Sara & Rebecka's Steely Dan album released in the USA!

A bit of a surprise, but a nice one!

Swedish duo Sara Isaksson and Rebecka Törnqvist's 2006 album of Steely Dan covers Fire In The Hole gets a belated US release January 31 thanks to San Francisco-based label Zip Records!

To celebrate the occasion we're linking back to our Album of the Month page on the album. It includes a five minute interview English we did with Sara and Rebecka back in 2006.

Looks like the record label will concentrate on getting two songs on the radio stations; Rose Darling and Fire In The Hole. AAA stations apparently.

One question to ask Sara and Rebecka is if the Bad Sneakers version wasn't finshed or good enough to add as a bonus track to this 2012 release?

Swedish musician Stig Vig found dead

Stig Vig, singer in the Swedish rock-reggae band Dag Vag has been found dead in his home.
Stig Vig (Per Odeltorp) sang, played bass and fronted Dag Vag, one of the most popular groups on the Swedish new wave scene of the late 70's/early 80's.

Radio Dupree station manager Sigurd Huckle recalls a memory from a 1979 Dag Vag concert:
"The band was supposed to play for a sitting audience, but Stig Vig suggested that the audience would put the chairs aside to make room for dancing, which resulted in hundreds of damaged chairs. But it was a great show! I couldn't resist tapping two empty beer glasses together which of course didn't last long."

It is yet unknown what caused Stig Vig's death but Aftonbladet reports that he had problems with his kidneys and went through a kidney transplantation in 2006. Stig Vig was 63 years old when he passed away.

ABBA releases The Visitors with bonus material

April 23 is the release date for the release of ABBA's The Visitors album including bonus tracks, including the demo medley ‘From A Twinkling Star To A Passing Angel’, the first previously unreleased ABBA recordings since 1994!
Like the previous Deluxe Editions of ABBA’s albums, The Visitors will feature several bonus selections along with a DVD of rare and previously unreleased material from the archives.

http://www.abbasite.com/articles/news/the-visitors-deluxe-edition-released-in-april!

Johnny Otis "Godfather of rhythm and blues" dies

Johnny Otis, "godfather of rhythm and blues", died on January 17 at the age of 90. 
Otis lived in California and was a singer, producer, songwriter, bandleader and had a radio show of his own on KPFA. His parents were Greek but Johnny was heavily influenced by the music of the afro-american community and has written: "As a kid I decided that if our society dictated that one had to be black or white, I would be black."
One of his successful songs was Willie and the Hand Jive (1958) which has been covered by Eric Clapton, Cliff Richard, The Grateful Dead and other artists.

Johnny Otis was one of the persons who influenced the young Frank Zappa, and Zappa even adopted Otis' moustache and goatee. Johnny Otis' son Shuggie Otis, 15 (!), played bass on one track on Zappa's Hot Rats album in 1969.

Steely Dan Fans Are Assholes

​* William Gibson called them "the most genuinely subversive" band in late-20th Century pop.

* ​Danfans are the silently hip minority of rock fandom.

* But it shouldn't be surprising that Steely Dan have the world's most arrogant, elitist assholes for a fan base.

Read the full LA Weekly article here.

Donald Fagen sits in for Levon Helm in February

More live shows for Donald!

Even before playing two nights in Chicago in March, Donald Fagen will sit in for Levon Helm at three of Levon's Midnight Ramble concerts in February.
The dates in question are February 11, 18 and 25.

Tickets are available on the Midnight Ramble website, where you also can read that the reason behind Donald doing three in a row is that Levon is undergoing "a medical procedure that will necessitate his absence from the February 11th, 18th and 25th Rambles".

donaldfagen.com updated

Here's an update over on donaldfagen.com drawing attention to the fact that Steely Dan is 40 this year. Yes, there will most likely be a new Greatest Hits package somewhere down the line, but right here right now it's Donald and Walter on the recieving end of the gift of time.

“Lord through this hour,
Be Thou our guide
So, by Thy power 
No foot shall slide.”

The Doors + Skrillex

The remaining members of The Doors have done a collaboration with US DJ/Producer Skrillex. The song titled Breaking A Sweat is part of the Re:Generation-project.

