Sunday, September 19, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
TDK D90/60 or Sony HF90/60 or Philips or Maxwell or rarer Memorex blank cassettes
Ever wonder how a mid-twenties Indian kid ever got into reggae despite origins well rooted in the campus and college rock band scene and preference. Well, my own first bit of awareness came from friends of my elder brothers who were mostly in the merchant navy and would come back with copies of the ever-perennial Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Before that, my only exposure to western music was the same as scores of Indians who grew up in the 1970-80s and was severely limited to family crooners such as Jim Reeves and Cliff Richard, which I took my dad to the local market because I was supposed to sing Summer Holiday in a group for my school assembly. And besides that, mom had taught me the words to How Much Is The Doggie In The Window.
Interminable disco compilations would filter down to us in India, along with some major perspectives into interesting genres released on LP record. The masses liked bumping bottoms to the tune of Abba or worse, Boney M, but there always was a dedicated band of followers of rock. Then in the 1980s, a few music companies opened up and started releasing titles from a much larger distribution network than ever before. We had EMI so far, but the new players brought in the considerable Warner music catalog. Incidentally, Dire Straits was only released in India as a result of a loophole in licensing that existed between EMI and the Vertigo label. In the eighties, we suddenly had access to cassette tapes of led zeppelin, Billy idol, and the global phenomenon that was to become MJ.
In the small town of Daman, I went down to the local shops to buy some music, accompanied with a classmate and his Uncle. The uncle was an interesting sort; Anglo Indian in descent and up to date on anecdotes of how Robert Plant and Jimmy Page dropped in at a seedy disco in Mumbai called the Slipped Disc and played on the house band’s equipment. It was only later that I managed to learn that this story originated in a misadventure that the Zep men had while trying to explore possibilities of recording with the Bombay Symphony Orchestra (whom they reported, were too found of their hooch to do any serious music together).
So there I was in my 14-year old state of ignorance telling the friend’s uncle about how I liked my recent purchase of Led Zep 1V, only to be told that he did not like all that ‘noise’ too much. So my friend and I asked him what the preferred. The list included Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Which my earworm misinterpreted to sound like ‘Crossed-pistols-in-the-night.’ This incidentally is an okay name for a band actually. That was my foundation being laid of ‘soft rock.’ A genre that I later defined to include folk, song poetry like Dylan and Baez, southern influences such as the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers Band and America.
On another occasion, I was buying greatest hits compilation of Rainbow and the same friend’s uncle simply placed it back on the shelf and put a copy of Kansas’ Greatest Hits into my hands. That indicative enough of good taste? Later, I understood that I would have always bumped into Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow but stumbling across prog rockers Kansas was a little rarer.
At the age of 16, I was in the capitol city of New Delhi with the full knowledge that I had left a small town for a big city and would be able to really get into collecting music seriously. Though still in school, my tape trading soon had me hanging around with college boys and trading tapes like lords. Double decks ruled and high speed dubbing a cassette was usually of lesser quality than recording it at normal speed. There were places in Delhi where you could record an LP or CD album onto cassette tape for about twenty bucks a side. Obviously, this meant that a little more money got spent on quality blank tapes of the TDK D90/60 or Sony HF90/60 or the odd Philips or Maxwell or even rarer, Memorex blank cassettes.
When I hit college, colleges itself had a tradition of hosting a college festival every year and as the highlight, they usually had a rock band or two playing. The cost of hiring bands soon made colleges realize that they could invest a few thousands in some lousy drum kit and cheap guitars and the students would form their own in-house bands. For the next two decades, I hung around bands, practice rooms and concerts a lot. In the time it took to finish college, I was on top of a small pile of 600 odd cassettes.
Interminable disco compilations would filter down to us in India, along with some major perspectives into interesting genres released on LP record. The masses liked bumping bottoms to the tune of Abba or worse, Boney M, but there always was a dedicated band of followers of rock. Then in the 1980s, a few music companies opened up and started releasing titles from a much larger distribution network than ever before. We had EMI so far, but the new players brought in the considerable Warner music catalog. Incidentally, Dire Straits was only released in India as a result of a loophole in licensing that existed between EMI and the Vertigo label. In the eighties, we suddenly had access to cassette tapes of led zeppelin, Billy idol, and the global phenomenon that was to become MJ.
In the small town of Daman, I went down to the local shops to buy some music, accompanied with a classmate and his Uncle. The uncle was an interesting sort; Anglo Indian in descent and up to date on anecdotes of how Robert Plant and Jimmy Page dropped in at a seedy disco in Mumbai called the Slipped Disc and played on the house band’s equipment. It was only later that I managed to learn that this story originated in a misadventure that the Zep men had while trying to explore possibilities of recording with the Bombay Symphony Orchestra (whom they reported, were too found of their hooch to do any serious music together).
