On This Day..
1964 The Beatles recorded the TV special ‘Around The Beatles’ at Wembley studios England. As well as performing songs they played Act V Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ with John playing the female role of Thisbe, Paul as Pyramus, George as Moonshine and Ringo as Lion. Paul later named his cat Thisbe.
1968 The Broadway musical ‘Hair’ opened at the Biltmore Theatre in New York City. The show featured the songs ‘Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In’, ‘Good Morning Starshine’ and the title song. The production ran for 1,729 performances, finally closing on July 1st, 1972.
1973 Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of The Moon went to No.1 in the US. The album went on to enjoy a record-breaking 741 discontinuous weeks on the Billboard chart, and has now sold over 45 million copies world-wide. After moving to the Billboard Top Pop Catalog Chart, the album notched up a further 759 weeks there, and had reached a total of over 1,500 weeks on the combined charts by May 2006.
The Best Show w/ Tom Scharpling- Tom Plays Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon from Robert Reynolds on Vimeo.
1982 The California State Assembly consumer-protection-committee heard testimony from “experts” who claimed that when ‘Stairway To Heaven’ was played backward, contained the words: “I sing because I live with Satan. The Lord turns me off, there’s no escaping it. Here’s to my sweet Satan, whose power is Satan. He will give you 666. I live for Satan.”
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Brand New Music
Sylvan Esso | What Now
In an incredibly slick group of standalone singles, the electric synth alt-folk-pop funk duo of Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn celebrate infectious, accessible music as a sort of way to give voice to the universal feeling of, “can’t we just have fun?” This doesn’t mean that What Now doesn’t deserve your full attention. The cool cafe-ready vibes from their earlier works have been replaced by weightier production that’s suited more for the club. Shinier, more polished the group has certainly hit the mark with What Now which should appeal to a much wider audience.
Gorillaz | Humanz
There’s a distinct difference between a good band and a good record. But sometimes, every so often, an album is reflective more of the talents of it’s producer than the merits of it’s own product. That being said, Humanz is good only because the Gorillaz are good. It’s certainly the groups most party oriented record, which is fun, but it’s less of an opus of collective creativity and more of a anthology of stuff they got other people to do. The politics of the record rings through with fervor while the circus that is a Gorillaz record still remains, overall the record still finds a way to fall flat.
Mark Lanegan | Gargoyle
Arguably a Gargoyle himself, Mark Lanegan here delivers his 10th album, outside of his work with the Screaming Trees. The ten tracks on the fittingly titled, Gargoyle, of course highlight the singer’s well-recognized gravelly voice, but also find a middle ground between his harder material (Bubblegum for example) and his more relaxed work (his Isobel Campbell collabs), without getting into Adult Contemporary territory. Old friends Greg Dulli and Josh Homme also show up on what will likely be regarded as a highlight in Lanegan’s discography. Even though it barely scrapes over 40 minutes, fans will find lots to enjoy with Gargoyle, as Lanegan remains one of the most distinct voices in Alt-Rock’s past 30 years, who is still putting out quality Music.
