What's lacking in American movie comedies?

From Mark Kermode's Uncut film blog and his and Simon Mayo's Film Review on BBC Radio 5 live. (A Radio Dupree podcast favourite)

Gail Zappa announces Roxy soundtrack

Gail Zappa Has some interesting news for us: She is launching a new series on the label Vaulternative Records, and she is announcing the release of the "prequel to the actual soundtrack" of the Roxy DVD.
Here is what Gail says, in her own words:

Dear People of Earth,
Here's what's thrilling:

1. It is Moon's Birthday today! And this morning I was lucky enough to have a cold breakfast with Moon and Mathilda - Ice Cream Cake and the sun wasn't even up yet. Yay! 

2. I know I do not have to remind you that next December 2013 is the 40th Anniversary of the Roxy Performances. Now that we have thoroughly identified all it's parts and participles, we will deliver The Movie without further incident and maybe only a little ado. In theatres, DVD and Blue-ray, sometime before December, 2013. 

3. MEANWHILE . . . before this December 2012, in anticipation of The ACTUAL Movie, we are pleased to inform you that we are scheduling the release of the PREQUEL to the actual Soundtrack. Yes. You will! Appreciate the raw unbridledness of the 75 minutes and 49 seconds of Roxy without the Elsewhere. Further details on The Movie and P.S. (Prequel Soundtrack) as soon as the duckies are all lined up. 

 4. Oh, and did I mention a new series is about to launch - Road Tapes - on Vaulternative Records! We've taken direct aim at Halloween! 

5. Thank you. 

xxx, 

gz 

---

Comment by Sigurd Huckle, the Radio Dupree Zappa department: 
The Road Tapes project sounds really interesting. Could that include a release of "the big one", the concert at The Palladium, N.Y.C. October 31, 1978? (A very long show including performances of some rare material.)
In May Gail wrote about the release of a Roxy soundtrack and if she manages to release it before December it will surely please many fans! When it comes to the release of the long awaited Roxy DVD, that one has been delayed before, so don't hold your breath.

The Beatles are back! (On vinyl)

With the popular groups Abbey Road being the best selling vinyl album in the USA for the past three years and 2009 saw the release of remastered CD versions of the bands catalogue, it is perhaps no big surprise that this November will see 14 Beatles vinyl albums in new, remastered versions.

The 12 UK albums plus the the US-packaged Magical Mystery Tour and Past Masters Vol. One & Two will come pressed on 180-gram vinyl and with extra goodies often omitted in reissues. For example the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band cutouts and a reproduction of the poster that accompanied The White Album.

You can buy the albums separate or go for one of the limited (50 000 copies) number of box sets containing all 14 albums plus a book written by radio producer and Beatles historian Kevin Howlett.

And here's a link to an NPR (National Public Radio) programme from 2009 where he talks about the then new CD mono and stereo remasters.

Uncut Magazine: 9/10 for Donald Fagen's Sunken Condos

Uncut Magazine gives Donald Fagen's Sunken Condos 9 out of 10 in the November, 2012 review section.

Sadly not available online, but the reviewer ends the positive review by writing "What, then, does this new post-trilogy work represent for Fagen? A second wind? A therapeutically induced acceptance of things as they are, perhaps? In any case, Dan aficionados will undoubtedly recieve Sunken Condos as a fascinating new puzzle - or series of puzzles - to be endlessy debated if never actually solved. What matters is that Donald's back in his self-referencing sweet spot, and all's right with the world." 

UPDATE OICTOBER 4:

Warner Bros has published the article on the Fagen PR page. Just click this link and it's there on the lower left side.

ABBA + Steve Gadd = True!

Here's a piece of news that took us by surprise. Coming September is a record were legendary drummer Steve Gadd as part of a trio give a handful of ABBA tunes the jazz treatment!

They're arranged by Swedish pianist Anders Wihk and the third member of the trio is bass guitarist Svante Henryson. Robben Ford and David Sanborn lend a hand in the proceedings.

