The Set List

Beatles Feel Minor 'Idol' Bump

After several seasons of bolstering album sales for 95% of the established artists who appear on "American Idol," the use of songs penned by John Lennon and Paul McCartney provided only a minimal boost in Beatles album sales.
Obviously there's a big difference between having an act perform and just having the contestants sing an act's tunes. But in this case, with the Beatles catalog still not available for download, there was no option to make an immediate purchase. Never mind that the interpretations were pretty bad, any time the Beatles are in the musical news, there are usually sales bumps. One would think, however, they would not be as slight as they were last week.
The two soundtrack packages for "Across the Universe," which, like "Idol," is interpretations of Beatles tunes, saw bumps of about 1,000 copies each. The deluxe edition was up to 18,000 sold; the regular edition hit 9,000, according to Nielsen Soundscan.
The 2007 release "Beatles Love," which was responsible for two Grammy wins last year, saw a 2,000 unit spike to 6,000 sold.
The best-selling Beatles album was the hits collection "1," which sold 9,000 copies, up from 5,000 two weeks ago. "Abbey Road," the penultimate Beatles release, was up 700 units to just over 3,000 sold. 

'American Idol' Down To A Dozen (warning: spoilers)

America almost got it right, clearing out three of the four singers whose substandard performances made them easy and obvious targets.
The one surprise among the eliminated class was Asia’h Epperson, who sang well enough to continue but was apparently penalized for violating the No Whitney rule. Once again, though, "American Idol" shows that when it comes to non-white performers, it's tough for two performers to remain in the competition if they share physical characteristics. This year, Epperson and Syesha Mercado were 20-ish, thin, light-skinned and attractive. It will be interesting if, once the whittling is one a week, a blonde female departs early if for no other reason than voters aligning with the one they view as either most like them or the one they want as a friend. Coincidentally, blondes Kristy Lee Cook and Brooke White, plus Chikezie, enter the top 12 with the weakest wind in their sails. 
First week of the mixed-gender shows will be spent with the Lennon-McCartney catalog, a first for "Idol." This could be seriously dangerous territory.
Consider: Only one of these singers, Michael Johns, was alive when John Lennon was murdered. Wings had broken up before they were born. And it's quite possible, even likely, that the younger kids' parents were toddlers when "Help!" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"  were changing the world.
While it seems obvious that Amanda Overmyer will go for "Come Together" or "I Should've Known Better," and White will find an acoustic number off "Rubber Soul," the rest of the lot might well be doing a cover of a cover. Stevie Wonder's "We Can Work It Out"? Joe Cocker's "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window"? The "I Am Sam" or "Across the Universe" soundtracks? It's not likely any of them will make the world rethink "Hey Jude" the way Wilson Pickett did or tackle "Here, There and Everywhere" in a style similar to Emmylou Harris' take.
Likewise, these kids probably do not know which of these tunes have cultural weight and which are fair game for interpretation.
On paper, "Ticket to Ride" might appear no different than "In My Life" which might be no different than "Penny Lane." But remove the guitar riff from "Ride," change the melody of "Life" or miss a note on "Penny Lane" and you are toast to millions of Beatles fans.
The safe route is to sing somethign mid-tempo, "Eight Days a Week" or "I've Just Seen a Face." Something tells me, though, that David Archuleta will begin preparing tonight in his bed, singing "all my troubles seems so far away..."
The final 12 are: David Cook,  Jason Castro, Brooke White, Syesha Mercado,David Hernandez, Ramiele Malubay,  Chikezie, Archuleta,Johns, Cook, Smithson and Overmyer.
Cut were Kady Malloy, Luke Menard, Epperson and Danny Noriega.

Beatles, Hendrix Tape Sales: A Case Of Buyer Beware?

Fuego Entertainment, a Florida-based entertainment company that has specialized in Spanish-language music, has enthusiastically announced that it will be releasing live albums by Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles.
The Hendrix family has already stepped in to put the kibosh on those plans and one imagines that the Beatles can't be too far behind.
Fuego Entertainment reported that it had secured the rights to 11 double albums of live performances from Jeffrey Collins. Experience Hendrix says the albums are inferior quality bootleg recordings whose release the estate has blocked by getting several U.K. court judgments against the former owner, Purple Haze Records.
Fuego has started to sell digitally two albums, the first and second sets from the Rainbow Bridge shows, for 99 cents a song at their website.
Experience Hendrix, which has owned and administered since 1995 all the music and related rights created by Jimi, says it will take all legal action necessary to remove the recordings from the marketplace.
Meanwhile, Fuego has also acquired 15 tracks of previously unreleased recordings made in 1962 at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany. Tapes are from Ringo Starr's first appearance with the band. The tapes were also in the collection of Collins.
Fuego says the particular tape was among those used by Collins, who ran a booking agency in London, to promote the Star Club as a venue. The tapes were not touched until 1994.
Tracks include "A Taste of Honey," "Hippy Hippy Shake" (with Tony Sheridan),"Money", "Twist and Shout," "I Saw Her Standing There," Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues" and Maurice Williams' "Do You Believe."

