Rock 'n' Roll Times
viernes, julio 04, 2025
Somebody Has To Shoot The Pictures: Oasis '25 Cardiff Night One
In Memoriam: The Television Composer "Mark Snow" Dies At 78
He was a 15-time Emmy nominee, he not only scored more than 200 episodes of the legendary Chris Carter's spooky Fox series, he also provided the music for another series now turned into classisc such as "Hart to Hart," "T.J. Hooker," "Smallville," "The Ghost Whisperer" and "Blue Bloods."
Six of his 15 Emmy nominations were for "The X-Files," but five others were for such high rated TV movies and miniseries, including "Something About Amelia," "An American Story," "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All," "Children of the Dust" and "Helter Skelter."
He was a Juilliard-trained composer started out, like most TV composers in the 1970s, writing for full orchestra, but Snow was among the first to transition to the all-electronic milieu in the late 1980s, working alone in his home studio. All of the "X-Files" TV music sometimes as much as 40 minutes per weekly episode was created on his synthesizers, samplers and other music-making machines.
Composer Sean Callery, who considered Snow a mentor and then close friend of more than three decades, told: "His limitless talent and boundless creativity was matched only by the generosity he bestowed upon other composers who sought his guidance. He would give the most inspiring and intelligent feedback when listening to the work of other young artists. He combined his decades of experience with the encouragement that composers cultivate: to trust in themselves, embrace their own unique voice, and learn to rely on their own instincts. And he did so with a humor and self-deprecation that made his wisdom all the more enduring."
Snow recalled coming up with an echoing rhythmic figure, then adding an eerie, whistling melody atop it, as he was scoring the pilot for "The X-Files" in 1993. He was amused when it became a top-10 hit in England, Ireland, France and across Europe in 1996, saying: Nothing really big happens in the song. It stays in A-minor, there's no singing, drums or guitars, and it was a smash hit.
Snow also scored Carter's other series, "Millennium," "Harsh Realm" and "The Lone Gunmen," and earned another Emmy nomination for his theme for "Nowhere Man" in 1996.
As he explained: "It took quite a few years to get to where I felt comfortable with the electronics, trying to make something that approximated melodic music. Mostly it was used for ambient sound-effect type scores. But the technology kept changing so quickly. There was much more control, and the spectrum of sound really warmed up and started to breathe. These electronic instruments could really make something approximating music. [Now] I have my keyboard, here’s the show on the screen in front of me, and I just start playing along with it. I improvise, and then I hit on something I like, and I go over it again and again."
He also wrote the music for the final four films of acclaimed French filmmaker Alain Resnais, earning a César nomination for the first, 2007's "Private Fears in Public Places."
Born Martin Fulterman on August 26, 1946, in Brooklyn. He began piano studies at 10, later adding drums and oboe to his repertoire. He studied at New York's High School of Music and Art and soon befriended another future film composer, Michael Kamen.
The two became roommates when both went on to study at the Juilliard School of Music from 1964 to 1968. They co-founded the New York Rock & Roll Ensemble to perform both classical and innovative pop music. Immediately signed to Atlantic Records, they went on to record and perform for the next five years.
In 1974, after a brief stint as a record producer, he moved to Los Angeles, where his brother-in-law, actor Georg Stanford Brown, convinced producer Aaron Spelling to take a chance on the young composer by commissioning a score for ABC's "The Rookies."
It was on this first of six "Rookies" scores that Martin Fulterman adopted the pseudonym Mark Snow initially to dodge threats from his previous employer, it became his professional moniker. He soon became busy in episodic TV, writing scores for "Starsky & Hutch", "Gemini Man," "Family" and other series.
It was "Hart to Hart," the Robert Wagner-Stefanie Powers romantic drama, his real first big hit, composing the theme and more than 90 scores for the ABC series. He went on to write the theme and early scores for William Shatner's "T.J. Hooker," the theme for Jack Warden's "Crazy Like a Fox," and scores for such other series as "The Love Boat," "Dynasty," "Cagney & Lacey" and "Falcon Crest."
