20 September 2023
(Photo by Turn Up The Volume)
The celebrated Texan rockers SPOON (in business for 30 years / 10 studio LPs)
released a new 4-track EP last June, named MEMORY DUST.
It features 3 tracks from the sessions of last year’s LP The Hardest Cut and one
Bo Diddley cover, the blues rock legend’s voodoo resonating 1961 song She’s Fine
She’s Mine. Pretty bouncy take.
SPOON
BO DIDDLEY
SPOON: Facebook – Instagram
14 September 2023
Musical Nashville legend LEON RUSSELL, born
Claude Russell Bridge in 1942, passed away in 2016,
at the age of 74.
He was an all-round songsmith who released more than 30 LPs during his 60-year career, mixing rock, country, gospel, bluegrass, rhythm and blues, southern rock, folk, surf and the Tulsa sound. In 2011 he was inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
To celebrate the genial, eccentric looking artist, a 10-track
tribute album came out last week, titled A SONG FOR LEON.
It includes great performances from artists such as Orville Peck, Nathaniel Rateliff, Leon’s daughter Tina Rose, Amy Nelson (Willie Nelson‘s daughter), Bootsy Collins, and more.
(Photo by Turn Up The Volume)
Noise icons PIXIES also feature on the LP with their steaming version of Russell‘s 1971 classic boogie woogie cracker CRYSTAL CLOSET QUEEN. Long live Rock ‘n’ Russell Roll.
PIXIES
LEON RUSSELL
ALBUM
.
LEON RUSSELL: Bio – Discography
TUTV: Facebook – Instagram – Twitter
TOYAH and ROBERT FRIPP bring us fun, hilarity and music every Sunday
for more than two years now from their kitchen with covers of pop & rock
classics.
It’s not that they weren’t already famous before the Covid-19 lockdown started.
Toyah and Fripp have both remarkable careers on their résume and they’re definitely
not done yet, as Toyah proved crystal clear with her 2021 Posh Pop album and Robert
still touring with King Crimson, his band of a lifetime.
And regularly they leave their beloved kitchen to play live together, as happened last
May at the Stone Valley South Festival in Great Amwell, England where they played, as part
of their set, their vivid cover of David Bowie‘s 1977 mega-hit HEROES, on which Fripp
played guitar back then.
Toyah and Robert recently celebrated their 37th anniversary together,
cause they’re lovers, and that is a fact, yes they’re lovers, and that is that.
Heroes.
Sunday Lunch Sessions on the road this Fall.
Thanks to Ruth Rae for the Heroes registration.
22 August 2023
Legendary soul man AL GREEN (aged 77), most famous for his 1972 diamond
Let’s Stay Together (more than 460 million streams on Spotify) has just released
his cover of Lou Reed classic Perfect Day.
Green: “The song immediately puts you in a good mood. We wanted
to preserve that spirit, while adding our own sauce and style.”
Green‘s version has that good old retro Motown feel,
extra spiced here with its warm 60s organs in the back.
Charming and beauteous.
Original
AL GREEN: Bio – Discography – Instagram
10 August 2023
Mark Linkous
Mark Linkous, the conductor of Virginia band SPARKLEHORSE
left this world too soon. He took his own life back in 2010, at the
age of 47.
For all fans (including me) here’s great news. The album he was working on,
named Bird Machine, at the time of his passing, will come out on September 8.
Linkous’ brother Matt and sister-in-law Melissa have been working on finishing
the LP.
One of the tracks is a cover of Robyn Hitchcock‘s 1982 psych cracker
Listening To The Higsons, recorded with his then band The Egyptians.
Mark Linkous heard the song when it came out and it became one
of his favorite ones. He recorded his take with renowned producer
Steve Albini. Sparklehorse’s version is infused with a lot of distortion.
Listen
Original
At the age of 70 Hitchcock has no intention to retire. Last year, he released
his highly acclaimed 22th (!) album, entitled Shufflemania!
