The music

Michał Urbaniak

noreply@blogger.com (Wikta) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:52:00 +0000

Michał Urbaniak (born June 22, 1943) is a Polish jazz musician and composer born in Warsaw, playing mainly the violin, lyricon and saxophone during concerts and recordings. He played a central role in the development of jazz fusion in the 1970s and 1980s, and has introduced elements of folk, R&B, hip hop, and symphonic music to jazz.

Life and career

Urbaniak started his music education during high school in Łódź, and continued from 1961 in Warsaw in the violin class of Tadeusz Wroński. Learning to play on the saxophone alone, he first played in a Dixieland band, and later with Zbigniew Namysłowski and the "Jazz Rockers", with whom he performed during the Jazz Jamboree festival in 1961. After this, he was invited to play with Andrzej Trzaskowski, and toured the USA in 1962 with his band "The Wreckers", playing at festivals and clubs in Newport, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, and New York City.

After returning to Poland, he engaged on work with Krzysztof Komeda's quintet (1962–1964). Together, they left for Scandinavia, where, after finishing a couple of contracts, Urbaniak remained until 1969. There he created a band with Urszula Dudziak and Wojciech Karolak, which gained considerable success and was later to be the starting point for the famous "Michał Urbaniak Fusion".

After Urbaniak returned to Poland and the violin (which he abandoned for the saxophone during the time in Scandinavia), he created the self-named "Michał Urbaniak Group", to which he invited, among others, Adam Makowicz (piano) and Urszula Dudziak (vocals). They recorded their first international album, Parathyphus B, and played on many festivals, including Jazz Jamboree in 1969–1972. During the Montreux'71 festival, Urbaniak was awarded "Grand Prix" for the best soloist and scholarship by the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. After many triumphant concerts in Europe and the USA, in May 1973 he played for the last time before a Polish audience and emigrated with Urszula Dudziak on September 11, 1973, to the United States, where he now lives as US citizen.

In spite of getting an award from Berklee, he did not study there. Recommended by John H. Hammond, Urbaniak signed a contract with Columbia Records, who published the west-German album Super Constellation under the name Fusion. For the promotion tour, he invited Polish musicians, including Czesław Bartkowski, Paweł Jarzębski, and Wojciech Karolak. In 1974, Urbaniak formed the band Fusion, and introduced melodic and rhythmic elements of Polish folk music into his funky New York based music. Urbaniak followed his musical journey with very innovative projects like: Urbanator ( first band fusing rap & hip-hop in jazz), "Urbanizer" (project with his band and 4 piece R&B vocal group - 1978) and UrbSymphony, (where on Jan. 27th 1995 jazz group with rapper and Apple computer played concert and recorded cd & dvd with 60 piece full symphony orchestra)

Since 1970 Urbaniak is playing on a custom-made, five string violin furnished especially for him, violin synthesizer called "talkin'" violin, soprano, alto and tenor saxophones and on lyricon (electric sax-like horn). His fusion with a hint of folklore was becoming popular among the leaders of American jazz, and also provided opportunity for many new musicians (Harold Williams, Steve Jordan, Marcus Miller, Kenny Kirkland, Omar Hakim, and Victor Bailey. He started to play in well known clubs such as Village Vanguard and Village Gate, in famous concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, Beacon Theatre, and Avery Fisher Hall. In this period he played with such stars as Weather Report, Freddie Hubbard, Elvin Jones, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, George Benson, and Billy Cobham.

Urbaniak has invited and has been invited by many other well known jazz stars, including Lenny White, Wayne Shorter, Marcus Miller, Joe Zawinul, Ron Carter, Kenny Barron, Buster Williams and Quincy Jones. In 1985, he was invited to play during the recording of Tutu with the father of fusion, Miles Davis. Davis is reported to have said on this occasion: "Get me this fucking Polish fiddler, he's got the sound!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michał_Urbaniak

Michal Urbaniak – Magic

Michal Urbaniak – Basia

Nigel Kennedy Quintet & Michał Urbaniak - Vena Festival 2007

Michal Urbaniak – Jazzorap

Happy Independence Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Wikta) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:03:00 +0000

Fourth Of July Flash Toys

PAARADE

Deep Purple

noreply@blogger.com (Wikta) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:08:00 +0000

Deep Purple are an English hard rock band formed in Hertfordshire in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered one of the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although the members of the band have always refused to label themselves as heavy metal. The band has also incorporated pop and progressive rock elements, was once listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's loudest band, and has sold over 100 million albums worldwide.

The band has gone through many line-up changes and an eight-year hiatus. The 1968-76 line-ups are commonly labelled Mark I, II, III and IV. Their second and most commercially successful line-up featured: Ian Gillan (vocals), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (keyboard), Roger Glover (bass guitar) and Ian Paice (drums). This line-up was revived in 1984 and again in 1993 before the rift between Blackmore and other members became unbridgeable. The current line-up including guitarist Steve Morse has been much more stable, though Lord's retirement in 2002 has left Paice as the only original member.

History

(1964–1968) Pre-Deep Purple years

In 1967, former Searchers drummer Chris Curtis contacted London businessman Tony Edwards in the hope that he would manage a new group he was putting together, to be called Roundabout: so-called because the members would get on and off the band, like a musical roundabout. Impressed with the plan, Edwards agreed to finance the venture with two business partners: John Coletta and Ron Hire (Hire-Edwards-Coletta - HEC Enterprises).

The first recruit was the classically-trained Hammond organ player Jon Lord, who had most notably played with The Artwoods (led by Art Wood, brother of future Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood, and featuring Keef Hartley). He was followed by session guitarist Ritchie Blackmore who was persuaded to return from Hamburg to audition for the new group. Curtis soon dropped out, but HEC Enterprises, as well as Lord and Blackmore, were keen to carry on.

For the bass guitar, Lord suggested his old friend Nick Simper, with whom he had played in a band called The Flower Pot Men and their Garden (formerly known as The Ivy League) back in 1967. Simper's claims to fame (apart from Purple) were that he had been in Johnny Kidd & The Pirates and had been in the car crash that killed Kidd. He was also in Screaming Lord Sutch's The Savages, where he played with Blackmore.

The line-up was completed by singer Rod Evans and drummer Ian Paice from The Maze. After a brief tour of Denmark in the spring of 1968, Blackmore suggested a new name: Deep Purple, which was his grandmother's favourite song.

(1968–1970) Breakthrough

In October 1968, the group had success in the US (but not the UK) with a cover of Joe South's "Hush", which reached #4. The song was taken from their debut album Shades of Deep Purple, and they were booked to support Cream on their Goodbye tour.

The band's second album, The Book of Taliesyn, was released in the United States to coincide with this tour, although it would not be released in their home country until the following year. 1969 saw the release of their third album, Deep Purple, which contained strings and woodwind on one track ("April"). Several influences were in evidence, notably Vanilla Fudge and Lord's classical antecedants such as Bach and Rimsky-Korsakov.

After these three albums and extensive touring in the States, their American record company, Tetragrammaton, went out of business, leaving the band with no money and an uncertain future. (Tetragrammaton's assets were assumed by Warner Bros. Records, who would release Deep Purple's records in the U.S. throughout the 1970's.) Returning to England in early 1969, they recorded a single called "Emmaretta", named for a cast member of the musical Hair, whom Rod Evans was trying to seduce, before Evans and Simper were fired.

The band hunted down singer Ian Gillan from Episode Six, a band that had released several singles in the UK without achieving their big break for commercial success. Six's drummer Mick Underwood - an old comrade of Blackmore's from his Savages days - made the introductions, and bassist Roger Glover tagged along for the initial sessions. Purple persuaded Glover to join full-time; an act that effectively killed Episode Six and gave Underwood a guilt complex that lasted nearly a decade - until Gillan recruited him for his new post-Purple band in the late 1970s.

This created the quintessential Deep Purple "Mark 2" lineup, whose first, inauspicious release was a Greenaway-Cook tune titled "Hallelujah", which flopped.

The band gained some much-needed publicity with the Concerto for Group and Orchestra, a three-movement epic composed by Lord as a solo project and performed by the band at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Malcolm Arnold. Together with Five Bridges by The Nice, it was one of the first collaborations between a rock band and an orchestra, although at the time, certain members of Purple (Blackmore and Gillan especially) were less than happy at the group being tagged as "a group who played with orchestras" when actually what they had in mind was to develop the band into a much tighter, hard-rocking style. Despite this, Lord wrote and the band recorded the Gemini Suite, another orchestra/group collaboration in the same vein, in late 1970.

(1970–1976) Popularity and breakup

Shortly after the orchestral release, the band began a hectic touring and recording schedule that was to see little respite for the next three years. Their first studio album of this period, released in mid-1970, was Deep Purple in Rock (a name deliberately chosen to distance the rock album from the concerto) and contained the then-concert staples "Speed King", "Into The Fire", and "Child in Time". The band also issued the UK Top Ten single "Black Night". Blackmore's and Lord's guitar-keyboard interplay coupled with Ian Gillan's howling vocals and the rhythm section of Glover and Paice now started to take on a unique identity and become instantly recognisable to rock fans throughout Europe.

A second album, the more mellow and creatively progressive Fireball (a favourite of Gillan but not of the rest of the band ), was issued in the summer of 1971. The title track "Fireball" was released as a single, as was "Strange Kind of Woman" - not from the album but recorded during the same sessions.

Within weeks of Fireball's release, the band was already performing songs planned for the next album. One song (which later became "Highway Star") was performed at the first gig of the Fireball tour, having been written on the bus to a show in Portsmouth, in answer to a journalist's question: "How do you go about writing songs?" Three months later, in December 1971, the band traveled to Switzerland to record Machine Head. The album was due to be recorded at a casino in Montreux, using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, but a fire during a Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention gig burned down the casino. The album was actually recorded at the nearby empty Grand Hotel. This incident famously inspired the song "Smoke on the Water". Gillan believes that he witnessed a man fire a flare gun into the ceiling during the concert, prompting Zappa to comment: "Arthur Brown in person!"

Continuing from where both previous albums left off, Machine Head has since become one of the band's most famous albums, including tracks that became live classics such as "Highway Star", "Space Truckin'", "Lazy", and "Smoke on the Water". Deep Purple continued to tour and record at a rate that would be rare thirty years on: when Machine Head was recorded, the group had only been together three and a half years, yet it was their seventh LP. Meanwhile the band undertook four US tours in 1972 and the August tour of Japan that led to a double-vinyl live release, Made in Japan. Originally intended as a Japan-only record, its world-wide release saw the double become an instant hit. It remains one of rock music's most popular and highest selling live-concert recordings (although at the time it was perhaps seen as less important, as only Glover and Paice turned up to mix it).

The classic Purple Mk 2 line-up continued to work and released the album Who Do We Think We Are (1973), featuring the hit single "Woman from Tokyo", but internal tensions and exhaustion were more noticeable than ever. The bad feelings culminated in Ian Gillan quitting the band after their second tour of Japan in the summer of 1973, and Roger Glover being pushed out with him. Their replacements were an unknown singer from Saltburn in North East England, David Coverdale, and Midlands bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes, formerly of Trapeze. This new line-up continued into 1974 with the heavier blues-rock album Burn, another highly successful release and world tour. Hughes and Coverdale added both vocal harmonies and a more funky element to the band's music, a sound that was even more apparent on the late 1974 release Stormbringer. Besides the title track, the album had a number of songs that received much radio play, such as "Lady Double Dealer", "The Gypsy", and "Soldier Of Fortune". Yet Blackmore voiced unhappiness with the album, and as a result left the band in the spring of 1975 to form his own band with Ronnie James Dio of Elf, called Rainbow.

With Blackmore's departure, Deep Purple was left to fill one of the biggest bandmember vacancies in rock music. In spite of this, the rest of the band refused to stop, and to the surprise of many long-time fans, actually announced a replacement for the "irreplaceable" Man in Black; American Tommy Bolin.

There are at least 2 versions about the recruitment on Bolin: according to the liner notes in the Deep Purple 4-CD boxed set it was Coverdale who had suggested auditioning Bolin. "He walked in, thin as a rake, his hair coloured green, yellow, and blue with feathers in it. Slinking along beside him was this stunning Hawaiian girl in a crochet dress with nothing on underneath. He plugged into four Marshall 100-watt stacks and . . .the job was his". But in an interview originally published by Melody Maker in June 1975 and available at the Deep Purple Appreciation Society's (DPAS) website, Bolin himself claimed that he came to the audition following a recommendation from Ritchie Blackmore. Bolin had been a member of many now-forgotten mid-60s bands - Denny & The Triumphs, American Standard, and Zephyr, which released three albums from '69-72. Before Purple, Bolin's best-known recordings were made as a session musician on Billy Cobham's 1973 jazz fusion album, Spectrum, and on The James Gang's Bang (1973) and Miami (1974). He had also jammed with such luminaries as Dr. John, Albert King, and Alphonse Mouzon and was busy working on his first solo album, Teaser, when he accepted the invitation to join Deep Purple.

The resulting album, Come Taste the Band, was released in October 1975. Despite mixed reviews, the collection revitalised the band once again, bringing a new, extreme funk edge to their hard rock sound. Bolin's influence was crucial, and with encouragement from Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale, the guitarist developed much of the material. Later, Bolin's personal problems with drugs began to manifest themselves, and after cancelled shows and below-par concert performances, the band was in danger.

(1976–1984) Band split, side projects

The end came on tour in Britain in March 1976 at the Liverpool Empire Theatre. David Coverdale reportedly walked off in tears and handed in his resignation, to which he was allegedly told there was no band left to quit. The decision to disband Purple had been made some time before the last show by Lord and Paice (the last remaining original members), who hadn't told anyone else. The break-up was finally made public in July 1976.

Later, Bolin had just finished recording his second solo album, Private Eyes, when, on December 4, 1976, tragedy struck. In Miami, during a tour supporting Jeff Beck, Bolin was found unconscious by his girlfriend. Unable to wake him, she hurriedly called paramedics, but it was too late. The official cause of death: multiple-drug intoxication. He was 25 years old.

After the break-up most of the past and present members of Deep Purple went on to have considerable success in a number of other bands, including Rainbow, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath and Gillan. There were, however, a number of promoter-led attempts to get the band to reform, especially with the revival of the hard rock market in the late 70s/early 80s. By 1980, an unauthorised version of the band surfaced with Rod Evans as the only member who had ever been in Deep Purple, eventually ending in successful legal action from the legitmate Deep Purple camp over unauthorised use of the name.

(1984–1994) Reunions and breakups

In April 1984, eight years after the demise of Deep Purple, a full-scale (and legal) reunion took place with the "classic" early 70s line-up of Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord and Paice. The album Perfect Strangers was released in October 1984. A solid release, it sold extremely well and included the singles and concert staples "Knockin' At Your Back Door" and "Perfect Strangers". The reunion tour followed, starting in Australia and wending its way across the world to the USA, then into Europe by the following summer. Financially, the tour was also a tremendous success. The UK homecoming proved limited, as they elected to play just a single festival show at Knebworth (with main support from the Scorpions). The weather was bad, but 80,000 turned up anyway.

The line-up then released The House of Blue Light in 1987, which was followed by a world tour and another live album Nobody's Perfect (1988) which was culled from several shows on this tour, but still largely based around the by-now familiar Made in Japan set-list. In the UK a new version of "Hush" was released to mark 20 years of the band. In 1989, Ian Gillan was fired as his relations with Blackmore had again soured and their musical differences had widened too far. His replacement was former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner. This line-up recorded just one album, Slaves & Masters (1990) and toured in support. It is one of Blackmore's favourite Purple albums, though some fans regard it as little more than a Rainbow album.

With the tour done, Turner was forced out, as Lord, Paice and Glover (and the record company) wanted Gillan back in the fold for the 25th anniversary. Blackmore grudgingly relented and the classic line-up recorded The Battle Rages On, but tensions between Gillan and Blackmore came to a head yet again during the European tour. Blackmore walked out in November 1993, never to return. Joe Satriani was drafted in to complete the Japanese dates in December and stayed on for a European Summer tour in 1994. He was asked to join permanently, but his record contract commitments prevented this. The band unanimously chose Dixie Dregs/Kansas guitarist Steve Morse to become Blackmore's permanent successor.

(1994–present) Revival with Steve Morse

Steve Morse's arrival revitalised the band creatively, and in 1996 a new album titled Purpendicular was released, showing a wide variety of musical styles. With a revamped set list to tour, Deep Purple enjoyed success throughout the rest of the 1990s, releasing the harder-sounding Abandon in 1998, and touring with renewed enthusiasm. In 1999, Jon Lord, with the help of a fan who was also a musicologist and composer, painstakingly recreated the Concerto for Group and Orchestra; the original score having been lost. It was once again performed at the Royal Albert Hall in September 1999, this time with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Mann. The concert also featured songs from each member's solo careers, as well as a short Deep Purple set, and the occasion was commemorated on the 2000 album Live at the Royal Albert Hall. In early 2001 two similar concerts were performed in Tokyo and released as part of the box set The Soundboard Series.

Much of the next few years was spent on the road touring. The group continued forward until 2002, when founding member Jon Lord (who, along with Ian Paice, was the only member to be in all incarnations of the band) announced his amicable retirement from the band to pursue personal projects (especially orchestral work). Rock keyboard veteran Don Airey (Rainbow/Ozzy Osbourne), who had helped Deep Purple out when Lord was injured in 2001, joined the band. In 2003, Deep Purple released their first studio album in five years, the highly praised (but controversially titled) Bananas, and began touring in support of the album immediately. In July 2005 the band played at the Live 8 concert in Park Place (Barrie, Ontario) and, in October of the same year, released their next album Rapture of the Deep. It was followed by the Rapture of the Deep tour.

In February 2007, Ian Gillan asked fans not to buy a live album being released by Sony BMG. This was a recording of their 1993 appearance at the NEC in Birmingham. Recordings of this show have previously been released without resistance from Gillan or any other members of the band, but he said: "It was one of the lowest points of my life - all of our lives, actually."

Child In Time

Child In Time Lyrics

Smoke on the water

Smoke On The Water Lyrics

Burn

Burn Lyrics

Hush (1968)

Hush Lyrics

Soldier Of Fortune

Soldier Of Fortune Lyrics

No, No, No

No No No Lyrics

Hair (film)

noreply@blogger.com (Wikta) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:07:00 +0000

Hair is a 1979 film based on the 1968 Broadway musical of the same name about a Vietnam war draftee who meets and befriends a tribe of long-haired hippies on his way to the army induction center. The hippies introduce him to their environment of marijuana, acid, messed up relationships and wedding songs.

The film was directed by Miloš Forman, who was nominated for a César Award for his work on the film. Cast members include Treat Williams, John Savage, Beverly D'Angelo, Don Dacus of the rock band Chicago, Annie Golden, Dorsey Wright, Nell Carter, Ellen Foley as well as Johnny Maestro, Jim Rosica and Fred Ferrara of the rock group The Brooklyn Bridge. Dance scenes were choreographed by Twyla Tharp and performed by the Twyla Tharp Dance Foundation.

Plot
Meeting the hippie tribe

The movie begins in a small town in Oklahoma, where Claude Bukowski (John Savage) is boarding a bus for New York City, to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. Once he arrives in New York, he encounters a tribe of hippies in Central Park ("The Tribe"), including George Berger (Treat Williams), the leader; Jeannie Ryan, a young pregnant girl; Lafayette "Hud" Johnson (Dorsey Wright), a black man with a large afro; and Woof Daschund (Don Dacus), who has long blond hair. The four befriend Claude and share some marijuana.

The next morning, Berger suggests that the tribe crash a debutante ball to meet the beautiful and wealthy young debutante Sheila, whom they had encountered earlier in Central Park while she was riding horseback. The five hippies crash the elegant dinner, and Berger dances on the dinner table singing "I Got Life" before he is arrested. The tribe do not have bail money, so they are jailed, during which time there is rendition of the title song "Hair" during a prison riot. Later, Berger goes home to ask his father for bail money which he says he will give him if Berger cuts his hair. Berger refuses and his mother then gives him the money without his father's knowledge.

Once out of jail, the tribe goes to Central Park with thousands of protesting hippies. Claude tries LSD, and experiences bizarre hallucinations of marrying Sheila, watching her fly around the inside of the church while pregnant, and then the wedding being consumed by fire. The Tribe finds Claude alone at night, still high from LSD, and they all go swimming naked in the reservoir. The Tribe plays a prank by taking Claude and Sheila's clothes, so Sheila has to hail a cab while she is naked. However, the tribe becomes upset at Claude when he indicates that he plans to go to the Army the next morning to begin boot camp.

Army boot camp and Vietnam Claude is sent to a base in Nevada for his boot camp training, and he writes to Sheila. Berger suggests that they should all go visit him in Nevada. Meanwhile, Hud's ex-fiancee (Cheryl Barnes) finds Hud and tries to find out if Jeannie is carrying his child. She doesn't want to go home without him, grieving that he does not love her and his child ("Easy to be Hard"). Hud agrees to take her along with the rest of the Tribe to Nevada by stealing a Lincoln town car.

Once they arrive at the army base gate, the guard won't let them in, so Sheila seduces a soldier, and The Tribe takes his uniform and his car. Berger cuts his hair, puts on the uniform and drives the soldier's car through the gate. Berger takes Claude's place in boot camp, and they exchange uniforms. Berger then goes into the barracks in Claude's place, while Claude drives off to meet the rest of The Tribe. While Claude is gone, his unit, including Berger, has been shipped out to Vietnam. Berger dies in Vietnam, as established by the final scene of the movie, when The Tribe (with Claude) gathers around Berger's grave in Arlington Cemetery, a military cemetery near Washington D.C. Then a huge group of hippies gather around demonstrating and singing the final song, "Let the Sunshine In".

Changes from original version
A few verses from "Manchester, England" and a small portion of "Walking In Space" have been removed. The film omits the songs "The Bed", "Dead End", "Oh Great God of Power", "I Believe in Love", "Going Down", "Abie Baby," "Air," "My Conviction," "Frank Mills," and "What a Piece of Work is Man" from the musical. The latter five songs were originally recorded for the film, but were eventually cut, as they slowed the pace of the film. They can be found on the motion picture soundtrack album, although they were omitted on the 1990 reissue. While the songs "Don't Put It Down" and "Somebody To Love" are not specifically sung by characters in the movie, they are both used as background or instrumental music for scenes at the army base. There are several other differences from songs in the movie and as they appear on the soundtrack, mainly in omitted verses and different orchestrations.

The plot is changed in the film. Many of the songs have been shortened, sped up, rearranged, or assigned to different characters to allow for the differences in plot. Opinions are mixed as to whether the film was an improvement over the stage show.

In the original stage show, the character Claude Bukowski is a hippie who eventually joins the army and is sent to Vietnam. In the movie, the plot was changed so that Claude comes to New York City from Oklahoma after he is drafted and befriends a group of hippies before being sent to Army training camp. They introduce him to their psychedelically-inspired style of living, and eventually drive to Nevada to visit him at a training camp. In the play, Claude is from "dirty, mucky, polluted Flushing," in Queens, but wishes he was from "Manchester, England," which explained why he sang a song with that title. The song remains in the film, though with a joking introduction by Berger - "he just got off the boat" - to make it apply to Oklahoma native Claude.

In the musical, Shelia Franklin is a hippie who falls in love with Berger, not Claude. Jeannie was "knocked up" by a speed freak, not by either Woof or Hudd.

Arguably, the most extreme change is Berger's death in the finale. In the original play it is Claude who dies in Vietnam.

Hair

Hair Part 2

Hair Part 3

Hair Part 4

Hair Part 5

Hair Part 6

Hair Part 7
Hair Part 8
Hair Part 9
Hair Part 10
Hair Part 11
Hair Part 12
Hair Part 13
Hair Part 14

Hair (musical)

noreply@blogger.com (Wikta) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:48:00 +0000

Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, and music by Galt MacDermot. The musical was a product of the hippy counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, and several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement. At the time, the musical's depiction of the use of illegal drugs, sexuality, profanity, its irreverence for the American flag, and its nude scene caused much comment and controversy. The musical broke new ground in musical theatre by defining the genre of the "rock musical", utilizing a racially-integrated cast, and by inviting the audience onstage for a "Be-in" finale.

After an off-Broadway debut in October 1967 at Joseph Papp's Public Theater, the production opened on Broadway in April 1968 and ran for 1,750 performances, followed by a successful London production which ran for 1,998 performances. Numerous productions have been staged around the world since then, and numerous recordings of the musical have been released. Several of the songs from its score became Top 40 hits, and a successful movie version was released in 1979. Hair ranked tenth in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals" ("Nation" referring to the United Kingdom).

