Monday, December 15, 2014

Rolling Stones @ #1 Hampton Coliseum



HAMPTON COLISEUM @ #1


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFPh5PL2c8Y

Recorded Live: 12/18/1981 - 

Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, VA)


    If The Beatles catalog is the gospel of songwriting 

and studio recording, the textbook for live performance

is the endless road paved by The Rolling Stones, 

the quintessential live group.

   HAMPTON 12/18/81 is truly a great addition to the collection, and better late than never.   One would have thought with the success of the Grateful Dead and the crazed recording enthusiasts, the hit machine that is the Rolling Stones would have allowed for in-concert taping as well. The audience certainly indulges in that pleasure anyway - and the superb bootleg - Liver Than You'll Ever Be - most likely forced the release of the equally superb, but differently flavored, Get Your Ya Ya's Out (and looking at Wikipedia it is interesting that the collaborators on that site agree with me. See below*)



     So the huge, largely untapped market, is there. And the Eagle Rock additions are immense.  This collection has superb liner notes, photos, DVD, double CD and vinyl!   It's a treat that Stones fans have deserved for years and the takes of "Just My Imagination," "Beast of Burden" are key points for discussion and study, beyond the entertainment.   You see, if you listen to the CD first in the car, as I have - many, many, many times - and then watch the video, it is two different experiences. What the Stones offer is the music and the show, two separate entities.
A tune that leaves this critic/aficionado rather cold, "She's So Cold," works better as a live track, but how can it compete with "Let's Spend The Night Together," or "Under My Thumb" or "Can't Always Get What You Want."   More is always better, of course, and though Sweet Summer Sun: Hyde Park Live (and the bootlegs from decades earlier, Hyde Park as well as  Get Your Leeds Lungs Out) may be superior, this is still a prime cut, grade A material that is very enjoyable and a worthy addition.

    


     With a mega band like our boys Mick, Keith, Charlie and company, the ceaseless touring brings reinvention of the material, a different perspective on the fabric, the artwork that we know and love so well. This tour's smooth, liquidy guitars provide a variation on the theme, and has wonderful high points, even if the renditions aren't (not to be redundant) as charging as the flavors found on Get Your Ya Ya's Out or the quintessential bootleg, Liver Than You'll Ever Be, or Some Girls Live.  It's the addition to the library that purists and Rolling Stone fan/historians treasure, and this component does not disappoint.


Hear the HAMPTON CONCERT here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFPh5PL2c8Y



WIKIPEDIA
LIVE STONES ALBUMS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:The_Rolling_Stones_live_albums


WIKIPEDIA
LIVER THAN YOU'LL EVER BE

Live'r Than You'll Ever Be is a bootleg recording of The Rolling Stones' concert in Oakland, California from 9 November 1969. It was one of the first live rock musicbootlegs and was made notorious as a document of their1969 tour of the United States. The popularity of the bootleg forced the Stones' label Decca Records to release the live album Get Yer Ya-Yas Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert in 1970.[1] Live'r is also one of the earliest commercial bootleg recordings in rock history, released in December 1969, just two months after the BeatlesKum Back and five months after Bob Dylan'sGreat White Wonder. Like the two earlier records,Live'r's outer sleeve is plain white, with its name stamped on in black ink.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live%27r_Than_You%27ll_Ever_Be

#3  GET YOUR YA YA'S OUT

Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!': The Rolling Stones in Concertis a live album by The Rolling Stones, released 4 September 1970 on Decca Records in the UK and onLondon Records in the US. It was recorded in New York and Maryland in November 1969, just before the release of Let It Bleed. It is the first live album to reach number 1 in the UK. It was reported to have been issued in response to the well known bootleg Live'r Than You'll Ever Be.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_Yer_Ya-Ya%27s_Out!_The_Rolling_Stones_in_Concert

#4


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#4  GOT LIVE IF YOU WANT IT

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Got_Live_If_You_Want_It!_%28album%29#mediaviewer/File:RollingStones-GotLiveIfYouWantIt.jpg


