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 Wednesday, April 15, 2009
More on Metallica's Cliff Burton years
Posted by peter
 It's safe to say that Metallica would never have risen to the heights the thrash-metal kingpins have hit if it wasn't for Cliff Burton. From the moment he was hired, the bassist brought a new level of musical sophistication to a band that was always loud and aggressive, but not as skilled as it would later become. Metallica wasn't much more than a garage band when Burton arrived. With Burton, who was hired away from the band Trauma in the early '80s, Metallica became an unstoppable force in the world of heavy metal, leaving the garage behind for good. Author Joel McIver (visit www.joelmciver.co.uk/ for more on the writer) explores Burton's impact on Metallica in an upcoming book titled "To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton," to be put out by Jawbone Press. Burton played in Metallica from 1983 to 1986, when he died in a tragic tour bus accident on a mountain road in Sweden. Fueled by Burton's songwriting acumen and a playing style influenced as much by classical music as it was by punk, Metallica plowed through the early classic LPs Kill 'Em All (1983), Ride The Lightning (1985) and the seminal 1986 masterpiece Master Of Puppets. Questions still remain about what actually happened to cause the accident that cut short Burton's life. What isn't up for debate is how important he was to Metallica's growth and its most fertile period of creativity — though the band would go on to unleash massive-selling records. Burton was a bassist who viewed the instrument as a lead instrument, not as merely rhythmic support for the pummeling riffs and soaring solos of the guitar. But he was more than that. He helped raise awareness among critics and the public of metal's sonic possibilities, and for that — and his contributions to some of the finest metal albums ever — he'll forever be adored. McIver, who also writes for Total Guitar, Metal Hammer and other publications and is probably best known for the 2004 book "Justice For All: The Truth About Metallica," took time out to talk to Goldmine about Metallica and Burton. A portion of the interview ran in the May 8 print edition of the magazine. The rest of the interview is included below: What did the guys say about that first show with Burton at The Stone in 1983?Joel McIver: Obviously, they loved it and realised that they had stepped up to a new and exciting level of professionalism. Ron McGovney was a good guy and a perfectly adequate bass player, as anyone who has heard the No Life Til Leather demo will know, but Cliff had a certain swagger and dexterity that made him practically one of a kind. He forced the other guys to improve their songwriting and performance skills, just by doing what he did best. Dave Mustaine’s departure from the band was a pretty bitter split. Can you pinpoint the moment when the rest of the band figured it was time to let him go?JM: It was either during the band’s journey from San Francisco to New York City in April 1983 or immediately after they arrived. He’d been drinking a lot and acting like a moron, and they’d had enough. Yes, it was bitter, and perhaps a little merciless in retrospect — but they couldn’t have done as well as they have since if he’d remained with them. Metallica has had a turbulent history with two dominant personalities in the band; can you imagine what it would have been like with three? Talk about how the band developed from Kill ‘Em All through Ride The Lightning. How did the band see the difference between the two? JM: Like night and day. Kill is raw, poorly-produced and lyrically juvenile; Ride is professional, musicianly and thematically serious (if not quite what we’d call "mature"). The differences between the two albums are a mirror to the evolution of the band. James [Hetfield], Dave [Mustaine] and Lars [Ulrich] wrote the songs for Kill when they were between 17 and 19 — still kids, in effect. The couple of years which passed before the Ride sessions were crucial ones, as they are for all of us. By the time Ride was recorded, they were all much more advanced musicians and much more serious about their careers. What do some of the members remember about being signed to Elektra?JM: My impression is that Metallica’s relationship with Elektra has been insignificant compared to the relationship which they have with their managers at Q-Prime. Ask Lars about Elektra now and he’ll tell you how the band sued the company in 1994 for ownership of their master recordings — a move which no major recording act has made before or since. Master of Puppets was such a monumental album for Metallica. Was the feeling among the guys that this was going to be the one that broke them?JM: I don’t think so. They’ve been quite clear in interviews ever since that they simply made the best album they could at the time, not knowing that it would be regarded as a genre classic in later years. I think they appreciated the bigger recording budget which Elektra gave them and had a more focused sense of songwriting and better musicianship, but (quite understandably) they didn’t know how enduring the results would be. It’s been over 20 years since Cliff Burton died. Do you get the sense that it still haunts James, Kirk and Lars?JM: It haunts Kirk to an extent, because he was Cliff’s closest friend in the band (as he explains in his foreword to my book). I think the three of them have spent many years processing their loss, though, and I think they still feel a sense of sadness but are able to look back at the good times, too. How close were they to ending Metallica after his death?JM: Not really that close — it was obvious, and correct, for them to assume that Cliff wouldn’t have wanted them to quit after all the work they’d put into the band. They were much closer to splitting up in 2002, as documented in "Some Kind Of Monster." In what way was Metallica a different band after Burton died?JM: This is one of the central themes of my book. What most people fail to realise is that Metallica was not solely Lars’ and James’ band in the early days. Because Cliff was so musically literate and a strong personality in the band, they assigned a degree of power to him, perhaps involuntarily. Important decisions weren’t taken without his say-so, and not just musical ones — matters of Metallica’s career strategy, too. When he died, Lars and James took over the running of the band, aided by the fact that they were the primary songwriters. This is not meant as a slight to the other musicians, but the degree of influence that Kirk has had over the band has always been lesser than that of Cliff, James and Lars — and in the case of Jason [Newstead] and Robert [Trujillo], lesser still. What kind of guy was Cliff and how did he relate to the other guys? He seems like he was so beloved by the rest of the band. JM: I interviewed dozens of people who were close to the band for this book, and the consensus is that they loved him like a brother – which is to say they had ups and downs, like any family which goes through difficult times. They respected him for his musicianship and also for his refusal to do anything that he didn’t want to do (which, if you really think about it, is a rare quality), and occasionally argued with him when he overplayed his bass parts. They understood that he was a great, great musician and composer and gave him the space he needed to express himself.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 4:15:42 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00) 
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Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The Elastik Band: What are they up to now?
