jueves, julio 17, 2025
New Music: Get Together
martes, julio 15, 2025
New Music: The Sofa
lunes, julio 14, 2025
The Compilation: David Bowie "I Can't Give Everything Away (2002-2016)"
A decade after Five Years was announced, Parlophone will release the sixth and final David Bowie ‘Era’ box set. I Can’t Give Everything Away 2002-2016 documents the last fourteen years of David’s musical endeavours and adventures.
Despite releasing nothing for around nine years of this period, Bowie still managed to put out four studio albums – Heathen (2002), Reality (2003), The Next Day (2013) and Blackstar (2016) – and as these 13CD and 18LP vinyl box sets demonstrate, there’s plenty of additional live material and non-album tracks available to fill things out.
As well as those four records on CD and vinyl, the I Can’t Give Everything Away box sets include:
- MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL (2CDs or 4LPs) – Previously unreleased and recorded on the 18 July 2002. Amongst the 31 tracks are an almost full performance of 1977’s Low. This is also exclusive to the box set.
- A REALITY TOUR (2CDs or 3LPs) – Released before, but this is resequenced to “better reflect the set lists of the Dublin shows”. The vinyl version of the album is pressed in transparent blue, as per the original.
- RE:CALL 6 (3CDs or 4LPs) – 41 non-album / alternative versions / b-sides and soundtrack songs including some ‘SACD’ only stereo mixes from Heathen. Exclusive to the box.
On LP, The Next Day is actually the 17-track deluxe version (to fill out four sides of vinyl) while the CD edition sticks to the 14-track version. Fear not though, because the three ‘missing’ tracks (‘So She’, ‘Plan’ and ‘I’ll Take You There’) are added to The Next Day Extra E.P. on CD (which is 10 tracks compared to the vinyl version’s seven).
The 4-track No Plan E.P. is also included. This features Bowie’s last three released recordings: No Plan, Killing A Little Time and When I Met You, which were first debuted on stage by the cast of Lazarus. With a running time of 18 minutes (which includes a repetition of the 6 minute album version of ‘Lazarus’) eyebrows might be raised at this being giving this its own disc when the three unique tracks could perhaps have been squeezed onto Re:Call 6. Especially on vinyl where side two of No Plan is ‘etched’.
Re:Call 6 does a good job of rounding up random tracks and includes David Gilmour’s live version of ‘Arnold Layne’ that Bowie sings on, which was issued as a single in 2006 (reaching No 19 in the UK charts).
As mentioned, the Montreux Jazz Festival is exclusive to the box and it’s worth pointing out that the other exclusives in previous boxes (The Gouster, Lodger 2017 Mix, Never Let Me Down 2018 and Dance) have never been issued separately, so the label have kept to their word – so far!
Like the previous ’90s set Brilliant Adventures, I Can’t Give Everything Away 2002-2016 is massive 18 LPs on vinyl (the first three were 13LPs, Loving The Alien was 15LP and Brilliant Adventure was 18LP). These vinyl sets are lovely but it does rather show up the limitations of the format when it requires seven records to deliver two live shows.
Also, actual studio albums take up only five of the 18 records in I Can’t Give Everything Away, which is around 28 percent of the content. If you include Toy, Brilliant Adventures had 61 percent studio albums (11 out of 18 LPs), Loving the Alien 30 percent (5 out of 15), A New Career in a New Town and Who Can I Be Now? both 38 percent (5 out of 13) and Five Years 54 percent (7 out of 13). Depending on your point of view, you could say this means more ‘padding’ than ever, or more welcome bonus material. It’s not really Parlophone’s fault that Bowie only made four albums in this period but if they’d skipped A Reality Tour (issued as a 3LP set in 2016) and squeezed the No Plan E.P. tracks onto Re:Call 6, we’d be back down to a more manageable – and more affordable – 13LPs. On the other hand A Reality Tour is excellent, it was Bowie’s last tour, and period live shows have always been a part of these sets (think Ziggy Stardust: A Motion Picture, David Live, Glass Spider, BBC Radio Theatre).
As ever, both box sets come with books. These are 128 pages in the CD box and 84 in the vinyl set, with previously unseen notes, drawings and handwritten lyrics from Bowie and photos. There are also “technical notes” about the albums from co-producer Tony Visconti and design notes from Jonathan Barnbrook. The CD box has Japan-style vinyl replica CDs, with the discs being gold. The vinyl box contains 180g vinyl – all black, except for A Reality Tour, which is blue.
I Can’t Give Everything Away 2002-2016 will be released on 12 September 2025, via Parlophone.
