Saturday, December 30, 2006

Donald Fagen's The Nightfly trilogy box set set for March 2007

The box set of Donald Fagen's three solo albums was already mentioned around the release of Morph The Cat last year. And now it looks set to be released about a year after Morph... At least a couple of British online sellers have it listed for release on March 5, 2007.

Amazon.co.uk as well as Spin CDs have no other information than the release date, that the record company is Warner Brothers and that it consists of four CDs. Play.com is another advertising the upcoming set. And we also found a Swedish online store; Megastore.com.

Monday, December 25, 2006

James Brown is dead

Soul music artist James Brown, also known as "The Godfather of Soul", has passed away at the age of 73.
James Brown started his carreer in 1953 and had more than 116 songs on the charts. James Brown was one of the first soul artists to write songs that expressed criticism against racism (Say It Loud, I'm Black And I'm Proud).

Friday, December 22, 2006

Steely Dan cut from Joni Mitchell tribute album?

It's been "years in the making", but according to a news item at billboard.com, the long awaited tribute album to Joni Mitchell will be released in the spring of 2007:

Bjork, Prince, James Taylor and Elvis Costello are among the artists who have recorded covers for "A Tribute to Joni Mitchell," due in the spring via Nonesuch. The 11-track set also boasts contributions from Sarah McLachlan, k.d. lang, Emmylou Harris and Sufjan Stevens.

The complete track listing according to billboard.com is:

Free Man in Paris Sufjan Stevens
Boho Dance Bjork
Dreamland Caetano Veloso
Don't Interrupt the Sorrow Brad Mehldau
For the Roses Cassandra Wilson
A Case of U Prince
Blue Sarah McLachlan
Ladies of the Canyon Annie Lennox
Magdalena Laundries Emmylou Harris
Edith and the Kingpin Elvis Costello
(Note that just 10 tracks are listed. The 11 should be k.d. Lang's Help Me, as she is mentioned in the news item.)

The album was announced late 2000 with the title A Case Of Joni. Numerous artists have been submitting tracks to the tribute over the years, including Steely Dan doing a version of Carey. Looks like it's cut from the album toghether with a few others. What happened to PM Dawn Night in the City, Stevie Wonder Woodstock, Janet Jackson Beat of Black Wings, Duncan Sheik Court and Spark, Chaka Khan Hejira, Etta James Amelia, Elton John Free Man In Paris and Lindsey Buckingham with Mick Fleetwood Big Yellow Taxi? It's enough to do a Volume 2!

Weekend music: Spot the star ... yes, even Zappa's there!

U2 decided to let other people perform their new video Window In The Sky. So they borrowed a bunch of old cuts from a bunch of mainly old/oldish artists, and this is what they ended up with:

Saturday, December 16, 2006

R.I.P. Ahmet Ertegun

Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records has died at the age of 83. Ertegun helped shape American popular music. He signed and supported rock groups like King Crimson, Led Zeppelin and Genesis as well as legendary jazz artists like Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman.
Ertegun was respected in the business. The founder of Rolling Stone magazine, Jann Wenner, puts it like this in a statement: "Ahmet was perhaps the most revered, respected figure in American popular music of the modern era."
Even the rather cynical Frank Zappa (1940-93) seemed to like Ertegun.
Zappa was known to refer to record company people as "record company pricks", but he named one of his sons after Ertegun...Ahmet Zappa.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Pink Floyd eyeballs for sale

The giant eyeballs used for Pink Floyd's Pulse DVD are being auctioned for charity.
The ebay auction opened on December 14 and after ten hours the highest bid was up to £ 5900.
BBC reports that the money will support the homeless through the organisation Crisis.
During Christmas Crisis will open seven centres in London for homeless people.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Steely Dan 2007 tour twice as long! Yup, that's two shows instead of one

As Anonymous commented two posts below the previously announced single show at Chumash Casino - Santa Ynez, California on January 19, has been joined by a second taking place two days earlier:

January 17: Table Mountain Rancheria Casino - Friant, California. Tickets go on sale December 18.

This makes the Heavy Rollers 2007 tour two dates long. Will more be added? We'd like to think so, but decide to quote the Steely Dan Newsletter mailed to fans this weekend:

"Will there be more?
Who can really say for sure.
The canny oddsmaker can only keep an eye on
http://steelydan.com/"