Music Legends: Joe Jackson

About: Joe Jackson

Joe Jackson was born on August 11 1954 in Burton-on-Trent, England, but grew up in the South Coast naval port city of Portsmouth.  A skinny, asthmatic kid, he loved books and originally wanted to be a writer.  At age 11, though, he joined a school violin class in order to escape the humiliation of Sports periods in which it was very often him, rather than the ball, which got kicked. Much to his own surprise, he found himself fascinated by music and eagerly studying music theory and history.

A couple of years later, Joe had switched to the piano, mainly because of his new ambition: to be a composer.  His first efforts were pieces for piano and small groups of instruments.  Within a few more years, though, he was writing songs, and leaning more towards the pop world.

At age 16 Joe played his first paying gig, as pianist in a pub next door to a glue factory just outside of Portsmouth.  This was followed by other pub gigs (in which he was often trying to entertain crowds of drunken, bottle-throwing sailors) and accompanying a bouzouki player in a Greek restaurant.

At age 18 Joe won a scholarship to study Composition, Piano, and Percussion at London's Royal Academy of Music.  During the three years he spent there, he broadened his horizons further by working with a Fringe theatre group, studying Jazz with John Dankworth at the Academy and in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, and playing in pop cover bands with names like Edward Bear and The Misty Set.  By the time he left the Academy, he was the co-leader and songwriter of Arms and Legs, a proto-punk outfit which released two singles on the MAM label before burning out somewhere around 1976.

Joe then took a detour through the Cabaret world, as pianist and musical director first for the Portsmouth Playboy Club and then for singing duo Koffee N' Kreme.  The main purpose of this was to save money to make demos of his own songs.

By 1978 Joe was living in London and hawking an album-length demo, with his own band (Graham Maby, Bass; Dave Houghton, Drums; Gary Sanford, Guitar) standing by.  That demo  -  already called Look Sharp  - eventually found its way to American producer David Kershenbaum, who was in London in the capacity of talent scout for A&M Records.  Joe was immediately signed and Look Sharp more professionally re-recorded in August '78.  The Joe Jackson Band finally started to play regular gigs and the album was released in January 1979.

1980’s

Joe Jackson's story up to this point is much more fully, fascinatingly, and hilariously recounted in his book A CURE FOR GRAVITY.  From here on, though, it becomes more a matter of public record. Look Sharp (containing the hit Is She Really Going Out With Him) was followed within a year by the very similar I'm The Man (containing the hit It’s Different For Girls) and in 1980 by the darker, more reggae-influenced Beat Crazy. At the end of 1980, drummer Houghton decided to quit, and Joe decided to dissolve the band and try something new.

In 1981 Jackson recorded Jumpin' Jive, a 'musical vacation' paying tribute to Swing and Jump Blues artists such as Louis Jordan and Cab Calloway.  Returning to songwriting, Joe spent a large chunk of 1982 in New York. The result was Night and Day, a more sophisticated and melodic record built around keyboards and Latin percussion, rather than guitars. With a new guitar-less band, Jackson hit the road for a whole year, and the album became his biggest success, spawning the hit singles Steppin’Out, Breaking Us In Two and Real Men and going platinum in the US. During the tour Joe also somehow found time to write his first film score, for James Bridges' Mike's Murder.  (He would go on to write several more, including most notably for Francis Ford Coppola's Tucker in 1988).

Now based in NYC, Jackson's next album Body and Soul (1984) was in a similar vein to Night and Day but featured a horn section (which, along with the Blue Note-inspired cover art, led many people to wrongly assume he'd made a jazz record). For Big World (1986) Jackson stripped everything down to a 4-piece again, and recorded live, direct to 2-track master. In 1989 he went in the opposite direction with the majestic, semi-autobiographical Blaze of Glory, and toured with an 11-piece band.  Laughter and Lust (1991) was more like a mainstream (though still idiosyncratic) rock record, but yet another lengthy world tour left Jackson exhausted and at a creative dead end. As he sees it, his workaholic phase  -  which also included several film scores, a live album (Live 1980-86), an instrumental album (Will Power, 1987), guest appearances with Suzanne Vega, Ruben Blades and Joan Armatrading, and endless touring  -  was over.

1990’s

Joe's work during the rest of the 1990s was his most challenging and eclectic: the gentle, soul-searching Night Music (1994), the ambitious and original song-cycle based on the Seven Deadly Sins, Heaven and Hell (1997), and the album Joe considers his most underrated, Night and Day II (2000). The turn of the century saw a burst of creativity: Jackson won his first Grammy (Best Pop Instrumental Album for the non-traditional, non-orchestral Symphony No.1) and published his book A Cure For Gravity. Described by Joe as not an autobiography but ‘a book abut music thinly disguised as a memoir’, it was well-reviewed and has been translated into German and Dutch.

2000’s

In 2003 Jackson astonished everyone, including himself, by re-forming the original Joe Jackson Band for a stunning new album, Volume 4, and a lengthy tour. The reunion was always intended as a one-off, but it also produced a live album, Afterlife, in 2004.

By this time Jackson was living mostly back in London. He made quite a few solo appearances, including on an unusual triple-bill tour with Todd Rundgren and the string quartet Ethel. He sang and played piano on Rickie Lee Jones' It's Like That and William Shatner's Has Been (produced, arranged and co-written by Ben Folds). He made his first film appearance, as a pub pianist, in The Greatest Game Ever Played, which also features some of his music. He was also awarded a Fellowship by the Royal Academy of Music and an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Portsmouth. 

Around this time Joe started working with writer Raymond Hardie and director Judy Dolan on Stoker, a musical theatre project about Bram Stoker, the creator of Dracula. Though Stoker has been workshopped, performed a couple of times for small invited audiences, and attracted a lot of interest from theatre companies around the world, it has yet to find the backing for a fully-staged production.

In 2006 Joe turned his attention back to pure songwriting and did a short Trio tour with Graham Maby and Dave Houghton. Having failed to happily re-establish himself in London, he moved to Berlin, where his next album Rain was recorded in 2007. Consisting of ten powerful, timeless new songs, Rain creates a surprisingly epic sound with just voices, piano, bass and drums. The trio toured for the next three years, and played more shows than any other J J lineup, including Joe’s first visits to Mexico, Israel, Croatia, the Czech Republic, South Africa and Turkey. A live album, Live Music, was released in 2011.

2010’s

Joe Jackson’s most recent project is a tribute to one of his greatest musical heroes, Duke Ellington. The Duke is an often radical re-interpretation of fifteen Ellington classics, arranged into ten tracks, and featuring an eclectic roster of guest artists including Iggy Pop, Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson and other members of The Roots, Sharon Jones, Steve Vai, and jazz violin star Regina Carter, who joined Joe on the subsequent tour.

Jackson is currently living in Berlin but returns frequently to both New York and Portsmouth. He just released his latest album "Fast Forward" in Oct., 2015.

CONTACT: http://joejackson.com/info

Fast Forward – (Album: Fast Forward – 2015)

Ode to Joy - (Album: Fast Forward – 2015)

A Little Smile - (Album: Fast Forward – 2015)

On Your Radio – (WFUV Studios Live – Oct 2015)

A Little Smile – Live @Front & Center - Oct 2015 - (Album: Fast Forward – 2015)

Joe Jackson Interview on “Insight Germany” TV 2012

Elliot Scheiner records "The Duke" with Joe Jackson 2012

Joe Jackson and Iggy Pop - It Don't Mean a Thing – (Album: Duke – 2012)

Joe Jackson Live @ The Olympia, Paris (Full Concert) 2012

The Uptown Train – Live in Rotterdam 2008 - (Album: Rain – 2008)

Rush Across the Road - (Album: Rain – 2008)

Solo (So Low) - (Album: Rain – 2008)

Citizen Sane – (Album: Rain – 2008)

Still Alive – (Album: Volume 4 – 2003)

Hell of a Town – (Album: Night and Day II – 2000)

Love Got Lost – Featuring Marianne Faithfull - (Album: Night and Day II – 2000)

Why / Glamour and Pain - (Album: Night and Day II – 2000)

Slow Movement – (Album: Symphony No 1 – 1999)

The Man Who Wrote Danny Boy – (Album: Night Music – 1994)

Nocturne No 3 - (Album: Night Music – 1994)

Oh Well – Peter Green cover Live in Sydney 1991 – (Album: Laughter and Lust – 1991)

Goin’ Downtown – (Album: Laughter and Lust – 1991)

Drowning - (Album: Laughter and Lust – 1991)

Rant and Rave Live in Sydney 1991 – (Album: Blaze of Glory – 1989)

Down to London – (Album: Blaze of Glory – 1989)

Me and You – (Album: Blaze of Glory – 1989)

Nineteen Forever - (Album: Blaze of Glory – 1989)

Acropolis Now - (Album: Blaze of Glory – 1989)

Sentimental Thing - (Album: Blaze of Glory – 1989)

Solitude – (Album: Will Power – 1987)

Right & Wrong – Live @ The Roundabout Theatre NYC 1986 - (Album: Big World – 1986)

Wild West - (Album: Big World – 1986)

Home Town – (Album: Big World – 1986)

Shanghai Sky – Live in Tokyo 1986 - (Album: Big World – 1986)

Joe Jackson Live in Tokyo 1986 (Full Concert)

You Can’t Get What You Want – Live 1988 – (Album: Body & Soul - 1984)

Be My Number Two – (Album: Body & Soul - 1984)

Memphis – (Album / Movie Soundtrack: Mike’s Murder – 1983)

Steppin’ Out – (Album: Night & Day – 1982)

Breaking Us in Two – (Album: Night & Day - 1982)

Is She Really Going Out with Him – Live @ Hatfield College Jan 1980 - (Album: Look Sharp – 1979)

Fools in Love - Live @ Rockpalast Cologne Germany 1980 - (Album: Look Sharp – 1979)

I’m the Man - (Album: I’m the Man – 1979)

It’s Different for Girls - (Album: I’m the Man – 1979)

On Your Radio – (Album: I’m the Man – 1979)

Sunday Papers – Live BBC – 1979 – (Album: Look Sharp – 1979)

Throw it Away - (Album: Look Sharp – 1979)

Baby Stick Around - (Album: Look Sharp – 1979)

Look Sharp - (Album: Look Sharp – 1979)

Joe Jackson LINKS:

Official Website

http://joejackson.com/

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Jackson_(musician)

Soundcloud

https://soundcloud.com/officialjoejackson

Last FM

http://www.last.fm/music/Joe+Jackson

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialJoeJackson/

Twitter

https://twitter.com/JoeJacksonMusic

VIDEO

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/JoeJacksonVEVO/

BUY MUSIC @ the Following Stores:

iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/joe-jackson/id53325

Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Jackson/e/B000AQ0IMO

eMusic

http://www.emusic.com/artist/joe-jackson/11562991/

Andy White

About: Andy White

Irish singer-songwriter and author Andy White carries a 12-string guitar under his arm and wears his particular brand of charm on his sleeve, with the political edge of Billy Bragg, the romance of David Gray and the Celtic lyricism of the Waterboys.

Andy is a fully paid up 21st Century Troubadour (and that’s the title of his journal-memoir published by Lagan Press in Ireland and last year’s ‘album of the book’ compilation on his UK label, Floating World).

Belfast born and raised, now living in Melbourne, White has earned a global following for blending folk and pop stylings with a poet’s sensibility. Working with the great names of Irish music - Sinead O’Connor, Donal Lunny, Van Morrison - and writing with the likes of Peter Gabriel and Neil and Tim Finn, Andy has won Ireland’s top songwriting awards and toured the world many times over.

