From the UK I present to you the Fiji Dots! A modern rock sound yet encompassing a wink and a nod to such classic bands as Rainbow and Queen, the Fiji Dots are full of bombast and vigor. Taboo is a stand out for me but I really enjoyed the A Few Years with those great backing vocals. The vocals in fact stand out for me as they combine hard rock swagger with a genuine taste of a melody. And they get bonus points for saying they sound like “something other than indie.” Good stuff.

You can listen to them at their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/fijidots

Later.

Mark

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As I am learning about how to podcast using all of these amazing electronic gizmos and software, it is easy to loose sight of why you want to podcast while you struggle with the issue of how to podcast. Much the same can be the said of musicians who have such a wide variety of home recording gear and software that it is so easy to get caught up in the virtual trees that they tend to lose sight of the musical forest. I just read an article from almost a year ago about musician Kelley Stoltz who is attempting to recreate the analog sound of rock and roll in the privacy of his apartment and it struck a chord with me.

Until the widespread use of digital technology in the late ‘90s most home recording was done on either a portastudio cassette-based unit or on analog ¼ inch tape with 8-track being the norm. Obviously it wasn’t as flexible as today’s 128 virtual-track software products but it forced bands to really pay attention to the craft of recording their music without getting side-tracked by the endless options that digital technology provided. The key to recording on analog 8-track was to ensure that you had the proper placement of your microphones and that you really thought out what instruments would go where and how you would record them on which tracks. This element of pre-production was not an option, it was a necessity based on the limited options you had available but it forced bands to really think out what they wanted to do and how.

Kelley Stoltz knew that some of his favourite rock and roll from the likes of the Beatles and Pink Floyd were recorded analog and he wanted to recapture that for his record Below the Branches so he enlisted the trusty aid of the venerable Tascam 388. I myself have had some great experiences with this beast which is essentially a giant portastudio marrying an 8 input mixer with a ¼ inch reel-to-reel recorder and dbx noise reduction. Why did he essentially go retro, with the sometimes added headaches that analog entails? According to the article:

“I just enjoy the ritual of the tape machine: cleaning the heads, waiting for the tape to rewind. A lot of the music I love — the Beatles, Pink Floyd — they were using 2-inch rather than ¼-inch, but they still had to wait for tape to rewind. It just feels more like it used to be. I feel as though I’m partaking in the same process.”

This to me is very important these days because the ease of recording music in 2007 sometimes takes away from the art of creating music which is a very important difference in my rock and roll book. While not everyone will pine for the days of editing tape with razor blades, I think that the craftsmanship of recording music is getting a bit lost these days. Do I advocate going back to analog tape? Well that all depends on the musician but it is nice to hear a rock and roller interested in the process of making a record and not just in the end result of burning a CD. It gives me hope that the soul of rock and roll lives on in the sound of people like Kelley Stoltz and that is pretty cool.

You can listen to Kelley’s music on his website at http://www.electriccity.org/ or on his MySpace page http://www.myspace.com/kelleystoltz. See, he isn’t completely retro!

Later.

Mark

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By Michael Goldstein

Subject – Fused – a 2005 recording by “Iommi” (Tony Iommi & Glenn Hughes), released on Sanctuary Records and featuring a cover image by artist Hugh Gilmour.

Main personnel – Tony Iommi – Guitars; Glenn Hughes - Vocals, Bass; Kenny Aronoff – Drums; Bob Marlette - Keyboards, Bass

Having first worked together on the 1986 Black Sabbath album Seventh Star, guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes reunited in 1996 to work on new songs but, as Tony was “side-tracked” by constant touring with Sabbath for the next 8 years, they weren’t able to get together again to work on this music until 2004 (note - you can listen to their 1996 efforts as they were compiled on an album released in 2004 titled DEP Sessions: 1996). After the release of the DEP Sessions record, the pair formed a power trio with crack session/John Mellencamp drummer Kenny Aronoff and with producer Bob Marlette also adding his keyboard talents, the group released Fused in 2005.

Looking to return to their harder, riff-centric pasts (Iommi’s riffs set the stage for all metal bands to come, and Hughes’ vocal and bass work with Deep Purple filled in the gaping holes left by Ian Gillian and Roger Glover in 1973), the band left no doubt of their blues/rock/metal pedigrees and musical prowess with riff-filled tunes such as “Face Your Fear”, “Dopamine”, and the epic “Insane”.

It only made sense then when the band approached Sanctuary Record’s former Head of Design (a well-known “metal head” and now independent graphic designer) Hugh Gilmour to create the packaging for this new release. According to Hugh, it was Black Sabbath’s fault that he got a job in the music industry in the first place. Let him explain in today’s Cover Story…

In the words of the artist, Hugh Gilmour (interviewed in July 2007) –

“I was at University in Kingston in UK, and saw that Castle Communications had a vacancy for a Mac Operator. I’d switched an Apple Macintosh on and off at University, so I figured I was qualified. Castle Communications had the rights to the Sabbath catalogue in the U.K., and I knew that one day they would have to reissue and remaster them, and I wanted to be the one to do it, so I applied for the job and got it.

After I’d been there a couple of years they began a campaign of reissuing the Black Sabbath catalogue (everything from 1970-1987), and I was the obvious person to do it, as I was the resident metal freak. Back then (in 1995) you didn’t automatically get sleeve notes, additional pics, memorabilia or additional material, in CD reissues. At the time, only Ryko was making the effort to give value for money with the packaging etc. but this was something I really pushed for. When I was told there was no budget to have sleeve notes written I went ahead and wrote ’em myself, all of which was approved by the Sabbath camp. I still have the faxes (this was before email!) from Sharon Osbourne praising my liner notes.

I worked on something like twenty Sabbath releases, mainly reissues and compilations. I did one Sabbath compilation called Between Heaven And Hell that I wanted to look like a Joy Division album cover, something akin to 1980’s Closer LP, and all of a sudden old Sabbath stuff is being compared favourably to Joy Division. Coincidence? Maybe. I also made sure we included tracks like ‘Wicked World’ (which was unavailable on CD in Europe) included as well. I genuinely created those from the perspective of being a fan first and foremost. They sold so well, and at a time when interest in Sabbath wasn’t that great, that it set the standard for all of the catalogue releases. I was told that certain record chains had complained that the booklets had been stolen, not the CDs! So I knew I’d done something right. And if you disagree with my opinions in the notes? Too bad. It was a long time ago, anyway. I also designed Geezer’s first solo record Plastic Planet for Gloria Butler, and like Sharon, I found Gloria and Geezer very easy to work with, and I’m still very proud of that album. These were all labours of love for me, but I also got to put my opinions and ideas in print.

To provide inspiration for the image and the theme of the packaging overall, I was given a brief by Tony’s management. They said that although it was an IOMMI album and that it was produced very much as a collaboration with Glenn Hughes. I wasn’t given a lot of specific imagery or instructions about the design, other than they wanted a sense that it was a collaborative effort, of ’something fused together’, and to hopefully give an impression of brotherhood.

Another reference point I was given was a Rammstein album which consisted of an orange background and a single white strip. Whether you feel that’s a good or challenging design, or not I had to agree that something that was that simple and graphic does jump off of a CD rack. It was important to depict the IOMMI logo clearly, but to also find a way to balance Tony Iommi and Glenn Hughes’s names too. Tony wanted some colour in the artwork too, as most of the albums he has been associated with have tended to be a bit dark, tonally. Some of the early ideas for Fused had a sense of heat, of something fusing through being melted then forged together. The finished design is quite cold in comparison. I quickly developed a number of ideas, and variations on those. I designed about 100 different ideas before the one used was settled upon. Tony and Tony’s management were involved very closely from the outset, which is a far cry from the early days of Sabbath when the band would see the artwork for the first time when it was in the record stores.

