This Is Book’s Music

Be Yourself is a brand new tribute album for singer/songwriter Graham Nash, to be released in the U.S. on May 25th. The vinyl version is a 180g double LP.

The artists on the album include Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Brendan Benson, Jonathan Rice, Tyson Vogel, Alela Diane, Bart Davenport, and even Graham Nash’s daughter, Nile Nash.

J.J. Cale is a singer/songwriter/musician who should be familiar to most blues rock enthusiasts, as he has been a major influence for many musicians for over 40 years. Tribute To JJ Cale Volume 1: The Vocal Sessions (Zoho Roots) shows how Cale was influenced by some of the best in blues, rock, and country, and simply wanted to share that admiration through his music. This CD brings together a diverse range of artists to honor Cale for his impact on their lives.

Swamp Cabbage present themselves with five songs, two on their own (“Cajun Moon” and “Same Old Blues”), two featuring Jimmy Hall (“Sensitive Kind” and “Don’t Cry Sister”), and one with J.J. Grey (“Money Talks”). As a collective, these tracks show how rural good blues-based rock can still sound, regardless of who is playing it. One of my favorite bands, Rufus Huff, take the FM radio staple “Cocaine” (written by Cale, then covered and made famous by Eric Clapton in 1976), put it in a thicker and steamier pot of hard rock and offer it back to its creator.

The acapella group The Persuasions are legends in their own right, and together take their vocal skills to do “Travelin’ Light” and the moving “I’ll Make Love To You Anytime”. Guitarist Greg Skaff closes the album with two tracks, “Don’t Wait” (featuring Darryl Johnson) and “Money Talks” (featuring Jimmy Hall), and helps to drive the message home with the gospel influence that was a part of Cale’s music. You can almost imagine the grass and moss as the crickets in the background.

Tribute To JJ Cale Volume 1: The Vocal Sessions is the type of “super album” one would have praised in the same way similar albums were praised in the early 1970′s, when they were events. It was the idea that these musicians and songs should not be museum pieces, but if they were, they should be respected the same way some honor battleships.

Yes, this is Volume 1, as an all instrumental album will follow very soon.

Sundazed Records are at it again with a new Velvet Underground package, and this one is huge, literally. The Quine Tapes, mastered from the source tapes by Bob Irwin, is a 6LP box set, all with two LP’s packaged in individual gatefold covers, along with poster and handbill inserts, rare photos, liner notes by Davie Fricke, all packaged in a nice white box. The performances on the album are from 1969 and feature what is considered to be “the last Velvet Underground lineup”.

Sundazed say that it’s not a limited edition box, but they’re certain the first pressing will be sold out immediately. To order, head over to Sundazed.

When it comes to The Beatles, discussions can be never-ending. When it comes to collecting Beatles records, it can lead to verbal wars but in truth it’s about having everything right and proper for maximum investment value (and bragging rights). Here’s an item I came across while looking on a music board.

A seller on eBay by the name of Tracksuk has a copy of The Beatles’ 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band up for everyone to bid on. The big deal here is that the cover is signed by all four members, including John Lennon. The item (which you can look at here) shows various Beatles signing the Sgt. Pepper album. It’s also a big deal because collectors have often sought for any Beatles items with all four autographs. It has also lead to a few counterfeit catches since Lennon has been dead for almost 30 years and a few have tried to pass his signature as legit.

With about 10 hours to go on the item, the current bid is $31,100.99 U.S. (€24,146.09 or ₤21,012.24). Go to http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380229301407. I wonder what the selling and PayPal fees will be.

It may be two more years until The Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main Street celebrates its 40th anniversary, but the group decided “hey, let’s celebrate it early”. The band have approved a new remaster of the album, so you are able to not only buy the new remaster as is, but a “Super Deluxe Edition” of the album will be available for the diehards.

This deluxe edition will featured two vinyl records, three CD’s, a DVD documentary about the album, and a 50-page book documenting the making of the album and what it became after its release on May 12th:

Have you ever wondered what The Beatles‘ legacy look like if it was presented as a bizarre zombie film? Your dream has come true.

