What kind of decisions are being made and who gets to make them?

Well, today children, we are going to learn all about ‘show biz‘. You want to  be in show biz? Do you worry that stuff like Megaupload is going to be the cause of your ultimate bankruptcy? Don’t you kid yourself! The odds dictate that you’ll likely be one of the many who’ll be dropped from the label and out of business long before one of the 7,000 people who bought your album, uploads it to the world.

Must We Rock?

Very few people can actually ‘make a living‘ at music. Most have to have a real job, selling hot dogs or writing newspaper CD reviews in order to pay their rent. Most who DO make a living at music, DO NOT make it from album sales. They never have! They have to supplement it by touring. And sell T-shirts. And ultimately, find ways to use the internet to generate an income somehow. In fact, that’s the future, isn’t it? You’d be best not to even bother with a record label anymore. It’s an archaic business model that has no relevance whatsoever to the present day world and the way entertainment is consumed.

What we’re going to do now is learn all about the ‘record business‘, their exciting business methods and their creative accounting procedures. Read the rest

McCartney has confirmed the new album title and artwork for his new album which is supposed to be out on Feb 6.

  Paul McCartney – Kisses On The Bottom 

It’s basically another covers album with two new McCartney songs. It’s a collection of standards he grew up with as a kid, so presumably it’s not a rock and roll album. Diana Krall and her band, Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder appear on his album of old American songs he grew up with, in most cases, hearing them for the first time being played on the piano at home by his father.

Ringo of course did the same thing back in 1970 for his solo debut Sentimental Journey. Lots of people didn’t like it very much, but they can suck it! I liked it. I just hope Paul’s album doesn’t sound like all those trendy standards albums that have been coming out in the last few years like Rod Stewart’s. That’s merely my opinion.

A review will be forthcoming.

Time flies. 1962 was the ‘official’ start to The Beatles history as far as we knew it. Their first single was issued in October. But before we get there, let’s start at the beginning.

January 1, 1962 was the big day of the Decca audition session. Brian Epstein had become manager in November of ’61 and immediately set about getting the boys a recording contract. The Beatles had two heavy duty years of perfecting their sound and their act and developed a great following in Merseyside and were now getting desperate to legitimise their existence and efforts by getting a recording contract.

By this time, Brian had got them into suits and they no longer ate, drank or swore on stage so they might be easier to accept by a potential record company.

Read the rest

Yummy, yummy, yummy, I got love in my tummy! Lots of great boxing day sales. Picked up a few great albums at the charity store. This strange week that lies between the celebration of the sun god’s birth and the holiday for Janus is perfect for listening to this wonderful stuff. Without further adoo:

Like the Jackson 5 and The Beach Boys, these sibling’s weird dad forces them to become rock stars. Unlike the Jackson 5 and The Beach Boys, they weren’t actually talented (but also, not screwed up by dad either). The Shaggs (American obviously) are a bit of a cult favorite though:

Philosophy of the world – The Shaggs

Everybody loves the Beatles, right? What a great find:

Beatles in Bossa Nova – I Should Have Known Better

I have NO clue what this is. It’s wonderful nevertheless:

TROLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLO

And a nice French/Canadian beat combo from Quebec. We all like a nice froggy folk tune: Seriously, these guys are pioneers in prog/thrash!

Voivod – Tribal Convictions

I will have to eventually start cleaning up the Ovaltine spills before people start showing up around here again. And then I have to act sensible and talk about ‘real‘ music again. “Oh sorry Mater, but I’m off to play the grand piano.” The Hammond organ greats not good enough for you? You weed!

A Way Hey Hey!!! It looks like I’m the only one here tonight and maybe for the rest of the week. That means I can run around and yell as loud as I want, wear my shoes in here and leave footprints all over the posts, and play any old music I want that everybody else would hate. Since nobody’s here I can mix up a glass of Ovaltine and Git Down!!

Lessee, what shall I play first? How about a nice musical interlude by Boredoms. Japan has a lot of extreme groups. I don’t know what it is. Something in the water supply.

Boredoms live

Hmm… How about some Caroliner! They’ve been mentioned elsewhere here in the past but the video has gone missing so here’s a nice link to a live Caroliner creation… I thought the Bay City Rollers were strange, with those crazy trousers but these guys top even them.

Caroliner at the Dionysus Disco

That is AWESUM! I know I got more stuff,,,This is Magical Unicellular Music. An outfit from various Russian states made up of several different lineups in several different cities, releasing music simultaneously, that is mainly drone-y or focused on improv around one note.  I’ll get into these guys another time. The ‘philosophy’ is interesting.

