Wakeman plays Henry VIII live tonight and tomorrow

For all fans of vintage Yes and Rick Wakeman this article from The Times might be just the thing.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6200354.ece

He's playing The Six Wives of Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace in England tonight and tomorrow.

The International Review of Music: Donald Fagen on Our Secret Society

Devon Wendell talking jazz with Donald Fagen:

DW: I remember you commenting that the musicians you and Walter hire must know bebop changes. Has finding those kinds of players become an easier process over the years?

DF: Yes. Schooled jazz players can play just about any sort of music these days. Which doesn’t necessarily mean they’re all great soloists. That’s as rare as ever.

DW: Are there certain jazz recordings that you must always have with you on the road?

DF: I have most of the records I listened to in high school on an itunes playlist.

The full interview can be read here.

Steely Dan live 2009: Pack your bags...

Time to plan that summer of Steely Dan ... with the additional news that, and we quote the official Steely Dan newsletter (get your subscription here):

Breaking news! Steely Dan's Rent Party '09 Tour
will include multi-night stands
of special setlist shows
in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

All evenings of these special engagements
will offer one of the following programs:

* CLASSIC ALBUM (PLUS) Night
Setlist is one of three classic Steely Dan albums
in its entirety -- plus selected additional favorites

* "TAKIN' IT TO THE SEATS" INTERNET REQUEST Night
Setlist is determined by the internet votes
of ticket-holders for that show

Of course, before you buy a ticket, you'll know which
of the setlists above will be played on that night.

Dates for these special engagements
-- and more details about everything --
will be coming soon.

Also watch for news about promotions, packages,
and other sundry goodies

So this is the new live experience as records are a thing of the past? Will the crotchety part of the Steely Dan public be satisfied to know the set list in advance - "Hey, we know what we like, but we'd rather know it in advance" - or will anything not assembling Dr. Wu be considered a betrayal?

Only time will tell... Suffice to say that we likely won't have the pleasure of enjoying an evening of Everything Must Go from side one, track one to side two, last track.
This will mean Aja (surely), Royal Scam (possibly) and You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It (not bloody likely) in toto, with a future live album/DVD/3D movie/whatever lined up. At least that's the way we'd do it if we were in charge.

Boogie!

As a consequence of this we'll have to re-route our Europe-only trek to a Europe and USA travel.

It's all good...

P.S.
Don, Walter et consortes: Please consider a limited list of songs to vote on. If not you might end up having to play With A Gun, Bad Sneakers, Hat Too Flat or Caves Of Altamira. "One Of These Nights" ;)

Could we get an early vote in for a cover of the 1974 "classic" Hooked On A Feeling by Blue Swede?

The Specials on stage again

The kings of British ska music, The Specials, are doing their first live gigs since 1981.
BBC describes the premier reunion gig in Newcastle on April 22 as a success: "While this night was all about having a good time, the cutting social commentary for which they were noted is as valid as ever - from Ghost Town to Concrete Jungle via Doesn't Make It Alright."

The Specials reunion tour consists of 8 concerts in the UK, the last ones taking place in London Brixton Academy on May 6 and 7.

The Daily Show visits Sweden

Living in Sweden we just had to take a quick break from the music-related posts here to give you:

Wyatt Cenac travels to Sweden to wake them up from their socialist nightmare:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

UPDATE April 23: And here's part 2

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 2
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

OK. That's it. Take care world. We're off to lay down on our Gimmelböps for our free, full release socialist massages! ;)

Steely Dan live 2009: Fort Myers + Boca Raton

Not official yet, but it looks like June 16 equals a show in Fort Myers at Mann Hall.
Tickets for the show go on sale at 10 a.m. this Saturday (April 25) according to this item:

http://www.news-press.com/article/20090420/NEWS01/90420014/1075

Stuck in Sweden we're still on our knobbly knees wishing for at least ONE Scandianvian date...

OFFICIAL UPDATE April 20:

Jun 13 - Boca Raton, FL - Mizner Park Amp. | on sale April 27
Jun 16 - Ft. Meyers, FL - Barbara B Mann | on sale April 25

Full touring schedule can be found here:

http://steelydan.com/

Pete Townsend on Quadrophenia ... and Austin Powers!