As U2 fans celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band’s debut album, Boy, the group are about to release Artificial Horizon, a 3-record box set consisting of various remixes going back to 1997, and three previously unreleased mixes. Here is the full track listing:

1. Elevation (Influx Mix)
2. Fast Cars (Jacknife Lee Mix)
3. Get On Your Boots (Fish Out Of Water Mix)
4. Vertigo (Trent Reznor Remix)
5. Magnificent (Falke Radio Mix)
6. I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight (Live U2360 Remix)
7. Beautiful Day (David Holmes Remix)
8. Starting At The Sun (Monster Truck Remix)
9. Happiness Is A Warm Gun (Danny Saber Mix)
10. Get On Your Boots (Justice Remix)
11. City Of Blinding Lights (Hot Chip 2006 Remix)
12. If God Will Send His Angels (Grand Jury Mix)
13. Starting At The Sun (Brothers in Rhythm Ambient Mix)

The 3-record set features about 60 minutes of music (or 20 minutes average for each record), so the audio quality on this should be really nice. U2.com subscribers can obtain it for about $30, non-members can buy it for around $35. You can find out more about Artificial Horizon here.

In 2010 you may not be able to buy the rights to The Beatles masters, obtain any percentage of their publishing, or sample their music to make you sound uber-hip, but apparently you can sell the recording studio that became famous around the world simply because of “four or five magicians” who cast their spell there 40 years ago.

An article from the Associated Press states that EMI Group Ltd., a company who has been struggling financially for years, have been looking for someone to buy Abbey Road Studios in London. The studio was originally called EMI Studios and had been the recording studio for EMI Records and all of their British affiliates. It was here that Parlophone Records producer (Sir) George Martin was introduced to a new pop combo from Liverpool in 1962 called The Beatles. Together, along wit a number of recording studio engineers and assistants (including Alan Parsons and Geoff Emerick), The Beatles would not only record some of the best music ever made, but revolutionize the way music was recorded, mixed, and produced. They named their 1969 album Abbey Road in honor of the street that houses the studio, and the studio itself would change its name to Abbey Road Studios in 1970, forever becoming a part of Beatles and rock’n'roll history.

Countless artists have recorded at Abbey Road since then, from Pink Floyd to Kanye West, and there’s also a television show that highlights exclusive performances from old and new artists.

40 years after the studio became Abbey Road, EMI continues to struggle with keeping themselves alive, even after a 2.7 billion pounds purchase in 2007. Even though EMI is a company known for much more than The Beatles (apparently they made toasters during World War II), the group has obviously become their bread and butter, so the idea of them selling “the recording studio that The Beatles built” might seem ludicrous to some. In truth, countless recording studios in London and throughout England have been closing over the years, specifically company-owned studio that was once a major part of the music industry in the 50′s, 60′s, and 70′s. Independent studios helped change that, making the process of recording songs and albums much easier for artists. Home studios have hurt the big studios, so while Abbey Road has become a major tourist attraction, it’s not enough to keep it around. Perhaps it’s merely the bursting of the bubble, because the building was just a building before 1962, and it’s just a building full of rooms that inspired many musicians of countless genres to simply create.

Yet even a building that has “Beatles status” can’t hold back economic and financial problems. As the AP article indicates, potential buyers will be buying the recording studio, not the famous sidewalk that thousands of people cross every year.

Joan Jett was “a part of the gang: in the early days of MTV, becoming a staple for the fledgling cable network to the point where Weird Al Yankovic would parody her with “I Love Rocky Road”. You loved her passion for the music, that aggression and attitude, and maybe you felt that was sexy. I still remember back when “world premiere videos” were an event, I wanted to see the video for “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)”. I dozed off, but when I woke up she flashed me. WHOA!

Anyway, one can easily have similar flashbacks or memories with her music, and with a new biopic about her and her time with The Runaways, people are realizing how much her music still holds up. She has compiled a greatest hits album with all of her great songs, including “I Love Rock’N'Roll”, “Crimson & Clover”, “Bad Reputation”, “I Hate Myself For Loving You”, “Light Of Day”, and three updated versions of Runaways songs, including “School Days”, “You Drive Me Wild”, and “Love Is Pain”. With luck, this greatest hits collection and the biopic will inspire a younger generation of girls and young women to pick up a guitar and become maybe not the next Joan Jett, but the next movement of ladies who will share an inspiration to rock out for the fuck of it.

Her Greatest Hits album will be released as a single CD and of course be made available through the digital networks, but you can now pre-order it as a 2-record set from Amazon.

Midnight Souvenirs (Verve) is the name of the album by J. Geils Band frontman Peter Wolf, who is pushing on as he enters his fifth decade in the music scene with. For this new album, due out on April 6th, he has Neko Case, Shelby Lynne and Merle Haggard sitting in with him. The album cover artwork was also done by Wolf himself, who says his love of art is as moving to him as his love of music.

No word on if there will be a vinyl pressing of this, but if there is, I’ll post it in the Record Crack section.