Read more about the record titled Same Tree Different Fruit here: http://www.sametreedifferentfruit.com/ 
They will do a short tour of Sweden, Korea and Japan in October.

"From Aja to ABBA" ;)

Steely Dan's Aja is 35 today

To celebrate Aja at 35 we decided to play the album non-stop in the Radio Dupree studios today. And as we went to pick it up from the archives/vault, our eyes fell on the still unopened Japanese SHMCD version we bought a year or so ago.
So that's the one we're spinning right now!

New Amy Winehouse box set coming November

The period leading up to Christmas is traditionally a time for Greatest Hits albums and box sets. November 12 will see the release of Amy Winehous At The BBC.

Three DVD:s and one CD collecting her BBC appearances on radio and TV.
The press release promises "Amy’s earliest BBC Radio sessions, her first ever TV performances, as well as candid interviews, rarely seen footage, unheard gems, rarities, unique covers and live versions of classic songs from “Frank” and “Back To Black”. The set also includes a beautifully illustrated booklet featuring rare photographs, a deeply touching appreciation from her friend, rap superstar, Nas, extensive sleeve notes by the Sunday Times Culture’s Dan Cairns as well as the thoughts of BBC producer Mark Cooper who worked closely with Amy on many of the highlights of the set."


 
Disc One (DVD) A Tribute To Amy Winehouse by Jools Holland

1. Stronger Than Me
2. Take The Box
3. Teach Me Tonight feat. Jools Holland
4. Rehab
5. Tenderly feat. Jools Holland
6. Tears Dry On Their Own
7. Monkey Man feat. Jools Holland
8. I Heard It Through The Grapevine feat Paul Weller and Jools Holland
9. Don't Go To Strangers feat. Paul Weller and Jools Holland
10. Love Is A Losing Game

Disc Two (CD) The BBC Sessions

1. Know You Now (Leicester Summer Sundae 2004)
2. Fuck Me Pumps (T In The Park 2004)
3. In My Bed (T In The Park 2004)
4. October Song (T In The Park 2004)
5. Rehab (Pete Mitchell 2006)
6. You Know I'm No Good (Jo Whiley Live Lounge 2007)
7. Just Friends (Big Band Special 2009)
8. Love Is A Losing Game (Jools Holland 2009)
9. Tears Dry On Their Own (Jo Whiley Live Lounge 2007)
10. Best Friends, Right? (Leicester Summer Sundae 2004)
11. I Should Care (The Stables 2004)
12. Lullaby Of Birdland (The Stables 2004)
13. Valerie (Jo Whiley Live Lounge 2007)
14. To Know Him Is To Love Him (Pete Mitchell 2006)

Disc Three (DVD) Amy Winehouse- BBC One Sessions Live at Porchester Hall

1. Know You Now
2. Tears Dry On Their Own
3. You Know I'm No Good
4. Just Friends
5. He Can Only Hold Her
6. I Heard Love Is Blind
7. Rehab
8. Take The Box
9. Some Unholy War
10. Back to Black
11. Valerie
12. Addicted
13. Me & Mr Jones
14. Monkey Man

Disc Four (DVD) Arena: Amy Winehouse- The Day She Came To Dingle*

Documentary featuring live performances of:

1. Tears Dry On Their Own
2. You Know I'm No Good
3. Love Is A Losing Game
4. Back To Black
5. Rehab
6. Me & Mr Jones

Ask Jon Herington a question!

Of course you can hear Donald Fagen's I'm Not The Same Without You on Radio Dupree where it is enjoying its place on our playlist. And we'd be surprised if Sunken Condos doesn't end up our Album of the Month once it arrives October 16.
But just to be of service we have the first song here as posted on YouTube by the record company in question. Enjoy!