Go to: 14:17 in to her the STUDIO version of FORTUNE TELLER with fake applause overdubbed smack dab in the middle of the album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM258IE6Z1Y
________________________________________________________________________
Love Potion #9

#5 FORTUNE TELLER
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Got_Live_If_You_Want_It!_%28album%29
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#6  SOME GIRLS LIVE


The Rolling Stones – Some Girls Live In Texas ’78

The Rolling Stones – Some Girls Live In Texas ’78

by JOE VIGLIONE on NOVEMBER 28, 2012
Post image for The Rolling Stones – Some Girls Live In Texas ’78
Back in the early 1970s finding the double disc of Rubber Dubber’s THE ROLLING STONES EUROPEAN TOUR LIVE 1970 was a special treat, especially when a live version of the unreleased “Brown Sugar” was there for all to hear before the song took over radio stations everywhere.  Taken from an October 1970 West Germany concert fans sought out classic boots like this as well as Janis Joplin’s Get It While You Can, The Beatles Let It Be and Dylan’s The Great White Wonder because the major labels with those artists under contract generated demand without fulfilling the promise that comes with creating that demand.
In 2012 it is astounding to find legitimate music just as classic being released simultaneously on both Eagle Rock Entertainment and Universal Music Group.   While UMG has the bulk of the Stones catalog the band’s corporation, Promotone BV issued a license for this terrific 2 LP and DVD set to Eagle.


Joe Vig reviews SOME GIRLS LIVE
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2012/40343/the-rolling-stones-some-girls-live-in-texas-78

http://sabotagetimes.com/music/some-girls-live-in-texas-78-is-a-chance-to-revisit-the-stones-greatness/


WIKIPEDIAhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Girls:_Live_in_Texas_%2778
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#7  JOE COCKER
ACROSS FROM MIDNIGHT TOUR

RIP Joe Cocker - Cocker has crossed over

Joe Cocker dies at 70

https://www.yahoo.com/music/s/joe-cocker-dies-70-192107501.html



http://www.allmusic.com/album/across-from-midnight-tour-dvd-video-mw0000940397

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#8) ELEPHANT'S MEMORY

Review by   [-]\



After original vocalist Carly Simon left Elephant's Memory for her own fame and fortune, the band recorded their self-titled Buddah debut, Elephant's Memory, with Michal Shapiro handling the female lead. That disc is not their John Lennon/Yoko Ono/David Peel Apple Records debut from 1972, which was also named after this ensemble. When two Elephant's Memory songs from the 1969 Buddah Records album appeared in the Capitol Records soundtrack to the film Midnight Cowboy, Buddah vice president Neil Bogart revamped and re-released the original LP, most likely and understandably, to cash in on the attention the band was getting from the hit film. "Old Man Willow" and "Jungle Gym at the Zoo" from the first LP appeared in Midnight Cowboy, and they show up again on side one of this disc along with a different spin on the Nilsson hit "Everybody's Talkin'." Here Michal Shapiro gives a woman's take on the classic Fred Neil composition over a poppy/folksy Wes Farrell production. There's a strange instrumental version of John Barry's theme to "Midnight Cowboy," jazzy rock with a female vocal, most likely Michal, adding a nice eerie resonance to the spirited and jumpy rendition, a far cry from the version that contained Vinny Bell's elegant guitar, the Top Ten hit for Ferrante & Teicher in 1969. The two new titles as well as the Elephant's Memory material from the movie make up side one. Side two contains seven more titles from the first LP, including the singles that were released from that disc, "Crossroads of the Stepping Stones" and "Don't Put Me on Trial," two excellent slices of '60s pop
Read more here:

http://www.allmusic.com/album/songs-from-midnight-cowboy-mw0000582153

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#9  ISN'T SHE GREAT   BURT BACHARACH / BETTE MIDLER



ISN'T SHE GREAT

Where the 1967 film Valley of the Dolls had a terrific Dionne Warwick classic in the title track (the biggest of her first 22 Top 40 hits), the reuniting of producer/arranger Burt Bacharach with lyricist Hal David and vocalist Warwick is about as memorable as this biographical film about Jacqueline Susanne, the author of Valley of the Dolls. One problem is failing to utilize the film's star, Bette Midler, on any of the songs here, proving how essential that diva is to both sides of the movie-making experience. Even dialogue from the motion picture would have given this endless middle-of-the-road loop something to hold onto. It sounds like all involved showed up to get their paychecks, manufactured the music off of an assembly line, and maybe had some fun reminiscing about the really great work they all did once upon a time

read more here


http://www.allmusic.com/album/isnt-she-great-mw0000051774


___________________________________
#10 THE GREAT FATSBY  LESLIE WEST

http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-great-fatsby-mw0000815947


