viernes, julio 25, 2025
New Music: Get Together
New Music: Dolce Vita
Sophie Ellis-Bextor shares joyful new single "Dolce Vita" way ahead of the release of her much-anticipated 8th., studio album Perimenopop, due on September 12th. About the single, is a sophisticated slice of sunshine written alongside Karma Kid, Baz Kaye and Clementine Douglas a combination of breezy synths and luscious strings, it builds elatedly into a vibrant pop chorus about being somewhere new and the escapism that brings. Sophie says about the track: "'Dolce Vita' is inspired by the way you feel about yourself when you’re somewhere unfamiliar. You can reinvent yourself and no one knows your story. When I was writing it, I had this little subplot in my head of someone with a criminal past longing to flee and start again somewhere new! But it works too that it’s just the nostalgic pull of a foreign trip where you really got to escape for a little while.”
jueves, julio 24, 2025
New Music: In The Middle
New Music: Is It Worth It (Happy Birthday)?
In Memoriam: The Prolific Composer And Musician "Chuck Mangione" Has Died Aged 84
miércoles, julio 23, 2025
New Music: The Last Time I Saw The Old Man
New Music: Under The Water
martes, julio 22, 2025
In Memoriam: The Heavy Metal Star-Icon And Prince Of Darkness "Ozzy Osbourne" Dies At 76
A family statement said: "It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time," a family statement said. In 2020, he revealed he had Parkinson's disease after suffering a fall.
Either clad in black or bare-chested, the singer was often the target of parents' groups for his imagery and once caused an uproar for biting the head off a bat. Later, he would reveal himself to be a doddering and sweet father on the reality TV show “The Osbournes.”
As he performed from a throne on stage at Villa Park less than three weeks ago, Osbourne told 42,000 fans: "You've no idea how I feel - thank you from the bottom of my heart." It was a gig put together with performances from some of his favourite acts, including Metallica and Guns N' Roses, for the star's "final bow".
Osbourne and his fellow original Black Sabbath members - Tony Iommi, Terence "Geezer" Butler and Bill Ward - reunited for the first time in 20 years and were the last to appear on stage for the Back To The Beginning concert on 5 July.
Black Sabbath's eponymous debut album in 1970 made the UK top 10 and paved the way for a string of tracks. They went on to become one of the most influential and successful metal bands of all time, selling more than 75 million albums worldwide.The singer also found a different kind of fame thanks to noughties MTV reality show The Osbournes, which followed the Birmingham-raised star's somewhat chaotic life in Los Angeles with wife Sharon and two of their children, Kelly and Jack.
And he was also known for the famous anecdotes of hellraising during his rock star heyday - most infamously, the tale of how he bit the head off a bat while on stage. Black Sabbath fired Osbourne in 1979 for his legendary excesses, like showing up late for rehearsals and missing gigs. "We knew we didn't really have a choice but to sack him because he was just so out of control. But we were all very down about the situation," wrote bassist Terry "Geezer" Butler in his memoir Into The Void.
Osbourne re-emerged the next year as a solo artist with his album Blizzard of Ozz. In 1981, he released his second album Diary Of A Madman - both were hard rock classics that went multiplatinu
He had Parkinson's disease and had suffered other health problems in recent years, including complications from injuries sustained in a fall in 2019.
After being forced to cancel tour shows, he made a one-off surprise appearance on stage in Birmingham to close the Commonwealth Games in 2022. The Villa Park gig was announced earlier this year by Sharon, who said he was determined to give fans the "perfect farewell". During his career, Osbourne was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame and the US Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame - twice for both, with Black Sabbath and as a solo artist. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame - as well as in Birmingham's Broad Street - an Ivor Novello, and five Grammy wins from 12 nominations. Plus, he received other honours such as the NME's Godlike Genius award, and Classic Rock's Living Legend prize, over the years.
Osbourne leaves behind his wife, Sharon, and their children, Aimee, Kelly and Jack, as well his two older children, Jessica and Louis, from his first marriage to Thelma Riley, and grandchildren
lunes, julio 21, 2025
New Music: Tina
viernes, julio 18, 2025
New Music: We Are Love
New Music: A Little More Understanding
Rocktrospectiva: The Appeal, Dark And Moody "Crocodiles" Turns 45
Rocktrospectiva: The Influential And Seminal "Closer" Turns 45
The songs on Closer were mostly written or structured during jam sessions in the band's practice room. The songs were drawn from two distinct periods. The earlier guitar-driven compositions were written during the latter half of 1979: "Atrocity Exhibition", "Passover", "Colony", "A Means to an End" and "Twenty Four Hours". All were played live during that year, with some being recorded for various radio sessions. The album's other songs were written in early 1980, and included more prominent use of synthesisers: "Isolation", "Heart and Soul", "The Eternal" and "Decades". "Atrocity Exhibition" features a Synare drum synth put through a fuzz pedal.
The significance influence on the lyrics was the fiction of J. G. Ballard especially The Atrocity Exhibition – a collection of "condensed novels" published in 1970 – which shares its title with the opening track.
Closer was recorded between 18 and 30 March 1980 at Britannia Row Studios in Islington, London. It was produced by Martin Hannett. His production has been highly praised. However, as with their debut album, both Sumner and bassist Peter Hook were unhappy with Hannett's work. Hook later complained that the track "Atrocity Exhibition" was mixed on one of his days off, and when he heard the final product he was disappointed that the abrasiveness of his guitar part had been laden with effects and toned down.
The album cover was designed by Martyn Atkins and Peter Saville, with a photograph of the Appiani family tomb in Genoa's Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno adorning much of the sleeve. The photograph was taken by Bernard Pierre Wolff in 1978. In a 2007 documentary on the band, designer Saville commented that he, upon learning of singer Ian Curtis's suicide, expressed immediate concern over the album's design as it depicted a funeral theme, remarking "we've got a tomb on the cover of the album!"
The album, along with Unknown Pleasures and Still, was remastered and re-released in 2007. As with Unknown Pleasures and Still, the remaster was packaged with a bonus live disc, recorded at the University of London Union. Factory boss Tony Wilson was pleased with the final album and predicted it would be a commercial success. Sumner recalled him saying at the time, "You know, Bernard, this time next year you'll be lounging by a swimming pool in LA with a cocktail in your hand." Sumner was less optimistic and "just thought it was the most utterly ridiculous thing anyone had ever said to me."
jueves, julio 17, 2025
New Music: Get Together
New Music: Taxes
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