Posted by peter
 After the furor caused by the infamous single "Spazz," a frantic piece of bluesy garage rock that attacks the nervous system with obvious glee, The Elastik Band stuck it out for a little while longer in the late '60s. But misguided interference from record labels and management resulted in the group finally calling it quits. Flash forward about 40 years, and David Cortopassi, who sang and played guitar, bass and vibraphone with the band, as well as penning "Spazz" and either writing or co-writing most of The Elastik Band's material, is still in the music game. As for the rest, Cortopassi says, "I haven’t had contact with Vince Silvera since the band broke up, but I heard from my cousin, Russell Kerger, that he saw Vince being interviewed on a TV news station regarding something about motorcycles, so I guess he’s in San Francisco and doing ok. Russell is more or less retired and splits his time living in Mexico and the North Bay area of San Francisco. He still plays some with local bands in the San Francisco Bay Area. Rusty Kierig left the states about 15 years ago working his way around the world. He now lives in Bangkok, Thailand where he’s a Marketing & Business Development Consultant. Scott [Williams, who co-wrote a number of Elastik Band songs with Cortopassi and played guitar and bass and sang in the band] resides in Los Angeles, is in the automobile business, and continues to play occasionally with bands there." Then there's Cortopassi, who is still spreading the gospel of The Elastik Band. "These days I have my own independent label, Digital Cellars ( www.DigitalCellars.com), through which I’ve released several solo CDs — Pharaoh Of Mars, The Silicon Jungle, Embrace Destiny, and most recently The Elastik Band. We have distributors world-wide and all CDs are currently in syndication getting airplay nationwide and in 13 countries. The CDs are available directly from Digital Cellars and also through major stores or online from The Orchard, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com and the like."
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 9:40:28 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Monday, April 13, 2009
The other side of The Elastik Band
Posted by peter
 Unavoidably, The Elastik Band will always be linked to the frantic, notorious garage-rock single "Spazz," but the late-'60s combo from San Francisco were a diverse lot. Some of the material on the compilation The Elastik Band (1967-1969) actually veers into folkier territory, bringing to mind The Mamas And The Papas or The Byrds. Other songs recall the poppier elements of the British Invasion. David Cortopassi, who played guitar, bass, vibraphone and sang lead and backing vocals in the band, as well as handling much of the songwriting duties, talked about some of the key songs in The Elastik Band catalog in a recent interview. I want to get your impressions of some of the more gentle, folkier tracks you did, starting with "The Word Is You."David Cortopassi: I still like this song. Some of the better lyrics Scott and I ever wrote even to this day. There’s something esoteric yet true and human about it. I find there’s meaning and lessons about love and life to be found here in lyrics that overcome the obstacle of everyday words. Yikes … if that doesn’t make me sound like a Moon-child, what would? You asked… "Pauper's Fugue" has a real classical feel. And how about "Fire & Desire"?DC: [I] guess "Pauper’s Fugue" comes from a lot of classical training. "Fire & Desire" is a bit of a conundrum even to me. Heaven only knows where that came from. Being 18 when I wrote it, I certainly had no worldly experiences from which to draw. How about some of the more odd recordings. "Popcorn," for instance, could rival "Spazz" for its strangeness, with that kazoo. And yet, it's got a lively melody and really great vocal harmonies. How did this song come about?DC: I distinctly remember when [Elastik Band member] Scott [Williams] and I sat down and wrote "Popcorn" together. We had this silly theme that just kind of conjured up the idea of a carnival or fair, so we started kicking around some lyrics and adding to the story — not knowing where we were headed with it. Then at the end, the only thing that made sense was to have the story be about a couple of children. I’m sure we were both surprised and pleased about how the lyrics unfolded at the end. Scott and I are basically the only ones on that cut except that Vince Silvera plays the Jew’s harp. The “burp” is a Jew’s harp with a ton of signal processing. "All I Need" sounds a little Beatlesque. How much of an influence were they?DC: Though I personally find it hard to hear a lot of Beatles in my writing, anyone would have to be foolish to think or say they weren’t influenced by them. It’s an absolute unless you’ve been living on another planet. A better choice of words might be “inspired” by Beatle innovations and all the rules they broke. The first 45 that I ever bought was “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” I didn’t know who The Beatles were; never heard them before, and really had no idea about them becoming a huge fad. I wasn’t even a fan of rock 'n' roll at the time. It was as simple as that … heard the song on the radio and had to have it. Until then I was listening to Montovani, Gus Bivona and Xavier Cugat. Go figure. Read more about The Elastik Band and "Spazz" in the May 8 edition of Goldmine, and check out www.digital-cellars.com to find out more about Elastik Band releases and recordings David Cortopassi has been associated with.