Sunday, November 02, 2014

Top 40 for November 2014 Pick to Click: BLUE COUPE - Dennis Dunaway, Joe Bouchard, Albert Bouchard



The Joe Vig Top 40

#1  Nightcrawler - film with Jake Gyllenhaal




Nightcrawler
a film review by Joe Viglione

  
      Nightcrawler is a surprisingly original movie that is disturbing, creepy and beautifully filmed in all its grisly dark humor.  A film noir descent into psychosis and soul-less immorality that is more about intellectual stimulation than it is about entertainment.   Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal – from a film family – is one of the most underrated talents in Hollywood and this vehicle shows that, much like his movie-boyfriend in Brokeback Mountain, Gyllenhaal is every bit the pliable actor the late Heath Ledger was, though Jake has yet to give us a performance on the level of Ledger’s Joker, this Norman Bates-meets-Wayne’s World comes close.
      Creepy Louis Bloom from Nightcrawler is a far cry from selfless hero Colter Stevens which Gyllenhaal played in director Duncan Jones’ now-classic science fiction mind-twist Source Code.   Nightcrawler revolves around newly-minted on the scene news gatherer Bloom’s solitary genius and his pathological risky behavior.  The risk/reward  prospect works well for the fast-talking, smart but clearly off-balance Bloom, and for his unwritten partner in this endeavor, Rene Russo.  It was just 18 years ago the 60 year old Russo was the pretty wife of Mel Gibson in Ransom and that’s an eternity in Hollywood where great acting emerges when the youth fades.  Same for Bill Paxton  - a far cry from his “punk leader” in 1984’s first Terminator movie, he’s as almost unrecognizable in this as John Goodman’s hippy drug dealer was for Goodman in 2012’s Flight.
     Watching Bloom stare at the camera in the police interrogation room is very much like watching Norman Bates turn into “mother” at the end of Psycho when he/she asks for a blanket.   That Bloom suffers from personality disorder is a given, and his no-rules lifestyle is clearly dangerous, and ignored by those around him.    READ MORE HERE in my column on TMRZoo http://www.tmrzoo.com/2014/63903/review-nightcrawler-deeply-disturbing-bit-top


press release
Nightcrawler is a new thriller set in the nocturnal underbelly of contemporary Los Angeles.
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Lou Bloom, a driven young man desperate for work who discovers the high-speed world of L.A. crime journalism. Finding a group of freelance camera crews who film crashes, fires, murder and other mayhem, Lou muscles into the cut-throat, dangerous realm of nightcrawling — where each police siren wail equals a possible windfall and victims are converted into dollars and cents. Aided by Rene Russo as Nina, a veteran of the blood-sport that is local TV news, Lou thrives. In the breakneck, ceaseless search for footage, he becomes the star of his own story.
Dan Gilroy is directing the film which also stars Bill Paxton, Riz Ahmed, Rene Russo, Ann Cusack, Eric Lange, Kevin Rahm, and Kathleen York.
Nightcrawler is out in the US and UK on 31st October 2014.

fILMOGRAPHY
____________________________________________________________________________
#10  On the road with Janis


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11)BLUE COUPE LIVE AT THE BULL RUN, NOVEMBER 15, 2014

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bluecoupe2

NOSFERATU LIVE  Norfolk CT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq2dNtrJDLE

No More Mr. Nice Guy -Live at Infinity Hall October 2009
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBAkIUFD-Io

I'm 18  Live at the Rhino in Buffalo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB9WGbsuz-0

Two hours AUDIO of LIVE IN CHICAGO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjkcr6ntfL0

Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll
. This video is part of their Ottawa or Bust Tour that had the band not only performing in the 1000 Islands but also Hamilton, Toronto and Ottawa Ontario Canada.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjaxKvc8n80


REVIEW, BLUE COUPE AT
BULL RUN
SHIRLEY, MASS.
SATURDAY 11-15-14

A packed house at the Bull Run on Route 2A in Shirley, Massachusetts
*(215 Great Rd, Shirley, MA 01464 (978) 425-4311)

witnessed a tremendous show from Dennis Dunaway, original Alice Cooper Group bassist, and guitarist Joe Bouchard - bassist with Blue Oyster Cult - and his brother, original Blue Oyster Cult drummer Albert Bouchard.    

It was an enormous vibrations that cascaded from the stage, and a power trio that sounded more like a full five piece, the three of ten musicians (if you count all the members of the original Couper and B.O.C. bands) rocking out and, most key, having fun with all their hits.

They asked the audience if they wanted the long ending to "I'm 18" or the edited 45 RPM version and those in attendance demanded the long, drawn out cataclysm that some might remember from the debut of the old IN CONCERT TV series where the Alice Cooper Group did the original “I’m 18” with its eerie keyboard intro.  Dunaway told us of the song's evolution backstage in an interview for Visual Radio. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bassist told this writer that the original "I'm 18" was a bluesy song – much longer -  that producer Bob Ezrin heard and truncated, turning it into the Top 40 Classic that it is

The three encores included "Don't Fear the Reaper,"  “Angel’s Well” from the CD Tornado on the Tracks, with exquisite guitar playing by Bouchard (in his interview he mentioned that it is Robbie Krieger of the Doors on the Blue Coupe release) and a great “Kick out the Jams” MC5 cover to conclude the show.


Along with the February 6, Beatles tribute at the Apollo Theater in New York (with Mary Wilson of the Supremes, Kitoto Von Hebb, Lloyd Price, Barbara Harris of the Toys, Margaret Ross Wilson of the Cookies) and Aerosmith on July 16th at Great Woods X-Finity Center in Mansfield, Mass., this was one of the best shows of the year so far.  You have to see this group to feel the power.
___________________________________________________________________________________
#12  THE MONKEES BOXED SET
Review from guest journalist Ed Wrobleski


The Monkees - self-Titled deluxe 3-cd boxset 

(Friday Music)release date 11-4-2014  rating 2 1/2 stars
reviewed by Ed Wrobleski on 11-20-2014


This is a definitive 3-cd hodgepodge of the Monkees first album, put
out by Friday Music which is a subsidiary of Rhino Records, and if
you're a die-hard Monkees fan as I am personally Rhino Handmade had put
out 3 out of the 5 box sets like this now and basically continued where
they had originally left off on their 2-cd deluxe cd sets they had
started with in 2005.  


So on this box we have 3-cds as i said disc one
is the basic album in the mono and stereo format for the first 24
tracks and there are some great tracks most of these titles i'll
mention you would have seen and heard them do in the television show we
started with the basic theme to the show, Saturday's Child a great hard
rocker for them, I wanna be free we get the slow version and then the
faster version shows up later on this set, but the true gems on disc
one follow after the basic stereo and mono versions of the album with
such things like the Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart version of the Theme
from the Monkees, possibly the first worked up version of the song of
You Just Maybe The One a great Mike Nesmith penned tune that shows up
on their third album Headquarters, This Just Doesn't Seem To be My Day,
Take A Giant Step, All the King's Horeses. The Kind of Girl I could
Love another great Nesmith vocal on this one and shows up on the second
album More of the Monkees, a radio ad for the monkees on NBC
television, Saturday's Child,  One of many Kelloggs Jingles, another ad
on the radio for the Monkees with the Monkees themselves promoting the
show and a give-a-way contest, and then we close out the disc with
Theme from the Monkees the way it closed out the television show every
week for the first season, the songs I mentioned after the main album
plays in stereo and mono are alternate versions they recorded
specifically for the show and never appeared on any official
compilation until now as for the song All The King's Horses that's
another great Nesmith penned song but never did appear on any Monkees
album or b-side of a single and i could never understand why.
 


