Friday 26 August 2011

Classic Rock Radio -In Feature - Dave Lewis- author of Led Zeppelin: Feather In The Wind- over Europe 1980




Classic Rock Radio Feature - 26th & 27th August at 8pm -Marilyn Michaels interviews DAVE LEWIS the author of “LED ZEPPELIN: FEATHER IN THE WIND – OVER EUROPE 1980” (Tight But Loose Publishing)


Dave Lewis is certainly well known to Led Zeppelin fans, he's chronicled the band for over twenty years. His excellent magazine Tight But Loose (published 3 times a year ) is probably the best example of a contemporary rock fanzine Dave has written a number of books on the band.

His latest is an excellent limited edition hardback book which chronicles the final era of the band and their final tour .Excellent addition to any rock library! Sit back and enjoy this feature which naturally comes complete with classic Led Zeppelin tracks!

Hear it right here on Classic Rock Radio just after the news on Friday night (26 Aug at 8pm) and again on Saturday night (27th Aug at 8pm). www.classicrockradio.eu

For more information on the book and the rather excellent magazine Tight But Loose (published 3 times a year) please visit www.tblweb.com
(c)Marilyn Michaels 2011




Friday 12 August 2011

Big Country's first new single in 12 years! 'Another Country'



*** LEGENDARY SCOTTISH ROCKERS TO RELEASE FIRST SINGLE IN TWELVE YEARS ! ***

On August 29th 2011, legendary Scottish rock band Big Country will release ‘Another Country’, the band’s first new single in twelve years

It will also be the first Big Country single to feature new lead singer Mike Peters (and also Jamie Watson who joins father Bruce Waton on guitars)

‘Another Country’ is the result of a successful comeback for Big Country, which has seen the band complete two sold-out UK tours as well as high profile festival appearances such as T in The Park and the Isle of Wight Festival amongst others.

Mike Peters (who is also the lead singer for The Alarm) has been both accepted and embraced by Big Country’s fans and the music critics alike since being asked to sing for Big Country. The band's original vocalist Stuart Adamson tragically died in December 2001.


Mike says “Due to the success of the tours and festival appearances, the band have decided to continue and have already started planning for a new album and a
30th anniversary tour in the New Year
."

'Another Country' has been produced by Steve Lillywhite, who produced Big Country's finest work from the 80s, including their first and second albums The Crossing & Steeltown. Steve was delighted to be reunited with the band to produce ‘Another Country’, which was recorded at the famous RAK Studios
in London. Steve remarked, "When I heard the demo of ’Another Country’ I was immediately impressed. It was great to work with Big Country again, a band whom I last worked with in the 80s when producing on one of my favourite albums, 'The Crossing’. I am looking forward to working with them once again on their new album.”

Big Country bassist Tony Butler said, "To have the opportunity to release our first single in over 12 years, considering what we been through, is amazing. To work with Steve Lillywhite again was tremendous. There is something really exciting about entering the world of singles again.

Guitarist Bruce Watson comments, "We can finally look forward to completing unfinished business from the past, particularly internationally, and look to a creative and active future".

Ahead of the band’s forthcoming appearance at this year’s V Festival on the 20th & 21st August, Big Country will be playing warm-up dates at
Central Station in Wrexham on Thursday 18th August and the Engine Shed in Lincoln on Friday 19th August.

"These will be places we have never played before, giving us the chance to work in new songs in the more intimate type of venues, as well as playing all the hits.”,
says drummer Mark Brzezicki.

All great news indeed for Big Country fans old and new, many of whom have raced to pre-order the single on Amazon. The single is available on CD and as a download.

for more information please see www.bigcountry.co.uk

Marilyn Michaels







Wednesday 10 August 2011

Musicians turn to apps as the new way to learn guitar, piano and other instruments


Musicians turn to apps as the new way to learn guitar, piano and other instruments

Musicroom.com the largest online music retailer in Europe is seeing an additional boom in iPhone / iPad apps specifically aimed at budding musicians. Apps which feature digital sheet music versions of songs by such acts as The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton are showing increased sales as musicians take to learning their favorite songs from their iPhones or iPads.