History
Hair was conceived by actors James Rado and Gerry Ragni. In the 1960s, Ragni was an active member of The Open Theater group, which was developing improvisational and experimental drama techniques. While writing Hair in 1966, Ragni performed in The Open Theater's production of Megan Terry's play, Viet Rock, which influenced his development of the book for Hair. Viet Rock was described by critics as "wild... contributing something new to the concept and technique of stagecraft" (Variety), and "...the first realized theatrical statement about the Vietnam War" (Village Voice). During this period, Rado was studying acting with Lee Strasberg and appearing on Broadway in The Lion in Winter.

The two actors met in 1964 when they were both cast in the off-Broaway play Hang Down Your Head and Die and were soon writing Hair together. In the Los Angeles Times, Rado describes the inspiration for Hair as "a combination of some characters we met in the streets, people we knew and our own imaginations. We knew this group of kids in the East Village who were dropping out and dodging the draft, and there were also lots of articles in the press about how kids were being kicked out of school for growing their hair long, and we incorporated that in the show too." Many cast members (Shelley Plimpton in particular) were recruited right off the street.

Rado and Ragni brought the show to producer Nat Shapiro, and Shapiro connected them with pianist/composer Galt MacDermot who had won a Grammy in 1961 for his composition "African Waltz" (recorded by Cannonball Adderley). While living in South Africa, MacDermot studied the music of the Bantu tribe, music that stresses beats on unexpected syllables, and incorporated this African influence into the Hair score. MacDermot says he listened to "what they called quaylas... very characteristic beat, very similar to rock. Much deeper though... Hair is very African - a lot of (the) rhythms, not the tunes so much." Among the first songs written for the show were "I Got Life", "Ain't Got No", "Where Do I Go" and the title song "Hair".

The show was pitched to several Broadway producers and received many rejections. Eventually Joe Papp, who ran the then-named New York Shakespeare Festival, decided he wanted Hair to open his newly titled Public Theater in New York City's Greenwich Village. Chicago businessman Michael Butler - after seeing an ad for Hair in the New York Times that led him to believe the show was about Native Americans - watched the Public's production several times and decided to buy the rights and move it to Broadway. Hair became the first off-Broadway musical to successfully make the transition to the Broadway stage.

Early productions
Off-Broadway

Initially directed by Gerald Freedman, Hair premiered off-Broadway, as the inaugural performance of the under-construction Public Theater, on 17 October 1967, for a limited run of six weeks. It then ran for 45 performances at The Cheetah, an old discotheque at 53rd Street and Broadway, produced by Michael Butler. There was no nudity in these productions.

Before the move to Broadway, the creative team hired director Tom O'Horgan. O'Horgan had been directing experimental theater at La MaMa, E.T.C. and was the first choice to direct the Public Theater production but was not available at the time. O'Horgan used nudity in many of the plays he directed, something that he would help integrate into the Broadway production. Newsweek described O'Horgan's directing style as "...sensual, savage, and thoroughly musical... (he) disintegrates verbal structure and often breaks up and distributes narrative and even character among different actors... He enjoys sensory bombardment."

Broadway

After expanding the show (and adding 13 new songs) and hiring O'Horgan, Butler and the creative team moved the show to the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway on 29 April 1968 where it stayed for 1,750 performances (running until July 1, 1972). The original New York "tribe" (i.e., cast) included James Rado, Gerome Ragni, Shelley Plimpton, Melba Moore, Steve Curry, Lamont Washington, Ronnie Dyson, Paul Jabara, Lynn Kellogg, Sally Eaton, and Diane Keaton. The production was choreographed by Julie Arenal, had a set designed by Robin Wagner, costumes designed by Nancy Potts, and lighting design by Jules Fisher. Among the performers who appeared in Hair during its original Broadway run are Ted Lange, Keith Carradine, Barry McGuire, Kenny Seymour (of Little Anthony and The Imperials), Joe Butler (of the Lovin' Spoonful), Peppy Castro (of the Blues Magoos), Robin McNamara, Heather MacRae, Eddie Rambeau and Kim Milford.

Early regional productions

The West Coast version played at the Aquarius Theatre on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, running for an unprecedented two years. The Los Angeles tribe included Robert Rothman, James Rado, Ben Vereen, Red Shepard, Gerome Ragni, Ted Neeley, Meat Loaf, Tata Vega, Jobriath, Jennifer Warnes (Warren) and Dobie Gray. Former Mouseketeer Cubby O'Brien served as drummer and musical director.

There were soon nine simultaneous productions in U.S. cities, followed by national tours. Among the performers in these were Joe Mantegna and André DeShields (Chicago), David Lasley, David Patrick Kelly and Shaun Murphy (Detroit), Arnold McCuller (tour), and Philip Michael Thomas (San Francisco). It was rare for this many productions to run simultaneously during an initial Broadway run. Producer Michael Butler, who recently declared that Hair is "the strongest anti-war statement ever written", said the reason for this was to influence public opinion against the Vietnam War and end it as soon as possible.

Original West End production

Hair opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London on 27 September 1968, and running for 1,998 performances until closure was forced by the roof collapsing in July 1973. The original London tribe included Sonja Kristina, Paul Nicholas, Richard O'Brien, Melba Moore, Elaine Paige, Paul Korda, Marsha Hunt, Floella Benjamin, Alex Harvey and Tim Curry. This was Curry's first full-time theatrical acting role, where he met future Rocky Horror Show collaborator O'Brien.
Early international productions

A German production opened in 1968 in Munich; the tribe included Donna Summer and Liz Mitchell (of Boney M). A Mexican production of Hair opened in 1969 for one performance. The show was shut down by the government, and the cast members were forced to leave Mexico to avoid arrest.

The Australian production of Hair premiered in Sydney on June 6, 1969, playing for two years in Sydney, followed by an Australian tour. It was produced by Harry M. Miller and directed by Jim Sharman. The Australian production is also notable as the stage debut of popular Australian vocalist Marcia Hines. The Sydney tribe also included Sharon Redd, Reg Livermore, and John Waters. The Melbourne tribe included Chuck McKinney and Michael Caton.

Other early productions were staged in Sweden, Brazil, Argentina, Finland, France, Italy, Israel, Japan, Denmark, Norway, Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and then-Yugoslavia (Belgrade). The Belgrade production was the first for Hair in a communist country.

1977 Broadway revival and 1979 film
Main article: Hair (film)

A Broadway revival of Hair in 1977 ran for a short time with a cast that included Ellen Foley and Annie Golden.

A successful movie version of Hair was directed by Miloš Forman and released in 1979 with a cast including Treat Williams, Beverly D'Angelo, John Savage, Foley and Golden. The film's storyline departs significantly from the musical.

Few major revivals of Hair followed until the early 1990s. Other productions are described below.

Plot
Act I

The musical introduces "The Tribe", a group of politically active friends, long-haired "Hippies of the Age of Aquarius" fighting against conscription to the Vietnam War and living a bohemian life together in New York City. Among them are Claude, the nominal group leader; Berger, an irreverent free spirit; Sheila, a New York University (NYU) student who is the most focused political activist of the group; Woof, a gentle soul; Jeanie, eccentric and pregnant by a "speed freak"; Hud, a militant African-American; Crissy, young and innocent; and Dionne, among others, who are struggling to balance their young lives, loves and the sexual revolution with their pacifist rebellion against the war and the conservative impulses of their parents and society. Their love lives are convoluted: Jeanie is in love with Claude, who is in love with Sheila, who is in love with Berger.

Much of the first act focuses on Berger. At the beginning of the show he wanders out to interact with the audience dressed in a loincloth. Later we learn of his being kicked out of high school, his relationship with Sheila (he rips up a yellow shirt she brings to him as a gift) and his close friendship with Claude. At the end of Act I, after the men of The Tribe receive draft notices, they conduct a burning ceremony at a Be-In and burn their draft cards. Claude, however, does not. The plot then shifts to Claude as he closes Act I with the song "Where Do I Go?" which addresses his uncertainty about the future (and, at the end, contains the brief nude scene).

Act II

A substantial part of the second act consists of Claude's psychedelic drug trip, where he imagines (among other things) that he's going off to war, parachuting from a plane and conjuring up various historical and cultural figures such as General Custer, Rhett Butler, Scarlett O'Hara, LeRoi Jones, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, John Wilkes Boothe and Aretha Franklin. The drug trip and sequence of songs ("Walking in Space", "Abie Baby", "Three-Five-Zero-Zero") culminates as two tribe members sing "What a Piece of Work Is Man" over the symbolically dead bodies of the tribe on a battlefield. Ultimately, Claude goes to fight in Vietnam and dies. In the last scene, Claude appears as a ghostly spirit among his friends wearing an army uniform in an ironic echo of an earlier scene, where he says, "If I was invisible, I could do anything!"

* This plot summary is based on the original Broadway script. The script has varied in subsequent productions.

Songs
The score had many more songs than were typical of Broadway shows. Most Broadway shows of the time had about six to ten songs per act; Hair's total is in the thirties.

Act I
* Aquarius
* Donna
* Hashish
* Sodomy
* Colored Spade
* Manchester England
* Manhattan (*)
* I'm Black
* Ain't Got No
* I Believe in Love
* Ain't Got No Grass
* Dead End (cut during run and re-added)
* Air
* Initials (L.B.J)
* I Got Life
* Going Down
* Hair
* My Conviction
* Easy to Be Hard
* Don't Put It Down
* Frank Mills
* Be-In (Hare Krishna)
* Where Do I Go?

Act II
* Electric Blues
* Oh Great God of Power
* Manchester England (Reprise)
* Black Boys
* White Boys
* Walking in Space
* Yes, I's Finished
* Abie Baby
* Three-Five-Zero-Zero
* What a Piece of Work Is Man
* Good Morning, Starshine
* The Bed
* The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In)
* Hippie Life
* Exanaplanetooch
* Climax
* Sentimental Ending

Political and cultural significance
Politics and social change

Hair challenged many of the norms held by Western society at the time. It caused controversy when it was first staged, and much publicity was provoked by the Act I finale which included male and female nudity. This became a legal issue both when the show opened in other cities and when the show left New York on tour. Stage nudity was acceptable in New York at that time but was unknown elsewhere in the U.S. The show was also charged with the desecration of the American flag and the use of obscene language. Two cases eventually went to the U.S. Supreme Court. The first case occurred during the Boston production when the show was shut down by the Massachusetts Supreme Court in April of 1970. The US Supreme Court overturned the ruling a month later. The other case which began in April of 1972 (Southeastern Promotions, LTD v. Conrad, 420 U.S. 546) resulted in a 1975 Supreme Court ruling establishing that the City of Chattanooga's refusal to allow the play to be shown at the city-owned Memorial Auditorium was an unlawful prior restraint. Hair also effectively marked the end of stage censorship in the United Kingdom.

The show occasionally received bomb threats and fell victim to tragedy during its early years. On April 26, 1971, the New York Times reported that a bomb was thrown at the outside of Cleveland's Hanna Theater, bouncing off the marquee and shattering windows in the Hanna building and nearby storefronts. That same month, the families of cast members Jonathan Johnson and Russel F. Carlson died in a suspicious fire in the Cleveland hotel where 33 members of the show's troupe had been staying. The Sydney Australia production also had a bomb scare in June 1969.

Astrology is a major theme in Hair, as the songs "Aquarius" and "Good Morning, Starshine" brought astrological and cosmic concepts to popular culture. The show's creators also consulted an astrologer when deciding when the show would open on Broadway and in other cities, and whom to cast.

Many of the songs in Hair address political and social issues: "Air" is a song about pollution; "Sodomy" addresses sexual freedom; "Colored Spade", "Abie Baby" and "Black Boys/White Boys" address various racial issues (the latter, miscegenation); "Hashish" provides a list of pharmaceuticals, both illegal and legal (including Thorazine which is used to calm down mental patients); "Three-Five-Zero-Zero" is critical of the Vietnam War; and "Don't Put It Down" pokes fun at patriotism. In addition, as Clive Barnes wrote in his original New York Times review of Hair, "homosexuality is not frowned upon". Three characters in particular - Claude, Berger and Woof - make reference to bisexual experiences and/or bisexuality. Woof says he has a big crush on Mick Jagger, and Sheila announces at one point that Claude and Berger have had sex.

Literary references

Hair makes many references to Shakespeare plays, especially Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet (for example, the lyrics to the song "What a Piece of Work Is Man" is from Hamlet (II: scene 2) and portions of "Flesh Failures" ("the rest is silence") are Hamlet's final lines. In "Flesh Failures/Let The Sun Shine In", the lyrics "Eyes, look your last!/ Arms, take your last embrace! And lips, O you/ The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss" are from Romeo and Juliet (V:iii,111-114)). Many of these references did not appear in the Broadway version of the play, but were part of other productions, especially London. Symbolically, the sub-plot of Claude's repeated failure to burn his draft card can be interpreted as a hippie take on Hamlet, whose inability to take decisive action causes his demise. The symbolism is carried into the last scene, where Claude appears as a ghostly spirit among his friends wearing an army uniform in an ironic echo of an earlier scene, where he says, "If I was invisible, I could do anything!".

The song "Three-Five-Zero-Zero" contains portions of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Wichita Vortex Sutra". In the psychedelic drug trip sequence, Scarlett O'Hara, Rhett Butler and Prissy (Butterfly McQueen) from Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind make appearances. Also in the drug trip, activist African-American poet LeRoi Jones is portrayed briefly.

Media

Music from the musical or other references to it have appeared in many media since the show premiered, including the following:

Several pop and rock artists had hits with songs from Hair in the late 60's. A medley of the two songs Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, which was number 33 on the 2004 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs, was recorded by The Fifth Dimension and released in 1969 as a Grammy-winning and chart-topping single. The Cowsills had a hit with the title song "Hair", which reached #2 on the Billboard charts in 1969. "Good Morning Starshine" as sung by Oliver reached #3 on Billboard in 1969 and also lent its title to Strawberry Alarm Clock's last album of original material, which included a cover of the song. Three Dog Night had a hit with "Easy to Be Hard" in 1969 (#4 Billboard). Nina Simone recorded a medley from Hair: "Ain't Got No - I Got Life" on the album Nuff Said (1968), which reached the top 5 on the British charts.

Other artists such as electronic music pioneer Mort Garson recorded an album of Hair covers entitled Electronic Hair Pieces in 1969, and Hugo Montenegro's 1969 album Moog Power, included a medley of the songs Hair and Aquarius.

Songs from the musical have been featured in films and television episodes. For example, in the 2005 movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the character Willy Wonka welcomed the children with lyrics from "Good Morning Starshine". "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" was performed in the final scene in the film The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Three Dog Night's cover of "Easy to be Hard" was featured in the first part of David Fincher's film Zodiac. On television, several episodes of The Simpsons have featured songs from Hair. In "The Springfield Files", the townspeople, Leonard Nimoy, Chewbacca, Dana Scully and Fox Mulder sang "Good Morning Starshine." In other Simpsons episodes, the song "Hair" was heard when Marge Simpson was losing her hair, a gang of yoyoists played "Aquarius" when they came to Springfield elementary, and another episode featured "Easy to be Hard." "Good Morning Starshine" also appeared on Sesame Street episodes and albums, sung by cast member Bob McGrath. In addition,Head of the Class featured a 2-part episode in 1990 where the head of the English department is determined to disrupt the school's performance of Hair.

Songs from the show are sometimes used in advertising. "Aquarius" was used in a Ford car advertising campaign in recent years. "Let the Sun Shine In" was used in a 2007 television advertising campaign for Bic Soleil razors and was heard in an earlier Windex glass cleaner ad.

Subsequent productions
1990s

A small 1990 “bus and truck” production of Hair toured Europe for over 3 years. A production opened in Australia in 1992 and a short-lived revival opened at the Old Vic in London in 1993 starring John Barrowman and Paul Hipp. Other productions were mounted in Germany (1993), Iceland (1994), Hungary (1996), and Denmark (1997), among others.

Hair author James Rado directed a $1 million, 11 city national tour in 1994 that featured Luther Creek and Catrice Joseph. In 1996, original Hair producer Michael Butler brought a month-long production to Chicago, running the show concurrently with the 1996 Democratic National Convention. Butler employed the Pacific Musical Theater, a professional troupe in residence at California State University, Fullerton.

2000s

In 2001, the Reprise! theater company in Los Angeles put on Hair at the Wadsworth Theater, starring Steven Weber as Berger, Sam Harris as Claude and Jennifer Leigh Warren as Sheila. That same year, Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert ended its 2001 City Center season with Hair starring Luther Creek, Idina Menzel, Jessica-Snow Wilson and Tom Plotkin, and featuring Hair composer Galt MacDermot on stage playing the keyboards. An Actors' Fund benefit of the show was performed for one night at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York City in 2004. The tribe included: Shoshana Bean, Raul Esparza, JM J. Bullock, Liz Callaway, Gavin Creel, Harvey Fierstein, Ana Gasteyer, Annie Golden, Jennifer Hudson, Jai Rodriguez, RuPaul, Michael McKean, Laura Benanti, Adam Pascal and Harris Doran.

International productions continued, including in Norway (2000) and in Vienna (2001), which featured new "hard" orchestrations and a modernized plot and setting. In 2005, a London production opened at the Gate Theatre. James Rado approved an updating of the musical's script to place it in the context of the 2003 Gulf War instead of the Vietnam War. In March 2006, Rado collaborated with director Robert Prior for a CanStage production of Hair in Toronto, and a revival produced by Pieter Toerien toured South Africa in 2007. Directed by Paul Warwick Griffin, with choreography by Timothy Le Roux, the show ran at the Montecasino Theatre in Johannesburg and at Theatre on the Bay in Cape Town.

For three nights in September 2007, Joe's Pub and the Public Theater presented the 40th Anniversary Production of Hair at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, New York City. This concert version, directed by Diane Paulus, featured Jonathan Groff of Spring Awakening as Claude and Galt MacDermot on stage on the keyboards. The cast also included Karen Olivo, Will Swenson, Darius Nichols, Patina Renea Miller and Megan Lawrence. Actors from the original Broadway production joined the cast on stage during the encore of "Let the Sun Shine In."

Michael Butler produced Hair at the MET Theater in Los Angeles from September 14th through December 30, 2007. The show was directed and choreographed by Bo Crowell, with musical direction from Christian Nesmith (son of Michael Nesmith). The tribe featured James Barry, Lee Ferris, Johanna Unger, Dawn Worrall and Trance Thompson.

Community theatre, university and high school productions

Amateur and school productions of Hair are popular worldwide. In 2002, Peter Jennings featured a Boulder, CO high school production of Hair for his ABC documentary series "In Search of America". A September 2006 community theater production at the 2,000-seat Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey was praised by original producer Michael Butler, who said it was "one of the best Hairs I have seen in a long time." Another example of a recent large-scale amateur production is the Mountain Play production at the 4,000-seat Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre in Mount Tamalpais State Park in Mill Valley, California in the spring of 2007.

International success

Hair has been performed in most of the countries of the world. After the Berlin Wall fell, the show travelled for the first time to Poland, Lebanon, the Czech Republic, and Sarajevo (featured on ABC's Nightline with Ted Koppel, when Phil Alden Robinson visited that city and discovered a production of Hair there in the midst of the war). According to Rado, the only places where the show hasn't been performed are "China, India, Vietnam, the Arctic and Antarctic continents as well as most African countries."

Albums
* 1967 Off Broadway
* 1968 Broadway
* 1968 German
* 1968 Mexican
* 1968 Swedish
* 1969 Brazilian
* 1969 London
* 1969 Australian
* 1970 Argentina

* 1970 Live German
* 1970 Dutch
* 1970 Finnish
* 1970 French
* 1970 Italian
* 1970 Israeli
* 1971 Japanese
* 1971 Danish
* 1971 Argentina

* 1971 Norwegian
* 1979 Movie Soundtrack
* 1992 Australian
* 1992 Live European Tour
* 1993 London
* 1993 German
* 1994 Icelandic
* 1995 Live Swedish Tour
* 1996 Hungarian

* 1996 C.C. Productions Studio
* 1996 Live New York
* 1997 Danish
* 1998 German Live
* 2000 Norwegian
* 2000 Live German
* 2001 Vienna
* 2004/2005 European Tour
* 2005 Actor's Fund of America Benefit Recording

Song Hair

Let the Sunshine In

Aquarius

White Boys / Black Boys

I Got Life

Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers

noreply@blogger.com (Wikta) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:11:00 +0000

Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers, were one of the main British Pub Rock groups of the early '70s, playing a laid-back mixture of rock & roll, R&B, country, and folk. Managed by Jake Riviera (formerly Andrew Jakeman), they reached their peak as part of the infamous, Naughty Rhythms Tour, of 1975 along with other stalwarts of the same scene, Dr. Feelgood and Kokomo, with each band alternatively headlining on different dates.

The band has its origins in a folk-rock duo formed by ex-Junior's Blues Band members Martin Stone and Philip C. Lithman aka Snakefinger. Lithman moved to San Francisco in the late '60s, leaving Stone to play with Savoy Brown and Mighty Baby. The duo reunited in the early '70s, recording Kings Of The Robot Rhythm with vocalist Jo-Ann Kelly and various members of Brinsley Schwarz. The album was released in 1972, the same year, the duo expanded, adding Paul "Dice Man" Bailey, Paul Riley, and Pete Thomas to the line-up.

During the next two years, Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers became a popular live act in Britain, they also recorded two John Peel Sessions for BBC radio on 9 April 1973 and 25 July 1974. In 1974, they released their final album, Bongos Over Balham, which sold poorly and the band split in 1975.

Pete Thomas became the drummer for Elvis Costello's backing band, The Attractions, Paul Riley played with Graham Parker, Paul Bailey formed Bontemps Roulez, and Martin Stone played with the Pink Fairies before quitting the music business. Phil Lithman moved back to San Francisco where he began to work with his former associates, The Residents, under the name Snakefinger.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers - Snow (Hey Oh)

Red Hot Chili Peppers Lyrics
Snow (hey Oh) Lyrics

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Otherside

Red Hot Chili Peppers Lyrics
Otherside Lyrics

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop

Red Hot Chili Peppers Lyrics
Can't Stop Lyrics

Slow Cheetah

Red Hot Chili Peppers Lyrics
Slow Cheetah Lyrics

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge

Red Hot Chili Peppers Lyrics
Under The Bridge Lyrics

Led Zeppelin

noreply@blogger.com (Wikta) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 16:10:00 +0000

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band that formed in September 1968. Led Zeppelin consisted of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham. With their heavy, guitar-driven sound, Led Zeppelin are regarded as one of the first heavy metal bands. Their rock-infused interpretation of the blues, and folk genres also incorporated rockabilly, reggae, soul, funk, jazz, classical, Celtic, Indian, Arabic, pop, Latin, and country. The band did not release the popular songs from their albums as singles in the UK, as they preferred to develop the concept of album-oriented rock.

Over 25 years after disbanding following Bonham's death in 1980, Led Zeppelin continue to be held in high regard for their artistic achievements, commercial success, and broad influence. The band have sold more than 300 million albums worldwide, including 109.5 million sales in the United States, and they are the only band to have had all their albums reach the U.S. Billboard Top 10. Led Zeppelin are ranked No. 1 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.

On September 12, 2007, it was confirmed during a press conference by promoter Harvey Goldsmith that the surviving members of Led Zeppelin will reunite for the Ahmet Ertegün tribute show at The O2 in London on December 10, 2007.

History of Led Zeppelin

The early days (1968–1970)

The New Yardbirds

The beginnings of Led Zeppelin can be traced back to the British blues-influenced rock band The Yardbirds. Page joined The Yardbirds in 1966 to play bass guitar after the original bassist, Paul Samwell-Smith, left the group. Shortly after, Page switched from bass to second lead guitar, creating a dual-lead guitar line up with Jeff Beck.

Following the departure of Beck from the group in October 1966, The Yardbirds, tired from constant touring and recording, were beginning to wind down. Page wanted to form a supergroup with himself and Beck on guitars, and The Who's rhythm section - drummer Keith Moon and bassist John Entwistle. Vocalists Donovan, Steve Winwood and Steve Marriott were also considered for the project. The group never formed, although Page, Beck and Moon did record a song together in 1966, "Beck's Bolero", which is featured on Beck's 1968 album, Truth. The recording session also included bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones, who told Page that he would be interested in collaborating with him on future projects.

The Yardbirds played their final gig in July 1968. However, they were still committed to performing several concerts in Scandinavia, so drummer Jim McCarty and vocalist Keith Relf authorised Page and bassist Chris Dreja to use the Yardbirds name to fulfil the band's obligations. Page and Dreja began putting a new line-up together. Page's first choice for lead singer, Terry Reid, declined the offer, but suggested Robert Plant, a Birmingham singer he knew. Plant eventually accepted the position, recommending a drummer, John Bonham from nearby Redditch. When Dreja opted out of the project to become a photographer—he would later take the photograph that appeared on the back of Led Zeppelin's debut album—John Paul Jones, at the suggestion of his wife, contacted Page about the vacant position. Being familiar with Jones' credentials, Page agreed to bring in Jones as the final piece.