While our Album of the Month is The Who's classic Live At Leeds, we did not phone, email or twitter Timesonline and ask them to get an interview with Pete Townsend in time for the May 9 London premiere of the musical Quadrophenia. We had nothing to do with it.

For more from Pete on Quadrophenia (the musical, the album and the movie), blogs, Twitter, Spotify and the life of a rock star vs. the life of an ordinary Joe please click this link.

(This post written while listening to Quadrophenia on Spotify.)

More Steely Dan on Guitar Hero World Tour

OK. So here's a confession from a guy old enough to be young when Aja was released:

The first encounter I had with Guitar Hero World Tour was this past week. The eldest son of my sister let me try out Do It Again slumped in the sofa and finally managing an unimpressive 31 (or was it 32?) percent on the song. You have to hit the right notes and I was strumming along improving ever so slightly.(*)

I might be persuaded to buy my own game as Activision now has released a new bunch of songs for Guitar Hero World Tour, including three Steely Dan ditties. Let me quote the press release:

Returning to Guitar Hero World Tour on April 16th is the popular rock band from the 70's, Steely Dan. This time around, the band will contribute one single each from three of their albums - "Black Friday" from Katy Lied, "Kid Charlemagne" from The Royal Scam and "Bodhisattva" from Countdown to Ecstasy.

Yes, there are more than one upcoming evening spent at home trying to master these songs in gradually more difficult settings. Let us end this post with a short clip of a gang doing its best Do It Again:


(*) I did twice as good on Foghat's Free Ride on the easiest seting...

Idolizing...

Ike & Tina Turner's I Idolize You in a few incarnations found on YouTube:

Soulful and sultry from Lizz Wright -


Ike & Tina -


The Charmaines -


The Fabulous Wailers from 1962. Apparently the vocalist; "Little Gail Harris", was just 15 at the time of the recording! -


And of course all this to be able to mention the version by Donald Fagen/Steely Dan doing the rounds on this here web right now. A live recording from a soundcheck or the like that according to a calculated guess from fans might be from around 2006.
Sounding great with a fine groove. Made our week last week. And this one. And probably next one as well.

Sorry we can't give you an exakt link; we'd rather stay on D&W:s good side. But there are things called search engines that do an acceptable job of what we won't. ;)

It's Record Store Day!

April 18 is the day you support your local record store - if you're priviliged to still have one. Started last year Record Store Day has spread from the USA to other countries.

There are lots of things happening today and you could try to pick up one or more of a growing number of Record Store Day-only record releases listed on this page.

Here in Sweden the oldest record store still in business; Burmans Musik (60 years old!) celebrated with the help of local artists performing.
The small store was packed and we never made it through the door. But we took a couple of snapshots:

Weekend video: Peyroux, Herington and more

Strangers featuring Madeleine Peyroux, Steve Light, Jon Herington and Richard Hellis. Posted on YouTube two days ago.

We're suckers for "reality videos" like this. Apparently filmed just as it happened. Sound far from the best even if you click the HQ option. The video description says:

"At the Hostel in Soho. Madeleine Peyroux and John (sic) Herrington (sic) jammed with some of the guys from one of St Mungo's homeless hostels in London. This track was written by Steve Light."

Steely Dan live 2009: Two more US dates

Added today are two more dates to the US Rent Party leg of the '09 tour:

Jun 09 - Durham, NC - Performing Arts Center | on sale April 24
Jun 15 - Orlando FL - Bob Carr | on sale April 24 <- NEW!
Jun 18 - St. Augustine, FL - St. Augustine Amphitheatre | on sale April 24
Jun 19 - Orange Beach, AL - The Wharf | on sale April 25 <- NEW!
Aug 15 - Atlanta, GA - Chastain | subscribers early on sale | general on sale May 11

The European Left Bank Holiday is still at:

Jun 25 - Amsterdam, Holland - Heineken Music Hall
Jun 26 - Brussels, Belgium - Forest National
Jun 28 - Edinburgh, Scotland - Edinburgh Playhouse
Jun 29 - Birmingham, UK - NIA
Jul 01 - London, UK - Hammersmith Apollo
Jul 02 - Paris, France - Olympia
Jul 04 - Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland
Jul 06 - Rome, Italy - Cavea Auditorium
Jul 08 - Padova, Italy - Villa Contarini
Jul 09 - Milan, Italy - Arena Civica
Jul 11 - Perugia, Italy- Umbria Jazz Festival
Jul 12 - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Sporting Club
(Tickets for all the European dates on sale now.)