In the past month Musicroom.com has released apps by two of the biggest acts in the world - Coldplay and Adele as well as a Music Theory App, which was tested by accomplished musicians and theorists, and is aimed at the younger end of the market.


See Musicroom’s latest app showreel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4SsOrCCAic


New York based Director of Digital Publishing, Tomas Wise commented, ‘sales of our sheet music based apps have far exceeded expectations- over ½ million musicians have downloaded our apps and counting. Clearly, there is a huge demand for these products. We are confident sales will continue to grow as we accelerate our release schedule and improve our offering.’

Musicroom.com was the first company to release an official app by The Beatles on iTunes and now has over 40 apps available for download. There are many more guitar, ukulele and piano apps in the pipeline for release during the coming months.

Their Freestyle App which enables you to write and record your rap on the go has been a huge hit with rappers and MCs and has seen downloads hitting over 100,000 and has been Top 10 in the iTunes chart in over 40 countries.

Musicroom.com who have offices and music retail shops in the UK were amongst the first to launch apps into this market and had success with the guitar and drum tuition apps Killer Riffs and Killer Beats.

In this tech-savvy world, musicians of all levels can benefit from using modern technology to learn and improve their playing skills. In addition to apps, programs like Garage Band have enabled players to record themselves in the comfort of their own bedrooms and offices with professional results.

Many established stars like Snoop Dogg and Damon Albarn of Gorillaz have written and recorded songs on their iPads, and this is just the beginning...

To see Musicroom’s full range of apps visit:

http://www.musicroom.com/iphone

Sunday 7 August 2011

Slash at Manchester 2011- late review








With ticket sales getting further ahead of gigs there was plenty of time to get excited about Slash taking to the stage at the Manchester Apollo this month. We've been getting regular updates on the progress of the short UK tour and festival appearances via Slash's regular mobile posts and the tour has been impressively well recieved everywhere.

Slash is definitely on a roll briefly taking a break to add to the work on the new album which will feature the touring band who, I Am happy to report are just as slick as it's possible to be.

I was a little perturbed when Japanese Voyeurs opened the gig; sadly the sound system was doing them no favours drowning the vocals and lead guitar with heavily over driven speakers. Their set reminded me of many pub gigs where visiting bands crank it up beyond "too far" and lose out on the opportunity to show their talent to get that heavy beat rockers seem to thrive on.

After a brief change of stage crew and equipment and obligatory dash to the heaving bar for a cold one; Slash and the band opened the set with Snakepit favourite Been There Lately followed by selections from the Slash and Friends album, Velvet Revolver and Gn'R including my personal picks Ghost and Cali no problems with the sound there it was clearly very well produced.

Myles Kennedy really does give a hundred percent and you have to think if it wasn't for his commitment with Alterbridge he would be first choice to front Velvet Revolver.When they played songs like Slither it was as if the song was his own.


For Doctor Alibi, which you will recall featured Lemmy on the album, Myles handed over vocal duties to bass player extraordinaire Todd Kerns. Its a good choice as his voice has a similar dryness to Lemmy and he well mirrors that gunslinger style of playing Slash favours.

The whole performance was deeply satisfying and proves-( though it is not necessary as we can agree) Slash's playing does not rely upon electronic mixing desk trickery just an awesome dose of ability ,underlined heavily by his solo improv based around The Godfather theme music.

Finishing off the main performance with G n'R s Sweet Child of Mine and then Slither brought a huge roar of approval and after a short break returned to perform By the Sword, Mr Brownstone and Patience (which I am unfamiliar with TBH).

The final song of the encore was Paradise City backed by a huge pyrotechnic display as two mortars fired strips of coloured paper showering the fans.A great night!

Great news too he promises to be back next year doing a bigger UK tour, and by then the new album should be finished.

Derek Watts August 2011.

Saturday 6 August 2011

The Return of 70's Band Wally



70's band Wally have returned with a new studio album entitled Montpelier. A new Live album and a DVD which will feature an intervierw with the band thirty seven years after their debut album was released.