Monday, April 13, 2009 11:12:08 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Thursday, April 09, 2009
Saxon: In Charlie we trust
Posted by peter
 As the old adage goes, if ain't broke, don't fix it, and Saxon wasn't about to do that with their latest blitz of earth-scorching rock, Into The Labyrinth. So the heavy-metal godfathers decided to go back in the studio with longtime producer Charlie Bauerfiend, who is neither red nor scaly nor has a bifurcated tail, to borrow a phrase from the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou?" "Well, Charlie’s done five albums [with us] now," says Byford, "and we’ve sort of got him pretty trained now (laughs) for what we want. It’d be a bit silly to go with somebody else at this point. But we’re always open to suggestions. But we always go over [things] very carefully, because you know in the early days, we made mistakes going with certain people trying them out. And sometimes it didn’t work. Sometimes it did work. So I think we’re tending to stay with, you know, the devil we know rather than the devil we don’t know." With soaring anthems like "Valley Of The Kings" and the frenzied theatrics of "Demon Sweeney Todd," not to mention the thunderous first single, "Live To Rock" and the piled-driving "Crime Of Passion," Saxon was right not to take the risk of relying on someone new to helm the ship. This material was too strong to be left to chance. The album, released in January on SPV, was recorded at Twilight Hall in Germany, and location was everything. "Well, the reason we used that studio is, one the guys that own it are good friends of ours, a band called Blind Guardian," explains Byford, "and it was very convenient because we were playing all the major metal festivals last summer. So it was very convenient. It’s right on the Dutch border, where we were. So it’s easy to get to Sweden, [and] it’s easy to get down into Southern Germany. We were working Monday to Friday in the studio and Friday night, the tour bus picked us up and we went off for a weekend of work and then came back to the studio. It was really convenient. So that’s why we worked in Germany. For whatever reason, Saxon never hit it big in the U.S. like their New Wave Of British Heavy Metal brothers Iron Maiden and Def Leppard. Still, Saxon isn't without its American supporters, and Into The Labyrinth isn't likely to disappoint them.  "Yeah, we have a great fanbase in America, and you know, just because we didn’t make millions of dollars and sell platinum albums doesn’t mean anything," says Byford. "That’s just ... I mean, we have some great fans in America, and we have a lot of bands that we influenced. So, you know, we love America, and we’d just like to play there more." And American fans would love for them to do just that. Byford says they light up the Saxon messageboard with pleas for the band to tour the U.S. As for that Maiden outfit, and others fellow NWOBHM travelers — Motorhead to name one — Byford will always have fond memories of touring with them. And he says there is still is lot of camaraderie between the bands that established the NWOBHM beachhead. "You know, we just did a long tour with Motorhead, and we go way back," says Byford. "I go way back with Lemmy [Kilminster]. And we’re still quite competitive onstage. We still try and beat each other — beat each other for reactions and that thing. So I think it’s a bit like football, or something like that, you know, or soccer. I think some teams can be friends off the pitch, but on the pitch, it’s quite competitive. Yeah, I think there is a lot of camaraderie. I think there’s more camaraderie now than there was then." To get caught up with all things Saxon related, visit www.saxon747.com/And head on over to spvusa.com to find out what's happening with all the bands on the label's roster. And lastly, pick up the May 8 issue of Goldmine to read an extended interview with Biff.
Thursday, April 09, 2009 9:27:45 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Goldmine and National Record Store Day
Posted by peter
 Supporting your local record store is more important than ever these days. It's fine to go online and shop, what with the convenience and selection such businesses offer. But I believe there is still room in this world for the brick-and-mortar establishment, especially one where you might hear the spare, but intoxicatingly beautiful, folk-rock of a unique talent like Cory Chisel (pictured at right) doing an in-store performance. Without them, admit it, you would miss killing a few hours poring through the racks. You would miss the enthusiastic clerks who are just bursting to let you listen to record by the hot new bands they've discovered. Hell, I'd even miss the snobby ones who aren't afraid to tell you your taste is terrible. National Record Store Day, held on April 18, is one way to get the word out that such businesses are still around, and with crazy amounts of vinyl units being pushed — even still in this drab economy — rumors of their demise might be greatly exaggerated.  