Radiohead Rewrites the Rules From a Rare Position of Power

Radiohead is making history, or at least writing another chapter in artists taking control of their work. Off the top of my head, some landmarks:
In 1951, Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball created Desilu to produce and own “I Love Lucy” instead of CBS, thereby inventing the Hollywood filmed TV business..
In 1959, Ray Charles tells Ahmet Ertegun he wants to own his own master recordings and the publishing. When Ertegun’s Atlantic Records stands firm with its no, a desperate ABC-Paramount sign him to a deal, giving in to all his wishes. Any act that doesn’t follow that pattern ultimately regrets it.
The  Beatles create Apple Records in 1968 and soon thereafter the Rolling Stones follow suit. No act has as firm a control on their catalog as those two.
Ani DiFranco creates her own label, Righteous Babe Records, in Buffalo, N.Y., and after she releases about seven albums — 1997 or so — her name gets bandied about not because she has built a fan base or makes artistically brilliant music. She  was in the news - and pissed off by it - because she was seeing a profit of nearly $5 per CD sold, a rate that dwarfed the amount made even by major stars. In the dot-com era, CDbaby.com has made a living selling music by the folks following her model; Pitchforkmedia.com has become a critical clearinghouse writing about those acts.
On Oct. 1, Radiohead announces that its next album will be released in three stages, beginning with a digital download version for which each consumer decides what they will pay. Cost of recording, marketing and distribution are covered by the band. It’s a risk, but it eliminates a collection of steps. This is a true downsizing of the business, but one that, if navigated properly, brings fans closer to the artist. The music website Stereogum, which has been around about half as long as Radiohead, declared it the coolest thing a band has ever done.
As much as the Radiohead news was greeted with praise for its decision to go DIY, they have not truly created a model for the future. This is an enormously popular band that only continues to grow commercially. And as they have done in the past, Radiohead is controlling the way their music gets leaked; years ago, the band sent out review cassettes in a Walkman that had been glued shut.
The band has an enormous fan base  that buys into everything the band releases – and that’s the true rarity. (Just thinking out loud: could Beck pull this off? Is this a better option than what Starbucks offers acts? If you're establish and flush, how soon does one need to recoup their investment?)
Radiohead struck at the right time — when fans are still clamoring for new music and musical heroes are few and far between. And in contrast to the major labels and the RIAA, which got a jury to rule Thursday that a woman owed them $200K for making her music collection available online, they look like the good guys. They’re there for the fans.
The move, though, does not herald the imminent decline of the music labels as we know them. Radiohead is in a unique place. And while much of that is based on music, there has been a corporate outfit – EMI’s Capitol Records – marketing, publicizing and selling their six albums. Radiohead did not happen overnight and there is no act that has ascended to similar heights in the last 30 years without a major label behind them.
Not that I am jumping on some pro-EMI bandwagon here. Sold recently to a private investment house whose leader blamed  EMI’s troubles on its seven-year focus on a merger with Warner Music rather than releasing and supporting top-notch music, EMI has been cut to the bone in staffing. Leadership is an important commodity at a label: Capitol broke Radiohead and Coldplay in the boyband era; it is struggling with Interpol (200,000 in sales from a July release) in an age when everyone is thirsty for great indie rock.
Radiohead’s move is about half as significant as that of Brother Ray and if it becomes a future template for the music business, we will forever wallow in a sea of Pussycat Dolls imitations, novelty rap and variations on whatever last year’s surprise hit might have been. Once a year, we’ll have a Kanye vs. 50 type square off and everyone will lament that they don’t make music like they used to  and long for the days of Blues Traveler and Hootie.
Radiohead's move will be an exception to the rule and labels may grow increasingly reticent to sign bands looking forward to the day they become free agents.
The windows for bands like Radiohead to get signed and receive support while they develop seem to close at every turn. Rap, R&B, country — the acts that get signed in those genres are the ones that look ready to make hits, not someone who is three albums and five years away from a hit.
During rock’s album heyday — “Highway 61 Revisited” through “OK Computer” — labels had two agendas: Create catalog titles and create stars. As it shifts back to a song-driven business, as it was from 1900s to the late ‘50s, there is little motivation for labels to attempt to develop an act like Radiohead from the ground up. It used to be a Warner Music specialty; now it has been virtually abandoned at the music group.
Countless acts have experimented in the way Radiohead is now – expecially with live albums. But having to watch over the business and finance a recording can be a burdensome task. They eventually return to the label old even if it means the indie route.
Nearly four  years ago, Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno announced the creation of  Magnificent Union of Digitally Downloading Artists at the Midem conference in Cannes.
"Unless artists quickly grasp the possibilities that are available to them, then the rules will get written, and they'll get written without much input from artists," Eno said at the time.
What Gabriel and Eno envisioned was star artists stepping out of the album format and releasing EPs, demos, single songs, even sketches of songs. At the time they said this was not an alternative to label deals, just a way for musicians to take control and release music they way they see fit.
But it is obviously easier said than done: We’re still waiting for Gabriel and Eno to take advantage of digital possibilities — beyond quietly using their own websites. Radiohead will get the nod as the innovator.