Oh. And a reminder to all fans of Steely Dan that if you're quick you can get a question answered by long time guitarist Jon Herington, thanks to fagenism over on the Steely Dan fan's BlueBook.
After a successful Q&A with Sunken Condo's co-producer and more Michael Leonhart where fagenism collected questions, mailed them off and got answers back that was compiled into a pdf, it is time to do the same with some questions to Jon. Here's what fagenism writes on September 18:

Ask Me Anything #2: Jon Herington.

With the positive response to Michael Leonhart's AMA, Jon Herington has agreed to do one too. This one will focus on Sunken Condos, his long Steely Dan career as well as his solo stuff - whatever you want. (For those not yet in the know - an AMA is a chance for devoted fans to ask deeper, less generic questions, not usually covered by the conventional media.)

Let's be as informal about this as last time around, if everyone is cool with that. Popular questions will be high-priority, obviously .

And you find the link to Michael Leonhart's AMA by searching for fagenism and September 16, 2012 on the dandom.com BlueBook.

Donald Fagen: Sunken Condos. Hear a first taste here!

I'm Not The Same Without You is the first track to be heard from Sunken Condos, Donald Fagen's new solo album set for release October 16.

You can stream the track over on rollingstone.com as their current Song Premiere.

And here's a Spotify link.
amazon.com link (although you can't seem to click and buy it right now. Release date is September 14 but available September 18.)
amazon.co.uk link (working.Yours for £0.89.)

If you want to buy it you should check your favourite online download store. It's released as a one track digital single/file. No physical single as far as we could find.

Creative undertows from Donald, Ben and Bo

Album covers with underwater photos/pictures are not uncommon. But we were a bit surprised to find three current/upcoming releases all going below the surface when it comes to the cover illustration.

Donald Fagen's Sunken Condos set for an October 16 release:

Over on the dandom,com BlueBook Napoleon, U.K. pointed us towards the brand new Ben Folds Five album The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind with a "sunken robot":

And just last night we stumbled upon the Swedish group Bo Kaspers Orkester who's album Du Borde Tycka Om Mig is released October 31 with an underwater cover.

Since Bo Kaspers Orkester is the least known for those reading this blog we give you a quick link to more info here as well as a couple of videos:

From the most recent record; 2010's New Orleans recorded in ... yes, you guessed it!



And since they've been around since 1991 something a little bit older. From 1996:

Led Zeppelin Celebration Day movie, DVD, CD ... etcetera

We'll just leave it to the press release:

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - Sep 13, 2012) - On December 10, 2007, Led Zeppelin took the stage at London's O2 Arena to headline a tribute concert for dear friend and Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. What followed was a two-hour-plus tour de force of the band's signature blues-infused rock 'n' roll that instantly became part of the legend of Led Zeppelin. Founding members John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were joined by Jason Bonham, the son of their late drummer John Bonham, to perform 16 songs from their celebrated catalog including landmark tracks "Whole Lotta Love," "Rock And Roll," "Kashmir," and "Stairway To Heaven."

Although 20 million people applied for tickets, the band's first headline show in 27 years was seen only by the 18,000 ticket holders who were fortunate enough to have secured seats through the worldwide lottery.

The film of Celebration Day will see a worldwide theatrical release by Omniverse Vision on 1,500 screens in over 40 territories on October 17. The theatrical screenings will follow premieres in London, Los Angeles, New York, and other major cities. Tickets for the public screenings will be available on September 13 via ledzeppelin.com.

Celebration Day will then be available in multiple video and audio formats on November 19 from Swan Song/Atlantic Records. Specific product details will be announced soon.