We here at Goldmine are going to be doing what we can to support the cause. That day, I and some of the rest of team Goldmine will be at The Exclusive Co. in Appleton, Wis. (the store is in the mini mall on Northland Ave., the one with the Shopko and Kohl's attached). We'll be giving away stuff, selling some of our books and holding contests for free subscriptions. So come on by and meet the gang! We'll be there starting at 10 a.m. until who knows when. Cooler still, The Exclusive Company has some exciting stuff planned. For one thing, hometown-boy-made-good Cory Chisel (sans his band the Wandering Sons), who still calls Appleton home, is going to be doing a free live acoustic in-store performance. Chisel and The Wandering Sons' 2008 EP Cabin Ghosts has won all sorts of acclaim. Chisel has toured with indie sweetheart Rachael Yamagata and shared the bill with a number of indie heavyweights. Chisel isn't the only act playing The Exclusive Company that day. Sunday Flood guitarist/vocalist Eric Krueger will also be doing the acoustic in-store thing. Music starts at 4 p.m. Now, if you can't get to the Appleton store, there are other Exclusive Company outlets that will be holding all kinds of different celebrations. Check with stores in Oshkosh, Milwaukee, Brookfield and Green Bay to see what's going on there. All of them have MySpace pages, so go pay them a visit. If you plan on going, bring lots of cash because The Exclusive Company is holding its biggest one-day sale ever that day. Tons of CDs, DVDs and vinyl records will be on sale, as will used CDs and CD boxsets. There'll also be free stuff with every purchase and free food and soda all day. The Exclusive Company will open at 8 a.m. on April 18. And be sure you save some of that cash because there will be scads of limited-edition vinyl releases — many of which are going to be put out exclusively for National Record Store Day. Take a gander at these: - Akron/Family "Everyone is Guilty" 7" first single from new album; unreleased b-side - Arthur Russell "Love Is Taking Me" 2LP 2LP (RSD exclusive) - Bad Religion Original EP 7" reissue colored vinyl; 6 tracks from 1981 - Ben Harper 10" "Shimmer and Shine"/"Spanish Red Wine" B-side, "Spanish Red Wine" is unreleased - Black Kids Wizard of Ahhhs 10" first time on physical format - Black Moth Super Rainbow Born on a Day 7" Two tracks from the forthcoming studio recorded album, Eating Us - Blitzen Trapper "War is Placebo/Booksmart" 7" - two exclusive tracks w/die cut sleeve - Bob Dylan 7"--"Dreaming of You"/"Down Along the Cove" tracks recorded live at Bonnaroo; packaged in clear sleeve with 3x5 photo - Booker T "Warped Sister/Reunion Time" 7" 7" - Brandi Carlile 7" single "Downpour"/"A Promise To Keep" “Downpour” is the live track recorded in Boston - Bruce Springsteen 7" "What Love Can Do"/"A Night With The Jersey Devil" packaged in clear sleeve with 3x5 photo - Camera Obscura "French Navy" 7" 7" (RSD exclusive) - Cold War Kids Live at Fingerprints Live at Fingerprints 5 song EP - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Deja Vu Live 2LP Companion vinyl to the DVD - Cursive/Ladyfinger Split 10" picture disc four songs, two unreleased and two new - Dandy Warhols Remix CD #2 - Death Cab For Cutie T-Shirt exclusive design for Record Store Day - Dead Weather Hang You From the Heavens 7" Jack White's new band! The debut release from both the Dead Weather and Third Man Records - Def Jam 25: Volume 1 and 2 4 LP gatefold history of Def Jam, only physical version of this piece is for indies 4 LP gatefold history of Def Jam, only physical version of this piece is for indies - Depeche Mode 7" "Wrong"/"Oh Well" 7" - Derek Trucks Already Live EP five previously unreleased live tracks from the 2008 tour - Dr. Dog/Floating Action Split 7" 7" - exclusive - El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez “Cryptomnesia” Limited Edition Vinyl for RSD (3,000 pieces) - Elvis Costello* "Complicated Shadows"/"Dirty Rotten Shame" picture disc - "Dirty Rotten Shame" is exclusive track--previously unreleased - Elvis Perkins "Lorraine Lookout" 7" two tracks, one unreleased - Flaming Lips/Black Keys split 7" "Borderline"/"Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles" 7" Borderline/Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles - Flight of the Conchords "Pencils In The Wind"/"Albi The" 7" - two exclusive tracks w/die cut sleeve - Gaslight Anthem Live from Park Ave 10" Live from Park Ave 10" - 6 tracks - Grateful Dead T-Shirt exclusive design for Record Store Day - Grizzly Bears Live on KCRW 7" two tracks, "While You Wait For The Others"/"He Hit Me" - Gomez Airstream Driver 7" non-album b side - Guided By Voices Hold On Hope LP Three bonus tracks - Heaven & Hell 7" "Bible Black" / Neon Knights (Live) Created exclusively for Record Store Day - Iron and Wine Norfolk 6-20-05 Live 18 track CD recorded on the Woman King tour - Jane's Addiction 7" "Mountain Song" / "Standing in the Shower…Thinking" 7" Mtn. Song/Standing In The Shower- Packaged in original replica picture sleeve - Jason Mraz T-Shirt exclusive design for Record Store Day - Jenny Lewis/Elvis Costello 7" --"Carpet Baggers"/"Go Away" Never before available in the US - Jesus Lizard 9 x 7" pack A pack of nine 7"s - Leonard Cohen 7" "The Future/"Suzanne" tracks recorded live in London, packaged in clear sleeve with 3x5 photo - Loney Dear/Andrew Bird 7" split 7" 7" - hand-silk screened covers; tour & mail order item - Lykke Li/El Perro Del Mar 7" "After