    Now on to disc two of the set this disc is what I call the scraping
the bottom of the barrel disc for the simple fact that all the tracks
on here are mainly backing tracks as the record company calls them I
call them instrumentals and on a few of these tracks right after the
backing track you'll hear a vocal take on the song but it's mainly the
songs on the album which is basically disc one.  There are a few gems
that never ended up on any Monkee albums or Singles but some version of
some of these did show up on the Missing Links series Rhino had
released but these versions didn't appear on those either songs like I
Don't Think YOu Know Me At All with Micky Dolenz on the lead vocals
there are several versions of this song with all four of the monkees
taking a shot on the lead vocal and they're all good ones at that, then
we have the song So Goes Love and that's a Davy Jones tune nice bluessy
number again never made an actual album except one of the Missing Link
albums but interesting story on that is The Turtles did record it on a
album never made a hit out of it but it does appear on one of their
albums.  The next gem on disc two is a great song again penned by Mike
Nesmith and it's called I Won't Be The Same Without Her now the
interesting fact on this song is that it was recorded in 1966 with the
rest of this album and it doesn't show up until the album Instant
Replay which was an album they did when they became a 3-piece band and
Peter Tork had left them, then there's I Can't Get Her Off of My Mind a
basic song and dance song for Davy and a very early mix on this album
we don't see the finished product on this song again until the album
Headquarters, another great gem on here is yet another Mike Nesmith
tune which is Mary Mary it's a little faster then the finished product
of the song but the way the Monkees did it may as well been a surf song
for The Beach Boys or Jan and Dean, the version i like of this song is
by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the next gem is a song called Of
Your great song again never made any Monkees albums or singles back in
the day a version did appear on Missing Links volume 1 and that would
have been the finished product on the Missing Links album.  Now the
best gem I think on Disc two is the song I Prithee (Do Not Ask FOr
Love) with Davy Jones vocals on this track now through out the series
of these deluxe boxed sets we've seen this track appear in many forms
and various versions with different lead vocals like Micky Dolenz and
Peter Tork again this song was kicking around in 1966 and it doesn't
get used until the Monkees would make their Ill-fated television
special which would appear in April of 1969 with Peter's vocals and
this is how Disc two closes out.
    Disc three the final disc of this hodge podged set for a first album
box is the album David Jones yes you read this right it's Davy's first
attempt at an album made and put out before he was a Monkee now I don't
understand why we need this in the box set of the Monkees first album
because it's not the Monkees on this disc at all it is Davy's first
album presented in Stereo and Mono with two bonus tracks on the stereo
portion and then when you listen to the mono  segement they don't
appear most of these songs are very hokey as i'll put them there are a
few songs that are okay on this set for instance Davy's version of the
Bob Dylan penned song It Ain't Me Babe is great it's a faster version
then the Turtles version now i know Davy didn't have a hit with it but
it's a damn good version I Think, then we have Dream Girl, Take Me to
Paradise, and The Girl From Chelsea those are probably the best songs
on the David Jones Part but wait there's more there are some tunes on
this disc by Michael Blessing.....yes I said Blessing it is Nesmith but
that's the name he went under before he was a Monkee and his songs are
rare and hard to find on vinyl so these are definitely gems for the die
hard Monkee fanatic or afficianado and the songs are as follows Until
it's Time For You To Go, What Seems To Be The Trouble Officer?, I've
Never Done This Before, A Journey with Michael Blessing (instrumental),
Who Do You Love?, and Get Out My Life Woman, now it's nice to have very
clean remastered versions of these songs and the last two I mentioned
i've never heard but definitely great early Nesmith tracks all the
other solo Nesmith tracks have appeared on many different pre-monkee
solo bootleg cds or vinyl of Mike's the last track to close out disc
three is a mono take of Davy singing with an acoustic guitar of I Wanna
Be Free. If you're a die hard fan it's a must have for the collection
but if you're not it's not worth the $69.98 plus the shipping on it
from http://monkees.net


