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Don't talk to me about love - Altered Images
2 days ago
Showing posts with label My Faves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Faves. Show all posts
Monday, March 14, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Dig Music label spawns retail vinyl store Medium Rare Records and Collectibles
Dig Music label spawns retail vinyl store Medium Rare Records and Collectibles
by Brandon Darnell - Sacramento Press
Marty DeAnda started a vinyl record store by accident with a little help from Louis Armstrong.
Medium Rare Records is in the offices of the Dig Music label, which DeAnda co-founded. The label represents local artists such as Jackie Greene, Chris Webster and Sal Valentino.
The business is located in The Urban Hive at 1931 H St. and was pretty typical of a recording label office, with couches and music-themed décor, before becoming a retail store.
The office, visible from the sidewalk, featured a mannequin of Louis Armstrong in the window, staring out at 20th Street, and passers-by routinely came in to ask about it.
“I’d have 30 people coming by each day,” DeAnda said. “I figured I might as well sell them something, so I brought some records from home. All of a sudden we had a store.”
“We sell only quality vinyl records and collectibles,” DeAnda said, adding that he caters to buyers who are serious about music, but not looking to drop hundreds of dollars on an album.
“That’s how I came up with the Medium Rare name,” he said. “It’s about those people in the middle – those people who want a vinyl record of The Beach Boys or Jimi Hendrix but aren’t looking for something extra rare.”
DeAnda grades the condition of each record in his store, which he writes on a label and sticks on a plastic sleeve. Customers are asked not to remove the records so as to prevent damaging them.
“If they want to buy it, and they come to the counter, I’ll take it out for them to look at, but I just don’t want 30 people taking it out and handling it and taking away the quality,” DeAnda said.
DeAnda said there has been something of a resurgence of interest in vinyl records despite the apparent dominance of digital music.
“The sound is just warmer on vinyl,” DeAnda said. “The new generation seems to have rediscovered it. In an era where you can sit under the covers in your Snuggie and listen to an entire album for free and then download the single you like, people miss the ceremony of buying music.”
Despite the recession, other music stores have opened in Sacramento in the past year as well, including Dimple Records, Phono Select Records and ZuhG Life.
DeAnda – a sixth-generation Sacramentan – said he knows the other local music store owners, and he added that they focus on different markets and don’t really compete against one another.
“Everybody’s got a different group of people they appeal to,” DeAnda said. “We’re where the 30-year-olds to the 70-year-olds come for good used vinyl.”
Nich Lujan, co-owner of Phono Select Records, agreed. He stopped by Medium Rare Records and Collectibles Tuesday afternoon to pick up some printing he’d had done.
“We’re absolutely not competitors,” he said. “We help each other out.”
Lujan said more record stores opening in the area is a good thing for the local industry, since many collectors will make a trip to multiple stores in search of the records they seek.
Brent Zane stopped by the store for the first time Tuesday afternoon to sell some records he’s picked up over the years as a musician.
“Right off the bat, it looks good,” he said. “There’s not a bunch of garbage – it looks like a quality used records store.”
Urban Hive owner Brandon Weber said having the store is a boon to his business.
“It’s great to have them,” he said. “It’s easy to walk in and find something good. You don’t have to dig for it. They do the digging for you.”
Kari Shipman works out of The Urban Hive, and she said DeAnda is “the perfect person” to operate the store because of his knowledge of music.
“He has a deep appreciation for the music,” she said, adding that she has shopped at his store to pick up music for her brother.
Medium Rare Records and Collectibles is open from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Saturdays, or by appointment. Visit the store online by clicking HERE!
by Brandon Darnell - Sacramento Press
Marty DeAnda started a vinyl record store by accident with a little help from Louis Armstrong.
Medium Rare Records is in the offices of the Dig Music label, which DeAnda co-founded. The label represents local artists such as Jackie Greene, Chris Webster and Sal Valentino.
The office, visible from the sidewalk, featured a mannequin of Louis Armstrong in the window, staring out at 20th Street, and passers-by routinely came in to ask about it.
“I’d have 30 people coming by each day,” DeAnda said. “I figured I might as well sell them something, so I brought some records from home. All of a sudden we had a store.”