Mick Details Lennon Jams on 'Today'

Mick Jagger will appear on Tuesday's "Today" show to talk about "Too Many Cooks (Spoil The Soup)," a previously unreleased collaboration with John Lennon.
It was during Lennon's "Lost Weekend" period and he and Jagger were hanging out, getting stoned and jamming with other musicians on blues changes.
"Nothing would really come out of it," Mick tells Matt about the sessions.
Then John pulls out the tune.
"We were very happy to have something to focus on.  And then we all learned it very, very quickly.  And John was so impressed we all could learn it. And I always thought when I went back to these sessions that John was playing guitar on this.  But  the engineer said 'He wasn't playing guitar.  He was producing.'"
Track is on "The Very Best of Mick Jagger" (Atlantic/Rhino), which  will be released Tuesday.

Covering the Covers: Crix Dig New Singers Doing The Same Old Song

With covers albums swamping the release schedule this month, the Set List decided to explore whether anyone has anything positive to say about this discs. First stop was Metacritic, which does a fine job accumulating reviews, assigning a value to the reviewer’s opinion and then producing an average score. The problem was that Metacritic had deciphered data for only one of the albums on my list, Ann Wilson’s “Hope & Glory.” Based on four reviews, they gave it a 79. (That’s a lot higher than I would have given it).
Deciding to take on the data collection myself, suddenly I have new-found respect for what a chore this is. It appears major publications are either cutting way back on CD reviews or hiding them so Google’s search engine won’t discover them until the searcher has gone through four pages of Amazon, cduniverse and Barnes and Noble pages.
While overall it’s a glimmer hope that typing in the word “Tesla” does not yield many results or fan sites, it becomes a bit staggering to think Babyface just doesn’t get his albums reviewed like he did back in the day.
Searching for anything on some of these discs takes you to some rather clueless reviews. One self-appointed typist-critic of New Found Glory’s latest decided a) he didn’t like the songs they selected; b) that he didn’t like the way the songs were performed; and c) admitted that he went in with high expectations. But, he notes, it’s “a good time.” Oy.
Most shocking is how well liked some of these discs were. Have negative reviews become passé?
Barry Manilow’s “Greatest Songs of the Seventies” earned a rave from the BBC that said “For those who love Manilow, this is a must. For those who don’t, this could well be the disc to make them change their minds.” The Boston Herald said  his singing is “more impassioned” than ever.
Chaka Khan’s “Funk This” got two thumbs up from Robert Christgau at Rolling Stone and Mark Edward Nero’s Guide to R&B. The dean of rock criticism noted: “Chaka Khan has never bothered with great albums because she has such a great voice -- juicy, airy, spunky, transported. Though she's 54, it's also unfrayed, one reason this committed if never classic comeback makes its mark.”
“Playlist,” a collection of 1970s singer-songwriter material from Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds , finds Entertainment Weekly noting that he can take bland or treacly material and “render it superior to the original with delicate or atypical phrasing plus sheer commitment.” They loved his take on Bob Dylan's ''Knockin' on Heaven's Door''; disliked Jim Croce's “'Time in a Bottle.”
Herbie Hancock has released a tribute to Joni Mitchell titled “River: The Joni Letters.” New York magazine called it “a success”; the L.A. Times called Hancock “interpreter (who) really grasps the key to Mitchell's genius”; and the Boston Phoenix was impressed with his  “languid, meditative takes on the Mitchell songbook.”
The soundtrack to “Across the Universe” —  actors and Bono singing Beatles songs — received an indifferent review from the L.A. Times. “Even with many inviting arrangements and inventive production work from T Bone Burnett and Elliot Goldenthal, the Lennon-McCartney and Harrison songs too often wind up in nowhere land.”
The two-CD  “Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino” features a multitude of artists who got allmusicguide.com to rave: “Just how loved Fats Domino is by the music community is borne out by the A-list names who've contributed to one of the more remarkable tribute albums to surface in recent years.”
The Boston Globe uses words such as “fizzy,” “zippy,” “sultry” and “sassy” in a complimentary assessment of  “Trav'lin' Light” by Queen Latifah.
No publication or website has published anything on “Real to Reel Vol. 2” by Tesla or Boyz II Men’s “Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA.”
But as covers go, will any of them endiure or even compare with this?

