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Top 40 for MARCH / APRIL 2011 a work in Progress

Top 40 for March/APRIL 2011

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1)David Kubinec THE WORLD OF OZ David Kubinec's Return to The World of OZ was recorded at the Back Room Studios, East London, England, and is a delightful minimalist recording (not the style of music but the low-fi sounds), the sparse arrangements being a plus. The material is strong with the proficiency of Kubinec steering these sessions. What could have brought this very clever and unique project more notoriety would have been the addition of former rat Mick "Woody" Woodmansey and Uriah Heep's Trevor Bolder. The inclusion of the names later associated with Bowie would have reflected back on Ziggy Stardust and the fans would take a closer look. Alas, maybe for Oz Part II. This is a fine release from Kubinec and has lots of life. The personnel of Kubinec on acoustic guitar, keyboards and vocals is backed by Electric Vic Johnson on guitar, Paul Cuthbert, Malcolm Ball on drums

Soundbites: http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=8249167

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2)TOO LATE b/w AUSTRALIA'S AUDIOSCAM Brian Pitcher-Drums & Lead Vocals Roger Gold-Guitars & Backing Vocals Brad Wallace-Bass Guitar Ross Wedding-Additional Guitars & Backing Vocals If you're familiar with Audioscam's great Abba tribute, this is a complete 180, but equally as impressive and satisfying. "Your fast moving friends have moved along" ...excellent production work, thumping guitar and chimes...what a combination! "I really wish I could arrange it, to make you fall in love with me..." - excellent mid-60's-styled American/British pop flavors... http://www.myspace.com/audioscam

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Duncan Jones Interview on Visual Radio
http://tinyurl.com/visualduncan

#3 Jake Gyllenhall in Source Code Some of the text from my interview with Duncan Jones (conducted on March 22, 2011) will be added to this site with links. Stay tuned. 30 minute interview to post on YouTube this week. SOURCE CODE http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0945513/ Here's a Jake Gyllenhaal interview in the Sunday Boston Herald March 27, 2011

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#4 William Lychack The Architect of Flowers The author of this book of short stories appeared on Visual Radio Program #504 on Monday, March 21, 2011. William Lychack is a well-traveled author with an interesting way of keeping his stories connected to each other, and evolving...not an easy thing to do once they've been put into print. Pick up his first novel, The Wasp Eater, which segues into this new collection due out on March 23, 2011 on Houghton/Mifflin/Harcourt. http://www.riverrunbookstore.com/events/acclaimed-author-william-lychack-reads-from-his-collection-of-short-stories-called-the-archit

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#5 Jesse Barish WHEEL KEEP TURNING

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#6 Ken Elkinson MUSIC FOR COMMUTING http://allmusic.com/album/music-for-commuting-r2119888

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#7 FRED GILLEN JR.

Match Against a New Moon

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8)STEPHEN DAVIS THE LOST CHRONICLES OF LED ZEPPELIN'S 1975 AMERICAN TOUR

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9)Marillion Live from Cadigan Hall (Eagle Vision) MARILLION Live from Cadogan Hall What was once called Neo-Progressive rock is now nestling into a more accessible high-tech soft rock that has the potential to reach a wider audience willing to wrap its ears around the pretty melodies and precise musicianship. Filmed on the last night of the 'Less is More' acoustic tour in December 2009 at London's Cadogan Hall, Eagle Records double CD of the audio. This is the Hogarth/Rothery/Trewavas version of the band - vocalist Steve Hogarth, guitarist Steve Rothery, keyboardist Mark Kelly, bassist Pete Trewavas and drummer Ian Mosley. It's a sweet and dreamy display, elements of Yes meets Pink Floyd with "The Answering Machine" towards the end of disc 2 sounding like a slowed down Jethro Tull lost track. "Out Of This World" on disc one is an epic which you can find people having fun with on YouTube (the studio track on YouTube, a terrific live version on this new outing); "Three Minute Boy" is over eight and a half minutes and would be a wonderful cover for David Bowie to toy with...Hogarth uses his best Bowie inflections from the Hunky Dory period on this...something other singers should emulate. "Easter" is not the Patti Smith title album track, this five minute track is a full minute and fifteen shorter than Smith's epic/paean/memory...the lilting guitar melding nicely with the elegant piano, the keyboards being the dominant instrument throughout this superb double disc. RadioParadise.com should have a ball with it and, as stated above, if positioned correctly, could find a home on Triple A radio and new fans for this persistent and pleasurable journey.