Laughter (Comes Tears)" / "At Your Best (You are Love)" Made exclusively for Record Store Day featuring two unreleased cover songs. - Magnolia Electric Co, "It's Made Me Cry" 7" Jason Molina's first 7" in years - Mastodon T-Shirt exclusive design for Record Store Day - MC 5 7" "Kick Out The Jams"/"Motor City Is Burning" Packaged in the original rare picture sleeve, first time available since 1969 - Metric "Help I'm Alive" 7" Picture disc "Help I'm Alive"/"Help I'm A B-Side" - Misfits Walk Among Us LP Pressed on 140 gram vinyl - Modest Mouse* 7" --"Satelite Skin"/"Guilty Cocker Spaniels" both tracks are brand new - My Morning Jacket - Celebración De La Ciudad Natal Celebracion De La Ciudad Natal CD & 2 x 10" Vinyl - 4-14 Street, Vinyl one time shot. Recorded LIVE in LOUISVILLE (at Ear X-tacy, and Waterfront Park), includes classic tracks and selections from the band's most recent GRAMMY nominated album EVIL URGES. PLEASE NOTE: double 10 inch will be a limited edition, ONE TIME pressing - We shall manufacture only what is ordered. Once it’s gone, it’s gone folks. - New Order 7" (live) "Temptation" / "Hurt" - as and A&B side. - Neil Young Sugar Mountain Live at Canterbury House 1968 2LP The special vinyl package - Oasis Falling Down Remix LP Falling Down Remix LP - Obits "I Can't Lose/Military Madness" 7" 7" - two exclusive tracks w/die cut sleeve - Paramore T-Shirt exclusive design for Record Store Day - Pavement "Live in Germany 1988" LP unreleased show from 1988 - Poison The Well Six track CD 6 track CD, taken from 2 7" singles that the band sells on the road, and an upcoming 7" single that will be out later this spring - Pretenders "Break Up The Pavement"/Love's…" 7" 7" - one unrelased track, and track from new album on red vinyl - Queen EP Queen's First EP Limited Edition, Numbered CD for the first time in the US - Radiohead 10" vinyl series (see list of titles in NOTES) THESE ARE BEING RELEASED EARLY FOR RSD: Drill, Creep, My Iron Lung, High & Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, Just, Street Spirit, Paranoid Android, Karma Police, No Surprises, Pyramid Song, 2+2=5 - Regina Spektor Begin to Hope LP with two tracks never before available on CD or vinyl - Rivers Cuomo Live @ Fingerprints CD and CD/DVD Combo Live @ Fingerprints CD and CD/DVD Combo - Russian Circles/These Arms Are Snakes Split !2 Previously Unreleased songs on Clear Vinyl (1,000 pieces) - Silversun Pickups Pikul 12" exclusive release ahead of their new album - Slayer 7" single "Psychopathy Red" packaged in special X-Files-style, "confidential" packaging - Sonic Youth/Beck split 7" split 7" (RSD exclusive) - Sonic Youth/Jay Reatard split 7" split 7" (RSD exclusive) - Sublime "Superstar Punani"/April 29, 1992" 7" 7" single with 2 live tracks, first time on vinyl - Taking Back Sunday 7" "Carpathia/Catholic" (live) 7" Carpathia/Catholic (live) - Talking Heads 77 LP [reissue] Pressed on 180 gram vinyl - The Color Fred The Intervention CD EP six acoustic tracks--four new - The Decemberists 7" "The Rake's Song"/"East India Lanes" B-side, "East India Lanes" is unreleased - The Smiths 7" "The Headmaster Ritual" /"Oscillate Widly" Never before available in the US as a 7" single. - The Stooges 7" "1969"/"Real Cool Time" Packaged in the original rare picture sleeve - Thermals/Thao Get Down Stay Down split 7" split 7" Get Down Stay Down (4 tracks unreleased) - Tift Merritt Buckingham Solo CD recorded live at a church; Tift solo with piano and guitar - Tom Waits "Live from the Glitterdome" 7" 7" - live tracks from Atlanta & Edinburgh - Underoath T-Shirt exclusive design for Record Store Day - Various Artists--THIS LP CRASHES HARD DRIVES Super deluxe gatefold LP (Limited to only 1,500 copies) with exclusive tracks from 10 of the finest crate-digging labels out there! Includes a mix of sampler cd's, zines, catalogs, stickers, and posters, from all of these fine labels. 1) Los Destellos - “Guajira Sicodelica” (Vampi Soul) 2) P.E. Hewitt Jazz Ensemble - “Bada Que Bash” (Now Again) 3) Group Doueh - “Waya Waya” (Sublime Frequencies) 4) Noor Jehan - “I Am Very Sorry” (Finders Keepers) 5) Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - “Marcus Garvey” (Honest Jon’s) 6) Pisces feat. Linda Bruner - “Sam” (Numero Group) 7) The Monks - “Pretty Suzanne” (Light In The Attic) 8) Myron & E with The Soul Investigators - “Cold Game” (Timmion) 9) John Heartsman & Circles - “Talking About My Baby” (Jazzman) 10) Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens - “What Is This” (Daptone) - Various artists Records Toreism LP tracks from Mountain Tortoise, Trans Am, White Hills, Double Dagger - Vetiver "Wishing Well"/"Pay No Mind" 7" 7" - two semi-exclusive non-album tracks w/diecut sleeve - Whiskeytown 7" single - San Atone b/w Great Divide (unreleased tracks) 7" single - San Atone b/w Great Divide (unreleased tracks) - Wilco Ashes of American Flags DVD DVD is released with an exclusive window of two weeks for indie stores and mail order - Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs It’s Blitz LP vinyl version of forthcoming Yeah Yeah Yeahs CD * will not be released in time for Record Store Day
Wednesday, April 08, 2009 10:55:07 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Monday, April 06, 2009
Goldmine is on Facebook!
Posted by peter
 It was inevitable, I guess. With the onset of all kinds of social-networking platforms, it's about time Goldmine gets in the game. And get into it we have. Today, we here at Goldmine headquarters have established a Goldmine Facebook page. The link is below. Go ahead and check it out. We'll be tweaking it a great deal I'm sure as we move forward and adding tons of links and all that good stuff. With this, we hope to facilitate a stronger online bond with our readers. This should allow us to connect with you all in a much broader, more intensive way. We'll be able to keep you abreast of all that's going on with Goldmine, including what we have in store for National Record Store Day on April 18. Hope to see you all on Facebook as fans! http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Goldmine-The-Collectors-Record-And-Compact-Disc-Marketplace/156844505601?ref=nf
Monday, April 06, 2009 6:34:56 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Friday, April 03, 2009
The jazzy side of The Marshall Tucker Band
Posted by peter
 Everybody knows about the cowboy image of The Marshall Tucker Band and how strong an influence traditional country was on the band's soaring Southern-rock aesthetic. But what about those moments when it sounded like ... well, jazz for God's sake? It wasn't such a strange combination. Matter of fact, some of The Marshall Tucker Band's greatest triumphs had some jazz stylings in them. Doug Gray, still the band's lead singer, tried to explain where the band picked up that jazz influence in a recent interview, and its connection to the love songs in its bulging catalog — some of which appear on the most recent Marshall Tucker Band compilation, Love Songs. "The jazz that goes in our stuff, we never really realized what jazz was," explains Gray. "We just happened to be going out in 1972, they put us out there with different groups I went to see ... Toy (Caldwell) and I used to left school just to go see the Pabst Blue Ribbon Jazz Festival, okay? In the 12th grade, me and him both went up to Greensboro, N.C. — and that was an overnight trip then — you know, to go up there and listen to the blues festival. Dionne Warwick, Thelonious Monk, and people like that. And that's back when music was solid. You got up there and you played what you felt, and it wasn't that organized or that well written; it was just whoever could play that lick in a good time, it was time for them to play it. And you laid everything out on the table, and [with] the love songs, I think when people actually lay things out on the table, that's what they end up with, is a love song — a love of some sort, whether it's good or bad." To Gray, what The Marshall Tucker Band did wasn't really that pure strain of jazz that aficionados get all high and mighty about. Gray has another term for it. "I call it instead of jazz, I call it dreamy — you know, it's more of a dreamy kind of music," he says. "And we still do it today, and you know, what we do in the band today compared to what we did then is very, very similar." Back in the early days, the band didn't really dwell on influences and how they were mixing different genres into its brand of jam-based Southern rock. They were making a stew and weren't following any sort of recipe. But, what they did have was the musicianship of Toy and Tommy Caldwell. "Toy was the most talented in the band, and Toy was the driving force along with Tommy, both, and we had no idea [that] what we were putting together at that time was weird, 'cause all we were looking to do on a Friday night was to make enough money to go out and buy beer, you know," says Gray. 'So there was no real set to play this kind of music or play that kind of music. It was, let's see who's got what, and that's how The Marshall Tucker Band evolved, and that's how it stayed the whole time. We went into a little pop thing there for a while, but that was because music had changed in the world and people had kind of pushed you that way." Sadly, both Caldwell boys are gone now. And so is George McCorkle, whose guitar interplay with Toy was something to behold. Gray is still carrying on, and not only is he still singing those great Marshall Tucker songs, he's also the band archivist of sorts. For instance, he's still got the Burger King bag that he wrote on when coming up with the lyrics for "Never Should Have Fallen In Love With You." And that's not all. "I've got lyric sheets from when Toy was first writing "Can't You See?" and other stuff, "Ramblin'" and songs like that," says Gray. "I would be the one that had to write 'em down real quick as he was spitting them out." An admitted pack rat, Gray has tons of Marshall Tucker Band ephemera. "You know, I've got warehouses and warehouses full of stuff," says Gray. "And I would keep [everything' every time we'd go to do a record, I'd just pile all that stuff in, and when Toy would come up with stuff, I'd just slip it right back in my suitcase, you know." Read more about The Marshall Tucker Band's Love Songs in the April 24 issue of Goldmine. And visit www.marshalltuckerband.com to find out what's happening with the boys from Spartanburg, S.C.