I trained as a traditional artist and technical illustrator (examples are on www.myspace.com/hughgilmour), but this sleeve was made up from a number of different images and photos put together in Photoshop. I still paint and draw as and when required, but Photoshop is now my primary tool for design. I couldn’t say exactly, but the time it took to develop the image, from the initial brief to the finished sleeve, was probably a month or so, which is quite generous as record labels do tend to work to very tight deadlines.

The images inside the Fused booklet are meant to be partly abstract, but at the same time, hopefully illustrate the lyrics in some way. There’s even a self portrait (of me) in there, somewhere…”

About the Illustrator/Designer, Hugh Gilmour –

Although little is known about what led Mr. Gilmour down the path he took to graphic design stardom, here’s what I can tell you. He was born on 20 June, 1969 and began his career in design doing freelance work in the early 1990s. From 1993-97, he was a Senior Designer at Castle Communications in Surrey, moving in 1997 to the position of Art Director at Diablo Design Ltd, Fox Studios, in London where he was responsible for the Design and Art Direction for a variety of clients including Castle Music, EMI Records, Sanctuary Music anagement, Snapper Music, Inferno Records, Eagle Rock Records, Iron Maiden Holdings Ltd., Music For Nations, Cleopatra Records (US), JVC (Japan) and Pony Canyon (Japan).

In 1998, he took on the job of Head of Design at the Sanctuary Records Group, UK, managing a team of 5 designers and a number of freelancers on a wide range of products and services for a busy music and multi-media company, reporting to the company COO. He provided the Design and Art Direction for CDs, DVDs, cassettes, videos, T-shirts, posters, advertisements, salesheets, POS and other associated promotional material. Clients have included Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper, The Who, Bruce Dickinson, Motörhead, Marillion, Status Quo, David Bowie, the Kinks, ELP, Fleetwood Mac, Bobby Womack, Barbara Dickson, Elkie Brooks, Small Faces, Humble Pie and the Sex Pistols. Additionally, he was responsible for packaging design for the Isle Of Wight Festival OST, Get Carter OST, Dune DVD, Conan The Destroyer DVD and Blue Velvet DVD.

With that experience under his belt, in September 2001 he launched his own Graphic Design & Art Direction firm - Gilmour Design, in London, UK. His clients include Capitol, EMI, Sanctuary Records, Sony/Columbia, JVC, Eagle Rock, Demon Vision, 2Entertain Ltd. and the BBC.

In addition to the packaging and print work he’s done for the music industry, he has written many sleeve notes for the same clients, and has published a number of articles on design and packaging in the popular music press. He has also lectured on packaging and graphic design for Moscow University, and he received his Master of Arts (with Commendation) in 2005 from the Communication Design School at London’s Kingston University.

Recently, he’s worked with Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson on a logo for his new airline - Bruce Air - and he’s also been working closely with David Coverdale (who he calls “a true gent”) and Whitesnake, as well as on an Anthology project for Glenn Hughes (beginning with his work on Trapeze’s Medusa record, through his time with Deep Purple and up to his current solo material).

When he’s not incredibly busy working on designs for his clients, he also does the designs and artwork for his own metal band Pig Iron (www.myspace.com/soundsofcaligula or www.pigironmc.com)

You can see more of Mr. Gilmour’s work as Hugh Gilmour Design at http:www.gilmourdesign.co.uk and on mySpace at http://www.myspace.com/hughgilmour

About “Cover Stories” - Our weekly series will give you, the music and art fan, a look at “the making of” the illustrations, photographs and designs of many of the most-recognized and influential images that have served to package and promote your all-time-favorite recordings.

Every Friday, we’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. - all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

We hope that you enjoy these looks behind the scenes of the music-related art business and that you’ll share your stories with us and fellow fans about what role these works of art - and the music they covered - played in your lives.

Copyright 2007 - Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery - All rights reserved.

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KLIK for whatever reason reminds me a lot of the band Garbage with that ultra-modern sheen that wraps up their rock and roll in so many styles and flavours. From the very cool rocking out on “Bang Bang” and “We are Saints” to the more atmospheric “Sleeping With a Ghost” KLIK covers a lot of territory on their 2007 release We Are Saints. I was lucky enough to listen to the whole album and it really is one of those records that seems to change after each listen. Sometimes the moodier stuff pulls you in and and other times the harder-edged stuff is what you zero in on.

Voted “Americas #1 Unsigned Band” by Rolling Stone magazine, I am once again shocked at how a band like this is not played like crazy on Alternative Rock Radio or picked up by some major label somewhere. It just makes me shake my head. I can guarantee you that you will hear KLIK on Rock and Roll Report Radio in the near future. Yes, I think they are that good. Check out their MySpace page and have a listen at http://www.myspace.com/klik

Here is a video featuring highlights from their current We Are Saints 2007 tour:

Later.

Mark

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By Michael Goldstein of RockPop Gallery

Subject – “Too Tough To Die” – a 1985 recording by The Ramones on Sire Records featuring a cover photograph by George DuBose.

Main personnel – The Ramones - Joey (vocals), Johnny (guitar), Dee Dee (bass), Richie (drums)

After “suffering” through three albums of music that was more slickly-produced hard pop than the straight-ahead punk rock, Ramones fans were rewarded with a return-to-form production titled “Too Tough To Die”. After firing drummer Marky (due to his diminished abilities brought about by alcoholism) and replacing him with the newly-christened Richie Ramone, original drummer and now producer Tommy (Erdelyi) headed the band into the studio and, with the help of Dave Stewart, brought the band back to playing what they played best – short, fast, and smart punk tunes, with 9 of them written or co-written by bassist Dee Dee.

Critics have said that the was the “last great Ramones” recording, and it certainly showed that the band was ready and able to hold its own in the emerging early-mid 1980’s hardcore punk scene. The album features two classic Ramones tracks - “Wart Hog” and “Endless Vacation” (sung by Dee Dee), as well as the Stewart-produced “Howling at the Moon”.

The cover for “Too Tough To Die” was one of nine covers George shot for the Ramones. The song “Durango 95″ bears the same name of the car driven by Alex in the Kubrick film “A Clockwork Orange”. Why is that important? Read on…

In the words of the photographer, George DuBose –

“I met the Ramones when Tony Wright asked me to shoot the cover for ‘Subterranean Jungle’. A year later, a call came from His Rockin’ Royal Highness, Johnny Ramone himself. He told me that he definitely wanted me to shoot another cover for them, but he asked me if I knew any other art directors, as they were not happy about the way the cover of ‘Subterranean Jungle’ looked.

‘What was wrong with Tony Wright?’ I asked. ‘The graffiti on the cover he did for ‘Subterranean Jungle’ really looked fake – we didn’t like it,’ Johnny said. Having worked with Tony on many projects by this point, I knew the range of his talents and capabilities. ‘Don’t write Tony off so quickly. Tony is extremely versatile. He will design the cover any wan you want – you just have to be clear and tell him what you like and what you want.’ I felt an allegiance to Tony. After all, I would never have shot ‘Subterranean Jungle’ - or probably even met the Ramones – if Tony had used another photographer.

At the following creative meeting with Johnny and Joey about the upcoming cover session for “Too Tough To Die”, Johnny asked me if I had ever seen “A Clockwork Orange”, the Stanley Kubrick film. ‘Not completely’, I said, not elaborating that I found the film kind of boring and didn’t appreciate the excessive sadism that the film projected. Johnny told me that, in the film, there was a scene of a mugging in a tunnel in London and that the band wanted to recreate that scene – or at least the feeling of it.

I asked my now ex-boss and mentor, professional fashion photographer Lane Pederson, where in NYC could a small pedestrian tunnel be found. Lane told me that there were lots of tunnels in Central Park and suggested one near the Children’s Zoo. I checked that tunnel - as well as a dozen other tunnels in Manhattan - but Lane was right; the small diameter of the tunnel at the zoo lent a scale to the shot that would be perfect. The tunnel was small and would make the guys in the band look bigger in relation…and more imposing.