In the aftermath of his 1990s success with the "X-Files" music, Snow scored the first six seasons of "Smallville" for the WB network, all five seasons of "Ghost Whisperer" on CBS (earning two more Emmy nominations) and nearly 290 episodes of the long-running Tom Selleck family police drama "Blue Bloods" on CBS.
Among his other TV movies and miniseries were "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" with John Travolta, HBO's "Vietnam War Stories," the Louis L'Amour western "Down the Long Hills," "Murder Ordained" with Keith Carradine, "Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure," "The Lost Capone," six "In the Line of Duty2 films including "Siege at Waco," "A Woman Scored: The Betty Broderick Story" with Meredith Baxter, "The Day Lincoln Was Shot" with Rob Morrow, and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" starring Michael Caine.
His other feature films included "Ernest Saves Christmas," "Cold Dog Soup" produced by George Harrison's Handmade Films," the two "X-Files" films, "The X-Files" and "The X-Files: I Want to Believe," both of which departed from the all-electronic TV style in favor of traditional orchestral scores. In addition to his Emmy nominations, Snow received ASCAP's Golden Note Award in 2005.
Among the survivors are his wife Glynnis, plus three daughters and grandchildren.
Rocktrospectiva: The Edgy "Stars Of CCTV" Turns 20
Stars of CCTV was recorded in a variety of unusual acoustic environments – bedrooms, pubs, and played back in Hard-Fi producer Wolsey White's BMW. Originally 1,000 copies of this record were pressed with only 500 going on public sale, and the initial plan was to sell 1,000 each time. However it quickly sold out, receiving critical acclaim and radio play, proving a lot more successful than the band had imagined. Most of the album was recorded in a disused mini cab office, which cost them about £300, and it is known to this day as the "Cherry Lips" Studio due to the colour of the paint on the walls.
The band tried to make their music sound more environmental by putting a microphone in the corridor, which added echo, but background noises caused by people walking past or planes flying overhead could be heard while the band recorded. These background noises can still be heard on the record. The band used the TL Audio Fatman compressor for the album, Archer said "It's alright, it's cheap, you don't have to know what you're doing...".
Stars of CCTV was originally released as a mini album, a very limited release which sold out very quickly. A few months after, the album had been going on sale on websites such as eBay for £25. Talking about the situation, frontman Richard Archer said: "We had no money but time was a luxury that we did have. So we spent a year planning, then recording it ourselves, and we did all the artwork ourselves too. Even our website was designed by us. We got a book out of the library so we could learn how to do it. Then we had to do it again cos it was a right palaver. So after all that, things took off really quickly and went crazy in the space of two months, which was quite surprising."
The album's launch party was scheduled for 7 July 2005 at Cheekees night club in Staines where their top ten single "Hard to Beat" was filmed, but this was cancelled due to the ill health of Richard's mother, and the London bombings also occurring that day. Her death resulted in the band pulling out of the Glastonbury festival. The launch party was rescheduled for 13 July 2005 and the venue changed to Ladbroke Grove, London. Richard says that he is no longer friends with Cheekee because of an incident involving him describing his nightclub to a newspaper like "a bad wedding". Richard defended himself by saying "...but everyone likes a bad wedding so I don't see what the problem is."
After a successful campaign by Atlantic, the Stars of CCTV album re-entered the official UK album chart at No. 4 on 1 January 2006. Two places higher than it originally went in on the week of its release. It reached No. 1 on 22 January 2006. The band's re-release of "Cash Machine" entered the official Top 40 singles chart at No. 14 on 1 January.
jueves, julio 03, 2025
In Memoriam: Iconic Actor "Michael Madsen" Dies At 67
Rodriguez told in a statement that Madsen had a cardiac arrest and was found unresponsive in his Malibu home Thursday morning.
"Michael Madsen was one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors, who will be missed by many," said a joint statement from his managers Susan Ferris and Ron Smith of Bohemia Entertainment and Rodriguez.
