The all-new Pipettes are playing the Popadelica festival in Sweden on May 1, and their performance will be streamed live right here. The time has been announced as 5.15PM GMT. This is one of our first chances to hear the new lineup and material. I have been underwhelmed with the couple of songs that have made the blogosphere so far, but I'll reserve final judgment until I have heard the entire album, 'Earth vs. Pipettes,' out June 28 on Fortuna POP!
I kind of lost interest in these guys after their stunning debut, 'Turn On The Bright Lights,' but this one sounds pretty good. No info quite yet on a new album, but we should hear soon. I really dig the Joy Division vibe on "Lights."
It's no secret that last year I fell hard for Girls. 'Album' was my second favorite record of the year. "Lust For Life" was my No. 2 track of 2009. This one, "Laura," landed at No. 15. So, yes, I am excited Mates of State gave out this one as a preview to 'Crushes (The Covers Mixtape).' There is still no release date, but check out the songs Mates of State selected. Prior to first listen I worried whether a male/female duo would be able to capture the passion and distress of the original. Not only did they do a great job, but they managed to make the song their own. I especially like the back and forth during the name-calling verse. Well done.
Tracklisting 1. Laura (Girls) 2. Son et Lumiere (The Mars Volta) 3. Sleep the Clock Around (Belle & Sebastian) 4. Technicolor Girls (Death Cab for Cutie) 5. Long Way Home (Tom Waits) 6. Love Letter (Nick Cave) 7. Second Hand News (Fleetwood Mac) 8. 17 Pink Sugar Elephants (Vashti Bunyan) 9. Roller Coaster Ride (Dear Nora) 10. True Love Will Find You in the End (Daniel Johnston)
It really is the end of an era. EMI's struggles continue as we learn Paul McCartney is taking his post-Beatles catalog to Concord Music Group. Those are the folks that released his last studio album, 'Memory Almost Full,' as well as the live album 'Good Evening New York City.' Concord's first reissue of Sir Paul's work will be this fall with 'Band On The Run.'
As with all of the reissues, we have been promised remastered audio, enhanced packaging and rare bonus content. Is it possible Concord will have some material we haven't heard? That thought alone is what makes this announcement so exciting. More than two dozen albums are up for the deluxe treatment, including his solo albums, Wings discography and everything he recorded under the monikers Percy "Thrills" Thrillington, Twin Freaks and his Fireman collaboration with producer Youth. C'mon, Concord, 'Ram' these babies through ASAP.
I, for one, was pretty disappointed with the 25th Anniversary Edition of 'Band On The Run.' The bonus disc was filled with a lot of rehearsals and live versions of the album's songs that were recorded in the '80s and '90s. At least give us these tunes from the time period being covered... and from Wings! Worse, many of the tracks are recollections from McCartney himself as the song being discussed is playing in the background. How often does even a die-hard fan listen to those? Here are a couple of that bonus disc's better moments. Please, Concord, do better than this with your deluxe edition!
In celebration of the upcoming release 'Love And Its Opposite,' Merge has made Tracey Thorn's "Why Does The Wind? (UK Radio Mix)" available for download. You can also grab it below. Like '90s-era Everything But The Girl, this version is much more dance-oriented than the one that appears on the upcoming album. I'm a much bigger fan of EBTG's earliest work (i.e. not the dance stuff), but I have to admit this one sounds pretty good, too. I'll also include her new song, "Oh, The Divorces!" that I posted back in February. These songs have really piqued my interest. Mark your calendar for May 18, or pre-order the LP here.
NPR does it again! Click here to listen to the New Pornographers' 'Together.' You have another week to save your cents to buy this one. I can't wait. Pre-order from Matador and receive a free 7" with three unreleased tracks and a poster.
Congratulations to Paul Weller. 'Wake Up The Nation' just missed debuting at No. 1 this week on the UK album chart. In case you're interested, AC/DC beat him out for the top spot with the soundtrack to 'Iron Man 2.' If you were a fan of the former Jam and Style Council frontman but sort of lost track of him during his solo years, this is the album that will bring you back into the fold. Check out a couple of tunes below, and then buy it here. The U.S. release is June 1. As a bonus, if you pre-order it from Yep Roc, receive 'Hit Parade,' a 23-song, career-spanning Weller compilation for free. Wow!
Curtain Call is an occasional series where I present one of my favorite live albums.
I imagine most fans discovered Van Dyke Parks the same way I did. I'm a huge fan of the Beach Boys and, as a lad, I kept seeing his name pop up in relation to the 'SMiLE' sessions and in books about the band. It wasn't long before I gave his first album, 'Song Cycle' a try. I thought it was one of the strangest pieces of vinyl to hit my turntable. Several years passed before I tried any of his work again. In 1994, Demon Records released an import compilation called 'Idiosyncratic Path: The Best of Van Dyke Parks' that I immediately snatched up. I wish it would have been my introduction to his work because I really liked it. Now he's one of my favorites.
