Mats & Morgan's orchestral premiere: Listen here!

35 minutes of yesterday's premiere performance of Mats Öberg's & Morgan Ågren's orchestral music written for Norrlandsoperans Symfoniorkester was broadcast on Sveriges Radio.

Check it out here: http://sverigesradio.se/p2
You will have to scroll down a bit and look for the picture seen in this post..
Mats/Morgan part: 58:00-1:36.

Part two here, 37:00-45:00:

Not sure it is available outside Sweden.

Premiere: The orchestral music of Mats & Morgan

Bob Dylan accepts the Nobel Prize

Dylan has called the Swedish Academy.

The Telegraph

Swedish Academy

Premiere: The orchestral music of Mats & Morgan

Pianist Mats Öberg and drummer Morgan Ågren are well known for their jazz/fusion work and fondness of Zappa music, but now they have composed music for a symphony orchestra.

Sveriges Radio (sound file in Swedish and English)

Donald Fagen on Dylan's silence regarding the Nobel Prize

Bob Dylan has shown no offiicial reaction to being awarded the 2016 Nobel Pize in literature. A mention of the prize on bobdylan.com was removed and all this is perplexing for the prize committee used to the winners surprised then delighted reactions. But this time ... nothing.

Over on Showbiz 411 an article about Steely Dan and the band's current series of shows in New York, has Donald Fagen mentioning Dylan and the prize:

“I’m so glad Bob Dylan hasn’t acknowledged the Nobel Prize. They don’t get it. He’s an artist.”

The King of Comedy soundtrack finally out on CD

The soundtrack to the 1983 movie The King of Comedy has belatedly gotten its CD release. We mention this because we like the film by Martin Scorsese, but also the soundtrack featuring an instrumental song called The Finer Things written by Donald Fagen and performed by David Sanborn with Donald on backing vocals.

Since we're missing out on the string of Steely Dan shows currently being executed in New York, a Saturday show with Christian McBride featuring David Sanborn is just the ticket. If we manage to get some. Tickets, that is.

Is Bob Dylan ignoring the Nobel Prize?

The notification on bobdylan.com about the Nobel Literature Prize has disappeared.

More than one week after the announcement of the prestigeous award, Bob Dylan has still neither accepted or declined. A few days after the announcement it was in fact mentioned (very briefly) on bobdylan.com, but that note has now disappeared.

So the question is: Will he show up in Stockholm on December 10 to achieve the Nobel Literature Prize?

So far the answer seems to be blowin' in the wind.

Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

Radio Dupree: Bob Dylan gets Nobel Literature Prize

The debate about this years laureate has been intense. First: was is the right to give the award to Bob Dylan, a musician/writer of rock poetry? Then: why does he not respond?

BBC News: Bob Dylan's Nobel silence 'impolite and arrogant'

Phil Collins announces 2017 tour

Collins is making a comeback with a tour next year.

He will play gigs in London, Paris and Cologne.

BBC News has the story.

Steely Dan's Donald Fagen on The Simpsons

Steely Dan's Donald Fagen made a quick cameo appearance on the latest episode of The Simpsons. It aired last nigh in the USA and is episode number 600 but also the traditional Halloween episode filled with ... horror, mayhem and blood.

It is in the third and final part where a sort of James Bond kind of parody ends up at Duff Stadium where Steely Dan is playing.
Donald Fagen voices his own appearance consisting of one line: "Drugs at a Steely Dan concert? I never thought I'd see the day."

Then our agent heroes have to fight their way through an, as Homer puts it, "army of jazz rock afficiaondos aged fifty and up" while the intro to Babylon Sisters is playing.

Homer first ordered the band to play Deacon Blues, then Royal Scam, before deciding on Babylon Sisters.

The interior of Duff Stadium in Springfeld looks somewhat inspred by the Beacon Theatre, New York, where the non-cartoon version of Steely Dan is playing a series of shows October 12 - 29.

Positive and negative reactions to Bob Dylan's Nobel prize win

Bob Dylan winning the 2016 Nobel prize in literature has been greeted with positive as well as negative comments.