 

 http://www.monkees.com/article/world-premiere-2-i-wanna-be-free-overdubbed-demo-take-two-from-the-monkees-super-deluxe


Here's a good read on a music forum
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-next-monkees-box-set-a-proposal.270513/
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20) LIVE ON TAPE with Ron Cox
Worldwide television debut of Malden resident Fil Ramil's new video ANYTHING YOU WANT (WITHIN REASON, featuring Kate O'Connor)  11/3/14 at about 7:45 PM.
__________________________________________________

MATV's Live On Tape was a most complete show. With David Letterman retiring in 2015 and Jay Leno visiting Jimmy Fallon this Friday (November 7, oh the indignity of it all) - one of the last durable talk show hosts still standing is MATV's Ron Cox.

On Monday, 11/3/14 at 7 PM Cox invited Malden Fire Chief. John 'JackColangeli as well as chef David Stein of the 

Stock Pot  and comedian Johnny Joyce.


Malden's Fil Ramil performed "On and On" live on the 

show, participated in an interview, unveiled the 

television debut of his new video, and then performed a

third song, "Lost Forever" which concluded the show.






Fil Ramil's new video



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daZJ2RJ8tCM

EP RELEASE CONCERT THURSDAY NOV 13TH, HENNESEY'S UPSTAIRS ROCK CLUB, 25 UNION ST BOSTON MA 7:30-10:30

Directed by Ken Schmidt c/o Ugly Duck Studios
From the EP "NightFall"
Copyright 2014 filramilmusic
filramilmusic.com
cdbaby.com/artist/filramil
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fil-Ra...

















  • Cassandre McKinley with Fil Ramil - YouTube

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvhsCBNbjwc
    Jun 25, 2014 - Uploaded by Cassandre McKinley
    You need Adobe Flash Player to watch this video. Download it ... Jun 25, 2014. Cassandre McKinley and Fil ...
  • Fil Ramil - Anything You Want (ft. Kate O'Connor ) - YouTube

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=daZJ2RJ8tCM
    4 days ago - Uploaded by filramil
    You need Adobe Flash Player to watch this video. Download .... Cassandre McKinley with Fil Ramil by ...



  • Article in Malden Observer
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    Fil Ramil’s got a Ship to Sail’
    Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Fil Ramil is a busy guy. A mortgage broker during the day, he performs with fellow Malden resident and notable sax player
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    Fil Ramil | Listen and Stream Free Music, Albums, New Re...
    Fil Ramil's profile including the latest music, albums, songs, music videos and more updates.
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    Fil Ramil's got a 'Ship to Sail' - News - Wicked Local - Boston ...

    www.wickedlocal.com/article/.../3021093...
    Community Newspaper Company
    Feb 10, 2009 - Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Fil Ramil is a busy guy. ... The Malden Observer recently sat down with Fil Ramil and asked him a few questions ...


      •     ...       
    • MEET MATV’S PRODUCERS See it ‘Live on Tape’ 




















    • Past guests of Live on Tape host Ron Cox (right) include songwriter Norman Greenbaum, who is best know for writing “Spirit in the Sky."




    _________________________________________________________________________________
    25) The Ted Show on NPR

    http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/03/11/173816690/new-voices-for-the-voiceless-synthetic-speech-gets-an-upgrade




    37)Easy Action, ALICE COOPER

    http://www.allmusic.com/album/release/easy-action-mr0001244783


    38)Neil Smith of Alice Cooper Group

    INTERVIEW

    GOING TRACK BY TRACK with the album by Neal Smith of the original Alice Cooper Group.  The writer saw the Alice Cooper Group at the Boston Garden for the Billion Dollar Babies tour and has recently interviewed Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter, who also backed up "The Coop."  We'll invite Neal to visit Visual Radio soon.
    _________________________________________________
    When was the track "Leave Me Alone" conceived?

    (NS) My KillSmith CD "Sexual Savior" took four years to complete. It was written and recorded in 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2007 it was completely mixed and mastered for an early 2008 release. "Leave Me Alone" was written and conceived in 2004 during the early stages of the CD.


    Joe V: Did "Sexual Savior" and the other 10 songs come together at the same time, or was it a long process?

