.

The 1972 film The Harder They Come, starring Jimmy Cliff, generated considerable interest and popularity for reggae music in the United States, and Eric Clapton's 1974 cover of the Bob Marley song "I Shot the Sheriff" helped bring reggae into the mainstream.

Bob Marley is recognised as the most representative singer of raggae genre. He evolved from ska and rocksteady to raggae to become a very influential singer of the '70 and '80. (Wiki)

This is "No Woman, No Cry".

Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA

2009-02-28T10:29:00.003+02:00

Part from the same titled album of 1984, "Born in the USA" was written by Sprengsteen thinking about Vietnam veterans. As this was the first war that the US actually dindn't win, and while veterans of other wars received a hero's welcome, those who fought in Vietnam were mostly ignored when they returned to the states.

This is one of the most misinterpreted songs ever. Most people thought it was a patriotic song about American pride, when it actually cast a shameful eye on how America treated its Vietnam veterans. Springsteen considers it one of his best songs, but it bothers him that it is so widely misinterpreted. With the rollicking rhythm, enthusiastic chorus, and patriotic album cover, it is easy to think this has more to do with American pride than Vietnam shame.

The original title was "Vietnam." Director Paul Schrader sent Springsteen a script for a movie called Born In The U.S.A., about a Rock band struggling with life and religion. This gave Bruce the idea for the new title. Unfortunately for Schrader, when he was finally ready to make the movie in 1985, the title "Born In The U.S.A." was too associated with the song. Springsteen helped him out however, providing the song "Light Of Day," which became the new title for Schrader's movie and the feature song in the film.

This is the first song and title track to one of the most popular albums ever - Born In The U.S.A. sold over 18 million copies. The single was released in England as a double A-side with "I'm On Fire." It was the first song Springsteen wrote for the album. He first recorded it on January 3, 1982 on the tape that became his album Nebraska later that year.

While campaigning in New Jersey in 1984, Ronald Reagan said in his speech: "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts. It rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about."

Springsteen talked about this in a 2005 interview with National Public Radio. Said Bruce: "This was when the Republicans first mastered the art of co-opting anything and everything that seemed fundamentally American, and if you were on the other side, you were somehow unpatriotic. I make American music, and I write about the place I live and who I am in my lifetime. Those are the things I'm going to struggle for and fight for."
Speaking of how the song was misinterpreted, he added: "In my songs, the spiritual part, the hope part is in the choruses. The blues, and your daily realities are in the details of the verses. The spiritual comes out in the choruses, which I got from Gospel music and the church."

Chrysler offered Springsteen $12 million to use this in an ad campaign with Bruce. Springsteen turned them down so they used "The Pride Is Back" by Kenny Rogers instead. Springsteen has never let his music be used to sell products.

This song inspired the famous Annie Leibowitz photo of Springsteen's butt against the backdrop of an American flag. Bruce had to be convinced to use it as the album's cover. Some people thought it depicted Springsteen urinating on the flag.

The drum solo towards the end of the song was completely improvised. Drummer Max Weinberg said that the band was recording in an oval-shaped studio, with the musicians separated into different parts. Springsteen, at the front, suddenly turned towards Weinberg (at the back) after singing and waved his hands in the air frantically to signal drumming. Weinberg then nailed it.

Read also:

Don Mclean - American Pie (first part & second part)
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Guns n' Roses - November Rain

The Beatles (100 Posts)

2009-02-26T09:15:00.004+02:00

The is the 100th post (see here the first one) on this blog celebrated by presenting one of the greatest bands in music history: The Beatles.

The Beatles were John Lennon (guitar), George Harrison (guitar), Paul McCartney (bass) and Ringo Starr (drums). Lennon and McCartney began playing together in The Quarrymen in 1957; Harrison joined later that year. Before they became The Beatles, they were also Johnny and the Moondogs and The Silver Beatles, joined at times by bandmates including bassist Stuart Sutcliffe (23 June 1940 - 10 April 1962) and drummer Pete Best (b. 24 November 1941); Best was replaced by Ringo to form the final foursome. The early Beatles performed shows in Hamburg, Germany and Liverpool, England, playing covers of early American rock and roll plus original songs by Lennon and McCartney. Their 1962 release of "Love Me Do" charted in the U. K., and in 1963 their song "She Loves You" was the biggest hit in U. K. history. Their personal charm and charisma helped boost "Beatlemania," and their tour of the U.S. in 1964 led to sold-out concerts and mob scenes. Their movies A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965) capitalized on their humor and youthful exuberance and were box office successes, and the hit songs kept coming: in 1964 they had five straight number one albums. In the late '60s their songs became more sophisticated and their worldwide celebrity status prompted Lennon to joke "we're bigger than Jesus." By 1970 they were no longer performing in public and were beginning to pursue individual projects. In December of 1970 McCartney brought a lawsuit to dissolve The Beatles as a legal entity, and the group broke up. Their hits are too numerous to mention, and their impact on pop music can't be overstated. In 1980 Lennon was murdered, and in 2001 Harrison died of cancer, but McCartney and Starr continue to have busy solo careers.

This is "Don't Let Me Down" from their best period (1969).

Read also:
Music dictionary - Soft Rock
Cover Art: Abbey Road - The Beatles
The Four Seasons - December 1963 (Oh What A Night)

Guess the band from the picture

2009-02-24T09:16:00.002+02:00

Iron Maiden - Phantom Of The Opera

2009-02-20T09:51:00.003+02:00

"Phantom of the Opera" is part of the 1980 Iron Maiden's self titled album which is certainly one of heavy metal's all-time best debuts. Surfacing from the underground along with a host of other New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands (e.g., Def Leppard, Motörhead), Maiden's debut proved to be incredibly influential for future metal bands -- it was one of the first to merge heavy metal's power with punk's riffing and attitude, forging a blueprint for such genres as thrash, speed, and death metal.

While the band would branch out musically on future releases, Iron Maiden contains some of their most straight-ahead compositions, such as "Prowler," "Sanctuary," "Charlotte the Harlot," and the title track. The group's more progressive direction is signaled by the seven-and-a-half-minute epic "Phantom of the Opera," as well as by the breakneck instrumental "Transylvania." Also featured was Maiden's first Top 40 U.K. single, the anthemic "Running Free," plus several calmer compositions like "Remember Tomorrow" and "Strange World," which showed that there was more to this young band than just bashing away.

Bassist/leader Steve Harris proved to be the band's main songwriter/wordsmith early on, with lyrics that often proved thought-provoking -- a sharp detour from the expected topic of sex, drugs, and rock & roll that most metal bands relied on, while vocalist Paul Di'Anno's oft-rough vocals were also a main ingredient.

This was inspired by the novel by Gaston Leroux, and the popular musical adaptation. Bass player Steve Harris: "This is a very long song that was done in sections. The middle part was totally separate but it fit in very well. It felt right to go from the slow part into the middle section. Phantom is one of the best pieces I've ever written, and certainly one of the most enjoyable to play. It's got all these intricate guitar lines which keep it interesting. Then there's the slow middle part which creates quite a good mood. It's also got fast heavy parts which are really rockin'. And it's also got areas for crowd participation. It pretty much covers all the bases for the band. It was also a good example of what I wanted to get across."

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Album Cover Art: "....And Justice For All" - Metallica

2009-02-18T09:18:00.003+02:00

Reelased in 1988 "...And Justice for All" is Metallica's most complex and ambitious work. This is the first Metallica studio album to feature bassist Jason Newsted, since it is the first after the tragic death of the group's former bassist Cliff Burton. The album's dark subject material, featuring references to injustice in the law system, limited freedom, war, insanity and hate, is accompanied by the most complex song structures to this date in Metallica's discography. The album is also noted for its near lack of bass guitar and dry production and therefore has been called a "slightly flawed masterpiece and the pinnacle of Metallica's progressive years" by www.allmusic.com's reviewer.

The cover of this album is also consifdered one their most profund. Ussually, the band's album art implies simple elements such dark colour, lightning, grafitti written words. Toghether with 2002 album "St Anger" 's cover, "And Justice for All" brings Metallica into a whole new level: expressing ideeas and song concepts through the cover of the album.

The front cover of "...And Justice For All" depicts the statue of Lady Justice cracked and bound by ropes, with both of her scales filled with dollars and both of her breasts exposed. The words "…And Justice for All" are written in graffiti to the right. The cover is made by Stephen Gorman after a concept by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. It is very clear that this cover expresses that decade's corupted society, as Lady Justice - Iustitia, the Roman Goddess of Justice - is on this cover the oposite of what should actually be: a bare-breasted woman carrying a sword and scales, and sometimes wearing a blindfold, standing in fron of a courtroom (Wiki, AllMusic).

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The Who - Behind Blue Eyes

2009-02-12T09:31:00.003+02:00

Pete Townshend originally wrote this about a character in his "Lifehouse" project, which was going to be a film similar to The Who's Tommy and Quadrophenia. Townshend never finished "Lifehouse," but the songs ended up on the album Who's Next.

Actually the lyrics are a first-person lament from a man in the Lifehouse story, variously identified as 'Brick' or 'Jumbo', who is always angry and full of angst because of all the pressure and temptation that surrounds him, and the song was intended to be his "theme song" had the project been successful. (The lyrics of the rocking section near the end were actually written by Townshend as a prayer when he was a disciple of Meher Baba after being tempted by a groupie, and incorporated into the song when it was written.) In the incarnation of Lifehouse that was officially released as a part of Pete Townshend's solo box set, The Lifehouse Chronicles the song's meaning changes to the theme song of the story's protagonist, Ray.

The version of "Behind Blue Eyes" on the original Who's Next album was actually the second version the band recorded; the earlier version appears as a bonus track on the remastered CD release, which features Al Kooper on Hammond Organ. Pete Townshend has also recorded two solo versions, one (the original demo of the song) was featured on the Scoop album. The demo along with a newer recording of the song featuring an orchestral backing was featured in The Lifehouse Chronicles.

Limp Bizkit covered this in 2003 on their album Results May Vary. Their version was used in the Halle Berry movie Gothika. Berry appeared in the video, which was directed by Bizkit front man Fred Durst. Conveniently enough, Durst included a scene where he kisses Berry in the video. As the song is rather difficult to be performed, Durst digitally changed his voice for this song and he almost never played it live (Songfacts).

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Frank Sinatra - All Or Nothing At All

2009-02-06T10:18:00.004+02:00

A songwriter named Arthur Altman wrote the music for this in 1939. The song needed lyrics, so music publishing mogul Lou Levy asked his friend Jack Lawrence to help out. Lawrence had written many popular songs, including "Foolin' Myself" for Billie Holiday, "What Will I Tell My Heart?" for Bing Crosby, and "If I Didn't Care" for The Ink Spots. He agreed and added lyrics to the song. Altman made a few changes to the melody to accommodate the lyrics.

After this was written, Lou Levy found 3 prominent orchestras to record it. One of the orchestras was led by Freddy Martin, another by Jimmy Dorsey (with vocals by Bob Eberly), and the third by Harry James. James had recently discovered a 23-year-old vocalist from Hoboken, New Jersey named Frank Sinatra, who sang this in his version. Despite strong renditions from big-name orchestras, all 3 singles disappeared without a hint of public interest. Even though this was a flop, Sinatra's career took off. He joined Tommy Dorsey, the most successful bandleader of the early '40s, and became the featured vocalist on 39 Top-20 singles. He was a heartthrob sensation, headliner and show business icon. He was the most talked-about performer in the music industry, and signed a deal with Columbia Records, one of the biggest labels in the business.

his remains one of the most recorded American song standards. It has been recorded by vocalists Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Perry Como, as well as Jazz musicians like John Coltrane, George Shearing, Count Basie and Chet Baker. Other artists to record it include Barry Manilow, Diana Krall, Little Jimmy Scott, Al Jarreau and Little Anthony And The Imperials (Songfacts).

On this day in 1943, Frank Sinatra made his debut as vocalist on radio's "Your Hit Parade."

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Music dictionary - Dixieland

2009-02-03T10:29:00.003+02:00

Jazz played by a small ensemble featuring collective and solo improvisation. The term is often ascribed especially to the New Orleans pioneers of jazz, although many critics of popular music believe the term better describes the music of a later wave of white Chicago musicians including Jimmy McPartland, Bud Freeman, and Frank Teschemacher. The earliest jazz ensembles grew out of the ragtime and brass bands of New Orleans, incorporating elements of the blues. In early jazz ensembles, such as those led by King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton, the trumpet or cornet plays the melody, with clarinet and trombone providing accompaniment. The tension created by soloists contrasts with the release of ensemble refrains. It is played with a distinctive two-beat rhythm, resulting in a joyous cacophony at fast tempos or slow, mournful dirges. Dixieland groups usually include banjo, tuba, and drums (Britannica Concise Encyclopedia).

The term Dixieland became widely used after the advent of the first million-selling hit records of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1917. The music has been played continuously since the early part of the 20th century. Louis Armstrong's All-Stars was the band most popularly identified with Dixieland, although Armstrong's own influence runs through all of jazz.

The swing era of the 1930s led to the end of many Dixieland Jazz musicians' careers. Only a few musicians were able to maintain popularity. Most retired.

There was a revival of Dixieland in the late 1940s and 1950s, which brought many semiretired musicians a measure of fame late in their lives as well as bringing retired musicians back onto the jazz circuit after years of not playing (e.g. Kid Ory). Many Dixieland groups of the revival era consciously imitated the recordings and bands of decades earlier. Other musicians continued to create innovative performances and new tunes. For example, in the 1950s a style called "Progressive Dixieland" sought to blend traditional Dixieland melody with bebop-style rhythm. Steve Lacy played with several such bands early in his career. This style is sometimes called "Dixie-bop".

While the term Dixieland is still in wide use, the term's appropriateness is a hotly debated topic in some circles. For some it is the preferred label (especially bands on the USA's West coast and those influenced by the 1940s revival bands), while others (especially New Orleans musicians, and those influenced by the African-American bands of the 1920s) would rather use terms like Classic Jazz or Traditional Jazz. Some of the latter consider Dixieland a derogatory term implying superficial hokum played without passion or deep understanding of the music.

Today there are three main active streams of Dixieland jazz:

Chicago style (Jimmy McPartland, Eddie Condon, Muggsy Spanier Bud Freeman) differs from its southern origin by being faster paced, resembling the hustle-bustle of city life; The rhythm sections of these bands substitute the string bass for the tuba and the guitar for the banjo. Musically, the Chicagoans play in more of a swing-style 4-to-the-bar manner.

