Stevie Wonder's new one has landed ... and it's great!

I've been a fan of Stevie since the early 70's, but my interest faded after a trickle of dull albums. Come to think of it, the final Stevie record I bought and liked was Hotter Than July back in 1980.

But just like Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones, Stevie seem to have found some of his old power and put it to good use on the new album titled A Time 2 Love.
It's been 10 years since the last record, and the two songs heard earlier this year; So What The Fuss and From The Bottom Of My Heart signalled a sound closer to Stevie in the 70s than the 80's or 90s. And that can only be a good thing.

Originally set for release in May this year, it has been pushed forward again and again, and when it was suddenly last week announced for release who could really believe it?

October 18 is the date for the CD, but September 27 saw A Time 2 Love ready for download through iTunes and a bunch of other legal stores. Supposedly to make the September 30 deadline for a chance to get a Grammy nomination.

So how does it sound? It's funky, it's classy and it's fun! The slow ballads don't just drone along and mark time. No, they're alive!

Dub Room Special for X-mas?

The very modest 1982 package of The Dub Room Special. Original VHS release on Barking Pumpkin.

Good news for Zappa fans: The Dub Room Special will be released on DVD during the fall and at least two CD's by the end of this year. Well, this is what Gail Zappa says and the report comes from the Zappa site The Idiot Bastard Son .

The Dub Room Special is a 1½ hour collection of live footage from 1974 and 1981. Initially it was released on VHS via mail order.
The Idiot assumes that one of the two CD's will be Trance-fusion, Zappa's third collection of guitar solos which has been ready for release for several years but still hasn't made it. (Nonetheless it has been circulating in the underground domains for years).

Long awaited box from Neil Young

Neil Young will, at last, put a cd box together, with no less than 8 discs. Rolling Stone reports that Young has talked about this for years and finally it seems to turn into reality. The collection will include recordings from 1963, songs with the band The Squires and a live recording from Toronto 1970. The box will be released next year.

 

No more Focus on RadioDupree

We hereby inform you that Focus, the special instrumental hour on RadioDupree (actually 30 minutes twice a day) does nor exist anymore. We had it running for a couple of months but since we like things to happen all the time we decided we had enough of it. But don't worry, the instrumentals will be there, but included in the ordinary playlists along with songs with plenty of vocals in'em. Makes a more dynamic broadcast, we think.

Songs included on the playlists today:

* The Beatles - Baby's In Black (Another great pop dittie by our lads)

* The Allman Brothers - The Fillmore Concerts (Zappa did a cover of this)

* Frank Zappa - Sharleena (Alternative version w/Sugar Cane Harris!)

* James Brown - Too Funky (Ain't it funky now?)

* Emerson Lake & Palmer - Tarkus (Prog rockers unite!)

Kate Moss on RadioDupree??

I think her title is "supermodel". Kate Moss has been in the news this past week after the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph published photos of her snorting cocaine.

There must be more interesting things happening around the globe, but western media gave Kate and the story far too much room. Especially junk newspapers like The Sun and its ilk. You know, make-it-up-as-we-go-papers busy being horrified over the same sex and drugs "scandals" that they themselves make a profit off reporting.

I saw it as a sign when I stumbled upon a CD-single I had plain forgotten we had here at RadioDupree; Some Velvet Morning by Primal Scream featuring none other than ... Kate Moss!
A cover of a song written by Lee Hazlewood this is appearently a "new version" that appeared on Primal Scream's Dirty Hits compilation. The groups original cover is on Evil Heat.

Anyhooo... I saw this "find" as a sign. It wants to get played and I've added it to the RD playlist. If Siggy - who's in charge right now - hasn't already deleted it, you can tune in to hear Kate Moss give it some rock. And roll.

And while we're on what's currently playing on the station:

Listener's favorites right now

1. Steely Dan - Your Gold Teeth - Countdown To Ecstasy
2. Godley & Creme - Submarine - Images
3. Allan Holdsworth - City Nights - Secrets
4. Frank Zappa - A Token Of My Extreme - Joe's Garage
5. Peter Gabriel - No Self Control - Peter Gabriel (3)

Enjoy the weekend!

The Steely Dan - Cathy Berberian connection!

October's almost here and that means that we'll feature a new Album of the Month. But before we roll September's record back into the vaults I'd just like to mention the link that exists between RadioDupree perennials Steely Dan and the artist on this months Album of the Month; Cathy Berberian.

If you listen to the lyrics of the song Your Gold Teeth from Steely Dan's 1973 Countdown To Ecstasy you'll hear the line:

Even Cathy Berberian knows, there's one roulade she can't sing...

For more on Cathy Berberian and her Beatles Arias, please visit the RadioDupree homepage.
And we're playing the song Your Gold Teeth on the station this week.

Why not drop by The Steely Dan Dictionary? Far from complete it still explains a handful of references in Steely Dan lyrics.