Magical Unicellular Music 5 – I’m a Tambourine Man

Oh jes one moe. This is a favorite of mine. Maybe your great grandfather liked this guy. Roy Acuff occupies space on my iPod and now he occupies space here.

Roy Acuff-Wabash Cannon Ball

And the great thing about all of this music I posted, you can actually dance to it. Much in the same way you would dance to Revolution 9.

There. Wasn’t that nice? When the scarf is moth eaten and the marbles are lost from your Pink Floyd Immersion box sets and the coasters are stained and have fallen down behind the stove, just come on around here and we’ll suggest something for you to listen to.

Last year I made a real effort to listen to a lot of new music (which is why I was able to come up with this top 10 albums of 2010 list.)

This year I haven’t made that effort. But a lot of other people have. So here’s a best of of best of 2011 lists to give you some ideas of what new albums may be worth your time.

The AV Club

1. Wye Oak – Civilian
2. Fucked Up – David Comes To Life
3. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
4. Low – C’mon
5. Wilco – The Whole Love

Read the rest

Remember these guys?

You may not appreciate it at this point but these guys were a sort of cutting edge rock and roll group for their time. They were a self contained song writing, performance and production unit, that lyrically addressed in any depth for the first time, the youth culture of California of their day. There were other groups that represented the surf culture of the time but they were mainly instrumental twangy surf groups with only regional appeal. No one had yet lyrically put this whole scene on the map nationally.

I don’t need to go too deeply into a detailed account of their history, but with three brothers, a cousin and a good friend, with an insane talent for tight harmonies that no one else comes close to, and a bit of help from the Wilson brothers’ creepy idiot father, and Brian Wilson‘s natural talent for writing music and arranging these insane harmonies of the top of his little Hawthorne Valley, California  head, they uniquely represented for the whole country and the world, a romantic vision of the surf, cars and girls lifestyle on the beach, just as we all imagined it would be like.

As time went on and Brian and the group’s creations became more and more adventurous and successful, they began to make a permanent mark in American culture. The Beach Boys. All American good guys. Until Pet Sounds. Read the rest

Hi kids: My home stereo quit some time ago and my car stereo quit some time ago and my computer, I don’t think will last a month, so it’s no wonder that I’m irritable and alienating all my friends with my crass, anti-social, self pitying behavior.

But look at it from my point of view. If you’re looking at this site, you probably like music or something, so imagine if all you have to play it on is an iPod. And you have to share it with your wife who also loves to listen to music, and you have to listen on your computer on an old set of second hand speakers, without the recommended amount of ‘hi’ or ‘fi’, and you have to drive around in total silence while you go out to pick up your prescription or dry cleaning, or are on your way to fight your traffic ticket in court, because the bloody signs are so bloody confusing, and it was the last day of the month and the officer in question was just trying to bump up his ticket numbers before the end of the month to impress the brass down at city hall, in the hopes that he’ll eventually be taken off traffic duty and given a cool posting in homicide or vice, and eventually work his way up to commissioner and just have to sit at a desk and force the traffic cops to increase the city’s income by issuing more and more questionable by-law violations as provincial traffic violations and putting some poor law-abiding citizen on the screws, just because the officer in question hates his job and wishes he were in homicide or vice, or better yet, gone fishing!

I’m getting hungry now so that also makes me irritable, so I better leave before I insult someone. By the way, here’s another neat cover version. After all, this is a music blog. It’s about music you know! For all of those who believe that the sacred should not be violated by the profane:

The Fall – A Day In The Life – YouTube

When I was in England in ’88, NME put out this Sgt Pepper cover album for a child help-line charity. This was one of the better covers.

Over and (likely) out.

Amadeus (Rock Me)

As a self appointed cultural director in all of your personal lives, I strongly advise you to get these “Important Albums“, because one day, you will inevitably be on a boat for a ‘three hour tour‘ (yes that’s right, A three hour tour) and you will be shipwrecked with a millionaire and his wife, a professor, a movie star (hilarious hijinx will ensue) and you will wish you had a varied music collection to last you through the long years of coconut flavoured exile.

This list of 5 is quite a varied collection of sounds that sometimes go against popular opinion. But with an eternity with the coconuts and Marianne, the popular choice will soon become unbearably boring and you’ll wish that you had these tasty little nuggets. Read the rest