The group played together on record the first time on the final day of sessions for the P. J. Proby album, Three Week Hero. Proby recalled, "Come the last day we found we had some studio time, so I just asked the band to play while I just came up with the words.
They weren't Led Zeppelin at the time, they were the New Yardbirds and they were going to be my band."

The band completed the Scandinavian tour as The New Yardbirds. One account of the band's naming, which has become almost legendary, has it that Keith Moon and John Entwistle suggested that a possible supergroup containing themselves, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck would go down like a lead zeppelin, a term Entwistle used to describe a bad gig. The group deliberately dropped the 'a' in Lead at the suggestion of their manager, Peter Grant, to prevent "thick Americans" from pronouncing it as "leed".

Grant also secured an advance deal of $200,000 from Atlantic Records in November 1968, then the biggest deal of its kind for a new band. Atlantic was a label known for its catalogue of blues, soul and jazz artists, but in the late-1960s it began to take an interest in progressive British rock acts, and signed Led Zeppelin without having ever seen them, largely on the recommendation of singer Dusty Springfield. With their first album not yet released, Led Zeppelin made their live debut at the University of Surrey, Guildford on October 15, 1968. This was followed by a U.S. concert debut on December 26, 1968 (when promoter Barry Fey added them onto a bill in Denver, Colorado) before moving on to the west coast for dates in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities.

Led Zeppelin (the first album)

The group's eponymous first album was released on January 12 1969, shortly after their first tour. Its blend of blues, folk and eastern influences with distorted amplification made it one of the pivotal records in the creation of heavy metal music. However, Plant has commented that it is unfair for people to typecast the band as heavy metal, since about a third of their music was acoustic.

In an interview for the Led Zeppelin Profiled radio promo CD (1990) Page said that the album took about 36 hours of studio time to create (including mixing), and stated that he knows this because of the amount charged on the studio bill. Peter Grant claimed the album cost £1,750 to produce (including artwork). By 1975, the album had grossed $7,000,000.

Led Zeppelin's album cover met an interesting protest when, at a 28 February 1970 gig in Copenhagen, the band was billed as "The Nobs" as the result of a threat of legal action from aristocrat Eva von Zeppelin (a relative of the creator of the Zeppelin aircraft), who, upon seeing the logo of the Hindenburg crashing in flames, threatened to have the show pulled off the air.

Led Zeppelin II

In their first year of existence, Led Zeppelin managed to complete four US and four UK concert tours, as well as find time to release their second album, entitled Led Zeppelin II. Recorded almost entirely on the road at various North American recording studios, the second album was an even greater success than the first and reached the number one chart position in the US and the UK. Here the band further developed ideas established on their debut album, creating a work which became even more widely acclaimed and arguably more influential. It has been suggested that Led Zeppelin II largely wrote the blueprint for 1970s hard rock.

Following the album's release Led Zeppelin did several more tours of the United States. They played often, initially in clubs and ballrooms, then in larger auditoriums as their popularity grew. Led Zeppelin concerts could last more than three hours, with expanded, improvised live versions of their song repertoire. Many of these shows have been preserved as Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings.

In July 1969, Led Zeppelin were the headliners of the Schaefer Music Festival in New York City's Central Park, along with The Byrds, Chuck Berry, Fleetwood Mac, Miles Davis, B.B. King, The Beach Boys, Frank Zappa and Patti LaBelle.

Led Zeppelin III

For the composition of their third album, Led Zeppelin III, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant retired to Bron-Yr-Aur, a remote cottage in Wales, in 1970. The result was a more acoustic sound (and a song, "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp", misspelled as "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" on the album cover, which was a complete remake of Bert Jansch's song "The Waggoner's Lad"). Strongly influenced by folk and Celtic music, the album revealed the band's versatility.

The album's rich acoustic sound initially received mixed reactions, with many critics and fans surprised at the turn taken by the band away from the primarily electric compositions of the first two albums. Over time, however, its reputation has recovered and Led Zeppelin III is now generally praised. It has a unique album cover featuring a wheel which, when rotated, displayed various images through cut outs in the main jacket sleeve.

The album's opening track, "Immigrant Song", was released in November 1970 by Atlantic Records as a single against the band's wishes (Atlantic had earlier released an edited version of "Whole Lotta Love" which cut the 5:34 song to 3:10, removing the abstract middle section). It included their only non-album b-side, "Hey Hey What Can I Do". Even though the band saw their albums as indivisible, whole listening experiences—and their manager, Peter Grant, maintained an aggressive pro-album stance—some singles were released without their consent. The group also increasingly resisted television appearances, enforcing their preference that their fans hear and see them in person.

The album finishes with “Hats Off To (Roy) Harper”, a track dedicated to their influential contemporary, Roy Harper, that both honours Harper’s work and acknowledges the band’s roots in acoustic music.

"The biggest band in the world" (1971–1975)

The success of Led Zeppelin's early years would be dwarfed by this five-year period in which the band would release their best selling albums and ascend to musical success in the 1970s. The band's image also changed as members began to wear elaborate, colourful clothing and jewellery similar to other popular performers of the era. If the band's popularity on stage was impressive, so too was its reputation for off-stage wildness and excess. Led Zeppelin began travelling in a private jet airliner (nicknamed The Starship), rented out entire sections of hotels (most notably the Continental Hyatt House in Los Angeles, known colloquially as the "Riot House"), and became the subject of many of rock's most famous stories of debauchery. One escapade involved John Bonham throwing televisions out of the windows of the Riot House during a drunken rampage and then blaming the damage on Led Zeppelin groupies. Another example of Led Zeppelin excess was the infamous shark episode, or red snapper incident, which took place at the Edgewater Inn in Seattle, Washington, on July 28, 1969.

The fourth album

Led Zeppelin's fourth album was released on 8 November 1971. There was no indication of a title nor band name on the original cover, but on the LP label four symbols were printed. The band were motivated to undertake this initiative by their disdain for the media, which labelled them as hyped and overrated. In response, they released the album with no indication of who they were in order to prove that the music could sell itself. The album is variously referred to as Four Symbols and The Fourth Album (both titles were used in the Atlantic Records catalogue), and also IV, Untitled, Zoso, Runes, Sticks, Man With Sticks, and Four. It is still officially untitled and most commonly referred to as Led Zeppelin IV. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 2005, Plant said that it is simply called The Fourth Album.

further refined the band's unique formula of combining earthy, acoustic elements with heavy metal and blues emphases. The album included examples of hard rock, such as "Black Dog" and an acoustic track, "Going to California" (a tribute to Joni Mitchell).

"Rock and Roll" is a tribute to the early rock music of the 1950s. Recently (as of 2006) and until mid-2007, the song has been used prominently in Cadillac automobile commercials—one of the few instances of Led Zeppelin's surviving members licensing songs.

The album also featured "Stairway to Heaven" (sample (info)), which became a massive album-oriented rock FM radio hit despite never being released as a single. The song has been controversial due to unsubstantiated but repeated claims of "satanic" back masked messages. In 2005, the magazine Guitar World held a poll of readers in which "Stairway to Heaven" was voted as having the greatest guitar solo of all time.

As of July 31, 2006, has sold 23 million copies in the U.S., making it one of the top four best selling albums in the history of the U.S. music industry. Worldwide, it ranks at number eleven in album sales.

Houses of the Holy

Led Zeppelin's next album, Houses of the Holy, was released in 1973. It featured further experimentation, with longer tracks and expanded use of synthesisers and mellotron orchestration. The song "Houses of the Holy" does not appear on its namesake album, even though it was recorded at the same time as other songs on the album; it eventually made its way onto the 1975 album Physical Graffiti.

The striking orange album cover of "Houses of the Holy" features images of nude children climbing up the Giant's Causeway (in County Antrim, Northern Ireland) to an unseen idol. Although the children are not depicted from the front, this was highly controversial at the time of the album's release, and in some areas, such as the "Bible Belt" and Spain, the record was banned.

The album topped the charts, and Led Zeppelin's subsequent concert tour of the United States in 1973 broke records for attendance, as they consistently filled large auditoriums and stadiums. At Tampa Stadium, Florida, they played to 56,800 fans (breaking the record set by The Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965), and grossed $309,000. Three sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York were filmed for a motion picture, but the theatrical release of this project (The Song Remains the Same) would be delayed until 1976.

In 1974, Led Zeppelin took a break from touring and launched their own record label, Swan Song, named after one of only five Led Zeppelin songs which the band never released commercially (Page later re-worked the song with his band, The Firm, and it appears as "Midnight Moonlight" on their first album). The record label's logo, based on a drawing called Evening: Fall of Day (1869) by William Rimmer, features a picture of Apollo (although it is often misinterpreted as a picture of Icarus, Daedalus, Satan, or Lucifer). The logo can be found on much Led Zeppelin memorabilia, especially t-shirts. In addition to using Swan Song as a vehicle to promote their own albums, the band expanded the label's roster, signing artists such as Bad Company, Pretty Things, Maggie Bell, Detective, Dave Edmunds, Midnight Flyer, Sad Café and Wildlife. The label would be successful while Led Zeppelin existed, but folded less than three years after they disbanded.

Physical Graffiti

February 24, 1975 saw the release of Led Zeppelin's first double album, Physical Graffiti, which was the first release on the Swan Song Records label. It consisted of fifteen songs, eight of which were recorded at Headley Grange in 1974, and the remainder being tracks recorded years previously but not released on earlier albums.

A review in Rolling Stone magazine referred to Physical Graffiti as Led Zeppelin's "bid for artistic respectability," adding that the only competition the band had for the title of 'World's Best Rock Band' were The Rolling Stones and The Who. The album was a massive fiscal and critical success. Shortly after the release of Physical Graffiti, all previous Led Zeppelin albums simultaneously re-entered the top-200 album chart, and the band embarked on another U.S. tour, again playing to record-breaking crowds. In May 1975, Led Zeppelin played five highly successful, sold-out nights at the Earls Court Arena in London, footage of which was released in 2003, on the Led Zeppelin DVD.

The latter days (1976–1980)

By 1976, Led Zeppelin were becoming increasingly popular worldwide, having outsold most bands of the time, including the Rolling Stones. Their live shows increased even further in theatricality, featuring larger stage areas and complex light shows. However, while there were still massive musical and commercial successes for the band during this period, problems such as the 1977 death of Robert Plant's son, Jimmy Page's heroin use, changing musical tastes, and ultimately John Bonham's 1980 death finally brought an end to Led Zeppelin.

Presence

Following their triumphant Earls Court appearances, Led Zeppelin took an unplanned break from touring. In August 1975, Robert Plant and his wife Maureen were involved in a serious car crash while on holiday in Rhodes, Greece. Robert suffered a broken ankle and Maureen was very badly injured; a blood transfusion saved her life. Unable to tour, Plant headed to the channel island of Jersey to spend August and September recuperating, with Bonham and Page in tow. The band then reconvened in Malibu, California. It was during this forced hiatus that much of the material for their next album, Presence, was written.

Released in March 1976, the album marked a change in the Led Zeppelin sound towards more straightforward, guitar-based jams, departing from the acoustic ballads and intricate arrangements featured on their previous albums. Though it was a platinum seller, Presence received mixed responses from critics and fans. While many appreciated the looser style, others dismissed it as "sloppy", and some critics speculated that the band members' legendary excesses might have finally caught up with them, resulting in a sub-standard album release. The recording of Presence coincided with the beginning of Page's heroin use, which may have interfered with Led Zeppelin's later live shows and studio recordings, although Page has denied this.

Despite the original criticisms, Jimmy Page has called Presence his favourite album, and its opening track "Achilles Last Stand" (sample (info)) his favourite Led Zeppelin song. Robert Plant has also stated that he thinks Presence is the album that probably sounds the most "Led Zeppelin" of all their LPs.

The concert film (The Song Remains the Same)

Robert Plant's injuries prevented Led Zeppelin from touring in 1976. Instead, the band finally completed the concert film The Song Remains The Same, and the soundtrack album of the film. It would be the only official live document of the group available until the release of the BBC Sessions in 1997. The recording had taken place during three nights of concerts at Madison Square Garden in July 1973, during the band's concert tour of the United States. The film premiered in New York on October 20, 1976, but was not well received by critics or fans. The film was particularly unsuccessful in the UK, where, after eight years of recording and touring, and in the wake of the punk rock revolution, Led Zeppelin were now considered to be obsolete in some quarters.

In 1977, Led Zeppelin embarked on another massive concert tour of North America. Though profitable financially, the tour was beset with off-stage problems. On June 3, after a concert at Tampa Stadium was cut short because of a severe thunderstorm, a riot broke out amongst the audience, resulting in several arrests and injuries. Police ultimately resorted to tear gas to break up the crowd.

After a July 23 show at the "Days on the Green" festival at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California, John Bonham and members of the band's support staff (including manager Peter Grant and security co-ordinator John Bindon) were arrested after a member of promoter Bill Graham's staff was badly beaten during the performance. A member of the staff had allegedly slapped Grant's son when he was taking down a dressing room sign; when Grant heard about this, he went into the trailer, along with Bindon and John Bonham, and savagely assaulted the man.

The following day's second Oakland concert would prove be the band's final live appearance in the United States. After the performance, news came that Plant's five year old son, Karac, had died from a stomach virus. The rest of the tour was immediately cancelled.

In Through the Out Door

December 1978 saw the group recording again, this time at Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. The resultant album was In Through the Out Door, which exhibited a degree of sonic experimentation that again drew mixed reactions from critics. Nevertheless, the band still commanded legions of loyal fans, and the album easily reached #1 in the UK and the U.S. (in just its second week on the Billboard album chart).

In August 1979, after two warm-up shows in Copenhagen, Led Zeppelin headlined two concerts at the Knebworth music festival, where crowds of close to 120,000 witnessed the return of the band. However, Robert Plant was not eager to tour full-time again, and even considered leaving Led Zeppelin. He was persuaded to stay by Peter Grant. A brief, low-key European tour was undertaken in June and July 1980, featuring a stripped-down set without the usual lengthy jams and solos. At one show on June 27, in Nuremberg, Germany, the concert came to an abrupt end in the middle of the third song when John Bonham collapsed on stage and was rushed to a hospital. Press speculation arose that Bonham's problem was caused by an excess of alcohol and drugs, but the band claimed that he had simply overeaten, and they completed the European tour on July 7, at Berlin.

"A tragic end"

On September 24, 1980, John Bonham was picked up by Led Zeppelin assistant Rex King to attend rehearsals at Bray Studios for the upcoming tour of the United States, the band's first since 1977. During the journey Bonham had asked to stop for breakfast, where he downed four quadruple vodkas (sixteen shots-or roughly 400ml-of vodka), with a ham roll. After taking a bite of the ham roll he said to his assistant, "Breakfast." He continued to drink heavily when he arrived at the studio. A halt was called to the rehearsals late in the evening and the band retired to Page's house — The Old Mill House in Clewer, Windsor. After midnight, Bonham had fallen asleep and was taken to bed and placed on his side. Benji LeFevre (who had replaced Richard Cole as Led Zeppelin's tour manager) and John Paul Jones found him dead the next morning. Bonham was 32 years old.

The cause of death was asphyxiation from vomit. A subsequent autopsy found no other drugs in Bonham's body. The alcoholism that had plagued the drummer since his earliest days with the band ultimately led to his death. Bonham was cremated on October 10, 1980, at Rushock parish church in Worcestershire.

Despite rumours that Cozy Powell, Carmine Appice, Barriemore Barlow, Simon Kirke or Bev Bevan would join the group as his replacement, the remaining members decided to disband Led Zeppelin after Bonham's death. They issued a press statement on December 4, 1980 confirming that the band would not continue without Bonham. "We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend, and the deep sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were."

Post Led Zeppelin (1980–present) 1980s

In 1982, the surviving members of the group released a collection of out-takes from various sessions during Led Zeppelin's career, entitled Coda. It included two tracks taken from the band's performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970, one each from the Led Zeppelin III and Houses of the Holy sessions, and three from the In Through the Out Door sessions. It also featured a 1976 John Bonham drum instrumental with electronic effects added by Jimmy Page, called "Bonzo's Montreux".

1985 reunion

On July 13, 1985 Page, Plant and John Paul Jones reunited at the Live Aid concert at JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, for a short set featuring drummers Tony Thompson and Phil Collins. Collins had played on Plant's first two solo albums. When Live Aid footage was released on a four-DVD set in late 2004, the group unanimously agreed not to allow footage from their performance to be used, agreeing that it was not up to their usual standards. However, to show their ongoing support Page and Plant pledged proceeds from their forthcoming Page and Plant DVD release to the campaign and John Paul Jones pledged the proceeds of his then-current U.S. tour with Mutual Admiration Society to the project.

1988 reunion

The three members reunited again in May of 1988, for Atlantic Records' 40th Anniversary concert, with Bonham's son, Jason Bonham, on drums.

1990s

Page and Plant reunited in 1994 for an MTV Unplugged performance (dubbed Unledded) which eventually led to a world tour with a Middle Eastern orchestra, and a live album entitled No Quarter. The bass player was Charlie Jones, who had been the bassist with Plant's own band for several years. Many see this as the beginning of discord with John Paul Jones, who was upset with Page and Plant for touring without asking him first. Tensions were further increased when Plant was asked at a press conference where Jones was, and he jokingly replied that Jones was parking the car.

1995 reunion

On January 12, 1995, Led Zeppelin was inducted into the United States Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They were inducted by Aerosmith's vocalist, Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry. Jason and Zoe Bonham also attended, representing their late father. At the induction ceremony, the band's inner rift became apparent when Jones joked upon accepting his award, "Thank you, my friends, for finally remembering my phone number", causing consternation and awkward looks from Page and Plant. Afterwards, they played a brief set with Tyler and Perry, along with Neil Young and Michael Bell.

On August 29, 1997, Atlantic released a single edit of "Whole Lotta Love" in the U.S. and the UK, making it the only Led Zeppelin CD single. Additional tracks on this CD-single are "Baby Come on Home" and "Travelling Riverside Blues". It is the only single the band ever released in the UK. It peaked at #21.

November 11, 1997 saw the release of Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions, the first Led Zeppelin album in fifteen years. The two-disc set included almost all of the band's recordings for the BBC.

Page and Plant continued their renewed collaboration through 1998, releasing a critically acclaimed CD of all original Page-Plant compositions called Walking Into Clarksdale, which won a Grammy for best rock song ("Most High"), and was supported by another world tour, which the duo called "Walking Into Everywhere". Eschewing the Middle Eastern orchestra of the 1995 world tour, the 1998 shows were an all-out rock and roll show, highlighting classic Led Zeppelin material, along with Page and Plant originals from the "No Quarter" and "Walking Into Clarksdale" CDs.

On November 29, 1999 the RIAA announced that the band was only the third act in music history to achieve four or more Diamond albums.

2000s

In October 2002, the British press reported that Robert Plant and John Paul Jones had reconciled after a 20-year feud which had kept Led Zeppelin apart, and rumours surfaced of a reunion tour in 2003. This was later denied by Plant and Page's management company.

2003 saw the release of a triple live album, How the West Was Won, and a video collection, Led Zeppelin DVD, both featuring material from the band's heyday. At the year's end, the DVD had sold more than 520,000 copies. Around Christmas 2004, "Stairway To Heaven" was voted the best rock song of all time by Planet Rock listeners in a poll conducted on the station's website. Two other Led Zeppelin songs were also featured in the top ten - "Whole Lotta Love" at number six and "Rock and Roll" at number eight.

In 2005, Led Zeppelin received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and readers of Guitar World magazine voted the guitar solo from "Stairway to Heaven" to be the best rock guitar solo of all time. Led Zeppelin ranked #14 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In November 2005, it was announced that Led Zeppelin and Russian conductor Valery Gergiev were the winners of the 2006 Polar Music Prize. The King of Sweden presented the prize to Plant, Page and Jones, along with John Bonham's daughter, in Stockholm in May, 2006.

In November 2006, Led Zeppelin was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. The television broadcasting of the event consisted of an introduction to the band by various famous admirers, a presentation of an award to Jimmy Page and then a short speech by the guitarist. After this, rock group Wolfmother played a tribute to Led Zeppelin, playing the song "Communication Breakdown".

Members of Led Zeppelin have always been very protective of their repertoire, and have seldom allowed their works to be licensed for films or commercials. In recent years, their position has softened on the issue. The songs of Led Zeppelin can be heard in movies such as One Day in September, School of Rock, Shrek the Third ("Immigrant Song" in all three), Dogtown and Z-Boys ("Achilles Last Stand" and "Hots on for Nowhere") and Almost Famous ("That's the Way", "The Rain Song", "Misty Mountain Hop", and "Tangerine") and Small Soldiers ("Communication Breakdown"). One Tree Hill is the first, and so far only network television show to license a Led Zeppelin song ("Babe I'm Gonna Leave You"). Also noteworthy is Cadillac's resurgent use of "Rock and Roll" in their US TV advertising campaign. Recently, Led Zeppelin has agreed to allow Apple to sell their music from the upcoming greatest hits collection Mothership from Apple's iTunes Store.

In April 2007 Hard Rock Park announced it had secured an agreement with the band to create "Led Zeppelin-The Ride" - A roller coaster built by B&M synchronised to the music of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love. The coaster will stand 155 feet tall, feature six inversions, and spiral over a lagoon. It will be found in the "Rock and Roll Heaven" section of Hard Rock Park. As of September 13, 2007, the ride track is complete. The park is aiming to conduct test runs in December. The park opens in May 2008 in Myrtle Beach, SC.

On June 25, 2007, World Entertainment News reported that Led Zeppelin had allegedly agreed to re-form for a special memorial concert in honour of Ahmet Ertegun, the founder of Atlantic Records who died in December 2006. It was also reported that if the concert went well, the band would go on tour in 2008. The same report suggested that the three surviving members would be joined on drums by John Bonham's son, Jason. However on June 28, Robert Plant made it appear at a press conference that the reunion discussions were false.

On July 27, 2007, Atlantic/Rhino, & Warner Home Video announced three new Led Zeppelin titles to be released in November, 2007. Released first will be Mothership on November 13, a 24-track best-of spanning the band's career, followed by a reissue of the soundtrack to The Song Remains the Same on November 20 which includes previously unreleased material, and a new DVD.

On October 15, 2007, www.news.com published an article that Led Zeppelin is expected to announce a new series of agreements that make its songs available as legal digital downloads. First as ringtones through Verizon Wireless then as digital downloads of the band's eight studio albums and other recordings on November 13. The offerings will be available through both Verizon Wireless and iTunes.

On November 3, 2007, a UK newspaper the Daily Mirror announced that it had world exclusive rights to stream six previously unreleased tracks via its website.

On November 8, 2007, XM Satellite Radio launches XM LED, the network's first artist-exclusive channel dedicated to Led Zeppelin.

On November 13, 2007, Led Zeppelin's complete works were published on iTunes.

2007 Reunion

On September 12, 2007, it was confirmed during a press conference by promoter Harvey Goldsmith that the surviving members of Led Zeppelin will reunite in aid of the Ahmet Ertegun education fund for a show at The O2 in London on 26 November 2007, with Jason Bonham filling in on drums. Bonham will do double duty as he will drum for Led Zeppelin and his regular band, Foreigner. Tickets were made available via a lottery system through Ahmettribute.com, costing £125 / $250. The website exceeded its bandwidth allowance and crashed almost immediately following the announcement, with the promoter predicting that the gig will cause the "largest demand for one show in history", due to the ticket request site receiving one billion page impressions, with one million people registering for fewer than 20,000 available tickets. The tribute concert will also feature Pete Townshend, Paul Rodgers, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, Paolo Nutini, and Foreigner as supporting acts. Page has suggested the band may start work on new material and has more recently suggested that a world tour may be in the works.

On November 1, 2007, it was announced that Jimmy Page fractured the little finger on his left hand after a fall in his garden and the reunion show has been postponed until December 10, 2007. According to billboard.com, there will be a tour in 2008, and a very likely performance at the Bonnaroo Music Festival.

Allegations of plagiarism

When Led Zeppelin's debut album was released, it received generally positive reviews. However, John Mendelsohn of Rolling Stone magazine, criticized the band for stealing music, notably "Black Mountain Side" from Bert Jansch's "Black Water Side" and the riff from "Your Time Is Gonna Come" from Traffic's "Dear Mr. Fantasy". He also accused the band of mimicking black artists, and showing off. This marked the beginning of a long rift between the band and the magazine, with Led Zeppelin rejecting later requests for interviews and cover stories as their level of success escalated.

