The first, is none other than the legendary late Ronald Belford! Who is that you ask? Well, take a look at this…
The Late, Great Bon Scott (July 9th, 1946 – February 19th, 1980)! The original (and some say the best) singer for Australia’s AC/DC.
Happy Birthday Bon, wherever you are…
The second Scottish Birthday Boy is singer-songwriter Jim Kerr (b. 1959), frontman for long-standing Scottish band Simple Minds, who happen to be this photographers favorite band!
Most people know Simple Minds from their one-big-hit “Don’t You Forget About Me“, from the 80′s Film Classic ‘The Breakfast Club‘. However, they have a 30+ year career, with many great songs that you may not have heard before, so let’s check out a couple, shall we?
Here’s “Someone, Somewhere, In Summertime”…
Yes, you are right! Charlie Burchill does wear his guitar too high! But it’s not his birthday is it?
Here’s “East At Easter”…
I’d heard of Interpol before I’d heard the music. Everyone was talking about Joy Division this, Joy Division that, and i just couldn’t be bothered by something like that. However, on the way back from a trip to Hollywood’s Amoeba Records, sitting in the back of my managers car, he put on their self-titled EP…
At deafeningly loud levels, I was converted. And i fell especially in love with this song…
I don’t think they sound anything like Joy Division actually. That’s just lazy journalism! Anyone with a passing knowledge of pre-Nirvana alternative music and ears to hear will tell you that Interpol are a blend of The Chameleons UK and Kitchens Of Distinction.
Interpol released 3 albums since that car ride and I’ve enjoyed them all and now they’re ready to release they’re fourth album which is to remain untitled.
They’ve lost the coolest bass player to come along in two decades in Carlos D (who is in fact on the album), but will soldier on as a 3 piece (with hired guns to fill in, I suspect).
The new video is terrible, but the song is good so let’s give it a go…
Here’s ‘Lights’
You can find bootleg live versions of the new tracks online; if you’re into spoilers. However I’m going to wait until I can get my hands on the record. I don’t want poor quality phone video sound to be my 1st impression of a long awaited record. If cannot wait, find the band on tour HERE! Otherwise, the album gets it’s release September 7th, and can be pre-ordered HERE!
Whenever you hear or read about ‘Classic Bowie‘, it’s usually followed by references to ‘Ziggy Stardust‘ or the Berlin years with Eno. Either that, or it’s a hatchet job on his post-70′s material. All of which fail to do the man justice, frankly. If you want to know what’s up with Bowie, ask a fan, don’t listen to the critics. They’ll just fill you in on what the cognoscenti think, which is so far from Reality as to be fictional.
David Bowie‘s underrated classic ‘Station To Station‘ gets the remastered/repackaged treatment for public consumption September 20th! From the opening track, Bowie leaves the glam-rock and plastic soul behind for futuristic robotic crooning. After briefly looking back with “Golden Years“, he ventures back into space until crashing back to Earth again with maybe the best version of ‘Wild Is The Wind‘ ever recorded.
Let’s check out the sound & vision of a couple of tracks!
Here’s ‘TVC15′, performed on German Television with Adrian Belew on guitar…
How about another track from the same performance?
Here’s ‘Stay’…
The remastered & repackaged versions will delight the casual listener and the fanatic in equal measures, with both a ‘Special Edition’ & a ‘Deluxe Edition’ available for those with extra change lying around…
Voyager One has just released a new E.P. It may also be their last as guitarist Jeramy Koepping has been keeping busy lately with Grand Hallway. Well, at least they end on a high note! Here is my fave tune from the “Geography E.P.“, ’1000 Miles, 1000 Deaths’
If you ever wanted to start a band that fused The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Flaming Lips with John Lennon on vox, well, time for plan B as these boys have beat you to it. Perth, Australia’s Tame Impala are soon to be the next Indie household name, so why not get acquainted with them right now?
Last month we finally got the debut album “InnerSpeaker” and this is the great first single (do they have singles anymore?) ‘Solitude Is Bliss’
Videos are cool and everything, but live is where it counts, and this is a great clip from Camp Nowhere, here’s ‘Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind?’
I need one more to keep vibing…
From their self-titled 2008 EP, here’s ‘Half Full Glass Of Wine’, instrument swapping in full effect…
This August, Eels will release their 3rd album in 14 months! “Tomorrow Morning” will complete the trilogy that started with “Hombre Lobo“, followed by “End Times” earlier this year!
If you can’t wait E has given us a sneak peak at what’s to come here. While the trilogy deals with broken love, this new track sees things ‘Looking Up‘ as Eels take us to church…
There’s no video for it yet, so let’s take a look at this creepy one from “End Times“; Here’s ‘Unhinged’…
Today is the birthday of Nicholas James Bates, better known as Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran.
However, everyone knows about Duran Duran, so let’s focus today’s blog on Mr. Rhodes’ extra-curricular activities, shall we?
In early 1983, Nick discovered the band Kajagoogoo and co-produced their debut single “Too Shy” which became a UK #1. A friend recently gave me their debut LP, which i’d not heard before, and i have to say…it’s terrible, really. However, “Too Shy” is still the jam, even if it’s a low-grade DD ripoff…
In 1985, Duran Duran took an indefinite hiatus, but Nick couldn’t just lay back and enjoy his new found wealth. No, a mind like his must always be creating, so he gave Simon Le Bon a ring and they started what initially was meant to be an EP. Things were going so well, however, that they drafted in Roger Taylor and recorded the best album that Duran Duran never made! Here’s Arcadia, with “Goodbye Is Forever”…
Nick concentrated on the band for the next decade or so, but by the mid-90′s was getting restless again. So he partnered up with Warren Cuccurullo for another DD-side-project, called ‘TV Mania’. It has remained unreleased for the best part of 2 decades now, but there are murmurings of it finally seeing the light of day this year! ‘TV Mania’ was also the name the boys dubbed themselves for production work, and here’s a video for the unreleased track by a reunited Blondie in 1997…
In 1999, Nick felt like mining the past for a bit, and maybe hedging his bets perhaps? He teamed up with original DD singer Stephen Duffy for The Devils. Notable in that they recorded and composed the record using only the technology that was available to them when they first joined forces in 1979. The result is the fantastic LP “Dark Circles“, and here’s a sample of it…
In 2002, Nick again stepped up to the production desk for “Welcome To The Monkeyhouse” by The Dandy Warhols, giving them their most listenable album (for me). Admittedly, they were just trying to BE Duran Duran, check out the video…
…still, it’s pretty good…
Happy 48th Birthday Nick! I can’t wait to hear what’s next…
In 1983 my friends and I set out on our little Rolling Stones adventure. Their concert film ‘Let’s Spend The Night Together‘ had just come out, and we were determined to get to the Cinedome to see it. Easier said than done, since we were 11 and our parents wouldn’t let us. So we devised a plan, that involved lying to them, getting out of school early (somehow) and hiking the 10 miles to the theater. The latter would prove our undoing, as it gave the ‘rents time to track us down. I spent the next 2 weeks restricted to my house! In defiance, i refused to remove my Rolling Stones t-shirt that i bought from the local stoner at the arcade.
I never did see that film so, I had to settle for clips on MTV…
You may have noticed these last couple of weeks, The Rolling Stones have been all over the place promoting the re-release of their classic “Exile On Main Street” album, which came out more than a decade before my little mis-adventure. I’m reminded of how much talk there was about the age of the band way back in 1983 and whether or not they should call it a day. Seems absurd now-a-days, seeing the likes of Keith couch surfingthe various television talk shows.
As for the reissue, well, it’s really only notable for the new songs, which from what i understand were started back in ’71 or ’72, and finished last year. Some haters will poo-poo this, but i actually think it’s a great idea. I mean, they could have stayed unfinished and unheard, but watch this next clip and listen to music that’s still greater than what American Idol is serving up!
However, if you already have ‘Exile’, which if you love the Stones like me, you probably do, i would recommend hitting up Target. I know it’s not exactly the hippest of music stores, nor is it your local indie, but sometimes cheap is cheap, and Target offers JUST THE BONUS DISC for $10! These tracks are easily worth that, and you do not have to settle for low-quality mp3′s from iTunes… You’re welcome!
As for the age of The Rolling Stones, peeps should remember that while our idols are young, skinny, heroin-chic rock stars, their idols were Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and countless Chicago Bluesmen, all playing until they cannot play no more! So why should Mick, Keith & the boys stop? Just keep on keepin’ on…