13CD box set
CD 1: Heathenviernes, julio 11, 2025
The Compilation: Now 12" 80s (1985)
There's 46 extended versions, in total, across the four discs. NOW 12″80s: 1985 – Part One is out now, while the Part Two is expect to be later this year
Now 12"80s: 1985 Track List:
CD 1
News: Battleship Potemkin Centenary Celebrated With Special Edition And Cinema Release Featuring Pet Shop Boys Score
On 22 August 2025, Battleship Potemkin. Music by Pet Shop Boys will open in selected cinemas in the UK and Ireland. Ahead of a week-long run, a special double screening event, at BFI Southbank on Friday 5 September 2025 at 6.30pm, will begin with Pet Shop Boys’ feature film It Couldn’t Happen Here (1988), in memory of its late director, Jack Bond, followed by a Q&A with Neil Tennant, hosted by Paul Tickell, and then a screening of Battleship Potemkin.
5 September is also the release date of the BFI’s Blu-ray package of the film, containing both a Blu-ray disc and a CD of the score, along with extra features and an illustrated booklet. Simultaneously, Parlophone will release the score on remastered CD and on vinyl for the first time on a double LP. All three formats are available to pre-order now from the official Pet Shop Boys store.
A fixture in the critical canon almost since its premiere, Eisenstein’s film about a 1905 naval mutiny was revolutionary in both form and content. Battleship Potemkin is renowned for its dynamic compositional strength and editing of such frame-perfect precision that it’s hard not to be swept along. The set-piece massacre on the Odessa Steps still packs a sledgehammer punch.
First revealed at a free outdoor live performance and screening in front of an estimated 25,000 people in London’s Trafalgar Square on 12 September 2004, Pet Shop Boys' score, performed with the Dresdner Sinfoniker conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer with orchestrations by Torsten Rasch, blends electronic beats with orchestral grandeur to create a rousing contemporary cinematic experience.
Since the premiere, Pet Shop Boys with Dresdner Sinfoniker have performed the music with the film in European cities including Frankfurt, Bonn, Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, and Segovia, Spain. On May 1, 2006, Pet Shop Boys with the Northern Sinfonia, performed the music with the film at a special event at Swan Hunter’s shipyard, Wallsend. The first UK cinema screening with the recorded Tennant/Lowe score took place at BFI Southbank as part of the 2013 Meltdown Festival curated by Yoko Ono.
The special features on Battleship Potemkin / Pet Shop Boys (Blu-ray & CD), which can be pre-ordered from HMV and other retailers now, are:
Hochhaussinfonie (2017, 68 mins): a multimedia musical production by the Dresdner Sinfoniker orchestra and Pet Shop Boys, conceived by Markus Rindt and directed by Sven Helbig, on the evening of July 20, 2006, in Dresden
Trafalgar Square Highlights (2004, 4 mins): a behind-the-scenes film when Pet Shop Boys performed their newly composed score for Battleship Potemkin, accompanied by the Dresdner Sinfoniker orchestra in Trafalgar Square, London
Trailer (2025)
**Limited Edition** Illustrated booklet featuring new writing by Chris Heath and Sarah Cleary, and archive pieces by Neil Tennant and Michael Brooke
Rocktrospectiva: The Enthusiastic "Intriguer" Turns 15
Following the release of Crowded House's reunion album Time on Earth, Neil Finn announced that the band would re-enter the studio to record a follow-up album which would feature the current lineup, consisting of Finn on vocals, guitars and piano, fellow founding member Nick Seymour on bass guitar, Mark Hart on guitars and keyboards, and then-newcomer Matt Sherrod on drums. The band performed a small concert in The Leigh Sawmill, north of Auckland, in February 2008 and featured a few songs which were later to be recorded by the band for the next album.
In 2009, the band re-entered the studio and recorded demo tracks of 11 songs, some of which Finn had written during the tour around the previous album. For these recordings, the group enlisted producer Jim Scott for the first time, who then continued to produce the whole album in Finn's studio, Roundhead Studios in Auckland, New Zealand.
The band hired various guest musicians throughout the recording process, including multi-instrumentalist Don McGlashan, Lisa Germano on violin, Jon Brion on vocals and guitars, James Milne on additional vocals, and Finn's wife Sharon and son, Liam Finn contribute backing vocals and guitars, respectively.
Intriguer was as winsome and persuasive as Crowded House had ever been. It kicked into life with its most immediate, exhilarating, and hard-hitting anthem – the bass-heavy, psych-flecked "Saturday Sun" – and also proffered a couple of notable leftfield departures such as the pensive, enigmatic "Archer's Arrows" and the ambient-streaked "Either Side Of The World."
The sound issued on the record contained numerous examples of the dreamy pop classicism in which Neil Finn had long since excelled. The stand-outs were arguably the majestic "Twice If You're Lucky" and the tremolo guitar-framed "Isolation," though the home straight concluded with a consecutive trio of Finn's most exquisite ballads courtesy of "Even If," "Elephants" and the piano-led "Eyes Grow Heavy."