Since his first album Rave On Andy White, recorded in a field in Northern Ireland, Andy has been produced by top producers John Leckie and Kim Fowley, recorded in studios from Real World in the UK to Australia and Canada, along the way writing many songs engrained in his homeland’s psyche – including ‘Religious Persuasion’, ‘James Joyce’s Grave’ and ‘Street Scenes From My Heart’.

Andy’s latest release is his eleventh studio album How Things Are, on release in Europe this February 3. Recorded in The Growlery, Melbourne, with son Sebastian on drums, it’s an intensely personal collection of songs both celebrating and commemorating the end of a beautiful relationship which started around the time his fourth album.

Andy’s work and life have always been interconnected - his autobiography is in his discography, and the latest one is an apotheosis of sorts. He says he wrote the songs in an intense period of reflection, to answer the oft-posed question “How are things?”

Andy’s work as a writer and poet is closely linked to his songwriting output. He’s been described as writing in the tradition of the Spanish troubadour poets and the Beats, yet he retains a strong classical sensibility. Stolen Moments is his most recent volume, published by Brisbane publisher Another Lost Shark Press in 2011.

As a performer, as well as playing solo, Andy has collaborated with like-minded friends, musicians and writers both in the past – ALT with Liam O Maonlai (Hothouse Flowers) and Tim Finn (Crowded House, Split Enz) – and the present – Fearing & White with Canadian singer-songwriter Stephen Fearing.

Andy is a singer-songwriter of and for our times, documenting the world and its current chaos and beauty with remarkable insight. As he says in ‘I Decided To Fly’, wherever he is, with an acoustic guitar in his hand, he’s still “blowing bubbles on the Lisburn Road.”

Keep up with Andy’s world via his website, blog, and Facebook fansite:

ANDY WHITE DISCOGRAPHY

1985 – Religious Persuasion EP (Stiff)

1986 – Rave On Andy White (London)

1988 – Kiss The Big Stone (London)

1990 – Himself (Cooking Vinyl)

1992 – Out There (Warners)

1994 – Destination Beautiful (Warners/Cooking Vinyl)

1995 – Altitude (Parlophone) – as ALT

1996 – Teenage (Cooking Vinyl)

1998 – Compilation (Cooking Vinyl)

1999 – Speechless (WOMAD/Real World)

2000 – Andy White (Floating World)

2001 – Rare (ALT Recordings/Hypertension)

2003 – Boy 40 (Floating World)

2006 – Garageband (Floating World/Wildflower)

2009 – Songwriter (Floating World)

2011 – Fearing & White (LowdenProud) – as Fearing & White

2012 – 21st Century Troubadour (Floating World)

2014 – How Things Are (Floating World)

2014 – Tea and Confidences (With Stephen Fearing)

2016 – Imaginary Lovers

2017 – The Guilty and the Innocent (Nov. 24, 2017)

CONTACT: Andy White

Andy White Music Playlist (Click or Tap to Stream Music)

Shakespeare Take My Hand - (Live @ The Toff in Town, Melbourne Nov 24^th, 2014)

Andy White Live in the Lounge Room (Nov 08^th, 2014)

Message to You (Live in Belfast – 2009)

Andy White LINKS:
Official Website

Soundcloud

Wikipedia

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

BUY Music @ the Following Online Stores

Official Store

iTunes

Amazon

Ali Suhail

About: Ali Suhail

Ali Suhail is a singer, songwriter, musician from Karachi Pakistan who has been creating music since he was a teenager. Learning from The Beatles, The Foo Fighters, Death Cab For Cutie, Freelance Whales, Pomplamoose and many others, Ali has crafted his own unique style by combining his impressions and life experiences into music.

Ali’s music can be described in general as Indie Pop / Folk, but it also covers a broad range of genres that weaves its way effortlessly into more progressive and psychedelic blends.

Ali has released 2 albums, “Words from Boxes” (2013), and “Journal Entries” (2014) and also released two EP’s “Desolve” and “Defragment” in 2015.

“These albums that I've written are an amalgamation of my experiences and perception of the world and life. I hope they make people happy.” ~ Ali Suhail

“Defragment” – W.U.M. First Impression:

“Ali Suhail’s latest EP, “Defragment” is an alternative experimental indie folk rock trip, that covers a wide range of genres while also showing Ali’s diversity and rapid progress into a World Class Artist. “Defragment” offers a music fix that is sure to please all serious music fans.” ~ Stewart Brennan, World United Music

A Few Favourite Songs:

Album: Words from Boxes 2013 – Strangers, Attics,

Album: Journal Entries 2014 – Railway Uncle

Album: Desolve 2015 – Fear Leads to Stupid

Album: Defragment 2015 – 2^nd Song = Teishi (Stop), Trees

CONTACT: https://alisuhail.bandcamp.com/

Teishi (Stop) – (Album: Defragment 2015)

Attics - (Album: Words from Boxes 2013)

Baaten - (Album: Words from Boxes 2013)

Ali Suhail – Official Website

https://alisuhail.bandcamp.com/

Ali Suhail - Soundcloud

https://soundcloud.com/ali-suhail-2

Ali Suhail – Last FM

http://www.last.fm/music/Ali+Suhail

Ali Suhail - Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/butiamalisuhail

Ali Suhail - Twitter

https://twitter.com/comohtok

VIDEO

Ali Suhail - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrklCfDSVXSu6ya0xZbvC3A

BUY MUSIC

Ali Suhail - Bandcamp

https://alisuhail.bandcamp.com/

Legends of Rock: Jeff Lynne

Jeff Lynne

Early life and career

Lynne grew up in the Shard End area of Birmingham, West Midlands, where he attended Alderlea Boys' Secondary School. His first guitar, an acoustic instrument, was bought for him by his father, for £2. He was still playing it in 2012. In 1963 he formed a group with Robert Reader and David Walsh using little more than Spanish guitars and cheap electrical instruments to produce music. They were originally named "The Rockin' Hellcats" before changing to "The Handicaps" and finally to "The Andicaps". They practised at Shard End Community Centre and performed weekly. However, in 1964, Robert Reader and David Walsh left the band and Lynne brought in replacements. At the end of 1964, Lynne decided to leave the band to replace Mick Adkins of the local band "The Chads".