The store officially opened in late November, but DeAnda said he has been bringing records in for the past year.
“We sell only quality vinyl records and collectibles,” DeAnda said, adding that he caters to buyers who are serious about music, but not looking to drop hundreds of dollars on an album.
“That’s how I came up with the Medium Rare name,” he said. “It’s about those people in the middle – those people who want a vinyl record of The Beach Boys or Jimi Hendrix but aren’t looking for something extra rare.”
DeAnda grades the condition of each record in his store, which he writes on a label and sticks on a plastic sleeve. Customers are asked not to remove the records so as to prevent damaging them.
“If they want to buy it, and they come to the counter, I’ll take it out for them to look at, but I just don’t want 30 people taking it out and handling it and taking away the quality,” DeAnda said.
The only CDs in the store are those put out by artists on the Dig Music label.
DeAnda said there has been something of a resurgence of interest in vinyl records despite the apparent dominance of digital music.
“The sound is just warmer on vinyl,” DeAnda said. “The new generation seems to have rediscovered it. In an era where you can sit under the covers in your Snuggie and listen to an entire album for free and then download the single you like, people miss the ceremony of buying music.”
Despite the recession, other music stores have opened in Sacramento in the past year as well, including Dimple Records, Phono Select Records and ZuhG Life.
DeAnda – a sixth-generation Sacramentan – said he knows the other local music store owners, and he added that they focus on different markets and don’t really compete against one another.
“Everybody’s got a different group of people they appeal to,” DeAnda said. “We’re where the 30-year-olds to the 70-year-olds come for good used vinyl.”
Nich Lujan, co-owner of Phono Select Records, agreed. He stopped by Medium Rare Records and Collectibles Tuesday afternoon to pick up some printing he’d had done.
“We’re absolutely not competitors,” he said. “We help each other out.”
Lujan said more record stores opening in the area is a good thing for the local industry, since many collectors will make a trip to multiple stores in search of the records they seek.
Brent Zane stopped by the store for the first time Tuesday afternoon to sell some records he’s picked up over the years as a musician.
“Right off the bat, it looks good,” he said. “There’s not a bunch of garbage – it looks like a quality used records store.”
Urban Hive owner Brandon Weber said having the store is a boon to his business.
“It’s great to have them,” he said. “It’s easy to walk in and find something good. You don’t have to dig for it. They do the digging for you.”
Kari Shipman works out of The Urban Hive, and she said DeAnda is “the perfect person” to operate the store because of his knowledge of music.
“He has a deep appreciation for the music,” she said, adding that she has shopped at his store to pick up music for her brother.
Medium Rare Records and Collectibles is open from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Saturdays, or by appointment. Visit the store online by clicking HERE!
Friday, August 20, 2010
Lovers of Covers
Iconic Rock ’n' Roll Images
By Ann Taylor (Aug 19, 2010 )
Before MP3s, CDs, cassette tapes, and even 8-tracks, there was vinyl. And during the reign of vinyl, album covers were high art, often rivaling the very music they encased.
Annie Liebovitz, Robert Mapplethorpe, H.R. Giger, even Andy Warhol have put their hand to the design of album covers, the large format providing a perfect canvas for some of the most well-known images in the world.
But one of the most lasting impressions has been left by Storm Thorgerson, the man behind Pink Floyd album covers since 1968 — including the iconic Dark Side of the Moon — as well as covers for Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel, Steve Miller Band, Black Sabbath, and the Cranberries, among others. Currently showing at the San Francisco Art Exchange’s Lovers of Covers show are more than sixty prints of his celebrated works and several originals.
While Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon cover is undoubtedly Thorgerson’s most famous work, and perhaps the most famous album cover of all time, it is not particularly representative of his typical visual style — Lovers of Covers allows viewers to see that work within the broader context of Thorgerson’s overall ouevre.
Typical of Thorgerson’s work is a surreal, dreamlike quality as well as odd juxtapositions of objects in expansive landscapes, creating quite dramatic compositions, such as the cover for Disco Biscuit’s Planet Anthem. Four women, carefully wrapped in brown butcher paper and tied with string, are ranged across a sandy beach. Like packages of meat at the supermarket, their wrapped forms are inert yet promising, set off dramatically against a cloudless sky as a white sheet floats gently in the breeze.
