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.
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)
I will post soon the discograpy of Deep Purple and
song meanings for "Smoke on The Water". Untill
then, enjoy it loud.
Read also:
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:
Read also:
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.
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.
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".
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:
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.
Def Leppard, in some ways, was the definitive hard rock band of the '80s. There were many bands that rocked harder, and were more dangerous, than the Sheffield quintet, but few others captured the spirit of the times quite as well.
Emerging in the late '70s as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, the group actually owed more to the glam rock and metal of the early '70s -- their sound was equal parts T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Queen, and Led Zeppelin. By toning down their heavy riffs and emphasizing melody, Def Leppard was poised for crossover success by 1983's Pyromania, but skillfully used the fledgling MTV network to their advantage.
The group was already blessed with photogenic good looks, but they also crafted a series of innovative, exciting videos that made them into stars. They intended to follow Pyromania quickly but were derailed when their drummer lost an arm in a car accident, the first of many problems that plagued the group's career.
Def Leppard managed to pull through such tragedies, and they even expanded their large audience with 1987's blockbuster Hysteria. As the '90s began, mainstream hard rock shifted away from Leppard's signature pop-metal and toward edgier, louder bands, yet the group maintained a sizable audience into the late '90s and were one of only a handful of '80s metal groups to survive the decade more or less intact.
The group was formed in Sheffield, England in 1977; founding members included lead singer Joe Elliot (b. 1 August 1959), bassist Rick Savage (b. 2 December 1960) and guitarist Pete Willis. Drummer Rick Allen (b. 1 November 1963) and guitarist Steve Clark (b. 23 April 1960) joined the band shortly thereafter.
Their discography includes 14 studio albums and several singles and live productions.
"Pour some sugar on me" is part of "Hysteria" album in 1987. It reached number 2 on the U.S. Hot 100. It later became an MTV classic, and is generally regarded as their signature song. The title of the song alludes to the coda of the 1969 bubblegum pop classic "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies.
Who's who and where