West Coast Revival The "West Coast revival" is a movement begun in the late 1930s by the Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band of San Francisco and extended by trombonist Turk Murphy. It started out as a backlash to the Chicago style, which is closer in development towards swing. The repertoire of these bands is based on the music of Joe "King" Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, and W.C. Handy. Bands playing in the West Coast style use banjo and tuba in the rhythm sections, which play in a 2-to-the-bar rhythmic style.

New Orleans Traditional The "New Orleans Traditional" revival movement began with the rediscovery of Bunk Johnson in 1942 and was extended by the founding of Preservation Hall in the French Quarter during the 1960s. Bands playing in this style use string bass and banjo in the rhythm section playing 4-to-the-bar and feature popular tunes and Gospel hymns that were played in New Orleans since the early 20th century.

"When The Saints Go Marching In" is one of the best known dixieland "hit". This is a version from the '40s performed by The Dukes of Dixieland:

Biographies - Deep Purple

2009-01-27T10:05:00.004+02:00

As promised, here it is the short history of a huge rock band:
Deep Purple survived a seemingly endless series of lineup changes and a dramatic mid-career shift from grandiose progressive rock to ear-shattering heavy metal to emerge as a true institution of the British hard rock community; once credited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the globe's loudest band, their revolving-door roster launched the careers of performers including Ritchie Blackmore, David Coverdale, and Ian Gillan.

Deep Purple was formed in Hertford, England, in 1968, with an inaugural lineup that featured guitarist Blackmore, vocalist Rod Evans, bassist Nick Simper, keyboardist Jon Lord, and drummer Ian Paice.

Initially dubbed Roundabout, the group was first assembled as a session band for ex-Searchers drummer Chris Curtis but quickly went their own way, touring Scandinavia before beginning work on their debut LP, Shades of Deep Purple. The most pop-oriented release of their career, the album generated a Top Five American hit with its reading of Joe South's "Hush" but otherwise went unnoticed at home. The Book of Taliesyn followed (in the U.S. only) in 1969, again cracking the U.S. Top 40 with a cover of Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman."

With their self-titled third LP, Deep Purple's ambitions grew, however; the songs reflecting a new complexity and density as Lord's classically influenced keyboards assumed a much greater focus. Soon after the album's release, their American label Tetragrammaton folded, and with the dismissals of Evans and Simper, the band started fresh, recruiting singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover from the ranks of the pop group Episode Six.

The revamped Deep Purple's first album, 1970's Concerto for Group and Orchestra, further sought to fuse rock and classical music. When the project, which was recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, was poorly received, Blackmore took creative control of the band, steering it towards a heavier, guitar-dominated approach which took full advantage of Gillan's powerful vocals. The gambit worked; 1970's Deep Purple in Rock heralded the beginning of the group's most creatively and commercially successful period. At home, the album sold over a million copies, with the subsequent non-LP single "Black Night" falling just shy of topping the U.K. pop charts.

1971's Fireball was also a smash, scoring a hit with "Strange Kind of Woman." Plans to record the follow-up at the Casino in Montreux, Switzerland, were derailed after the venue burned down during a live appearance by Frank Zappa, but the experience inspired Deep Purple's most enduring hit, the AOR staple "Smoke on the Water." The song, featured on the multi-platinum classic Machine Head, reached the U.S. Top Five in mid-1972 and positioned Deep Purple among rock's elite; the band consolidated its status with the 1973 studio follow-up Who Do We Think We Are and the hit "Woman From Tokyo." However, long-simmering creative differences between Blackmore and Gillan pushed the latter out of the group that same year, with Glover soon exiting as well; singer David Coverdale and bassist/singer Glenn Hughes were recruited for 1974's Burn, and Gillan meanwhile formed a band bearing his own name.

All the changes clearly took their toll, however, and following a farewell tour, the group dissolved in 1976 with Coverdale going on to form Whitesnake; Bolin died of a drug overdose later in the year. The classic lineup of Blackmore, Gillan, Lord, Glover, and Paice reunited Deep Purple in 1984 for a new album, the platinum smash Perfect Strangers; The House of Blue Light followed three years later, but as past tensions resurfaced, Gillan again exited in mid-1989. Onetime Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner was recruited for 1990's Slaves and Masters before Gillan again rejoined to record The Battle Rages On..., an apt title as Blackmore quit the group midway through the supporting tour, to be temporarily replaced by Joe Satriani .

In 1994, Steve Morse took over the guitar slot, fresh from a stint in Kansas; the revitalized group returned to the studio for 1996's Purpendicular, which proved a success among the Purple faithful. 1998's Abandon followed, as well as a 1999 orchestral performance released the following year as Live at the Royal Albert Hall. Deep Purple was given the box set treatment the same year with the four-disc set Shades: 1968-1998, which collected hits, demos, live takes, and unreleased tracks from throughout the years (touching upon all of Purple's different lineups). The late '90s/early 2000s saw the release of several other archival releases and collections (Machine Head 25th Anniversary, Friends & Relatives, Rhino's The Very Best Of, and Days May Come and Days May Go: The 1975 California Rehearsals), as well as a slew of DVDs (Total Abandon: Live Australia 1999, In Concert with the London Symphony Orchestra, Bombay Calling, and New Live & Rare). Former member Blackmore also kept himself busy after leaving the band by issuing a single album with his briefly resuscitated outfit Rainbow (1998's Stranger in Us All), before forming the Renaissance-inspired Blackmore's Night with fiancée/vocalist Candice Night.

Despite numerous lineup upheavals during their career, Deep Purple remains alive and well in the 21st century. (All Music Guide)

This is "Highway Star" in a live performance from 2007. For the meanings of this hit read this article.

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Deep Purple

2009-01-26T09:22:00.005+02:00

I will post soon the discograpy of Deep Purple and
song meanings for "Smoke on The Water". Untill
then, enjoy it loud.

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Guess the band from the picture

2009-01-22T10:51:00.001+02:00

Police - Every Breath You Take

2009-01-20T10:47:00.005+02:00

"Every Breath You Take" was released on Police' 1983 album Synchronicity. The single was one of the biggest of 1983, topping the UK charts for four weeks and the Billboard Music Charts (North America) for eight weeks. Sting won Song of the Year and The Police won Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the Grammy Awards of 1984 for "Every Breath You Take". The song ranks #84 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song also ranks at #25 on Billboard's All Time Top 100.

This is one of the most misinterpreted songs ever. Although considered a very romantic song by the most, in fact is about an obsessive stalker, but it sounds like a love song. Some people even used it as their wedding song. Sting wrote it after separating from his first wife, Frances Tomelty.

The recording process created a great deal of tension in the studio. Sting was very particular about his song and would not let the other members of The Police (Andy Summers and Stuart Copeland) do much with it. The Police broke up after this album.

The middle of the song was finished last. They didn't know what to do with it until Sting sat at a piano and started hitting the same key over and over. That became the basis for the missing section.

Sting knew this would be the band's biggest hit when he wrote it, even if he didn't think he was breaking new ground. In Rolling Stone magazine, he said: "'Every Breath You Take' is an archetypal song. If you have a major chord followed by a relative minor, you're not original."

"Every Breath You Take" was included in several movie soundtracks (Ally Mcbeal, The Runaway Bride, The Replacements) and was covered by many artists and music bands in the last 20 years (Sources: Songfacts, Wiki )

This is a live version from 2007 in Rio, in front of 70,000 spectators.

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Biographies - Joe Satriani

2009-01-17T10:22:00.007+02:00

This is the newest category of Music Blessing JukeBlog. As the title clearly states here you will find career info on several artists mostly of corse from rock music (and genres...) but also from music linked domains.

Joe Satriani
Along with teaching some of the top rock guitar players of the '80s and '90s, Joe Satriani is one of the most technically accomplished and widely respected guitarists to emerge in recent times. Born on July 15, 1956, in Westbury, NY, and raised in the nearby town of Carle Place, Satriani -- inspired by guitar legend Jimi Hendrix -- picked up the guitar at the age of 14 (although he was initially more interested in the drums). Quickly learning the instrument, Satriani began teaching guitar to others and found a kindred spirit in one of his students, Steve Vai . By the late '70s, however, Satriani had relocated to Berkeley, CA. With his sights set on his own musical career, "Satch" kept teaching others, including such future rock notables as Kirk Hammett (Metallica ), Larry LaLonde (Primus), David Bryson (Counting Crows), and jazz fusion player Charlie Hunter.

In the early '80s, Satriani got a gig playing guitar with power popster Greg Kihn, doing some session work and touring with the group (an archival release recorded around this time, King Biscuit Flower Hour, was later issued in 1996), and issuing his own solo self-titled EP in 1984, financing and releasing the project entirely on his own. But when Vai hit the big time as the guitarist of David Lee Roth's solo band in 1986, he offered praise for his good friend and former teacher in several major guitar publications, leading to widespread interest in Satriani's playing. The timing couldn't have been more perfect for Satch, as he'd just issued his first full-length solo album, Not of This Earth, which automatically made ripples in the rock guitar community.

But the best was still to come, in the form of his sophomore release, 1987's Surfing with the Alien. Almost overnight, Satriani was widely regarded as one of rock's top guitarists, as the album earned gold certification and the guitarist would finish at the top of guitar magazine polls for years afterward. He was even handpicked by Mick Jagger to accompany the famous singer on a tour of Australia and Japan around this time. A stopgap EP, Dreaming #11, combed both studio and live tracks and was issued a year later, and in 1989, Satriani issued his third solo full-length, Flying in a Blue Dream. Another sizeable hit, the album also marked Satch's debut as a vocalist on several tracks. His career received another big push the same year when his song "One Big Rush" was included on the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe's hit movie Say Anything.

The '90s began with Satriani creating his own line of guitars for the Ibanez company (the JS Joe Satriani model), but it wasn't until 1992 that he would issue his next solo release, The Extremist. The double-disc set Time Machine followed a year later (a combination of new tracks, live material, and the long out-of-print Joe Satriani EP from 1984), and in 1994, Satch filled in on tour for the departed Ritchie Blackmore for heavy metal pioneers Deep Purple . Although he was asked to become a full-time member, Satriani turned down the offer to return to his solo career.

Satriani issued two more solo albums during the '90s -- 1995's self-titled release and 1998's Crystal Planet -- and also started the G3 guitar showcase tour with Vai in 1996, becoming an annual event and issuing a live document of the tour's initial run, G3: Live in Concert, a year later. 2000 saw Satriani issue his most musically daring release yet, the electronic-based Engines of Creation, and a year later, Live in San Francisco. Engines was nominated for a Grammy the next year, and after a successful tour he stepped back into the studio. The result, Strange Beautiful Music, was released in 2002. Electric Joe Satriani: An Anthology arrived in 2003, followed by Is There Love in Space? in 2004, Super Colossal in 2005, and Satriani Live! in 2006. In addition to his own albums, Satriani has guested on several other artists' albums over the years, including Blue Öyster Cult's Imaginos, Alice Cooper's Hey Stoopid, Stuart Hamm's Radio Free Albemuth, Pat Martino's All Sides Now, and Spinal Tap's Break Like the Wind.

"Always With Me, Always With You" is part of the 1987 album "Surfing With The Alien", (re-realesed in 2007).

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Album Cover Art: "Houses of the Holy" - Led Zeppelin

2009-01-15T10:04:00.007+02:00

The cover of the 1972 Led Zeppelin's album still remains today full with controversy, even if some of the stories have been revealed in the past years.

Here is the "official" version of the story behind the cover which is also close to the truth as you will see bellow:

The cover art for Houses of the Holy was inspired by the ending of Arthur C. Clarke's novel Childhood's End. (The ending involves several hundred million naked children, only slightly and physically resembling the human race in basic forms). It is a collage of several photographs which were taken at the Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland, by Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis. This location was chosen ahead of an alternative one in Peru.

The two children who modelled for the cover were siblings Stefan and Samanatha Gates. The photoshoot was a frustrating affair over the course of ten days. Shooting was done first thing in the morning and at sunset in order to capture the light at dawn and dusk, but the desired effect was never achieved due to constant rain and clouds. The photos of the two children were taken in black and white and were multi-printed to create the effect of 11 individuals that can be seen on the album cover. The results of the shoot were less than satisfactory, but some accidental tinting effects in post-production created an unexpectedly striking album cover. The inner sleeve photograph was taken at Dunluce Castle near to the Causeway.

Like Led Zeppelin's fourth album, neither the band's name nor the album title was printed on the sleeve. However, manager Peter Grant did allow Atlantic records to add a wrap-around band to UK copies of the sleeve that had to be broken or slid off to access the record. This hid the children's buttocks from general display, but still the album was either banned or unavailable in Spain and some parts of the Southern United States for several years. The first CD release of the album in the 1980s did have the title logos printed on the cover itself(Wiki)

But while the sleeve design is familiar across the globe, what no one knows is that the young boy who appears in the photo montage is now a well-known television presenter.

Stefan Gates, of BBC2's Cooking In The Danger Zone, was just five when he and sister Sam were innocently snapped in the nude for the shoot on the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.

Stefan, 40, has travelled to some of the world's most dangerous regions fronting his show. But the photoshoot over ten rainy days in County Antrim remains prominent in his mind. He had followed Sam, now 42, into child modelling after she was spotted by a talent scout. They posed together for knitwear patterns and appeared separately in commercials and TV dramas, including Poldark.

Stefan said: "We only got a few quid for the modelling and the chance to travel to places we had never been before.Our family wasn't well off, we certainly couldn't afford holidays, so it worked out great for us. For the Zeppelin cover we went to Ireland during the Troubles. I remember arriving at the airport and seeing all these people with guns. We stayed in this little guest house near the Giant's Causeway and to capture the so-called magic light of dawn and dusk we'd shoot first thing in the morning and at night."

Stefan and Sam Gates on the album's cover, crawling over the Giant's Causeway in Ireland. Several multiple-exposure shots give the impression of lots of children.

"I've heard people saying they put wigs on several children. But there was only me and my sister and that's our real hair. I used to love being naked when I was that age so I didn't mind. I'd whip off my clothes at the drop of a hat and run around having a great time, so I was in my element. My sister was older so she was probably a bit more self-conscious."

There is endless debate among rock fans over the significance of the image.

While as said, Powell has claimed he was inspired by the science-fiction book Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke, in which children climb off the end of the world, Stefan is sceptical of all the theories about the artwork's meaning, including Powell's:

"In a lot of cases with graphical design work it's an evolving process and they think up the explanation later. I personally have no idea what it means. There's something about it though that is disturbing and haunting, perhaps more so because I am in it." (Daily Mail)

In 1974 the album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of best album package. The cover was rated #6 on VH1 's 50 Greatest Album Covers in 2003.