Two useful links:

steelydan.com - The only place for confirmed dates.
dandom.com/Bluebook - The fan page for breaking news, views and the occasional rumour.

Procol number one

With Easter over and done with for this time, we see that legendary producer Phil Spector has been found guilty of the murder of actress Lana Clarkson. Ŗead all about it here.
And see a BBC report here.

And the British music licensing company PPL just published a Top 75 over the most played songs in public in Britain over the past 75 years.
The oldest song is Glenn Miller’s In the Mood from 1939 and the most recent is Outkast’s Hey Ya! from 2003.

Here's the Top 10:

1 Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale 8/6/67

2 Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody 29/11/75

3 Everly Brothers - All I Have To Do Is Dream 4/7/58

4 Wet Wet Wet - Love Is All Around 4/6/94

5 Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You 13/7/91

6 Robbie Williams - Angels 1/12/97

7 Elvis Presley - All Shook Up 12/7/57

8 Abba - Dancing Queen 4/9/76

9 Perry Como - Magic Moments 28/2/58

10 Bill Crosby - White Christmas 01/01/42

The complete chart is here.

Steely Dan live 2009: US dates!! And Monaco

News-a-plenty on Steely Dan's 2009 tour:

1) The rumoured European date is confirmed. July 12 is the date for The Sporting Club in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Tickets on sale now.

Bringing the European tour up to 12 dates.

Jun 25 - Amsterdam, Holland - Heineken Music Hall
Jun 26 - Brussels, Belgium - Forest National
Jun 28 - Edinburgh, Scotland - Edinburgh Playhouse
Jun 29 - Birmingham, UK - NIA
Jul 01 - London, UK - Hammersmith Apollo
Jul 02 - Paris, France - Olympia
Jul 04 - Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland
Jul 06 - Rome, Italy - Cavea Auditorium
Jul 08 - Padova, Italy - Villa Contarini
Jul 09 - Milan, Italy - Arena Civica
Jul 11 - Perugia, Italy- Umbria Jazz Festival
Jul 12 - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Sporting Club

2) The first US dates have been announced under the Rent Party '09 Tour name:

Jun 09 - Durham, NC - Performing Arts Center. Tickets on sale April 17.
Aug 15 - Atlanta, GA - Chastain. Tickets on sale May 11. Subscribers early on sale.

So ... we have two dates in the USA, one before and one after the European dates. Interesting arrangement. Let's see what happens next...

And then there's the sentence in the latest Steely Dan Newsletter (subscribe here):

REMEMBER --

More dates will be announced soon,
and there are some very exciting developments
in the works!

Intriguing...

UPDATE April 11:

Ticketmaster list a third US date:
June 18 - St. Augustine Amphitheatre, St. Augustine, Florida. Tickets on sale April 18.

Two useful links:

steelydan.com - The only place for confirmed dates.
dandom.com/Bluebook - The fan page for breaking news, views and the occasional rumour.

Donald Fagen in new MSG video

The Beacon Theatre: A New York Legend Reborn is a documentary that will air on the MSG channel April 9. (MSG is - according to Wikipedia - "a regional cable television and radio network serving the Mid-Atlantic and focused on New York City sports teams.")
Here's two of the promo videos. Donald pops up a couple of times for a few seconds:

Beatles remasters coming in September

Available in mono ... and stereo this September!

The long promised remasters of The Beatles original albums have finally a release date; September 9, 2009.
The original CD releases from 1987 sound sharp and lack warmth compared with what can be done with digital technology 20 years on.
Few have heard the new releases, but British music magazine Mojo had an article last year where a journalist said they sounded wonderful. He had been invited to a special listening session.

This New York Times article spells out the facts about the new releases. There will be two boxes; one with the mono mixes, one with the stereo mixes. All 12 albums released between 1963 and 1970, from Please Please Me to Let It Be plus Magical Mystery Tour and Past Masters Volume 1 and 2.
No unreleased bonus tracks. The only "extras" will be video documentaries about each album's remixing in the stereo box. But only on the early pressings of the CD's.