On another occasion, I was buying greatest hits compilation of Rainbow and the same friend’s uncle simply placed it back on the shelf and put a copy of Kansas’ Greatest Hits into my hands. That indicative enough of good taste? Later, I understood that I would have always bumped into Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow but stumbling across prog rockers Kansas was a little rarer.
When I hit college, colleges itself had a tradition of hosting a college festival every year and as the highlight, they usually had a rock band or two playing. The cost of hiring bands soon made colleges realize that they could invest a few thousands in some lousy drum kit and cheap guitars and the students would form their own in-house bands. For the next two decades, I hung around bands, practice rooms and concerts a lot. In the time it took to finish college, I was on top of a small pile of 600 odd cassettes.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Who is that man? Chuck E. Weiss
"and I leaned up against my banister and wandered over to the Wurlitzer and I punched A-2
I was lookin' for something like Wine, Wine, Wine by the Night Caps starring Chuck E. Weiss
or High Blood Pressure by George (cryin' in the streets) Perkins
- no dice "that's life," that's what all the people say ridin' high
in April, seriously shot down in May, but I know
in April, seriously shot down in May, but I know
I'm gonna change that tune when I'm standing underneath
a buttery moon that's all melted off to one side"
a buttery moon that's all melted off to one side"
Just get your hands on 'Sweety-O' or 'Congo Square at Midnight' and avoid what I did, which is listen to just 'Tony Did The Boogie-woogie,' which is jive all right but a bit of a sleeper and no indication of what was to follow. Oh yea, for those keen of sight, that's Chuck E. doing a Robert Johnson pose on the cover of Extremely Cool.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
EMI, major record label, no longer considers itself a “label” but a “comprehensive rights management company”
"A source close to the situation said that while EMI will still offer label-like functions, and will still sign sound recording-only or publishing-only deals, but confirmed that its emphasis will be on managing wider range of rights — as well as providing modular, one-off services to indie bands that want to keep creative control and ownership of their master tapes. For them, EMI’s Label Services division charges them fees to offer label-like functions including distribution, merch, iPhone apps, or whatever other part of “the machine” an artist might need.
"The new EMI is a music business with a variety of irons in the fire, but there’s one thing it’s not anymore, and that’s a traditional record label. Former EMI signee and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has been predicting doom for the recorded music industry of late, saying it had “months rather than years” until it would implode. Perhaps this is part of what he meant."
Dear all
I wanted to reach out to all of you following the announcement earlier today of my appointment to the position of EMI Group Chief Executive. As I said in the press release, it is a real honour to be given the responsibility of leading the operations of what I believe to be one of the greatest music brands in the world, and I am excited about the challenge of heading the company in the next phase of its long history.
As most of you will know, I have been Chairman and CEO of EMI Music Publishing for the last three years, and have held a number of roles across EMI Music, EMI Music Publishing and EMI Group in more than 16 years with the company. This is a business that I know well, and one which I believe can deliver real growth for the artists and writers that we are all privileged to represent.
My goal is to build a Global Rights Management Business that draws on the expertise and talents of everyone across the entirety of both divisions. I believe that the two businesses, working in concert with one another, sharing the same values, pursuing a coordinated strategy can and will deliver for our artists and songwriters no matter what challenges we face.
That new business needs to be built on some principles that I believe are fundamental to achieving success in this rapidly changing marketplace:
We must be unswervingly focused on championing our artist community, and providing them with the help they need to achieve their maximum potential.
The commitment to discovering and promoting new music is absolutely essential to our future growth.
We need to recognize the power and importance of the extraordinary catalogue of recordings we represent, and as we do that we need to respect the creative contribution of all the talented artists who made those recordings.
We have to be passionate about providing world-class service and services to the many and varied music users and retailers across the globe. We need to be the most trusted and effective partner to them, while also providing fans with the products that they demand.
It is vital that we constantly work to enhance the skills of staff in the pursuit of excellence across all parts of the business.
We must cultivate a culture of cooperation that will enable us to work better and more effectively across different geographies, functions and divisions. In other words, we need to be a team.
We need to bring the fun back into the music business. We need to remember that we are in this business because we love music and admire those who create it. Our joy and enthusiasm for and about music is our greatest tool in building EMI.
I feel fortunate to be joining EMI Music after it has really started to come alive again as a player in the recorded music business. Over the last year or so you have had some striking great successes both in new music and catalogue. And not unimportantly, the company has made great financial progress. I am grateful to Charles Allen for his leadership in making that happen and I look forward to benefiting from his advice and counsel as we build this new business.
I also want to say how pleased I am that Stephen Alexander will be taking on the Chairmanship of Maltby Capital from Lord Birt. John Birt has been a great supporter of EMI for which I thank him. Many of you have come to know and value Stephen in his role as a senior advisor to EMI, and I am absolutely confident that he will be a great partner as we move forward.
