Weekend music: Abba!

With the news just in that Mamma Mia! now is the highest-grossing British film in the UK, and set to take over the number one spot from Titanic as the highest-grossing film in the UK ever, we thought we'd spring a bit of Swedish culture on you. A nice enough song, if we as Swedes may say so ourselves.
Oh, and those blue outfits would, with the right coreography, work as Halloween costumes.

Warner Brothers celebrates 50 with 240 pages and 320 songs!

Warner Brothers Records will celebrate 50 years with a 240 page book complete with 360 songs. But not on CD, oh no. They come on a USB flash drive formed like the WB logo.

The cavalcade of music starts with I'll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time - Tab Hunter and ends with The Day That Never Comes - Metallica. Yes, there's room for a lot of great music, but we noticed that Donald Fagen got one song on the flash drive, and Steely Dan one. To see the full list of 320 songs go to the Vintage Vinyl News blog.

The book will contain exclusive interviews, never-before-seen photographs and insider accounts on the hits. Release date: December 9. A suitable Christmas gift for the music fan, perhaps?

Waiting for Walter...

So today is Sunday October 26, 2008. One day away from the online-only release of the three track ... uh ... "EP" from Walter Becker featuring Somebody's Saturday Night (Radio Edit), Bob Is Not Your Uncle Anymore (Radio Edit) and Circus Money Dub (Instrumental Remix).
All three songs from the album Circus Money.

And as far as the radio edits go an "edit" usually means you shorten it and give it a bit more oompfh and punch to work on a sort of hit single level. Not necessarily better, but "hittier"...
With Somebody's Saturday Night running 4:29 and Bob's Not Your Uncle Anymore a respectable 4:45 we suspect both songs will end up around 4 minutes long or less.

We're more curious about the instrumental remix of the title track from the album. Circus Money is a personal favourite that felt a bit short and we'd love to hear an adventourous and looooooooooong remix of the track. Let's hope Walter, Larry or whomever did the remix takes the song for a ride.
Two things are sure: We'll be back with a report on the EP Monday and you can be sure that Radio Dupree will be spinning all three come Monday.

UPDATE Monday 11:01 PM local time: Looks like the EP was misplaced by iTunes ... if you can misplace a digital only EP. After looking everywhere possible, including the discography of that German Walter Becker they keep mixing up with the Walter Becker, we can only conclude that the EP hasn't been added yet. Odd. But a fact.

UPDATE Tuesday 12:25 PM local time: Woke up early this morning and found that the EP had been added. I downloaded the three songs, but had to catch a plane so no time for any repeated listening and review of these versions of songs already familiar from the Circus Money CD.
I'll be back later this evening with a bit more including my thoughts on the EP. For the time being I'll just say that on international iTunes they're available as DRM-free 256 kbps AAC.

Somebody's Saturday Night is 3:50 long compared to 4:29 on the album.
Bob Is Not Your Uncle Anymore is 3:37 on the EP and 4:45 on the album.
Circus Money Dub is 5:41 and all instrumental compared to 4:15 for the title track on the Circus Money album.

More tonight!

UPDATE Tuesday 9:20 local time: So I've had the time to spin the songs a few times and this is what I have to share.

Somebody's Saturday Night: The radio edit cuts to the original fade at 3:35 skipping the stuf inbetween. Just like track two here it makes for a shorter and snappier version. And that's what a "radio edit" is all about, right?

Bob Is Not Your Uncle Anymore: Shorter intro before the sining begins compared to the album version. The instrumental part of the original 2:20-3:04 is cut and the new edit fades a bit faster towards the end.

Circus Money Dub: Immediately into the groove of the original. There are no breaks or changes. It stays on the same rhytmical riff with some minor tweaking of the instuments.
Don't expect any Jamaican vinyl b-side dub reverb or echo madness. Subtle is the way for this dub.
Early on there are some jungle/monkey-noises. At least that's how I heard it. It's an effect I associate with Brazilian type of music. Stevie Wonder's Bird Of Beauty is one. On that track it's a Quica making the distinctive sound.