As this was a job for Warner Bros. Records and the budget was quite substantial, we rented a Winnebago to use as a dressing room. I asked the band what they wanted in way of refreshments and they said ‘pizza and beer!’ This time, I felt like I was in charge of quite a big production. I had two assistants, a valid location permit, and the Winnebago we rented had an on-board electric generator to supply us with electricity for the lighting. We sealed of one end of the tunnel with clear plastic sheeting to control the smoke that would come from the smoke machines. We had several powerful studio strobe lights with blue-colored filters or gels outside the far end of the tunnel to backlight the blue smoke background and white light from the front of the tunnel to illuminate the group.

After shooting a couple of Polaroids to test the exposure, then several roles of 2-1/4 slide film, all the while listening to Johnny complaining about why the Polaroid pictures took so long (one minute!), I changed the Polaroid film pack from color to B&W for quicker developing time (30 seconds). Johnny was now looking at a B&W Polaroid and asked me ‘I thought we were shooting this in color!?’ I then let the band take a pause and asked them if they wanted to eat some pizza and beer. They ate the pizza, but I noticed that the full case of beer was untouched. After the pizza break, we resumed the session and I took another color Polaroid, but this time the white front lights didn’t flash for some reason…and wow!

It was clear from the image on the Polaroid that the silhouette of the band in the tunnel against the blue and smoky backlights was really powerful. Tony asked me to shoot a whole roll with no front lights. I then called a ‘wrap’, although I wasn’t quite convinced about the potential masterpiece that had just been created. The band quickly disappeared into the dark night without so much as a ‘good bye’.

After my assistant broke down all of the lighting and camera equipment and loaded everything into the Winnebago, I wanted to offer my hard-working crew their well-deserved first beer of the evening. When I looked into the Winnebago’s icebox, the whole case of beer had disappeared.

The following evening, I showed the developed film to Tony. It was clear that the backlit shots were by far ‘the bomb’ and since this was the seventh LP for the band – most of which had their faces on the cover – we thought that it would be easy to convince the group to use the silhouette shot. A couple of days later, when we met with the band to show them a mock-up of the cover, the band immediately agreed upon our choice. Tony added some simple block white type to the cover design which read ‘RAMONES’ and ‘TOO TOUGH TO DIE’ and one of the most powerful and classic rock’n’roll LP covers of all time was created.”

About the photographer, George DuBose -

Originally apprenticed to commercial and fashion photographers, George DuBose first became associated with New Wave music after he began speculative work with the fledgling B52s from Athens, Georgia. He has photographed and designed over 300 album covers, collecting 18 gold and platinum albums for groups as diverse as the REM, The Go-Gos, Melissa Etheridge, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Biz Markie and Big Daddy Kane. The Ramones have commissioned him to photograph or design their last nine covers and it is his shot for their only gold record (”Ramonesmania”) that he treasures most. He continues to provide creative guidance, art direction, computer graphic design, photography, manufacturing assistance for major record companies and up-and coming artists that want to produce their own albums.

Du Bose’s professional experience includes staff positions as art director and photographer for Island Records and Cold Chillin’ Records, the first photo editor for SPIN magazine and The Image Bankbook division and staff photographer for the original Interview magazine. His company, PopEye Designs International lists Island Trading Company, The New Music Seminar, PolyGram, Warner Bros, Island Records (since 1978), Sony, MCA, Playboy Enterprises, Thirteen/WNET and others among its clients.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

ART DIRECTOR/PHOTOGRAPHER

FREELANCE 1991-PRESENT

SENIOR ART DIRECTOR/PHOTOGRAPHER

ISLAND RECORDS, N.Y.C. 1988-1991

PHOTO EDITOR

IMAGE BANK 1987-1988

PHOTO EDITOR

SPIN MAGAZINE 1984-1987

PHOTOGRAPHER/GRAPHIC DESIGNER

1978-1984

ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER

WESTSHORE PUBLISHING CO. 1975-1978

Read George’s new book, titled “I Speak Music – Ramones” - This book is 104 pages of text and colorful photos (many unpublished) that document the 10 year relationship between the Ramones and their “official” photographer, George DuBose. Stories about how the various concepts came about and how these remarkable photos were executed. This book is a “must have” for any serious fan, old or new.

http://www.lulu.com/content/877509

To see examples of Mr. DuBose’s work in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click on the following link:

http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/george-dubose/list.htm?1=1

About “Cover Stories” - Our weekly series will give you, the music and art fan, a look at “the making of” the illustrations, photographs and designs of many of the most-recognized and influential images that have served to package and promote your all-time-favorite recordings.

Every Friday and syndicated the following Monday on The Rock and Roll Report, we’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. - all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

We hope that you enjoy these looks behind the scenes of the music-related art business and that you’ll share your stories with us and fellow fans about what role these works of art - and the music they covered - played in your lives.

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I have been a huge fan of the Charms for a few years now and it is nice to see them announcing a slew of new tour dates for this year in support of their new DVD “Easy Trouble”, a film by Boston filmmaker Ben Oliver, based on their struggles and triumphs in an ever-changing climate for mid level bands.

Although no longer on Wicked Cool Records, the band has announced that they will have a digital only release coming this fall on Red Car Records and plan a new CD in 2008 on a yet to be determined label.

Their tour dates are as follows:

8/02 - Positively 4th Street Troy, NY
8/03 - 449 Room Trenton, NJ
8/04 - Asbury Lanes Asbury Park, NJ
8/05 - Steppin’ Out Virginia Beach, VA
8/07 - Milestones Charlotte, NC
8/08 - The Earl Atlanta, GA
8/09 - Bourbon Street New Port Richey, FL
8/10 - Martinis Ft. Myers, FL
8/11 - The Beta Bar Tallahassee, FL
8/14 - Tasty World Athens GA
8/15 - Springwater Nashville, TN
8/16 - JJ’s Bohemia Chattanooga, TN
8/17 - Hideaway Johnnson City TN
8/18 - The Corner Lounge Knoxville TN
8/19 - Buccaneer Lounge Memphis, TN
8/21 - Subterranean Chicago, IL
8/22 - The Lager HouseDetroit, MI
8/23 - White’s Bar Saginaw, MI
8/25 - 31st Street Pub Pittsburgh, PA

Check out the bands MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/charms and enjoy this fantastic band.

Later.

Mark

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I have always loved Rush. That might sound strange if you are a listener to Rock and Roll Report Radio but I have made no secret of this on the site and I usually need a fix of Geddy and the boys every couple of months to set me on the straight and narrow. That being said I understand that Rush is not for everyone and certainly progressive rock has the tendency to self-inflate its importance from time to time but in my mind it is always a real pleasure to listen to pure musicianship in the progressive rock setting and Featured on Fridays, a very cool duo from Miami certainly fit the bill.

With songs like Laws of the Universe, Analog Trainwreck and The Flagraiser the band embarks on an amazing rock tour de force of syncopated rhythms, complex bass structures and wailing guitars with some very cool left turns and stops and starts that make listening an incredibly satisfying adventure.

Like I said, this stuff isn’t for everybody but you owe it to yourself as a fan of rock and roll to sample all colors of the rock and roll palette and Featured on Fridays bring quite a bit to the table. Have a listen on their MySpace page and start your sonic adventure today. http://www.myspace.com/featuredonfridays

Later.

Mark

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Saw this on Anti-Music. It is food for thought. In have marked in bold what I think is the most significat point.

