This Day in Music
1959 22 year old Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens, aged 17, died in a crash shortly after take-off from Clear Lake, Iowa, the pilot of the single-engined Beechcraft Bonanza plane was also killed. Holly hired the plane after heating problems developed on his tour bus. All three were travelling to Fargo, North Dakota, for the next show on their Winter Dance Party Tour which Holly had set – covering 24 cities in three weeks, to make money after the break-up of his band, The Crickets, last year.
1967 Producer Joe Meek shot his landlady Violet Shenton and then shot himself at his flat in London, Meek produced The Tornadoes hit ‘Telstar’, the first No.1 in the US by a British group. Meek was interested in spirituality and often attended séances . At one such meeting in 1958 he was warned that Buddy Holly would die on February 3. Meek tried his best to find Holly when he was in London to warn him but failed in his mission. Holly died on February 3, 1959.
1990 For the first time ever, the UK Top 3 singles featured non-British and non-American acts. Ireland’s Sinead O’Connor, Australia’s Kylie Minogue and Belgium’s Technotronic. Sinead O’Connor had her first No.1 single with Nothing Compares To U’, a song written by Prince.
2004 R. Kelly appeared in Court and entered of plea of not guilty to 21 charges of child pornography. Kelly, who was free on bond, did not talk during the brief hearing. Outside the Cook County Criminal Courthouse fans voiced their support for the singer, proclaiming his innocence with placards and T-shirts. Kelly had been arrested in Florida after he was indicted by a grand jury in Chicago on 21 counts of child pornography, stemming from a videotape that allegedly shows the star performing sexual acts with a 14-year-old girl.
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Brand New Music
The Sadies | Northern Passages
It’s been roughly 4 years since we last heard from The Sadies themselves, and that time away has done nothing to compromise their sound. In fact “we’re the same, only better and louder” was how front-man Dallas Good recently described the band’s current state after completing their new record, Northern Passages. Although things get off to a subdued start with the gentle, “Riverview Fog,” Canada’s favourite Alt-Country band refuse to hold back, and pick things up quickly with the rollicking “Another Season Again.” A couple tracks later, Kurt Vile shows up sharing vocal duties and sounding like the cousin we didn’t know the Good brothers had. As a whole Northern Passages is a great listen – and with only two of the eleven tracks here over 4 minutes, nothing drags on or overstays it’s welcome. Also the brothers Good guitars sounds as great as ever. Fans will surely be happy with this new material, and hopefully some new listeners will discover one of Canada’s best bands as well.
“It’s Easy (Like Walking)” feat. Kurt Vile:
Lupe Fiasco | DROGAS Light
After announcing it as the first in a planned trilogy to be released last year, one of Chicago’s finest Lupe Fiasco finally drops his sixth album, DROGAS Light, and while it does deliver some great tracks, it’s not the full return to form many hoped it would be. Numerous guests spread over a lengthy run-time – it’s hard to get settled in one direction, especially when some of the material comes up so short. Had the album been 10 tracks opposed to 14, it would have been much better. Tracks like “Jump” or “Tranquillo” are great, but then tracks like “Pick up the Phone” and “Wild Child” feel like cheap retreads of something done already and much better. Lupe himself recently gave a review of the album (spoiler: he gave it a 7/10), and revealed that the album was indeed a “mixed bag”. Whether or not the rest of this trilogy gets released remains to be announced (he did kind of retire last year), but let’s all hope that he doesn’t go out on this, especially since we know he can do better.
“Jump”:
