Love for Sale is the second album by Boney M. The album includes the hits “Ma Baker” (#96 on the Billboard Hot 100, #31 on the Club Play Singles chart), and “Belfast”. It also includes covers: “Love for Sale” (by Cole Porter), “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” (by Creedence Clearwater Revival), and “Still I’m Sad” (by The Yardbirds).
Far Corporation is a british band created by record producer Frank Farian, who created the bands Boney M. and Milli Vanilli. The name was shortened from “Frank Farian Corporation”, which was originally put together to record a cover of the Paul Simon piece “Mother and Child Reunion” as a charity record and reached the top 10 in several European countries. That group’s lineup included members of Barclay James Harvest, Toto, Boney M and Force Majeure. Far Corporation’s primary claim to fame is their cover of “Stairway to Heaven”. Contrary to public perception, Far Corporation was actually the first group to make the singles charts with this song as Led Zeppelin had never released it as a single. Some of the musicians Farian assembled include vocalist Robin McAuley, drummer Simon Phillips, ex-Saga drummer Curt Cress, and three members of Toto: vocalist Bobby Kimball, keyboardist David Paich, and guitarist Steve Lukather. Far Corporation released its first album Division One in 1985 on IMP/ATCO Records and their cover of “Stairway to Heaven” reached #8 on the UK Singles Chart.Also included on the album was a cover of Free’s “Fire and Water” (their second single). A second album Advantage was completed for a 1987 release, heralded by the new single “One by One”. Both this as well as the second single – a cover of Cockney Rebel’s “Sebastian” – failed to reach the charts, and the album was eventually scrapped. Two of the lost recordings, “Make Believe” and “Big Brother”, surfaced as Bobby Kimball duets on Farian artist Jayne (Collins)’s Ambush in the Night album (1989) and Milli Vanilli’s second album The Moment of Truth (1991). The rest was recycled along a few new recordings on the group’s second release, 1994′s Solitude on MCI-BMG. This time they were joined by former Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham. Mostly assembled in honour of Farian’s 25 years anniversary as a producer, the album failed to repeat the success of “Stairway to Heaven”.
[via Tonny Pape]
True Love Cast Out All Evil is the first album of new material released by Roky Erickson in 14 years. Okkervil River is the backing band on the album.
In its nearly three decades of existence, Skinny Puppy has established itself as a groundbreaking innovative voice in the world of electronic music. Fearless in both its musical experimentation and voicing a stance on the issues of our times, the new album, Weapon, is no exception.
This stunning new album stands as a commentary on that which it is named after, the Weapon, or more specifically, to the concurrent glorification of the gun culture and simultaneous horror at the devastation the gun can cause. Given this view, the pop undertones of the albums opening “wornin” and the compelling counterpoint of the vocals and lyrics seem to reflect our mass media homogenization of an instrument of death into an entertainment centerpiece. “illisiT” could then be focusing on the authoritarian control applied to us under the guise of protecting us from the criminal element. Though possibly it is from the view of the average citizen, arming themselves against the threat of each other. The more it is analyzed, the more it could be pondered on varying levels. Perhaps the classic Skinny Puppy sounds evident in the song “solvent” are a nod to not only the past, but to a bleak Orwellian future, cycle of the weapon leads only to power in the hands of those who have no fear of using it. Are we facing a 1984 dystopia filtered through a Kafkaesque lens? A world where the illusion of power given to the private citizen afforded ownership of a weapon distracts them from the Big Brother drones that watch overhead?
Parallels could certainly be drawn from our own society to a track like “tsudanama”, where the ever building menace of the mechanized rhythms crashes over the listener in waves as the vocals at times seem to take the tone of the voice of protest, standing against the inevitable tide of the dystopian path of progress. Then does “plasiCage” implore the listener to take up the fight against a gun worship culture and the spiraling towards oligarchy? Or are the mournful tones “terminal” a funeral dirge for our society?
Could the weapon be the gun, or the one who wields it? Is it in creating an arms race among the populace, or does it lie in the resulting authoritarian control given to those who are charged with protecting us from ourselves? Is it the power to profit from the cycle? Is it the singular act of speaking against the conditioning of our thoughts and actions? [Source]
Francis and the Lights is the stage name of American songwriter Francis Farewell Starlite. The term “and the Lights” refers both to the lights on a stage and pixels on a computer screen.
[Dedicated to H.K.]
Sortie du jour: RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES!
» L’écouter sur Deezer: http://bit.ly/RAM-Deezer
» L’écouter sur Spotify: http://spoti.fi/1616aWw
» Le télécharger sur iTunes: http://bit.ly/DaftPunk-RAM-FR
Intoxicated Man is the first of two albums by Mick Harvey, presenting the songs of Serge Gainsbourg, sung in English. It is followed by Pink Elephants.
The Weeknd has never had a problem telling women what it takes to sleep with him. On this new song, entitled “Kiss Land” presumably off his upcoming sophomore album, the subdued vocalists takes listeners through his usual maze of dark beats and darker love. [Source]
Twilley’s first two albums were fascinating because of how obsessively he synthesized the Southern and British pop-rock traditions–like a cool Alex Chilton, or (only we didn’t know this yet) a Nick Lowe who worked too hard–and because so few bands were bothering with the kind of catchy ’60s-AM songs that Twilley turned out by the half dozen. Well, scratch the catchy part–both the Records and the Knack, to stick to the lightweights, have songs on the radio that cut anything on Sincerely, which is a lot catchier than this. And while you’re at it, scratch Phil Seymour, Twilley’s former rhythm section and harmony group. And add Jimmy Haskell doing Paul Buckmaster imitations. And think dark thoughts about the Raspberries and Eric Carmen. [Source]
Having previously teamed with Isobel Campbell and Greg Dulli on separate projects, grunge survivor, Mark Lanegan is no stranger to the collaborative album. His latest effort, however, an album recorded with English bluesman, Duke Garwood, may have you heading for google as you hit play. Garwood’s name doesn’t come with much recognition on this side of the Atlantic. Fret not. Lanegan is said to be a huge fan of Garwood’s and “Pentecostal,” the first cut released from Black Pudding (May 14th on Ipecac) finds Lanegan back on the well-tread road of American roots music. Garwood is no slouch, either. For those who had mixed feelings about The Mark Lanegan Band’s Blues Funeral and its reliance on more modern, electronic elements, both the direction and the accompaniment of Black Pudding are welcome developments. [Source]