Sgt. Christopher Jauregui, watch commander for Los Angeles Sheriff Department Lost Hills Station confirmed that deputies responded to Madsen’s home in Malibu this morning and found him “unresponsive." He was pronounced dead at 8:25 a.m. local time and no foul play is suspected, Jauregui added. Madsen was a prolific dramatic actor who was best known for his work in several of Tarantino’s films, including "Reservoir Dogs," "Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood" and the "Kill Bill" films.
Famously known for his stony looks and calm, sometimes menacing demeanor, Madsen could play a menacing villain as well as a protagonist, as seen in 199's "Species."
Having gotten his start in TV in the early '80s – an early role on 'St. Elsewhere in 1983 first put him on the map – Madsen soon transitioned to films, where he made an impression in 1991's Ridley Scott-directed hit "Thelma & Louise," in which he played Louise's (Susan Sarandon) put-upon love interest Jimmy. The next year saw his first collaboration with Tarantino in "Reservoir Dogs," the uber-violent ensemble piece in which Madsen played Mr. Blonde.
Thus began a prolific time for the actor – who appeared in primarily action films along with westerns like 1994’s "Wyatt Earp." While much of Madsen’s oeuvre strayed into B-movie territory, he continued to appear in higher profile hits as well, such as "Donnie Brasco" in 1997, the James Bond film "Die Another Day" in 2002, and 2005's "Sin City."
Madsen's knack for demented villains was perfected in his portrayal of Sidewinder in the "Kill Bill" franchise, one of the foes Uma Thurman’s Bride must vanquish before defeating her main nemesis. The films were split into two volumes in 2003 and 2004. Other roles in which he shined include 2004’s noir western “Renegade” and “The Hateful Eight,” another Tarantino film, from 2015.
Madsen’s off-screen life was marked by some legal and personal troubles. Last year, he was arrested on suspicion of domestic battery misdemeanor after a dispute with his wife DeAnna Madsen. The actor filed for divorce from DeAnna Madsen one month later.
In 2019, Madsen was arrested for DUI, his second within 10 years, and in 2012, was arrested following a physical altercation with his then-teenage son.
With over 320 credits to his name, Madsen also had a whopping 18 titles in development at the time of his death.
In the statement from his representatives following his death, they said Madsen had been “doing some incredible work with independent film including upcoming feature films ‘Resurrection Road’, ‘Concessions’ and ‘Cookbook for Southern Housewives.’”
In Memoriam: The Legendary "Kenneth Colley" Dies At 87
Ken Colley was one of our finest character actors with a career spanning 60 years,” Owen said in the statement. “Ken continually worked on stage, film, and television playing a vast array of characters, from Jesus in Monty Python’s Life of Brian to evil and eccentric characters in Ken Russell films, and the Duke of Vienna in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure for the BBC.” The BBC reported that Colley had originally been admitted to hospital with an injured arm after a fall, but quickly contracted Covid, which developed into pneumonia.
Colley reprised the role of Admiral Piett in the 2012 animated film Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out. His other credits include Clint Eastwood’s Firefox, Aki Kaurismäki’s I Hired a Contract Killer, and Ken Russell’s The Rainbow.
As Owen's statement mentioned, Colley's role in the 1979 Monty Python comedy Life of Brian was among one of his best-known film parts, but many more moviegoers will recognize him as the Star Wars character Admiral Piett, who appears alongside Darth Vader in 1980's The Empire Strikes Back and 1983's Return of the Jedi. As The Atlantic noted in a 2015 article, Colley's run in both Empire and Jedi makes him the only actor to portray an Imperial officer in the original six Star Wars movies who appears in more than one film.
Outside of Star Wars and Life of Brian, Colley held an acting career that lasted more than five decades. He made his screen acting debut in the early 1960s with roles in episodes of A for Andromeda and The Plane Makers, and added dozens of roles to his resume before being cast in Star Wars.recently, Colley appeared in a 2024 movie titled Dan Hawk Psychic Detective and lent his voice to a short film titled I am Tree in 2023. Other notable movies he appeared in include 1982's Firefox, 1999's Holding On, the 1988 miniseries War and Remembrance and 1997's Brassed Off, among others.