Gail Z promises to "revisit" Trout Mask Replica

Recently Gail Zappa, Dweezil Zappa and Joe Travers guested the radio station Rockline to talk about the Carnegie Hall release but also talked a bit about future projects.
Gail said that the Zappa Family Trust's most recent release is Captain Beefheart's original Bat Chain Puller and that they will "revisit Trout Mask Replica" and that they will also re-release the album An Evening With Wild Man Fischer. And of course they will continue releasing more Frank Zappa albums.

Listen to the broadcast here: http://www.rocklineradio.com/replay/replay.php

...but don't wait too long. It's great listening and the program is only available for two weeks!

Donald Fagen with Ken Basman's Trio

A clip uploaded to YouTube January 2 featuring four minutes of "An unforgettable evening with jazz legend Donald Fagen performing with Ken Basman´s trio at Rosewood San Miguel de Allende´s 2011 New Years Gala dinner."

Steely Dan's Aja covered by The Darcys

The Canadian quartet The Darcys have recorded a version of Steely Dan's Aja. Not just the song but the whole album!

According to this article on exclaim.ca they They decided to do it "as a dark, but bold declaration of self-sufficiency."

What that sounds like? Listen to Josie below after we've had the chance to say that the album will be available January 24 as a free dowload on The Darcys' homepage and as a limited edition vinyl album.

The Darcys - Josie by Arts & Crafts

(Thanks for the heads up to Hicnic on the Dandom Bluebook)

UPDATE January 19: Right now (and, we suspect, until it is released) you can stream the whole album here:

http://www.muchmusic.com/music/firstspin/thedarcys/

New John Fogerty song premieres Thursday

A brand new John Fogerty song titled Swamp Water will be available as a free download at johnfogerty.com Thursday January 12.

U.S. viewers can also catch it on the first episode of the seies The Finder on Fox TV the very same day. It's also the title tune for the series and John plays himself in the first episode.

In addition to Swamp Water he'll perform an acoustic version of Fortunate Son. That will also be available as a free download on his homepage, but just for one weeḱ.

UPDATE January 12:
Our mistake. Swamp Water is not available as a free download, but Fortunate Son is. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
In the episode John appears during the first six minutes of the show, getting his guitar stolen and back again and singing a shortened version of Fortunate Son before giving the hero his guitar pick and then exit.

Of the theme tune we get exactly 30 seconds. All instrumental with a couple of humming "yeeahs". Laidback typical swamp twang Fogerty groove. Should come with lyrics? Will be fun to hear the whole song eventually, Next album perhaps?

Anyway, here are the two free download links to the stripped down version of Fortunate Son that will work for seven days and no longer. Grab it while you can!:

http://www.mediafire.com/?alevtpq0r8kdxr4
http://hulkshare.com/hb95adt08qj4 

Happy Birthday Donald Fagen!

Donald Fagen is 64 on this Tuesday the 10 of January 2012. And since we're enjoying snowy and cold weather right now here in Radio Dupree land we think this is a suitable Fagen creation:

Donald Fagen plays Chicago fundraiser in March

It's the 2012 Blue Jean Gala fundraiser for the Old Town School of Folk Music with Levon Helm having one of his Midnight Rambles. That means guests and one of them is Donald Fagen who'll be there both nights; March 16 and 17.

Other guests is Paul Barrere & Fred Tackett; The Guitarists of Little Feat (Friday, March 16 only) and Shawn Mullins (Saturday, March 17 only).

Tickets are $250 a pop and are on sale. More information here.

January 8: Happy birthday, David Bowie, 65!

And if you're quick you can catch BBC Radio 2:s Inspirational Bowie documentary that aired last Monday.

As David Bowie's 65th birthday approaches [Sunday 8 January], Radio 2 revisits this celebration of the iconic popstar.
Mark Radcliffe hears from performers who have been inspired by Bowie and his music, including Boy George, Peter Hook, Marc Almond, Annie Lennox, Debbie Harry, Guy Garvey, Jarvis Cocker and Ricky Gervais.

But hurry! It'll only be available online until January 10. Listen here.

Beatles "Abbey Road" #1 vinyl album in the U.S.

The Beatles Abbey Road is the best selling vinyl album in the USA for the third year running.
Nielsen SoundScan delivers the figures that follows the general upward trend of vinyl sales. In 2009 it sold 39 800, in 2010 up to 35 000 and 2011 41 000 copies.

