Month: March 2021

Is the streaming experiment failing artists? – Loreena McKennitt

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  ed. From her blog.

Today, many artists around the world are holding demonstrations at Spotify offices to deliver their demands; a penny per stream, increased transparency, an end to lawsuits against artists, and more. unionofmusicians.org/justice-at-spotifyAs many of you know, I have run my own career and label since 1985. During this time, I have witnessed many changes in the music industry. When I first jumped in, cassettes and vinyl were the dominant formats. By 1989 I was starting to reproduce my music on CD. I had been alerted to the coming digital tsunami by an insider at Philips, who was interested in using my music as content for this new format. For reasons I do not recall, it was not an initiative I participated in.Throughout the 80’s and 90’s music was sold in stores and bootlegged on beaches around the world. The bootlegging was one of the origins of music piracy and the digital nature of CD’s made it easier than ever. Once the internet became commonplace, new models of commerce were being explored through companies like Apple, offering downloads which more closely resembled the business model of the physical formats, certainly in terms of what artists were paid — somewhere in the order of 25 cents per song.

Read the whole sorry mess at Source: Is the streaming experiment failing artists? – Loreena McKennitt

Music, People

Pianist Alan Pasqua Talks “Murder Most Foul,” Dylan’s Nobel Lecture, and the 1978 Tour – Flagging Down the Double E’s

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As a piano accompanist for this long thing with so many words, how do you keep your part interesting? How do you keep yourself engaged for such a long track?In our jazz world, we just lost a dear soul, Chick Corea. I was reading some of his advice that he had typed out for somebody, and one of the things that he said was, “Play so that others sound good as well.” It’s such a beautiful sentiment. Take your ego out of the picture and be there for the song, and be as selfless as you can, and listen and react to what you hear. By reacting, it doesn’t mean you have to play anything. It might mean you play nothing, and then you come in with something.That’s the only way it’s ever worked for me. In my teaching of other musicians, I really stress, don’t listen to yourself. Don’t worry about the notes that you’re playing. It’s okay to hear what you sound like, but in the context of the song and in the context of the band that’s there. You need to be able to not play, as well as play, because that’s what creates the magic.In a recent interview, Fiona Apple said she also played piano on that track. I gather she wasn’t at your session, but when you are listening to it, can you pick out who is doing what, knowing what you played?Yes, I can. Benmont’s on the left, Alan’s on the right, Fiona’s in the middle. It’s like the early days of stereo. It’s a really cool collaboration. She sounded beautiful too.Bringing it all full circle, in your recent sessions with him, is there any acknowledgment of your history in 1978? Are you talking about it at all?No, we don’t. Perhaps if we were to hang out or go back on the road, that stuff would come up, but no. I keep things pretty much in the present tense and just let him know how much I appreciate him and how much I love him and how grateful I am.

Source: Pianist Alan Pasqua Talks “Murder Most Foul,” Dylan’s Nobel Lecture, and the 1978 Tour – Flagging Down the Double E’s

Blog, Music, People

Attention Seekers – The Best And Worst Gimmicks In Music | Features | Clash Magazine

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In the beginning, when Select magazine coined the term, Britpop was good, and it captured the imagination of music fans across the UK. But as its popularity grew and it began to exert more of an influence on mainstream culture, it suddenly became inescapable. Tony Blair rode into No.10 on the wave of ‘Cool Britannia’, a new wave of ‘ladettes’ were forever in the tabloids and – the nadir of it all – the (carefully engineered) Blur vs. Oasis chart battle was featured on the Nine O’Clock News. Blur won the battle, Oasis won the war, but everybody else lost. Britpop disappeared in a self-congratulatory haze of lager, cocaine and bloated albums, only to be revived by second-rate indie landfill bands in the last decade.

Read the whole gimmicky tale at Source: Attention Seekers – The Best And Worst Gimmicks In Music | Features | Clash Magazine

Music, Review

Every Black Sabbath album ranked, from worst to best 

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Before Black Sabbath, there were plenty of rock groups that played heavy: The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin. But the music that Sabbath created in the early 70s was heavier and darker than anything that had come before, and it would prove seminal.

“Black Sabbath are the forefathers of heavy metal,” says Rick Rubin, the producer of the band’s final album 13. “They may well be the heaviest band of all time. And I don’t know of a more influential band other than The Beatles.”

It was in 1969, in Birmingham, that Black Sabbath was formed. The four band members – guitarist Tony Iommi, singer Ozzy Osbourne, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward – had been playing together for a year previously, first as Polka Tulk, later as Earth. “When we started out,” Iommi says, “we were a blues rock band.” But one day in ’69, they wrote a song changed everything.

This song, titled Black Sabbath after a horror movie starring Boris Karloff, was based on an Iommi riff that incorporated the tri-tone, known as ‘The Devil’s Interval’. The lyrics warned that “Satan’s coming round the bend.” And with this as their calling card, the band – renamed as Black Sabbath – would open up a new frontier for rock music.

Much of Sabbath’s legendary reputation rests on the first six albums recorded by the original and classic line-up. “It was a completely original sound,” Rick Rubin says. “Riffs as powerful as they come, Ozzy’s one-of-a-kind vocal delivery, cool words, great rhythmic interplay.”But in a recording career that spans the best part of half a century, a total of 23 Black Sabbath albums have been released – some of them great, some of them average, and some downright embarrassing. The best Sabbath albums made during Ozzy Osbourne’s long absence featured the man who replaced Ozzy after he was fired in 1979 – Ronnie James Dio. And every Sabbath album, from 1970 to 2013, has been shaped by Tony Iommi – the band’s sole ever-present, and the undisputed master of the heavy metal riff.

Read the whole list at Source: Every Black Sabbath album ranked, from worst to best | Louder

Music, Review

Alice Cooper Speaks on ‘Big Mistake’ He Made With Iggy Pop, Shares Opinion on Dee Snider & Twisted Sister

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“No, I don’t think I ever saw Iggy when he wasn’t shirtless. I made a big mistake one time; he said, ‘Hey, you’re going to Germany, could you pick me up a switchblade?'”And I went, ‘Yeah, I’ll pick him a stiletto.’ Of course, he gets on stage and starts cutting himself with it, and we ended wrapping him up in a blanket and taking him to a hospital.”I said, ‘Give me that, you’ll hurt yourself!’ [Laughs]”

Source: Alice Cooper Speaks on ‘Big Mistake’ He Made With Iggy Pop, Shares Opinion on Dee Snider & Twisted Sister | Music News @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com

Music, People

Rage Against the Machine’s Reunion Tour Will Not Have Drive-In Shows

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“We’ll never be one of these sellouts that’s gonna go play a drive-in show or play a venue that holds 100,000 people and there’s only 10,000 people there. That’s bullshit,” Commerford stated. “Rage will never do that. It’s not a good show unless the audience is going off too. It’s gotta be a shared experience.”

Source: Rage Against the Machine’s Reunion Tour Will Not Have Drive-In Shows

Music, News, People

Ian Brown Cancels Fest Headliner Gig Because Vaccinations Are Required For Attendees

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“My Saturday night headline show at NHBD Weekender Festival will now not happen! I refuse to accept vaccination proof as condition of entry. Refunds are available!” Brown tweeted.

“My Saturday night headline show at NHBD Weekender Festival will now not happen! I refuse to accept vaccination proof as condition of entry. Refunds are available!” Brown tweeted.

Source: Ian Brown Cancels Fest Headliner Gig Because Vaccinations Are Required For Attendees

Music, News