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#10 Harlow Giles Unger

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#11

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12) The Quiet Arrangement (DVD) Directed and Written by David C. Snyder Guest on http://visualradiolive.blogspot.com Friday, March 25, 2011

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13)Desire - Backwards Jupiter Presents Bob Dylan's DESIRE

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14) Solomon Burke (birthday March 21)

The King Live at AVO Session Basel

Solomon Burke

http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-king-live-at-avo-session-basel-r1078488/review

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15 THE RATS SECOND http://www.recordcollectormag.com/reviews/review-detail/5074

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16 SONG Gary Lewis & The Playboys She's Just My Style Thanks to Handsome Dick Manitoba for broadcasting the song on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio, Little Steven's Underground Garage Charlie Koppelman and Don Rubin splash the name Gary Lewis on the cover of 1967's Listen album, his band the Playboys only referenced on the label of the LP. Though the singer had a couple of Top 40 hits that year, they aren't on this collection; meanwhile, Richard Oliver's liner notes ramble insipidly on an album jacket with no musician credits to speak of. The material is all culled from publisher Chardon Music, BMI, which probably stood for Charlie/Don (as in Koppelman/Rubin), with one John Sebastian and two Tim Hardin songs under Faithful Virtue Music Co., also administered through BMI. Listen is interesting because the son of Jerry Lewis actually sings better than on previous recordings -- his vocal proficiency as a frontman serving him well decades later and his chops making him one of the more consistent performers on the oldies circuit.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/listen-1967-album-by-gary-lewis-the-playboys#ixzz1HjlY23yQ

Read more here: http://www.answers.com/topic/listen-1967-album-by-gary-lewis-the-playboys

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17)UP THE LADDER TO THE ROOF From the RIGHT ON album ...The Supremes ...why Frank Wilson is a genius producer! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v1S-ypz5a4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_the_Ladder_to_the_Roof UP THE LADDER TO THE ROOF!

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18 VANILLA FUDGE

The Beat Goes On

Vanilla Fudge

by Joe Viglione

The expanded CD release of this second Vanilla Fudge album is much more accessible than the original vinyl version because of the inclusion of a number of cover tunes, most notably Beatles songs. The revealing liner notes that Sundazed project manager Tim Livingston adds to the reissues of these Atco albums helps put this influential band in a better light. The Beat Goes On is a difficult record, especially after the explosion that was their debut. The single from their previous album, Vanilla Fudge, originally charted in the Top 100 in the U.S. in 1967. (Britain was more hip to the group.) Read more here: http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-beat-goes-on-r21011/review

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19 RENAISSANCE THE VANILLA FUDGE

What made Vanilla Fudge so intriguing was how they and producer Shadow Morton mutated hit songs by stretching the tempo to slow motion so exquisite that even an overexposed song by the Supremes sounded new on the radio. The formula worked fine on covers, but despite their collective talent, the material they composed on Renaissance feels more like psychedelic meeting progressive and has less of that commercial magic. Renaissance is a concept album, produced and directed by Shadow Morton, the man who brought you the Shangri-Las and who produced the second album for the New York Dolls. With a long poem by Carl DeAngelis on the back cover and an amazing construction … » Read more http://www.allmusic.com/album/renaissance-r21014