Over the next weeks and months, I am hoping to have the opportunity to meet with many of you around the business, to talk to you about my perspective on EMI, and to listen to what you all have to say. I’m very much looking forward to it.
Best wishes
Roger Faxon
Read More:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/06/music-revolution-forces-major-label-emi-to-evolve/3/#ixzz0rPElPsMM
"The new EMI is a music business with a variety of irons in the fire, but there’s one thing it’s not anymore, and that’s a traditional record label. Former EMI signee and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has been predicting doom for the recorded music industry of late, saying it had “months rather than years” until it would implode. Perhaps this is part of what he meant."
New EMI head honcho Robert Faxon, in an internal staff e-mail obtained by Wired.com, sent to EMI employees on Friday morning to announce the changes, says:
Dear all
I wanted to reach out to all of you following the announcement earlier today of my appointment to the position of EMI Group Chief Executive. As I said in the press release, it is a real honour to be given the responsibility of leading the operations of what I believe to be one of the greatest music brands in the world, and I am excited about the challenge of heading the company in the next phase of its long history.
As most of you will know, I have been Chairman and CEO of EMI Music Publishing for the last three years, and have held a number of roles across EMI Music, EMI Music Publishing and EMI Group in more than 16 years with the company. This is a business that I know well, and one which I believe can deliver real growth for the artists and writers that we are all privileged to represent.
My goal is to build a Global Rights Management Business that draws on the expertise and talents of everyone across the entirety of both divisions. I believe that the two businesses, working in concert with one another, sharing the same values, pursuing a coordinated strategy can and will deliver for our artists and songwriters no matter what challenges we face.
That new business needs to be built on some principles that I believe are fundamental to achieving success in this rapidly changing marketplace:
We must be unswervingly focused on championing our artist community, and providing them with the help they need to achieve their maximum potential.
The commitment to discovering and promoting new music is absolutely essential to our future growth.
We need to recognize the power and importance of the extraordinary catalogue of recordings we represent, and as we do that we need to respect the creative contribution of all the talented artists who made those recordings.
We have to be passionate about providing world-class service and services to the many and varied music users and retailers across the globe. We need to be the most trusted and effective partner to them, while also providing fans with the products that they demand.
It is vital that we constantly work to enhance the skills of staff in the pursuit of excellence across all parts of the business.
We must cultivate a culture of cooperation that will enable us to work better and more effectively across different geographies, functions and divisions. In other words, we need to be a team.
We need to bring the fun back into the music business. We need to remember that we are in this business because we love music and admire those who create it. Our joy and enthusiasm for and about music is our greatest tool in building EMI.
I feel fortunate to be joining EMI Music after it has really started to come alive again as a player in the recorded music business. Over the last year or so you have had some striking great successes both in new music and catalogue. And not unimportantly, the company has made great financial progress. I am grateful to Charles Allen for his leadership in making that happen and I look forward to benefiting from his advice and counsel as we build this new business.
I also want to say how pleased I am that Stephen Alexander will be taking on the Chairmanship of Maltby Capital from Lord Birt. John Birt has been a great supporter of EMI for which I thank him. Many of you have come to know and value Stephen in his role as a senior advisor to EMI, and I am absolutely confident that he will be a great partner as we move forward.
Over the next weeks and months, I am hoping to have the opportunity to meet with many of you around the business, to talk to you about my perspective on EMI, and to listen to what you all have to say. I’m very much looking forward to it.
Best wishes
Roger Faxon
Read More:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/06/music-revolution-forces-major-label-emi-to-evolve/3/#ixzz0rPElPsMM
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Formed in 1974, Released in 2010, High from Kolkata Could Be India's Best Rock Band Ever
Ten years back, I was fresh out of college, leebheeng on my own in a single room in CR Park, New Delhi. I had a big addiction to music. I would rather spend my last money on a cassette than save it for street food during the last week of the month. The logic was that the music would do more for me than a one-time purchase of food. At least the music will last.
It did. Back then, I had a friend called Vineaux, who besides being a professional copywriter, was also an avid music collector in the vein that single, middle-aged, bachelors living in the city are wont to be. He was a long term J.J. Cale fan and even runs a fan site (www.jjcale.net) and listened extensively to African and world music. A copywriter from Calcutta (Kolkata) came to stay with Vineaux once. He was a Deadhead to the tune of around 100+ bootlegs (Fans of the Grateful Dead are rated by the number of bootleg recordings they possess of the band.) and in his possession, he also had a cassette recording of ‘High.’