Brand new Bush

With the premiere of Kate Bush new single just some 10 or so hours away the BBC makes the most of the "event".
And to fans of Kate Bush it is.

One of us at RD (hint: it's not Siggy) likes Kate enough to promise a swift add to our playlist. It can't be bad ... can it?

Bruce celebrates with a cd box

Original 1975 ad.

It is 30 years since Bruce Springsteen's breakthru album Born To Run was released and Swdish daily Aftonbladet reports that The Boss will celebrate this anniversary with a cd box by the end of this year. It will include a remastered version of the album and a dvd with a previously unreleased live 1975 concert from London...and a documentary on the recording of Born To Run.

Jimi's home saved

The house in Seattle where Jimi Hendrix lived as a child is saved at last. NME reports that the James Marshall Hendrix Foundation together with the owner of the house and the city has agreed to save the house from demolition. It will be moved and restored and will be used to tell the history of Hendrix.

Kate Bush: New album in November

Apparently the record company published the official news two weeks ago, but even though we've glanced over at the Kate Bush camp after the rumours of a new record started to grow, we managed to miss the actual news. Just saw it today.

Maybe it was the it's almost here - oh no, it's not of Stevie Wonders early spring album that led us to expect something similar from Kate. Who's latest CD was released back in 1993. But it looks like she'll manage what Stevie failed to; getting that album out!

October 24: New single King Of The Mountain. And she has somehow decided to pass RadioDupree by and let BBC premiere it this coming Wednesday (September 21) between 9.30 and 10.30 a.m. on Radio 2.

November 7: The album titled Aerial is released. A double album with one of the CDs containing a track 35 minutes long.

It's interesting to note that there's no cover art or new publicity photos available. And Kate Bush is still without an official site! Maybe all part of the secret and mysterious recluse persona she and/or the media have been cultivating for ... quite some time.

Bye bye to spammers ... for now

I never stop being surprised by these halfwits spamming everything in sight on the Internet. Like they think I'll feel friendly towards them and spend my money after they've delivered their unsolicited junk.

The problem is of course not with these prime examples why the capitalist view of the world ultimately is doomed, but the fact that enough people keep answering these spam messages and - even worse - buy the garbage they push.

This is not a blog that inspires comments. I think we've had four since we started. And two of those came from spammers. But they have come in the last month or so, meaning that there will be more if I don't swith on the "word verification" settings preventing automated/robot spammers from adding their noise to this blog. To post a comment you'll have to verify a word, something it takes a human being to do. And so the automatic spam programmes are unable to spam this blog. At least for now.

The fight continues. And I wish I had the connections to be able to make a call and one hour later the offending account and ISP would be shut down, but... In real life I will have to settle for minimising my own irritation. Word verification is one way of achieving that goal.

Guitars stolen

Swedish rock stars Mikael Rickfors and Mats Ronander have lost their beloved guitars. In August someone stole them from the touring bus.

News bureau TT reports that the thieves have contacted Rickfors and Ronander and offered them the instruments back, but they will have to "buy" them back.

The police has taken one person as a suspect.

The guitars are worth a couple of 100.000 swedish kronor (about 13 000 US$).

-- S.H. --

Here comes the weekend

Okie dokie... The weekend's here and we're a couple of degrees closer to winter compared to a week ago. The sun's been kind to us this week, but the nights are getting longer and we're lucky to get 15 degrees Celsius.

Taking a peek at the listener's favorites right now gives me this list:
1.Frank Zappa - St Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast - You Can't Do That On Stage...1
2.Captain Beefheart - Making Love To A Vampire... - Doc At The Radar Station
3.King Crimson - Providence - Red
4.Hot Butter - Popcorn - Best of Moog - Electronic Pop Hits from the 60's & 70's
5.Ruth Wallis - Boobs - Ruth Wallis' Greatest Hits
6.King Crimson - Peoria - Earthbound
7.Peter Gabriel - Biko - Peter Gabriel (3)
8.Todd Rundgren - Pulse - Healing
9.The Rolling Stones - This Place Is Empty - A Bigger Bang
10. Frank Zappa - Broken Hearts Are For Assholes - Sheik Yerbouti

Looks like I might have to dig out a couple of old synth albums and the odd Todd LP of yore.
Have fun and enjoy life wherever you are. I'll try to myself.

Another weekend...

Shuggie Otis did some studio session work. Hear it on RadioDupree right now!

...but one where we update our RadioDupree homepage. Which mean a lot of stuff. A new chart and some new news. Plus we're trying out a new webcam/webradio "thingy" that might be online any day, week or month now.
The technical side is not the difficult one. At least not compared to the legal one.
So whatever might be coming your way in the form of sound and/or vision is proabbly all legal and very, very, very exclusive RadioDupree!

L8er!

Update just around the corner

August over and September here. And it's just about time for our monthly update over at the RadioDupree homepage.

Expect a new chart, a new Album of the month and some news to keep you informed and entertained.

Excellent...!