    (NS) The vast majority of the "KillSmith" songs are new songs that were written and conceived between 2004 and 2005. There were only two songs on the CD that have been kicking around for years and mutated into the musical gems that they are today, the title track "Sexual Savior" and the only acoustic guitar track "Beware Of The Dog."

    Joe V: Are all the tracks, including "Disturbed", by the same musicians and how long has this particular group been together?
    (NS) There are only two principle musicians playing on every song. The first is my partner in crime, Peter Catucci (aka Peter The Cat), who plays bass guitar and does reinforcement and background vocals. In addition Peter engineered and recorded all of the KillSmith music in his Connecticut studio "Rock Wall Studios." KillSmith is actually the third CD that Peter Catucci and I have worked on since 2001. The other two were called Cinematik and they are a completely different musical style that KillSmith.
    The second musician is me, Neal Smith. Naturally I (aka Rattlesnake Smith), played all of the drums and percussion on the CD, but I (aka KillSmith), also played all the rhythm guitars on every track and I (aka Fingers Smith) played keyboards where they appear. I also wrote the music, lyrics and I (aka KillSmith), sang the lead vocals on every song.

    Our additional our three guest musicians were Pete "Keys" Hick, playing great keyboards on "Beware Of The Dog." The amazing lead guitar work on the CD was by Lord Bryan Morrell and Tommy-Gun Crowley. Brian and Tommy are credited in the CD on the songs where they soloed.

    All five musicians came together for the first time during the recording of this CD, my second solo endeavor. My first being "Platinum God."
    Joe V:"Beware Of The Dog" seems like a sequel to "Ballad of Dwight Frye", where did this theme come from?

    (NS) In creating the fictitious character "Dog" in "Beware Of The Dog" I wanted him to have a combination of qualities. The first having the ruthless primal killer instinct of "The Wolfman" and the second being a shrewd business powerhouse like "The Godfather." Musically there could be possible connection, but conceptually and lyrically "Beware Of The Dog" has no similarity to the classic song from our "Love It To Death" album written by  Michael Bruce and Alice, called "The Ballad Of Dwight Frye."
    Joe V: "Naked and The Raw" won't be getting mainstream airplay anytime soon, hard metal, Goth and borderline Death Metal seems to be going through a geological shift. Do you see the market for a songlike this in Europe or are American kids still reacting to this style?

    (NS) "Naked And The Raw" is my death metal, Goth, power disco song and like many, not all, but many of my songs on this "XXX Rated" CD, it will not be getting any mainstream airplay soon. I did not jump on any musical bandwagons or trends, I'm just doing what I love and if the fans, young or old dig it, even better. As this collection of songs final resolve was to meet my standards, my only target market first and foremost was me. Just like the our groundbreaking band Alice Cooper, it was up to the fans to love us or hate us. But yes, I do sell a tons of CDs to the European market.

    My inspiration was some great bands of the 90's and early 2000's, like Shirley Temple of Doom, Pigface, Tapping the Vein, Kings X and Ramstein to name a few. Peter Catucci and I saw these bands live in New York City and KillSmith was the results.

    Every song on the CD was inspired by that heavy metal, industrial spirit. I also wanted my songs to celebrate the dark, deranged and sexual side of our original Alice Cooper Band. With the sexually expectant, "Naked And The Raw," I went on a fantasy journey that every young red blooded American boy can relate to, and that is being with two women at the same time. But in this case, the two women are famous Hollywood Sex Goddesses from the silver screen.
    Joe V: "Can't Get You Outta My Skull" is like Lou Reed meets Iggy Pop by way of Armand Schauobroeck, is this pop/metal and is it indicative of KillSmith?

    (NS) Having a pop sounding song in a metal vein is certainly one of my goals. After all I have written or co-written hit singles like "I'm Eighteen," Elected," School's Out" and "Teenage Lament 1974" in Alice Cooper and Buck Dharma (from Blue Oyster Cult) MTV hit song "Born To Rock."