One song from the album, "Dazed and Confused", was a song originally written by Jake Holmes on his album "The Above Ground Sound" of Jake Holmes. The Yardbirds, Jimmy Page's old band, had made a version called "I'm Confused", and Page reworked the song again for Led Zeppelin's debut recording, with Holmes having never received any royalty payments for their recording. Holmes did not file suit over the song, although he did send the band a letter stating "I understand it's a collaborative effort, but I think you should give me some credit at least and some remunity." His letter was never replied to and he did not follow up on it. Holmes is however also reported to have said "what the hell, let him have it [Dazed and Confused]".

Led Zeppelin II's credits have also been the subject of debate since the album's release. The prelude to "Bring It on Home" is a cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Bring it on Home" and drew comparisons with Willie Dixon's "Bring It on Back". "Whole Lotta Love" (sample (info)) shared some lyrics and an overall pattern with Dixon's "You Need Love/Woman You Need Love". In the 1970s, Arc Music, the publishing arm of Chess Records, brought a lawsuit against Led Zeppelin for copyright infringement over "Bring It on Home" and won an out-of-court settlement. Dixon himself did not benefit until he sued Arc Music to recover his royalties and copyrights. Years later, Dixon filed suit against Led Zeppelin over "Whole Lotta Love" and an out-of-court settlement was reached. Later pressings of Led Zeppelin II credit Dixon. Similarily, the "Lemon Song", from the same album, was a cover of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor". The band was successfully sued for copyright and forced to give credit to the original author of the song.

Communication Breakdown

Communication Breakdown Lyrics

Heartbreaker

Heartbreaker Lyrics

Kashmir

Kashmir Lyrics

Stairway to Heaven

Stairway To Heaven Lyrics

Black Dog

Black Dog Lyrics

Dazed and confused

Dazed And Confused Lyrics

Lost Performances

Acid Drinkers

noreply@blogger.com (Wikta) — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 20:54:00 +0000

Acid Drinkers is Polish Thrash metal and heavy metal band, formed in September 1986 in Poznań.

Acid Drinkers band was founded on 21 September 1986 at the initiative of Tomasz "Titus" Pukacki (vocals, bass) and Robert "Litza" Friedrich (guitar, vocals). The lineup soon expanded as Darek "Popcorn" Popowicz (lead guitar) and a drummer Piotr "Chomik" Kulk (shortly after replaced by Maciej "Ślimak" Starosta) joined the band. With this lineup the band worked on its own compositions; numbers like "Barmy Army", "Del Rocca" or "I Mean Acid" appeared. Within a month of the band's creation Titus was called up to the army and left his pals for two years. Others, in the meantime, did not intend to idle their time away: Litza and Popcorn undertook a reactivation of the band named Slavoy. Soon both of them received a proposal to play for reputable groups: Popcorn from Wolf Spider, Litza from Turbo.

After returning from the army, Titus tried to reactivate his first squad - Los Desperados. His attempts misfired and Titus himself, after meeting with Popcorn, decided to resume existence of Acid Drinkers. Litza and Ślimak joined the band. Their debut took place on 26th August 1989 on Wyspa Słodowa in Wrocław. That performance was actually the beginning of the band's true career. Rumors about a new, excellent metal group swiftly spread across Poland. Soon afterwards the Acids received an opportunity to record an album and continue walking along their path of glory. With this lineup there emerged their best-known classics, including their debut, "Are You A Rebel?", "Vile Vicious Vision" and their most famous long-play, "Infernal Connection". At the end of 1998, Litza decided to leave the band. Przemysław "Perła" Wejmann, a singing guitarist and a leader of Guess Why, replaced him. With "Perła" on board, Acids recorded three albums "Amazing Atomic Activity", "Broken Head" and "Acidofilia". At the very beginning of 2003, Perła made up his mind to leave the squad. It took almost a month before the new guitarist was chosen. The new member turned out to be a well-known frontman of an already disbanded group - Illusion - Tomek "Lipa" Lipnicki. Together with Lipa, the Acids recorded a well-received long-play, "Rock Is Not Enough". After over a year of cooperation, the new guitarist left Acid Drinkers for his own project, Lipali. His place in the squad was taken over by Aleksander "Olass" Mendyk from "None". The new member of Acid's crew quickly integrated himself into the band, in which he still plays. At present Acid Drinkers play numerous concerts and plan to record a new album.

To date, Acid Drinkers are widely considered the best and most spectacular thrash-metal band in Poland. Their popularity has gone far beyond typical metal music sphere. The Acids have played over 500 shows, and many of those will surely stay in minds of thousands of fans – it would be enough to mention Jarocin festivals, Metalmania, Węgorzewo, Przystanek Woodstock or Odjazdy. The Acids performed there as foreground celebrities. They preceded performances in Poland by, among others, Deep Purple, Megadeth, Bruce Dickinson, Sepultura, Paradise Lost and Slayer. Moreover, many known polish artists such as: Edyta Bartosiewicz, Kazik Staszewski, Tomek Lipnicki, Patrycja Kosiarkiewicz or Grzegorz Skawiński took part in Acids’ recordings. Acid Drinkers were three times (on 1998, 2000, 2004) awarded with a Fryderyk in the hard and heavy category, and received in 1998 from TVP 2 the "Złoty bączek" (Golden spinning top) award for being the best music group from Poland. Additionally, they were acknowledged as one of the five best polish bands of the 1990s (together with Hey, Kazik Staszewski, Edyta Bartosiewicz and O.N.A.) by journalists and readers of Tylko Rock (Only Rock) magazine.

Disease Foundation

Disease Foundation Lyrics

Midnight Visitors

Midnight Visitor Lyrics

Don't Go To Where I Sleep

Don't go to where I sleep
It's a place not very nice
Don't listen as I mumble in my dreams
You won't hear anything nice
Ref.: Everybody needs some time to rest
Let me have some rest
Everybody needs some time to rest
Let me have some rest
Respect those few hours
When I don't need to shake
And don't disturb me when I fall
I am a monster when I awake
[Ref.:] Everybody needs some time to rest
Let me have some rest
Everybody needs some time to rest
Let me have some rest
Don't go to where I sleep !!!
Don't go to where I sleep !!!
Don't go to where I sleep !!!
Don't go to where I sleep !!!
Don't go to where I sleep !!!
Don't go to where I sleep !!!
Don't go to where I sleep !!!
Don't go to where I sleep !!!
[Ref.:] Everybody needs some time to rest
Let me have some rest
Everybody needs some time to rest
Let me have some rest
Everybody needs some time to rest
Everybody needs some time to rest

Hate Unlimited

Hate Unlimited Lyrics

Proud Mary ;)

Alicia Keys

noreply@blogger.com (Wikta) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:53:00 +0000

Alicia Keys (born Alicia J. Augello-Cook on January 25, 1980) is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, pianist, record producer, actress, philanthropist, and author who has sold over twenty million albums worldwide and has won numerous awards, including nine Grammy Awards, eleven Billboard Music Awards, and three American Music Awards.

Early life

Keys is the only child born to an Irish-Italian mother, Teresa "Terri" Augello (a paralegal and part-time actress), and a Jamaican father, Craig Cook (a flight attendant), in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, New York.

Keys' parents separated during her early childhood, and she was subsequently raised by her mother during her formative years in Hell's Kitchen, also in Manhattan. In 1985, Keys and a group of other girls played the parts of Rudy Huxtable's sleepover guests in an episode of The Cosby Show called "Slumber Party". She began playing the piano when she was seven, learning classical music by composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, and her favorite, Chopin.

Keys graduated from the Professional Performing Arts School, a prestigious high school in Manhattan, as valedictorian at the age of sixteen. Although accepted to Columbia University with a scholarship, she decided to drop out and pursue her musical career. Keys signed a demo deal with Jermaine Dupri and his So So Def label, then distributed by Columbia Records. She co-wrote and recorded a song entitled "Dah Dee Dah (Sexy Thing)", which appeared on the soundtrack to the 1997 blockbuster, Men in Black. The song was Keys' first professional recording; however, it was never released as a single and her record contract with Columbia Records ended quickly. Keys later met Clive Davis, who signed her to Arista Records, which has since disbanded. Following Davis to his newly-formed J Records label, she recorded the songs "Rock wit U" and "Rear View Mirror", featured on the soundtracks to the films Shaft (2000) and Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) respectively. Keys then released her debut album, Songs in A Minor.

Music career

Songs in A Minor (2001)

Selling over 235,000 copies in its first week (more than 50,000 of those on its first day), Songs in A Minor, released on June 5, 2001, went on to sell more than eleven million units worldwide, and established Keys' popularity both outside and inside the U.S., where she became the best-selling new artist of 2001 (as well as the best-selling R&B artist). The album's first single, "Fallin'", gained radio airplay on many different radio formats and spent six weeks at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Keys performed Donny Hathaway's "Someday We'll All Be Free" at the America: A Tribute to Heroes televised benefit concert following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Another single from Songs in A Minor, "A Woman's Worth", made the top ten in the U.S. as well. Keys and the album won five Grammy Awards in 2002, including "Best New Artist" and "Song of the Year" for "Fallin'". Later, on October 22, 2002, Keys released Remixed & Unplugged in A Minor, a re-issue of Songs in A Minor, which includes eight remixes and seven unplugged versions of some of the songs off her debut album.

Critical reviews of the album were mostly positive. Keys' work had a sound similar to 1970s soul singers such as Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder along with hip hop influences like those apparent in neo soul artists such as Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, and D'Angelo.

By that time, Keys wrote, produced, played the piano, and sang background for Christina Aguilera's song "Impossible", from the latter's 2002 album Stripped.

The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003)

Keys followed up her debut with The Diary of Alicia Keys, released on December 2, 2003. The album was hailed by critics and debuted at number one in the U.S., selling over 618,000 copies its first week of release, the sixth highest album sales by a female and second by R&B female. To date, it has sold eight million copies worldwide. The singles "You Don't Know My Name" and "If I Ain't Got You" both reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and another single, "Diary", entered the top ten. The classical/hip hop-flavored "Karma" was less successful, peaking at number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 but more successful on Top 40 Mainstream peaking at number three. "If I Ain't Got You" became the first single by a female artist to remain on the sixty-three-year-old Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for more than one year, surpassing Mary J. Blige's "Your Child" (forty-nine weeks). Keys went on to become the best-selling female R&B artist of 2004.

At the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, Keys won "Best R&B Video" for "If I Ain't Got You" and also led Lenny Kravitz and Stevie Wonder in their version of Wonder's "Higher Ground". Also the following year in 2005, she won "Best R&B Video" in her second year in a row for "Karma". At the 2005 Grammy Awards, she performed the album's second single, "If I Ain't Got You", and then joined Jamie Foxx and Quincy Jones in a rendition of "Georgia on My Mind", the Hoagy Carmichael song made famous by Ray Charles. That evening, she won four Grammy Awards: "Best R&B Album" for The Diary of Alicia Keys, "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" for "If I Ain't Got You", "Best R&B Song" for "You Don't Know My Name", and "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" for "My Boo" with Usher. She was also nominated for "Album of the Year" for The Diary of Alicia Keys, "Song of the Year" for "If I Ain't Got You", "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" for "Diary" (featuring Tony! Toni! Toné!), and "Best R&B Song" for "My Boo".

Unplugged (2005)

Keys performed and taped her installment of the MTV Unplugged series on July 14, 2005 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. During this live session, Keys added brand-new arrangements to her original songs such as "A Woman's Worth" and the funk-driven "Heartburn", and performed a few choice covers. Part of Keys' audience also included her guest performers; she collaborated with rappers Common and Mos Def on "Love It or Leave It Alone", reggae artist Damian Marley on "Welcome to Jamrock", and Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine on a cover of The Rolling Stones' 1971 "Wild Horses".

In addition to a cover of "Every Little Bit Hurts", previously performed by singers such as Aretha Franklin and Brenda Holloway, Keys also premiered two new original songs: "Stolen Moments", which she co-wrote with producer Lamont Green, and "Unbreakable", the album's lead single, which peaked at number four and number thirty-four on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and the Hot 100 respectively. It was more successful on the Billboard Hot Adult R&B Airplay, where it stayed at number one for eleven weeks in late 2005. The session was released on CD and DVD on October 11, 2005. Known simply as Unplugged, the album peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart with 196,000 units sold in its first week of release. So far the album has sold one million units in the United States. The debut of Keys' Unplugged was the highest debut for an MTV Unplugged album since Nirvana's 1994 MTV Unplugged in New York and the first Unplugged by a female artist to debut at number one. It was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 2006: "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" for "Unbreakable", "Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance" for "If I Was Your Woman", "Best R&B Song" for "Unbreakable", and "Best R&B Album". It also won three NAACP Image Awards: "Outstanding Female Artist", "Outstanding Song" for "Unbreakable", and "Outstanding Music Video" for "Unbreakable".

As I Am (2007)

Since late 2006, Keys worked on her third studio album, As I Am—as confirmed in a red-carpet interview at the 2007 BET Awards on June 26, which is due out on November 13, 2007. Keys has talked to MTV about her upcoming album: "It's coming together incredibly. I am in love with this album. It's very fresh and new". The album is said to feature John Mayer on two songs—"Lesson Learned" and "Heavy Times". Linda Perry and Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry also collaborated with Keys.
The lead single No One" debuted at number seventy-one on the Billboard Hot 100, and has since peaked at number four. It was also her fifth number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Rolling Stone magazine reported in December 2005 that Keys and her long-term songwriting partner Kerry "Krucial" Brothers would start working seriously on Keys' third studio album in the later half of 2006. Keys has explained that her new upcoming album has an edgier feel than her first two albums and she is keen to do strange and unexpected collaborations outside the R&B and hip hop worlds. Keys also plans to collobarate with Drew Lane, Eddie Galan, and Stargate on the album.

Keys sang the outro to John Mayer's song "Gravity" on his album Continuum and in a surprise appearance with him at his sold-out show at Madison Square Garden on February 28, 2007.

Keys has opened a new recording studio in Long Island, New York called The Oven Studios, which she co-owns with her production and songwriting partner Kerry "Krucial" Brothers. The studio was designed by renowned studio architect John Storyk of WSDG, designer of Jimi Hendrix' Electric Lady Studios. Keys and Brothers are the co-founders of KrucialKeys Enterprises, a production and songwriting team who assisted Keys in creating her award-winning albums as well as create music for other artists. I want to thank Isis Jane Alonzo for listening to my music all day

Film and television career

Keys has co-starred in a film alongside Ben Affleck, Ray Liotta, Common, Andy Garcia, Jeremy Piven, and Ryan Reynolds entitled Smokin' Aces, released on January 26, 2007, as an assassin named Georgia Sykes. Keys has received much praise from her co-stars in the film; Ryan Reynolds said Keys has "natural" acting ability as he was surprised she had not starred in films before.

Furthermore, in her second film, The Nanny Diaries, released on August 24, 2007, Keys co-stars alongside Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans as Lynette, Johansson's character Annie's best friend. The Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York was used to film the college graduation scene for the film.

Keys and her long-term manager Jeff Robinson have signed a first-look film production deal to develop live-action and animated projects with Disney, Variety reports. Their first film, a remake of the 1958 comedy Bell, Book and Candle, will star Keys as a witch who casts a love spell to lure a rival's fiance. Keys and Robinson have also formed a television production company called Big Pita. Their first project will be a CW Network TV series inspired by Keys' experiences as a biracial child growing up in New York, similar to the network's Everybody Hates Chris. Keys has been tapped to executively produce an upcoming TV drama. The title and airing date are presently unconfirmed. Keys and Robinson said they will develop live-action and animated projects at their company, Big Pita, Little Pita, with Keys participating as producer, thesp, banner spearheading soundtrack, and music supervision. She also played a voice in the "Mission to Mars" episode of The Backyardigans.

Keys will also play 1940s biracial piano child prodigy Philippa Schuyler in an upcoming film entitled Composition in Black and White. It is based on the 1995 biographical book of the same name by Kathryn Talalay and follows the story of Philippa Schuyler. "The challenge, in order to actually be able to play classical piano as a woman of mixed race, was by far more than I could ever imagine", Keys said. "That's what intrigued me about that role". The biopic will tell the difficult tale of Schuyler's controversial career, love-hate relationship with her mother, and the black community, her second career as a writer, and her eventual death in a helicopter accident. "Her story is very deep, even up to the point where the relationship between her and her mother gets very strained and she chooses to go to Europe and pass as a Spanish woman in order to be able to play, in order to be able to live a more normal life", Keys said, adding that she and Halle Berry hope to start shooting in early 2008. "As of right now, we're still in the first, second draft of the script", she said. "So a little bit of time—at least a year".

If I Ain´t Got You

Song lyrics | If I Ain't Got You - Alicia Keys lyrics

No One

Alicia Keys No One Lyrics

Fallin

Fallin' Lyrics

Diary

Diary Lyrics

Every Little Bit Hurts

Every Little Bit Hurts Lyrics

Dire Straits

noreply@blogger.com (Wikta) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:26:00 +0000

Dire Straits was a British rock band, formed in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (guitar and vocals), his brother David Knopfler (guitar), John Illsley (bass), and Pick Withers (drums), and subsequently managed by Ed Bicknell. Although the band was formed in an era when punk rock reigned, Dire Straits worked within the conventions of classic rock, albeit with a stripped-down sound that appealed to modern audiences weary of the overproduced stadium rock of the 1970s. In their early days, Mark and David requested that pub owners turn down the amps so that patrons could converse while the band played — indicative of their unassuming demeanor. Despite this oddly self-effacing approach to rock and roll, Dire Straits soon became hugely successful with their first album going multi-platinum globally.

The band's best-known songs include "Sultans of Swing," "Romeo and Juliet," "Private Investigations," "Money for Nothing," "Walk of Life" and "Brothers in Arms."

History

Early History
In 1978, Dire Straits recorded their first album, Dire Straits, at Basing Street studios (now known as 'Sarm West') near Portobello Road in West London for £12,500.. After its initial UK release on Vertigo, a division of Phonogram, after going top ten across Europe, the album came to the attention of Karin Berg, an assistant in the artists and repertoire (A&R) department of Warner Bros. Records in New York City. She felt it was the kind of music that audiences were hungry for, but only one person in her department agreed at first. "Other people didn't hear it," she recalled. "The act was doing poorly in the U.K., and the record wasn't getting air play. It was totally out of left field. But we fought through and took it to the label (Warner Bros. Records) We signed it, put out the record and it went platinum." Later, re-released as a single, "Sultans of Swing" became a surprise UK chart hit, making the top 10. The first album eventually went top ten in every European country.

The group's second album, Communiqué followed in 1979. Communiqué showed as number one in the German album charts with Dire Straits simultaneously at number 3. Both albums are characterised by a stripped-down sound. However, this would change, along with the band's line-up, over the years. Mark Knopfler and John Illsley played together till the dissolution of Dire Straits, the only two founding members to do so.

Increased complexity

In 1980 Dire Straits released their third album, Making Movies. This marked a move towards more complex arrangements and production which would continue for the remainder of the band's career until the group's dissolution in the 1990s. Featuring "Romeo and Juliet", which became one of the band's best known chart hits, Making Movies saw the departure of David Knopfler while the recording of the album was still in progress; Sid McGinnis filled in on rhythm guitar as the sessions continued. Although Mark played on one track on brother David's first solo album, they did not reconcile over the years. The album also featured keyboardist Roy Bittan from Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and was produced by Jimmy Iovine.

Keyboardist Alan Clark and Californian guitarist Hal Lindes joined the lineup for the fourth studio album, Love Over Gold, which was released in 1982 and was the first Dire Straits album produced by Mark Knopfler. Its main chart hit, "Private Investigations", gave Dire Straits their first UK top 5 hit single, peaking at number two despite its almost seven-minute length. In other territories, the single "Industrial Disease" was the album's calling card, particularly in Canada where it was a top 10 hit.

Shortly after the release of Love Over Gold, drummer Pick Withers left the band for a jazz career. His replacement was Terry Williams, formerly of Rockpile.

In 1983 a four-song EP was released, featuring the hit single "Twisting By the Pool". This was followed by the double live album, Alchemy, in 1984. During this time Mark Knopfler also wrote the music score for the films Local Hero and Cal. Meanwhile, Dire Straits' biggest hit was yet to come.

The Brothers in Arms era

Brothers in Arms was released in 1985 and went on to become the biggest selling album in the UK of that year and a huge hit internationally. It spawned several chart singles, including the U.S. number one hit "Money for Nothing", which was the first video ever to be played on MTV in Britain. There were further personnel changes, with the addition of a second keyboardist, Guy Fletcher. Brothers in Arms also saw the departure of Hal Lindes from the band during the recording sessions. His place was taken by Jack Sonni, though Lindes was still credited as an official band member for the album's release, while Sonni was not. Terry Williams was also joined on drums by Omar Hakim: both are credited as band members for this release.

The 1985–86 world tour was phenomenally successful. While playing a 13-night residency at Wembley Arena, the band moved down the road to Wembley Stadium on the afternoon of 13 July 1985 to appear in Live Aid. Their set included "Money For Nothing" with Sting as guest vocalist. The tour ended at the Entertainment Centre in Sydney, Australia, where Dire Straits still holds the record for consecutive appearances (21 nights). The last show of this extended stay in Sydney was recorded and broadcast on Australian and New Zealand television, and is well known for the one-off calypso rendition of "So Far Away" and the band's impromptu attempt at the famous Australian folk song "Waltzing Matilda". In a two-year span, Dire Straits played 247 shows in over 100 different cities.

The commercial success of Brothers in Arms was greatly aided by being one of the first fully digitally recorded and produced albums available in the then new Compact Disc format, leading early adopters of the new technology to consider it a "must buy" album in a limited landscape of available music in CD format. The Brothers in Arms CD was one of the first CD albums to contain material not found on the LP equivalent; it featured the 12" single of Money for Nothing rather than the 7" version on the LP. "Brothers in Arms" is also reported to be the world's first CD single, issued in the UK in two separate singles as a promotional item, one distinguished with a logo for the tour, Live in '85, and a second to commemorate the Australian leg of the tour marked Live in '86. Containing just four tracks, it had a very limited print run. Furthermore, the new format offered an excellent showcase for Knopfler's meticulous production values on the earlier albums, leading many existing fans to repurchase the whole back catalogue.

Brothers in Arms was successful in the U.S., peaking at No. 1 on Billboard magazine's Top Pop Albums Chart for nine weeks, going multi-platinum, and finishing at No. 5 for 1986. Also, in a recent poll conducted in the UK it was found that Brothers in Arms is the third-best selling album there of all time.

After Brothers in Arms

After the Brothers in Arms tour ended in 1986, Dire Straits went on a lengthy hiatus and Mark Knopfler concentrated on solo projects and film soundtracks. Dire Straits regrouped for the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert in 1988, where they were joined for their set by Eric Clapton (who performed his hit "Wonderful Tonight" with the group). Also in 1988, drummer Terry Williams left the band.

After Mark Knopfler worked and toured with The Notting Hillbillies (who had a minor hit single Your Own Sweet Way from their album Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time), Dire Straits regrouped in January 1991. By this time the band comprised four key members: Knopfler, John Illsley, and keyboardists Alan Clark and Guy Fletcher. Accompanied by other part-time members or session musicians, including the highly respected American drummer Jeff Porcaro from Toto (who after recording was offered a full time role in the band, but declined due to recording commitments to Toto), the group began recording tracks for a new album. The result was the band's final original studio album, On Every Street, released in 1991, six years after the release of Brothers in Arms. A widely anticipated release, On Every Street met with mixed reviews and moderate success. It was regarded by some reviewers as an underwhelming follow up and didn't sell as well as its predecessor. The song "The Bug", taken from that album, contains backing vocals by Vince Gill who also turned down an invitation to join the band full time.

The 1991–1992 world tour that followed On Every Street was not as successful as the previous one of 1985–86. A live album, On the Night, released in 1993, documented that tour, in which Chris Whitten played drums.

Following the release of Live at the BBC, a collection of live recordings from their early years, Dire Straits disbanded quietly in 1995, after Knopfler expressed a desire to give up touring on a large scale and he immediately went on to work full-time on solo material and film soundtracks, while the other group members pursued their own careers. Guy Fletcher has, however, continued to be associated with almost every single piece of work concerning Mark Knopfler's solo career.

Three 'Best of' albums have been released, the most recent being the compilation The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations in November 2005, which consisted of material from most of Dire Straits' studio albums and Mark Knopfler's solo and soundtrack material. Surprisingly enough, the album was an underground hit, and did exceptionally well, considering the group had split up over 10 years previously, and it contained only one previously unreleased track - "All The Roadrunning", a duet with Emmylou Harris later released on an album of the same name.

Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler have sold in excess of 118 million albums to date.

Notable Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler fans include Douglas Adams, Princess Diana, Quentin Tarantino and the band The Killers, who performed a cover of "Romeo and Juliet" for the Live from Abbey Road series on Channel 4. Indian cricket great Sachin Tendulkar is another Dire Straits fan. The band System of a Down sometimes plays a part from "Sultans Of Swing" on their live concerts, as an intro for their song called "Aerials".

Romeo And Juliet

A lovestruck romeo sings a streetsus serenade
Laying everybody low with me a lovesong that he made
Finds a convenient streetlight steps out of the shade
Says something like you and me babe how about it ?

Juliet says hey its romeo you nearly gimme a heart attack
Hes underneath the window shes singing hey la my boyfriends back
You shouldnt come around here singing up at people like that
Anyway what you gonna do about it ?

Juliet the dice were loaded from the start
And I bet and you exploded in my heart
And I forget the movie song
When you wanna realise it was just that the time was wrong juliet ?

Come up on differents streets they both were streets of shame
Both dirty both mean yes and the dream was just the same
And I dreamed your dream for you and your dream is real
How can you look at me as if I was just another one of your deals ?

Where you can fall for chains of silver you can fall for chains of gold
You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold
You promised me everything you promised me think and thin
Now you just says oh romeo yeah you know I used to have a scene with him

Juliet when we made love you used to cry
You said I love you like the stars above Ill love you till I die
Theres a place for us you know the movie song
When you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong juliet ?

I cant do the talk like they talk on tv
And I cant do a love song like the way its meant to be
I cant do everything but Id do anything for you
I cant do anything except be in love with you

And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be
All do is keep the beat and bad company
All I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme
Julie Id do the stars with you any time

Juliet when we made love you used to cry
You said I love you like the stars above Ill love you till I die
Theres a place for us you know the movie song
When you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong juliet ?

A lovestruck romeo sings a streetsus serenade
Laying everybody low with me a lovesong that he made
Finds a convenient streetlight steps out of the shade
Says something like you and me babe how about it ?

Brothers in Arms

Song lyrics | Brothers In Arms lyrics

Sultans Of Swing

You get a shiver in the dark
It's raining in the park but meantime
South of the river you stop and you hold everything
A band is blowing Dixie double four time
You feel alright when you hear that music ring
You step inside but you don't see too many faces
Coming in out of the rain to hear the jazz go down
Too much competition too many other places
But not too many horns can make that sound
Way on downsouth way on downsouth London town
You check out Guitar George he knows all the chords
Mind he's strictly rhythm he doesn't want to make it cry or sing
And an old guitar is all he can afford
When he gets up under the lights to play his thing
And Harry doesn't mind if he doesn't make the scene
He's got a daytime job he's doing alright
He can play honky tonk just like anything
Saving it up for Friday night
With the Sultans with the Sultans of Swing
And a crowd of young boys they're fooling around in the corner
Drunk and dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles
The don't give a damn about any trumpet playing band
It ain't what they call rock and roll
And the Sultans played Creole
And then the man he steps right up to the microphone
And says at last just as the time bell rings
'Thank you goodnight now it's time to go home'
and he makes it fast whith one more thing
'We are the Sultans of Swing

Walk Of Life

Here comes johnny singing oldies, goldies
Be-bop-a-lua, baby what I say
Here comes johnny singing I gotta woman
Down in the tunnels, trying to make it pay
He got the action, he got the motion
Yeah, the boy can play
Dedication devotion
Turning all the night time into the day

He do the song about the sweet lovin woman
He do the song about the knife
He do the walk, he do the walk of life

Here comes johnny and hell tell you the story
Hand me down mu walkin shoes
Here come johnny with the power and the glory
Backbeat the talkin blues
He got the action, he got the motion
Yeah, the boy can play
Dedication devotion
Turning all the night time into the day

He do the song about the sweet lovin woman
He do the song about the knife
He do the walk, he do the walk of life

Here comes johnny singing oldies, goldies
Be-bop-a-lula, baby what I say
Here comes johnny singing I gotta woman
Down in the tunnels, trying to make it pay
He got the action, he got the motion
Yeah the boy can play
Decidation devotion
Turning all the night time into the day

And after all the violence and double talk
Theres just a song in the trouble and the strife
You do the walk, you do the walk of life

So far Away

Here I am again in this mean old town
And youre so far away from me
And where are you when the sun goes down
Youre so far away from me

So far away from me
So far I just cant see
So far away from me
Youre so far away from me

Im tired of being in love and being all alone
When youre so far away from me
Im tired of making out on the telephone
And youre so far away from me

So far away from me
So far I just cant see
So far away from me
Youre so far away from me

I get so tired when I have to explain
When youre so far away from me
See you been in the sun and Ive been in the rain
And youre so far away from me

So far away from me
So far I just cant see
So far away from me
Youre so far away from me

Private Investigations

Its a mystery to me
The game commences
For the usual fee
Plus expenses
Confidential information
Its in a diary
This is my investigation
Its not a public inquiry

I go checking out the report
Digging up the dirt
You get to meet all sorts
In the line of work
Treachery and treason
Theres always an excuse for it
And when I find the reason
I still cant get used to it

And what have you got at the end of the day ?
What have you got to take away ?
A bottle of whisky and a new set of lies
Blinds on the window and a pain behind the eyes

Scarred for life
No compensation
Private investigations

Money For Nothing

Now look at them yo-yos thats the way you do it
You play the guitar on the mtv
That aint workin thats the way you do it
Money for nothin and chicks for free
Now that aint workin thats the way you do it
Lemme tell ya them guys aint dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Maybe get a blister on your thumb

We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these colour tvs

See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy thats his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot hes a millionaire

We gotta install microwave ovesns
Custom kitchens deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these colour tvs

I shoulda learned to play the guitar
I shoulda learned to play them drums
Look at that mama, she got it stickin in the camera
Man we could have some fun
And hes up there, whats that? hawaiian noises?
Bangin on the bongoes like a chimpanzee
That aint workin thats the way you do it
Get your money for nothin get your chicks for free

We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these colour tvs, lord

Now that aint workin thats the way you do it
You play the guitar on the mtv
That aint workin thats the way you do it
Money for nothin and your chicks for free
Money for nothin and chicks for free

Mark Knopfler

noreply@blogger.com (Wikta) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:43:00 +0000

Mark Freuder Knopfler OBE (born August 12, 1949, Glasgow, Scotland) is a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and film score composer.

Knopfler was originally best-known as the lead guitarist and vocalist for the band Dire Straits, which he founded in 1977. Since the final Dire Straits album in 1991, Knopfler has continued to record and produce albums as a solo artist, under his own name. Knopfler has occasionally played in other groups, such as the "supergroup" The Notting Hillbillies. Additionally, he has performed as a guest on works by other artists, including Bob Dylan, Bryan Ferry, Eric Clapton, John Fogerty, Jools Holland, Steely Dan and the late Chet Atkins. He has produced albums for artists such as Tina Turner, Randy Newman, Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris. In addition, he has scored the music to several films, including Local Hero, The Princess Bride, Cal, Last Exit to Brooklyn and Wag the Dog.

He is one of the most respected fingerstyle guitarists of the modern rock era. Knopfler was ranked #27 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Biography

Mark Knopfler's father was a Jewish architect whose communist sympathies forced him to flee the fascist regime of his native Hungary. His mother was English. When Knopfler was about nine years old, the family moved to Knopfler's mother's home town of Newcastle upon Tyne in the North-East of England. There, he and his younger brother David (also a musician) attended Gosforth Grammar School, where he was inspired by his uncle Kingsley's harmonica and boogie-woogie piano playing. Later, in his teens, he wished to buy an expensive flamingo-pink Fender Stratocaster just like Hank Marvin's, but had to settle for a L50 twin pickup Höfner Super Solid. Like many other schoolboys of the 1960s, he served an early apprenticeship by forming and joining anonymous schoolboy bands and listening to guitarists such as Chet Atkins, Scotty Moore, Jimi Hendrix, Django Reinhardt and James Burton. At sixteen he made a local TV appearance as half of a harmony duo along with school-friend Sue Hercombe.

In 1967, having displayed a flair for English, Knopfler studied journalism for a year at Harlow Technical College. At the end of the course he secured a job in Leeds as a junior reporter on the Yorkshire Evening Post. After two years he decided to further his studies and commenced a degree in English at the University of Leeds. He also worked as a lecturer at Loughton College during this period. It was whilst Knopfler was living in Leeds that he met a local blues singer/guitarist by the name of Steve Phillips

He then moved (alone) to London and joined a High Wycombe based band called Brewer's Droop. One night while spending some time with friends, the only guitar available was an old acoustic with a badly warped neck that had been strung with extra-light strings to make it playable. Even so, he found it impossible to play unless he finger-picked it. He said in a later interview, "That was where I found my 'voice' on guitar." Soon after he made his first record in a London studio: an unreleased demo of an original song, "Summer's Coming My Way".

The Dire Straits days

Dire Straits' first sessions were done under the name of Knopfler's earlier band, the Café Racers, but after a short time, with Pick Withers as the replacement drummer and John Illsley as the new bass player, they changed their name to Dire Straits.

Dire Straits recorded and released their first album, the self-titled Dire Straits in 1978 to little fanfare, but five months later a single release, "Sultans of Swing" became a chart hit and album sales took off. The second album, Communiqué produced by Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett, followed in 1979 and was considered to many to be a sophomore slump but eventually rose in stature. The band's third album, Making Movies, was released in 1980 and marked a move towards more complex arrangements and production which would continue for the remainder of the group's career.

In 1982 Dire Straits released their fourth album, Love Over Gold. Love over Gold showcased the epic soundscape "Telegraph Road," the humorous "Industrial Disease," and the #2 hit "Private Investigations," which became a popular live song. Around this time Mark Knopfler was also involved with other projects, including writing the music score for the film Local Hero, released in 1983. The soundtrack album Local Hero was a large success, and it was followed in 1984 by the score for the film Cal.

Knopfler married for the second time in the November of 1983, to Lourdes Salamone. Their twin sons, Benji and Joseph, were born in 1987.

With the release of Love Over Gold there was a world tour called Alchemy: Dire Straits Live. A double-LP of the recordings of two live shows in Hammersmith Odeon in London sold over 500,000 albums. Dire Straits' best-selling album was their fifth, Brothers in Arms, which became an international hit on its release in 1985, and spawned several chart singles including number-one hit "Money for Nothing," which was the first video ever to be played on MTV in Britain. The band's 1985–86 world tour, of over 230 shows, was immensely successful.

After the Brothers in Arms tour Dire Straits went on a lengthy hiatus, with Knopfler concentrating on film soundtracks. Additionally, in 1987, over a meal at a Notting Hill wine bar, he formed The Notting Hillbillies, a more country-focused band. Knopfler further emphasized his country music influences with 1990s collaboration with Chet Atkins, Neck and Neck.

Dire Straits regrouped in 1988 for the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium, in which they were the headline act and were accompanied by Eric Clapton. 1990 saw the recording of Dire Straits' final original studio album, On Every Street, which was released in September of 1991. The album met with a mixed critical reaction, regarded by some as an underwhelming follow up to Brothers in Arms. But the album sold well, nonetheless, reaching #1 in the UK.

After On Every Street, two live albums were released, the first of which, On the Night (1993), documented Dire Straits' final tour. This was followed two years later by Live at the BBC as a contractual album for Vertigo.

Knopfler's marriage to Salamone ended in 1993, and he subsequently married actress Kitty Aldridge. This marriage has given him daughters Isabella (born 1998) and Katya Ruby Rose (born 2003). The family currently lives in Chelsea.

Dire Straits' line-up changed over the band's career, but Knopfler was always the driving force behind the group. After expressing a desire to give up touring on a large scale, Mark Knopfler launched his solo career and quietly disbanded Dire Straits in 1995. However, the band's keyboardist Guy Fletcher has been associated with almost every piece of Knopfler's solo material following Dire Straits' dissolution. Danny Cummings, the percussionist, also makes frequent appearances, including one on Knopfler's latest solo album.

However, in 2002 Mark Knopfler did four charity concerts with Dire Straits members John Illsley, Chris White, Danny Cummings and Guy Fletcher playing some old Dire Straits songs. The session also included The Notting Hillbillies.

After Dire Straits

In 1996, the year after Dire Straits officially disbanded, Knopfler released his first solo album, Golden Heart. Formed during the Golden Heart sessions, the main line-up of his solo band, also known as "The 96'ers," has lasted much longer than any Dire Straits line-up. In August the same year, Brothers in Arms was certified nine times platinum.

In 1997 Rolling Stone magazine released a poll: "Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll", which included "Sultans of Swing," Dire Straits' first hit, which remained significant throughout their entire career as a band.

In 1997 Knopfler recorded the soundtrack for the movie Wag the Dog. In October a hits collection of Dire Straits was released: Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits. It would, however, be three years before he was to release his next album, Sailing to Philadelphia.

Knopfler released his third solo album, The Ragpicker's Dream, in 2002. However, as a keen motorcyclist, in March 2003 Knopfler was involved in a motorbike crash in Grosvenor Road, Belgravia. He suffered from a broken collarbone, broken shoulder blade and seven broken ribs. The planned Ragpicker's Dream tour was subsequently cancelled, but Knopfler recovered and was able to return to the stage in 2004 for his fourth album, Shangri-La.

Shangri-La was recorded at the Shangri-La Studio in Malibu, California in 2004, where The Band made recordings for The Last Waltz. In the promo for "Shangri-La" on his official website he said that his current line-up of Glenn Worf (bass), Guy Fletcher (keyboards), Chad Cromwell (drums), Richard Bennett (guitar) and Matt Rollings (piano) "play Dire Straits songs better than Dire Straits did." The "Shangri-La" tour took Mark to countries like India and the UAE for the first time. In India, his concerts at Bombay and Bangalore were very well received, with over 20,000 fans gathering at each concert to listen to a legend who many thought would never visit their country.

In late 2005 a third compilation, The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations was released, and consisted of material from most of Dire Straits' studio albums and Knopfler's solo and soundtrack material.

Knopfler recorded an album of duets with country music singer Emmylou Harris, entitled All the Roadrunning, which was released on April 24, 2006. It reached #1 in Denmark and Switzerland, #2 in Norway and Sweden, #3 in Germany, Holland and Italy, #8 in Austria and UK, #9 in Spain, #17 in the United States (Billboard Top 200 Chart), #25 in Ireland and #41 in Australia.

Joined by Emmylou Harris, Knopfler supported All the Roadrunning with a successful world tour. Selections from the duo's June performance at the Gibson Ampitheatre were released as a CD/DVD package entitled Real Live Roadrunning on Nov. 14, 2006. In addition to several of the compositions that Harris and Knopfler recorded together in the studio, Real Live Roadrunning features solo hits from both members of the duo, as well as three tracks from Knopfler's days with Dire Straits.

All The Roadrunning was nominated for "Best Folk Rock/Americana Album" at the 49th Grammy Awards (February 11, 2007) but lost out to Bob Dylan's nomination for Modern Times.

Mark has recently released his fifth solo studio-album Kill to Get Crimson. His long-time band mate Guy Fletcher maintains a pictorial studio diary for the album which can be found on Guy's own website. The album was released on September 14, 2007 in Germany, September 17 in the UK and September 18 in the USA. Besides the standard CD edition, a special "Deluxe Edition" with an extra DVD is also on sale.

Knopfler will also be commencing a world tour to support the album, starting in late 2007 and continuing in to 2008.

Musical style

Mark Knopfler is noted for being left-handed, but playing right-handed, and for fingerpicking (using a personal variant of the clawhammer) style instead of using a plectrum (i.e., "pick"); fingerpicking is usually associated with the acoustic guitar, but Knopfler usually (though not always) plays an electric guitar.

Knopfler revealed during a French interview that he does use a pick for his rhythm work during recording sessions and started out using one. Knopfler surprised the interviewer by pulling one out of his pocket and saying that he usually carries one.

Knopfler was a guitar hero of the 1980s and played some of the decade's definitive riffs and solos. Mark's tone evolved from the simple and clean (or slightly overdriven) guitar sound of the Straits' first two albums to the "rocky" overdriven sounds on Brothers In Arms and on to the warm tube sounds on his solo albums.

He has around 70 guitars, including:

* Fender Stratocasters including a 1954 (one of the first ever produced) which he has named "Jurassic Strat"
* Fender Telecasters
* Gibson Les Pauls
* Danelectro 59-DCs
* Pensa Custom custom-built solidbody guitars. Also models MK-1 MK-2 & MK-80, which Pensa named in honor of Knopfler.
* Schecters
* National Style 0 Resonator guitar, as used on "Romeo and Juliet".
* Ramirez Spanish Guitar, used on "Postcard from Paraguay"

His Artist Series Stratocaster can be viewed on the Fender website

AC/DC

noreply@blogger.com (Wikta) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 18:45:00 +0000

AC/DC are a hard rock band formed in Sydney, Australia in 1973 by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young. The band are considered pioneers of heavy metal, alongside bands such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. Its members, however, have always classified their music as "rock 'n' roll".

AC/DC underwent several line-up changes before releasing their first album, High Voltage, in 1975. Membership remained stable until bassist Cliff Williams replaced Mark Evans in 1977. In 1979, the band recorded their highly successful album, Highway to Hell. Lead singer and co-songwriter Bon Scott died on February 19, 1980, after a night of heavy alcohol consumption. The group briefly considered disbanding, but soon ex-Geordie singer Brian Johnson was selected as Scott's replacement. Later that year, the band released their biggest-selling album, Back in Black.

The band's next album, For Those About to Rock We Salute You, was also highly successful and was the first hard rock album to reach #1 in the United States. AC/DC declined in popularity soon after the departure of drummer Phil Rudd in 1983. Poor record sales continued until the release of The Razors Edge in 1990. Phil Rudd returned in 1994 and contributed to the band's 1995 album Ballbreaker. Stiff Upper Lip was released in 2000 and was well-received by critics. A new album is expected sometime in 2008.

AC/DC have sold an estimated 150 million albums worldwide, including 68 million albums in the U.S. Back in Black has sold an estimated 42 million units worldwide and 21 million in the U.S. alone, making it the 5th highest-selling album ever in the USA. AC/DC are ranked fourth on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock and were ranked by MTV the 7th "Greatest Heavy Metal Band Of All Time".

Angus and Malcolm Young developed the idea for the band's name after seeing the acronym "AC/DC" on the back of a sewing machine owned by their sister, Margaret. "AC/DC" is an abbreviation for "alternating current/direct current", which indicates that an electrical device can use either type of power. The brothers felt that this name symbolized the band's raw energy and power-driven performances, and the name stuck.

In some cultures, "AC/DC" is a slang term for bisexuality; the band have said that they were not aware of this usage until it was brought to their attention by a taxi driver one night after a concert early in their career. Some religious figures have suggested that the name stands for "Anti-Christ/Devil's Child(ren)", "Anti-Christ/Devil Christ", and "After Christ/Devil Comes". Although rumours have persisted among critics attempting to paint the band as Satanists, the band have denied these interpretations of their name, and have mocked them as being opportunistically-constructed backronyms.

"AC/DC" is pronounced one letter at a time, though the band are popularly known as "Acca Dacca" in Australia. The name has inspired tribute bands, including BC/DC Canadian province of British Columbia;] AC/DShe, an all-female group from San Francisco; and Hayseed Dixie, an Appalachian band specialising in bluegrass covers.

History

Brothers Angus, Malcolm, and George Young were born in Glasgow, Scotland, and moved to Sydney, Australia with most of their family in 1963. George was the first to learn to play the guitar. He became a member of The Easybeats, Australia's most successful band of the 1960s. In 1966, they became the first local rock act to have an international hit, with the song "Friday On My Mind". Malcolm followed in George's footsteps by playing with a Newcastle, New South Wales band called The Velvet Underground (not to be confused with the New York-based Velvet Underground).

Early years

In November 1973, Malcolm and Angus Young formed AC/DC and recruited bassist Larry Van Kriedt, vocalist Dave Evans, and Colin Burgess, ex-Master's Apprentices drummer. The band played their first gig at a club named Chequers in Sydney on New Year's Eve, 1973. They were later signed to the EMI-distributed Albert Productions label for Australia and New Zealand. The early line-up of the band changed often; Colin Burgess was the first member fired, and several bassists and drummers passed through the band during the next year (see List of AC/DC members).

By this time, Angus Young had adopted his characteristic school uniform stage outfit. The original uniform was reputedly from his secondary school, Ashfield Boys High School in Sydney; the idea was his sister Margaret's. Angus had tried other costumes, such as Spider-Man, Zorro, a gorilla, and a parody of Superman, named Super-Ang. In fact in its early days, most members of the band dressed in some form of glam or satin outfit but this approach was abandoned when it was discovered Melbourne band Skyhooks had already adopted this approach to their stage presentation.

The Young brothers decided that Evans was not a suitable frontman for the group, because they felt he was more of a glam rocker like Gary Glitter. On stage, Evans was occasionally replaced by the band's first manager, Dennis Laughlin, who was the original lead singer with Sherbet prior to Daryl Braithwaite joining the band. Evans had interpersonal problems with Laughlin, which also contributed to the band's ill feeling towards Evans. Meanwhile Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott, an experienced vocalist and friend of George Young's, was interested in becoming their vocalist.

Bon Scott era (1974–1980)

In September 1974, Bon Scott replaced Dave Evans. Scott was a former lead vocalist with The Spektors (1964–66), The Valentines (1966–70), and Fraternity (1970–73). The band had recorded only one single with Evans, "Can I Sit Next to You" / "Rockin' in the Parlour", and "Can I Sit Next to You" was eventually re-recorded with Bon Scott under the title "Can I Sit Next to You Girl".

By January 1975, the Australia-only album High Voltage had been recorded. It took only ten days, and was based on instrumental songs written by the Young brothers with lyrics added by Scott. Within a few months, the band's line-up had stabilized, featuring Scott, the Young brothers, bassist Mark Evans and drummer Phil Rudd. Later that year they released the single "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)", which became their perennial rock anthem. It was included on their second album, T.N.T., which was also released only in Australia and New Zealand. The album featured another classic song, "High Voltage".
Between 1974 and 1977, aided by regular appearances on Molly Meldrum's Countdown, a nationally broadcast pop music television show, AC/DC became one of the most popular and successful acts in Australia. Their performance on 3 April 1977 was their last live TV appearance for over twenty years.

International success (1976–1978)

In 1976, the band signed an international deal with Atlantic Records, and toured extensively throughout the United Kingdom and Europe. They gained invaluable experience of the stadium circuit, supporting leading hard rock acts such as Kiss, Aerosmith, Styx and Blue Öyster Cult, and they co-headlined with Cheap Trick.

The first AC/DC album to gain worldwide distribution was a 1976 compilation of tracks taken from the High Voltage and T.N.T. LPs. Also titled High Voltage, and released on the Atlantic Records label, the album sold three million copies worldwide, partly due to its popularity with a British punk audience. The track selection was heavily weighted towards the more recent T.N.T., and included only two songs from their first LP. The band's next album, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, was released in the same year in both Australian-only and international versions, like its predecessor. Track listings varied worldwide, and the international version of the album also featured "Rocker" from T.N.T. The original Australian version included their popular song "Jailbreak" (now more readily available on the 1984 compilation EP '74 Jailbreak or as a live version on the 1992 Live album). Dirty Deeds was not released in the U.S. until 1981, by which time the band were at the peak of their popularity.

Following the 1977 recording Let There Be Rock, bassist Mark Evans was sacked due to personal differences with Angus Young. He was replaced by Cliff Williams, who also provided backing vocals alongside Malcolm Young. Neither of the Young brothers has elaborated on the departure of Evans, though Richard Griffiths, the CEO of Epic Records and a booking agent for AC/DC in the mid-1970s, later commented, "You knew Mark wasn't going to last, he was just too much of a nice guy."

AC/DC were a formative influence on New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands such as Saxon and Iron Maiden who emerged in the late 1970s, in part as a reaction to the decline of traditional early 1970s heavy metal bands. In 2007, critics noted that AC/DC, along with Thin Lizzy, UFO, Scorpions and Judas Priest, were among "the second generation of rising stars ready to step into the breach as the old guard waned."

U.S. success (1977–1979)

AC/DC's first American exposure was through the Michigan radio station AM 600 WTAC in 1977. The station's manager, Peter C. Cavanaugh, booked the band to play at Flint's Capitol Theater. The supporting act was MC5, who had briefly reunited and agreed to play at the event. The band opened with their popular song "Live Wire" and closed with "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)".

AC/DC came to be identified with the punk rock movement by the British press. Their reputation, however, managed to survive the punk upheavals of the late 1970s, and they maintained a cult following in the UK throughout this time. Angus Young gained notoriety for mooning the audience during live performances.

The 1978 release of Powerage marked the debut of bassist Cliff Williams, and with its harder riffs, followed the blueprint set by Let There Be Rock. Only one single was released for Powerage, "Rock 'n' Roll Damnation" and gave AC/DC the highest mark at the time, reaching #24. An appearance at the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow during the Powerage tour was recorded and released as If You Want Blood You've Got It, featuring classic songs such as "Whole Lotta Rosie", "Problem Child", and "Let There Be Rock", as well as lesser-known album tracks like "Riff Raff". The album was the last produced by Harry Vanda and George Young with Bon Scott on vocals (although Vanda and Young later produced Blow Up Your Video) and is claimed to be AC/DC's most underrated album.

The band's sixth album, Highway to Hell, was produced by Mutt Lange and released in 1979. It became the first AC/DC LP to break into the U.S. top 100, eventually reaching #17, and it propelled AC/DC into the top ranks of hard rock acts. Highway to Hell put increased emphasis on backing vocals but still featured AC/DC's signature sound: loud, simple, pounding riffs and grooving backbeats. The final track, "Night Prowler", has two breaths in quick succession at the start of the song, intended to create a tone of fear and loathing.

Bon Scott's death (1980)

On February 19, 1980, Bon Scott passed out after a night of heavy drinking in London, and was left in a car owned by an acquaintance of his named Alistair Kinnear. The following morning, Kinnear rushed him to King's College Hospital in Camberwell, where Scott was pronounced dead on arrival. Although common folklore claims that pulmonary aspiration of vomit was the cause of Scott's death, the official cause was listed as "acute alcohol poisoning" and "death by misadventure". Scott's family buried him in Fremantle, Western Australia, the area to which they had emigrated when he was a child.

Inconsistencies in the official accounts of Scott's death have been cited in conspiracy theories, which suggest that Scott died of a heroin overdose, or was killed by exhaust fumes redirected into the car, or that Kinnear did not exist. Additionally, Scott was asthmatic, and the temperature was below freezing on the morning of his death.

Finding a new voice

Following Scott's death, the band briefly considered quitting; they eventually concluded, however, that Scott would have wanted AC/DC to continue, and various candidates were considered for his replacement. Ex-Back Street Crawler vocalist Terry Slesser was approached, but he decided not to join an established band; instead, he assembled a successful solo career, which included co-writing the song "Rainbow's Gold". Buzz Shearman, ex-Moxy member, was not able to join due to vocal problems. The remaining AC/DC members finally decided on ex-Geordie singer Brian Johnson.

Angus Young later recalled, "I remember Bon playing me Little Richard, and then telling me the story of when he saw Brian singing." He says about that night, "There's this guy up there screaming at the top of his lungs and then the next thing you know he hits the deck. He's on the floor, rolling around and screaming. I thought it was great, and then to top it off—you couldn't get a better encore—they came in and wheeled the guy off!'" Later that night, Johnson would be diagnosed with appendicitis, which was the cause of his writhing around on stage.

For the audition, Johnson sang "Whole Lotta Rosie" from Let There Be Rock, and Ike & Tina Turner's "Nutbush City Limits". He was hired a few days after the audition.

Brian Johnson era (1980–present)

With Johnson, the band completed the songwriting that they had begun with Bon Scott for the album Back in Black. Recording took place at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas a few months after Scott's death. Back in Black, produced by Mutt Lange and recorded by Tony Platt, became their biggest-selling album and a hard-rock landmark; hits include "Hells Bells", "You Shook Me All Night Long", and the title track "Back in Black". The album was certified platinum a year after its release, and by 2006 it had sold more than 21 million copies in the United States. The album reached #1 in the UK and #4 in the U.S., where it spent 131 weeks in the top ten.

The follow-up album, 1981's For Those About to Rock We Salute You, also sold well and was positively received by critics. The album featured two of the band's most popular singles: "Let's Get It Up" and the title track, "For Those About to Rock", which reached #13 and #15, respectively, in the UK. The band split with Lange for their self-produced 1983 album, Flick of the Switch, in an effort to recover the rawness and simplicity of their early albums.

Departure of Rudd and commercial decline (1983-1987)
Amid rumours of alcoholism and drug-induced paranoia, drummer Phil Rudd's friendship with Malcolm Young deteriorated and, after a long period of unfriendliness, the men's dislike for each other grew so strong that they fought. Rudd was fired two hours after the fight. Although Rudd had finished most of the drum tracks for their next album, he was replaced by Simon Wright after the band held an anonymous audition.

With the new line-up, the band released a less successful album, the self-produced Flick of the Switch, which was considered underdeveloped and unmemorable. One critic stated that the band "had made the same album nine times". AC/DC was voted the eighth-biggest disappointment of the year in the 1984 Kerrang! readers' poll. However, Flick of the Switch eventually reached #4 on the UK charts, and AC/DC had minor success with the singles "Nervous Shakedown" and "Flick of the Switch". Fly on the Wall, produced by the Young brothers in 1985, was also regarded as uninspired and directionless. A music concept video of the same name featured the band at a bar, playing five of the album's ten songs.

In 1986, the group returned to the charts with the made-for-radio "Who Made Who". The album, Who Made Who, was the soundtrack to Stephen King's film Maximum Overdrive, and is the closest the band has come to releasing a "greatest hits" collection. It brought together older hits, such as "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Ride On", with newer songs like title track "Who Made Who", and two new instrumentals, "D.T." and "Chase the Ace"

In February 1988, AC/DC were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association's Hall of Fame.

Renewed popularity (1988–present)

AC/DC's 1988 album, Blow up Your Video, was recorded at Miraval Studio in Le Val, France, and reunited the band with their original producers, Harry Vanda and George Young. The group recorded nineteen songs, choosing ten for the final release; though the album was later criticized for containing excessive "filler", it was a commercial success. Blow up Your Video sold more copies than the previous two studio releases combined, and reached #2 on the UK charts—AC/DC's highest position since Back In Black in 1980. The album featured the UK top-twenty single "Heatseeker", and popular songs such as "That's the Way I Wanna Rock and Roll". The Blow Up Your Video World Tour began in February 1988, in Perth, Australia. That April, following live appearances across Europe, Malcolm Young announced that he was taking time off from touring, principally to begin recovery from his alcoholism. Another member of the Young family, Stevie Young, temporarily took Malcolm's place.
Following the tour, Wright left the group to work on the upcoming Dio album, Lock up the Wolves, and was replaced by session veteran Chris Slade. Johnson was unavailable for several months while finalising his divorce, so the Young brothers wrote all the songs for the next album, a practice they have continued for all subsequent releases. The new album, The Razors Edge, was produced by Bruce Fairbairn, who had previously worked with Aerosmith and Bon Jovi. Released in 1990, it was a major comeback for the band, and included the hits "Thunderstruck" and "Are You Ready", which reached #5 and #16 respectively on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart, and "Moneytalks", which peaked at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album went multi-platinum and reached the U.S. top ten. Several shows on the Razors Edge tour were recorded as footage for the 1992 live album, entitled simply Live. Live was produced by Fairbairn, and is considered one of the best live albums of the 1990s. A year later, AC/DC recorded "Big Gun" for the soundtrack of the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Last Action Hero, and was released as a single, reaching #1 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart, the band's first #1 single on that chart.

In 1994, Angus and Malcolm invited Rudd to several jam sessions. He was eventually rehired to replace Slade, whose amicable departure arose in part due to the band's strong desire to work again with Rudd. In 1995, with the 1980—83 line-up back together, the group released Ballbreaker, recorded at the Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles, California, and produced by Rick Rubin. The first single from the album was "Hard as a Rock", which reached #1 on the U.S. charts. Two more singles were released from the album: "Hail Caesar" and "Cover You in Oil".

In 1997, a box set named Bonfire was released. It contained four albums; a remastered version of Back in Black; Volts (a disc with alternate takes, outtakes, and stray live cuts) and two live albums, Live from the Atlantic Studios and Let There Be Rock: The Movie. Live from the Atlantic Studios was recorded in 1978 at the Atlantic Studios in New York. Let There Be Rock: The Movie was a double album recorded in 1979 at The Pavillon in Paris, and was the soundtrack of a motion picture, AC/DC: Let There Be Rock. The US version of the box set included a colour booklet, a two-sided poster, a sticker, a temporary tattoo, a keychain bottle opener, and a guitar pick.

In 2000, the band released their sixteenth studio album, Stiff Upper Lip, produced by George Young. The album was better received by critics than Ballbreaker, but was considered lacking in new ideas. The Australian release included a bonus disc with three promotional videos and several live performances recorded in Madrid in 1996. Stiff Upper Lip reached #1 in five countries, including Argentina and Germany; #2 in three countries, Spain, France and Switzerland; #3 in Australia; #5 in Canada and Portugal; and #7 in Norway, the U.S. and Hungary. The first single, "Stiff Upper Lip", remained at #1 on the U.S. charts for four weeks. The other singles released also did very well, "Safe in New York City" and "Satellite Blues" reached #31 and #7 in the U.S. respectively.

Recent events

In 2002, AC/DC signed a long-term, multi-album deal with Sony Music, who went on to release a series of remastered albums as part of their AC/DC remasters series. Each release contained an expanded booklet, featuring rare photographs, memorabilia, and notes. In 2003, the entire back-catalogue (except Ballbreaker and Stiff Upper Lip) was remastered and re-released. Ballbreaker was eventually re-released in October 2005; Stiff Upper Lip was later rereleased in April 2007.
In May 2003, Malcolm Young accepted a Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Service to Australian Music at the 2003 Music Winners Awards, during which he paid special tribute to Bon Scott. In the same year, the Recording Industry Association of America upgraded the group's U.S. sales figures from 46.5 million to 63 million, making AC/DC the fifth-best-selling band in U.S. music history, behind only The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and the Eagles, although recently AC/DC was lowered to the tenth best selling artist. The RIAA also certified the Back in Black album as double diamond (twenty million) in U.S. sales, making it the sixth-best-selling U.S. album of all time; by 2005 the album had sold 21 million copies, which moved it into fifth place. On July 30 the band performed with The Rolling Stones and progressive rock band Rush at Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto. The concert, held before an audience of half a million, was intended to help the city overcome the effects of the 2003 SARS epidemic. The concert holds the record for the largest paid music event in North American history.

On October 1, 2004, a central Melbourne thoroughfare, Corporation Lane, was renamed in honour of the band. However, the City of Melbourne forbade the use of the slash character in street names, so the four letters were combined. The lane is near Swanston Street where, on the back of a truck, the band recorded their video for the 1975 hit "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)". Additionally, a street in Leganés, Spain was named "Calle de AC/DC" on March 2, 2000. The band came second in a list of Australia's highest-earning entertainers for 2005, and sixth for 2006, despite having neither toured nor released an album since 2000. Verizon Wireless has gained the rights to release AC/DC's full albums and the entire Live at Donington concert to download in 2008.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction & Legacy

AC/DC were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2003. During the ceremony the band performed "Highway to Hell" and "You Shook Me All Night Long", with guest vocals provided by host Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. He described the band's power chords as "the thunder from down under that gives you the second-most-powerful surge that can flow through your body.

During the acceptance speech, Brian Johnson quoted their 1977 song "Let There Be Rock":
"In the beginning, back in 1955, man didn't know about the rock 'n roll show and all that jive. The white man had the schmaltz, the black man had the blues, but no one knew what they was gonna do but Tchaikovsky had the news, he said: 'let there be rock". "Bon Scott wrote that. And it's a real privilege to accept these awards tonight.”

New album

As of January 2006, AC/DC are working on a new studio album. According to Malcolm Young, "The band are currently writing and recording material for the eagerly anticipated next album, but no release date has been set." In a 2004 interview, Brian Johnson revealed that, for the first time since the 1988 album Blow Up Your Video, he will be handling lyrics. He also said that Angus Young has written harder riffs than those on Stiff Upper Lip. In a 2005 interview, Johnson confirmed that the band does not know when the album will be recorded, or who will produce it. Malcolm Young has said that the new album has "gotta be perfect".

Johnson and Williams along with Steve Luongo and Mark Hitt recorded new songs for a fund raising tour named "Classic Rock Cares", and the new songs will be presented during concerts. So far, their recording "Chain Gang on the Road" has been presented. Williams stated that "the Young brothers have been writing new material, but there’s no telling when that will crystallize into an album."

On October 16, 2007, Columbia Records will release a double DVD titled Plug Me In. The set will consist of 5 hours of rare footage and even a recording of AC/DC at a high school performing "School Days", "T.N.T.", "She's Got Balls", and "It's a Long Way to The Top". As with Family Jewels, disc one will contain rare shows of the band with Bon Scott, and disc two is about the Brian Johnson era. The collector's edition will contain an extra DVD with 21 more rare performances of both Scott and Johnson and more interviews.

It's A Long Way To The Top If Ya Wanna Rock And Roll

Song lyrics | It's A Long Way To The Top lyrics

T.N.T. (1976 Aussie TV)

Song lyrics | T. N. T. lyrics

Thunderstruck

Song lyrics | Thunderstruck lyrics

Back In Black

Song lyrics | Back In Black lyrics

Highway To Hell

Song lyrics | Highway To Hell lyrics

Jailbreak

Song lyrics | Jailbreak lyrics

Ani DiFranco

noreply@blogger.com (Wikta) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:46:00 +0000

Ani DiFranco (Angela Maria Difranco) Born on September 23, 1970. She is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She is known as a prolific artist (having released seventeen albums in as many years) and is seen by many as a women's rights and feminist icon.

DiFranco was born in Buffalo, New York to an American Jewish mother and an Italian-American father, both folk music lovers. She started playing Beatles covers at local bars and busking with her guitar teacher, Michael Meldrum, at the age of nine.

In 1989, at the age of eighteen, DiFranco started her own record company, "Righteous Records" (renamed Righteous Babe Records in 1994), with just $50. Prior to the renaming of Righteous Records to Righteous Babe Records, DiFranco worked with manager Dale Anderson, a writer for the Buffalo News, who himself started another record label called Hot Wings Records when the two parted ways. Hot Wings released the work of Buffalo area female musical performers working within a similar style to DiFranco. Early Releases of her CDs produced prior to 1994 are labeled with the original Righteous Records label. Ani DiFranco was issued on the label in the winter of 1990. Later on she relocated to New York City, where she took poetry classes at the New School and toured vigorously.

DiFranco has identified as bisexual for much of her career and in 1998, she married sound engineer Andrew Gilchrist in a Unitarian service in Canada, overseen by Unitarian minister Utah Phillips. Numerous media sources reported that her fans felt betrayed by her union with a man. DiFranco and Gilchrist divorced five years later but remain friends.

In 1998, DiFranco's drummer, Andy Stochansky, left the band to pursue a solo career as a singer-songwriter. Their rapport during live shows is showcased on the 1996 album Living In Clip.

DiFranco's father died early in the summer of 2005; however, she continued her summer tour as a tribute to him.

On July 22, 2005, DiFranco developed tendinitis and subsequently took a hiatus from touring. DiFranco had toured almost continuously in the preceding fifteen years, taking brief breaks to record studio albums. Her 2005 tour concluded with an appearance at the FloydFest World Music and Genre Crossover festival in Floyd, Virginia. DiFranco returned to touring in late April 2006, including a performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 28.

DiFranco gave birth to a 7-pound, 8-ounce daughter, Petah Lucia, at her Buffalo home early Saturday morning, January 20, 2007. The child's father is DiFranco's boyfriend Mike Napolitano, the co-producer of DiFranco's 2006 release Reprieve.

On July 21, 2006, DiFranco received the "Woman of Courage Award" at the National Organization for Women (NOW) Conference and Young Feminist Summit in Albany, NY. Past winners have included singer and actress Barbra Streisand and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. DiFranco is the first musician to receive the award, given each year to a woman who has set herself apart by her contributions to the feminist movement.

DiFranco has been toasted by the Buffalo News as the "Buffalo's leading lady of rock music." The News further said: "Through the Righteous Babe Foundation, DiFranco has backed various grassroots cultural and political organizations, supporting causes ranging from abortion rights to gay visibility."

Since 2003, DiFranco has been nominated four consecutive times for Best Recording Package at the Grammy Awards, one of which she won, in 2004, for Educated Guess.

DiFranco's guitar playing is often characterized by a signature staccato style, rapid fingerpicking and use of a plethora of alternate tunings. She delivers many of her lines in a speaking style notable for its rhythmic variation. Her lyrics, which often include alliteration, metaphor, word play and a more or less gentle irony, have also received praise for their sophistication. The song "Talkin' Mrs. DiFranco Blues," by Dan Bern, strings together some of the most memorable lines from DiFranco's early career for comic effects.

Although DiFranco's music has been classified as both folk rock and alternative rock, she has reached across genres since her earliest albums. DiFranco has collaborated with a wide range of artists including pop musician Prince, folk musician Utah Phillips, funk and soul jazz musician Maceo Parker and rapper Corey Parker. She has used a variety of instruments and styles: brass instrumentation was prevalent in 1998's Little Plastic Castle, a simple walking bass in her 1997 cover of Hal David and Burt Bacharach's Wishin' and Hopin', strings on the 1997 live album Living in Clip and 2004's Knuckle Down, and electronics and synths in 1999's To the Teeth and DiFranco's latest studio recording, Reprieve.

DiFranco herself noted that "folk music is not an acoustic guitar--that's not where the heart of it is. I use the word 'folk' in reference to punk music and rap music. It's an attitude, it's an awareness of one's heritage, and it's a community. It's subcorporate music that gives voice to different communities and their struggle against authority."

Although much of DiFranco's material is autobiographical, it is often also strongly political. Many of her songs are concerned with contemporary social issues such as racism, sexism, sexual abuse, homophobia, reproductive rights, poverty, and war. The combination of personal and political is partially responsible for DiFranco's early popularity among politically active college students, some of whom set up fan pages on the web to document DiFranco's career as early as 1994. Because DiFranco's rapid rise in popularity in the mid-1990s was fueled mostly by personal contact and word of mouth rather than mainstream press, fans often expressed a feeling of community with each other.

DiFranco has expressed political views outside of her music. During the 2000 U.S. presidential election, she encouraged voting for Ralph Nader in non-battleground states. She supported Dennis Kucinich in the 2004 Democratic primaries.

Ownership of Righteous Babe Records allows DiFranco a great deal of artistic freedom. For example, on her 2004 album Educated Guess, DiFranco played all of the instruments, provided all of the vocals, and recorded the album by herself at her home on an analog 8-track reel to reel. She was also involved in much of the artwork and design for the packaging. The only other person involved in the record's musical production was Greg Calbi, who mastered it.

References to her independence from major labels appear occasionally in Difranco's songs, including "The Million You Never Made" (Not A Pretty Girl), which discusses the act of turning down a lucrative contract, "The Next Big Thing" (Not So Soft), which describes an imagined meeting with a label headhunter who evaluates the singer based on her looks, and "Napoleon" (Dilate), which sympathizes sarcastically with an unnamed friend who did sign with a label. A longstanding rumor, apparently begun by Spin Magazine in 1997, suggests that the friend addressed in "Napoleon" is the musician Suzanne Vega; both DiFranco and Vega have denied this.

DiFranco has occasionally joined with Prince in discussing publicly the problems associated with major record companies. DiFranco is openly proud of her label, which employs a number of people in her hometown of Buffalo. In a 1997 open letter to Ms. magazine she expressed displeasure that what she considers a way to ensure her own artistic freedom was seen by others solely in terms of its financial success.

32 flavors

squint your eyes and look closer
I'm not between you and your ambition
I am a poster girl with no poster
I am thirty-two flavors and then some
and I'm beyond your peripheral vision
so you might want to turn your head
cause someday you're going to get hungry
and eat most of the words you just said

both my parents taught me about good will
and I have done well by their names
just the kindness I've lavished on strangers
is more than I can explain
still there's many who've turned out their porch lights
just so I would think they were not home
and hid in the dark of their windows
til I'd passed and left them alone

and god help you if you are an ugly girl
course too pretty is also your doom
cause everyone harbors a secret hatred
for the prettiest girl in the room
and god help you if you are a pheonix
and you dare to rise up from the ash
a thousand eyes will smolder with jealousy
while you are just flying back

I'm not trying to give my life meaning
by demeaning you
and I would like to state for the record
I did everything that I could do
I'm not saying that I'm a saint
I just don't want to live that way
no, I will never be a saint
but I will always say

squint your eyes and look closer
I'm not between you and your ambition
I am a poster girl with no poster
I am thirty-two flavors and then some
And I'm beyond your peripheral vision
So you might want to turn your head
Cause someday you might find you're starving
and eating all of the words you said

Swim

you keep telling me I'm beautiful
but I feel a little less so each time
your love is so colorful
it flashes like a neon sign
but I finally drove out where
the sky is dark enuf to see stars
and I found I missed no one
just listening to the swishing of distant cars

I hope I never see
the ocean again
pushing and pulling at me
as I go deeper and deeper in
til I'm so far from my shore
so far from what I came here for
I let you surround me
I let you drown me
out with your din
and then I learned how to swim

I was floating above myself
watching her do just what you wanted
poor little friendly ghost
wondering why her whole house feels haunted
I told myself I was strong enuf
that I had plenty of blood to give
and each elbow cradled a needle
but listless and faint ain't no way to live

so I hope I never see
the ocean again
pushing and pulling at me
as I go deeper and deeper in
til I'm so far from my shore
so far from what I came here for
I let you surround me
I let you drown me
out with your din
and then I learned how to swim

you keep telling me I'm beautiful
but I feel a little less so each time
your love is so colorful
it flashes like a neon sign
but I finally drove out where
the sky is dark enuf to see stars
and I found I missed no one
just listening to the swishing of distant cars

Studying Stones

I am out here studying stones
Trying to learn to be less alive
Using all of my will
To keep very still
Still even on the inside
I've cut all of the pertinent wires
So my eyes can't make that connection
I am holding my breath
I am feigning my death
When I'm looking in your direction

'Course numb is an old hat
Old as my oldest memories
See that one's my mother
And that one's my father
And that one in the hat, that's me
It's a skill I'd hoped to abandon
When I got out on the open road
But any more pent up emotion
And I think I'm gonna explode

There's never been an endeavor so strange
As trying to slow the blood in my veins
To keep my face blank
As a stone that just sank
Until not a ripple remains
I am high above the tree line
Sitting cross legged on the ground
When all of the forbidden fruit has fallen and rotted
That's when I'm gonna come down

'Course numb is an old hat
Old as my oldest memories
See that one's my mother
And that one's my father
And that one in the hat, that's me
It's a skill I'd hoped to abandon
When I got out on the open road
But any more pent up emotion
And I think I'm gonna explode

Pick Yer Nose

How come I can pick my ears
but not my nose
who made up that rule anyway
how can you say that's the way it is
that's just the way it goes
why don't you decide for yourself
what you can do
and what you can say
how come I can pick my friends
but not my enemies
what is it about me that offends
what is it about me
'cause you know I'm only five foot two
and I'm giggly wiggly
tell me again, what did I do
why are you scared of me
I fight with love
and I laugh with rage
you've gotta live light enough
to see the humour
and long enough to see some change
I think shy is boring
I think depressed is too
I think pretty is nice
but I'd rather see something new
all these plastic people
got their plastic surgery
but we got a big big beautiful
we got it for free
who you gonna be
if you can't be yourself
you can't get it from t.v.
you can't force it on
anybody else
you know they come to clear cut
they come to strip mine
they come for some of my big butt
my big brain
or just a little time
they wanna take me out to dinner
think I'm a bitch if I don't go
seems like the people who actually like me
won't allow me to say no
your idea of a conversation
is the third degree
but I don't really know you
and I don't really want to talk about me
'cause I'm not going to pretend
that I don't pick my nose
that's just the way it is, my friends
that's just the way it goes
this is who I am
what I do
and what I say
if you like it, let it be
if you don't, please do the same
I fight with love
I laugh with rage
you gotta live light enough to see the humour
and long enough to see some change

shy

the heat is so great
it plays tricks with the eye
it turns the road to water
and then from water to sky
and there's a crack in the concrete floor
and it starts at the sink
there's a bathroom in a gas station
and i've locked myself in it to think

and back in the city
the sun bakes the trash on the curb
the men are pissing in doorways
and the rats run in herds
i've got a dream of your face
that scares me awake
i put too much on my table
and now i got too much a stake

and i might let you off easy
yeah i might lead you on
i might wait for you to look for me
and then i might be gone
where i come from and where i'm going
and i'm lost in between
i might go up to that phone booth
and leave a veiled invitation on you machine

and you'll stop me, won't you
if you've heard this one before
the one where i surprise you
by showing up at your front door
saying 'let's not ask what's next,
or how, or why'
i am leaving in the morning
so let's not be shy

the door opens, the room winces
the housekeeper comes in without a warning
and i squint at the muscular motel lady
says 'hey good morning'
and she jumps, her keys jingle
and she leaves as quick as she came in
and i roll over and taste the pillow with my grin
well, the sheets are twisted and tangled
and the heat is so great
and i swear i can feel the mattress
sinking underneath your weight
oh sleep is like a fever
and I'm glad when it ends
and the road flows like a river
and pulls me around every bend

and you'll stop me, won't you...

the heat is so great
it plays tricks with the eye
it turns road to water
and water to sky
and there's a crack in the concrete floor
and it starts at the sink
there's a bathroom in a gas station
and i've locked myself
in it to think

and you'll stop me, won't you...

