Archival Posts 2007 August 26

August 31, 2007

Bo Diddley, who suffered a stroke in May of ’07, concerns us again with a recent heart attack. We love Bo Diddley and his music, his tireless commitment to the fans but we also respect the body and its need to rest. The family at TAP wish Bo Diddley the best and urge him to rest and regain his strength. We’re gonna be here when you get ready, Bo…we’re gonna be here.

Kudos to Sirius for their decision to designate a channel for The Grateful Dead. The channel will begin on September 7 with a broadcast of their 1974 Hollywood Bowl performance. With many, many shows on tape, the selection will be immense. How am I ever going to get anything done ‘round here?

We have a few reviews for you to close out this month of August. The first batch of 4 arrive in Lindsay Planer's latest installment of his popular As The Disc Spins column. In this week's column, he aims truly with a review of three Elvis Costello sets that include The Best of Elvis Costello: The First 10 Years, Rock and Roll Music, and the Elvis Costello Collector's Box Set, all from Hip-O Records. He also reviews The Complete Atlantic Catalogue, a collection of music from The Young Rascals. Please note that as TAP is closed for the period of September 1 thru September 11, he will not be providing a column until after that date.

I round out the reviews with the Magazine Remasters for 70s-80s band, Magazine that include Real Life (1978), Secondhand Daylight (1979), The Correct Use of Soap (1980), and Magic, Murder, and The Weather (1981).

I also completed a review of A Woman's Touch from Thelma Houston.

I ended up with a massive post for Friday. When I say massive, I mean MASSIVE. Because of this, I have decided to split it in two and have TAPGirl Shari upload this on another day within the next week. I'll also include two reviews of several very good upcoming discs that you won't want to miss. That's thinking ahead, I know. So BE SURE to come back and check it out. But remember that I will not be updating otherwise until Wednesday, September 12.

When the death of Hilly Kristal was announced at the age of 75, I had to stop for a bit and reflect on the power and gifts that were a part of his CBGBs/OMFUG establishment. Anyone doubting the import of this small but important dive should take a step back, not only to rethink their position on Hilly Kristal’s hosting of the best of punk and post-punk bands, but to also let one step forward who understood the undertaking of such a place as CBGBs. Like Max’s Kansas City and Mickey Ruskin before it, one man stood for a new generation of musicians and their fans.

Recently, when the threat of closure became a potential reality for Kristal’s defining location in The Bowery, between 1st and 2nd Streets, Hilly Kristal stood and fought for the continued accessibility of the punk-era icon. Home to obscurities since the passing of post-punk, it still provided a stage for all. Hilly Kristal is as synonymous to the golden age of an era as the club he fathered for those many years.

After Kristal lost the fight to maintain CBGBs and it eventually closed for good, Hilly lost his own battle with cancer, succumbing to the disease on August 28 at a hospital with family. His extended family – you and I – mourn his passing. We admire his tenacity in fighting not only the loss of the landmark venue, but also the cancer that claimed him. The unknown musicians in Heaven now have the perfect organizer to get their music heard.

We’ll miss you, Mr. Kristal.

A lot!!

Hilly Kristal
1932 - 2007

-- News Elsewhere --

There IS NOT a new entry in The Guitar Diaries [August 31].

THE GUITAR DIARIES

I'm having troubles with figuring out how people develop great sounding strums such as the intro to House of the Rising Sun by just using chord shapings.

Please send all of your words of encouragement, suggestions, contributions, and derision to The Guitar Diaries.

Porcupine Tree release a new mini-album in September called Nil Recurring. It will feature 4 tracks (just under 30 minutes of music) that were written during the Fear of a Blank Planet sessions, including the title track featuring Robert Fripp on guitar, and "Cheating the Polygraph", which was premiered on the 2006 tour, but subsequently left off the Fear of a Blank Planet album.

Full track listing is:

1. Nil Recurring (6.08)
2. Normal (7.07)
3. Cheating the Polygraph (7.06)
4. What Happens Now? (8.23)

Surround sound mixes of the new tracks will be included on the definitive Fear of a Blank Planet 5.1 DVD-Audio edition. This DVD-Audio will also include a special Fear of a Blank Planet introduction short film made by Lasse Hoile, and the video for the title track.