    This is the only song on the KillSmith CD that came to me in a dream. I immediately got up in the middle of the night and started writing and recording it. The tragic untimely death of a teenage lover is in the tradition of the Shangri-La's "Leader Of The Pack," or Mark Dinning's "Teen Angel." You can make your own analogy about Lou, Iggy and Armand. In the past they may have been rival contemporaries in the Alice Cooper platinum era. However I doubt it as we really had no rivals at that time. My inspirations are for the most part drummers and guitarists of the distant past. KillSmith is very nasty and sings like he sings. He's so nasty that he would eat Lou, Iggy and Armand for breakfast and then have Alice for desert!
    Joe V: "Monsters In The Attic" would be great for a 1950s Science Fiction movie - and with bands like The Lemonheads ending up on film re-releases like The Graduate have you thought of pitching this to DVD companies who specialize in the release of those vintage movies?

    (NS) I have not been trying to find other medias for "Monsters", but that's a great idea! However I am currently working on placing some of the other songs in television, cable and movies. I think that there is some bad ass shows out there that would be the perfect match for my KillSmith music.
    Joe V:"How Do You Bleed" begs the obvious question, is this a response to "Only Women Bleed?"

    (NS) "How Do You Bleed" has no more to do with Alice's solo song "Only Women Bleed" than it does with the Rolling Stones song "Let It Bleed." The only common denominator is the word "Bleed." My song is about my pro capitol punishment views, which are pro victim, pro justice and pro death. People that say the death penalty is not a deterrent, I say that's bullshit, it's kept me from killing several people I can think of in my lifetime.
    Joe V: "Thrill, Thrill, Thrill Shoot To Kill" doesn't sound like it will appeal to feminist groups. Is there any flack against the album for the in-your-face approach to the lyrics?

    (NS) Again, I guess a person can find any meaning that they like in song lyrics. I don't give a fuck what anyone thinks about my views and I never have. However if any group or critic thinks that "Thrill, Thrill, Thrill Shoot To Kill," is antifeminist or condoning violence against women they are completely wrong and would totally have misinterpreted the lyrics. I for one would never tolerate that kind of behavior and would love to kick the shit out of any man that hurts a girl or a woman. In actuality "Thrill, Thrill, Thrill Shoot To Kill" is about killing sperms when they are swallowed during oral sex or killing them when they are shot over a woman's body during male ejaculation! Pro Sperm Lifers may have a problem with that, but if that was the case ever male over twelve years of age would be guilty of "Sperm Homicide.
    Joe V:"Dynasty Of Darkness" fits in nicely with the hard metal scene in Finland, any plans to play over there?

    (NS) It's funny you mention Finland. I have visited there seven of the last eight years. I haven't played there, but I think KillSmith would go over extremely well and they would love "Dynasty Of Darkness." Maybe I could get that band of monsters from Helsinki called "Lordi" to open for me.
    Joe V: What is "Human Evolution" all about?

    (NS) In December of 1999, not only was the 2nd millennium ticking down, but so was the 20th century. I ran across an incredible article in the newspaper that listed the top 100 events of the last 100 years. I was inspired at that moment to work on a song that would be a verbal time-capsule of the good, the bad and the ugly of the 20th century. My challenge was to take these 100 events and incorporate them into a heavy hip-hop/rap style song sung by KillSmith in his rough evil voice. I'm a song person and I'm not to crazy about or inspired by contemporary hip-hop and rap, although there are some shinning moments. But I had to try to create a song with that feel. I also wanted to incorporate sound effects to emphasize the lyrics. With Peter's great help in the recording studio we were very successful in achieving that goal. "Human Evolution's" finale highlights the sounds of a fireworks display celebrating an amazing and historic century...my century, the 20th century! I'm particularly proud of this epic song.
    Thanks for your time Neal

    THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 2009 IN A MAGAZINE JOE V. EDITED; CONTENT COPYRIGHT 2013 JOE VIGLIONE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.


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    #39 Blues Magoos


    http://www.tmrzoo.com/2014/63882/review-blues-magoos-psychedelic-resurrection

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    #40  Ugly Love - author Colleen Hoover




    http://www.amazon.com/Ugly-Love-Novel-Colleen-Hoover/dp/1476753180

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