This Rolling Stone article has the complete 2011 Top 10 vinyl albums in the USA.

New old The Doors song premieres Monday

With the upcoming 40th Anniversary releases of The Doors' 1971 album L.A. Woman, the vaults have been searched once more and bits and bobs previously unheard prepared for release into the wild.

First up is the song She Smells So Nice that you can hear on the bands Facebook page on Monday, Janyary 9. But if you click your way there now there's a 30 second snippet for you to partake.

The anniversary edition of the album comes in two different flavours: A remastered 2-CD version with bonus tracks and what they call The Workshop Sessions with alternate versions of the songs found on the 2-CD version. Plus "studio chatter".
These albums will be released January 24 together with the DVD/Blueray documentary Mr. Mojo Risin' that's all about the album.

UK is doing a reunion tour!

Some tour dates confirmed here: http://www.ukreunion.com/

Radio Dupree Top 14 - January 2012

1. State Cows
Hard Goodbye
Hard Goodbye

2. Pink Floyd
Us And Them (Richard Wright Demo)
The Dark Side Of The Moon (Immersion Box) (Previous Unreleased Tracks)

3. Pink Floyd
Money (Roger Waters Demo)
The Dark Side Of The Moon (Immersion Box) (Previous Unreleased Tracks)

4. Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention
Tears Began To Fall
Carnegie Hall

5. Pink Floyd
Crying Song
More (soundtrack)

6. King Crimson
THRAK
B'Boom

7. The Beatles
Strawberry Fields Forever
1967-70

8. Frank Zappa
Stolen Moments (Radio Dupree mix)
Broadway The Hard Way

9. Bruford
Forever Until Sunday
One Of A Kind

10. Paul McCartney
Magic
Driving Rain

11. The Beatles - Boys - Please Please Me
12. Kourosh Yaghmaei - Hajm-e Khaali - Forge Your Own Chains: Heavy Psychedelic Ballads and Dirges
13. Gentle Giant - So Sincere - Playing The Fool
14. The Velvet Underground - Lady Godiva's Operation - White Light/White Heat

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

And we great 2012 with the remnants of 2011 in the first Radio Dupree chart of the year covering what was played (and voted on) in December last year.

And last month's winner is still there; the Richard Wright demo of Pink Floyd's Us And Them. Though this month it is down to two and joined by a couple more Pink Floyd tracks on the chart. 
Other more-than-one-chart-position artists include The Beatles ans Frank Zappa. And talking of Zappa an early addition of tracks from our Album of the Month in January; Carnegie Hall, has Tears Began To Fall charting at four and looking good for more Zappa on next month's chart. 

And that leaves us with a first. Our number one this month is the first Radio Dupree chart topper not available in physical form, i.e. CD, vinyl etc.
The Swedish band State Cows Hard Goodbye is a download only release. Hear the song here:



And buy it on Bandcamp or CDBaby or iTunes. 

More on State Cows here: http://www.statecows.com/ 

Keep listening and voting!
 

-- N.S. 

150 Thin Lizzy tapes resurface

26 years after Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott died a new box set is being readied for release in June.
The material comes from 150 tapes including up to 700 songs that Phil left to a third party for safekeeping.
The recordings date from 1971 to 1981. More in this Belfast Telegraph article.

My Old School gets the country treatment

Here's a cover of Steely Dan's My Old School with a slight country twist. Magico = Mike Quinn from Scranton, Pennsylvania in the USA.

My Old School [Steely Dan] by Magico
More music from Mike can be found here: http://mquinnmusic.com/

The Queen honours record producer Steve Lillywhite

Every year end sees Queen Elizabeth II honour a big number of people for exceptional work in whatever line of work they might be.

We found this man among the close to 1 000 listed:


Steve Lillywhite, record producer of records by XTC, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Dave Matthews Band, U2, Peter Gabriel, Morrissey, The Psychedelic Furs, The Pogues, Phish and many, many more during av more than 30 year long career.
He is named CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for services to music.

And so Steve can put a "Sir" before his name!

Here's a link to the full New Year Honours List 2012.

The vast majority of the awards go not to stars of sport, stage and screen but to extraordinary people who are serving their local communities. Most recipients have been recognised for making a real difference to those around them through volunteering, fundraising, social action and philanthropy.