Pop & Rock News

Delain have announced an eight-track EP titled Lunar Prelude. It's set for release on February 19, 2016, via Napalm Records, and features two new tracks, four live cuts, an alternative take on Don't Look Back and an orchestral version of Suckerpunch.
A statement from the band reads: 'Our latest album The Human Contradiction has taken us on a great ride, performing hundreds of stages around the globe for all of you. We barely managed to catch our breaths from our most recent tours, yet we've already got some new music that we simply can't wait to share. In preparation of our next full length studio album, we'd like to present to you Lunar Prelude - a collection of several brand new tracks, a new version of a familiar one, and live versions of some our favourite The Human Contradiction tracks.'
Delain will head out on the road across North America with Nightwish in early 2016. They made guitarist Merel Bechtold a permanent member in October.
For fans of: Within Temptation, Nightwish, etc

Radio plays on The Classic Rock Show, Team Rock Radio, Spark FM, Phoenix FM
Reviews / articles / features in: Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, Prog, Maximum Volume, The Independent Voice, Big Cheese, Planet Mosh, Black Velvet, Fireworks, Metal Forces, Metal Rules (USA), Rock Gig Reviews, Uber Rock, Demonzone, Devils Gate Media, Hapfairy's World, Metal Hobbit Speaks, Birmingham Live, Midlands Metalheads & more!

the original track that has been used for will smith "men in black" !!!

A1 Watch That Man (4:25)
A2 Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197~) (5:07)
A3 Drive-In Saturday (4:31)
A4 Panic In Detroit (4:26)
A5 Cracked Actor (2:59)
B1 Time (5:13)
B2 The Prettiest Star (3:27)
B3 Let's Spend The Night Together (3:06)
B4 The Jean Genie (4:06)
B5 Lady Grinning Soul (3:52)

'Lioness' is Sivert Høyem's 6th solo-album. It has 11 songs all written by Sivert, and co-produced by Sivert and keyboard player Christer Knutsen. The album is mixed by Tchad Blake (The Black Keys, Sheryl Crow, Pearl Jam, etc.). Mastering is done by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound.

In February Sivert will be touring in Norway, starting in Oslo Spektrum on Sat. Feb. 13th. Live dates are also planned in Holland, Germany, Switzerland and Greece (April-May next year). These countries are also the key markets for this album.

Sivert has also written the theme song to the new TV series Occupied which is based om an idea by famour author Jo Nesbø. The TV series has started to air in Norway and will also air on Arte in Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium , Liechtenstein and Luxembourg from mid/late Nov, DR in Denmark and Sky Arts in the UK from Jan.

'Lioness' is Sivert Høyem's 6th solo-album. It has 11 songs all written by Sivert, and co-produced by Sivert and keyboard player Christer Knutsen. The album is mixed by Tchad Blake (The Black Keys, Sheryl Crow, Pearl Jam, etc.). Mastering is done by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound.

In February Sivert will be touring in Norway, starting in Oslo Spektrum on Sat. Feb. 13th. Live dates are also planned in Holland, Germany, Switzerland and Greece (April-May next year). These countries are also the key markets for this album.

Sivert has also written the theme song to the new TV series Occupied which is based om an idea by famour author Jo Nesbø. The TV series has started to air in Norway and will also air on Arte in Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium , Liechtenstein and Luxembourg from mid/late Nov, DR in Denmark and Sky Arts in the UK from Jan.

Lee Hazlewood was a late bloomer. Following a meandering career as a disc jockey, producer, songwriter, label executive and solo artist, Hazlewood hit the jackpot at the ripe age of 37 with These Boots Are Made For Walkin',' the song Nancy Sinatra took to the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
Its success convinced MGM Records that Hazlewood was a bankable star, and they signed him as an artist in his own right the same year. But as a self-described "non-singer" whose cult 1963 debut, Trouble Is A Lonesome Town, was little more than a happy accident, they'd perhaps gotten the wrong end of the stick where Lee was concerned.

In three years on the label, Hazlewood delivered three albums and sundry odds and ends, beginning with 1966 album The Very Special World Of Lee Hazlewood. The LP found Hazlewood gunning-in as much as he ever did-for commercial success, blending country, pop, novelty, mariachi, and lounge music into something unusually of-the-moment.

Lushly orchestrated and-like the album that preceded it-half-sung, half-spoken in a way that Hazlewood made all his own, the album collected solo versions of songs made famous by Sinatra and others ( Sand,' Boots,' So Long Babe,' Summer Wine'-included as a bonus duet with Suzi Jane Hokom) alongside some of his career-best solo compositions, among them the Morricone-like opener, For One Moment.' It's a record of extremes: When A Fool Loves A Fool' is as light and throwaway as anything he ever laid down, while the wistful My Autumn's Done Come' (sample lyric: "Let those I-don't-care days come in, I'm tired of holding my stomach in") is as raw and honest.

Despite MGM's best efforts, Hazlewood proved difficult to market without a Sinatra to temper his baritone drawl, and you'd suspect Hazlewood wasn't taking it quite as seriously as they might have hoped anyway. By 1967, Hazlewood had founded the LHI imprint and was busy building his own empire-one we've been lovingly archiving for the past few years. We now present this missing link in the story, plus follow-ups Lee Hazlewoodism: Its Cause and Cure (1967) and Something Special (1968). Welcome, then, to Hazlewood's magnificent MGM years.

The three years spent on MGM Records between 1966 and 1968 were golden ones for Lee Hazlewood.
He spent them working with his muse, Suzi Jane Hokom, writing a still-unreleased book, The Quiet Revenge of Elmo Furback, competing with Phil Spector from their respective studios, and coming up with the formula for the "boy/girl' songs for which he'd become famous. In fact, the unflattering portrait on the cover of Something Special did little to hint at how hip this late-flowering talent (he was in his late 30s when These Boots Are Made For Walkin'' made him a star songwriter) had become.

The common strand on the MGM trilogy is one of the unexpected happening. They were an ill fit for a major label-experimental, difficult to pigeonhole, and unpredictable. Those descriptors apply nowhere more aptly than Something Special. Where 1966's The Very Special World Of Lee Hazlewood and 1967's Lee Hazlewoodism: Its Cause And Cure had employed an arranger, Billy Strange, and a full orchestra, Something Special stripped things back and brought in a flavor of jazz and blues, complete with gravelly-voiced scatting courtesy of collaborator Don Randi. This sat alongside tracks like Little War' and Hands,' the kind of late night, acoustic balladeering Hazlewood would later seize for his career-highlight LP, Requiem For An Almost Lady. The sound was that of a stripped-down nightclub jazz/blues/folk combo, fully rejecting the psychedelic music going on all over the world.

The album made clear that forging a career as a serious star was not at the top of Hazlewood's agenda, and at the third opportunity, he'd let the listener in on the joke. Tellingly, Hokom recalls Hazlewood saying the MGM albums were his expensive demos. I'm sure that MGM thought that they would be successful.' Little chance of that with Something Special-it was originally released only in Germany. The same year, Hazlewood founded the LHI imprint, and began building his own empire, one we've been lovingly archiving for the past few years. We now present this missing link in the story, three albums that generated some of Hazlewood's best-and most varied-work.

Zum RSD erstmalig auf Vinyl: zeitgenössische Instrumentalmusik für Cello und Streicher von Sir John Tavener!
'The Protecting Veil' ist eine Komposition für Solo-Cello und Streichorchester des zeitgenössischen, britischen Komponisten John Tavener (1944-2013). Fertiggestellt im Jahre 1988 erscheint es nun erstmals auf Vinyl.
'The Protecting Veil' ist in Klang und Stilistik einzigartig und basiert auf dem sogenannten Schutzmantelfest der orthodoxen Kirche, das 8 Stationen im Leben der Mutter Gottes ehrt.
Die Eröffnungssequenz repräsentiert Maria's überirdische Schönheit und ihren beschützenden Schleier musikalisch durch ein ekstatisch aufsteigendes Cello-Motiv. Im Folgenden widmen sich die einzelnen Kompositions-Teile den verschiedenen Stationen ihres Lebens, über Maria's Totenklage am Fuße des Kreuzes (Cello-Solo ganz ohne Begleitung) und die Auferstehung Jesu bis hin zu ihrem Tod.
Am Ende geht die Schlusssequenz noch einmal auf ihre Schönheit und ihren Schutz ein und endet mit einer musikalischen Darstellung einer - Mutter Gottes, die ob einer zerrütteten Welt ihre Tränen vergießt'.
Zum Record Store Day erscheint diese außergewöhnliche Komposition auf schwerem 180g Vinyl mit goldverziertem Artwork

This is YMO's first live recorded album and their second number 1 album in Japan. Several concerts were recorded for Public Pressure, all in 1979 (The Venue in London, Greek Theater in LA, Bottom Line in NYC, Sun Plaza in Nakano).

This album contains first class recordings, clear and sparkling; YMO is arguably at its best with an audience. Akiko Yano is a welcomed addition to YMO, as she completes the band with sublime vocals.

This live album has a much more relaxed approach to the music, as it feels like they're jamming on stage and clearly enjoying themselves!

The mid-to-late '60s were strange days for Lee Hazlewood. Having struck gold as songwriter and vocal foil for Nancy Sinatra, he signed up to MGM as an artist in his own right, and between 1966 and 1968, produced three ambitious solo albums that were eclectic, idiosyncratic, and most of all, unpredictable.
It was a happy time for Lee; his music was hot on the charts, he was fully immersed in his collaboration with his muse, Suzi Jane Hokom.

The second of his MGM trilogy-1967's peculiarly named Lee Hazlewoodism: Its Cause And Cure-took on countrified French ye-ye ('The Girls In Paris'), a tale of a young bullfighter built on Spanish guitar and choral cowboys ('Jose'), a string-drenched song about the passing of time ('The Old Man And His Guitar'), and a western epic about a Native American tribe ('The Nights'). And that was just the first four tracks. Elsewhere, the honky tonk madness of 'Suzi Jane Is Back In Town,' the Byrds-like jangle of 'In Our Time' and-in the bonus tracks-an instrumental named 'Batman' confirm this to be one of Hazlewood's most far-ranging, far-out LPs ever.

It's the result of two main factors: ambition-to top Phil Spector, primarily-and cash, which paid for orchestras, plush studios, and the inestimable talents of arranger Billy Strange. 'I think the big sound of those records came out of the Spector thing,' says Hokom, in the new liner notes. 'If you can have a big sound and you have money to burn... it was a flamboyancy.'

Released before the Nancy & Lee LP-a bona fide hit for Reprise Records-Hazlewoodism was a tougher nut to crack, a record that confused by combining po-faced delivery with unabashed comical touches. By 1967, Hazlewood had founded the LHI imprint, and was busy building his own empire-one we've been lovingly archiving for the past few years. We now present this missing link in the story, plus predecessor, The Very Special World Of Lee Hazlewood and follow-up, Something Special. Welcome to Hazlewood's magnificent-and mad-MGM years.

The three years spent on MGM Records between 1966 and 1968 were golden ones for Lee Hazlewood.
He spent them working with his muse, Suzi Jane Hokom, writing a still-unreleased book, The Quiet Revenge of Elmo Furback, competing with Phil Spector from their respective studios, and coming up with the formula for the "boy/girl' songs for which he'd become famous. In fact, the unflattering portrait on the cover of Something Special did little to hint at how hip this late-flowering talent (he was in his late 30s when 'These Boots Are Made For Walkin'' made him a star songwriter) had become.

The common strand on the MGM trilogy is one of the unexpected happening. They were an ill fit for a major label-experimental, difficult to pigeonhole, and unpredictable. Those descriptors apply nowhere more aptly than Something Special. Where 1966's The Very Special World Of Lee Hazlewood and 1967's Lee Hazlewoodism: Its Cause And Cure had employed an arranger, Billy Strange, and a full orchestra, Something Special stripped things back and brought in a flavor of jazz and blues, complete with gravelly-voiced scatting courtesy of collaborator Don Randi. This sat alongside tracks like 'Little War' and 'Hands,' the kind of late night, acoustic balladeering Hazlewood would later seize for his career-highlight LP, Requiem For An Almost Lady. The sound was that of a stripped-down nightclub jazz/blues/folk combo, fully rejecting the psychedelic music going on all over the world.

The album made clear that forging a career as a serious star was not at the top of Hazlewood's agenda, and at the third opportunity, he'd let the listener in on the joke. Tellingly, Hokom recalls Hazlewood saying the MGM albums were his 'expensive demos. I'm sure that MGM thought that they would be successful.' Little chance of that with Something Special-it was originally released only in Germany. The same year, Hazlewood founded the LHI imprint, and began building his own empire, one we've been lovingly archiving for the past few years. We now present this missing link in the story, three albums that generated some of Hazlewood's best-and most varied-work.

Though Cash had been at Columbia for several years by the time this LP was originally released, he recorded and released such a tremendous amount of music between 1955 and 1958 at Sun Studios in Memphis, that Sun Records was releasing his work long after he had defected to a new label. Featuring 12 fantastic recordings with his Tennessee Two and others, including The Ballad Of A Teenage Queen', his wonderful take on Goodnight Irene', and the immortal Big River'. Repressed in a beautiful limited edition picture disc LP on DOXY.

First-ever vinyl release of the collaboration between the legendary cult director David Lynch (Twin Peaks, Eraserhead) & Polish concert pianist Marek Zebrowski. Barren train stations, Polish factories at night, and silent hotels where lonely travellers meet. These are the images and suggested narratives that pervade the spirit of Polish Night Music
Double LP, with a download code that includes a previously unreleased bonus 4 track live album

Saturdays = Youth is the fifth studio album by M83, first released in 2008. It's produced by Ken Thomas, known for his work with Sigur Rós, Cocteau Twins and Suede.

Adolescence is the defining theme of this enchanting new album, his most explicit celebration yet of how it feels to be dazed, confused and 15 years old. The record marks a change in a friendlier, pop-shaped direction for M83. After touring Before The Dawn Heals Us for much of 2005, Gonzalez decided to give the noisy rock side of things a rest.

Pitchfork Media ranked Saturdays = Youth at number eight on its list of The 50 Best Albums of 2008, and it was also named the best album of 2008 by Drowned in Sound.

Born in the early 60s as 'Herr Mussita e i Nomadi' by initiative from bassist / singer Franco Mussita, the group soon altered its name to 'Nomadi' until, not to clash with the namesakes of the famous authors of 'Dio è morto', they eventually and permanently changed into 'I Raminghi'.

Under this name the band began to play several stage and even TV appearances, and in the wake of a growing success they finally managed to record and release their only LP in 1971. The typical vehemence of their live performances is perhaps only partly transferred on the album tracks, but "Il lungo cammino dei Raminghi" is still a remarkable job, packed with beat, psychedelic, progressive and folk music, which certainly impressed the lucky ones who were able to listen to it at the time of its release.

This album was in fact printed in very few copies, and is now among the rarest items of the early seventies Italian scene. Already reissued by Vinyl Magic in a CD papersleeve version, which is now out of print, "Il lungo cammino..." is now proposed in a faithful reproduction of the original release, with a 30x30cm mini-poster and a completely unheard song, "Non Farlo"!
A beautiful work, to be rediscovered and re-evaluated as soon as possible!Including a bonus track

Plays The Music Of Jimi Hendrix" -
Gil Evans (arr, cond, p); David Sanborn, Billy Harper (sax, fl); Lewis Soloff (tp); Tom Malone (synth, tb, fl, b); David Horowitz (el-p, synth); John Abercrombie (g); Don Pate (b); Warren Smith, Jr. (chimes, perc, vib); Bruce Ditmas (dr); a.o.

Critics find this album rather difficult to evaluate. Their judgement ranges from a colourful mixture to a successful cover album to a masterly fusion and an homage to an artist whose life came to an end far too soon - Jimi Hendrix. Jimi had long been gone when this album was recorded in 1974. But it is almost superfluous to look back to the legendary Hendrix if you focus on the great Gil Evans. After such milestones as "Birth Of The Cool" and "Sketches Of Spain" it isn't difficult to regard these late audiophile masterpieces as a logical development of Evans's exceptional skill as an arranger.
When you listen - or rather experience - how the crystal-clear sound in "Angel" is heightened to an emphatic ballad on the saxophone, or how rich soulful vocals storm ahead in a funky style ("Crosstown Traffic"), or fluffy, cloud-like sounds are built up on the flutes in "Castles Made From Sand", then it is no longer of importance who thought out the music. It is sufficient that it exists and is pleasing to all who hear it. It is also unimportant whether one reveres Hendrix's immemorable melodies or whether one pays homage to Evans's visionary soundworld: a recording such as this could only be born of the two.

Recording: 1974 at RCA's Studio B, New York City, by Bob Simpson
Production: Mike Lipskin

A compilation of classic 70s/80s AOR tracks, that make up the genre of Yacht Rock - smooth rock at its best!

So what of AOR, in fact what do we even mean by Adult Orientated Rock It's the music that sold albums by the truckload in the 70s and 80s, to an audience of rock fans who had graduated college and were getting stuck in to grown up jobs whilst listening to singers wearing per-ironic mullets. It was well-produced and nicely performed and just a little glossy. (...)These records could contain a hell of a lot of soul. Singers such as Daryl Hall or Michael McDonald had the best blue-eyed soul voices in the US and when they had hits many others tried to copy them.' (AOR Breaks liner notes).

Features all of the biggest artists, including Christopher Cross, The Doobie Brothers, Hall & Oates, Michael McDonald, Carly Simon, Seals and Crofts, America, Rickie Lee Jones & many more.