The track is instrumental. All vocals have been removed. The original sax solo by Chris Potter is there.
Some might find this dub a bit lacking, but it's clearly done as a constant groove. The wild breakdowns and sound twisting might be hiding somewhere in the "more to come"-line on the homepage walterbecker.com.

I wonder if Walter will do like Peter Gabriel and others have done and make one or more tracks awailable for some remix contest or such? Would be cool.

I bought my songs on iTunes. You don't have to buy the whole EP and can pick whatever track(s) you like.

N.S.

Weekend music: Harmonious Wail

How about a gypsy-jazzy version of Steely Dan's Home At Last performed by a band from Madison, Wisconsin, USA?

You can hear that song and a few more on Harmonious Wail's MySpace-page, and learn even more about the group here: http://www.wail.com.

The group consists of Maggie Delaney-Potthoff (pictured):Vocals, Percussion, Sims Delaney-Potthoff: Mandolin, Tenor Guitar, Ukulele, Vocals, Tom Waselchuk: Acoustic Guitar, Vocals and John Christensen: Upright Bass.

And the groups latest album is titled Resist Temptation and was released earlier this month:

Thanks to Gina/Mizar6 for the link!

Zappa family releases original Lumpy Gravy

The Zappa Family Trust will release a three-CD "audio documentary" on November 25.

Billboard reports that the set focuses on the 60’s albums We’re Only In It For The Money and Lumpy Gravy.
It will include two mixes of each album, done by Frank himself:

"It will include feature the first official release of the instrumental, Igor Stravinsky-influenced orchestral "ballet" version of Lumpy Gravy that Zappa recorded in 1967 for Capitol Records but decided to revamp, adding rock musicians and eventually releasing it on MGM/Verve four months after We're Only in it For the Money in 1968.”

Read the full article here.

Joe's Menage album here at last

What a nifty little package...
- - -

Well, if you have been listening to your favorite web radio station recently you probably understood that the long awaited Zappa CD pictured above has arrived. We got it in the mail just the other day and several tracks are already on our playlist of this week.

The sound quality is not top notch but still enjoyable. When reading the liner notes in the CD booklet we understand that they did not take the sound from the tape that Ole Lysgaard sent Gail. (A fan from Denmark received the cassette from Frank and did send it to Gail Zappa later.)
Gail merely realized that Ole's tape was a recording that Frank considered a really good one, since he had made dub of that November '75 reel tape and gave it to a fan. Then vaultermeister Joe Travers dug up that original 1/4 inch stereo reel tape from the Zappa vault and transferred it to CD.

One of the highlights of this package is Ole's story of his life as a Zappa fan. Quite touching actually! More about that later. Give us a couple of days to submit a review here.
Meanwhile, unless you have already tuned in...have a listen!

RIP: Levi Stubbs (1936 - 2008)

The Four Tops (from top left):
Obie Benson, Abdul Fakir,
Levi Stubbs and Lawrence Payton.

Walter Becker remix EP and a new magazine article

A few weeks ago we speculated that the "more to come"-line over on walterbecker.com might mean some remixes and/or dub versions of the songs from Circus Money.

Looks like we were right as a new online only EP has been announced:

Tracks:
* Somebody's Saturday Night (Radio Edit)
* Bob Is Not Your Uncle Anymore (Radio Edit)
* Circus Money Dub (Instrumental Remix)

The EP will be out October 27 and available from "International iTunes and other digital retailers."

Here's the page to keep an eye on. Click the Release versions link.

And here's a short preview of the Walter Becker/Circus Money article in the November issue of Sound On Sound.

donaldfagen.com update + "Saved by Steely Dan"

donaldfagen.com has been updated with a pic. Just go to the front page and then click the NEW! MAGICAL THINKERS by George Townes-link.

Once you've pondered the wildlife on that pic, feel free to click this link to see what world famous composer in a brand new interview says the following about a career miss/slump/backlash in the 70's:

"I just took off for a year to live by the beach. I played tennis and did nothing. It was very hard to re-enter. I got strength from listening to Brazilian music and Steely Dan songs."

Pink Floyd's Richard Wright radio documentary

The one hour long documentary aired on BBC Radio 2 October 11 and will be up here for a couple of days for all interested who missed it. Here's what BBC writes about the documentary:

Drawing from BBC archive and an exclusive interview conducted by producer Mark Hagen in September 2007, the last radio interview that Wright gave, Richard offers his unique and now sadly poignant perspective on 40 years as a member of one of the world's all time great rock bands.

King Crimson's birthday calendar

Here is a neat calendar that you can hang on the wall to celebrate King Crimson's 40th anniversary.
Discipline Global Mobile announces: "What better way to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Crimson than with a 2009 monthly calendar that chronicles KC history? Sid Smith has kindly provided to us a list of important KC dates and we have included them on this full-color calendar which showcases the notorious album cover artwork from the first twelve studio albums. Limited, numbered edition to 500."

ZPZ show on Swedish TV

SVT - Swedish public service television - is broadcasting a Zappa Plays Zappa show on Sunday, October 12.
The tracklist looks like this:
1. I'm the Slime
2. Pound for a Brown
3. Don't Eat the Yellow Snow
4. St. Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast
5. Father O'Blivion
6. Black Page #1
7. Black Page #2
8. Echidna's Arf (of You)
9. Black Napkins
10. The Torture Never Stops

The tracks are most likely selections taken from the official DVD, but there is also the possibility that a TV-crew filmed a show themselves.
The broadcast is entitled Veckans konsert (=Concert of the week) and lasts for 60 minutes. SVT reruns in on October 13 and 18.
http://svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=69743&a=1264216&lid=is_search527895&lpos=1&queryArt527895=zappa&sortOrder527895=0&doneSearch=true&sd=47225&from=siteSearch&pageArt527895=0

Weekend music: Black Friday

We find this a suitable piece of music this Friday: Steely Dan's Black Friday, inspired by the Fisk-Gould Scandal of 1869; a financial crisis in the United States.

When Black Friday comes
I'll stand down by the door
And catch the grey men when they
Dive from the fourteenth floor
When Black Friday comes
I'll collect everything I'm owed
And before my friends find out
I'll be on the road
When Black Friday falls you know it's got to be
Don't let it fall on me

Zappa Plays Zappa plays Billy the Mountain

Dweezil Zappa adds concert dates for the fall 2008 American tour. He plans more shows in New York and on the West coast.
And the band will perform one of Frank Zappa's "monster songs", Billy the Mountain!
"I'm excited to say that we have "Billy The Mountain" up and running. It is a whole lot of fun to play. I believe it was last played live over 30 years ago... crazy!
I can't wait to play it for an audience. In the song "Billy" and his wife "Ethel" decide to go to New York for a vacation. I thought you'd like to know that we have added 2 more NYC shows on October 29 and October 30 in case any of you are planning a vacation.
Halloween will likely inspire at least one premiere tune ... a special treat as opposed to a trick."

For more information go to http://www.zappa.com/

A Steely blast from the past

Hats off to Georgie on the Steely Dan Fan's Bluebook who posted this 1978 commercial for Steely Dan's classic Aja:


"Welcome to the land of Steely Dan ... Steely Dan. Aja; a continent of the mind..."

Indeed!

