Tuesday 13 October 2015

A very sad day

JOHN MURPHY
11.7.59 - 11.10.15

John Murphy R.I.P.

Monday 12 October 2015

You've Got A Friend: The Carole King Story


Documentary telling, in her own words, the story of Carole King's upbringing in Brooklyn and the subsequent success that she had as half of husband-and-wife songwriting team Goffin and King for Aldon Music on Broadway.
It was during this era in the early 1960s that they created a string of pop hits such as Take Good Care of My Baby for Bobby Vee, The Locomotion for Little Eva and Will You Love Me Tomorrow for the Shirelles, which became the first number one hit by a black American girl group. They also wrote the era-defining Up on the Roof for the Drifters and the magnificent Natural Woman for Aretha Franklin.
By 1970, Carole was divorced from songwriting partner Gerry Goffin and had moved to Los Angeles. It was here that she created her classic solo album Tapestry, packed with delightful tunes but also, for the first time, her own lyrics, very much sung from the heart. The album included It's Too Late, I Feel the Earth Move and You've Got a Friend and held the record for the most weeks at number one for nearly 20 years. It became a trusted part of everyone's record collection and has sold over 25 million copies to date.
The film features some wonderful unseen material and home movies, and narrates her life as an acclaimed singer-songwriter. To date, more than 400 of her compositions have been recorded by over 1,000 artists, resulting in 100 hit singles.
More recently, Carole was the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by the Library of Congress for her songwriting in 2013, and the 2014 Broadway production Beautiful (which tells her life story during the Goffin and King era) has received rave reviews.
Nowadays Carole King would see herself as an environmental activist as much as a songwriter, and she is to be found constantly lobbying congress in defence of the wildlife and ecosystems of her beloved Idaho.

HA!


HA!

Matt Bors

Steve Mackay R.I.P.

Steve was a classic '60s American guy, full of generosity and love for anyone he met. Every time he put his sax to his lips and honked, he lightened my road and brightened the whole world. He was a credit to his group and his generation. To know him was to love him.
- Iggy Pop

Rory Gallagher - The Beat Club Sessions (1971-72)


Ghost Blues

Ad Break: Fap Happier With 3Fap

The Final Leaked TPP Text is All That We Feared

Sunday 11 October 2015

The Genius of Bert Jansch: Folk, Blues and Beyond


An effortlessly cool singer-songwriter and virtuoso guitarist, Bert Jansch came to prominence in the folk clubs of the mid-1960s. Jansch galvanized a whole scene, through his solo work, as a duo with John Renbourn and with his folk-jazz supergroup Pentangle. Neil Young called him the Jimi Hendrix of the acoustic guitar, Led Zeppelin and Paul Simon were weaned on him and younger generation musicians including Beth Orton and Johnny Marr beat a path to his door. Bert Jansch's influence reached far and wide.
Interviews and rare archive footage weave together performances from a landmark multi-artist concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London as Ralph McTell, Robert Plant, Donovan, members of Pentangle, Bernard Butler, Martin Carthy, Martin Simpson, Lisa Knapp and more pay tribute to Jansch, who died in 2011. The concert's stage set recalls the legendary Les Cousins club in London's Soho, where he was a resident artist, and the Royal Festival Hall itself was the venue for Pentangle's first and final major gigs.
Robert Plant shows his vocal prowess with a powerful rendition of Go Your Way My Love, joined by Jansch collaborator Bernard Butler. Martin Simpson and Danny Thompson surprise with a version of Heartbreak Hotel, a track covered by Jansch. Ralph McTell tackles the seminal Angie and Lisa Knapp and Martin Carthy combine for Blackwaterside - Jansch's arrangement of which heavily influenced Led Zep's Black Mountain Side. There's also a real coup with an extraordinary performance by Neil Young of Jansch's haunting Needle of Death, filmed at Jack White's Nashville studio especially for the occasion

The Flaming Lips and Deerhoof - 21st Century Schizoid Man (Lawrence, KS 22/6/12)


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The Flaming Lips & Cat Power- War Pigs

The Flaming Lips are the first act announced for MONA's 2016 Mofo

Ry Cooder - Live The Old Grey Whistle Test(1977)


1. Tattler
2. The Dark End of the Street
3. Jesus On The Mainline
4. Do Re Mi
5. Goodnight Irene
6. He'll Have To Go
7. Smack Dab In The Middle

Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Volumes (1979-2015)


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On Thin Ice: Inuit Way of Life Vanishing in Arctic

The way it was

What Exxon knew about the Earth's melting Arctic

Sobering fudges plague Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers