New McCartney coming...

Recording as The Fireman Paul McCartney offers up one of his most enjoyable albums in recent memory.

Duffy: "Mercy"

My new favorite song;

Drop The Pilot - Mandy Moore

Mandy Moore did an album of covers a couple of years ago called "Coverage" and Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters was one of the songs on the album. Since I can't find that one online here is my favorite track from the album, a Joan Armatrading song

A Look at the Lost Weekend

Intersting article about May Pang's new book "Instamatic Karma";

A Fond Look at Lennon’s ‘Lost Weekend’

By ALLAN KOZINN
Published: March 12, 2008

If there’s one thing that May Pang has been fighting for the last 28 years, it’s the idea that John Lennon was depressed, isolated and out of control during the 18 months she lived with him, from the summer of 1973 to early 1975, when he reconciled with his second wife, Yoko Ono.

Lennon himself fostered that notion by referring to the time as his “Lost Weekend” in interviews he gave in 1980, when he released “Double Fantasy,” a joint album with Ms. Ono that was his return to music-making after five years’ silence. And lurid, oft-repeated tales of a drunken Lennon’s being evicted from the Troubadour, a nightclub in Los Angeles, seemed to support that image.

But to Ms. Pang, now 57, the “Lost Weekend” was a remarkably productive time, during which Lennon completed three albums — “Mind Games,” “Walls and Bridges” and “Rock ’n’ Roll” — produced albums for Ringo Starr and Harry Nilsson, and recorded with David Bowie, Elton John and Mick Jagger. And having already detailed these experiences (along with the Troubadour expulsions and other dark moments) in “Loving John,” her 1983 memoir, Ms. Pang has returned with the photographic evidence.

The Ventures: "Walk, Don't Run"

The Dave Clark Five: "Can't You See That She's Mine"

I close my eyes and I am back in the living room at my parents house putting on track 1 on "The Dave Clark Five Return" on my mothers stereo console listening to;

Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame inductees

Some of Elton's favorites have been inducted into the Rock-n-Roll Hall Of Fame. Leonard Cohen and The Ventures along with The Dave Clark Five, John Mellencamp and Madonna. The Ventures put out one of the best Christmas records EVER so I am very happy to see them inducted. Madonna? Egh!

Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen will be inducted into the U.S.-based Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Monday by Lou Reed, the gravel-voiced singer who was once the Velvet Underground's guitarist.

The similarly deep-voiced Cohen is to be inducted into the Cleveland-based Hall of Fame in a ceremony at New York's Waldorf Astoria on Monday evening.

Canadian poet and singer Leonard Cohen sings in Warsaw, Poland, in 2007. Damien Rice is to sing one of Cohen's songs at his induction Monday into the Rock Hall of Fame.
(Alik Keplicz/Canadian Press)

Pop singer Madonna, blues-rocker John Mellencamp, British boy band The Dave Clark Five and instrumental group The Ventures also are to be inducted this year.

A group of 600 music industry professionals annually choose a handful of artists for induction.

Irish folk singer Damien Rice will perform one of Cohen's songs as part of the induction ceremony.

Cohen, 73, is being hailed as the "folk rock icon of the singer-songwriter movement."

A member of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, he is known for songs such as Suzanne, Hallelujah and Bird on a Wire.

It would be a stretch to call Cohen a rock star, says Ira Nadel, author of biography Various Positions: A Life of Leonard Cohen.

The honour is instead a recognition that Cohen's songs have been covered by dozens of rock 'n roll stars, from Elton John to Joe Cocker to Bono, Nadel told CBC News.

"Leonard Cohen is foremost a composer and secondarily perhaps a singer," Nadell said. "But this is what he's been looking for — a recognition of his significance as a songwriter."

Nadell said Cohen's following continues to grow, especially in Europe where fans are charmed by his far-from-idealized view of life and love.

"It's his melancholy. No one speaks to life like Leonard Cohen," he said. "It's a recognition that life is not romantic. It's about what you lose and what you gain.

"A concert tour of the U.S., Canada and Europe, Cohen's first in 15 years, begins in May.

Madonna, who has sustained a pop career since bursting on the scene with Holiday in 1982, will be inducted by Justin Timberlake.

Punk rocker Iggy Pop will salute her work, which includes hits Like a Virgin, Material Girl, Crazy For You, Papa Don't Preach and Vogue.

Madonna made her debut as a film director at this year's Berlin Film Festival and has an album, Hard Candy, ready for release in April.

The Rock Hall of Fame requires inductees to have a 25-year track record, so this is the first year she is eligible to be inducted.

The induction of The Dave Clark Five comes less than a month after the death of lead singer Mike Smith, 64. He died of pneumonia, four years after being paralyzed from the waist down because of a spinal cord injury.

The Dave Clark Five, rivals to the Beatles during the 1960s British invasion, are known for hits such as Glad All Over. The group will be inducted by Tom Hanks.

Mellencamp, who has been known as John Cougar and John Cougar Mellencamp, will be inducted by Billy Joel and plans to perform one of his own songs.

He began as a folk rocker in the 1970s and became a voice of America's heartland with hits like Pink Houses and Ain't That America.

The Ventures were a 1960s surfer group who sang Walk, Don't Run and the theme from TV's Hawaii 5-O.

Members Bob Bogle, Nokie Edwards, Gerry McGee, Mel Taylor and Don Wilson are reuniting to perform at the ceremony. They are to be inducted by John Fogerty.

I really like this song...

"27 Jennifers" - My new favorite song!

"27 Jennifers" by Mike Doughty.

Ya think?

Now what are you going to do to fix this?

Music boss: we were wrong to go to war with consumers

1:50PM, Wednesday 14th November 2007

The boss of Warner Music has made a rare public confession that the music industry has to take some of the blame for the rise of p2p file sharing.

Speaking at the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress in Macau, Edgar Bronfman told mobile operators that they must not make the same mistake that the music industry made.

"We used to fool ourselves,' he said. "We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won."

Mobile operators risk the same, he said. Fewer than 10% of mobile owners buy music on their handset, the vast majority of which is ringtones.

"The sad truth is that most of what consumers are being offered today on the mobile platform is boring, banal and basic," he said. "People want a more interesting form of mobile music content. They want it to be easy to buy with a single click - yes, a single click, not a dozen. And they want access to it, quickly and easily, wherever they are. 24/7. Any player in the mobile value chain who thinks they can provide less than a great experience for consumers and remain competitive is fooling themselves."

Bronfman suggested that mobile companies have much to learn from Apple, despite being critical of and iTunes in the past.

"For years now, Warner Music has been offering a choice to consumers at Apple's iTunes store the option to purchase something more than just single tracks, which constitute the mainstay of that store's sales," he explained. "By packaging a full album into a bundle of music with ringtones, videos and other combinations and variation we found products that consumers demonstrably valued and were willing to purchase at premium prices. And guess what? We've sold tons of them. And with Apple's co-operation to make discovering, accessing and purchasing these products even more seamless and intuitive, we'll be offering many, many more of these products going forward."

And the iPhone and iPod touch shows that approach can be made to work on mobile platforms, he said,

"You need to look no further than Apple's iPhone to see how fast brilliantly written software presented on a beautifully designed device with a spectacular user interface will throw all the accepted notions about pricing, billing platforms and brand loyalty right out the window. And let me remind you, the genesis of the iPhone is the iPod and iTunes - a music device and music service that consumers love."

Bronfman appears to be experiencing an epiphany when it comes to digital music. From threatening to withdraw from iTunes and suggesting that to drop DRM would be "without logic or merit", he is now heaping praising on Apple and recently opened a DRM-free section on Warner's own Classics and Jazz music store.
Simon Aughton

Other Music News: Eagles land at #1

The Eagles first album in 28 years "The Long Road Out Of Eden" has landed at #1 after Walmart agreed to report their sales numbers and Billboard changed their chart policy. The album moved 711,000 units easily besting Britney Spears new album "Blackout" which moved 290,000 units.

Revised Chart Policy Lands Eagles At No. 1

November 06, 2007, 8:30 PM ET
Mitchell Peters, L.A.

The Eagles' first new studio album in 28 years, "Long Road Out of Eden," takes a short route to No. 1 on The Billboard 200 after Billboard revised a significant chart policy today (Nov. 7).

In consultation with Nielsen SoundScan, Billboard will now allow exclusive album titles that are only available through one retailer to appear on The Billboard 200 and other charts, effective with this week's charts. Prior to this, proprietary titles were not eligible to appear on most Billboard charts.

Early SoundScan numbers have the Eagles taking the top perch on The Billboard 200 with 711,000 copies sold, with most sales moved by Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores. For now, the only other U.S. outlets carrying "Eden" are walmart.com, where both physical copies and downloads are sold, and the Eagles' own Web site.

"Eden" became available at the mass-market chain Oct. 30. Aside from two compilations, this is the Eagles' first album since the mostly live "Hell Freezes Over," which led The Billboard 200 for two weeks in 1994.

Britney Spears' new Jive album, "Blackout," which would have been No. 1 had the Eagles' data not been reported, will open at No. 2 with first-week sales of 290,000 copies.

"We know that some retailers will be uncomfortable with this policy, but it was inevitable that Billboard's charts would ultimately widen the parameters to reflect changes that are unfolding in music distribution," says Geoff Mayfield, Billboard's director of charts. "We would have preferred to make this decision earlier, but only became aware within the last 24 hours that Wal-Mart would be willing to share the data for this title with Nielsen SoundScan."

The revised policy initially impacts The Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums, where "Eden" will also bow at No. 1. Criteria for the remainder of Billboard's albums charts will be formulated later this week. A handful of other titles will debut this week on The Billboard 200 as a consequence of the policy revision.

Previously, titles that were not generally available at retail were not eligible to appear on The Billboard 200, but were entitled to chart on Billboard's Top Comprehensive Albums, which includes catalog titles and proprietary albums from retailers willing to report those sales.

The comprehensive chart will continue to appear on Billboard.biz, to show how catalog titles compete with the overall market. However, once parameters for the remainder of the album charts are determined, Top Comprehensive Music Videos will be discontinued, as exclusive titles will then be eligible for the Nielsen SoundScan-fed Top Music Videos.

It was 40 years ago today, Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band