Adele has unveiled a brand new song—titled ‘When We Were Young’—which was co-written with Canadian singer-songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. The song is taken from Adele’s new album, 25, which is available from November 20.
Jesso’s music has been compared to singer-songwriters of the 1960s and 1970s such as Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson and Emitt Rhodes.
Commenting on teaming up with the 30-year-old Canadian, Adele said: “I loved Tobias Jesso Jr’s song ‘Hollywood’ and I reached out to him when I was working on 25. I say I reached out… I got my manager to contact his manager. I’m pretty behind on social networking culture, I’d have no idea how to do it. Also I didn’t want to ask and have him say, “Absolutely not, I think you’re shit.” At least if my manager asks, he can absorb the rejection and just never tell me. Anyway, he was well up for it.”
And here’s the stunning result of their collaboration…
Inspired by real events, “Gilbert’s Gift” tells the story of Gilbert Shilling—a rock star back in the Swinging Sixties—who becomes a living lung donor to save the life of a dying boy he has never met.
“Gilbert’s Gift” is available from Amazon as a US paperback, UK paperback and as an eBook from Amazon’s Kindle Store. It is also available from Apple’s iTunes Store (Books/Fiction & Literature/Brian Will Oliver), Barnes & Noble’s Nook Store, and from KoboBooks.
The Beatles’ updated and expanded version of their best-of collection, The Beatles 1, has just been released in a variety of formats.
The deluxe version (known as The Beatles 1+) includes a DVD or Blu-Ray of newly-restored videos for all of the songs featured on the original album.
According to Apple Corps, an 18-person team of film and video technicians and restoration artists spent months undertaking painstaking frame-by-frame cleaning, colour-grading, digital enhancement and new edits for the videos.
After the videos for ‘Revolution’ and ‘A Day in the Life’ were recently made available to the public for the first time, this week sees the release of the newly-restored videos for ‘Penny Lane’ and ‘We Can Work It Out’ …
Inspired by real events, “Gilbert’s Gift” tells the story of Gilbert Shilling—a rock star back in the Swinging Sixties—who becomes a living lung donor to save the life of a dying boy he has never met.
“Gilbert’s Gift” is available from Amazon as a US paperback, UK paperback and as an eBook from Amazon’s Kindle Store. It is also available from Apple’s iTunes Store (Books/Fiction & Literature/Brian Will Oliver), Barnes & Noble’s Nook Store, and from KoboBooks.
Apple Corps is set to release an updated version of the Beatles’ White Album on November 6 along with a DVD of performances of the songs from the original album.
The DVD will include a previously unseen promotional video of the John Lennon song ‘Revolution’ which was the B-side of ‘Hey Jude’, released in August 1968 (you can watch the video below).
‘Revolution’ was inspired by the many political protests in early 1968. Two versions of the song were recorded: a hard rock version (the one heard on the B-side of ‘Hey Jude’) and a slower, bluesy arrangement (titled ‘Revolution 1′) for the Beatles’ self-titled double album, commonly known as the ‘White Album’.
Although the single version was issued first, it was recorded several weeks after ‘Revolution 1’ as a re-make and was specifically intended for release as a single. A third connected piece, written by Lennon, is the experimental track ‘Revolution 9’, which evolved from an unused, spoken-word portion of ‘Revolution 1’. It also appears on the White Album.
Producer George Martin said the record was able to get its distinctive distorted sound by plugging the amps directly into the Abbey Road recording desk and pushing the volume into the red. “We got into distortion on that, which we had a lot of complaints from the technical people about,” said Martin. “But that was the idea. It was John’s song and the idea was to push it right to the limit. Well, we went to the limit and beyond.”
Filming for promotional clips of ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Revolution’ took place on September 4, 1968 at Twickenham Film Studios in England, under the direction of Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Two finished clips of ‘Revolution’ were produced, with only lighting differences and other minor variations. The Beatles sang the vocals live over the pre-recorded instrumental track from the single version.
Here’s the previously unseen video of ‘Revolution’ …
Inspired by real events, “Gilbert’s Gift” tells the story of Gilbert Shilling—a rock star back in the Swinging Sixties—who becomes a living lung donor to save the life of a dying boy he has never met.
“Gilbert’s Gift” is available from Amazon as a US paperback, UK paperback and as an eBook from Amazon’s Kindle Store. It is also available from Apple’s iTunes Store (Books/Fiction & Literature/Brian Will Oliver), Barnes & Noble’s Nook Store, and from KoboBooks.
Union Square Music has launched a new double-CD compilation which features the original versions of the Kinks classics performed in the award-winning stage musical Sunny Afternoon. All the tracks were specially selected by The Kinks’ Ray Davies.
The musical Sunny Afternoon – named after The Kinks’ 1966 hit – uses songs by the band to tell the story of Ray Davies’s early life as well as the rise of the band he founded with his brother Dave in 1964. The musical has won four Olivier Awards.
Titled Sunny Afternoon – The Very Best of The Kinks, the new compilation contains nine of The Kinks’ UK Top Five hit singles, including three Number Ones. It features tracks such as ‘You Really Got Me’, ‘Waterloo Sunset’, ‘Sunny Afternoon’, and ‘Lola’. It also includes Kinks interviews and session tracks from the BBC’s archives.