(PR) It seems that people are opting for classic hard rock and metal CDs over most generic “new” music. This according to a report by the Associated Press. While record companies try to fathom reasons why people aren’t buying their “new” product, by ignoring the most logical explanation and looking to court tweens to help pick up their bottom lines, it appears that music from other eras where A&R people took chances on bands that didn’t sound like everyone else and bands were allowed to develop a fanbase over several albums is still attracting a lot of buyers.
Twenty-Seven years after its release, AC/DC’s Back in Black is still selling almost enough copies a year to qualify for a gold record. Last year while we were treated to dozens of sound-alike emo bands that didn’t sell many CDs, AC/DC’s landmark album managed to sell 440,000 copies in the US.

While [insert silly multi-worded name here] was struggling to attract the attention of TRL girls, other albums from long-ago were also moving pretty heavy numbers. Metallica’s jump to the commercial mainstream, aka The Black Album was added to the CD collections of 275,000 US music fans last year and Guns ‘N Roses debut which broke records when it was released in 1987 is still a hot seller, welcoming 113,000 more people to the jungle last year. And the album that killed “hair metal” and touched off the grunge trend of the early 90s (Nirvana’s Nevermind) is still going strong with 143,000 copies sold last year.

David Geffen should be proud to have two bands that he took a chance on still selling today and showing us why we need trendsetters and not trendfollowers running labels more than ever. On the other end of the spectrum, when you think of today’s blasé music scene, you might think of the “genius” of Clive Davis and while his “genius” isn’t selling record breaking amounts of CDs right now, he did manage to give us the best selling CD of 1986 in the form of Whitney Houston’s self-titled debut. However, like most things that Clive touches it may sell today but doesn’t have much of a shelf life (like real cheese) as Houston’s CD only manages to attract about 7,000 new people a year, easily beat by Radiohead’s “OK Computer” which turned on 94,000 additional people last year.

There is definitely a lesson to be learned here. But will the people that need to learn it the most, take heed? Probably not, as they are too busy trying to find clones for the few bands of today that manage to sell a decent amount of CDs. That’s when they are not working to shutdown online radio, installing rootkits on customers PCs and suing people.

UPDATE! Over on Canoe today they have posted the story  Vintage Albums Still Rockin’ the Charts with more stats as to how everything from The Joshua Tree to Thriller are still raking in the sales.

Later.

Mark

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As I sit down to post the playlist for Rock and Roll Report Radio I thought that now was a good time to mention the various ways of submitting your music to The Rock and Roll Report.

The Rock and Roll Report covers all the flavours of rock and roll put out by all of the multitude of small, independent and DIY record labels around the world in an effort to prove to fans of rock and roll that they can get their rock fix without having to put out with the endless repetitive music played on commercial rock radio. Whether it be punk, hard rock, metal, glam, garage, power pop, psychedelia or one of the dozens of other “rock” genres that have escaped me at the moment, they all have a home on The Rock and Roll Report. From the website to Rock and Roll Report Radio to the upcoming podcast, I want to play as much of this stuff as humanly possible because it is all so good.

If you are in a band or represent a record label you can submit music in a number of ways.

The preferred format to submit your music to The Rock and Roll Report is by Sonicbids. Sonicbids is the standard way for music industry professionals to send and receive press kits online. It is also a very effective and efficient way for you to send me your music and for me to review it. The nice thing about Sonicbids is that you are kept informed as to what is happening with your submission and it is especially nice to know that I have commited to review all Sonicbids submissions within 30 days of you sending them so you are guaranteed that your music will be heard. Click on the link to the left and get started!

Alternatively you can send me your bio and an MP3 to rockandrollreport@gmail.com and I’ll have a listen. If you have a hard copy CD or DVD you want me to check out, contact me at the same address and I’ll tell you where to send it.

Finally, you can always contact me at the Rock and Roll Report’s MySpace page at www.myspace.com/rockandrollreport. I have been increasingly using MySpace to connect with bands and labels as well as fans and it is always great to hear from musicians and be able to instantly have a listen to a few of their tracks. You might even get buzzed!

So there you have it. There are multiple ways to submit music to The Rock and Roll Report and now during these lazy, hazy days of summer is a perfect time to send me your stuff, especially as I am putting together my music database for the podcast to launch this September.

Thanks for reading. Looking forward to listening to what you’ve got.

UPDATE! I changed the email address because of problems with my previous address. If you sent something to the contact emaill address please resend it to rockandrollreport@gmail.com. Sorry for the confusion!

UPDATE #2! If you want to email me some of your tracks that’s great but please TAG YOUR MUSIC! What usually happens is that I download the track to iTunes and it shows up as “Track 1″ by “Un-named Artist” and it then gets lost in the mix, literally. The best thing you can do when submitting any MP3s to websites, podcasts etc. is to make sure your MP3 files are clearly tagged with the song name, band name, album, year, etc. You can do it in iTunes or in a multitude of free MP3 ID tagger programs that you can download off the Net. If you want your music heard then PLEASE make sure that it is tagged.

Thanks!

Later.

Mark

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By Michael Goldstein of the Rock Pop Gallery


Subject – “Life, Death, Love and Hate”, a photograph by James Fortune used as the cover of California Bleeding, a CD of 1973-74 live concert recordings of Iggy Pop & The Stooges released in 1997 on Bomp! Records.

With 1973’s Raw Power serving as a pre-cursor to (and strong influence for) the hard-core punk music movement that was to occur a few years later, Iggy and the Stooges built a small but hard-core base of fans and would seemingly stop at nothing to serve as that era’s “poster children” for the self-destructive lifestyle. It was during their live performances that Iggy would dive from the stage, or flash his privates, or smear raw meat on himself and, quite often, use a knife or broken beer bottle to cut himself – tactics later recreated by many punk artists (an homage, perhaps?). “The Godfather of Punk” and his band put on legendary shows, including a five-day booking at LA’s Whisky A Go Go in 1973, the recording of which serves as the basis of today’s Cover Story.

After disbanding in early 1974 due to the band’s famous drug problems, The Stooges reunited in 2003, appearing on Iggy’s Skull Ring record with original members Iggy Pop on vocals, Scott Asheton on drums, and Ron Asheton on both guitar and bass. When touring live, The Stooges have performed by adding bassist Mike Watt (The Minutemen) and Steve MacKay (Fun House) on saxophone. And while he never had the huge commercial success of many of his peers and contemporaries (David Bowie, Alice Cooper, The Doors), songs such as “Search and Destroy”, “Lust for Life”, “Candy”, “I’m Bored” and “Real Wild Child” always rank high on the list of most-influential rock recordings.

Iggy’s life story will soon be a motion picture – “The Passenger” is currently in production for a 2008 release and, personally, I hope that they bring in Robert Downey, Jr. to play him at some point – the resemblance is uncanny (currently, Frodo Baggins/Elijah Woods is set to star) and the lifestyle choices both shared at one point are uncanny, too.

The image shown at the beginning of the column was the original black and white photograph (the colorized version used on the cover is shown below) and it is a perfect portrait of Iggy Pop at his outrageous best. It shows Iggy clutching a mic in one hand, a knife in the other, with blood is running down his chest from several self-inflicted cuts. Photographer James Fortune tells us what it was like to be there to take the photograph that is the subject of today’s feature…

In the words of photographer James Fortune (interviewed early July 2007 at his home in Virginia) –

“While I was in college and working hard to break into the world as a rock and roll photographer, I met Danny Sugerman when I was photographing the band he managed – The Doors. Later on, Danny called me to help him shoot a photo of Ray Manzarek that would ultimately be used for the cover of his 2nd solo record and, because of that relationship, when a new band that he managed – Iggy & The Stooges – went to play the Whiskey in late 1973, he asked me to photograph those performances, too.

Prior to packing up my equipment and driving out to the club with my wife, Danny gave me a warning that ‘Iggy will get physical’, but he didn’t elaborate. When we arrived at the club, there was an ambulance parked outside and my wife asked me ‘why do you think that is there’? As I’d never seen the band, I really couldn’t answer her.