Some time in or after 1965, he acquired his first item of studio recording equipment, a Bang & Olufsen 'Beocord 2000 De Luxe' stereo reel-to-reel tape recorder, which allowed multi-tracking between left and right channels. He says it "taught me how to be a producer". In 1966, Lynne joined the line-up of The Nightriders as guitarist. The band would soon change their name to the Idle Race, a name allegedly given to them sarcastically by his grandmother Evelyn Lynne who probably disapproved of pop music as not being a proper job. Despite recording two critically acclaimed albums with the band and producing the second, success eluded him. In 1970, Lynne accepted an offer from friend Roy Wood to join the line-up of the more successful band the Move.

1970–86: The Electric Light Orchestra

Lynne contributed many songs to the Move's last two albums while formulating, with Roy Wood and Bev Bevan, a band built around a fusion of rock and classical music, with the original idea of both bands existing in tandem. This project would eventually become the highly successful Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). Problems led to Wood's departure in 1972, after the band's eponymous first album, leaving Lynne as the band's dominant creative force. Thereafter followed a succession of band personnel changes and increasingly popular albums: 1973's ELO 2 and On the Third Day, 1974's Eldorado and 1975's Face the Music. By 1976's A New World Record, Lynne had almost developed the roots of the group into a more complex and unique pop-rock sound mixed with studio strings, layered vocals, and tight, catchy pop singles. Lynne's now almost complete creative dominance as producer, songwriter, arranger, lead singer and guitarist could make ELO appear to be an almost solo effort. However, the ELO sound and the focus of Lynne's writing was also shaped by Louis Clark's and Richard Tandy's co-arranging, under Lynne's direction (notably the large string sections), Bev Bevan's drumming, and Richard Tandy's integration of the Moog, harmonium, and Mellotron, with more novel keyboard technology, gave Lynne's songs a more symphonic sound.

The pinnacle of ELO's chart success and worldwide popularity was the expansive 1977 double album Out of the Blue, which was largely conceived in a Swiss chalet during a two-week writing marathon. The band's 1978 world tour featured an elaborate "space ship" set and laser light show. In order to recreate the complex instrumental textures of their albums, the band used pre-recorded supplemental backing tracks in live performances. Although that practice has now become commonplace, it caused considerable derision in the press of the time. Lynne has often stated that he prefers the creative environment of the studio to the rigours and tedium of touring. In 1979, Lynne followed up the success of Out of the Blue with Discovery, which held No. 1 in the UK for 5 weeks. The album is primarily associated with its two disco-flavoured singles ("Shine a Little Love" and "Last Train to London") and with the title's word play on "disco" and "very". However, the remaining seven non-disco tracks on the album reflected Lynne's range as a pop-rock songwriter, including a heavy, mid-tempo rock anthem ("Don't Bring Me Down") that, despite its use of a drum loop, could be considered the antithesis of disco. In an April 2008 interview, Lynne fondly recalled his forays into dance music:

“I love the force of disco. I love the freedom it gave me to make a different rhythms across it. I enjoyed that really steady driving beat. Just steady as a rock. I’ve always liked that simplicity in the bass drum.”

In 1979, Lynne rejected an offer for ELO to headline the Knebworth Concert in the UK, allowing Led Zeppelin to headline instead. In the absence of any touring to support Discovery, Lynne had time to contribute five tracks to the soundtrack for the 1980 film musical Xanadu. The score yielded three Top 40 singles: "I'm Alive" (UK No. 20), "All Over The World" (UK No. 11), and the title track "Xanadu", which reached number one in the UK. Nevertheless, Lynne was not closely involved with the development of the film, and his material consequently had only superficial attachment to the plot. Xanadu performed weakly at the box office (although it later has experienced popularity as a cult favourite). Lynne subsequently disavowed his limited contribution to the project, although he later re-recorded the title song (with his lead vocal) for the 2000 box set Flashback. In 2007, the film was loosely adapted into a successful Broadway musical, incorporating almost all of the songs from the original film, and also using two other ELO hits: "Strange Magic" and "Evil Woman".

1980s

In 1981, Lynne took the band in a somewhat different direction with the science-fiction themed album Time, reaching number one for two weeks in the UK, producing the second Top 3 single in less than two years. The strings were still featured, but with heavily synthesised textures. Following a marginally successful tour, Lynne kept this general approach with 1983's Secret Messages and a final contractually-obligated ELO album Balance of Power in 1986. Lynne discusses the contractually-obligated nature of the final albums on the short interview included with the 'Zoom' DVD. ELO now had only three remaining official members (Lynne, Bevan and Tandy), and Lynne began devoting more time to producing. During his time in the Electric Light Orchestra, Lynne did manage to release a few recordings under his own name. In 1976, Lynne covered the Beatles songs "With a Little Help from My Friends" and "Nowhere Man" for All This and World War II. In 1977, Lynne released his first solo single, the disco-flavoured "Doin' That Crazy Thing"/"Goin' Down to Rio". Despite ELO's high profile at that time, it received little airplay and failed to chart.

In 1984, Lynne and ELO keyboardist Richard Tandy contributed two original songs "Video!" and "Let It Run" to the film Electric Dreams (they also provided a third song, "Sooner Or Later", which was released as the b-side of "Video!"). Lynne also wrote the song "The Story of Me," which was recorded by the Everly Brothers on their comeback album EB84. Even before the official end of ELO, Lynne began his move toward focusing almost exclusively on studio production work. Lynne produced and wrote the 1983 top-40 hit "Slipping Away" for Dave Edmunds and played on sessions (with Richard Tandy) for Edmunds' album, Information. Lynne also produced six tracks on Edmunds' follow-up album in 1984, Riff Raff. In contrast to the dense, boomy, baroque sound of ELO, Lynne's post-ELO studio work has tended toward more minimal, acoustic instrumentation and a sparse, "organic" quality that generally favours light room ambience and colouration over artificial reverb, especially on vocals. Lynne's recordings also often feature the jangling compressed acoustic guitar sound pioneered by Roger McGuinn and a heavily gated snare drum sound.