Track Listing:

1. Good Times Bad Times
2. Ramble On
3. Black Dog
4. In My Time Of Dying
5. For Your Life
6. Trampled Under Foot
7. Nobody's Fault But Mine
8. No Quarter
9. Since I've Been Loving You
10. Dazed And Confused
11. Stairway To Heaven
12. The Song Remains The Same
13. Misty Mountain Hop
14. Kashmir
15. Whole Lotta Love
16. Rock And Roll

Catherine Russell and Carolyn Leonhart on Donald Fagen's Sunken Condos

In a Facebook post annoucing the tour dates for Catherine Russell's Strictly Romancin' tour - see more here - there's a paragraph that adds two more names to the rooseter of people performing on Donald Fagen's Sunken Condos coming our way October 16:

Thank you Mr. Donald Fagen for a truly fun and fine 40 city summer tour, with Catherine garnering raves and much "blue book love" for her rendition of Erma Franklin's "Piece of My Heart", duets with Boz Scaggs ("Miss Sun") and Michael McDonald ("Takin' It To The Streets"), and killin bg vocals throughout w/the great Ms. Carolyn Leonhart, both of whom sing on Sunken Condos! 

So, maybe no big surprise that Catherine and Carolyn Leonhart will add their vocal skills to Donald's album, but nice to have it confirmed.

Catherine Russell "Strictly Romancin" Coast to Coast Tour

Catherine Russell is moving her focus from Steely Dan and The Dukes of September to her own Strictly Romancin' tour starting tomorrow:

Sat Sept 15, Bethlehem, PA – Blast Furnace Blues Festival at Steel Stacks 2:00pm Musikfest Café, 6:15pm Blast Furnace Room

Wed Sept 19 Los Angeles, CA – Catalina Bar & Grill

Fri Sept 21 Sacramento, CA – Harlow’s

Sat Sept 22 Monterey, CA - Monterey Jazz Festival

Sun Sept 23 Woodside, CA - Jazz at Filoli (Sold Out)

Tue-Wed Sept 25-26 Seattle, WA - Jazz Alley

Fri Oct 5 Madison, NJ - Shanghai Jazz

Sat Oct 6 Narrowsburg, NY – Tusten Theatre

Wed Oct 10 New York, NY – Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College

Sat Oct 13 Greenwich, CT - Greenwich Public Library

Wed Nov 14 Evanston, IL (Chicago) - Space

Thu Nov 15 Bloomington, IN – Buskirk-Chumley Theatre

Fri Nov 16 Vincennes, IN – Red Skelton Center for The Performing Arts

Sat Nov 24 Rockport, MA - Rockport Music Hall -Shalin Liu Performance Center

Online video: The Jon Herington Band live in Philadelphia

For a while you can catch The Jon Herington Band - our Album of the Month artist in August - playing a live gig at the PSALM Salon in Philadelphia. It was broadcast/recorded on September 8. Just click this link!

Looking good: Donald Fagen's Sunken Condos on vinyl

http://donaldfagen.com

Steely Dan Sunday - It's Something Else!

Ever wondered what a mid-level data analyst for a Fortune 100 company thinks of Steely Dan/Donald Fagen/Walter Becker songs? Well, here's your chance to get an answer.

Over on Something Else! S. Victor Aaron has been running Steely Dan Sunday, where he writes about one new track every week. This week it is Donald Fagen's Shanghai Confidential. Check it out! 

Phil Lynott's mom not happy with Thin Lizzy music played at Republican National Convention

Finally we're able to get some US election politics on our blog! They way it is covered in media in and outside(*) the USA made us feel a bit left out just writing about other things.

Along comes Philomena Lynott, mother of Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy fame.
Apparently the Irish rock band's 1976 hit The Boys Are Back In Town was used during the Republican National Convention last week. Something she isn't happy with. And in this interview from hotpress.com she says that Phil wouldn't have liked it either:

"As far as I am concerned, Mitt Romney's opposition to gay marriage and to civil unions for gays makes him anti-gay – which is not something that Philip would have supported. He had some wonderful gay friends, as indeed I do, and they deserve equal treatment in every respect, whether in Ireland or the United States.

"Neither would Philip have supported his policy of taxing the poor and offering tax cuts to the rich, which Paul Ryan is advocating. There is certainly no way that I would want the Lynott name to be associated with any of those ideas.

Read the full article here.

(*) In our country of Sweden media reports every move by the candidates. Headlining the news in every media day after day after day. It's like Sweden's just another state in the US!