Since I used a 120mm lens on my Hasselblad to be able to take high-resolution B&W images and close-ups, I really wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on overall during the performance when suddenly I saw that Iggy had a rather large knife in his hand. Then, without any obvious reason, he started stabbing and cutting himself. He’s 5 to 10 feet away from me and, as you can see by the photograph, he’s bleeding pretty badly. He then jumps down into the audience and he’s mobbed by his fans. I picked up my wife and my equipment and quietly left the club…

Six months later, Ray Manzarek’s band is playing and Danny invited me over to photograph him and his friends as they played and partied. There was Danny, Alice Cooper, John Densmore, and Iggy. They were all in good moods, having a good time, and there was no violence to speak of at the event.

In 1980, I packed up all of my negatives and moved them with me to Virginia (where he currently lives and works as a photographer – MG) and then in the late 1990s I began to digitize them. I had done some jobs for Columbia Records and knew of Michael Ochs, who was a publicist there and had since started the Michael Ochs Archives. In 1997, Michael was looking for some pictures to sell and so I sent him 70-80 8×10s from my collection, including the pictures I’d taken of Iggy at the Whiskey. One day not long after, I was told that the Iggy photo was sold for use as an album cover. While I did get a check and an album credit, I had no say about how it was going to be used – it turns out that they somehow colorized the photo (see below).

Needless to say, I now have an agent…”

Iggy Pop-related bonus story #1 – “When I was packing up my photos and moving out to Virginia in 1980, I called Danny Sugerman and offered to sell him all of my Doors and Iggy Pop negatives, and he turned me down. Now, I’m REALLY glad he did!”

Iggy Pop-related bonus story #2 – While James thought that his photographs of Iggy at the Whiskey were his first, he actually had taken an earlier photo. “I had contacted one of the big PR firms in LA (Salters & Roskin) and told them that I was interested in photographing Led Zeppelin if there was ever a chance, so one day in January 1973 I received a call and was told to go to a hotel where the band was encamped – they were in town to play a show and were at the hotel ‘getting ready’. After they invited me in, I started taking shots and, at one point, followed Robert Plant out on to the balcony of their suite where there were some people I knew and others I didn’t, but I said “hello” to everyone. Years later, I was going through my files and found those photos and, lo and behold, one of the people on the balcony was Iggy Pop. It’s pretty obvious that he was one of those people you just had to party with in LA!”

About James Fortune (from his bio) -

There’s a very good chance you’ve seen the photography of James Fortune before. Like many of the 70s most famous rock photographers, his images have been seen by millions in books, magazines and album covers. One of his pictures of Jimmy Page was used for the cover of Led Zeppelin’s 2003 release titled How The West Was Won.

Beginning as a photographer for his college paper in the late ’60s, Fortune spent more than a decade photographing rock music icons like The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Doors, Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, and countless others. His catalog of over 15,000 images from the tumultuous ’60s and ’70s contains shots of everything from hippie riots in Hollywood to Gene Simmons and Cher sharing an eclair. He ran with the high-and-mighty and photographed them all - Jimmy Carter and the Bee Gees, Iggy Pop, Eric Clapton and Ronald Reagan. His photographs capture moments in rock history. Back in the 1970’s, in the aftermath of a world-wide political, civil, and sexual revolutions, Fortune plied his trade in the backstage areas and VIP sections of some of the nation’s biggest musical events. His work even spanned the Pacific to Vietnam, where the intrepid photographer served active duty from 1968 to 1970 with the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet Combat Camera Group.

Since moving to Virginia in 1980, James has kept himself busy on photo assignments of all types. To see more of his work, please visit his site at
http://www.fortunesicons.com/

To see examples of Mr. Fortune’s work in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click on the following link:

http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/james-fortune/list.htm?1=1

About “Cover Stories” - Our weekly series will give you, the music and art fan, a look at “the making of” the illustrations, photographs and designs of many of the most-recognized and influential images that have served to package and promote your all-time-favorite recordings.

Every Friday on syndicated on he Rock and Roll Report the following Monday, we’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. - all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

We hope that you enjoy these looks behind the scenes of the music-related art business and that you’ll share your stories with us and fellow fans about what role these works of art - and the music they covered - played in your lives.

All images used to illustrate this story Copyright James Fortune - All Rights Reserved.

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There are tons of “Battle of the Bands” competitions out there and I often wonder if they might not be better for the fans of live rock and roll than for the bands themselves but be that as it may, I have two to talk about today.

The first one is called Never Hide the Music: The Contest put on by Ray-Ban and Rolling Stone magazine. Enter your band, upload your song and you could be playing at the Rolling Stone magazine 40th Anniversery Birthday Bash in Las Vegas. Thejudges are Tyson Ritter of All-American Rejects,Ben Berkmen of Octone Records and Jonathan Ringen of Rolling Stone.

The second one is Canadian Contra Band where 12 bands are vying for the chance to play at Toronto’s Virgin Festival in September. Head over to Heavy.Com and check out who is playing and show your love.

Later.

Mark

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The Royal Court of China have been around for 20 years but their brand of rock and roll is timeless to me. Brash hard rock with a hard, driving beat that hits you right in the gut is their brand of rock and roll and it works great!

Based out of Nashville, Tennessee, I immediately gravitated to Half the Truth in all its blaring loud glory. Six Empty Bottles slows things down a bit but the rattlesnake boogie of Workin’ Up a Sweat brings things back up to speed and It’s All Changed goes back to their 1987 self-titled debut but still works great 20 years later.

If you like your rock hard, you will love The Royal Court of China. Check out their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/royalcourtofchina and head off for a date at the Royal Court. They are currently on their 2oth Anniversary Tour.

Later.

Mark

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From Glasgow, Scotland comes the thunder and fury of Mama Mayhem. Making no apologies for their ferocious “classic rock” attack, this foursome are fantastic! This really is take no prisoners rock and roll meant to be played at high volume and best experienced live with a cold beer in your hand. Kamikaze blew me away and reminded me a bit of Wolfmother while Sirens just motors its way to rock and roll glory.

In addition to these two songs chug along to All Ye Hateful and the savage Stick To Your Guns on their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/mamamayhemmusic

If you thought that you had to listen to classic rock from the seventies that is endlessly recycled on your local rock radio station, think again. Mama Mayhem will melt your woofers and make you want to pray to the memory of Bon Scott. Shit, their new live album is called High Heels on Cobbled Streets. Classic.

Later.

Mark

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Coolfer posted a link to an interesting article over at The Guardian Online called Smells Like Indie Spirit where writer Jude Rogers argues that there appears to be a resurgence in indie music in the UK but what does he consider to be indie? It is certainly not a musical genre in my opinion and should never be used to identify a style of music.

Indie is short for independent but independent of what? To me, indie is a philosophy, not a type of music. It is maintaining control of your art and ensuring that it is only presented the way you want it to be presented. That is why you will rarely hear me purposely trumpet the fact that I play and write about indie and unsigned bands since I don’t want people to mistakenly think I play something vaguely referred to as indie music. The Rock and Roll Report is about rock and roll, pure and simple. How it is distributed is something that is a side issue to the music. I tend to focus on music not on major labels only because I have found that some of the best rock and roll can be found there. It is an unfortunate fact that it is those bands and artists that to me best signify what rock and roll are all about that are often side-lined from commercial radio due to their indie status and it is for this reason that I champion their cause.

I refuse to classify my music by mode of distribution. It is not indie or alternative. It is rock and roll, nothing more, nothing less.

Check out the excellent documentary What is Indie? which I think best answers this whole question.

Later.

Mark

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“We love to shop and party!” So says the great Riff Randels, a 3 piece, all girl band from Vancouver, Canada. With their catchy power pop blend on tunes like Lethal Lipgloss and the very cool MO you can’t stop smiling while you slap your hands on the steering wheel in tune to the music.

Have a listen to their tracks posted on their MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/riffrandells and make sure you turn up the stereo and get ready to pogo all over your apartment like a maniac.