In 1995, I caught the film on Brian Wilson called 'I Just Wasn't Made For These Times.' There was a short clip of Parks and Wilson working together on a new album. We were treated to a few seconds of Parks on piano while Wilson sang "Orange Crate Art." That got me pretty excited for the album of the same name that came out less than a year later. It was great to have these two geniuses working together again, and it is a relationship that has brought us several good songs on various albums since then, as well as the belated official release of 'SMiLE' in 2004.
Park's 'Moonlighting' is a Sept. 7, 1996 recording (released in 1998) from the Ash Grove in Los Angeles. The album title stems from the fact that Parks was spending most of his days scoring television shows and movies. Parks said at the time: "For me, playing live is, first and foremost, a chance to find the time and place for musicians to come together and enjoy themselves. It also gives me the opportunity to get out of the studio and off the sound stage, where I spent so much of my time and make music at close range, without the reliance on various technical enhancements, Finally, it's always fun to go up in the attic and pull old material out of the trunk."
It's an intimate show filled with old favorites and a few newer tunes from 'Orange Crate Art.' At the time of its release, I was most interested in those songs because I wanted to hear what they sounded like sans Wilson. I'll include a couple of those, plus the opener from his 1984 album 'Jump!'
A few weeks ago over at Popdose, Jeff Giles wrote an entertaining piece called "Six Artists We Wish Would Retire." I immediately agreed with four of Popdose's choices. They were Prince, R.E.M., Sting and U2. I had no opinion about one of them. I'm just not familiar enough with LL Cool J to agree. The one artist I was on the fence about was Elvis Costello.
In full disclosure, for much of my life Costello was my favorite artist. I even bought all of his genre-hopping records such as 'North' and 'The Juliet Letters.' It was Popdose's contention Costello "started sucking" after 'Spike.' That meant he has put out sub-par work for more than 20 years. That's not possible, is it?
Let's go to the discography. 'Mighty Like A Rose' was the followup to 'Spike.' Up to that point I had only disliked one other Costello record. It was back in 1984 when 'Goodbye Cruel World' came out. It felt like the Attractions were sorely missed. Next was 'The Juliet Letters' with the Brodsky Quartet. All I could think was, please, bring back Steve Nieve. My prayers were answered in 1994 when Costello and the boys reunited for 'Brutal Youth.' I really liked most of the record, but I felt like it was too long and sort of ran out of gas in the second half. That's a feeling I wouldn't be able to shake on future records.
So, I continued this discography checklist and found many more nays than yeas. The others I liked were 'All This Useless Beauty' and 'When I Was Cruel.' I was lukewarm about 'Kojak Variety' and 'Momofuku.' Anything else from the '90s and '00s were records I owned but never (and I mean never) listen to. To sum up, in two-plus decades, I really liked three albums and sort of liked two others. This little exercise also brought me to the realization that he has been recycling quite a bit of his old material. He covered himself on 'Secret, Profane & Sugarcane,' 'My Flame Burns Blue' and others. As with instrumentals, this seems like a move from an artist that's phoning it in. I'm still not 100-percent convinced he should retire, but his more recent work shows this is not the Elvis Costello I grew up admiring.
Here are a few recent songs from his catalog that often make it on my Costello mixes. These are the ones that make it impossible for me to say "retire already!"
I have a huge soft spot for Crowded House. Way back in the day I bought the band's debut album the first time I ever hung out with my future wife. Two things might come to your mind: 1)Geez, who takes a date to a record store? 2) Man, you have been with your wife a really long time. I have bought every album Crowded House has released since that first one in 1986, and I have never been disappointed. Now comes news the lads will return with its sixth studio album, 'Intriguer,' on June 14. Just as exciting, the band will tour America and Canada beginning July 14. Are you still not satisfied? Then go to Crowded House's Web site to download a brand-new song. "Saturday Sun," one of 10 songs from the new album, will be available for a limited time. Here is my favorite tune from their last album, 2007's 'Time On Earth.' Enjoy.
This past Saturday, to celebrate Record Store Day, you no doubt read that Blur assembled an extremely limited run of a brand-new 7" single to be had at UK record stores. The 1,000 copies of "Fool's Day," of course, sold out in a blink of an eye. Just for kicks, I checked out ebay a few minutes ago. I see at least nine copies of the 45. Looks like you will pay anywhere from $68 to $231 for the song. Ouch. Well, never fear. It's not nearly as cool as owning this rare piece of vinyl, but Blur has decided to give away the song as a download on its Web site. I suggest you go there right now since the band could take it down at any given moment. To put the tune into historical perspective, this is the first time the four lads have recorded together since "Battery In Your Leg" from 'Think Tank' back in 2003. There are no plans for another reunion either. Go get it. They sound great.