Both the Nil Recurring and Fear of a Blank Planet DVD-Audio will be officially released on October 1, but the PT Store will be taking pre-orders soon.

There is now a 5 minute preview of music from the forthcoming Porcupine Tree mini-album Nil Recurring available to download or listen to on the band's MySpace page. The 30-minute CD will be issued on the band's own Transmission label in a fold-out digipack, and will be available to pre-order from the Porcupine Tree store soon. [Many thanks to John McCann for this cut-n-paste].

The 9th studio album from Melissa Etheridge will be released on September 25 and is titled The Awakening. Watch for this from Island Records. A Deluxe Edition of this title is expected on November 20.

Hip-O Select will release a classic set for Marvin Gaye, an unreleased live set called At The Copa. At The Copa will be a Limited Edition set and will be released on September 25 in a digipak edition PLUS a cover designed to appear as if it was a classic cover.

Jazz legend, Herbie Hancock, will release his new album, River: the Joni Letters, on September 25. River: The Joni Letters is a collection of Joni Mitchell classic covers performed by not only Joni Mitchell herself (“Tea Leaf Prophecy”), but also Leonard Cohen (“The Jungle Line”), Corinne Bailey Rae (“The River”), Norah Jones (“Court and Spark”), Tina Turner (“Edith and the Kingpin”), and Luciana Souza (“Amelia”). There are several Hancock instrumentals as well with Shorter on sax, Dave Holland on bass, Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, and Lionel Loueke on guitar.

Speaking of Joni Mitchell, you have already noted our announcement that she will return to recording with a new album on Hear Records (Starbucks/Concord), the new label of Paul McCartney. The album will be called Shine and will feature 10 new songs including a remake of “Big Yellow Taxi [2007].” Shine arrives on September 25.

PJ Harvey comes back with her 8th studio album called White Chalk on September 25. 11 new songs…’nuff said!!

John Fogerty will return on October 2 with 12 new songs since his The Long Road Home (2005). One of the songs on Revival, his first on Fantasy Records since all of those Creedence Clearwater classics years ago (35 years ago) will be titled “The Creedence Song.” The LP preceded by a week on September 25.

One of the standout parts of the upcoming October 2 release of the Elton John DVD of Elton 60: Live at Madison Square Garden is not so much his concert footage on DVD1 but the second DVD of rare live footage, many from the 70s. There is “Honky Cat” from a 1972 performance, “Rocket Man” from Royal Albert Hall circa 1972, “Benny and the Jets” from Wembley 1984, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” from Top of the Pops (1973), and many other classics far too good to ignore. To me, DVD2 is where the diamonds are.

Philadelphia International/Legacy will release a 2CD Teddy Pendergrass Essential title on October 30. Joining that will be a 2CD Essential Lou Rawls set, also from Philadelphia International and Legacy and sharing the same release date.

Nitro Records will be releasing Career Suicide from A Wilhelm Scream on October 9.

Verve Records plan to release a Gold series title for Dinah Washington on October 9 as well as one for Ella Fitzgerald and one for Nina Simone, AND one for Sarah Vaughan.

A&M Records will release The Black and White Album from The Hives on October 9.

Columbia and ISO Records will batch five David Bowie releases (Outside, Earthling, Hours, Heathen, and Reality) along with five extras discs of rarities and such, each individually representative of each of the five studio albums listed. This 10CD Box was originally a Japanese only import called The David Bowie Box. It is scheduled for domestic (US) re-release on October 30.

Geffen Records will release the new She Wants Revenge album called This is Forever on October 9.

Seaview Records plan to release Best in Show for World Party on October 9.

Time/Life have several works available on October 2. The first is a 2CD set for JJ Cale called Rewind: The Unreleased Recordings. The second is a DVD for Glen Campbell called For the Good Times.

Rhino has a 2CD 40th Anniversary Edition on the burner for Chicago called The Best of Chicago. That is planned for October 2.

There will be 2 versions of the new The Cult album from Roadrunner Records called Born Into This released on October 2. There will be a standard CD version as well as what is known as a Special/Savage Edition.