The voice on the commercial must belong to American singer and actress Eartha Kitt. Cue her appearance on the Swedish TV show Kavalkad 1962. Apparently she knew what she wanted:

Son of Waiting for Joe's Menage some more

It's Wednesday and I'm still peeping into an empty mailbox.
Where is my copy of Joe's Menage featuring Norma Jean Bell? Well, it gives me time to wonder about the few female musicians that Frank had in his band.
Percussionist Ruth Underwood may be the most well known, and we also have Nigey Lennon wo popped up in the 90's and claimed she had played several gigs with Frank ca 1971. But the one I'd like to hear more of is Lady Bianca, the vocalist that was in Frank's band during the fall '76 tour. Unfortunately Frank did release only one song featuring Lady Bianca, Wind Up Working In A Gas Station (You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore - Vol. 6). Now that performance sure has some energy!
We have also heard an audience recording of another show, that is really exciting. Bianca added something extra, beside her abilities as a vocalist she allowed Frank to put up more of a rock theatre where Bianca could play the female role in the songs, maybe that was the reason why she left the tour after just a couple of weeks. On the audience tape one can hear hecklers shouting sexistic comments on Lady Bianca. When she left the band did not sound the same, (still one of Frank's best we would say).
So, hey Gail Zappa, it would be really cool if you decided to release an entire concert featuring Bianca! I'll order it just as fast as I ordered Joe's Menage.
(But where the heck is it?)

Waiting for Joe's Menage some more

It's Tuesday and the mailman didn't bring the new Zappa CD today either, although it was shipped one week ago.
Several other fans seem to have received their CD:s too, but since we are living in the far north of ol' Europe it will probably take som extra time.
As we said yesterday the new CD may sound different than FZ:OZ because of singer and saxophone player Norma Jean Bell.
But now we are not sure any longer. Several posters on http://www.zappateers.com/ that have the CD by now tell that it's a raw but enjoyable 70's live recording but they don't comment much on Norma. One poster writes that "Norma Bell is very inconspicuous during the show. I guess that might be due to the point in the set list this album is made from, other than Chunga's Revenge of course."
But we are still excited and will wait for the mailman tomorrow again.

Dylan lost in Sweden?

Here's a post to celebrate the release today of volume 8 of Bob Dylan's bootleg series; Tell Tale Signs. A two CD-deal of you pay around $25 and 3 CD:s thick if you cough up $150.

On the official Bob Dylan site bodylan.com there's a page where you can track all the shows he's done around the world using a spinning globe.

We had a look at the shows in our country of Sweden and found a few ... discrepancies as far as a few towns are concerned:
Stockholm, Lund and Malmö all moved a far bit further north compared to were they're placed in real life. Just watch the following maps. The final one is the correct one with Stockholm on the east coast halfway down the country and Malmö/Lund to the far south. Or "Malm" as bobdylan.com calls it.

Stockholm: Close to Norway!

Malmö: Far, far from where it should be and close to where Stockholm actually is.

Lund: In reality far south and close to Malmö.

The real deal:

Let's just hope Bob doesn't use bobdylan.com to look up his next Swedish gig. He might miss it!

(Feel free to post other map mistakes if you find them.)

Waiting for Joe's Menage

It's Monday but the mailbox is still empty, no Joe's Menage CD there yet.
Many of the comments in various forums on the internet expresses positive expectations over this release.
But at the same time someone is asking something like "So what's all the fuzz over this one? The FZ:OZ CD included 7 of the 8 songs on the Menage CD and it's basically the same band, except for Norma Jean Bell"."
Well, here at the Radio Dupree staff we think that it is Norma Jean's presence that will be the big difference, since she is said to be a helluva sax player and a great vocalist. We have not heard any live tapes featuring this particular lineup but it's our guess that the new Zappa CD may feature different musical arrangements, particularly in the interplay between Norma Jean and Napoleon Murphy Brock.
Let's see if the postman has something for us tomorrow.

donaldfagen.com: Register to vote November 4

The opening page at donaldfagen.com has a message regarding the upcoming presidential election in the USA:

A MESSAGE FROM DONALD:

I urge all visitors to this site to vote in the presidential election on November 4th. If you haven't registered to vote, you better do it today:

https://secure5.ctsg.com/rtv/ovr/index.asp?pid=99

Vote for the candidate of your choice: either the young, crisp, energetic Barack Obama, or the old, nasty, scary, paranoid guy.