Hot on the heels of two splendid Duran Duran deluxe editions earlier this year -- 'Rio' and Arcadia's 'So Red The Rose' -- we now have news that on May 18 the band's 1981 eponymous debut and 1983's 'Seven and the Ragged Tiger' will also get the same treatment. Both remastered titles' limited edition packages will be presented with lift-off-lid boxes, replicated U.K. album art and posters from the original Japanese LP releases, plus five postcards. Wow, and we haven't even talked about the audio and video yet.
First, 'Duran Duran' comes as a two CD/one DVD package. The first CD is the entire original album remastered, as well as four B-sides. The second CD is the famed AIR Studios versions and Manchester Square demos of several 'Duran Duran'-era songs. Many of these date back to 1980. There is also a Peter Powell session from BBC Radio 1 that was recorded on June 19, 1981. The disc ends with night versions and night mixes of "Planet Earth" and "Girls on Film." Disc three is a DVD with six music videos, including the uncensored version of "Girls on Film." The set ends with eight videos taken from British television performances on shows like 'Top Of The Pops' and 'Old Grey Whistle Test.'
Disc One 1. Girls On Film 2. Planet Earth 3. Anyone Out There 4. To The Shore 5. Careless Memories 6. Night Boat 7. Sound Of Thunder 8. Friends Of Mine 9. Tel Aviv 10. Late Bar [from "Planet Earth" 7" & 12" single - released Feb. 21, 1981] 11. Khanada [from "Careless Memories" 7" & 12" single - released May 9, 1981] 12. Fame [from "Girls On Film" 12" single - released July 25, 1981] 13. Faster Than Light [from "Girls On Film" 7" & 12" single - released July 25, 1981]
Disc Two 1. Girls On Film - Previously Unreleased (AIR Studios Versions [recorded July 29, 1980]) 2. Tel Aviv - Previously Unreleased (AIR Studios Versions [recorded July 29, 1980]) 3. Anyone Out There - Previously Unreleased (Manchester Square Demos -- recorded Dec. 8, 1980) 4. Planet Earth - Previously Unreleased (Manchester Square Demos -- recorded Dec. 8, 1980) 5. Friends Of Mine - Previously Unreleased (Manchester Square Demos -- recorded Dec. 8, 1980) 6. Late Bar - Previously Unreleased (Manchester Square Demos -- recorded Dec. 8, 1980) 7. Night Boat - Previously Unreleased (BBC Radio 1: Peter Powell Session [recorded June 19, 1981 / transmitted Aug. 11, 1981]) 8. Girls On Film - Previously Unreleased (BBC Radio 1: Peter Powell Session [recorded June 19, 1981 / transmitted Aug. 11, 1981]) 9. Anyone Out There - Previously Unreleased (BBC Radio 1: Peter Powell Session [recorded June 19, 1981 / transmitted Aug. 11, 1981]) 10. Like An Angel - Previously Unreleased (BBC Radio 1: Peter Powell Session [recorded June 19, 1981 / transmitted Aug. 11, 1981]) 11. Planet Earth (Night Version) [from "Planet Earth" 12" single released Feb. 21, 1981] 12. Girls On Film (Extended Night Version) - Previously Unreleased 13. Planet Earth (Night Mix) [first released on 'Strange Behaviour' remix album, March 27, 1999] 14. Girls On Film (Night Mix) - Previously Unreleased
Disc Three 1. Planet Earth (Music video) [DVD] 2. Planet Earth (Club Version) (Music video) [DVD] 3. Careless Memories (Music video) [DVD] 4. Girls On Film (Long Uncensored Version - explicit) (Music video) [DVD] 5. Girls On Film (Short Censored Version) (Music video)[DVD] 6. Night Boat (Music video) [DVD] 7. A Day In The Life featurette [DVD] 8. Planet Earth [March 5, 1981] - Previously Unreleased ('Top Of The Pops' TV Performance) [DVD] 9. Careless Memories [May 21, 1981] - Previously Unreleased ('Top Of The Pops' TV Performance) [DVD] 10. Girls On Film [July 30, 1981] - Previously Unreleased ('Top Of The Pops' TV Performance) [DVD] 11. Night Boat - Previously Unreleased ('Old Grey Whistle Test' TV Performance [July 7, 1981]) [DVD] 12. Anyone Out There - Previously Unreleased ('Old Grey Whistle Test' TV Performance [July 7, 1981]) [DVD] 13. Girls On Film - Previously Unreleased ('Get Set For Summer' TV Performance [Aug. 8, 1981]) [DVD] 14. Friends Of Mine - Previously Unreleased 'Multi-Coloured Swap Shop' TV Performance [Feb. 27, 1981])[DVD] 15. Girls On Film - Previously Unreleased 'Multi-Coloured Swap Shop' TV Performance [Feb. 27, 1981])[DVD]