Epic Records will compile a set of Stevie Ray Vaughan sessions as he guested or worked for various artists. Included is the song that he played guitar solo on for David Bowie called “Let’s Dance.” There are plenty of live and studio jams and works to complete this album called Solos, Sessions & Encores, which is planned to street on November 6 along with our previously announced Stevie Ray Vaughan DVD of Pride and Joy.

August 29, 2007

We’ll miss you, Mr. Kristal.

A lot!!

Hilly Kristal
1932 - 2007

We still have some problems with our internet and am hoping that Time-Warner will not only show up on Wednesday but also be able to locate and fix the problem(s).

I have two reviews for you with the expected Magazine reviews coming on Friday. We'll likely have a quite a slide of end of the month reviews before we hit the vacation mode. Those are coming.

Today, we have a review of the 1983 solo album by Howard Devoto that has been recently re-released in an expanded and remastered version. Nice!! The album is called Jerky Versions of the Dream. I also have a review of the just released American Prehistoric by excellent band, Warm in the Wake. You can hear parts of this album at their MySpace page.

We'll see you again on Friday with a whole heckuva lot more release news...lots more.

-- News Elsewhere --

There IS NOT a new entry in The Guitar Diaries [August 29].

THE GUITAR DIARIES

I'm having troubles with figuring out how people develop great sounding strums such as the intro to House of the Rising Sun by just using chord shapings.

Please send all of your words of encouragement, suggestions, contributions, and derision to The Guitar Diaries.

Let me start off with reminders of some stuff that is being noticed and are now available. Released on August 28 was None Shall Pass by Aesop Rock, a reissue of Close Calls with Brick Walls (2006) from Andrew W.K., Bring on the Comets from VHS or Beta, Classic Cocker for Joe Cocker, Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo for Ringo Starr, Greatest Hits for Crystal Gayle, and Sign of the Times: The Best of Queensryche for Queensryche. Another reminder is the upcoming September 4 availability for the 40th Anniversary of Piper at the Gates of Dawn, which will be released in a 2CD set and a 3-Disc Deluxe Edition from Pink Floyd and Capitol Records.

Virgin will reissue multiple Keith Richards titles, a somewhat surprising move but welcomed nevertheless. On September 18, you’ll be able to pick up Main Offender, Talk is Cheap, and two live X-Pensive Winos sets, one a DVD. The DVD is called Live at The Hollywood Palladium while the CD of the same show is called Live at the Palladium – 1988. I’ll keep an eye out on the sets to see what is going on with these titles other than a probable remaster.

And since it has been a while since we mentioned this title, it certainly bears mentioning again in these hallowed pages, and that is the release of Drastic Plastic from KT Tunstall. It arrives in both a standard CD issue and a CD/DVD Digipak Special Edition on September 18.

We had mentioned in some earlier posts that a Deluxe Edition with CD of Space Ritual (1973) by Hawkwind was being set for September 25. New to that mention are intended standard CD reissues of Doremi Fasol Latido (1972), Hawkwind (1970), In Search of Space (1971), and again, Space Ritual (1973). All of these titles are expected on October 23.

Also on September 23, watch for standard CD reissues of four Barclay James Harvest titles that include Barclay James Harvest (1970), Baby James Harvest (1972), Barclay James Harvest and Other Short Stories (1972), and Once Again (1971). Both Barclay James Harvest and Hawkwind have many titles. Let us hope that the others follow suit. I think that Caroline Records is doing a fine job in reaching back for these and other titles.

Astralwerks plan to release the upcoming new Babyshambles album, Shotter’s Nation, in CD on October 23. An LP and a Deluxe version is expected to join the standard CD issue. Let’s all hope that this is a good album, as good as their Down in Albion suggests this band could be. I know, I know…I have a lot of hope pinned on these guys.

Mute Records will release an Anthology album for Can on October 23.

Anyone that remembers a little English band from the early ‘70s called Babe Ruth should be excited to know that Caroline Records will be re-releasing a ‘best of’ for the band called Grand Slam: The Best of Babe Ruth. Originally released in 1995, this album selects cuts from their first three albums releases. This arrives on October 23.

Mute will release The Voice of Midnight from The Residents planning this to street on October 23.

Virgin Records will release Hourglass by Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode) in several versions, the standard CD and a CD/DVD Special Edition. Hourglass will be here on October 23.