In or Out

guess there's something wrong with me
guess I don't fit in
no one wants to touch it
no one knows where to begin
I've got more than one membership
to more than one club
and I owe my life
to the people that I love

he looks me up and down
like he knows what time it is
like he's got my number
like he thinks it's his
he says,
call me, Miss DiFranco,
if there's anything I can do
I say,
It's Mr. DiFranco to you

somedays the line I walk
turns out to be straight
other days the line tends to
deviate
I've got no criteria for sex or race
I just want to hear your voice
I just want to see your face

She looks me up and down
like she thinks that I'll mature
like she's got my number
like it belongs to her
she says,
call me, Ms. DiFranco
if there's anything I can do
I say, I've got spots
I've got
stripes, too

their eyes are all asking
are you in, or are you out
and I think, oh man,
what is this about?
tonight you can't put me
up on any shelf
'cause I came here alone
I'm gonna leave by myself

I just want to show you
the way that I feel
and when I get tired
you can take the wheel
to me what's more important
is the person that I bring
not just getting to the same restaraunt
and eating the same thing

guess there's something wrong with me
guess I don't fit in
no one wants to touch it
no one knows where to begin
I've more than one membership
to more than one club
and I owe my life to the people that I love

The Doors

noreply@blogger.com (Wikta) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 18:17:00 +0000

The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles by keyboardist Ray Manzarek, vocalist Jim Morrison, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger. They were one of the most controversial bands of their time, due mostly to Morrison's cryptic lyrics and unpredictable stage persona. Since the band's dissolution in the early 1970s — and especially since Morrison's death in 1971 — interest in the Doors' music has remained high. They have sold over 76 million albums worldwide, and still sell 1 million annually.

The origins of The Doors lay in a chance meeting between acquaintances and UCLA film school students Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek on Venice Beach, California in July 1965. Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs and, at Manzarek's encouragement, sang "Moonlight Drive". Impressed by Morrison's lyrics, Manzarek suggested they form a band.

Keyboardist Ray Manzarek was in a band called Rick And The Ravens with his brother Rick Manzarek, while Robby Krieger and John Densmore were playing with The Psychedelic Rangers and knew Manzarek from yoga and meditation classes. In August, Densmore joined the group and along with members of the Ravens and bass player Patty Sullivan, recorded a six-song demo in September 1965. This was widely bootlegged and appeared in full on the 1997 Doors box set.

That month the group recruited guitarist Robby Krieger and the final lineup — Morrison, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore — was complete. The band took their name from the title of a book by Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception, which was in turn borrowed from a line in a poem by the 18th century artist and poet William Blake: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is: infinite".

The Doors were unusual among rock groups because they did not use a bass guitar when playing live. Instead, Manzarek played the bass lines with his left hand on the newly invented Fender Rhodes bass keyboard, an offshoot of the well-known Fender Rhodes electric piano, playing other keyboards with his right hand. On their studio albums, The Doors did use bass players such as Jerry Scheff, Doug Lubahn, Harvey Brooks, Kerry Magness, Lonnie Mack, Larry Knechtel, Leroy Vinegar, and Ray Neapolitan.

Many of The Doors' originals songs were group compositions, with Morrison or Krieger contributing the lyrics and an initial melody, and the others providing harmonic and rhythmic suggestions, or even entire sections of song (i.e. Manzarek's organ introduction to "Light My Fire").

There was a controversy with the release of the "Hello, I Love You" single in 1968, when the rock press pointed out the song's musical resemblance to The Kinks' 1965 hit "All Day and All of the Night". Members of the Kinks have concurred with music critics: Kinks guitarist Dave Davies has been known to add snippets of "Hello, I Love You" during solo live performances of "All Day and All of the Night" as a sarcastic commentary on the subject. In concert, Morrison was occasionally dismissive of the song, and left the vocal chores to Manzarek.

By 1966 the group was playing The London Fog club and soon graduated to the prestigious Whisky a Go Go. On August 10, they were spotted by Elektra Records president Jac Holzman who was present at the recommendation of Love singer Arthur Lee, whose group was on Elektra. After Holzman and producer Paul A. Rothchild saw two sets of the band playing at the Whisky a Go Go, they signed them to the Elektra Records label on August 18—the start of a long and successful partnership with Rothchild and engineer Bruce Botnick.

The timing was fortuitous, because on August 21 the club fired the band after a profanity-filled performance of "The End". In an incident that foreshadowed the controversy that would follow the group, an acid-tripping Morrison raucously recited his own rendition of the Greek drama Oedipus Rex in which the play's protagonist Oedipus kills his father and has sex with his mother. Morrison's version consisted of "Father? Yes son? I want to kill you. Mother? I want to fuck you".

The Doors' self-titled debut LP was recorded in August 1966 and released in the first week of January 1967. It featured most of the major songs from their set, including the 11-minute musical drama, "The End". The band recorded the album in a few days in late August and early September 1966, almost entirely live in the studio with many songs captured in a single take.

Morrison and Manzarek directed a promotional film for the lead single "Break on Through (To the Other Side)", a significant advance in the development of the music video genre.

The second single, "Light My Fire", became a smash hit in the summer of 1967, and established the group — in the vein of the Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead — as one of America's vital counterculture bands. For AM radio airplay, the long middle organ and guitar solos were cut out from the song.

In May 1967, The Doors made their television debut by recording a version of "The End" for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) at their Yorkville Studios in Toronto. It remained unseen since its original broadcast until the release of The Doors Soundstage Performances DVD in 2002.

The Doors earned a reputation as a rebellious live act. With his stage presence and skin-tight leather trousers, Morrison became a sex symbol, although he soon became frustrated with the strictures of stardom. Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) network censors demanded that Morrison change the lyrics to "Light My Fire" by altering the line, "Girl, we couldn't get much higher," before the band performed the song live on September 17, 1967, on the Ed Sullivan Show. The line was changed to, "Girl, we couldn't get much better". However, Morrison sang the original line, and on live television with no delay, CBS was powerless to stop it. A furious Ed Sullivan refused to shake the band members' hands, and they were never invited back to the show. According to Manzarek, the band was told they would never do the Ed Sullivan show again; Morrison replied, " So what. We just did the Ed Sullivan Show "at the time, an appearance was a hallmark of success. Manzarek claims the band agreed with the producer beforehand but had no intention of altering the line. They also performed a new single, "People Are Strange", which they repeated for DJ Murray The K's TV show on September 22.

Morrison cemented his status as a rebel on December 10 when he was arrested in New Haven, Connecticut, for badmouthing the police to the audience. Morrison said he had been maced by a police officer after he was caught backstage with a girl.

On December 24, The Doors taped "Light My Fire" and "Moonlight Drive" live for the Jonathan Winters Show. From December 26 to December 28 the group played at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. An excerpt taken from Stephen Davis' book on Jim Morrison p.219-220: "The next night at Winterland, a TV set was wheeled onstage during the Doors set so the band could see themselves on the Jonathan Winters Show. They stopped playing Back Door Man when their song came on. The audience watched the Doors watching themselves on TV. They finished the song when their bit was done, and Ray walked over and turned the TV off. The next night was their last ever in Winterland."They played two more dates in Denver on December 30 and December 31, capping off a year of almost constant touring.

The second Doors LP, Strange Days, was less spontaneous than their debut, but it was noted for its evocative lyrics and atmosphere. The closing track, "When the Music's Over", was, like "The End", lengthy and dramatic, and helped establish Morrison's reputation as the shaman of rock. The album was also commercial and featured now-classic Doors songs such as "People Are Strange" and "Love Me Two Times".

As a result of their success, The Doors forfeited their status as underground heroes. They allowed Sixteen magazine to portray them as teen idols and their "spontaneous" stage-show was exposed as not-so-spontaneous. An article by Jerry Hopkins in the February 10, 1968 edition of Rolling Stone typified the fall from grace:

"One shtick, or piece of stage-business, missing at the Shrine performance, was Morrison's carefully-executed 'accidental' fall from the stage into the crowd. For months this had been a part of the act. It got a lot of screams from the teenyboppers. Then a review appeared in a local newspaper which called the fall one of the phoniest things ever. Morrison was asked if he had read the article. 'Yeah,' said Morrison, 'and I guess he's right.' Morrison did not take the fall that night at the Shrine."

In April, the recording of the third album was marred by tension as a result of Morrison's increasing dependence on alcohol. Approaching the height of their popularity, the Doors played a series of outdoor shows that led to frenzied scenes between fans and police, particularly at Chicago Coliseum on May 10.

The band began to branch out from their initial form in their third LP, because they had exhausted their original repertoire and began writing new material. It became their first #1 LP and the single "Hello, I Love You" was their second and last US #1 single. This further isolated them from the underground cognoscenti. In 1969 Rock Encyclopedia, Lilian Roxon wrote that the album "strengthened dreadful suspicion that the Doors were in it just for the money." The LP included "The Unknown Soldier", which was banned from radio play due to controversial lyrics. The group created another self-directed music video for it. "Not to Touch the Earth" was excerpted from The Doors' 30-minute concept piece Celebration of the Lizard, although they were reportedly unable to record a satisfactory version of the entire piece for the LP. This was eventually released on a greatest hits CD compilation.

A month after riotous scenes at the Singer Bowl in New York, the group flew to Britain for its first dates outside of North America. They held a press conference at the ICA Gallery in London and played shows at The Roundhouse Theatre. The results of the trip were broadcast on Granada TV's The Doors Are Open which was later released on video. They played dates in Europe, including a show in Amsterdam without Morrison after he collapsed from a drug binge. Morrison returned to London on September 20 and stayed for a month.

The group played nine more US dates and began to work, in November, on their fourth LP. 1969 started with a sold out show at Madison Square Garden in New York on January 24 and with a successful new single, "Touch Me", (released in December 1968), which hit US #3.

In January 1969, Morrison attended a theater production that changed the course of the band. At the University of Southern California's Bovard Auditorium The Living Theatre he performed a show that appealed to his quest for personal freedom. This resulted in in a studio jam in February 25, which became the legendary "Rock Is Dead" session, later released on the 1997 Doors box set. It set the stage for a controversial and notorious episode.

The Miami incident occurred at the March 1, 1969, Dinner Key Auditorium concert in Miami, Florida. Morrison had been drinking since missing his flight to the show.

The 6,900 seat auditorium had been oversold. Morrison drunkely bellowed into the microphone. He shouted: "Anything you want, let's do it", and then, allegedly, exposed himself. In his autobiography, Manzarek claims it never took place.

"That's my contention," Manzarek wrote. "It was mass hypnosis. He told them he was going to show it to them, and by God, they believed he did. He was holding his shirt in front of him, pulling it quickly back and forth, back and forth, like a bullfighter, and saying, 'Did you see it? Did you see it? I showed it to you! It came out. I'm not gonna just let it hang out there. Now watch, I'll do it again.' And he'd go whip, whip back and forth with the shirt. It was hot and there were too many people in the place, and people were going crazy, screaming swirling and pushing at this temporary rickety stage. We thought the stage was going to collapse - eventually a side of it did fall over. It was total insanity."

The incident outraged local authorities and got Morrison busted for obscenity. Gigs all over the US were canceled. "We had our first major tour-a twenty city tour-scheduled at the time, and we were all kind of apprehensive about that," wrote Manzarek. "Twenty cities? Holy cow, we're gonna tour for a month? Until then, we'd never gone out for more longer than four or five days at the most. But every city canceled-nineteen cities, all across the country."

The band confronted Morrison about his alcoholism. The incident remains inconclusive.

Morrison recorded some of his poetry that month and in April began shooting footage for HWY, an experimental film about a hitchhiker, played by himself. The Doors set the poetry session to music for the 1978 album An American Prayer. HWY contains virtually no dialog and circulates among collectors.

Although Morrison received the most attention, getting a larger image on the cover of the group's debut album, he was adamant that all the band members should get recognition. Before one concert when the announcer introduced the group as "Jim Morrison and The Doors", Morrison refused to appear unless he announced the group again as "The Doors".

While he never felt close to his real-life family, he was protective of his fellow band-members. Reportedly, he once told Ray Manzarek that he never felt comfortable in a social setting unless he or another band member was with him. He turned down solo album opportunities.

In the last two years of his life, Morrison curtailed his intake of drugs and drank heavily, which affected his stage and studio performances. He put on weight and grew a thick beard, causing Elektra to use earlier photos for the cover of the Absolutely Live LP, released in 1970. The album features performances recorded on The Doors' 1970 American tour and at the 1969 Aquarius Theatre gig and includes a full-length live performance of "The Celebration of the Lizard".

The group's only public appearance was on a PBS television special recorded late in April and broadcast the following month. The group performed songs from the upcoming Soft Parade album.

The Doors resumed touring at Chicago Auditorium Theater on June 14 and played two dates at Aquarius Theatre in Hollywood on July 21 and July 22, both later released on CD. The bearded Morrison wore loose clothes and steered the band toward a bluesier direction with songs like "Build Me A Woman", "I Will Never Be Untrue", and "Who Do You Love".

Their fourth album, The Soft Parade (1969), released in July, further distanced the group from their core fan base, containing pop-oriented arrangements and horn sections. The lead single "Touch Me" featured saxophonist Curtis Amy.

While the band was trying to maintain their previous momentum, efforts to expand their sound gave the album an experimental feel, causing critics to attack their musical integrity. Morrison's drinking made him difficult and unreliable, and the recording sessions dragged on for weeks. Studio costs piled up, and The Doors came close to disintegrating.

During the recording of their next album, in November 1969, Morrison found himself in trouble with the law after being abusive to airline staff during a flight to Phoenix, Arizona to see The Rolling Stones in concert. He was acquitted the following April after a steward mistakenly identified Morrison as his traveling companion, American actor Tom Baker.

The group started its year in New York with two well-received nights at The Felt Forum.

The Doors staged a return to form with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel. Featuring a consistent, hard rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record hit US #4.

The 40th Anniversary CD reissue contains outtakes and alternate takes, including a different version of "The Spy" as well as versions of "Roadhouse Blues" with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and The Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian contributing a bluesy harmonica.

The band continued to perform at arenas throughout the summer. Morrison faced trial in Miami in August, but the group made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29. They performed alongside artists such as Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis and Sly & The Family Stone. Two songs from the show were featured in the 1995 documentary Message To Love. On July 1970, The Doors released Absolutely Live. On September 16, Morrison took to the stand, but the jury returned a guilty verdict for profanity and indecent exposure on September 20. Morrison was sentenced to eight months' custody but was allowed to go free pending an appeal.

On December 8, 1970, his 27th birthday, Morrison recorded another poetry session.

During the Doors' last public performance, at the "Warehouse" in New Orleans, Louisiana, on December 12, 1970, Morrison apparently had a breakdown on stage. He slammed the microphone numerous times into the stage floor. Nevertheless, The Doors looked set to regain its crown as a premier act with L.A. Woman in 1971. The album explored their R&B roots, although during rehearsals they had a falling-out with Rothchild. Denouncing the new repertoire as "cocktail music," he quit and handed the production to Botnick. The result is considered a classic Doors album. The singles "Love Her Madly" and "Riders on the Storm" remain mainstays of rock radio programming.

In 1971, following the recording of L.A. Woman, Morrison decided to take some time off and moved to Paris with girlfriend, Pamela Courson, in March. He had visited the town the previous summer and seemed content to write and explore the place.

By June, he was again drinking heavily. On June 16, the last known recording of Morrison was made when he befriended two street musicians at a bar and invited them to a studio. The results were released in 1994 on a bootleg CD titled The Lost Paris Tapes.

Morrison died under mysterious circumstances on July 3, 1971. His body was found in the bathtub of his apartment. It was concluded that he died of a heart attack, although it was later revealed that no autopsy had been performed before Morrison's body was buried at Pere Lachaise Cemetery on July 7.

There are persistent rumours that Morrison faked his death to escape the spotlight or died at a nightclub and that his body had been surreptitiously taken to his apartment. However, in his book Wonderland Avenue, Morrison's former associate Danny Sugerman states that during his last meeting with Courson — which took place shortly before her own death from a heroin overdose — she confessed that she had introduced Morrison to the drug and because he had a fear of needles, she had injected him with the dose that killed him.

The remaining Doors continued for some time, initially considering replacing Morrison with a new singer. It has been reported that Iggy Pop was one of the singers considered as a possible replacement. Instead, Krieger and Manzarek took over on vocals, released two more albums, Other Voices and Full Circle, and went on tour. Both albums sold less than the Morrison era releases, and The Doors stopped performing and recording at the end of 1972. The last album expanded into jazz territory. While neither album has been reissued on CD in the US, they have been released on 2-on-1 CDs in Germany and Russia.

The third post-Morrison album, An American Prayer, was released in 1978. It consisted of the band adding a musical track to recently rediscovered spoken-word recordings of Morrison reciting his poetry. The record was a commercial success and it was followed by releases of a mini-album of previously unreleased live material.

In 1979 Francis Ford Coppola, who attended the film school at UCLA with Morrison, released Apocalypse Now with "The End" used prominently in the sound track.

In 1983, the live album Alive, She Cried was released. It included a cover version of the Them hit “Gloria”.

In 1991, director Oliver Stone released his film The Doors, starring Val Kilmer as Morrison and with cameos by Krieger and Densmore. British vocalist Ian Astbury of The Cult was Stone's preferred choice to play Morrison, but Astbury chose not to appear in the film. Kilmer's impersonation and the film itself were praised by critics, despite its inaccuracies. Members of the group criticized Stone's portrayal of Morrison as an out-of-control sociopath. Singer Billy Idol had a cameo in the film and recorded a cover of "L.A. Woman."

In 1993, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, and Robby Krieger reunited for their induction into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Eddie Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam, sang vocals. The group performed three songs, Break on Through, Light my Fire, and Roadhouse Blues.

In 2001, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore and Robby Krieger reunited again to perform The Doors' hits as part of the VH1 Storytellers series. Singing with the band were guest lead vocalists, including The Cult's Ian Astbury, Creed's Scott Stapp, Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland, Jane's Addiction's Perry Farrell and Days of the New's Travis Meeks. The show was later released on DVD as VH1 Storytellers - The Doors (A Celebration).

In 2002 Manzarek and Krieger reunited and created a new version of The Doors, called "The Doors of the 21st Century." The lineup was fronted by Astbury, with Angelo Barbera from Krieger's band on bass. At their first concert, the group announced that drummer John Densmore would not perform, and it was later reported that he was unable to play because he suffered from tinnitus. Densmore was initially replaced by Stewart Copeland of The Police, but after Copeland broke his arm falling off a bicycle, the arrangement ended in mutual lawsuits, and he was replaced by Ty Dennis, drummer with Krieger's band. Densmore subsequently claimed that he had in fact not been invited to take part in the reunion. In February 2003, he filed an injunction against his former band mates, hoping to prevent them from using the name "The Doors of the 21st Century." His motion was denied in court in May. Manzarek publicly stated that the invitation for Densmore to return to the group still stood. It was also reported that both Morrison's family and that of Pamela Courson had joined Densmore in seeking to prevent Manzarek and Krieger from using The Doors' name. In July 2005, Densmore and the Morrison estate won a permanent injunction, causing the new band to switch to the name "D21C." It now plays under the name Riders on the Storm. They are allowed to play under names such as "former Doors" and "members of The Doors."

Densmore has been steadfast in refusing to license The Doors' music for use in television commercials, including an offer of $15 million by Cadillac to lease the song "Break on Through (to the Other Side)," feeling that that would be in violation of the spirit in which the music was created. Densmore wrote about this subject for The Nation. His notes are as follows:

People lost their virginity to this music, got high for the first time to this music. I've had people say kids died in Vietnam listening to this music, other people say they know someone who didn't commit suicide because of this music…. On stage, when we played these songs, they felt mysterious and magic. That's not for rent.

Ray Manzarek was quoted as saying, "We're all getting older. We should, the three of us, be playing these songs because, hey, the end is always near. Morrison was a poet, and above all, a poet wants his words heard." When Morrison was asked what he would most like to be remembered for, he responded, "My words, man, my words."

Jim Morrison also said: "I like any reaction I can get with my music. Just anything to get people to think. I mean if you can get a whole room full of drunk, stoned people to actually wake up and think, you're doing something."

Their popularity is reflected by continuing sales of their work.

In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked The Doors #41 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

A flurry of activity was announced in 2006 for the upcoming 40th anniversary of the group's debut album. This saw another box-set of the studio recordings (see recorded output), a coffee table book "The Doors by The Doors" and the beginning of production of an officially sanctioned documentary about the group.

The Doors, along with the Grateful Dead and Joan Baez, received a lifetime achievement award at the 2007 Grammy Awards.

On February 16, 2007 Ian Astbury quit Riders on the Storm, and relaunched his old band The Cult.

On February 28, 2007, The Doors received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

On March 14, 2007 Brett Scallions, former lead singer of the band Fuel, was announced as the new lead singer of Riders on the Storm.

On July 24, 2007, The Doors released a live 3-Disc album. Recorded at Boston Arena in April 10, 1970.

In 2007, Manzarek described the band's sound as "Bauhaus music. It's clean, it's pure. There is a keyboard on one side, a guitar on the other, drums in the middle, a bass line underneath that and the singer up front and you can hear the words. That's one of the reasons why The Doors' sound is still important today. It's perfectly modern. That's what we wanted.

The first, self-titled album is a regular sight in greatest 100 album lists. Strange Days, Morrison Hotel, and L.A Woman incorporate different styles, including psychedelic pop, hard rock, and blues.

Three non-album tracks have been released, the b-sides "Who Scared You," "Tree Trunk," and a cover of Willie Dixon's "(You Need Meat) Don't Go Further" sung by Ray. "Who Scared You" and "(You Need Meat) Don't Go Further" appeared on the 1972 compilation Weird Scenes Inside The Goldmine. "Who Scared You" was also released on CD in the 1997 box set and "You Need Meat" was included on the new "Perception" box set. "Tree Trunk" has seen no other official release. Additional songs have been only performed live.

In 1978 the surviving Doors re-united to add music to poetry recorded by Morrison in 1969 and 1970. The resulting album was An American Prayer. The album was re-issued on CD in 1995 with bonus tracks "Hour for Magic", "Freedom Exists", "A Feast of Friends", "Babylon Fading", "Bird of Prey" and "The Ghost Song (extended version)".

In 1997 the first archive material was included on the release of The Doors box set. Some of the material had been previously released on bootlegs, the 4-CD set, one of which was a "greatest hits" type CD. A notable inclusion on the compilation was a CD of highlights from the 1970 Felt Forum concert and a cleaned-up recording of the (edited) 1969 "Rock Is Dead" session. The surviving members again re-united to add new musical backing to the solo Morrison song "Orange County Suite".

In November 2000 came the announcement many fans had dreamed of when The Doors announced the creation of Bright Midnight Records, a label through which 36 albums and 90 hours of previously unreleased Morrison-era Doors material would be made available on CD. This was launched with a sampler of forthcoming material, mostly from live concerts. The first full release was a 2-CD set of the May 1970 show at Detroit's Cobo Arena, notable for being, according to Doors manager Danny Sugerman in its liner notes, "easily... the longest Doors' set ever performed." It was followed by two CDs of interviews, mostly with Morrison, and the two 1969 Aquarius shows and one of the rehearsals. A 4-CD set "Boot Yer Butt" included bootleg quality material but sold out nevertheless. It was notable for the inclusion of the only known performances of songs from L.A Woman including the title track and "The Changeling" from The Doors' final show in December 1970, Dallas, Texas. In 2005 a 2-CD concert from Philadelphia in 1970 was released.

Many illegal bootleg recordings are available of the group. Most impressive is a wealth of shows from March 1967 at the legendary Matrix Club in San Francisco. Many shows are available from 1968 when the band reached the height of its popularity, notably two shows in Stockholm, Sweden. The infamous Miami show has become widely available while many 1970 shows, notably a radio broadcast of the June 6 Vancouver show, make the rounds. The complete 1969 Rock Is Dead studio jam was discovered in the mid 1990s.