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Review

by Joe Viglione

Vanilla Fudge took a more basic stance with Rock 'n' Roll, bringing in Aerosmith's first and the Velvet Underground's last producer, Adrian Barber, to replace Shadow Morton. Guitarist Vinnie Martell sings lead on "Need Love," and it is a quagmire of rock sounds, offset by Mark Stein's "Lord in the Country." The band then goes after a good but non-hit Carole King/Gerry Goffin number, "I Can't Make It Alone." It has that vibe that made "Take Me for a Little While" so important and so timeless, but there's just something missing. This is Vanilla Fudge's trademark sound looking for a new personality. The band started in 1968 by releasing an album of seven cover tunes done Vanilla Fudge-style. Along with Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and a handful of other bands, their sound helped shape Top 40 radio in the '60s while heavily influencing Deep Purple and what that group would … » Read more

http://www.allmusic.com/album/rock-roll-r21015/review

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Vanilla Fudge

Review

by Joe Viglione

Quiet Riot's producer gives Vanilla Fudge -- whom producer Shadow Morton discovered in the late '60s -- a "bang your head" onslaught of big hair drums, compressed guitar, and tired homogenization. The fun psychedelic distortion of Vinny Martell is totally stripped away -- he is relegated to rhythm guitar on one song and backing vocals on three. That is a total travesty. It is one thing to have the leader of Beck, Bogert & Appice, one Jeff Beck, funk up "My World Is Empty," even under the disguise of J. Toad (shades of George Harrison in his L'Angelo Mysterioso garb), but this version of the Supremes is so far removed from what made Vanilla Fudge so special that, really, it should be included as a bonus track on a reissue of the 1973 Epic debut … » Read more

http://www.allmusic.com/album/mystery-r51901/review

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22 AMERICAN RADICAL, WOODY GUTHRIE by Will Kaufman http://www.press.uillinois.edu/wordpress/?p=6962

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23 DEVIL'S PLAYTHING Matt Richtel

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#24)MATT TURK http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/american-preservation/id363231038

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25 Letters To Jackie

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26 Vanilla Fudge NEAR THE BEGINNING

Near the Beginning is an excellent title for this self-produced Vanilla Fudge recording. The fourth of five albums recorded during 1967, 1968, and 1969, the band themselves worked to get closer to what made them very special. What made them special was their treatment of other people’s material. Reworking Junior Walker’s 1965 hit is interesting, especially with engineers like Tony Bongiovi and Eddie Kramer to throw ideas at. Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood went Top 30 with Some Velvet Morning, and that is more in line with the Fudge’s debut than re-assembling Motown again. The problem with Shotgun is that it is pretty much the same tempo, with their big sound and added intensity being the difference. Some Velvet Morning, on the other hand, is more Black Sabbath than Ozzie and crew covering Crow’s Evil Woman. Read more here: http://www.last.fm/music/Vanilla+Fudge/Near+the+Beginning

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27 Richie Unterberger WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN

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28 OZZY OSBOURNE I AM OZZY Paperback Edition