Watch for a new Ben Harper with his Innocent Criminals album, an as-yet-untitled affair, on November 6.

For those Spice Girls fans, Virgin will release a huge run of The Best of The Spice Girls, scheduling the collection for November 6.

AND Virgin moves D-Sides from the Gorillaz yet again. Tear out those erase holes on your calendar and X in the new date of November 20 for the latest effective date…and the umpteenth change.

We had previously mentioned the release of the ‘best of’ for The Vines called The Best of The Vines in both standard and Expanded versions to be released on October 2 of THIS year. That has been shoved to March 11 of NEXT year. This may move forward at some point so we’ll keep an eye out on this one for you.

Varese Sarabande and Fuel join to re-release Irving Berlin: A Great American Songwriter in remastered and expanded form. The Various Artists album contains 14 classic Berlin songs, some previously unreleased material, and new liner notes from Scott Yanow. And the price will be easy as well (I still miss those better-sounding $7.99 LP prices). This is scheduled for September 25.

Blue October will release 2CD Deluxe Edition called Foiled For the Last Time on September 25. This 2CD Digipak package will contain the 2006 Foiled album plus two “X Amount of Words” remixes, one by Paul Oakenfold and the other from Carmen Rizzo. Also included is a re-recorded version of “Calling You.” CD2 contains a live version of Foiled along with over 30 minutes of live footage.

Canned Heat fan will be pleasantly surprised to see that Varese Sarabande and Fuel will release a 10-song Holiday album with Canned Heat and guest artists that include John Popper, Eric Clapton, and Dr John. There will also be a bonus track that features Popper and Clapton. The Canned Heat Christmas Album is planned for release on September 25.

And of course, there’s good ole Bing Crosby. On September 25, Varese Vintage will release a Christmas collection of Holiday favourites from Bing Crosby and his radio series. The 13 classic tunes found on this set has been mastered from original source materials. It is known as A Crosby Christmas, and since that title blends in too much with many of his other holiday albums, it is sub-titled Christmas Songs from his Classic Radio Broadcasts.

August 27, 2007

Here's a word about our disappearance. Time-Warner! We used to be a part of the reliable Comcast family but, since Time-Warner captured the Costa Mesa market, our service in many ways have hit the skids. For over a month, our internet service has become very iffy with more than five incidents. That's five more than I have ever experienced under Comcast. Says a lot.

To make matters worse, an attempt to get them out to fix the problem has been an absolute nightmare. With over 5 different statements from their customer service/techincal response teams, we STILL have problems. This Sunday morning, we were able to get some returning TV service and so I figured i might have a bit of internet. So I run to the PC, boot, and yep, I have some service. Not ten minutes after the return of the TV service, I note the TV cable service beginning to go bad again (and yep, it's the service, not the TV.) I hash out this explanation because the internet outage usually follows the TV outage.

We don't have service expected until Wednesday late so there may not be a Wednesday post. Keep fingers crossed. But, also notable is the fact that MusicTAP will be dark from September 3 until September 12 due to a needed vacation.

I have more stuff to get up and so hope that Time-Warner and I can get along over the next few days for regular postings. UPDATE: I managed to get a whole slate of reviews up as you can tell. Hopefully, on Wednesday, I'll have a review of the Magazine Remasters released in April of this year as well as the recently re-released Jerky Versions of the Dream from Howard Devoto. Plus I have a massive list of upcoming stuff including another Bob Seger title added to the my recently announced Bob Seger Platinum Series (see below). Hang in there.

We have a set of As The Disc Spins reviews from Lindsay Planer, where he reviews three DVD titles that include a Various Artists (Jefferson Airplane / Grateful Dead / Santana)collection called A Night at the Family Dog, Country Joe with Turned Up and Turned On, and another Various Artists DVD called All My Loving.

I have reviews of the upcoming Ringo Starr 'best of' called Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo, available in both CD and CD/DVD Special Edition as well the recently released Truth from Robben Ford, and the final EP from S.O.D. called Rise of the Infidels.

Finally, James Hrivnak returns with a review of the recently released Under the Blacklight from Rilo Kiley.

-- News Elsewhere --

There IS NOT a new entry in The Guitar Diaries [August 22].

