On This Day…
1949 RCA Victor introduced the 45rpm single record, which had been in development since 1940. The 7-inch disc was designed to compete with the Long Playing record introduced by Columbia a year earlier. Both formats offered better fidelity and longer playing time than the 78rpm record that was currently in use. Advertisements for new record players boasted that with 45rpm records, the listener could hear up to ten records with speedy, silent, hardly noticeable changes.
1958 Chuck Berry’s rock ‘n’ roll classic ‘Johnny B. Goode’ single was released. It entered the US charts six weeks later and peaked at No.8 on the chart. The song’s original lyrics referred to Johnny as a “colored boy”, but Berry later acknowledged that he changed it to “country boy” to ensure radio play.
1967 Jimi Hendrix set fire to his guitar live on stage for the first time when he was appearing at The Astoria in London, England. It was the first night of a 24-date tour with The Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens and Engelbert Humperdink. The Fender Stratocaster burned on stage by Hendrix sold for £280,000 at a 2008 London auction of rock memorabilia.
1987 Prince released his ninth studio album Sign o’ the Times, the set featured the title tack, ‘if I Was Your Girlfriend’ and ‘U Got the Look’, (with Sheena Easton). In 1989, Time Out magazine ranked it as the greatest album of all time.
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Chaz Bundick Meets the Mattson 2 | Star Stuff
By Chaz Bundick’s own admission, this was the kind of music he always wanted to make. Completely within his own element of improvisational jazz and full of completely cinematic vibes and laid-back jamming, these vintage-sounding tones continue his own evolution. It gets a little noodlely at parts, which is unfortunate, but it remains a thought provoking listen and a great evolution of Chaz’s musical output.
Bob Dylan | Triplicate
I wonder if it’s possible to remove Dylan’s most recent work from his output in the 60’s. He was a completely different person 50 years ago and now he’s frankly old, tired and doesn’t write with the same electricity (no pun intended) that he did even into the 80’s. There are those who call his work over the past decade a reinvention, but I am not one of them. I might simply call it how I see it: particularly bad and uninspired. This 3-disc set is Dylan doing some spring cleaning when it comes to songs he’s forgotten about and frankly it’s hard to stomach.
Lydia Ainsworth | Darling of the Afterglow
There’s nothing here for a casual listener. Lydia Ainsowrth, although creeping ever slowly towards a more mainstream sound, has developed a sound that is instinctual while also singularly experimental. This album is a bold expression of her mastery of both modern melody and arrangement. Like someone who has a perfect palette creating a dish that may be too complex for the average listener, Ainsworth as a artist has created a sound and LP that maybe even critics and fans alike don’t truly understand – but the more we listen, the more we’ll know.