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29 VANILLA FUDGE LIVE AT THE REGENT THEATER, MARCH 26, 2011

Saturday evening, March 26, 2011 Vanilla Fudge rocked the Regent Theater over on 7 Medford St., in Arlington Massachusetts, The venerable old hall which first opened in 1916 had Little Anthony & The Imperials perform there in the 1960s, but for most of the latter part of the 20th century, it was a wonderful old movie house. Now as a concert hall / movie theater there's new energy and new life in the hall...and this exquisite show only proves the importance of saving these regional theaters wherever they may be in the world. Bassist Pete Bremy joined original members Vince Martell (guitar & vocals), drummer Carmine Appice and lead singer/keyboard player Mark Stein. The theater was pretty much packed and...in a room that contains the volume, the Fudge used the dynamics of their sound to their advantage, blasting the roof off, when necessary, and bringing it down so that you could hear the proverbial pin drop. "Take Me For A Little While", a masterpiece of pop music, was played to perfection with "Season Of The Witch", "Eleanor Rigby" and other VF staples getting the treatment. As the group used to headline over Led Zeppellin in the early days, a killer "Dazed & Confused" with Appice sounding like he was playing on the original 1967-ish Jeff Beck Group albums (where Aynsley Dunbar did the honors...and I never understood why millions and millions of Zeppelin fans never grabbed copies of those two Beck classic which are so Yardbird-esque...but that's a story for another day)...here was the VF/Cactus/Beck-Bogert-Appice drummer giving a clinic, not only on the John Bonham-heavy "Dazed & Confused" but with his show solo as well. The audience was all middle-aged...and people knew each other from the era (and the Boston area club scene) so the socializing was as key as the music being appreciated. A seven minute or so "You Keep Me Hanging On" was the frosting on the cake...but in an extraordinary move, after the first encore of Vinny Martell singing "You Can't Do That" the band told the audience that on Monday night, March 28, they would be performing a truncated "You Keep Me Hanging On" (the 45 RPM version or so) on the Jimmy Fallon Show...and wanting to practice it, this audience got to hear the song twice, the long version AND the short version. What a great idea and why haven't bands done this before? Play the album-length version and the 45 version! It was terrific...and a splendid time was had by all. Mr. Martell was in touch with me in the 1980s when I was working with the late Jimmy Miller, producer of The Rolling Stones. His solo tapes were impressive back in the day, and it is good to see Vinny shouldering some of the lead vocals and guitar playing that is truly inspired. Martell is one of the most underrated guitarists in rock...come to think of it, Vanilla Fudge is one of the most under-appreciated bands of that era. George "Shadow" Morton is a genius producer and the pairing of this group with that producer was a perfect storm creating a cosmic event that was re-created to perfection at this show. I don't usually put so much emphasis on greatness in a review but have to do so here: Vanilla Fudge gave us authenticity, "the sound" and a great show. Encore.

PRODUCER SHADOW MORTON

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#30 PAUL A Boston band called The Machines had a 45 RPM entitled “Disposable Music”, which was a premonition of things to come...not all the music in 2011 as collector-oriented as that from just a few decades before. And along the lines of that tune, the film Paul is a disposable movie, mildly entertaining, something to do for a day or evening, but at times so cloying with its predictable jokes that it inevitably turns into a bit of a roller coaster ride at a theme park…something to do once in a great while but not enticing enough to draw you back too soon. Like the movie trailer where the Seth Rogan-voiced alien, “Paul” resurrects a bird only to kill it again…by eating it, the jokes are sometimes unfunny or funny for just one spin. But Sigourney Weaver is always fun and the picture has some redeeming qualities, some unique aspects to the script – perhaps had Simon Pegg and Nick Frost spent more time writing Paul than starring in it there would be more substance to this exercise.Taking a hint from Galaxy Quest and initiating the action in a fan setting - Comic Con of all places - is very cool. That the writers (Peg and Frost) and the director,Greg Matolla, showed up at Comic Con 2010 to advance Paul certainly was appealing to those who religiously attend such gatherings but, alas, the film doesn’t go deep enough into what fandom craves, and that’s not to its benefit. Too smart-ass for its own good, Paul still delivers an interesting plot of an alien escaping Sigourney instead of the other way around. Not as much fun as her aforementioned Galaxy Quest and certainly no Avatar…but if you got nothing better to do… http://www.tmrzoo.com/2011/22786 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdHUQtnJsyQ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1092026/

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31 http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/09/03/entertainment/doc4c80400470073198101171.txt

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33 CHEVALIER THEATER SHOULD BE THE HOME OF A PUBLIC ACCESS STATION FOR MEDFORD http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/medford/2011/03/opinion_make_room_for_medford.html

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34 SCARFACE COMING TO BLU-RAY The street slang of Tony Montana is now in high def. You can hear classic lines like “Another Quaalude, and she’ll be mine again.” on the Blu-ray version of SCARFACE. Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert Loggia, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Stephen Bauer and the gang under the direction of Brian De Palma will help you memorize the lines like never before. Here’s what the new package offers: - First time on Blu-ray – newly restored high resolution, high def picture and 7.1 sound - New bonus features - Steelbook packaging with collectable art cards - 1000 of humidor gift set which is amazing ($999.99) – for the ultimate collector - Fan Art Contest Five months away! September 6th is the date of the Blu-ray release!