Friday, April 03, 2009 10:09:22 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Thursday, April 02, 2009
Roger Joseph Manning Jr. triggers 'Catnip Dynamite'
Posted by peter
 The circus is back in town again. And the ringmaster is none other than Roger Joseph Manning Jr., whose three-ring power-pop/prog-rock extravaganza, Catnip Dynamite, is among the most ambitious records released in recent years. Known best for his work with early-'90s psych-pop dandies Jellyfish, and the similarly wired, but short-lived, Imperial Drag — not to mention The Moog Cookbook and TV Eyes — Manning has emerged with a solo album that scrambles the senses. In Catnip Dynamite, the worlds of Sgt. Pepper and Willy Wonka collide, with Rick Wakeman (see the epic, theatrical "Survival Machine" to draw your own comparison) trying to save humanity with his mighty keyboard flourishes. Actually, that's Manning on piano, harpsichord, organ and a seeming symphony of other instruments — including crunchy guitars — on the album, released Feb. 3 on Oglio. Listening to Catnip Dynamite, you get the idea that Manning took his time making it. And you'd be right. "As a matter of fact, Catnip Dynamite was crafted out of sketches and demos over the last 20-year period of my life, and it was a great musical, internal journey to go back and flesh those ideas out," says Manning. Take for instance the song "Haunted Henry" — a jazzy little number that sounds like Supertramp and Joe Jackson doing "Sweeney Todd" — and its long gestation period. Or maybe it sounds like somebody else entirely. "The music for 'Haunted Henry' was actually written in 1986 during my college years when I was actually in a heavy XTC phase," admits Manning. "It was not quite right for Jellyfish so it sat on the back-burner for awhile as I always loved the track. I finished the lyrics in 2007. The story is [about] a town misfit not too unlike the thread in 'To Kill A Mockingbird.' Everyone makes him out to be a monster, but we never learn if he really is a monster or just being accused of the acts mentioned in the lyrics."  For years, Manning has worked behind the scenes as a keyboardist, arranger, vocalist and songwriter, helping out such disparate musical heavyweights as Beck, Air, Morrissey, Glen Campbell, Cheap Trick, Johnny Cash and ... Paris Hilton? You heard that right. Paris Hilton. He has also helped out on the music for films such as "Lost In Translation" and "Team America." To learn more about Manning, visit www.rogerjosephmanningjr.com or www.oglio.com. And watch www.goldminemag.com for a more expansive story on Manning.
Thursday, April 02, 2009 9:25:20 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Bobby Womack and the night Janis Joplin died
Posted by peter
 He lost one brother to murder. His mentor, Sam Cooke, was shot in 1964 in a seedy motel. He experienced divorce, watched friends and colleagues succumb to drug abuse and endured commercial peaks and valleys that would have felled lesser artists. But Bobby Womack, now 65 years old, survived it all and in just days, the soul and R&B master will be inducted into the 2009 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. One of those friends who died along the way was Janis Joplin. In an article that will be published in the April 24 print edition of Goldmine, Womack talked about how Joplin ended up recording his song "Trust Me" for her seminal record Pearl and shared the story behind the making of another Joplin classic song, "Mercedes Benz." Unfortunately, due to space, a lot of the Goldmine interview with Womack ended up not making it in either Part I of the story (published in the April 10 edition) or Part II. Perhaps the most fascinating material that got left on the cutting-room floor involves Womack being with Joplin the night she died, Oct. 4, 1970, of a heroin overdose. Here's what Womack had to say about it: "I went by her hotel ... and she was sitting there, we're talking, talking, talking ... I'm not lying," says Womack. "There was drugs and all that was there. You know, I was doing what I was doing, and she said, 'Hey, I don't like that.' And I said, 'Well, that's tough. Who wants to be laid back and sleepy? You know. I can't miss a step.' Well, somebody called her on the phone. And she said, 'I'm sitting here with Bobby Womack.' And they did not want me there. And they told her, 'I'm not coming up if he's there. Tell him to... let him leave.' And she said, 'You get on the elevator. He's gonna come up the stairs.' And I said, 'Ookayy ... ' So, I got on the elevator. I could hear 'em come running up the stairs. And it was about 7 or 8 o'clock that next morning, Paul Rothschild, who was her [producer], called me, and he says, 'Janis Joplin OD'ed.' And he said, 'They say you was the last one with her.' And I say, 'But that guy she wanted to come up, he didn't want to see me. So, she asked me to leave in a nice way, you know.' And I said, 'I guess he was the guy that was bringing her, you know, the stuff." So, that right there, I mean ... forever. I mean, when something happens, there's people on the sidelines saying, 'Bobby, but if you never did it, something was going to happen.' It's easy to say that, but when you have to live it ... " Womack had his own struggle with drugs. Seeing people like Joplin die from them convinced him to get clean. And eventually he did so. Maybe that's why he's still around. "I don't know if I'm still here because of that reason, but I know I feel better in that sense," says Womack. "And then sometimes the creative energy don't flow like it used to, 'cause sometimes you can hype yourself into that, you know. But I just know that I feel blessed, because I say I know more people dead than I know people living. I'm serious. When I look around, they say, 'He's gone.' 