Along similar lines is the art for The Cranberry’s Bury the Hatchet album, in which a lone naked man cowers in the desert, tiny mesas visible in the far distance behind him, a giant eye staring at him from above. The flatness of the desert and the expansiveness of the clear sky emphasize his nakedness, his vulnerability to the all-seeing eye. These Magritte-esque images seem to tap into nightmare worlds, framing them in desolation and unexpected blue skies.
Even Thorgerson’s more simple images reflect an unexpected complexity and masterful composition. The cover for Pink Floyd’s Ummagumma, for instance, looks, on the surface, like a picture of the band members casually relaxing in a doorway — scruffy, barefoot rock ’n’ rollers sitting around on a warm summer day. Yet, a second look reveals that the frame to the left of guitarist David Gilmour, who is slumped on a stool in the foreground, is a repeat of the same scene, stretching on into infinity like a reflection of a reflection in a mirror.
An even closer examination discloses a subtle change in each subsequent reframing of the scene: the band members are switching positions. Roger Waters now sits slumped on Gilmour’s stool, Nick Mason has taken Waters’ old position on the floor with knees bent, Richard Wright assumes Mason’s former standing pose with arms akimbo, and Gilmour now scissors his legs in the air in the background, where Wright is in the larger frame. And so on. It is little surprises like these that make even the mundane remarkable in Thorgerson’s work.
However, his covers are not just interesting but empty images; they also tend to point to an idea, a story, or even a joke (see the Steve Miller Band’s Let Your Hair Down, Baby cover). Most, if not all, of Thorgerson’s breathtaking compositions are backed by thoughtful concepts, and depict visual representations of those concepts, such as the artwork for The Mars Volta’s Frances the Mute album or Pink Floyd’s Delicate Sound of Thunder — you can read about them for yourself at the show.
Forty years of rock ’n’ roll history is bound up in stunning visuals in Lovers of Covers, reminding us of the power of the image even in the world of music. This show is not to be missed.
By Ann Taylor (Aug 19, 2010 )
Before MP3s, CDs, cassette tapes, and even 8-tracks, there was vinyl. And during the reign of vinyl, album covers were high art, often rivaling the very music they encased.
Annie Liebovitz, Robert Mapplethorpe, H.R. Giger, even Andy Warhol have put their hand to the design of album covers, the large format providing a perfect canvas for some of the most well-known images in the world.
An even closer examination discloses a subtle change in each subsequent reframing of the scene: the band members are switching positions. Roger Waters now sits slumped on Gilmour’s stool, Nick Mason has taken Waters’ old position on the floor with knees bent, Richard Wright assumes Mason’s former standing pose with arms akimbo, and Gilmour now scissors his legs in the air in the background, where Wright is in the larger frame. And so on. It is little surprises like these that make even the mundane remarkable in Thorgerson’s work.
However, his covers are not just interesting but empty images; they also tend to point to an idea, a story, or even a joke (see the Steve Miller Band’s Let Your Hair Down, Baby cover). Most, if not all, of Thorgerson’s breathtaking compositions are backed by thoughtful concepts, and depict visual representations of those concepts, such as the artwork for The Mars Volta’s Frances the Mute album or Pink Floyd’s Delicate Sound of Thunder — you can read about them for yourself at the show.
San Francisco Art Exchange
Through September 15th
Free
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Vinyl Revival: Record stores selling more vinyl albums
By Jeremy Essig - Columbia Business Times Aug 6, 2010
What if vinyl records saved the music industry?
That joke, relayed by Streetside Records manager Nick Soha, has been going around the retail music industry for a few years now. As with any good joke, there lies a kernel of truth — a truth that might help an industry considered on its way to extinction.
With the rise in popularity of compact discs, vinyl records became an antiquated format. Then came the Internet music-sharing craze and online music sales, which further marginalized the old LP format at the beginning of the millennium. Through services such as Apple’s iTunes and Napster, customers could purchase music instantly from the comfort of their own homes. As a result, retail music stores saw a decline in both sales and profits.