Every so often, a band comes along that digs back into what pop music is all about -- good, fun tunes. Fountains of Wayne is one such band.

Their self-titled debut studio album was released in 1996. Recorded when the band was just a duo, Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger provided almost all the instrumentation during the recording. Schlesinger and Porter had also been members of The Belltower, and bassist Danny Weinkauf later played with Lincoln before joining They Might Be Giants [Flood available as MOVLP1239].

Written over a period of years as outlets to make each other laugh through inside jokes and references to suburban life in New York and New Jersey, the songs on the album were recorded in five days. The songwriting is straightforward and wonderful; nearly every song is a Pop gem. The result is an innovative album - very few albums released in the '90s have been this pleasant, charming, and all-round likeable.

Scott Morgan notes: Compositionally, many tracks on Plume are similar in approach to First Narrows; they started with a harmonic root from which sounds were processed into a loose structure over whcih the live players could improvise. There was substantially less editing this time around with the live tracks. I opted to choose the better improvised passes and merely mix them in and out rather than cut them up. I think this leaves a lot more natural space and balances the heavily structured and repetitive electronic elements with more organic performed layers.



Jason Zumpano returned from the First Narrows ensemble and I aslo recruited long time friend Steve Wood and my partner Krista to play some ebow guitar as well as Josh Lindstrom to play some xylophone and vibraphone which added some new elements into the mix.

Thematically, I stuck with things that are quintessentially loscil; flow, subtle movement, gradual transition, growth. Also of significance to this album is the family connection. "Charlie" was composed after seeing and hearing my daughter Sadie through ultrasound while still in the womb. The track was also composed as a womb-like sound experience for her to sleep to after she was born, hence the heart beats.

ORIGIANLLY RECORDED IN 1976

Special Edition Coloured Red Vinyl 180 Gram

The Little Drummer Boy,
Sleigh Ride,
Silent Night,
Merry Christmas All,
There's Someone Who's Knocking,
Christmas Time,

Christmas Medley (12:08)



Joy To The World
Deck The Halls
O Come All Ye Faithful
Jingle Bells
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
The Christmas Song
White Christmas
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
I'll Be Home For Christmas
Winter Wonderland
The First Nöel
We Wish You A Merry Christmas


New Year's Medley (6:46)

Auld Lang Salsoul
I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover
Alabama Jubilee
Oh, Dem Golden Slippers
God Bless America

Deluxe edition of the bestselling Christmas album, on opaque red vinyl

As St John Sessions' reputation has developed, so too have opportunities outside its stained-glass windows: an accompanying string of performances have been established up the road at Café OTO; cultural institutions are frequently on board, most notably in the case of founding partner Moringa, a community-focused arts charity; local broadcasters NTS Radio and Boiler Room have been bringing the music to an international audience via frequent live streams. All this will now be housed within a larger umbrella company entitled ThirtyThree ThirtyThree - a double quip on both the sonic (full-length RPMs) and the spiritual (Jesus' rather untimely demise) - with a namesake record label to match. The imprint, set up in collaboration with The Vinyl Factory, will exist to showcase live recordings taken from St John Sessions, both home and abroad as the series expands. ThirtyThree ThirtyThree kicks off with arguably the most impactful St John performance to date: Ryuichi Sakamoto and Taylor Deupree. 2014's concert with sound design wizard Deupree and multi-discipline legend Sakamoto - whose career has run the gamut from Oscar-winning film scores through daring proto-electronic records - was notable for their kinetic understanding on stage, providing a fittingly unique way to inaugurate a unique label.* Legendary live performance by Ryuichi Sakamoto & Taylor Deupree * Recorded as part of the St. John Sessions * Mixed and mastered by Taylor Deupree * Vinyl mastering by Noel Summerville * Pressed on two 180-gram heavyweight records (run time: 54 minutes) * Housed in a bespoke clear foiled outer sleeve * Includes 12" photographic print * Limited to 1000 copies worldwide

Recorded live at the Superdome in New Orleans for Farm Aid 7 in September of 1994, this is classic grunge-era Neil and Crazy Horse. Though the set list consists of only 5 tunes, the show's running time is nearly an hour as Neil and crew give epic performances of all-time favorites like 'Down By The River', and Dylan's 'All Along The Watchtower', as well as newer arrivals like 'Country Home' (from 1990's Ragged Glory) and 'Change Your Mind' (from 1994's Sleeps With Angels). An essential Neil live set available now in unprecedented sound quality.

Alben: Fantastic - Make it Big - Heaven