While the 1999 Complete Studio Recordings box set only included the first six studio albums (omitting "Other Voices & Full Circle), the Perception box set was released on November 21, 2006, and contained those albums plus about two hours of mostly unheard studio outtakes. Each album was represented by two discs: a CD of the album and the bonus tracks, and a DVD-Audio with both stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes (produced and mixed by Bruce Botnick) in 96kHz/24-bit LPCM, Dolby Digital, and DTS as well as mostly previously released video footage. The discs were accompanied by new liner notes by Botnick and articles from several music critics and historians for each album. Demand was so high for the Perception box set that, according to the Doors' management, Rhino sold all of their stock (20,000 copies) in three weeks. In 2007, was published by Rhino the CD The Very Best of The Doors, celebrating the 40 years of the band.

When The Music's Over

Yeah, c'mon

When the music's over
When the music's over, yeah
When the music's over
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights, yeah

When the music's over
When the music's over
When the music's over
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights

For the music is your special friend
Dance on fire as it intends
Music is your only friend
Until the end
Until the end
Until the end

Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection
Send my credentials to the House of Detention
I got some friends inside

The face in the mirror won't stop
The girl in the window won't drop
A feast of friends
"Alive!" she cried
Waitin' for me
Outside!

Before I sink
Into the big sleep
I want to hear
I want to hear
The scream of the butterfly

Come back, baby
Back into my arm
We're gettin' tired of hangin' around
Waitin' around with our heads to the ground

I hear a very gentle sound
Very near yet very far
Very soft, yeah, very clear
Come today, come today

What have they done to the earth?
What have they done to our fair sister?
Ravaged and plundered and ripped her and bit her
Stuck her with knives in the side of the dawn
And tied her with fences and dragged her down

I hear a very gentle sound
With your ear down to the ground
We want the world and we want it...
We want the world and we want it...
Now
Now?
Now!

Persian night, babe
See the light, babe
Save us!
Jesus!
Save us!

So when the music's over
When the music's over, yeah
When the music's over
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights

Well the music is your special friend
Dance on fire as it intends
Music is your only friend
Until the end
Until the end
Until the end!

LA Woman

Well, I just got into town about an hour ago
Took a look around, see which way the wind blow
Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows

Are you a lucky little lady in the City of Light
Or just another lost angel...City of Night
City of Night, City of Night, City of Night, woo, c'mon

L.A. Woman, L.A. Woman
L.A. Woman Sunday afternoon
L.A. Woman Sunday afternoon
L.A. Woman Sunday afternoon
Drive thru your suburbs
Into your blues, into your blues, yeah
Into your blue-blue Blues
Into your blues, ohh, yeah

I see your hair is burnin'
Hills are filled with fire
If they say I never loved you
You know they are a liar
Drivin' down your freeways
Midnite alleys roam
Cops in cars, the topless bars
Never saw a woman...
So alone, so alone
So alone, so alone

Motel Money Murder Madness
Let's change the mood from glad to sadness

Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin'
Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin'
Got to keep on risin'
Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin'
Mojo Risin', gotta Mojo Risin'
Mr. Mojo Risin', gotta keep on risin'
Risin', risin'
Gone risin', risin'
I'm gone risin', risin'
I gotta risin', risin'
Well, risin', risin'
I gotta, wooo, yeah, risin'
Woah, ohh yeah

Well, I just got into town about an hour ago
Took a look around, see which way the wind blow
Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows

Are you a lucky little lady in the City of Light
Or just another lost angel...City of Night
City of Night, City of Night, City of Night, woah, c'mon

L.A. Woman, L.A. Woman
L.A. Woman, your my woman
Little L.A. Woman, Little L.A. Woman
L.A. L.A. Woman Woman
L.A. Woman c'mon

Break On Through

You know the day destroys the night
Night divides the day
Tried to run
Tried to hide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side, yeah

We chased our pleasures here
Dug our treasures there
But can you still recall
The time we cried
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side

Yeah!
C'mon, yeah

Everybody loves my baby
Everybody loves my baby
She get
She get
She get
She get high

I found an island in your arms
Country in your eyes
Arms that chain us
Eyes that lie
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through, oww!
Oh, yeah!

Made the scene
Week to week
Day to day
Hour to hour
The gate is straight
Deep and wide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through
Break on through
Break on through
Break on through
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Touch Me

Yeah!, come on, come on, come on, come on
Now touch me, baby
Cant you see that I am not afraid?
What was that promise that you made?
Why wont you tell me what she said?
What was that promise that you made?
Now, Im gonna love you, till the heavens stop the rain
Im gonna love you
Till the stars fall from the sky for you and i
Come on, come on, come on, come on
Now touch me, baby
Cant you see that I am not afraid?
What was that promise that you made?
Why wont you tell me what she said?
What was that promise that you made?
Im gonna love you, till the heavens stop the rain
Im gonna love you
Till the stars fall from the sky for you and i
Im gonna love you, till the heavens stop the rain
Im gonna love you
Till the stars fall from the sky for you and i

Love Me Two Times

Love me two times, baby
Love me twice today
Love me two times, girl
Im goin away
Love me two times, girl
One for tomorrow
One just for today
Love me two times
Im goin away

Love me one time
I could not speak
Love me one time
Yeah, my knees got weak
But love me two times, girl
Last me all through the week
Love me two times
Im goin away
Love me two times
Im goin away

Oh, yes

Love me one time
I could not speak
Love me one time, baby
Yeah, my knees got weak
But love me two times, girl
Last me all through the week
Love me two times
Im goin away

Love me two times, babe
Love me twice today
Love me two times, babe
cause Im goin away
Love me two time, girl
One for tomorrow
One just for today
Love me two times
Im goin away
Love me two times
Im goin away
Love me two times
Im goin away

Electric Light Orchestra

noreply@blogger.com (Wikta) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 21:36:00 +0000

Electric Light Orchestra, also known as ELO, were England that released twelve albums between a rock music group from Birmingham, 1971 and 1986, and one album in 2001. The band's direction and focus for most of its history was driven by Jeff Lynne.

It was in the United States that the band were first warmly received, billed as The English guys with the big fiddles. They soon gained a cult following despite lukewarm reviews back in their native United Kingdom. They were managed by no-nonsense businessman Don Arden (the father of Sharon Osbourne).

By the mid seventies they had become one of the biggest selling rock music bands in the world. The group scored twenty top-20 UK hit singles, as well as fifteen top-20 appearances in the US Billboard charts. The band also holds the record for having the most Billboard Top 40 hits of any band in US history, without ever having a #1 single. The band proved to be an excellent vehicle for confessed Beatles fan Lynne's semi-classical Beatlesque compositions, with an influence of Kinks steering a fine line between an album-oriented rock outfit and a hit-making machine.

The group's name is an intended pun based not only on electric light (as in a light bulb as seen on early album covers) but also using "electric" rock instruments combined with a "light orchestra" (orchestras with only a few cellos and violins that were popular in Britain during the 1960s).

Formed in October 1970 by Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan (the remaining members of the 1960s rock group The Move), the band used cellos, violins, horns and woodwinds to give their music a classical sound. This was an idea Roy Wood initially had while with The Move to take rock music in a new direction.

In January 1970, when Carl Wayne left the The Move, Lynne, front man with fellow Birmingham band Idle Race, responded to Wood's second invitation to join the line-up with the lure of starting the new band. To help finance the fledgling project, two more Move albums were released during the lengthy recordings for their eponymous first album between 1970 and 1971, which produced the UK top ten hit "10538 Overture".

In the United States, this album was released with the mistaken title of No Answer, due to a misunderstanding by an employee at United Artists that wrote "no answer" after failing to reach the correct person. This was later mistaken for the name of the album.

However, tensions soon surfaced between Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne,this was due to problems with management, recently explained by Roy Wood, in Mojo magazine. The band went through the first of its many line-up changes as Wood took cellist Hugh McDowell and horn player Bill Hunt with him to form Wizzard.

Despite predictions from the music press that the band would fold without Wood, who had been the driving force behind the creation of ELO, Jeff Lynne stepped up to lead the band, with Bevan remaining on drums, joined by Richard Tandy on the Moog synthesizer, Mike de Albuquerque on bass, Mike Edwards and Colin Walker adding cello and Wilfred Gibson replacing Steve Woolam on violin. They released ELO 2 in 1973, an album begun before Wood's departure, from which came their first United States chart hit, a hugely elaborate version of the Chuck Berry classic "Roll Over Beethoven". The new lineup performed at the 1972 Reading Festival and 'stole the show' thanks to the innovation of the Barcus Berry pickups now sported by the bands string playing trio, allowing them to dance on stage with their instruments.
Richard Avedon's On the Third Day album cover portrait of ELO.
Richard Avedon's On the Third Day album cover portrait of ELO.

During the recording of the third album, violinist Gibson departed from the band and was replaced by Mik Kaminski. The band released On the Third Day in 1973 featuring the hit "Showdown" (United States album only), with Mike Edwards playing all the cello parts on side one of the LP due to Colin Walker leaving the band. Second lead guitar on two tracks from the album ("Ma-Ma-Ma Belle" and "Dreaming of 4000") were contributed by Lynne's friend Marc Bolan and the return of Hugh McDowell, for the tour, who had left the previous year, to replace cellist Colin Walker,on the album Eldorado. Among the many rock bands photographed by famous photographer Richard Avedon, he shot ELO with all members exposing their bellybuttons for an alternate US LP cover, which does show the wrong musicians for its actual studio recording, but has a correct "Do It With The Light On" Tour lineup that did support this particular album. The original album cover and credits fully reproduced for the worldwide remaster are accurate, however the Japanese tri-fold mini reproduces the original Warner Brothers sleeve.

In 1974, Lynne hired a thirty-piece orchestra, choir and Louis Clark to began work on the next LP, Eldorado, A Symphony by the Electric Light Orchestra, a concept album about dreams, scoring their first United States Top Ten hit with "Can't Get It Out Of My Head," in 1975, Eldorado was ELO's first gold album.

After the release of Eldorado, bassist and vocalist Kelly Groucutt and cellist Melvyn Gale joined, replacing de Albuquerque and Edwards respectively. At this point the line-up would be at its most stable and enjoy worldwide stardom throughout the remainder of the decade.

Another gold album Face The Music was released in 1975, its major singles were "Evil Woman", "Strange Magic", marking a shift to a more "radio friendly" sound, helped along the way by renowned German producer and engineer Mack. From the same album, the instrumental "Fire On High", with its mix of strings and blazing acoustic guitars, saw heavy exposure as background music on CBS Sports Spectacular montages, though most viewers had no idea of the song's origins, the song features a famous deliberate backward message, where a mysterious deep voice reverses to 'The music is reversible, but time is not, turn back! Turn back! Turn back!'-ostensibly ELO's shot at Backmasking hysteria after completely false satanic allegations against their song "Eldorado" were made by Fundamentalist Christians which led upto early 1980s American Congressional Hearings, E.L.O. then answered with Secret Messages in 1983. Today, the song is a staple of USA classic rock radio.

ELO concentrated most of their touring efforts in the United States at this point and they were a star attraction on the stadium and arena circuit, as well as regularly appearing on The Midnight Special, although they were still largely ignored in the United Kingdom. The album A New World Record was released in 1976 and became the band's first true breakthrough album on a global scale, finally giving them their first top ten LP in the United Kingdom. It contained the hit singles "Livin' Thing".A re-recording of Jeff Lynne's composition, for the Move "Do Ya".With new tracks including, "Telephone Line", which went gold and "Rockaria!".

A New World Record was followed by another platinum selling album, double-LP Out of the Blue in 1977, although the record's momentum was slowed somewhat by a lawsuit filed by the band against their former distributor, United Artists, who they claimed had flooded the United States market with substandard pressings of the album. The double set featured the singles "Turn to Stone," "Sweet Talkin' Woman," "Mr. Blue Sky," and "Wild West Hero," each becoming a hit in the United Kingdom. The band then set out on a nine-month world tour, having ninety-two dates. The set was an enormous, and hugely expensive, space ship stage, with fog machines and a laser display.

On the United Kingdom portion of the world tour the band played at the Wembley Arena for eight sold-out nights. The first of these shows was recorded and televised and released recently as a CD, Live at Wembley '78, and DVD, Out of the Blue: Live at Wembley. In the United States the concerts were billed as The Big Night. The 44-date 'Big Night' tour played to stadium audiences, including their biggest-ever headlining gig at the Cleveland Stadium to 80,000 people. It was during the famous spaceship tour the band were criticized for allegedly playing backing tapes.

In 1979,the multi-platinum album Discovery (or "Disco very" as has been quoted),was released. This album generated their biggest hit, the gold single "Don't Bring Me Down" along with "Shine A Little Love" (sampled in 2005 by Lovefreekz for a dance hit called "Shine"), "Last Train to London" (sampled in 2003 by Atomic Kitten on their hit "Be With You"), "Confusion" and "The Diary of Horace Wimp". In the same year, Randy Newman wrote "The Story of a Rock and Roll Band", an ELO tribute song about "The English boys from Birmingham", including the lyrics, "I love their "Mr. Blue Sky;" almost my favorite is "Turn to Stone;" and how 'bout "Telephone Line?" I love that E.L.O.!" This song appeared on his album, Born Again.

Although there would be no live tour associated with Discovery, the band also recorded the entire album in video form. Not long after this, the violinist Mik Kaminski and the two cellists Hugh McDowell and Melvyn Gale were dismissed. The Discovery music videos would be the last time the original late 1970's line-up would be seen together. The Electric Light Orchestra finished 1979 as the biggest selling act in the United Kingdom.

In 1980, Jeff Lynne was asked to write for the soundtrack of the musical film Xanadu, the other half written by John Farrar and performed by Olivia Newton-John, who starred in the movie. The movie performed poorly at the box office, but the soundtrack did well by going multi-platinum. Hit singles from both Newton-John ("Magic," #1 in the United States) and "Suddenly" with Cliff Richard) and ELO ("I'm Alive", which went gold, "All Over The World" and "Don't Walk Away") as well as the title track to the movie, performed by both Newton-John and ELO. It is ELO's only song to top the singles chart in the United Kingdom. The Electric Light Orchestra Story, Bev Bevan's memoirs from his early days and throughout his career with The Move and ELO, was also published in 1980.

In 1981, ELO's sound changed again with the science-fiction concept album Time, reaching the number one spot for 2 weeks in the United Kingdom and was their last gold album. Singles from the album included "Hold On Tight," "Twilight," "The Way Life's Meant To Be," "Here Is the News," and "Ticket to the Moon," with synthesizers largely replacing strings. The band embarked on their last world tour to promote the LP. The live line-up would have no cello players for the first time; instead they recruited Louis Clark (who had previously conducted the strings for their albums from 1974 to 1980) and Dave Morgan to play the string sounds on synthesizers; Mik Kaminski also appeared with his famous "blue violin", and "Fred the Robot" voiced the "Prologue" and "Epilogue".

By 1983 it was assumed that band leader Jeff Lynne had grown tired of ELO, when he announced that there would be no tour to promote the new album Secret Messages. This was coupled with the news that drummer Bevan was to play drums for Black Sabbath and of bassist Kelly Groucutt's departure from the band. Rumours from fans about the group disbanding were publicly denied by Bev Bevan. Sales of the new album were relatively slow and most music reviews further added to the problems. Secret Messages reached number four in the United Kingdom. The album was originally recorded as a double album, but CBS had different ideas, citing that it would be too expensive. Some of the songs that did not make the cut later appeared as B-side and on box sets. However, the tribute song "Beatles Forever" is still unavailable through official sources. Shortly after this album, Kelly Groucutt sued Jeff Lynne, Bev Bevan, and ELO's management for alleged lost royalty fees. The matter was settled out of court.

By 1984, Bevan had expressed a desire to join Black Sabbath permanently, Lynne and Tandy were recording tracks for the Electric Dreams soundtrack under Jeff Lynne's name, and with Groucutt's departure, ELO was assumed to be finished. Bevan left Black Sabbath and joined Lynne, who needed to make one more ELO album to fulfill his contract.

Lynne, Bevan and Tandy returned to the studio in 1985 as a three-piece (with Christian Schneider playing saxophone on some tracks) to record ELO's final album of the 20th century, Balance of Power, released early in 1986. Though the single "Calling America" placed in the Top 30 in the United Kingdom (#28), subsequent singles failed to chart. The album was absent of actual classical strings except for very well done keyboard replications by Richard Tandy and had minimalist album art, missing the customary ELO logo that had appeared on every album since 1976. Lynne re-formed the 7-piece Time Tour band (with Martin Smith replacing Groucutt on bass) for a small number of live ELO performances in England and Germany, including the Heartbeat charity concert (organized by Bevan) on March 15 in ELO's hometown of Birmingham and ELO's last performance, prior to 2001, on July 13 in Stuttgart.

There was no announcement made of ELO's breakup during the next two years, when Harrison's Lynne-produced album Cloud Nine and the pair's follow-up (with Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty) Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 were released.

Bevan approached Lynne to make another ELO album in 1988. Lynne was not interested and ELO was formally disbanded. Bevan subsequently formed his own band titled ELO Part II, initially with no other former ELO members. ELO Part II released their debut album Electric Light Orchestra, Part Two in 1990 and a touring band with Kaminksi and Groucutt (who had already been working as OrKestra) toured extensively between 1990 and 1999. Bevan retired in 2000 and sold his share in the ELO name to Lynne. The remaining members continue to tour and record as The Orchestra.

Jeff Lynne's comeback with ELO started in 2000 when a retrospective box set was released, three CDs of remastered tracks and a handful of outtakes and unfinished works were released on Flashback, most notably a new version of ELO's only UK number one hit "Xanadu".

In 2001, Zoom, ELO's first album since 1986, was released. Upon completion of the album Lynne reformed the band with completely new members including his then-girlfriend Rosie Vela (who had released her own album "Zazu", in 1986) and announced that ELO would tour again. Zoom took on a more organic sound, with less emphasis on strings and electronic effects. Guest musicians included former Beatles Ringo Starr and George Harrison. Former ELO member Richard Tandy rejoined the band a short time afterwards for two television live performances: VH1 Storytellers and a PBS concert shot at CBS Television City later titled Zoom Tour Live that was released on DVD, the planned tour was cancelled due to many unknown factors, in mid-August 2001. The tour was not rescheduled due to lack of interest and slow ticket sales.

EMI and Epic/Legacy released ELO's back catalogue from 2001 to 2007; included amongst the remastered album tracks were unreleased songs and outtakes, including a new single "Surrender" which did register on the lower end of the UK Singles Chart at #81 for the band, some 30 years after it was first recorded.

Today much of ELO's music is used in Hollywood movies,TV and advertisements, including films such as the track "Twilight" was used in the opening (animated) sequence of the immensely popular Densha Otoko drama in Japan.Doctor Who series, the episode "Love And Monsters" featured an ELO-obsessed major character who is in search of the Doctor.As well as car commercials.

A tribute to ELO, namely L.E.O., features original material written by devotees of Lynne's unique orchestrated sound. American musician Bleu, brought together various musicians to record this 'tribute' in 2007. Andy Sturmer, of seminal ELO/Queen/Beatles influenced band Jellyfish co-wrote and provided some vocals for the project. The songs are written entirely in Lynne's style and mimic ELO's orchestration and production to a very high standard.

Although there has been no news on any forthcoming new ELO projects, ELO's core studio albums have now all been remastered and expanded with bonus tracks, leaving only The Night the Lights Went On (in Long Beach), ELO's Greatest Hits, Xanadu, Zoom and ELO's Greatest Hits Live AKA Zoom Tour Live to be done. Latest in the Epic/Legacy series was Out of the Blue and Balance of Power which were released in February 2007. A lost demo from 1977 was finished and released in the United Kingdom as a download single on February 6, 2007 titled "Latitude 88 North".

All the original ELO albums were released in mini replica sleeves in Japan. One of the many features, was the original Jet Records label on the disc and original inner sleeves and lyrics.

The official band logo, designed in 1976 by artist Kosh (on the right), was first seen on their 1976 album A New World Record and is based on the upper cabinet of a 1946 Wurlitzer jukebox, model 4008. The band's previous logo was similar to the General Electric logo(on the left). The new logo has appeared on most of the bands albums in various forms. For instance, on 1977's Out of the Blue the logo was turned in to a huge flying saucer space station, an enduring image that is now synonymous with the band. Again, on the follow up Discovery, the logo became a small glowing artifact on top of a treasure chest. Bev Bevan usually displayed the logo on his drum kit.

Secret Messages

A moving stream of information
That is floating on the wind
The secrets never end
And now they call,
They sing, they play, they dance
For you, from out of the blue,
What can you do?

Chorus: the secret messages are calling to me endlessly
They call to me across the air
The messages across the atmosphere
They whisper in your ear, they're calling everywhere

Where words cascade like rainbows tumbling from the sky
Then I'll be there, I'll be there
When messages will call to you their secrets all around
Without a sound, they're all around

Chorus

Those secret messages that spill into the air from far away
So far away
A flowing river of illusion running with confusion
Never gone - it goes on and on

Chorus

Strange Magic

You're sailing softly through the sun
in a broken stone age dawn.
You fly so high.

I get a strange magic,
oh, what a strange magic,
oh, it's a strange magic.
Got a strange magic,
got a strange magic.

You're walking meadows in my mind,
making waves across my time,
oh no, oh no.

I get a strange magic,
oh, what a strange magic,
oh, it's a strange magic.
Got a strange magic,
got a strange magic.

Oh, I'm never gonna be the same again,
now I've seen the way it's got to end,
sweet dream, sweet dream.

Strange magic,
oh, what a strange magic,
oh, it's a strange magic.
Got a strange magic,
got a strange magic.

It's magic, it's magic, it's magic.

Strange magic,
oh, what a strange magic,
oh, it's a strange magic.
Got a strange magic.

Strange magic STRANGE MAGIC
oh, what a strange magic STRANGE MAGIC
oh, it's a strange magic.
Got a strange magic.

Strange magic STRANGE MAGIC
oh, what a strange magic STRANGE MAGIC
oh, it's a strange magic.
Got a strange magic,
got a strange magic,
you know I got a strange magic,
yeah, I got a strange magic,
oo-o-o-oo, strange magic.

Hold on Tight

Hold on tight to your dream
Hold on tight to your dream
When you see your ship go sailing
When you feel your heart is breaking
Hold tight to your dream.

Its a long time to be gone
Time just rolls on and on
When you need a shoulder to cry on
When you get so sick of trying
Just hold tight to your dream

Chorus:
When you get so down that you cant get up
And you want so much but youre all out of luck
When youre so downhearted and misunderstood
Just over & over & over you could

Accroches-toi a ton reve
Accroches-toi a ton reve
Quand tu vois ton bateau partir
Quand tu sents -- ton coeur se briser
Accroches-toi a ton reve.

Repeat chorus:

Hold on tight to your dream
Hold on tight to your dream
When you see the shadows falling
When you hear that cold wind calling
Hold on tight to your dream.

Oh, yeah
Hold on tight to your dream
Yeah, hold on tight...
To your dream.

Mr Blue Sky

Sun is shinin' in the sky
There ain't a cloud in sight
It's stopped rainin' ev'rybody's in a play
And don't you know
It's a beautiful new day hey,hey

Runnin' down the avenue
See how the sun shines brightly in the city
On the streets where once was pity
Mister blue sky is living here today hey, hey

Mister blue sky please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long
Where did we go wrong?

Hey you with the pretty face
Welcome to the human race
A celebration, mister blue sky's up there waitin'
And today is the day we've waited for

Hey there mister blue
We're so pleased to be with you
Look around see what you do
Ev'rybody smiles at you

Mister blue sky, mister blue sky
Mister blue sky

Mister blue, you did it right
But soon comes mister night creepin' over
Now his hand is on your shoulder
Never mind I'll remember you this
I'll remember you this way

Mister blue sky please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long
Where did we go wrong?

Hey there mister blue
We're so pleased to be with you
Look around see what you do
Ev'rybody smiles at you
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba

Telephone Line

Hello--how are you
Have you been alright, through all those lonely nights,
Thats what Id say, Id tell you everything,
If youd pick up that telephone.

Hey--how you feelin
Are you still the same
Dont you realize the things we did were all for real not a dream,
I just cant believe
Theyve all faded out of view.

I look into the sky
(the love you need aint gonna see you through.)
And I wonder why
(the little things are finally coming true.)

Chorus
Telephone line, give me some time, Im living in twilight
Telephone line, give me some time, Im living in twilight

O.k. so no--ones answering,
Well cant you just let it ring a little longer
Ill just sit tight, through the shadows of the night
Let it ring for evermore.

Chorus -- repeat