However, rumors of the industry’s decline have been greatly exaggerated, said Soha and Slackers manager Kate Passis. Slackers was founded in Columbia in 1993 and has expanded to Jefferson City and the St. Louis area, where it has nine stores. Streetside, part of a national chain of music stores, has been in Columbia since 1980. Although both managers said sales are not as strong as they once were, they also expressed optimism for the present and future.
Streetside Records, located on Providence Road across from the MU power plant, has had one of its best summers in a long time, Soha said. Part of this success, he said, can be attributed to a revived interest in vinyl records.
Vinyl is “a big part of sales now,” Soha said.
Three years ago, Streetside only stocked about 20 to 30 records, Soha said. The medium was so marginalized that one employee, when registering a sale to a customer who brought a vinyl record to the counter, asked when the store began selling calendars.
Since that time, however, vinyl sales have made an epic comeback.
Vinyl album sales are still less than 1 percent of total album sales, but vinyl sales rose from 1.9 million in 2008 to 2.5 million in 2009, a 33 percent increase, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the entertainment industry’s data information system that tracks point-of-purchase sales. (The data doesn’t account for the used vinyl market.)
Preparing for another migration of the younger generation, Passis said Slackers is planning to place a large order of new vinyl to coincide with the return of MU students for the fall semester.
Passis said the Slackers store on Broadway is also helped by a robust trade-in business. During the economic downturn, she said customers might be less likely to hold onto old CDs and DVDs and more willing to trade them in for store credit. Soha said used media is also a strong seller at Streetside, which allows customers to receive either cash or store credit for used items.
Both managers also said video games and an expanding selection of Blue Ray discs have contributed significantly to their stores’ sales totals. The ability to carry video games and Blue Ray next to more nostalgic media such as vinyl provides what Passis said is one of the best aspects of the modern retail music store.
“We don’t sell anything people need,” she said. “We sell what people want, which is great.”
The vinyl revival is also boosting sales of another retro product: the turntable. Sam Jones, an owner of Pure Audio, said national sales of turntables have increased about 70 percent during the past few years.
Jones attributes the increase to a number of factors. Some customers are rediscovering old vinyl that was never made available in digital format. Others have inherited the record collection of relatives and are looking to play songs they heard at family occasions. The younger generation, Jones said, has also become enamored with the nostalgia factor that vinyl provides.
Top Ten Vinyl Albums in 2009
Title Artist Units Sold
Abbey Road……………………………………………The Beatles…………………………34,800
Thriller………………………………………………….Michael Jackson…………………….29,800
Merriweather Post Pavilion …………………….............AnimalCollective…………………….14,000
Wilco…………………………………………………...Wilco……………………………….13,200
Fleet Foxes……………………………………………. Fleet Foxes…………………………12,700
Backspacer………………………………………….....Pearl Jam……………………………12,500
Veckatimest………………………………………....... Grizzly Bear…………………………11,600
Appetite For Destruction………………………….........Guns N’ Roses……………………...11,500
Big Whiskey & The GrooGrux King……….............Dave Matthews Band……………....11,500
In Rainbows………………………………………........Radiohead………………………….11,400
Source: Nielsen SoundScan
What if vinyl records saved the music industry?
With the rise in popularity of compact discs, vinyl records became an antiquated format. Then came the Internet music-sharing craze and online music sales, which further marginalized the old LP format at the beginning of the millennium. Through services such as Apple’s iTunes and Napster, customers could purchase music instantly from the comfort of their own homes. As a result, retail music stores saw a decline in both sales and profits.
Streetside Records, located on Providence Road across from the MU power plant, has had one of its best summers in a long time, Soha said. Part of this success, he said, can be attributed to a revived interest in vinyl records.
Vinyl is “a big part of sales now,” Soha said.
Three years ago, Streetside only stocked about 20 to 30 records, Soha said. The medium was so marginalized that one employee, when registering a sale to a customer who brought a vinyl record to the counter, asked when the store began selling calendars.
Since that time, however, vinyl sales have made an epic comeback.
Vinyl album sales are still less than 1 percent of total album sales, but vinyl sales rose from 1.9 million in 2008 to 2.5 million in 2009, a 33 percent increase, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the entertainment industry’s data information system that tracks point-of-purchase sales. (The data doesn’t account for the used vinyl market.)