31 July 2023
Nashville songstress SOCCER MOMMY (born Sophia Regina Allison
26 years ago) has reached the status of superstar after 3 albums.
As she’s a vivid fan of that other long-time rock/pop star Sheryl Crow
she recently recorded her cover of Crow‘s 2002 hit SOAK UP THE SUN.
Mommy: “As a big fan of Sheryl Crow, this a song I’ve been wanting to cover
since I used to practice it in my parents’ basement years ago. I’ve always wanted
to work it up again.”
Soak here.
Original
SOCCER MOMMY: Instagram
25 July 2023
For the past decade, a group of friends and fans of Jeffrey Lee Pierce,
the late great frontman of wayward rock band The Gun Club (1979–1996)
have recorded 3 posthumous tribute albums called
the Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project.
The fourth volume of that series is now canned The Task Has Overwhelmed Us,
and comes in September. It’ll feature contributions from big names such as
Nick Cave, Debbie Harry, Mark Lanegan, Warren Ellis, Mick Harvey, Lydia Lunch,
and more.
Depeche Mode‘s voice/face DAVE GAHAN
is also part of the star cast.
His version of country rock pearl MOTHER EARTH
from the Gun Club‘s 1982 LP Miami is formidable.
He slowed it down, and after a downhearted piano intro, the song
swells with tension and burning guitar-infused electricity and ends
with the melancholic first part.
Stellar
Original
THE GUN CLUB: Bio – Discography
On the seventh day of the week – almost 3 years ago – God decided to entertain
all people suffering in lockdown due to the awful Covid-19 pandemic. He called famous wife/husband rockers TOYAH WILLCOX and ROBERT FRIPP (King Crimson) and asked them to figure something out on Sunday, the holy day, that would make people happy.
Enter the Sunday Lunch Sessions with Toyah and Robert covering classics while going mental in their kitchen every week. Due to its spectacular success and by huge popular demand the show is still running, even hitting the road next Fall.
This edition is pretty creamy and punky and messy and
ends with an invitation to hug the sunshine of your love,
with or without cream.
Roll the tape.
The original cream.
TOYAH/FRIPP: Sunday Love Website
25 May 2023
(Photo by Michelle Henning)
On 7th July a new NICK DRAKE tribute album, named
The Endless Coloured Ways – The Songs Of Nick Drake
will be released.
Folk songsmith Drake (1948-1974) was/is an inspiration for many singer-songwriters.
His 3 LPs Five Leaves Left (1969), Bryter Layter (1970), and Pink Moon (1972) were and
still are widely lauded. The trouble artist died following an overdose of amitriptyline,
an antidepressant, aged only 26.
25 covers will feature on the compilation. Involved among others are Ben Harper, David Gray, Craig Armstrong, Liz Phair, John Grant, Irish post-punk heroes Fontaines D.C. and also New Zealand songstress ALDOUS HARDING and longtime PJ Harvey collaborator and celebrated producer JOHN PARISH (also 6 solo LPs on his résumé).
The pair picked Drake’s 1969 composition THREE HOURS from the Five Leaves Left LP.
The duo’s take is a Krautrock-like-spinning masterstroke. It moves and grooves along a hypnotic bass riff and a steady drum beat with doomy synths working their way to the front. Mesmerizing and intoxicating while duet vocals float all over it, alluring and affecting. Special, really special.
Enjoy.
Original.
NICK DRAKE: Bio – Discography
(Nick Drake image: cover of ‘No Time To Reply‘ compilation LP)
17 May 2023
Los Angeles’ veteran hardcore punks FEAR started their loud
and turbulent crusade back in 1977 and never looked back.
Despite countless line-ups, but still with original guitarist/singer
Lee Ving in the middle they still play live.
Now, ahead of some summer shows they want to draw attention
with their cover of 1976 AC/DC classic Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Sheep.
Hard to beat the iconic Australian rockers, but that ardent harmonica
is pretty cool.
FEAR
AC/DC
FEAR: Bio – Discography – Instagram