'Help!,' with Ringo As Lord of the Ring, Comes To DVD

"Help!," the second film by the Beatles and the only one involving Ringo and an actual ring, will receive the deluxe DVD treatment and be released on Oct. 30.
The-disc set will feature a disc with the original film digitally restored with a newly created 5.1 soundtrack and a disc of bonus material. Disc  2 will include a  30 minute documentary about the making of the film with director  Richard Lester, the cast and crew; a missing scene featuring Wendy Richard, an in depth look at the restoration  process, two U.S. trailers and one Spanish trailer, and 1965 U.S. radio spots.
Film, which was screened over the weekend at the Telluride festival, includes seven songs:  'Help!,'  'You're Going To Lose That Girl,'  'You've Got To Hide Your Love Away,' 'Ticket To Ride,'  'I Need You,' 'The Night Before' and  'Another Girl.'
The trailer is here.

Don't Worry Kyoko, Lennon Library Goes Digital

John Lennon's solo catalog is available at the iTunes Store beginning today.
For the first 30 days, exclusive video content will be included with the albums "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band," "Sometime in New York City," "Walls and Bridges," "Milk and Honey" and the collections "Anthology" and "Working Class Hero."
Lennon becomes the second Beatle to have his solo work made available in the digital universe. Ringo Starr's work is slated for an Aug. 28 delivery and George Harrison's solo albums are still in limbo.
As with all posthumous Lennon efforts, his widow Yoko Ono is quite confident that he would have wanted his music used this way. "John would have loved the fact that his music will now be available in a format suited to a new generation of listeners."
Tracks will be available in iTunes Plus, Apple's higher-fidelity offering, for $1.29 per song.
Early in the day, his live recording of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" and "Imagine" were the top sellers.

I Want You to Want a Day in the Life

Guest vocalists for the Beatles bonanza at the Hollywood Bowl on Aug. 10 and 11. Before Cheap Trick performs of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in its entirety, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra will trot out other Fab Four faves with Cheap Trick as the house band. With the orchestra, Ian Ball of Gomez will sing "Strawberry Fields Forever," Rob Laufer, who once played George in "Beatlemania" and participated in an earlier Beatles-George Martin tribute concert at the Bowl, will sing "Norwegian Wood"; and Joan Osborne will do "The Long And Winding Road." Aimee Mann will do "Blackbird." Orchestra will also perform "Magical Mystery Tour," "Eleanor Rigby" and "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End." An Indian instrumental ensemble will perform George Harrison's "Within You Without you."

Son Volt Unites Beatles, Beckham and Vinyl

That's Son Volt's version of the Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye" that accompanies the ESPN commercial heralding the arrival in Los Angeles of soccer star David Beckham.
While their version of the track has chat boards lighting up with yeas and nays, Son Volt is returning to their favorite '60s medium - the vinyl LP - to issue a collection of tracks currently only available as an iTunes exclusive listed as "Chant and Strum."
1,000 copies of the two-LP vinyl version of "The Search"  are being pressed by Transmit Sound/Legacy.
Beckham comes to L.A. to play for the Galaxy on Saturday;the double album arrives July 31.

Most Expensive McCartney Item on eBay: Denny Laine's Grammy for 'Band on the Run'

Feeling the McCartney Mania brought on in anticipation of tonight's show at Amoeba Records in Hollywood, it seemed like the right time to splurge on soemthing from Paul's past. Figuring a spin on eBay would generate some inetresting tidbits, I never thought I'd find this - a pop performances by a duo or group Grammy for "Band on the Run," arguably McCartney's finest solo album.

Listing figures the Grammy Award will fetch between $50,000 and $75,000 six days from now when the auction ends. Trophy was originally given to Denny Laine, the former Moody Blues front man who became guitarist-bassist-singer for Wings. he is spending the summer singing "Go Now" in Hippiefest, sharing the bill with balding longhairs the Turtles, Felix Cavaliere and the Zombies.

 

beatles 'love' turns 1

Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison will join in a dedication ceremony to John Lennon and George Harrison at the Mirage in Las Vegas on June 26.

Ceremony falls on the one-year anniversary of the Cirque du Soleil show. (Loved the music, not so crazy about the show).

The score album, created by George and Giles Martin, and released in November, is still on the sales chart. It has sold 1.46 million copies.