The band who released their self titled debut album in 1974 produced by Bob Harris and Rick Wakeman also played a high profile concert with Rick Wakeman in 1974 at Rick's Garden Party Concert at Crystal Palace and would go on to record a second album entitled Valley Gardens befoe splitting.

However that was not the end of the Wally story as Wally reformed in 2009 for a concert in memory of two former members, Pete Cosker Paul Gerett who had died.

Classic Rock Radio's Jon Kirkman will film the interview for the DVD That was Then which is being readied for the America market in late August for release later in 2011!

Friday 5 August 2011

Strawbs Interview Feature on CRR



The Strawbs are one of Briatian's top progressive rock bands with a career that stretches back over forty plus years. The band started out as a folk band in the sixties and in the seventies gradually evolving into the rock band we know and love today. Despite many line up changes over the years the band are still led by founder member Dave Cousins and long time member Dave Lambert

Jon Kirkman spoke to Dave Cousins in November 2010 when the band were touring the UK

You can listen to the feature which includes music from the bands catalogue on Friday 5th August at 8pm. The feature will also be repeasted at 8pm on Saturday 6th August and then be found in the Listen Again section for access on demand. All times are UK times

www.classicrockradio.eu


Find out more about the Strawbs by visiting the bands website here

http://www.strawbsweb.co.uk/

Wednesday 3 August 2011

Christopher Cross First UK Concert in Two Years!


Grammy Award winning and Oscar Award winning singer/songwriter, Christopher Cross, will perform his first and only UK concert in two years at London’s prestigious Bloomsbury Theatre on Monday 7th November 2011. Tickets are on sale from 10am on Wednesday August 3rd via the 24 hour box office: 0871 230 1101,

www.seetickets.com/Tour/CHRISTOPHER-CROSS.
The special one-off UK show follows the recent release of Christopher’s new solo album, ‘Doctor Faith’.

Known to millions of music fans around the world, his classic hits include ‘Sailing’, ‘Ride Like The Wind’ (covered by Saxon and East Side Beat) and the Oscar winning ‘Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)’ from the hit movie ‘Arthur’ starring Dudley Moore.

Monday 1 August 2011

4-Chord Songbook: Acoustic Hits for iPhone & iPad



4-Chord Songbook: Acoustic Hits for iPhone & iPad

Released by Musicroom.com – The leading producer of music-related iPhone Apps

At £1.99

Created by Musicroom, whose Apps are already being used by ½ million musicians worldwide, newly launched 4-Chord Songbook: Acoustic Hits App for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad is a must-have App for guitar players.







Users don't need to be an accomplished guitarist to use the 4-Chord Songbook App – they only need know 4 easy chords to play over 25 acoustic hit songs listed below.



For each song included in the App, the user can view complete lyrics and chords along with an enhanced chord details screen to view the chord diagrams, photos and audio for each of the four chords in the App.



Complete song list:

Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison

Carey - Joni Mitchell

Destiny Calling – James

Songbird – Oasis

Fairytale Of New York - The Pogues

Fisherman's Blues - The Waterboys

Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye - Leonard Cohen

In The Air Tonight - Phil Collins

Jolene - Dolly Parton

Let It Be - The Beatles

Mr. Tambourine Man - Bob Dylan

New Slang - The Shins

Not Fade Away - Buddy Holly

Peace Train - Cat Stevens

Rhiannon - Fleetwood Mac

Run - Snow Patrol

Songbird - Eva Cassidy

All I Want Is You and Angel Of Harlem - U2

Stand By Me - Ben E. King

Stuck In The Middle With You - Stealers Wheel

The First Cut Is The Deepest - Cat Stevens

The Scientist – Coldplay

The Sound Of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel

There Is A Mountain – Donovan

Vice – Razorlight

What's Up - 4 Non-Blondes


See it on iTunes

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/4-chord-songbook-acoustic/id447176293?mt=8#

See more Apps from Musicroom visit

www.musicroom.com/iphone