Free Springsteen track

Thanks to Lawrence Kirsch for news that the forthcoming Springsteen album is being promoted by a new online track, and to Mike Ollier for a link:

"The Graunidad is offering a free download of a track from the new Springsteen album, for one week only;

http://music.guardian.co.uk/

The best of the Elvis 30th anniversary product

Most of the Elvis product launched to exploit the 30th anniversary left me unmoved. I admire Elvis’s best music, but much of his work – and the surrounding three ring circus – bores me silly.

A couple of products impressed:

* Elvis – The King, a chart-topping new supermarket-friendly compilation album. If I didn’t already have all the music, this 2CD 50-odd track release would have been a must-buy.

* Elvis – The Official Collector’s Edition is a beautifully conceived and well executed part work series. The bargain launch issue (99p!) was everywhere in the High St and on TV last week. You can buy the 26 issues with or without 13 optional DVDs.

As most Elvis movies are unwatchable, I’d forego the DVD option. And think carefully about effectively shelling out about £75 for an Elvis book, delivered in parts. Nice looking artefact, though.


Gerry Smith

Leonard Cohen - live: looking a bit more likely

Earlier speculation about possible Leonard Cohen London shows (see below) looks a bit more accurate with the news that Lenny is appearing in a free pre-show “conversation” with Philip Glass at The Barbican at 6pm on Sat 20 0ctober.

The show itself is a performance of Glass’s treatment of Book Of Longing, Cohen’s new volume of poetry, set for voices and instruments (but not, note, Leonard himself).

Leonard Cohen? Free? What?

Well, there’s a snag – you need a ticket for the main gig to get in to the pre-show talk. And the main gig is, er, sold out. It was already sold out in the new Barbican programme - which arrived today. I wonder where it was first advertised?

And, call me a cynic, but I can't believe that Leonard would travel all that way just to be one half of a joint free talk. Lenny in London gigs about to be announced? Here's hoping.



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Leonard Cohen set to tour?

Leonard Cohen’s portrait on the cover of new issue of The Word, following loads and loads of recent UK press, makes me think that we’re about to see Leonard touring England - after such a long break.

He can’t surely be doing the press rounds in support of the slightly expanded reissues of the first three albums, or Anjani, his companion’s, new album of Leonard material. There simply has to be a bigger picture.

I’ve never seen Lenny live, but, then, who has? He hasn’t toured – anywhere - in 14 years…

If, like many grown-ups, you’re excited by the interface where pop culture (rock) meets high culture (literature), Lenny is certainly your man.

Watch this space…



Gerry Smith

New Neil Young album - Chrome Dreams II - due in October

Neil Young’s web site has news of a new album, Chrome Dreams II, scheduled for 16 October. Seven of the ten songs are newly written; two of the tracks promise to be ambitious works, running to 18 and 13 minutes. Young is set to tour to support the release.

Chrome Dreams was the title of an album aborted in 1977, though the project supplied several Young classics, notably Like a Hurricane, Powderfinger, and Pocahontas for later album releases. A widely circulating 12-track bootleg has been a fan favourite since the early 1990s.

If Chrome Dreams II is as impressive as the bootleg, it will banish the memory of the disappointing Greendale and Living With War, and continue the strong recent run started with the must-have Live At the Fillmore East (1971>2006) and Live At Massey Hall (1971>2007) CD/DVD.

http://www.neilyoung.com


Gerry Smith

Joni Mitchell's new album - lyrics and cover art

Thanks to Steven Pearce:

“For those interested (and, surely, who wouldn't be?) here's a link to the new lyrics and cover art of Joni Mitchell's upcoming album, Shine:

http://jonimitchell.com/musician/album.cfm?id=28

“Plus, we have the knowledge there's at least one more album on the way... “

English rockers dominating the newsstands

It doesn’t happen often, but the current issue of all three London poprock monthly mags has an Anglo musician on the cover: Keith Richards on the front of MOJO, Paul Weller on UNCUT and Johnny Marr fronting the new issue of The Word.

The only other Anglo clean sweep in the last 20 months consisted of The Beatles, The Smiths and Amy Winehouse, in February this year.

The three mags regularly cover home-grown talent alongside N American peers, but it’s rare for English musos to dominate the newsstands in this fashion.

The best-loved popular music of the last century was predominantly American, and US musicians have dominated rock ever since Bill Haley signaled the end of the road for the post-WW2 crooner generation. Since The Beatles, however, English musicians have punched above their weight in most world markets – if you doubt it, visit any record shop anywhere in Europe and count the Anglos.



Gerry Smith

Scorsese on his new Stones film, The Last Waltz and Dylan in No Direction Home

Thanks to Martin Cowan for the link to a revealing interview with ace director Martin Scorsese in Sunday’s Observer Music Monthly. In the course of promoting Shine A Light, his forthcoming Rolling Stones concert film, Scorsese also discusses The Last Waltz and Bob Dylan in No Direction Home:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,,2144026,00.html

The Biggest Bang – new Stones 4DVD box

It’s a well-kept secret, but The Biggest Bang, a new Stones 4DVD box set, featuring footage from the current world tour, has just been released. Best price I’ve seen is £30 at Asda, the UK Wal-Mart subsidiary. My local HMV hadn’t heard of it, and suggested In The Park as the “new Stones DVD”.

Far more tempting than Forty Flicks, the massively overpriced last Stones DVD box (£40-£50 – at that sort of price, they’d have to throw in a week at Sir Michael’s Loire Valley chateau to interest me.)

Along with the Martin Scorsese-directed Stones concert film, set for release (US) on 21 September, these are exciting times for Glimmer film collectors.


Gerry Smith

Top 50 Elvis songs

Elvis Presley recorded over 700 tracks. Writing in The Times last Friday, critic Bob Stanley ranked his top 50.

It’s an invaluable guide for anyone starting to explore Elvis’s catalogue or compiling a basic set of tunes. Here’s a taster of the listing:

1. HOUND DOG - The intro explodes into your ears, and into the public consciousness, as only A Hard Day's Night and Anarchy In The UK have since. So intense, two minutes of sustained viciousness and sheer malicious glee.
2. SUSPICIOUS MINDS
3. MYSTERY TRAIN
4. HEARTBREAK HOTEL
5. I JUST CAN'T HELP BELIEVING…

The highly recommended full article is here:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article2186173.ece




Gerry Smith

Paul Weller for beginners

As main man in The Jam and Style Council and as a solo artist, Paul Weller has been a prolific songwriter, with over 300 songs already to his credit - and the flow shows little sign of abating.

Like many creatives, Weller’s early stuff is the most highly regarded. In a lengthy feature in the new (Sept) issue of UNCUT, the music and movies monthly, celeb muso votes for his best songs produce a top 30 which is two thirds Jam songs. And a top ten with 9 Jam songs.

The top three, fairly predictably, are:

1. Going Underground
2. Town Called Malice
3. That's Entertainment

If you need to catch up on Paul Weller (as I did), the new issue of UNCUT offers you an expert dissection of his work.

www.uncut.co.uk



Gerry Smith