Preparing for another migration of the younger generation, Passis said Slackers is planning to place a large order of new vinyl to coincide with the return of MU students for the fall semester.
Passis said the Slackers store on Broadway is also helped by a robust trade-in business. During the economic downturn, she said customers might be less likely to hold onto old CDs and DVDs and more willing to trade them in for store credit. Soha said used media is also a strong seller at Streetside, which allows customers to receive either cash or store credit for used items.
Both managers also said video games and an expanding selection of Blue Ray discs have contributed significantly to their stores’ sales totals. The ability to carry video games and Blue Ray next to more nostalgic media such as vinyl provides what Passis said is one of the best aspects of the modern retail music store.
“We don’t sell anything people need,” she said. “We sell what people want, which is great.”
The vinyl revival is also boosting sales of another retro product: the turntable. Sam Jones, an owner of Pure Audio, said national sales of turntables have increased about 70 percent during the past few years.
Jones attributes the increase to a number of factors. Some customers are rediscovering old vinyl that was never made available in digital format. Others have inherited the record collection of relatives and are looking to play songs they heard at family occasions. The younger generation, Jones said, has also become enamored with the nostalgia factor that vinyl provides.
Top Ten Vinyl Albums in 2009
Title Artist Units Sold
Abbey Road……………………………………………The Beatles…………………………34,800
Thriller………………………………………………….Michael Jackson…………………….29,800
Merriweather Post Pavilion …………………….............AnimalCollective…………………….14,000
Wilco…………………………………………………...Wilco……………………………….13,200
Fleet Foxes……………………………………………. Fleet Foxes…………………………12,700
Backspacer………………………………………….....Pearl Jam……………………………12,500
Veckatimest………………………………………....... Grizzly Bear…………………………11,600
Appetite For Destruction………………………….........Guns N’ Roses……………………...11,500
Big Whiskey & The GrooGrux King……….............Dave Matthews Band……………....11,500
In Rainbows………………………………………........Radiohead………………………….11,400
Source: Nielsen SoundScan
Monday, August 16, 2010
New albums in my collection
Ace Frehley - Second Sighting and Live + 1
David Bowie - Never Let Me Down and Tesla - The Great Radio Controversy
R.E.O. Speedwagon -Nine Lives and Self-titled
Genesis - Wind and the Wuthering and Trespass
Fleetwood Mac - Future Games and Genesis - Selling England by the Pound
Slade - Keep Your Hands Off Our Power Supply and The Firm - Mean Business
Johnny Cash - Ring of Fire and ...Sings Hank Williams
Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison and The Buddy Holly Story
Nancy Sinatra - Boots and How Does That Grab You? (both mono)
Nancy Sinatra - ... in London and Country My Way (stereo)
Nancy Sinatra - Sugar (great cover!) and Movin' with Nancy (television special with "special" guests)
Zebra - Self-titled and No Tellin' Lies
Klatuu - 1st album and The Immortal Otis Redding
Sgt. Barry Sadler - ballad of the Green Berets and Soundtrack for "The Happening"
Ramsey Lewis - Dancing in the Street and Wade in the Water
Ramsey Lewis - Never On a Sunday and Up Pops Ramsey Lewis
Patsy Cline - Show Case and Ramsey Lewis - Another Voyage
Patsy Cline - Golden Hits and Here's Patsy Cline
Ravi Shankar - At the Woodstock Fest. and Six Ragas
Isaac Hayes - In the Beginning and Henry Mancini - Music from Peter Gunn
Peter, Paul and Mary - Album and Album 1700
Peter, Paul and Mary - Moving and 10 Years Together
Erroll Garner - Gems and Plays Misty
Dave Brubeck - Time Changes and Summit Sessions
Miles Davis - Miles Smiles and Prgressive Jazz Compilation
Here's Louis Armstong and Tony Bennet and Count Basie - Strike Up the Band
Oscar Peterson Trio - Stratford Shakespearean Fest. and Leon Redbone - On the Track
Sonny and Cher - Look at Us and In Case You're in Love
Herbie Mann - At the Village Gate and Monday Night at...
Portrait of Adlai Stevenson (talking record) and Jazz in the Space Age (with Bill Evans)
Monday, June 21, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Bobbie Gentry - HOT!!!