Rocktrospectiva: The Impressive And Matured "A Nothern Soul" Turns 30
The sessions
gained notoriety for the stories that emerged from the time, including
Ashcroft going missing for five days and him allegedly totalling a car
on the studio's lawn. In the first three weeks, they had finished 15
tracks; after this point, the situation soured as guitarist Nick McCabe grew exhausted from dealing with the other members frequently partying and taking ecstasy, in addition to vocalist Richard Ashcroft
and Morris shouting and destroying objects. At one point, McCabe began
to have a different working schedule from the others, starting at 10–11
a.m. while the rest of the band started at 6 p.m.
Described as alternative rock, Britpop, psychedelic rock, and psychedelic soul, Ashcroft said A Northern Soul revolved around one person experiencing various emotions. He wrote material for it after the end of a six-year relationship, using a portastudio at co-manager John Best's house over several weeks. The Verve started promotion with a UK gig supporting Oasis in April 1995, followed by one in France two days later. After McCabe was injured in an altercation with a bouncer, a month's worth of shows were cancelled. The album spawned three singles "This Is Music", "On Your Own", then Ashcroft announced his departure from the band, which the press reported as if they were breaking up. "History" was the third and final single from the album.
The Verve released their debut studio album, A Storm in Heaven, it entered a music scene dominated by grunge, sitting against the emergence of British bands Blur and Suede. Shortly afterwards, frontman Richard Ashcroft said he wanted to record the follow-up as soon as possible. In 1993, the band promoted the album with a UK tour, a European tour with the Smashing Pumpkins – by which point they were writing songs for their next album – a US tour with Acetone, and ending with a UK tour with Acetone and up-and-comers Oasis. The Verve's notoriety as troublemakers was exacerbated by connecting themselves with Oasis.
Issues plagued the members during the stint, including drummer Peter Salisbury getting arrested and Ashcroft being taken to the hospital for not drinking enough fluids. The grind of touring the US eventually took its toll on Ashcroft and guitarist Nick McCabe, with the pair not being on friendly terms. Throughout that year, interpersonal relationships between members of the Verve grew apart, spurred on by the ballooning popularity of their friends in Oasis.
Since the recording of their debut album, Ashcroft had some life-changing experiences that would fuel his songwriting. Towards the end of 1994, Ashcroft and his girlfriend Sarah Carpenter ended their six-year relationship when the latter became infatuated with one of the band's roadies, Andy Burke, who was also one of Ashcroft's best friends. As Ashcroft was dealing with this, Jones was also going through mental struggles. The latter found it difficult to acclimatise at home in Wigan after Lollapalooza and the US in general. McCabe was also breaking up with his pregnant girlfriend Monica; he was growing weary of others around him. Ashcroft fled to London and, subsequently, the countryside without informing anyone. Ashcroft attempted to reconcile with her in London over a period of three months. For two of those three, he was mentally and physically exhausted. When he reconvened with the rest of the band, they were performing the music that he felt conveyed the emotions he was experiencing, allowing the two aspects to go together with relative ease. Ashcroft stayed with Best, who was dating Lush frontwoman Miki Berenyi, for a period of six-to-eight weeks. Best had a portastudio in his frontroom that Berenyi used for making songs, which Ashcroft used when borrowing her acoustic guitar to write for himself.
When the band wanted a different producer for their second album, Noel Gallagher of Oasis proposed Owen Morris, who had co-produced Definitely Maybe. Morris himself shared a similar perspective on the rock and roll lifestyle as the Verve. Ashcroft said they went with him as he was around their age and equally as intense as the rest of the band in "everything we do, lifestyle, music, everything ..." As the members wanted to avoid repeating mistakes that they had made on A Storm in Heaven, they set about writing prior to entering a studio. The band holed up in their former rehearsal space in Wigan, which Ashcroft dubbed a "black hole, a claustrophobic pit." The space was located in a dark industrial warehouse, which they felt was inspirational to the point that Ashcroft and McCabe put aside their personal issues. The members drove around during the night on occasion, seeking further inspiration. Ashcroft learned of a tale from Keith Richards where he talked about the Rolling Stones being mocked by Dean Martin, which he connected to and used as an influence: "That's what happened to us ... we just thought, 'Fuck you all, we're gonna delve into our black hole in Wigan and make the greatest music you've heard in your life.'" Morris, whose visibility as a producer increased after Definitely Maybe, visited the band during one of their rehearsals, feeling enthusiastic about what he was hearing.