Lynne's influence by the Beatles was clearly evident in his ELO work, and the connection to the Beatles was strengthened when Lynne produced George Harrison's Cloud Nine. The latter was a successful comeback album for Harrison, released in 1987, featuring the popular singles "Got My Mind Set on You", "When We Was Fab" (where Lynne played the violin in the video) and "This Is Love", the last of which was co-written by Lynne. Lynne's association with Harrison led to the 1988 formation of the Traveling Wilburys, a studio "supergroup" that also included Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison and resulted in two albums (Vol. 1 and Vol. 3), both produced by Harrison and Lynne. In 1988 Lynne also worked on Orbison's album Mystery Girl, co-writing and producing Orbison's last major hit, "You Got It", plus two other tracks on that album. For Rock On!, the final Del Shannon album, Lynne co-wrote "Walk Away" and finished off several tracks after Shannon's death.

In 1989, Lynne co-produced Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty, which included the hit singles "Free Fallin'", "I Won't Back Down" and "Runnin' Down a Dream", all co-written by Lynne. This album and Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 received nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Album of the Year in 1989. The Traveling Wilburys won a Grammy for "Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal" that year. Lynne's song "One Way Love" was released as a single by Agnetha Faltskog and appeared on her second post-ABBA album, Eyes of a Woman. Lynne co-wrote and produced the track "Let It Shine" for Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson's first solo album in 1988. Lynne also contributed three tracks to an album by Duane Eddy and "Falling in Love" on Land of Dreams for Randy Newman.

1990s

In 1990, Lynne collaborated on the Wilburys' follow up Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 and shortly after that released his first solo album Armchair Theatre, with old friends George Harrison and Richard Tandy featuring the singles "Every Little Thing" and "Lift Me Up". The album received some positive critical attention but little commercial success. Lynne also provided the song "Wild Times" to the motion picture soundtrack Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in 1991. In 1991, Lynne returned to the studio with Petty, co-writing and producing the album Into the Great Wide Open for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which featured the singles "Learning to Fly" and "Into the Great Wide Open". The following year he produced Roy Orbison's posthumous album King of Hearts, featuring the single "I Drove All Night".

In February 1994, Lynne fulfilled a lifelong dream by working with the three surviving Beatles on the Anthology album series. At George Harrison's request, Lynne was brought in to assist in re-evaluating John Lennon's original studio material. The songs "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" were created by digitally processing Lennon's demos for the songs and overdubbing the three surviving band members to form a virtual Beatles reunion that the band had mutually eschewed during Lennon's lifetime. Lynne has also produced records for Ringo Starr and worked on Paul McCartney's Grammy nominated album Flaming Pie.

Lynne's work in the 1990s also includes production of a 1993 album for singer/songwriter Julianna Raye entitled Something Peculiar and production or songwriting contributions to albums by Roger McGuinn (Back from Rio) and Joe Cocker (Night Calls), songs by Aerosmith ("Lizard Love"), Tom Jones ("Lift Me Up"), Bonnie Tyler ("Time Mends a Broken Heart"), the film Still Crazy, Hank Marvin ("Wonderful Land" and "Nivram"), Et Moi ("Drole De Vie") and the Tandy Morgan Band ("Action"). In 1996, Lynne was officially recognised by his peers when he was awarded the Ivor Novello Award for "Outstanding Contributions to British Music" for a second time.

2000's

Following legal action to get the ELO name back from Bevan's touring group ELO Part II after Bevan decided to retire and sell his 50% rights of the ELO name to Lynne, Lynne released a new album in 2001 under the ELO moniker entitled Zoom. The album featured guest appearances by Ringo Starr, George Harrison and original ELO keyboardist Richard Tandy, with Lynne multi-tracking a majority of the instruments and vocals. The album received positive reviews but had no hit singles. Despite bearing little sonic relationship to the halcyon ELO days of the late 1970s, it was marketed as a "return to the classic ELO sound" in an attempt to connect with a loyal body of fans and jump-start a planned concert tour (with Lynne and Tandy as the only returning original ELO members). While a live performance was taped at CBS Television City over two consecutive nights and shown on PBS (with subsequent DVD release), the tour itself was cancelled. Speculation remains, as to the reason (or reasons), for the cancellation of this tour; although often cited by fans as a reason for the tour cancellation, the events and aftermath of 11 September occurred subsequent to the official cancellation of the tour. Greg Bissonette (ELO drummer), when asked, described it as "the greatest tour I never went on!"

Earlier in 2001, Lynne began working with George Harrison on what would turn out to be Harrison's final album, Brainwashed. After Harrison's death from cancer on 29 November 2001, Lynne returned to the studio in 2002 to help finish the uncompleted album. Lynne was heavily involved in the memorial Concert for George, held at London's Royal Albert Hall in November 2002, which also featured Wilbury member Petty. Lynne sang the lead vocal on "The Inner Light", "I Want to Tell You" and "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)", and subsequently produced the Surround Sound audio mix for the Concert for George DVD, released in November 2003, which later received a Grammy. Lynne reunited in 2006 with Petty to produce the latter's third solo release, Highway Companion.

ASCAP honoured Lynne with the Golden Note Award during their inaugural "I Create Music" EXPO on 24 April 2009, the presenter was Paul Williams. ASCAP's Golden Note Award is presented to songwriters, composers, and artists who have achieved extraordinary career milestones. Previous honorees include Tom Petty, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Sean "Diddy" Combs and Garth Brooks, to name a few. Lynne said in a Reuters article on 23 April 2009, that he has finally been working on the long awaited follow-up to his 1990 solo debut album Armchair Theatre with a possible tentative release date of "later this year". He also produced four tracks on Regina Spektor's fifth album Far, released 23 June 2009.