'But I just talked to him yesterday. They say, he had a heart attack.' I said, 'Damn.' The last funeral I went to was Johnny Taylor. And when I went to that funeral and saw him there, I said I'll never go to another funeral again. I just want to see the people I know walking around and laughing and playing the music. I don't want to see people laying down like that. And what made it even worse was when I got on the plane I was so upset about it, 'cause I mean I'm going back to Johnny all the way from the gospel days, at Sam Cooke's place with The Soul Stirrers. The stewardess came up to me, and she said, 'I know it's been hard on you but he's with us.' And I said, 'Oh yeah.' I'm thinking in mind and spirit. She said, 'No, I mean, he's underneath.' I said, 'In this plane underneath? And she said, "Yeah, he wanted to be buried at Little Rock, Ark. That's where his mother's at. She said that's where he wanted to be buried, next to his mom.' So, that totally threw me out. I had to ride another hour saying, 'Damn, man. Johnny be lying after drinking and talking grace, and ...' saying he's underneath, I never had that happen to me. [Maybe it did], but nobody ever told me somebody's dead underneath. They just told me my friend's underneath. So that hit me a long ways, and after going through all those scars and all of that, I just thank God that I'm still around to do something positive for my kids and still be able to knock out a song or two." We're thanking the good Lord, too, Bobby. The ABKCO label has reissued Womack's The Poet and The Poet II LPs, originally released in 1981 and 1984, respectively, on one CD and in their original format as The Poet I and The Poet II for digital release already this year. Later in 2009, ABKCO will put out a comprehensive Bobby Womack Retrospective. To learn more, go to www.abkco.com. And visit www.archive.bobbywomack.sofake.com/ to read up on Womack's life and career and what he's up to now. And, of course, be sure to read the April 10 and April 24 editions of the print issues of Goldmine for more on Bobby Womack.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 10:23:02 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Monday, March 30, 2009
Will Dailey unleashes 'Torrent'
Posted by peter
 While record labels and artists rack their brains trying to figure out how to adapt to a changing music-buying market, Boston singer-songwriter Will Dailey has struck upon an idea that, at least for him, could work like a charm. The usual mode of operation for a label is to put out an album's worth of material, have the artist tour long and hard to support it and then sit back for a couple of years and watch the profits roll in, while the artist waits years until it's his or her turn to do it all over again. That model isn't working anymore. It's a digital world now and downloading has made that approach archaic. Dailey, a pop craftsman of great sophistication and wondrous ability, was tired of the assembly-line approach. So he's decided to unleash "Torrent," an experiment in music marketing that may just point the way to a new future for the recording industry. The idea behind "Torrent" is this: Instead of releasing a full album in two to three years' time, Dailey will put out new collections of recordings every two or three months in 2009 in the form of EPs. The digital version of the first, titled Fashion Of Distraction, dropped Jan. 20 via CBS Records, and it's a thematical grouping of songs that have the rich vocal harmonies and jangly pop/folk feel of The Byrds, especially on the tracks "Peace Of Mind" and "So Many Wrong Ways." Even though it's the full-on melodic rush of "Never Be Your Baby" that wins the day. Next up for the "Torrent" series is Dailey's love letter to the intelligent, punk-infused power-pop of his hometown, By The Blue Hills, due out in April, which features guest spots from Boston-area artists like The Cars' Elliot Easton, the Dropkick Murphys' Tim Brennan, Belly's Tonya Donelly and former Letters To Cleo member Kay Hanley.  Both EPs will be available together and physical copies will go on sale April 28, with bonus tracks. And Dailey will be doing some touring. By going this route, Dailey hopes to keep pace with the increasingly fast turnover of releases foisted upon the public these days. "The intention for me was to trick my record label into letting me record as many songs as I could," jokes Dailey. "I found that like, you know, you make a record and you record 10 or 12 songs, and then you are stuck — especially when you're on a label and you're not doing it yourself ... you're stuck pushing that up to two years. I don't write 12 songs at the end of two years, record them and wait two years to write another 12. So I kind of figured since everyone is purchasing and digesting music in different ways now, and at a faster clip — you know, it's in one ear and out the other, no pun intended — that why not put out and record music that way, and it's more conducive to how I write." Like everyone else with aspirations of rock 'n' roll glory as a youth, this isn't exactly how Dailey pictured his music career going. 'Yeah, I didn't know that I always did write this way," says Dailey. "But I never ... this wasn't a goal of mine, as a kid, growing up with rock 'n' roll dreams. The goals were pretty basic, you know. You know, you record records and you play live. And it's just in the past 10, maybe eight years, or nine years, it's just changed dramatically. So, I started getting ideas and I realized this just might work for me better. For her part, Hanley thinks it's high time somebody like Dailey came along to shake things up. As a music consumer, she's all for a slew of shorter releases. "That's such a smart idea because this really is the way people consume music nowadays, too," says Hanley. "I mean, I've never listened to so much music in my life as I do now. And it's because, you know, after being kind of hoodwinked by labels and bands for so long into buying the record for the single, and then getting this great single and then like the other 11 songs are shit. It's like after a while you just want to say, 'You know what? I just don't feel like it.' And I remember when I was a kid, I bought tons of 45s. I just ... I wanna hear the song I want to hear, and if the B-side is good, awesome. But, so what's happened now is I actually listen to more music than ever, because I don't have to deal with the songs I don't want to hear and ... I don't know. I think I'm probably, as a musician, it's not very typical to say, 'I just want to hear the single,' but honestly, as a consumer, I kind of do. And EPs are a great way for Will to reach his audience, I think. I think it's really smart." To learn more about Dailey and his bold new plan, visit www.willdailey.com/About/index.html. And look for more on Dailey — and Hanley — in blogs and on the Goldmine web site.
Monday, March 30, 2009 3:34:37 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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