: : : : :

So do we dectect a slight preference for one of the candidates in Donald's message? ;)
No surprise really, but it's enough to get the comments flying on the fan boards. And there are basically three versions of those comments. Versions aired again and again, regadless of artist and political statement.

1) I don't agree with the artists view and I won't buy any of his records/buy tickts to any of his shows.

2) I agree with the artists view and am all for him voicing his political beliefs.

3) Artists should entertain us and keep the rest - including politics - to themselves.

With media being the way it is and famous peoples lives scrutinized I find it a bit surprising that voicing ones political views can still be that irritating and controversial.
And if your flavor-of-the-month male/female bimbo popstar mentions his/her political preferences in passing it's usually more easily accepted than when a "serious" famous person does it. The latter "should know better".

Can we find it understandable that a well-known person use his/hers fame as a platform to say something "serious" or should any discussions of ideas, political or otherwise, be kept private and one-on-one down at the pub or wherever you meet your friends and talk?

Does a statement from Donald carry more weight than one from, say, Pyssycat Dolls, Michael Phelps, the cast of Mamma Mia! or the old lady on the bus? It's still just an opinion and I can take it or leave it, discuss it or ignore it.

Women hate Steely Dan?

At least the band is listed under that heading in the article written by Andrew Smith over on timesonline.co.uk.

Click the link above to read the whole article on music that divide the sexes. Maybe you have an artist or more to add to the Artists that men love but women hate or Artists that women love but men hate.

Are you a Steely Dan Mastermind?

Steely Dan was one of the topics on BBC:s long running quiz show Mastermind this week.
Living outside the UK the BBC iPlayer refused to show me the episode with the words that the programmes are available in the UK only:

If you live in the UK you can find the September 26 episode of Mastermind here. But hurry! The episode will go off the air (net?) today (Friday October 3).

I guess the Steely Dan Mastermind episode might pop up on various international BBC channels eventually.

Would be fun to hear what the questions were... And if the contestant got them right.

Joe's Menage=live in Williamsburg

Norma Jean Bell and Frank, one of the pics added to the 50 second sound snippet if you visit http://www.zappa.com/

***

The Zappa Joe's Menage CD is a live recording from Williamsburg, VA, November 1, 1975.
A press release from the Zappa Family Trust says that "Joe's Menage was recorded in concert at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA on November 1, 1975. This is all previously unreleased material.
The album first germinated when Frank Zappa gave friendly fan Ole Lysgaard several cassette tapes, including this one, in 1978. In 2004, Lysgaard sent the tapes to Gail Zappa and she decided to release the 1975 music, which was restored and mastered by John Polito."
This was published on http://www.shorefire.com/index.php?a=pressrelease&o=2336

The band is the fall '75 band including Norma Jean Bell on saxophone and vocals (Frank, Norma, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Andre Lewis, Roy Estrada and Terry Bozzio).

The tracklist:

1. Honey, Don't You Want a Man Like Me?
2. The Illinois Enema Bandit
3. Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy
4. Lonely Little Girl
5. Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance
6. What's The Ugliest Part of Your Body?
7. Chunga's Revenge
8. Zoot Allures

We will play all songs on Radio Dupree as soon as we get the CD in the mail!

Walter Becker articles in Mix and and Vintage Guitar

Walter Becker is interviewed in the September issue of Mix Magazine as well as the November issue of Vintage Guitar Magazine. The latter also feature an article on Steely Dan guitarist Jon Herington.

Mix Magazine is kind enough to have the article online for anyone interested in reading it. No such luck with Vintage Guitar Magazine. You just have to track down a copy of the paper version.