2010–Present

In a March 2010 interview with the Daily Express newspaper, Lynne confirmed he was working on a new album with Joe Walsh and simultaneously "writing a couple of albums under his own name, though he won't tell us in which musical direction he's heading." Lynne contributed a cover of Buddy Holly's "Words of Love" for the tribute album Listen to Me: Buddy Holly, which was released on 6 September 2011. On 31 December 2011, Brian Williams reported on NBC New Year's Eve with Carson Daly that "2012 releases will include rare new work from Jeff Lynne."

In 2012, Walsh released his Analog Man album which was produced by Lynne. Lynne's second solo album, a covers album entitled Long Wave, was released on 8 October 2012. A greatest hits collection of re-recorded ELO songs by Lynne titled Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra was also released under the ELO moniker on the same day. Lynne implied that a new album with original material would be released during 2013.

In 2012, Lynne and Tandy teamed up at Lynne's Bungalow Palace home studios to record a live set of ELO's songs. This was broadcast on TV as part of the Mr. Blue Sky documentary.

On 11 October 2012, Lynne was nominated as a performer/songwriter for 2013 induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

On 21 June 2013, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced that Lynne is to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame sometime in 2014.

Lynne and Tandy reunited again on 12 November 2013 to perform, under the name Jeff Lynne and Friends, "Livin' Thing" and "Mr. Blue Sky" at the Children in Need Rocks concert at Hammersmith Eventim Apollo, London.

On 9 February 2014, Lynne performed George Harrison's "Something" on The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles, as well as "Hey Bulldog" from the Yellow Submarine soundtrack while accompanying Dave Grohl, commemorating the 50th anniversary of The Beatles' performance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

On 5 March 2014, Lynne received an honorary doctorate degree from Birmingham City University. He also mentioned he was working with Bryan Adams on new material.

On 14 September 2014 Jeff Lynne played a public concert for the first time in over 25 years, headlining at the Radio 2 festival in Hyde Park, London.

On 8 February 2015, Lynne appeared at the Grammy Awards, playing "Evil Woman" and "Mr. Blue Sky" with Ed Sheeran.

On 23 April 2015, Jeff Lynne was awarded the 2,548th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star was dedicated at 1750 N. Vine Street in front of the Capitol Records building. Tom Petty and Joe Walsh were present to help unveil the star and spoke about Lynne.

On 10 September 2015, Lynne's website announced he had signed a contract to deliver an album of new ELO music for Columbia Records marking the first time in 14 years new ELO music would be released.

On 24 September 2015, "When I Was a Boy", the first single from Alone in the Universe was released on the internet with a music video scheduled not long after. The album was released on 13 November 2015 and was followed by promotional shows including the first ELO shows in the United States in 30 years. A 2016 European tour was scheduled, with Dublin, Amsterdam and Zurich being some of the locations toured. Notably, the Dublin concert was delayed by a week due to medical advice given to Lynne.

On 24 June 2017, Lynne performed at Wembley Stadium to a crowd of 60,000, playing a 24-song setlist including 'Xanadu', 'Do Ya' and 'Twilight'. The concert was released on DVD and CD, under the title Wembley or Bust.

On 2 August 2018, Lynne and his band Jeff Lynne's ELO began a 10-city tour of North America which included the US cities of Oakland, California and Los Angeles, Denver, Houston, Dallas, Rosemont, Illinois, Detroit, New York City, Philadelphia and Toronto.

On 12 September 2018, Jeff Lynne's ELO began a tour throughout Europe including dates in Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Mannheim, Vienna, Amsterdam, Nottingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Birmingham, Leeds, London, Liverpool, Dublin, and Belfast.

On 20 June 2019, Jeff Lynne's ELO began a North American tour with Dhani Harrison.

On 26 September 2019, Jeff Lynne's ELO announced a new album, called From Out of Nowhere, which was subsequently released on 1 November of the same year. The album was accompanied by the release of an eponymous single which premiered on BBC Radio 2 that same day.

Jeff Lynne - (2000 to 2029 Playlist)

Jeff Lynne - (Live Playlist)

Jeff Lynne & Richard Tandy – (Music & Commentary) Live from Bungalow Palace 2012

Jeff Lynne – Blown Away – Album: Armchair Theatre (1990)

Jeff Lynne – Nobody Home – Album: Armchair Theatre (1990)

Jeff Lynne – Don’t Let Go (Jessie Stone Cover) – Album: Armchair Theatre (1990)

The Traveling Wilbury's - Handle with Care (1987)

The Traveling Wilbury's – End of the Line (1987)

Jeff Lynne (ELO) - 1973 to (1986 Playlist)

The Move – Do Ya – (1972)

The Move – Message from the Country – (1971)

The Move – What? (Album: Looking On – 1970)

The Move - Open Up said the World at the Door - (Album: Looking On – 1970)

The Idle Race - Someone Knocking (Album: The Idle Race - 1969)

The Idle Race - Sea of Dreams (Album: The Idle Race - 1969)

The Idle Race - Skeleton and the Roundabout (Album: The Birthday Party - 1968)

The Idle Race - The Birthday (Album: The Birthday Party - 1968)

The Idle Race - On with the Show (Album: The Birthday Party - 1968)

A Chat with Jeff Lynne – Falling in Love with Music

Jeff Lynne LINKS:

Official Website

Facebook

VIDEO

ELO – YouTube (VEVO)

BUY MUSIC

Jeff Lynne - iTunes

Jeff Lynne - Amazon

Electric Light Orchestra - iTunes

Electric Light Orchestra - Amazon

Legends of Rock: Al Stewart

About: Al Stewart

Ask Al Stewart to sum up where he is now, musically speaking, and you’re likely to wind up two steps behind where you started; this is by no means an unusual circumstance in conversation with Al, keenly aware as he is that making a leap forward often entails taking a step backward. Sometimes it’s into the library stacks where the late historian Ms. Tuchman dug for material. Sometimes it’s into the record stacks where the late rocker Mr. Cochran made his mark as a teenager singing his “Summertime Blues” so many summertime’s ago.