Enjoy it and chillax!

Later.

Mark

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Southern California radio station STAR 98.7 (KYSR-FM) is searching for the next Rock Star in a music competition contest named Rockstar 987. The winner will be awarded $25,000 cash, $2,000 in Guitar Center equipment and a record deal with Ironworks Music (owned and operated by Kiefer Sutherland and Jude Cole). Star 98.7 is inviting listeners, musicians, singers and songwriters (individual or group) to submit a video of themselves performing an original song (no “covers”) to STAR 98.7’s website www.star987.com.

All qualifying video performances are posted for viewing on www.star987.com as they are received. Five finalists, as determined by online voting and a panel of judges, will advance to the finale. The five finalists will each perform at least one original song at the Key Club on the Sunset Strip in front of a live audience on Friday August 17th. Immediately following the performances a panel of judges will determine the grand prize winner.

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If you are a bug fan of power pop and you looking to see what some of the best that 2007 has to offer, go check out Absolute Powerpop and their Top 50 of 2007, a list put together as of July 8th. I was just listening to Shake Some Action today!

Later.

Mark

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The Naked Apes are a sneaky, insidious little band from London, England who sing great pop-punk tunes full of catchy melodies that almost make you forget that they are singing about…SEX! That’s right these horny little bastards sing lyrics like:

“She said she
puts her cell phone to vibrate
sticks it down her pants
and calls herself all day”

or

“Out of 10 she’s a one-er
wasted, if she passed out she’d be funner
wasted, I’d rather be with your mother - again”

When I first put this CD on in the car I almost drove into the back of a car I was laughing so hard. I kept saying to myself “they can’t be singing a song with a chorus that says ‘why can’t all girls be nymphomaniacs’” but sure enough when I pulled over and checked the CD booklet that was in fact what they are singing in the supremely catchy “Little Nympho.”

This CD is an absolute blast of rude punk-pop goodness and it has a great sense of humor throughout. I mean, listening to “Wasted” you don’t know whether to air guitar or laugh out loud (or perhaps blush if we are of the more prudish persuasion). It continues on tunes like “Life’s a Beach, Then You Dive”, “If You See Kay” (which really confused my 12 year old son who kept asking me if they were spelling THAT word!) and the life-altering “Party Naked.”

The Naked Apes bring a great sense of fun to their brand of rock and roll and I say thank God for that! A keeper.

Check out their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/thenakedapes and get wasted, or naked…

Here’s a video of the band performing Wasted live:

Later.

Mark

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By Michael Goldstein

Subject - “AC/DC Classic Logo“, a logo/typographic design by Gerard Huerta used as a principal design element on a number of LP/CD/DVD covers for AC/DC, including “Let There Be Rock”, a recording released in 1977 on Atlantic Records.

Released as a follow-up to their album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, the 4th AC/DC album - Let There Be Rock - was the first to be released simultaneously world-wide (Dirty Deeds was not, in fact, released in the U.S. until 1981, and went on to sell over 6 million copies in the U.S.). As with the band’s previous recordings, fans in different parts of the world received slightly different products, with U.S. fans getting a record sans the naughty “Crabsody In Blue” (which was replaced by “Problem Child”). However, while the fans in Australia received a record packaged in a pretty mundane cover, U.S. fans enjoyed a cover that featured the debut of Mr. Huerta’s classic logo (Australian fans did finally see this product a bit later when the packaging was replaced to be the same world-wide).

The last recording with original bassist Mark Evans, Let There Be Rock was eight tracks of down-and-dirty AC/DC badness. The focus then was on doing what they did to separate their sound from other hard rock bands at the time - these boys were nasty and proud of it. With singer Bon Scott telling us (from experience?) that “Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be” and that sex was best with big girls in “Whole Lotta Rosie”, these proud practicioners of the “Bad Boy Boogie” established themselves at the forefront of the emerging heavy metal scene, playing with endless energy and joining Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and others in this formidable assault on the eardrums of rock fans world wide.

In 1980, AC/DC released a live concert motion picture entitled AC/DC: Let There Be Rock (with an audio recording of this same event released on CD in 1997). In total, the band has sold more than 150 million albums worldwide (almost half in the U.S.). Their 1980 release “Back in Black” has sold 42 million units worldwide, making it the second best-selling album ever and the biggest-selling album by any rock band. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2003, and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler joined them on stage during the induction (there’s another electrical term!) ceremony to perform their hits “Highway to Hell” and “You Shook Me All Night Long”.

The Young brothers claimed that the idea for the band’s name came to them after seeing the letters “AC/DC” on the back of a sewing machine owned by their sister. Since the boys felt that the band’s recordings and performances drew equally from their raw energy, they thought that the name AC/DC was appropriate and adopted it. Mr. Huerta was touched by that same energy as the inspiration for his designs - let’s let him explain…

In the words of the artist, Gerard Huerta (interviewed June 2007) -

“Album cover design in the ’70s was the place to be if you were an artist, illustrator, photographer or letterer. The twelve and a half by twelve and a half inch surface was one of the largest areas to fill for anyone involved in graphics. What seems somewhat rare now in the digital age was commonplace then - i.e., artists actually drawing things. My role first as a staff member at CBS Records and later as a freelancer was designing albums with an emphasis on the typography. As a young and eager artist, I took any chance I could get to invent letterforms for album covers - not only for rock, but for classical and country albums as well. It was a wonderful opportunity and always a challenge to see what you could get printed. I worked on the first Boston album with Roger Huyssen, designed a number of titles for Ted Nugent¹s albums as well as for Blue Oyster Cult, Willie Nelson, Alvin Lee, Rick Derringer, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Earl Scruggs, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Isley Brothers, Stan Getz, Archie Bell and the Drells and many classical albums. After CBS, I worked on albums by Foreigner, Stephen Stills, Chicago, Firefall, The Outlaws and AC/DC.

AC/DC was on the Atlantic label and I had first drawn some lightning bolt-style lettering for an album titled ‘High Voltage‘ (which featured a photo by Michael Putland and, incidentally, was their 2nd album with that title - the first being an album released in Australia only). It was basically my typographical interpretation of the title. Bob Defrin was the art director there and I designed many pieces of art for him and his staff.

Usually an album had a theme or title and it was my job to interpret that in letterforms. I was hired to design lettering for the next AC/DC album (after their hit ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap‘), entitled ³Let There Be Rock, the title providing me wit an obvious reference. I recalled a live album I worked on at CBS for Blue Oyster Cult called ‘On Your Feet or On Your Knees.’ The BOC cover featured a moody composite photo shot by Creative Director John Berg of a church with a limosine parked in front of it. The sky was dark and the limo had a flag retouched in with the BOC emblem on it. After researching religious typography and, in particular, the Gutenberg¹s bible type, I came up with some lettering based on that, with the twist being that it was metallic, as if it were a car nameplate. The lettering took on a slightly sinister look, particularly when placed over this wonderful photo.

This record featured a cover photo of the band on stage with a dark sky overhead and bright light shining down through the clouds. One of my sketches used the BOC Gutenberg-inspired lettering, but this time it was orange in color and dimensional. This lettering is probably the only typography I have designed that was made entirely of straight lines. The final artwork was produced on illustration board out of cut color adhesive backed overlay film with some starbursts airbrushed on.”

The rest, they say, is history…

About the artist, Gerard Huerta -

Based in Connecticut, Gerard Huerta is a designer of letter forms. From trademarks and logotypes to mastheads, from illustrative lettering to Swiss Army watch face designs, he has worked in a variety of typographic styles. Born and raised in southern California, he graduated from Art Center College of Design and began his career at CBS Records in New York designing album covers and creating letterforms for Boston, AC/DC, Ted Nugent, Blue Oyster Cult, Stephen Stills and Foreigner. He started Gerard Huerta Design in 1976 and has been drawing custom letters and logos ever since.