* It’s a bitter disappointment to those of us who hoped that Morrissey would win this year. But it gives us hope for next year.
(Jonathan Franzen. novelist)

Bob Dylan winning a Nobel Prize for Literature says everything about the establishment’s understanding of the appeal of popular music – ie it has none.

* Bob Dylan winning a Nobel Prize for Literature heightens the gender and race divide between ‘serious’ rock music and ‘disposable’ pop music.
(Music journalist Everett True)

* Dylan’s name has often been mentioned over the past few years but we always thought it was a joke,” said the French novelist Pierre Assouline, who could not hide his fury at the Nobel committee.

“Their decision is contemptuous of writers,” he told AFP. “I like Dylan but where is the (literary) work? I think the Swedish Academy have made themselves look ridiculous.”
(AFP)






The quots above come from The Guardian's liveblogging of the news. Well worth a look for different reactions and perspectives if you so like.

Catch The Guardian's liveblog feed here:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/live/2016/oct/13/nobel-prize-in-literature-2016-liveblog

Bob Dylan gets Nobel Literature Prize!

What!? A musician wins the prize? 
Here is why: ..."for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".
Let's just hope that Bob puts up a happier face than when he received the polar Music Prize in Stockholm in 2000.

BBC News: Bob Dylan wins Nobel Prize for Literature

It's Beacon time again for Steely Dan!

Tonight's the night!

Once again Steely Dan will finish a touring year with a number of shows at the Beacon Theatre in New York.

Questions and speculations among fans about what the setlist would look like was common in the early years of the touring Steely Dan. But these days - especially for the Beacon run - the setlists are pretty much ... set. For the ten shows most nights consists of playing a complete album plus additional hits.

This evening it it Royal Scam, but there's also chances to hear the following albums played live from start to finish in the coming days; Aja, Gaucho and for the first time Countdown To Ecstasy.
No prize for guessing what album evening Radio Dupree would've attended if we'd been there. Countdown of course! Plus one of the nights with this years' special guest Rickie Lee Jones.

For more on the Beacon dates visit steelydan.com and if if you should happen to go to one of the shows remember to have fun and say hi to Pete!

Donald Fagent solo album more likely than a new one from Steely Dan

With the traditional final shows of yet another Steely Dan tour coming up this month at the Beacon Theatre in New York, Donald Fagen says in an interview with Asbury Park Press mentions that he's written a couple of new songs.

Q: Are you writing any new material these days? If so, what’s inspiring you as writer and musician?

A: I’ve been working on new songs for an album. Inspiration? I look for new things, but I always end up listening to hard bop and Stravinsky.

Plus:

Q: Thirteen years after the last Steely Dan album, “Everything Must Go,” is there any word on a new record on the horizon?

A: It’s hard to say. Those albums were so hard to produce. Maybe we should start a new group. How do you like the name Swifty and the Grifters? Or The Incus Brothers?

Radio Dupree is happy to see that Donald is still in a record making mood, although we wouldn't presume that it will arrive in 2017. These things tend to take time.

So the next recorded output from Mr. Fagen will most likely be the new one from the band Oh Whitney that's been in the works for a couple of years now. He's producing it and in this short clip he's also providing backing vocals:


https://www.facebook.com/150088401685531/videos/1231692356858458/ 

"Incus Brothers"... Hmmm?

Pink Floyd reunites (for a joint statement)

According to this post on Roger Waters Facebook page Pink Floyd reunites.

The full post reads:

"Pink Floyd reunites to stand with the Women of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla"
David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Roger Waters stand united in support of the Women of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, and deplore their illegal arrest and detention in international waters by the Israeli Defense Force."

So no. No shows, no album, but a joint statement is what this is.

Writer of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" dies

He was known as "The invisible man" thanks to keeping a low profile, but Rod Temperton was one of the most successful songwriters of the 1970's and 1980's.

The big one was of course Thriller that Michael Jackson recorded, but he penned quite a few more beginning with Boogie Nights for the band Heatwave were he was one of the members. Here's that and a few other of his hits.



Rod Temperton passed away last week. BBC has more on that and Rod here.

Kate Bush to release live album

November 25 is the date that "Before The Dawn" will be released in digital form as well as a 3 CD  and 5 vinyl album box set. It is of course the complete show she performed for 22 nights during her surprise return to stage in August and September 2014.