In many ways, the summertime of Stewart’s 2009 much more resembled his summer of 1969 than it did the summer of 1979, when his multi-million-selling “Year of the Cat” and “Time Passages” were staples of FM radio, and he was touring with saxes, synths, singers, and all the accoutrements pop stardom brings. “I don’t think I ever knew how to be in front of a band,” says Al, a little modestly. “I always felt I was loitering there while they were doing all the work.”

With the release of Uncorked, Al and musical partner Dave Nachmanoff take a trip through Stewart’s musical back pages, both in terms of the musical catalogue (they did have nearly 20 albums’ worth of songs to pick from), and in terms of performance style. After all, Al made his bones in the massively fertile folk scene that was London in the late ’60s, and he numbers among his contemporaries the likes of guitar wizards Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, singer-songwriters Roy (“Hats Off To”) Harper and Richard Thompson, and a former flatmate named Paul Simon, who went on to some celebrity upon returning to America.

Recorded live during a springtime East Coast swing, Uncorked is the first live acoustic disc Al’s done since 1992’s Rhymes In Rooms, and both he and Nachmanoff made a conscious decision not to replicate any of the tracks from that disc, even if it meant leaving off such standards as “On the Border” and the two aforementioned Top 40 hits. “Because I’ve learned all of Al’s songs, we had an opportunity to revisit some of the tunes that hadn’t been featured in more recent years,” says Nachmanoff. “I think at this point, we can actually do three or four full shows and never play the same songs twice. And while Al usually comes in to a gig with a set list in mind, often times, we’ll just throw it out and go with the flow.”

As a consequence, it sounds like the duo isn’t merely playing well (fact is, Al’s guitar work is actually even better now than it was back in the day, thanks to the acoustic touring configuration that brings his musical contributions more to the fore), it sounds like they’re having fun. And if the title tracks from albums like Last Days of the Century and Bedsitter Images don’t immediately conjure images of major-label milestones, that’s just fine with Al. “It’s much more enjoyable for me to hear myself and for the audience to hear the words,” says Stewart. “And the audience seems to agree. The way I look at it, if I can still get everybody on their hind legs at the end of a show cheering, then I’ve won.”

Like Uncorked itself, that’s vintage Al.

CONTACT: http://www.alstewart.com/contact.html

The making of “Sparks of Ancient Light” (2008)

Elvis at the Wheel - 2008 - (Official Video)

A Beach Full of Shells - 2005 (Full Album)

Down in the Cellers - 2000 From “Down in the Cellar” (Audio)

Marion of Chatelaine - 1995 From “Between the Wars” (Audio)

Laughing into 1939 – 1995 From “Between the Wars” (Audio)

Feel Like – 1993 From “Famous Last Words”

Ghost of Charlotte Corday – 1993 From “Famous Last Words”

Last Days of the Century – 1988 (Live)

Roads to Moscow – 2013 (Live in Montreal)

Carol – 2014 (Live Fairport)

Midas Shadow – 2009 (Live)

Year of the Cat – 2013 – (Live at the Royal Albert Hall)

Year of the Cat – 1976 - (Live)

On the Border – 1976 - (Live)

One Stage Before – 1976 (Audio)

Broadway Hotel – 1976 (Audio)

Flying Sorcery – 1976 (Audio)

Nostradamus – 1974 - (Fan Video)

Past, Present Future - 1974 - (Full Album)

Al Stewart – Official Website

http://www.alstewart.com/
Al Stewart - MySpace
https://myspace.com/officialalstewart
Al Stewart - Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/officialalstewart
Al Stewart - Twitter
https://twitter.com/alstewartinfo
Al Stewart - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Stewart
BUY MUSIC
Al Stewart – Official Store
http://myiesstore.com/alstewart/
Al Stewart - iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/al-stewart/id4211328
Al Stewart - Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Al-Stewart/e/B000ARA0LM
Al Stewart – CD Baby
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/AlStewart1

Career: (Extracted from Wikipedia)

Al Stewart's first record was the single "The Elf" (backed with a version of the Yardbirds' "Turn into Earth"), which was released in 1966 on Decca Records and included guitar work from Jimmy Page (later of the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin), the first of many leading guitarists Stewart worked with, including Richard Thompson, Tim Renwick, and Peter White. Stewart then signed to Columbia Records (CBS in the UK), for whom he released six albums. Though the first four of these attracted relatively little commercial interest, Stewart's popularity and cult following grew steadily through albums that contain some of Stewart's most incisive and introspective songwriting.

Early albums (1967–1973)

Stewart's debut album Bedsitter Images was released on LP in 1967 (though technically his first recording was 'The Elf', released by Decca in 1966, which sold an estimated 496 copies). A revised version appeared in 1970 as The First Album (Bedsitter Images) with a few tracks changed, and the album was reissued on CD in 2007 with all tracks from both versions. His first recording of any kind appears on Jackson C. Frank's first album, 1965's Jackson C. Frank, playing guitar on "Yellow Walls".

Love Chronicles (1969) was notable for the 18-minute title track, an anguished autobiographical tale of sexual encounters that was the first mainstream record release ever to include the word "fucking". It was voted "Folk Album of the Year" by the UK music magazine Melody Maker and features Jimmy Page and Richard Thompson on guitar.

His third album, Zero She Flies, followed in 1970 and included a number of shorter songs which ranged from acoustic ballads and instrumentals to songs that featured electric lead guitar. These first three albums (including The Elf) were later released as the two-CD set To Whom it May Concern: 1966–70.

In 1970, Stewart and fellow musician Ian A. Anderson headed to the small town of Pilton, Somerset. There, at Michael Eavis's Worthy Farm, Stewart performed at the first-ever Glastonbury festival to a field of 1,000 hippies, who had paid just £1 each to be there.