Discussing the album, Ashcroft said the "doors have opened for me personally with my writing. We've been liberated. Touring, you get lost on a rock and roll adventure. You're on the Stardust trip. You're in the mansion in your head with the white robes on doing rock operas called 'Woman'. But then you come home and it's time to get twenty Regal and a pastie and assess who you are. That's why the new album's got more soul to it. It's modern Northern blues." Egan said a possibility for the album's title was how the Verve viewed their sound as the "result of a fundamental sincerity." Ashcroft said the album revolved around one person experiencing various emotions: "pretty painted, then elated, then arrogant. All facets of that personality are a northern soul." Egan said this character was Ashcroft incognito, writing that a few critics were sceptical about how an individual "'soul' could have gone through such torment as to inspire such desolate songwords.
On the album's lyrics, Ashcroft said that, as a whole, it was him "asking myself: 'Who the fuck am I?' Am I the guy in 'This Is Music' standing tall in the world with these huge guitars around him like the king of rock 'n' roll, or am I the guy in 'A Northern Soul' who's wasted and desperate, or am I the guy in 'On Your Own', who's in between life and death, or am I the guy in 'Life's an Ocean' imagining the future and buying feelings from a vending machine, am I this future shock guy? But I'm all of them, you see. It’s dangerous to fracture your personality too much, but that’s what it was."
The opener "A New Decade" came across as akin to the sound of A Storm in Heaven, with Ashcroft's voice fading in, "woo-woohing gently somewhere far off in the distance. Then, suddenly, the guitars kick the metaphorical doors in and Richard bellow the title like he's announcing the start of a whole new era." Baker noted that the most prominent change compared to past material is Ashcroft's vocals being placed higher in the mix while the guitars sounded aggressive, "This Is Music" had a "belligerent spirit that was immediately very apparent. Instead of singing vague platitudes about the sky and the sun, as he had in the past, Richard was suddenly addressing the real world." It was Ashcroft's first political song, originating after he met an Eton alumni. Ashcroft was bewildered by the number of opportunities open to him simply because he attended private school. He thought it was akin to someone starting the journey of life ninety metres ahead of everyone else. Ashcroft said the song's narrator was someone who had to fight to get what they wanted in any given situation.
"On Your Own" marks the band's first ballad track, which Clarke wrote "left a disturbingly uneasy feeling about the ultimate solitude of life." "So It Goes" harkens back to the sound of A Storm in Heaven. In the song, Hogwood said Ashcroft divulges self-doubt amongst the frequent guitar theatrics, with him trying to place distance between the rest of the Verve and himself. "A Northern Soul" evoked the sound of Funkadelic, the song came across as "utterly rock 'n' roll without having any recognisably rock 'n' roll riffs, structure or melody." The song was influenced by Ashcroft learning about Gallagher disappearing when Oasis were on tour in the US the previous year.
"Brainstorm Interlude" was the Verve "boiling over and freaking out. There are great moments but they’re bobbing in a sea of frantic noodling. It sounds like they were jamming to try and find a song, one didn’t appear but the resulting chaos was too good to ignore." "Drive You Home" is a country ballad in the vein of A Storm in Heaven's closing track, "See You in the Next One (Have a Good Time)", which had a reminiscent of the work of Chris Isaak. "History" did not fit on the album, suggesting that it would have been more beneficial on the band's third studio album, Urban Hymns, it was an important track in their career, marking the first occasion where strings served as one of the defining characteristics of their recordings. The strings were arranged by Wil Malone, known at the time for contributing to "Unfinished Sympathy" (1991) by Massive Attack.