The album topped the charts in Australia, and went Top 5 in New Zealand and Top 20 in the UK, but it also made a strong showing in a brace of European Top 40s and peaked at a highly respectable No.50 on the US Billboard 200. Moving with the times, Crowded House not only embarked on an extensive world tour in support of Intriguer.
Rocktrospectiva: The Fine And Recommended "Vienna" Turns 45
Vienna was produced by German producer Conny Plank who had also produced Ultravox's previous album Systems of Romance, and mixed at Plank's studio near Cologne, Germany. Ultravox changed pace, style and audience with the arrival of Ure, who had already participated in the formation of Visage with Ultravox's keyboard and viola player Billy Currie. Many different styles are in use on the album; "Astradyne" is a long instrumental featuring sweeping, majestic synthesizer arrangements throughout, while "Mr. X" is a simpler, much sparser Kraftwerk pastiche. The lyrics to the album's songs were mainly written by Ure and drummer Warren Cann, who also takes a rare lead vocal on "Mr. X".
Writing and rehearsing the songs for the album began in autumn 1979, shortly after Midge Ure had joined the band. Among the first tracks written were "Astradyne", "Mr. X" and "New Europeans". As opposed to the band's previous albums, the music was written collectively by the four members by throwing ideas back and forth between them and then working on the ideas and turning them into song structures. Warren Cann contributed to the lyric writing as Ure, who would later write more of the band's lyrics, was still settling in as a new member. Cann wrote the bulk of the lyrics to "Sleepwalk", "Mr. X", "Private Lives", "All Stood Still" and "New Europeans". Following a live gig in London in February 1980 Chrysalis Records had become interested in the band and gave them studio time to record some demos. The band decided to concentrate on one song and record it properly. They recorded "Sleepwalk" and were offered a contract by Chrysalis.
The tracks for the album were then recorded at RAK Studios in London and later mixed in Conny Plank's studio in Germany. The song and later one of the most recognizable tracks by the band "Vienna", which had been written quickly in early 1980, was seen by the band as the musical high point of the album and the song that best represented what they wanted to do, so they decided to make it the title track of the album.
jueves, julio 10, 2025
Rocktrospectiva: The Massive "Parachutes" Turns 25
The album was a commercial success and was met with positive reviews from critics. Upon release, it quickly reached number one in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the album peaked at number 51 on the Billboard 200.
The band began production on Parachutes in late 1999, after producing and releasing The Blue Room EP with British record producer Chris Allison. Allison was asked to assist with production, and the band's musical direction, which was desired by both the band & the A&R department. Production started with the track 'High Speed', which was part of the EP and was later re-released as a part of Parachutes. Allison describes 'High Speed' as thus: 'You'll notice it is quite a bit different to the other tracks, because there are other sounds going on in it: we wanted to mix a soundscape in with the classic rock sound on that particular track. I thought 'High Speed' was a really good marriage between the classic rock sound and the new sound that was developing out of it, something that was more atmospheric'.
The band then took a lengthy break to compose more tracks for Parachutes. A few months later, it was arranged that Allison and the band meet at a rehearsal room to finally begin production on the band's debut album. "They started up playing in the rehearsal room and they really weren't together at all. And I was very honest with them, I just sort of said 'Look, this simply isn't good enough'". Allison adds, "The interesting, the most significant thing that did occur out of the fact that we didn't end up starting the album on that day of the rehearsal was that Chris Martin had not written "Yellow" by that time".
The album's cover features a photograph of a yellow globe taken with a disposable Kodak camera. The globe had been purchased from W H Smith for £10; it was featured in the music videos for "Shiver" and "Don't Panic", and also accompanied the band on their tours.
Champion has explained that Nelson's production style was liberating and allowed the band to feel at ease during the recording of Parachutes (many songs from the album often featured slow tempos). The ensuing album was "a record's worth of moody and atmospheric tunes". As a nod to the moods created by the album, Champion has compared the song lyrics to the 1972 song "Perfect Day" by American rock singer-songwriter Lou Reed, stating that the "lyrics are beautiful and they're really, really happy, but the music is really, really sad. It's that kind of thing, where you can create moods through the music and lyrics".
Parachutes was recognised to have an alternative rock, indie rock, and post-Britpop, with some stylistic comparisons being made to contemporaries such as Radiohead and Travis. In fact, a few critics have suggested that the album's commercial success was due in part to a portion of Radiohead's audience being alienated by the band's experimental and more electronic-influenced Kid A album.
miércoles, julio 09, 2025
The Collection: Oasis "The Comple Studio Album Collection"
This features their seven studio albums – 1994's Definitely Maybe to 2008’s Dig Out Your Soul – as well as the 1998 B-sides compilation The Masterplan. On CD this is an 8CD set and on vinyl it’s a 14LP package.
Amazon has gold vinyl LP and gold CD exclusives for this title – everywhere else is stocking standard black vinyl and normal CDs.
lunes, julio 07, 2025
New Music : God Save The Pony
New Music: The Field