Back in 1987 Georg Martin remixed the stereo versions of both Help! and Rubber Soul. His remixes will still be there, but in addition the original 1965 stereo mixes will get their first airing on CD.(*)

How about Beatles music finally made available to (legally) download? Looks set for September as well, but we'll believe it when we see it.

(*) Yes we know about the Canadian 1965 - 1987 mix up, but there's only so far we're prepared to go into the Beatles discography/released versions in a simple blog post like this.

Illegal vs legal downloads online...

As a music lover and consumer I used Napster (the illegal version!) to download obscure stuff that a) wasn't available on any album I could order and b) couldn't be legally bought online.

A decade later the music industry's only solution to the Internet is to prosecute those who use the opportunity to get music in a simpler and more deversified way than any commercial/legal on- or offline shop can do.

At a recent hearing in the USA the only thing the media industry could come up with was policing the Internet. Quote from the New York Times:

One of the strongest possible measures was offered by Steven Soderbergh, who testified as a vice president of the Directors Guild of America. He proposed that the entertainment industry be “deputized to solve our own problems,” under a model that is being tried in France.

And so on...

The solution is from a consumer's point of view extremely simple:

1 - Record companies, movie companies and such should get ALL the stuff in the vaults online for ALL the world to access. And in all qualities from compressed to linear.

2 - Get some new contracts written where the laws accept that as far as the Internet goes the planet is one entity, not a bunch of countries. That way any consumer anywhere can buy anuthing ... legally. And the person(s) who created the music/movie/whatever can be compensated.

The current state of things where numbskull countries make laws that give private companies the right to act as police is in my eyes just a way to keep alive an outdated way to market and and sell music/movies/whatever. Madness... Will the artist or consumer benifit? No. The companies? Yes. In the short run.

* * *

I bought my first record in the late 60's. A vinyl single.

In the early 80's I read an article about this new thing called "CD" that would arrive soon and sound so much better than vinyl.

In the 90's I was surprised to find that the local stores were dumping vinyl and making room for CD-only shelves.

It's 2009 and even though I'm 50 this year I can see what's coming; Five years from now most of the music and movies will be sold online.

And I still can't find a legal copy online of that song I downloaded illegally more than 10 years ago...

Who needs artists?

Here's a fun way to spend an evening!

Found Matt Kelland's blog post and even borrowed its title. Using wikipedia.org, quotationspage.com, flickr.com and your preferred image manipulating software you let chance help you create an album cover. Read more here.

We'll be back later today with whatever we manage to "create".

Two new songs from Bob Dylan!

Bob Dylan has a new album out April 28. It's titled Together Through Life.
You can hear two tracks from it by clicking these links:

Feel A Change Comin' On is streaming over on timesonline. That's also where you can read an interview with Bob Dylan. titled Bob Dylan on Barack Obama, Ulysses Grant and American Civil War ghosts.

Beyond Here Lies Nothin' is presented as a "lyrical portrait" where you can get involved and create. Rather than trying to explain here, please go to beyondhereliesnothin.com.

Ray White quits Zappa Plays Zappa

Seems like Dweezil Zappa needs a new lead vocalist.
This is how he puts it on the zappaplayszappa tourlog:
"He was supposed to be here today wasn't he? Yep today's the day for Ray. Let's call him. He doesn't answer any of his phones and they all say they are disconnected. Is he suddenly in the witness protection program? What has happened? We decide to look at our e-mails. I had one in my in box from Ray.

Ready for the hilarious punchline? Ray quit via e-mail with no advance "romance" notice whatsoever."
And there are plenty of gigs ahead...Japan, Australia, Europe.

Album of the Month: The Who - Live At Leeds

Each and every month we focus on an album by naming it Album of the Month and playing all the tracks on Radio Dupree.
And April 2009 is The Who-month with the classic Live At Leeds playing.

When Live At Leeds was released in 1970 The Who had already been around for six years. The band had returned from a world tour with hours of live recordings. The plan was to make a live album, but nothing became of the tapes. Instead they opted to arrange and record two extra shows and record those as basis for the live album.

One date was in Leeds, one in Hull. And it was the Leeds recording that eventually was released as Live At Leeds and has become a live classic and a must-hear album for all rock fans.