It was no urprise that the shows were being recorded and fans expected a DVD/Blu-ray release in time for Christmas 2015, but nothing happened.
Was Kate not happy with the recordings and had a release been scrapped?

But late November and a little over two years after the shows, the album will be here. No news of a DVD/Blu-ray somewhere down the line, but with the audio released, can video be far behind since it was a very visual show?

Track listing on the CD (Same number of songs on the vinyl and digital releases):

Disc: 1
  1. Act One - Lily (Live)
  2. Act One - Hounds Of Love (Live)
  3. Act One - Joanni (Live)
  4. Act One - Top Of The City (Live)
  5. Act One - Never Be Mine (Live)
  6. Act One - Running Up That Hill (Live)
  7. Act One - King Of The Mountain (Live)

Disc: 2
  1. Act Two - Astronomer's Call (Live)
  2. Act Two - And Dream Of Sheep (Live)
  3. Act Two - Under Ice (Live)
  4. Act Two - Waking The Witch (Live)
  5. Act Two - Watching Them Without Her (Live)
  6. Act Two - Watching You Without Me (Live)
  7. Act Two - Little Light (Live)
  8. Act Two - Jig Of Life (Live)
  9. Act Two - Hello Earth (Live)
  10. Act Two - The Morning Fog (Live)

Disc: 3
  1. Act Three - Prelude (Live)
  2. Act Three - Prologue (Live)
  3. Act Three - An Architect's Dream (Live)
  4. Act Three - The Painter's Link (Live)
  5. Act Three - Sunset (Live)
  6. Act Three - Aerial Tal (Live)
  7. Act Three - Somewhere In Between (Live)
  8. Act Three - Tawny Moon (Live)
  9. Act Three - Nocturn (Live)
  10. Act Three - Aerial (Live)
  11. Act Three - Among Angels (Live)
  12. Act Three - Cloudbusting (Live) 

And the announcement on katebush.com concludes with: "The album was produced by Kate Bush. Nothing on the record was re-recorded or overdubbed."

King Crimson in Stockholm: A great retrospective journey

"King Crimson is not a jukebox". That is what former Crimson drummer Bill Bruford said in an interview in 1999. Through most incarnations, the band has not been known for pleasing their live audiences with old favourites. But the concert in Stockholm yesterday was kind of a Crimson "hit parade".
This was their second show in Filadelfiakyrkan. The previous one took place in the same venue the night before, on Friday September 30. Radio Dupree did not have the opportunity to attend the show on Friday, but fans report that it was as mindblowing as the one the next day.

The three drummers Pat Mastelotto, Jeremy Stacey and Gavin Harrison were placed in the front and behind and slightly above them from left to right: Mel Collins (sax), Tony Levin (bass), Jakko Jakszyk (lead vocals, guitar). On the very right: band leader Robert Fripp (guitar, keyboard) who sat down on a stool during the entire show (just like he uses to).
They played two sets, the first one lasting around 80 minutes, the second 50 minutes and two songs as an encore. The enthusiastic audience got to hear favourites as Epitaph, Circus, Fracture and Starless. The Crims actually played at least one song from almost every album from In the Court of the Crimson King to Red. Some newer songs were performed too (VROOOM) and they fit in well in the show.

The concert was just great! Excellent musicianship. The new singer Jakko Jakszyk has really improved if one compare with the Live at the Orpheum CD. Sometimes he sounds a lot like KC:s first vocalist Greg Lake.
The band has a lot of energy, much thanks to the three drummers, even if the drums get a little too dominating in a few parts of the show.
The first song in the encore part was a surprise; David Bowie's "Heroes". Obviously as a hommage to Bowie who passed away in January. Robert Fripp collaborated with Bowie on occasions. Check out Bowie's Fashion here with Fripp on guitar:

The following and final song of the concert was more expected; 21st Century Schizoid Man.
Now the tour continues to Germany and later also to Italy. If you have the chance to see King Crimson this tour, don't hesitate!

Tour dates here.

Siggy H

Radio Dupree Headquarters earlier today:

So did Siggy make it to Stockholm and King Crimson? Stay tuned...