Bobbie slinks her way through a steamy cajun number. Yowsa!!
Live performance from the Smothers Brothers show.
One of my all-time favorites..
Bobbie Gentry was a prolific writer, that had only one huge hit.... And so beautiful!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
Toy Matinee
A week ago, I was asked by a fellow blogger, Curtis Linder , to offer a guest review on an album. I was more than happy to oblige, and awfully humbled. So, here is my "guest review", posted by... well, ME!
"I found this GEM (and I do mean GEM!) Back in '91 on cassette. I'm from the Quad Cities of Iowa/Illinois, and was a frequent shopper at Co-op Records. The guys all knew me and knew I KNEW my music. I was looking for something different, something interesting, something not mainstream, that I could sink my teeth into AND be able to call my own (always loved finding great music and then turning others onto it, like a music guru). The Co-op dudes knew I was a Beatles collector and fan as well as a follower of Steely Dan. I had respect for Madonna's pop sensibilities, but much preferred intelligent lyrics and word play within an easily digestible, but intricate movements in a song. They showed me a cassette of Toy Matinee.
Toy Matinee was a short-lived American art-pop band, and also the title of their only album. Their sound was an array of mixed influences, including progressive rock, AOR and pop reminiscent of both the Beatles and the Beach Boys. I was ADDICTED the very first time I heard the very first chords on LAST PLANE OUT - the very first song on the album! I knew, immediately, that this should have been a much bigger record than it had been. Lots of pop hooks that, in no time at all, you'd be singing along with, not to mention bopping your head. This was classy, intelligent power pop from mostly unknown masters!
TOY MATINEE was formed by producer/composer/keyboardist Patrick Leonard in collaboration with singer/lyricist Kevin Gilbert. Backed by a group of session musicians (drummer Brian MacLeod, guitarist Tim Pierce, and bassist Guy Pratt), and with guest appearances from several other musicians including Julian Lennon, the duo recorded just one self-titled album which was released on Reprise Records in 1990.
The album was engineered and produced by Bill Bottrell. Thematically, it covered a rather broad ground; two tracks were dedicated to Czech poet and political figure Vaclav Havel and painter Salvador Dali, and "Queen of Misery" is about Madonna (Leonard was the singer's longtime songwriting and producing partner and Gilbert had recently worked with her as an engineer.) Two of the other songs on TOY MATINEE -- "The Ballad of Jenny Ledge" and "Last Plane Out" -- received wide play on album rock stations, both of them peaking at #23 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Despite that, the album's highest U.S. chart position was #129.
Kevin Gilbert was known well in the L.A. pop scene and around the Sunset Strip. He'd been in various bands, all of his own creation, NRG (No Reasons Given) and Giraffe. At this time he was also dating an unknown singer by the name of Sheryl Crow, who also sang back up and played some keyboards while TM was performing live. (Incidentally, most of Crow's TUESDAY NIGHT MUSIC CLUB album was written by Kevin, during a songwriter's workshop Kevin created with Bill Bottrell and David Baerwald called, The Tuesday Night Music Club.)
Pat Leonard was, well..... PAT LEONARD! (See above credits). These two crafted a masterpiece of power pop that was not schlock, but well thought out. Hooks that were poppy but not annoying or cheesy! You were proud to repeat these lyrics as many time as it took to get others around you to say, "What is that? Who is it? Where can I get it?" (I did this many times, and wore out, at least 3, store bought cassettes of Toy Matinee, before I finally bought a CD player!)
My favorite track is....um...... damn. This is too hard! It's like asking a mother which one of her 9 children did she love most.... If I was asked what track stands out the most. I'd say.............. CRAP! Can't do that either! Every piece of this pie must be savored on it's own or as a whole. This may be the ONLY CD, that I've never "parted out" onto mix-discs of favorites that I make for car rides, because it's a favorite, thru and thru!! All in all, I doubt anyone that reads this review, would find anything they don't like about this album. Unfortunately, you WILL find it in a bargain bin in used CD and record stores. The original was on Reprise but Pat Leonard reissued it in 2001 on his own Unitone records with extra tracks! I'd advise, also, To check out Kevin Gilbert's solo efforts THUD and THE SHAMING OF THE TRUE. You WON'T be disappointed!"