THE GUITAR DIARIES

I'm having troubles with figuring out how people develop great sounding strums such as the intro to House of the Rising Sun by just using chord shapings.

Please send all of your words of encouragement, suggestions, contributions, and derision to The Guitar Diaries.

Christmas titles continue to stream out of the mill, this time with news of Xmas titles from Martina McBride, and from Darlene Love. Martina McBride and her reissued White Christmas album (16 tracks) includes a newly recorded duet with Dean Martin’s “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” as well as “Winter Wonderland,” “Jingle Bells,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” being all new tracks. Shout! Factory will release It’s Christmas, Of Course from Darlene Love, with 12 tracks of classics that includes the hopeful “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” and other later titles of Christmas from the likes of XTC, Tom Petty, Pretenders, and others. Both of these titles streets on October 2.

More Country Christmas music comes from a collection of Various Artists (Johnny Cash, Keith Anderson, Kenny Chesney, Ronnie Milsap, Carrie Underwood, and others) called Hear Something Country: Christmas 2007. There are 17 songs on this VA album with 7 of them new recordings. This arrives on October 2 through Sony & BMG Nashville.

Sony Classical will celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars by releasing several versions of a Star Wars Anniversary collection that includes a single-disc John Williams ‘best of’ grouping of 13 tracks from all 6 Star Wars films and will be called Star Wars: The Corellian Edition. The other version is a Box set containing 8CDs of Star Wars scores including 2CD Expanded Editions of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and The Return of the Jedi. Each episode CD will be contained in a gate-fold mini-jackets that are exact replicas of the original LP sleeves. The 30th Anniversary Collector’s Edition 8CD Box will also contain a fold-out poster created specifically for this set, historical notes of the creation of the soundtracks, and 4”x4” four-colour stickers. Whatever your desire is, the Star Wars collection is coming to a galaxy near you (sorry I said that.) The Box arrives on October 8 whilst the single disc Corellian Edition arrives on October 2.

The 5 Browns fans will be happy to know that their next album, Browns in Blue, will be released by RCA Red Seal label on October 2. The cover of this album is spectacularly old school, I love it! This 15-track album includes a bonus track of “Everybody Loves Somebody,” (also heard on the Forever Cool Dean Martin album) making the collection a total of 16 tracks.

On October 9, Columbia Records will release a 10-track Christmas album from noted gospel artist, Yolanda Adams, called What a Wonderful Time.

Watch for a ‘best of’ from Sarah Evans called Greatest Hits on October 9 that will include 4 new tracks, including “As If.”

The brothers Van Zant (Johnnie – Lynyrd Skynyrd, Donnie - .38 Special) will duo together on their upcoming album, My Kind of Country, a follow-up to their gold-selling Get Right with the Man. My Kind of Country is slated for October 9.

Be sure to not be shy and pick up the collectible leading artists collection that has Bob Dylan singing “This Old Man,” and Bruce Springsteen singing “Chicken Lips and Lizard Hips.” This 18-track, Various Artists disc from Shout! Factory is called Every Child Deserves a Lifetime: Songs from the For Our Children Series. The album is geared to support the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Scheduled for October 9.

We have a positive date shift for you (wish they could all be like this). The expected Caroline album release of Magistral by Soma+Z’ev has been fast-tracked to August 28, rocketed from its last date of September 25. Other date-shifts include the LP vinyl editions of Liars (debut) and Plaster Casts of Everything, both from Liars. They move to September 18 from August 28.

Some Caroline Records adds include Planetfall by Litmus, and Saw a Halo by Mouthus, both of which has a scheduled street date of September 25.

Some other date-changes include the beleaguered Greatest Highs (Standard CD and Limited Edition) from Kottonmouth Kings, which changes from last date of October 23 to new date of December 4. Also, The Thrill of it All: A Visual, the DVD from Roxy Music is delayed until December 4.

Symphony from Sarah Brightman has moved back into 2008 (January 15) from its last noted date of October 23.

Remember that Bob Seger titles are being re-released on October 23. The titles are Against the Wind / Beautiful Loser / Night Moves / Stranger in Town / Nine Tonight & Live Bullet. More info as we get it. However, they are being listed as Platinum Series, which might mean an upgrade.