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News from the darkest corners of the
musical universe:
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Tuesday, November 28, 2006 ◦
News about Daniel Johnston: Daniel is building multiple tours for 2007. His management is currently looking at U.S. and Canadian destinations, Europe, and possibly Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. There's also a new expanded edition of Last Gasp's biographical book on Daniel, now titled "The Life, Art & Music of Daniel Johnston." It's now 240 pages with many color images, lyrics, and update on events through 2006.
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Monday, November 27, 2006 ◦
The december issue of Downbeat magazine contains an article about Sun Ra: "We travel back to Chicago in the mid 1950s, where the young pianist Sun Ra was building a reputation as a daring bandleader and composer. Sure, Ra ascended to international (and intergalactic) fame leading his Arkestra in New York and Philadelphia, but it was during his 15 years in Chicago from 1946-1961 that he changed his name to Sun Ra and assembled his first Arkestra."
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Tuesday, November 14, 2006 ◦
Those wacky funsters Gong are to release a fabulous archive DVD in the very near future. The DVD is entitled Gong At Montserrat 1973 and Other Stories and was seen at the recent hugely succesful Gong UNCON in Amsterdam. The DVD features footage of the classic line up of Gong including Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth, Didier Malherbe, Tim Blake and Steve Hillage and also features some exciting footage of Soft Machine featuring Daevid Allen filmed at a benefit for John 'Hoppy' Hopkins at UFO in 1967. The Soft Machine footage has been rarely seen before and as well as being in full colour also has a soundtrack making this footage not only extremely rare but also hugely enjoyable. In addition to the archive fotage there is also footage from 2006 of Daevid Allen performing songs and reciting poetry. Finally there is live footage of Acid Mothers Gong at the RFH in 2003. This DVD will certainly be a must for all fans of the classic line up of Gong and will no doubt be of interest to many of the more curious rock fans who have yet to experience this unique group of musicians. A micro site will also be set up nearer the release date in order to obtain more information concerning this release.
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Sunday, November 12, 2006 ◦
On 14 november ESP Disk will release Recital, a previously unreleased live album by Yma Sumac, recorded in Romania in 1961.
From the liner notes: "Probably the most interesting aspect of this disk is that it shows how different Yma and her music were in front of an audience rather than in a recording studio. Not only is her singing different but also the 'sound' of her music. One clearly begins to understand the reasons for the problems that arose for the group once the recordings were released."
The album is available from Amazon.com .
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Sunday, November 05, 2006 ◦
Out on CD now: Paralyzed!: His Vintage Recordings 1968-1981 CD (EM 1061CD) by The Legendary Stardust Cowboy. It's a killer presentation of the earliest recordings of this Texas hero, including all 4 of this singles for the Mercury label, cut in the late '60s. Plus unreleased tracks and the 1984 album, Rock-it To Stardom.
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Saturday, November 04, 2006 ◦
French conductor Paul Mauriat, who enjoyed huge popularity in Japan and was famous for his 1968 hit "Love is Blue", has died at the age of 81 in the southern French city of Perpignan, friends and family said Saturday.
Mauriat, who died Friday, was born in Marseille but grew up in Paris and began conducting his own orchestra during the Second World War. He wrote his first song with Andre Pascal with whom he won a major French prize in 1958. From 1967 to 1972 he wrote many songs for French singer Mireille Mathieu.
In 1968 his arrangement and orchestration of Andre Popp's "Love is Blue" brought him fame and topped the US hit parade. Another hit was Petula Clark's "I will follow him". Mauriat also orchestrated songs for Charles Aznavour, Melina Mercouri, Leo Ferre and Leny Escudero. He had a wide following in Japan, where his work was regarded as a benchmark of high quality. He gave some 1,200 concerts in Japan and South Korea. His last appearance was at Osaka in 1998 but his orchestra continues to perform in Asia with new leaders.
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