On the back of his growing success, Stewart released Orange in 1972. It was very much a transitional album, combining songs in Stewart's confessional style with more intimations of the historical themes that he would increasingly adopt (e.g., "The News from Spain" with its prog-rock overtones, including dramatic piano by Rick Wakeman).

The fifth release, Past, Present and Future (1973), was Stewart's first album to receive a proper release in the United States, via Janus Records. It echoed a traditional historical storytelling style and contained the song "Nostradamus," a long (9:43) track in which Stewart tied into the rediscovery of the claimed seer's writings by referring to selected possible predictions about 20th century people and events. While too long for mainstream radio airplay at that time, the song became a hit on many US college/university radio stations, which were flexible about running times.

Such airplay helped the album to reach No. 133 on the Billboard album chart in the US. Other songs on Past, Present and Future characterized by Stewart's 'history genre' mentioned American President Warren Harding, World War II, Ernst Röhm, Christine Keeler, Louis Mountbatten, and Joseph Stalin's purges.

Alan Parsons years (1975–1978)

Stewart followed Past, Present and Future with Modern Times (1975), in which the songs were lighter on historical references and more of a return to the theme of short stories set to music. Significantly, though, it was the first of his albums to be produced by Alan Parsons.

In a highly positive retrospective review of Modern Times, Allmusic senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine described the album as "exquisite". Erlewine wrote that the album "establishes Stewart's classic sound of folky narratives and Lennonesque melodies, all wrapped up in a lush, layered production from Alan Parsons. The production gives epics like the title track a real sense of grandeur that makes their sentiments resonate strongly."

Modern Times produced Stewart's first hit single, "Carol". The album reached No. 30 in the US and received substantial airplay on album-oriented stations some 30 years before Bob Dylan would release an album of the same name.

Stewart's contract with CBS Records expired at this point, and he signed to RCA Records for the world outside North America. His first two albums for RCA, Year of the Cat (released on Janus Records in the U.S., then reissued by Arista Records after Janus folded) and Time Passages (released in the U.S. on Arista), set the style for his later work and have been his biggest-selling recordings.

Stewart told Kaya Burgess of The Times: "When I finished Year of the Cat, I thought: ‘If this isn’t a hit, then I can’t make a hit.’ We finally got the formula exactly right."

The most remarkable fact about this album is that Stewart had all of the music and orchestration written and completely recorded before he even had a title for any of the songs. He mentioned, in a Canadian radio interview, that he has done this for six of his albums, and he often writes four different sets of lyrics for each song.

Both albums reached the top ten in the US, with "Year of the Cat" peaking at No. 5 and "Time Passages" at No. 10, and both albums produced hit singles in the US ("Year of the Cat" No. 8, and "On the Border", #42; "Time Passages" No. 7 and "Song on the Radio", #29). Meanwhile "Year of the Cat" became Stewart's first chart single in Britain, where it peaked at No. 31. It was a huge success at London's Capital Radio, reaching number 2 on their Capital Countdown chart. The overwhelming success of these songs on the two albums, both of which still receive substantial radio airplay on classic-rock/pop format radio stations, has perhaps later overshadowed the depth and range of Stewart's body of songwriting.

1980s

Stewart then released 24 Carrots (#37 US 1980) and his first live album Live/Indian Summer (#110 US 1981), with both featuring backing by Peter White's band Shot in the Dark (who released their own unsuccessful album in 1981). While "24 Carrots" did produce a No. 24 single with "Midnight Rocks", the album sold less well than its two immediate predecessors.

After those releases, Stewart was dropped by Arista and his popularity declined. Despite his lower profile and waning commercial success, he continued to tour the world, record albums, and maintain a loyal fanbase. There was a four-year gap between his next two albums, the highly political Russians and Americans (1984) and the upbeat pop-oriented Last Days of the Century (1988), which appeared on smaller labels and had lower sales than his previous works.

1990s

Stewart followed up with his second live album, the acoustic Rhymes in Rooms (1992), which featured only himself and Peter White, and Famous Last Words (1993), which was dedicated to the memory of the late Peter Wood (co-writer of "Year of the Cat"), who died the year of its release.

After parting ways with his longtime collaborator of almost twenty years, Peter White (who was credited on every studio and live album between Year of the Cat and Famous Last Words and also served as his regular songwriting partner), Stewart joined up with former Wings guitarist Laurence Juber (who was also producer) and followed up with a concept album, Between the Wars (1995), covering major historical and cultural events from 1918 to 1939, such as the Versailles Treaty, Prohibition, the Spanish Civil War, and the Great Depression. Juber would end up producing and be credited on all of Stewart's subsequent studio albums.

In 1995, Stewart was invited to play at the 25th anniversary Glastonbury festival, taking to the same stage he had graced in 1970 at the first-ever festival.

21st century

In 2000, Stewart released Down in the Cellar, a concept album themed on wine. Stewart had begun a love affair with wine in the 1970s when, he admitted, he had more money than he knew how to spend, and so turned to fine wines.

In 2005, he released A Beach Full of Shells, which was set in places varying from First World War England to the 1950s rock 'n' roll scene that influenced him.

In 2008, he released Sparks of Ancient Light, produced, like his most recent albums, by Laurence Juber. Here he weaves tales of William McKinley, Lord Salisbury, and Hanno the Navigator. A video for the song "Elvis at the Wheel" was released in December 2013.

Stewart and guitarist Dave Nachmanoff released a live album, Uncorked, on Stewart's label, Wallaby Trails Recordings, in 2009. They played the Glastonbury Festival 40th anniversary in June 2010 on the acoustic stage.

Stewart sang a duet with Albert Hammond of Hammond's "It Never Rains in Southern California" on Hammond's 2010 album Legend.

In 2011, Stewart sang a duet with his guitarist and opening act Dave Nachmanoff on Nachmanoff's album Step Up. The song, "Sheila Won't Be Coming Home", was co-written by Stewart and Nachmanoff.