Almost everyone who dropped in, to listen to good music, for decent conversation or just to relax would find that if the party kicked into gear, bout an hour later, that High tape would be played and everyone would groove to The Monkey Song. What struck me, was the fact that The Monkey Song is primarily a reggae song. I have seen Indian bands like Them Colognes iron out the little flips and accents in cover versions of Roxanne (The Police), or die-had oldies like Rehab play Message In A Bottle, doing justice to the rhythm approach to guitar but still wooden in the bass and drums. Lo, here was this laid-back, groovy band that had that entire southern blues rock feel that could stroll into an anthemic reggae groove and get anyone’s feet moving!
There was an incredible difference in High’s music and that of others. Even decades of gigging gave Shiva just one cassette tape of cover songs in terms of visibility and here was this band that was half Shiva and ten times the talent of 90% of what passes as talent internationally. I wanted that album, but I was told point blank that the tape was only shared between friends and the album was not for circulation out of respect for singer, songwriter, Dilip Balakrishnan, who lost to cancer at the age of just 39. I really think we lost the best thing that ever happened to Indian rock.
I finally got the album years later when Vineaux was moving out of Delhi for Kolkata and it went into my collection carefully. Since then, I have been telling everyone I met on the Indian rock scene that High was the best Indian band ever. Period.
Finally, I am glad the album is out and I can prove what I have always known and said all these years. Apparently, I'm not the only one.
Read more at:
If you prefer Facebook, check out:
Videos from the album launch gig at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWkBUo65v
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvOjUMg5U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvOjUMg5U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4BrUPiTl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLp7wxt3ELc
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Tom Waits' Extremely Cool Photographs & a Facebook Story
Here's a visual side to Tom Waits and a Facebook story. Some time back in another Facebook avataar, I came across a profile that I added as my friend. I found Tom Waits on Facebook and 'naturally' added him as a friend. Well, nothing happened for three or four days until one day I noticed a post on the Man's wall asking him 'if he was the real Tom?' Well, I had to add my bit, which was that I kinda liked the idea of Tom Waits impersonating himself on Facebook and there was nothing wrong with that! Well, the next thing I knew was that I was accepted as a friend. All I have to say is that my statement was made in the light of the fact that anyone who has a relationship with some of the double-inversions and double-recontextualization evidenced in Floyd albums or Quadrophenia (The Who) should have no problem with anyone being anyone they want to be. Eh, right?
Well, the only other musical person who accepted me as a friend is 'probably' Jimmy Buffet. Which was probably due to my interest in his wildlife conversation projects in the Caribe islands and respect.
PS: I love Travis McGee too but more on that later.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Messiah: The Second Testament to Punk Rock in New Delhi, India
Five years back, Messiah supplied The Antidote to the rapidly developing formulae rock all around us. Sick of cover bands and heavy metal’s scared shitless intellectual content, they did their own music, our way!Not that it was easy, from the manure beds of the Delhi college band scene, the band grew independent of trend. Experimenting with a bizarre range of selective covers and always with an emphasis on making our own songs, everything they played eventually ended up sounding like Messiah music. While they bandied categories like punk, grunge, alternative and new wave, everything was still distinctly Messiah — raw, in-your-face, and markedly different from everyone else. So too, were the regulars who followed the band’s progress simply because they were tired of what was all too easy to be real music.
The band grew from an on-stage trio to add a 3-member road crew, picked up a minor but dedicated following in Mumbai (Thanks Rishu!) and against all apprehension, awkward instances and disapprobation from fellow ‘experienced’ bands when they went into the studio to record The Antidote.
After recording the first album, The Antidote, life finally caught up with the trio. College was over, careers were calling and while attentions were divided amid these, things cooled down for the band. After a 5-year hiatus wherein Mickey (Bass) and Sumit (Drums) became professional sound engineers and Kush (Guitar, Vocals) added degrees to his educational qualifications, it was the intermittent jams that kept the name alive. After all, jamming together had got under the band members’ skin, like blood.
Now with careers, parents, girlfriends and everyone connected assured that the trio were not a dead-loss-to-humanity, the band is together again with new-found maturity, skill, equipment, strength and the same old purity of purpose. All that was needed was a trigger on the event horizon.
It happened and the band is back with a brand new single, Boys Don’t Cry, and pleasantly surprised at their brevity in the face of the same old insanity; a new and improved method to their madness; if you will. Still, at the heart is the same old Messiah, hunkered under new musical muscle, promise!
LYRICS TO "BOYS DON'T CRY":
How long i gonna cry?
As far as i remember boys are not suppose to cry.
My love still got force,
In one leap I can take off to Mexico,
C'est la vie you said,
What a great escape and you changed a little too fast,
But Gogo you should know
All the things I left behind to just be with you
With you
Loving as you were
One day you thought you have had enough
You have to complain
But Gauri listen this is no time to play games
Mired in your caste
You are trying to do your duty at your best
My dreams aren't dead
One is broken and others are obviously dead
Is out of sight is out of mind is out of mind is out of sight....
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