"I found this GEM (and I do mean GEM!) Back in '91 on cassette. I'm from the Quad Cities of Iowa/Illinois, and was a frequent shopper at Co-op Records. The guys all knew me and knew I KNEW my music. I was looking for something different, something interesting, something not mainstream, that I could sink my teeth into AND be able to call my own (always loved finding great music and then turning others onto it, like a music guru). The Co-op dudes knew I was a Beatles collector and fan as well as a follower of Steely Dan. I had respect for Madonna's pop sensibilities, but much preferred intelligent lyrics and word play within an easily digestible, but intricate movements in a song. They showed me a cassette of Toy Matinee.
TOY MATINEE was formed by producer/composer/keyboardist Patrick Leonard in collaboration with singer/lyricist Kevin Gilbert. Backed by a group of session musicians (drummer Brian MacLeod, guitarist Tim Pierce, and bassist Guy Pratt), and with guest appearances from several other musicians including Julian Lennon, the duo recorded just one self-titled album which was released on Reprise Records in 1990.
The album was engineered and produced by Bill Bottrell. Thematically, it covered a rather broad ground; two tracks were dedicated to Czech poet and political figure Vaclav Havel and painter Salvador Dali, and "Queen of Misery" is about Madonna (Leonard was the singer's longtime songwriting and producing partner and Gilbert had recently worked with her as an engineer.) Two of the other songs on TOY MATINEE -- "The Ballad of Jenny Ledge" and "Last Plane Out" -- received wide play on album rock stations, both of them peaking at #23 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Despite that, the album's highest U.S. chart position was #129.
Kevin Gilbert was known well in the L.A. pop scene and around the Sunset Strip. He'd been in various bands, all of his own creation, NRG (No Reasons Given) and Giraffe. At this time he was also dating an unknown singer by the name of Sheryl Crow, who also sang back up and played some keyboards while TM was performing live. (Incidentally, most of Crow's TUESDAY NIGHT MUSIC CLUB album was written by Kevin, during a songwriter's workshop Kevin created with Bill Bottrell and David Baerwald called, The Tuesday Night Music Club.)
Pat Leonard was, well..... PAT LEONARD! (See above credits). These two crafted a masterpiece of power pop that was not schlock, but well thought out. Hooks that were poppy but not annoying or cheesy! You were proud to repeat these lyrics as many time as it took to get others around you to say, "What is that? Who is it? Where can I get it?" (I did this many times, and wore out, at least 3, store bought cassettes of Toy Matinee, before I finally bought a CD player!)
My favorite track is....um...... damn. This is too hard! It's like asking a mother which one of her 9 children did she love most.... If I was asked what track stands out the most. I'd say.............. CRAP! Can't do that either! Every piece of this pie must be savored on it's own or as a whole. This may be the ONLY CD, that I've never "parted out" onto mix-discs of favorites that I make for car rides, because it's a favorite, thru and thru!! All in all, I doubt anyone that reads this review, would find anything they don't like about this album. Unfortunately, you WILL find it in a bargain bin in used CD and record stores. The original was on Reprise but Pat Leonard reissued it in 2001 on his own Unitone records with extra tracks! I'd advise, also, To check out Kevin Gilbert's solo efforts THUD and THE SHAMING OF THE TRUE. You WON'T be disappointed!"
Monday, May 17, 2010
Ronnie James Dio July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010
Wendy Dio said on Ronnie's official site:
"Today my heart is broken, Ronnie passed away at 7:45am 16th May. Many, many friends and family were able to say their private good-byes before he peacefully passed away. Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all. We so appreciate the love and support that you have all given us. Please give us a few days of privacy to deal with this terrible loss. Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever."
Ronnie James Dio Wikipedia
"Today my heart is broken, Ronnie passed away at 7:45am 16th May. Many, many friends and family were able to say their private good-byes before he peacefully passed away. Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all. We so appreciate the love and support that you have all given us. Please give us a few days of privacy to deal with this terrible loss. Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever."
Ronnie James Dio Wikipedia
R.I.P. Holy Diver..... You're never the Last in Line.
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