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35 MALDEN ENTERTAINMENT HOTLINE FOR MARCH 26, 2011

George Lyons - Malden Entertainment Hotline by Joe Viglione http://tinyurl.com/applebeesmuseum Heard "Spirit In The Sky" leaving Applebees in Malden the other night. Heard "Sunny" in Bruegger's Bagels on Sunday, 3-27-11. Here's the current Malden Hotline...I'll update it for the paper this week

Malden credentials

Another fun TinyURL is tinyurl.com/maldenpersonalities, where there are 55 names listed on the Internet Movie Database starting with song and dance man Jack Albertson. He appeared in Willie Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, won an Emmy for his part in Chico & The Man, a Tony for his role on Broadway in The Subject Was Roses, and an Oscar in 1968 for that same role in the film version of the Broadway play. Born in Malden on June 16, 1907 he passed away in California in 1981. Betty Lou Keim died a year ago on January 27, 2010. She was born in Malden on September 27, 1938 and appeared in the 1958 film “Some Came Running” with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine.

Read more: Malden Entertainment Hotline: Music and sports memorabilia - Malden, Massachusetts - Malden Observer http://www.wickedlocal.com/malden/archive/x855929021/Malden-Entertainment-Hotline-Music-and-sports-memorabilia#ixzz1Hu2CdxkY

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36 LISA BURNS CHANNELING MARY http://mog.com/The_Time_Machine/blog/2822968

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UNADORNED 37 http://www.johnlightning.com/index.php?paged=2

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38)LIMITLESS with Bradley Cooper http://www.buzzfocus.com/2010/12/17/movie-trailer-limitless-starring-bradley-cooper-abbie-cornish-robert-de-niro/

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#39 SCOTT KEMPNER

LOOK - I love the Dictators and this guy was their rhythm guitarist. He went on to form the Del Lords with Eric Ambel and that group at least could have been on a bill with The Dics, but Tenement Angels is not my cup of tea. Robert Gordon meets the Stray Cats not doing rockabilly but working on the best Bruce Springsteen tribute possible. Dion loves him and others pour accolades, but I would rather listen to the Del-Lords or Andy Shernoff or Richard Manitoba... Americana is cool but this album's Americana is drenched in 1980s almost-Bon Jovi production with none of the charm the Skeletons (the backing band) had on their own discs. Even the cover of "Just Like Romeo & Juliet" sounds almost-finished but not quite mixed. The elements are there, perhaps, but this disc just doesn't inspire or even make me want to listen.

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#40 SCOTT BROWN I voted for Martha Coakley when I would have preferred Ed Capuano or was it Fred Capuano...oh...MIKE Capuano... Riding on a wave of Tea Party madness and the fumbling by Martha-my-dear who should've used the Beatles song and had some fun campaigning. Sheesh, I was out there at Fenway Park taping Winthrop vs. Marblehead hockey and it felt like 30 below zero on the pitcher's mound and first base bag (in the middle of winter, 2009!) but where was Martha? She could've descended in a Bowie-like spacecraft, placed the hockey puck, and got the heck out of Dodge...but, nope...she let some Cosmo centerfolder with a wife in a Digney Fignus video become Senator...Scott's probably a fun guy to have a beer with, but I drink tea with cinnamon spice anyway and do you want a Senator or a drinking buddy in a pick-up truck? The big revelation here isn't the scandal (and a friend of mine at the gym thinks Scotty boy made that one up to sell books), nope, it's that he's friends with Seth Greenberg of The Paradise. Cool. Maybe Scotty's hipper than we thought. Let's go for a drink...but, please, will Mike Capuano get on the campaign trail and get people to know his name??? I mean, do a Google on IMAGES, Scott Brown Book and a young, bare-chested Scotty is there for all the world to see. What next? Larry Flynt for Postmaster General? Hugh Hefner for Secretary of Porn! http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&biw=1024&bih=609&tbs=isch:1&aq=f&aqi=&oq=&q=scott%20brown%20book

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Conclusions...