Jimmy Page has stated that the album cover was actually the second version submitted by Hipgnosis. The first, by artist Storm Thorgerson, featured an electric green tennis court with a tennis racquet on it. Furious that Thorgerson was implying their music sounded like a "racket", the band fired him and hired Powell in his place. Thorgerson did, however, go on to produce the album artwork for Led Zeppelin's subsequent albums Presence and In Through the Out Door.

This is "The Song Remains The Same" from the album:

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AC/DC - Back in Black

2009-01-13T16:10:00.004+02:00

"Back in Black" contains one guitar riff that is simply unforgetable. It was recorded in The Bahamas and produced in New York by Mutt Lange, who also later went on to work with Def Leppard, Celine Dion, and Shania Twain (who he married).

The band got the idea for the title before writing any of the song, although Malcolm Young had the main guitar riff for years and used to play it frequently as a warm-up tune. Bon Scott had several lyrical ideas for the album, but those were abandoned by the band in favor of new lyrics by Brian, Malcolm and Angus. Former AC/DC manager Ian Jeffrey claims to still have a folder that contains lyrics of 15 songs written for Back In Black by Bon.

This was released 5 months after lead singer Bon Scott died. The song is a tribute to Scott, and they lyrics, "Forget the hearse 'cause I never die" imply that he will live on forever through his music. With Brian Johnson on lead vocals, the Back In Black album proved that AC/DC could carry on without Scott.

Actually the album sold over 19 million copies in the US, the 6th highest ever. Worldwide, it has sold over 40 million. The album had a black cover with the band's logo on it. It was a tributed of course to Bon Scott.

Years before passing away, Bon Scott saw Brian Johnson singing for another band in a pub, and was so impressed by his vocals, when he met back up with AC/DC he told them to get Johnson if anything should ever happen to him. After Bon's death, Angus Young called Johnson up and offered him the position of lead vocalist. Johnson told him where he could put it and hung up (he thought someone was pranking him). Eventually, of course, it worked out.

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Music dictionary - Piedmont Blues

2009-01-12T11:00:00.003+02:00

The Piedmont blues (also known as Piedmont fingerstyle or East Coast blues) is a type of blues music characterized by a fingerpicking approach on the guitar in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings generally picked with the fore-finger, occasionally others. The result is comparable in sound to piano ragtime or later stride. The Piedmont style is differentiated from other styles (particularly the Mississippi Delta style) by its ragtime-based rhythms which lessened its impact on later electric band blues or rock 'n' roll, but it was directly influential on rockabilly and the folk revival scene. It was an extremely popular form of African-American dance music for many decades in the first half of the 20th century.

The basis of the Piedmont style began with the older "frailing" or "framming" guitar styles that may have been universal throughout the South, and was also based, at least to some extent, on formal "parlor guitar" techniques as well as earlier banjo playing, string band music, and ragtime. Varieties of the older styles can be heard in players such as Peg Leg Howell and the Hicks brothers from Georgia, plus various musicians from other areas, including Mississippi's John Hurt, Frank Stokes (from Memphis), and Mance Lipscomb (from Texas)--but if one is going to group musicians into regional styles, these clearly cannot be classed as Piedmont players. What was particular to the Piedmont was that a generation of players adapted these older, ragtime-based techniques to blues in a singular and popular fashion, influenced by such guitar virtuosi on records as Blind Blake and Gary Davis (as well as less-recorded masters like Willie Walker).

The Piedmont blues typically refers to a greater geographical area than the Piedmont plateau, which mainly refers to the East Coast of the United States from about Richmond, Virginia to Atlanta, Georgia. Piedmont blues musicians come from this area, as well as Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and northern Florida, eastern Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama - later the Northeastern cities like Boston, Newark,NJ or New York. Recording artists such as Blind Blake, Josh White, Buddy Moss, and Blind Boy Fuller helped spread the style on the strength of their sales throughout the region... there were others on record of lesser impact, plus hundreds who never got into a studio. It was a nationally popular commercial Black musical form for over two decades in the early twentieth century from about the mid-20's through to the mid-40's judging from record sales and their substantial influence: Blind Boy Fuller's 1940 recording of "Step It Up & Go" apparently sold over half a million copies to both Blacks and Whites. This one style essentially overrode all other local styles over a vast area of the American South East, finding national favor among Black record buyers and party-goers.

Eugene "Buddy" Moss (Jan 16, 1914 – October 19, 1984) was, in the estimation of many blues scholars, the most influential East Coast blues guitarist to record in the period between Blind Blake's final sessions in 1932 and Blind Boy Fuller's debut in 1935. A younger contemporary of Blind Willie McTell and Curley Weaver, Moss was part of a near-legendary coterie of Atlanta bluesmen, and one of the few of his era lucky enough to work into the blues revival of the 1960s and '70s. A guitarist of uncommon skill and dexterity, he was a musical disciple of Blind Blake, and may well have served as an influence on Piedmont-style guitarist Blind Boy Fuller. Although his career was halted in 1935 by a six-year jail term, and then by the Second World War, Moss lived long enough to be rediscovered in the 1960s, when he revealed a talent undamaged by time or adversity. (Wiki)

This is "Going to Your Funeral In A Vee Eight Ford" by Buddy Moss (sorry for the statics)

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Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds

2009-01-09T09:57:00.002+02:00

"Suspicious Minds" is one of the most apreciated hits of "the king". In fact, the song is not from his best period; this actually was a big comeback song for Elvis. It was 7 years since his last #1 hit. Moreover, this was the last #1 hit for Elvis during his lifetime. A remixed version of "A Little Less Conversation" hit #1 in the UK in 2002.

Memphis singer Mark James wrote this. He recorded and released his own version, but it didn't go anywhere. Memphis Soul producer Chips Moman brought this to Presley in 1969, and Elvis immediately fell in love with it and decided he could turn it into a hit, even though it had flopped for James.

"Suspicious Minds" was recorded between 4-7 in the morning, during the landmark Memphis session that helped Elvis reclaim his title of "The King." Elvis' publishing company, along with his manager Col. Tom Parker, tried to get their usual cut of the royalties from this and threatened to stop the recording if they didn't. Elvis insisted on recording the song regardless.

This song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

Yesterday, 8th January 2009 Elvis would have had his 74th anniversary. Long live the King!

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Pilot - January

2009-01-05T10:15:00.002+02:00

The Scottish band Pilot were formed by former Bay City Rollers members David Paton (bass and vocals) and Billy Lyall (synthesizer, flute and vocals). They were joined by drummer Stuart Tosh and session guitarist Ian Bairnson. They achieved transatlantic success with their single "Magic" in 1974, before "January" topped the UK chart the following year. The band followed it up with their only other UK single chart hits "Call Me Round" and "Just A Smile." After that they achieved little success and after the band disbanded in 1978 Tosh, Paton and Bairnson became part of the Alan Parsons Project and Tosh also worked with 10cc. Lyall died of an AIDS-related illness in 1989.

"January" was written by the band's bassist David Paton and produced by Alan Parsons. It arrived at #1 in the UK on 28th January 1975, spending 3 weeks at the top.

David Paton recalls in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh: My wife was reading a book and the main character was called January. She told me this and I wrote the chorus with that in mind. The verse was about how I felt at the time with the success of 'Magic'. I didn't write the song in January, it was in October, just after the release of 'Magic.' It was quickly recorded as the next single. We were recording the album, Second Flight, in Air Studios in London when 'January' got to #1. I didn't know the song was #1 until I arrived at the studio where I was greeted with handshakes and congratulations." (Source)

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American Pie I and II
Music dictionary: Soft Rock - Fleetwood Mac - The Chain

It's Christmas Time

2008-12-23T10:27:00.004+02:00

Christmas time tends to be one of the most inspitational moments of the year for the musicians. From 1930's to our days, from Judy Garland to George Michael artists all over the world felt that they had to sing about the Christmas and the way they saw it.

Merry Christmas everyone ... and enjoy it.

10. Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt

Madonna brought this one out of obscurity in 1987 for the Very Special Christmas album, and it's become a holiday standard for any diva who craves a special sugar daddy this time of year. Eartha Kitt's original helped make the future Catwoman a star.

9. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland

Garland was much more than Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. In 1944 she starred in the film Meet Me In St. Louis, which featured this song. It was a big hit with soldiers fighting overseas during World War II.

8. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love

Phil Spector wrote this for his 1963 Christmas album, which had the misfortune of being released on November 22, 1963 - the day US president John F. Kennedy was shot and killed. The album was pulled, but the song eventually became a Christmas classic, thanks in no small part to U2's cover in 1987 for A Very Special Christmas.

7. Wonderful Christmastime - Paul McCartney

A rare Elctro-Pop Christmas song, McCartney used a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synth, which you also hear in Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" and the Doobie Brothers' "What a Fool Believes." All four members of The Beatles released Christmas songs as solo artists.

6. Father Christmas - The Kinks

This isn't your typical Christmas song, it's about a kid who gets mugged by performing as St. Nick, then asks for a machine gun and a job for his dad for Christmas. Where the Kinks come from, Santa Claus is known as "Father Christmas."

5. Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee

Written by the same guy who wrote "Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," Lee was 13 when she recorded this song in 1958. Something not a lot of people think about - Christmas songs are usually recorded in the summer. That was the case here, as Lee recorded it on a hot July day in Nashville. Her producer turned up the air conditioning and set up a Christmas tree to get her in the mood.

4. Do They Know It's Christmas? - Band-Aid

The first big group charity song, this was organized by Bob Geldof to raise money for famine relief in Africa. The next year, Geldof got much more ambitious, organizing "We Are The World" and Live Aid. Appearing on this song, in order: Paul Young, Boy George, George Michael, Simon Le Bon, and Bono. The chorus included David Bowie, Phil Collins, and Paul McCartney.

3. You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch - Thurl Ravenscroft

Written for the 1966 Dr. Seuss TV Holiday Special How The Grinch Stole Christmas, this is one of those songs that you gotta love even if you're burned out on Christmas music. Ravenscroft was the voice of Tony the Tiger, who said of Frosted Flakes cereal: "They're Great." In 2000, the movie was remade, and this song recorded by Jim Carrey and Busta Rhymes.

2. Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley

Originally recorded by Ernest Tubb in 1950, Elvis sang the definitive version in 1957. After all, you can't have a White Christmas without that special someone, and who better than Elvis to express the pain of longing?

1. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - John Lennon

In 1969, John and Yoko bought billboard advertisements in major cities around the world that said, "War is over! (If you want it)." Two years later they turned the slogan into this Christmas song with an anti-war message. This is the second entry on the list produced by Phil Spector, who also worked on Lennon's "Instant Karma." Listen at the beginning as John and Yoko whisper to their children Kyoko and Julian.

and two special ones: Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song and Wham - Last Christmas

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

2008-12-19T11:56:00.002+02:00

This is the song that became the name of the band. They were using the name "Earth" when they realized another band had the same name. They liked the name of this song so they used it for their band. From Black Sabbath: The Ozzy Osbourne Years: "While rehearsing new material, the band formerly known as Earth experienced a supernatural experience. Geezer and Tony were playing new riffs for Ozzy and Bill when, much to everyone's surprise, they both strummed the same notes at the same tempo – although neither had ever before heard the other one play the piece! Convinced that this was an omen, Geezer christened the song and the group Black Sabbath (after the 1964 Borris Karloff's movie.)."

"Black Sabbath" was the first song on the first Black Sabbath album. The album cost $1200 to make and took about 8 hours to record.

As a result of the title, many fans associated the band with Satanism, an image they played up throughout their career. The song is actually about anti-satanism, or at least expresses a healthy fear of the devil. Godsmack lead singer Sully Erna describes this as "The darkest song ever." Godsmack got a big break when they were invited on the 1999 Ozzfest tour.

During a July, 2001 interview with Geezer Butler, Guitar World magazine explained that "having borrowed a 16th century tome of black magic from Osbourne one afternoon, Butler awoke that night to find a black shape staring balefully at him from the foot of his bed. After a few frightening moments, the figure slowly vanished into thin air." Geezer continued to describe how he "told Ozzy about it. It stuck in his mind, and when we started playing 'Black Sabbath', he just came out with those lyrics. . . It had to come out, and it eventually did in that song – and then there was only one possible name for the band, really!"

This has been covered by Vader, Widespread Panic, Dance or Die, Flower Travellin' Band, Amber Assylum, Jello Biafra (with Ice T), Acheron, Mistress, and Cryptal Darkness. Type O Negative covered this, except they changed the lyrics so that the song is from Satan's point of view. The song was called "Black Sabbath (from The Satanic Perspective)." It was on the albums Nativity in Black: Tribute To Black Sabbath and Type O Negative's The Least Worst of Type O Negative.

Pink Floyd

2008-12-17T11:41:00.009+02:00

This picture is best known as the "Back Catalogue" and perfectly emphasizes the entire album art work history of Pink Floyd. When you look at this picture you hear Pink Floyd. The story of this picture is very interesting, as it is said by Storm Thorgerson in his book "Mind Over Matter: The Images Of Pink Floyd".

After remastering of the whole band's discografy was finished in 1995, transformig the original vinil sets into cd's didn't came out as expected from the point of view of the album art work. And Pink Floyd was and still is famous for not only the music but also for the beautiful and meaningfull cover sleeves of all of their albums. More exactly the record companies back then, simply adapted the original vynil covers for the cd's and squeezed it roughly into two or for page booklet. After realising that, the producers decided to design proper cd booklets with full lyrics, carefully scaled down original art and photos added.

The ideea of this picture came from the need of the record companies of properly advertising the Pink Floyd's catalogue. Five ideas of promoting the projects came out but only two were considered to be feasible. The first one contained no music and showed foreign art lovers commenting on the band's covers. The languages used were Islandic, Hindi, Japanese and Italian.

The second ideea contained a slow side track across a group of naked boys and girls sitting chatting on the edge of a swimming pool. On their back were painted fascimile copies of selected Floyd covers from the catalogue. The designs were not projected nor computer designed, but were directly brilliantly and preciselly painted by Phyllis Cohen - so as to follow body curves and reflect the lightning. The record company liked this second idea but as a poster and containig only women. It was Storm Thorgerson who decided that the poster should contain only women, as he belived that the backs represented album covers and should therefore be the same generically - all men or all women; the women shape is of course more elegant and sensitive.

The albums choosen to be apart of the famous poster are:

(Source)

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Guess the band from the picture

2008-12-17T11:27:00.002+02:00

The Four Seasons - December 1963 (Oh What A Night)

2008-12-16T11:11:00.006+02:00

Although they were one of the very biggest rock & roll groups of the 1960s, the Four Seasons -- unlike, say, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, or the Byrds -- don't excite virtually automatic respect from listeners and critics. A big factor is their most distinguishing trademark, the shrill falsetto vocals of their lead singer, Frankie Valli. Many also find their material -- gently moralistic, romantic tunes with tightly arranged group harmonies that updated doo wop ethos into the 1960s -- too cornball and clean-cut.

Whatever your feelings about the group, though, there's no denying their considerable importance. No other white American group of the time save the Beach Boys boasted such intricate harmonies, though the Four Seasons were much more firmly in the Italian-American doo wop tradition. Their uptown production values were contemporary and, in certain respects, innovative. The R&B influence in their music was large, and some of their early singles enjoyed success with the R&B audience; in fact, some listeners thought that the Four Seasons were black when the group landed their first hits. And they were immensely successful, making the Top Ten thirteen times between 1962 and 1967 with hits like "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Dawn," "Rag Doll," and "Let's Hang On."(AMG)

"December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" was written by original Four Seasons keyboard player Bob Gaudio and his future wife Judy Parker, produced by Gaudio, and included on the group's 1975 album Who Loves You.

This single was released in December 1975 and hit number one on the UK singles chart on February 21, 1976. It repeated the feat on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on March 13, remaining in the top spot for three weeks and one week on Cash Box and in Canada. New drummer Gerry Polci and bassist Don Ciccone shared lead vocals with long-time frontman Frankie Valli.

According to the co-writer and longtime band member Bob Gaudio, the song was originally set in 1933 with the title "December 5th, 1933," and celebrated the repeal of Prohibition. Neither lead singer Frankie Valli nor co-writer (and Gaudio's wife) Judy Parker were thrilled about the lyrics - and Valli objected to parts of the melody - so Gaudio redid the words and Parker redid the melody until all were content with the finished product. It ended up being a nostalgic love song.

The Four Seasons had a series of hits from 1962-1968. In 1975, they returned to the charts with "Who Loves You," which hit #3 in the US. This was the follow-up to that song.

The lead singer on the first verse was not Frankie Valli (he comes in on the second verse): drummer Gerri Polci shared the lead in "December 1963" and provided all of the lead vocal in the group's third hit from the She Loves You LP, "Silver Star," which hit #38 in the US.

This was used in the 1994 movie Forrest Gump, and the song was re-released as part of the soundtrack. It once again entered the charts, and became the longest-running single in the Billboard US chart's history, with over 50 weeks total.

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Janis Joplin - Maybe

2008-12-10T20:50:00.003+02:00

Usually when I post I gather information from my mentioned sources and I put it toghether, according of cource to what I know and I belive about that certain song/album cover etc... But when it comes to some singers/bands I tend to become much more subjective: i just listen to that song and try to give it a meaning.

"Maybe" from Janis Joplin is more than one simple hit from one of the most successful women and artists of all times. It involves her power of attracting the listeners from the first second. I tried to find a video version of this song in which the begining is at its best: Big Brother and the Holding Company with powerfull trompet instruments making the entrance of their favourite lady.

It is said that Janis Joplin is the only female singer to be compared with the black singers. She could do the blues.

She died at 27 when she has allready made history...

- to be continued -

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Winter - The Rolling Stones

2008-12-09T09:01:00.005+02:00

"Winter" is one of the most beloved balads Rolling Stones ever sang. In fact this was a rare ballad for The Stones. It was the first song they recorded in Jamaica for Goats Head Soup. Producer Jimmy Miller was not happy with any of Mick Jagger's 4 takes, recorded on the island; Jagger refused to do any more, preferring to enjoy Jamaica instead. Interesting is that Keith Richards does not play on this piece. The guitar solo is Mick Taylor's. (songfacts).

Mick Taylor was a member of The Rolling Stones from 1969 to 1974. He replecade the funding member of the band - Brian Jones, because of the emotional instability and law problems the latter had; Taylor unexpectally left the band in 1969 because he considered he didn't get enough credits: he lacked from the credit list from the record sleeves of the new LP and somne of the hits he had co-written "Till the Next Goodbye" and "Time Waits for No One" with Jagger. (wiki)

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Counting Crows - A Long December

2008-12-03T09:18:00.003+02:00

During the taping of a VH1 Storytellers performance, lead singer of Counting Crows Adam Duritz talked about the song:
"In the middle of December of '95 my friend Jennifer got run over by a car, just creamed; and I spent that whole month, while we were just beginning the record and most of January and February in the hospital. Each morning and early afternoon then I'd go to the studio, the house where we were recording, and we'd play all afternoon and all night . It was a very weird time because there is a lot of stress, not that it's a big deal being a second album, but any album.

They're just not that easy to make. It's a very stressful process, especially when you're first starting out. I spent a lot of time in the hospital which is pretty weird. But one day I just left the studio about 2 in the morning, and I went to my friend Samantha and Tracy's house which is Hillside Manor, that's what we call it anyway, it's just a little house and I sat there talking with them. I woke them up, got them out of bed and made them talk to me for a couple hours, then I went home to my house. I wrote this song between about 4 and 6 and then went to the hospital the next day, and came to the house and I played it for the guys before dinner and taught it to them after dinner. We played it about 6 or 7 times. It was take number 6. We just stopped, that was it.

We recorded the song, it was done. We all went into the kitchen and had a cold beer, I grabbed Brad our engineer and ran back out about 5 minutes later, had him play the tape three times, just recorded all the harmonies, and we've never touched it since, that was it. It's a completely live song except for the harmonies. It's a song about looking back on your life and seeing changes happening, and for once for me, looking forward and thinking, ya know, things are gonna change for the better - 'maybe this year will be better than the last' - and so, like a lot of songs on the end of an album it's not about everything turning out great, but it at least it is about hope... and the possibilities..." (Songfacts)

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Nightwish - Ever Dream (End of an Era)

2008-11-27T09:17:00.002+02:00

Nightwish was (and maybe still is) one of the most beloved rock bands of the last 10 years. Their unique style that combines opera - represented by the beautiful Tarja Turunen (until 2007) and Anette Olzon and metal sounds - represented by the gothic-strange band-members.

Following in the footsteps of the Gathering and Lacuna Coil (goth-influenced "symphonic" metal bands with female vocalists), Nightwish was formed in Kitee, Finland, in 1997 by keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen. Initially attempting to create acoustic music, he recruited trained opera vocalist Tarja Turunen, but soon added full metal-band instrumentation in the persons of guitarist Emppo Vuorinen, bassist Sami Vänskä, and drummer Jukka Nevalainen. The band's demos landed them a contract with the Finnish label Spinefarm, which released their debut album Angels Fall First in late 1997 (it appeared in the rest of Europe the following year). The follow-up, Oceanborn, appeared in late 1998 and made Nightwish a bonafide mainstream success in their homeland; the album reached the Finnish Top Five and spun off three Top Ten singles. The band toured Europe heavily, consolidating their success, and in 2000 recorded their third album Wishmaster. Not only did it top the Finnish charts, but it also became the group's first album to be released in the U.S. (AMG)

In 2007 Tarja left the band for the disapontment of the fans, but Nightwish continued its existence by searching for a new female singer. After auditing several candidates, Annete was chosen as not only a replacer, but also as a step in the begining of a new era for the band.

This is Ever Dream and one of their most appreciated live performances: last concert with Tarja.

Guns N' Roses - November Rain

2008-11-23T10:38:00.003+02:00

I couldn't let this November pass without its most representative song.

The albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II were released simultaneously. This was a bold move, but the band was huge and the albums both sold very well. When they were released, Use Your Illusion II was the #1 album in the US, followed by Use Your Illusion I. The last time an artist had the top 2 albums at the same time was in 1974, when 2 Jim Croce albums did it shortly after his death. The album was released in September 1991, but November Rain came out as a single in February, 1992.

The lyrics and the video are based on a short story by Del James called Without You. The story is part of a collection called The Language Of Fear, which was brought back to market in 2008 after being out of print. The new version of the book contains an intro by Axl Rose, who wrote: "Del James has a personal knowledge of most of the situations he writes about, and has a love of the gutter from having been there." James contributed lyrics to 2 Guns N' Roses songs: The Garden and Yesterdays and has directed several music videos.

The original version was 25 minutes long, and the song was edited down to 8:59. It is the longest ever Top 10 hit and contains the longest guitar solo in a Top 10 single - Slash actually plays 2 guitar solos in the song. Rose put the song's lengthy gestation period down to opposition from Slash and Duff McKagan. According to a reader-submitted poll for Guitar World magazine, Slash's guitar solo for this song is ranked #6 out of 100.

The video was a huge production and got a lot of play on MTV. It starred actress and model Stephanie Seymour, Axl Rose's girlfriend at the time. In the video, she and Axl get married with Slash serving as best man and the rest of the band in the front row. After the wedding, it starts raining and the next scene is Stephanie's funeral in the same church. The video cost over $1.5 million to make.

Slash (from Q magazine, July 2004): "We got into doing these huge production videos and by November Rain it was too much, just too involved. At the end of the day it was a great video but that's when I started realizing that it was getting out of hand."

This won for best cinematography at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, where it also received a Video Vanguard award. Guns N' Roses performed this at the end of the show with Elton John on piano.

Axl Rose was working on this as early as 1983. Former L.A. Guns guitarist Traci Guns said: When we were doing that EP for L.A. Guns, like in 1983, he was playing November Rain on piano. Way back then. It was the only thing Axl knew how to play, but it was his. He'd go: 'Someday this song is gonna be really cool.' And I'd go: 'It's cool now. But it's not done, you know.' And like anytime we'd be at a hotel or anywhere there'd be a piano, he'd just kinda play that music. And I'd go: 'When are you gonna finish that already, you know?' And he'd go: 'I don't know what to do with it.

Music dictionary - Soft Rock

2008-11-19T10:26:00.005+02:00

Soft rock, also referred to as light rock or easy rock, is a style of music which uses the techniques of rock and roll to compose a softer, supposedly more ear-pleasing sound for listening, often at work or when driving. Soft rock is usually sung with higher-pitched vocals, and the lyrics tend to be non-confrontational, focusing in very general language on themes like love, everyday life and relationships. The genre tends to make heavy use of pianos, synthesizers and sometimes saxophones.

Soft rock as a genre distinction has come to refer specifically to a style of rock that emerged in the early 1970s, both as a reaction against the increasingly heavy music that dominated rock at the time, and also as a reflection of the changing priorities of the Baby Boom in the early 1970s. What set '70s soft rock apart from its '60s counterpart, which for lack of a better word is usually just called "pop", is that in the '60s pop existed for those who simply didn't like rock; the 1960s' pop artists usually were vocalists who were stylistic throwbacks to the pre-rock era. Soft rock developed organically to suit the needs of those who did have rock listening experience; as such, it can be considered a bona fide rock genre.

Soft rock became hugely popular later in that decade. By 1977, some radio stations, like New York's WTFM and WYNY, had switched to an all-soft-rock format. Around that same time, Chicago, which had previously been a jazz-rock band, switched to soft rock and reached their biggest commercial successes. British blues band Fleetwood Mac achieved its greatest success after adopting this genre. Their success was further solidified after they had the highest selling soft rock album ever, Rumours. Even Led Zeppelin, considered by some to be standard bearers of hard rock, flirted with the genre at the time in songs like 1979's "All My Love". By the 1980s, tastes had changed and radio formats reflected this change; the genre evolved into what came to be known as "adult contemporary", a pop categorization that bore less overt rock influence than its forebear. (Wiki)

This song is called "The Chain", sang by Fleetwood Mac on their 1977' album "Rumours".

The Smashing Pumpkins

2008-11-14T09:22:00.007+02:00

The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago in 1988. While the group has gone through several lineup changes, The Smashing Pumpkins consisted of Billy Corgan (vocals/guitar), James Iha (guitar/vocals), D'arcy Wretzky (bass/vocals), and Jimmy Chamberlin (drums/percussion) for most of the band's recording career. (Wiki)

In 1990, the Smashing Pumpkins released their debut single, "I Am One," on the local Chicago label Limited Potential. The single quickly sold out, and in December, the band released "Tristessa" on Sub Pop. By this point, the Smashing Pumpkins had become the subject of a hot bidding war, and the group latched on to a clever way to move to a major label without losing indie credibility. They signed to Virgin Records, yet it was decided that the group's debut would be released on the Virgin subsidiary Caroline, then the band would move to the majors. The strategy worked; Gish, a majestic mix of Black Sabbath and dream pop produced by Butch Vig, became a huge college and modern rock hit upon its spring 1991 release.

Working with producers Flood and Alan Moulder, the Smashing Pumpkins recorded as a full band for their third album, which turned out to be, as Corgan predicted, a double-disc set called Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Although many observers were skeptical about whether a double-disc set, especially one so ridiculously named, would be a commercial success, Mellon Collie became an even bigger hit than Siamese Dream, debuting at number one on the charts. On the strength of the singles "Bullet with Butterfly Wings," "1979," "Zero," and "Tonight, Tonight" it sold over four million copies in the U.S., eventually being certified platinum over eight times (each disc in the set counted separately toward certification). (All Music Guide)

"1979" was written by the lead singer Billy Corgan and it's about making the transition out of youth and into adulthood. He remembered being in high school and having adult responsibilities like a car and job, but still being very much a youth and dependent on his parents.

The video took 3 days to shoot and included a scene where a bunch of kids are at a party, and The Smashing Pumpkins are the house band. The original tape of this scene was lost after a crew member forgot that had placed it on top of his car and drove away. A new video was cobbled together with unused footage, plus new footage shot by the group. The production assistant who drove off without the tapes was sentenced to stand in the city center with a sandwich board that said: "Lost Tapes, reward for return" on it.

Guess the band from the picture

2008-11-14T09:21:00.002+02:00

The Doors - Break On Through (To The Other Side)

2008-11-12T09:22:00.003+02:00

The Doors, one of the most influential and controversial rock bands of the 1960s, were formed in Los Angeles in 1965 by UCLA film students Ray Manzarek, keyboards, and Jim Morrison, vocals; with drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger. The group never added a bass player, and their sound was dominated by Manzarek's electric organ work and Morrison's deep, sonorous voice, with which he sang and intoned his highly poetic lyrics. The group signed to Elektra Records in 1966 and released its first album, The Doors, featuring the hit "Light My Fire," in 1967 (All Music Guide).

Break On Through (To The Other Side) was the first song on The Doors first album, and also their first single. It got some airplay on Los Angeles radio stations after their friends and fans kept requesting it. The original line in the chorus was "She gets high." Elektra records censored "high," making it sound like, "she get uuggh," but the "high" line can be heard in live versions.

Jim Morrison got some of the lyrics from John Rechy's 1963 book "City of Night." The guitar melody was inspired by Paul Butterfield's "Shake Your Money Maker." John Densmore added the knocking drum sound by hitting his drumstick sideways across the snare. This was one of 6 songs The Doors recorded for a demo on Aura Records while they were trying to get signed in 1965. Robbie Krieger was not yet with the group. The vocals are a mix of 2 of Morrison's takes.

In year 2000, the surviving members of The Doors taped a VH1 Storytellers episode with guest vocalists filling in for Morrison. Scott Weiland from The Stone Temple Pilots sang on this.

This was included on the Doors tribute album Stoned Immaculate, with Scott Weiland on vocals. As John Densmore states in The Doors Box Set, the beat of this song was inspired by Brazilian Bossa Nova like Joao Gilberto and Tom Jobim.

In The Doors Box Set, Ray Manzarek said Break On Through (To The Other Side) was the last song they played live. It was during the Isle of the Wight Festival in the summer of 1970. The festival occurred while Morrison was on trial in Miami, and the band got a special 5 days of recess to be in England and get back to US. "This was to be the first gig of an European tour just as Miami was to be the first gig of a 20-city US tour. We never got beyond the first date of either one," said Ray.

The Doors managed to turn out a series of successful albums and singles through 1971, when, upon the completion of L.A. Woman, Morrison decamped for Paris. He died there, apparently of a drug overdose. The three surviving Doors tried to carry on without him, but ultimately disbanded. Yet the Doors' music and Morrison's legend continued to fascinate succeeding generations of rock fans: In the mid-'80s, Morrison was as big a star as he'd been in the mid-'60s, and Elektra has sold numerous quantities of the Doors' original albums plus reissues and releases of live material over the years, while publishers have flooded bookstores with Doors and Morrison biographies. In 1991, director Oliver Stone made The Doors, a feature film about the group starring Val Kilmer as Morrison (All Music Guide).

On 12 of November 1970, The Doors made their last appearance with Jim Morrison, in New Orleans.

Good Morning, Good Morning

2008-11-06T15:41:00.006+02:00

"Singin' in the Rain" (1952) influenced generations of musicians, dancers and singers as more than a simple musical, but rather closer to movie-art.

What comes across as carefree hoofing on film was actually days and weeks of grueling physical work. Debbie Reynolds, a 19-year-old Miss Burbank winner handpicked by Louis Mayer, was a true amateur among professionals. She endured weeks of training sessions under the scrutiny of Gene Kelly to prepare herself for the role. Her most difficult task was the "Good Morning" number, in which she had to keep up with co-stars Kelly and Donald O'Connor. Shooting went late into the evening, and when it was all over, Debbie fainted, having burst a blood vessel in her foot. She received doctor's orders to stay in bed for three days. Debbie wasn't the only one who ended up bed-ridden. Donald O'Connor needed a full three days rest after his solo number, "Make 'Em Laugh."

In the famous dance routine in which Gene Kelly sings the title song while twirling an umbrella, splashing through puddles and getting soaked to the skin, he was actually dancing in water with a little bit of milk added, so that the water puddles and raindrops would show up in the filming. Kelly was sick with a 103-degree fever at the time.

Debbie Reynolds was not a dancer at the time she made Singin' in the Rain — her background was as a gymnast. Kelly apparently insulted her for her lack of dance experience, upsetting her. Fred Astaire was hanging around the studio and found Reynolds crying under a piano. Hearing what had happened, Astaire volunteered to help her with her dancing. Kelly later admitted that he had not been kind to Reynolds and was surprised that she was still willing to talk to him afterwards.

Singin' in the Rain has appeared twice on Sight and Sound's list of the ten best films of all time, in 1982 and 2002

In 1989, Singin' in the Rain was also deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Deep Purple - Highway Star

2008-11-06T12:14:00.003+02:00

Recorded in 1971 and released one year later, "Highway Star" is part of the "Machine Head" LP. This song was born on a tour bus going to Portsmouth in 1971 when a reporter asked the band how they wrote songs. To demonstrate, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore grabbed an acoustic and began playing a riff consisting of a single "G" repeated over and over, while vocalist Ian Gillan improvised lyrics over the top. The song was refined and was performed that same night.

The track remains one of the band's staple live performances, and was the set opener for many years. These days the song is usually an encore. Two live versions of this song can be heard on the Deep Purple-Extended Versions Live Compilation CD. The version from the live album "Made in Japan" is one of their best "lives", containing a guitar solo (Ritchie Blackmore) which was considered revolutionary at that time, especially for a hard rock band (Jimi Hendrix was already in its tremendous guitar solos times). This solo is in the second part of the hit (after 4:30 min in this version), imitating the organ solo (Jon Lord) in the first part of the performance. Deep Purple is considered to be one of the greatest bands in the history of music because it unites singers with approximately equal talent and high artistic value on each of their domain: Ian Gillian (vocals), Roger Glover (bass), Ian Paice (drums), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (organ) - the members in their most successful period (1968-1975).

More concrete, "Highway Star" is about a man and his love for his high powered car, which he says can out-race every other car. This was written by Richie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Ian Paice, Jon Lord, and Roger Glover. It may have been inspired by Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild," and along with "Radar Love" is one of the most famous driving songs in Rock. Many people consider this the first "Speed Metal" song, a division of Heavy Metal and a genré later popularized by bands such as Motorhead and Metallica. The guitar solo in this song was ranked #19 in the List of 100 Greatest Guitar Solos by Guitar World magazine.

This version is most likely to be from one of their concerts in Paris, from 1972.

The World's First Album Cover

2008-11-03T09:32:00.005+02:00

It seems almost ridiculous now, but at one point all mass-produced music sold at retail had no cover art. They were sold much the way that white label test presses arrive at radio stations. Except instead of blank glossy white sleeves they sold in plain brown sleeves. Alex Steinweiss put an end to that. Seems like a no-brainer now.

Some of the plain brown sleeves had simple logos on them but nothing like what we think of as "album art" today.

In the year 1939, Alexander Steinweiss proposed to Columbia that maybe original artwork might spruce up those plain brown 78rpm sleeves. Before that an ornate font or logo was as edgy as the "art" got. The new look moved units as soon as labels realized that album art can drive sales, all albums had art. People say today that labels are hard to adapt, but that's not true. If they can see the money, they move.

The first album featuring actual cover art was “Smash Song Hits by Rodgers and Hart” sold records. That sealed the deal.

Eight years later Steinweiss invented the paperboard jacket that protected vinyl records from scratches and chips. it also made a more robust canvas for the artwork. The previous paper sleeves were too delicate. His innovation has been the industry standard for half a century. He often signed his work, something that rarely happens now.

He was the art director for Columbia at the age of 23, that year, and continued to do album art until 1973 when he went into semi-retirement. but between 1939 and 1945, he designed all the covers for the label. Around 1950 he started doing art for Remington records, Decca, London and Everest.

Source

Iron Maiden - Aces High

2008-10-28T09:33:00.004+02:00

"Aces High" is a song written by Steve Harris. It is Iron Maiden's eleventh single and the second from the 1984 album "Powerslave".

This song describes an air battle from the viewpoint of a flying ace. The lyrics and fast-paced style have made the song commonly associated with war, and it appeared in the 1986 film Incident at Channel Q, about a war between headbangers and conservative "straight people".

The first line is "There goes the siren that warns of the air raid." Lead singer Bruce Dickinson had earned the nickname "The Air Raid Siren" for his powerful, never-tiring vocals. He is also a licensed pilot, and since leaving the band in 1993, has flown many commercial flights.

"Aces High" is partially inspired by the 1976 war film of the same name starring Malcolm McDowell and Christopher Plummer.

The cover for the single was a close-up of Eddie (Iron Maiden's mascot) in a WWII jet. The back of the case showed the jet spiraling the ground, up in flames, smoke spewing from it. The B-side was "King of Twilight."

On the cover art, to the left below the cockpit there is a unique symbol scribbled in white. This is cover art designer Derek Rigg's "logo," which depicts his initials - a mirrored D and an R on the right hand side.

Iron Maiden had already performed two songs about a historical war from the perspective of those being attacked. One was "Invaders," which was set during a Viking sea battle. The other was "Trooper," set during the Crimean War in which the British fought the Russians (see the famous Alfred Lord Tennyson poem The Charge of the Light Brigade). After this, Maiden wrote and performed another song about flying aces in combat, "Tailgunner." "Run to the Hills" was also about a historical war/invasion, but was told from the perspective of both the invaders and the invaded.

The intro of this song is the original Winston Churchill's speech, from 4 June 1940, before the German attack took place. It is one of the most encouraging speeches of history, denoting Churchill's ability of gathering together all forces and strengths of a threatened nation. Iron Maiden also dedicated a ballad to the ancient leader Alexander the Great, a song about power, faith and glory. History was a favorite theme of the band.

HIM - One Last Time

2008-10-24T09:46:00.003+03:00

HIM is a rock band from Finland formed in 1991 by vocalist Ville Valo, guitarist Mikko Lindström, and bassist Mikko Paananen. They have released six full length albums to date. As of 2007, they are the first and only Finnish rock band to sell Gold in the United States.

HIM is the perfect mix between sophisticated finish rock music, love metal as an own- invented sub genre, sexual appearance and mysticism. "One Last Time" is just the song that contains these elements, a song about love, hope, passion, illusions but, in the same time a song that may suggest frustration, disappointment and even hatred. The step between the two feelings - it is just so little and "One Last Time" insinuates almost perfectly this ever debated contrast.

Alanis Morissette - Ironic

2008-10-22T09:29:00.003+03:00

Alanis Morissette was one of the most unlikely stars of the mid-'90s. A former child actress turned dance-pop diva, Morissette transformed herself into a confessional alternative singer/songwriter, in the vein of Liz Phair and Tori Amos. However, she added enough pop sensibility, slight hip-hop flourishes, and marketing savvy to that formula to become a superstar with her third album, Jagged Little Pill, in 1996.

"Ironic" is part of this album. The events described in the song (rain on your wedding day, a traffic jam when you're already late, 10000 spoons when all you need is a knife etc.), are not examples of irony. Irony is the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. The one actual, ironic statement in this song is, "As the plane crashed down he thought 'well, isn't this nice'..." Sarcasm is an example of irony, and this thought, clearly, was a sarcastic one.

The London Times June 14, 2008 asked Morissette if she has worked out the meaning of irony yet. She replied: "Yes, I've now learnt the definition of irony - but the dictionary now says that it's a coincidence and bad luck, too - not that I don't deserve a little slap on the wrist for my malapropism. I always tell people that I'm the smartest stupid person you'll ever meet."

At the end of the song, Alanis says life has a funny funny way of helping us out - in spite of all of the bad stuff that we have to go through. The bad stuff helps us get to where we are going, and that is ironic.

Glen Ballard produced this and wrote it with Alanis. He has also worked with Dave Matthews and has a history of radio-friendly production. Morissette moved from Canada to Los Angeles to write and record with him. This was the first album Morissette released in America, but as a teenager, she released 2 dance albums in Canada. Her stage name at the time was simply "Alanis."

"Ironic"was nominated for Grammys in the categories Record Of The Year and Best Short Form Music Video. In 1996, "Ironic" won MTV Video Music Awards for Best Female Video, Best Editing, and Best New Artist In A Video.

"Ironic" is one of 5 hits on the album, which has sold over 16 million copies. The others are "You Oughta Know," "Hand In My Pocket," "Head Over Feet" and "You Learn."

Supertramp

2008-10-15T15:23:00.004+03:00

Once upon a time in 1969, a young Dutch millionaire by the name of Stanley August Miesegaes gave his acquaintance, vocalist and keyboardist Rick Davies a "genuine opportunity" to form his own band; he could form the band of his dreams and Miesegaes would pay for it. After placing an ad in Melody Maker, Davies assembled Supertramp.

Supertramp released two long-winded progressive rock albums before Miesegaes withdrew his support. With no money or fan base to speak of, the band was forced to redesign their sound. Coming up with a more pop-oriented form of progressive rock, the band had a hit with their third album, Crime of the Century.

Throughout the decade, Supertramp had a number of best-selling albums, culminating in their 1979 masterpiece, Breakfast in America. Breakfast in America marked their first album that tipped the scale completely in the favor of pop songs; on the strength of the hit singles "Goodbye Stranger," "Logical Song," and "Take the Long Way Home" it sold over 18 million copies worldwide. After that album, Supertramp continued to develop a more R&B-flavored style; the change in direction was successful on 1982's Famous Last Words, but they soon ran out of hits. The band continued to sporadically record and tour into the '90s.
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This is "Breakfast in America", maybe their best known single. The song was a minor hit on the singles charts in the US but is a staple of classic rock radio. The song's lyrics tell about a person who has never been to America.

Guess the band from the picture

2008-10-15T09:13:00.000+03:00

U2 - October

2008-10-13T09:43:00.002+03:00

"October" is the seventh and title track from U2's 1981 album, October. It is a departure from U2's classic sound, as it is a quiet, almost instrumental piece. It was included as a hidden track on The Best of 1980-1990 compilation. It is the only track from October included in the compilation.

The lyrics reflect the Christian beliefs Bono, The Edge, and Larry Mullen as they were struggling as members of a devoutly religious group. They considered breaking up the band as they felt it may conflict with their faith.

"October" made its live debut on 16 August 1981 and this performance featured extended, rambling lyrics from Bono that were never used again live. It was a setlist staple for much of the October Tour and followed "I Fall Down", another song from the October album that The Edge played on piano. However, it was omitted from the setlist at all 1982 dates where U2 supported the J. Geils Band.

Two alternate versions of "October" were released on the 1982 soundtrack to They Call it an Accident. The first is a remix, clocking in at 2:31, which is quite similar to the album version, save for an instrumental outro tacked on at the end. The second mix is an instrumental one clocking in at 1:25; This is really just a shortened version of the album mix.

Famous album covers : "Hotel California" - The Eagles

2008-10-09T09:30:00.004+03:00

"Faded glory, loss of innocence and decadence," says Don Henley, describing the feeling he sought for the cover of Hotel California. "I was trying to use California as the microcosm for the rest of the nation."

Henley, Glenn Frey and manager Irving Azoff brought the concept to John Kosh, who had previously designed LPs for Linda Ronstadt, Rod Stewart and James Taylor. Kosh had heard only a rough mix of the album when he and David Alexander went to shoot the sun sinking behind the elegant Beverly Hills Hotel. To clear the trees surrounding the hotel, they had to clamber aboard a sixty-foot cherry picker and dangle precariously over the rush-hour traffic on Sunset Boulevard.

"I don't remember ever being so scared in my life," says Kosh. "The thing sort of swayed alarmingly every time we moved." In the space of a few minutes, they alternated shooting roll after roll of film -- as Alexander ducked to reload his camera, Kosh used his back as a tripod and kept shooting. "We just weren't quite sure precisely what time the sun and the lights coming on in the hotel would balance and make that magic we were after," says Kosh.

The inner gatefold -- a quirky gathering of the Eagles' friends, employees and other business associates in the run-down lobby of the old Lido Hotel, in Hollywood -- vividly captures Henley's image of California as the greatest melting pot in the country. "I wanted a collection of people from all walks of life," he says. "It's people on the edge, on the fringes of society."

A swirl of rumors greeted the album cover, which cost $60,000, once it hit the stores -- including stories that there were supernatural or satanic references buried in the lyrics and in the artwork. Kosh scoffs at those reports but eagerly confirms that there is a mysterious figure on the balcony, visible only on the LP version.

"I assume he's a friendly spirit, because we got the picture and it worked!" says Kosh, laughing. "If he is of the spirit world -- which I doubt -- he's benign, so it's fine by me."

Hotel California was the Eagles' fifth album of original material and became a critical success and a major commercial hit; since its release in late 1976, it has sold over 16 million copies in the U.S. alone. The album was at #1 for eight weeks in early 1977 (non-consecutively), and included two tracks which became #1 hits as singles on the Billboard Hot 100: "New Kid in Town", on February 26, 1977, and "Hotel California" on May 7, 1977.

Hotel California is one of the top 15 best-selling albums of all time in any category.

In 2001 the TV network VH1 named Hotel California #38 on 100 Greatest Albums of all time. Hotel California was ranked 13th in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time. In 2003, the album was ranked number 37 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

2008-10-07T09:09:00.003+03:00

Part of the album "A Night at the Opera" from 1975, this Queen rhapsody is surely one of their representative songs and, as expected from Freddie Mercury's complex personality (the song was written by him) has numerous profound meanings.

Many of the words appear in the Qu'ran. "Bismillah" is one of these and it literally means "In the name of Allah." The word "Scaramouch" means "A stock character that appears as a boastful coward." "Beelzebub" is one of the many names given to The Devil.

Mercury's parents were deeply involved in Zoroastrianism, and these Arabic words do have a meaning in that religion. His family grew up in Zanzibar, but was forced out by government upheaval in 1964 and they moved to England. Some of the lyrics could be about leaving his homeland behind. Mercury claimed the lyrics were nothing more than "Random rhyming nonsense" when asked about it by his friend Kenny Everett, who was a London DJ.

Mercury may have written "Galileo" into the lyrics for the benefit of Brian May. Galileo is a famous astronomer known for being the first to use a refracting telescope.

The backing track came together quickly, but Queen spent days overdubbing the vocals in the studio using a 24 track tape machine. By the time they were done, about 120 vocal tracks were layered together. According to Rolling Stone magazine in their list of the top 500 songs, Brian May said that everyone in the band was bewildered when Mercury brought them a draft of this four-part suite - even before he told them, "That's where the operatic bits come in!". The analog recording technology was taxed by the song's multitracked scaramouches and fandangos.

Queen made a video for this to air on Top Of The Pops, a popular British music show, because the song was too complex to perform live. It started a trend in the UK of making videos for songs to air in place of live performances. When MTV launched in 1981, most of their videos came from British artists for this reason. In the December 12, 2004 issue of The Observer newspaper, Roger Taylor explained: "We did everything we possibly could to avoid appearing in Top Of The Pops. It was one, the most boring day known to man, and two, it's all about not actually playing - pretending to sing, pretending to play. We came up with the video concept to avoid playing on Top Of The Pops."

This was Queen's first Top 10 hit in the US. In the UK, where Queen was already established, it was #1 for 9 weeks, a record at the time. In 1991, this was re-released in the UK shortly after Freddie Mercury's death. It again went to #1, with proceeds going to the Terrence Higgins Trust, which Mercury supported.

Brian May recalled recording "Bohemian Rhapsody" in Q Magazine March 2008: "That was a great moment, but the biggest thrill for us was actually creating the music in the first place. I remember Freddie coming in with loads of bits of paper from his dad's work, like Post-it notes, and pounding on the piano. He played the piano like most people play the drums. And this song he had was full of gaps where he explained that something operatic would happen here and so on. He'd worked out the harmonies in his head."

Thanks to this track, A Night At The Opera was the most expensive album ever made at the time. They used 6 different studios to record it. Queen did not use any synthesizers on the album, which is something they were very proud of.

In an interview with Brian May and Roger Taylor on the Queen Videos Greatest Hits DVD, Brian said: "What is Bohemian Rhapsody about, well I don't think we'll ever know and if I knew I probably wouldn't want to tell you anyway, because I certainly don't tell people what my songs are about. I find that it destroys them in a way because the great thing about about a great song is that you relate it to your own personal experiences in your own life. I think that Freddie was certainly battling with problems in his personal life, which he might have decided to put into the song himself. He was certainly looking at re-creating himself. But I don't think at that point in time it was the best thing to do so he actually decided to do it later. I think it's best to leave it with a question mark in the air."

The name "Bohemian" in the song title seems to refer not to the region in the Czech republic, but to a group of artists and musicians living roughly 100 years ago, known for defying convention and living with disregard for standards. A "Rhapsody" is a piece of Classical music with distinct sections that is played as one movement. Rhapsody's often have themes.

The story told in this song is remarkably similar to that in Albert Camus' book The Stranger. Both tell of a young man who kills, and not only can he not explain why he did it, he can't even articulate any feelings about it.

Music dictionary - Heartland Rock

2008-10-02T09:53:00.003+03:00

In the late 1970s and 1980s, one of the most popular forms of rock and roll was heartland rock. It was characterized by a straightforward musical style, a concern with the average, blue collar American life, and a conviction that rock music has a social or communal purpose beyond just entertainment.

The origins of "Heartland Rock", like that of so many genres, are as nebulous and difficult to describe as the genre's definition itself. The genre began as a confluence of white soul, garage rock, rhythm and blues and rock and roll.

While the genre emerged recognizably into the mainstream in the late 1970s with the commercial success of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, and Tom Petty, the genre's antecedents appeared throughout pop chart history, via popular artists like Bob Dylan, Creedence Clearwater Revival , Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels and Van Morrison, and lesser-known examples (The Flaming Ember, whose 1971 hit "Westbound Number Nine" was an example of the mixing of garage rock, rhythm and blues and rock influences that would later exemplify the genre) and earlier ones like Eddie Cochran and Del Shannon.

The genre reached its commercial, artistic and influential peak in the mid-1980s, with John Mellencamp joining Springsteen, Seger, and Petty as its most prominent artists.

In concert, heartland rock often took the form of crowd-rousing anthems, leading to comparisons with Midwestern arena rock groups such as REO Speedwagon and Head East, whose style however owed more to seventies pop rock .

Most heartland rock shared some common characteristics:

Traditional instrumentation - Guitars (electric, acoustic, and bass), drums, and non-synthesizer keyboards (pianos and the Hammond B3 and Farfisa organs) predominate. The harmonica and mandolin also appear frequently
Influences - Heartland rock owed much to pre-1964 rock and rhythm and blues, and to a lesser extent country and western, rockabilly, the British Invasion, and the "White Soul" of the 1960s and 1970s. Artists like Van Morrison and Bob Dylan had wide influence, as did the rhythm and blues of the Stax/Volt record label.
Subject matter - Heartland rock was no less diverse than any other genre - but, as discussed by writers Dave Marsh and Robert Christgau among others – at its core its most constant theme was isolation in many forms: Social Isolation, Physical Isolation , Economic Isolation, Personal Isolation

Creedence Clearwater Revival and John Fogerty - Creedence was the seminal proto-heartland band, a decade before the genre was popularly recognized. Former leader Fogerty revived his career in 1985 with the album Centerfield, which recapped and extended Creedence's themes. Fogerty's influence is widespread throughout the genre.

This is an 1969 well known hit of Creedence - "Proud Mary"

New York, New York - Liza Minnelli

2008-09-30T09:52:00.003+03:00

Although singer-actress Liza Minnelli can count Academy Award-winning film roles, Tony Award-winning musical theater performances, Emmy Award-winning television specials, and gold-selling records among her accomplishments, she is primarily a concert performer whose career has been defined by a series of stage acts dating back to her nightclub debut in 1965.

Her best work in film, in the musical theater, and on television has taken advantage of and grown out of her reputation as a live performer, and many of the albums she has released under her own name are concert recordings. (She has also appeared on numerous soundtracks and cast albums.)

Since she began performing in the early '60s, Minnelli has displayed an energetic style that combines technical precision with warmth and enthusiasm, allowing her to transcend the contrary trends in popular music over the course of her career and maintain her status as a major star.

Her appearance opposite Robert De Niro in the 1977 film, New York, New York, gave Minnelli her best known signature song, "Theme from New York, New York". Frank Sinatra released a successful cover version (for his Trilogy: Past Present Future album) two years later and used it as his signature song as well, sometimes even duetting with Liza live on stage.

While many songs have been written about New York City, no song has captured the pride and elegance of the city quite like this one. The lyrics, "If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere" sum up what many New Yorkers feel about their city: competition is intense, but success there is richly rewarded and very satisfying.

The song stresses personal responsibility in the line, "It's up to you, New York, New York," as it's a place where you can't expect a handout, but have an opportunity to succeed no matter who you are. This song also popularized New York as the "City that never sleeps," which is true in the literal sense that many businesses are open 24 hours, but also in the figurative sense that you are expected to always be at your best.

This scene is for sure part of a virtual top 10 famous movie moments. Two cinema titans on the lyrics of one of the most spectacular and audience-rising melody.

Led Zeppelin - Moby Dick

2008-09-25T10:15:00.005+03:00

Led Zeppelin was the definitive heavy metal band. It wasn't just their crushingly loud interpretation of the blues - it was how they incorporated mythology, mysticism, and a variety of other genres (most notably world music and British folk) - into their sound. Led Zeppelin had mystique. They rarely gave interviews, since the music press detested the band. Consequently, the only connection the audience had with the band was through the records and the concerts. More than any other band, Led Zeppelin established the concept of album-oriented rock, refusing to release popular songs from their albums as singles. In doing so, they established the dominant format for heavy metal, as well as the genre's actual sound.

"Moby Dick" is an instrumental tune and drum solo of the band, featured on their 1969 album Led Zeppelin II. It was also known by the titles "Pat's Delight" and "Over the Top" during various points during the band's career.

According to Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham's wife, Pat, the tune is named "Moby Dick" because his son, Jason, asked him to play "the long song". When John asked why, the boy replied, "It's big like Moby."

This was Zeppelin drummer John Bonham's showcase song on early tours. His solo would last up to 20 minutes, while the rest of the band would leave the stage and grab a smoke. Bonham sometimes drew blood performing this from beating his hands on his snare and tom toms. The name of Bonham's drum solo was later changed to "Over The Top" for the 1977 US tour. It used the "Out On The Tiles" riff as an intro instead.

This evolved out of a drum solo Bonham would play called "Pat's Delight," which was named after his wife. Jimmy Page would often catch Bonham jamming in the studio, and recorded parts of it, then pieced it all together.

Page added a guitar riff to the mix, which came from "The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair," a song Led Zeppelin recorded live for the BBC in the Spring of 1969. It appears on the BBC Sessions album. Jimmy Page remixed this to flow seamlessly into "Bonzo's Montreux" on the Led Zeppelin boxed set.

Led Zeppelin often borrowed from American Blues recordings, and the guitar riff in this song bears a strong resemblance to the 1961 Bobby Parker song "Watch Your Step." Led Zeppelin has faced criticism for using parts of obscure Folk and Blues songs and passing them off as their own, but it should be noted that riffs cannot be copyrighted, and many famous musicians have borrowed in a similar fashion. A notable example is The Beatles "I Feel Fine," which was also influenced by Parker's "Watch Your Step."

In 1980, on 25 September - John "Bonzo" Bonham, of Led Zeppelin, died of asphyxiation on his own vomit. Although many had said that he died because alcohol abuse that day, it is well known the fact that he was the "reasonable" member of the band; according to the other members, he never took drugs and rearely drunk. Anyhow, the group decided to disband when they determined that their drummer cannot be replaced. Looking at this performance from the "Royal Albert Hall" concert in 1970, you can surrely agry.

part 1

part 2

Aerosmith

2008-09-24T09:19:00.005+03:00

Aerosmith was one of the most popular hard rock bands of the '70s, setting the style and sound of hard rock and heavy metal for the next two decades with their raunchy, bluesy swagger. The Boston-based quintet found the middle ground between the menace of the Rolling Stones and the campy, sleazy flamboyance of the New York Dolls, developing a lean, dirty riff-oriented boogie that was loose and swinging and as hard as a diamond.

In the meantime, they developed a prototype for power ballads with "Dream On," a piano ballad that was orchestrated with strings and distorted guitars. Aerosmith's ability to pull off both ballads and rock & roll made them extremely popular during the mid-'70s, when they had a string of gold and platinum albums. By the early '80s, the group's audience had declined as the band fell prey to drug and alcohol abuse. However, their career was far from over -- in the late '80s, Aerosmith pulled off one of the most remarkable comebacks in rock history, returning to the top of the charts with a group of albums that equalled, if not surpassed, the popularity of their '70s albums.

The lineup: Steven Tallarico (born March 26, 1948) on vocals, Joe Perry (born September 10, 1950) on lead guitar, Ray Tabano on rhythm guitar, Tom Hamilton (born December 31, 1951) on bass, and Joey Kramer (born June 21, 1950) on drums.

The band released 14 studio albums and 4 live, between 1973 and 2008. They won numerous awards and achievements, being one of the most rewarded band in the music history.

They remained famous for many singles, from which "Walk This Way", "Sweet Emotion", "Dream On", "Crazy" , "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing", "Pink" and some others.

"Crying" was released in the summer of 1993 as the third single from the hugely successful album "Get a Grip".