The Kinks’ influence is now seen across a wide range of rock acts, such as The Who, Bruce Springsteen, The Jam, The Pretenders, Tom Petty, XTC and Elvis Costello – all of whom have paid homage to The Kinks at some point in covers or accolades.
The Who’s Pete Townshend was particularly influenced by the group’s sound: “Dave Davies was a real innovator and Ray was a gobsmacking genius,” he once remarked. “I desperately hope they work together again.”
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Inspired by real events, “Gilbert’s Gift” tells the story of Gilbert Shilling—a rock star back in the Swinging Sixties—who becomes a living lung donor to save the life of a dying boy he has never met.
“Gilbert’s Gift” is available from Amazon as a US paperback, UK paperback and as an eBook from Amazon’s Kindle Store. It is also available from Apple’s iTunes Store (Books/Fiction & Literature/Brian Will Oliver), Barnes & Noble’s Nook Store, and from KoboBooks.
With this year marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of guitar legend Les Paul, guitar manufacturer Gibson is partnering with Q Magazine to present the Gibson Les Paul Award as part of this year’s Q Awards, which take place on October 19 in London.
The iconic Gibson Les Paul guitar is one of the most famous instruments in rock history and the Gibson Les Paul Award is presented to specially recognise guitar playing and innovation.
Les Paul is named as one of Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of all time. His innovative talents extended into his playing style – including licks, trills, chording sequences, fretting techniques and timing – which set him apart from his contemporaries and continue to inspire many guitarists today.
During his career he received 36 Gold records, eleven No.1 hits and several Grammy awards, among many other accolades. He was also a pioneer in the development of multi-track recording, over-dubbing and numerous other recording techniques.
Henry Juszkiewicz, Gibson CEO and chairman said: “We’re delighted to be partnering again with Bauer Media and Q Magazine as a supporter of this year’s Q Awards. The Gibson Les Paul Award, salutes innovation, artistry and inspiration in guitar playing and holds even greater prestige in 2015, as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Les Paul.”
(Photo: Thomas Faivre-Duboz)
“Gilbert’s Gift” is available from Amazon as a US paperback, UK paperback and as an eBook from Amazon’s Kindle Store. It is also available from Apple’s iTunes Store (Books/Fiction & Literature/Brian Will Oliver), Barnes & Noble’s Nook Store, and from KoboBooks.
A ‘lost album’ by James Last has finally been released – 44 years after it was recorded.
Titled The America Album, it was produced in Hamburg in 1969 specifically for American audiences. The album wasn’t released and disappeared into Polydor’s archives for almost five decades.
The 11-track album has been described as “artistically ambitious” and “ahead of its time”. It features pop and rock-oriented songs by the likes of Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Jimmy Webb, Laura Nyro and Rod McKuen – including classic late-1960s songs such as ‘Wedding Bell Blues’, ‘Sunshine of Your Love’, ‘Lady Lady Lay’ and ‘Ballad of Easy Rider’.
Bobby Vinton fans are being offered a new 2CD set which contains 40 of his greatest hits, B-sides and cover versions of classic songs from the 1960s. Titled Bobby Vinton – The Ultimate Epic Singles Collection, it is said to be “the most comprehensive Bobby Vinton ‘hits’ package ever released”.
Released on 12 August 2013, the collection features all of his hits, including ‘Roses Are Red (My Love)’, ‘Blue Velvet’, ‘Blue On Blue’ and ‘Mr. Lonely’, along with his take on songs like ‘Take Good Care of My Baby’, ‘Half Way to Paradise’ and ‘Sealed With A Kiss’.
Bobby Vinton, now aged 78, has been called “the most successful love singer of the rock era”. From his first hit record ‘Roses Are Red (My Love)’ in 1962 through to 1972, he had more Number One singles than any other solo male artist.
Pink Floyd’s 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon has sealed its place in history by being added to the US Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry.
It is one of 25 “culturally” or “historically” significant recordings being added to the registry this year.
Other classics being preserved include Chubby Checker’s ‘The Twist’ (1960), Simon and Garfunkel’s Sounds of Silence (1966), Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (1977), and the 1949 South Pacific cast album.
All 10 studio albums recorded by ZZ Top between 1970 and 1990 are to be released in a 100-track deluxe box set titled ZZ Top: The Complete Studio Albums.
The set will begin with ZZ Tops’ First Album (1971) through to 1990’s Recycler. Each album comes in a wallet sleeve featuring the original artwork.
“We’re gratified that the albums from the first 20 years of the band are going to be made available in this set,” said the band in a statement. “We’re especially delighted to note the restoration of ZZ Top’s First Album, Rio Grande Mud and Tejas.”
To coincide with The Animals’ 50th anniversary this year, Eric Burdon has released a new solo album, ‘Til Your River Runs Dry. It contains 12 songs, mostly written by Burdon, and is said to be his most personal album to date.
He is currently writing his third memoir (follow-up to I Used to Be An Animal, But I’m Alright Now and Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood). Details of an international tour will also be announced soon.
Adele has unveiled a brand new song—titled ‘When We Were Young’—which was co-written with Canadian singer-songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. The song is taken from Adele’s new album, 25, which is available from November 20.
Inspired by real events, “Gilbert’s Gift” tells the story of Gilbert Shilling—a rock star back in the Swinging Sixties—who becomes a living lung donor to save the life of a dying boy he has never met.
The Beatles’ updated and expanded version of their best-of collection, The Beatles 1, has just been released in a variety of formats. 
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