In addition to his well-known designs for the music industry, some of his logos and logotypes have included Swiss Army Brands, MSG Network, CBS Records Masterworks, Waldenbooks, Spelling Entertainment, Nabisco, Calvin Klein¹s Eternity, Arista Records, Type Directors Club, the mastheads of Time, Money, People, The Atlantic Monthly, PC Magazine, Adweek, Us, Conde Nast¹s Traveler, Working Mother, WordPerfect, The American Lawyer, The National Law Journal, The National Catholic Register, Illustration and Architectural Digest as well as corporate alphabets for Waldenbooks, Time-Life and Conde Nast. He has been featured in Money Magazine, The Penrose Annual, Typographic i, Scripsit, The Graphis Business Issue, How Magazine, Step-By-Step Magazine, Westport Magazine and the books Graphis Typography 1: Masters of Typography and Friedrich Friedl¹s reference book Typography: When Who How.

He is also a guitarist and singer in the group The Merwin Mountain Band (www.merwinmountainband.com) and his studio is in the historic Southport Freight Station.

To see more of his current work, please visit Mr. Huerta’s site at http://www.workbook.com/portfolios/huerta/

To see examples of Gerard’s work for AC/DC in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click on the following link:

http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/ac-dc/list.htm?1=1

About “Cover Stories” - Our weekly series will give you, the music and art fan, a look at “the making of” the illustrations, photographs and designs of many of the most-recognized and influential images that have served to package and promote your all-time-favorite recordings.

Every Friday and syndicated Mondays on The Rock and Roll Report, we’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. - all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

We hope that you enjoy these looks behind the scenes of the music-related art business and that you’ll share your stories with us and fellow fans about what role these works of art - and the music they covered - played in your lives.

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I hate to be a cynic because cynicism is the natural enemy of optimism and I have always considered myself to be somewhat of an optimist but it is hard for me not be just a little cynical about Saturday’s Live Earth concerts.

First of all, let’s not fool ourselves, the majority of the people at these concerts were there to see Madonna or the Black Eyed Peas or The Police and if you asked them what a carbon footprint was they would probably knock you over on their way to the beer tent after telling you that they must have missed that band. That’s not to say I don’t agree with the idea behind Live Earth. Global warming is not a fallacy, it is a real problem and we need to collectively get our heads out of our asses and deal with the problem now but a series of rock concerts? I mean really, that is so ‘80s. On top of that, as both the Arctic Monkeys (who didn’t participate) and Snow Patrol (who did) pointed out, touring musicians are one of the greatest contributors of CO2 emissions out there although admittedly that is something that is changing due to the work of such organizations as Reverb. Still, watching the various concerts and those huge lighting trusses and banks of amplifiers or thinking of those idling broadcast trucks in all the venues parking lots bringing the images into our homes couldn’t make you but shake your head and wonder if somehow the point could have been made in a bit more of an environmentally benign way.

I will give the organizers their due in that they have tried to lessen the environmental impact as much as possible as a quick glance at their Green Event Guidelines point out but when somebody like Madonna has parked in her garage a Mercedes Maybach, two Range Rovers, an Audi A8 and a Mini Cooper S (according to the Guardian) you have to wonder if the performers are taking this whole thing to heart. A big thumbs up to Simon LeBon of Duran Duran who sarcastically asked the question “who did not show up at Wembley in a private jet?” A good point to be sure.

As for the entertainment value of the whole thing, I was impressed at watching Madonna strut around with a Gibson LesPaul slung low and those Pussycat Dolls are, ahem mighty impressive but I think I am pretty much Stinged out although it was interesting to see James Hetfield’s Talibanesque beard. Personally the highlights for me were Spinal Tap and those part-time scientist-musicians in Antarctica so that pretty much shows where I stand on all of this.

At the end of the day I suppose if it convinces a good number (how many?) of people to buy those new low-wattage fluorescent light bulbs and to change their day-to-day way of living to at least make some relatively simple changes to their routine then the whole exercise will have been somewhat of a success. My big question is how many people out there are tired of being preached to by rock stars and pop tarts and by extension refuse to listen to anything they have to say, no matter how right it may be? I am not sure I would do anything that James Blunt asked me to do but if Shakira asked I suppose I might change my tune…

Cynical? Maybe just a little bit.

If you are looking for some ways you can lessen your impact on the environment and reign in your contribution to global warming the Live earth site does have some good suggestions and tools and Greenpeace has published the handy How to Save the Climate so you can start there.

Every little bit helps.

Later

Mark

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Admittedly I don’t write about major label bands on The Rock and Roll Report that often and that is mainly because they are more than adequately covered elsewhere. That being said, I am not dogmatic about it, especially as there are a number of bands signed to major labels in which I am a big fan (R.E.M., U2, Oasis, Pearl Jam, The Tragically Hip and Sloan just to mention a few).

I have been a huge fan of R.E.M. for years and in my mind they are a band who has managed to play the major label game to their advantage. I would certainly never challenge the artistic integrity of Peter Buck, Mike Mills or Michael Stipe (or retired drummer Bill Berry) so it is nice to see the boys from Athens, Georgia embark on a 5-day working rehearsal in Dublin, Ireland in preparation for their new CD. After having done some recording in Vancouver, they decamped to Dublin’s Olympia Theatre for five shows before the Irish faithful that wind up today. Besides whipping out some older and obscure tracks like Wolves Lower, 1,000,000 and Little America they unveiled 11 new tracks, some with unfinished lyrics but all rockin’ according to fan and press reports.

This working rehearsal idea is a great concept in my opinion as it allows a band like R.E.M., who really are not touring as extensively as younger bands to get some real feedback from their fans as well as giving them the chance to dust off the cobwebs and get back to basics. The cynical amongst you might grumble about having to pay to watch a band practice but that completely misses the point. If you had the chance to catch your favourite band in an intimate venue with the guarantee of hearing new material, would you not jump at the chance? I thought so.

One final thought about R.E.M. In the pantheon of my musical influences, Peter Buck has always loomed large. Not because of his abilities on any musical instrument, although there is plenty to admire there, but in his passionate love of rock and roll. Quite simply, the man has not come across a record he did not want to buy or a band he did not want to see live. The man oozes rock and roll through every pore of his body. With a massive and ever growing collection of CDs and vinyl, he quite simply cannot get enough of the music he loves. And when not touring with R.E.M. he is quite happy to be the sideman for numerous other artists, people like Robyn Hitchcock or Scott McCaughey with scarcely a hint of the rock star attitude that you will find from others of a similar stature. It is not only refreshing but inspiring to know that despite being in one of the biggest bands in the world the man remains a simple rock and roll fan.

Some may complain that bands like R.E.M. are “old and in the way” but I have always maintained that if you create music with integrity and purpose, you not only have the right to continue to play but the duty to follow your muse. Whether you are 19 or 49 it shouldn’t make one fucking ounce of difference.

I’m looking forward to their 15th CD as much as I did their second. Keep it up boys.

Later

Mark

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If you think that Rosie, Soup, Tippi and Gill are some characters from a new kids show then you’d better give your head a shake and pick up a copy of One More Won’t Kill Us by The Hedrons quick! These four women from Glasgow certainly know how to rock and their debut CD offers plenty of evidence that they are here for the long haul.

I have already played I Need You a number of times on Rock and Roll Report Radio but the CD finally arrived at Rock and Roll Report HQ this week and I can assure you that the Ramones meets Iggy meets Joan Jett comparisons are accurate although completely unnecessary. This CD is infused with what some might call “punky attitude” but which in reality is merely rock and roll as it is meant to be played. The Hedrons have been blazing a fierce trail on stages throughout the UK as well as taking the UK indie record charts by storm. Have a listen to lead off track Heatseeker, Stop, Look & Listen, Once Upon a Time or Frame of Mind for some absolutely first rate, loud rock ‘n roll.

They are touring all over the UK this summer including playing a bunch of high profile gigs like T in the Park and the Download Festival and have sold out venues like the Knitting Factory, the Key Club, The Roxy and Spaceland here in North America. The Hedrons have really been wowing crowds with their amazing stage show and the fact that they have the songs to back up their onstage bluster means that The Hedrons will be a force to be reckoned with, and they are just getting started!

Have a listen to some of their stuff on their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/thehedrons and enjoy. This band definitely lives up to all the hype. Check ‘em out if you get the chance.

Later.

Mark

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I am a huge fan of Daphne, having already reviewed their self-titled debut on The Rock and Roll Report as well as playing various cuts from their CD on Rock and Roll Report Radio. Named after the character from the Scooby Doo series, this four-piece from New York had me hooked from my first listen to Sin (which is available as a free download from their site). I cannot find fault with one cut on this CD and just having a listen to Astoria, She’s Still Running (another personal fave) and Sweet, it shouldn’t take much to convince you that these boys mean business.

This is one of those CDs that has not only provided much rock and roll fodder for the radio show but has been a constant on my iPod and stereo at home and I can think of no higher praise than that. If you get the chance to catch them live take it. I am trying to haul these guys North of the border for some rock and roll fun, hopefully they will make it past the border guards soon.

Head over to their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/daphne and enjoy the sounds. Crank it up and dive in, the rock and roll water feels good. Great band.

Later.

Mark

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By Michael Goldstein

Subject - “Tongue and Lips”, a logo designed by John Pasche and used as a principal design element on a number of LP/CD/DVD covers for The Rolling Stones, including Sticky Fingers, a recording released in April, 1971 on Rolling Stones Records (distributed by Atlantic Records).

One of the (if not THE) most-recognized band logos in the rock era, John Pasche’s “Tongue and Lips” design was first introduced to fans in 1971 as part of a record package that, according to a decree by VH1 in 2003, was the “#1 Greatest Album Cover” of all time. It is included in every book/article that chronicle the “best-and-most-influential album covers” as it was also a seminal (and quite controversial) work by artist Andy Warhol, featuring a Warhol photograph of a man (from the waist down) in tight jeans, the zipper of which was fully-functional. Unzipping the zipper revealed the subject’s underwear, imprinted with a saying - “This Is Not Etc.” (try doing THAT with a CD jewel case!). The design offended everyone you think might have been offended at the time, and so the record was also released with an alternative cover in some markets.

The band’s first release on its own label after having worked with Decca/London records since 1963, Sticky Fingers is also notable as it represents the first time that Mick Taylor was included as the band’s new full-time guitarist. With the band and their management now in total control of their music and its packaging, the resulting package featured extraordinary efforts in both music and art.

Reviews of Sticky Fingers focus on the fact that many of the songs are about drugs and drug use and, while this might be true (’Sister Morphine’ being particularly drug-focused), it is a mix of music that really set the tone for their songwriting after this album, mixing the blues, rock and even a bit of country on ‘Wild Horses’ (which, interestingly, was written by the Stones but first released by Keith’s friend Gram Parsons and his group, The Flying Burrito Brothers).

The record introduced other Stones classics, such as ‘Brown Sugar’ (which went to #1 on the U.S. charts), ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’ and the aforementioned “Wild Horses” and its combination of attitude (both playful and mean-spirited) and classic studio craftsmanship helped make it the first of eight straight chart-topping records for the band and one of the ‘500 Greatest Albums of All Time’ (#63) in Rolling Stone Magazine’s 2003 listings.

Imagine, then, being a design student, still in college, and then being called upon to create identity graphics for one of the biggest acts in the world. Here’s John Pasche’s account of his first big gig, in his own words…

In the words of designer, John Pasche -

“In 1969, Mick Jagger’s office rang the Royal College of Art in London and asked if there was a suitable design student to come up with designs for their 1970 European Tour poster. I was recommended and on 29 April 1970 Jo Bergman, who was running the Stone’s office at the time, wrote to me to confirm that they had commissioned me to design a poster for their forthcoming tour. At this time, I was in my final year of a graduate design course. I was very honored when Mick Jagger turned up at the College to see my final degree show as the artwork that would ultimately be used for the poster was on display in one of the exhibits.

A short time later, I met with Mick again, who then asked me to design a logo or symbol for The Rolling Stone’s new record label. Mick showed me an image of the Goddess Kali which became the starting point to our discussion regarding the design of the logo. I was paid £50 for the design, which took me about a week to complete. In 1972 I was paid an additional £200 in recognition of the logo’s success.

The design concept for the Tongue was to represent the band’s anti-authoritarian attitude, Mick’s mouth and the obvious sexual connotations. I designed it in such a way that it was easily reproduced and in a style which I thought could stand the test of time. The first use of the logo was the inner sleeve for the Sticky Fingers album. The outer sleeve was designed by Andy Warhol, hence the mix-up with the credits (Ed. Note – many have attributed the logo design to Warhol, so we’re happy to clarify this here today!). The logo was not fully registered in all countries and a German jeans company registered the logo in Germany for their own products. This situation - and the fact that the tongue was getting used by unauthorized manufacturers of badges and t-shirts - prompted the proper registration and a merchandising agreement with myself to capitalize on the success of the logo.

The simplicity of the design lent itself to many variations which were done by other designers and not myself. Due to it’s immediate popularity, the Stones kept with it over the years and I believe that it represents one of the strongest and most recognizable logos worldwide. And of course I’m proud of that. The Stones ultimately bought the copyright but I still own the hand drawn & painted artwork which, by the way, is now on sale for £200,000.

My busiest time creating artwork for the Stones was from 1970 - 1974, which included creating four tour posters. This led on to work for Paul McCartney, the Who and many other artistes and bands through to eleven years ago when I started working as Creative Director for the South Bank Centre Arts Complex in London. I left this position last April due to the closure of the Royal Festival Hall for an eighteen month renovation programme. I am now 61 years old and work as a freelance designer from my studio at home - still enjoying rock music and working as a designer.”

About John Pasche (again, in his words) -

(Left) A 1969 photo of myself – a little more hirsute than I am now.

During the sixties, I was very interested in the Pop Art movement but also influenced by then current conceptual designers such as Bob Gill and by the works of the painter Magritte. In 1967, I was awarded a BA in Graphic Design from the Brighton College of Art and then a Masters Degree from the Royal College of Art in London in 1970. My career has included stints in the advertising world (Benton & Bowles Agency), freelance graphic design, 13 years in Art/Creative Director roles for United Artist (Music Division) and Chrysalis Records, Ltd., and then, most-recently, 12 years as the Creative Director for the South Bank Centre. I’ve also been a Visiting Lecturer at the Royal College of Art.

My designs have been used on record packages for Art of Noise (one of ‘The Greatest Album Covers of All Time’), Go West, Sinead O’Connor, Steeleye Span, UFO, Jethro Tull, The Stranglers, Fischer-Z, Dr. Feelgood, The Vapors and many others.

Design Awards include the 1996 Communication Arts “Award of Excellence”, 7 Music Week design awards for “Top Single/Album Sleeves”, 11 Design & Art Direction Certificates, and NME’s “Top Album Sleeve” Award.

There are examples of my sleeves and other projects on my site – www.johnpasche.com

- for your reference.

To see examples of John’s work in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click on the following link:

http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/john-pasche/list.htm?1=1

About “Cover Stories” - Our weekly series will give you, the music and art fan, a look at “the making of” the illustrations, photographs and designs of many of the most-recognized and influential images that have served to package and promote your all-time-favorite recordings.

Every Friday and syndicated the following Monday on The Rock and Roll Report, we’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. - all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

We hope that you enjoy these looks behind the scenes of the music-related art business and that you’ll share your stories with us and fellow fans about what role these works of art - and the music they covered - played in your lives.

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