Guess the band from the picture

2008-09-23T09:15:00.002+03:00

R.E.M. - Losing My Religion

2008-09-22T09:14:00.003+03:00

R.E.M. mark the point when post-punk turned into alternative rock. When their first single, "Radio Free Europe," was released in 1981, it sparked a back-to-the-garage movement in the American underground. While there were a number of hardcore and punk bands in the U.S. during the early '80s, R.E.M. brought guitar pop back into the underground lexicon.

Combining ringing guitar hooks with mumbled, cryptic lyrics and a D.I.Y. aesthetic borrowed from post-punk, the band simultaneously sounded traditional and modern. Though there were no overt innovations in their music, R.E.M. had an identity and sense of purpose that transformed the American underground.

"Losing My Religion" was released in 1991, from their "Out of Time" album.

The title is a Southern expression meaning "At my wit's end," as if things were going so bad you could lose your faith in God. If you were "Losing your religion" over a person, It could also mean losing faith in that person. The band claims this is not about religion, although the video is full of religious imagery. Some Catholic groups protested the video.

The video is based in part on Gabriel Garcia Marquez' A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. The novel tells the story about an angel who falls down from heaven and how the people who make money displaying him as a "freak show."

The video was the first to show lead singer Michael Stipe dancing. The director hung out with the band to get ideas, and when he saw Stipe's spastic dance style, he thought it would look great in the video. Stipe (in Rolling Stone magazine): "I wanted to write a classic obsession song. So I did." Also, according to VH1's "True Spin" Michael Stipe wrote this song as a quasi-tribute to the Police's "Every Breath You Take." He was so inspired by the song that he wanted to create a song with a similar vibe. So it is about an obsession.

The song won the Grammy in 1991 for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix

2008-09-18T09:35:00.003+03:00

In his brief four-year reign as a superstar, Jimi Hendrix expanded the vocabulary of the electric rock guitar more than anyone before or since. Hendrix was a master at coaxing all manner of unforeseen sonics from his instrument, often with innovative amplification experiments that produced astral-quality feedback and roaring distortion. His frequent hurricane blasts of noise and dazzling showmanship - he could and would play behind his back and with his teeth and set his guitar on fire - has sometimes obscured his considerable gifts as a songwriter, singer, and master of a gamut of blues, R&B, and rock styles.

It's extremely difficult to separate the facts of Hendrix's life from rumors and speculation. Everyone who knew him well, or claimed to know him well, has different versions of his state of mind in 1970. Critics have variously mused that he was going to go into jazz, that he was going to get deeper into the blues, that he was going to continue doing what he was doing, or that he was too confused to know what he was doing at all. The same confusion holds true for his death: contradictory versions of his final days have been given by his closest acquaintances of the time. He'd been working intermittently on a new album, tentatively titled First Ray of the New Rising Sun, when he died in London on September 18, 1970, from drug-related complications.

"Little Wing" was part of his second album "Axis: Bold as Love" (1967). This song was inspired by the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, a concert held during 3 days of the "Summer of Love" (1967) featuring The Who, The Byrds, Janis Joplin, and many others. Attended by about 200,000 music fans, it happened 2 years before Woodstock. Jimi wrote about the atmosphere at the festival as if it was a girl. He described the feeling as "Everybody really flying and in a nice mood." He named it "Little Wing" because he thought it could just fly away.

The guitar on the song is played in a very unique style. Jimi frets the roots of chords with his thumb, and then elaborates on them. It often involves shifts of quartile to tertian harmony and vice versa. In theory it is quite similar to the Jazz style of chord melody. The percussion instrument that sounds like a xylophone is a glockenspiel, an instrument popular in marching bands containing steel bars that are stuck with hammers to produce notes. Jimi ran his guitar through a Leslie speaker to create an unusual sound. The Leslie speaker was designed for organs and contains a rotating paddle that distorts the sound.

In 1963 Jimi recorded a song that may have been a precursor to this. The song "Fox," which was one of his first recordings was played with sax player Lonnie Youngblood and sounded very similar to this.

This is one of the songs that had to be remixed just before the album was released when one of the master tapes went missing. No one ever found out what happened to the original tape but its been speculated that Jimi either accidentally left the tape in a taxi or purposely disposed of the tape because he wasn't satisfied with its sound.

This song, along with "Spanish Castle Magic," are the only songs Hendrix ever performed in concert from his Axis: Bold as Love album. He played this live only 8 times.

Hendrix has described this as being one of the few he likes from this album. He said "Little Wing" is "like one of those beautiful girls that come around sometimes." Hendrix enjoyed writing slow songs because it was easier to put emotion into them.

The same day they recorded "Layla," Eric Clapton and Duane Allman recorded this as a tribute to Jimi, who was one of their guitar heroes. Hendrix died 9 days later. He never heard their version of his song, which was released in 1970 on the Derek and the Dominos album, Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs.

Jimi Hendrix died on 18 September 1970.

Famous album covers : "Abraxas" - Santana

2008-09-17T11:34:00.003+03:00

"Abraxas" is the second album by Santana, the Latin rock n' roll group led by guitarist Carlos Santana. Consolidating their live success at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, and the interest generated by their first album the band took some time to issue a follow-up. Released in September 1970, the album's mix of rock and roll, blues, jazz, salsa and other influences made it a classic that defined Santana's early sound, and showed a musical maturation from their first album.

The meaning of this cover album would be absolutely blank without knowing the significance of the word "Abraxas".

The word Abraxas (or Abrasax or Abracax) was engraved on certain antique stones, called on that account Abraxas stones, which were used as amulets or charms. The name is found in the Greek Magical Papyri, and the word may be related to the word abracadabra, although other explanations exist. The name is also found in Gnostic texts such as the Gospel of the Egyptians. Abraxas has also been variously claimed throughout the centuries to be an Egyptian god, a demon, and to represent God and Satan in one entity and the dual nature of its essence.

The title of the album comes from a line from Herman Hesse's book Demian:"We stood before it and began to freeze inside from the exertion. We questioned the painting, berated it, made love to it, prayed to it: We called it mother, called it whore and slut, called it our beloved, called it Abraxas..."

When Carlos Santana was taken over to Mati Klarwein's studio to check out his artwork for a possible album cover, Klarwein happened to be out of the country, hanging out in Tangier with Timothy Leary. Guitarist and bandleader Santana loved one particular painting so much that he chose it to adorn Abraxas, his group's second album, and the arrangements were made without the two ever meeting face to face. To this day, Santana and Klarwein have not met or even spoken.

What attracted Santana to the work? "It was the congas between the angel's legs and the colors," he says. "I'd just discovered that music and color are food for the soul. When we looked at the painting, we said, 'Man, this is a great feast! Who did this?'"

Klarwein had painted the piece in 1963. He titled it The Annunciation, deriving its symbolism from the biblical story in which the archangel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will be giving birth to Jesus. The nude black Virgin Mary was a girlfriend of Klarwein's from Guadeloupe. Klarwein painted himself, wearing a straw hat, in the role of Joseph. A trio of Nigerian nomads are the Magi. Finally, a winged, crimson Gabriel is shown descending from heaven astride a conga drum. "Drums were always used to announce something," says Klarwein. "They were a medium of communication in Africa, and I put the angel announcing the birth by beating the drum." As Santana notes, "It fit like a hand and glove to the music."

The album also demonstrates Santana's stylistic versatility, including tracks such as "Samba pa Ti" (a classic slow-burning, seductive piece) and "Incident at Neshabur", both being instrumentals. The latter has several rhythm and time signature changes consistent with its jazz feel. Latin percussion — congas, bongos and timbales, as well as a conventional rock drum setup, make this Santana's first foray into true Latin rhythm. In 2003, the album was ranked number 205 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album achieved number 7 in the UK album charts.

This is "Samba pa ti"

Richard Wright tribute

2008-09-16T09:55:00.003+03:00

Richard William Wright (28 July 1943 - 15 September 2008) was a self-taught pianist and keyboardist best known for his long career with Pink Floyd. Though not as prolific a songwriter as his bandmates Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and David Gilmour, he wrote significant parts of the music for classic albums such as Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, as well as for Pink Floyd's final studio album The Division Bell. Wright’s richly textured keyboard layers were a vital ingredient and a distinctive characteristic of Pink Floyd's sound. In addition, Wright frequently sang background and occasionally lead vocals onstage and in the studio with Pink Floyd (most notably on the songs "Time", "Echoes", and on the Syd Barrett composition "Astronomy Domine").

In 1978, he released his first solo album, Wet Dream. The following year, Floyd's leader Roger Waters fired Wright and re-hired him as a sideman; when the group reformed minus Waters to release 1987's A Momentary Lapse of Reason, Wright was back on board, although he wasn't reinstated as a full-time member until the supporting tour for 1994's The Division Bell. After he had regained his full-time status in Floyd, Wright returned to his solo career, releasing the new age album Broken China in November of 1996.

Richard Wright, one of the founding members of the British band has passed away at only 65, Monday morning.

This is one of his songs from 1978 "Dark Side Of The Moon' album- "Great Gig In The Sky":

In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town - Johnny Long and his Orchestra

2008-09-12T09:22:00.002+03:00

The music was written by Ira Schuster and Jack Little, the lyrics by Joe Young. The song was published in 1932.

The Johnny Long Orchestra had a million seller of the song in 1946. This version was a slight revision of the Long band's 1940 version. Jerry Lee Lewis recorded a version in the winter of 1958/1959. Somethin' Smith and the Redheads re-charted the song in 1956.

This is a simple performance about joy, optimism, the fun and the pleasure of doing something and, of course, this is a song about a shanty in old shanty town.

In 1940, on this day (12 september), Johnny Long's Orchestra recorded this classic.

Pearl Jam

2008-09-11T09:11:00.002+03:00

Pearl Jam rose from the ashes of Mother Love Bone to become the most popular American rock & roll band of the '90s. After vocalist Andrew Wood overdosed on heroin in 1990, guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament assembled a new band, bringing in Mike McCready on lead guitar and recording a demo with Soundgarden's Matt Cameron on drums.

Thanks to future Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons, the demo found its way to a 25-year-old San Diego surfer named Eddie Vedder, who overdubbed vocals and original lyrics and was subsequently invited to join the band (then christened Mookie Blaylock after the NBA player). Dave Krusen was hired as the full-time drummer shortly thereafter, completing the original lineup. Renaming themselves Pearl Jam, the band recorded their debut album, Ten, in the beginning of 1991, although it wasn't released until August; in the meantime, the majority of the band appeared on the Andrew Wood tribute project Temple of the Dog. Krusen left the band shortly after the release of Ten; he was replaced by Dave Abbruzzese.

Compared with the other grunge bands of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam’s style is noticeably less heavy and harkens back to the classic rock music of the 1970s. Pearl Jam has cited many punk rock and classic rock bands as influences, including The Who, Neil Young, and the Ramones. Pearl Jam’s success has been attributed to its sound, which fuses "the riff-heavy stadium rock of the '70s with the grit and anger of '80s post-punk, without ever neglecting hooks and choruses."

Pearl Jam has broadened its musical range with subsequent releases. By 1994’s Vitalogy, the band began to incorporate more punk influences into their music. The band’s 1996 album, No Code, was a deliberate break from the musical style of Ten. The songs on the album featured elements of garage rock, worldbeat, and experimentalism. After 1998’s Yield, which was somewhat of a return to the straight-ahead rock approach of the band's early work, the band dabbled with experimental art rock on 2000’s Binaural and folk rock elements on 2002’s Riot Act. The band’s latest album, 2006’s Pearl Jam, was cited as a return to the band’s early sound.

Critic Jim DeRogatis describes Vedder's vocals as a "Jim Morrison-like vocal growl."^[68] Vedder's lyrical topics range from personal ("Alive", "Better Man") to social and political concerns ("Even Flow", "World Wide Suicide"). When the band started, Gossard and McCready were clearly designated as rhythm and lead guitarists, respectively. The dynamic began to change when Vedder started to play more rhythm guitar during the Vitalogy era. McCready said in 2006, "Even though there are three guitars, I think there's maybe more room now. Stone will pull back and play a two-note line and Ed will do a power chord thing, and I fit into all that."

The band released a total of 8 studio albums between 1991 and 2006, 7 live albums and gathered several awards, including 4 MTV Music Video Awards, in 1993 (for "Jeremy" video) and one Grammy in 1996 (Best Hard Rock Performance - "Spin the Black Circle").

This is "Even Flow" from "Ten" album:

Guess the band from the picture

2008-09-10T09:49:00.003+03:00

Otis Redding - (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay

2008-09-09T09:30:00.003+03:00

One of the most influential soul singers of the 1960s, Otis Redding exemplified to many listeners the power of Southern "deep soul" -- hoarse, gritty vocals, brassy arrangements, and an emotional way with both party tunes and aching ballads.

Otis Redding was the star recording artist for Stax Records, a Memphis label that made classic Soul music. They never recovered from the death of Redding in 1967, and Stax was shut down in 1975. In 2001, construction started on a Soul music museum where the studios once stood.

Redding started to compose this while he was recovering from surgery removing polyps from his vocal chords. The doctors told him not to sing or talk for six weeks after the operation.

Stax guitarist Steve Cropper wrote this with Otis Redding. Cropper produced the album when Redding died, including this with various songs Redding had recorded the last few years. In a 1990 interview on NPR's Fresh Air, Cropper explained: "Otis was one of those kind of guys who had 100 ideas. Anytime he came in to record he always had 10 or 15 different intros or titles, or whatever."

Redding died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967, 6 weeks before this hit was released and 3 days after he recorded it. It was by far his biggest hit and was also the first ever posthumous #1 single in the US. Redding was a rising star moving toward mainstream success at the time of his
death. There is a good chance he would have recorded many more hits if he had lived.

When Otis recorded this, he and Cropper didn't have a last verse written, so he whistled it. He planned to return to Memphis and fill in the verse after performing in Madison, Wisconsin, but he died before he had the chance. When Cropper produced the song, he left the whistling in, and it fit the mood of the song perfectly. It is probably the most famous whistling in any song.

Redding wrote this soon after listening to The Beatles' album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", which had just been released. Shortly before he started recording "Dock of the Bay," Redding alluded to it as an extension of the Beatles' music. In 1966 and 1967, Redding performed "A Hard Day's Night" and "Day Tripper" at some of his concerts.

Redding recorded this with Booker T. & the MG's, the house band for Stax Records. They played with all the Stax artists, including Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, and Albert King. Redding died 5 months before Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot in Memphis, where this was recorded. The mood of peace and harmony evoked in this song gave way to angry racial tensions. Booker T And The MGs contained 2 whites and 2 blacks, standing out as an integrated band in a segregated city.

