The Guns n' Roses CD was not the only artist we have had to wait for 17 years for new music.
Grace Jones new CD is "Hurricane" and it friggin' great. I have been a fan for years and while some of her past music can be a tad frivolous this new CD is a sonic blast. Always a great visual artist she has 9 new songs to put forth a whole package. Check out her new video "Corporate Criminal" on YouTube.com It is incredible. To me it sounds very industrial, like she had been listening to Nine Inch Nails. Never the best singer (I admit that half of her appeal is presentation) her voice has been layered to great effect on this CD. Former Prince protege's Wendy & Lisa also contributed a song. The CD is great.
The bad news is that it is, so far, only being issued in Europe but is available as an import. For the life of me I never understand how music is marketed. It is obvious that a lot of money and effort went into the project, why not make it available for those that want to experience it?
Worth your while.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
New Music Tuesday!
Okay, maybe not Tuesday but whatever.... growing up I always looked forward to Tuesdays as the day that all albums were released. Way before the Internet I would watch in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday for the list of what was going to drop (see, I'm hip).
These days an album can show up on any given day or in any given store. Example: the latest AC/DC CD "Black Ice" is a Walmart exclusive. You can only buy it there. Another example: The Eagles last CD "Long Road Out of Eden" was also a Walmart exclusive. Guns n' Roses new "Chinese Democracy" was supposed to be a Best Buy exclusive but I bought mine on Itunes. Go figure.
These days a CD can be pirated on the Internet so easy that an artist will go to great lengths to protect their music. Many an album just "shows up" for sale on say, a Thursday. Times have changed. It's not as much fun for me as it used to be. I have always had music as a sort of a hobby. Not being all that athletic I tended to ingest all I could know about an album and how it was created..... who wrote all the songs, who produced it etc.
I estimate that I own around 2500 Cd's. That is a conservative guess. It's probably more. A bunch more. I admit I buy a lot of music. I always have. It is not unusual for me to spend a couple of hours looking through a record store. A record store to me is Ameoba records in Hollywood and not Best Buy. At Best Buy you can get the latest mega seller CD from a Britney/Beyonce' type but you will not find the remaster of Kiki Dee's second american release that was produced by Elton John in 1974. It is that kind of minutiae that I like about music. There are not that many people that like to sit around and TALK about something that you listen to. I do have a couple of friends that, like me, are REALLY into the music that they listen to.
When I started this blog thing my intention was to include this aspect of my life in it. It will not just be Pomona-centric. Maybe I can turn someone onto some music that they wouldn't generally listen to. I hope so, for there is a huge amount of music that gets passed on by the masses. It would probably surprise you that many, many of the albums that make up say, the Rolling Stone 500 best albums list were sold in paltry numbers. Example: both of the debut albums by the Ramones and The Sex Pistols have sold less than 500,000 copies in 30+ years. Those albums have been cited as influences by groups that have sold millions of albums, such as Green Day. Their "American Idiot" has sold over 15 million copies. I own two copies myself.
Anyways...... stop back for my take on some cd's that you might like to get yourself. I will review some new releases and write about some of my old favorites. My taste is all over the place, lately I have been on a cheesy 70's kick. Stuff that you NEVER hear on the radio such as "Chevy Van" by Sammy Johns and "Doctors Orders" by Carol Douglas. Stupid fun songs that were huge hits back in the day.
You never know what I am listening to. Stay tuned!
These days an album can show up on any given day or in any given store. Example: the latest AC/DC CD "Black Ice" is a Walmart exclusive. You can only buy it there. Another example: The Eagles last CD "Long Road Out of Eden" was also a Walmart exclusive. Guns n' Roses new "Chinese Democracy" was supposed to be a Best Buy exclusive but I bought mine on Itunes. Go figure.
These days a CD can be pirated on the Internet so easy that an artist will go to great lengths to protect their music. Many an album just "shows up" for sale on say, a Thursday. Times have changed. It's not as much fun for me as it used to be. I have always had music as a sort of a hobby. Not being all that athletic I tended to ingest all I could know about an album and how it was created..... who wrote all the songs, who produced it etc.
I estimate that I own around 2500 Cd's. That is a conservative guess. It's probably more. A bunch more. I admit I buy a lot of music. I always have. It is not unusual for me to spend a couple of hours looking through a record store. A record store to me is Ameoba records in Hollywood and not Best Buy. At Best Buy you can get the latest mega seller CD from a Britney/Beyonce' type but you will not find the remaster of Kiki Dee's second american release that was produced by Elton John in 1974. It is that kind of minutiae that I like about music. There are not that many people that like to sit around and TALK about something that you listen to. I do have a couple of friends that, like me, are REALLY into the music that they listen to.
When I started this blog thing my intention was to include this aspect of my life in it. It will not just be Pomona-centric. Maybe I can turn someone onto some music that they wouldn't generally listen to. I hope so, for there is a huge amount of music that gets passed on by the masses. It would probably surprise you that many, many of the albums that make up say, the Rolling Stone 500 best albums list were sold in paltry numbers. Example: both of the debut albums by the Ramones and The Sex Pistols have sold less than 500,000 copies in 30+ years. Those albums have been cited as influences by groups that have sold millions of albums, such as Green Day. Their "American Idiot" has sold over 15 million copies. I own two copies myself.
Anyways...... stop back for my take on some cd's that you might like to get yourself. I will review some new releases and write about some of my old favorites. My taste is all over the place, lately I have been on a cheesy 70's kick. Stuff that you NEVER hear on the radio such as "Chevy Van" by Sammy Johns and "Doctors Orders" by Carol Douglas. Stupid fun songs that were huge hits back in the day.
You never know what I am listening to. Stay tuned!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
It ain't easy being green (or gay)!
"I'm concerned about having to educate children," Sharon Smith said after she voted in Altadena.
Smith and other African American voters played a crucial role in the outcome. An exit poll of California voters showed that black voters sided in favor of the measure by margins of more than 2 to 1. Not only was the black vote weighted heavily in favor of Proposition 8, but black turnout -- spurred by Barack Obama's campaign for president -- was unusually large, making up roughly 10% of the voters.
So... they just passed the discrimination on.
How quick they forget.
Nice.
Smith and other African American voters played a crucial role in the outcome. An exit poll of California voters showed that black voters sided in favor of the measure by margins of more than 2 to 1. Not only was the black vote weighted heavily in favor of Proposition 8, but black turnout -- spurred by Barack Obama's campaign for president -- was unusually large, making up roughly 10% of the voters.
So... they just passed the discrimination on.
How quick they forget.
Nice.
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