The record was released in May 1970 and a hit with both critics and fans.

The original vinyl album had six tracks. The 1995 CD version had 14 tracks. Some of the vinyl version songs were expanded thanks to the return of band banter and other stuff that was edited out for the vinyl release.

In 2001 Live At Leeds was transformed into a 2 CD package with all the 33 songs recorded during the Leeds concert. And it's that version that's our Album of the Month this month.

Wikipedia's entry on Live At Leeds.

Steely Dan live 2009: Montreux Jazz Festival

And yet another European date is officially announced; Montreux Jazz Festival July 4. Tickets already on sale.

Making the tour look like this (so far):

Jun 25 - Amsterdam, Holland - Heineken Music Hall
Jun 26 - Brussels, Belgium - Forest National
Jun 28 - Edinburgh, Scotland - Edinburgh Playhouse
Jun 29 - Birmingham, UK - NIA
Jul 01 - London, UK - Hammersmith Apollo
Jul 02 - Paris, France - Olympia
Jul 04 - Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland
Jul 06 - Rome, Italy - Cavea Auditorium
Jul 08 - Padova, Italy - Villa Contarini
Jul 09 - Milan, Italy - Arena Civica
Jul 11 - Perugia, Italy- Umbria Jazz Festival

(Rumoured but not confirmed: July 12 2009 Sporting Monte Carlo, Monaco)

Two useful links:

steelydan.com - The only place for confirmed dates.
dandom.com/Bluebook - The fan page for breaking news, views and the occasional rumour.

Radio Dupree Top 20 - April 2009

1. Rachel Unthank & The Winterset - Sexy Sadie
Mojo - White Album Recovered 2

2. Queen - She Makes Me (Stormtrooper In Stilettos)
Sheer Heart Attack

3. The Vegetarians - The Idiot Bastard Son
20 Extraordinary Renditions

4. Missing Persons - Bad Streets
Spring Session M

5. Walter Becker - Paging Audrey
Circus Money

6. Peter Gabriel - A Wonderful Day In A One-Way World
Peter Gabriel (2)

7. Larry Carlton - Song In The 5th Degree
Friends

8. Donald Fagen - Century's End
The Nightfly Trilogy - 10 Extras

9. Frank Zappa - Gorgeous Inca
Birthday Bundle 21 Dec. 2008

10. Frank Zappa - Flakes
Sheik Yerbouti

11. Frank Zappa - Yo' Mama - Sheik Yerbouti
12. Frank Zappa - Dancin' Fool (disco version) - Birthday Bundle 21 Dec. 2008
13. The Beatles - I Feel Fine - Live At The BBC
14. David Bowie - Blackout - Stage
15. Atomic Rooster - Death Walks behind You (BBC radio session) - Death Walks behind You
16. Talking Heads - Air - Fear Of Music
17. Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues - Greatest Hits
18. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Kandy Korn - The Mirror Man Sessions
19. Missing Persons - Destination Unknown - Spring Session M
20. Paul Simon - Have a Good Time - Still Crazy After All These Years

-------------------------------------------------------

Chart compiled by listeners voting on the songs they hear on Radio Dupree

Our Album of the Month in March; Zappa's Sheik Yerbouti, pops up a couple of times on this month's chart. And we do find a lot of the usual suspects in the Top 20.
But it is a surprise number one! Rachel Unthank & The Winterset from Northumberland, United Kingdom.

"Folk/Experimental/Roots" is what the MySpace-page says. And their version of The Beatles' Sexy Sadie is different but - in our and our listeners opinion - well worth a listen. It's available on Mojo Magazone's 2 CD revisit of The White Album, asking various artists to take on the songs from the original double album. We gave away a set of the Mojo version in December last year and continue to play tracks from the CDs.

- - -

Somewhat surprising that the chart includes two Missing Person songs. So, would you listeners like to hear more of this Bozzio post Zappa era combo? I was thrilled to hear what drummer Terry Bozzio and bassist Patrick O'Hearn would do after their departure from Frank Zappa's band in the late 70's. However, I was a little confused when I realised that it did not sound any way I had expected. But some MP songs are really catchy, and I really enjoy the Spring Session M album.

/Siggy