In 1993, the 3 remaining members of Booker T. & the MG's (Steve Cropper, Donald "Duck" Dunn, and Booker T. Jones), backed Neil Young on his tour. They ended each show with this song.

During the Vietnam War, this was very popular with American troops fighting there. The song portrayed quite the opposite of their reality. The song is featured in the 1987 film Platoon, an Oliver Stone masterpiece about the war in Vietnam.

Music licensing company BMI named this as the sixth-most performed song of the 20th century, with around 6 million performances. This won 1968 Grammy Awards for Best Rhythm & Blues Performance, plus Best Rhythm & Blues Song for writers Otis Redding and Steve Cropper.

67 years ago, on the 9th of September 1941, Otis Redding was born. For many he remained the only king of blues in music history.

Nessun Dorma

2008-09-08T09:23:00.004+03:00

'Nessun dorma' ('None Shall Sleep') is an aria from the final act of Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot, and is one of the best known tenor arias.

The aria is sung by Calaf, Il principe ignoto (The unknown prince). In the preceding act, Calaf had challenged Princess Turandot to guess his name by dawn. If she did, she could execute him, but if she did not she would have to marry him. The cruel and emotionally cold princess then decreed that none of her subjects was to sleep that night until his name was discovered. If they failed, all would be killed.

'Nessun dorma' achieved pop status after Luciano Pavarotti's recording of it was used as the theme song of the BBC televison coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. It subsequently reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart, the highest placing ever by a classical recording.

It went on to become both Pavarotti's signature aria and a sporting anthem in its own right, especially for soccer. Pavarotti sang 'Nessun dorma' at his final performance, the finale of the Opening Ceremony of the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics. His Decca recording of the aria was played at his funeral during the flypast by the Italian Air Force, exactly one year ago.

This is one performance you want to begin your day with....

Counting Crows

2008-09-04T16:20:00.001+03:00

With their angst-filled hybrid of Van Morrison, the Band, and R.E.M., Counting Crows became an overnight sensation in 1994. Only a year earlier, the band was a group of unknown musicians, filling in for the absent Van Morrison at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony; they were introduced by an enthusiastic Robbie Robertson.

Early in 1993, the band recorded their debut album, August and Everything After, with T-Bone Burnett; it was released in the fall. It was a dark, somber record, driven by the morose lyrics and expressive vocals of Adam Duritz; the only up-tempo song, "Mr. Jones," became their ticket to stardom.

What made Counting Crows was how they were able to balance Duritz's tortured lyrics with the sound of the late '60s and early '70s; it made them one of the few alternative bands to appeal to listeners who thought that rock & roll died in 1972. Recovering the Satellites followed in 1996, and in 1998 they issued the two-disc Across a Wire: Live in New York.

Counting Crows' third studio album, This Desert Life, appeared in 1999. In the midst of recording and collaborating with Ryan Adams on his sophomore album, Gold, Duritz joined his band in the studio as well. The fruit of those sessions was the Steve Lillywhite-produced fourth album, Hard Candy.

The next year saw the release of the best-of Films About Ghosts, and in 2004 Counting Crows reminded fans of their ability to write a hit single with "Accidentally in Love," which appeared on the Shrek 2 soundtrack. Two years later, New Amsterdam: Live at Heineken Music Hall, recorded from a show on February 6, 2003, was made available to the public.

Counting Crows recorded 5 studio albums, one compilation and 2 live albums. Moreover they had over 15 singles and 8 movie soundtracks.

This is "Big Yellow Taxi" from their 2002 "Hard Candy" album.

Guess the band from the picture

2008-09-04T09:18:00.002+03:00

Tonight, Tonight - The Smashing Pumpkins

2008-09-03T09:21:00.002+03:00

This song is about life and the evolution of it. It may sound pathetic, but sometimes i miss simplicity. And this song is simple though meaningful.

Of all the major alternative rock bands of the early '90s, the Smashing Pumpkins were the group least influenced by traditional underground rock. Lead guitarist/songwriter Billy Corgan fashioned an amalgam of progressive rock, heavy metal, goth rock, psychedelia, and dream pop, creating a layered, powerful sound driven by swirling, distorted guitars.

The video showed the band floating on clouds in the night sky. It is based on the 1902 film "Trip to the Moon", by George Meiles. His name is the name of the ship at the end of the music video.

This won 6 MTV Music Video Awards: Video of the Year, Breakthrough Video, Best Direction Best Special Effects, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography. It was also nominated for Viewer's Choice Award and Best Editing.

Pumpkins bass player D'arcy liked the sets from the video a lot, so she put them in a barn on her farm.

This was written in the key of C instead of G, but Corgan couldn't sing it in C. It was recorded with a 30-piece string-section.

The line, "And the embers never fade in your city by the lake, The place where you were born" in a reference to Corgan's home city of Chicago, where Billy was born, raised, and still spends significant time. It is about a moment when he realized that he had become successful and his life was going to change dramatically. His dreams and ambitions were being realized and he knew he would have to be away from home. He knows he's changed in some ways, but he remains the same person in many more ways. The song has an acoustic reprise on the single where Billy sings the line.

Music dictionary - Post Rock

2008-09-02T09:28:00.002+03:00

Post-rock is a music genre characterized by the use of musical instruments commonly associated with rock music, but utilizing rhythms, harmonies, melodies, timbre, and chord progressions that are not found in rock tradition. Simply put, it is the use of 'rock instrumentation' for non-rock purposes. Practitioners of the genre's style typically produce instrumental music.

As with many musical genres, the term is arguably inadequate as a concise descriptor: for example, Don Caballero and Mogwai were among the more prominent bands of the 1990s described as post rock, but the two bands' music has very little in common besides the fact that they are both largely instrumental. As such, the term has been the subject of backlash from listeners and artists alike.

The post-rock sound incorporates characteristics from a variety of musical genres, including ambient, jazz, electronica, and experimental.[3] Early post-rock groups also often exhibited strong influence from the krautrock of the '70s, particularly borrowing elements of "motorik", the characteristic krautrock rhythm.

Post-rock compositions often make use of repetition of musical motifs and subtle changes with an extremely wide range of dynamics. In some respects, this is similar to the music of Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Brian Eno, pioneers of minimalism.[24] Typically, post-rock pieces are lengthy and instrumental, containing repetitive build-ups of timbre, dynamics and texture.

Some bands, such as Rachel's and Clogs, combine post-rock with classical music, while others such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor are so far removed from popular music in their sparseness of arrangement and use of repetition, that they are frequently compared to minimalism.

Wider experimentation and blending of other genres have recently taken hold in the post-rock scene. Isis and Pelican, among others, have fused metal with post-rock styles. The resulting sound has been termed post-metal.

Today, despite criticism of the term, post-rock has maintained its prominence and the genre has been subject to no shortage of groups claiming the title. Post-rock outfits Explosions in the Sky, Pelican and Mono have risen in popularity, showing the longevity of the disputed genre.

This is Explosion in the Sky with their performance in Seattle, in 2007 - "The birth and death of the day"

August day - Bebel Gilberto

2008-09-01T09:15:00.002+03:00

Gilberto family is from a famous musical family in Brazil. Bebel's father is João Gilberto, her mother is the singer Miúcha, and her uncle (Miúcha's brother) is Chico Buarque de Hollanda. She learned how to sing with Miúcha, and since she was a child, she was already participating in professional musicals like Saltimbancos and Pirlimpimpim.

Bebel Gilberto has been recording with worldly famous artists like Kenny G, David Byrne, Amon Tobin, Smoke City, the Thievery Corporation, Towa Tei, Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, and João Gilberto. Gilberto also has had worldwide success as a songwriter with the song "Technova."

In 1991, Gilberto moved to New York (where she was born) and began gigging in clubs, performing at the Lincoln Center, and working with David Byrne and Arto Lindsay, among others. In that year, she participated (together with Gal Costa, Naná Vasconcelos, and Laurie Anderson) in a tribute to Carmen Miranda, idealized by Arto Lindsay. She had noted participation in the productions that aimed at the dance music market with a Brazilian bossa nova scent, co-writing (with Deee-Lite's DJ/producer Towa Tei) the worldwide hit "Technova." She also appeared in singles by the Thievery Corporation ("Só Com Você") and the duo Arling & Cameron (on "Sem Contenção"). By the end of the '90s, she was living in England.

In 1998, Gilberto had a duet with João Gilberto in his Carnegie Hall concert. Her first solo album, Tanto Tempo, came finally in 2000 (Ziriguiboom) and had a good performance at the world music charts. Tanto Tempo went on to earn two Latin Grammy Nominations for Best New Artist and Best Música Popular Brasileira Album in 2001. Its companion Tanto Tempo Remixes was also issued that same year. Gilberto hooked up with producer Marius de Vries for her second album shortly thereafter. The introspective self-titled effort appeared in mid-2004, followed three years later by Momento, which featured appearances from Brazilian Girls and Orquestra Imperial.

Here is a warm, chill out melody about August...the most beauteous month of all year.

Famous album covers : "Dangerous" - Michael Jackson

2008-08-29T15:16:00.002+03:00

However controversial remains Michael Jackson's "involution" throughout last years, no person with a minimum music culture can deny the artistic value of the American singer.

"Dangerous" was released in 1991 having an enormous success, becoming his second best selling album (after Thriller).

The album was initally released in a large box with a picture of Michael Jackson's eyes, which folded open to reveal the normal cover (painted by pop surrealist Mark Ryden), in pop-up card, with the CD and booklet in the bottom. Dangerous was greatly anticipated, as shown by an incident at the Los Angeles International Airport, where a group of armed robbers stole 30,000 copies before its official release.

The album cover itself is really crowded, with several enigmatic elements. It emphasizes, more than the complexity of his music - the complexity of his character and moreover his image he had created. And that was just the beginning.

Many say the album cover contains masonic and satanist symbols.

What is known for sure is that the cover includes elements that he seldom have been using in his entire career, on and off stage: gold colored stuff, animals, children, a discreet image of him as a child in the bottom right corner, statues etc etc. A combination of bad taste, irony, opulence, artistic choreography, power, influence, jungle and urban in the same time, snobbery combined with humility.

This is what defines Michael Jackson's creations. Nothing is simple for him. When he became common, he stopped performing.

Today he turns 50.

"Jam" was the intro for all concerts in "Dangerous" tour. This is from the concert in Bucharest in 1992, one of the best performances in his career and in the history of music.

The last Time - Rolling Stones

2008-08-28T09:09:00.002+03:00

At a first "view', The Verve's version of "Bittersweet symphony" doesn't seem to be very similar to the 1965 Rolling Stones' hit.

In fact, "Bittersweet symphony" is the cover of the orchestral version of "The last time", composed by the Andrew Oldham Orchestra. This band is a side project fronted by Andrew Loog Oldham, the original manager of the Rolling Stones. Their fourth and last album - "Rolling Stones Songbook" features the orchestrated version of the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards song "The Last Time", which was sampled by The Verve for their track "Bitter Sweet Symphony".

This song did have some clear antecedents in black American music, in particular the 1964 James Brown single "Maybe the Last Time," which was itself based on ideas found in a traditional gospel song that had been recorded, but not written, by the Staple Singers. Some have accused the Stones of literally stealing from their black heroes, but "The Last Time" is clearly different from and more rock-oriented than the tracks recorded by James Brown and the Staple Singers, although there are some similarities in approach and the use of the title lyric.

The Stones recorded this in Los Angeles on a one day tour stopover on their way to Australia. The Stones were on a grueling American tour, but in order to capitalize on their success they wanted to keep cranking out singles, especially in England because they were not there. As a result, they frequently recorded in between American shows.

The opening guitar riff repeats throughout the song. This was an innovative device for a pop song at the time.

This was the first song Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote that was an A-side single. The Stones played a lot of covers before they learned to write songs.

The Who recorded this in 1967 as a show of support when The Stones were being held in England on drug charges.

Keith Richards: "When you start writing, the first batch of songs is almost always puerile ballads, for some reason - I think they're easier to write. To write a good rock and roll song is one of the hardest things because it has to be stripped down so simple, to that same basic format shared by rock and roll and rhythm and blues and Irish folk songs from thousands of years ago. It's a very simple form, and yet you have to find a certain element in there that still lives, that isn't just a rehash. It can REMIND you - and probably will - of something else, but it should still add something new, have a freshness and individuality about it. The rules on it are very strict, you see (laughs). I think The Last Time was the first one we actually managed to write with a BEAT, the first non-puerile song. It had a strong Staple Singers influence in that it came out of an old gospel song that we revamped and reworked. And I didn't actually realize until after we'd written it because we'd been listening to this Staple Singers album for 10 months or so. You don't go out of your way to LIFT songs, but what you play is eventually the product of what you've heard before."

Rolling Stones version:

Andrew Oldham Orchestra version:

Bittersweet Symphony

2008-08-27T09:28:00.003+03:00

One hit band...
This was the only hit for The Verve, who never released another album. Their previous albums were A Northern Soul, which was released in 1995 and featured a darker side; A Storm In Heaven, released in 1993 was a psychedelic rocker; and No Come Down is a collection of the B-sides from A Storm in Heaven. After Urban Hymns, their lead singer, Richard Ashcroft, launched a successful solo career.

The video featured Ashcroft bumping into people as he walked down Hoxton Street, a crowded shopping area in London. It was inspired by the video for Massive Attack's 1991 song "Unfinished Sympathy," which was showed the singer walking down a street in a similar manner.

This samples an obscure orchestral version of "The Last Time," a 1965 song by the Rolling Stones. This was recorded before they got permission from the Stones to use the riff, so The Verve had to sign away most of the royalties from this in order to release it.

The publishing rights to this went to Allen Klein, The Rolling Stones' former manager. The Stones signed a very lopsided contract with Klein early in their career, and had to make huge concessions in order to get out of it. Part of the deal gave Klein the publishing rights to all of the Stones' songs through 1969. He made, and continues to make, far more money than anyone else from this song. Nike used this in commercials. Klein got royalties from those.

Upset that he lost the royalties, Ashcroft said this was "The best song Jagger and Richards have written in 20 years."

But what is truly funny is that the song was inspired by a 1955 Gospel song of the same name by The Staples Singers. Many Gospel fans felt The Stones ripped it off, since The Staples Singers never got any royalties from it. Since it is a traditional song (meaning no one owns the rights to it), many artists have recorded it, but The Stones were a very high-profile band that had success reworking songs by black artists into hits. Many people believe The Stones should have compensated The Staples Singers because it was based on their version of the song.

-to be continued-