On "No Knock on My Door", Ashcroft imitates the vocal style of Liam Gallagher; The machismo that John Best talked about is in full-effect but you can hear him expending his last drop of strength." Williams, meanwhile, thought that Ashcroft was doing a satisfactory "impression of Shaun Ryder in a launderette as raw riffs lurch and destroy around him." For the remainder of the album, the energy of the songs drops."Life's an Ocean" sees a man with a soul living in a soulless society; as Egan wrote, the chacarter's humanity is taken from him via constant commercialism. One of its verses was influenced by the band touring across the US. Ashcroft said that following six weeks in the country, he was unable to look at any advertisements as he could not work out who they were selling to, remarking that it was alarming. "Stormy Clouds" continues the same theme as "Life's an Ocean", though conveying it in a better way: "drifting in a dreamlike fashion before the rhythm section subtly accelerates, pulling the song forward like a tractor dragging a sports car off a muddy field." King wrote that the album nears its end on a moment of fatigued realisation, seeing the "'new horizons' behind the 'Stormy Clouds' and its winding down instrumental reprise, where McCabe unfurls a soul-searching" guitar solo for six minutes, reminiscent of "May This Be Love" (1967) by Hendrix. For the album's closer, "(Reprise)", Wilding was surprised by McCabe's guitar playing as it took over the rest of the music, altering the "language of its discourse upside down.
miércoles, julio 02, 2025
New Music: Hey Hi Hello
martes, julio 01, 2025
Rocktrospectiva: The Sublime "A Secret Wish" Turns 40
A Secret Wish was a triumph of melodic concision and proto-techno programming as much as a victory for instrumental finesse and studio excess, from the synth swells and Chris Squire-goes-cosmic-funky bass part on "The Murder of Love to Frozen Faces" to the melodic and calm "Duel", this album still sounds revolutionary.
Everything counted, from the production, the voice of the wonderful Claudia Brucken, the lyrics, the arrangements and Trevor Horn, who then showed all his strength and imagination. Another worth example was the track "Dream Within The Dream", which Claudia Brucken delivered with perfect diction and such an ease, charm, coldness and calmness that was supposed to convey the incredible atmosphere of the song, heavy sarcasm and irony with almost industrial drum section in "Sorry For Laughing", hysterical screaming in "Jewel".
lunes, junio 30, 2025
New Music: Cut & Rewind
domingo, junio 29, 2025
Rocktrospectiva: The Favourable "Expo 86" Turns 15
Released on 29 June 2010 "Expo 86" was the third album by the Canadian indie rock band Wolf Parade. The album spawned the video single "Yulia".
Considered not nearly as good of a Wolf Parade previous albums. Expo 86 is further evidence of the deterioration of the distinct Wolf Parade sound. Althought for several fans and listeners, the album were quite good, remarkable tracks such as "What Did My Lover Say?"€ and "In the Direction of The Moon"€, though good, it features Krug’s signature emotionless, deadpan delivery to a simple beat, other intense and tasty tracks were "Little Golden Age" that had on the the guitar riff reminiscent of Television’s ‘€œMarque Moon’€, Ghost Pressure, Cave-o-sapien, Pobody’s Nerfect, and of course the intense and dramatic "Yulia".
Expo 86 is certainly not a bad album, still provided moments of interest and listenability, maybe because where some of these songs fall flat is in the edits, where the sound works on this album is when they both play their strengths. Krug was an incredibly talented lyricist and clearly likes to play with song structure – on the other hand Boeckner founds here as a skilled editor, not necessarily innovative in song structure but talented at consistently creating solid music some good favorite songs on this album feature his lyrics: ‘€œPobody’s Nerfect’€ and ‘€œLittle Golden Age.’€
"€œLittle Golden Age"€ had ear-catching lyrics and also boast a clear, unwaving sound. Other goodies on this album include: "€œCave-o-Sapien"€ and the supremely awesome "Ghost Pressure."