'Seven and the Ragged Tiger' is also chock full of nuggets. Disc one is a remastered version of the original album. Disc two is a slew of singles, B-sides, remixes, extended versions and live performances from the time period. Disc three is a DVD that includes 'As the Lights Go Down,' a one-hour concert movie spun off from Duran Duran's 'Arena' film. Perhaps you saw it on Cinemax back in the day. Also included are all of the 'Ragged Tiger'-era music videos, as well as 'Top of the Pops' appearances from 1983 and 1984. See the complete track listing below:
Disc One 1. The Reflex 2. New Moon On Monday 3. (I'm Looking For) Cracks In The Pavement 4. I Take The Dice 5. Of Crime And Passion 6. Union Of The Snake 7. Shadows On Your Side 8. Tiger Tiger 9. The Seventh Stranger
Disc Two 1. Is There Something I Should Know? [from "Is There Something I Should Know?" 7" & 12" singles - released March 26, 1983] 2. Faith In This Colour [from "Is There Something I Should Know?" 12" single - released March 26, 1983] 3. Faith In This Colour (Alternate Slow Mix) [from "Is There Something I Should Know?" 7" single] 4. Secret Oktober [from "Union Of The Snake" 7" & 12" singles - released Oct. 29, 1983] 5. Tiger Tiger (Ian Little Remix) [from "New Moon On Monday" 7" & 12" singles - released Feb. 4, 1984] 6. The Reflex (Single Version) [from "The Reflex" 7" & 12" singles - released April 28, 1984] 7. Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) [recorded live at Hammersmith Odeon, Nov. 1982, mixed by Ian Little. From "The Reflex" 7" & 12" singles released April 28, 1984] 8. New Religion [recorded live at the Los Angeles Forum Feb. 9, 1984. From "The Reflex" U.S. 12" single - released April 1984] 9. The Reflex [recorded live at the Los Angeles Forum Feb. 9, 1984. From "The Reflex" U.S. 12" single - released April 1984] 10. Is There Something I Should Know? (Monster Mix) [from "Is There Something I Should Know?" 12" single - released March 26, 1983] 11. Union Of The Snake (The Monkey Mix) [from "Union Of The Snake" 12" single -released Oct. 29, 1983] 12. New Moon On Monday (Dance Mix) [from "New Moon On Monday" 12" single - released Feb. 4, 1984] 13. The Reflex (Dance Mix) [from "The Reflex" 12" single - released April 28, 1984]
Disc 3 1. Intro: Tiger Tiger [DVD] 2. Is There Something I Should Know? [DVD] 3. Hungry Like the Wolf [DVD] 4. Union of the Snake [DVD] 5. New Religion [DVD] 6. Save a Prayer [DVD] 7. Rio [DVD] 8. The Seventh Stranger [DVD] 9. The Chauffeur [DVD] 10. Planet Earth [DVD] 11. Careless Memories [DVD] 12. Girls On Film [DVD] 13. Is There Something I Should Know? (Music video) [DVD] 14. Union Of The Snake (Music video) [DVD] 15. New Moon On Monday (EP Version) (Music video) [DVD] 16. The Reflex (Music video) [DVD] 17. New Moon On Monday (Movie Version) (Music video) [DVD] 18. Is There Something I Should Know? [March 23, 1983] ('Top Of The Pops' TV Performance) [DVD] 19. The Reflex [April 26, 1984] ('Top Of The Pops' TV Performance) [DVD]
This is not the last round of announced Duran Duran deluxe editions. 'Notorious' and 'Big Thing' will be out in July. I'll fill you in on those details as we get closer to the release date. It's sure is good to be a Duran Duran fan right now. Here's a clip from 'As the Lights Go Down' to whet your appetite.
All mp3s posted at LTL! are to highlight music you should buy... right now. Sure, give it a listen, but then run to your nearest indie record shop and pay up. Mp3s are linked for a limited time. Rants and raves to lineartrackinglives@gmail.com.
The all-new Pipettes are playing the Popadelica festival in Sweden on May 1, and their performance will be streamed live right here. The time has been announced as 5.15PM GMT. This is one of our first chances to hear the new lineup and material. I have been underwhelmed with the couple of songs that have made the blogosphere so far, but I'll reserve final judgment until I have heard the entire album, 'Earth vs. Pipettes,' out June 28 on Fortuna POP!