Peter Gabriel goes retro - plays So album live

Peter Gabriel is not known for looking backward. But he has made an exception: In a Rolling Stone magazine interview he reflects on his 1986 mega success album So, an album that he will perform live on his upcoming tour.

Radio Dupree Top 22 - September 2012

1. The Grandmothers - Trail of Tears
The Grandmothers (An anthology...)

2. Frank Zappa - Big Swifty
Waka/Jawaka
 
3. David Essex - Rock on
1973 single a-side

4. Frank Zappa - Why Does it Hurt When I Pee?
Joe's Garage

5. Frank Zappa - Mar-queson's Chicken
Them or Us

6. Neneh Cherry & The Thing - Too Tough To Die
The Cherry Thing

7. Black Sabbath - Supernaut
Vol. 4

8. Frank Zappa - Black Napkins
Hammersmith Odeon
 
9. Adrian Belew - Fish Head
Twang Bar King

10. King Crimson - Cat Food (single version)
In the Wake of Poseidon

11. Jon Herington - eGirl - Time On My Hands
12. King Crimson - Improv - Tight Scrummy (edit) - The Great Deceiver (disc 2)
13. Neil Young - Out on the Weekend - Harvest
14. King Crimson - Happy With What You Have To Be Happy With - The Power To Believe
15. Pink Floyd - Julia Dream - Masters of Rock (compilation)
16. Dynano Bliss - Circadian_Rhythm - Dynamo Bliss
17. Bryan Ferry - When She Walks in the Room - The Bride Stripped Bare
18. Stevie Wonder - Race Babbling - Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants
19. Donald Fagen - On The Dunes - Kamakiriad
20. Steely Dan - Do It Again - Can't Buy A Thrill
21. Jethro Tull - For a Thousand Mothers - Stand Up
22. Syd Arthur - Planet OF Love Hermethio - Moving World

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

Interesting mix! 1970's popstar David Essex finds himself  sandwiched between The Grandmothers, Frank Zappa and Neneh Cherry.
A bit further down our Album of the Month in the form of Jon Herington makes an appearance, King Crimson lands three on the chart and nice to see Neil Young and local band Dynamo Bliss getting thumbs up from Radio Dupree listeners.

N.S.

Sunken Condos vinyl update

Spotted on a Japanese page as a European import a week ago, Sunken Condos by Donald Fagen is now available for pre-order in the USA and Germany on Amazon. On the US site they list it for $37.92 while the German site wants €22.99 = $29. So quite a bit cheaper in Germany.

Link to amazon.com Sunken Condos on vinyl.

Link to amazon.de Sunken Condos on vinyl.

As we noted last week the vinyl version is a two disc affair, and amazon.de has the nine tracks listed three on each side leaving the fourth side empty. Which is a shame. I would've used the extra space for something extra.

The German site also lists the release date for both CD and vinyl versions as October 12 and not October 16 like the press release and all other sources say.

UPDATE 8 September:

This link from gemm.com/SACD store have the following info on the vinyl release:

Notes: 2-LP, 180 gram clear vinyl at Record Industry in direct-to-board gatefold jacket with insert and sticker at Imprint. No track listing available.

And away we went on the Internet to look for what direct-to-board means, and this page from Furnace Record Pressing helped us understand. This is a cheaper and faster way of printing a record jacket compared to the oldermethod of case-wrapped jackets. Before the printing press could print on thick paperboard stock they printed paper sheets and wrapped and glued them around thick chipboard shells. According to the Furnace page the old way is these days popular for limited/special edition/audiophile releases.

See what you can learn on the web!

So, with a gatefold sleeve there's enough room to expand the graphics from the CD booklet. Maybe even do something different/extra not on the CD? And the insert mentioned... can it be anything but the lyrics and info on who's playing on each track as well as worked on the record?

The sticker should say something like "New solo album from the voice of Steely Dan" or words to that effect.